“Get out of here, kids! Now!” she shouted to the trio.
Diamond took to the air, her wings catching the bright light as Rose quickly hopped off Lala’s back. Using her tongue, she caught a banister and swung towards a rack of brooms.
Grabbing one, she began hitting the brown scaly claw repeatedly. Diamond swooped up and grabbed a catapult and bag of marbles.
She began firing them at the claw. Between that and the force of Rose’s strikes, the claw flinched. Lala began pummelling the claw with his back feet in rapid succession.
Unexpectedly, the claw snapped out and grabbed the young rabbit by the back legs.
“Aaargh!” he cried as he was dragged into the hole. Rose threw aside her broom. She used her super long tongue to grab Lala’s wrist, digging her heels into the wooden floor.
“Whelp ma!” she said, her tongue muffling her mouth.
“What?” chorused Lily and Diamond.
“Whelp ma!” she repeated.
“Did she hurt her mouth since we last met?” Lily asked Diamond.
“Maybe all that talking has finally taken its toll,” Diamond remarked.
“Aah. Have you noticed how sparkly my wings are in this light? They look awesome.”
A double cry from Lala and Rose snapped her attention back.
“Close the hole!”
It was then Diamond noticed that the light was only focused through the staff. The energy was coming from a tall old fashioned grandfather clock embedded in the wall behind them.
“I can’t break free from the vortex!” Lily cried.
With a yell, she shouted a spell slamming her hand into the air.
There was a sharp implosion and a great burst of wind, throwing them to the floor.
When Diamond and Lily looked up, the hole had closed. In its place was a spinning ball of green and blue lightning which quickly faded.
People always ask where a writer gets their inspiration from and the simple answer is…everywhere.
In the case of Magic Box, I was set a challenge. Messing about with an AI the above image came up of the reptilian guy in the top hat. Immediately, I was formulating a story around him in my head. That happens sometimes. The most random things can kickstart a story or an idea in your head that fits. Add to that, a friend of mine’s seven year old came up with a monster for me. She had put such thought into him that I had to work him in. She insisted he was a bad guy so at one point, I had to drop all redeeming features for Gobien. Gobien was described as below.
“He’s eating someone so he’s big, has two horns but one was broken in a fight with another monster. Claw marks from the other monster across its tummy, 4 eyes, slime for hair and its nostrils are on top of its head for breathing. It’s called the Gobien.”
I get a kick out of the fact, that the Time Warriors makes kids imagine all sorts. A kid’s imagination is endless. I was and still am, that kid. So I added her in as a character in one of the Tales of Ballinfree book series. It was the least I could do.
So my latest villain duo was born…almost. I had no name for the lizard ringmaster but he had the look of a ringmaster so obviously the concept of a circus came up. But this was space so it could be no ordinary circus. It became a flying fortress that would land on planets and still be broadcasting to subscribers while in space. The fortress would be the Magic Box.
The lizard was exotic looking, almost an anti Willy Wonka. So, Casio Candrelor and chief henchman, Gobien, were born. Running a family circus while maintaining a dark web. He was into alien trafficking, organ harvesting, snuff broadcasts and more.
The next issue was how and why the Time Warriors would be captured by him to fight on the dark web as his prisoners. In an earlier story, Left Unsaid, Michael and Rachel talk about an unseen story. In it, an alien chef, Chef Chemy had installed a hyperspatial biogenetic tracker in a gym. He was sending subliminal messages to users to stay fat and he would kidnap them and serve them up in his restaurant. What if Casio was Chef Chemy’s brother? That would give him motivation and make sense of why the Time Warriros suddenly find themselves in another glaxy and being broadcast to species and worlds, they had never heard of. A plot point there is, have they just painted a target on their backs or made alliances vital to the protection of Earth?
Time will tell, it always does especially when an old enemy makes a cameo at the end kicking off a future book.
The Time Warriors action figure range grows significantly with Magic Box with a host of new aliens and robots introduced to the Time Warrior universe. One day…
I’ll not spoil the story but it leads to a life changing decision for Michael and Rachel.
Magic Box is part of the Time Warriors When Angels Burn & Other Stories available on Amazon and all good book shops.
Lala wrinkled his nose as the orange heather carpet he was rushing through tickled his nose. He sneezed making Rose jump with fright.
“Are you alright?” she asked, clinging tightly to his fur.
“Yeah, highland heather is a pet hate of mine,” he replied before suddenly stopping inside a large bramble bush.
Rose held her breath as a thick mist swirled all around them like ghosts. She trusted Lala’s senses. His long spotted white ears stood upright, twitching at random in different directions.
“We’re at the top of the mountain,” he whispered.
“I know,” Rose whispered back. “So why is it so foggy up here?”
“Good question and when you ask questions Miss Rose Hoppity, it always means that something isn’t right.”
They peered around them, smelling something in the mist but seeing nothing. Sometimes, their eyes played tricks, mist monsters slipping just out of the corners of their eyes.
All they could hear, were their hearts beating nervously.
Ba bum, ba bum, ba bum, ba bum.
“Gotcha!” snarled something that slipped up behind them. It grabbed Rose by her hind legs and Lala by the white mane round his neck. They kicked and struggled, crying out but their captor only laughed in a gurgled, raspy sound.
It threw them to the ground where another four shapes joined it, the stocky, crooked bodies surrounding the helpless friends. Lala and Rose stared in fear as their eyes adjusted to the slow, treacle mist. With a sharp intake of breath, they recognised their captors.
Dressed in dark brown tunics and leathered shirts with woven trousers tucked into black winklepicker boots.
The lead one with the warty skin, angular face, big beak nose pointed ears and long red beard, licked his lips. He leaned forward, narrowing his dark eyes.
Home is by far the most controversial and terrifying episodes of the show. It was the only one that ever needed a viewer discretion alert due to its nature.
It deals with the Peacock family, a family of inbred people living in the community of Home, a quiet town safely off the map and living in its own kind of bubble undisturbed until a body is found by a group of kids playing baseball on the edge of the Peacock property.
That body belongs to a newborn baby that was buried alive in the pouring rain at the episode’s opening scene. The Peacocks are in silhouette yet you know something is not right. It was a brave decision to show a baby being buried alive but it is crucial to the story and understanding the Peacocks. There is no doubt viewers’ collective jaws hit the ground at this scene which immediately lets you know the tone for the rest of the episode.
It is an idylic location, quiet, peaceful and Mulder admits that if he had to settle down somewhere then this would be it. One of the themes of the episode is a staple of horror.
A small town which harbours a dark secret. This is very much the case. There is an unspoken truce between the Peacockd and everyone else. They haven’t left their house in a decade and no one bothers them. According to the sheriff, the Peacocks built their home during the civil war. It has no modern luxuries like water and electricity. They grow their own food, raise their own livestock and own stock. The implication is that they inbreed. The sheriff calls them feeble, unable to understand what the discovery of this baby actually means. Their parents were killed in a car crash and they keep themselves to themselves. He knew that one day their peaceful world would burst and the day the baby was found, the sheriff knew that day had come.
Such is the peaceful balance in Home, the sheriff never locks his office door, they have no lab or morgue, just a fridge to keep the baby’s body in. It’s all very Pleasantville.
Scully and Mulder discover the child has more than one father which is impossible. They believe that the peacock boys have kidnapped a woman and have been breeding with her against her will. That is a terrifying implication that a town so set in its equilibrium would not bother to investigate that possibility. Better to sacrifice one person than ruin the town of Home. Home it is and Home it will always be.
This is very Wrong Turn and Hills have Eyes in nature. The difference is that the Peacocks are not mad killers hunting humans to eat. They are an isolationist family that really demonstrate the true value of family in the most shocking, horrific way. They are so different to the outside world yet to the residents of Home, they are part of the community they have come to accept.
The ironic thing about the Peacocks is that they are the perfect neighbours. They keep to themselves, they never borrow anything , fight with anyone or owe anyone a single thing. They have deep family values, love each other and look out for one another. They see things very simply and when Mulder and Scully enter their home to see if there really is a girl being held captive, the Peacocks feel their trust has been broken. In their heads, there is only one comeback and that is to break into Sheriff Taylor’s home and beat him and his wife to death. Taylor brought the agents here so he has broken the unspoken treaty between the Peacocks and the townspeople. Their inbreeding has messed with their minds so things are very black and white. Outsiders have come to stick their noses in their business and for the Peacocks they look out for one another and they always do what mother says.
The discovery of their mother on a board under the bed is the most shocking site of the entire show’s history. She did not die in the car crash, only her husband did. She lost all her limbs and her boys have taken care of her since. It is the most grotesque sight and when Mulder and |Scully realise the truth, they are almost killed for the discovery.
The mother lets her sons have sex with her and the baby scene suddenly takes a more tragic slant. The Peaccock man crying was in fact the father being comforted by his brother while the third brother did what they needed to do. They knew the baby was so deformed that it was better for it to die. This is demonstrated when Scully first sees the body. Sheriff Taylor has kept it away from prying eyes ebcause the child is so badly deformed.
In their heads, the Peaccocks have a sense of right and wrong. They are good boys for their mother and she gives them what they need. There’s nothing supernatural here or a genetic monster of the week. It is simply that old saying that you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. You cannot write anything about this episode without paying tribute to actress Karin Konoval who portrays Mrs peacock who is only looking out for her boys. Her performance is so disturbing along with the makeup, her character is immediately burned into the memory. She would return in a later season in a different role but Mrs Peacock is one to be immensely proud of.
The other policeman, Barney, is killed by a booby trap while entering the Peacock home to take them in for murder. Again, the Peacocks know the consequences of what they have done and they will kill anyone that trespasses on their world. The outside world broke the rules; it is threatening them.
In the battle, the two youngest Peacock boys are killed before they can kill Mulder and Scully. But Mrs Peacock and her eldest son escape in their car to the Johnny Mathis song, Wonderful! Wonderful! This is the same song that they play on the way to murder Taylor and his wife. Behind the scenes, the singer refused to allow it to be used due to the graphic nature of the episode so a cover was used featuring someone who sounded like Mathis.
Indeed actor Tucker Smallwood, fresh off Space Above And Beyond, was shocked by the violence and when he asked were The X-Files always so graphic, he was told; this episode is worse than normal. He found it an unpleasant experience.
However, no one can deny the burning impact this episode has. It elevated the show into Silence of the Lambs territory, not that they hadn’t done it before but not to this level of horror. As I said, Mrs Peacock and her son escaped to begin a new family somewhere else but we never got to meet them again.
However, they would return in The X-Files comic season 11 in Home Again. In part two of this article, we discover what happened to the Peacocks.
But do we really want to given how terrifying they are?
Have you seen how people throw a wake for themselves just to see who would turn up and what they would say about the deceased? Well, I thought, why wait for a celebrity you admire to die before writing how much they have impacted you through their movies or television roles. So in this one, I talk about Australian actor Sam Neill who scarred me for life as a kid.
I first became aware of the actor as Damien Thorn, son of the Devil in The Omen 3. He terrified me because being so young and impressionable, I was afraid that this would actually happen. Damien had his eyes on the Presidency and was boss of a powerful corporation founded by his father. He was even trying to start his own family and make Satan a grandfather to plunge the world into darkness.
He was mesmerising because he was untouchable. Surrounded by loyal followers, all that was good and holy was in serious danger of being razed to the ground. The scene that scarred me to this day was when people murdered their own first born males. Damien uses his powers to ensure Jesus is killed as his birth is a direct threat to Damien’s throne. I will never forget the woman who burned her baby alive with an iron. Even writing this now brings up bad and emotional feelings. So when he is killed and Christ appears at the end, I was relieved but those scenes stayed with me to this day.
His portayal of Alan Grant in Jurassic Park showed his versatility over movie one and three. When the new cast teamed up with the old in Jurassic World Dominion. I love a crossover and this was magic for me. I even had an Alan Grant action figure. Plus it’s dinosaurs so what is not to love?
In Event Horizon, Neill plays Dr William Weir who built the lost ship Event Horizon. This is a true horror movie with a stellar cast but the determined Weir allows Neill to go full demon in a way that Damien Thorn never did. The nightmarish imagery and possessed is terrifying done as the tortured Weir falls to the power of the dark dimension. Neill really does give a tour de force and elevates the movie to classic status. It is almost like a Hellraiser gone wild with Neill at the centre of the terror. It’s a movie worth watching because you will watch more than once. Neill’s accent is so smooth and distinct that you notice him in scenes. You can’t look away because he holds the screen presence.
This is shown in so many performances like Dead Calm, Merlin, Hunt for Red October, Peaky Blinders and A cry In the Dark but his resume is so extensive that no matter what he does is classy.
I’d watch Sam Neill in anything because he is just that sort of actor that you would make you want to watch. In one interview he was in the same vicinity as Brad Pitt so everyone was Brad mad but he was happy with this and said he was an actor lucky enough to be consistently working without the superstar status.
Those piercing eyes and distinct Australian accent make him one of the people I’d love to meet but I’m not even sure he does conventions. But this is why I do these articles. Who knows? He might read this. And if he does then this is to say how much I admire and enjoy his work and it will be a sad day if he ever stops working. But when that day comes, at least he will go knowing how much he is loved by fans.
“Maybe we really should leave it and figure something else out,” Bobby said, worried they would offend the rainbows and the leprechauns.
“No, they have to help us!” Rose insisted. “They simply must.”
O’Brien sat back and watched the kids thoughtfully.
“You could just ask a rainbow. That would be the easiest way don’t you think?”
“We don’t know where to find the end of the rainbow,” said Diamond sadly. “We only have tomorrow to find it.”
“Why tomorrow?”
“We have school on Monday but we will ask the teacher to let us sing,” promised Rose.
“Well, there’ll be a price to pay but I can bring the rainbow to you,” O’Brien said ominously.
Maggie stopped and looked across at him. She clutched the tea towel tightly in her hands.
O’Brien bit his pipe tightly in the corner of his mouth, stroked his ginger beard and crossed his arms sternly.
“If your quest is true and one born from an honest and virtuous heart, like Cuchulain himself, I will grant you the chance to ask a rainbow for help. So, tell me, children of Ballinfree; I, O’Brien of the Causeway clan of leprechauns, hereby ask solemnly and demand an honest answer. Are you willing to pay the price to help your friend find happiness or are your wishes false? Answer once and answer all before ancient and irreversible leprechaun law; pay the price or walk away.”
O’Brien raised his chin; eyes fixed on the kids.
Rose, Bobby, Diamond and Lala glanced at each other and gulped.
One of the greatest actors of our time, Brad Dourif is best known for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and the voice of killer doll, Chucky.
But there are two other performances of his that may have gotten missed in his stellar career. In this two part article, we will look back at both.
Star Trek is filled with memorable characters, some long running and others that may have only appeared in one or a handful of episodes.
In Star Trek Voyager, everyone thinks of Seven of Nine but in season 2 and 3, there was a character so different and memorable, that in just three episodes, Lon Suder completes a story arc that is so compact and beautiful that fans remember to this day.
When Captain Janeway pursues an aquis ship in the badlands, they are thrown across the universe to the Delta Quadrant where they face a new enemy. Forced to destroy their only way home, the Starfleet and maquis crew are forced to work together in order to survive the seventy year trip home.
One of those crew members was one Lon Suder. He was a maquis fighter that was part of Chakotay’s crew. In the season two episode, Meld, a crewman is discovered murdered in engineering and the only other person on duty was Suder. Chakotay admits Suder always made him feel uncomfortable and it didn’t help that he was a Betazoid. We have met dysfunctional Betazoids before in Star Trek The Next Generation’s brilliant episode Tin Man.
But Suder is the scariest of them all. He is the Trek equivalent of a serial killer and he will impact Vulcan, Tuvok, most of all. Chakotay and Be’lanna recall when they were fighting in the Maquis that Suder did what he had to do a little too well when killing Cardassians. Outside of battle, he was a quiet and kept himself to himself. But in combat there was something in his eyes that made Chakotay feel scared that every time he pulled Suder back, he looked as if he was going to kill Chakotay too.
Suder initially denies killing the crewman and is angry at Tuvok for being a spy for the Federation, ready to turn them all in as criminals. But when Suder’s DNA is pulled from the body, there is no denying it.
The direction here is perfect as in half shadow, Suder calmly and emotionlessly tells Tuvok how he killed crewman Darwin. When Tuvok asks why he killed him, he cannot accept Suder’s answer. He first says there was no reason then on reflection that he didn’t like the way Darwin looked at him.
Dourif’s delivery of these lines is in a normal tone as if having a conversation about how your day went. he has no remorse or regret and freely admits what he did. This is a bold move on Trek’s part because we have always been brought to beleive that man has evolved in the 24th century and even though Suder is a Betazoid, we have Deanna Troi and her mother to measure Suder against. His words and mindset would not be out of place in serial killers of our century. Indeed, you could put these words into the mouth of any killer. John Wayne Gacy was so detached and normal in his voice and mannerisms that if you didn’t know his crimes, you’d be inclined to relax around him and believe his story.
Tuvok in some ways is like Odo. Order and reasoning is part of their makeup and for the Vulcan mind, the reason behind the killing is so trivial that it literally blows Tuvok’s mind to the point he has to perfom the mind meld of the title in order to understand Suder. It may be that the fact such a killer has served on the ship for two years almost without incident confuses him even more. He cannot comprehend why Suder would kill now. Is it because Janeway’s decision left him unable to hide his instincts and now has no choice but to act on them?
The Doctor concludes that Suder is neither bipolar or psychotic and his genetic markers display no abnormal tendencies. Yet Tuvk refuses to believe that there was no logical motive behind the crime., This to a Vulcan, is maddening. Even when the Doctor points out that all humanoids have suppressed violent tendencies, Suder may be acting on them because he cannot do anything else. Soemtimes there is no motive and the act of looking at someone the wrong way has been the cause of murder in the path. A simple look, the wrong or misheard word and someone’s life is ended. However, Tuvok is caught in his own logic trap. To him , the crime will not be closed until he finds that explanation.
In his exchanges with Suder, Tuvok asks how did Darwin look at him to deserve being killed. Suder says he looked at him like a lot of Starfleet look at him. Tuvok reasons that the murder must then be an attack on Starfleet which Suder dismisses. It is further complicated when Suder says he has killed non Starfleet for the same reason. He has even thought of killing Tuvok but as Tuvok points out Suder had reason to kill Tuvok but this does not apply to Darwin.
Suder is so laid back about it all, he finds comfort in the fact he will not be executed. Without consulting the captain, Tuvok proposes to mindmeld with Suder. Suder does not recommend it but when he hears the meld may give him some of Tuvok’s self control, he agrees.
The meld leaves Tuvok disconcerted and Janeway is alerted to something amiss when Tuvok suggests Suder is ready to die for his crime. When Janeway objects, stating rehabilitation, Tuvok replies darkly that crewman Darwin’s three sisters would not agree. But Tuvok is hiding the fact he has no problem killing Neelix when he runs a holodeck simulation to test his state of mind after the meld.
Suder on the other hand is more controlled and feels centred. He can feel the difference with the Vulcan tendencies. He can see his dark side while observing it from within. While Tuvok tells him that this will not last without a series of daily meditation. He brings up the holodeck but Suder tells him holographic murder does not give the same pleasure as killing a person. He can now see that Tuvok is struggling with the disturbing, attractiveness of violence. There is no logic in violence and it is destroying Tuvok’s hold on himself. When Suder points out that a mindmeld is a form of violence too with the penetration of a mind and forcing one mind on another, that it would be lethal if one lost control during the meld. Tuvok has studied violence but now Suder’s taste for it is destroying all Tuvok believes he knew about himself, emotions and the motives of others.
Suder and Tuvok are now opposite sides of madness, their posiitons reversed. Locking himself in his quarters and putting himself off duty, Tuvok agrees to be treated by the Doctor for a way to bring his mind back together.
We all know that Vulcans were a savage, violent race at one point which is always suppressed beneath their logic. But we get to see this in action when the Doctor removes all his suppressants. Tuvok is a very differnet man revelling in his own power and primal emotions. He threatens to delete the Doctor and lunches into violence as he taunts the captain about what will happen if this treatment doesn’t work.
He attacks her for being weak and not being strong enough to execute Suder. He offers to kill Suder for her amid taunting Janeway about sitting in his quarters for the rest of the trip being fed and entertained. He tries to manipulate Kes but she is not taken in by him. This is the anger unleashed when someone looks at Suder the wrong way. He manages to escape from sickbay and he goes after Suder who is still calm and centred.
The dialogie between Tuvok and Suder is electric as their roles are reersed. Tuvok has come to execute him. Suder is accepting but points out that calling it that makes it more comnfortable for Tuvok. He denies he will take pleasure from killing Suder but Suder again points out that hiding it in logic is no good. Using violence to kill the violent is logical but threadbare to say the least. Is this justice or venegeance? Suder warns that this will not quel the violence within. Tuvok will be consumed and will never be normal again. Suder is ready to die and forces a mindmeld to do what Suider said before. If you lose control during a meld, you will kill him. But the conflict is too much and Tuvok collapses.
Suder is now under house arrest, meditating and using what he has gained from Tuvok to be a better man.
In Basics part one, we see Suder has made much progress. He has created a new species of orchid and named it after Tuvok. He tells Tuvok, the meld has given him his life back. Tuvok is his mentor now and asks the captain and Tuvok for a bit more freedom as he is now at a point he can contribute more. He has developed new genetic methods which can be applied to make their gradens more fruitful. He is frustrated by the captain’s indecision to allow this and pleads with her that all he wants is to do something for the ship. These words would come back on part two to leave a powerful legacy. When the Kazon attack the ship, Suder hides in the ducts while the rest of the crew are stranded on an alien world. Seska and the Kazon now control Voyager.
Suder and the Doctor team up to take back control of the ship. At first, the Doctor berates him thinking Suder is using this to obtain his freedom but Suder comes back at him revealing that he has no choice but to kill. He is afraid of losing all that he has achieved so far. He can see the day he will be finally be at peace with himself. The logical use of violence applies to others but not Suder. They use an old Maquis trick to throw Seska and Kazon off by flooding the ship with thoron particles.
Suder is tested as he has to fight Kazon. When he is forced to kill a Kazon warrior, he struggles to keep his self control. Falling into the foetal posiiton, he refuses drugs and draws on Tuvok’s teachings to centre himself again. When Seska deactivates the Doctor, Suder is on his own. All he wanted was to do soemthing for the ship and this is it. Spurred on by a message from the Doctor praising Suder for his heroism and complete faith in him, Suder follows through. He kills a handful of Kazon to gain access to the controls in engineering. Phasers overload causing a pulse to rip through Voyager disabling the Kazon and killing Seska.
Suder sabotages the ship in order to allow Tom Paris and a Talaxian force to regain control of the ship. Suder is shot in the back by a Kazon but with his dying breath, completes his mission.
With voyager now back in Janeway’s hands, Tuvok offers Suder a Vulcan prayer.
“May your death bring you the peace you never found in life. “
Some regulars don’t have such a beautiful story arc but Dourif embues Suder with such a sympathy and compassion for someone who is struggling literally with mental health, and turns him into a fan favourite. To be honest, Janeway comes off as a hard nosed cow here as she is almsot dismissive of Suder’s progress and what he has achieved since mind melding. Janeway is portrayed as a mother figure to her crew a lot of the time but it seems it is only with those she likes. She was the one who said rehabiliatation was the answer for Suder yet the success of her own suggestion is thrown aside by blanket comments. It is no wonder Auder gets agitated with her.
Suder was a great addition to the mythology and a gorgeously written character. It would have been interesting to see him a bit more but there was always the danger of diluting his character. This way Dourif’s performance is a masterclass but in our next look at one of his roles, we get to see a struggle of a very different kind.
“Wonder why the water is so different here?” asked Rose trying to see something in it. Rose, Lala and Diamond stood together looking down into the murky pool.
Suddenly a long orange…something with big white suckers all along it, slapped the rock before them. It looked like a leg of some sort. In a heartbeat another quickly followed, also slapping on the rock.
Suddenly, a huge bulbous head rose slowly before them, water running off it. Three more leg like sucker things broke from the water. They glistened with the salt water.
Lala, Rose and Diamond, all alone, clutched each other tightly in fear as they realised just how far they had come.
The great bulbous head, unlike anything they had ever seen before either in books or real life, opened two yellow and big black coin eyes on either side. The eyes stared at them as a beak where the mouth should be snapped open and shut.
“Only birds have beaks!” cried Diamond holding tightly on to the others. They were trembling, their legs refusing to run.
“What is it?” cried Rose staring at that hungry beak.
“It’s a big, baldy bird monster!” Lala cried, closing his eyes
“No, it’s…it’s a sea monster!” cried Rose. “And I think it eats frogs, rabbits and butterflies!”
The trio hugged each other tightly, afraid to move as the monster reared before them.
I’ve always been a fan of Denise Crosby ever since the tough Tasha Yar stepped on to the bridge of the Enterprise in Encounter at Farpoint. The security chief would leave the show in the first season but make a stunning return in the classic Yesterday’s Enterprise. There, Tasha would learn from Guinana that history has chnaged and she should be dead, an empty death. She returns to the past with the crew of the Enterprise C on a suicide mission which will bring peace between the Klingons and the Federation.
We would later learn tyhat Tasha made a deal for the lives of the survivors and ended up having a child with a Romulan. But that same child would cause her death and begin a Klingon civil war aided by her Romulan forces. She’s a wasted opportunithy.
Denise would return in the Spock two-parter Unification and again in All Good Things but the character’s mark is felt to this day. Sela, her Romulan daughter was not used enough as her existence had serious repercussions for both Picard and Worf. The fact we never got a story where Worf faced her and came to terms with his feelings about his former boss is a wasted opportunity.
Thanks to a friend of mine, Denise sent me a birthday card thirty years ago which I still have but I wanted a signed photo and it wasn’t until the 7th and 8th of March 2026 at Dublin Comic Con, that I finally got to meet her. Denise was every bit the lady I expected. We had a great chat about her time on the Walking Dead, Tasha and the loss of her home in the terrible fires recently. She was deeply appreciative of the love and support from fans everywhere. She even got to sit on the bridge of the Enterprise courtesy of the local Trek group USS Cuchulainn.
It took me ages to find a Tasha comic cover I liked as there are very few so ended up with a Sela one which is quite stunning. Denise signed it in gold and with that, another of my bucket list moments was ticked off.
Denise Crosby landed in Dublin and she was a legend.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright MGM
Who would have thought that the movie Stargate starring Kurt Russell would spawn a legacy similar to Star Trek. They spawned two spin offs, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe both of which were shamefully cut off in their primes.
Many people didn’t think a Stargate television series would ever work especially when they heard MacGyver himself, Richard Dean Anderson, was cast as the new Jack O’Neill. The role had been played in the movie by Kurt Russell so given the perceived image people had due to his time as MacGyver, would the audience buy it?
What they cleverly did was use the movie’s established history rather than ignore it like many television pilots do. Jack O’Neill would head the new team which would be made up of Sam Samantha Carter, whom O’Neill doesn’t expect to be a woman due to her preferring to be called Sam. The alien aspect would come in the form of Teal’c, played by Christopher Judge, a Jaffa head honcho to the god Apophis. He turns his back on his god when he meets O’Neill and the others. But we will come to that.
We get a great hook to open the show as a group of bored soldiers are playing poker in the gate room with the defunct Stargate. It is clear from their dialogue that no one comes here and staff are being shipped out. Like all classic horrors, something is moving under the tarp covering the gate. The female soldier goes to look as none of the others believe her. However, the gate opens with the same brillaint special effect that blew me away in the cinema. A metal ball pops through, scans the woman and a snake headed warrior grabs her. Out comes a squad of snake headed warriors from the movie. The last one, whom we will learn is their Lord Apophis, comes out. The guard holding the woman is revealed to be Teal’c who will become instrumental to the team and show. Subduing the woman with a hand device, Apophis then orders the others to kill the others. A squad of Stargate personnel burst in led by General Hammond, Don Davis. Apophis’ eyes flash just like Ra’s did in the original movie and they leave.
That’s a great way to start that really brings in the viewers, raising questions. Who are these aliens since Ra was killed? Is Ra actually dead? How did they get through the gate?
And just like Star Trek The Next Generation, they use the movie theme rather than try something else. It is clear the producers are embracing the roots rather than ignoring them and it is so much better for it. That sweeping score by David Arnold is as powerful today as it was back then, standing tall with the likes of Battlestar Galactica and Next Generation.
O’Neill is recalled and goes after Daniel Jackson. In O’Neill’s head, only Daniel can help him with it especially after seeing the dead body of a Jaffa from the initial attack. It is to his credit that Jack is maintaining the lie that Daniel died on Abydos after the nuclear device went off. However when he sees his old teammates, Kowalski and Ferretti being questioned also, and with Hammond about to send a bomb to Abydos, he has no choice to reveal what really happened. He throws a box of tissues through the gate knowing Daniel will know it’s Jack connecting with him.
Together with new addition captain Samantha Carter threy return to Abydos where they are reunited with Daniel and the others. Michael Shanks takes over the role of Daniel from James Spader and is born for the role. Using the original actors for Skaara and Sha’uri is nice touch. Daniel and Sam hit it off right away as they discuss the gates and what they mean. He believes there is a whole network of gates scattered all over the galaxy but Sam disagrees. Their technobabble leaves O’Neill and Kowalski none the wiser which will be a running gag every time scientific stuff is discussed round Jack. That is the only explanation for the new alien threat.
Another nice touch is when they talk about Jack’s son and how much Jack has recovered since his suicidal tendencies in the original movie. However, Jack and his wife have now separated following the death of their son. Add to that, Skaara trying to give O’Neill back his lighter is a nod to his giving up smoking. It’s also nice to see the Abydos locations again. The characters feel like they have known each other and bounce off each other nicely. Nothing is forced here and feels comfortable, a genuine extension of the movie.
But they are attacked by the snake warriors again, both Sha’uri and Skaara are captured leaving Daniel no choice but to go back and help O’Neill. The stakes are now personal as Ferretti is badly injured and Daniel is out to get his family back.
Something else that is laid here is the nature of the possessed lords. We discover they are hosts to a serpent like creature that lives in their stomachs and can move from person to person. In a full frontal nude scene, Sha’uri is taken over when the creature buries into the base of her spine. This is a marked departure from the grey white alien seen in Ra. This will become fundamental in the show going forward as will the existence of the network of gates.
Despite initial resistance, Daniel insists on being part of SG1 and they head off after Skaara and Sha’uri.
No expense is usually spared for a new pilot hoping to become a series and this is no exception.
All this time, we have seen Teal’c witness the murder of the soldier taken at the start of the episode and Sha’uri’s conversion for which, lest we forget, is his fault, through the episode. bit by bit, he is having doubts.
We also establish a regular event as SG1 meet a simple village of people who worship the Stargate. When they are captured by this lord and his new Queen Sha’uri, it becomes a fight for life. Thrown into a prison compound along with the other captured citizens, Skaara is chosen to be a host leaving Apophis to order the remaining prisoners to be executed immediately.
O’Neill sees something in Teal’c, a hesitation as to his Lord’s orders. With no weapons, no escape, it is a heart stopping moment when they are about to be executed by the squad of snake heads. O’Neill calls out to Teal’c telling him he can save these people. He says help me and Teal’c says, many have said that before but he is the first one he believes can do it. This moment seals the future as we witness the birth of a new friendship. Teal’c says he has nowhere to go but O’Neill says he can stay at his place for helping them. In a firefight, they blast a way out of the prison with the prisoners and run for it. But the excitement builds as warlord airships attack just as we saw in the movie. The serpent creatures we learn are called the Goa’uld, larva stages of the larger ones that every Jaffa carries.
As the group are attacked from the air and the flood of Jaffa ground troops, Apophis and his new Queen escape home through the gate. The effects are impressive, building on what came before. Watching it now for this flashback, my heart is in my mouth and I know what is going to happen. SG1 bring hope to a downtrodden people and this will never change.
The stage for all that follows is now set. The Goa’uld threat now that Earth has revealed itself as an enemy, the reveal of countless gates, the mission to save Skaara and Sha’uri, and the fact Teal’c is responsible for what happened to Daniel’s loved ones. Add to that, Kowalski is now infected by a Goa’uld and we are off to a great start to the series. No, I’ll change that; a spectacular start to the series.
I can look back now at all that spawned from this episode and feel a gratitude and delight that one of the best shows ever started with an episode that put its balls on the table and more than delivered. Against the odds and despite the critics, a legend was born.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 