As the Destiny’s CO2 scrubbers are running low are running low on lime and the ship comes out of FTL, the crew looks for suitable planets to replenish their stock. Out of two gates in range only one is active and looks promising. As they prepare a team to go to the planet, 6 drones appear. Greer manages to take out the drones, but Park states that they will not be able to fight off an entire armada, and they cannot jump for another two hours. Young meets with Rush in the control interface, curious as to how the drones have followed them. Rush isn’t sure. Young suggests the inactive drone as the cause, and though Eli insists it to be dormant, he orders it jettisoned just in case. The drone is jettisoned out of the third, unused docking bay. A shot from the turrets destroys it but there is a control ship which will reach them in an hour.

As Matthew Scott & Greer leads the small team through the gate and to the planet, they spot two teenage human gatherers and get a big surprise to hear them speak back to the team in English. The boy & girl Jason & Ellie, recognize Scott and Greer, proclaiming them to be their ancestors; they claim to have descended from Destiny’s crew, who founded a civilization 2000 years ago. Young holds a meeting with Rush, TJ, Eli, Chloe, and Wray, wondering how this could have happened, and Eli realizes that it must have been the duplicate crew created when they attempted to dial Earth from within a star. Since there was no Destiny to receive them that far back, they went to a nearby gate instead. They were stranded on this planet, which they called Novus, and settled there, creating an entire civilization from the small group of Destiny’s crew. The planet on which the crew finds Jason & Ellie is a settlement, one of several on various worlds, which they made while looking for viable colony sites. They have been unable to dial Novus for a long time, decades at least, and cannot dial anywhere else.

Destiny’s crew meets with the settlement’s leader Yazou, which was also Camille’s grandfather’s name, and he invites them to have tea in one of the tents. As the crew is informed the colony only numbers about 100 people, but Novus has millions and advanced technology. The colony teams were sent out due to a natural disaster on their homeworld, but Novus has been out of contact for 30 years. In addition to the natural disaster, political tensions were rising between the two dominant countries: Tenera and Futura. The Tenerans, from who this colony is descended, followed the writings in the testament, written by some of the crew. Tenera loosely translates as “Land of Young”. The Futurans, in turn, worshiped Rush, having come to believe he was still on Destiny and would rescue them. Volker thinks the name is stupid, though Brody disagrees. Eli reveals that Brody was the one to invent it.

Through video archives they find that TJ had a baby with Young, the first to be born on the planet. Eli is shown as an older man, having had a child of his own and appreciating what they have on Novus. An elderly Young is shown, speakingof a group wishing to break off, presumably the start of the two countries that would eventually form. MeanwhileAs the crew get plenty of supplies from the settlement, Yaozu has something more to ask. He would like Destiny to transport the colony back to Novus. They are unable to sustain themselves without support from Novus, and thus need a way back home. oung isn’t convinced they could transport that many people, but Eli believes it would be possible. The trip would take a week and it would drain most of their lime reserves, leaving them right back where they started, but they’d make it. Young says no and Eli, Wray, Scott, and Greer return to the planet to inform Yaozu of the decision.

They say that they will stop by Novus and see if the gate can be repaired. However as drones suddenly appear and attack the settlement, Young allows the plea to bring all the colony onboard. Most of the people go through the gate but a drone shoots at the ring, destroying part of it, which strands a small group of humans including Eli, Wray, Scott & Greer. They have to wait the night out before a shuttle is sent to retrieve them and Destiny heads for Novous. As Rush complains that all the lime might be used up, a few of the colonists ask for permission to stay aboard Destiny. Jason, Ellie, Yaozu, Greer, and Wray have joined the shuttle mission. As they approach Novus, Scott can detect no radio signals. As the come in closer they see evidence of a nuclear winter and then an intact but abandoned city. There is no radiation, no detectable power signatures, and no signs of life. Rush clarifies Park’s assessment to a volcanic winter, likely the result of a supervolcano. Scott makes a lower pass, but there is no sign that anyone has lived there for a long time.

On an alien planet members of the Destiny crew are hunting for food & fruits when they find a couple of animals that look like deer from earth. Wondering if they could get edible meat from those animals Greer prepares to kill one and is joined by Scott joins him to corner the animal. The pair are distracted by a roar and before they can get their bearings, a beast bursts from the brush, knocking the Kino aside. Within moments, it tackles Scott, sending him flying. Though Greer has time to shoot, he hesitates & the beast knocks Greer aside and darts past him. It then attacks a few more of the crew causing some injuries and as the crew picks themselves up they find TJ and Reynolds missing. Young orders Scott back to the ship and personally heads the rescue party.

Meanwhile Eli & Brody open one of the doors in the unexplored areas and find a large room with lots of stasis pods. Rush assumes the pods were meant for lengthy intergalactic travel periods. Both Eli and Rush are fascinated by the discovery, but Rush unexpectedly decides to ignore it for the time being. He intends to check the ship’s database for information on the pods first, given recent events. Fed up with waiting, Eli decides to check out the stasis pods himself, asking Brody not to tell Rush. Brody decides to follow him instead of moving on. As they examine one of the pods, Brody gets stuck in one and is frozen. A panicking Eli tries in vain to release him and then calls Chloe to assist but she is also unable to open it. Unknown to them an amused Rush had observed the activity and had activated the pod from the bridge. He later releases the pod door and Brody is thawed from his frozen state.

Young is unable to raise TJ & Reynolds on the radio but refuses to admit that they could be dead. He sends the rest of the team to the gate and when he is alone with Greer he asks him about the hesitation in shooting the animal, for which Greer doesn’t have an answer. Varro and the remaining former Lucian Alliance  crew asks Young to join the search for the missing two, as they have had lots more experience hunting wildlife, which will come in handy as the creature that attacked the crew seems to be a smart one. This would prove to be more than true as the creature attacks at night and kills most of the crew leaving only Greer, Varro & an injured Young remaining. Varro advises Young to go back to the ship as he is in no condition to help.

TJ & Reynolds, who has a broken ankle, find themselves in a cave, the lair of the huge cat like creature. They find many bones of dead animals in the cave and assume that they have been left for a latter meal. The creature is also guarding the cave from a distance and with Reynolds injured they can’t make a run for it. Apparently there are also younger ones of the creature in the forest. TJ manages to reach Greer on the radio and alerts him to the situation and location. As Varro detonates C4 to distract the young creatures away, the adult beast returns to its lair. It observes TJ and Reynolds, as well as the fire TJ has made.  The adult beast isn’t drawn away. Greer comes in, ready to shoot, but TJ stops him. The beast seems to recognize that they’re intelligent from the fire, which is why it hasn’t killed them. Greer has them move away, then lowers his gun to show he’s not hostile. The beast sniffs him, then backs off, allowing him to leave. As they head back to the gate, joining Varro, they come across one of the space deer. He kills the deer and the meat is cut up, cooked & served by Varro to the rest of the crew who are ecstatic to have some meat.

The 15th episode of the second season sees guest appearances from both Robert Picardo as Richard Woolsey and David Hewlett as Dr. Rodney McKay. Meeting up with allies called the Langarans, Woolsey and Col. David Telford are trying to convince Ambassador Ovrida (played by Victor Garber) for use of their Stargate facility as a lifeline for Destiny, since their facility has already been set up to draw energy from the planet’s naquadria core. The Langarans are not convinced that it is safe to do so and their scientists have determined it to be dangerous for their planet. Rodney is brought in to propose a different option but the Langarans are not ready to try it. Ovirda stops him and says that he is not willing to dial Destiny if there’s even the slightest chance it could end in disaster, and will only agree if their scientists can confirm McKay’s findings.

Telford tries to use the possibility of the Lucian Alliance attacking Langara to use the Stargate by force and dial Destiny as possible coercion to agree to Earth’s proposition. However it does not work. Telford takes this as a sign that the Langarans have already been contacted by the Alliance and believes that they are working in agreement. Telford, Woolsey, McKay use the communication stones to discuss this with Col. Young. Telford shows Woolsey and McKay evidence of talks between the Alliance and Langara, collected using listening satellites orbiting the planet. Young has Eli confirm McKay’s method of dialing and is convinced when Eli says he wishes he had thought of the idea. A plan is hatched to convince the Langarans to safely dial the 9th chevron and to determine if they are indeed siding with the Alliance instead of Earth. On Langara, Woolsey comes through the gate unannounced, claiming to have some Ancient relics as gifts for Chief Administrator Halpren and Ambassador Ovirda. The captain of the guard insists on examining the relics, not realizing that the items are two long-range communication stones.

Using the stones, Young switches with Halpern and Scott switched with the captain of the guard. Young as Halpern invites Telford, McKay and some soldiers to Langara, much to the surprise of some of the soldiers on the Langaran side. Woolsey returns from having examined the administrator’s files. He has discovered that Langara was approached by the Alliance on multiple occasions, and steadfastly refused each time to preserve their relationship with Earth. A suspicious guard overhears some of the conversation and alerts Ovrida to the base and before the 9th Chevron can be dialed, his guards apprehend the Earth’s delegation. oung consults with McKay, who believes that the connection would have been successful.

Young and Scott return to Destiny. Young explains that Earth has now agreed to protect Langara from the Alliance, while the Langarans have removed the Stargate from the facility, ending any hopes of dialing Destiny. Noticing that they have moved to the bridge, James explains that she took their guests on a tour in the hopes of garnering some sympathy. Given their performance on Langara, he believes James made the best decision of any of them. Telford, Woolsey & McKay are also allowed to return to earth.

While all of this was going on Dr. Rush was in the chair, in a simulated world created by Amanda Perry’s consciousness (which was downloaded into the ship’s memory) and spending the day with her. In this simulated world it is possible for them to “touch” each other and make love, so they spend they day in bed. However, Perry does not want him to leave and when the time comes for him to go back to reality, she fakes it so he only believes that he is back with the rest of the crew. Eli & TJ are worried that they can’t snap Rush out of his ‘coma’ on the chair and it takes Ginn’s conciousness to give Eli a solution for the same.

Later Rush wakes up in the infirmary, having been unconscious for two days after being disconnected. Eli is there, waiting by the bed. Rush angrily demands an explanation, so Eli reveals that he transferred both Perry and Ginn into a quarantined section of the ship’s memory, totally isolating them from both the ship’s systems and the neural interface. He did so to save Rush, but clearly isn’t happy about it. Eli leaves, ignoring Rush’s further calls. TJ stops Rush from trying to press the issue, as he still needs to rest. Greer tells him to listen to her.

This one was a crazy episode. The crew take turns at the communication stones trying to get in touch with people at Homeworld Command. While they wait for some news Eli & Rush play chess, while Volker and Brody argue over the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which Volker refers to by its proper name of “Also sprach Zarathustra”. Chloe sits and after sometime she seems to have been taken over by someone – to the surprise of the crew it turns out to be Ginn!

Young, Eli & Rush explain to ‘Ginn’ about the situation – that she was killed while her consciousness was in Amanda Perry’s body by Simeon and they had assumed that both she & Perry were killed simultaneously due to them having swapped consciousness. cott wonders why Chloe was affected when no one else does, which Rush attributes to her falling asleep during her shift, which relaxed her consciousness enough for Ginn to make a connection. Scott is more concerned with where Chloe’s mind is while Ginn is using her body. Wherever Chloe is it isn’t earth as the crew still can’t connect with anyone on the planet. Ginn is concerned about where she’ll end up if she leaves Chloe’s body, so Eli tries to reassure her by pointing out that they don’t know where Chloe went. A little later “Ginn” starts gasping for breath, as if someone was choking her.

Later Chloe resurfaces back unaware of what has been happening. And then Amanda also appears, taking control of Chloe’s mind, much to the relief and happiness of Rush. He tells her that until something else can be done, he hopes to have Amanda’s & Ginn’s consciousness stored into Destiny’s computer memory. The hope is for finding a way to permanently download their memories & consciousness into new bodies, which Eli is also confident of. By using the chair the memories are stored into the computer and Chloe recovers hours later.

Also in this episode we find out that Volker is sick, having stopped using his BP meds which he was taking for hypertension. A checkup reveals that his kidneys are failing and since dialysis is not possible on this ship the only option is for a transfer. TJ finds two matches and one of them, Greer, readily volunteers. We see a tender moment when Greer walks a sick Volker around the ship so he can see the various areas before the operation. Also a funny moment just before the operation is to start – Brody plays the theme from 2001 on his ipod but when the others find it ominous, he says he will stop it. Unfortunately it plays some Japanese boyband stuff that is so awful and he can’t turn it off, so Brody removes the batteries. Amanda appears to TJ to help her with the operation as power fails.

At the end of the episode, Telford contacts them as Homeworld Command has finally been able to get things working again. Park helps Volker walk around a bit to help his healing process as TJ checks on Greer. On the bridge, Perry appears to Rush. She thanks him for saving her. She describes her new state of being as “freeing”. Later, Ginn appears to Eli. He was initially worried since she hadn’t appeared as quickly as Perry did. Though she cannot touch him, the fact that they can see each other is enough. She reaches out to touch him, but her hand just passes through his cheek.

Label this one as the episode in which Sgt. Greer & Camille Wray bond and finally become friends. As we start the episode Col. Telford uses the communication stones to meet up with Col. Young & Dr. Rush and demands an explanation of what happened. Telford is quick to accept their story since he has more pressing matters to discuss. Senator Michaels (Kathleen Quinlan), the new head of the Offworld Spending Committee, is coming to Destiny to investigate Rush’s “signal from God” – as others on Earth are calling the cosmic radiation that Rush discovered. Rush protests the name, which he didn’t coin, but Telford explains that others on Earth have started using it.

Wray offers to switch minds with Sen. Michaels and talk to the IOA for a way to dial the gate on Destiny by looking for an Icarus-like planet. This may not provide a passage home (as they can only dial to Destiny and not vice versa) but it can provide them with food & other supplies. Sgt Greer switches with Dr. Andrew Covel (French Stewart), a scientific adviser who is accompanying the Senator and is a former colleague of Dr. Rush. Once she is aboard the ship, the Senator is all business but is genuinely glad to see Chloe, who she is very fond of and has known her as a family friend for many years. While at Homeworld Command in the different bodies, Wray & Greer are caught in a massive blast caused by a bomb intended to destroy the offices.

Greer and Wray are trapped in the remains of the building unable to find a way out and with the possibility of more bombs in the base. Telford is out safely and is trying to get to them but the path is blocked by debris. They are also unable to get to the stones to disconnect themselves and return to the ship. It is up to Greer, who is also injured, & Wray to find & defuse the bomb. They run into another soldier, Evans, who initialy helps them but turns out to be the Lucian Alliance spy who set the bomb. When Evans makes his move to hold Wray hostage, he is shot by Greer. Later, as Destiny comes out of FTL and they switch back to their bodies, they are able to tell Col. Young of the situation, before switching back to Homeworld Command. However it takes Senator Michaels & a reluctant Covel with instructions from from former Lucian Alliance member Varro to defuse the bomb. Michaels and Covel prepare to return to their bodies. Rush disconnects the base, returning them to their bodies. Michaels prepares to disarm the bomb.

Although the crew is unable to connect back to Homeworld Command after that, perhaps the communication room in the building was damaged, we later find out that the bomb was indeed defused. And it is likely that Michaels & Covel died soon after as their bodies were exposed to leathal levels of radiation.

This episode is just awesome. A meeting is held to discuss the fact that a lot of systems have significant damages and they don’t have spare parts. Life support is also at a reduced capacity as Dale Volker & Adam Brody explains. Telford asks for alternatives while Dr. Rush says that they have no option but to carry on. He also objects when Eli tells the rest about something he & Ginn were working on – to devise a means to dial Earth while Destiny is recharging inside a star. Rush vehemently opposes this plan, as Eli’s plan fails to consider the conditions inside the star while dialing. He is also concerned that it could destroy the ship.

Everyone else is on board with going home as they simply cannot continue on a ship in the condition that Destiny is in. Rush reiterates that Eli’s plan does not and cannot account for the unpredictable nature of conditions within a star, and establishing a connection could rip a hole in the fabric of space-time. Young agrees to stay back with Rush & asks for 10 other volunteers to continue on with the mission on Destiny while the rest of the crew dial & gate back to earth, if the plan works. Before they can go on, a shuttle approaches the ship and radios them – Dr. Rush is in the shuttle! This stuns Telford, Young and co as Rush is standing with them! The second Rush docks the shuttle as Scott, Greer, Telford, Young, and the first Rush arrive. Upon exiting the shuttle, Rush tries to attack Telford, blaming him for killing the crew. He then collapses. Young calls TJ to treat his injuries. Wray joins her.

The other Rush, who we will call future Rush, is from 12 minutes in the future. He tells them what happens in his timeline – they dial the gate and Telford leads the group through the gate, asking them to follow him in a few seconds. However an overload happens and with the exception of Telford, none of the crew makes it through to earth. They either died or exited at some other gate in any of the galaxies! Future Rush stayed behind to stabilize the wormhole and once everyone was through the gate the ship started to have overload and he got away in the shuttle. Rush looks at Future Rush and quips that he now has someone to have a decent conversation with. The plan for them to gate to Earth is dropped. However the crew can get something out of this failed attempt. Destiny needs spare parts and they have a twin Destiny, one just minutes away from the future, lying in space. So the plan is for the crew to split into groups and salvage anything that they can from the Future Destiny including spare parts and food.

The other destiny comes into view and they gate across. The teams rush off in different directions and start salvaging everything that they can – spare parts, food, weapons, plants, medicine, and anything else useful is taken. They have 40 minutes to do this and gate back. On his way back to the gate, Future Rush tries to salvage a power relay for the weapons array as Telford approaches him. Telford insinuates that Rush tried to sabotage the dialing attempt and made a mistake which killed the crew, which Future Rush adamantly denies. When Telford pokes Future Rush in the chest, continuing his accusations, Rush angrily shoves him off and blames Telford for their deaths. He realizes too late that he has just pushed Telford into the damaged relay. Telford is electrocuted to death, to Future Rush’s horror. He flees the scene.

Scott & Rush come to retrieve the two of them as the times is ticking away and are shocked to see Telford lying dead on the floor. Rush runs to get to his future self and finds his double at the interface chair. The Future Rush tells him Telford’s death was an accident, and insists that the story he told about his experiences was true. Knowing he can’t go back to Destiny without them believing he purposefully murdered Telford, he intends to sit in the chair. The first Rush helps him, then abandons ship with Scott. The second Destiny is consumed by the star. Meanwhile Wray uses the stones to report to Stargate command and informs Future Telford why he was the only one to gate back to earth. Destiny continues on with spare parts & food that let’s them continue the mission but most of them sad that they could not gate back home.

As we ended the previous episode, The Destiny is under heavy attack from the drones. Eli notes that there are hundreds of them, more than their one ship could ever hope to shoot down. Chloe tells Scott that she sent a signal to the Nakai, the blue aliens, who have been following them into this galaxy. Thanks to her signal, however, they now know where to look. Three Nakai ships drop out of hyperspace, as Greer accuses Chloe of betraying the humans. She denies it saying that she did it on purpose as it was the only chance that the crew had. No sooner does she say this when a lot of the drones start attacking the Nakai ships, indiscriminate in their targeting of any alien technology. Using this diversion to their advantage Destiny sets it’s way to the control ship, while Eli & Rush work on jamming the signals coming from it.

Destiny takes heavy damage on approach, but Rush and Eli succeed in jamming the drone signal. The momentary break is enough for Destiny to close the gap and fire on the Control Ship, obliterating it in a few shots. With the Control Ship gone, the drones are dead in space. Rush praises Eli for the idea. The Nakai were hit hard, losing two ships. The third seems to be heavily damaged. Now, the shields are down and they need a couple of hours to repair it before they can go into FTL. Meanwhile Telford has been in contact with the Ursini who claim that they didn’t trust Destiny to escape without fighting and hence took them straight to battle. However in trying to contact their brethren the Usini discover that they could very well be the last of their kind and another drone ship & a lot more drones are on their way towards them.

The crew bring a dormant drone on board in order to study it better and find a more permanent solution. But now the remaining Nakai ship block the way demanding help in dealing with the next wave of drones. Rush adds that this is a chance to cure Chloe. The aliens surely possess the ability to reverse what they’ve done to her, and the alternative is to put Chloe off the ship at the first opportunity. The aliens agree and although with the risk of the Nakai getting all information about Destiny from Chloe and not returning her, there is no other choice. Scott watches as two Nakai approach to take Chloe with them. She is brought back to Destiny by Scott in the shuttle and upon examination, she seems to show no signs of the infection. The new control ship & hoardes of drones arrive.

However a surprise is in store for the crew of the Destiny. They receive an apology note from the Ursini, who are making a suicide run at the control ship. Although their ship is destroyed before it could reach the target, the brief respite allows Rush & Eli to upload the new commands to the inactive drones; after learning about the inactive drone they brought to the ship, they programmed  new commands which set the drones on each other. With minimal shields, they head out to a bumpy FTP jump away from the battle.

Episode 10 of the second season starts with Dr Rush looking for Eli and Dale Volker conducting diagnostics of the ship’s systems. An energy signature which will take the Destiny a day to reach attracts the attention of the crew. The ship dropped out of FTL into a vast field of debris. Eli comments on it being a battlefied, while Camile Wray describes it as a graveyard. They find a familiar designed ship, the same one which Rush & Young visited, and decided to explore it for anything of value. Scott, Brody, and Ronald Greer head for the shuttle wearing Ancient environmental suits, the 3rd of which Brody had repaired is given to Greer. Unseen by the 3 of them as they fly by the debri, a fighter ship activates itself.

The 3 men find a breach in the front of the vessel and Brody & Greer board it while Scott remains back to man the shuttle. Eli sees that a few ships are showing signs of activity and on reporting this to Young, he recalls the away team back to Destiny. 10 more fighters come online and fly by towards the vessel. Brody and Greer make it back to the shuttle as the fighters offer no response to Eli’s friendly message. The fighters attack Destiny with firepower and Young orders his people to return fire. While waiting for the shuttle to reach them, Destiny’s FTL drive is rendered inert. Only the sublight engines are online, and they cannot hope to outrun the fighters.

Suddenly, a seed ship drops out of FTL. David Telford contacts them. Since time is short, he orders them to follow his ship. The seed ship plots a course for the nearby star. Young orders a pursuit course while all power is diverted to the shields. The fighters, now more than two-dozen strong, follow them in, destroying themselves in the star’s corona. Destiny, meanwhile, is able to recharge itself. Volker notes that they’ve evaded the fighters for now, but they’ll catch up once they get around the star. Telford contacts Destiny again, suggesting that they dock so he can tell them his story. The Ursini, the aliens on the seed ship meant no harm and they were finally able to communicate with Telford through a neural interface. With their help & trust he managed to fix the seed ship and come after Destiny.

The Ursini will  help Destiny by taking both ships to FTL and locating the drones command ship; destroying it will render all drone ships inert. The Ursini takes the ship to the place and the drones immediately start attacking Destiny. The drones are overwhelming the Destiny and all hails to the Ursini for a retreat are not answered. With no where to run with the FTL systems being offline, the situation looks grim. Chloe, seemingly possessed about doing some changes to the ship’s systems tries but is unsuccessful. The drones pressure on.

We start the episode with Brody fixing his still and Morrison, Lt.James & some other crew listening, only semi-interested to Dr. Rush’s discussion on the pattern of the background radiation. The ship comes out of FTL near two planets & just as Col. Young asks for a report from Volker, the lost shuttle appears out of nowhere. Robert Caine, one of the crew who opted to stay back on the artificial planet in another galaxy, calls over on the comm which further confuses the crew of the Destiny. Rush is curious as to how their shuttle could have made it this far, not being space-worthy let alone capable of such speeds. But here is Caine along with the other 7 who opted to stay back on that planet. The crew is also baffled as to how the advanced aliens who built that planet knew where the Destiny would be and when they would drop out of FTL to bring their people back to them.

Pleased at getting a working shuttle back, Col Young asks that the 8 people be brought on board but to take every precaution. TJ wants to meet up with them to see if they have a baby with them (she had earlier had a vision that her baby was with the 8 crew members). She fights back the tears after she sees no sign of the baby, composing herself when Young asks if she’s alright, then quickly leaves. Meanwhile Chloe’s condition is progressing along and there is a new patch of alien skin growing on her arm. Scot wants her to fight it even though she believes that it is too late. Later Greer discusses with Chloe that she may be killed if she changes completely to the blue alien. He offers an apology to her while he still can and they say goodbye. Chloe records a farewell message to Scott, telling him that she loves him and wishes they could have done everything a normal couple would have.

Eli, Camile & Young interview the 8 civilians who only remember going to sleep inside the shuttle, which they were using for shelter from the winter, and woke up just when the shuttle appeared near Destiny. Caine believes that God brought them there.  After recording the interviews with each individual, Wray & Young discuss about them. Wray feels that their memories were tampered with in an effort to hide something. Later when Eli talks with Val on her memory on the planet, blood pours from her eyes and mouth and she collapses. She later dies in the infirmary. On using hynosis on Peter, one of the 8, Wray finds out that Val & Peter both suffered deaths on the planet but reappeared here and are dying again. Peter died from dehydration and hypothermia (freezing to death), Val from bleeding as hit by a blunt object (hit by a falling tree). The others save from Caine are also suffering the symptoms of freezing.

Finally Caine is the only one left alive but he knows that he too will die again. In a recording on a Kino, we see Caine in the shuttle on the planet praying after the other have died and a bright light suddenly blocks out the picture. TJ surmises that the aliens may have sent them back to say goodbye.

The Shrine is the 6th episode of the 5th & final season of Stargate : Atlantis. This is one of the standout episodes of this highly enjoyable tv series and of the Stargate franchise in total. The reason is the premise and the acting ability of one Mr. David Hewlett who plays the role of Dr. Rodney McKay, one of the main characters of the series around whom the episode revolves. During a mission, Lt. Col. John Sheppard’s team step through the gate to go to a planet where another team is supposed to be studying the effects of global warming, only to be soaked completely as the valley where the gate on that planet is stationed is flooded. During the 38 minutes it takes for them to be rescued McKay, who was already feeling a bit feverish, gets infected by a parasite that wraps itself in his brain. Initially he doesn’t seem to be suffering but soon the effects of the parasite suppressing that part of his brain start appearing; the effects are similar to that of Alzheimer’s.

What happens next is brilliant acting; a normally brilliant genius, arrogant & sarcastic (funny to viewers) begins to soon have trouble remembering stuff and his memories deteriorates to the point where McKay is virtually unable to function. His speech is slow and he becomes almost childlike. This effect is hard on his friends in Atlantis and especially to his sister Jeannie who is brought to visit him and has to rush out in tears within a few minutes. There is no medical cure except for a shrine in another planet, where the enemy Wraith have also landed; a shrine which they soon find has radiation properties that suppress the parasite and it shrinks itself, making it operable on and Dr. Keller is able to remove it from McKay’s brain.

Back to the acting, Hewlett does a great job of completely reversing his role from the character we have come & know for the past 4 seasons and to see him disabled in this manner is awe-inspiring. This episode is also about friendships – McKay tells Keller that he loves her and wants to do so before he forgets. Also the friendship between Lt. Col. Sheppard & Rodney – the scene where an infected mcKay runs scared to John’s quarters, frightened when he woke up in the night. John & Rodney go to drink beer by the peer and McKay chooses to say goodbye now before his condition worsens and he can’t remember anything but Sheppard is having none of it, saying that there is still time . McKay is touched but says “You’re a good friend Arthur”! Sheppard glances to see that McKay is joking and the two have a laugh about it.

Awesome episode, worth watching even if you did not like the series.

I watched The Other Guys, a hilariously funny episode of Stargate SG1, season 6. The episode focuses on two guest stars who join SG1 on a special under cover mission – while totally unaware of the actual situation but end up helping in saving the day. The guest stars are Patrick McKenna & John Billingsly, two actors I have seen in many roles over the years – none as funny as this.

McKenna (the actor on the right) is a Canadian actor I used to watch on a series called Traders and in many guest roles in various tv series and a movie or two. Billingsly, on the left is a beloved actor to most Trekkies as Dr.Phlox in Star Trek: Enterprise and in the low budget but highly acclaimed movie The Man From Earth. The third actor in the middle doesn’t have much of a role in the episode. McKenna & Billingsly play two scientists – Dr. Felger & Dr. Coombs respectively – who are on a planet along with SG1 researching a set of Go’aul transport rings. The SG1 team gets attacked by Jaffa soldiers and are caught. Felger & Coombs, who were ordered by Col. O’Neill to gate back to the SGC, instead only send the 3r scientist back and on Felger’s urging, Coombs and he sneak into the Go’auld ship in an effort to rescue the team.

Felger is the more ambitious one and he worships the SG1 team while Coombs is more scared and just follows his colleague. The duo stumble into the room where the SG1 team is kept and join them but there they are informed that SG1 purposely let themselves be captured to get info from the Tokra who are posing as Jaffa & Go’auld onboard the ship. However their plans hit the wall when the Tokra are found out and killed. The comical duo manage to help the SG1 members escape and infact actual contribute a lot more, even though they more or less fluke their way through. What also sets this episode apart are the one-liners that Col. O’Neill blasts out to the Go’uald.

Jaffa: This is nothing compared to what Anubis is capable of.
O’Neill: You ended that sentence with a preposition! Bastard!

And when the Jaffa leader has the team hauled off into the shielded room, O’Neill says “What no gloating? Take some pride in your work, son!”

At the end of the last episode we saw Simeon enter Ginn/Dr. Amanda Perry’s quarters and we find out that he killed her, unaware of Dr. Perry’s consciousness being involved at all. It is Rush who finds her dead body and radios TJ for help. Simeon purposefully strolls through the corridors, shooting out a power conduit to darken the ship. He shoots two guards at the armory, and begins raiding the armory for supplies. Lt. James visits homeworld and reports back that although Ginn, in Amanda Perry’s body, was able to deliver quite a lot of useful data, she is now dead as is Dr. Perry.

Simeon enters the gate room and holds Volker & Park at gun point and makes them seal the doors. He takes Park as hostage and has her hands tied behind her back. Simeon has Volker dial the gate to a desert like planet nearby and enters the wormhole along with Park. After the rest catch up to the gate room, Rush goes off to the planet behind Simeon, followed by Greer, Scott and some soldiers. They find Park alone with a bomb attached to her.

Rush manages to remove the sensor and throw the bomb far away to denote without causing any harm. More soldiers join the hunt for Simeon, who Col. Young wants to be captured although Varro advices against it. The team on the Destiny try to delay the countdown before the ship goes to FTL. On the planet, Scott’s team manages to catch up with Simeon. Since he’s out in the open, Greer is able to shoot him. Greer hits him in the leg. Rush urges Greer to fire again, but Greer’s next shot goes wide and while distracted, Greer gets shot by Simeon. Scott carries Greer back while Rush continues to chase the Lucian Alliance soldier. Through his binoculars, Rush spots a herd of animals,  native to this planet and without Simeon noticing, he plants a block of explosives in their vicinity. Later he detonates the explosives by remote causing the herd to get scared and rush away to safety.

Simeon is caught in the stampede and as he lays down injured Rush approaches him and shoots him dead, avenging the deaths of Ginn and the woman he loved.

A late, unusual for him, Col. Young is brief by Camile that Homeworld Command is happy with the help & co-operation that Ginn has shown to them and would like to speak to her, using the communication device. As Camile goes to Ginn’s quarters to inform her of this, the lateness in the latter answering the door, flustered look and Eli’s shirt lying on a chair leads Camile to the truth as to how far the relationship between the two young people have moved on. She smiles, indicating that she is happy for Eli. Meanwhile Destiny has come out of FTL and there is no planet near by but….the crew spot a battle damaged ship.

They send a kino over to investigate and the ship appears to be empty, leading the crew to assume that it was abandoned after a losing battle. It is decided that Rush & Young will suit up in the environmental suits with 6 hours of breathable air in the tanks. They board the ship through a breach in the hull and explore it through the low ceilings barely high enough for humans. There are open pods like the alien that they had encountered on the other ship. Although life support is down, the ship does have artificial gravity, making it easy to move around. Rush is able to fix life support and get the lights going, as well as establishing communications so that the two do not have to rely on the suits. But soon the engines catch fire and the ship moves away from Destiny.

In order to help them with the equations for moving Destiny closer to the ship, Rush asks the crew to contact Dr. Amanda Perry and have her switch bodies with someone in the crew. Camile briefs Ginn before the former Lucian Alliance member swaps bodies with Amanda. Amanda is able to access the bridge, which still remains unknown to the rest of the crew, and Rush makes her promise not to tell the others.  However Eli, Brody & Volker stumble upon her talking to Rush on the bridge and they are furious. On the other ship Young confronts Rush & Rush is forced to admit that he gained control shortly after the Alliance attack. Young sets his gun down and attacks Rush in a rage, claiming he should have killed Rush when he had the chance.

They fight and Rush becomes unconscious. After he recovers he & Young talk about the reasons for the deception & Rush’s belief that Young is no longer fit to make command decisions. Rush then tells him about Destiny’s true mission – to find out the origins of a pattern buried deep in the cosmic microwave background radiation, one that could not have been natural in origin. Rush believes that as the current crew of the Destiny, it is their duty to continue on the mission to follow that pattern that will lead to a better understanding of the universe. Rush & Young have to now jump across in space & land on Destiny in order to make it back safely.

Towards the end of the episode Rush & Perry (in Ginn’s body) catch up and later kiss. Eli walks in on them, embarrassed as it is Ginn that he sees. He & Rush leave off to meet Young on something urgent. As they leave, an unguarded Simeon enters Ginn’s quarters, unaware that Amanda is in her body and sinisterly closes the doors to her room.

The signs of his infection having dissipated, Mathew Scott is allowed to return to active duty by Col. Young. However Chloe has a growth on her leg which is getting larger. Ginn is introduced to Eli by Camile, hoping that the former’s year spent studying Ancient Technology along with Eli’s work can yield some desirable results. Eli is stunned to hear Ginn’s theory of dialing the Stargate while Destiny is recharging in a star, thereby making it possible for the ship to get enough power to dial Earth. Ginn and Eli are to work together on this project.

Col. Young meanwhile has been drinking heavily in his quarters. He starts getting hallucinations of the blue aliens appearing in large number of ships and demanding to have Chloe handed over to them. Once he wakes up he gets the scientists to work on bringing 6 gun batteries online. Ginn & Eli seem to be developing a bond with each other, watched by Greer. After having another hallucination/dream of the aliens blowing up Destiny, Young approaches Wray for consultation. Both realize that sooner or later Chloe’s condition will force Young to get rid of her if it can’t be cured.

In the mess hall Greer says that he will make it easier for Eli to spend some alone time with Ginn and that Eli should man up and make his move. While they are alone, Eli opens up about his mother’s health situation and his feelings about being so far away from her at this time. They grow closer and Ginn kisses Eli. Meanwhile, Young has secluded himself in his quarters, believing that the ship wants him to replaced from in command and offers to step down. It takes an emotional talk down from Scott to dissuade him and Young takes back control, which reassures most of the military personnel onboard. Rush manages to get Destiny back into FTL.

ThInfected by an alien organism Lt. Matthew Scot stars hallucinating and it feels extremely real to the young soldier. In it he is heading home with Ronald Greer in a bus, after the two have had a tour of Afghanistan. On seeing Eli & Col. Young after getting down at their stop, he runs to them but is hit by a car. Col. Young is his father in this dream & Eli is the brother of Chloe, who is getting married to Scot. Despite getting hit, Scot is ok and they head home. Scott introduces Greer to Young and Eli. Greer is to be Scott’s best man at his upcoming wedding to Chloe. Eli notes that he took himself out of the running for best man, as he plans to film the wedding as a present for the couple.

Scot is a bit disappointed that there isn’t going to be a bachelor party as Young explains that Chloe wants to take Scot to a movie. The Lt. faints as Chloe after just having come to the house inquires about his bruise from the car hit. Once he recovers, Greer attributes it to the fact that Scot hasn’t eaten all day, to which end Chloe makes a sandwich. Young states that Scot looks fine & that his son & future daughter-in-law should go for the movie. However Scot is confused at the theatre – the movie shows him & Chloe as the two main actors. Disturbed by the scenes of the film (a horror movie with him & Chloe as the lead pair) Scot leaves the theatre, followed by his fiance. They go to a bar, run by Brody, where unknown to Scot, his bachelor party is being arranged. Happy at the surprise, Scot enjoys drinks with his father & friends.

After getting drunk, Eli & Greer try to lead Scot home. Telford, a sheriff offers them a ride home. Chloe is upset the next morning that he is hungover but tells him to get to the justice of peace – Dr. Rush. Later Eli says that he isn’t sure that the Lt, can commit himself to just one girl. A little angry scot walks out but faints again. A medic, Johanssen, treats him and he wakes up to go to the wedding. This is when he finally wakes up in the real world. A huge plant organism with huge tendrils were attacking the away team on a planet. Lt. Scot was infected by the venom in the tendrils and has been hallucinating the whole thing, while the crew try to fight the organism and also save Scot from the infection that is spreading quickly. They had come down to amputating his arm to save him and stop the infection from spreading throughout his body but Chloe’s blood is what saves him. The transfusion from her kills the infection and he is saved. However Col. Young, while happy that the Lt is ok, has him & Chloe kept in quarantine.

After a quick check a couple of nights ago, I saw that yes indeed! the second half of season 2 of Stargate Universe had started and it was 4 episodes in! How did I miss this? Well I know – it’s probably because of the craziest fucked up schedule that the studio in charges have doled out.

I’m used to the normal schedule, which makes a lot of sense; if you start a series, show us viewers a full season at one stretch. If you have 20 episodes, they should be shown in 20 back to back weeks. Not split up and ripped apart! Stargate Universe has suffered this new disease that seems to be affecting sci-fi tv shows – V & Caprica also had it and the shows are suffering due to it.

In case some of you casual viewers didn’t know, SGU has a big problem which most likely will see the end of an otherwise great tv show. Syfy announced on December 16, 2010 that it would not be picking SGU up for a third season and that the Spring 2011 season would be the last to air on its channel. So far there have been no news from MGM Television, who own the Stargate franchise whether the show would continue on another channel. But in December, ET reported that the second season will be the last. So, I guess that’s it for this wonderfully dark show filled with great characters and some fine acting by some good actors.

Why is SGU getting canceled? Viewership is down you say? How come a show like this can get canceled when shitty shows like Desperate Housewives can continue for 7 or more season? How come soap operas get to be on the air for decades when a show like SGU can get canceled after just 2 years? Can you compare the Col. Everett Young vs Dr. Nicholas Rush duet with any other two actor combo on any current tv series at the moment? Sheesh! TVland has become dumber again!

The 4th episode of the 2nd season sees Chloe being affected and the crew growing suspicious of her after it is discovered that she is under the influence of a virus given to her by the blueberry aliens. Eli finds her working at a console in the middle of the night and thinks she was sleepwalking as she has no recollection of coming to the room after lying down for a nap. Although he tries to empathize, she walks away. This worries Eli and he talks to Lt.Scot about his concerns and finds that he is not alone in noticing Chloe’s withdrawn behaviour.

Eli is then informed of a communication from earth – his mother’s health had taken a turn for the worse. Using the stones, he comes to earth having exchanged places with a young soldier and meets with her doctors. She had stopped taking her medicines and pneumonia had set in. As the doctor has treated her and she is recovering, he visits her but Eli does not tell her his identity, instead posing as Airman Tracy, whose body he’s inhabiting. He insists that Eli wanted to come but couldn’t, adding that Eli’s working on great things. He notes that Eli heard about her hospitalization, so Maryann tells him to tell Eli she’s fine. Knowing better, Eli tells his mother this, and adds that Eli is worried for her. Maryann simply notes that Eli wasn’t worried enough to come himself.

Young decides to give the Lucian alliance prisoners some freedom, letting them walk around the ship and interact with people albeit with a guard nearby. However things turn ugly when Simeon misbehaves with Lisa and Volker demands that he apologizes to her. Greer, having just come in, pins Simeon to a wall before it can escalate further and locks him up for sometime. Then Greer informs the others that Chloe is missing and that Young has ordered search teams to be formed to look for her. She is found in a trance trying to break open a locker and has no idea where she is. The crew is now wary of her.

Eli approaches his mother once again and tries to convince her that he is infact her son communicating to her in another’s body while his is infact light years away.  He finally is able to convince her when he uses the stones and brings his mother to Destiny using Park’s body to switch with. His mother is elated at seeing him again and promised to take better care of herself and to wait for him to come home. Meanwhile Rush feels that he has a cure for what the aliens have done to Chloe – the chair. By having Chloe use it, hopefully the alien presence within her will be destroyed, leaving only the human behind. However, all it does is knock her unconscious. Rush comes in to talk to Chloe, and she realizes that she hasn’t been cured, but Rush promises her freedom in exchange for help in his equations.

Some of the crew are on the observation deck watching as Destiny approaches an unknown object in space. Young orders Adam Brody and Dale Volker to ready Destiny’s weapons. As they approach closer they can see that it is a ship and similar to that of Destiny, hence Ancient in origin. Even though at first it seems that the ships are on a collision course, as Rush notes, Destiny is going to dock with the other ship. Col. Young sends a team to enter the ship & explore.

With Scott & Greer leading, the away team boards the second ship. Eli, Brody & Walker follow up behind them. As the team explores, restoring power and consoles, elsewhere on the vessel, a pod opens, from which an alien hand reaches out. Meanwhile, Wray tells Young that a funeral service will be held for Riley later in the week. Young agrees to say a few words. Young walks into the control room, having been called by Eli. Eli informs him that, after checking and rechecking their findings, they have discovered that the seed ship has a sizable energy reserve, enough to dial the gate back to Earth. Rush tells Young that he needs to open certain conduits to set up a transfer, which can only be done from the seed ship. Young lets him leave. As Rush makes his way to the airlock, the Kino feed is suddenly cut off. Leaving it to Park, he moves to Rush’s console so he can open the airlock. Telford decides to join the away team on the second ship.

Volker, left alone in the control room of the second ship, comes in contact with an alien. As it stares at him, a scared Volker tries to placate it but is surprised when the alien creature collapses. Calling the others, they try to help it and it recovers instantly. The away team try to give it a bit of fruit but it spits it out. Rush recommends that they search for others of its kind. Scott, Telford, and Greer split up to search, leaving Rush and TJ with Dunning and one other soldier. Scott and Telford eventually end up running into each other, while Greer finds about a dozen more open pods in another room. He radios Scott and Telford to inform them of the discovery. Using the power drawn from the second ship, the crew try to dial Earth. Just after this the alien escapes from the humans.

The remaining aliens stop the power transfer and the gate shuts down. Telford stays behind to try to reroute power as the rest of the away team makes its way back to Destiny. Somehow the ships disengage from their docking position – Telford is stranded on the second ship, alone against the aliens. Young & Rush admit that they have no way to retrieve him. Telford tells him to take care of the crew and himself. Destiny jumps to FTL, and Telford calls over the radio to see if they’re still there. Now alone, he is confronted by the aliens.