WormholeRiders

Welcome back Transparency fans!

Update September 07, 2010:

Click to see news with images and promo trailer at WHR Movie Site!

Having made its successful world premiere at the Dallas International Film Festival to much critical acclaim, Transparency (known as Takedown in Europe) will appear at the Oldenburg International Film Festival in Germany on September 17, 2010. It has been confirmed that Deborah Kara Unger (Angel and the Badman, Highlander), one of the stars of the film, will be there.

The Oldenburg International Film Festival started in 1994 and has been host to many prestigious independent films. It has been called one of the most off-beat festivals in Europe by Variety Magazine and dubbed as the European/German version of Sundance by several sources. The Hollywood Reporter reports, “…Oldenburg proves that, justifying its reputation as Germany’s premiere indie fest by putting innovative filmmaking ahead of box-office glamour, while still filtering out the dregs of the low-budget scene.”

I was one of the fortunate people to have seen this film in Dallas. The sound mix had been ready the Friday previous to the Dallas International Film Festival premiere, the film itself was ready on Wednesday, they flew in on Thursday and the film was shown on Friday night, April 16, 2010.

Without giving too much of the story away, it is a dark tale about human trafficking. Channeling Charles Bronson, Lou Diamond Phillips nails the character David, the movie’s antihero. He is joined by the talents of Estella Warren (Planet of the Apes, Law and Order) and Deborah Kara Unger who give the film its warmth and chill respectively. Transparency (a.k.a. Takedown) is filled with outstanding stunt work, beautiful production quality, amazing dark humor, and unexpected plot moments that had the Dallas audience startled in their chairs or had them gasping in disbelief, with a complex, contemplative ending.

Raul Inglis wrote this outstanding script in a mere 2 weeks, the original idea for the film having been pitched to him by Matt Kelly. Galvanized by real video footage about human trafficking, Raul made sure to include some of disturbing, resonating comments into the script. Later he signed on to become the director. The research became another source of inspiration that gave the film an element of authenticity. Originally it was planned to have the women just speak with Serbian or Russian accents; however, when women during the audition process spoke in their native Serbian or Russian language, the script suddenly became alive.

Lou had been involved with Matt on a previous Hallmark Channel film called “The Angel and the Bad Man.” Matt came up to Lou on set during that time and told him he was a producer. Lou was thinking, “Yeah, yeah, good for you; so is everyone else in Hollywood.” A year later, Matt pitched his film idea, and after reading 5 pages, Lou was hooked, feeling like it had a mixture of “Death Wish” and “Taxi Driver” with a retro-70′s vibe about it.

Shot in Vancouver, British Columbia in a mere 13 days, the film tapped into the wealth of talent from the region. Not only did the cast list read like a Stargate reunion (including Aaron Pearl, Kendall Cross, Michael Kopsa, Vitaly Kravchenko, Emma Lahana, Jonathan Walker, Anna Galvin, Aleks Panuovic,  Dan Payne, and Bruce Crawford), Leo Award winner Michael C. Blundell did a stellar job as cinematographer, bringing his Stargate Universe production crew, who were on hiatus at the time, with him to make this tightly budgeted movie look like a million bucks that would rival any at the box office. Other gifted performers rounding out the cast, many of whom can be seen in other favorite Vancouver productions, include Jordana Largy, Dariya Parakhnevych, Matt Kelly, Adrijana Blauhorn, Anja Savcic, Alberta Mayne, Emma Sutton, Bill MacDonald, Alexander Mandra, Taras Kostyuk, Andrei Kovski, Vadim Oskolkov, and Michele Cummins.

If you plan to be in Europe, I would recommend diverting to Germany on September 17, 2010 to support not only this wonderful film, but to help support the independent filmmaking community as a whole.

You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, or their website.

Until next time…PBMom (Hilda)

Early in April, Lou Diamond Phillips twittered to his followers that he was going to be at the Dallas International Film Festival to premiere his new movie, “Transparency.” Dallas is so close to Houston (about 4 hours). Being that the premiere was on a Friday and not being sure I could secure child care, I let him know I was not sure I could attend, but so very much wanted to. He sent me a tweet to me that said, “I’ll make it worth your while! BTW if anyone does say hi, pls let me know that we’re Twitter buddies. We’ll Twit Pic! Big D on 16th!” I responded, “You seduce me with your words.”

Fast-forward 24 hours and I found out that the new agency working with my son with autism was set up and ready to provide overnight respite care. My husband was eager to attend with me. It is significant to note that my husband and I had not been on an overnight trip together since 2004 because of my son’s disability, with no family close to help us. I had to type up an 18-page guide to my son (since he is nonverbal) to cover the 26 hours we would be away. By Thursday night I was exhausted but was running on pure adrenaline.

I have been a fan of Lou Diamond Phillips since his career began. When he was on “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” I hooked up on Twitter with his wife, Yvonne. She expressed concern that Sanjaya may get the American Idol vote; I assured her that Stargate fans were more devoted. Every week I went on every fan website I could to post the numbers for Lou. Too, as a loyal Stargate fan, we follow our actors/actresses of the Stargate franchise wherever their paths may lead them. On April 16, 2010, it led me to Dallas.

Knowing that there was a question-and-answer session after the movie, my husband and I bounced ideas off each other about what questions to ask if we got the opportunity. The trip to Dallas was entertaining. We saw a billboard that said, “Need a hubcap” and listed a web site. I laughed and said their slogan should be “we steal them from you, and then make you buy them back.” Being a cowboy is apparently a new religion as we passed by the Cowboy Church. We went through a few prison areas that were pointed out several times by signs along the road but then we came across another sign that said, “Prison Area: Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers.” The makings of a Syfy Saturday afternoon horror movie, I believe.

We got to the hotel in great time, hitting no traffic along the way, and they allowed us to check in early. Our hotel room was beautiful.

The view from the room was spectacular.

We settled in and decided to go across the street for lunch, as we planned to walk over to the Angelika Film Center where the majority of the films were being screened. As I am eating my lunch, I look across the street and there is Lou Diamond Phillips. I missed him by about 10-15 minutes.

My husband decided to take a nap and I was bored so I headed to the business center so I could borrow their computer to go on Twitter. I was talking to another DIFF attendee who said I just missed Lou in the elevator (like 5 minutes). The ballrooms were on the same floor as the business center and the exercise room. My husband came back to the room after working out and said that there were people arriving in black-tie/formal gowns for the big red carpet event/awards ceremony in the ballrooms, and here he was in sweaty, disgusting clothes on the same floor (the workout room was on the ballroom level). We had reservations for dinner at Central 214 at 7:30 and had to get ready.

As we were going toward the restaurant, Lou Diamond Phillips, Matt Kelly, Raul Sanchez Inglis and a fourth person were walking out. I held my hand up to say hello, but that fourth person I did not recognize looked at me with an intense glare, and I quickly put my arm down, and said to my husband, “Bodyguard? We’ll see him later anyway.” Lou had such a swagger going on, being totally unfazed by the flashing lights of cameras as he walked out of the restaurant.

We had a lovely dinner: Jeff had the chicken-fried Kobe steak

I had the diver scallops.

The portions were the perfect size. Not too big, not too small. Let us just say that it has been a long time also since I ate quality food of that caliber. I sounded like my son while he is eating something he enjoys, “Mmmmmm, Mmmmmmm.”

We split dessert.

We arrived at the Studio Movie Grill, about 5 minutes up the freeway from the main festival, at 9:00 p.m. I convinced a wonderful woman that I wanted to be first in line to get the best seat. Once she put us in the right line in the hallway, I picked up the phone and called @TiffaneJane who was expected to meet us there. She is a fascinating person who has had quite the life with equally cool parents. I enjoyed getting to know her.

While in line, we met Carolyn Hodge, who had premiered movies in the past at DIFF. I asked her if her movies were on DVD as I had not been to the Film Festival before, having been in Houston, and she said they were, so I will go check them out; you should, too. She was a lovely woman and seemed to be extremely popular with people stopping to say hello to her in line.

Never having been to a Studio Movie Grill or the like before, the same kind woman who helped us get in line gave us her menu and beeper and told us a waiter would come by to take out order. I would like to thank her for her kindness. I didn’t want to drink anything, but the movie started late because the Q&A from the movie before ran way over the allotted time. I also needed some caffeine. It was getting close to my bedtime.  This was a mistake.  I desperately had to go to the bathroom while the movie was playing later on.

After the patrons were seated, the people involved with the movie, Lou Diamond Phillips, Raul Sanchez Inglis, and Matt Kelly came in and everyone applauded. They moved to the front of the theater. He talked a little about the movie. When asked if there were any Stargate Universe/Twitter fans in the house, @TiffaneJane and I shot up both of our arms and let out a “woo-hoo.” And then I had my rockstar moment: Lou Diamond Phillips recognized me. Lesson here people: Use your real picture in your Twitter avatar. There was someone in the audience who videotaped the beginning introductions before the movie began. It is here you can hear my shout-out (at about 1 minute 50 seconds). You can hear @TiffanieJane and I yell out our “woo-hoo’s” as well.

A special guest came to the film, Glenn Morshower, who was also premiering a film he was in at DIFF this season: “Walking Distance.”

Transparency’s World Premiere was in Dallas. The cast and even the cinematographer, Stargate Universe’s own Michael C. Blundell, had not seen the final cut. It was just finished on Wednesday and they flew to Dallas on Thursday, showing it on Friday. As far as the number of people there, it was difficult to say as we were closer to the front.

During the pause before the movie started, Glenn Morshower yells out, “Someone should sing La Bamba” which got a great laugh from the audience; some even attempted. The movie began and everything got quiet.  At first it felt a little awkward knowing they were all behind us.  I heard actors do not like to watch themselves on screen.  As a viewer, it was odd to have them present.  I hated to have to get up to go to the restroom, having to walk right past them.  I tried to find some place where I thought might be a good time to go, and I think I picked the perfect 2 minutes, otherwise I would have missed out on a lot.

A separate review strictly on the film itself is forthcoming.

During the Q&A, most of the questions I had were asked and answered. I was able to ask a question: “Do you have a Twitter, Facebook or internet web site for the movie?” Lou was so funny. He said, “That is such a self-serving question, my love. You and I have spent many late nights together and you know that we have. ” It is unclear how many shades of red my face displayed. Matt Kelly, producer of the film, said they had started a Facebook page, and then added, looking at Lou, “It’s a picture of you in a dress. It’s not fantastic.” Lou chimed in, “His significant other is on Twitter by the way, Alberta Mayne, who is fantastic, and she is in the film as well.”

After the Q &A, we chatted with Raul, Lou and Matt for 15-20 minutes. I was smiling from ear-to-ear. Raul asked me why I was smiling so much; the film is supposed to be depressing. I told him, “It was a dark movie, but you don’t understand. This is the first time I’ve gotten away overnight with my husband since 2004 because of my child with autism.” No matter what I saw or did, from the moment I left home until the moment I return, I would be grinning.

Matt Kelly (and Lou off to the side)

A very thirsty Lou Diamond Phillips

Raul Sanchez Inglis, Lou Diamond Phillips and Matt Kelly (photo credited to @TiffanieJane)

We also met Twitter friend @BurningSpyMi6.

By now it was about 1:40 a.m. and it was mentioned that we may be at the same bar in the same restaurant in the same hotel before closing time. Glenn Morshower was kind enough to take a picture with us as well. (I had to edit Jeff out). Thank you, Ms. Hodge, for taking the picture. It was most appreciated.

We did go back to the hotel bar to get some soda and water, but I was expecting it to be quiet with a great opportunity to sit down and talk to the group some more. Since the awards events were held in the hotel, the bar was packed. When the group came in, they had so many more people to say hello to, that I knew it was time for us to leave. We had our time with them and now it was time for others. We did get to speak with Mr. Morshower a little longer and asked him what he was up to next. He was about to star in “Trauma” on NBC and “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC and had just finished up working on Transformers 3. He was about to leave town to promote a video game for which that he did voice-over along with Keith David. We told him how much we enjoyed hearing his voice on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The next morning as we were waiting to ask a concierge a question, we saw Raul in the lobby talking on the phone and waved “hello.” I bet he thought we were stalkers.  We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at Central 214.

It was sad knowing we had to pack up and leave. Had I done a bit more homework I would have discovered that Pete Docter from the Disney/Pixar movie “UP” was going to do a Q&A after the movie at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Before leaving, I realized that Krispy Kreme doughnuts still existed in other places in Texas; they were just banned from the Houston market. We went and bought a dozen. After we got home, I had given Patrick one. Jeff had one. When I opened the box, there were only 2 left. Of course, I thought Jeff had eaten them, but my golden retriever, Maddie, apparently did. She apparently jumped up on the counter, opened the box with her nose, pulled out one doughnut at a time and consumed them. I just had to laugh; that was pretty smart not to have just nudged the entire box on the floor and consumed them there. Quite the stealth attack. Of course she got sick later, receiving little sympathy from me.

I would definitely go back to the Dallas International Film Festival or perhaps now check into the Houston Film Festival. I would like to send a personal shout-out to Diana at the Dallas International Film Festival for helping me coordinate my trip and answer all the questions I had.

I got to drive on the way back and we stopped twice, once to stretch our legs and once to eat lunch. We came home refreshed and ready to take over our duties as parents with a child with a disability.  I want to thank Lou Diamond Phillips for making me, a mother who is so exhausted and so overwhelmed with the responsibilities that come with my kiddo, feel like a rock star.  He also did something very special that helped me raise some money for a local autism charity (that story is to follow as well).  It was great to make new connections, too, with Matt Kelly, Raul Sanchez Inglis, Glenn Morshower, James Faust, and Carolyn Hodge.

Please stay tuned for Part 2 of this magical ride: The actual movie “Transparency” and the Q&A that followed.

PBMom (Hilda)

Hi Stargate Universe fans,

I have been a Stargate fan since the original Roland Emmerich movie all those years ago (1994). I own all seasons/TV movies of SG-1 and Atlantis ever made; I am what you call a Gater! *The official term for a self-confessed Stargate Fan* Yes! It’s true I have a Stargate inspired tattoo who told you?? *Smile*

I think the Casting of the show has been chosen well, they seem to have gelled thoroughly, and the interaction of Characters within the show is great!

A brief summery of this episode: We were start knowing that Rush was purposely left on that planet, to die by Young, but Young lied and said he didn’t make it. He has flashbacks of the event whilst shaving…

So we are at a stale mate, everyone knew that Young didn’t like Rush, and many of them are guessing that the ‘truth’ is fact. (Colonel young played by Louis Ferreira he is Portuguese-born Canadian actor, who portrays Young with a rough gritty edge, yet companionate. He is simply wonderful, and I totally understand why he wanted rid of Rush. Rush is just so creepy and secretive, and knows way more then he has ever let on)

Colonel Young is preparing to go file a report with the SGC, Camille corners him; she tells him how she feels, but unfortunately there is not enough evidence to prove the ‘truth’…

It’s apparent that Camille Wray feels that she is the better option to be in command then young; it has been proven that civilians can be in command of military operations (within the Stargate Universe… Yes I know! It’s a pun *smile*) Weir did a great job on Atlantis then after a brief interlude of military command Woolsey a civilian and fellow IOA member took over!

I think if I was stuck on Destiny I would feel more comfortable with a civilian in charge! Not rush mind you! But Wray; yes I could deal with that! Ming Na is such a competent actress; she is fantastic! And I ‘love’ how she makes young uncomfortable just by merely standing in his presence!

So young goes to file his report any way, during the setting up of the stones, I had a giggle Lt. Vanessa James (Julia Benson who is a trained dancer for those who didn’t know) and T.J (Alaina Huffman she is wonderful, she makes TJ believable and so very likeable she remains one of my favorite characters, along with Lt James)

Enter the observation room above the ‘stone room’ and initially ask Eli to fix the showers… But (not realising that the comms were open) Lt James starts babbling about how “sexy” Dr Cain is…

He says: “I can hear you” Her face says it all, hilarious! Tj. Eli and us laugh!

Young activates his stone, but instead of being at the SGC he is in an alien craft, he is obviously shocked to see an Alien walk by him.

Meanwhile back on Destiny, the Alien now possessing Young attacks Scott, something happens the transmission is ceased; Young is back everyone is shaken.

Wray thinks it’s a little too convenient that the stone usage in ceased. She was about to file her report to make Young look bad…

Eli (played by David Blue… I adore Eli! He is so cute and geeky! We ‘so’ would be friends! I love his comic relief; David is a great actor!! Lots more Eli Please!! There is never enough Eli!), is spying on Hydroponics with a Kino where the Civilian uprising is starting… Wray and others discussing the way the ship is run by the military.

Destiny drops out of FTL as she detects a planet with a Gate, when the crew are alerted of an Alien Ship…

In the control room, Eli brings the Alien craft up on the HUD. He sends a message, they almost immediately respond with: “Surrender” in English. No translation (Scary)

An amazing space battle ensues. The visual effects were outstanding throughout this sequence, the VFX of Destiny and the Alien craft, then the in space shoot-em-up between the smaller battle craft and the Shuttle… the word ‘Epic’ describes this nicely.

Several people are injured, when systems short out because of the heavy fire they are taking from the Alien craft. Lt. James stands out, as a hero when she chances running through the electrical surges to turn off the power in that section of the ship, so no one else gets hurt.

As everyone is distracted with the onslaught, one of the small alien craft latches on to Destiny, and cuts a hole through. Silly Chloe (Elyse Levesque a very skilled actress) looks up in curiosity and gets abducted.

The Aliens retreat, young orders Scott to stand sown as Chloe may be on one of the ships.  The Aliens retreat into FTL. Young takes it upon himself to go after them using the communication stones.

Chloe: She regains consciousness, to find that she is held within a chamber filled with water, she is wearing alien attire and a breathing apparatus, she flips out when an alien reveals itself in front of the chamber. This alien has a scary, animalistic edge… and blue is always a good colour in my books…

When Young inhabits the Alien’s body, discovers a Human held within a chamber of Water, Chloe?? He smashes it open, oh my gosh it is Rush, alive…

Robert Caryle is such an astounding Scottish Actor! (Everyone remembers “The Full Monty” right, and some may not know that he voiced Durza in the “Eragon” Video Game)

Of course Rush sees an Alien not Young. So Rush has the ‘alien’ put on some kind of alien tech, neurological implant to attempt to communicate. Rush sees flashes of everything that has happened from Young. Then Young looses the connection, it’s unclear why.

Rush after getting the information about the information about Chloe and an escape route; kills the alien, with relish behind his eyes.

Young tries to establish communication once more, but it doesn’t work, obviously because the alien is dead. They engage in another space battle, again I can not say enough nice things about the VFX in the space battle sequences.

Rush rescues Chloe. And they make their escape.

Destiny is firing at the alien craft, but every time they fire the shields are closer to failing. The aliens retreat into FTL all but one craft, which latches of and cuts a hole. Chloe drops through, and then Rush… To Greer’s surprise (Jamil Walker Smith is fantastic as Greer. You really don’t know what way the character is going to go next. He has me pondering what is really going on in his head).

Scott and Chloe are happy to see each other, and hug…

(Brain Jacob Smith shows real emotion in his portrayal of Lt Scott throughout this episode. He really is a talented actor, showing ‘real’ emotions making his character ‘lovable’ and ‘believable’).

Rush tells everyone that Young had told the truth, and shares his theory on why the aliens are interested in them. He is sure that the Aliens are only interested in them because they are on Destiny. The aliens want the ship not them. They are just an obstacle between them acquiring Destiny and unlocking her secretes.

Rush pays a visit to Young they discuss why Rush didn’t just tell everyone the truth, that Young had attacked him and left him for dead… They decide to agree that everyone does not need to be distracted by the truth; they pretend nothing happened, “For the sake of the crew”.

Dr Cain sits with TJ they talk about Lt. James- he explains that he could not deal with being stuck on a ship with someone he had a bad relationship with (Which obviously hits home with TJ as she has an affair with Colonel Young). Young sees them together; my friend Lele has an interesting theory, that Dr Cain may cause a love triangle Kane-TJ-Young…

Eli shows Young the Kino footage of Wray and the others plotting.

I really liked the song used during the montage scene here:  “Now Comes the Night” by Rob Thomas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqMY9mMMJKU <~~Link to the video for“Now Comes the Night” by Rob Thomas

The lyrics really fitted the mood.

We end this episode with Wray and Rush discussing Young in hydroponics.

“The Colonel is dangerous” Rush says

“We need to do something about that,” Wray agrees

“ I tried, he damn dear killed me” Rush declares

“Next time will be different” Wray states.

I think it is wonderful that the SGU actors are active twitter users and interact with the fans!

There have been some confusion about the use of the communication stones, I have had some DM’s via twitter, but it is hard to explain the functionality of the communication stones in 140 characters. So here is a brief history of the communication stones and their function within the *forgive pun again* Stargate Universe!

In Stargate SG-1: Episode 8 of season 8 : “Citizen Joe”

The character Joe Spencer

(Better known as Dan Castellaneta the voice of Homer Simpson) buys a ‘stone’ from a garage sale, he immediately picks up on images from SG-1 Missions, seemingly like flash backs. We find out that Joe had the same ATA (Atlantian technology activation) gene as General O’Neill and he activated the link once he touched it. O’Neill had activated the corresponding stone, and they were transferring thoughts to each other. It is explained that they are ‘thought’ to be long-range communication devices, these being a set.

Then in episode 2 of season 9 (Sg-1) “Avalon part 2” we see the full potential of the communication stone’s. The ATA gene is not required to use the stones, they only need to be initialised by someone with the gene. The stones are reset to be used by Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran, now they initially think they have been transported to another galaxy, but soon realise that they have not, when they see the reflections of the owner of the corresponding stone not themselves.

So this shows the vast distances involved, the stones are in fact: “interstellar communication devises”. So we know that the person using the stone can only exchange consciousnesses across the vastness of space with another person, the body remains on Destiny/SGC. So therefore nothing but knowledge can be exchanged. They cannot bring anything back with them. On that note, once the ammunition runs out, they will have nothing, unless they can acquire new weapons from this new Alien enemy or a friendly race they can barter with, it’s impossible to bring anything back with them.

Why didn’t anyone think of packing a Zat’Ni’Katel?

I’m not going to recap the episodes of SG-1 mentioned, as this IS my SGU review, but of course feel free t o watch the referenced episodes!

By Vala The Great

Hello Lou Diamond Phillips fans!

On April 16, 2010, a new film called “Transparency,” starring Lou Diamond Phillips will be previewed at the Dallas International Film Festival.  It is a 96-minute action/thriller directed by Paul Inglis, produced by Matt Kelly, and also stars Estella Warren and Deborah Kara Unger.

Summary of “Transparency”:  “David’s (Lou Diamond Phillips) life has been a nightmare.  Five years ago his daughter had been raped and brutalized by an unknown assailant.  The emotional damage cost him his marriage.  In trying to move on, David finds work as a security guard but during a routine security inspection, David finds a trafficked girl from Russia.  She had been brought into the country against her will to be used in a prostitution ring.  As he uncovers more about the people he works for, David must find a way to save the girl and get out alive.”

Yvonne Phillips, Lou’s wife, and their daughter, Indy, also make an appearance in the film according to Lou’s Twitter feed.  The cast list appears to be a Stargate reunion!

Among the actors in the film are:

Aaron Pearl (Fringe, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1 [as the young George Hammond])

Jordana Largy (Flashpoint, Psych)

Kendall Cross (Caprica, Stargate SG-1 [as Julia Donovan])

Michael Kopsa (4400, Eureka, Stargate SG-1 [as General Kerrigan])

Dariya Parakhnevych (multiple films produced by the Vancouver Film School)

Vitaly Kravchenko (The Chronicles of Riddick, Stargate SG-1 [as Lt. Marchenko])

Emma Lahana (Psych, Stargate Atlantis [as Ava Dixon])

Jonathan Walker (Flash Gordon, Shooter, Stargate SG-1 [as Ta'Seem])

Matt Kelly (Fringe, Supernatural)

Adrijana Blauhorn (a newcomer)

Anja Savcic (Supernatural, Bionic Woman)

Alberta Mayne (Fringe)

Emma Sutton (a relative newcomer)

Anna Galvin (Mrs. Armstrong from SGU, Shannon Adama of Caprica, Stargate Atlantis)

Aleks Paunovic (SG-1 as Shaq-rel, SGA as Rakai, BSG, Human Target)

Dan Payne (SG-1 as a Kull Warrior, Sanctuary, SGA in several episodes of various characters)

The movie will show on Friday, April 16, 2010 at 10:30 p.m. at the Studio Movie Grill, 11170 North Central Expressway, Dallas, Texas.  Lou plans to be there at the screening.  Tickets are $10.00 (a bargain if you ask me!). Click the image to the left to purchase tickets.

I’m calling on all Lou Diamond Phillip fans and Stargate Universe fans who live throughout Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma to make the journey and give our Colonel David Telford from Stargate Universe some support.  I will be bringing you a report from the festival along with pictures and we will post them here on WormholeRiders.  Stay tuned!

PBMom

Hey Stargate Universe Fans!

Stargate Universe Divided continues where Space left off. Be warned, while the story line is not revealed, what may be considered  minor spoilers lay ahead. Most of what is discussed herein has already been released in preview trailers. Nevertheless, If you do not like spoilers, even minor ones, please stop reading NOW.

We have Dr.Rush and Camile Wray taking sides together with most of the civilian crew. Then we have Col. Young supported by Eli and his fellow soldiers. I find that Rush’s and Wray’s alliance as a way for both to get their ways.

Rush needs Wray’s influence and support of the civilian crew to see his way as the right choice. Wray needs Rush because of his technical knowledge of the ship and its systems. We saw them plotting at the end of Stargate Universe “Space”.

Chloe’s nightmares seem to be effecting her decisions. Who does she confide in? Who does she push away?

The only other person that understands what she’s going through is Rush. Rush is also dealing with nightmares from the abduction as well. I personally do not know if he is refusing to remember what happened to him or simply with holding information to gain sympathy. I cannot be the only one that feels this way.

I have to say I was honestly surprised by the decisions Chloe decided to make and with whom. I was hoping Chloe would choose a better side. But at the same time I do feel for her because of what those aliens had put her through. Do I think she would have made better choices if she had not been abducted by the aliens? Her recent nightmares include seeing her mother (Anna Galvin) pictured below. So yes, I believe she would have made completely different choices.

The lab room that Rush chooses to be his command center makes me wonder what other parts of the ship he has discovered and not told anyone about. It did not seem like anyone else knew about the lab other than Rush.

Eli may once again be considered to be torn between two sides. What’s also interesting is how Eli can easily swing the advantage of one side to the other.

Both, Rush and Col. Young know this fact. I feel as if they are constantly playing one another in chess. In this case, Rush makes the first move by creating a second command center.  What is Col. Young’s reaction? He takes the offensive position and finds a blind spot around what Rush is up too.

The exchange between Eli and Chloe after he turns himself over to the civilian side showed a different side of Chloe. I do not recall him ever seeing this side of Chloe before. Meanwhile Camile Wray (MingNa) is up to something!

Poor Eli felt used and betrayed. He was hoping she would not fall for the dark side.

I really enjoyed the exchange between TJ and Chloe as TJ and another soldier is held in confinement. TJ tells Chloe in a firm and matter-of-fact tone that “…this is war.” This exchange also made me think of what TJ said about underestimating Col. Young. Never underestimate your enemies in battle. It was exciting to see these to women size one another up. It was also disappointing both were not on the same side to begin with. It makes me wonder how or if their friendship will change afterward.

It did not take long for Col. Young to find a way to retake control of Destiny. Unfortunately, he was not only having to defend against Rush and Wray’s alliance he had to deal with another force threatening everyone’s survival. Fighting two fronts takes a lot out of anyone. I once heard an officer say, “The duty of an officer is not only to lead, but to make sure you get your men out of whatever mess you have gotten them into.” That’s easier said than done and not all officers can do the job right.

Thankfully a solution presented itself, but not before some extreme measures had to be taken. I do not want to spoil this part for you all. I figure it is best to watch and see for yourself. Col. Young resuming command knows this is not the end and more than likely can or will happen again. Wray is definitely disappointed at the turn of events, but let’s Col. Young know her disapproval of his past decision. It was good to see Col. Young acknowledge the poor decision he had chosen. One has to wonder what the ripple effects will be from this point on.

I was really pleased to see more screen time for Peter Kelamis (Brody) and Patrick Gilmore (Volker) as well as many others. Again I would like to thank both, Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie for the wonderful writing job they have done with Divided. I enjoy seeing deeper to each character’s psyche as well as their histories.

Divided airs Friday, April 09, 2010 on SyFy 9:00 PM EDT, or check your local listings.

SciFiFanGirl616