Well, it took a little over a year, but we've finally made it all the way through the complete series of Stargate Atlantis. I want to extend a big "thank you" to everyone who has joined me on this journey. It was a lot of fun and a great chance to revisit the show with a slightly more critical eye than I usually lend it.
Stargate Atlantis is, in all seriousness, my favorite television show pretty much of all time. The show was, in many ways, a life-changing event for me. It introduced me to the concepts of fandom, fan fiction, and fan art. It was the first time I ever really considered myself as part of an online community. I have had a lot of fun sharing some of the reasons for that with you guys. I thought I'd wrap things up by listing some of the best of the best, as it were.
First off, here are my favorite episodes from each season:
Season One: The Brotherhood
Season Two: Duet
Season Three: McKay and Mrs. Miller
Season Four: Tabula Rasa
Season Five: Brain Storm
Don't ask me to pick a favorite episode for the whole series though, I don't think I could. (*cough*McKay and Mrs. Miller*cough*)
My obvious favorite characters going into the rewatch were McKay and Lorne. After all is said and done, I think that Ronon and Todd have emerged with distinction as well, however.
What about you guys? Did any of you have any favorites coming in? Did any of those change, or did watching the episodes again just reinforce why you loved what you did in the first place?
Now, it seems unlikely that the already written follow-up movie to the series, Stargate: Extinction, will ever actually see the light of day, but if you want more Stargate Atlantis don't despair! There are still other places to get your fix.
Tie-In Novels: I've mentioned this several times throughout my rewatch but here you go one last time. Fandemonium has released (and continues to do so) several wonderfully written novels set within the events of the series and beyond. Each novel is like its own self-contained episode.
Audio Stories: Big Finish Audio has released several short audio stories (each about 50 minutes long) in the Stargate Atlantis universe. They are told from the point of view of different characters and read by the actor who portrayed that character. It's actually a nice way to explore some of the other characters on the base, aside from the main team.
Fan Fiction: If it is your thing, my favorite archive of Stargate Atlantis fan fiction is over at Wraithbait. It's not quite as active a community as it used to be, but it is a huge repository of stories set within this world. Wraithbait also has some fairly stringent policies on what they will accept/post quality-wise, so as far as fan fiction goes, the writing is better than you find in a lot of places.
So...I think that's about it. Thank you again, so so very much, for coming along with me on this ride. I hope that you will join me on the next. Come back Wednesday when I announce the new rewatch!
Showing posts with label Fandemonium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fandemonium. Show all posts
Monday, July 16, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
SGA Rewatch: Enemy at the Gate
Well. Here we are. Five seasons have flown by and now we've at last gotten to the Stargate Atlantis series finale, "Enemy at the Gate." Join me as I try to contain all my feels on this last outing with the Atlantis crew. Like with "Vegas," I will be talking about the extended version of the episode (available on the DVD set).
It's the last episode of the series, y'all. We are so far beyond spoilers now.
What Happened
Atlantis at night. The gate activates and Amelia announces that they've got a transmission coming in. They pull up the video screen to see Todd. He tells them his treatment from an iratus queen was successful. Unfortunately, he's had a recent setback. One of his underlings has overthrown him and left him stranded after crashing his dart. Woolsey asks why they should care and Todd says the manner in which his minion was able to (temporarily) defeat him will be of interest to them. He is in possession of a ZPM.
The team and Woolsey meet to confer about this information. Ronon doesn't buy it, but Woolsey thinks it is a bad plan if it is some kind of trick, since Todd has offered himself into their custody until they can retake his ship. John says he's sure that Todd is leaving something out and Woolsey agrees, but he doesn't think it is about the ZPM. Rodney says if the underling really does have a ZPM they are in trouble. Ineffecient energy production is the one weakness of the wraith. If they have a ZPM to power one of their hives, it will be nigh unstoppable. Woolsey says it's a threat they can't tolerate, and one that they won't.
Todd is brought to Atlantis and put into isolation. Jennifer examines him and says that there is no sign of the treatment or the disease it caused. He is perfectly healthy, back to where he was before taking it. Complete with feeding hand. Woolsey goes to talk to Todd, who implies that if they don't help him Atlantis might be destroyed. Woolsey asks where the ZPM came from. Todd admits that he might have recovered a few more from the replicator homeworld before it was destroyed than he had originally let on. Woolsey asks why the delay before installing it on the hive ship, then? Todd explains that the organic nature of the hive ships made adapting them for use with the ZPMs a challenge and they only just figured out how to make it work.
Woolsey asks if the underling knows the location of Atlantis. Todd says it is a pointless detail but then answers that yes, of course he does. Even if they don't believe him, he knows Woolsey can't take the chance that he isn't telling the truth. Todd then adds that the hive is a work in progress. It still hasn't reached its full potential, so they still have a chance to destroy it. But they have to attack now.
The I.O.A. approves the request to investigate the matter, though all of the team but John are worried that Todd has some hidden agenda. Still, it doesn't matter. Todd is right, they can't take the chance. They take the Daedalus to the location of the hive. They bring Todd along and John has him kept in custody, with his subspace transmitter removed, along with having him searched and put in a jumpsuit. On the way, John visits him and Todd asks if all of the precautions are really necessary and John replies they really are after Todd's last trip on the Daedalus. He tells Todd that every time they agree to work with him John walks around feeling like there is a live grenade in his pocket, just waiting for it to go off in the form of that one thing that Todd "forgot" to mention. Todd asks why John let him go free the last time if he really feels that way. John says they made a deal and Todd held up his end. He also admits he really didn't expect Todd to live. This time though, he tells Todd, if there's any hint of betrayal, he isn't gonna wait, he is just going to kill him.
They get close to the hive's coordinates and John and team have Caldwell drop them off in a jumper. They cloak the ship and approach the hive to check it out, promising to stay in radio contact. If it is what Todd says it is, then the Dadedalus can come in with guns blazing. As they approach, Rodney picks up some very unusual readings, though he isn't sure yet if it's from a ZPM. They move in closer and Rodney realizes that the readings are showing that the wraith do have a ZPM and they are using it to grow the hive ship past its normal limitations. Rodney says that once they are done the hull will be impenetrable. They realize they need to destroy the ship now before it gets to that point. They move in just a little bit closer and the hive ship powers up its weapons. Rodney says there is no way that the ship can see them, it must just be running a test or something, but the hive fires and aims directly for the jumper. John realizes the wraith can see them. With the addition of the ZPM they must have increased the sensitivity of their scanners.
Sheppard radios the Daedalus that their cloak is ineffective and Caldwell starts to move in. The hive continues to fire at the jumper and John drops the cloak so that they can fire back. They keep on dodging and get a glancing blow that disables most of the jumper's main systems. Caldwell arrives before the hive can take the jumper out completely and they manage to score a direct hit on the hive. Unfortunately the damage they deliver is minimal. The hive fires back from all batteries and the Daedalus takes on massive damage. They prepare for the next volley and try to brace for the impact but the hive instead jumps away to hyperspace.
The team gets the jumper back on board to find out that the larger ship's hyperdrive is down. Caldwell gets a team together working on a patch so they can return to Atlantis. They try to theorize why the wraith left when they only needed one more round to finish off the Daedalus. Rodney thinks maybe since the ship is still growing that one encounter maxed out its current energy resources. That doesn't bode well for their next encounter with it. Caldwell says with the amount of damage it could be days or weeks before the Daedalus is fully operational again. They are interrupted by this train of thought when Major Marks pops in and says they've found something.
They get to a control room to find Kavanagh, who has recently been reassigned to the ship. He tells them that just before the hive jumped away they picked up a weak subspace transmission. He pulls it up and Rodney recognizes it as wraith code. Kavanagh says that it is hard to decrypt because it is interlaced with a faint residual radiation that he's never seen before. Rodney recognizes it though as the marker of something from another reality. He tells them some wraith in some other reality sent a signal that punched a rift through space time into multiple realities. He pushes Kavanagh out of the way and quickly deciphers it. It is a set of coordinates. To Earth.
Caldwell wants to contact Atlantis as soon as communications are back up. Atlantis can notify Stargate Command of the approaching super-hive. Rodney has another idea, though. He asks how many ships they have at their disposal and Caldwell replies the Apollo and the Sun Tzu. The Odyssey is unavailable due to some super secret mission. Rodney says two will have to do and John asks what he has in mind. Rodney says the hive will have to drop out of hyperspace at some point before Earth to fully regenerate. He can extrapolate from its jump data where that will be and they can have ships ready to meet it. They can't afford to wait until the hive reaches Earth, otherwise it will be at full power by then.
The Daedalus makes it back to Atlantis and beams the team down to the control room. Woolsey tells them that the good news is they haven't detected any more hive ships headed toward Earth. Rodney says he suspected as much. The signal was too short and too weak. The hive likely only picked up on it because of their improved sensors. John asks for the bad news. Woolsey pulls up a subspace message from Colonel Ellis after the Apollo engaged the hive. The ambush did not go well. They did very little damage to the hive, and the Sun Tzu has been crippled, while the Apollo will not be able to make it to even the nearest stargate for at least a month. Meanwhile, the hive carried on its merry way after the battle, with no more ships to stand between it and Earth.
Rodney finds John in the city and they have both come to the conclusion that Atlantis itself is a ship that is capable of reaching Earth. The only thing stopping them from taking it is ZPMs, they would need to be fully powered with three of them. John agrees and indicates that he is working on getting them some. He goes to where Todd is being held and tells him that the plan didn't go as expected. Todd asks if John is going to hold him responsible, or if he has come to make good on his earlier threat. John tells Todd to tell them where to find the rest of his ZPMs and it will improve his situation. He convinces Todd it is in his best interest to help them and Todd agrees.
They send Major Lorne to go retrieve two more ZPMs and send them to Rodney to verify they are safe to install in the city. John heads for the chair room and Woolsey stops him. He tells John he won't be flying the city back to Earth. He will be gating to Earth ahead of them. Even with the ZPMs there is a chance the wraith will beat them to Earth and that means that the control chair there is their only defense. General O'Neill has requested that John be the one to man it. He and Woolsey shake hands farewell and wish each other luck. John arrives on Earth and is greeted by Sam.
Rodney and Radek get the ZPMs installed and the chair properly calibrated. Rodney says they are ready to go and asks who will be flying the city. Carson pipes up from the doorway that he'll be their pilot for this adventure. Rodney is surprised, but Carson says that apparently after John he has the best ability with the chair. Carson settles in and Woolsey orders the shield raised. He tells Carson to take them up and the city takes off.
On Earth John learns that Sam is in temporary command while Landry is setting something up in Washington. After that she'll be moving on to take command of their next Daedalus-class ship. It was going to be called the Phoenix but with the recent passing of General Hammond it has been rechristened to, well, the General Hammond. They share a moment of respect for him (in a very nice tribute to Don S. Davis, the actor who portrayed Hammond and who died not long before the episode was filmed). They enter the elevator and John asks if they are going to hop a transport to the McMurdo base. Sam tells him not exactly.
They get to the command center and Sam introduces John to Major Davis with Homeworld Security. They show John on the monitor that the hive has already arrived, even though they hadn't expected it for several weeks. Apparently the ZPM gave it more of a leg up than they had anticipated. For the moment it is just hanging out in orbit though, and they suspect that it is waiting until the ZPM is fully integrated into its systems before attacking. John says they can't let it get to that point and asks if they have any fighters. Davis says they have a squadron of F-302s on standby but they aren't equipped for attacking such a heavily fortified target. John asks how long to fit them with nukes. Davis answers that could take some doing but he gets to work on it. John asks if the fighter pilots have any experience fighting the wraith and Sam reminds him that is not why she brought him back to Earth, realizing he wants to lead the squad. He says he can sit in the chair and wait for an attack or he can take the fight to them and asks which she'd prefer.
In Atlantis Woolsey calls Teyla and Ronon to his office. He tells them they are almost to the edge of the galaxy and offers them one more chance to reconsider their involvement in the mission. There is time to drop them off if they wish it. He acknowledges that their priorities are not his or the rest of the expedition's and it isn't fair to ask them to join in a battle that isn't theirs. They thank him for the offer but tell him they are staying. They will fight with Atlantis.
John gets the F-302s ready to go but Sam and Davis arrive to tell him there's been a change of plans. They have detected a wave of darts headed for the planet. John asks if they know where the darts are headed and Davis says he thinks so. The transmission the wraith from the alternate reality sent included a warning about the planet's defenses, specifically the drone chair. In that reality, the chair was no longer in Antarctica, but had been moved to Area 51. He thinks the darts are heading there to take it out. John thinks this is an advantage, but Sam reveals that the chair was actually moved to Area 51 in this reality a month ago.
John leads the F-302s to try to intercept the darts before they get to Area 51 but the darts seriously outnumber them. John and his team put up as much of a fight as they can but they are overwhelmed and the darts pull off a kamikaze attack on the base. John's fighter is hit and he is able to prevent himself from crashing, but only just. Unfortunately, Area 51, and the control chair, are completely destroyed. John makes a split decision and changes his direction, heading to the upper atmosphere. He says he still has a nuke left so he's going to complete his mission. The hive has started moving toward Earth and John thinks if he powers down everything but life support once he's broken orbit he can get close enough that the hive won't detect him until it's too late. Sam reminds him that there is no way one nuke will take out the suped up hive and John agrees not from the outside. His plan is to go into the dart bay, get as far inside as he can, and detonate the nuke from within. Sam says she can't ask him to run a suicide mission and he says she doesn't have to, he's volunteering.
Atlantis gets to the edge of the Milky Way and then drops out of hyperspace. Woolsey demands to know why and Rodney says they aren't sure. While Rodney tries to figure out what happened, Woolsey tells Radek to recalibrate the gate so they can dial in to Earth and check in and apprise them of the situation.
Sam joins Davis in the command center and asks for a progress report. The hive is still moving toward the planet and has almost reached Earth orbit. It has begun scanning the planet. She asks if there has been word from John and Davis says not yet. His best estimates put John at twenty minutes out from intersecting with the hive's orbit. Walter arrives and tells Sam there's a problem. They've been trying to dial up the Alpha site to send some I.O.A. dignitaries off world until after the attack but they can't get a lock on the gate. He's tried other planets and has had similar results. The gate is offline.
Atlantis dials up the SGC and Woolsey tries to open up communications but he gets no answer. Amelia confirms that the comm system is working, they are just not getting a response. Rodney says he's getting an energy signature back through the wormhole and it's wraith. Woolsey is afraid that the wraith are already at the SGC but Rodney says the readings are consistent with what they would pick up in the middle of a hive. They realize that the wraith are following their standard operating procedure for a culling: dial up the gate once in orbit to keep their victims from dialing out. That means there is a gate on the hive ship. The Pegasus galaxy gate takes precedence in any wormholes whenever a Pegasus gate and a Milky Way gate are in that close proximity to each other. Which means they have an open gate that leads directly onto the attacking hive.
On the hive wraith stand guard around the open gate and several flash bangs come through. In Atlantis Lorne, Rodney, Teyla, and Ronon head through. Woolsey watches them go and receives confirmation from Lorne that they've cleared the gate and are heading further into the hive. He worries that he should have sent more marines but Radek assures him that a full-scale attack would have done little good. Woolsey admits that's probably true but he hates waiting in the middle of nowhere, unable to move to help if needed.
Radek says he has something he needs to talk to Woolsey about in that regard. He thinks he can do something about them being stranded. It's something Rodney has been working on for a while, an adaptation of Ancient technology. It was abandoned because of instability and power requirements, but Radek tells him about wormhole drive. It's like gate travel but without the gate. If it works it could have them at Earth in a matter of seconds. Of course, the calculations to implement it are crazy complicated and if they are even a little bit wrong they will be beyond screwed.
On the hive the team stops to assess. Teyla asks Rodney what he is thinking their best course should be. He says there are any number of systems they could sabotage but to take the hive out for good, their best bet is the ZPM. If they can create a fatal overload of the ZPM it will take the whole ship out in one shot. Of course the downside is that they likely won't have time to make it back to the gate once they start the overload process. Lorne chastises Rodney for not bringing this up earlier and Rodney says he's thinking on his feet, he didn't know it would be an issue earlier. Ronon says it doesn't matter. If they have a chance to destroy the ship, they're gonna take it no matter what. Teyla tells Rodney to lead the way.
John floats in space in his F-302 and deems the time appropriate to restart the ship and head for the hive.
On the hive the team runs into a group of wraith and gets into a fire-fight. Ronon and Rodney try to go around while Teyla and Lorne provide cover fire. They run into wraith that way too and Ronon fights them off, getting shot in the process. The bullet hits his lung and he starts to bleed out. He tells them to just go and Teyla says they are not leaving without him but it is too late, he dies. The wraith are still coming though so they are forced to leave his body behind.
John makes it into the hive and radios Sam in command. He tells her he made it inside but he doesn't have much time before the wraith shows up so he's arming the nuke. Lorne, Teyla, and Rodney, still pinned down under fire, pick up the transmission as well. Sam tries to talk John out of it but he tells her to tell Atlantis bye for him when they show up. Rodney breaks into the conversation and tells John they're on board the hive and to hold off on blowing them all up. John asks how they got on the ship and he says it's a long story but they are headed his way and will explain then. He says he can rig up a remote detonator for the nuke. John says that's all well and good but there's still no way off the ship and Rodney says that's where he's wrong.
Woolsey goes to the infirmary to let Jennifer know they are about to fire up the wormhole drive. If it works, he tells her, they could find themselves in the middle of a combat situation. She needs to make sure her staff is ready. She asks what if it doesn't work and he says the city will be instantly vaporized, so, yeah.
John meets up with the rest of the team, surprised but glad to see them. While Rodney gets to work on rigging up the nuke, John asks where Ronon is. Teyla can barely bring herself to tell John he's dead.
Of course, that is when we are treated to the sight of Ronon reviving elsewhere on the ship. The wraith recovered his body and patched him up then used their reverse-feeding to bring him back to life. The wraith says he has questions he wants answered.
Davis announces that the hive has completed its scan of the surface. Sam lists how the wraith will proceed to begin their attack.
The wraith asks Ronon how many humans are aboard his ship and is angered when Ronon refuses to answer. He moves to attack Ronon but is mowed down from behind by a stream of bullets. As he falls we see John and the others enter the room, glad to find Ronon alive. They radio Sam that they have Ronon and are moving to the gate. The wraith have powered up their weapons and she asks him how much time they need. He says five minutes to get there, five minutes to recalibrate the DHD. Davis doesn't think they will last ten minutes. John tells Rodney to give him the detonator. Rodney reluctantly does so and just as John is about to press the button Sam tells him to wait. She says they have detected another ship.
Atlantis arrives and Woolsey orders Carson to open fire. Sam tells John and crew what's happening and they resume their trip to the gate. Rodney gets to work on the DHD and the others hold off the wraith. Atlantis starts to take damage but Woolsey tells Carson to keep firing until the shield starts to collapse. Rodney gets the DHD calibrated and dials up the Alpha site. He and the team head through the gate, with John setting the detonator just before stepping through. The nuke goes off and the hive is destroyed.
Sam thanks Woosley for his help and he says they aren't out of the water yet. Atlantis has lost orbit and Carson is unable to stabilize the city, they are falling to Earth. Sam asks if they have enough shield left to survive reentry and Woolsey tells her they are about to find out. There is a tense silence in the command center as they wait for word from Atlantis. Woolsey gets in touch as soon as they are done with reentry and says that Carson is going to try to land them in the water so they should probably notify the necessary authorities.
Some time later John visits Ronon in the infirmary and asks how he's doing. He says he's fine, ready to get out of there. John tells him to take his time. The city is pretty banged up, they won't be going anywhere for a while. Ronon asks if John thinks they'll let really them take Atlantis back to Pegasus once it's fixed up. John promises they will make sure Ronon gets home and Ronon says Atlantis is his home. Amelia pops in and asks if she's interrupting. At a look from Ronon, John excuses himself. Ronon sits up a little straighter and she asks if he's up for taking a walk. She tells him there's something he needs to see.
John heads down to where Todd is being kept. Todd says all is well, the planet is saved, and it's all thanks to his ZPMs. John replies the question is what will happen next time. To which Todd asks, "is there going to be a next time?"
Amelia leads Ronon out to a balcony where they join Woolsey, Carson, Jennifer, Rodney, and Teyla at the rail. Woolsey welcomes Ronon to Earth and we see they are all looking at the Golden Gate bridge. Jennifer hastily remarks that no one can see them, right, and Woolsey confirms that they activated the cloak before landing. The entire area is under naval quarantine though. They all kind of settle in, enjoying the view, and John comes out to join them. The camera pans out as they all enjoy the view.
Commentary
Man, I just get so sad whenever I watch this episode. The ending is so bittersweet. I mean, it is a perfect ending for the season, and it works as a series ender. But they did such a fantastic job setting the stage for a really interesting future that I regret we never got to see what came next. Clearly a big challenge for season six would have been to get Atlantis back to the Pegasus galaxy. Then there would likely have been fallout from its sudden and extended absence to deal with once that was accomplished, especially with the coalition slowly rising to power throughout the galaxy. Plus, there is the lingering question of what to do with Todd. Would he finally become a true ally and join forces with the city for good? Or would he double-cross them and sneak off the first chance he got?
I think what makes this most frustrating of all is that right after the season ended there was a script written for a direct-to-DVD movie that would have wrapped up these final loose ends and served as a more proper close to the series (in the same vein as The Ark of Truth did for SG-1.) Of course, before it could be filmed, the bottom dropped out of the DVD market and MGM declared bankruptcy, so, we never got that final story. Grr. Argh.
Although for anyone craving closure, I do highly recommend the Legacy series of tie-in novels from Fandemonium. They are a non-canon continuation from where the series proper leaves off, but they are very well done. I have read the first two, which are in print (as well as being available as ebooks), and I see the next two are available in ebook versions, so I've snagged those as well and will be reading them soon. The second book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger itself, if I remember correctly.
But back to the episode. As I said, it is a fantastic ending to the season, and there are a lot of absolutely spectacular moments packed into "Enemy at the Gate." I love that, like, everybody gets something to do in this episode. Hell, they even brought back Kavanagh. Plus, Lorne got to go with the team to storm the hive ship. That was spectacular.
We got another instance for Atlantis to be the Amazing Flying City!! Always a win, and seeing Carson's confidence in piloting it, given his initial hesitance with the control chair way back in "Rising," well, it was like coming full-circle.
I could have probably done without another attempt at a suicide mission for John. Okay, self-sacrifice is noble and all, but jeez. We get it John, you are totally willing to sacrifice yourself to save Earth and your team and the Pegasus galaxy. That doesn't mean you have to jump at the chance, however. You've already died once this season, even if it was in another reality. That's enough, thanks.
Speaking of deaths, oh man, Ronon. Ronon. That always hits me especially hard, even after the first viewing and knowing that he is only temporarily dead. But this time around, given how much more fond I've grown of him during this watch-through, man. There may have been tears. He just. Wow. I think that overall during this rewatch it was his character's growth that surprised me the most. I never didn't like him, but I now have a much stronger appreciation for him than I did before. I love that he goes from "I can't leave this galaxy until every last wraith is dead" in season three to flat out telling John that Atlantis, wherever it is, is his home in this episode. Like he told Woolsey, the people in Atlantis have been sacrificing themselves for a fight that wasn't theirs ever since they arrived in the galaxy. He has no problem returning the favor. It's a bonus to see that he and Amelia seem to have a growing relationship, too. He deserves some happiness.
Then there's that last scene, where everyone in on the balcony looking out at the bridge. It is just one of my favorite images from the whole series. The only things missing to make it perfect for me were Lorne and Radek.
Sigh.
Favorite Quotes
"I may have acquired a few more than I let on." (Todd)
"How many more?" (Woolsey)
"Let's not get caught up in unnecessary details." (Todd)
"I like details." (Woolsey)
"Well, things didn't go exactly according to plan." (John)
"So I heard. You intend to hold me responsible?" (Todd)
All I know is that everything went sideways, the way it always does when you're involved. You gonna tell me that's a coincidence?" (John)
"Am I supposed to be enticed by this offer?" (Todd)
"No. I'll probably kill you anyway. But don't forget this: this wraith betrayed you and got away with it. For no other reason, you might wanna do it out of pure spite." (John)
"You know how to talk to me, John Sheppard." (Todd)
"We've all grown so accustomed to having you here as part of the team, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that your priorities are not necessarily always the same as ours. You're being asked to fly to another galaxy, to take what might turn out to be the losing part in a battle that isn't yours." (Woolsey)
"Do you mean like everyone on this base has been doing for the last five years?" (Ronon)
"Thank you for your consideration, Mr. Woolsey, but I assure you it is not necessary." (Teyla)
"We're not going anywhere." (Ronon)
"Very well." (Woolsey)
"I've restored your life, human, and bound your wound." (Wraith)
"That was real nice of you." (Ronon)
"Hi. Heard you died and came back to life." (Amelia)
"Pretty much. There's uh...there's a few things I still need to to." (Ronon)
"You okay?" (Jennifer)
"I'm alive...and I've got you. What else would I need?" (Rodney)
~*~
...and that's it. That's the end of Stargate Atlantis. Stop back by on Monday for a final wrap-up and my thoughts on the series overall. Then, on Wednesday, I'll announce the next rewatch.
It's the last episode of the series, y'all. We are so far beyond spoilers now.
What Happened
Atlantis at night. The gate activates and Amelia announces that they've got a transmission coming in. They pull up the video screen to see Todd. He tells them his treatment from an iratus queen was successful. Unfortunately, he's had a recent setback. One of his underlings has overthrown him and left him stranded after crashing his dart. Woolsey asks why they should care and Todd says the manner in which his minion was able to (temporarily) defeat him will be of interest to them. He is in possession of a ZPM.
The team and Woolsey meet to confer about this information. Ronon doesn't buy it, but Woolsey thinks it is a bad plan if it is some kind of trick, since Todd has offered himself into their custody until they can retake his ship. John says he's sure that Todd is leaving something out and Woolsey agrees, but he doesn't think it is about the ZPM. Rodney says if the underling really does have a ZPM they are in trouble. Ineffecient energy production is the one weakness of the wraith. If they have a ZPM to power one of their hives, it will be nigh unstoppable. Woolsey says it's a threat they can't tolerate, and one that they won't.
Todd is brought to Atlantis and put into isolation. Jennifer examines him and says that there is no sign of the treatment or the disease it caused. He is perfectly healthy, back to where he was before taking it. Complete with feeding hand. Woolsey goes to talk to Todd, who implies that if they don't help him Atlantis might be destroyed. Woolsey asks where the ZPM came from. Todd admits that he might have recovered a few more from the replicator homeworld before it was destroyed than he had originally let on. Woolsey asks why the delay before installing it on the hive ship, then? Todd explains that the organic nature of the hive ships made adapting them for use with the ZPMs a challenge and they only just figured out how to make it work.
Woolsey asks if the underling knows the location of Atlantis. Todd says it is a pointless detail but then answers that yes, of course he does. Even if they don't believe him, he knows Woolsey can't take the chance that he isn't telling the truth. Todd then adds that the hive is a work in progress. It still hasn't reached its full potential, so they still have a chance to destroy it. But they have to attack now.
The I.O.A. approves the request to investigate the matter, though all of the team but John are worried that Todd has some hidden agenda. Still, it doesn't matter. Todd is right, they can't take the chance. They take the Daedalus to the location of the hive. They bring Todd along and John has him kept in custody, with his subspace transmitter removed, along with having him searched and put in a jumpsuit. On the way, John visits him and Todd asks if all of the precautions are really necessary and John replies they really are after Todd's last trip on the Daedalus. He tells Todd that every time they agree to work with him John walks around feeling like there is a live grenade in his pocket, just waiting for it to go off in the form of that one thing that Todd "forgot" to mention. Todd asks why John let him go free the last time if he really feels that way. John says they made a deal and Todd held up his end. He also admits he really didn't expect Todd to live. This time though, he tells Todd, if there's any hint of betrayal, he isn't gonna wait, he is just going to kill him.
They get close to the hive's coordinates and John and team have Caldwell drop them off in a jumper. They cloak the ship and approach the hive to check it out, promising to stay in radio contact. If it is what Todd says it is, then the Dadedalus can come in with guns blazing. As they approach, Rodney picks up some very unusual readings, though he isn't sure yet if it's from a ZPM. They move in closer and Rodney realizes that the readings are showing that the wraith do have a ZPM and they are using it to grow the hive ship past its normal limitations. Rodney says that once they are done the hull will be impenetrable. They realize they need to destroy the ship now before it gets to that point. They move in just a little bit closer and the hive ship powers up its weapons. Rodney says there is no way that the ship can see them, it must just be running a test or something, but the hive fires and aims directly for the jumper. John realizes the wraith can see them. With the addition of the ZPM they must have increased the sensitivity of their scanners.
Sheppard radios the Daedalus that their cloak is ineffective and Caldwell starts to move in. The hive continues to fire at the jumper and John drops the cloak so that they can fire back. They keep on dodging and get a glancing blow that disables most of the jumper's main systems. Caldwell arrives before the hive can take the jumper out completely and they manage to score a direct hit on the hive. Unfortunately the damage they deliver is minimal. The hive fires back from all batteries and the Daedalus takes on massive damage. They prepare for the next volley and try to brace for the impact but the hive instead jumps away to hyperspace.
The team gets the jumper back on board to find out that the larger ship's hyperdrive is down. Caldwell gets a team together working on a patch so they can return to Atlantis. They try to theorize why the wraith left when they only needed one more round to finish off the Daedalus. Rodney thinks maybe since the ship is still growing that one encounter maxed out its current energy resources. That doesn't bode well for their next encounter with it. Caldwell says with the amount of damage it could be days or weeks before the Daedalus is fully operational again. They are interrupted by this train of thought when Major Marks pops in and says they've found something.
They get to a control room to find Kavanagh, who has recently been reassigned to the ship. He tells them that just before the hive jumped away they picked up a weak subspace transmission. He pulls it up and Rodney recognizes it as wraith code. Kavanagh says that it is hard to decrypt because it is interlaced with a faint residual radiation that he's never seen before. Rodney recognizes it though as the marker of something from another reality. He tells them some wraith in some other reality sent a signal that punched a rift through space time into multiple realities. He pushes Kavanagh out of the way and quickly deciphers it. It is a set of coordinates. To Earth.
Caldwell wants to contact Atlantis as soon as communications are back up. Atlantis can notify Stargate Command of the approaching super-hive. Rodney has another idea, though. He asks how many ships they have at their disposal and Caldwell replies the Apollo and the Sun Tzu. The Odyssey is unavailable due to some super secret mission. Rodney says two will have to do and John asks what he has in mind. Rodney says the hive will have to drop out of hyperspace at some point before Earth to fully regenerate. He can extrapolate from its jump data where that will be and they can have ships ready to meet it. They can't afford to wait until the hive reaches Earth, otherwise it will be at full power by then.
The Daedalus makes it back to Atlantis and beams the team down to the control room. Woolsey tells them that the good news is they haven't detected any more hive ships headed toward Earth. Rodney says he suspected as much. The signal was too short and too weak. The hive likely only picked up on it because of their improved sensors. John asks for the bad news. Woolsey pulls up a subspace message from Colonel Ellis after the Apollo engaged the hive. The ambush did not go well. They did very little damage to the hive, and the Sun Tzu has been crippled, while the Apollo will not be able to make it to even the nearest stargate for at least a month. Meanwhile, the hive carried on its merry way after the battle, with no more ships to stand between it and Earth.
Rodney finds John in the city and they have both come to the conclusion that Atlantis itself is a ship that is capable of reaching Earth. The only thing stopping them from taking it is ZPMs, they would need to be fully powered with three of them. John agrees and indicates that he is working on getting them some. He goes to where Todd is being held and tells him that the plan didn't go as expected. Todd asks if John is going to hold him responsible, or if he has come to make good on his earlier threat. John tells Todd to tell them where to find the rest of his ZPMs and it will improve his situation. He convinces Todd it is in his best interest to help them and Todd agrees.
They send Major Lorne to go retrieve two more ZPMs and send them to Rodney to verify they are safe to install in the city. John heads for the chair room and Woolsey stops him. He tells John he won't be flying the city back to Earth. He will be gating to Earth ahead of them. Even with the ZPMs there is a chance the wraith will beat them to Earth and that means that the control chair there is their only defense. General O'Neill has requested that John be the one to man it. He and Woolsey shake hands farewell and wish each other luck. John arrives on Earth and is greeted by Sam.
Rodney and Radek get the ZPMs installed and the chair properly calibrated. Rodney says they are ready to go and asks who will be flying the city. Carson pipes up from the doorway that he'll be their pilot for this adventure. Rodney is surprised, but Carson says that apparently after John he has the best ability with the chair. Carson settles in and Woolsey orders the shield raised. He tells Carson to take them up and the city takes off.
On Earth John learns that Sam is in temporary command while Landry is setting something up in Washington. After that she'll be moving on to take command of their next Daedalus-class ship. It was going to be called the Phoenix but with the recent passing of General Hammond it has been rechristened to, well, the General Hammond. They share a moment of respect for him (in a very nice tribute to Don S. Davis, the actor who portrayed Hammond and who died not long before the episode was filmed). They enter the elevator and John asks if they are going to hop a transport to the McMurdo base. Sam tells him not exactly.
They get to the command center and Sam introduces John to Major Davis with Homeworld Security. They show John on the monitor that the hive has already arrived, even though they hadn't expected it for several weeks. Apparently the ZPM gave it more of a leg up than they had anticipated. For the moment it is just hanging out in orbit though, and they suspect that it is waiting until the ZPM is fully integrated into its systems before attacking. John says they can't let it get to that point and asks if they have any fighters. Davis says they have a squadron of F-302s on standby but they aren't equipped for attacking such a heavily fortified target. John asks how long to fit them with nukes. Davis answers that could take some doing but he gets to work on it. John asks if the fighter pilots have any experience fighting the wraith and Sam reminds him that is not why she brought him back to Earth, realizing he wants to lead the squad. He says he can sit in the chair and wait for an attack or he can take the fight to them and asks which she'd prefer.
In Atlantis Woolsey calls Teyla and Ronon to his office. He tells them they are almost to the edge of the galaxy and offers them one more chance to reconsider their involvement in the mission. There is time to drop them off if they wish it. He acknowledges that their priorities are not his or the rest of the expedition's and it isn't fair to ask them to join in a battle that isn't theirs. They thank him for the offer but tell him they are staying. They will fight with Atlantis.
John gets the F-302s ready to go but Sam and Davis arrive to tell him there's been a change of plans. They have detected a wave of darts headed for the planet. John asks if they know where the darts are headed and Davis says he thinks so. The transmission the wraith from the alternate reality sent included a warning about the planet's defenses, specifically the drone chair. In that reality, the chair was no longer in Antarctica, but had been moved to Area 51. He thinks the darts are heading there to take it out. John thinks this is an advantage, but Sam reveals that the chair was actually moved to Area 51 in this reality a month ago.
John leads the F-302s to try to intercept the darts before they get to Area 51 but the darts seriously outnumber them. John and his team put up as much of a fight as they can but they are overwhelmed and the darts pull off a kamikaze attack on the base. John's fighter is hit and he is able to prevent himself from crashing, but only just. Unfortunately, Area 51, and the control chair, are completely destroyed. John makes a split decision and changes his direction, heading to the upper atmosphere. He says he still has a nuke left so he's going to complete his mission. The hive has started moving toward Earth and John thinks if he powers down everything but life support once he's broken orbit he can get close enough that the hive won't detect him until it's too late. Sam reminds him that there is no way one nuke will take out the suped up hive and John agrees not from the outside. His plan is to go into the dart bay, get as far inside as he can, and detonate the nuke from within. Sam says she can't ask him to run a suicide mission and he says she doesn't have to, he's volunteering.
Atlantis gets to the edge of the Milky Way and then drops out of hyperspace. Woolsey demands to know why and Rodney says they aren't sure. While Rodney tries to figure out what happened, Woolsey tells Radek to recalibrate the gate so they can dial in to Earth and check in and apprise them of the situation.
Sam joins Davis in the command center and asks for a progress report. The hive is still moving toward the planet and has almost reached Earth orbit. It has begun scanning the planet. She asks if there has been word from John and Davis says not yet. His best estimates put John at twenty minutes out from intersecting with the hive's orbit. Walter arrives and tells Sam there's a problem. They've been trying to dial up the Alpha site to send some I.O.A. dignitaries off world until after the attack but they can't get a lock on the gate. He's tried other planets and has had similar results. The gate is offline.
Atlantis dials up the SGC and Woolsey tries to open up communications but he gets no answer. Amelia confirms that the comm system is working, they are just not getting a response. Rodney says he's getting an energy signature back through the wormhole and it's wraith. Woolsey is afraid that the wraith are already at the SGC but Rodney says the readings are consistent with what they would pick up in the middle of a hive. They realize that the wraith are following their standard operating procedure for a culling: dial up the gate once in orbit to keep their victims from dialing out. That means there is a gate on the hive ship. The Pegasus galaxy gate takes precedence in any wormholes whenever a Pegasus gate and a Milky Way gate are in that close proximity to each other. Which means they have an open gate that leads directly onto the attacking hive.
On the hive wraith stand guard around the open gate and several flash bangs come through. In Atlantis Lorne, Rodney, Teyla, and Ronon head through. Woolsey watches them go and receives confirmation from Lorne that they've cleared the gate and are heading further into the hive. He worries that he should have sent more marines but Radek assures him that a full-scale attack would have done little good. Woolsey admits that's probably true but he hates waiting in the middle of nowhere, unable to move to help if needed.
Radek says he has something he needs to talk to Woolsey about in that regard. He thinks he can do something about them being stranded. It's something Rodney has been working on for a while, an adaptation of Ancient technology. It was abandoned because of instability and power requirements, but Radek tells him about wormhole drive. It's like gate travel but without the gate. If it works it could have them at Earth in a matter of seconds. Of course, the calculations to implement it are crazy complicated and if they are even a little bit wrong they will be beyond screwed.
On the hive the team stops to assess. Teyla asks Rodney what he is thinking their best course should be. He says there are any number of systems they could sabotage but to take the hive out for good, their best bet is the ZPM. If they can create a fatal overload of the ZPM it will take the whole ship out in one shot. Of course the downside is that they likely won't have time to make it back to the gate once they start the overload process. Lorne chastises Rodney for not bringing this up earlier and Rodney says he's thinking on his feet, he didn't know it would be an issue earlier. Ronon says it doesn't matter. If they have a chance to destroy the ship, they're gonna take it no matter what. Teyla tells Rodney to lead the way.
John floats in space in his F-302 and deems the time appropriate to restart the ship and head for the hive.
On the hive the team runs into a group of wraith and gets into a fire-fight. Ronon and Rodney try to go around while Teyla and Lorne provide cover fire. They run into wraith that way too and Ronon fights them off, getting shot in the process. The bullet hits his lung and he starts to bleed out. He tells them to just go and Teyla says they are not leaving without him but it is too late, he dies. The wraith are still coming though so they are forced to leave his body behind.
John makes it into the hive and radios Sam in command. He tells her he made it inside but he doesn't have much time before the wraith shows up so he's arming the nuke. Lorne, Teyla, and Rodney, still pinned down under fire, pick up the transmission as well. Sam tries to talk John out of it but he tells her to tell Atlantis bye for him when they show up. Rodney breaks into the conversation and tells John they're on board the hive and to hold off on blowing them all up. John asks how they got on the ship and he says it's a long story but they are headed his way and will explain then. He says he can rig up a remote detonator for the nuke. John says that's all well and good but there's still no way off the ship and Rodney says that's where he's wrong.
Woolsey goes to the infirmary to let Jennifer know they are about to fire up the wormhole drive. If it works, he tells her, they could find themselves in the middle of a combat situation. She needs to make sure her staff is ready. She asks what if it doesn't work and he says the city will be instantly vaporized, so, yeah.
John meets up with the rest of the team, surprised but glad to see them. While Rodney gets to work on rigging up the nuke, John asks where Ronon is. Teyla can barely bring herself to tell John he's dead.
Of course, that is when we are treated to the sight of Ronon reviving elsewhere on the ship. The wraith recovered his body and patched him up then used their reverse-feeding to bring him back to life. The wraith says he has questions he wants answered.
Davis announces that the hive has completed its scan of the surface. Sam lists how the wraith will proceed to begin their attack.
The wraith asks Ronon how many humans are aboard his ship and is angered when Ronon refuses to answer. He moves to attack Ronon but is mowed down from behind by a stream of bullets. As he falls we see John and the others enter the room, glad to find Ronon alive. They radio Sam that they have Ronon and are moving to the gate. The wraith have powered up their weapons and she asks him how much time they need. He says five minutes to get there, five minutes to recalibrate the DHD. Davis doesn't think they will last ten minutes. John tells Rodney to give him the detonator. Rodney reluctantly does so and just as John is about to press the button Sam tells him to wait. She says they have detected another ship.
Atlantis arrives and Woolsey orders Carson to open fire. Sam tells John and crew what's happening and they resume their trip to the gate. Rodney gets to work on the DHD and the others hold off the wraith. Atlantis starts to take damage but Woolsey tells Carson to keep firing until the shield starts to collapse. Rodney gets the DHD calibrated and dials up the Alpha site. He and the team head through the gate, with John setting the detonator just before stepping through. The nuke goes off and the hive is destroyed.
Sam thanks Woosley for his help and he says they aren't out of the water yet. Atlantis has lost orbit and Carson is unable to stabilize the city, they are falling to Earth. Sam asks if they have enough shield left to survive reentry and Woolsey tells her they are about to find out. There is a tense silence in the command center as they wait for word from Atlantis. Woolsey gets in touch as soon as they are done with reentry and says that Carson is going to try to land them in the water so they should probably notify the necessary authorities.
Some time later John visits Ronon in the infirmary and asks how he's doing. He says he's fine, ready to get out of there. John tells him to take his time. The city is pretty banged up, they won't be going anywhere for a while. Ronon asks if John thinks they'll let really them take Atlantis back to Pegasus once it's fixed up. John promises they will make sure Ronon gets home and Ronon says Atlantis is his home. Amelia pops in and asks if she's interrupting. At a look from Ronon, John excuses himself. Ronon sits up a little straighter and she asks if he's up for taking a walk. She tells him there's something he needs to see.
John heads down to where Todd is being kept. Todd says all is well, the planet is saved, and it's all thanks to his ZPMs. John replies the question is what will happen next time. To which Todd asks, "is there going to be a next time?"
Amelia leads Ronon out to a balcony where they join Woolsey, Carson, Jennifer, Rodney, and Teyla at the rail. Woolsey welcomes Ronon to Earth and we see they are all looking at the Golden Gate bridge. Jennifer hastily remarks that no one can see them, right, and Woolsey confirms that they activated the cloak before landing. The entire area is under naval quarantine though. They all kind of settle in, enjoying the view, and John comes out to join them. The camera pans out as they all enjoy the view.
Commentary
Man, I just get so sad whenever I watch this episode. The ending is so bittersweet. I mean, it is a perfect ending for the season, and it works as a series ender. But they did such a fantastic job setting the stage for a really interesting future that I regret we never got to see what came next. Clearly a big challenge for season six would have been to get Atlantis back to the Pegasus galaxy. Then there would likely have been fallout from its sudden and extended absence to deal with once that was accomplished, especially with the coalition slowly rising to power throughout the galaxy. Plus, there is the lingering question of what to do with Todd. Would he finally become a true ally and join forces with the city for good? Or would he double-cross them and sneak off the first chance he got?
I think what makes this most frustrating of all is that right after the season ended there was a script written for a direct-to-DVD movie that would have wrapped up these final loose ends and served as a more proper close to the series (in the same vein as The Ark of Truth did for SG-1.) Of course, before it could be filmed, the bottom dropped out of the DVD market and MGM declared bankruptcy, so, we never got that final story. Grr. Argh.
Although for anyone craving closure, I do highly recommend the Legacy series of tie-in novels from Fandemonium. They are a non-canon continuation from where the series proper leaves off, but they are very well done. I have read the first two, which are in print (as well as being available as ebooks), and I see the next two are available in ebook versions, so I've snagged those as well and will be reading them soon. The second book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger itself, if I remember correctly.
But back to the episode. As I said, it is a fantastic ending to the season, and there are a lot of absolutely spectacular moments packed into "Enemy at the Gate." I love that, like, everybody gets something to do in this episode. Hell, they even brought back Kavanagh. Plus, Lorne got to go with the team to storm the hive ship. That was spectacular.
We got another instance for Atlantis to be the Amazing Flying City!! Always a win, and seeing Carson's confidence in piloting it, given his initial hesitance with the control chair way back in "Rising," well, it was like coming full-circle.
I could have probably done without another attempt at a suicide mission for John. Okay, self-sacrifice is noble and all, but jeez. We get it John, you are totally willing to sacrifice yourself to save Earth and your team and the Pegasus galaxy. That doesn't mean you have to jump at the chance, however. You've already died once this season, even if it was in another reality. That's enough, thanks.
Speaking of deaths, oh man, Ronon. Ronon. That always hits me especially hard, even after the first viewing and knowing that he is only temporarily dead. But this time around, given how much more fond I've grown of him during this watch-through, man. There may have been tears. He just. Wow. I think that overall during this rewatch it was his character's growth that surprised me the most. I never didn't like him, but I now have a much stronger appreciation for him than I did before. I love that he goes from "I can't leave this galaxy until every last wraith is dead" in season three to flat out telling John that Atlantis, wherever it is, is his home in this episode. Like he told Woolsey, the people in Atlantis have been sacrificing themselves for a fight that wasn't theirs ever since they arrived in the galaxy. He has no problem returning the favor. It's a bonus to see that he and Amelia seem to have a growing relationship, too. He deserves some happiness.
Then there's that last scene, where everyone in on the balcony looking out at the bridge. It is just one of my favorite images from the whole series. The only things missing to make it perfect for me were Lorne and Radek.
Sigh.
Favorite Quotes
"I may have acquired a few more than I let on." (Todd)
"How many more?" (Woolsey)
"Let's not get caught up in unnecessary details." (Todd)
"I like details." (Woolsey)
"Well, things didn't go exactly according to plan." (John)
"So I heard. You intend to hold me responsible?" (Todd)
All I know is that everything went sideways, the way it always does when you're involved. You gonna tell me that's a coincidence?" (John)
"Am I supposed to be enticed by this offer?" (Todd)
"No. I'll probably kill you anyway. But don't forget this: this wraith betrayed you and got away with it. For no other reason, you might wanna do it out of pure spite." (John)
"You know how to talk to me, John Sheppard." (Todd)
"We've all grown so accustomed to having you here as part of the team, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that your priorities are not necessarily always the same as ours. You're being asked to fly to another galaxy, to take what might turn out to be the losing part in a battle that isn't yours." (Woolsey)
"Do you mean like everyone on this base has been doing for the last five years?" (Ronon)
"Thank you for your consideration, Mr. Woolsey, but I assure you it is not necessary." (Teyla)
"We're not going anywhere." (Ronon)
"Very well." (Woolsey)
"I've restored your life, human, and bound your wound." (Wraith)
"That was real nice of you." (Ronon)
"Hi. Heard you died and came back to life." (Amelia)
"Pretty much. There's uh...there's a few things I still need to to." (Ronon)
"You okay?" (Jennifer)
"I'm alive...and I've got you. What else would I need?" (Rodney)
~*~
...and that's it. That's the end of Stargate Atlantis. Stop back by on Monday for a final wrap-up and my thoughts on the series overall. Then, on Wednesday, I'll announce the next rewatch.
Monday, October 24, 2011
SGA Rewatch: Critical Mass
Hello there! Welcome to another installment of the Stargate Atlantis rewatch. Today we will be tackling the second season's episode "Critical Mass." There will be spoilers for the episode and all of those before it, of course, and a little bit for Stargate SG-1's ninth season as well.
This is a pretty busy episode, so let us proceed, shall we?
We shall.
What Happened
The episodes opens up with Zelenka grumpily packing up gear and preparing to head offworld. We quickly learn he is headed to Kid Planet to effect some repairs on their EM field. He is grumpy because he does not care for children and he's pretty sure that is exactly why Rodney picked him for the mission. Sheppard bids him good luck and then heads on up to the control room for a briefing with Rodney and Elizabeth. Rodney informs them that the city's sensors have picked up two wraith cruisers in the vicinity of their planet. The ships do not appear to actually be headed toward Atlantis, but Elizabeth wants him to continue to monitor their progress, just in case. Rodney also notes that he has picked up intense bursts of radiation between the two ships. It appears as if they are fighting one another. Everyone gloats and hopes the wraith all just end up killing themselves and saving the rest of the galaxy the trouble.
We then jump to the Cheyenne Mountain facility on Earth, where Agent Barrett of the NID (an offshoot of the FBI that deals with super secret departments like the SGC) has arrived to inform General Landry of a problem. A rogue branch of the NID, the Trust (which aims to gain access to alien technology without following protocol or diplomatic niceties) has apparently infiltrated the government even further than we thought. Barrett has learned that not only have the Trust infiltrated the SGC, they've managed to get an operative to Atlantis. It gets worse, Barrett goes on to tell Landry that their intel has revealed that the Trust has planted a bomb somewhere on Atlantis and it is set to detonate the next time Atlantis dials in to Earth for their weekly progress report. The next dial in is scheduled for today. Landry brings in Dr. Bill Lee to get to work immediately on a way to get word to Atlantis not to dial in to Earth. They can't use the gate because Earth doesn't have a ZPM and so no capability to dial an extra-galactic address, and it is possible that dialing in from Earth is equally likely to detonate the bomb.
On Atlantis Rodney is both surprised and creeped out to learn that Cadman is still in the city. She had apparently arrived on the Daedalus with its last visit and was supposed to leave with it as well. She tells Rodney that something came up so she asked Sheppard if she could stay a while longer and Sheppard agrees. Rodney is less than pleased and Sheppard ribs him a bit about being so uncomfortable around Cadman still.
Teyla, meanwhile, has learned that one of her people is very ill. Charin is like a grandmother to Teyla and Teyla asks Carson if he would be willing to visit the mainland to take a look at Charin to see if there is anything he can do for her. He agrees and they head out.
On Earth Dr. Lee has come up with a way to get in contact with Atlantis. The Daedalus, on its way back from the Pegasus galaxy, is currently too far away for the SGC to contact by normal means, but Dr. Lee says that if they gate a science team to a planet on the very edge of the Milky Way, the team should be able to reach the Daedalus with their most advanced long-range communications device. The Daedalus should still be in close enough range to contact Atlantis with her own long-range communications system and can then pass the message along. Dr. Lee likens it to the Twilight Bark from One Hundred and One Dalmatians and when he is met with nothing but blank stares at this switches his analogy to the signal towers from The Lord of the Rings movies, which everyone immediately gets.
They do manage to get their message to Colonel Caldwell, and he asks Novak if they are still close enough to relay the message to Atlantis. Novak replies that they are out of range, unfortunately, and Caldwell is in the process of telling her to alter the ship's course when Kavanagh chimes in that there is no way they will be able to get back in range in time to stop the dial in, which is scheduled for two hours from now. Hermiod then pipes up that he actually should be able to make some modifications to the hyperdrive that will allow them to travel fast enough to get in range in time. The process will not be without its risks, there is a chance they could burn out the ship's engines if they travel at that speed for too long, leaving them stranded between galaxies. Kavanagh is all gloom and doom about the plan but Hermiod is confident in his calculations and believes they will move into range of Atlantis before the ship is damaged. Caldwell tells him to do it.
On Atlantis everyone is preparing to dial in to Earth and they receive a transmission from the Daedalus at the last second, aborting the gate's dialing sequence in time. Rodney immediately disconnects the ZPM from the gate to prevent any accidental (or otherwise) dialing of Earth before they find and disable the bomb. Elizabeth decides to suspend gate travel until the situation is resolved (leaving Zelenka stuck on Kid Planet for the time being). Elizabeth tells them that it is entirely likely that it is the goa'uld (Stargate SG-1's big bad) behind the Trust's attack, since they have recently infiltrated that organization. They immediately set to work trying to find and disable the bomb, as well as trying to determine who in the city might be the Trust operative.
On the mainland, it is clear that Charin is very ill. She doesn't seem upset, however, when she tells Teyla that she is dying. She seems very at peace with her fate, and she asks Teyla to prepare a Ring Ceremony. Carson asks what this is and Teyla explains that because of the wraith it is extremely rare among her people for someone to die of natural causes/old age, and when they do, such a thing is to be celebrated. The Ring Ceremony does just that, honoring the life the person has lived. While describing it to Carson, Teyla starts to break down a bit, telling Charin she is not yet ready to let her go.
Back on Earth Barrett updates Landry. He has learned that the detonator for the bomb is not on Earth (to be activated once the gate connection between the two planets has been established) as they thought. The detonator is actually somewhere on Atlantis. Landry has the information relayed to the Daedalus. Caldwell passes the information on to Elizabeth. They haven't had much luck finding the bomb yet, but are glad of any new information. Elizabeth tells Rodney to start going over the city's systems to see if he can find anything, and Sheppard recommends that he have Cadman help him, since she is an explosives expert. Elizabeth also sends a message to Caldwell asking the Daedalus to return to the city to help with the investigation (and because she believes it is possible the Trust operative might have decided to flee the city when the ship left).
The gate begins to dial by itself, trying to make a connection to Earth. With the ZPM disconnected, it is unable to actually complete the sequence. Everyone takes (brief) breath of relief and Rodney is explaining that the Trust operative must have hacked the city's systems to make the gate dial automatically in case the regular dial in didn't happen as scheduled. Elizabeth is congratulating him on thinking to disconnect the ZPM when Cadman calls out that the city has started transmitting a distress beacon. They manage to shut it down, but the damage has been done. The nearby wraith cruisers detected the beacon and have changed course. They are now heading straight for Atlantis. The Lanteans head to the mainland to evacuate the Athosians to the city so that they will be hidden from the wraith under the city's cloak when the cruisers arrive. While Teyla is getting ready to go, Carson pulls her aside and says that after reviewing his checkup of Charin, he has found a few things he can do for her to prolong her life and make her feel better. Teyla thanks Carson and says she will let Charin know.
Caldwell has the Daedalus return to Atlantis so that they can help with the investigation into the Trust operative. There is a brief scene on Earth where Walter reports this information to Landry, who is less than happy, and says that there is nothing more they can do to help Atlantis in this situation. They are on their own. Elizabeth, meanwhile, has been going over passenger manifests from the Daedalus and has unfortunately found a few potential candidates to be the operative. She hates suspecting one of her own people, but she begins the process of interviewing likely suspects. Rodney pipes up that they should put Cadman on that list but both Sheppard and Elizabeth scoff at the idea, dismissing Rodney's suspicions to his dislike of the officer. Elizabeth's list is actually topped by Kavanagh and as she questions him, he bristles and responds with his usual foul temper.
On the mainland, most of the Athosians have been evacuated and Teyla is staying with Charin until a medical team can move her. She tells Charin of Carson's offer of help, that he can prolong her life, but Charin shakes her head and declines. She tells Teyla she has lived a full life and it is her time, she will not fight this and asks that Teyla not either. Teyla then breaks down completely, telling Charin that she is the only family Teyla has left and that if she dies, Teyla will then be truly alone. Charin tells Teyla that her people are her family and they will be looking to her for strength in the coming days. She will not be alone but she must be strong for her people.
In addition to questioning people she suspects of being the operative, Elizabeth also questions more trusted members of the Daedalus crew to see if any of them noticed anything suspicious or at least unusual. Novak tells Elizabeth that that "pony-tailed guy" (Kavanagh) seemed to always be up in everybody's business and has been kind of creepy, seemingly confirming Elizabeth's suspicions.
Rodney briefs the senior staff on their progress with the bomb. It turns out there actually isn't one. That is to say, there is no actual explosive device planted in the city. The operative was smart and rewrote Atlantis' operating system to disable the failsafes in place to prevent the ZPM from overloading. This would make something like dialing Earth cause the ZPM to go into catastrophic overload, causing an explosion that would result in the city (and likely planet) being completely destroyed. Unfortunately, that isn't the only routine that could cause the ZPM to overload, only the quickest. When the dial in to Earth failed to set off the ZPM, the operative's program used the automatic dialing attempt to distract everyone long enough to send the distress beacon, attracting the wraith. The ZPM has to be hooked back up in order to power the cloak hiding the city's existence from the wraith, which means that the operative's program will have new chances to overload the system causing the city to go boom.
All of this means they must find the Trust operative immediately. The wraith are on the way and the city has to be cloaked, there is no way around that. The failsafes can be reenabled, but it will require an access code from the operative to do so. Rodney says they don't have the kind of time needed to figure out the code on their own. Convinced that Kavanagh is the traitor, Elizabeth begins questioning him anew, but he maintains his innocence and that he has no code to give her. Ronon says they are wasting time and that he could get the code from Kavanagh in less than ten minutes, implying he would torture it out of him. Elizabeth and Rodney both balk at the idea of escalating to torture but both Sheppard (grudgingly) and Caldwell agree that it might be necessary.
Rodney waits until the wraith are as close as possible before reinstalling the ZPM and turning on the city's cloak. He and Cadman are standing by to monitor the city's systems for any sign of impending overload. It doesn't take long. The city's star drive (remember it is actually just a giant space ship) starts to gear up, and one ZPM is nowhere near enough to handle that kind of process. Without the failsafes, Rodney says they have thirty minutes until the city goes boom. Elizabeth and Caldwell start loading people into the Daedalus and puddle jumpers to evacuate the city and she also authorizes Ronon to do what he needs to in order to get the code from Kavanagh.
Charin, meanwhile, has passed on. Deciding to honor her wishes, Teyla and some of the other Athosians set up her Ring Ceremony in the infirmary. Carson is freaking out and trying to tell her she needs to get out. She explains very calmly that she and her group will leave on the final puddle jumper and then begins the ceremony. She sings a ritual song as we go into a montage of preparations to evacuate and attempts to stop the overload. Cadman finds Rodney and tells him she has found something while doing an analysis of the city's systems. Sheppard runs into the room where Ronon has Kavanagh yelling for him to stop. He finds Ronon standing over Kavanagh's prone body and is horrified until Ronon states that he hadn't done anything. Kavanagh fainted before Ronon could even touch him.
Caldwell is in his control chair aboard the Daedalus and radios to Elizabeth that he is ready to leave. When he doesn't receive a response he tries contacting her again and is beamed off the ship into the conference room on Atlantis to find Elizabeth, Ronon, and Sheppard. They tell him they found the evidence of his meddling in the systems and know that he is the Trust's operative. They demand the code from him and he refuses, his eyes glowing gold as he reveals that he isn't just a Trust operative, he is actually a goa'uld. Ronon knocks him down and Sheppard hits him with a taser, managing to subdue the goa'uld long enough for Caldwell's consciousness to surface and give them the code. They manage to get it to Rodney just in time and the city's failsafes are restored before the ZPM can overload.
As things wrap up, we learn that Hermiod is going to use the Asgard beaming technology to extract the goa'uld from Caldwell. Elizabeth asks Beckett to check out everyone else on the base and Daedalus crew just to be on the safe side. She is clearly very shaken by the whole situation. She is also beating herself up for allowing things to escalate with Kavanagh. Sheppard tries to reassure her that at least he wasn't hurt, but she is not comforted. She remarks on how they have been gloating over the infighting among the wraith and asks Sheppard how they are really any different.
Commentary
Wow, so this is a pretty tight go-go-go episode. A lot going on. Yet they still managed to squeeze in a few nice character moments. We get Zelenka's dislike of children (likely exacerbated by this trip, since he gets stuck on that planet longer than intended and comes back having gotten a lovely new Kid Planet makeover). There's Cadman and Rodney's relationship in the wake of the events of Duet, as well as a budding romance between Cadman and Carson (which is the likely "something that came up" to keep her in Atlantis longer). Sadly, this is the last time we ever see Cadman on the series (I think this has more to do with Jamie Ray Newman getting busy appearing on like every show ever around this time than anything else), though the character does appear in a few of Fandemonium's licensed tie-in novels at least. We also get Kavanagh pretty much still being an ass-hat even though it gets him suspected of trying to blow up the city and refusing to cooperate with anyone he thinks is beneath him, which is everyone. This pretty much seals his fate about not being allowed back (and probably about not wanting to go back) to Atlantis.
There was also a lot of Teyla development going on. She is losing the last person among her people that she truly considers family. Charin is convinced that Teyla is meant to lead her people, even while she stays with the Lanteans, and urges her to not lose sight of that. This is a pretty good way of showing the audience how difficult it must have been for Teyla to throw in her lot with Atlantis and separate herself from her own people, as well as why it might have seemed like no big thing on the outside. She is very much accustomed (and expected) to projecting strength for her people's sake. Also, wow, yeah, that is totally Rachel Luttrell actually singing there. That woman is talented. I kind of wish they had done a soundtrack beyond just the first season so I could get her song, but alas, didn't happen.
The goa'uld back story to this episode was a bit confusing for me the first time I watched it, because that is all totally tied up to Stargate SG-1 and what was going on in seasons eight and nine of that series. "Critical Mass" actually aired on the night that I first watched SG-1 ("Ripple Effect") as well, and I will always remember how I was a bit lost while watching it. Still, even though viewers of Atlantis only might be a bit confused with some of the characters and information just dropped in from SG-1, watching it now, I think they did a pretty good job of only giving us what we needed to know to follow the rest of the episode. The goa'uld threat in Atlantis pretty much begins and ends with the possession of Caldwell and they are really only ever mentioned again in direct reference to this event or in passing in regards to events of the other series that have an effect on the people in Atlantis.
Caldwell being possessed by a goa'uld actually goes a long way to explain why he has been such a jerk since he got to Atlantis, as well as why he was always so determined to step in and try to take over whenever possible. I have a theory (completely unfounded and unsupported) that the writers either didn't intend to make him so unlikable or didn't realize how often he would be recurring on the show. Once it became apparent, however, they needed to be able to give him at least a little bit of a reset button so that the audience might have a chance not to loathe him for trying to mess with the status quo on Atlantis.
Novak's nervous hiccups are also a carryover from SG-1, I believe from a season eight episode. They are amusing even if you don't know that (well, to me anyway), but as a running joke it just makes me giggle even more. Though I love Novak oodles as it is. I would have heartily enjoyed a spin-off series about her and Hermiod, truth be told.
Lastly, I always get a kick out of Dr. Lee's appearance in this episode. Enough that when I go back and watch his first couple of appearances on SG-1 I cringe a little, because he didn't come off so well at first. Still, I love his little drawings depicting the message relay process, as well as the fact that he likened it to the Twilight Bark. I am not sure I buy that no one in the conference room would have gotten that reference, though. One Hundred and One Dalmatians was an old movie when I was a kid, so most of those people would have, presumably, been exposed to it at some point in their youths. Still, I always giggle when they do all immediately grasp The Lord of the Rings reference instead. So there you go.
Favorite Quotes
"You'll find another way to get the message to them." (Landry)
"I will?" (Lee)
"Course you will. It's what I pay you for." (Landry)
"I would think after all this time you'd stop being creeped out by her." (Sheppard)
"She just has a way of getting under my skin. Literally." (Rodney)
"Dr. Kavanagh." (Hermiod)
"Yes?" (Kavanagh)
"Stop talking, please." (Hermiod)
"Explosives expert, huh?" (Rodney)
"High temperature and energetic materials technology. And I can tap dance too." (Cadman)
We'll wrap up here, kiddos. See you back here on Wednesday for a slightly quieter episode, "Grace Under Pressure."
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Completely Immersed
An announcement was made this week that a third Dragon Age book will be coming out (hopefully) later this year. As with the first two, the book will be written by David Gaider, who was the lead writer for the Dragon Age games (as well as a slew of other Bioware titles). The first two books were extremely spiffy, as I believe I have mentioned here before, so I'm sure you can imagine how excited this news makes me. The third book, titled Asunder, will tie in with the events of Dragon Age II. (Which, by the way, I finished last night, go me!)
This news, plus renewed chatter from Felicia Day about her forthcoming Dragon Age web-series (squee!), got me thinking (again) about how immersive the best science fiction and fantasy worlds are. If you have ever wondered why SFF fans are so completely into whatever they are fans of, I truly believe this is the reason. The amount of work that goes into creating these universes is staggering. There's enough there to allow the fans to actually imagine themselves within the world having their own adventures, with or without the "main" characters of the game or movie or show or what have you.
For my money, these are the top three most immersive SFF universes, the ones I want to just keep playing in and never come out:
Number 3: Star Wars
The really, truly, wonderfully cool thing about the Star Wars universe is that it goes so far beyond the central three (or six) stories. Beyond that handful of characters that everyone knows so well, whether they think themselves fans of Star Wars or science fiction at all. The expanded universe, both canon and not, extends for thousands of years before and after the original trilogy. There really are stories enough there to fill the entire galaxy that Lucas dreamed up way back when. Even with the tight reins he keeps on his sandbox, there is still more than enough room for everyone to play. Pick your flavor: Jedi? Mandalorian? Bounty Hunter? Smuggler? Sith? Clone? Imperial? Rebel? X-Wing Pilot? What era do you want to visit? There's a book or a game out there that will let you experience pretty much any story you might be craving.
Number 2: Stargate
Okay, one and two on this list are very closely placed, I'll grant you. With Stargate I can immerse myself completely in the story and the mythology of it all and, I won't lie, frequently imagine I am stationed on Atlantis butting heads with McKay on a daily basis. There are many, many books, most of them very well written. I hope Fandemonium keeps producing them for years to come. Big Finish Audio also produced two series of audio dramas, read/performed by the actor who portrayed the character each story is about. That's just darn cool. Then there's the fan fiction. That's a whole different kind of playground, but still a fun one. While the shows sparked no shortage of imaginations, everything is still so centrally linked to the main characters of whichever show one prefers. This isn't a bad thing, granted, what made Stargate so enduring was its amazing and memorable characters. I will be very curious to see if this doesn't expand a bit now that all of the shows are off the air. It would be lovely to see a (canonical) Stargate expanded universe that could grow to the size of the Star Wars EU. But even if that never happens, there is still the already mentioned fanfic. Some of those writers have already started telling stories about the next generation of 'gaters. Still, Stargate does come in at number two because, in the end, fiction though it may be, it is still set in a world that very closely resembles our own. It just isn't quite enough of an escape.
Number 1: Dragon Age
Of course. Oh, come on. Did you really think this was gonna be anything else? You know I have to really love this world to put it above the all-awesome Stargate. As I've said before, there is something about the world of Thedas that just draws me in. I am like a fish that saw something shiny and when I went to investigate, found myself being reeled in to shore. It seems more than likely I'll be getting a new, Dragon Age-related tattoo before the summer is out. I am already thinking about when I'll get my next chance to play it again. Sadly, that won't be any time soon. But hopefully the web-series and the new book can tide me over until I can get back. After all, we are only forty years into the Dragon Age itself, which leaves us another sixty to play around with. That's gotta be at least two or three more games, right?
I know I am not alone in this--the fandoms just these three universes have ignited are proof alone of that. But I also know there are so many more fandoms out there. Do any of you have a world that you just dive into head first? Where do you go to play, knowing full well you're likely to get lost, and being more than a little okay with that fact?
This news, plus renewed chatter from Felicia Day about her forthcoming Dragon Age web-series (squee!), got me thinking (again) about how immersive the best science fiction and fantasy worlds are. If you have ever wondered why SFF fans are so completely into whatever they are fans of, I truly believe this is the reason. The amount of work that goes into creating these universes is staggering. There's enough there to allow the fans to actually imagine themselves within the world having their own adventures, with or without the "main" characters of the game or movie or show or what have you.
For my money, these are the top three most immersive SFF universes, the ones I want to just keep playing in and never come out:
Number 3: Star Wars
The really, truly, wonderfully cool thing about the Star Wars universe is that it goes so far beyond the central three (or six) stories. Beyond that handful of characters that everyone knows so well, whether they think themselves fans of Star Wars or science fiction at all. The expanded universe, both canon and not, extends for thousands of years before and after the original trilogy. There really are stories enough there to fill the entire galaxy that Lucas dreamed up way back when. Even with the tight reins he keeps on his sandbox, there is still more than enough room for everyone to play. Pick your flavor: Jedi? Mandalorian? Bounty Hunter? Smuggler? Sith? Clone? Imperial? Rebel? X-Wing Pilot? What era do you want to visit? There's a book or a game out there that will let you experience pretty much any story you might be craving.
Number 2: Stargate
Okay, one and two on this list are very closely placed, I'll grant you. With Stargate I can immerse myself completely in the story and the mythology of it all and, I won't lie, frequently imagine I am stationed on Atlantis butting heads with McKay on a daily basis. There are many, many books, most of them very well written. I hope Fandemonium keeps producing them for years to come. Big Finish Audio also produced two series of audio dramas, read/performed by the actor who portrayed the character each story is about. That's just darn cool. Then there's the fan fiction. That's a whole different kind of playground, but still a fun one. While the shows sparked no shortage of imaginations, everything is still so centrally linked to the main characters of whichever show one prefers. This isn't a bad thing, granted, what made Stargate so enduring was its amazing and memorable characters. I will be very curious to see if this doesn't expand a bit now that all of the shows are off the air. It would be lovely to see a (canonical) Stargate expanded universe that could grow to the size of the Star Wars EU. But even if that never happens, there is still the already mentioned fanfic. Some of those writers have already started telling stories about the next generation of 'gaters. Still, Stargate does come in at number two because, in the end, fiction though it may be, it is still set in a world that very closely resembles our own. It just isn't quite enough of an escape.
Number 1: Dragon Age
Of course. Oh, come on. Did you really think this was gonna be anything else? You know I have to really love this world to put it above the all-awesome Stargate. As I've said before, there is something about the world of Thedas that just draws me in. I am like a fish that saw something shiny and when I went to investigate, found myself being reeled in to shore. It seems more than likely I'll be getting a new, Dragon Age-related tattoo before the summer is out. I am already thinking about when I'll get my next chance to play it again. Sadly, that won't be any time soon. But hopefully the web-series and the new book can tide me over until I can get back. After all, we are only forty years into the Dragon Age itself, which leaves us another sixty to play around with. That's gotta be at least two or three more games, right?
I know I am not alone in this--the fandoms just these three universes have ignited are proof alone of that. But I also know there are so many more fandoms out there. Do any of you have a world that you just dive into head first? Where do you go to play, knowing full well you're likely to get lost, and being more than a little okay with that fact?
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Stargate Tuesday: Gauntlet
Farewell Stargate. I will miss you more than I can even begin to say. But I will not lose hope. Perhaps you will be back on my television one day. Until then I've got DVDs and books and even fan fiction to fill the void you have left...
Spoilers ahead folks. Consider any and all filmed Stargate anything fair game, but specifically last night's episode of Stargate Universe, of course.
Greg Dean of Real Life Comics summed it up pretty well with yesterday's strip.
I dunno, I kind of feel like Joe Mallozzi lied to us when he said the season ended on a huge cliff-hanger along the lines of the season nine SG-1 finale. I mean, don't get me wrong, the end of the episode left a lot of questions open and would have made for a tense wait for season three had we been lucky enough to receive one. But as it stands, as the series (and franchise) finale, well, I have to say, it felt like a solid goodbye. This particular series as a whole has been about facing the unknown, and with that in mind, it was a fitting ending I think.
We start off the episode in the infirmary and learn, sadly, that Park's vision hasn't even begun to restore itself. T.J. is worried that the blindness may be permanent. She and Chloe have a discussion about the topic and it comes out that the whole thing just reminds T.J. that she has no way to save herself from her ALS. The disease is just lurking there in the shadows, preying on her mind whenever it isn't otherwise occupied. But she is trying, she tells Chloe, to just play the hand she's been dealt.
Team Science has managed to figure out a way to detect the drone command ships so they can avoid dropping out at gated planets where the enemy is waiting for them. That's the theory anyway. The problem is that the drones are waiting at every planet with a gate between Destiny's current position and the edge of the galaxy. They can't go off the plotted course and search out planets without gates because that will only be spending their very limited resources on a huge gamble (that they can locate planets with the supplies they need), one that is unlikely to pay off.
They have about a month of supplies on board, but don't want to delay the inevitable. Rush puts forward that they are just going to have to fight the ships. I know, right. Rush! Team Science explains to Young that the ship's shields normally run a constant pattern of changing frequencies. Each frequency is best suited to blocking out specific types of weapons, and while the cycling pattern allows for the ship to take many different kinds of hits during a battle, it means that at least part of any attack is going to get through when the cycle is not on the frequency that specifically keeps it out. But they know the exact frequency of the drones' weapons. So they fine-tune the shields so that it will stay on the frequency that repels the drones and drop out of FTL right on top of one of the command ships (literally). With the element of surprise and their enhanced shields, they are able to take out the ship and send shuttles down to the planet to resupply.
Unfortunately this gambit cost quite a bit of power and they still took on a fair amount of damage from drones that just plowed straight into Destiny. Apparently the shields weren't fine-tuned enough to deal with that. They quickly realize that the ship cannot afford to keep doing this all the way to through the galaxy, especially since they are only about a third of the way through.
So Eli decides they should just skip it.
He comes up with a plan that will allow them to jump Destiny out of the galaxy sideways and then across the void between it and the next galaxy, which everyone hopes will be a bit more hospitable. Only catch is that it will take them about three years. Young points out the obvious fact that they don't have the kind of supplies for that. Eli then reveals the part of his plan where the crew uses the ship's stasis pods while they make the jump to the next galaxy. With everyone in stasis, there is no need for supplies and they can put everything in energy-saver mode, leaving them just about enough power to get where they are going and wake up somewhere (hopefully) drone-free.
Rush futzes and objects to this plan. Young asks Eli how long it will take to get the pods ready and Eli tells him about twenty-four hours. Young tells Rush that he has that long to come up with a better idea. Chloe goes to talk to him (she is apparently turning into the crew's shrink as well as math-girl) and we learn that he objects to the plan because he doesn't want to miss anything they might discover about the ship's mission to find the source of the pre-Big Bang signal. He says he just doesn't want everything they have been through to be for nothing. Chloe points out that if they stay on their current course they are going to get killed by the drones, and Destiny will be destroyed right along with them. Then it all definitely would be for nothing. With Eli's plan, even if they never wake up, the ship itself will still go on. It will still be out there searching. So Rush acquiesces and gets on board with Eli's plan.
The crew takes the opportunity to each take a brief visit home via the communication stones and say goodbye to loved ones. Eli's visit with his mother was particularly touching. As was Park's visit--in her borrowed body she can once more see and she drinks in the sights for all she's worth.
The air on the ship is amazingly one of general cooperation and acceptance. So of course something goes wrong. Turns out the last bank of stasis pods have been damaged, probably since before the crew even boarded the ship. They can be fixed but it will require using the gates to get to a planet with the necessary materials. Otherwise they are gonna be eight pods short, and there will be no way for those eight crew members not in stasis to survive for three years if the ship is to make it to the next galaxy.
Then Park has an absolutely brilliant idea (while having a very sweet and slightly heartbreaking conversation with Greer--seriously, I love these two together). They drop off one of their shuttles a short FTL hop away from the planet they need to get to, and it sends out a sub-space signal emulating an opening stargate. This will cause the command ship at the planet to go check it out, and while it is gone they can gate to the planet and get what they need then bug out. To keep the command ship distracted they use an autopilot program and reconfigure the shields to withstand the drones' attacks, the more time to buy before the command ship can go back to the planet. Eli even figures out how they can wire the shuttle to go critical, taking out the command ship with it when it blows. That was pretty groovy. Too bad they didn't just have a whole fleet of shuttles, eh?
So the pods get fixed and everyone starts to go into stasis. We get some sweet goodbyes from the various couples--T.J. and Varro, Scott and Chloe, Greer and Park (with a really interesting shot from Park's perspective of her saying goodbye to Greer with Volker in the background looking on as he goes into the pod across from her). Finally it is down to Eli, Rush, and Young to make the final preparations. Then the other shoe drops.
The very last stasis pod was more damaged than they realized until it was fully initialized. Uh oh. The calculations show they have about two weeks worth of minimal life support, enough for one person, before cutting into the reserves needed to ensure that Destiny can power itself to the next galaxy. (If it runs out of power, it will drift and they won't wake up for a thousand years, as opposed to three.) Rush volunteers to be the odd man out. He will try to fix the pod within the two weeks so he too can go into stasis. Young still doesn't trust him though. He can't quite make himself believe that if Rush can't fix the pod within the two weeks that he will sacrifice himself so that the rest of the crew can make it. So Young decides to be the one to stay out. Eli realizes, however, that this means that Young will definitely die, because he can't fix the pod. So Eli volunteers to stay out instead. He has a better chance of fixing the pod, and should he fail, he is willing to sacrifice himself for the lives of everyone else.
So there we end, with Young and Rush in stasis and Eli the lone caretaker of the crew. The final shot is of Eli alone on the observation deck, looking out at the universe, smiling a small smile to himself. And then...the end.
The obvious "cliff-hanger" here is the question of whether or not Eli was able to fix the pod in time, and if the ship did indeed have enough power to make it across the void to the next harbor. But as I said, this whole series has been about facing the unknown, and I feel like the way we leave the crew of Destiny is fitting. Granted, I would be absolutely the last person to complain if we do ever get to find out what happens next. I am really truly hoping that Fandemonium does a set of novels for SGU similar to what they are now doing for Atlantis. But if they don't, that's okay. My imagination is sailing through that void with Eli, hoping he makes it and picturing what might be next.
Sure there were quite a few unresolved plot lines, but that just makes this series feel all the more real to me. They were the kind of questions we all have to face in life--unresolved romance, health concerns, basic questions of survival. The "great mystery" of the show, that of the signal for which Destiny searched, never really called to me. That was Rush's white whale, not mine. I was with the rest of the crew, hoping they could survive until they found a way back home, or barring that, could make a life for themselves on the ship they were forced to call home.
I do have to say that as much as this was an ensemble cast, and as much as this show was about all of its characters...well, it really was Eli's story, wasn't it? We start with him and we end with him, and all is perhaps as it should be. David Blue did an absolutely amazing job of playing the everyman in Eli Wallace, and it was a real pleasure to watch him spread his acting wings as Eli's character grew over the two all too short seasons.
So there you have it folks. The end of Stargate. The end of an era. I wish I had discovered it earlier, but if that is my only regret then it is a pale one indeed.
I believe that starting in June, I am going to do a rewatch of Stargate Atlantis here on this blog for you. One or two episodes a week. I'll throw out more details as I decide on them, but I do believe that is the course I am going to take. Gotta keep the love alive, and that is how I plan to do so. I hope you'll join me.
Spoilers ahead folks. Consider any and all filmed Stargate anything fair game, but specifically last night's episode of Stargate Universe, of course.
Greg Dean of Real Life Comics summed it up pretty well with yesterday's strip.
I dunno, I kind of feel like Joe Mallozzi lied to us when he said the season ended on a huge cliff-hanger along the lines of the season nine SG-1 finale. I mean, don't get me wrong, the end of the episode left a lot of questions open and would have made for a tense wait for season three had we been lucky enough to receive one. But as it stands, as the series (and franchise) finale, well, I have to say, it felt like a solid goodbye. This particular series as a whole has been about facing the unknown, and with that in mind, it was a fitting ending I think.
We start off the episode in the infirmary and learn, sadly, that Park's vision hasn't even begun to restore itself. T.J. is worried that the blindness may be permanent. She and Chloe have a discussion about the topic and it comes out that the whole thing just reminds T.J. that she has no way to save herself from her ALS. The disease is just lurking there in the shadows, preying on her mind whenever it isn't otherwise occupied. But she is trying, she tells Chloe, to just play the hand she's been dealt.
Team Science has managed to figure out a way to detect the drone command ships so they can avoid dropping out at gated planets where the enemy is waiting for them. That's the theory anyway. The problem is that the drones are waiting at every planet with a gate between Destiny's current position and the edge of the galaxy. They can't go off the plotted course and search out planets without gates because that will only be spending their very limited resources on a huge gamble (that they can locate planets with the supplies they need), one that is unlikely to pay off.
They have about a month of supplies on board, but don't want to delay the inevitable. Rush puts forward that they are just going to have to fight the ships. I know, right. Rush! Team Science explains to Young that the ship's shields normally run a constant pattern of changing frequencies. Each frequency is best suited to blocking out specific types of weapons, and while the cycling pattern allows for the ship to take many different kinds of hits during a battle, it means that at least part of any attack is going to get through when the cycle is not on the frequency that specifically keeps it out. But they know the exact frequency of the drones' weapons. So they fine-tune the shields so that it will stay on the frequency that repels the drones and drop out of FTL right on top of one of the command ships (literally). With the element of surprise and their enhanced shields, they are able to take out the ship and send shuttles down to the planet to resupply.
Unfortunately this gambit cost quite a bit of power and they still took on a fair amount of damage from drones that just plowed straight into Destiny. Apparently the shields weren't fine-tuned enough to deal with that. They quickly realize that the ship cannot afford to keep doing this all the way to through the galaxy, especially since they are only about a third of the way through.
So Eli decides they should just skip it.
He comes up with a plan that will allow them to jump Destiny out of the galaxy sideways and then across the void between it and the next galaxy, which everyone hopes will be a bit more hospitable. Only catch is that it will take them about three years. Young points out the obvious fact that they don't have the kind of supplies for that. Eli then reveals the part of his plan where the crew uses the ship's stasis pods while they make the jump to the next galaxy. With everyone in stasis, there is no need for supplies and they can put everything in energy-saver mode, leaving them just about enough power to get where they are going and wake up somewhere (hopefully) drone-free.
Rush futzes and objects to this plan. Young asks Eli how long it will take to get the pods ready and Eli tells him about twenty-four hours. Young tells Rush that he has that long to come up with a better idea. Chloe goes to talk to him (she is apparently turning into the crew's shrink as well as math-girl) and we learn that he objects to the plan because he doesn't want to miss anything they might discover about the ship's mission to find the source of the pre-Big Bang signal. He says he just doesn't want everything they have been through to be for nothing. Chloe points out that if they stay on their current course they are going to get killed by the drones, and Destiny will be destroyed right along with them. Then it all definitely would be for nothing. With Eli's plan, even if they never wake up, the ship itself will still go on. It will still be out there searching. So Rush acquiesces and gets on board with Eli's plan.
The crew takes the opportunity to each take a brief visit home via the communication stones and say goodbye to loved ones. Eli's visit with his mother was particularly touching. As was Park's visit--in her borrowed body she can once more see and she drinks in the sights for all she's worth.
The air on the ship is amazingly one of general cooperation and acceptance. So of course something goes wrong. Turns out the last bank of stasis pods have been damaged, probably since before the crew even boarded the ship. They can be fixed but it will require using the gates to get to a planet with the necessary materials. Otherwise they are gonna be eight pods short, and there will be no way for those eight crew members not in stasis to survive for three years if the ship is to make it to the next galaxy.
Then Park has an absolutely brilliant idea (while having a very sweet and slightly heartbreaking conversation with Greer--seriously, I love these two together). They drop off one of their shuttles a short FTL hop away from the planet they need to get to, and it sends out a sub-space signal emulating an opening stargate. This will cause the command ship at the planet to go check it out, and while it is gone they can gate to the planet and get what they need then bug out. To keep the command ship distracted they use an autopilot program and reconfigure the shields to withstand the drones' attacks, the more time to buy before the command ship can go back to the planet. Eli even figures out how they can wire the shuttle to go critical, taking out the command ship with it when it blows. That was pretty groovy. Too bad they didn't just have a whole fleet of shuttles, eh?
So the pods get fixed and everyone starts to go into stasis. We get some sweet goodbyes from the various couples--T.J. and Varro, Scott and Chloe, Greer and Park (with a really interesting shot from Park's perspective of her saying goodbye to Greer with Volker in the background looking on as he goes into the pod across from her). Finally it is down to Eli, Rush, and Young to make the final preparations. Then the other shoe drops.
The very last stasis pod was more damaged than they realized until it was fully initialized. Uh oh. The calculations show they have about two weeks worth of minimal life support, enough for one person, before cutting into the reserves needed to ensure that Destiny can power itself to the next galaxy. (If it runs out of power, it will drift and they won't wake up for a thousand years, as opposed to three.) Rush volunteers to be the odd man out. He will try to fix the pod within the two weeks so he too can go into stasis. Young still doesn't trust him though. He can't quite make himself believe that if Rush can't fix the pod within the two weeks that he will sacrifice himself so that the rest of the crew can make it. So Young decides to be the one to stay out. Eli realizes, however, that this means that Young will definitely die, because he can't fix the pod. So Eli volunteers to stay out instead. He has a better chance of fixing the pod, and should he fail, he is willing to sacrifice himself for the lives of everyone else.
So there we end, with Young and Rush in stasis and Eli the lone caretaker of the crew. The final shot is of Eli alone on the observation deck, looking out at the universe, smiling a small smile to himself. And then...the end.
The obvious "cliff-hanger" here is the question of whether or not Eli was able to fix the pod in time, and if the ship did indeed have enough power to make it across the void to the next harbor. But as I said, this whole series has been about facing the unknown, and I feel like the way we leave the crew of Destiny is fitting. Granted, I would be absolutely the last person to complain if we do ever get to find out what happens next. I am really truly hoping that Fandemonium does a set of novels for SGU similar to what they are now doing for Atlantis. But if they don't, that's okay. My imagination is sailing through that void with Eli, hoping he makes it and picturing what might be next.
Sure there were quite a few unresolved plot lines, but that just makes this series feel all the more real to me. They were the kind of questions we all have to face in life--unresolved romance, health concerns, basic questions of survival. The "great mystery" of the show, that of the signal for which Destiny searched, never really called to me. That was Rush's white whale, not mine. I was with the rest of the crew, hoping they could survive until they found a way back home, or barring that, could make a life for themselves on the ship they were forced to call home.
I do have to say that as much as this was an ensemble cast, and as much as this show was about all of its characters...well, it really was Eli's story, wasn't it? We start with him and we end with him, and all is perhaps as it should be. David Blue did an absolutely amazing job of playing the everyman in Eli Wallace, and it was a real pleasure to watch him spread his acting wings as Eli's character grew over the two all too short seasons.
So there you have it folks. The end of Stargate. The end of an era. I wish I had discovered it earlier, but if that is my only regret then it is a pale one indeed.
I believe that starting in June, I am going to do a rewatch of Stargate Atlantis here on this blog for you. One or two episodes a week. I'll throw out more details as I decide on them, but I do believe that is the course I am going to take. Gotta keep the love alive, and that is how I plan to do so. I hope you'll join me.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
I Think They Are Reproducing When I Am Not Looking
Yesterday I finished the second book in Fandemonium's Stargate Atlantis Legacy series. This is the series (I think it is planned to be six books, but I could totally be making that up) that sets out to provide answers to all of the questions left when Stargate Atlantis finished its five-season run on television. Without going into too much detail, I will say that so far it is completely AWESOME (I want Jo Graham to be involved with every Stargate Atlantis book that Fandemonium puts out going forward, seriously). If you are feeling the forthcoming lack of Stargate goodness, you should really check these books out.
After I finished the book, I put it on the bookshelf and then went to grab the next book in my reading pile. Ahh, my reading pile. After retrieving the next book to read, I went ahead and did something I have been meaning to do for a while now. I tackled the pile and gave it a good reorganizing.
It needed it.
I had been putting the books on a dresser in the bedroom in two vertical stacks (and one messy pile of comic books and graphic novels). These stacks were starting to get perilous though, and frequently I have found myself pushing books closer to the wall so as to prevent toppling. So yesterday I pulled everything off the dresser (then dusted because, um, yeah) and spread it all out and really took a look at what I had.
I sorted the books by priority, as in, which books I really wanted to read and in what order. This is harder than it sounds. For instance, the last four books are last not because I don't want to read them very much but because I will have to read the first three books in that particular series again before I can get to those four. Still, I think I managed a good queue. Then I put them back on the dresser in a much neater (and hopefully safer) fashion. They are now in three horizontal rows, with the ones I am most excited about in the front.
I have four books pre-ordered from Amazon right now (one of which will immediately go to the front of the queue when it gets here, the other three are of middling priority). I am going to try very hard to only purchase any new books in series that I am already reading for the rest of the year (i.e., Stargate books). Plus, every six weeks I get a new Stephen King book because I am totally doing the Stephen King book club thing. Some of these are just hardcover versions of books we already have in paperback and are upgrading, but those that aren't will go to on the pile in the back. I don't think there's any way for me to not continue adding to the pile. Me not buying any new books is not a thing that is going to happen. But hopefully I can stanch the flow until I get some of these knocked out.
Also, I have resolved to do a reorg after I finish a "row" to keep the pile from turning into a leaning tower of scary again. That just seems like a sensible idea.
This whole project has reminded me that I don't read anywhere near as much as I like to anymore. Sadly, I am pretty sure video games take the brunt of the blame for that. I am usually playing during the time that is most ideally suited for me to read. I think when I finish my current game sequence, I may need to take a break from video games again for a while and dive into the books. With the nicer weather coming on hopefully that won't be too difficult, since reading outside will have a decent appeal.
Right now my plan is to read the book I just started (another Stargate book, the last in my pile for the time being and a quick read) and then get to my huge pile of comic books and graphic novels:
Once I've survived that, it will be time to start climbing Everest.
I am actually really excited about that first row! For the curious, here is what it contains:
Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik (part of the Temeraire series)
Blackveil by Kristen Britain (part of the Green Rider series)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (book one of The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (book two of The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Star Wars: Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller
Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit by Mercedes Lackey
So, yeah, good stuff all around.
After I finished the book, I put it on the bookshelf and then went to grab the next book in my reading pile. Ahh, my reading pile. After retrieving the next book to read, I went ahead and did something I have been meaning to do for a while now. I tackled the pile and gave it a good reorganizing.
It needed it.
I had been putting the books on a dresser in the bedroom in two vertical stacks (and one messy pile of comic books and graphic novels). These stacks were starting to get perilous though, and frequently I have found myself pushing books closer to the wall so as to prevent toppling. So yesterday I pulled everything off the dresser (then dusted because, um, yeah) and spread it all out and really took a look at what I had.
I sorted the books by priority, as in, which books I really wanted to read and in what order. This is harder than it sounds. For instance, the last four books are last not because I don't want to read them very much but because I will have to read the first three books in that particular series again before I can get to those four. Still, I think I managed a good queue. Then I put them back on the dresser in a much neater (and hopefully safer) fashion. They are now in three horizontal rows, with the ones I am most excited about in the front.
I have four books pre-ordered from Amazon right now (one of which will immediately go to the front of the queue when it gets here, the other three are of middling priority). I am going to try very hard to only purchase any new books in series that I am already reading for the rest of the year (i.e., Stargate books). Plus, every six weeks I get a new Stephen King book because I am totally doing the Stephen King book club thing. Some of these are just hardcover versions of books we already have in paperback and are upgrading, but those that aren't will go to on the pile in the back. I don't think there's any way for me to not continue adding to the pile. Me not buying any new books is not a thing that is going to happen. But hopefully I can stanch the flow until I get some of these knocked out.
Also, I have resolved to do a reorg after I finish a "row" to keep the pile from turning into a leaning tower of scary again. That just seems like a sensible idea.
This whole project has reminded me that I don't read anywhere near as much as I like to anymore. Sadly, I am pretty sure video games take the brunt of the blame for that. I am usually playing during the time that is most ideally suited for me to read. I think when I finish my current game sequence, I may need to take a break from video games again for a while and dive into the books. With the nicer weather coming on hopefully that won't be too difficult, since reading outside will have a decent appeal.
Right now my plan is to read the book I just started (another Stargate book, the last in my pile for the time being and a quick read) and then get to my huge pile of comic books and graphic novels:
 |
| My current pile of graphic novels and comic books to tackle. |
Once I've survived that, it will be time to start climbing Everest.
 | |
| The newly reorganized reading pile. |
I am actually really excited about that first row! For the curious, here is what it contains:
Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik (part of the Temeraire series)
Blackveil by Kristen Britain (part of the Green Rider series)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (book one of The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (book two of The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Star Wars: Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller
Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit by Mercedes Lackey
So, yeah, good stuff all around.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Stargate Tuesday: Common Descent
Be warned, there are spoilers ahead. For the story and the mood, unfortunately.
So, first things first. Word came down over the weekend, from the mouth of Brad Wright that with the end of Stargate Universe's second season, the Stargate franchise as we know it will officially be dead. All plans for direct to DVD movies across the franchise (the already written scripts for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis as well as a Stargate Universe movie to conclude the story arc) have permanently been shelved. Even the eleventh hour story idea combining all three shows in one movie has been scrapped. Joseph Mallozzi confirmed it in his blog as well.
Bummer doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this. It sucks, to be quite frank. We have three more episode of Stargate Universe and then that's all she wrote, folks.
Fandemonium has already embarked upon their own attempt to tie up loose ends with the recently begun post-series finale set of Stargate Atlantis books. I can only hope they continue the venture for many years to come, possibly giving us some closure for the Stargate Universe story as well. Perhaps these books will stand to broaden and expand the world of Stargate in much the same way the Star Wars expanded universe books have done. I dearly hope they do so.*
There is always the chance that a few years down the road MGM will license the rights to someone else and we'll get a reboot. That is, after all, what happened from the original motion picture to Stargate SG-1. It might be awesome. It won't be the same though. So farewell to my beloved Stargate. I will miss you more than I can even begin to say. But I will never forget. Don't for one second believe those DVDs sitting in my front room will not continue to be viewed over and over again.
But on to last night's episode.
"Common Descent" hearkened back to earlier in the series when the crew of Destiny attempted to dial Earth from within a star and all sorts of time-traveling complications ensued. The general assumption was that the crew died in the unstable wormhole, but we learned last night that this was not so. Instead, they were sent back in time about two thousand years and, since there was no Destiny at that location two thousand years previous, the wormhole jumped to connect with the nearest gate.
The crew (all except for Rush and Telford) was deposited on a planet they ended up naming Novus. Against all adversity they managed to thrive (eventually splitting into two distinct cultures, which over time rose into two different nations). About thirty years prior to present day, worrying seismic activity on Novus caused the people of at least one of the nations to send out expeditions in search of a new habitable planet.
So, present day. Destiny is plugging along and we learn that a lot of people are suffering from headaches and nausea. Seems like the CO2 scrubbers are running low on lime once more and the air is getting yucky. The ship drops out of hyperspace and there seem to be two planets within range, only one with a gate they can access. They send a kino through and preliminary surveys suggest that they should be able to replenish many of their supplies (as well as lime) there. Eli tells this to Chloe and Wray, and they remark that they hope the team finds some more of a purple fruit they had previously found. Eli remarks that those tasted terrible and they agree and start giggling. They are in the midst of refusing to tell him why they would want more in that case (I suspect that perhaps they were cucumber shaped) when out the window they see quickly approaching lights.
It turns out that the drones from the mid-season premiere have been tracking them across the system somehow and have finally caught up. The ship is able to take out several of the drones but not before the command ship appears and also attacks. Young wonders if the drones tracked them by the drone they have been studying aboard Destiny and orders it to be jettisoned and destroyed. Then he orders them to force a jump into FTL and get the heck out of there, hoping they can lose the drones for good this time.
En route, the ship wants to stop as soon as it gets in range of more planets. The scientists convince Young to let this happen, because they do desperately need more lime at least, not to mention other supplies. Scott and Greer take a team to the planet to scout it out and run into a couple of kids around Scott's age or younger who recognize the pair of them and claim that they are the descendants of the crew.
After the initial WTF moments, there is a lot of exposition learning the history of the colonists and of the original Destiny crew that founded their civilization. The colonists explain that shortly after arriving on the planet they lost contact with Novus and have not been able to make a connection since then. They ask the crew of Destiny to take them back to their planet so they can learn what happened to their civilization.
Young is reluctant to do this (as is Rush), due to the lack of resources available and the strain that many extra people will put on the ship. His hand is forced, however, when the drones show up and launch simultaneous attacks on the planet and on the ship. Most of the colonists are evacuated to the ship, but then a drone takes out the gate, stranding Eli, Wray, Scott, and Greer on the planet, along with the remaining survivors of the attack. It looks pretty certain that the crew is stranded until Eli figures out a way to use the gate's sub-space network connection to send a message to Destiny. He can't figure out how to do more than turn the thing on and off, but Scott realizes this is a perfect way to send a message via morse code. Destiny gets the message and returns to the planet to pick up the survivors, then decides to head on to Novus to check things out, since there's really no way the ship can hold that many people for very long.
Along the way, Rush and Eli figure out that the drones must have been tracking them using the stargates themselves--activation of a stargate is a major sub-space event, apparently, and would stand out like a beacon to anyone looking for it. This means no using gates until team science figures out a way around that problem.
On Novus Scott takes a shuttle down and finds a massive modern looking city, completely intact and completely empty. The atmosphere of the planet is filled with smoke/dust/ash and it is crazy cold. They fear that nuclear winter has set in, meaning the two nations had finally gone to war with each other, but there is no sign of radiation or any electronic signals at all. They deduce that the seismic activity likely caused a super-volcano to erupt, which caused an extinction level event and explains the ash cloud and winter conditions, as well as the lack of any and all life signs.
Next week, the crew investigates the city of their descendants.
This was, once more, a completely awesome episode. There were so many little details that were wonderful touches and made the story work quite well. The two nations the crew split into? One was led by Young and another was led by Brody, who claimed that Rush was still on the ship and would figure out a way to come back and save them all one day. This resulted in one nation that over two thousand years came to believe in Rush as some sort of deity (and was named after a font), and one that saw him as some sort of demon, hell-bent on stealing people's souls. This led for some wonderfully awkward moments when some of the colonists (all from the Team Young country) met the real live Rush. I did find it interesting, and a little odd, that the first baby born on Novus (we got to see the kino footage of it) was the child of T.J. and Young. I guess getting stranded on a planet thousands of years in the past rekindled their relationship? It was a good contrast to now, when T.J. and Varro are just starting to build a relationship, and had a very interesting "road not taken" perspective to add to the episode.
I do have to wonder how Wray had descendants, seeing as how she is not interested in the guys. I guess she decided it was her duty to help perpetuate the species? Hmm. I dunno. I am still not sure there were enough people on the ship to create a sustained population, but to find out would require research I don't feel like doing.
It was amusing when Greer got all chuffed by the old lady telling him how handsome he is. I love Greer.
I'll be very curious indeed to see how this story plays out/wraps up next week, to be sure.
Sigh, only three more to go folks, and I have a feeling they are just getting started.
As I said, bummer doesn't even begin to describe it.
Until next time.
*Of course, you know that fan fiction isn't going anywhere.
So, first things first. Word came down over the weekend, from the mouth of Brad Wright that with the end of Stargate Universe's second season, the Stargate franchise as we know it will officially be dead. All plans for direct to DVD movies across the franchise (the already written scripts for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis as well as a Stargate Universe movie to conclude the story arc) have permanently been shelved. Even the eleventh hour story idea combining all three shows in one movie has been scrapped. Joseph Mallozzi confirmed it in his blog as well.
Bummer doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this. It sucks, to be quite frank. We have three more episode of Stargate Universe and then that's all she wrote, folks.
Fandemonium has already embarked upon their own attempt to tie up loose ends with the recently begun post-series finale set of Stargate Atlantis books. I can only hope they continue the venture for many years to come, possibly giving us some closure for the Stargate Universe story as well. Perhaps these books will stand to broaden and expand the world of Stargate in much the same way the Star Wars expanded universe books have done. I dearly hope they do so.*
There is always the chance that a few years down the road MGM will license the rights to someone else and we'll get a reboot. That is, after all, what happened from the original motion picture to Stargate SG-1. It might be awesome. It won't be the same though. So farewell to my beloved Stargate. I will miss you more than I can even begin to say. But I will never forget. Don't for one second believe those DVDs sitting in my front room will not continue to be viewed over and over again.
But on to last night's episode.
 |
| This Stargate fan will never stop showing off her love of the franchise. |
"Common Descent" hearkened back to earlier in the series when the crew of Destiny attempted to dial Earth from within a star and all sorts of time-traveling complications ensued. The general assumption was that the crew died in the unstable wormhole, but we learned last night that this was not so. Instead, they were sent back in time about two thousand years and, since there was no Destiny at that location two thousand years previous, the wormhole jumped to connect with the nearest gate.
The crew (all except for Rush and Telford) was deposited on a planet they ended up naming Novus. Against all adversity they managed to thrive (eventually splitting into two distinct cultures, which over time rose into two different nations). About thirty years prior to present day, worrying seismic activity on Novus caused the people of at least one of the nations to send out expeditions in search of a new habitable planet.
So, present day. Destiny is plugging along and we learn that a lot of people are suffering from headaches and nausea. Seems like the CO2 scrubbers are running low on lime once more and the air is getting yucky. The ship drops out of hyperspace and there seem to be two planets within range, only one with a gate they can access. They send a kino through and preliminary surveys suggest that they should be able to replenish many of their supplies (as well as lime) there. Eli tells this to Chloe and Wray, and they remark that they hope the team finds some more of a purple fruit they had previously found. Eli remarks that those tasted terrible and they agree and start giggling. They are in the midst of refusing to tell him why they would want more in that case (I suspect that perhaps they were cucumber shaped) when out the window they see quickly approaching lights.
It turns out that the drones from the mid-season premiere have been tracking them across the system somehow and have finally caught up. The ship is able to take out several of the drones but not before the command ship appears and also attacks. Young wonders if the drones tracked them by the drone they have been studying aboard Destiny and orders it to be jettisoned and destroyed. Then he orders them to force a jump into FTL and get the heck out of there, hoping they can lose the drones for good this time.
En route, the ship wants to stop as soon as it gets in range of more planets. The scientists convince Young to let this happen, because they do desperately need more lime at least, not to mention other supplies. Scott and Greer take a team to the planet to scout it out and run into a couple of kids around Scott's age or younger who recognize the pair of them and claim that they are the descendants of the crew.
After the initial WTF moments, there is a lot of exposition learning the history of the colonists and of the original Destiny crew that founded their civilization. The colonists explain that shortly after arriving on the planet they lost contact with Novus and have not been able to make a connection since then. They ask the crew of Destiny to take them back to their planet so they can learn what happened to their civilization.
Young is reluctant to do this (as is Rush), due to the lack of resources available and the strain that many extra people will put on the ship. His hand is forced, however, when the drones show up and launch simultaneous attacks on the planet and on the ship. Most of the colonists are evacuated to the ship, but then a drone takes out the gate, stranding Eli, Wray, Scott, and Greer on the planet, along with the remaining survivors of the attack. It looks pretty certain that the crew is stranded until Eli figures out a way to use the gate's sub-space network connection to send a message to Destiny. He can't figure out how to do more than turn the thing on and off, but Scott realizes this is a perfect way to send a message via morse code. Destiny gets the message and returns to the planet to pick up the survivors, then decides to head on to Novus to check things out, since there's really no way the ship can hold that many people for very long.
Along the way, Rush and Eli figure out that the drones must have been tracking them using the stargates themselves--activation of a stargate is a major sub-space event, apparently, and would stand out like a beacon to anyone looking for it. This means no using gates until team science figures out a way around that problem.
On Novus Scott takes a shuttle down and finds a massive modern looking city, completely intact and completely empty. The atmosphere of the planet is filled with smoke/dust/ash and it is crazy cold. They fear that nuclear winter has set in, meaning the two nations had finally gone to war with each other, but there is no sign of radiation or any electronic signals at all. They deduce that the seismic activity likely caused a super-volcano to erupt, which caused an extinction level event and explains the ash cloud and winter conditions, as well as the lack of any and all life signs.
Next week, the crew investigates the city of their descendants.
This was, once more, a completely awesome episode. There were so many little details that were wonderful touches and made the story work quite well. The two nations the crew split into? One was led by Young and another was led by Brody, who claimed that Rush was still on the ship and would figure out a way to come back and save them all one day. This resulted in one nation that over two thousand years came to believe in Rush as some sort of deity (and was named after a font), and one that saw him as some sort of demon, hell-bent on stealing people's souls. This led for some wonderfully awkward moments when some of the colonists (all from the Team Young country) met the real live Rush. I did find it interesting, and a little odd, that the first baby born on Novus (we got to see the kino footage of it) was the child of T.J. and Young. I guess getting stranded on a planet thousands of years in the past rekindled their relationship? It was a good contrast to now, when T.J. and Varro are just starting to build a relationship, and had a very interesting "road not taken" perspective to add to the episode.
I do have to wonder how Wray had descendants, seeing as how she is not interested in the guys. I guess she decided it was her duty to help perpetuate the species? Hmm. I dunno. I am still not sure there were enough people on the ship to create a sustained population, but to find out would require research I don't feel like doing.
It was amusing when Greer got all chuffed by the old lady telling him how handsome he is. I love Greer.
I'll be very curious indeed to see how this story plays out/wraps up next week, to be sure.
Sigh, only three more to go folks, and I have a feeling they are just getting started.
As I said, bummer doesn't even begin to describe it.
Until next time.
*Of course, you know that fan fiction isn't going anywhere.
Monday, April 4, 2011
That's Much More Like It
I have dived back in to my pile of Fandemonium's Stargate novels recently. I've read two since the disaster that made me take a break from them in the first place. The first was another SG-1 adventure, and it was not too bad, actually. It pretty much did what I would want any Stargate novel to do, which is to say, it felt like a lovely little one-off adventure that could fit nicely within the framework of the series' existing stories. Mostly, it made me remember why I enjoy these books in the first place.
This past weekend I finished up the first Atlantis entry in my pile. Death Game by Jo Graham was actually pretty delightful, I have to say. I was actually quite surprised to go back and look over my shelf of Stargate books and realize this was her first novel in the franchise, because she wrote the characters very well. It didn't hurt that while Major Lorne wasn't one of the points of view we got to read from, he was still one of the main players in the story, and was accompanying McKay, along with Cadman. Lorne and McKay's interactions on the television show always had just an edge of wry humor to them I enjoyed, and Graham was able to keep to that quite nicely. Adding Cadman in to the mix gave another layer of humor that made their scenes even more fun to read.
I only had two quibbles with the book at all, really. The first was something I think that maybe just wasn't caught in the editing stages. McKay makes a reference to the Wraith cruiser on the planet when neither he nor anyone in his party is actually aware of its presence yet at that point in the story. It did throw me for a few moments but I was able to quickly get over it and keep going.
The second was Graham's decision to not have Lorne piloting the jumper, but rather Carson. Yes, Carson has frequently been shown to be flying the puddle jumpers, sure, but only when everyone else with the ATA gene has been incapacitated or is otherwise unavailable to fly for some reason. Granted, it was never established in the series proper whether Lorne's ATA gene was naturally occurring or if he had the gene therapy, but it was quite clear that he does have the gene and quite often he was shown or mentioned to be flying the jumpers. From the way the story was written, it seems as if Graham was unsure of Lorne's place in Atlantis at the time the story was set. The part of me that wants to give Graham the benefit of the doubt here is kind of assuming that because this was set early in the second season (just after the fourth or fifth episode), and Lorne was still new to the galaxy, maybe she had decided that he had the gene artificially and had not yet been given the therapy or been thoroughly trained in flying the jumpers. I don't quite buy that, but I can accept it as a slightly plausible excuse.
Graham used an interesting device in this novel that I didn't think I would like at first and was surprised when I came to enjoy. There were many instances when various characters found themselves in a position where they had nothing to do but sit and wait for something or other. Instead of cutting to another group immediately when the characters on screen (so to speak) came to one of these points, Graham would show them passing the time by taking turns telling each other stories. The stories were mostly about the teller's past. The first few times I came to these parts in the book, I was a little taken aback, I'll admit. But as I said, I rather came to enjoy them. Writing within an existing franchise, there is not as much character development required, because to some extent we the readers already know pretty much all we think we need to know about these characters. Most writers find a way to fit it in here or there regardless of this, but it often feels forced and unnatural since the characters have to more or less revert to their default settings by the end of the book (due to the very nature of these types of stories). With Graham's device she purposely takes you out of the story to give you this background information without taking you out of the story at all. It was very interesting. Granted, it did give the overall work more of a fan-fictiony feel, but not in a way that detracted from the rest of the story.
The adventure itself was quite a fun trip, and it gave a few characters who got little screen time on the show some chances to shine. Most notably, Zelenka plays a very large role in this tale, and he did so quite admirably, I have to say.
I know I am probably predisposed to enjoy a story about the Atlantis crew more than the SG-1 crew because they are nearer and dearer to my heart. But at the same time, like any fan, the more I love something, the more upset I get when someone gets it wrong, so take that for what its worth.
All in all, I look forward to more entries from Graham in the Stargate realm. She is one of the writers for the upcoming Legacy series, which is a group of books set after the end of the television series, since it ended on something of a cliffhanger. She also has written three of her own books, which I am now seriously considering getting to add to my ridiculous Pile of Reading.
April is an excellent month for reading, I have to say--if the weather's lovely I can sit outside and enjoy a book and some sunshine, but if the weather is stormy, well, that just means I can curl up on my couch with a blanket, a good book and a cup of tea. That pile of Stargate books is making this month seem even better!
This past weekend I finished up the first Atlantis entry in my pile. Death Game by Jo Graham was actually pretty delightful, I have to say. I was actually quite surprised to go back and look over my shelf of Stargate books and realize this was her first novel in the franchise, because she wrote the characters very well. It didn't hurt that while Major Lorne wasn't one of the points of view we got to read from, he was still one of the main players in the story, and was accompanying McKay, along with Cadman. Lorne and McKay's interactions on the television show always had just an edge of wry humor to them I enjoyed, and Graham was able to keep to that quite nicely. Adding Cadman in to the mix gave another layer of humor that made their scenes even more fun to read.
I only had two quibbles with the book at all, really. The first was something I think that maybe just wasn't caught in the editing stages. McKay makes a reference to the Wraith cruiser on the planet when neither he nor anyone in his party is actually aware of its presence yet at that point in the story. It did throw me for a few moments but I was able to quickly get over it and keep going.
The second was Graham's decision to not have Lorne piloting the jumper, but rather Carson. Yes, Carson has frequently been shown to be flying the puddle jumpers, sure, but only when everyone else with the ATA gene has been incapacitated or is otherwise unavailable to fly for some reason. Granted, it was never established in the series proper whether Lorne's ATA gene was naturally occurring or if he had the gene therapy, but it was quite clear that he does have the gene and quite often he was shown or mentioned to be flying the jumpers. From the way the story was written, it seems as if Graham was unsure of Lorne's place in Atlantis at the time the story was set. The part of me that wants to give Graham the benefit of the doubt here is kind of assuming that because this was set early in the second season (just after the fourth or fifth episode), and Lorne was still new to the galaxy, maybe she had decided that he had the gene artificially and had not yet been given the therapy or been thoroughly trained in flying the jumpers. I don't quite buy that, but I can accept it as a slightly plausible excuse.
Graham used an interesting device in this novel that I didn't think I would like at first and was surprised when I came to enjoy. There were many instances when various characters found themselves in a position where they had nothing to do but sit and wait for something or other. Instead of cutting to another group immediately when the characters on screen (so to speak) came to one of these points, Graham would show them passing the time by taking turns telling each other stories. The stories were mostly about the teller's past. The first few times I came to these parts in the book, I was a little taken aback, I'll admit. But as I said, I rather came to enjoy them. Writing within an existing franchise, there is not as much character development required, because to some extent we the readers already know pretty much all we think we need to know about these characters. Most writers find a way to fit it in here or there regardless of this, but it often feels forced and unnatural since the characters have to more or less revert to their default settings by the end of the book (due to the very nature of these types of stories). With Graham's device she purposely takes you out of the story to give you this background information without taking you out of the story at all. It was very interesting. Granted, it did give the overall work more of a fan-fictiony feel, but not in a way that detracted from the rest of the story.
The adventure itself was quite a fun trip, and it gave a few characters who got little screen time on the show some chances to shine. Most notably, Zelenka plays a very large role in this tale, and he did so quite admirably, I have to say.
I know I am probably predisposed to enjoy a story about the Atlantis crew more than the SG-1 crew because they are nearer and dearer to my heart. But at the same time, like any fan, the more I love something, the more upset I get when someone gets it wrong, so take that for what its worth.
All in all, I look forward to more entries from Graham in the Stargate realm. She is one of the writers for the upcoming Legacy series, which is a group of books set after the end of the television series, since it ended on something of a cliffhanger. She also has written three of her own books, which I am now seriously considering getting to add to my ridiculous Pile of Reading.
April is an excellent month for reading, I have to say--if the weather's lovely I can sit outside and enjoy a book and some sunshine, but if the weather is stormy, well, that just means I can curl up on my couch with a blanket, a good book and a cup of tea. That pile of Stargate books is making this month seem even better!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Stargate Tuesday: Hope (2.14)
Oh hey, guess what, there are spoilers in this post! Anything up to and including last night's episode of Stargate Universe is fair game, so stop reading if you want want to be spoiled.
Okay, are we all ready now? Cool. Onward.
What Happened
Plot A of "Hope" centered on the communication stones and gave us a new entry in the list of ways they can go horribly, horribly wrong. I mean, honestly, with the precedent set by these things on the two shows preceding Universe, I am amazed anyone bothered to complain that having them on board the ship would make anything "too easy" for our crew. Things are always going wonky with the communication stones. The Ancients, they were not perfect. Anyhoo, this time around, they apparently can raise the dead! Well, no, not really. We have long known/theorized that if two people are using the stones and one of them dies in the other's body that both people do, in fact, die. Therefore earlier in the season when Simeon killed Amanda Perry while she was in Ginn's body, they both died. But apparently their consciousnesses were stored in the communication device's buffer, unbeknownst to everyone else.
So. We open up the episode still dealing with the fallout of last week's events. Destiny still hasn't been able to make contact with anyone on Earth even though several days have passed. They have no idea whether or not the senator was able to diffuse the bomb or if Washington D.C. still exists. But they haven't quite given up yet. They have had someone hooked up to the communication stones nonstop since Wray and Greer got back, in case Earth tries to make contact. Chloe's turn comes around and just after she gets settled in, we realize a connection has been made, only not with anyone else on Earth. Somehow, Chloe has connected to Ginn.
Ginn is, of course, very confused and surprised that everyone is so shocked to see her. She is even more surprised to realize that she connected with Chloe's body instead of returning to her own. That is when the crew explain that she's kind of, well, dead. Eli is, as might be expected, falling all over himself with relief to be able to talk to his lost love once more. He is determined to find a way to preserve her consciousness because he refuses to lose her again.
Meanwhile, everyone is trying to figure out who Chloe connected with, since clearly it wasn't Ginn. They eventually figure out that she is actually still inside her body, but has been suppressed by the other woman's consciousness. Things get complicated when Ginn starts experiencing choking fits, mimicking how she was killed. I'll be honest, I totally missed the explanation for why this was happening, because I had a baby using me as a jungle-gym at this point and she was doing her best impression of an air-raid siren right in my ear. But everyone seemed to just roll with this and get right on trying to find a way to stop it without either losing Ginn completely or harming Chloe. Things get further complicated when the radio signal that is Ginn's consciousness begins to fade and Chloe starts periodically being in control of her body again, shifting back and forth between herself and Ginn at irregular intervals.
Then, just to throw another wrench in the works, a new consciousness takes over. None other than Amanda Perry, who was of course at the other end of the terminated connection when Ginn died. So now Rush is falling all over himself, delighted to have his dead girlfriend back in the picture. He and Eli double down on trying to find a solution to save both women's consciousnesses while Scott hovers nervously in the background making sure that whatever they do doesn't hurt Chloe. Oy vey.
Eventually Rush brings up the neural interface chair and confesses that he is pretty sure that when Franklin disappeared in the thing, what actually happened is that he uploaded his consciousness to Destiny and became one of the ship's programs, able to project himself to be seen by crew members and interact with them. He explains that while he was hiding his discovery of the bridge from the rest of the crew he had many conversations with Franklin there. Rush proposes to put Chloe in the chair and upload Ginn and Amanda to Destiny. This will allow them to appear to and interact with the crew, get them out of Chloe's head, and buy Rush and Eli time to figure out a more permanent solution (i.e. giving the women new bodies). All three women agree to try this (Amanda enthusiastically, Chloe resolutely, and Ginn reluctantly) and they give it a go. There is a scary bit toward the end where Ginn has another choking fit during the transfer and it shorts out the entire ship's systems, but in the end it all works out just fine. Chloe has her mind to herself and Eli and Rush have their girlfriends back, albeit in hologram form.
All of that, and we haven't even gotten to Plot B yet! While everyone is concerned about Earth and then the whole Ginn/Amanda thing, Volker starts to exhibit signs of illness. He reluctantly goes to T.J., saying he is sure it is just a return of his hypertension, since he stopped taking the medicine for it once it ran out. She scolds him for not coming to her sooner and decides to run some tests with the Ancient diagnostic equipment she now has access to ever since Rush gained control of the ship. Unfortunately it turns out that his kidneys are failing.
T.J. is unsure of her ability to perform a transplant due to the high improbability of finding a match on board the ship and to her lack of experience in such matters (she is, after all, only a field medic). With the communication stones out of commission, she can't even have a more skilled surgeon from Earth come on board to do the procedure. Still, she takes the situation to Young and he encourages her to start looking for a match. If one is found they will then assess the situation from there. It turns out she finds two matches, a random scientist whose name I don't know and Greer. Just as the scientist starts asking for reassurances before he will even consider such a procedure, Greer (who is a badass) steps in and says he'll do it, just like that, no hesitation.
So with Greer on board, T.J. says that she had come across some studies in the Ancient database about a supplementary procedure that will help reduce the likelihood of Volker rejecting the transplanted kidney, but she needs to take some bone marrow from him in order to do it. He tells her to go ahead and refuses anesthetic (because he is a badass), saying they need to save it for later on down the line.
T.J. has serious doubts about whether or not she can perform the surgery but both men and Young are encouraging, and they all know that Volker will definitely die without it, whereas he and Greer only might die if something goes wrong. Eventually she sucks it up and they do the surgery. Of course, while this is going on is when Ginn's choking fit in the chair shorts out the ship and the infirmary loses access to the database she is using for instructions, as well as to most of the fancy Ancient tech (like imaging screens so she can see what she is doing). Luckily, Amanda Perry appears to T.J. right before panic can really set in. With her consciousness uploaded to the ship, she has access to the database and walks T.J. through the procedure. Yay!
At the end of the episode Young is called to the communication stone chamber to find that Telford has connected to Destiny and reports that the bomb was diffused on time and all is well back home, they just had a few problems getting their own stones back online.
Thoughts
Bringing people back from the dead, while perhaps a given on any science fiction show, is always a tricky prospect. I generally tend to remain skeptical about such storylines until or unless they are given a reasonable explanation within the framework of the show's mythology. I have to say, what the writers did in "Hope" worked for me for the most part. I am very curious to see how Ginn and Amanda become integrated with the rest of the crew in their new non-corporeal forms. Also, yay, Ginn's back!
I do have to say, the choice of Chloe as the vessel for the two women was a little unsettling for me because she was hosting the loves of both Eli and Rush, two men with whom she shares already deep and complicated connections. It was just weirdness. I dunno, it didn't sit right. Also, Chloe's already the most popular girl in school, so to speak, having two extra guys fawning all over her was just a bit of overkill. Despite what we are seeing through the magic of television, sometimes it is very easy to forget that when Eli looks at Ginn-in-Chloe's-body, what he actually sees is Chloe. I mean, come on, tell me that doesn't weird you out? But oh well, it is what it is, I guess.
I loved the Volker story line because not only did we get wonderful character development for Volker (and T.J. and Greer), we also got to see the solidarity of our core science crew as Brody and Park rallied around T.J. to do everything they could to help with the research and the procedure itself. The moment where Brody tried to relax Volker before surgery by playing one of his favorite songs (in a callback to a discussion at the start of the episode) was a really nice touch. It was a masterful bit of levity in an episode dealing with some very heavy matters.
All in all, this episode was extremely well done and just left me wanting more, more, more. Grr, argh. The mythology of this show is getting so very amazing, and I am actually starting to get angry at the thought that there will be no more after this season. My fingers and toes are crossed that we get the TV movies that Brad Wright is fighting for, and also that Fandemonium decides to put out more stories for this series once its run has concluded. I very much want to know what happens to these folks.
Next week: MCKAY! MCKAY! MCKAY! Um, I may be just a teensy bit excited about next week's episode, y'all. Everyone keeps wanting to see the McKay/Eli showdown, but the preview has only given me hope that my desire to see McKay and Eli team up against Rush just might happen after all.
That is all.
Okay, are we all ready now? Cool. Onward.
What Happened
Plot A of "Hope" centered on the communication stones and gave us a new entry in the list of ways they can go horribly, horribly wrong. I mean, honestly, with the precedent set by these things on the two shows preceding Universe, I am amazed anyone bothered to complain that having them on board the ship would make anything "too easy" for our crew. Things are always going wonky with the communication stones. The Ancients, they were not perfect. Anyhoo, this time around, they apparently can raise the dead! Well, no, not really. We have long known/theorized that if two people are using the stones and one of them dies in the other's body that both people do, in fact, die. Therefore earlier in the season when Simeon killed Amanda Perry while she was in Ginn's body, they both died. But apparently their consciousnesses were stored in the communication device's buffer, unbeknownst to everyone else.
So. We open up the episode still dealing with the fallout of last week's events. Destiny still hasn't been able to make contact with anyone on Earth even though several days have passed. They have no idea whether or not the senator was able to diffuse the bomb or if Washington D.C. still exists. But they haven't quite given up yet. They have had someone hooked up to the communication stones nonstop since Wray and Greer got back, in case Earth tries to make contact. Chloe's turn comes around and just after she gets settled in, we realize a connection has been made, only not with anyone else on Earth. Somehow, Chloe has connected to Ginn.
Ginn is, of course, very confused and surprised that everyone is so shocked to see her. She is even more surprised to realize that she connected with Chloe's body instead of returning to her own. That is when the crew explain that she's kind of, well, dead. Eli is, as might be expected, falling all over himself with relief to be able to talk to his lost love once more. He is determined to find a way to preserve her consciousness because he refuses to lose her again.
Meanwhile, everyone is trying to figure out who Chloe connected with, since clearly it wasn't Ginn. They eventually figure out that she is actually still inside her body, but has been suppressed by the other woman's consciousness. Things get complicated when Ginn starts experiencing choking fits, mimicking how she was killed. I'll be honest, I totally missed the explanation for why this was happening, because I had a baby using me as a jungle-gym at this point and she was doing her best impression of an air-raid siren right in my ear. But everyone seemed to just roll with this and get right on trying to find a way to stop it without either losing Ginn completely or harming Chloe. Things get further complicated when the radio signal that is Ginn's consciousness begins to fade and Chloe starts periodically being in control of her body again, shifting back and forth between herself and Ginn at irregular intervals.
Then, just to throw another wrench in the works, a new consciousness takes over. None other than Amanda Perry, who was of course at the other end of the terminated connection when Ginn died. So now Rush is falling all over himself, delighted to have his dead girlfriend back in the picture. He and Eli double down on trying to find a solution to save both women's consciousnesses while Scott hovers nervously in the background making sure that whatever they do doesn't hurt Chloe. Oy vey.
Eventually Rush brings up the neural interface chair and confesses that he is pretty sure that when Franklin disappeared in the thing, what actually happened is that he uploaded his consciousness to Destiny and became one of the ship's programs, able to project himself to be seen by crew members and interact with them. He explains that while he was hiding his discovery of the bridge from the rest of the crew he had many conversations with Franklin there. Rush proposes to put Chloe in the chair and upload Ginn and Amanda to Destiny. This will allow them to appear to and interact with the crew, get them out of Chloe's head, and buy Rush and Eli time to figure out a more permanent solution (i.e. giving the women new bodies). All three women agree to try this (Amanda enthusiastically, Chloe resolutely, and Ginn reluctantly) and they give it a go. There is a scary bit toward the end where Ginn has another choking fit during the transfer and it shorts out the entire ship's systems, but in the end it all works out just fine. Chloe has her mind to herself and Eli and Rush have their girlfriends back, albeit in hologram form.
All of that, and we haven't even gotten to Plot B yet! While everyone is concerned about Earth and then the whole Ginn/Amanda thing, Volker starts to exhibit signs of illness. He reluctantly goes to T.J., saying he is sure it is just a return of his hypertension, since he stopped taking the medicine for it once it ran out. She scolds him for not coming to her sooner and decides to run some tests with the Ancient diagnostic equipment she now has access to ever since Rush gained control of the ship. Unfortunately it turns out that his kidneys are failing.
T.J. is unsure of her ability to perform a transplant due to the high improbability of finding a match on board the ship and to her lack of experience in such matters (she is, after all, only a field medic). With the communication stones out of commission, she can't even have a more skilled surgeon from Earth come on board to do the procedure. Still, she takes the situation to Young and he encourages her to start looking for a match. If one is found they will then assess the situation from there. It turns out she finds two matches, a random scientist whose name I don't know and Greer. Just as the scientist starts asking for reassurances before he will even consider such a procedure, Greer (who is a badass) steps in and says he'll do it, just like that, no hesitation.
So with Greer on board, T.J. says that she had come across some studies in the Ancient database about a supplementary procedure that will help reduce the likelihood of Volker rejecting the transplanted kidney, but she needs to take some bone marrow from him in order to do it. He tells her to go ahead and refuses anesthetic (because he is a badass), saying they need to save it for later on down the line.
T.J. has serious doubts about whether or not she can perform the surgery but both men and Young are encouraging, and they all know that Volker will definitely die without it, whereas he and Greer only might die if something goes wrong. Eventually she sucks it up and they do the surgery. Of course, while this is going on is when Ginn's choking fit in the chair shorts out the ship and the infirmary loses access to the database she is using for instructions, as well as to most of the fancy Ancient tech (like imaging screens so she can see what she is doing). Luckily, Amanda Perry appears to T.J. right before panic can really set in. With her consciousness uploaded to the ship, she has access to the database and walks T.J. through the procedure. Yay!
At the end of the episode Young is called to the communication stone chamber to find that Telford has connected to Destiny and reports that the bomb was diffused on time and all is well back home, they just had a few problems getting their own stones back online.
Thoughts
Bringing people back from the dead, while perhaps a given on any science fiction show, is always a tricky prospect. I generally tend to remain skeptical about such storylines until or unless they are given a reasonable explanation within the framework of the show's mythology. I have to say, what the writers did in "Hope" worked for me for the most part. I am very curious to see how Ginn and Amanda become integrated with the rest of the crew in their new non-corporeal forms. Also, yay, Ginn's back!
I do have to say, the choice of Chloe as the vessel for the two women was a little unsettling for me because she was hosting the loves of both Eli and Rush, two men with whom she shares already deep and complicated connections. It was just weirdness. I dunno, it didn't sit right. Also, Chloe's already the most popular girl in school, so to speak, having two extra guys fawning all over her was just a bit of overkill. Despite what we are seeing through the magic of television, sometimes it is very easy to forget that when Eli looks at Ginn-in-Chloe's-body, what he actually sees is Chloe. I mean, come on, tell me that doesn't weird you out? But oh well, it is what it is, I guess.
I loved the Volker story line because not only did we get wonderful character development for Volker (and T.J. and Greer), we also got to see the solidarity of our core science crew as Brody and Park rallied around T.J. to do everything they could to help with the research and the procedure itself. The moment where Brody tried to relax Volker before surgery by playing one of his favorite songs (in a callback to a discussion at the start of the episode) was a really nice touch. It was a masterful bit of levity in an episode dealing with some very heavy matters.
All in all, this episode was extremely well done and just left me wanting more, more, more. Grr, argh. The mythology of this show is getting so very amazing, and I am actually starting to get angry at the thought that there will be no more after this season. My fingers and toes are crossed that we get the TV movies that Brad Wright is fighting for, and also that Fandemonium decides to put out more stories for this series once its run has concluded. I very much want to know what happens to these folks.
Next week: MCKAY! MCKAY! MCKAY! Um, I may be just a teensy bit excited about next week's episode, y'all. Everyone keeps wanting to see the McKay/Eli showdown, but the preview has only given me hope that my desire to see McKay and Eli team up against Rush just might happen after all.
That is all.
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