Starsend

Nic Cage's 100 Greatest Quotes

2012-02-21T06:04:00.002Z

Farscape Marathon part 5

2012-02-19T00:03:00.001Z

Farscape Marathon
Season 1 Part 5

Bone To Be Wild
Trapped in an asteroid field Moya and her son detect a distress call from a nearby
source and the crew go to investigate. A survivor is found telling a tale of a ravenous
beast that had killed her entire family but all is not as it seems.
Meanwhile Moya asks Aeryn to name her son in honour of Aeryns friendship and
help in comforting the nervous young leviathan.
We are also introduced to Lt Braca played by David Franklin.

Family Ties
Rygel abandons Moya to deal directly with Crais to save his own hide but finds
that he Peacekeepers will not be honouring any deals and even Crais is being
sidelined by Scorpius who wants John at any cost even the destruction of the
Peacekeeper base. A worthy finale to the first season with a good cliffhanger built
upon solid story telling and excellent CGI.

Extras
Commentary for Bone To Be Wild with Anthony Simcoe
Two commentaries for Family Ties featuring

Ben and Claudia
Rockne and David

Making of a Space Opera
In the Beginning
Farscape in the Raw
Behind the Scenes
Anthony Simcoe
Jonathon Hardy
Lani Topu

The first season of Farscape may have been the last, the renewal came very very
late and then promoted the movie away from the FOX studios to their own facility
(sans sound stages). If nothing else is taken from the first season it's the fact that
Farscape set standards in alien life design and creation on camera the likes of
which few theatrical features have matched. Couple that with some very likeable
and pretty down to earth characters and both dramatic and humorous writing
they were onto a winner.

Boldly Gone

2012-02-18T18:25:00.003Z

Boldly Gone is a Star Trek web comic created by Kevin Church and Ming Doyle, lots of laughs yet still Trek:)

Boldly Gone Website

Farscape Marathon Part 4

2012-02-18T11:22:00.001Z

Farscape Marathon
Part 4

A Human Reaction
Moya finds a wormhole which offers a glimpse of the Earth on the other side,
John returns home leaving everyone behind but on return he is imprisoned due
to the paranoia the first wormhole had created.
A clever episode which is fundemantal in the series arc.

Through The Looking Glass
The crew consider leaving Moya due to her inability to Starburst and the danger
that brings when they are still being chased by Crais.
Pilot jumps the ship but in her weakened condition she hits some sort of rupture
and is locked in mid starburst and split into three separate entities and the crew
spread amongst them. This is one of my favourite episodes of the series,
wonderfully creative and looks fantastic.

A Bugs Life
A Peacekeeper commando unit land on Moya and John and Aeryn play the role
of loyal soldiers with the rest of the crew pretending to prisoners. A terrible accent
from Crichton but an good tale as Rygel and Chiana are incapable of restraining
themselves for a few hours and as a result Aeryn is injured.

Nerve
Aeryn is still suffering from the effects of her wound and is in a downward spiral,
the only solution is to visit the secret Peacekeeper base and get a treatment which
will repair the nerve damage.
Can we have a big round of applause for Stark, Scorpius and Peacekeep Barbie
not to forget Chiana at her slutty best:)

The Hidden Memory
Moya goes into labour while John remains under interrogation by Scorpius using
the Aurora chair, Crais arrives but finds himself under scrutiny and they get
caught up in the rescue attempt.

Extras
Commentary for A Human Reaction and Nerve both with Ben and Claudia.

Absolutely Incredible Street Race

2012-02-18T02:18:00.000Z

Farscape Marathon Part 3

2012-02-14T21:42:00.000Z

Season 1 Part 3

Till The Blood Runs Clear
Doign some wormhole reasearch in his modified ship John lands on a planet and
meets Furlow an mechanic with an interest in his ship.
The crew also learn that a bounty has been placed on their heads by Crais and
bounty hunters are hot on their trail.

Rhapsody In Blue
The discovery of a Delvian colony offers a future for Zhaan who can teach these
people the gifts that resulted in her imprisonment. This isn't my favourite episode but
the costuming and makeup are exceptional.

The Flax
Trapped in an invisible web the transport shuttle with John and Aeryn struggles to
free itself meanwhile D'Argo goes on a treasure hunt with a bit of a scoundrel.
One of the funniest episodes with lots of misunderstandings and also John and
Aeryn gettign a little closer.

Jeremiah Crichton
John throws a temper tantrum and whilst joyriding Moya has to Starburst away to
protect herself, months later they find John as a sort of cast away living with some
native people in relative peace.
An episode which gets stung rather badly by cast and crew in it's commentary.

Durka Returns
Moya meets a Nebari ship whose crew practice mind manipulation and control,
they were responsible for the destruction of the Zelbinion and they bring aboard
the prisoner "Chiana" played by Gigi Edgley and Durka the peacekeeper commander.
The episode marks the debut of Gigi playing the irrepressable Chiana, a wonderful
character.

Extras
Commentary track for Jeremiah Crichton

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Teaser)

2012-02-13T18:40:00.002Z

Loved the book the movie should be a blast.

Farscape Marathon Part 2

2012-02-12T18:53:00.000Z

Farscape Marathon
Season 1 Part 2

Thank God It's Friday, Again
D'Argo in a hyper rage seeks John on the planet Moya is orbiting, concerned John
goes looking for him and discovers he has like totally mellowed out and is content
to work in the fields of this argicultural world.
However all is not as it seems and despite being told tomorrow is a rest day that
day never comes. This was another of the early episodes I watched which put me off
the series, Rygel and his exploding urine really didn't work.

PK Tech Girl
The discovery of the wrecked Zelbinion the Peacekeep flagship raises questions
on who could have defeated it in battle but Moya isn't alone. We also get flashbacks
of Rygel's time on the ship when he was first kidnapped and tortured.
Alyssa-Jane Cook plays Gilina the tech girl.

That Old Black Magic
Crichton runs into a mage who offers to solve his problem with Crais however this mage
has his own agenda and bringing the two enemies together to make peace is not his endgame.

DNA Mad Scientist
A scietist who speciliases in genetic based research provides the crew with the locations
of their homeworlds in return of DNA samples but the key to the deal is an arm from Pilot.
Rygel, D'Argo and Zhann attack Pilot reasoning that since he will regenerate then he has
no right to refuse to aid them. A rather brutal episode with unethical research on sentient
beings as well as the crew turning on each other.

They've Got a Secret
D'Argo has a minor mishap while exporing the most inaccesible parts of Moya
but it starts a chain of events which has Moya putting the health of the crew in
jeopardy as she uses her energy for another purpose.
I'd forgotten how quickly this part of the Farscape was introduced, the beginning
of something quite wonderful.

Extras
Two episodes have commentaries with DNA Mad Scientist having two seperate tracks
one from in front of the camera the other behind.

My Farscape Marathon (Part 1)

2012-02-11T19:12:00.000Z

Farscape Marathon
Season 1 Part 1

Ben Browder - John Crichton
Claudia Black - Aeryn Sun
Anthony Simcoe - Ka D'Argo
Jonathan Hardy - Rygel (voice)
Virginia Hey - Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan
Lani Tupu - Crais / Pilot (voice)

I own the original DVD's (mixture of R1 and R2) but for the price and features
not to mention the bump (albeit within the limits of PAL SD masters) in picture
quality I decided to buy the Blu-ray boxset as a christmas treat. The price had
recently dropped so that took a lot of the sting out of it so here are my
re-watch thoughts as I go along.

Premiere
The series kicks off with John Crichton a scientist and astronaut
who is testing his theory of propulsion which exploits gravitational
forces. Whilst in orbit he his dragged into a wormhole and ejected
somewhere in the universe and finds himself surrounded by beings and
wonders he could never have imagined.

I, E.T.
A Peacekeeper device on Moya has activated and to mask the signal
the ship buries itself in a huge swamp on a nearby world. The crew
search locally for an element which can heap Moya and John finds
himself being the first alien contact for mother and son.

Exodus from Genesis
A strange dust cloud in space seems to be benign but an entity enters
Moya intent on exploiting the ships energy to create heat in which
to expand it's life cycle. A fun episode in which we get multiple copies
of the crew and Rygel gets to play diplomat.

Throne for a Loss
Rygel's arrogance makes him the target for some kinappers who ransom
the rich and powerful back to their ships/people but since Moya has no
money (only food cubes) the future doesn't look too promising.
This was an episode which nearly turned me off Farscape when I first
watched it, the puppets, weak fight sequence and simply not
understanding the show had me reaching for the remote.

Back and Back and Back to the Future
The rescue of a research vessel had Dargo falling in love with it's female
occupant and fully committed to helping her and the scientist to reach
their destination. Things start to unwind when John is hit by an energy
burst on the alien ship and experiences jumps in the timeline revealing
all is not what it seems.
A very clever episode and underlined how good the graphic houses were in
creating some beautiful CGI on a tight budget.

Extras
All five episodes have commentaries the highlight of which is Ben Browder
and Claudia Black on the "Throne For A Loss" episode, they are very very
funny together.

Avengers (Superbowl Extended Trailer)

2012-02-06T19:26:00.002Z

A snowy weeked.

2012-02-05T10:31:00.001Z

This was the first significant snow fall of the winter and it settled pretty quickly saturday afternoon, didn't see much evidence of preventative gritting on the main "A" road through town so that's why the road isn't that clear.

I suppose we should be thankful that while it was cold there
wasn't a big frost overnight which would have left the roads
and pavements treacherous.

Now the fun will begin tomorrow around 6am when
I have to start preparing to drive to work, the hardest
bit is getting over the incline and ridge of the pavement
given that you can't really have a run up to it:)

Game Of Thrones (Season 2 Trailer)

2012-01-30T06:05:00.002Z

Blood Skies Review

2012-01-29T22:34:00.000Z

Blood Skies
A novel by Steven Montano

A future Earth torn asunder merged with realities which brought darkness, death and evil with them to curse the few survivors of mankind who survived what was truly an apocalypse. The world now is one of stark contrasts were there is desolation and death surrounding small city states and the remnants of the human race struggle in world driven back to the dark ages. Those survivors of "The Black" know their world was once different but none can remember exactly how and with vampires, ghouls and other sentient beasts there is no looking back only forward in an effort to survive one more day. The only saving grace is the birth of magic amongst the humans, warlocks and witches were born who along with spirits bound to their souls combat the arcane forces that are everywhere.

In this world Eric Cross a Southern Claw warlock assigned to Viper squad embarks on a mission to track down a former Souther Claw leader who has betrayed her people and strives to deal with the Old One and in turn aid the vampire cause to end the war once and for all.

Blood Skies is the first book in an ongoing series and is packed with visceral imagery and stark descriptions of a world which rivals the decay of once mighty industrial areas around our own world. This new Earth is truly depressing yet life and love goes on and there is always something and someone worth dying for and the human spirit fights on against the true vampire menace, nothing nice about these guys.

It's hard to recognise a genuine hero in the story because all the characters are doing what is required to survive and self sacrifice is a common theme but it doesn't deny the truth that perhaps we can see some of the best of ourselves in those faced with such darkness with little hope.

This review may sound a little negative in places but Blood Skies is a fascinating story with quite a few surprises and I've already bought the second book in the series "Black Scars" and that I think perfectly sums up my appreciation of the work.

BLOOD SKIES

Stargate Studios (Backlot/CGI Green Screen)

2012-01-29T11:00:00.001Z

When CGI and green/blue screen is done right then you don't notice and clips like these come as a big surprise:)

Stargate Studios Virtual Backlot Reel 2012 from Stargate Studios on Vimeo.

Stargate Films

Iron Sky (New Trailer)

2012-01-28T08:10:00.000Z

Yes it's Mother F***ing Space Nazis on the moon, premieres Feb 11th.

IRON SKY Website

The Walking Dead (Alternate Title Sequence)

2012-01-23T22:20:00.000Z

Archer (Season 3 Premieres tonight 19th)

2012-01-19T22:57:00.003Z

In association with GetGlue FX have an Archer web based mini-game/clip adventure, lots of fun:)

Archer Spy School

Casa De Mi Padre (Trailer)

2012-01-15T10:31:00.003Z

If nothing else Will Ferrell does like to try something different.

Spartacus Vengeance (Trailer)

2012-01-09T22:58:00.000Z

BSG as a 16bit RPG (Spoilers for the Series)

2012-01-09T22:09:00.000Z

A Little Bit Zombie (Trailer)

2012-01-07T17:31:00.000Z

A Little Bit Zombie - Trailer from A Little Bit Zombie on Vimeo.

Tell me that wasn't fun:)

Satr Wars XXX Parady (the clean/safe trailer)

2012-01-07T10:08:00.003Z

Well even as a straight fan film the production quality absolutely shines infact so much so the XXX elements may be the distraction:)

Red Tails (Trailer)

2012-01-07T00:49:00.001Z

The trailer seems to indicate an action movie with a moral and ethical agenda at it's core, get the balance right and should be a lot of fun.

Super Tanker

2012-01-02T22:03:00.002Z

Now this sounds worthy of the "B" movie label.
An meteorite brings the most deadly weapon the earth has seen to the hands of humans, long after the cold war is ended this material is being disposed off and it's onboard a Super Tanker that gets hit by a rogue wave releasing the element to reign havon upon the Earth. Aired on UK Syfy last year and been sitting on the DVR since then, about time I watched it:)

Quake and other ID games.

2011-12-31T14:22:00.000Z

Now this for me was the golden age of online gaming, cutting edge technology, ridiculously priced online gaming costs (billed per second and monthly) and a real niche community.
Reliving the games of ID Software in this case GLQuake in all it's glory and bought for a few quid in a bundle via Steam, it's all coming back to me:)

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Final Part)

2011-12-29T23:04:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 5 (continued)

Brain Storm
Mckay takes Keller to a physics review back on Earth and well things go wrong and
it's left to Mckay to unravel the experiment (based on his own work) and save the Earth.
Things also hot up between him and Jennifer:)

Infection
Todd's Hive ship is on course for Atlantis but on arrival no life signs are detected.
Upon investigation they find the crew in hibernation victims of the drug intended to revert them
to feeding the traditional way. Then they wake up not quite the Wraith they once were.

Identity
A woman inhabiting Keller's body causes mayhem in Atlantis before eventually being discovered
for who she is and the cause of the mind swap is discovered leading to a race against time to save
Keller who is in the thieves body awaiting sentence.
Dawn Olivieri guest stars as Neeva Casol.

Vegas
An alternate Earth with familiar faces in different roles. A wraith survives an attack on the Earth
and plays poker in Vegas to get the cash to build a communications device but has to feed continually
thanks to the radiation exposure.
A phenomenally good but different episode, one of if not my favourite from the whole series,
great music and visuals.

Enemy At The Gate
The consequences of Vegas echo in our reality, the Wraith are on their way to Earth and they have
to be stopped at any cost. An ok season finale but a weak series finale.

Extras
Three Commentaries
Mission Directive
SGA goes to Vegas
Deleted Scenes

The Babymakers (Red Band Trailer)

2011-12-29T10:54:00.001Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 19)

2011-12-28T10:12:00.001Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 5 (continued)

The Lost Tribe
Mckay and Daniel held hostage on the alien facility attempt to convince them that the device
has to be switched off but the aliens refuse and then in a very surprising moment they reveal
themselves. Meanwhile the Daedalus under the control of Todd is making beeline for the alien
base but Ronon and Kellar are doing their best to sabotage the ship and Sheppard on board a
Traveller ship is racing to beat everyone to the planet.

Outsiders
The Wraith visit a small community intent on finding and killing the refugees from a planet
infected by the Hoffan drug. The community are split in regards to sacrificing the "outsiders"
or protecting them from the very beings that may eventually eat them all. I really didn't find
this episode interesting. Agam Darshi guest stars as Novo.

Inquisition
The team are tried for their acts since coming to Pegasus, cue clip show.

The Prodigal
Atlantis loses power after a captured jumper and IDC are used to infiltrate the city. Guess who
is back with the intent to steal Teyla's baby and destroy the city.

Remnants
Woolsey is under review and flirting with a pretty scientist, John is on the mainland chasing a
woman, McKay is being praised by Radak and a repository of knowledge is found on the ocean bed.
Anna Galvin plays Vanessa Conrad, Tamlyn Tomita is Shen Xiao, Johnathon Young returns
as Dr Parrish and surprise Robert Davi makes an appearance.

Extras
Five Commentaries
Building a Humanoid
Dr Jackson goes to Atlantis
Life & Death of Michael Kenmore
Costume Department
Deleted Scenes

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 18)

2011-12-27T17:52:00.001Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 5 (continued)

The Shrine
A mission goes awry and McKay gets infected with a parasite responsible for a degenerative
disease common to the people of the Pegasus galaxy, it is fatal but it is said a shrine on one
world will reverse the effects for a single day.
Kate Hewlett guest stars as Jeannie Miller once again:)

Whispers
Sheppard and McKay give support to the team led by Major Teldy who have found one of
Michaels old labs next to a deserted village. As night draws in a mist envelops the land bringing
the Whispers and a fight for survival.
Christina Cox, Nicole de Boer, Leela Savasta and Janina Gavankar guest star.
Bloody brilliant episode:)

The Queen
Once more Todd and his Wraith are brought into a plan to use a gene therapy on
his people to convert them to eating solid food but to make this plan viable the most powerful
Hive Queen will have to be convinced. Without his own Queen it is upto Teyla with apporpriate
surgery to play this role.

Tracker
Keller is kidnapped whilst on a medical mission, Ronon and Mckay go after her but it's one
of the Wraith Tracker victims who has her and is as experienced as Ronon in fighting and
evading his foes. Mike Dopud plays Kiryk, the actor returns with a recurring role in SGU.

First Contact
Daniel Jackson visits Atlantis looking for a hidden lab and together with McKay they discover
it and within hours a highly advanced alien race break into the city and steal a piece of technology
and take Daniel and Rodney as well.
Meanwhile the Deadalus has rendevoused with Todd's Hive in preperation for testing the drug
which could free the Wraith from feeding off life force.
A stunning mid-season cliffhanger, lots going on.

Extras
Four Commentaries
Misson Directive
Submerging the Stargate
Conversation with Joe Flanigan

Felicia Day's Vacation

2011-12-27T10:55:00.000Z

Felicia visits Belize (instead of Hawaii).

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 17)

2011-12-27T00:58:00.001Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon
Season 5

Search and Rescue
The search for survivors continues in the wreckage of the warehouse but Michael is on his way
and it'll be neck and neck if the Daedalus arrives in time to protect those on the planet.

The Seed
Carson is brought out of stasis with a drug devised from the Michael's medical records but then
Keller becomes infected by an Wraith virus and things really start to get spooky. Interesting idea
but not a great episode.

Broken Ties
Ronon is captured by his old comrade Tyre who intends to offer him to the Wraith to reclaim
his standing amongst the worshippers. The trade goes badly and Ronon is taken and brain
washed and it's left to Tyre himself to make ammends and rescue Ronon. Another average episode,
the fifth season gets off to a weak start. Mark Dacascos guest stars.

The Daedalus Variations
The Daedalus appears in orbit despite being reported to be only two days from arriving at Earth.
A jumper is flown up and the team investigate the ship finding it empty and then an energy spike
in the drive system sends the ship somewhere.
Now this was more like it, a nice alternate reality episode something the franchise has done a few
times already with positive results.

Ghost in the Machine
An intelligence stows away on a jumper and then transfers over to Atlantis disrupting all the
cities systems until it is identified as being a life form and communication begins. Soon more
of it's kind arrive at the city forcing a showdown between these new beings and the expedition
despite their shared history. Michelle Morgan guest stars.

Extras
Four Commentaries
Misson Directive
Bringing The Seed To Life
Ronon v Tyre

2010: Moby Dick (Review Minor Spoilers)

2011-12-26T12:11:00.000Z

2010:Moby Dick

The Asylum
Screenplay by Paul Bales
Original Story by Herman Melville
Directed by Trey Stokes

Starring

Official Website

Asylum 2010:Moby Dick

Aired UK Syfy 9/12/2011

There have been many takes on the classic revenge/obsession tale of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, maybe the most well known is the 1956 Gregory Peck theatrical release. Since then we have had a 1998 TV mini-series and a 2011 tv series both of which in terms on production and intent stand head and shoulders above this movie.
That said the core of the story is there even though the names do tend to jar a little in a modern context or more to the point Battlestar Galactica has nicked a few of them and a lot of the audience may be more familiar with that show.

So the movie starts with action from 1969 and a submarine ( USS Acushnet ) under the ice cap in soviet waters as they encounter what they believe is a new Russian sub but turns out to be a large biological which then takes the sub out. There are only two survivors Ahab and Boomer but more of those later as the movie jumps to present date with whale biologist Dr Michelle Herman played by Renee O'Connor doing research from a boat (The Coffin). She is then appropriated by Lt Commander Starbuck under the command of Captain Ahab on his latest nuclear submarine (USS Pequod) personally refitted to be the most advanced in the fleet. Whilst onboard she learns of the existence of Moby Dick and listens to the sonar recordings from the 1969 contact and then the chase is on.

We have an ongoing sub-plot as the Admiralty react to Ahab failing pre-arranged check ins and with shipping disasters throughout the oceans the finger of suspicion is pointed at Ahab and thus Boomer is recruited to investigate prior to pro-active action being taken. Much of the story from then on pretty much covers various contacts between Moby Dick and the submarine as well as a number of red shirt ships that get munched on by the Whale and as the death toll mounts the obsession shown through Ahab grows and becomes his defining characteristic leading to the ultimate face off.

The movie produced by Asylum actually looks pretty good, the cinematography a lot of it on the water is good and even the submarines are not bad something lower budget productions often fall short on. The underwater CGI works very well but often falls a little short when above the waves with technology (Osprey, Helicopter) needing more texturing and the Whale looking very fake at times, mind you a whale that size is always going to be hard to get right without a lot of the visual cues something like Godzilla would have walking through a city. Still the production is impressive for a "b" movie and you always have to judge this sort of movie in context, no point what so ever comparing it to a bug budget theatrical monster/disaster flick.

Barry Bostwick hams it up wonderfully through out the movie ramping up the emotion and mania with every scene but despite a strong start Renee O'Connor's role takes more of a background position. Overall I really enjoyed this movie, it looked good and has lots of action without being too cheesy or amateurish and well it's a giant monster movie so if that's your thing you'll be quite happy with 2010:Moby Dick.

Ronald D Moores 17th Precinct Pilot

2011-12-25T01:09:00.000Z

17th Precinct from ddt73 on Vimeo.

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 16)

2011-12-24T17:05:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon
Season 4 (Continued)

Trio
McKay, Carter and Keller fall through into and old mining facility, trapped with the hole only
a few meters above them and in a shaky structure they attempt to escape with mixed results.
A middling episode but works due to the banter and chemistry between the characters.

Midway
Teal'c visits Atlantis to help Ronon prepare for an IOA interview, sparks fly.
Meanwhile the Wraith attack the Midway station and well the stunt guys are called to go above
and beyond. Christopher Judge guest stars. Loved this episode even though the chemistry
between the two strong and silent types was a little too forced, strangely enough when the
mist had cleared their relationship was a lot more believable.

The Kindred, Part 1
Teyla has a disturbing dream about her missing people and Keller investigates a plague that is
spreading quickly though human worlds in Pegasus. Teyla has a further vision of her babies father
leading her to believe he is still alive and is guiding her to find him.

The Kindred, Part 2
The failed resuce mission for Teyla does have it's own rewards with the unexpected discovery of
the man locked away in Michael's facility. With the information he provides and that from a
captured prisoner another mission is dispatched resulting in the rescue of the last remaining
Athosians but Michael with his prize once again escape.

The Last Man
A solar flare disrupts a wormhole and Sheppard is transported 48,000 years into the future and
it's not all wine and roses. Atlantis has been abandoned and he may be the only human left in
the galaxy but a McKay hologram has set a plan in motion to return Sheppard and armed
with foreknowledge of Michael's endgame.

Extras
Five Commentaries
Season 4 a Look Back
Deleted Scenes
Making of Trio

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 15)

2011-12-23T11:05:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon
Season 4 (Continued)

Be All My Sins Remember'd
The gangs all here and equipped with Asgard beam weaponry which proves highly effective
against Replicator ships. In a surprising move the Replicators retreat forcing a change of tactics
and a larger alliance to lay siege to their homeworld.
Michelle Morgan plays Fran the replicator in this uber CGI fest.

Spoils of War
A deserted Hive ship is found after tracking Todd's transponder.
The team eventually track him to a secret Wraith facility which is being used to clone a huge
army of new Wraith with the ZPM's and Todd's knowledge.

Quarantine
Once again the city locks everything down under a contamination threat leaving a number of people
trapped and dealing with various relationship issues and then the self destruct countdown begins.

Harmony
Sheppard and McKay agree to provide protection for a princess threatened by disloyal elements
in the court and aided by an outside power. Fun and games with the stroppy young woman.
Jodelle Ferland plays Harmony.

Outcast
Sheppard returns to Earth to attend the funeral of his father and Ronon tags along but as you
would expect there is always something that will complicate matters. This time the nano-tech
experiments on Earth have created a rogue replicator lifeform.
Kari Wuhrer guest stars as Nancy Sheppard and Emma Lahana plays Ava Dixon.

Extras
Five Commentaries
Mission Directive

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 14)

2011-12-22T18:22:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon
Season 4 (Continued)

Tabula Rasa
A virus quickly spreads thoughout the city with every one except Teyla and Ronon losing their
memories. McKay awakes tied to a desk in front of his tablet which has a press me sticker on it.
Armed with only the instructions to find Teyla he sets out to save the city.
A nicely shot episode with the lighting of the flashbacks scenes adding a lot.

Missing
Teyla and Dr Keller pay a visit to the new Athosian world but find the community deserted and
in the distance the hunting horns of a race called the Bol Aki. A well written and acted episode
for Rachell and Jewel but not one of my favourites.
Danny Trejo guest stars as the Bol Aki leader.

The Seer
Davos a "seer" is consulted about the missing Athosians but he also provides information to a
sceptical McKay accurate enough to dispell any doubts.
Due to ill health Davos is taken to Atlantis where once more a deal between the Wraith
(namely Todd) and Atlantis is being considered to combat the Replicators and Carter is given
the vision of Atlantis and the Hive being destroyed. Martin Jarvis guest stars.
What started off as a pretty "meh" episode rapidly became an excellent story.

Miller's Crossing
Jeannie Miller is kidnapped after communicating with McKay, he rushes back to Earth only to be
kidnapped himself by an industrialist desperate to save his daughter using the nanite technology.
Any reason to have Kate back is a good reason.

This Mortal Coil
A drone crashes into the city and then later self destructs. Sheppard begins to suspect something
although what exactly is a mystery to himself but digging deeper he begins to suspect Replicator
infiltration. The prophecy given by Davos is then fufilled.

Extras
Five Commentaries
Mission Directive
Bloopers

Prometheus Trailer

2011-12-22T17:42:00.002Z

It's got a look and style I could buy into but to early to tell:)

Carrot Cake

2011-12-22T16:58:00.001Z

I made some Carrot Cake today, not exactly to recipe but it's how I like it:)
The ingredients are for the most part just what you would use to make the cake but without the fancy topping although in this case a little more carrot then is required.

Carrots
Eggs
Brown Sugar
Flour (Self Raising)
Bicarb
Sunflower Oil
Cinnamon

The oil is whisked with the eggs, bicarb and sugar to make a nice thick paste which by itself is pretty much guaranteed to meet anyones daily intake of energy. Once that is done blend in the flour which makes a serious gloup then add the grated carrot and give a damn good stir.

Once everything was mixed together the resulting yumminess was poured into a lightly greased dish and then cooked for 30 minutes at 150degrees. The recipe was actually intended for microwaving but I've never really taken to cooking using that method so I went with the old tried and trusted. Now I'll be the first to admit the presentation of the final product lacks the sugary goodness of the walnut and iced topping but to me the little squares look delicious.

Carrot Cake Recipes...

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 13)

2011-12-21T16:21:00.001Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon
Season 4

Adrift
With the hyper drive shut-down Atlantis drifts through the void with power reserves continuously
dropping, repairs are essential. Meanwhile Weir is still in critical condition.

Lifeline

A jury rigged system gets the city into what could be described as a safe place but desperate
for power a crazy scheme to raid the Ausuran homeworld for a ZPM is dreamt up.
Elizabeth complete with nanites goes on the offensive.

Reunion
The new commander of Atlantis arrives and the transition is not as smooth for some as others.
Ronon finds the last few survivors of his world and well what do you know he knows them.

Doppelganger
An encounter with a form of energy seems innocent enough but the team soon begins to
experience disturbing nightmares and soon it spreads amongst the cities inhabitants.
A well received "dark" episode, quite violent for this show.

Travelers
Sheppard is captured by a hyperspace capable space faring race, the intend to used him to engineer
an interface to control Ancient hardware but he breaks out and a cat mouse game begins.
Jill Wagner (Blade:Series & Teen Wolf) guest stars as the alien commander

Extras
Five Commentaries
Mission Directive
Amanda Tapping A New Leader

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 12)

2011-12-20T18:35:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 3 (Continued)

The Ark
The discovery of a time capsule which contains the last survivors of a culled world
is a cause for celebration until heartbreak and regrets lead to the crippling of
it's support system. The team are trapped in a decaying orbit desperate for esacape
and if possible to save the thousand souls. Not a great episode but the set design is wonderful,
it's filmed in such a way it looks absolutely huge and every room is dressed as a feast to the eye.

Sunday
A sanctioned day off the inhabitants of Atlantis, Carson is busy trying to last minute
organise his fishing trip to the mainland but everyone seems to be embrassing other
activites many of which only occur because it's the first official day or rest.
The final Rodney and McKay scene had me, bastards!

Submersion
The discovery of a Wraith vessel deep in the ocean whilst searching for a drilling rig
awakes the Wraith ships occupant, Teyla is the first to recognise the threat they are
under even if McKay refuses to accept her assurances.

Vengeance
After losing contact with the survivors of the Taranian people (S2e19) Sheppard and
co visit the planet but find the settlement deserted but then detect a single life
form deep into the tunnels beneath the settlement. The discovery of the dead Taranians
and the creature responsible has the team fighting for their lives and an even greater
threat appears. A wonderfully dark episode, not only in terms of sets and atmosphere
but the brutal research being undertaken and the resulting monstrosity.

First Strike
Faced with the Asuran building ships in large numbers the newly built Apollo nukes
the ship building facilities and in response a planet killer weapon arrives in orbit
above Atlantis. A top notch season finale with guest stars Jewel Staite and Michael Beach
and a really imaginative Asuran weapon.

Extras
Five Commentaries
Mission Directive
Season 3 A Look back

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 11)

2011-12-19T22:12:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 3 (Continued)

The Return, Part 2

Atlantis is under the control of the replicators and standing orders for a Foothold
situation is the desturction of the city. Sheppard and his team disobey orders and
mount a resuce mission for Jack and Woolsey and to save the city.
An excellent conclusion to the two parter, Jack is at his heroic best and the writing
is exceptionally good.

Echoes
Disturbances within the force, the magnetic force causes halluciantions which leads
to the discovery of apredictable flaw in the output of the Lantean star one which
with a 3 zpm powered shield would not be a problem.
A very interesting idea combining the technology and the organic elements of this world.

Irresponsible
Lucius (Richard Kind) is back and as to be expected mayhem insues especially when koyla
pops by for a visit. Fantasy Garden World was used for the village.

Tao of Rodney
Whilst shutting down systems to save energy Rodney comes across a Ancient experiment
which zaps him while he is messing with the controls. He seems ok until he gains
mental powers which allows him to read minds, use telekinesis and other abilities.
A true McKay episode:)

The Game
A seemingly innocent computer game has unforetold ramifications when it turns out
the game is actually real and the inhabitants of a far away world are subject to the
whims of those that play it. Laura Harris stars as Nola and David Dayan Fisher as Baden.
Now this was a very clever episode.

Extras
Five Commentaries
Mission Directive
Masters of the Alien

Earth's Final Hours (Review Some Spoilers)

2011-12-19T11:23:00.000Z

Earth's Final Hours
Directed by David Hogan
Written by

David Ray
Robert Westcott
Rachelle S Howie

Starring

Earth's Final Hours premiered on the US Syfy channel on the 17th of December
with I have to say some positive expectations as it's still rather rare to
find a movie in this genre/market with what amounts to a rather good cast.
Robert Knepper is a mainstream TV/Movie actor with scifi chops having recently
done The Day the Earth Stood Still and Stargate Universe and Julia Benson
a regular in Canadian scifi productions has a recurring role in SGU.
The movie has a reported budget of $1.8 million which is respectable
for a movie in this genre and market and it's all on the screen, I doubt a cent
was wasted.

Earth's Final Hours has a fairly generic base plot, the planet suffers an event
often man made but this time totally not of our making, normally we have very clever
and rather arrogant scientists doing something silly with the fabric of scientific law
and then are surprised when it all goes to hell. In this case a celestial event
influences the rotation of the Earth with the final result being a locked world with
one half red hot and the other ice cold with a small "green" band in between that
could be viable.
A federal agency then looks to cover up the impending doom while searching out the
technology in an attempt to fix the failing magnetic field which will then protect
the last life within this green zone.
Complications arise when a group of scientists, agents and friends/family are trying
to save the whole planet using this same technology so the race is on.
Ultimately we have the good guys racing the bad guys to achieve a goal which in this
case has you scratching your head as to why there is a problem but again you've got to give
the plot some leeway and go with the characters and the circumstances they find themselves in.
If you end up rooting for the good guys then the writer/director have done their job even more
so if you cheer the demise of the bad guys and in this case the movie does deliver.

Ok lets look at some of the plot issues.
While the existence of a White Hole has yet to be proved I guess it's
not totally outlandish.
However while the cause of the planets problem can be accepted I found
the result rather perplexing, not quite sure how being hit by hyper dense
fast moving matter would affect our magnetic field enough to cause it's
failure and reduce the rotation of the planet but few scifi movies survive
scientific examination so lets not go there.
Why the original project was shelved and one of the lead scientists forced
into hiding and the other under lock and key was harder to explain.
They went with the militarisation of the technology but it's ridiculous to
think only two people were involved with the project or the theory behind
White Holes and the threat was never published. Of course if the whole
world don't notice or it has no impact on events in the movie as the Earth's
rotation slows then you have to accept almost anything.
What is also perplexing is that the use of this satellite based technology had
yet to be proved to the point where it could kick start the magnetic field and
protect just a strip of land circling the globe.
In reality the goal of Streich and Edwards (Kneeper and Benson) was just as valid
and had the benefit of saving the whole world rather than a small part yet it
seemed one maybe two agents were deciding the fate of 6 billion people just in
the hopes of saving the current US political system and the rich and powerful.
I have a fundamental issue with the whole save the government idea during a global
disaster, politicians are needed to support a society, you can not have a society
based on an unproductive group thus the dice should have been rolled on
saving the planet not the current administration.
I guess that's one of the beauties of the disaster "b" movie plots, they don't
always make good sense but they do set up the conflict required to generate
good guys and bad guys.

Production Thoughts.
Right from the word go this movie looked good, the cinematography was excellent
with some beautiful location shooting and good solid CGI both of which can eat
up money if the producer/director is not careful. There were a couple of shots/scenes
that obviously needed another month and a few thousand dollars investment but
I've said the same whilst watching a $200 mill movie. The acting was overall very good,
Robert Knepper pretty much always brings his A game he's just the sort of actor but
it was a delight to see Julia Benson getting a meaty role, we never did get enough of
her on SGU. Supporting roles from Bruce Davison, Michael Kopsa and Roark Critchlow
all added weight to the story as all three are solid working actors and even the
younger cast members Cameron Bright and Julia Maxwell were ok portraying the more
unlikely characters. All in all an excellent cast which made the most of the script
and there were no obvious unbelievable characters or poor acting, everything worked.

I can highly recommend this movie, it's not going to appeal to some people who will never accept any
flaw in a plot or those who are not into the disaster flicks but for the rest of us Earth's Final Hours
stands head and shoulders above the majority of movies aimed at the same market both paid for by
Syfy or from one of the many independent producers.

Official Website

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 10)

2011-12-19T00:59:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 3 (Continued)

The Real World
Weir is back on earth and in a mential facility having to deal with her breakdown
and belief she has spent the last couple of years in another galaxy.
Not my favourite style of story but it did have Richard Dean Anderson and
Alan Ruck so not all bad.

Common Ground
John is captures by Koyla and while John is imprisoned he's fed upon by a Wraith but
over time an unlikely alliance is formed by the two enemies.
Christopher Heyerdahl guest stars.

McKay and Mrs. Miller
It's all in the family as Mckay gets a visit from his sister and collaborate
on an energy generation experiment with unexpected results.
Amanada Tapping and Kate Hewlett guest star.

Phantoms
The bodies of long dead Genii are found on a world where a Atlantis team has
gone missing, they do turn up but seem unable to recognise Sheppard and company.
Soon everyone starts to see people and things are not there and then it's fight
for survival.

The Return, Part 1
The intergalactic gate bridge is being tested and in the depths of space a ship
travelling near light speed is discovered. The crew of the ship then evict the
pesky humans from Atlantis which then comes under attack from the replicators.
Now this is a thrill a minute episode and comes complete with Richard Dean Anderson
and Robert Picardo, what's more it's a two parter:)

Extras
Five Commentaries
Mission Directives
Genera O'Neill goes to Atlantis

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 9)

2011-12-17T13:17:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 3 (continued)

No Man's Land
The season premiere kicks off from where the season ended, the aftermath of the battle between the
Dadealus and the two Hive ships. A desperate order is given to pursue the Hives and engage despite
both of them not being battle ready and to complicate things Weir is ordered back to Earth to brief
the IOA.

Misbegotten
With the captured Hive ship under going analyst the prisoners are being held on another world dosed
up on the Wraith anti-viral drug but as before it's ability to keep them unaware of who and what they
are is over estimated.

Irresistible
While searching for unused Stargates the team come across a small but tidy villiage with an many
mighty fine looking women including SGU's very own Julia Benson (Vanessa James). The cause
of this is one very unlikely "hero" called Lucius (Richard Kind) who seems to be loved by everyone
and eventually that includes the Atlantis personnel all except Sheppard.
A funny episode, Richard is fantastic as I guess the Harry Mudd of Stargate.

Sateda
Ronon is taken prisoner after visiting a village he had passed through when he was a Runner.
He is once again taken by the Wraith and returned to his homeworld of Sateda there is be the
game in one final hunt for his captors.
A good solid action episode adding to Ronon's backstory, some good McKay humour as well.

Progeny
An intact fully populated Ancient city, too good to be true?
Well of course it is, nothing is ever that easy in the Pegasus galaxy.

Extras
Five Commentaries
Two Mission Directives
Inside the VFX Department
Rachel Luttrell Profile

Arctic Air (CBC Drama)

2011-12-17T10:27:00.000Z

Premiering Jan 10th 2012 on CBC is Arctic Air a drama series which looks like it's drawn it's inspiration from the couple of reality type shows which have followed the small airline/airfreight operations that fly in and out of some of the most inhospitable regions on the plant.

Arctic Air

There are a few familiar faces in the show especially for the genre fan...

Emilie Ullerup
Leah Gibson
Pascale Hutton
Kevin McNulty
and quite a few more than have featured in Canadian/US produced genre programming

Christmas Goodies

2011-12-16T13:47:00.001Z

At last the seasonal christmas goodies have arrived, I only treat myself once a year but for a week or so pass me another bottle and keep 'em coming:)

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 8)

2011-12-16T13:33:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 2 Continued

The Long Goodbye
The discovery of two escape pods in orbit around a distant world lead to Weir and Sheppard
playing host to the final few days of two personality imprints. Claiming to be man and wife
the truth is only revealed when the shooting starts.

Coup D'etat
Teams start to vanish and Major Lorne and his are believed to be dead but investigations reveal
a much darker agenda and meanwhile the Genii are offering a ZPM in exchange for weapons with
which to pull off a coup and put a new government in charge.
Colm Meaney reprises his role as Cowen and Laden is played by Ryan Robbins (Sanctuary).

Michael
The Wraith retro-virus is tested on a captured Wraith with very promising results but the folly
and arrogance of such a plan is shown when the prisoners memories and desires start to return.
The first episode in what will become a pivotal plot for the rest of the series.
Connor Trinneer (Enterprise) guest stars as Michael.

Inferno
Coming to the aid of the Taranian people who are having issues with their Ancient based defence
shield Mckay discovers that the geo-thermal energy used to power the shield is putting extreme
pressure which is pushing the super volcano to the point of eruption and that is a planet killer.
Brandy Ledford guest stars as Norina with Kevin McNulty as Lycus.

Allies
A Wraith Hive ship tracked for the last month arrives in orbit above Atlantis bringing a surprise
visitor. Faced with a new opportunity the two enemies agree to pool their resources with the goal
to convert Wraith into humans for the remainder to feed upon reducing the overall numbers and
creating a new balance in the galaxy.
Andee Frizzell once again plays a Wraith Queen.
A traditional oh my god SG season cliffhanger.

Extras
Five Commentaries
Paul McGillion Profile
Road To A Dream (Martin Gero)

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 7)

2011-12-15T12:51:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 2 Continued

The Hive
Prisoners on board the Hive ship so much for Ford's brilliant planning. Faced with interrogation,
torture and betrayl the future looks very bleak as does the people of the world about to be culled.
A good conclusion to this two parter, stunning CGI and some interesting tweaks to the
Wraith mythology.

Epiphany
A protected society becomes the home for Sheppard when he is unable to pass back through
it's barrier. Time moves on and months later he had accepted the world he now lives in and
even protects the village from the beast that preys on these people but his friends have not
given upon resucing him either. An interesting story or acceptance and community with the
Ancient angle fleshing out their back story.

Critical Mass
The Trust/Goa'uld infiltrate Atlantis with the intent to destory it and make sure they Wraith
are unable to encroach on the Milky Way.
Who is the mole, someone on base or someone on the Deadalus?

Grace Under Pressure
A repaired jumper is taken for a test flight and crashes in the middle of the ocean.
McKay is trapped as it sinks into the depths and his head injury leads to some interesting
conversations with himself and a version of Sam.
Wonderful epiosde with Amanada Tapping guest starring.

The Tower
A socity controlled by a small elite with access to Ancient technology captures the team with
the intent to gain access to genetic element that Sheppard posesses to contine the ruling blood line.
Peter Woodward (Crusade) and Jay Brazeau (SG1) guest star.

Extras
Five Commentaries
David Hewlett Profile
Stunts

Farscape Blu-rays

2011-12-14T23:34:00.001Z

I got my Farscape Blu-ray boxset today and by co-incidence a half decent camera, the lack of quality in the photos is no longer down to dodgy hardware but the lack of skill on my part:)
I picked up the boxset for £57 from Amazon UK fully aware of the short comings of this release but I did the math and considered the price reasonable.

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 6)

2011-12-14T22:26:00.001Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 2 Continued

Trinity
The discovery of a dead world surrounded by the wrecks of Wraith Hive ships leads to the
discovery of a powerful weapon powered by an advanced Ancient energy generation system.
Mckay gets the go ahead to continue the experiment and his arrogance leads him into doing
something stupid. A "b" plot follows Teyla and Ronon on a trading mission which is used to
explore some of his backstory.
An excellent episode highlighting the weak elements of some of our main characters.

Instinct
A low tech world and people are terrorised by what seems to be a Wraith which survived a crash
a decade previously. Offering their help the team enter the woods and find a young Wraith female
too young to have been part of the massacre ten years ago and her existence revels more about the
world and the people.
A nice episode, touching in some respects and Jewel Staite first appearance on SGA.

Conversion
Sheppards injury from the previous episode flares up and slowly his DNA is rewritten with elements
of the Iratus bug. A risky medical procedure is undertaken by Carson with the prime ingredients only
being found on the Iratus homeworld and so the mission is on to find and claim the
necessary components.

Aurora
With long range sensors back on line a long missing Ancient warship is identified in deep space.
The Daedalus is sent to rendezvous but the ship is dead and the crew in long term cryo-storage but
their brains are active and interfaced with the ship which allows them to "live" in a artificial reality.
This is a cracking episode, the Aurora is not a pretty ship but the interior is clean and sharp
befitting the Ancients and what a great idea to have the crew not aware of what had happended
these last 10,000 years.
Pascale Hutton (Sanctuary) plays First Officer Trebal, looks great in a uniform:)

The Lost Boys
The team are ambushed by Ford and his men all juiced up on the Wraith enzyme. Desperate to
convince them that the drug is nothing but a positive they are exposed and then the plan to attack
a Hive ship is revealed, first of a two part story.
Welcome back Ford who has got far more interesting since he went "dark" and a good story
for his character.

Extras
Mission Directives
Five Commentaries
Introduction to Ronon Dex

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 5)

2011-12-13T23:44:00.000Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

Season 2

The Siege (Part 3)
The battle for Atlantis continues with the first round won thanks to the nuclear option and the
arrival of the Daedalus which then takes the fight to another incoming Wraith Fleet. Lt Ford is
under the influence of the Wraith hormone and and a wild and risky gambit is taken to save the day.

The Intruder
On route back to Atlantis mysterious accidents and deaths occur leading to the discovery of an
insidious stowaway on board the Daedalus. McKay and Hermoid are on the case, humour ensues:)
It's not the first time this plot has been used in the franchise but it's done well and the characters
involved work well together, the use of flashbacks also adds a lot of weight to the story.

Runner
Finding evidence of Lt Ford's handy work on another world Sheppard and Teyla are captured by
Ronon Dex a "runner" released by the Wraith for their sporting pleasure.
With little trust between them and Ford and pretty much everyone else it's all treading on egg
shells and then the Wraith arrive.
An excellent episode full of action and humour and a good story to introduce Ronon (Jason Momoa).

Duet
Now this is an out and out funny episode.
McKay and Cadman (Jaime Ray Newman) are zapped up by a Dart which is then shot down.
Zelenka retrieves one of the patterns which turns out to be McKay but Cadman's
spirit/soul/personality is now sharing his brain and body.
An absolutely brilliant episode with Claire Rankin as McKay's love interest:)

Condemned
A world with high technology has the potential to be a good trading partner despite their use of
prisoners to sacrifice to the Wraith a tradition that has been going on for centuries. Trapped on
this prison Island where the Stargate is positioned the team has to battle the inhabitants unaware
that they are on the menu for the local Wraith commander.
The story required a lot of leeway from the viewer but it didn't turn out to bad.

Extras
Mission Directives
Five Commentaries

Star Peace the George Takei Way

2011-12-12T19:24:00.000Z

Men In Black 3 Trailer

2011-12-12T16:17:00.002Z

Looks promising despite Will looking like a real live airbrushed dude:)

Fall of Cybertron (Trailer)

2011-12-12T15:56:00.000Z

Can't help but feel something it missing, scantily clad bimbo I guess:)

Stargate Altlantis, this says it all:)

2011-12-11T11:41:00.001Z

Radak Zelenka in Letters from Pegasus.

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part 4)

2011-12-11T10:06:00.001Z

Stargate Atlantis Marathon Disk 4

Season 1 (continued)

The Brotherhood
Armed with gate co-ordinates to a number of worlds that should contain a ZPM the team
visits the world of Dagan. The ZPM had been protected 10000 years ago by an order of monks
who were then culled by the Wraith so armed with only clues to it's location a treasure hunt is
undertaken but unknown to them the search reaches the ears of the Genii.

Letters from Pegasus
With the arrival of a Wraith fleet just a couple of weeks away Sheppard and Teyla go on a
recon mission while back on Atlantis McKay works out how to get a message to Earth and
with 1.3 seconds of digital data personal messages can be included. This is brilliant episode,
we see the Wraith in full culling mode as well as some of the major and minor characters
expressing themselves to the camera, some are very funny and others moving.

The Gift
Teyla is having trouble sleeping and is more troubled than those around her by the arrival
of the Wraith. She visits her people on the mainland to get advice from an elder and hears stories
of her ancestors including tales of some who were taken and then returned. Armed with this
knowledge she attempts to make telepathic contact with a Wraith but finds their minds too powerful.
A mixed episode, yes they had to lay the ground work for the revelation with Teyla but the suspicion
and threats were a little too telegraphed, that aside building nicely to the finale.

The Siege (Part 1)
McKay and Grogin (Craig Veroni) go to the weapons platform with the intent to repair it as it will
be in the path of the Hive ships when they enter the solar system, as they know it is dead
(from the last war) they will not be expecting the ambush. Meanwhile back on Atlantis the search for
a Wraith is under way and work towards a reliable self destruct method is devised.

The Siege (Part 2)
The Wraith are knocking on the door but events in the Milky Way have allowed for re-enforcements
to arrive armed with heavy weapons and nukes with which to put up a viable point defence of Atlantis.
Of course the Wraith were smart enough to handle the Ancients and it's little arrogant for Earthlings
to expect to win this battle but the stand has to be made.
The Siege parts 1 & 2 are an excellent conclusion to the first season, we get lots of action, CGI
which would not look out of place in the theatre and a few surprises and if combine them with
Rising 1 & 2 and you have top quality bookends for the season.

Extras
Mission Directives
Four Commentaries
Season 1 Review

Stargate Atlantis Marathon Part 3

2011-12-10T17:24:00.001Z

Stargate Atlantis Blu-ray Disk 3

Season 1 (continued)

The Eye
The conclusion to the The Storm as the battle for Atlantis continues now becalmed in the
eye of the storm. Sheppard aided by the return of a jumper from the mainland continues
the war to attrition with Koyla which has rapidly become personal. Who is going to blink first?
Another cracking episode, top notch performances and full use made of the standing sets.

The Defiant One
A jumper journey to a planet on the far side of the solar system leads to two discoveries.
The first is an Ancient weapons platform which looks undamaged but powered down and the
second a crashed Warith vessel which holds one very nasty surprise.
This was quite a good character episode both for Sheppard and McKay and shows how
resourceful the Wraith can be.

Hot Zone
Whilst exploring Atlantis a number of people seem to become infected and start hallucinating
until their brains pop. Faced with a potential outbreak the city is locked down and we see the first
dissent shown by Sheppard to Weir which leads to more problems when the city itself expands
the lock down due to this mysterious contagion.

Sanctuary
Under fire from Wraith Darts the team are running for their lives when a huge energy sphere
from a planet wipes the Wraith out but leaves the jumper intact. Investigating the planet they
discover the temple of Athar and the priestess Chaya/Sar played by Leonor Varela who
accepts the invitation to visit Atlantis.
Sanctuary is a good episode, very much in the spirit of classic SG1 combining action,
humour and a dose of relationships/ethics to create a good story.

Before I Sleep
The discovery of a woman in Ancient hibernation poses some questions and the answers are
not what anyone expected.
The franchise never seems to make a poor time travel episode and this one really works as it
offers up an alternative set of results for when the expedition arrives at Atlantis. It's also
interesting in to what we see of the Ancients as they were before Ascending including
a couple of familiar faces.

Extras
Mission Directives
Four Commentaries

Stargate Atlantis Marathon (Part2)

2011-12-10T10:35:00.001Z

Season 1 (continued)

Childhood's End
A mysterious malfunction leads the team to a society where everyone us young and when
reaching 25 years of age the people take their own lives in the belief that the sacrifice is
helping to keep the Wraith away. Given leave to repair the jumper the team struggle with
the desire to prove Ancient technology is the reason the kids are safe not the sacrifice but
when McKay removes the ZPM the Wraith are on their way.
This episode was a little too cliched for my liking although nice to see Courtenay J Stevens
who has appeared in SG1.

Poisoning the Well
On the planet of Hoff the people continuously rebuild their society after a Wraith culling
thanks to depositories of knowledge carefully hidden along with the secret of a compound
believed when developed to make them immune to the being harvested by the Wraith. Carson
adds his expertise to the research and the drug is created and tested but has a worrying result
which could make this world a prime target for destruction not feeding.
This was a good episode, some nice twists and turns coupled with ethical issues.

Underground
A peaceful agricultural community hides a dark secret.
This is the episode we meet the Genii who play a major part in the early adventures in the
Pegasus galaxy as well as giving us two excellent protagonists in the shape of
Cowen (Colm Meaney) and the yet unseen Kolya.

Home
A huge energy field surrounds a Stargate on a dark and dank world.
McKay believes the gate can tap this energy and once setup be able to dial an Eight symbol
address and connect to the gate on Earth. This is achieved and a number of Atlantis personnel
return to home but something is not quite right.
This was a very imaginative episode and great to see some familiar faces from SG1.

The Storm
A huge hurricane/cyclone is heading towards Atlantis which has no shield protection but a crazy
idea using the lightening is used as an excuse to get 99% of the people out of the city and
leave a token few onboard who then have to defend the city from an incursion by the Genii led
by koyla (Robert Davi).
A cracking episode combining a good story, lots of action and tense situations.

Extras
Wraith Doc
Rainbow Sun Francks
Two Commentaries

Stargate Atlantis Marathon

2011-12-09T17:47:00.001Z

Stargate Atlantis (Disk 1 Blu-ray)

Season 1

Rising (Parts 1 & 2)
The discoveries made at the Artic facility lead the SGC to identify the location the Ancients
travelled to from Earth and with a Gate address an expedition is formed for what could be a
one way mission.
On arrival a desperate need for an energy source has them gating to a planet where they meet
the native peoples and by bad luck or carelessness wake a Wraith Queen and her Hive.
An excellent series premiere with a solid guest performance from Robert Patrick and a story
that got into it's stride very quickly and set up the "world" we will be sharing with them.

Hide & Seek
McKay under goes the Gene therapy to allow him to use Ancient tech and in what sets the tone
for his adventures it doesn't quite go according to plan and more complications arise with an
intruder in the city.
A weak episode but I guess they are still finding their feet.

Thirty Eight Minutes
A puddle jumper gets stuck in an active gate, with only 38 minutes before the gate shuts down
and chops the jumper in half decisions and sacrifices have to be made. Complicating matters
is the issue with Sheppard who has an alien "bug" embedded around his neck slowly killing him.
A classic genre trope with a definitive timeframe to solve a problem, always works well.

Suspicion
The Wraith continue to appear as if by magic on worlds the team visits. Suspicion falls on Telya's
people and they are restricted in their movements causing upset and conflict.
Sheppard discovers the mainland and the Wraith get a nasty surprise.

Extras
Three commentaries
On the Set tour

The series kicked off very strong, Rising is a top notch pilot although drawing on events
from SG1 certainly helps matters. The next three episodes did not reach the same level
but they do have to handle the world setup and that's tricky to do whilst maintaining a
solid arc narrative so they get some leeway from me:)
I also got chills when the theme kicked in, excellent piece of music and hadn't heard it
since the series finale nearly 3 years ago.

Earth's Final Hours

2011-12-07T18:04:00.001Z

I've been waiting for this movie ever since reading about it on Julia Benson's blog earlier in the year.
The trailer certainly looks impressive and along with Julia the ever faithful Robert Knepper also stars.

Camel Spiders (Review)

2011-12-06T23:09:00.001Z

Camel Spiders (2011)
New Horizon Pictures Corp
Directed by Jim Wynorski

Starring...
Brian Krause
C Thomas Howell

What can you say about Camel Spiders that would do it justice:)
Well what we have is a fairly generic plot with ravenous beasts out to get both civilian and military personnel the former comprising of the usual mix of idiots, bad guys and those that maybe deserve to be saved but only a few will make it. Yes it's a by the numbers formula but nothing really wrong with that because we know exactly what we are getting with this sort of production and with a half a million dollar budget you ain't going to get much these days.
So the plot, Captain Sturges fresh from combat in the middle east returns home with the body of one of his men which contains a number of the Camel Spiders which after an accident get loose and start their reign of terror. One group who have a running battle with the Spiders is a bunch of "young" people on a get away in the desert another are the patrons of a diner who split over the hour and comprise family, the bad guys looking to develop the town and the usual bunch of red shirts.

I don't think I need to go into any more detail because any experience of these movies will pretty much leave you well suited to handle the plot, script and acting in the movie. My biggest bugbear was the use of CGI gun muzzle flashes (very common in lower budget shows) and the opening battle scene which was very amateurish yet the Camel Spiders themselves were pretty well done.

Overall Camel Spiders was a lot of fun for it's type, I've got to give that proviso because it's made at a price point with all the limitations that imposes.
Give it a go, for a "B" monster movie it's not bad at all.

Katie Goodman "I Didn't F*ck It Up" NSFW

2011-12-04T18:37:00.001Z

Flash Gordon

2011-12-03T13:51:00.001Z

The Sam Jones movie was on ITV4HD this week and made me wonder why I didn't own this classic piece of movie history on Blu-ray. A quick trip to a few online sites and I found the standard release was only £5.99 but the Steelbook with CD soundtrack was only £11.99 so that's the version I bought.

Amanda Tapping (Space Milkshake)

2011-12-01T22:30:00.001Z

Space Milkshake

2011-11-30T22:29:00.001Z

Really don't know what to make of this yet but looks promising regardless:)

Felicia Day plays Dragon Age

2011-11-29T16:30:00.001Z

Hilarious stuff:)

Kindle Fire - Tekzilla

2011-11-22T20:14:00.001Z

Anna Torv as a sexy cop

2011-11-22T19:02:00.001Z

See all the CollegeHumor Original Videos here.

Metal Tornado Review

2011-11-19T23:47:00.000Z

Metal Tornado is a Canadian scifi action movie which makes full use of the benefits of shooting north of the border in terms of representing the US on screen. I've read a few reviews that criticise the inappropriate or unrealistic city scapes and locations used and labelled as being in the United States (Ottowa/Ontario for Pennsylvania etc) but from outside looking in the lack of "well known" landmarks I had no issues accepting the movie slight of hand.
A quick recap of the plot, a clean energy project using solar flare particles collectors in orbit which then process and beam microwaved energy to a ground station where it is then stored in huge capacity arrays for distribution runs into a few problems. The stubbornness of the corporate bosses and their lap dogs results in the problems being glossed over despite the side effects of huge amounts of energy going missing leads to catastrophic results and even more worrying there are multiple storage sites around the world.
Lou Diamond Phillips and Nicole de Boer are if you will the good guys in the movie combining the scientific and action abilities required in this rather generic plot. Greg Evigan hams it up wonderfully as the boss of the project who refuses to see the connection between the experiments and resulting tornado and there are a number of familiar faces in support roles something which is common in Canadian productions more so around Vancouver.

Official Site

I'll admit I am a huge "b" movie fan and that extends from the out and out cheap as chips theatrical stuff from the golden era of scifi movies right through to the made for tv and straight to dvd scif/fantasy flicks which we get today. Yes many of them are wonderfully bizarre and freaky at times and always rely on the viewer to suspend their disbelief to a significant extent and Metal Tornado is no different. That said there is nothing really wrong with the idea behind this method of energy generation nor the side effects created with the flawed technology and combine that with well known corporate decision making you've got a plot that for me works very well.
There are one or two characters you kinda scratch your head at along with the choice of locales to destroy and and the mixture of solid acting and the occasional amateur efforts niggle but again not uncommon with these movies kinda makes everything feel normal. A movie within this sort of budget range is expected to have obvious flaws so what is totally unacceptable in a 8 figure production is perfectly fine here and thus why worry about little things:)

There is a genre out there that if you sit down with a certain expectation you will come away happy, Metal Tornado firmly sits in one such genre and in truth it's a good example of this type of movie, recommended for any fan of cheap and cheerful disaster/scifi movies.

Pixar's "Brave" Trailer

2011-11-17T10:21:00.001Z

Firefly

2011-11-16T07:55:00.000Z

Now isn't that just a beautiful piece of artwork or concept drawing for what could have been an interesting and viable way to extend the franchise beyond the failed live action avenues. The art was a commissioned work created by Otis Frampton so there is someone out there who deserves the credit for just wanting this on their wall and of course Otis for working his magic with Joss's creations.

There is also a U-Stream video...

Video streaming by Ustream

Trek Nation

2011-11-15T09:19:00.001Z

The documentary gets it's world premiere on the 30th of this month on The Science Channel.

Strippers Vs Werewolves Trailer

2011-11-10T16:52:00.001Z

Mongrels "Shaun of the Dead" Parody

2011-11-08T19:21:00.002Z

Welcome back to one hilarious piece of television:)

Rage of the Yeti

2011-11-06T01:22:00.000Z

Rage of the Yeti premieres on the 12th over on the US Syfy channel. Directed by the one and only David Hewlett.

Troll Bridge - Teaser

2011-11-06T00:33:00.000Z

Really looking forward to this production, delighted to have been part of the funding effort through Kickstarter.

FEARnet Vicious Circle HD Horror

2011-10-29T08:39:00.001+01:00

Probably the most perfect cast photo ever!

2011-10-25T16:11:00.001+01:00

Netflix

2011-10-24T16:25:00.000+01:00

In maybe not a surprising turn of events Netflix have officially announced they will enter the UK and Ireland markets in 2012. Now given the events in their primary US market then tapping smaller maybe less expensive regions makes a lot of sense although given that SKY, BT and VM all stream movies for their subscribers and Amazon and Lovefilm have standalone services you wonder if the price of UK Netflix will be viable. Of course to the customer it may bring a price war or fragment the market as rights go to one company and not another, we'll see how it all pans out.

Netflix

Spiderman (Uber Body Paint)

2011-10-24T16:20:00.003+01:00

Now this is just a work of art make no mistake, image courtesy of TeamCTF.

Chronicle Trailer

2011-10-22T10:21:00.001+01:00

I really like the look of this, ok three young idiots who you may not really like but I'm sure the overall arc will be very entertaining.

Piranha 3DD Trailer

2011-10-20T17:23:00.000+01:00

Some nice one liners in the trailer and well come on boobs, blood and humour is all you want from this sort of movie although looks even thinner story wise than the last one:)

Dan Wheldon

2011-10-17T00:04:00.000+01:00

I was watching the Indycar race from Las Vegas this evening and a terrible crash has robbed us of one of the great drivers of recent years. Dan Wheldon a two time Indy 500 winner and 2005 series champion died due to traumatic injuries sustained when his car got airborne and hit the catch fencing which is mainly designed to protect the fans.
Dan has been a great champion for the series and the sport having been embraced in the US despite not getting the recognition he deserved in his homeland such is the dominance of F1 but he left his mark and unfortunately also a wife and two children.

Washington Post

BBC News

Mail Online

Avengers Trailer

2011-10-11T17:34:00.000+01:00

Bloody brilliant trailer to what should be a cracking scifi action adventure movie with well written and performed characters.

Drones

2011-10-08T13:43:00.002+01:00

Loved it but finding it difficult to legally watch this movie in the UK.

"Michael" -- PS3 Long Live Play

2011-10-05T16:38:00.001+01:00

This is just so impressive.

Guy On A Buffalo

2011-10-01T20:07:00.001+01:00

Total quality:)

Puss In Boots Trailer

2011-09-24T11:26:00.001+01:00

Supernatural Marathon Season 6 Part 2

2011-09-23T21:37:00.000+01:00

S6E12 "Like A Virgin"
The vents of the last year are kept secret from the new Sam and the boys go on the hunt
for Dragons who are targeted the pure maidens of the town. So so episode but Dean with
the sword was fun.

S6E13 "Unforgiven"
Sam starts to have flashbacks of his time on the road and then realises the town they are
in is one he had worked before and pretty much banged every wife there and assaulted a deputy.
Not a good episode but has it's place in the arc

S6E14 "Mannequin 3: The Reckoning"
A spirit is using avatars to kill men who hold a dark secret. The B plot is the continued
collapse of Dean's brief lapse into normalcy with Lisa and Ben but not enough to make
the episode worthwhile.

S6E15 "The French Mistake"
Absolutely fantastic episode as the brothers are sent into an alternate reality by Balthazar
in which the show Supernatural is real and there are no demons of angels. The brothers have
to find their feet and fight off a demon with no special powers who follows them into this world.

S6E16 "...And Then There Were None"
Samuel and Gwen find themselves tracking Eve along with Sam and Dean but one of her children
has set it's sight on them and who can you trust?

S6E17 "My Heart Will Go On"
Another excellent episode as Balthazar decides to prevent the Titanic from sinking and derail
Fate which changes the world. Ellen and Jo are still alive, there was no Titanic movie or mega
hit theme song but Castiel is faced with the choice of Dean and Sam against the souls of saved.

S6E18 "Frontierland"
A discovery into the weapon needed to fight Eve is Phoenix ash and an old journal from Samuel
Colt has him killing one back in the day, cue time travel and the boys go back to the wild west.
A fun episode with a clever twist.

S6E19 "Mommy Dearest"
Eve is located and we have the grand gesture as the brothers go after her but she has been around
and easily turns the tables on the brothers and then reveals why she is there and who she is going
after. A good episode as events unfold and home truths are revealed.

S6E20 "The Man Who Would Be King"
A great episode with Misha able to really stretch his talents as Castiel tells his own story and how
he got himself into this situation. Perhaps the highlight of the season.

S6E21 "Let It Bleed"Crowley kidnaps Lisa and Ben to put pressure on Dean to stay out the way, Castiel has forbidden the
demon from going after Dean so obviously friends are the logical next step. Meanwhile Bobby is tracking
down a source for information on Purgatory and the two stories make for a good episode.

S6E22 "The Man Who Knew Too Much"
Sam's memories return as the wall to his soul falls and faced with his decisions he collapses and has
to work his way through it through interaction with a living memory in the form of Robin (Erica Cerra).
Castiel and Crowley faced eachother down with Raphael stepping in but it's too late and Purgatory has
been found and a new God is proclaimed.

The sixth season got off to a slow start, it was a little disjointed as they all found their feet but a few episodes in the well oiled machine really started to hum. There were some duff episodes but there were also some top notch episodes but the finale really wasn't the intense ride I think we deserved but you can't argue about the quality of the Cas/Crowley scenes.

Roll on season 7 which premieres in the US tonight (23rd).

Supernatural Marathon Season 6 Part 1

2011-09-22T18:00:00.002+01:00

S6E1 "Exile on Main St."
Dean now living a normal life with Lisa & Ben is drawn back into the hunting game when targeted
for revenge and Sam then turns up. As a season opener there are issues mainly down to creating
an arc when the show was geared up for 5 seasons but it's a reasonable start.

S6E2 "Two and a Half Men"
Babies are going missing after their parents are butchered and when investigating the guys
discover at least one child was conceived while the "father" wasn't even in town.

S6E3 "The Third Man"
The Angels are back in force as a civil war is waged with Castiel one one side and Raphael
on the other. Meanwhile an angelic weapon is loose on earth and an Balthazar (Sebastian Roché)
an old friend of Cas is implicated.

S6E4 "Weekend at Bobby's"
Lots of fun as we see the day to day grind and mild highlight of Bobby's life from burying
a vampire to breaking into the local library and torturing a demon while flirting with the neighbour.

S6E5 "Live Free or Twihard"
It's vampire time as the show takes the proverbial out of the Twilight craze and with a twist we see
a side of Sam that is certainly worrying and downright dangerous.

S6E6 "You Can't Handle the Truth"
The truth can kill even more so when a goddess is involved but it's the catalyst for Sam and Dean
to open up to eachother even if neither one is happy with the results.
Serinda Swan plays Veritas.

S6E7 "Family Matters"
Sam and Dean with the remaining Campbell clan go after the Alpha Vampire and they capture him yet
lie to Dean's face and claim they burnt it there and then. Tracking them done they find the
facility and discover who is behind the rescue of Sam and the current situation.

S6E8 "All Dogs Go to Heaven"
All manner of monsters are roaming the world and it seems a Shape shifter is involved in murders
around town but who or what is the shape shifter, a nice twist and rather sad end.
Weakest episode so far and one I skipped through.

S6E9 "Clap Your Hands If You Believe..."
Aliens are abducting people including Dean but what if these aliens are not from outer space
but are one of the many races that occupy the cracks in our world. A fun episode as Dean
is probed and so is Sam in a slightly better way, guest star is Robert Picardo.

S6E10 "Caged Heat"
A deal is done between the brothers and Meg despite what she has done in the past since taking
on Cowley on his own ground is very risky, it's doesn't go according to plan but it's a cracking
episode.

S6E11 "Appointment in Samarra"
Dean pays Death a visit and convinces him to help rescue Sam's soul but the condition is that Sam
has to wear the ring and for a day do the duties of death and as you would expect there are those
that Sam can happily kill and others he can not. Another top notch episode as the point about
consequences is hammered home.

The Pirates Band of Misfits

2011-09-21T21:06:00.001+01:00

Supernatural Marathon Season 5 Part 4

2011-09-19T17:30:00.001+01:00

S5E19 "Hammer of the Gods"
A mysterious motel in the middle of nowhere filled with an unusual bunch of "people" is the setting for a high end summit between the Gods of the old world and the brothers are the guest of honour.
Cracking episode bringing together various faiths and religions, Rekha Sharma is excellent as Kali.

S5E20 "The Devil You Know"
Pestilence is now the target of Dean and Sam with Crowley the demon offering a helping hand to
get the job done. Another solid episode especially as we get a lot of back story to how Sam was
truly cultivated to be the vessel.

S5E21 "Two Minutes to Midnight"
Pestilence (Matt Frewer) does a number of the boys but it all turns out ok and With pretty much nothing to lose Bobby and Crowley do deal which allows them to track and locate Death who quite surprisingly is more than willing to help Dean to kill Satan. Leah Gibson plays a tasty demon nurse:) Excellent episode, the writers are really on a role.

S5E22 "Swan Song"
With options being lost left right and centre a final desperate role of the dice has Sam letting Satan use his body and it fails but Dean doesn't give up and gatecrashes the final confrontation between Lucifer and Michael with serious consequences.
The voiceover and prologue by Chuck is awesome and a superb finale.

Extras
Gag Reel
Ghostfacers

Season 5 on second viewing doesn't quite hold up, it has some excellent episodes of that there is no doubt but there seems to be something missing perhaps the less arc based eps tend to look weaker when faced with uber arc stories.
Roll on season 6.

Supernatural Marathon Season 5 Part 3

2011-09-18T20:53:00.002+01:00

S5E13 "The Song Remains the Same"
Anna returns and before you know it we are back in the past fighting Angels with John and Mary.
It's another time travel episode but like before it works very well and we see a whole new side to Anna.

S5E14 "My Bloody Valentine"
What could be less threatening than Cupid?
Well when his love spells are supercharged by the presence of FAMINE then the need to consume
becomes over whelming, even Cas goes nuts over burgers.

S5E15 "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid"
The dead are rising and that includes Bobby's wife so he is less inclined to help the brothers
go on a Zombie hunt but as this is down to the rising of DEATH himself it'll never end well.

S5E16 "Dark Side of the Moon"
The boys are killed by hunters and turn up in Heaven where they meet a few friends including Pam
& Ash they then conspire to stick it to the Angels. Quite an imaginative episode.

S5E17 "99 Problems"
The daughter of a minister has a conduit to the Angels who tell her that her town has been chosen
to be saved and armed with knowledge provided they kick demon ass however all is not as it seems
and when the demons are gone they turn on eachother thus condemning their souls to hell.
Michael Shanks guest stars:)

S5E18 "Point of No Return"
Supernaturals 100th episode and with Dean still not committing the Angels go to another of the blood
line in this case the long deceased Adam who they pull out of heaven. Faced with conflicting issues
the good deed done by the brothers ends badly but hey at least one dick get shanked.

Extras

None

Supernatural Marathon Season 5 Part 2

2011-09-17T20:13:00.002+01:00

S5E7 "The Curious Case Of Dean Winchester"
Gambling with your life was never so literal when they cross paths with a witch who can take and give life and uses poker to determine who gets what. A nice episode especially with old Dean (Chad Everett).

S5E8 "Changing Channels"
A pretty much out and out fun episode as the boys track down the trickster who puts them into a number of spoof TV shows until such a time they finally reveal his own secret. NUT CRACKER

S5E9 "The Real Ghostbusters"
A Supernatural convention has Dean and Sam LARPing it along with the rest of the attendees as the imaginary ghost hunt turns real. A funny episode despite again some very dark overtones.

S5E10 "Abandon All Hope"
The boys along with Cas, Ellen and Jo search out Lucifer in Carthage but on overall there are no people just reapers and then Meg appears. An excellent moving episode as we say goodbye to a number of characters who die very well and Lucifer is one more step closer to his goal. Mark Sheppard makes his first appearence in the show as Crowley.

S5E11 "Sam, Interrupted"
I don't like this episode as the boys go undercover in a mental facility.

S5E12 "Swap Meat"
Not the best episode but it has a strong ending and Sara Drew who plays Nora steals the show.

Extras
The Real Ghostbusters

Supernatural Season 5 Part 1

2011-09-16T19:59:00.001+01:00

S5E1 "Sympathy for the Devil"
Lucifer is loose and somehow Sam and Dean are not toast.
However Bobby has not fared quite so well, solid start to the new season with even Bobby

S5E2 "Good God, Y'all"
The town of River Pass is over run with Demons with Rufus and Ellen fighting for their lives
and trying to protect the few humans. A sting in the tale and an excellent episode for it.

S5E3 "Free To Be You and Me"
With the brothers going their own way more home truths are revealed and they are both tempted.
Not my favourite episode although it's hard to criticise the wonderful performance by Mark Pelligrino.

S5E4 "The End"
A vision of the future is revealed and it ain't good.
However as always the trails they have to suffer just makes them stronger and together the move on.
A high concept episode and for the most part worked well, nice to see Lexa Doig.

S5E5 "Fallen Idols"
People start to die in mysterious ways or quite familiar ways if you are aware of the historical facts and characters in play.
A fun if gruesome episode Paul McGillion & Paris Hilton with a nice touch from Dean in reference to House of Wax.

S5E6 "I Believe the Children Are Our Future"
Fairy Tales are nice or at least the sanitised western versions are but when a young boy has the power to create reality his death is ordered by the Angels as the boy grows in power thanks to the rise of Lucifer.

Extras
The End commentary

Evanescence "What You Want"

2011-09-16T16:51:00.002+01:00

New album out October 11th.

Supernatural Marathon Season 4 part 4

2011-09-12T18:37:00.002+01:00

S4E19 "Jump The Shark"
Do Sam and Dean have a brother?
Interesting idea and episode title, quite clever but not a great episode.

S4E20 "The Rapture"
Castiel's back story or rather the man who gave him his body.
Very enjoyable and a rather touching story.

S4E21 "When The Levee Breaks"
Dean and Bobby have taken drastic measures to counter Sam's dependence
upon Demon blood even if the results may make the difference in preventing
Lucifer from escaping hell.
A solid build up to the season finale.

S4E22 "Lucifer Rising"
There is only one seal left to break and it's the first Demon that Lucifer
created whilst still and Angel. Sam armed with uber demon blood is gunning
for Lilith along with Ruby even to the point of seriously crossing the line in
terms of dealing with possessed humans. Dean meanwhile has been taken out the
game by the Angels who have chosen a different approach to the Apocalypse.
Surprisingly Demon Cindy (Juliana Wimbles) steals the show from Lilith and Ruby.
Excellent season finale, shocking and intense.

Extras
Commentary - When the Levee Breaks & Lucifer Rising
Gag Reel
Extended & Deleted Scenes

Supernatural Marathon Season 4 Part 3

2011-09-11T21:23:00.002+01:00

S4E13 "After School Special"
The past and present collide when the boys investigate incidents of possession
in and around a public school one of the many they themselves attended briefly.
Alas the first episode I skipped after a couple of minutes.

S4E14 "Sex and Violence"
Men are murdering their wives and it seems the connection are strippers or at least
something posing as an exotic dancer. The problem of course is how do you track
something that can appear as a person you would totally accept and trust?
Oh and Dean is delighted his job lets him work around strippers:)

S4E15 "Death Takes a Holiday"
In a small town people are not dying even when suffering from fatal wounds or afflictions.
It all points to an attempt to break a seal by Lilith and without a reaper then there is no death.
Top notch episode with a couple of recurring characters.

S4E16 "On The Head Of A Pin"
Demons versus Angels and everyone against Sam and Dean.
Bloody brilliant episode.

S4E17 "It's a Terrible Life"
A different Sam and Dean lead ordinary lives working for corporation but
there are things going on and the question is asked will their defining
characteristics overcome whatever influence is being exerted on them.

S4E18 "The Monster At The End Of This Book"
Another cracking episode as the boys learn of a man who is writing their life
stories including events as yet to come. It has it's fair share of humour
and darkness something Supernatural has become well known for.

Extras
Extended Scenes

Supernatural Marathon S4 Part 2

2011-09-10T00:33:00.004+01:00

S4E7 "It's The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester"
A demonic seal and the rise of a Halloween spirit conspire to trap Dean and Sam
between the forces of light and dark. Some nice twists and turns in this episode
and we meet Uriel (Robert Wisdom).

S4E8 "Wishful Thinking"
Absolutely hilarious standalone episode with just that bit or darkness to wrap it up.
Fun times with showers, giant teddy bears, busty asian beauties and infatuation.
Ted Raimi guest stars.

S4E9 "I Know What You Did Last Summer"
A disturbed girl with a terrifying gift brings Sam and Dean face to face with
the darker side of heaven and the reality of the hell spawn. A good arc episode
with Julie McNiven and Mark Rolston as two top notch guest stars.

S4E10 "Heaven and Hell"
The continuation of the Anna story as Heaven and Hell clash over her future, the angels
want her dead and the demons want to use her but there is hope when she regains all
her memories and strives to regain her position and power.

S4E11 "Family Remains"
A good old fashioned ghost story, not original but a lot of fun.

S4E12 "Criss Angel is a Douchebag"
Mystery and death surround a group of stage magicians dealing with being sidelined
in favour of the brash and loud new breed of illusionists.
A very nice cast and an interesting story but only an average episode.

Extras
Extended and Unaired scenes

Terra Nova Trailer

2011-09-06T05:59:00.002+01:00