STARGATE UNIVERSE : EPISODE 8 “TIME”

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Episode 8 is my least  favourite of the 10 that the makers of Stargate : Universe have aired so far. The reason – it features that demon of all sci-fi franchises; alternate realities!

I hate the multiple alternate realities concept as a plot in any sci-fi series. I can barely stand time travel as a plot even though it has given us some funny & memorable episodes across shows. But alternate realities is a multi-headed monster child that doesn’t hold much appeal for me. And Time hasn’t changed my mind at all. Also it looks heavily influenced by the Alien movie franchise!

An away team from the Destiny explore a jungle planet and find a kino lying near the stargate there. When they play the video they are horrified to see that they are watching themselves come to the same planet in a different timeline. They went to the planet to find any suitable fruits and food nearby and see if it is safe to eat, or even edible, and then take them back to Destiny. An illness plagues the travelers and they are forced to quarantine themselves on the planet.

The kino records the team falling sick and waiting as the time passes and it gets dark. Then a heavy rain fall on the jungle while more of the away team falls sick. And then the alien creature starts to attack: first Brody and then Chloe are killed as the rest shoot at the creatures. This is when we are made aware that these scenes are being watched on the Kino viewing room. Apparently solar flares interrupted with the stargate and caused the the wormhole disruption, which redirected the wormhole back in time to the same location. The footage shows what would happen if normal conditions applied. Now that they found the Kino when they arrived, they changed the timeline.

We then see people dying on the planet, people dying in an alternate version on the ship due to an illness caused by something in the planet. There is a tender moment when Eli sits near a dying Chloe. TJ discovers that the venom from the alien creature cures the illness that the people caught on the planet Hoth (from two episodes earlier). In order to fight the virus, they need to catch one of the creatures; alive. A team consisting of Young, Greer, Scott and Spencer go through the stargate to the planet to capture one but they are all soon killed with the exception of Scott.

Scott dials the Stargate, and waits for the event horizon to flutter. During that time, he takes out a Kino and records a message, summarizing everything that is going to happen to the Destiny in our reality.He explains that they got a virus from Hoth, and that the deadly creatures are their best chance for the cure. He also explains they live in mounds, so they can find a live specimen during the day without getting attacked. After he sees the Stargate is malfunctioning, he prepares to send it though so that the team from our reality will find it and heed his warning. Before ending the transmission, he begs them to believe him, and urges them to act fast or everyone will die.

The episode ends here.

It’s The Cruelest Summer

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The state of Kerala has been transformed into one big hot oven

  • Palakkad (Palghat) has hit the highest – 41.5 degrees Celsius  yesterday. 6 people were affected by sunstroke in the city.
  • Punalur (in Kollam district) was the next highest at 39 degrees
  • In most of the remaining districts, it varied between 33 and 35 degree celsius.
  • The IMO predicts that the days ahead will be no different.
  • The maximum temperature in the state has risen by .2 degrees while the minimum has risen by .9 degrees.
  • As of now, summer diseases like chicken pox have not been reported but…look out!
  • Power consumption in the state has risen by leaps & bounds. I myself use the ceiling fan and a pedestal fan.

Now I know what a melting ice cream cone feels like!

Great Dane’s Hattrick Vitalizes Arsenal

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That’s the way we gotta do it boys. Arsenal came back from losing the first leg of their round of 16 of the Champions League against Porto to pummel their opponents 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium. Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner – heavily criticised after a succession of misses in Saturday’s win against Burnley – scored twice in the first half & once in the second to wipe out the 2-1 lead Porto were protecting from the first game in Portugal.

Andrey Arshavin was instrumental in both first half goals as Bendtner added the final flourishes to Arsenal’s flowing attacking moves that enabled them to take control almost instantly. Samir Nasri, taking on Cesc Fabregas’ midfield mantle in the absence of Arsenal’s inspirational captain through injury, embarked on a weaving, angled solo run that took him past a succession of Porto defenders to score.

Substitute Emmanuel Eboue quickly added the fourth as Arsenal launched a sweeping counter-attack from a Porto corner, Arshavin again making life easy for his team-mate to go around Porto goalie Helton and score.