Stargate - Season 3, Episode 5 - "Learning Curve"

SG-1 participates in a cultural exchange with the people of Orban. Daniel and Teal'c are staying on the planet to learn from an important archaeological dig site and a young girl named Merrin, who is going to teach Samantha Carter about the functions and construction of a Naqahdah generator, travels to Earth.. The children of Orban are highly intelligent due to the administration of nanites into their brains during infancy. These nanites serve as additional brain synapses allowing them to learn vast amounts of knowledge much quicker than what is humanly possible. Back on Orban Daniel and Teal'c learn that once these children reach the age of twelve their nanites are removed from their brain and distributed equally throughout Orbanian society so others can benefit from the knowledge. This causes a serious moral quandary with Earth as the children become infant like after the process. The Orbanians care well for the children but do not engage in teaching them new things. This act is foreign to the Orbanians who only know of attaining knowledge through the implantation of nanites. Jack and Samantha try to convince Merrin to seek amnesty at the SGC so she can avoid undergoing the process. She refuses, trying to make Jack understand that to be chosen is a great honor and the removal of her nanites will help her people. Jack takes Merrin to a school where she learns the concept of playing and art. However, she still refuses to stay on Earth and returns to Orban to undergo the process of having her nanites removed. Having no other choice, they allow her to return. Sometime later a transmission is received from Orban requesting that SG-1 come immediately. When they arrive they find that the Orbanians have learned the concept of teaching, fun, and art through the distribution of Merrin's nanites. Merrin knew that undergoing the nanite removal process would spread this new found knowledge amongst her people. The Orbanians now understand the importance teaching and fun and will now teach the children who undergo the removal process new things. The episode ends with Jack understanding the culture a little bit more and even though Merrin no longer remembers him he settles with the fact that they can get to know each other all over again.

Jack had no right to try so hard to get the Orbanians to conform to Earth's way of thinking. The process through which they shared knowledge and progressed may have been foreign to him but was not inherently wrong. This is an issue that Star Trek deals with time and again. The right we have as space explorers to interfere with another culture's natural development or way of life. Although his intentions were good he was on the verge of pushing his beliefs onto an entire society. He was a bit of a dick about it. But he seems to understand a little more now. It'll be interesting to see if the Orbanians return in future episodes.

Power Rangers: Jungle Fury - Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2 - "Welcome To The Jungle"

My nephew Connor is visiting right now. He's 3 years old has a new obsession that I can relate too. Right when he got up here he stepped out of the car with a Power Rangers action figure in hand and it was not long before he began asking to watch the newest series in the franchise, Power Rangers: Jungle Fury. His passion for the brightly colored, martial arts superheroes re-awakened my long dormant love of the Rangers. He kept begging me to watch the show, jumping around the house mimicking the Rangers fighting style with enthusiastic HI-YA's, singing the classic theme song and running around pretending to morph into the Red Tiger Ranger from Jungle Fury. I got a hold of the premiere episode from the show and we finally watched it this afternoon over pizza and Dr. Pepper.

Jungle Fury tells the story of three young students of kung-fu Master Mao, member of the ancient Order Of The Claw. Long ago the Order Of The Claw imprisoned the evil Dai Shi. But an angry student unleashes Dai Shi, who now means to reign terror on the city of Ocean Bluff. After the death of Master Mao, students Casey, Theo and Lily are sent to meet a new master. When they arrive where the dying master Mao instructed them to go they find Jungle Karma Pizza, run by the eccentric surfer type dude, RJ. RJ turns out to be a kung-fu master and gives them the power to morph into Power Rangers to protect Ocean Bluff from the evil Dai Shi, who now posseses the body of the evil student who set him free.

Let's get one thing straight. Power Rangers is and has always been cheesy as hell. You've really got to access the inner kid to let yourself enjoy this franchise. For me, that's no problem because I have an extreme Peter Pan complex. It also helps to watch the show with my nephew and feed of of his youthful enthusiasm. When Mighty Morphin Power Rangers first premiered it was the absolute coolest thing in the universe. Me and my siblings practically worshipped these guys. They helped nurture our love for martial arts and bring us deeper into the world of sci-fi/fantasy. After watching the show today I wikied the Power Rangers and was shocked to see that the show has never been off the air since it's original conception. It has a deep history of characters that I've decided I'll continue to explore from time to time. I once again love the Power Rangers!!

Powerpuff Girls - Season One, Episode 1 - "Insect Inside/Powerpuff Bluff

In the premiere episode of The Powerpuff Girls the city of Townsville is ravaged by a swarm of filthy cockroaches!!! They are controlled by a dirty old man who hates humans. Professor Utonioun had earlier given the girls a speech about the importance of the resilient insect species and how we shouldn't smash them to bits. So when the Twonsville comes under siege, Blossom uses her lightning fast speed and knowledge of where to get giant jars to capture the roaches. This only works for a moment as the bugs soon break free. Time to squish!! Turns out the dirty old man was actually a robot being controlled by single vile cockroach. He's now in a jar in jail.

In the second story Powerpuff Bluff the girls continuously apprehend three bank robbers. Once in jail for the third time the criminals realize that everyone in Townsville loves the Powerpuff Girls so much that if they pretend to be the girls people will just hand them money. This is one of the funniest episodes I've ever seen. they bank robbers look hillarious in their adult sized costumes. This episode will have you in stitches. Suffice to say they bring down the dirty rotten bastards and...

Once again the city is saved!!!!

Powerpuff Girls - Season One, Episode 2 - "Monkey See, Doggy Do"/"Mommy Fearest"

Sugar! Spice! And Everything Nice! For those of you who are either A)Unfamiliar with The Powerpuff Girls, or B) Think I'm a total fag for liking them, I have one thing to say to you and that's FUCK YOUR FACE LOSER!! This cartoon is awesome! It's funny, witty, charming, exciting, action packed, heartwarming and filled with subtle yet effective sexual inuendo. Don't believe me? Your loss, but I swear that if you like animation and you like laughter and you like superheroes then you'll love Blossom, Bubbles & Buttercup.

Powerpuff Episodes always contain two stories clocking in at a total runtime of about 22 minnutes.

In the first story, Monkey See, Monkey Do the girls archnemesis Mojo Jojo turns the city of Townsville into doggies!! Cute! But wait! Not only has he truned man into man's best friend but he's using them to steal!! Naughty Mojo!! With a little assistance from a K-9 Proffeser Utonium, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup thwart the evil mokey's diabolical plan. But Mojo Jojo will return again to do more evil. For he is Mojo Jojo! And doing evil is what he will return to do!!

In the second story, Mommy Fearest, Professor Utonium meets the woman of his dreams! But to the girls, she's a NIGHTMARE!!! She pussy-whips the Professor to keep the girls under her control so she can hurt the city of Townsville. Fortunately the Professors love for the girls out weighs his sex drive and the evil bitch is put in her place.

Once again the city is saved!

Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D

Brendan Fraser stars in this 3D take on Jules Verne's classic science fiction novel Journey To The Center Of The Earth. Fraser plays a seismologist who's about to have the plugged pulled on his research. His brother went missing ten years ago while on a scientific expedition. His nephew (son of the missing brother) comes to visit him and the two discover evidence in a worn out copy of Verne's book that his brother may have been on the verge of a great discovery. This coupled with startling data from seismic sensors, lead the two on a journey to attempt to discover what exactly happened to their missing loved one. Long story short they meet a hot young mountain guide and the three end up in the center of the Earth. It turns out Verne's novel was not fiction but an actual account of an expedition to the world within our world.

The movie is a bit of fun, but only because of the cool 3D technology. If it were a standard two dimensional film I would've hated it. Brendan Fraser is a charming and charismatic performer but is given very little to work worth in what is a pretty boring screenplay. It takes nearly an hour to get to the center of the Earth stuff and the best 3D we get during the long wait is an in your face tape measure and Fraser spitting his toothpaste spit into the sink. Even when we get to the center of the Earth they're aren't a lot of thrilling sequences and the ones the do exist are far apart and the time between is filled with...well nothing really. Just a lot of exposition and whiny little speeches Fraser gives his nephew about what a great guy his dad was. The giant piranha fish scene is cool and actually had me jumping a bit and the scene with the nephew jumping his way across a vast chasm on magnetic rocks was cool. But all in all this movie is a bit of a bore. They give you a bit of a tease at the end that the gang will end up on a search for the lost city of Atlantis. I'm not opposed to a sequel. The characters are okay and would benefit from a little more effort on the parts of the screenwriters. Since we're at a point right now where we get very few 3D flicks hitting cinemas this one is worth a look. But don't expect it to change your life.

Stephen King's "N."

Stephen King is constantly pushing the boundaries of creative storytelling. His recent team-up with Marvel on the brilliant and beautiful adaptation of his materwork The Dark Tower has proven to be both a financial and critical success, causing non comic book readers to delve deeper into the under appreciated art form. Well, now they're at it again, this time creating a video comic book available exclusively on the web. Designed specifically to be viewed on the go on small screens like computers, cell phones and iPods, "N." is basically slightly animated comic book panels with a full cast voice over, music and sound effects and the result is quite a bit more effective than it sounds. The story actually gave me a small case of the wiggins.

"N." refers to a mysterious pschiatric patient who suffers from multiple forms of OCD including compulsions to count things. Black shoes on the way to lunch, brown on the way back. If there's an even number of plates above ten in the dishwasher all is well, if not the appropriate number of clean ones must be added. The book shelf needs to have one hundred books on it not 97. Odd numbers are dangerous. Even Numbers like eight set things straight. This behavior stems from a trip he made to the ominous Ackermans Field where he may have disrupted the order of the world and needs to count and set various items in circles or diagonals to protect us all from hideous creatures that lie beyond this world attempting to break in. Is N. crazy or will his head shrinker find that his condition is dark and contagious?

The show is rather brilliant both in it's unique method of digital delivery and stunningly creepy narrative. It's based on a short story that will be appearing in King's upcoming anthology collection Just After Sunset which hits shelves 11/11/08. A graphic novel of the story will also be released in early 2009 by Marvel Comics. For now you can buy "N." on iTunes or watch it at http://www.nishere.com/. Or you can watch it right here on this blog. Be careful though. It's catching...

Stargate SG-1 - Season 3, Episode 2 - "Seth"

Sam's dad visits the SGC because the Tok'ra need to enlist Earth's help in tracking down an ancient Goa'uld they believe may have been hiding among Earth's people since the times of ancient Egypt when the Stargate was first burried. Daniel uses his big old brain and manages to track down Seth masquerading as a cult leader outside Seattle. This little bitch is no match for SG-1 and they take down yet another false god.

I love how Stargate SG-1 shows ancient gods from our own history and mythology to be nothing more than evil aliens. I bet it's all true. Religion is nothing more than aliens trying to trick us. Mark my words this will become common knowledge soon. Hehehe, I don't know that for sure. But don't you think it could make a lot of logical sense that the ancient people of earth wrote about gods with magic powers as a way to describe aliens with advanced technology that helped shape our early civilizations? I mean all the religious stories throughout Earth's various cultures pretty much say the same basic shit. Long ago there were people from the sky that were much wiser and better than us and for this reason or that they had to leave us on our own so we can find the good within and once we did they would return and we will all rejoice. It's comin' folks. Aliens are among us....and they're bringing a book called To Serve Man. Hehehe....

Stargate SG-1 - Season 2, Episode 22 - "Out Of My Mind, Part I"

Jack wakes from a cryogenic sleep and is told that he is in the SGC in the year 2077. Of course we see right away that this is some type of ruse. But what kind? Who's behind it? Jack is told that the rest of SG-1 is dead and he was the only one to return from the last mission, already cryogenicaly frozen. In order to help them discover what happened he is hooked up to a machine that will project his memories. The other members of SG-1 (except Teal'c) are awoken as well and told the same thing.

What follows is a series of clips from previos episodes recapping key events. As I was watching I was thinking only one thing: "For cryin' out loud!" I'm sorry but clip shows are boring. Especially SG-1 clip shows. It just goes on and on with very little new content in between. Long story short, evil bitch Hathor (who Buffy could have taken out easily) is behind the evil charade. But we find that out in the end after we're already too bored to care anymore. Then we have to wait for Part II which I didn't get to watch with the rest of my family because they don't give a shit when I have personal stuff to attend to. They just trudge on without me. Oh well, I'm okay skipping it. I'd seen it before a few years ago. They win!

Season 2 is over. Bring on Season 3!! I'm almost caught up to where I left off when I was watching this show in '05. I'm ready for fresh stuff.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 1, Episode 5 - "Never Kill A Boy On The First Date"

I was cleaning up my room today and decided to throw in an episode of Buffy instead of music. I was just in a Buffy kind of mood. I grabbed Season 1 and randomly pulled out disc 2. I picked Never Kill A Boy On The First Date mostly because of the great moment where Buffy's love interest in the episode gives here a beautiful pocket watch and Xander glances embarrasingly at his own plastic Tweety Bird chronometer. It's funny.

In this episode Buffy is crushing on Owen. A "sensitive but manly" young man who's interests include Emily Dickinson poems and reading about death. Their first date is interupted by her duties regarding a prophecy about the annointed one. A dangerous vampire who is set to arise at any time and could pose a serious threat to the Slayer.

This is the episode where Buffy begins to realize that no matter how much she wants a normal teenage life her destiny outweighs her desires. Her duties lie in saving the world. A feat which she will accomplish time and again, always vigilent, always sacrificing. She eventualy gets her romance with Angel, the vampire with a soul. But it's a realtionship filled with pain and lots of death. Despite the impression the episode title gives that this show is 90210 with vampires I can assure you it most definitely is not. Buffy The Vampire Slayer is character driven storytelling constantly delving into complex issues such as death, feminism, homosexuality, and redemption, to name a few. Plus it's funny!!! WATCH IT!!!

A Little Game

I've come up with a fun idea. Tonight (or rather early morning, it's 3:46 AM) I decided I would let my mind pick 3 random years. I would just relax and pick the first 3 years that came to mind. Then I would pick a movie from each of the years, one I have never seen, watch them and review them. This is a way of filling in some gaps in my film knowledge and adding a little exciting random-ness to the process. The years that popped to mind were 1950, 1971 and 1995. I ran a search on movies from these years and picked the ones that seemed most interesting to me. I'll be watching these as soon as I get a hold of copies and I'll let y'all know what I think.

And the winners are:

Duma Key by Stephen King

Stephen King is my all time favorite author. I pity those who only know the man through his countless movies, mini-series and television adaptations. A lot of these are good and even the worst of them have a lot of cheesy popcorn charm that can be respected by hardcore fans of the genre. But even the best of them don't capture the man's true genius. The way he draws his characters. More specifically, they way he gets into their minds. I love watching them think. Nearly all of them are regular people like you and me faced with horrors they never thought possible and to watch their minds accept the situations he puts them in is pure joy. And his situations are amazingly unique.

In Duma Key, King's latest novel, we meet Edgar Freemantle. A good man in his early fifties who runs a succesful contracting business in Minnesota. He becomes the victim of a horrible construction accident in which he loses his arm. He also gets some serious head trauma causing him a lot of memory problems and also making him prone to fits of rage. His wife can't handle it and divorces him. He feels like giving up but a doctor asks him what else he can do to make him happy. Is there anything else he's good at that he can turn to to make himself feel better? Well he used to draw a bit. Lately it's been little more than a doodling habit but he used to be quite good. So he movies to a little Florida island known as Duma Key leaving his "other life" behind and giving himself a chance to start fresh. Here he discovers that he's actually quite talented as he spends his days in Big Pink (the name gives his house) looking out into the ocean and drawing and painting. But his re-discovered talent will be the key in uncovering a terrible supernatural mystery leading all the way back to 1927.

To tell you more would be a great dis-service. This book is very good and unravelling the mystery will give you hours of joy. You'll meet a fabulous cast of supporting characters. My favorite is Jerome Wireman, one of the islands only other regular inhabitants. He is the caretaker of aging Elizabeth Eastlake who is on the verge of being taken over by Alzheimers disease, but whose hidden memories may be the biggest key of all to the horrors that lie in wait on Duma Key.

Do yourself a favor and get this book. If you've never read SK before this is as good a place to start as any. Trust me, you'll love being a Constant Reader.

Stargate SG-1 - Season 2, Episode 21 - "1969"

Almost done with Season 2!! In this episode SG-1 is about the head out on a routine mission. But first, Carter needs to make some adjustments to the calculations due to the gravitational shifts that will be caused by an impending solar flare. Well, the solar flare sends the gang back in time to the year....1969. There they meet a young General Hammond who helps them escape improsinment from the US Government who believes them to be soviet spys. They hitch a ride with some hippies on their way to woodstock and end up in Washington D.C. where they find the Stargate being stored in a US armory. The activate it during a solar flare and make it back home.

This episode is a lot of fun. It's got some great humor, including some Star Trek and Star Wars refrences. Plus a lot of cliche 60's stuff like hippies and hippie clothes. I think we got one more episode left in this season but I'n not sure. There may be 24 episodes instead of 22.

And for those of you wondering why I skipped Episode 19, I was on the phone with a beautiful lady and my family didn't wait for me. But I've seen these first few seasons before so, oh well.

Stargate SG-1 - Season 2, Episode 20 - "Show And Tell"

Ah, a cute little cancer boy came through the Stargate! Actually he's genetically engineered messenger of doom! This kid was made by the Reetou, a species who has been under constant attack from the Goa'uld. A sect of Reetou terrorists have decided that the best way to deal with the threat is to wipe out all possible Goa'uld hosts. Reetou logic, not so good. A good guy Reetou created Charlie to come through the gate and warn Earth of the impending attack. BTW the Reetou are invisible. But it turns out Teal'c and his symbiote baby can sense their presence. This leads SG-1 to the conclusion that the Tok'ra may be of assistance. Turns out the Tok'ra have cool little doo-hickies that can see the Reetou. They decide to go on a re-con mission to the Reetou terrorist base planet. There's thousands of them! And they look just like Starship Trooper bugs. SG-1 realizes there is only one solution. Only one soilder brave enough to help them. Casper Van Dien a.k.a Johnny Rico!!! But he's on Klendathu. Fighting the bugs, his gorgeous body dpripping with war sweat and glistening in the hot alien sun, as if he was sculpted by a God. So he's of no use. I know what you're thinking. Get NPH, right. Well even Carter can't calculate which strip club he's at. So the SG-1 and the To'kra are on their own. It's too bad cuz five Reetou followed them back to Earth. It's cool though. The devices allowing them to see the Reetou are succesful in defeating them. Fow now. Charlie, the little cancer looking boy, is dying due to shome shotty genetics. So the Tok'ra offer to use him is a host so he may live. I'm sure will see him again one day. For now it's on to episode 21, 1969!! SG-1 as hippies!!!

TV Episode Pick Of The Week - Angel - Season 1, Episode 8 - "I Will Remember You"

Quite possibly the greatest Buffy/Angel romance story ever told on either show. If this doesn't jerk your tears a bit then your soul is blackened with hate and there's no hope for you. If you're a fan, you know what I mean. If you're not then shame on you!! Get started here or by the DVD's on Amazon. You won't regret it.

Scared Shitless

A quick blurb before I head to bed. I'm up way to fucking late and people I live with will most certainly be bugging me to get up mere hours from now. Grrr! But I just had to make a quick mention of this. I'm reading Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. For those of you who don't know Joe Hill is the son of the greatest author to ever live Mr. Stephen King. Tonight he has suceeded in scaring me to my core! In a way his father never really has. I mean I had the serious wig. In the book one character is telling another about a time she saw a ghost in her backyard. The ghost of a little girl, blowing dandelions in the wind. I won't go into detail of what happens in the story, because you've just got to read it for yourself, but I was outside smoking in my backyard when I read the damn chapter. And it was quiet and it was the middle of the night and it seriously scared the shit out of me. I let out a low moan of terror and sat frozen in my lawn chair, slowly gathering the courage to get up and go back inside. Once I did I kinda ran into my room. I felt like a tiny little girl. I still kind of do. My nicotine addicted brain is begging me to take a drag on death one more time before bed. I think I will. But I'm gonna do it in the front yard...for my own good. Even that feels...unsafe. Wish me well.

Stargate SG-1 - Season 2, Episode 18 - "Holiday"

This is a classic episode of SG-1. It's subject matter is a sci-fi television classic. The body switch!!

SG-1 visits a planet where they discover an old man named Machello. Machello has created a device that analyzes and remaps complex neural patterns. Basically all of the information in our brains that make us who we are. When both Machello and Daniel touch the handles on either side of the machine, their bodies switch. This is great for Machello. Bad for Daniel. (BTW both Machello and Daniel Jackson are played by the brilliant Michael Shanks.) Machello is centuries old and near death, so he plans to stay put in his new found young body. SG-1 takes the dying Machello back to Stargate Command and since Machello's body is unconscious they are unaware of the body switch. So Machello, in Daniels body, leaves the base to begin exploring earth and embrace his second chance at life. He meets a homeless guy and takes him out for a huge meal at a diner. It's here we learn that Machello was once a soldier who used his incredible scientific knowledge in a life long fight against the Goa'uld. Now that he has a new chance at life he plans to stop fighting and enjoy life on Earth.

Meanwhile, SG-1 has discovered that the two have switched bodies and immeadiately begin looking for a way to reverse the process. This where things start to get really fun. They go back to Machellos lab to retrieve the body switching machine so they can figure out how it works and Jack and Teal'c end up switching bodies. Teal'c is a very rigid, straight to the point guy with little to no sense of humor. He's a warrior who takes every moment seriously and has almost zero emotional range. This is a stark contrast to Richard Dean Anderson's portrayal of Col. Jack O'Neil. Jack is a smart-ass. Never afraid to speak his mind. His sarcastic charisma and endless witty wisecracks are a driving force of what makes the show so enjoyable. So to see Christopher Judge step out of his Vulcan like manner and let loose is a joy. Body switching episodes are always great because we get to watch the cast mimic their co-stars and you can always tell they're having a blast. Some great examples of this: Farscape, the crew of Moya keep body jumping from one person to another, so we get to watch each actor play several different characters. And don't forget my very favorite show, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Buffy and Faith switch bodies and both Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku to a great job of playing each other. There's countless other body switching episodes throughout TV history but it's 4 AM so don't expect me to remember them all right now. Someday I'll post a whole article about the best body swaps.

Of course, everyone ends up back in the right bodies in the end. If you've never watched SG-1 then stop reading these darn synopsis I post and check it out!! It really will rock your balls.

What To Expect,Stargate Rundown

Soon there will be more to this blog then synopsis of the shows I watch. Expect movie news, news you wish you heard, movie reviews, coming soon stuff, links to trailers, book reviews, comic book reviews and some unique takes and thoughts on the world of geekdom. So if you're bored with what's up here now (I am too, a little) just keep checking back. Shit's gonna get real.

Tonight I'll be finishing Stephen King's newest novel Duma Key so I'll be sure to get a review up here. In the meantime, here's what I've been watchin'!

Stargate SG-1, Season 2

Episode 15, The Fifth Race

The knowledge of "The Ancients", the alien species who built the gates, is downloaded into Jacks brain. Jack travels to another galaxy and meets the Asgard, where he learns that humans have the potential to become the fifth race in a long standing alliance for peace throughout the galaxy.

Episode 16, A Matter Of Time

SG-10 becomes stranded on a planet that is located near the event horizon of a black hole. This causes time to pass incredibly slow. When the SGC attempts to dial up a rescue they come under the effect of the black hole's gravitational pull. As a result time in the SGC is passing slower than that of the Earth. The gang must find away to shutdown the stargate before all of earth is suck through into the black hole.

Episode 17, Serpent's Song

Apophis seeks sanctuary at the SGC from an ancient Goa'uld named Sokar, who in our ancient mythology represents the original Satan. Despite a warning from the Tok'ra, the SGC refuses to send Apophis back through the gate. In retaliation Sokar bombards the gate's iris with a particle accelerator in an attempt to burn his way through. Faced with no other option they send Apophis back through the gate, where Sokar will surely resurrect Apophis with the sarcophagus and torture him endlessly.

Stargate SG-1 - Season 2, Episode 14 - "Touchstone"

SG-1 visits a planet where the indigenous people have the ability to call forth whatever type of weather is needed to sustain their crops and their way of life by using a powerful device called the touchstone. After a de-briefing at the SGC, General Hammond authorizes SG-1 to return to the planet to further study the touchstone but find that it has been stolen. Witnesses on the planet accuse SG-1 of the theft, claiming that the perps were dressed in SGC uniforms. An investigation leads to the discovery of an unknowngovernment organization using the second gate to steal technology. SG-1 tracks down the second gate in Southern Utah. (my home state!) They are able to retrieve the touchstone, but the identities of the men who are using the second gate still remains unknown. The second Stargate has a permanent iris welded to it and is now being kept under lock and key at the SGC.

Angel - Season 3, Episode 18 - "Double Or Nothing"

In Double Or Nothing Cordelia and Groo return from their sex vacation to find that Connor has been abducted by Holtz and taken to the demon dimension Quor'Toth. Wesley is still in the hospital and has been shunned by all of his friends.

The main plot of the episode deals with an old deal Gunn made with demon casino runner Jenoff. Turns out Gunn traded his soul long ago and it's time to pay up. Believing it may be his last day alive he takes Fred out for the day stuffing her full of food and pumping her full of fun. I'm sure he was planning on pumping her full of black anaconda but before he gets a chance Fred sees through what he's doing and realizes there must be something terribly wrong. Gunn reacts to the accusation by turning incredibly mean, saying it would be nice to have a real woman and not a "stick figure". Fred returns to the hotel and let's the rest of the crew in on the sitch.

Angel and crew head off to the casino to rescue Gunn just as he was about to willingly turn himself in to the soul sucking Jenoff. Angel challenges Jenoff to a game of Double or Nothing in an attempt to win back Gunn's soul. Angel loses and tries to decapitate the demonic gangster only to find that his head just grows back. He turns to the rest of the casino patrons and asks, "Does anyone else owe this guy?" The demons take the hint and seize the opportunity to tear Jenoff to shreds. All's well that ends well. It turns out Gunn had traded his soul for...A TRUCK!!?? What a dumb ass...but I love him.

Buy Angel on Amazon.com

Farscape - Season 4, Episode 14 - "Twice Shy"

In Twice Shy the crew of Moya are preparing to venture into tormented space, but first they need to acquire maps in order to safely navigate this hostile area of space.

They come across some traders and the old lady, Noranti, negotiates a trade with them. In addition to the maps Chiana insists upon buying a young girl named Talikka, who has apparently been repeatedly raped and abused by the traders. Talikka turns out to be a shape-shifting arachnid creature who steals and eats neural energy, thus robbing the crew of all of their strongest traits. John just wants to give up. Aeryn, who usually gaurds her emotions closely, becomes very emotional indeed. D'Argo can't get angry. Rygel cares little of money and greed. Chiana is no longer constantly horny, and Scorpius's Scarran side begins to take over his Peacekeeper side.

Of course the crew ends up defeating the evil spider bitch and getting their mojo back. In the end Aeryn and Chirchton finally start hooking up again, but must keep it a secret from Scorpius, whom JOhn fears will use Aeryn to gain access to the wormhole knowledge in his head and use it for nefarious purpouses.

Buy Farscape on Amazon.com

Farscape - Season 4, Episode 13 - "Terra Firma"

John and the gang are on Earth!! For real this time. There was a time early on in the show when Crichton thought he was on Earth but it was all a ruse set up by an ancient species curious to learn more about humans and how they would truly react to the knowledge of alien life. If memory serves it was also a way of assessing wether or not they could entrust John with the wormhole knowledge locked away in his noggin. That may not be exactly right, but it's at least close.

Any hoobie-doobies, yeah John made it back to Earth. In the episode prior to this they were on Earth as well but it was sometime in the 1980's. John was just an itty-bitty teeny bopper, angry at Daddy and tooling around in a pick-up truck with his girlfriend. Old John had to make sure his Dad wouldn't get on the Challenger shuttle and get blowned up. (Yes I know blowned isn't a real word, but I think it's a fun one) If Daddy were to die then there would never be a Farscape mission and John never would've ended up "on this living ship full of escaped prisoners" and we wouldn't've been privelged to see all his wacky adventures with bad ass space muppets. Here I am going on about the episode before Terra Firma! But it has some great moments that are worth mentoning. Teenage John loses his virginity to Chiana! Yum-Oh! Aeyrn practices her English by watching Seasame Street! And Rygel gets a major sugar high off Halloween candy.

But anyways, back to Terra Firma. Earth welcomes John and his alien friends with suprisingly open arms. I thought they'd lock em up in cages and try to dissect and study them and stuff and then John would have to rescue them. This wasn't the case. In fact the government didn't even try to keep their existence a secret from the general public. However, the good old US of A were trying to be stingy with all their nifty new technology, not wanting to share it with the rest of the world. John felt this was wrong and eventually convinced his Dad that sharing was the right thing to do. Daddy Crichton was all post 9/11 paranoid at first, feeling that sharing the knowledge was a huge risk to national security, whereas John felt not sharing was more dangerous. Aeryn is feeling a bit jealous about John being reunited with his old Earth flame. And of course now that Aeryn has regained her interest in John, John decides to be all stand-offish. These two just need to fuck already!! Well they did but that was the other John who was killed. If you haven't seen this show maybe you should stop reading. I'm spoiling shit. While all of this is going on the evil Peacekeeper bitch sent an ugly green scary fucker to track John down, get the wormhole knowledge out of his magnificent brain and then kill him. Everyone gets attacked on Christmas eve but D'Argo ends up disintergrating the fucker. After that John bids farewell to his family and heads back through the wormhole, where the gang will now continue with their adventures. They're going to start by heading out into Tormented Space, a place where Peacekeepers don't dare go. Something tells me evil bitch woman with the hypnotizing tit juice will have the balls to follow. We'll see....

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Masters Of Science Fiction - Episode One - "A Clean Escape"

After viewing the first episode of Mick Garris's Masters Of Science Fiction I find myself wishing the show would have ran more than six episodes. I can't wait to watch the other five.

A Clean Escape stars Law & Order vet Sam Waterston as Robert Havelman, President Of The United States. He's suffering from a form of amnesia, allowing him to forget the fact that he's solely responsible for the destruction of mankind by nuclear weapons. Judy Davis plays psychatrist Dr. Deanna Evans, who is trying to trigger Havelman's dormant memories so he can be held accountable for his crimes. Although the story is set in a post apocalyptic future it's more of a psychological tale, focusing on the inner turmoils of doctor and patient rather then fancy kicks and lasers. There are some interesting little twists woven throughout the forty-three minute story so I won't go into a lot of detail. I've already said too much by letting you in on the fact that Havelman is the President. The episode is based on a play by sci-fi author John Kessel. This guy won the nebula award in 1982 (the year I was born!) for his short story Another Orphan, about a guy who finds himself living in side the novel Moby Dick. I've never read it but I'll probably end up reading some of this guys stuff now. I wish I would've known about this play when I was in High School. I was big into drama and this would've been a lot of fun to do. If you haven't seen Masters Of Science Fiction you should check it out. I'll be watching more soon so I'll let you guys know how the other episodes are.


Masters Of Science Fiction on WikiPedia
Masters Of Science Fiction IMDB

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