If my Stargate musical was canon...

...what would I change?

For what the Musical is like now, here's the link...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLoEKw5zWTk&t=5s

Let's presume that somebody at Amazon or MGM went nuts and decided to make #Stargate: The #Musical cannon-slash official and gave me the keys, what would I change about it? (Of course, this will never happen. #Execs are not that crazy, but its fun to speculate.) Well, here we go...

1) Replace the track called The Rant. The original was a loud, screaming version. But I did an operatic version as a proof-of-concept. Which turned out a lot better then the original. So I'd use the Opera version instead.

2) Replacing The Rant would make some of the lyrics of the first Alan Smithee song wrong, so that would have to be redone as well. If AmazonMGM is paying the bills, I would try to get a flesh and blood person to redo the whole Alan Smithee role.

3) The song Seize Her! has a pronunciation error. The AI pronounces Bra'tac as Brah-tac, instead of Brey'tac as it should be. That would need to be fixed.

4) But the really big change would be replacing all the connecting narration. That would have to be completely redone. In my dream scenario, I'd get Joe Flanigan. It's a nice way to make the whole thing less AI and spice it with the #Atlantis side of the franchise at the same time.

5) Where possible, add sound effects. Footsteps, the gate dialing, etc.

That is what I would do to take the whole thing from a piece of #fanfiction to something serious(ly) meant to part of the franchise tapestry.

6) I don't know where this hypothetical official version would be released. But if there was a #YouTube version, I would get somebody with #Amazon or #MGM to do additional artwork, providing better visuals. (Perhaps even a full-blown anime.)

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers (aka Commander Nash on fanfiction.net )

What Destiny was and what could have been.

This is for people who want to know what Destiny's purpose was in my Stargate Universe continuation. But don't want to listen to the whole Stargate: Nova Roma audiobook series. I didn't go with what the canon show was planning for the ending. (Or what I think they were planning to do, because of stuff Joe Mallozzi posted on-line over the years.) I figured that not using their ending reduced my chances of getting sued. (I didn't think the chances of that happening were that big, but better safe then sorry.) 

Destiny's Goal

Our starting point is the folks that build the planet of Eden. These people are called the Zovaris by the local species. The name is a contraction of the words Zov - which translates are Mystery - and Aris, which translates are people. So literally Mystery People. 

The Zovaris existed in at least two universes. One version in the main Stargate universe and one live 42 universes away. For reasons lost to time, both versions of the Zovaris needed to construct extra habitable planets. And this is where we learn the difference between the two versions of the species. The main universe Zovaris were wise and patient

They started with a small asteroid and slowly worked their way up to the final product. The final product being Eden and its star. As we saw on the canon show, things worked out. The other guys were idiots. They went straight to trying to built Eden and its star. And it blew up in their faces, big time. 

Think of the multi-verse as a pile of glass panes. The idiot Zovaris created an unstable mass that shot through those plates like a bullet. Now, when you shoot a single bullet through a strong enough window, you get a single hole surrounded by these cracks radiating outward like frozen lightning. 

Fortunately, the Ancients of the universe the idiot Zovaris detected these cracks and built a ship to follow one of the cracks and mend it. That ship was called Destiny. But the only way to do its job, was to travel faster then light, but NOT through hyperspace. Eventually, this Destiny reaches the hole, which is a rift to the universe "underneath" her home universe. Let's call it Universe Two. 

They successfully close the rift and undone the damage. But it's such a violent event, that this Destiny ends up stranded at the start of Universe Two. The crew lowers the ship into a layer of hyperspace like a submarine diving under water. They then modify the FTL drive to freeze the ship in time and activate a transmitter, creating the signal in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. 

But what about the people aboard? They became the first ever to ascend. That done, they headed out into Universe Two. They made sure that the local Ancients not only found the signal, but also built a new version of Destiny. And thus, the cycle was created. 

Our hero ship is not the first Destiny. It is the 42nd incarnation. The story ends with our Destiny reaching the rift and finding the 41st incarnation. Using it as a power source, the crew dial home. The power draw causes a chain reaction that destroys Destiny 41. Our ship is last seen riding through the rift and closing it. Her crew made it back home and the job is done.

What Could Have Been

I figured I was pushing my legal luck as it was, so I didn't include this. But if I thought I could have, I would done so.

But what about our "Bullet"? For lack of a better term. That unstable mass that the idiot Zovaris created is still out there, punching from universe to universe. It is losing energy, but it is also travelling through space. Being exposed to energy fields, particles and dimensions, transmuting as it goes.

The first connect I would have made, starts with the fact that - because it is slowing down - the cracks keep getting shorter. Eventually, it only punches a hole and there are no major cracks at all. And thus was born the Rift at the Heart of the Medusa Cascade. Which the Doctor once closed. Where Davros attempted to detonate the Reality Bomb.

However, our he bullet kept going, until finally it reached a universe where it had just enough energy to punch in. But not enough to punch back out. So it became just another piece of space debris. Well, until it slammed into a place that humans would one day call Wakanda. And yes, I know the Mount impacted millions of years ago. But my explanation is that our bullet doesn't travel in a straight line. It's like a pinball, bouncing around through space and time until it crashes into Wakanda.

And that's it.

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers (aka  Commander Nash) 

The Stargate Hot Potato Everybody Avoids

Prologue

Before I get started, I need to explain something. A while back, I read an excellent article about the cancellation of Martin Gero's #Stargate project and why that was a mistake. I figured that this article would interest Robert Meyer Burnett, so I send it the link to him. 

He read it on his YouTube and provided some excellent insights and commentary. To see his video, click the provided link.

RMB's thoughts on the cancellation of Stargate

This letter is a reply to that video. With that out of the way, here we go.

---- 

Hi Rob,

I hope that this letter finds you well. I'm glad that you liked the Stargate article I send you a while back. Your comments and the insights in the video you made about it were great. However, there is an angle about the cancellation of Stargate that nobody talks about. But to get to this angle, I need to do a bit of preamble. 

One of the strengths of the Stargate franchise is that tries to stay as close to "real world" as it can be. It feels like something that could happen or could BE happening while you are going to work, doing your groceries and just living your everyday life. 

Add to that a bunch of frustration for not getting a proper resolution to Stargate Universe, a show that ended on a cliffhanger. Which resulted in me deciding to write my own (fanfiction) continuation. And that landed me straight at the issue we need to talk about. 

Stargate is supposed to be "Close to real world" Science Fiction. But that leaves you stumbling straight into two landmines: Donald J. Trump and his giant ego. Or to put it another way? You've seen the mess he's made out of international politics. Would you trust him with interstellar politics? Or the Stargate Program?

I didn't. I wasn't happy about having to go more fictional, but I figured Trump would ruin everything. Goodbye, (international effort known as) Atlantis Expedition. Goodbye, mission to rescue Destiny's crew. He'd probably banish Teal'c and Vala as literal illegal aliens. So I created a fictional president to keep things on track. But here's the point...

I got away with that because I am one Dutch guy. I wasn't making money from this passion project, just fun. I don't have a giant studio, I don't have hundreds or thousands people on my payroll. People that depend on ME for their rent, their food and the money they need to send their children to school. I'm not even a blip on the Trump administration radar. And I don't live under it either. I don't have to be afraid of being arrested by ICE, losing my license or being kicked out of the country. 

For AmazonMGM, which has none of these advantages, and any canon Stargate continuation...well, navigating these two landmines is going to be a lot harder. Thoughts? 

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers

PS: Quick idea: Max's answer to my Let's Get Physical letter was really insightful as well. I would bet folding money that if there was dedicated e-mail or electronic PO for people to write to, he would get more letters. Just a thought.

Are the Clouds the key to Mass Effect 5?

 

I was thinking about the end of Mass Effect 3 and then I realized something. When we see the effect of the Crucible affect the Mass Relay network, we see it travel the galaxy. But, here's the thing, we see it travel ONLY the galaxy. 

How is this news? After all, Mass Effect Andromeda made it clear that the Reapers were only a Milky Way problem. Because if we zoom out just a bit, we see that the Milky Way has several satellite dwarf galaxies.

There's the Sagittarius Dwarf Spherical Galaxy and two Magellanic Clouds, one big and one small. And the end of the Mass Effect 3 shows crystal clear that they are not affected by the crucible's energy.

Which raises the question: Why? The simplest answers....Because they don't have any Mass Relays. They are outside the network. Which also puts them outside the cycles and the Catalyst's experiment. And in the millions of years and thousands of cycles, nobody has figured it out? I'm having a hard time believing that.

This also raises questions about the Andromeda Initiative and the Benefactor. Why foot the bill for a mission to Andromeda when there are three safe zones on your doorstep in universe terms? What's in those dwarf galaxies that the Benefactor doesn't want the people of the Milky Way to see? Could be our old friends, the Jardaan? Could the Benefactor BE a Jardaan? Let's ponder that for a second...

We know that the Andromeda Initiative's secret goal was to ensure the survival of the Milky Way species. But what if the Benefactor already figured out that the Milky Way species coming out on top was only a matter of time? And because the Benefactor is a Jardaan, they also knew what would happen once they were gone...a Jardaan invasion and enslavement of the Milky Way. 

So funding the Andromeda Initiative isn't about the Milky Way species surviving the Reapers. It's about them surviving what the Benefactor knew was coming after they were gone. And if Jien Garson figured out that was why the Benefactor footed the bill....well, that would give them motive to have Garson killed.

And that's all I have,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (@Dantes74302) 

Don't Blame The Viewer

In my previous article, I said that writing is a lot like sport. If you want to read that dull piece of text, here's the link:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-do-i-post-what-ruben-hilbers-ljhwe/?trackingId=QX4Pu6s45jaLkbay%2FibBbA%3D%3D

And I want to keep that analogy going here. Writing stories and novels is individual sport, but making a TV-show is a team sport. Soccer, American football, Curling or Cricket, you pick one you like in your head. The writer's room is the team and the show-runner is the coach.

The reason this article come with a Federation flag as included pic, is because Team #StarTrek hasn't been doing well recently. In fact, their latest bout, #StarfleetAcademy has been getting bad reviews from the average audience. Which has led to fiery responses from actors - especially Robert Picardo - and accusations of review bombing. Especially since critics seem to love the show. However, I feel that somebody needs to come out and say the obvious.

TV critics are essentially sport commentators, whereas the actors are on the team payroll. Both groups are telling the team and more importantly, the team #sponsor - #ParamountSkydance - what they want to hear. It's called #survival. They can't afford to get sacked or locked out of the stadium, they have bills to pay.

A good demonstration of this is John Boyega, who didn't air his true opinion about how #Disney treated his #StarWars character Finn until he was no longer financially depended on them.

So, where does #YouTube and the audience fit into this model? Starting with #YouTube, reviewer there are like people who have a good camera and a friend who lives near the stadium with a balcony. They can see the sport being played, but they are not part of the traditional system. And because they are not dependent on the studios for their survival, they can be honest. Hence the brutal burning of #StarfleetAcademy.

And the audience. The audience just wants to see a good game. Good entertainment. And if your team sucks - which as an audience member I can tell you, #StarTrek has been since 2017 under #AlexKurtzman, #AkivaGoldsman and #SecretHideout - they call you out on it. #StarfleetAcademy is not being review bombed, it's just bad. Stop blaming the viewer, learn how to play the frakking game.

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers

PS....In an ironic twist, the only parts of post-2017 #StarTrek that have been watchable have been the parts that neither Kurtzman or Goldsman have had anything to do with. Meaning Star Trek Prodigy and Picard Season 3. Talk about poisoning your own well.

There is no such thing as the ninth Chevron

Hello fellow Gaters,

To begin with, some technical notes. I know, I know, they are boring, but I need to get them out of the way. So here we go...

As far as I can tell, Destiny has a Mark One Stargate, Earth has a Mark Two and Atlantis comes with a Mark Three. It takes seven Chevrons to dial a destination inside the galaxy and eight for galaxy-to-galaxy dialing. Carter compared it to dialing an area code. With the obvious stated, let's move on...

These days, the Milky Way Galaxy has a network of Mark Two gates. But when Destiny launched, the Mark Two had not been invented yet. Or they would have used it for the Destiny Research Mission. So back then, the Milky Way network was made out of Mark One gates. 

Which is the same model the Seed ships build and plant along Destiny's course. The same model that we've seen Young and company use. Which is strictly short-range. So no galaxy-to-galaxy travel yet. The Ancients had to INVENT it make the Destiny Research Mission work.

My pitch is that Destiny doesn't have an area code. It has the first area code ever. And because it's the prototype, it bigger and cruder. This was the first time they did this, so the Ancients hadn't figured out how to boil it down to one Chevron (yet).

That's why it's two Chevrons and having to properly calibrate the power. If it was a cell phone, the eight chevron is a modern smart phone. The ninth chevron is one of those ancient bricks from eighties that nobody could afford, took forever to charge and only gave you thirty minutes of call time even when fully charged.

But they are still the same thing. 

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302) 

My Pitch For Star Trek: Elite Force - Legendary Edition

Hello World, 

So it's been a while since we've had a good Star Trek game. And the Trek franchise could use a win. Fortunately, there were two games back in the early 2000's.....Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force (2001) and it's sequel Star Trek: Elite Force II (2003). There is also an expansion for the first game that adds a virtual USS Voyager that you can tour and do stuff in.  

Both First Person Shooters, these games tell the story of the Hazard Team and its leader Alex Munro. The Hazard Team is an elite force of security officers created by Tuvok to help the USS Voyager survive the dangers of the Delta Quadrant. 

Elite Force II sees Voyager return to the Alpha Quadrant and the Hazard Team disbanded. Fortunately, in 2380, Alex Munro has a chance meeting with Captain Picard and the team is reformed aboard the USS Enterprise-E...

Time to move on to my Board Room Pitch...

Phase One

These games are OLD and so are their graphics. Especially the first game is VERY blocky. So Phase One is overhauling what is already there. The Legendary Edition would include both games and an extra section. 

This extra section would have the virtual USS Voyager and several mini-games that you can unlock in Elite Force II. There would be no changes to the story, with one exception...

• The one flaw in Elite Force II's story is the lack of Geordi LaForge. No offense to Dwight Schultz, who did his best with Reginald Barclay (as Chief Engineer), but it wasn't the same without LaForge. So pay LeVar Burton to record lines, please...

Phase Two

These days, computer games are expensive. Nostalgia alone is not enough to get people to buy this game. And you have to give some extra for new players. So while I would not change anything (else) in the existing games, I would add a third section of story. This would start after the end of Elite Force II. Which brings me to...

The Setting:  USS Dallas

An Excelsior-class ship seen and wrecked during the events of Elite Force II. Her crew was rescued by the USS Enterprise-E and she was send to Starbase 12 for repairs. One of the main characters, Ensign Telsia Murphy was her Chief of Security while the team was disbanded. She ended up back on the Hazard Team after Enterprise came to Dallas aid.

The Set-up:

After Voyager came home, Captain Janeway recommended keeping the Hazard Team around. But she was ignored. At the end of Elite Force II, Captain Picard tells Munro that he is going to recommend establishing more Hazard Teams on exploratory vessels. 

In the new section, we learned that this is exactly what he did. Janeway has been promoted to Admiral and is able to influence Starfleet Command's reply this time around. So this time, the recommendation is taken. 

And because what happened to it during Elite Force II, the Dallas is picked as first ship to get a Hazard Team. Munro and Murphy are thus send to the Dallas to set up the new incarnation of the team. 

The Real-Life Reason:

The Dallas is already in Elite Force II. The map is going to get a graphic overhaul as part of Phase One anyway. This means that you don't have to create the map from scratch. You can simply modify it for the third piece of story.

Another reason is because there is only one voiced character other then Murphy of the Dallas crew that survives the events of Elite Force II, Chief Engineer Katarina Scott. And she can easily be written out. I'm thinking she's been reassigned to oversee construction of the Voyager-A, giving the game a nice Star Trek: Prodigy eastern egg. 

But more importantly, once she is written out the only voice actors you need to get back from the original cast are Munro's and Murphy's. Everybody else can be (relatively) cheap unknowns for this part of the game.

The Story: 

Starting six months after the end of Elite Force II, the new campaign opens with Munro and Murphy arriving aboard the Dallas. The ship, having been repaired and refit, now looks like the Enterprise-B version of Excelsior-class on the outside.

Dallas launches and heads towards Attrexian space to see how things are going there after the end of Elite Force II. (This is where the Dallas was wrecked.) However, before they arrive, the Dallas is intercepted by a small scout-ship belonging to race called the Paloric. 

The Palorician homeworld has been invaded by a hostile race called the Xavor. And the invasion is Munro's fault....Back in 2376, Munro destroyed a space station called the Forge. The Forge had trapped many spaceships, including a Xavor scout that was on it's way back to Xavor Prime to report that Paloric IV was worth conquering and plundering. 

Now the Munro and Murphy - with help of the Dallas crew and a new Hazard team - have to find a way to Paloric IV and clean up this mess...

And that's where my pitch ends.  

Ruining Victor's Day (Part 2)

 Where were we ?

 Last time, we ended with Coulson about to go Time Lord... (Long story, you might want to read Part 1) ...which is exactly what happens. Coulson regenerates into...a young Martin Freeman ? Yes, that would be my plan. The regeneration saves Coulson's life. But....wouldn't people have noticed Everett Ross being a Time Lord ?

No, because the Humans aren't used to turning into Time Lords. So Coulson is out cold. It is at this point that the Sisterhood of Karn arrives and uses a piece of technology called a Chameleon Arch on him. The Arch turns a Time Lord into a Human and stores the 'extra' bit inside an old-fashioned fob-watch. 

When the Doctor used the Arch, he didn't remember who he used to be and became a Human called John Smith. So Coulson becomes Everett Ross. As for how much of Ross' memories are real...? A lot. 

He became younger because Time Lord cells are much denser then Human ones. And there is only so much mass and energy to go around. So he really did enlist in the Air Force, married his (now ex-)wife and served in the CIA.

Why do it like this ?

There are lots of issues with the MCU. But IMHO one of the biggest problems is that it has lost it's heart. Putting Coulson back into the MCU is a big step towards giving the universe its heart back. And I think Freeman can pull it off. (Besides, he's already in the MCU.) Plus, this gives 'Ross' a whole new arc. It's a way to stir things up, big time. And if they do want to bring Clark Gregg back, he can portray his Life Model Decoy from Agents of Shield. It's a way to have your cake and eat it to. Time to move on to....

Avengers: Doomsday

For most of this movie, Ross is still Ross. He thinks the fob-watch belonged to his grandfather. But something is already brewing....with Yelena Belova. Back in Black Widow, all the ladies of the Red Room were exposed to anti-mind control gas. But the important thing is that Yelena was the FIRST person to be exposed. And the residue of this gas caused the fob-watch to start to whispering to her. 

At the end of the movie, Ross is horribly injured and near-death. Yelena has finally found the fob-watch and is racing to get the watch to Ross. And on this cliffhanger, the movie ends...

Avengers: Secret Wars

Yelena reaches Ross in time and opens the fob-watch. The transformation heals Coulson's wounds. His character development for this movie is dealing with having both Coulson's and Ross' memories. What could possibly make things even worse is the presence of Coulson 1.0 in the form of his LMD. Like a multi-doctor story, except different. 

Coulson 2.0's knowledge of Mephisto then becomes the spark that help the heroes to come up with a plan to defeat Victor von Doom. 

The Future

I don't know how many movies Martin Freeman has left on his contract. But when his contract runs out, Coulson regenerates again. Also, I figure that having a Time Lord added to the mix would get the attention of the Time Variance Authority. Maybe opening the door to a season 3 of Loki ? Other then that, who knows ? *Touches nose* Who knows ? 

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302) 

Mephisto All Along (Part 1)

Or...The Plot that  I think Disney and Bad Wolf should write. But won't have the balls to, because...(copyright) lawyers. 

Okay, the Whoniverse is Earth (Dimension) 5556. Marvel had the Doctor Who comic right from 1979 until 1999. So it is part of the comics that form the basis of the MCU. With that technical detail out of the way, where did I get this idea...

Recently I watched two ScreenCrush videos about IronHeart. The first was about who (else) made a deal with Mephisto, while the second was about possible future plots created by the show. And that was when a possible road map sprang into my head.  

Basically, this is what I would do if Doctor Who went forward. As for what the deal is with the red text...I wrote a version 1.0, but then had some addition ideas. So now you're reading version 1.1. Is it any good ? Well, I hope you will read it and decide for yourself. So enough preamble and on to...

The Plot

Our plot starts in the days of ancient days of Gallifrey. Here, Mephisto make a deal with two of the planet's Founding Fathers...Rassilon and Omega. But he does not succeed making in making a deal with Tecteun, who is too busy with her Timeless Child experiments. 

This deal is why (as stated in the episode The Five Doctors)  the official history say that Rassilon was a great leader, while the myths say he was terrible tyrant. The myths are true, because the Mephisto's influence was corrupting Rassilon (and many of the ancients Gallifreyan/Time Lords, who were a pretty evil bunch).

And then Tecteun succeeds. She adds Regeneration to the mix. Now, when you make a deal with Mephisto, you're stuck with him for life and the afterlife. Humans only have ONE life. So the deal sticks. 

But in the End of Time (Part 1) the Tenth Doctor talks about regeneration to Wilfred Mott. And he says it's like dying. Everything he was dies and some new man saunters away. My take would be that because both the personality and the body that made the deal is lost, the deal doesn't stick. Humans are stuck with the deal forever, Time Lords are stuck for one Incarnation. They regenerate, the deal expires.

Which Omega figures out. More important, he starts broadcasting his theory far and wide. To all his people, who then start using this loophole to get out of their deals. Mephisto's control of Gallifrey is crumbling. 

In revenge, Mephisto makes Omega lose his marbles and manipulates the last few people he still has control over exile Omega into an alternate dimension...which is the place that The Rani was trying to liberate him from in the Reality War.

After the last of Mephisto's influence is gone, Rassilon then white-washes the history book to make it seem like he brought Gallifrey out of it's dark ages. And to score PR-points, he starts a campaign against evil. He destroys Earth 5556's copy of the DarkHold, he wipes out the local version of the Symbiotes, gets rid of the vampires, fights the Racnoss, etc, etc.

All of this turns around Gallifrey's image. And Mephisto sees this happening. Between losing the planet and them suddenly being know as ancient, powerful good guys, he is pissed. But then he finds the perfect person to make a deal with. The person who will let him wipe out the Time Lords. DAVROS. 

He gave Davros the knowledge to create the Daleks. And the downside, the cost for Davros of this deal is pretty obvious. The missing half of his body, the wheelchair, the mutations and the blindness. The whole Last Great Time War was Mephisto trying to get rid of the Time Lords. Except, it didn't work. Yes, they suffered a great deal. Yes, they went through the Hell of war. 

But as we saw in The Day of the Doctor, they survived. Thanks to the Doctor and Clara, with an assist by UNIT and the Zygons, they found hope. So he has to try again. His new plan...placing the Timeless Child files some place where he knew The Master would find them. And this time, it did the trick.

How to weave all of this into new episodes ? 

Originally, my plan was for a single page of the DarkHold to be the McGuffin that starts the plot. But that was slightly off, so....The Doctor is trying to figure out the identity of The Boss. The Boss not only employs Beep the Meep, they also own the Time Hotel. 

My plan is for Mephisto to be The Boss. So, why did M send Anita Benn to help the Doctor in The Reality War ? Well, he wasn't being kind. He didn't want Omega to tell the Doctor the truth about Gallifrey's ancient times. 

Following a trail of clues, the 16th doctor - played by Billie Piper - finds a single page of the DarkHold in the Gallifreyan archives. Which make the Doctor decide that she needs a companion....

Who I think the companion should be....

This whole thing is so unhinged already that I figure it's a case of Go Big or Go Home. So my pitch....Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson.

How would that come about ?:

The Doctor recognizes the page of the DarkHold and realizes that they will need an expert of Earth 616. (We learn that the Doctor has watched all of Agents of Shield and Agent Carter.) But the Doc also realizes they can't just pluck some random person from that universe. Fortunately, there is another option...

In the two parter Dark Water/Death in Heaven, Missy aka The Master tried to turn all of Earth's dead people into Cybermen. As part of that scheme, she used a piece of a supercomputer called the Matrix. A supercomputer designed to store the minds of dead people. 

That Matrix hard-drive was confiscated by UNIT and is still sitting in the Black Archives. So the Doctor snatches Coulson from the end of his life. Events from the Agents of Shield episode The End are not altered, nor are Seasons 6 and 7 of Agents of Shields. 

The only thing that is altered is that it was only Coulson's body that died. Everything else is safely in the Matrix. The Doctor grows Coulson a new body, one that lines up with Clark Gregg's current age - the body being older due to having to work with Earth limited technology - and they are off to the races...

The New Bit

Following more clues, 16 and Coulson eventually find their way to the planet of Karn. Home to the Sisterhood of Karn. The sisters are a religious order who guard an eternal flame and the secrets of Regeneration. The Sisterhood survived the Master actions and we learn that they have another page from the DarkHold.

Back in the days of ancient Gallifrey, the Time Lords removed two pages from the DarkHold as part of the study to figure out how to destroy it. One for themselves and one for the Sisters. The Time Lord page is the one the Doctor found in the archives. The Sisters used their knowledge to create a Mephisto detector with the DarkHold page as its power source.

The Sisters can't kill Mephisto, but they've figured out how to exile him from their universe. This is why he has taken on the alias of the Boss. He needs henchmen to his work. And he uses the Time Hotel to get around. Because if he used magic to move around, the Mephisto detector would go off and the Sisters would exile him.

The Conclusion

The Doctor sacrifies herself to use Regeneration energy to destroy the Time Lord page - exposing it to regeneration energy is how the ancient Time Lords destroyed the book back in the day - and becomes the 17th Doctor. 

This gives Coulson an opening. Using a spell her got from the Sisters, he goes back to Earth 616 and drags Mephisto along. This kills Coulson and leaves Mephisto locked out of Earth 5556 (again). But the Sisters have one last trick up their sleeve.

The Time Lords have a piece of technology called a Chameleon Arch, which can turn a Time Lord into a human. But the Sisters have figured out how to do the reverse. So Coulson regenerates into....and that's all we have time for today. To be continued...   

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302) 

My Pitch For Mass Effect Andromeda 2.0

 

Hi Alex,

First of all, I know that the tradition is to make an elevator pitch. But this subject is too long. So let's call it a boardroom pitch. And thanks for listening to my ramblings. So, here we go...

Boardroom Pitch for Remaking ME: Andromeda

To begin with, the folks at BioWare have made it clear that Mass Effect 5 will be a sequel to both the original trilogy and Andromeda. I'm not making this up, Mike Gamble - the big cheese himself - has said this. 

The problem is that to do that to properly, you will need to able to import choices from Andromeda into ME5. 

Now, I know that there are probably Andromeda critics thinking that there can't be that many. Or that they aren't that important. Well, let's see what I can think off from the top of my head. Ready ?

1. Tell me about your Ryder. Scott, Sara, somebody custom to your play-through ?
2. How is your Ryder doing in the romance department ?
3. Which loyalty missions did you do ?  
4. How did things work out with the Krogan for you ?
5. Did you cover for the Asari Pathfinder or reveal the truth ? Did you let her stay or replace her ?
6. Who rules Kadara Port these days ? 
7. Did you get all the golden worlds to full viability ? 

And I'm sure there are more waiting in the wings. But this is where we hit a major issue. Because Andromeda is runs on the Frostbite Engine, whereas ME-5 will be a Unreal Engine game. And those two pieces of software are not compatible. As things stand, you cannot import an Andromeda game save into Mass Effect 5.

But dude, Andromeda sucked anyway. They'll just do an interactive recap comic like they did before.  

First of all, I know that Andromeda was not everybody's cup of tea, but that is just rude to people who did like it. Keep it polite, please. Second, that would be a long comic. And if you know nothing about Andromeda, you'd be taking shots in the dark. Not to mention the simple fact that making Andromeda 2.0 - a Unreal Engine redo - might crank up Andromeda's sales numbers.

There is also a long-term argument to be made. Andromeda 1.0 came out in 2017...now, let's say ME-5 comes out in 2029 and is a giant hit. ME-6 gets green-lit and releases in 2035. That's great, but what if you want to do another Legendary Edition ? One that collects Andromeda, 5 and 6 ? 

As the last couple of years have taught us the hard way, the video game industry can be a volatile place. In 2040, are there still going to be people who know Frostbite ? Or it is going to be as obscure and forgotten as both the planet and code of Kobol ? (If you get the reference, good on you. If you don't, see what I mean ?) It's going to be much easier to upgrade Andromeda if it's already in (a version of) the Unreal Engine. 

Finally, anything you bring over from Andromeda to ME-5 is going to have to be redone from scratch anyway. Basically, if you don't redo Andromeda, you'd end up teasing the people who did like it with a game they'll never get. You risk turning off the Andromeda fans from your franchise. 

And for those complaining about Andromeda's writing....Who knows what other changes can be hung off this redo ? Which brings up to the big question....

Who Would Do This Remake ?

BioWare has recently laid off a lot people. And they are going to have their hands full with ME-5 for the next couple of years. If they are supposed to do this after ME-5, it's going to take forever to come out. My suggestion would be to outsource it. But to who or whom ? One word....Obsidian. Why ? 

1. Fallout: New Vegas proved that Obsidian can make games in franchises they didn't start and get the flavor right.
2. Obsidian made The Outer Worlds in Unreal Engine. Not only do they know the engine, they have the chops and knowledge to do a space RPG. Which brings us to reason 3...
3. Availability. Once Outer Worlds 2 is out the door - which will happen this year - Obsidian would be able to start this project. Let's look at some other options...
1. Machinegames....Just finished Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, now knee-deep into making the final Wolfenstein game.
2. Bethesda....Hands full remaking their own old titles. And we don't want a game full of glitches and bugs.
3. EA....simply don't trust them to get it right. 

Also, if anybody could tweak the writing in Andromeda, my money would be on Obsidian. And let's circle back to the long-term roadmap above. Andromeda wouldn't have a hard deadline. You could release ME-5 in 2029 and then drop Andromeda 2.0 anywhere you want in the gap between 5 and 6. Essentially slicing the time between releases.

Not to mention that with a planned release in the gap, you could add story to Andromeda 2.0. You could wrap up the loose ends of the Kett and the Quarian Ark. Yes, I know there was a novel about the Quarian Ark. But that only dealt with the virus. 

The Ryders still need to save their bacon from the Scourge and the Kett. You could even end Andromeda 2.0 with Ryder and company leaving for the Milky Way, with ME-5 showing the other end of the trip. (Not to mention that extending the story would give you even more choices for the game save to import, which would change things in ME-5 and give that game even more replayability.)

That's all I have,

Regards, 

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Shepard) 

P.S.

The Alex this 'letter' is addressed to is not a real person. It's my version of Kitty / Dear Sigmund. 

As for the pic that comes with this letter....I'm writing a Mass Effect Fan-Fic about the SSV Ain Jalut, the original SR-2 / Normandy's sister-ship, and made my own assignment patch for the ship.  

What current Hollywood should watch.

Okay, folks, I won't beat around the bush. In my opinion, 98 percent of modern Hollywood sucks. And it all comes back to bad writing. Characters are unlikable or unrealistic, plots tend to be thin and don't get me started on the messes of CGI and AI. My advice to modern Hollywood, watch these shows/movies from the past and learn what you have forgotten...

1. Twelve Angry Men

An excellent movie. If you want to see how to make a movie with only ONE set, this is the one for you. On top of that, all the twelve men are Caucasian. Yet, they are a wide spectrum of humanity because of their personalities and upbringings. This movie doesn't float on cheap action, or set pieces, it floats on writing, characters and ACTING. As does the next entry...

2. ER: Into That Good Night

...which is one of the best episodes the show ever did. It's so heart-wrenching that I can't even watch it when I do an ER re-watch. This episode proofs that a good story doesn't have be happy one. Nor does it have to have a happy end. Time to move on to...

3. Doctor Who: Listen

I know that people tend to be critical of the later Dr Who episodes. But this 12th Doctor episode is an excellent example of how to build tension using music. Try watching the episode with the sound off, but the subtitles on and you'll find it a lot less tense. 

4. Das Boot

And I don't mean the TV show remake. The original movie is a long watch, but it's worth it. Being about the Germans, this movie had an uphill battle to get its viewers aboard. But get aboard the viewers it did. It's an anti-war movie that shows the horrible costs. And that makes you sympathize with people who are supposed to be 'the bad guys.'

That's all the recommendations I have for today.

 Regards,

 Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

An open letter to Peter David

Regarded Mister D,

I hope you do not mind me using you as a crutch, but I feel that this entry would work better as a letter. One with lots of questions, but no answers. (I do not do answers. You can blame Anton Chekhov for that. It's a long story.) So, anyway....

Looking at the world today, I feel the question must be asked....does freedom exist ? Not long ago - from a historical point of few - humanity lived in a class society. (As anybody who has seen Titanic will attest, this was still visible as late as 1912.) Have these days truly passed ? Or have we simply become better at hiding the lines ?

Do we not all follow the expectations of society ? (A good example of this question might be Another Brick in The Wall by Pink Floyd, Part 2. Is it ? Decide for yourself.) We go to school, we get a job and pay the rent. Is this freedom ? After all, how many people actually chase their dreams ? And how many of us put these 'on hold' ? For practical reason, we tell ourselves. And we do not have to worry to about our dreams.

After all, as soon as life allows it, we will resume chasing them. Won't we ? And how many of us are lying to ourselves ? I do not know. I will not say. Instead, I will - as I often do - let people decide for themselves. (Despite not having meant it that way, I seem to have to developed that as a catchphrase. But I digress...*wink*)

To conclude this letter, I would like to speak about why I picked you as the receiving end of this letter. It is The-President-whose-name-shall-not be spoken. Is he not a symptom of the class society attempting to dig its claws into the US of A ? Or am I - as an outsider living the Low Lands - seeing this wrong ? Is this not the true threat to the Land of the Free ?

Should America not demonstrate its principles now ? Which - as I understand them - are that anybody can become anything, as long as they would hard and - this is where it becomes sticky for President Donald Voldemort - play by the rules. (In this case meaning the law and the US Constitution.) And should not demonstrate them by showing that nobody is above said rules ? (No matter how much idiocy they catapult at judges and media.) And is the best way to do this not to remove anybody - regardless of money, rank or status - from office ?

Regards,

Edmond Dantes

P.S. I know the chance of me getting a reply is 0.0 percent. But no pain, no gain. Also - for anybody reading my blog (if there is anybody) - up next in this series....Why did I pick Edmond Dantes as an alias. (Or...why the Netherlands is not perfect either.)