Episode 14 - Sanctuary
Air Dates - Canada: Nov 29 2004, UK: Jan 18 2005, US: Feb 11 2005

The team finds a paradise world that would make an ideal sanctuary for those fleeing from the Wraith, but the local inhabitants believe their goddess will not permit it.

Episode Guide | Spoilers | Teaser

(This topic is for people who have seen the episode to discuss it. If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read this topic.)

I thought this episode was good by Atlantis standards so far but I was a bit disappointed we didn't get to learn more about the Ancients. At the end of the day, nothing really changed in the grand scheme of things.

Great episode, but there is someone bothering me. How come she could accent as an atlantis ancient and the others didn't? I mean in the first episode of atlantis they cleary say that they submerged the city and returned back to earth to live out their lives in peace. Knowing that, how can she have accended? I mean come on don't you think the rest of the atlantis ancients would have accended as well, knowing how (since she also did it and of what she said more of them did).

it is most likely that after she returned to earth and ascended with the rest, she came back to peg to check up on the planet(and ppl) that she was stationed at, saw they were being culled and intervened and was subsequently punished(very harsh punisment imo, having the power to end the wraith but forced to just watch them kill eveyone else but those on her planet)

but this is a good episode because we learn several things, first from that machine she activated that humans and ancients are difinitely different, second we find out that the ancients in their ascended form are still in the peg galaxy(makes you wonder if they are everywhere and just how fast and far they can travel) and third but most excitingly we learn the extent of their powers(or just the tip of the iceberg), i mean she was just one ancient and she took out an entire battle group, including a hiveship

this also features the 2nd gate we've come across that is in orbit rather then on the surface and a headnod to "ascension"(orlan sharing himself with sam just like arhar(sp?) with john) i wonder just how lonely are the ancients ^^'

I just knew she was an ancient. My god I'm good.
Just loved this episode, lots of wraith ships blown up, some kissing, though I want to see more of Ford.

I also wonder what the "sharing" did to John. Will this have any consequences at all?

Maybe we some day will meet some ancients that didn't accend. And they wouldn't be bound by the rules.

Sorry for the spelling.

I adore this episode lol. It was really good for me because I liked Chaya/Ashtar. It was fantastic to see Sheppard in bit of a relationship, that I just like the most. I liked the part where when Chaya touched the machine it just lit on, that was cool and it brought alot of suspense. I was hoping to see more of what she would have activate, but that was too bad..

The producers did a good job here, they actually brought one of the members into a relationship, even though it didn't last that long, it was still good. I hope that we will be able to see more of that in the future! But how could an Ancient make another Ancient make their punishment forever? That's just sad..

Chaya was so calm, was she looked nice at the end of the episode where Sheppard goes back and checks up on her. I was hoping that they would kiss one last time. But I was glad to hear that Sheppard will come back and check up on her, how sweet.

He finaly gets a babe halaula!

Why do they have to be so obvious with the cut in the beginning? I knew she was an ancient because of the ?previously on Stargate Atlantis cuts?
A long cut about the ancients and their study into ascension. And what that means-living as pure energy... bla bla bla. Why show it if it isn?t going to be important.

Anyway, the episode where Sam and that ancient has that relationship was better. He as she falls for a human. But he became human again and built that stargate by using her creditcard (funny and better episode). Not a bad episode But nothing really happened.

anja - what episode was that where he used sam's credit card?
I don't really watch SG-1 anymore.

I thought that this was a good episode...maybe it went slow...i mean it took over 20 minutes til they were like...she has the gene.
and she seemed so interested in Earth's religions

Interesting episode.. I am beginning to like atlantis more and more, since the writing isnt as trite as on other sci-fi shows..
We finally get to see an ancient in the flesh.. I hope they go into how the ancients managed to leave their bodies behind and 'ascend'. Although a couple of things bother me.. Does this mean that the ancients are now Gods? And if they are supposed to be wise, why would they punish Chaya for trying to help their own people?! If Chaya has the power to 'lash' out and destroy the wraith vessels, why didnt the other ancients pool their power and try to destroy the wraith altogether? Maybe I am getting a bit ahead of myself and these things will be addressed in future episodes...
Btw, I missed the first couple of episodes so I would really appreciate it if someone made it clear to me why Shepard refers to their trip to atlantis as one way and why they cant go back to earth?

Cheers.

It was a pretty good ep all up, but I think they got a bit cheap on the SFX. The Ascended beings in SG-1 looked better, they had cool white whispy tails trailing a glowing ball/mass. Even when Orlan shared Sam he had his tails wrap around her, Athar didn't seem to look as beautiful as her Corporeal form, Chaya. I think they would've had the right to copy their look from SG-1 for the same reasons as ZPMs being in Atlantis, the continuity would've been better. (Or maybe it's just the quality of the 80MB rip I watched hehe, can't wait to see it on digital over summer in Oz TV)

So what did I tell you guys? I guessed the spoiler correctly when I said McKay would break out the scanners to try and detect energy readings and conclude that she was an Ascended Ancient! hehe

Shame that it will be a long while before we see another Ascended being in Atlantis.

This post has been edited by dr_n_tesla: Dec 1st 2004, 7:22 AM

i don't think foxtel digital will have Stargtae Atlantis in the next few months..

anyhow, just watched the ep with my sister...wow, how was Mckay? I'm really starting to like him, he is so cool..getting the scanners out and all that.
And what was with Becket saying there's no STD's present...did we even need to know about someone elses sex life? not that they discussed it or anything...but still...i didnt even think he checked her genital area but still..we didnt need to know.

The Ancients, in a way are gods. But they're good gods lol and they don't do bad stuff like the Go'auld do.. They don't die, because they are pure energy that exist in the surrounding. The reason why the Ascended Ancients won't let Chaya help her own people because they have rules, and one of the rules implies to not interfere with the universe's affairs, in this case she chose to not obey one of them and therefore she was punished by the others. It's kinda hard to resist that kind of power and responsibility when it comes to you.. heck if I had that I would go crazy and would eventually break one of them lol. I feel sorry for her, I do agree with you that the Ascended Ancients should let her help, but I guess that's that. I'm pretty sure in the future in Stargate Atlantis they'll talk more about the Ascended Ancients.

The reason why they were only able to go from Earth to Atlantis because there was insufficient amount of power. It would take a huge amount of power to power up a wormhole to dial to another galaxy, in this case they had used the ZPM (Zero Point Module). When they opened the wormhole, the ZPM was depleted and Earth was unable to dial back. When the expedition team arrived at Atlantis, there wasn't enough power to dial back home, there wasnt even enough power to power up the shields to hold back the water that was flooding the city section by section. I think I've said enough lol

This post has been edited by Jonas Quinn: Dec 1st 2004, 11:12 AM

T'was a decent episode....

In addition to the confusions already mentioned, I had one thing bugging me - when Orlin or Daniel were ascended, they were all energy. Orlin went through Sam's kitchen and Daniel had a shoe thrown through him... How could they touch Chaya? She was still ascended, still energy.

Oh, and I have to say McKay voiced at one point my opinion exactly: "Captain Kirk, this is so 1967"!

great episode, one of the best imo

I liked this episode alot, one of the best so far, Ive really liked Atlantis the last like 10 episodes, love the feel of it.

Im just a bit confused and annoyed with the outcome.

If she had the power to do all that, and there were thousands of ancients in that galaxy before, then why not just destroy the wraith.

I read earlier that perhaps she was sent back there after the defeat, but surly if the ancients at this time was able to ascend and be that powerful they could reclaim the pegasus galaxy and destroy the race once and for all.

What annoys me is that id have so many many questions to ask her, and she cant answer because of the others?.

Does that mean you couldnt even ask simple questions like how many ancients there are in the pegasus galaxy?

When she says the others will come, does that mean that they are in the pegasus galaxy aswell or they can go to any galaxy they wont as fast as possible?

I think i might be confused with the actualy storyline.

Acients come to pegasus
Ancients return to earth after losing battle with the wraith
Ancients start to die from disease
Ancients learn to ascend before they all die out

Is that correct?

Chris - Thanks for reading

Sheesh people, use your imaginations.

We don't have the slightest idea what ascension is like. We have no clue as to what the "material plane"'s meaning is from their point of view.

I could imagine dozens of reasons and scenarios why they wouldn't want to interfere with "our" issues. The Wraith could quite possibly be insignificant compared to what the consequences would be, in the grand scheme of things, to simply "kill all the bad guys".

Fair episode, although they could've done more with the story.

This post has been edited by Drizzt's Syn: Dec 1st 2004, 8:49 PM

Season Five Episodes
Episode 3 - Ascension
Original Air Date: July 13, 2001
After arriving on an alien planet for a routine mission, Carter passes out for no apparent reason. After returning to Earth, she takes some time away from the SGC, and finds herself in the company of a strange new friend. Guest starring Sean Patrick Flanery and John de Lancie. Viewer Discussion

This post has been edited by anja: Dec 2nd 2004, 10:04 AM

I believe that Orlin was not an ancient, but ascended via others like Oma Desala. When he broke the rules the others punished him. He chose to become mortal again for he found true love or so he thought. The reason I say this is that he required the help of the Others again to ascend in order to save the lives of the SG teams there. The fact that he did not know how to ascend again and that he was once like us humans, hints that he was not an Ancient. He was able to remember a lot of his knowledge because he decended himself to corporeal form, he didn't have his memory erased or tampered with.

Daniel on the other hand was similar in situation yet also different He got his memory tampered with hehe.

So as for Athar, she was an Ancient (ATA gene) from atlantis who came back to earth during the seige. The Ancients got hammered, the Wraith invaded her planet and put the stargate into orbit to turn it into a farm. When Athar ascended, she returned to Pegasus to see her people and saw what had happend, knowing the rules she broke them to save her people from the wraith and then got a major slap on the wrists for what she did. Been like that ever since. That's my take on her story. Being an Ancient she was able to go back and forth freely knowing how to be corporeal and then ascend again as she pleases. Those who do not know how to ascend originally cannot do so again without the help of the others.

This post has been edited by dr_n_tesla: Dec 2nd 2004, 10:07 AM

Firstly i agree with anja about the cuts at the start, from the moment i saw the "weapon" at the start that took out the Wraith and not the Ancient ship i knew it was an ascended Ancient.

I did really like this episode, but i was wondering why did she say "I am what you call an Ancient", so what do they call themselves?

I'm sure we got their name from the Asgard, so they didnt refer to them as the proper name?

Anyway, my theory on the whole Ascension this is that the plague was before they went to pegasus.

Some Ascended(now known as Others), some attempted to build time maching & repositorys etc, and the remaining healthy Ancients went to Pegasus to start fresh (this is why they were few in numbers and defeated by the Wraith).

Here, when they were at war with and losing to the Wraith, they thought they'd try and Ascend as the "others" have back in ther Milky Way galaxy.

I say this because if the first Ancient to ascend was in pegasus or 1 of those from pegasus im sure they would of just killed the Wraith, otherwise they'd have to make the decision themselves not to get involved even though they would be ascended alone watching there family, friends and humans they live with die when they had the power to stop it.

therefore i feel they must have been forced by the others to not get involved.



This post has been edited by Nnahrino: Dec 2nd 2004, 5:09 PM

from "the defiant one" the wraith refered to them as lantians, maybe the ancients thor mentions are from a different colony or are the name the asgards give them

Am I the only one who thought her 'interest' in religion was solely due to her loneliness? The history of our religions may have helped her see if there were any Ancients like herself on Earth. Our history proved there wasn't. Might mean there is another rule amongst the exiled ancients that when they interfere with human affairs, they must do it tactfully (as a divine being). Oma supports the idea but we haven't seen enough "exiled" Ancients to prove it.

I think this was a really good episode.

Only nitpick is the peviously thing making it a bit obvious to work out.

I assume some of you haven't really watch SG1, or the later seasons cause there are quite a lot of questions that has been answered. The problem here is separating the two series - since SGA is about Atlantis, it's going to be really about The Ancients. I assume SG1 will now only focus on the Gaould, and probably some final side line stories about Danial/Oma.

Background Info

The Ancients are in theory human - she said so herself, that we are no that much different - infact the doctor said she IS human. The problem lies in that she was in perfect health. This is due to the fact she is ascended and really has no corporeal form. Not everyone can ascend but can be shown the way. You can only ascend on death of course, and usually with the help of another ascended.

The rules to being an ascended, and living on a another plane of existance is that you cannot interfere with corporeal matters. I assume it is because of the great power they wield that they cannot alter the natural course of the universe - or from some other higher being than themselves. In one episode, it mentioned that Oma Desala is also an exiled - I think Orlin said it. She helps others to ascend - although that I don't think is a crime. She did however, protected the Harsises from the Gao'uld.

The Ancient caught a disease in our solar system. We know this because SG1 caught the disease from the frozen Ancient (one who stayed behind in the very first episode). The healthy ones left to Pegasus. They must have started a great civilisation (because humans are scattered around like our solar system) before the Wraith started attacking hence getting a taste for humans. Some Ancients ascended in Pegasus, and some in our solar system.

Orlin needed the help of the others because they must allow him to ascend again. Orlin chose to descend, and interfer with the natural order of things. This isn't really allowed, and you needed to die before you can ascend on your own.

Most of the answers are in SG1 though, so it might be worth watching some of the Ancient related episode and the finale of Season 6 (Full Circle?).

Nitpicking

As someone has mentioned, she was actually fully corporeal. The writers changed the rules here yet again. Before all this, Oma and Orlin cannot communicate in their ascended form. Daniel changed all that when he ascended, and he spoke to Jack many times in a ghostly form (no white lights but untouchable, or unseen by some).

This episode changed that rule once again by allowing the acient to actually be more or less human whenever they want.

The name thing was wierd too. Maybe the Ancients is an english term? The name was actually translated by Daniel in Season 1 of SG1, and confirmed by the Asgard.

The Episode

This episode is definitely one of SGA better episodes, and for anyone watching SG1 will have already guessed the identity of the white light at the beginning and Chaya herself.

This is the third original ascended we have seen, and the fourth Ancient we have met in the entire SG1/SGA canon.

McKay, generally funny, but he really gets on my nerve. He just makes every situation worse. If Wier chose the team, she really made a very bad decision on letting McKay out. Wier has absolutley no control over Sheppard (again!). Basically this team has more conflicts that the usual soap opera. This will soon escalate with each episode as it has already started in 'Hot Zone'.
Sheppard although very unprofessional, is actually very in character so this episode made a lot of sense including McKays character.

I am glad the writers didn't weaken the Ancients in anyway, they should be kept almost at a distance. The only problem I see is that they now know where there is an Ascended Ancient. Lots of possibility and yet more conflict can arise.