The Case of Financial Woe Chapter 2

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Favorite SG Episodes: The Tok'ra Part 1

Well it has been a while for this subject matter so no time like the present, eh? Welcome back to the blog and I thought I would work in a few Stargate SG-1 episodes. Among this week are some of my favorites so I thought I would share them with you all, my readers. If Stargate is not your cup of tea, well you will be disappointed with the week and I won't hold it against you. This is Stargate SG-1 Season 2: The Tok'ra Part 1

So I need to tinkle.

Yup a two-parter. You don't see many of those outside of science fiction or sci-fi fantasy.

After experiencing random memories from the deceased Jolinar, Carter has insight to tunnels created by the Tok'ra (an offshoot of the Gou'ald that share a true symbiotic relationship with their host), their guerilla warfare and tactical awareness. So much so, that SG-1 has a go to visit the coordinates of the nearby desert planet (I was unaware Vancouver had desert and bedrock) and before they can even fan out and do some recon, the team is surrounded by at least 8 would-be assailants with Jaffa sticks and Zat guns. Carter recognizes Martuf as someone Jolinar held in high regards and the ambush party reveal themselves to be members of the Tok'ra. Everyone manages to unclench and lower weapons and thank God because O' Neill was in a crouched position and that couldn't have been good for the knees.

Kind of reminds me of Planet Hell Star Trek set.

Invited to inner tunnels and sanctum, The Tok'ra proceed to evaluate the SG team confused as why a Jaffa is on their side and why Carter was once blended with Jolinar. Meanwhile Carter's father Jacob, decorated Air Force Colonel is dying of cancer. Yup wouldn't be a good drama without cancer. He knows that Sam is doing important work in Cheyenne Mountain but it is red taped classified and he knows she is not simply working on a satellite telemetry. When last they spoke he had pulled some strings to get her cleared for NASA and she blushed slightly and had to turn it down because of the importance of her work. Jacob and General Hammond go back quite awhile and he wants to know what Sam is really doing.

Meanwhile the Tok'ra are hard pressing the team for information and grating on O' Neill's nerves. This of course will lead him into a complex negotiations and diplomatic maneuvering. Oh wait, this is O' Neill. Yeah he'll get grumpy and snap at them like some irritable turtle. The Tok'ra explain that the human hosts and they exist together in one body. The hosts even speak for themselves trying to assure the SG team that they enjoy their blended lives, shared knowledge and overall experiencing one another in what anyone could viewing as two beings knowing each other completely and without shame or judgement.

Selmak their elder is dying with its host, the Tok'ra asks if any of the SG team wish to blend with Selmak to save her but of course the team passes that and explain they wish to add to each others strength and form an alliance. The Tok'ra are cagey, paranoid and with good reason. Their mere existence is an affront to the Goa'uld as much as they to them and they have only stayed alive through covert attacks and tactical planning. The team is being held in the tunnels until the Tok'ra can decide whether or not they can be trusted.

Ahhh Hell Dimension!!

With Sam millions of light years away, she is unaware her father is dying. Hey how do we ratchet up that drama? How about a Tok'ra acting shifty? Maybe even possessing one of those long range Goa'uld communications orbs?

Will the alliance be over before it begins?? Can the Gou'ald find the Tok'ra before they can escape?? Will O' Neill be insufferable??

As this episode leads out on a cliff hanger I guess you will have to wait until tomorrow for the continuation. Directed by Brad Turner (Homeland, Hawaii Five-0, 24, Alacatraz, Transporter, The Vampire Diaries, Psych, Stalker, Legends, Daredevil, Falling Skies and Wayward Pines) a seasoned TV director and producer brings his "A" game to all his work and it truly speaks for itself. This episode brings not only a turning point for the SG teams but the beginning of a much larger universe and species for humans to interact with.

Sitting on this rock is gonna be hell on my roids.

Rotten Reelz Reviews Audio Review #30: Deep Red

B&W Horror: House on Haunted Hill

Welcome back my good and true readers. As we delve into the terrors of the B&W Horror with the prince of darkness himself. Vincent Price. With the potential for murder, mayhem and most long winded malarkey involving dull dialogue and no ability to move ones arms, how could you not be on the edge of your chair? Well if you are, scoot back and relax. This madness hails from 1958. This is House on Haunted Hill.

They're always after me Lucky Charms.

If you're an eccentric millionaire with great big gobs of money, what do you for a good party? Of course you would give folks the chance to winning the amount of ten thousand dollars if they can make it through the night to a haunted house teeming with pesky poltergeists. But who do you invite? Friends and family? Clearly not. How about a smattering of employees, a columnist, a test pilot and maybe even a shrink? How else can you and your wife be entertained but a gathering almost total strangers.

I will out creep you, John Carradine!  I swear this!

Fredrick Loren (Vincent Price of House of Wax, The Fly, Last Man on Earth, House of Usher, Dead Heat, Catchfire The Heart of Justice and Edward Scissorhands) and his stunning new wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart of The Scarlet Hour, House on Haunted Hill, Spider Baby, Wild Youth, The F.B.I., Barnaby Jones, Mannix, Caxabu and Branded) are having a potty according to the shrink who cannot pronounce an r, Dr. Trent (Alan Marshal of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, After the Thin Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Bourbon Street, Day of the Outlaw, Sugarfoot, M. Squad and Surfside 6) with free flowing liquor, loaded firearms and a gaggle of ghouls said to roam the house. Hope that is iron based rounds and not lead then.

Test pilot Lance (Richard Long of Stranger, House on Haunted Hill, The Big Valley, The Girl Who Came Gift Wrapped, Love, American Style, Nanny and the Professor, The Twilight Zone and 77 Sunset Strip) is a martini away from bad touch and is such a klutz I cannot envision the Air Force entrusting this goober with a 15 million dollar aircraft.

Then I feed the entrails to my dark lord and master. More Scotch?

With odd effects and Elisha Cook Jr acting like a demented, drunkard of the Lollypop Guild telling the party goers (potty) of all the horrors of murder, suicide and madness. This murder mystery is only lacking some pesky kids and a yammering dog. Cook plays Watson Pritchard, a wide eyed leprechaun who is convinced the whole house is cursed with the deaths of the previous owners including his brother that has power come for them all.

In spite of this story being a bit on the dull side, the cinematography is impressive, the cast is fairly enjoyable and it is ripe for riffing (movie mockery) if that is something folks love to spout jokes and comments at a flick.

Keep in mind, Rifftrax beat you guys and gals to the professional punch but no reason you shouldn't have some fun with this cinematic goofiness.

Spanish Colonial Outta Control.

B&W Horror: Carnival of Souls

Hey folks. Well it was bound to happen that eventually if it is in your movie collection long enough, I am going to make fun of it. I mean review it. Somehow today's B&W film may have been deemed spine-tingling horror to the 1962 audience but when you think how many exploitation flicks were being made, probably not. Because when I think pants wetting terror I automatically think the name Herk Harvey (Operation Grass Killer, Your Junior High Days, Dance, Little Children, Why Study Science?, Why Study Industrial Arts?). Shuddering stuff those PSA films. Hell I openly riffed Your Junior High Days via Rotten Riffs. Bone chilling notions.

Howabout the story of an organ player making her way to the splendor of Utah after a near tragic car crash? Intrigued yet? Don't worry. You won't be...ever. This is Carnival of Souls.

Ma'am, can I interest you in a copy of the Watch Tower?

For all the mockery this movie has received...well here's some more. Young Mary (Candace Hilligoss of Carnival of Souls, The Curse of the Living Corpse, Naked City, South of Hell Mountain and Quincy M.E.) endures a painstakingly long ass drive to Utah. SERIOUSLY! It was almost 8 to 15 minutes this drive for footage. With the exception of the occasional mutant hell beast from the Never Never trying to bum rides in her car, it was damn squirrelly.

We finally get to her boarding house where Mrs. Thomas (Frances Feist of A Life to Save, The Show-Off, George Tackles the Land, Speech: Using Your Voice and Carnival of Souls) proceed to talk her ear off about sandwich makings, how to run the bath tub, the plumbing, the heating, maybe how to bathe herself and possibly her bed turn down offers. Yeah she yammers for quite a bit. Worry not ladies. The screen sizzles with this hunk of beef just down the hall from Mary as main man John (Sidney Berger of Carnival of Souls and Carnival of Souls 1998) with his shifty nature and makes leering stares and slathering expressions. I don't think he was actually acting as so much as Herk just hired him to make lewd gestures and scratch himself in true construction worker fashion.

Resident sex offender reporting for duty!

The minister (Art Ellison of A Life to Save, The Perfect Crime, Carnival of Souls, Paper Moon, Shoot it Black, Shoot it Blue, and Mary White) has of course introduced Mary to his organ.. The church organ! Apologies. More pasty white soundless men appear around Mary and normally I would be concerned but it is Utah and the populous is really made up of some of the whitest people you will encounter. She is also clearly a student of Leonard Nimoy as she manages an inquisitive eye brow raising all the while looking befuddled.

The film gives you the overall vibe that Mary is alone, isolated and lacking any form of human interaction aside from pleasantries and greetings. With soggy chalk white specters as her only source of male interest you do get the idea perhaps Mary was never meant to survive her car crash.

Which one of us farted?

Great gobs of organ music to make a bizarre standing. 82 minutes of this story dragging on and on.

Perhaps the radio stations in Utah are nothing but organ enthusiasts.

Will the organ bring her solace? Will creepy opaque ghouls haunt her? Did she spy on her landlady's lemon drink?

This by the way is the only time I have ever heard a Foley flub. Her footsteps do not match up with her running in one scene and I just started laughing. Line and dubbing flubs I have seen and heard before but foot flub? That's new. Quick shout out to Mom. Yes landlady's term sandwich makings sounded dumber than my term sandwich fixings.

With a modest budget of maybe $10,000 but of course IMDB estimates it at $30,000 this low budget film was attempting more of an Outer Limits/Twilight Zone/Night Gallery vision without being nearly as eerie and clever. The cinematography does capture a lot of the dark atmosphere but again so much padding takes away from it. Best to watch this as it was meant to be. With Rifftrax's Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett mocking it as veteran riffers.

Rotten Reelz Reviews Audio Review #29: Puppet Master

Rotten Reelz Reviews Audio Review# 28: Subspecies