Stargate Archives
Monday, 31 March 2014
Stalled Trek: Amutt Time
One of the first Kick Starter projects I backed and the movie was great fun, I own the DVD and have backed the upcoming The Wobbling Dead which has launched a mini campaign to cover additional costs in DVD replication.
Sunday, 23 March 2014
Devil's Bargain
Devil's Bargain was the first book from author Tony Daniel that I've read, a stand alone original series Star Trek novel which proved itself to be rather entertaining despite a rather ominous cover on the paperback.
The story begins with the Enterprise on a humanitarian mission to the planet of Vesbius which was once a Federation world but took an independent path while still keeping close trading ties to nearby Federation worlds. An asteroid is closing on the world and Kirk is shocked to find that the people are not going to leave but have been digging huge tunnels believing they will survive the initial impact and immediate fallout but Spock is clear in that it's an extinction event. As the story unfolds we find that the 20,000 or so people on the planet have a very good reason for not wanting to leave their world and it is tied to their talents in genetic manipulation which has also given birth to an element of xenophobia within their culture.
I stayed away from the feature that was done on Devil's Bargain and Tony Daniel in the Trek.Fm podcast Literary Treks Ep 14 last year, in any media I don't like to be spoiled beyond in a books case the blurb so the story and it's twist came as a nice surprise. It's an interesting idea that ideas and beliefs no matter how they have been worked through by generations past continue to raise their heads sometimes in a similar situations and sometimes in a totally different situation.
Without giving too much away one of the best aspects of the book was the interweaving of an original series species into a significant aspect of the story, when Tony writes about them experiencing their first taste of space travel and the freedom offered by what amounted to an unexpected space walk it was inspirational. The way the minds of the youngsters were expanded to encompass the wonders and joys the universe could offer counterpointed some of the attitudes on Vesbius clearly defining the goals of Star Trek story telling.
Devil's Bargain is currently available as a paperback and ebook from Amazon UK and US and other many other retailers such as the Book Depository.
Literary Treks 14
Tony Daniel Facebook Page
The story begins with the Enterprise on a humanitarian mission to the planet of Vesbius which was once a Federation world but took an independent path while still keeping close trading ties to nearby Federation worlds. An asteroid is closing on the world and Kirk is shocked to find that the people are not going to leave but have been digging huge tunnels believing they will survive the initial impact and immediate fallout but Spock is clear in that it's an extinction event. As the story unfolds we find that the 20,000 or so people on the planet have a very good reason for not wanting to leave their world and it is tied to their talents in genetic manipulation which has also given birth to an element of xenophobia within their culture.
I stayed away from the feature that was done on Devil's Bargain and Tony Daniel in the Trek.Fm podcast Literary Treks Ep 14 last year, in any media I don't like to be spoiled beyond in a books case the blurb so the story and it's twist came as a nice surprise. It's an interesting idea that ideas and beliefs no matter how they have been worked through by generations past continue to raise their heads sometimes in a similar situations and sometimes in a totally different situation.
Without giving too much away one of the best aspects of the book was the interweaving of an original series species into a significant aspect of the story, when Tony writes about them experiencing their first taste of space travel and the freedom offered by what amounted to an unexpected space walk it was inspirational. The way the minds of the youngsters were expanded to encompass the wonders and joys the universe could offer counterpointed some of the attitudes on Vesbius clearly defining the goals of Star Trek story telling.
Devil's Bargain is currently available as a paperback and ebook from Amazon UK and US and other many other retailers such as the Book Depository.
Literary Treks 14
Tony Daniel Facebook Page
Bill & Ted Steelbook
The Blu-ray steelbook of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure arrived this week, the movie is twenty five years old if you can believe that:)
Such a fun movie, not without it's flaws and with an interesting back story but it's so easy to sit back and simply enjoy the exploits of these two young men as they journey through time.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure IMDB WIKI
Bill & Ted's Excellent Online Adventure And Podcast
Such a fun movie, not without it's flaws and with an interesting back story but it's so easy to sit back and simply enjoy the exploits of these two young men as they journey through time.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure IMDB WIKI
Bill & Ted's Excellent Online Adventure And Podcast
Monday, 17 March 2014
North To Alaska
A package from Amazon US just arrived and contained the Blu-ray of the John Wayne comedy North To Alaska which also stars Stewart Granger and Capucine, a fun movie even though from what I have read not the best experience to make. Initial impressions are of a very nice transfer, audio nothing to shout about but video is more important for these older movies otherwise you might as well stick to the DVD. IMDB
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Rewatch Part 5
Return of the Fighting 69th
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Episode 8
A freighter is stolen from the hanger of the Earth Defence Directorate and is chased down by a squadron comprised of Buck, Wilma and two younger pilots on a training mission. The stolen freighter gets away and it is revealed that it was carrying some recently discovered weaponised nerve gas agent due for destruction and we learn that two arms dealers with a grudge against Wilma and the Earth now have the capability to wipe all life from the face of the Earth. Corliss and Roxanne have their base within an asteroid field making it almost impossible to navigate with modern fighters and so in an inspired twist the idea is proposed to bring out of retirement Wilma's former instructor who along with his former squadron (Fighting 69th) using slower and older fighter/bombers to raid the base and destroy the nerve gas.
Buck and Wilma are captured during the mission and the remaining ships hide in the asteroids, within the base they team up with a deaf human slave girl (Alicia played by Katherine Wiberg) who helps them to escape just prior to the base being destroyed by the relics of the Directorate.
Never too old to fly |
Corliss and Roxanne |
A rather good episode, very good if often used central plot and cheesy enough to make you smile without the need to condemn the episode from the couch.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
So a prison break story, had for a second the hint of a tale of turmoil within a women's correctional facility but wasn't to be yet who are the bad guys? Wilma and company illegally seize a spaceship, stun the android guard and remove the prisoner to allow Buck to take his place, they then engineer a explosive and break out again from a legal facility. It was also a little obvious who the spy within the Directorate was, he came across all shifty right from the get go but at least we had the writing and delivery to support his existence and ultimately his reveal and capture. Credit to the android guard who really has a boner for Buck, ignores dozens of escaping prisoners to follow Buck and Jen and then take on the whole town it seemed and yes a good use of an old western set on a studio backlot. The young Jamie was full of beans, a snug outfit and buns of steel when dragged covered in sand from the clutches of the sand eel (?) and lets not forget watching get on all fours facing away from the camera, oh my:)
Unchained Woman IMDB
Return of the Fighting 69th IMDB
Unchained Woman
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Episode 9
Buck once again goes undercover for the Earth Directorate in an attempt to remove a prisoner from a prison facility on a world with no set extradition treaty with the Earth. The woman Jen Burton played by Jamie Lee Curtis was the girlfriend of the space pirate Malary Pantera and they believe she will know the identity of his source within the directorate who is supplying the shipping information allowing him to attack the convoys. The escape goes well but the bad guys thanks to their spy know of the plan and capture Wilma while Buck and Jen have to deal with a very very driven andorid guard who just doesn't know when to quit.
Big on Red |
A nice set piece as the wall exploded and the android raided the party, lucky for Wilma and Buck but a little silly to see that just removing the prison bracelet was also that was required to fool this obviously advanced android. I did laugh myself silly as Buck threw away his blaster and proceed to fight hand to hand, granted it looked good but come on.
Unchained Woman again it had it's moments, a little slow and drawn out in places but the eye candy was rather impressive, the android guard very Terminator and we had a excellent performance by Robert Cornthwaite as the Ambassador.
Who hired the stripper then? |
Sunday, 9 March 2014
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Rewatch Part 4
The Plot to Kill a City, Part 1 and 2
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Episodes 6 and 7
Buck goes undercover to aid in the capture of a notorious criminal and when a threat to the Earth is uncovered he agrees to pose as this criminal and infiltrate the group who are targeting New Chicago. You know as plot synopsis goes that pretty sums up the episode and this is a two parter so hopefully a lot more was going on but surprisingly not that much.
Party got out of hand. |
Joella with Twiki |
Well to cut a long story short and believe me this two parter had plenty of padding Buck is unmasked but successfully convinces the League his is a freelance assassin looking to score big which gives him time to make an escape with the aid of a Varek and eventually follows the League back to Earth where they have already secured access to the power plant by threatening one of the few engineers who have access. Now this was very clever, intelligent use of influence to get what they want combined with convincing the mark they are thieves rather than terrorists. It was however a little silly how such a high value facility is so lightly protected especially considering we know the galaxy is a dangerous place and Earth no longer seems to have a defence shield. So the terrorists disrupt the magnetic containment of the matter and antimatter and then Varek again makes the decision to act and a fight breaks out which gives the defence force enough time to arrive and secure the control room. It was rather amusing how often these bad ass Legion of Death use stun weapons, I thought the engineer had bought it but no he was up and about in time to offer the almost suicidal task that was required to prevent the explosion. Varek again steps forward and phasing through the containment and resets the controls but is tagged by a stray atom of antimatter, no sure how he survives but it gives us that "all will be well" moment as Wilma treats him as normal person and offers help to ease his pain.
It's not done though, the rest of the Legion flee the planet and Buck and Wilma in their starfighters give chase, now we get the ridiculous use of telekinesis to control Buck's ship which given the speed, mass and range seems a little bit much. Not to worry though Wilma saves Buck and the crowd cheered, even a couple of decades ago the hero being saved by a sidekick let alone a woman was rare in an action show. The episode wraps up with a comic moment as the gang get together and we see that Joella will be starting a new life and Twiki may be channeling Buck a little too much:)
The Plot to Kill a City isn't a bad episode, the plot isn't good enough to sustain two episodes though which is where your attention could end up going bye bye, edit it down and it would be a pretty tight story with some very good ideas. On the eye candy front they went to two, Markie and Wilma were rockin' and even the naughty Sherese could turn a few heads if she smiled once and a while:)
The Plot to Kill a City isn't a bad episode, the plot isn't good enough to sustain two episodes though which is where your attention could end up going bye bye, edit it down and it would be a pretty tight story with some very good ideas. On the eye candy front they went to two, Markie and Wilma were rockin' and even the naughty Sherese could turn a few heads if she smiled once and a while:)
Just Because:) |
Saturday, 8 March 2014
Goodies
I picked up a few things from Amazon this week, the first the German Blu-ray boxset of the cancelled Primeval New World after it had a small but significant price cut. The others were two original series Star Trek paperbacks, the first by Greg Cox and the second by Tony Daniel.
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For - Official Trailer
I still enjoy watching the original movie but it's not exactly a story telling masterpiece and neither is this one but no doubt it'll be fun to watch.
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Rewatch Part 3
Vegas In Space
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Episode 5
A young woman Felina Redding is kidnapped by rivals of her employer as she has seen some critical data that will allow them to undermine the criminal operation she is unknowingly involved in. Her employer the often investigated by never proved crime lord Amos Armat approaches the Dr Huer with an offer, rescue the girl and he will turn over all his records which include the smuggling, slave trading, extortion etc etc he has been involved in and as a bonus the specs for the latest design of Hatchett fighter that is proving to be too good for the Earth's Starfighters. Buck along with Major Marla Landers go undercover at the huge gambling city that is run by the criminal syndicate controlled by Morgan Velosi and who is responsible for the kidnapping. Buck is in heaven out playing the computer based gambling machines and befriends a hostess Tangie but the mission eventually is discovered and they have to fight their way out of the tightly controlled city with the help of Tangie and with the successful rescue Armat provides the proof and data he agreed to and we find that for his daughter he would sacrifice everything.
Buck with Tangie |
Landers in disguise with Velosi |
A fun episode with a nice idea behind it despite the cheese with Buck being the gifted one bringing his "human" touch to this world computerised gambling systems, he thinks for himself as he says but it's basically a variant of card counting. An excellent line up of guest actors starting with Cesar Romero playing Amos Armat and Richard Lynch as Morgan Velosi, Juanin Clay played Maj Marla Landers, Pamela Susan Shoop played Tangie and Ana Alicia was Felina Redding.
Vegas In Space IMDB
Vegas In Space IMDB
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