By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright MGM
You know how you get up each day secure in the knowledge we know where we’ve been and how our memories are intact of everything we’ve done.
Well, not if you happen to live on Atlantis in the Stargate Universe.
Now I love Stargate Atlantis and it was show that should have gone much longer but seemed to plagued by behind the scenes issues.
In the season one story Before I Sleep, a woman is found in one of the abandoned labs in Atlantis. She is old and while Carson is against reviving her in case it kills her or release a contagion, Rodney and Shepherd manage to persuade Weir to wake the mysterious woman up. If she is an Ancient she could tell them all about Atlantis and it’s true capability.
But when she wakes it turns out that she is in fact an elderly Elizabeth Weir who has been in stasis for over ten thousand years.
So begins a tale that avoids the parallel universe thread to be a moving tale of second chances. It highlights Toru Higginson’s base commander Elizabeth Weir in a way that is rarely seen in drama. We have seen many shows where they meet their doubles whether it be clones or roots or opposites from another universe but here we have two Weir’s that began in the same timeline but split off multiverse style in a clever way.
In the pilot episode when the Earth team came through the Stargate to Atlantis, a power surge was triggered which resulted in the city rising to the surface from its watery resting place. But that isn’t what happened at all. This Elizabeth watched everyone die when the city’s power failed and flooded instead.
As this was a one way trip, the Atlantis expedition was doomed in their very first moments. The fail safe never kicked in to float the city. Rodney doesn’t take it well that he drowned and his bouncing off the other characters is a great part of the show bringing a level of levity to an otherwise tragic story.
Shepherd, Weir and Dr Zelenka managed to get to a puddle jumper that held a time travel function. In orbit they are attacked by Wraith darts causing the ship to crash. Weir wakes up but finds she is on Atlantis being treated by an Ancient called Janus but the others are dead. Janus tells her she has come back 10,00 years in time but not into a good one. The Ancients are embroiled in a savage war with the Wraith. despite the power of Atlantis, the sheer number of Wraith is winning war because they are relentless.
It is interesting to see a Wraith war because in her time they were awakened prematurely which is the only thing giving the humans the advantage. Weir sees an opportunity to save the mission and together she and Janus go to the council to ask for a ZPM and be returned to the exact point the team arrived on Atlantis and use the ZPM to prevent catastrophe from ever happening. To her disappointment they refuse telling her she will be evacuated to earth along with the rest. Atlantis will be sunk so the Wraith cannot get to it and use it to their advantage.
But Janus has other ideas and places Weir in the stasis pod. But she will awaken every 3,300 years to turn the ZPMs so they will trigger the failsafe. Rodney reveals that her pod was bringing her back when the expedition arrived but they turned it off because they thought it was just another power surge in all the chaos.
Weir knew that she would age and it was a one way ticket but it showed just how far she would go for her team. Some had doubted placing her in command rather than someone military like Colonel Carter. She always had faith that Atlantis would be vital to their understanding of the universe and this was her chance to set things right. her relationship with Janus is beautifully played; a powerful Ancient who sees a bright future for Atlantis in a mere human but one whose intellect almost equaled the Ancients but like Janus always strive for more. It is a theme that has come from the start if the Stargate franchise as to whether humanity was worthy of following in the footsteps of the Ancients amid all the other races.
They were as Jack O’Neill and his team proved time and again but since this is a whole bigger backyard, this is the Atlantis teams affirmation that they are the ones to explore the Pegasus galaxy even if thy did accidentally awaken a race of vampires.
But this is Elizabeth’s story confirming her as the true leader of the expedition cut off from home and truly all on their own. It is also a nice alternate history story that makes perfect sense within the show’s confines. Any unspoken self doubt that Weir might have had are now also laid to rest. Seeing her own bravery and fears that the doubters were right are gone as Weir sits with her older self. Older |weir gives her a farewell gift, the Stargate addresses to other Ancient sites where they can get ZPMs to help them make contact with Earth again.
The episode ends with the older Weir finally dying and her ashes being scattered over Atlantis that she made such a sacrifice for.
This is a great episode that explores self doubts and double guessing your own decisions especially in the face of public opinion. She knows now just how bad the Wraith threat would be if they are allowed to swell once again but now the team head into the future with a renewed sense of hope in themselves.
Trapped in the creature’s flesh nipping grip, the Xereban winced and turned his head in disgust as some of the wolfman’s drool dangled close to his lips. He could feel the hair on his flesh, short and bristly like a clothes brush.
“I can feel you tremble though your faux visage remains passive. You have a look in your eyes of an innocent lamb seeing the jaws of the predator for the inevitable first and final time.”
The wolfman let out a low growl as it narrowed its eyes in intense curiosity examining its prey. Varran noted how beautiful the mixed colours in his pupils were reminding him of the Mertillian Nebula five thousand light years away from his dead homeworld of Xereba.
“If you’d be so kind, what’s a Xereban please?” Varran asked innocently his voice steady.
The white haired wolf glared at him for a second then growled louder putting its lupine snout closer to Varran’s. Are those human tear ducts, he thought given the wolfman’s face was at such close range. Humans are the only species on the Earth that shed tears he knew. Varran wondered if the wolfman ever stared in the mirror and was moved to tears by the intangible shadow of the human he could no longer see? Did he howl at all at the moon in frustration as he watched the rest of the world continue onwards in train track routine and normality? Were the nightmares of a wolfman those of a 9 to 5 human’s gratitude to the universe for a good day?
“Just because I look like an animal,” growled the creature, “do not for one moment think that my intellect is on par with a mule. The one and only thing keeping you alive is your brain right now. Now, move, you have work to do.”
I love The Best OfBoth Worlds, Star Trek The Next Generation’s season three finale. It is simply stunning with a cliffhanger that still thrills to this day.
Quick refresh: the cybernetic species from the Delta Quadrant, The Borg, we met in the episode Q Who? are back to assimilate The Federation. They kidnap Picard to speak for them to prepare the human race for their upcoming assimilation. They convert him into Locutus of Borg, a bridge between species. The first episode ends on a dazzling cliffhanger where Riker must kill Picard to save everyone.
“Mister Worf. Fire!” are words that have gone down in television history before the screen goes black and we have to wait for the new series to see what happens next.
The second half is weaker due to several things, the least of which is the mysterious disappearing of Locutus’ personal forcefield that prevented Word from rescuing his captain in the first episode.
But all these years, every time I watch it I have a problem with it. it doesn’t take away my enjoyment of it but when a certain character goes into Riker’s face, I feel like shouting out “Who the hell are you strolling in here and slabbering?”
How the hell is Commander Shelby an expert on the Borg?
Commander Shelby played by Elizabeth Dennehy is brought in to assist the crew of the Enterprise as an expert in the Borg. But she is determined to take Riker’s place as the first officer of the Enterprise and will do whatever it takes to ensure Riker is removed. So how exactly is she decreed a Borg expert by Admiral Hansen and Starfleet itself?
It makes no sense at all. The Enterprise crew are the only ones who have fought and survived the Borg; albeit with Q’s help. Riker, Word and Data were up close and personal with the Borg on the cube. Guinan’s people fled the Borg, being scattered all over the galaxy. So are we, as an audience, expected to believe that Shelby, just by studying the Enterprise logs was able to unravel the secrets of the Federation’s newest and most deadly enemies? Yeah it makes no sense whatsoever of course unless…Shelby is in fact part of Section 31.
Here’s a theory on how to plug this massive plothole.
In Enterprise, Captain Archer and crew are sent after a revived set of Borg from the wreckage of the Borg sphere that went back in First Contact to stop Zephram Cochrane’s warp test flight which attracts the Vulcans setting in motion the Federation. At the end of that movie, the Borg sphere was destroyed in a massive explosion but as we now find wreckage fell to Earth in the Artic.
Now the Borg leave behind a lot of evidence of their existence which given the Federation has 200 years before The Best of Both Worlds Happens, gives them plenty of time to study and understand Borg technology. Malcolm Reid gives Doctor Phlox a Borg arm to study to discover the yield of the weapon. Dr Phlox studies the nano-probes that these cyborgs use to transform other species to be like them. Such is his results, he comes up with a way to destroy them with large doses of omicron radiation. He is aware of the hive mind and knows that a signal was sent to the Delta Quadrant telling others of its kind where Earth was. Archer believes they have delayed the invasion until the 24th century which is true.
Add to that we have the information the crew gathered on the adaptive shields, the fact they have a phaser frequency that did stop the invaders all be it momentarily. The Doctor also has the scans of the altered Tarkaleans they rescued.
Add to that Archer reveals to T’Pol that Zephram Cochrane told of the real story behind First Contact that a race of cyborgs from the future came back to stop his historic flight and how a band of human, also from the future, defeated them. He was not believed and he later retracted the story. As a side note, perhaps the Vulcans were right about humanity after all. If they can openly ridicule their greatest hero then they don’t deserve to be out among new species.
The appearance of this strange race clearly confirms that Cochrane was telling the truth so you’d think that Starfleet would recognise the threat and go over the wreckage in the Arctic with a fine toothcomb. They have two hundred years to prepare so they have all they need to do that for the next encounter. Among the wreckage would be a Borg black box with full future knowledge of what lies ahead.
So what happened that all of this was seemingly forgotten until Picard and co face the cube in the Delta Quadrant?
Section 31.
They were created to deal with threats to Starfleet and later the Federation and remove them quietly. So maybe they did indeed find the black box and accessed it seeing what happens in the future. Could it be that they would have to silence their own in order to protect the timeline?
It is reasonable to assume Section 31 worked quietly and efficiently to remove all traces of Borg from not only the Arctic but from the Enterprise logs. We know it was done with the Discovery so why not the Borg?
Archer and his crew would be long dead by the time the first Borg encounter happens. And we know that the organisation has the silent backing of Starfleet admirals and above in order to do their job.
It may be they had no idea how to reverse engineer the Borg’s technology and Doctor Phlox’s omicron treatment would kill more people than save them. The good doctor almost died and took a long time to recover. This would also explain how Borg survivors like Icheb, Seven of Nine and Hugh were hunted down for their Borg components. Since Borg technology was so impossible to replicate then it would make sense to simply steal it.
Remember that it was Seven’s ocular implant that allowed a future Harry Kim to send coordinates back in time to prevent Voyager crashing into an icy tomb in Timeless. The holographic Doctor could not save Seven due to one of her implants that was beyond him. It took Kes’ massively boosted telepathic abilities to save her life by dissolving the element. Borg tech is highly unpredictable as seen when the holographic Doctor’s mobile emitter emerges with Borg nano probes and create a Borg with 29th century technology. Not even Section 31 are that dumb. if anything Borg tech is something that really should be left alone. So what if the only option was to wait and keep the secret until Q got involved? Then Shelby was recruited and shown the secret.
She had her own ambitions anyway and perhaps saw this as the way to gain that first officer’s chair. Her only contributions were drawing attention to the power drop in the Borg cube when the Enterprise destroyed their tractor beam emitters. The other was when attacked getting data to rotate the phase settings so the Borg couldn’t get a grip on the ship. Outside of that, her expertise is sadly lacking. The only thing she does is ignore Riker’s orders and go to Picard to tell him her plan for the saucer section. But did she do that to ensure the timeline stayed intact? Does her heartless and over the top rudeness come from the fact she has seen what is at stake and is simply carrying out orders to save the day while taking care of her own ambitions?
It would certainly explain why the Federation was ignorant of the Borg threat when it should have been more than ready. Section 31 may have met their match in the cyborgs so could only manipulate Shelby to ensure things stayed the same as they saw in the black box. Remember that any and all defences that Admiral Janeway had came from the Delta Quadrant itself and from multiple encounters with the Borg Queen and her minions.
We are delighted to welcome the larger than life Derek Mears to Dublin Horror Con as our third guest!
Best known for playing #JasonVoorhees in the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th, you also know Derek Mears from The Hills Have Eyes 2, Alita: Battle Angel, Predators, and he played the title character in Swamp Thing
By and copyright of Owen Quinn. Thanks to Stephen Mooney
2025 sees the release of the latest book in the Time Warriors series, Wolves of Chernobyl & Other Stories. With Wolves of Chernobyl being the 40th story in ten books, it is a milestone to say the least. Owen Quinn has released some concept art of a couple of the strange and terrifying inhabitants of the city that time forgot. Free from the excesses of man, Chernobyl will never be habitable for thousands of years yet so as Mother Nature takes it all back and more species return to the area, Varran, Michael and Jacke face a deadly threat in the ghost town of Chernobyl.
By and copyright of Owen Quinn. Thanks to Stephen Mooney
Lighthouse At The End of the World is the final story in the new Time Warriors book Wolves of Chernobyl & Other Stories coming soon by Belfast author Owen Quinn.
It sees Varran faced with a request from an old friend to help him die. The issue of assisted suicide is very relevant right now and it certainly wasn’t the angle Owen decided to take when he came up with the idea. Like all good sci-fi stories, it takes a social issue and puts it under the microscope. Owen is the first to admit, he would have no idea what to do if he was asked to do something like this.
How Varran resolves it will only be found when you get your copy of Wolves of Chernobyl & Other Stories on release soon from Amazon.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Gerry Anderson
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
Apart from Deep Space 9’s Odo, there has always been a much more exciting and enticing shapeshifter for me. No disrespect to the late René Auberjonois but she is also much more pretty to look at.
In the second season of Space 1999, the revamp included the introduction of a resident alien to ramp up the sci fi factor. Maya was to be a regular on the show ala Spock on Star Trek. Played by Catherine Schell, Maya was introduced in the first episode the Metamorph. Her father, Mentor (Brian Blessed) was ruler of their dying world Psychon, who had a secret he kept from everyone. He would lure travellers down to the surface or kidnap them and feed their minds to the biological machine, Psyche. This kept Psychon stable but the unwilling victims were left husks, zombies that toiled in the mines digging out the metals necessary to maintain the machine below the city far away from prying eyes.
When Moonbase Alpha is in dire need of Titanium, they locate it on Psychon, a seemingly lifeless planet but the survey Eagle is captured. Commander John Koenig (Martin Landau) finds himself facing Mentor who seems so inviting and welcoming. To get his people back they agree to meet in space. But it’s a trap and they find themselves in line to be fed to Pysche.
Maya was taught the power of molecular transformation by Mentor and the first creature we see her as is a lion. In the space of the first episode we see change into a dog, a dove and gorilla. When her father’s evil deeds are exposed and Psychon is destroyed, Maya is forced to leave the exploding Psychon to make a new life with the Alphans.
Her advanced knowledge and skills make her a vital part of the crew and she assumes the role of base science officer. Maya also quickly becomes romantically involved with Koenig’s right hand man and security chief Tony Verdeschi (Tony Anholt). As the last of her kind, Maya is delighted when they discover there is another from her species alive and well, Dorzak. Maya remembers him as a poet and philosopher but he is now being held as prisoner by an alien race. They offered Dorzak sanctuary but he used his mental powers to turn a peaceful people into murderous savages under his control. Dorzak is a psychopath the defeat of whom leaves Maya feeling more isolated than ever before.
This is an aspect of the character that is barely touched upon in the second season. What does it mean to be the last of one’s species? What are the implications if she breeds with Tony? Would her half human offspring be able to learn the power of transformation? In the classic Bringers Of Wonder, an expedition party from Earth arrives consisting of friends and family ready to take them all back to Earth. Maya feels uncomfortable meeting them as it is suddenly real that she will have to live her life on Earth. At least on Alpha she has the chance of finding other of her species and maybe a home that closely resembles Psychon. She loves Tony and she is equally loved by the rest of the Moonbase personnel. But her feline features are a constant reminder that she is different. However there may be another reason for that. In the Rules of Luton, she reveals to Koenig that she has a brother and that when they learned Psychon was dying, he and a thousand others headed off into space to find a new home.
While on Alpha there is the chance she could find them but not if she were to go back to Earth. As the Dorcons believe Maya is the last one, the other Psychons may well be hidden or far enough away to escape the Dorcon threat. If the Alphans did find them, would Maya stay with them or Tony? So much untapped potential for future stories.
While Maya can turn into any creature she can see, her shape shifting ability was always a highlight of an episode to see what she becomes in that particular story. While we see her as Earth animals or other people, she becomes a variety of aliens that can hurt and maim. In the episode Space Warp. she has a dangerous fever which leaves her powers running wild. She becomes her father and is driven to go home to Psychon. This shows the dangerous side to her ability as she becomes bigger and more powerful creatures to get home. One looks like a cross between a bull and a gorilla and it takes a lot to bring her down. She is a liability to herself in this shape as she can kill herself quite easily.
Indeed not all changes are pleasant as she discovers in Bringers of Wonder when she changes into one of protoplasmic aliens trying to kill them all. In All That Glisters, Maya assumes the rock life form and is almost absorbed by it when it locks her into its form as she tried to change back to escape its grip. We also get to see the playful side of Maya when Tony, who is desperately trying to brew great tasting beer gets her to taste his latest sample. She turns into Doctor Jekyll to show what she thinks of it.
As the last Psychon, Maya has a target on her back. The Taybor wants her for his collection while the biggest danger comes from the Dorcons. Mentor may have had good reason to hide below the surface of Psychon. When the Dorcons locate Maya aboard Alpha they cripple the base demanding they hand Maya over to them. She is terrified of them knowing what is coming and despite their assurances she tells them they cannot stand against them. She begs her friends to kill her to spare her the fate the Dorcons intend for her. The Dorcons are the most powerful of species with shape shifting spaceships who have hunted Psychons for centuries. The only force they cannot control is death and by surgically removing a Psychon’s brain stem, they can. The Dorcon’s brain stems stop functioning at a certain age but by replacing it with a Psychon’s they will live forever. In this case it is for their leader played by the second Doctor Who Patrick Troughton. Of course, John Koenig finds a way to save her helped in no small part by the Dorcon’s internal squabbling ,meaning they will die naturally with no more Psychons to feed on. They are also the only species that can prevent Maya changing form.
While we know she and Tony love each other, in New Adam and New Eve, God or an alien scientist claiming to be God kidnaps Maya, Tony, John and Helena Russell in order to repopulate a new world. There he decrees that John and Maya mate to create the perfect beings encompassing the best of both of them while Helena and Tony will equally comply. But his petri dish is smashed freeing them all.
Now it would appear, unlike Odo whose every component is made from his liquid goo, Maya is able to affect her clothes and any object she is touching too. When Tony is attacked by a mind controlled Alphan, Maya changes into a Kendo warrior and her pen becomes a stick to defend herself with. Like the 70s Bruce Banner whose eyes turn white when he is about to Hulk out, similarly we see the creature Maya is about to change into reflected in her eyes. Together with a sound effect it was an effective tool to signify shit was about to go down.
Maya will forever be a sci fi character that lives on in the minds of fans. Indeed I still have my Space 1999 annual which features her in comic strip adventures. Why does it seem to be that shortsighted television executives cut down so many good shows just as they are taking off? Now the likes of Maya are in the land of ‘what could have been’ and can only be enjoyed on Blu-ray and streaming.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
For a show hyped as a comedy Star Trek clone, The Orville quickly became a show packed with quality scripts focusing on social commentary. But it could also deliver epic space battles and drama in way reminiscent of the war seasons of Deep Space 9.
At first the show looked like a copy of Star Trek but without the transporters to save the day. It had the token Klingon-like officer, the robot trying to understand humanity and a super strong female alien security officer to add to the alien presence. We had the pilot becoming chief engineer just like Geordi La Forge did on the Enterprise. We know as an audience that we would learn more about each character as we go but never did we expect the plot twist in the two-part Identity. Such was the shock of it all, that the Orville universe would be changed forever.
Isaac is not a formal member of the Orville but an emissary for his species, the Kaylons. He has been sent by his people to study organics to see if the Kaylons will enter The Union as fully fledged members. Isaac has formed close associations with the crew especially with Doctor Claire Finn (Penny Johnson Jerald from Deep Space 9) and her sons Ty and Marcus. The boys have come to see him as a father figure and Claire has romantic feelings for him despite his lack of understanding of emotions.
They announce their relationship to the boys at the start of the episode but Isaac short circuits and collapses. The only way to save him is to return him to his homeworld Kaylon and deliver him to his people if he has any chance of survival. Ty and Marcus keep vigil over him with Ty telling the inert robot that he wants him to come back, marry his mom and become his father.
Photos copyright Fox
No Union ship has been to Kaylon. It is a totally robotic society closed to everyone and the visuals as the Orville flies amid its towering cities is impressive. Even the soundtrack is epic here conveying an ominous air as they arrive at Kaylon, far from home and all alone. Kaylon technology is far superior to anything the Union has. Without a word, the ship is scanned and landing co-ordinates are given.
Handing over Isaac’s body, the crew can only wait. It is somewhat unnerving to see a species with all the same face and same red eyes. Humans react best when they can look into the eyes of the person they are talking to and judge their inner thoughts by their expression. The Kaylons call to mind all the classic movie robots like C-3PO. Isaac has provided a certain comedy element in the series such as learning abut practical jokes with helmsman Gordon Malloy. Isaac sedates a sleeping Malloy and amputates his leg as a joke totally misunderstanding the concept of practical jokes. he is liked and trusted by all of them.
The superior attitude of the Kaylons grates with the crew especially when they tell them Isaac will be reintegrated to their society having fulfilled his function as Emissary. Claire is furious that he is discarding them so quickly especially her boys. He breaks the news to them and they take it badly.
The Kaylons are still analysing the data Isaac has gathered and their addition to the Union is far from certain. They tell Captain Mercer that it is not in their best interests to join the Union due to a violent history including history. They see Malloy’s practical jokes as abuse towards Isaac cancelling Mercer’s argument that that that sort of behaviour is long past. But little do we know that this is just a cover for a more deadly plan.
They even throw a party for Isaac and Ty gives him a drawing he has done of them as a family which the robot drops on purpose in a corridor. But security chief Talla and Bortus have detected some sort of factory making something en masse.
Young Ty, having found the discarded drawing, goes after Isaac launching a search for him. Bortus, Doctor Finn and Talla find him in an underground chamber which kicks the story into gear.
In the cavern are thousands of skeletons of a biological race. The planet is covered in these mass graves. The visuals for this are both horrific and creepy as we realise that discovering the Kaylon secret forces the robots to show their true hand.
Isaac’s mission was not to assess organics for admission to the Union but to assess the threat they pose to the Kaylon. The mass graves are the race that built them that the Kaylon exterminated in a slave rebellion. They distrust organics because their builders abused them. This is why they are so focused on Isaac’s “abuse” and human history of violence and slavery.
The Kaylons have been assessing the rest of the Union for mass extermination and after that will be the non-Union societies like the Krill. The construction they observed was in fact a fleet of orb-like ships to carry out this massacre. The Orville crew are restrained as the Kaylon invade their ship intending to use it as a Trojan horse to gain entry to Earth then destroy it from orbit.
And just when you think things can’t get any worse, the Kaylon reveal a hidden feature. Their heads split open to form weapons which can kill or stun. This image makes them unique and terrifying. Orville takes our expectations and turns them on their heads, literally in this case. Now the simple looking robots are almost demon like in appearance and a clear and present danger. They are strong, cannot be intimidated and go by a simple binary logic; kill of be killed. There are no other choices because of their limited code. They cannot conceive any other options because they have no imagination or gut instincts.
The gathering of the crew and civilians into cargo bays is reminiscent of the Star trek Voyager two parter and season cliffhanger ‘Basics’. In that story, Voyager is commandeered by the Kazon and Cardassian traitor Seska who leave the Voyager crew stranded on a primitive planet to die.
As they launch the Orville, we see their fleet of Kaylon ships rise and swarm behind the captured ship. The shots of the ships rising from the planet surface and their simple design is frightening. Their Ferris Wheel look is simplistic but effective given we have seen what the Kaylon are capable of. Trapped and helpless, the crew can only watch as they are flown to be witness to the mass extermination of everything they know. Even Isaac no longer responds to Claire’s anger as his fellow robots use his knowledge to secure the Orville.
Epic is an overused word these days but Orville can confidently claim this title, for not only this episode and the second part, but for the final shot of the entire Kaylon fleet rising into space with the helpless Orville leading the way.
Every show aims for a cliffhanger on par with Star Trek The Next Generation’s ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ or Star Trek Enterprise’s ‘Aati Prime’. Seth McFarlane comes close with ‘Identity’. Our expectations are subverted and I can imagine many thinking they know where this story is going; until the stool is kicked from under them. The job of any writer is to take the norms and turn the dial up to eleven; to surprise and make the audience sit up and take notice.
We have a great shift in a beloved character’s motivations and a deadly plot revealed that threatens allies and enemies alike. At one point, the Kaylon joining the Union would be a great advantage against the Krill bit now that is irrelevant. All species face the same enemy in a doomsday situation. The token annoying kid label that began with Wesley Crusher works perfectly here as Ty’s reaction to losing Isaac is genuine and heartfelt.
Of course this leads to the other moral ambiguity of having children from a sperm bank and raising them without a father. Then again, if Isaac had not been seen as such then the Kaylon plot would never have been exposed. The Union and everyone else would have died as the Kaylon burned the surface of Earth from space, never knowing why.
But if you want a ‘how the hell do they get out of this?‘ story then ‘Identity’ Part 1 is for you. Stunning.
“There was one thing I always meant to ask Jack, back in the old days. I wanted to know about that Doctor of his. The man that appears out of nowhere and saves the world except sometimes he doesn’t. All those times in history when there was no sign of him, I wanted to know why not. But I don’t need to ask any more. I know the answer now. Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame. I’m recording this in case anyone ever finds it and you can see; you can see how the world ended.“
There’s never really a minute to catch your breath in an action packed adventure with the bad guys breathing down your neck but sometimes a welcome quiet moment are the ones that make you stop and think on the scope of the threat. They are the moments that burn themselves into your memory and like a cuckoo, never leaves.
In Torchwood’s Children of Earth, the final episode sees the world in chaos. The alien 456 have demanded 10% of the children of Earth and have brought the world to its knees. Torchwood has been destroyed and are being hunted as terrorists. Gwen is pregnant. Politicians plot and show their true commitment to the people. Ianto has been killed by a virus they have released along with Jack Harkness as a demonstration of what will happen if they do not get the children. But Jack revives as he always does and is left to face his lover’s death alone. Children are being rounded up in the thousands and taken and parents are beaten down by the military. The armed forces have been guaranteed their children will not be taken if they round all the rest up. And all because Jack Harkness handed children over to the same species decades previously.
The British Prime Minister, Brian Green, is following his own agenda to make himself the hero in this horrible decision and make the Americans look like the instigators of the children being taken. He will claim the sudden rounding up of the lower performing school children is to give out mass inoculations. He is cold and uncaring and even orders his man, Frobisher, to hand over his two daughters to the aliens. Rather than let that happen, he goes home and murders them and his wife to prevent them from that fate. Tragically, Jack finds a way to stop the 456 but too late for the Frobisher family. But while we recoil at the murder, Frobisher, future Doctor Peter Capaldi, has actually committed an act of love to maintain his family love and memories. They may be dead but they died together, content at their lives up to that point and now nothing will threaten that ever again.
Gwen and Rhys are at Ianto’s sister’s home telling her about how her brother died when soldiers swarm the area taking the children. While the men of the estate fight back, Gwen and Rhys take the ,kids and run along with Ianto’s sister. They are hiding with no options left to them. The 456 use children as a source of drugs, feeding off them over years like a Capri Sun until all that is left is a husk.
Torchwood, or what’s left of them, are fugitives with Jack now working with his enemy, Agent Johnston, once assigned to wipe Torchwood out but now sees her boss’ real intentions. Not even an ice queen can stand by and see children sent for slaughter. To stop the 456 but with no options left, Jack has to make a devastating choice that will destroy Torchwood , his daughter and him forever.
Things couldn’t be any more dire and at this point you would expect a certain time traveller in a blue box to appear and save the day, trampling impossible odds like weeds. And that is the crux of the scene in question as Gwen reflects on how they have come to this and why the Doctor has not come to save the day.
It opens the episode and is shot in black and white. The lighting is beautiful here as it slams home the somber atmosphere. These are people that have ran out of hope and bravely waiting for the end of the world. They have been so used to being saved that the reality of the impact of this horrendous decision will have far reaching consequences that will scar the human race forever. White lines shiver across the screen, reminiscent of the black and white Doctor Who title sequence.
With half of her face in shadow with only her eyes showing, Gwen who is pregnant and being filmed by Rhys, speaks, intermixed with images of children being rounded up, of entire schools being marched onto buses and lorries to be taken to the 456 collection points.
When she talks about the end of the world, she isn’t talking about about it blowing up or an alien invasion like The Stolen Earth or what the Master did to the planet in Last of the Time Lords. Everything decent, moral and good that was humanity will be gone if the children are taken. The world will burn in riots as governments will be stormed and killed for agreeing to sacrifice their children to become snacks for aliens. This is not about safeguarding the rest of the population but the government’s own power bases. But the ordinary people would rather die with their families than give up any child to that fate as we saw with Frobisher. That is what humanity really is; standing together in the face of evil and even if it means death, they will do so willingly rather than live with the knowledge of the fates of the children the 456 took. How could anyone go through the rest of their lives knowing the kids will be alive as they are fed on as we saw in an earlier episode.
Some will point out that the public did not know about 456 but have you met us? Alien invasions are more prevalent than ever, especially at Christmas. There are ordinary people like Clive and Rose that are watching and documenting everything. With millions of children suddenly gone, of course people would protest and investigate; putting it all together. Never underestimate the power of the human race when their children are threatened.
The 456 will come back again and again until there are no more children left. What makes this even more poignant is the fact that Gwen is pregnant so at some point will her child be taken too? She has spoken about an abortion rather than giving birth. This is such a telling thing because how awful that someone would willingly abort their child which is wanted and will be loved rather than let it be born into a world where it will be taken forcibly by aliens at some stage.
Rhys, as I said, is filming this and when he ends we get the most human response. Rhys is a hardman but is reduced to tears when he ask if Gwen is serious about the abortion and she says no, of course not. He breaks down and it is such a beautiful humanising moment that drives home that this is so bad that even the hardest of us will crumble.
The parallel can be made that we trust those that we vote into government to look after us and all our best interest yet they have, without a real thought, decided to hand over the children to save themselves; not the world but by doing so, ensures their personal agendas are secure. It’s not their kids so it doesn’t matter. They believe the great British public will simply get over it; it is after all, in their best interests. As a parent figure, they don’t know their children at all.
Similarly when we bring a child into this world. We do it because we love each other and want that child to be better than us and have a better life than we did. We are always striving to make it better so that child trusts us to act in its best interests which is not just a natural instinct but a vocation that we willingly take on. Our governments have twisted this into something that will benefit the world. How does sending millions of children to this fate benefit anyone?
To be honest the old woman that touts on Gwen and the hidden children is an important testament to this train of thought. As an older woman, you expect her to not only be a mother but a grandmother too. Granny loves her grandchildren yet us witnessing her casually telling an army patrol about Gwen, Rhys and the children immediately riles us but that’s exactly what would happen. Now don’t forget that among the kids Gwen and Rhys have safe is Ianto’s niece and nephew. They have just lost their uncle and now are facing being sent off to the same aliens that murdered him. This is more than personal for them. Ianto didn’t die heroically. He choked to death on a virus as a demonstration of what will happen if the children are not delivered. The soldiers will not hesitate in killing a pregnant woman and expectant father to carry out their orders. But when those soldiers return home and look upon their kids, can we really expect them to stay silent? If that child asks where their friends are, how does the soldier answer? How quickly will that burden cripple them or force them to go public especially when the streets and playparks are now ghost towns. There is no laughter, no school trips to pantomines and no more birthday parties. Christmas morning will be shunned because the grief will be too much to bear. The politicians will continue as normal while parents will be left grieving as all of their children are gone yet still alive in a feeding frenzy.
But what would happen if the children were taken? Governments would burn, politicians would be strung up, new people would take over governments to ensure that this atrocity never happens again. But power corrupts so who’s to say what replaces the power bases will be any better? Those members of the frontline services that got to keep their kids will be crucified and who knows what the reaction to their children will be? They could be taken by a grieving parent to serve as replacements for the kids they have lost or worse.
People will stop having children in case the 456 return. Even if a child was born, the stress and worry about being taken will have a detrimental effect on the parents. Instead of seeing a young life full of possibilities, they will forever see a child marked for a cruel fate they will be powerless to stop. If someone does fall pregnant, would they have to raise it in secret or will forced abortions be introduced? There would be no need for maternity services so that part of the already fragile health service will collapse impacting the economy so many ways. Yes, Jack discovered the frequency to repel the 456 but now revealed, they can come up with a defense against it. Let’s face it, it was the only weapon humanity had.
No children means no schools, no nurseries, no baby shops. There will be no Sundays in the play park; no trips to farms to see animals, no family friendly places because the very concept of family will no longer exist. People will grow old and die and with no new generations to replace them, the Earth issue with over population will be solved until the world ages to death. As the population dwindles, industry, shops, healthcare and the simple beautiful sight of watching a new mother pushing a pram through the park will crumble. Think of the abandoned playgrounds in Chernobyl sitting rusting for decades and you’ll get the picture.
What about the children that were spared? Will they be banned from reproducing or will it be mandatory for them to be sterilised? Is that the fate of Gwen’s baby? We bring children in to the world to continue our bloodlines and legacies but every bloodline and legacy will end.
When Gwen talks about the end of the world, this is the scenario she is talking about. The Doctor would indeed turn away in shame, He loves the human race and especially the children. I have no doubt that he would burn the 456 to the ground and free them but the world they left behind would be gone forever so what then? The Doctor’s network of Children of Time have been powerless to stop this from happening so it would not surprise me that he would never darken the Earth again leaving the stupid apes to destroy themselves. If he hadn’t been exiled on Earth in his third incarnation, he may well have done just that when the Brigadier blew up the Silurians behind his back. The Doctor had persuaded the reptiles to agree to peace talks but the Brigadier betrayed him. Weakened and broken, the Earth would be ripe for conquest as seen in the Doctor Who season 4 episode Turn left.
This scene is roughly about 53 seconds long but it is the most powerful ones in the history of the show. As the recent The Giggle showed, when the human race is fired up, it is capable of tearing everything apart. The speech invokes our basest instincts to protect our young and what we love. In just 102 words, Gwen demonstrates that the world hangs on a fragile web of trust with the powers that when broken is one step from the apocalypse. Stunning words that we need to remember because what we do in life leaves a legacy and impacts others every single day.
If we are being judged by people from another world then we really need to evaluate ourselves, not just on a personal level but those we entrust to make our lives safe.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright 20th Century Fox
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
Decker: I’m not one of them. I’m here to destroy them. See, I’ve cleaned up a lot of breeders. Families like cesspools. Filth making filth, making filth. And I did it over, and over, and over again. But it was all leading me here. I was born to destroy Boone and the Breed together. I’m Death. Plain and simple.
If ever there was a villain to epitomise the ultimate serial killer it is Doctor Philip Decker in Nightbreed. Usually I would say that every villain has a degree of humanity that makes his evil so shocking to the audience but with Decker, there is nothing but pure evil. He has no soul, no remorse and no problem murdering children. He murders entire families wearing a mask earning him the name Old Button Face.
His initial appearance is ghostly as he murders yet another family, walking past the bottom of the stairs like a shadow as a child watches. After murdering his parents, Button Face walks up the stairs soundlessly brandishing his knife bearing down on the terrified boy.
What makes Decker so dangerous is that he is in a position of power and respect as a psychiatrist. He works with the police and is highly respected. His delivery is one of being quietly spoken. When he encounters Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) who is having nightmares about monsters in a place called Midian, Decker becomes obsessed. He needs to find it as it is the place where all sins will be forgiven. Boone meets a man, Narcisse in the hospital who is also seeking Midian and is also a patient of Decker. Decker is seeking anyone that can lead him to Midian, mentally twisting them to the point Narcisse starts to cut his own face off. Decker manipulates Boone into believing he has killed all these families and his dreams are memories of that.
Fleeing, Boone finds Midian where he flees as he is not welcome. He runs into the police and Decker who tells the police Boone has a gun. They kill him in a barrage of gunfire but having been bitten by one of the Midian inhabitants, he comes back to life.
Boon’s girlfriend follows him only to be followed by Decker who murders her friend by pinning her to a tree whilst manipulating the police. Decker will break his MO and do what is necessary to leave no witnesses. Indeed he begins wiping out anyone he finds. His exterior is always calm and collected but within him rages a fury the closer he gets to Midian. He escapes after almost killing Lori and brings the cops back to wipe out the inhabitants. At one point you think he is looking to go there to have his sins forgiven but he only wants to destroy. He is obsessed with destroying Midian and Boone and amid the war zone he creates where the Breed versus humans, he goes after Lori and Boone.
They fight as Midian collapses around them. Boone manages to drive his fist through Decker’s chest before he falls over the edge of a chamber. Presumably his body is consumed when Midian is blown apart. It could be this drive to wipe out Midian is because he doesn’t want to be be forgiven for his sins. He revels in the deaths of his victims. In the battle he beheads Narcisse and presents his head to Boone. Indeed it is an art form to him as seen when we see his massive secret collection of knives. His chamber is literally wall to wall with them. Decker lived in his own paradise with no glimpses of the evil within.
He is the perfect serial killer hidden behind status and respect in the community. Not even Hannibal Lector was this cold. He is a killer through and through with no redeemable qualities. Boone did the world a favour by putting him down.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 