TW Watches Torchwood: Exit Wounds

By Owen Quinn author

Photos copyright BBC

If ever television delivered a shocking climax then season two of Torchwood did exactly that in Exit Wounds. Torchwood, a hit, changed forever and none of us knew at the time that this was the last time we would see the team together. Producers had written a finale that would shock and bring viewers to tears at the same time. It is a battle to save Cardiff but what will success cost them?

In a season that introduced James Marsters as Jack Harkness’s (John Barrowman)  old lover and fellow time agent, Captain John Hart. John is being controlled by Jack’s long lost brother, Grey. As children, Grey was taken by unidentified alien invaders where he was tortured to the point his mind broke. He blamed Jack for what happened to him because he let go of his hand. John found him among a sea of corpses and was quickly overpowered to help take revenge on his brother.

Having had time to plan, Grey had gotten John to blow up a building in the previous episode but failed to kill the team. At this point, Owen (Burns Gorman) had been killed but was still alive trapped in the undead state. He could not drink, eat, have sex and if he broke a limb or in this case, fingers then it would never heal. He was killed earlier in the season in Reset which introduced Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) to the team for a few episodes. Jack refused to lose him and brought him back to a living dead state with the Resurrection gauntlet.

Splitting up, the team try to save Cardiff which has been shattered in a series of bombs planted by John on Grey’s instruction. Jack is captured and taken to face his brother who buries him alive in a grave on which Cardiff will be built. Grey’s plan is revealed to Jack there and then before John tosses him a ring he gave him when they were lovers before filling the grave.

Having fulfilled his side of the bargain, Grey releases John who has been strapped to a bomb around his wrist from the start. Grey intends to destroy everything Jack loves and that includes Torchwood itself. This includes releasing swarms of Weevils on to the streets, overwhelming the police forces.

Tosh, Ianto and Owen must try to stop the nuclear reactor melting down. Owen goes off there while Tosh returns to the hub to organise the operation using Torchwood’s systems. Rhys and policeman Andy seal police headquarters as Weevils attack. Andy and Rhys are a comedy gold pairing. Andy always loved Gwen and hates the fact she married Rhys whom he points out could do with losing a few pounds. But standing side by side in battle, Rhys tells him of a secret time agency in Cardiff to which Tom says sarcastically about how crap Rhys is at keeping secrets.

While Owen reaches the nuclear plant, Tosh directs him but little does he realise that Grey has found her and shot her in the stomach. She is bleeding out, alone and still determined to save the city.

Unrequited love is a common theme in fiction as well as real life. We learned earlier in the season that Tosh was in love with Owen but he never noticed. They planned a date but never got round to it. As the viewer, you suddenly realise this isn’t going to be a happy ending at all. Someone is going to die but we, as the audience can cope with one loss.

Little did we know.

The crux of the episode is Owen learning too late and realising just how insular he was as a person that he had true love all along under his nose when he spent his life being promiscuous. Tosh manages to trigger the safety features but Owen is trapped in the chamber. The radiation will flood into the room safely and effectively but he will die. He rants and raves about how unfair it is and screams until Tosh tells him to stop.

He asks why.

She replies because he is breaking her heart.

Bang, there it is. Owen realises what she is really saying.

They talk about their past and how she stood in for him when the spaceship crashed in London in the Doctor Who episode Aliens of London. All because Owen had a bad hangover from the night before. Owen regrets that they never did go on the date he promised and now it is far too late. It is only when he realises that they should have been together. He asks her to tell him what is going to happen to him. She reluctantly tells him that the containment chamber will flood. Owen stops her and realises that his body will slowly decompose as he watches. It is a cruel death but not as cruel as he will die believing Tosh and the rest of the city will be safe. Little does he know but her love gives Owen the strength to face death with dignity. They both apologise for missing the date before Owen stands to face the radiation, assuring her it’s alright. The camera pulls back as the screen fades to white.

Tosh is left alone to watch what could have been the love of her life die on a screen; alone but unafraid thanks to her.

Thanks to John’s ring, Jack was rescued by Victorian Torchwood and stored in a freezer timed to release him the day of the attack. He defeats his brother with John’s help and finds Tosh at the end of a big trail of blood. He and Gwen try desperately to save her, along with Ianto, but it is too late. She manages to tell them how Owen died but their efforts are in vain. Eyes wide, staring into Jack’s face with a slight smile, Tosh dies.

I think to this day nobody was acting in that scene as Jack and Gwen break down in tears. it’s a powerful moment, reminding us that heroes may win but what they lose along the way is too great a sacrifice.

But the tears don’t stop there.

As Jack and Gwen pack away their deceased colleagues’ possessions tearfully, Ianto has to archive Owen and Tosh’s profiles and when he tries to file Tosh, it triggers a video message.

And you know what? It really makes the loss worse because you see Tosh in all her glory. She hopes she didn’t die in an accident with a toaster and hoped it was impressive. She leaves this message to let them know that it’s okay. She tells Jack that he saved her and she wouldn’t have missed all the wonders she saw for anything. Ironically she tells Owen that he never knew and that she loves him; all of them and that she hopes in the end, she did good.

What brilliant and poignant writing. The audience is already reeling from their deaths and this is almost like Tosh reaching out from the other side to do what she did for Owen in his last moments; to give them the strength to carry on. Her video admission of her love for Owen is irony at its worst as never for a moment did she think their deaths would be linked and go out together.

Viewers never expected this at all. We get hit with a double whammy of death as two main characters are wiped out in a terrible way. Tosh, the innocent, is killed in a violent and bloody way because of what Jack did years ago. If you want something to make you cry, this is it. Owen becomes the man he always strived to be and dies a hero regretting lost love like we all have at some stage. Tosh is such a lovely character and is played as someone you could easily be close friends with. Her death kicks the audience in their collective nuts because she is so innocent and a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The romantics among us believe that he met her on the other side and they were finally together for all eternity away from all the pain and suffering.

As Jack, Ianto and Gwen struggle with their emotions, the camera pulls back from them. Jack is the man of many endings and many beginnings and this is the hardest one he will ever have to come back from. This time he has two other people to keep upright as well as himself. Did I say this was the hardest one Jack would ever have to come back from?

I was wrong. The 456 are coming and they want the children of Earth. Torchwood stands cracked at the end of Exit Wounds. It is about to be shattered forever.

Forgotten Villains: Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor

By Owen Quinn author

Photos copyright Warner Bros

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.

While there have been many versions of Lex Luthor over the years both in live action and animation and yes, there will be another in the James Gunn reboot; you know the one where they sacked Henry Cavill and cast his exact double. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it but to replace an actor, the only movie actor that comes close to Reeve, with literally his twin beggars belief. But for many there is only one Luthor that could go up against Christopher Reeve’s Superman in the movies and make it believable.

In 1978 that man was the brilliant Gene Hackman. Think of it this way; Jack Nicholson as Michael Keaton’s Joker and you know it is magic. Thus with Hackman up against Reeve. Hackman was a highly respected movie star with a string of hits under his belt. With Luthor he wanted to subvert audiences firstly by having the usually bald Luthor have curly hair. With his secret base under Metropolis, he plotted and planned world domination with his two cronies henchman Otis (Ned Beatty) and the lovely Miss Tessmacher, (Valerie Perrine).

This Luthor follows the mainstream of the stories in that he hates Superman and wants to find out all he can about him especially how to kill him. It speaks of his ego that he sees an all powerful alien as the only thing that stops the world from seeing Luthor as the most powerful man in the world. He is a literal super criminal here rather than the had of corporation that trades in all sorts and is a cover to his plans for world domination. There’s a great comedic side to this Luthor all through the movies with his springboard of the forever loyal Otis. When we first see Luthor it is his hand only as he watches Otis being trailed to their secret hideout below the train station by the police. He kills the officer by forcing him in front of a train. Miss Tessmacher calls him sick but here we see exactly what Luthor thinks of himself and how egotistical he is.

He fiends hurt at being called sick when he is days away from committing the crime of the century and prefers terms like charismatic, fiendishly gifted and the greatest criminal mind of his time. The crime of the century involves the theft of nuclear missiles that he will launch into the San Andreas fault triggering the biggest earthquake in history. His father once told him that land is where the money is and when his plan is executed he will make billions from people desperate for land. When asked why so many people have to die he equates it to the phone ringing when you are in the bath…shit happens.

Time and again we him Hackman bounce between comedy and evil as he focuses solely on what he wants regardless of the consequence. Ambition and victory are all he think about in the building of his empire. His vanity is deep and the traditional baldness is given away when Otis finds a wig in Luthor’s bed and Luthor’s changing hairstyles. It isn’t until he is delivered to prison that he whips off his wig and glares hatefully in the classic Luthor image after the departing Superman.

When Superman hits the news Luthor knows he is the real deal because if he were a hoax then he would have been the one behind it. And if anyone could scupper his crime of the century then it’s Superman. In a way Superman’s honesty is part of his own downfall when he revels in his interview with Lois that he is vulnerable to Kryptonite and cannot see through lead. And that piece of information along with the location of Krypton and its galaxy is all Luthor needs to lure him into a trap via a sonic message and meet his foe face to face.

Luthor broadcasts a signal that only Superman and dogs can hear. He claims that he is about to detonate a bomb filled with poisonous gas that will wipe out half the city. Like Zod in the second movie, Luther uses Superman’s love for people against him. But while all this is to bring Superman to the base, it is also Luthor’s way of testing his enemy as seen in the deleted scenes where he tries to burn, freeze and riddle him with bullets before he kicks the door of the base in to which Luthor says with a smile, “It’s open. Come in. My attorney will be in touch with you about the damage to the door.” When his poisonous gas is revealed to be a lie, Superman asks is that how a warped mind like his gets his kicks by planning the deaths of innocent people. Luthor replies , no, by causing the deaths of innocent people.

But for Luthor it is more than that. It is his proving to this god that he is mistaken about his place on Earth. Luthor is the true god with all his technology and money which not even Superman can stand against. This alien is but a cuckoo, made fragile by his own morality. Luthor boasts about what is going to happen using a massive floor map which he smashes to show what is going to left of California once it hits. Luthor would gladly give Otis’ life to destroy Superman and poor Otis would let him do it. Luthor wants to look Superman in the eye and make Superman realise that he is not god here; Luthor is. Luthor has been buying up thousands of acres of land at crazy prices bringing it to the attention of Lois. When the earthquake hits then the west coast of California will fall into the sea making Luthor’s cheap desert land the most valued commodity on the planet. It says something about the caliber of Luthor that the only way his plan can be stopped is by reversing time itself. Delivered to prison Luthor is an angry man.

And an angry man in prison has time to plot and research. He escapes with the aid of holographic tech and Miss Tessmacher in a hot air balloon but poor Otis is left behind. Luthor wants his revenge on Superman and has figured out that Superman always flies north for some unknown reason. So he figures there is something there which he doesn’t want found and of course he finds the Fortress of Solitude. He discovers the Kryptonian crystals in which Jor El shares Kryton and his son’s story. It times nicely with the arrival of Zod and his cohorts on Earth. Ever the opportunist Luthor uses his knowledge of Superman to make a deal with Zod; in exchange for the son of Zod’s jailor, he wants Australia given his soft spot for real estate, a nod to the first movie.

But Luthor is not stupid. Again he is testing just how powerful and dangerous these new Kryptons are and when Superman shows up to fight them, Luthor gasps to himself, “Superman, thank god.” earning a glare from Zod. He quickly changes to “Get him!” Hackman is in his element here bouncing off four Supermen of sorts. He flirts unsuccessfully with Ursa, makes jokes at Non’s expense and bows to Zod while still maintaining his Luthor arrogance. When they all end up in the Fortress Luthor again betrays Superman. But he doesn’t realise that it is in fact he who is being played. In the movie Superman gave his powers up to be with Lois with the use of a molecular chamber. When Superman asks him to help him trick Zod into the chamber Luthor warns Zod against the trap.

This says a lot about Luthor’s choice. Zod has already ordered his death despite their deal and yet still takes this chance to get rid of Superman and be ruled by Zod. Despite their rivalry, Luthor hates Superman enough to let the world be ruled by a tyrant who has shown that Luthor’s lifespan may not be very long in the new world. Given that Superman reversed time in the first movie, Luthor has no memory of how he almost destroyed California yet his hatred for the man is as deep as ever. Indeed it would explain why Miss Tessmacher rescues him from prison because she would have no memory of the missile heading to the town her mother lives in.

While Luthor ends up back in prison, behind the scenes neither he nor Margot Kidder would feature in the third Superman movie. Instead Richard Pryor would take centre stage making the most comedic movie in the franchise. While Hackman could perfectly balance a quip and an eye roll while stabbing you in the back, Pryor was the comedy genius changing the tone of the third. However we would see a return to sense when the fourth and the weakest of the movies was released.

This time Superman was out to rid the world of their nuclear weapons because the threat was greater than ever should someone stupid would hit the button and destroy us all. This time Luthor would be aided by his nephew Lenny played by Jon Cryer. Luthor considers him the dutch elm disease of the family tree but is useful when he frees Luthor from prison. Cryer would be cast as Luthor in the Supergirl series years later and embark on a mission to destroy every version of Superman in the multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

This time round Luthor has been stewing on the Superman problem and has come to the conclusion that only a being equal to or more powerful than Superman can kill him. So he and Lenny steal a strand of Superman’s hair and with a precise dose of nuclear radiation created Nuclear Man. There’s something Freudian about this as he is totally loyal to Luthor. Luthor has complete control and dominance over this Superman clone which is what he has always wanted.

When Superman ends the arms race by vowing to rid the world of all bombs, Luthor gathers the greatest arms dealers on the planet. He wants to add the Nuclear Man cells to a nuclear bomb and detonate it. Once born Nuclear Man will be able to hurt Superman, pierce his skin and flood his body with radiation. None of them are keen to trust Luthor but he reminds them of his motto, “The more fear you make, the more loot you’ll take.”

Superman throws the missile into the sun and inadvertently creates his new foe. It goes straight to Luthor who lights a cigar from his hand and revels in his own brilliance. However when Nuclear Man now speaking in Luthor’s voice tells him he is nothing and that he is the father now, it has all gone wrong for Luthor again. Nuclear Man can fire energy that spins Lenny round in midair but Luthor has given him a weakness in order to control him better. Once out of sunlight, Nuclear Man is inert.

Luthor uses his old private frequency trick to lure Superman into facing his new nemesis by singing Hello Dolly and another fake threat. He brings Nuclear Man and explains what is about to happen. He toasts Superman’s last moments and with him gone, Luthor will rearm the world, not for war. he wants to keep the threat alive and make a fortune. Superman comments that Luthor will break any law even nature to get what he wants. Nuclear Man hurts Superman by scratching his neck and flooding his body with radiation. As he gloats we hear Luthor’s voice. In a way this is again Luthor’s desire to be equal to or better than Superman and placing his voice in Nuclear Man’s body he is achieving that.

With Superman apparently dead, Luthor makes a fortune with his dealers in rearming the world. They want to up his commission but he takes control of the company and uses Nuclear Man to warn them off. He yells they won’t get a reference from him either. And to think he was once surprised that Zod betrayed him over their deal in Superman 2.

Nuclear Man is defeated and Luthor once again is delivered by Superman back to the work detail he escaped from. Lenny is delivered to a boy’s home where he is taken in by the priest and the world is safe once more.

There is no doubt that Gene Hackman will forever be Lex Luthor and I mean the definitive version just like Reeve is Superman and Lynda Carter is Wonder Woman. There have been many versions since some good, some crap but none amazing and flawless like Hackman was.

TW watches The X-Files Pilot Episode S01E01

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

I can count literally on one hand how many shows that have grabbed me right away and kept me viewing until the very end. From, Odyssey 5, Enterprise, The Walking Dead are just a few. But all these years later, I can still remember where I was when a little show was shown on Sky called The X-Files.

Little did we know what a phenomenon that was about to unfold and in a way it was very much an exclusive club until it went global in season two.

All I knew was that this was about aliens and UFOs. Don’t come near me with all that UAP shit; they are UFOs and that’s that.

The first that grabbed me was the eerie music and the series logo broken by a light while the rest is in darkness. It makes the viewer slightly uncertain evoking the feeling not to go into the haunted house. A young girl runs through a forest pursued by a massive light. A wind storms up causing a tornado of dead leaves to form as the light increases and she vanishes. As a teaser, it is simplistic and effective and certainly got me asking what the hell was that?

We learn that we are in a National Forest Park in Oregon and police have discovered the girl’s dead body. It is clear that something is going on from the veiled dialogue between the officers and coroner. Identified as Karen Swenson, it is clear that they are not at all surprised.

Then we get to see Agent Dana Scully, a medical doctor that is now being assigned to work with Spooky Fox Mulder and to debunk his work, The X-Files.

Their first meeting in his basement office is quoted word for word by fans when Mulder answers her knock on the door with, “Sorry, nobody down here but the FBI’s most unwanted.’ It is clear that Mulder is fully aware of why she is here but respects her work on The Einstein Twin Paradox. Anyone that can rewrite Einstein is someone you want on your side.

He uses her medical knowledge to show her dead bodies which all were abducted but has an unknown element in the autopsy. All have distinct puncture marks on their bodies. Right here is the crux of the series . Where Mulder sees something unusual and potentially extra-terrestrial, Scully is, as she says, logical. To her, there is no mystery here from beyond the veil. The answers are there, you just need to know where to look for them. One believes while the other does not.

We get it all here as they experience lost time as their car goes haywire and later on it happens again and they lose time.

But Scully’s logic is about to be tested to the full to the point we get our first glimpse of her almost giving in to Mulder’s beliefs. The local coroner is furious at the insinuation that he missed something in the other autopsies but it is clear he knows more than he admits. But when they exhume a body, Scully is horrified to fins that it isn’t human at all. Mulder is convinced it is the rotting corpse of an alien given its large eyes among other things but Scully deduces that what they have is the body of an ape of some kind; an ape that ha a metal device lodged in its cavity. Scully is strong enough to call Mulder out but he is persistent and she follows it through.

We are very much in the middle of a town that is keeping secrets. The question is why are they so ready to cover up the deaths of their kids.

Mulder and Scully have their first clash when after witnessing a wheelchair bound girl Peggy O’Dell reading to a comatose bey called Billy Miles. Billy has been in a waking coma for four years and Peggy seems disturbed as if taking orders from Billy to read to him and stay close. Peggy takes a fit during which Mulder shows Scully Peggy has the same puncture wounds as the previous victims. Scully sees a medical mystery but cannot believe they have been rising around in spaceships. Scully is seeing her beliefs challenged as she cannot explain how these kids were found miles from home and one died of exposure on a warm night.

We also get our first torches in the woods scene which would become part of the lore. What Chris Carter does very well is double bluff the viewer. In the woods, Scully is separated from Mulder and a huge light rears up behind her just like the opening scene . But this time it is a vehicle. Similarly when Scully finds the same puncture marks on her, she panics until Mulder reveals they are just mosquito bites.

While Scully is having her perceptions challenged to the point they may well be dealing with a satanic cult, she still believes that the answers to this are rooted somehow in science. But she gets to see the man behind the Spooky label when Mulder opens up to her about his sister’s abduction, how his success as a profiler allowed him to open up the X Files. he warns her that his work is being blocked from a higher power. His claim that the government knows all about it suddenly becomes real when their motel is torched destroying all of their evidence to date. The exhumed body has coldly destroy her work will take her out too.

When the wheelchair bound Peggy is killed running out in front of a car, the coroner’s daughter, Teresa Neman begs them for help as she is going to die too. It is clear to Scully the town is conspiring against them but the questions stack up higher than the answers. And as a viewer you are right there along side our agents desperate to solve this mystery and save a girl’s life.

The chemistry between Mulder and Scully is seamless. When Mulder thinks that Billy Miles is the real killer, Scully reveals that Peggy’s watch stopped at nine and the whole thing makes crazy sense to her. Part of the appeal of Scully is the fact she is grounded in logic and science and this madman Mulder has shown her that there may be more to existence than she thought. It is Scully that comes to revelation that Billy really is the one that brought the others to be experimented on by someone or something. But as Mulder reminds her, she must believe in what she thinks as she is the one that has to wrote it in a report for those trying to debunk The X-Files. Her reputation will be in question if she does.

We also get the trend that would go on for years of Scully just missing the big event. She sees the light that comes for Teresa but perhaps because of the presence of Mulder and Billy’s sheriff father, Teresa is saved and a walking Billy is awake and talking.

We finish with Billy telling how a higher power made him take the others so the aliens could perform experiments on them but the test failed and they wanted all the evidence destroyed. back before the men that assigned her to The X-Files, Scully plays devil’s advocate but gives them the device that was placed in the corpse’s nasal cavity. Wherever this journey will take her, she is now on board, not only because she now believes that Mulder is right but because this is a chance for her to break a whole new side of science to ground these strange events. she has seen too much to deny something is going on and perhaps she feels that Mulder needs someone to keep him on the path so the powers that be do not destroy him and keep whatever secret they have from the public.

Credit must go to composer Mark Snow for his evocative, haunting music which brings to mind the best of John Carpenter like The Fog and Halloween. It is creepy and evocative totally cementing the atmosphere of now just this first episode but the entire series.

As the weeks went on Scully would be challenged on so many levels over the paranormal but who knew that it would lead to ten seasons then a further three down the line Is it any wonder myself and millions like me were hooked on a show that made us believe the truth was really out there.

Oh and remember, always be wary of the Smoking Man in the corner of the room.

Writing Tips: Research, Research, Research

By Owen Quinn author

If you’re have an idea for a historical adventure or going to do an autobiography on some celebrity then the one thing you must do is research. Fact checking in multiple sources is important especially when writing someone’s life story. That celebrity may have many fans and they will be the first ones to kick off if you write something in error about their hero. That is why so many people love a good nitpick at other’s work.

Look at movies; I love those guys that scrutinise and pick out the continuity errors and bloopers. But they also love to correct facts about events that have happened. You must treat your story in exactly the same way. A story/book is a product you want to sell to people; you want them to go away as fans of your work because they will return for more. Now nobody is perfect and there are some typos that get past even the best of editors which sometimes actually add to the value of the book. But you want to avoid that after all, you wouldn’t sell someone a faulty kettle.

Now research can cover so much. Everything that has happened before today is historical therefore can be detailed and studied on the net.

Let’s take one of mine. Summer’s End is part of The Time Warriors: Book 3 Red Water.

That adventure is set at the time of ancient Celts who celebrated Halloween which was known then as Samhain. I could have thrown caution to the wind and made everything up but I like to have an authenticity to these types of stories especially since the arachnid villains the Mentara were to play a huge part in it. Indeed the more I looked at that period it became clear very quickly that an alien species fitted right in with the beliefs of the Celts.

As you know the veils between the land of the living and the land of the dead drops at Samhain allowing the spirits of those who have passed to return to the Earth for one solitary night. I wanted druids to be involved guarding a secret and give you a taste of life back then. While I got what I wanted about Celtic life and beliefs, I found out so much more that enhanced elements of the story no end.

I discovered that people with white hair were honoured among the Celts and welcomed, which gave me a way in with Varran. I discovered that bonfires were fuelled by animal carcasses to disguise the scent of humans from demons that came across when the veil fell. Those demons allowed me to enter the Mentara seamlessly to the story through their portal. And I discovered a very special shield kept the walls between this world and the next securely apart I made it part of the druid’s secret history. All of these accidental discoveries makes Summer’s End one of my favourites to this day and hopefully one of yours.

Now I included how Celts dressed, the layout of their villages and dietary needs of that era. These are small yet vital details to help the reader visualise in their heads what you are writing about. Your job as a story teller is to paint your story vividly in readers’ heads with your words so small details are vital. You want them to smell, taste and see what you see in your head.

Now, while research is a great thing, you have to tell your story as if you haven’t looked up a thing. There is a great temptation to add in everything you’ve learned thinking it will add a lot to the story.

But it doesn’t.

All that does is show the reader you’ve been researching. It throws them out of the story when you info dump history. Use the small details like clothing, diet, habits of the time, buildings and slang of that era. Make it fit your story; make the characters breathe whatever era you’re writing about. Now you don’t need me to tell you that if you’re going to Victorian London, Mary Poppins will sing in your head but try to avoid that. Doctor Who did a running joke with that when Rose trying to “speak” Scottish, Donna, Roman and Graham being all renaissance when he met Shelley and Byron with the 13th Doctor. Of course they had the Tardis translator as everyone in a Pompeii market place spoke cockney and think Donna was speaking Welsh in the season four episode The Fires of Pompeii.

It is fun and was done to great effect in shows like Hercules and Xena, Warrior Princess. They spoke just like we did. This helps the audience identify with the story and characters and helps drive away all the at “Forsooth” and “thee” forced dialogues that we thought they spoke at the time. There’s no problem having a quick look and sprinkling your dialogue so there is a taste of the period but you want the reader to sail through the story without tripping up on forced dialogue. Think Horrible Histories meets any historic Doctor Who episode.

Even with my second book The Time Warriors The Voalox Horror, I went to Victorian London and avoided the Dick Van Dyke element but referenced it. There are some things that are traditional if you do a story set in that era. The pea soup fog is a must, nearly being run over by a horse drawn carriage, prostitutes with big dreams being murdered in alleyways and backstreets and muffins. Again, this one is another favourite of mine. Who can resist the ghost of Jack The Ripper?

Again there’s no harm in that as it is kind of a tradition and like a gangster story there are certain tropes the audience expects. The trick is tempering that expectation by pulling back the elements that make that era to near background status. They are there but never overshadow the main story.

I suppose like religion, research has its good points and bad points. What you must do is temper the temptation to dazzle the reader with how much you’ve learned about whatever era you’re in. The reader won’t be dazzled, they will bogged down with unnecessary trivia. So take a step back from what you learn and utilise the parts that will add to your characters and story rather than be a travel guide to ancient Egypt.

Knowledge is power but the use of that knowledge defines not only the success of your story but how it hooks the readers. Besides, all that information may come in handy one day when you’re on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

TW Watches Stargate Atlantis: Before I Sleep

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.

Book Excerpt: The Time Warriors: The Wolves of Chernobyl & Other Stories

All copyright and property of Owen Quinn

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.”

The Problem With Commander Shelby. Maybe Ask Section 31?

By Owen Quinn author

I love The Best Of Both 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.

Just a thought…

Dublin Horror New Guest Announcement

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

Tickets will be on sale soon!

Be sure to follow @dublinhorrorcon for the latest news!

#dublincomiccon#comicconireland#dublinhorrorcon

TW Releases Concept Art for Wolves of Chernobyl & Other Stories

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.

Concept art by Stephen Mooney

New Image released From The Time Warriors: Lighthouse At The End of the World

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.