ORBzine Stargate SG-1

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 1] Avalon
Shown 12th October 2005

We open with the introduction of the new hero - Colonel Cameron Mitchell [Ben Browder - Farscape ], USAF fighter-ace who led the Prometheus' fighter-squadron at Antarctica. General Beau Bridges gives him command of SG-1, then tells him that the veteran SG-1 team have all been re-assigned! Mitchell tries to talk them all round, but they're enjoying the fruits of victory too much.

Luckily, Valla [ Claudia Black ] turns up. She's the same old lusty, scheming bitch - and she has plans for Daniel. He's meant to go to Atlantis on the Daedalus. She forces him and the others to help her on a quest for the treasure of the ancients.

It turns out that the treasure belongs to Myrrdin, so they go looking for it in the caves under Glastonbury Tor. Only a matter of time before they started using the Arthurian myths.

To be continued in next episode.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 1] The Siege (3)
Shown 20th October 2005

Atlantis is under attack from the wraith fleet. Luckily Daedalus turns up, albeit without Daniel Jackson. They do have an Asgard Engineer, and the ship's commander is Mitch Pileggi [ X-Files ].

The Wraiths put up a good fight, but if they won then the show would be over.

Token Black Guy gets melded with a wraith. Yes, finally something interesting happens to him. He goes off in search of a plot arc, and hopefully he'll find one.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 2] Avalon (part 2)
Shown 19th October 2005

We get to see the new title sequence. Lots of CGI, but the shots of the gate aren't as shiny as in the last one.

. Our heroes have to face a series of tests before they can get the treasure. Next, they discover clues about the fate of the Ancients. Did they come long ago, from somewhere far, far away?

This leads Valla and Daniel to the next adventure, in an idealised version of a Medieval city. Luckily, while the locals write in the Ancient language, the communication devices translate all spoken language into English!

Back in the SGC we are introduced to the new doctor - Lexa Doig !

To be continued in the next episode.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 2] The Intruder
Shown 27th October 2005

The Daedalus takes a trip back to Earth. The Janeway-type woman has gone to visit the General, and in typical Trek style she brought her entire senior staff.

An unseen saboteur is killing off specific scientists and endangering the ship. It turns out the wraith have perfected an AI supervirus that works on American/Asgard computers!

We get flashbacks to the crew selection on Earth. Apparently Janeway's boyfriend was a doctor who looked just like Sam Carter's luuurve interest from the people-who-walk-through-walls place.

Like every other episode of Stargate, this was Directed by Peter DeLuise

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 3] Origin (3)
Shown 26th October 2005

Daniel and Valla are taken to see the Aurae. What they find is not what they were expecting. Their Chief Priest is Julian Sands [ Warlock ].

The Aurae send a senior priest to Earth. They are interested in converting the entire Galaxy to their religion - and unlike the Ghouls, the Aurae really ARE godlike aliens!

Teelc's political rival, Louis Gosset Jnr, visits the SGC. He leads the traditionalist Jaffas, and is a genuine threat to the Human/Jaffa alliance.

The conclusion is a setup for the rest of the season. The humans all assure themselves that something more powerful than the Aurae must exist - in other words, they can still believe in Jeebus instead of becoming atheists.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 3] Runner
Shown 4th November 2005 [Friday]

An Away Team from Atlantis discover a wraith that has been shot and mutilated. The only one who could be responsible is Ford, the Token Black Guy, who went MIA 2 eps ago. They decide to send out a small search party to bring him back. Why they do this is unknown. They can't cure him, they can't capture him, and Mitch Pileggi wants him dead. Of course, he's a threat to the Wraiths so not to humans, so this is an excercise in Friendly Fire!

They go to a planet where the sunlight is highly radioactive. Shepherd and Tayla, supposedly military geniuses, get bushwhacked. Rodney, paranoid about everything, is the smart and sane one.

There's another one-man army running around the jungle. An afro-haired white man. Is he friend or foe?

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 4] The Ties That Bind
Shown 3rd November 2005

Daniel and Valla discover that even after the bracelets are removed, the connection still remains. To break the link, they must make a deal with the man Valla Stole them from - Wallace Shawn [ Princess Bride ].

He demands they retrieve another item Valla stole from him - which leads to a tour of the seedy underworld of the galaxy. Actually, it's nice to see a universe that isn't fullly militerised. It's only taken nine years to find people who work for a living!

One of Valla's frienemies is a smuggler, who wants his ship back. I made a few modifications myself, he tells us!

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 4] Duet
Shown 9th November 2005 [Wednesday]

In a transporter-type accident, McKay's body is infused with the mind of one of the marines. Like the Steve Martin film where he gets Lily Tomlin in his body. Yes, it's a female marine! Though she's not the butch tomboy type that guards Valla in the SGC. No, she's a girlie-girl!

They both get a love interest. With McKay it's a female lab-assistant person, for the Marine it's the Doctor!

Meanwhile, Shepherd keeps testing the skills of the afro-haired white man. He'll be a useful member of the team, but hasn't decided yet. Also, he takes a liking to Tayla.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 5] The Powers That Be
Shown 8th November 2005

Daniel, Teel'c and John Crichton take Valla to a world where she was once a god. The locals still think she's a god, and she doesn't want to disabuse them of the notion.

Unfortunately, a Prior of the bad guys is due in town. Daniel decides the best way to turn the locals against the false gods is to start by exposing Valla. She knows that despite helping the locals [she gave them the notion of a fair trial, for example] she will be badly treated by them.

This is similar to last season's ep, It's good to be King. The differences are, Valla is treated less sympathetically than Mayborn, and the Prior is a far greater threat than a Ghoul and a few Jaffas. He's willing to poison an entire world, and let the locals all die if a single one of them refuses to worship his gods!

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 5] Condemned
Shown 16th November 2005

The Away Team land on a hi-tech world where the Stargate is on an island inhabited by soley convicts. This is a deliberate policy on the part of the Planet's leaders, which leads to the usual moralising.

Things get more complicated when the convicts use home-made cannons to shoot down the team's shuttle. They're reasonably well treated, but MacKay must repair the ship and help the convicts escape.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 6] Beach Head
Shown 15th November 2005

A Ghoul [Maury Chaykin - Nero Wolfe] arrives with a message of peace. The enemy have attacked a Jaffa world, and erected a forcefield. SG-1 must take their most powerful nuke, to destroy it. They even bring Sam Carter back into the front line!

Since it's a Jaffa world, the Jaffas send a fleet. Louis Gosset Jnr is in charge, naturally.

Valla thinks the Ghoul is untrustworthy, and she's the expert at double-crosses. She also manages to come up with a plan that saves the day.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 6] Trinity
Shown 23rd November 2005

The team discover a planet that destroyed half the Wraith Fleet that attacked it. MacKay thinks he can repair the weapon they used.

The weapon is unreliable - even the Ancients thought it was too risky. Is Rodney genius enough to repair it, or is he operating on pure ego?.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 7] Ex Deus Machina
Shown 22nd November 2005

Baal appears on Earth, and once he's established a public image as an Earthling there's very little the US Government can do against him!

Unfortunately, the Jaffas want him extradited. Louis Gossett is using this as a central issue for his power grab in the council.

The end shows something of Baal's overall strategy.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 7] Instinct
Shown 30th November 2005

The Away Team arrive on a lo-tech world. It's so gothic, it's like something out of a Hammer Horror film. There's a monster in the woods ...

Our heroes go Wraith-Hunting. A young woman [ Jewel Staite ] has been infected, and is half-Wraith. Can the Doctor save her?

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 8] Babylon
Shown 29th November 2005

SG-1 go to meet some Jaffa who are led by Tony Todd [ Candyman ]. These Jaffa are so rebellious, they haven't served the Ghouls in 5000 years. Instead they await the return of the Ancients.

Ben Browder is captured by the Jaffas, who train him to fight to the death. Trial by combat is still their way of doing things. And despite being Airborne-trained, Browder's apparently not tough enough.

One of the Season's bad guys [William B Davis - X-Files, Andromeda ] has tempted the Jaffas to join his side.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 8] Conversion
Shown 5th December 2005

Shepherd is oinfected with the retrovirus from the last ep. He shares saliva with Ronan and Taela, but doesn't tell anyone. As the disease progresses he understands how Ford felt.

Director Skinner has some UST with Janeway, but this goes out the window when he temporarily replaces Shepherd. Janeway seems to express feelings for the infected Shepherd, who seems to have something for Taela ...

Can the doctor save the day? I thought he was just a medic, not a scientist!

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 9] Prototype
Shown 6th December 2005

The Aurae try another beach-head. Carter takes SG-5 to investigate ... but the Stargate sends them to the wrong world!

SG-1 goes on the next mission. They discover a barely-concealed not-so-secret lab that contains a human male in stasis. They take him home to study him ...

Can they keep the specimen secure enough to study? Will he be the secret weapon to defeat the Aurae? Or should they just slaughter him, like Daniel Jackson suggests.

Robert Picardo [ Star Trek: Voyager ] pops up as a manipulative bureaucrat with his own agenda.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 9] Aurora
Shown 14th December 2005

Daedalus discovers a derelic ship, so the Away team board it and look about. It's an Ancient vessel - and the crew are still aboard. They're in stasis, their minds linked to a VR machine.

Shepherd plugs into the machine, hoping to convince the Ancients to share anti-Wraith tech. The Ancients don't believe his story, of course.

The Wraiths have plans of their own, and want Earth as their new feeding-ground. Dr McKay has to help Shepherd. And Tayla manages to grasp technobabble well enough to stall Director Skinner.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 10] MoebiusAKA The Fourth Horseman (1)
Shown 13th December 2005

Louis Gossett Jnr has a secret meeting with the Priors. He makes a deal with them, even though it may lead to a Jaffa civil war. We even get a cameo by Julian Sands!

One of SG-6 falls victim to the Prior illness. The team's had outside contact, including a ceremony attended by General Hammond! SGC calls in the CDC, but it could become a National emergency.

Carter tries to find a cure, and build an anti-Prior gun. She gets help from one of the ascended - her love interest from a previous ep! It's the Sean Patrick Flannery character, although played by a pre-teen actor. He helps her as much as he can, but the sheer amount of knowledge is killing him and he can no longer ascend!

To be continued next episode.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 10] The Lost Boys (1)
Shown 21st December 2005

The Away Team go looking for TBG. They get captured by him and his team of Wraith-hunters. Yes, he has a band of followers!

TBG's plan to attack the Wraith involves stealing C4 from Colm Meany's safe-houses. Unfortunately, his followers are amateurs.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 11] The Fourth Horseman (2)
Shown 16th January 2006

Carter needs a phial of Prior blood from William S Davis [ X-Files ]. Crichton and Danie visit Tony Todd [ Candyman ] to catch the Prior. Will the anti-Prior gun work?

Louis Gossett Jnr [ Enemy Mine ] has joined the Priors. Can Teelc and Breytag talk him out of it?

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 11] The Hive (2)
Shown 11th January 2006

The team run into serious trouble on the Wraith Hive ship. Trapped, they have no enzyme ...

McKay is their only hope. He takes the enzyme so he can escape. However, he then has to go cold turkey.

Shepherd discovers a lot about the Wraith. Every Hive ship has its own Queen, and they're getting territorial. Also, some humans actually worship the monsters!

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 12] Collateral Damage
Shown 17th January 2006 [Tuesday]

Crichton wakes up on a world of English-accented caucasian people. After a night of heavy drinking, it looks like he murdered Anna Galvin .

It turns out that while the people and their furniture are identical to North Americans, they have one technological advantage. Ms Galvin perfected a memory-transfer device, a speed-learn system that DOESN'T require dissecting the donor's brain! This is the very device that SG-1 was on the planet to negotiate for.

Crichton insists he is innocent, and demands a full investigation. The Emmissary [William Atherton - ] reluctantly concedes.

The result is Hitchcock meets Phil K Dick , while the director seems to have learned his trade on Battlestar Galactica (2003) . It's made by the same studio, so it's quite likely.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 12] Epiphany
Shown 18th January 2006 [Wednesday]

The Major ends up in a peaceful paradise where the pre-ascended live.

Unfotunately, there's a semi-invisible monster that can't be destroyed. Not unlike the Monster of the Id in Forbidden Planet .

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 13] Ripple Effect
Shown 24th January 2006 [Tuesday]

SG-1 comes through the Stargate. Then an IDENTICAL team come through!

Over a dozen SG-1 teams arrive each from a seperate universe. In some of them Carter is married, and one lacks Carter because she is on maternity leave! The replacement members include some familiar faces from much earlier seasons.

It's nice to see some great villains in this show.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 13] Critical Mass
Shown 25th January 2006 [Wednesday]

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 14] Stronghold
Shown 31st January 2006 [Tuesday]

Someone is brainwashing the Jaffa Council. Teelc and Breytag want to force all Jaffa to vote, although women won't all get a say and the age limit is not mentioned. Sounds like the nay-sayers have a point.

Baal is up to his old tricks. But he's pragmatic. He doesn't want to be worshiped, just to lead the war against the Aurae. Seems like the best man for the job!

Meanwhile, Mitchell's best buddy from the USAF is in hospital. Can they heal his lethal brain injury?

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 14] Grace Under Pressure
Shown 1st February 2006 [Wednesday]

MacKay is trapped in a pondjumper that is slowly sinking to the ocean floor. He hallucinates that Sam Carter is in there with him, and she even flashes her bra to raise his spirits.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 15] Ethon
Shown 7th February 2006 [Tuesday]

Matthew Bennett [ Total Recall 2086, BSG 2003 ] arrives from a planet visted in Season 8 ep, Icon. The Priors have arrived, and helped the locals build a superweapon satellite.

SG-1 takes the Prometheus to destroy the weapons satellite. However, they get more of a fight than they expected. Aurae tech beats Earth-Asgard tech.

Ernie Hudson [ Ghostbusters ] appears as the General in chare of the satellite.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 15] The Tower
Shown 8th February 2006 [Wednesday]

The Away team arrives on a world with a medieval society. The Royalty carry the gene that controls anti-wraith defences. In exchange for this life-saving service, they get food from the dirt-farming peasants.

Shepherd and his thugs want to start a civil war. He ignores the fact that he only got a job on Atlantis because of his own bloodline, and that Janeway's rule on Atlantis is neither democratic nor meritocracy! Shepherd wants to give power to the uneducated barbarians. Yes, the most complicated device the farmers can use is a wooden stick - but he will entrust them with the mission of planetary defence!

MacKay and the local flunky, Baldrick [no, not Tony Robinson] go exploring the the catacombs.

Peter Woodward [ Crusade ] is the Royals' court flunky.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 16] Off the Grid
Shown 14th February 2006 [Tuesday]

SG-1 go undercover to spy on the Lucian federation. Carter even shows some cleavage. Then someone steals the stargate, and leaves them stranded.

Beau Bridges goes to Area 51 to interrogate Maury Chaykin. Baal's up to his old tricks again.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 16] The Long Goodbye
Shown 15th February 2006 [Wednesday]

The Away team discover 2 escape pods, each containing a person in cryosleep. They take them back to Atlantis, and perform a mind-exchange. The female into Janeway's body, the male into Paris.

The 2 minds decide to duel to the death - they only control the bodies temporarily, so they go at it for all they're worth. Since they have the knowledge of the minds they inhabit, they fight their way through the city. Only Ronan and Tayla have a chance of taking them down.

It's nice to see Janeway in kick-ass mode. Unfortunately it's not really her, just the person possessing her body. Bah!

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 17] The Scourge
Shown 21st February 2006 [Tuesday]

SG-1 escort a bunch of ambassadors around an off-world site.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 17] Coup D'etat
Shown 22nd February 2006 [Wednesday]

Atlantis is contacted by a Genii renegade. He claims to have replaced Robert Davi in a plot against Chief O'Brien. Can he be trusted?

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 18] Arthur's Mantle
Shown 28th February 2006 [Tuesday]

Carter and Crichton are phased. Daniel eventually works out what happened - the same the the crystal skulls did to him several years ago.

Teel'c and another SG team go to visit Tony Todd's Jaffas. Teel'c has 2 P-90s, but the troopers all have M-16s! Someone with a cloaking device has attacked Tony's people, but Teel'c gets a cloaking device of his own!

Crichton goes to help Teel'c. Nice interplay between the 2.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 18] Michael
Shown 1st March 2006 [Wednesday]

Connor Trinneer [ Enterprise ] is an amnesiac who survived capture by the Wraith. The rest of the crew try to help him integrate - except Ronan, who's always looking to pick a fight.

He has vivid dreams. All is not as it appears.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 19] Crusade
Shown 7th March 2006 [Tuesday]

Valla [ Claudia Black ] turns up. In Daniel Jackson's body. Thus DJ hardly appears in the ep, and the lady doc, Lexa Doig , hasn't been seen for months.

She has been in the Aurae universe, living in a small medieval town. She's pregnant by an unknown cause ... Teel'c compares this to Darth Vader [!], whereas Crichton has been reading sex-free Victorian versions of the Arthurian legends.

The Aurae crusade has begun. The villagers spout propaganda similar to Dubya's Jingoism. Michael Ironside [ Starship Troopers ] is the boss of the village, both corrupt and devout!

The USSR wants its Stargate back [it was taken as spoils of war from Berlin in 1945!], and join forces with the PRC.

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 19] Inferno
Shown 8th March 2006 [Wednesday]

The Away team visit a world where the locals have some Ancient tech. A shield generator, and a starship.

The planetary supervolcano is about to erupt. Janeway tries to evacuate the locals, though she seems unfamiliar with the concept of nuclear winter and the local politician thinks it's a con so the earthlings can steal the starship.

Meanwhile, a Wraith hive ship is en route to Atlantis.

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode 20] Camelot
Shown 14th March 2006 [Tuesday]

SG-1 discovers a medieval village named Camelot, where Arthur once lived. It's on an alien planet, the villagers all speak English [including Katharine Isabelle ], the buildings look just like the ones in the Aurae galaxy ... And there's been no technonlogical innovations within 1500 years!

Crichton and Daniel Jackson must fight a holographic knight and retrieve Merlin's Ancient-killing weapon [the Holy Grail].

Carter and Teel'c join the USS Odyssey en route to the Supergate. Can they stop the invasion?

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode 20] Allies (1)
Shown 15th March 2006 [Wednesday]

Stargate SG-1 [Season 9, Episode ]
Shown th March 2006 [Tuesday]

Stargate Atlantis [Season 2, Episode ]
Shown th March 2006 [Wednesday]