Stargate SG1: Top 10 Episodes

Originally published on Set The Tape

Stargate SG1 was an incredibly popular series, running for ten seasons, with two television movies, and inspiring two spin-off shows. With a new series set within the Stargate universe set to return to television screens it’s time to look back at some of the best episodes from the original show.

10. Within The Serpent’s Grasp/Serpents Lair

The two-part finale to the first season of the show saw the Stargate Programme shut down by the government just as the evil goa’uld Apophis (Peter Williams) launches an attack on the planet.

With SG-1 managing to sneak aboard on of the invading ships, they, and the Earth, seem hopelessly outmatched against their enemies. With desperate odds, imminent global destruction, and the lives of friends hanging in the balance the first season’s finale would go on to shape the tone of future story lines.

9. The Fifth Race

When Colonel O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) accidentally has an entire alien database downloaded into his brain he soon finds himself overwhelmed by the knowledge and faces certain death. Thanks to that knowledge, however, he’s able to find help in the form of the Asgard, an ancient race of aliens that have long been the enemies of the Gou’auld.

With the Asgard having appeared briefly in an earlier episode, ‘The Fifth Race’ was the first time that the diminutive grey aliens appeared in full. The episode not only acted as an introduction to a race that would go on to become a major part of the Stargate mythology, but also promised bigger things to come, including giving the people of Earth the hope of a brighter future.

8. The Pegasus Project

Despite not being the first time that Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis would cross over, with characters from each show appearing in the other, ‘The Pegasus Project’ felt like the first real crossover between the two, with the SG1 team and the Atlantis expedition teaming up to find a way of stopping the hugely powerful Ori.

Not only does the episode move the main series plot forward in some big ways, particularly in the stopping of the Ori Super Gate, but also sees the destruction of both an Ori and a Wraith ship.

Despite this, it’s the personal interactions that make the episode stand out, with the members of both teams fitting in well with each other, demonstrating that the two series are just parts of a bigger whole, one amazing shared universe.

7. Prometheus Unbound

Stargate SG1 was a very serious series, often dealing with some very dark and adult themes. Despite this, it was also an incredibly fun and silly show at times. The season eight episode ‘Prometheus Unbound’ sees the titular ship hijacked by a devious, and slightly unhinged, thief Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black), with only Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) on board to stop her.

The wackiness of Black’s portrayal, the spot on timing of the comedy and witty joke writing, and the wonderful chemistry between the two main leads made this an instant fan favourite episode.

The episode was so popular that the writers chose to bring Vala back as a recurring character in the next season, before making her a main character, and a part of the SG1 team for season 10. With Vala proving to be one of the more popular characters in the franchise, and her relationship with Daniel a highlight for many, this episode marked the beginning of one of the best periods of the series.

6. Window of Opportunity

One of the most popular comedy episodes of the entire series run, ‘Window of Opportunity’ saw Stargate SG1 doing Groundhog Day after Colonel O’Neill and Teal’C (Christopher Judge) stuck in a time loop.

Whilst the episode filled much of its run time with fun moments like O’Neill taking pottery classes, quitting the Air Force just so he could kiss Carter (Amanda Tapping), and even playing golf through the Stargate, the episode also had a strong emotional resolution, seeing O’Neill having to revisit the pain of his son’s death in order to stop the person responsible for the time loop. It might be one of the funniest episodes of the show, but it also had a lot of heart.

5. Lost City

Originally intended to be the end of Stargate SG1, ‘Lost City’ saw the final assault on the Earth by the Gou’auld Anubis. With the Earth facing off against a huge Gou’auld fleet, O’Neill once again facing death due to an Ancient database being downloaded into his mins, and the search for the lost city of Atlantis, the show packs a lot into its planned finale.

Thanks to the show being renewed for an eighth season the show was able to continue on many of these stories, but it doesn’t detract from the sense of danger and tension that permeates the events. With some superb acting and some excellently choreographed action sequences ‘Lost City’ would have acted as a great conclusion to the show, yet still manages to be an incredibly strong season finale.

4. Camelot

With the revamp of the series in season nine Stargate SG1 not only had some new cast members, but a new deadly enemy to contend with. Despite having defeated the Gou’auld the series heroes still felt a little outmatched over the course of season nine. ‘Camelot’ showed the audience, as well as the characters, just how outmatched they actually were.

When an Ori Super Gate is activated, allowing through just four Ori ships, they quickly destroy an entire fleet made up of Earth ships, the Asgard, the Free Jaffa Nation, and the Lucian Alliance.

With Daniel Jackson apparently killed, Carter adrift in a space suit, the only defence for the galaxy destroyed, and Vala trapped on an Ori ship, things never looked bleaker for SG1. A shocking and devastating season finale that promised amazing things to come in the next season.

3. Meridian

When SG1 discovers that an alien planet has a highly unstable for of the alien element Naquadah they try to secure some for themselves to help develop defence technology.  Unfortunately, the planet is already trying to fashion the element into a devastating weapon. After an accident causes Daneil Jackson to become doused with radiation he faces certain death.

An episode that has clear parallels to the development of nuclear weapons, and deals with the concept of weapons of mass destruction. It’s not an easy subject to tackle, but the episode does it well, and manages to also deal with the death of one of their own as Jackson succumbs to radiation poisoning. Although he ascends to a higher level of existence moments before he died, this was effectively the episode that killed him.

As such, ‘Meridian’ was filled with powerful and emotional scenes, in particular showcasing the relationship between Jackson and O’Neill with some of the best acting from both Michael Shanks and Richard Dean Anderson.

2. Heroes

Heroes was supposed to be a small episode, one with a low-cost and made with as little of the main cast as possible. Essentially telling the story of a documentary crew that had been given access to the SGC, it was filled with candid camera moments, talking head interviews, and background characters getting the chance to shine.

The episode evolved during its production stage, however, becoming a two-part story that featured a huge battle scene, and included the shock death of series regular Dr Fraiser (Teryl Rothery). The story looked at the role of the media in public opinion of the military, the importance of secrecy from the public, and the horrors of war.

Despite being set in a fictional universe the episode speaks well for the role of the military in the real world, how the soldiers who put their lives on the line every day are ordinary people with real lives and families. A heart breaking and devastating episode that will leave viewers in tears, ‘Heroes’ is a story that comes out of nowhere to shock the audience and forever change the series.

1. Unending

After planning for the series to end on several occasions, only to have the show renewed, the production team went into season ten ready to tell a story that would go on into an eleventh season. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled too far into production to end the story. Whilst the story of the Ori would be concluded in a television movie the choice was made to end the show on a celebration of the characters and the franchise.

Set on board the Odyssey, an Earth spaceship, SG1 and General Landry (Beau Bridges) end up stuck inside a time dilation field, effectively trapping them on board whilst the universe around them is stopped.

Spending the next fifty years together on the ship the team would go through personal emotional trials, joys, and devastating loss before finding a way to put things right. Whilst most of the events of the episode would be undone, it proved to be one of the best insights into the characters, and deliver some truly great moments.

A brilliant send off to the show, that gives each of the actors a moment to shine, it’s clear that this is a celebration of the franchise and the end of an era, with the tears in the actors eyes in the last scene being very genuine.


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Back to the Future: Time Served - Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

‘On a mission to uncover the secrets that sent Jailbird Joey Baines to prison, Marty is trapped in 1972-and the DeLorean has vanished! Things go from bad to worse when Biff Tannen teams with 18-year-old Joey to break into a house… and they drag Marty along! Their target: Doc Brown’s mom!!!’

The fifth volume of the ongoing Back To The Future comic series continues to tell the story of Joey Baines, Marty’s uncle, who went to prison when Marty was just a young boy. Having travelled back to the 1970’s in the previous volume to try to find out what happened to cause Joey to spend his adult life in prison, Marty and Professor Irving find themselves without the DeLorean, and entangled in Biff and Joey’s plot to steal $85,000 from Doc Brown’s mother.

With the stage having already been set in the fourth volume, the latest book concludes the story, and has much more character development, excitement, and revelations about the Back To The Future universe.

Throughout the course of the issues collected here we see Marty get forced into taking part in the robbery of Doc Browns mother, and actually end up being responsible for Joey getting caught and going to prison.

Instead of being something that causes Marty guilt, it actually brings him closer to his uncle, as by the end of the book he learns that Joey himself felt guilty for getting Marty caught up in events, and was willing to go to prison to not only make up for that, but to become a better person.

By the end of the book we see that Joey has become an honourable man, even going so far as to teaming up with the Biff in the present to track down the missing $85,000, not to take it for himself, but to return it to Doc Brown and apologise for what he did in the past.

It’s a surprisingly touching revelation, and the relationship shift between him and Marty is a genuine pleasure to see. It could have been very easy to fall into the trap of having Joey be the angry ex-con who just wants to get even with those who got him arrested, but playing him as a reasonable, well adjusted man who has acknowledged the mistakes of his past and learnt from them is a welcome take on the story.

The book is also filled with other fun little moments, with the meeting between Marty and Biff in the 1970’s being a particular favourite. With Biff and his gang recognising Marty as Calvin Klein, the mysterious youth who ruined their schemes in the 1950’s, Marty has to think on his feet and pretends to be Kleins son instead, even coming up with a very plausible 1950’s pregnancy scandal to explain away him (or as far as Biff knows, his father) suddenly disappeared from town.

It’s very clever writing, and avoids having Biff be too dumb to not realise he’d seen Marty before, as that would be too stupid even for Biff. This scene also adds further context to the world, as it shows some of the effect of Marty appearing in the 1950’s had, and how the people of Hill Valley who knew Calvin Klein would question his sudden disappearance.

The book also manages to work itself into the backstory of Doc Brown, explaining how a relatively poor ‘mad’ scientist was able to fund his experiments and the building of the time machine in the first film. To be honest, this wasn’t something I’d ever really questioned before reading this book, but it makes sense that Doc Brown would need a substantial amount of cash.

Back to the Future, Vol. 5: Time Served is a big improvement on the previous volume, and provides a lot of entertainment and enjoyment as it delves into the history of the Back To The Future universe and sets up for exciting things to come in the future.


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Eccentric Earth Episode 7 - The Mothman

Join me, your host Amy Walker, as I delve into stories from across history. This week I'm joined by Chris Haigh, who I will be introducing to the American legend of the Mothman, a strange creature that terrorised the residents of Point Pleasant in the 1960's.

Twitter: @Eccentric_Earth
Facebook: @eccentricearth
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Email: EccentricEarth@outlook.com

iTunes: Eccentric Earth
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Podbean: Eccentric Earth

Eccentric Earth is a Trans-Scribe Production
Hosted by Amy Walker
Theme music http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

John Malin, Nazis, and SJWs…

Originally published on Set The Tape

Fandoms can be hard to be a part of, they’re often full of people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and as such people will can have vastly different opinions and takeaways from certain films, TV shows, and any other form of fictional entertainment. One area where these kinds of divides are some of the most obvious are in the world of comics.

You don’t have to go very deep into the comic book fandom to find divisive views, even something as simple as ‘do you prefer Marvel or DC?’ can spark debate, and even full scale arguments between fans of the medium. The latest argument that seems to be taking over the comic fandom at the moment follows a tweet made by Cable artist Jon Malin made on Sunday evening (21 June).

When Malin tweeted about a recent live-stream interview he had taken part in, saying:

“In depth discussion of SJW insertion of identity politics into mainstream comics, the damage done, how to correct it and why modern art and Andy Kaufman suck.”

When another twitter uses responded to ask “Aren’t the X-Men LITERALLY Social Justice Warriors?“, Malin responded with the following;

“X-Men are closer to Jews in SJW Hitler’s Germany fighting for freedom because they see ideologies rising, silencing them, weaponizing hate, racism and socialism against people they claim are the root of social ills. SJWs are not Nazis but Nazis were SJWs and X-MEN aren’t SJWs.”

As to be expected from such a polarising response, the reactions on Twitter were extremely mixed.

Some users were quick to point out that Malin’s views seemed to go against the core nature of the X-Men, a group of heroes that have been a metaphor for downtrodden and targeted minorities for decades, a group that very much stands for equality and acceptance.

Co-host of the ‘Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men’ podcast, Jay Edidin, wrote: “Social Justice is a FUNDAMENTAL VALUE of Judaism. Fundamental. The reason you weren’t seeing a lot of discourse about it in WWII Germany is because Jews were FIGHTING TO SURVIVE. Holding up that forced silence as an ideal is beyond horrific.”

Other users retweeted the statement made by Malin, tagging Marvel Comics in their response to urge them to look more closely into his comments, feeling that someone that equated those striving for equality to Nazi’s to be problematic for an X-Men title.

Despite a large amount of outrage over the incident, many others came forward to support Malin, claiming that he is correct in his view that ‘Social Justice Warriors’ have ruined the comics industry, and Marvel in particular.

“Much respect Mr Malin, bought my first Cable book in over a decade today in support,” one user tweeted, whilst another said: “You are a legend.”

Malin went on to add fuel to the argument by tweeting:

“Glad to expose the vipers nest that is the growing SJW infestation of this industry that is killing creative voices that politically differ, afraid to take creative chances for fear of the slightest offence including attacking a 95 YO Stan Lee & closing comic shops everywhere.”

The attack against Stan Lee that Malin mentioned in his tweet is referring to allegations of sexual misconduct made against the creator by his nurses, claims that Lee denies.

So far the arguments have yet to end, with very clear lines forming online between those supporting Malin, and those who feel that he has stepped out of line by voicing such opinions.

Whilst I do not agree with Malin, and find his views go against everything that the X-Men stand for, he is entitled to have his own opinions. He’s also entitled to voice his opinions, as anyone is. But when you are working for a company such as Marvel, with a huge fanbase, should he be held accountable for voicing such opinions?

Some people have argued that as this is Malin’s own personal Twitter account he is allowed to post whatever he likes, and should be free to express his political and social beliefs. However, I find myself agreeing more with the other side of the argument, that as someone working on one of Marvels projects he becomes a voice for Marvel.

Anything expressed by those working for Marvel, or any comic book company, should be carefully considered and thought through before being said, as those words can have an effect on the company. If a writer or artist of a particular book were to express homophobic, racist, or sexist views, for example, it could damage the sales of those books. Marvel know this, and have in the past held its creators accountable for the things they say and do that could negatively affect them, as such it baffles me that Malin not only made these comments, but continues to do so, apparently with little to no fear that it may impact his employment.

Many fans have expressed their opinions that someone who compared those fighting for justice with Nazis shouldn’t be working for the company, and have made calls for him to be fired.

Whilst Malin may have been able to ‘get away’ with his initial comments if handled correctly, his doubling down of inappropriate comments makes it appear more likely that he will receive some form of reprimand from Marvel, possibly even losing his position with them.

After making his tweets he appeared on a Q&A on Youtube with DC artist Ethan Van Sciver, where he told the audience that comics had begun to reject creators because of their political views.

“The next guy like me, its going to be even more hard. These people are getting further and further into control of these companies, and when they find out you’re a Trump supporter, you’re gone.’ He said, before moving on to express his frustration with the current creative talent within Marvel, effectively insulting his colleagues. ‘We keep pulling these people from these indie markets that are drawing airplane manuals. They don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t know anything about comics. The writers, do not understand the intricacies of writing a plot so you can really build a story from panel to panel to panel.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first occasion that Malin has caused a stir amongst fans, as last October he was accused of overly sexualising the X-Men character Blink, putting her in a costume that barely covered her breasts, and making her breasts larger than her head.

When fans asked Malin to make the character more appropriate he first denied seeing anything wrong with the character, before going on to complain that those who were speaking out never complain about how men are represented in comics, leading to criticisms that Malin was taking a sexist stance.

It is interesting to note, that Malin was amongst the creators at Marvel who was in favour of artist Ardian Syaf losing his job with Marvel for placing religious messages within the art of ‘X-Men Gold’ #1.

Whilst I rarely wade into these kinds of arguments, especially on social media platforms such as Twitter where things can get extremely heated very quickly, I can’t help but feel disappointed by Malins comments.

The X-Men have often been used as a book to comment on many of the injustices in the world, including segregation, equal rights, discrimination, and even genocide. The X-Men have been harassed by bigots, been targeted by government officials, and even had campaigns of extermination made against them.

These are all areas that ‘SJW’s’ have fought against. Organisations that have been dedicated to combating racism have been slurred as being SJW’s. Those who have decried homophopbia and transphobia have been accused of pushing a SJW agenda. People fighting against sexism and coming forward with sexual assault revelations have been called SJW’s. To compare people who are the real world equivalents of the X-Men to the people that tried to exterminate an entire people is deplorable.

As a trans woman I’ve been on the receiving end of prejudice more times than I can count. I’ve lost jobs, been driven from my home town, been spat on in the street, I’ve had threats of death and sexual assault made against me. I identify with the X-Men. I see the kinds of pain and suffering that they go through, the hate and fear that they face and I recognise that in my own life.

But they never give in, they never let that hate beat them. And that’s inspirational. They’re telling us that those who stand up for what’s right, those who fight to be seen as people, to be accepted and loved even when the whole world is telling you you’re a monster are heroes.

I don’t know if I’d be the person I am today without the X-Men. They taught me such valuable lessons growing up, and instilled me with morals that inspire me even to this day. Someone who fails to see that, who compares those who fight the way they do with people who commit genocide is not the right person to be working on an X-Men book. I just hope that Jon Malin can see that and learn from this mistake.


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Who is Black Lightning?

Originally published on Set The Tape

The CW is adding yet another superhero show to its ever expanding DC Universe, this time with a new live action series focusing on the character Black Lightning. With most, if not all, of the heroes and villains from DC Comics to choose from, many people have been asking why did they go for Black Lightning, and just who is he anyway?

Created by Tony Isabella back in 1977, Black Lightning, or Jefferson Pierce, is a metahuman with the ability to generate and manipulate electricity.

During the late 1970’s, DC Comics wanted to appeal to a broader audience, and this included having a comic book headlined by a black superhero. According to a number of sources within DC, the original plan for this black led book was a character called Black Bomber.

Black Bomber was to be a book about a lead character that was white, and was racist, however, thanks to being exposed to a chemical designed to allow troops to blend in with natives during the Vietnam war, this man was able to transform into a black superhero when stressed or in danger. Both the white and black versions of the character had no memories of being the other, and would each have their own ‘racially appropriate’ girlfriends. Black Bomber would also wear a super hero outfit that was similar to the Harlem Globetrotters basketball kit.

Despite obviously being a horrible, horrible idea the concept was given the go-ahead by editors at DC, with scripts for the first two issues being produced.  Thankfully, the editor that gave the go-ahead for the project left DC, and the project was handed over to writer Tony Isabella, who had previously worked on the black superhero book ‘Luke Cage’ at Marvel.

Black Lightning's first appearance.

Speaking about the project many years later, Isabella said: 'I will say that I created Black Lightning after convincing DC not to publish another ‘black’ super-hero on which they had started work.

'The Black Bomber was a white bigot who, in times of stress, turned into a black super-hero. This was the result of chemical camouflage experiments he’d taken part in as a soldier in Vietnam. The object of these experiments was to allow our [white] troops to blend into the jungle.

'In each of the two completed Black Bomber scripts, the white bigot risks his own life to save another person whom he can’t see clearly (in one case, a baby in a stroller) and then reacts in racial slur disgust when he discovers that he risked his life to save a black person. He wasn’t aware that he had two identities, but each identity had a girlfriend and the ladies were aware of the change. To add final insult, the Bomber’s costume was little more than a glorified basketball uniform.

'DC had wanted me to take over writing the book with the third issue. I convinced them to eat the two scripts and let me start over. To paraphrase my arguments…

'Do you REALLY want DC’s first black super-hero to be a white bigot?’

'Okay, he wasn’t precisely their first black super-hero, but I made my point. The Black Bomber stories were deep-sixed and I went to work on my own creation.'

Isabella luckily had another character already in mind for the series, Black Lightning, and convinced DC executives that this would be a better direction to take the book in. With the character being teased to audiences for several months he was finally revealed in the first issue of his own title, ‘Black Lightning’ in 1977.

Tony Isabella would write the first ten issues of the book, before it was handed over to Dennis O’Neil. Unfortunately, Black Lightning was one of a number of books cancelled before its twelfth issue as part of a large-scale streamlining of titles.

Black Lightning with The Outsiders.

Despite this, Black Lightning proved to be a very popular character, and continued to appear across multiple titles ‘Detective Comics’ and ‘Justice League of America’. The character would go on to become a part of the Batman led team book ‘The Outsiders’ in several incarnations, including a number of television appearances.

Black Lightning had a second series in 1995, also written by Isabella, but this too was cancelled after just over a year.

Despite having his own titles cancelled more than one, Black Lightning continued to be a popular character, going on to become a member of the Justice League for a while, as well as having his personal stories expanded to include his two daughters Anissa and Jennifer, who have gone on to become superheroes themselves, Thunder and Lightning respectively.

Black Lightning may not be a household name, his own comic series may not have lasted long, and he’s probably not a lot of people’s first pick for favourite character, but he’s been a steady part of the DC Universe for more than four decades, playing roles across dozens of books, several television shows, and even video games. With representation and diversity being so important today, just as much as it was when he was first created, an older superhero of colour, with a family that includes a queer superhero of colour in the form of his daughter Thunder, makes Black Lightning the perfect choice for the next CW series.


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Looking Back At… Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season One)

Originally published on Set The Tape

In the first of my ongoing series to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Power Rangers franchise I’m going to be taking a look back at the very beginning, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers season one.

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Whilst on a business trip to Japan, Haim Saban, the founder of Saban Entertainment, came across a television series called Super Sentai, a live action superhero series. Ever the businessman, Saban saw an opportunity to make some money, and quickly formed a deal with Toei to secure the rights to the franchise.

Combining together the Japanese footage of the costumed heroes and their giant robots fighting monsters with brand new American footage, Power Rangers was born. Using the Super Sentai season Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger as the basis for the show, a series featuring dinosaur themed heroes, an American cast was brought in and production began on the show.

When Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired on televisions on August 28 1993 it became an overnight success, with the show being picked up all over the world, and merchandise flooding stores. Within a relatively short period the show had become a phenomenon.

Looking back at the first season of the series 25 years later its easy to see why it hooked kids the way it did (myself included). It’s costumes were amazing, the action was unlike anything we’d had before, and the music was amazing. Seriously, I challenge anyone to go listen to the original opening theme and not feel pumped up for something amazing.

Whilst at the time the show was perfect in my eyes, it’s blatantly obvious now just how little money and effort went into the show, something that has thankfully gotten better of the years as old fans have now come to work on the franchise that they loved growing up.

The american sets are pretty bad, with the Command Centre clearly being a room surrounded by black curtains with blinking fairy lights sticking through. The dubbing of Japanese footage is laughably bad, with poor Rita Repulsa (played by Machiko Soga, dubbed by Barbara Goodson) getting the worst of it. The worst part of the show, however, is the sometimes laughable attempt at making the Japanese footage work around an American plot.

The original Super Sentai series focuses on a group of young warriors from an ancient civilisation of dinosaur-evolved humans, who are awakened in the present after 170 million years in suspended animation to fight the evil witch Bandora, who is set loose from her prison on the Planet Nemesis by two astronauts.

Obviously, extremely different from the Power Rangers series, which saw five regular teenagers recruited by a space wizard to become super powered heroes in order to fight Rita Repulsa, an alien witch living on the moon.

Because the two shows were so vastly different in content the writers made some ‘creative’ plot decisions, which led to some disjointed and even downright bizarre episodes. As as child these were sometimes a little weird, even funny; watching the show as an adult, however, it’s downright bizarre.

The first season wasn’t completely bad though, the fight scenes are still great even today, with the casting of competent martial artists and gymnasts as the titular Power Rangers a good choice for ensuring that the audience gets what they signed on for, awesome action.

Whilst some of the cast weren’t the best actors, Austin St John and Walter Jones (the Red Ranger and Black Ranger respectively) proved competent enough to get by, and were more geared towards the physical side of the show in their story lines anyway. David Yost and Amy Jo Johnson (the Blue Ranger and Pink Ranger) were definitely the strongest of the main cast, something that the series very quickly realised, often giving them much bigger stories and asking them to take on more complex roles.

Surprisingly, it was supporting actors Paul Schrier and Jason Narvy, who played school bullies Bulk and Skull, would prove to be some of the best actors on the show, lasting for several years across multiple incarnations of the franchise. Narvy even went on to earn a masters degree and PhD in Theatre Studies, and now teaches as a professor.

The stand out for the first season, however, is Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver, the Green Power Ranger. There are few people who will remember watching the series first time round who don’t have fond memories of the Green Ranger. Introduced with a five-part epic that saw him fighting against the power rangers, sporting a gold armour piece on his costume, and commanding his own giant Godzilla style Zord.

Jason David Frank would go on to become one of the most popular Power Rangers of all time, and despite loosing some of his appeal later in the franchise, he is brilliant in this first season.

Despite having a great season finale from the Super Sentai series to adapt, the massive popularity of the show meant that Saban didn’t want the series to end. As such, they commissioned Toei to make more footage for them from props and costumes that they had in storage. Because of this, the first season carries on beyond the point it was originally planned, and ends with just a regular episode, rather than something that stands out.

This wish to continue producing Power Rangers the way it was would lead to even greater creative challenges in the second season, though that will be covered in greater detail in the next Power Rangers article.

The first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is a very mixed bag, it has some great moments that would be the foundation of the entire franchise, going on to be replicated even today, yet there are some very obvious moments where you can see just how flawed and poorly made it is too.

If you’ve never seen the original series before it’s definitely interesting to watch, even from a technical point of view of how the show was actually made. If, however, you saw it as a child, it’s sure to bring back some amazing childhood memories and nostalgia.


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Eccentric Earth Episode Six Show Notes

Welcome to the latest show notes for Eccentric Earth, where I will include the research for each episode (essentially my script), along with a number of photographs and documents.

Episode 06 - Elizabeth Cochrane

Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born on May 5, 1864 at Cochran Mills now part of the Pittsburgh suburb of Burrell Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.

Her father, Michael Cochran, born about 1810, started out as a laborer and mill worker before buying the local mill and most of the land surrounding his family farmhouse. He later became a merchant, postmaster, and associate justice at Cochran's Mills (which was named after him) in Pennsylvania. Michael married twice. He had 10 children with his first wife, Catherine Murphy, and 5 more children, including Elizabeth, with his second wife, Mary Jane Kennedy.

As a young girl Elizabeth often was called 'Pinky' because she so frequently wore that colour. As she became a teenager she wanted to portray herself as more sophisticated, and so dropped the nickname and changed her surname to 'Cochrane'. Michael Cochran's death presented a grave financial detriment to his family, as he left them without a will, and, thus, no legal claim to his estate.

Indiana Normal School, Pennsylvania.

In an effort to support her now-single mother, Elizabeth enrolled at the Indiana Normal School, a small college in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where she studied to become a teacher. However, not long after beginning her courses there, financial constraints forced Elizabeth to table her hopes for a higher education. After leaving the school, she moved with her mother to the nearby city of Pittsburgh, in 1880, where, together, they ran a boarding house.

A newspaper column entitled 'What Girls Are Good For' in the Pittsburgh Dispatch that implied that girls were only good for birthing children and keeping house prompted Elizabeth to write a response under the pseudonym "Lonely Orphan Girl".

The editor, George Madden, was impressed with her passion and ran an advertisement asking the author to identify herself. When Cochrane introduced herself to the editor, he offered her the opportunity to write a piece for the newspaper, again under the pseudonym 'Lonely Orphan Girl'.

Her first article for the Dispatch, entitled 'The Girl Puzzle', was about how divorce affected women. In it, she argued for reform of divorce laws.Madden was impressed again and offered her a full-time job.

It was customary for women who were newspaper writers at that time to use pen names. The editor chose 'Nellie Bly', adopted from the title character in the popular song 'Nelly Bly' by Stephen Foster.

As a writer, Elizabeth focused her early work for the Pittsburgh Dispatch on the lives of working women, writing a series of investigative articles on women factory workers. However, the newspaper soon received complaints from factory owners about her writing, and she was reassigned to 'women's pages' to cover fashion, society, and gardening, the usual role for women journalists, and she became dissatisfied.

Porfirio Díaz.

She then traveled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent. Still only 21, she spent nearly half a year reporting the lives and customs of the Mexican people; her dispatches later were published in book form as Six Months in Mexico.

In one report, she protested the imprisonment of a local journalist for criticizing the Mexican government, then a dictatorship under Porfirio Díaz. When Mexican authorities learned of Elizabeht’s report, they threatened her with arrest, prompting her to flee the country. Safely home, she accused Díaz of being a tyrannical czar suppressing the Mexican people and controlling the press.

Burdened again with theater and arts reporting, Bly left the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1887 for New York City. Penniless after four months, she talked her way into the offices of Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper the New York World, and took an undercover assignment for which she agreed to feign insanity to investigate reports of brutality and neglect at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island.

After a night spent practicing expressions in front of a mirror, she checked into a boardinghouse. She refused to go to bed, telling the boarders that she was afraid of them and that they looked "crazy." They soon decided that she was "crazy," and the next morning summoned the police. Taken to a courtroom, she claimed to have amnesia. The judge concluded she had been drugged.

Several doctors then examined her; all declared her insane. "Positively demented," said one, "I consider it a hopeless case. She needs to be put where someone will take care of her." The head of the insane pavilion at Bellevue Hospital pronounced her "undoubtedly insane". The case of the "pretty crazy girl" attracted media attention: "Who Is This Insane Girl?" asked the New York Sun. The New York Times wrote of the "mysterious waif" with the "wild, haunted look in her eyes" and her desperate cry: "I can't remember I can't remember."

Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum.

Committed to the asylum, Bly experienced the deplorable conditions firsthand. The food consisted of gruel broth, spoiled beef, bread that was little more than dried dough, and dirty undrinkable water. The dangerous patients were tied together with ropes. The patients were made to sit for much of each day on hard benches with scant protection from the cold. Waste was all around the eating places. Rats crawled all around the hospital. The bathwater was frigid and buckets of it were poured over their heads. The nurses behaved obnoxiously and abusively, telling the patients to shut up, and beating them if they did not. Speaking with her fellow patients, Elizabeth was convinced that some were as "sane" as she was. On the effect of her experiences, she wrote:

What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment? Here is a class of women sent to be cured. I would like the expert physicians who are condemning me for my action, which has proven their ability, to take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up and make her sit from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. on straight-back benches, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours, give her no reading and let her know nothing of the world or its doings, give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane. Two months would make her a mental and physical wreck.

After ten days, the asylum released Bly at The World's behest. Her report, later published in book form as Ten Days in a Mad-House, caused a sensation, prompted the asylum to implement reforms, and brought her lasting fame.

Led by New York Assistant District Attorney Vernon M. Davis, with Elizabeth assisting, the asylum investigation resulted in a number of changes in New York City's Department of Public Charities and Corrections (later split into separate agencies, the Department of Correction and the Department of Public Charities), which oversees the city's hospitals; these changes (per the recommendations of jury members in 1888) included a larger appropriation of funds for the care of mentally ill patients, additional physician appointments for stronger supervision of nurses and other health-care workers, and regulations to prevent overcrowding and fire hazards at the city's medical facilities.

Elizabeth followed her Blackwell's exposé with similar investigative work, including editorials detailing the improper treatment of individuals in New York jails and factories, corruption in the state legislature and other first-hand accounts of malfeasance. She also interviewed and wrote pieces on several prominent figures of the time, including the likes of Emma Goldman and Susan B. Anthony.

Elizabeth's route, as published in The World.

In 1888 Elizabeth suggested to her editor at the New York World that she take a trip around the world, attempting to turn the fictional Around the World in Eighty Days into fact for the first time. A year later, at 9:40 a.m. on November 14, 1889, and with two days' notice, she boarded the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the Hamburg America Line, and began her journey.

She took with her the dress she was wearing, a sturdy overcoat, several changes of underwear, and a small travel bag carrying her toiletry essentials. She carried most of her money (£200 in English bank notes and gold, as well as some American currency) in a bag tied around her neck.

The New York newspaper Cosmopolitan sponsored its own reporter, Elizabeth Bisland, to beat the time of both Phileas Fogg and Elizabeth. Bisland would travel the opposite way around the world, starting on the same day as Elizabeth took off. To sustain interest in the story, the World organized a "Nellie Bly Guessing Match" in which readers were asked to estimate Elizabet’s arrival time to the second, with the Grand Prize consisting at first of a free trip to Europe and, later on, spending money for the trip.

During her travels around the world, Elizabeth went through England, France (where she met Jules Verne in Amiens), Brindisi, the Suez Canal, Colombo, the Straits Settlements of Penang and Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. The development of efficient submarine cable networks and the electric telegraph allowed Elizabeth to send short progress reports, although longer dispatches had to travel by regular post and thus were often delayed by several weeks.

Elizabeth travelled using steamships and the existing railroad systems, which caused occasional setbacks, particularly on the Asian leg of her race. During these stops, she visited a leper colony in China and, in Singapore, she bought a monkey.

Elizabeth reaches the United States.

As a result of rough weather on her Pacific crossing, she arrived in San Francisco on the White Star Line ship RMS Oceanic on January 21, two days behind schedule. However, after World owner Pulitzer chartered a private train to bring her home, she arrived back in New Jersey on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 pm.

Just over seventy-two days after her departure from Hoboken, Elizabeth was back in New York. She had circumnavigated the globe, traveling alone for almost the entire journey. Bisland was, at the time, still crossing the Atlantic, only to arrive in New York four and a half days later. She also had missed a connection and had to board a slow, old ship (the Bothnia) in the place of a fast ship (Etruria). Elizabeth’s journey was a world record.

In 1895, Elizabeth married millionaire manufacturer Robert Seaman. Elizabeth was 31 and Seaman was 73 when they married. Due to her husband's failing health, she retired from journalism and succeeded her husband as head of the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co., which made steel containers such as milk cans and boilers.

Elizabeth takes over Iron Clad Manufacturing.

Elizabeth was also an inventor, receiving U.S. Patent 697,553 for a novel milk can and U.S. Patent 703,711 for a stacking garbage can, both under her married name of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman.

While in charge of the company, Elizabeth put her social reforms into action and Iron Clad employees enjoyed several perks unheard of at the time: fitness gyms, libraries and healthcare. Ultimately, the costs of these benefits began to mount and drain her inheritance.

For a time she was one of the leading women industrialists in the United States, but negligence and embezzlement by a factory manager resulted in the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. going bankrupt.

Elizabeth in the later years of her life.

Returning to reporting, she wrote stories on Europe's Eastern Front during World War I and notably covered the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913. Under the headline "Suffragists Are Men's Superiors", her parade story accurately predicted that it would be 1920 before women in the United States would be given the right to vote.

Elizabeth died of pneumonia at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City in 1922, just two years after returning to journalism, at age 57. She was interred in a modest grave at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.

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Eccentric Earth Episode 6 - Elizabeth Cochrane

Join me, your host Amy Walker, as I delve into stories from across history. This week I'm joined by Han Burch to talk about Elizabeth Cochrane, an investigative journalist who wrote under the name Nellie Bly in the 1800's, and took on some amazing assignments.

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Star Trek Discovery: 5 Other Shows With Evil Parallel Universes

Originally published on Set The Tape

Star Trek has long been a franchise associated with the concept of evil alternate universes. Since the very first appearance of the Mirror Universe way back in ‘Mirror, Mirror’ in 1967 the concept of evil alternative universes has been a big part of the general public consciousness. Everyone knows that your evil twin has a goatee, for example.

With Star Trek: Discovery taking viewers back into the realms of the Mirror Universe and the evil Terran Empire, it brings to mind a number of other shows that have embraced the concept and delivered some truly memorable evil alternate universes…

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy The Vampire Slayer stayed very clear of science fiction, which after the awful ‘I Robot, You Jane’ in season one is probably a good thing. However, the show was able to use its horror genre to play with some very sci-fi tropes, one of the most popular being the time it went to an evil alternate universe.

In the third season episode ‘The Wish’, Cordelia makes a wish that Buffy never came to Sunnydale, creating a world where The Master rules over an army of vampires, several of our heroes are dead, or undead, and there’s little hope for humanity. What makes this episode, and its universe, so good, is the fact that it’s so grim. Buffy comes to town, and dies. Willow and Xander are vampires, and die. Cordelia tries to find a way back home, and dies.

Thanks to some great scripting, some very dark moments, and a chilling music score, ‘The Wish’ is not only one of the best episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but one that fans are quick to cite as a favourite.

Doctor Who

Doctor Who as dabbled in alternate universes more than once, and whilst the David Tennant episodes ‘Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel’ are certainly dark, their universe is hardly evil. Looking back further in time to the Jon Pertwee story ‘Inferno’ from 1970 sees The Doctor in a very evil universe.

Britain is a republic, where the Royal family were executed, and is ruled over by a mysterious overseer. Half the population are part of the police or military, enforcing harsh laws, whilst the rest of little more than slave labour. This universe featured several familiar faces, such as The Brigadier and Liz Shaw, though both were vicious military leaders, with the Brig sporting a massive scar and eye patch.

Unfortunately, this universe will never be revisited after a disaster sees the entire planet ripped to pieces.

The Flash

After a first season introducing audiences to the idea of time travel, the second season of The Flash went one better and introduced parallel worlds. Unfortunately for team flash, the first universe they came into contact with is one where every meta-human is evil.

Over the course of the second season we not only get a whole host of new villains coming into Earth-1, including evil doppelgangers of the regular cast, we would also go on to discover that the frightening evil speedster Zoom was also the Earth-2 Flash. It turns out that their hero is actually a villain, giving the people of Earth-2 false hope, just to make his eventual conquest so much crueller. now that’s pretty damn evil.

Community

A sitcom probably wouldn’t be the first genre to come to mind doing an evil alternate universe, but Community was always a show to embrace genre and buck expectations. The third season episode ‘Remedial Chaos Theory’ several alternative timelines are created by the roll of a dice, with one of the outcomes being ‘the darkest timeline’.

In this timeline Pierce is shot and killed, Annie is committed to psychiatric care for guilt over killing Pierce, Jeff loses an arm, Troy’s larynx is destroyed, and Shirley becomes an alcoholic. With Abed being TV show savvy he immediately identifies this as an evil universe, and creates stick on goatee beards for the group.

This timeline would later reappear as the evil versions tried to enter and take over the regular universe, though how real these events are is open to debate.

Justice League

The animated DC series Justice League introduced a new evil universe for the show, rather than re-purposing one from the comics. Set in a universe where the death of The Flash causes the rest of the Justice League to take on more brutal means, they rule the world with an iron fist as The Justice Lords.

The Justice Lords, whilst believing that they are doing good, come from a world where even the slightest infractions, such as getting angry and shouting, can see people dragged away to prison or Arkham Asylum.

This story line proved so popular that the Justice Lords were eventually incorporated into the DC Comics Universe, occupying Earth-50, and inspiring the story line of the video game series Injustice.


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Looking Back At Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Originally published on Set The Tape

Sequels can be hard to do, you’ve got to build upon the first film in new and interesting ways, you have to develop the story and characters, and you have to top what came before. This can be even harder to do when making a planned series. Not only do you need to make a sequel, but it needs to feel like a part of what came before.

Certain series that are adapted from books do this quite well, The Hunger Games gave us a sequel that followed a very close formula to the first film, but with more gloss and higher production values, bigger stakes, and better characters. It felt like the natural progression of the story. The Scorch Trials, however, doesn’t feel like the natural next step from The Maze Runner, and because of that it’s so much better than its predecessor.

The first film centered on interpersonal drama, mystery, and an almost unseen threat, The Scorch Trials takes a step towards something grander, with the stakes being the survival of the planet, the threats being multiple, and the set pieces dwarfing what was done in the first film.

The maze is gone, replaced with a barren, desert landscape, filled with the ruined and decayed cities of the civilisations that came before. It’s post apocalypse time, and the series definitely benefits from it. As does it from a more obvious enemy for the Gladers to contend with.

This film sees our young heroes having to not only contend with Cranks, humans that have been mutated by the Flare Virus into zombie creatures with plant like vines growing out of them, but they’re also being hunted by WCKD (pronounced Wicked), an evil corporation with their own military.

The constant threat, from both humans and the infected, means that The Scorch Trials doesn’t get to slow down the same way that The Maze Runner did, though this doesn’t mean that the film misses out on character development. The new challenges facing the Gladers means that they’re tested in ways that they weren’t before, and the characters have to adapt and grow, creating some interesting new dynamics between the group, particularly with Teressa (Kaya Scodelario).

The Scorch Trials larger scope means that it’s also able to introduce more characters into the world, expanding not just the roster of heroes, but providing some much-needed back story and history to the films universe. These new additions work well in the film, particularly Rosa Salazar as Brenda, who feels a lot more natural as a love interest for Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) than Teresa did.

The only misstep in the new additions to the cast is Aidan Gillen as Janson, the representative of WCKD who tries to convince the heroes that they’re the good guys. Perhaps it’s just me, and this is largely down to something that has nothing to do with The Scorch Trials, but if you want to make me think that WCKD is on the up and up, don’t have their front man be played by Lord Baylish from Game of Thrones. No one is ever trusting that guy.

The Scorch Trials is a very different film to what came before it, yet feels like a natural progression to a story that is still something of a mystery. How this series will play out in its final part, whether it will continue on as in this film, or if it will make another big leap; and if we will be provided with all of the answers to the mysteries, remains to be seen, however, whatever is to come in The Death Cure is sure to be interesting.


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