Episode 6 - Childhood's End
Air Date: (US) August 13, 2004

Sheppard and his team end up on a planet protected by a strong EM field, and also encounter a population where no one lives past 25.

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.)

What was with the BIG OBVIOUS white plastic 5 gallon bucket!!!!!

Silly - who left that there?!?!?

What!? I saw no such thing...where was it in the episode?

As for the episode itself, I thought it was fantastic, it may not have exceeded anyones expectations for the digital graphic arena, but the plot was superb. The acting was great as well.

Lol! Its good to see Lt. Eliot again! What's with him being killed every time...or in this instance almost killed?

I just thought the Treehouses were very reminiscent of the Ewok village...except not as drastic or high...the architecture of the houses resembled that of anchient Scandinavian Halls...or houses of a richer man or Lord by the design of the roof top especially.

Those kids were great as well, of course they were getting chocolate all the time so...haha. The ending was quite nice...at least things didn't turn drastic. *phew*

I can't wait for the next one, the previews were very intrigueing!

This post has been edited by Aquila: Aug 13th 2004, 11:10 PM

Wow, suspensful! I was on the edge for a while there...
Were the Wraith going to storm the planet or not...
Whew

This episode satisfied my craving for, technology, suspense, a decent story, humor, and team dynamic, and good music composition. As they say, music can't make a bad story good, but it can make a good story better...

Heh, Mckay...my favorite team member, obviously...still as funny as ever, but not without humility. The man really can't handle kids...but he did start to warm up. And he also was open minded when Weir thought of the idea of the sacrifices also playing a part somehow. (as opposed to being some barbaric ritual).

Keyla still feels like a useless member, Ford also has to establish himself...I like the actor and the character but he doesn't have any presence.

and again...looks like no end in site to seing re-used actors and actresses in Atlantis...and even SG-1. It's not totally a bad thing... The Lt. Elliot actor was not bad at all this ep.

That's it for now.

LOL, I forgot to add that in my post, As soon as I saw the tree top villages, I instantly thought... "We are the E-E-E-E-EEEEWOKS, and we're living on the forest moon" LOL...
Thanks for reminding me.

Lol! No problem, now we know how the furry little guys developed, the kids kept killing themselves til' they got smaller and smaller, and their hygene went as well, thus they became the fur balls that they are later on...but still with the same appetite!!!

Yes, I think "Eliot" did a terrific job of acting the part!

This post has been edited by Aquila: Aug 13th 2004, 11:13 PM

I too liked this episode. But it took a LOT of my suspension of disbelief to get past the fact that I wasn't watching Lieutenant Elliot, but instead an entirely new character. It's really hard, but he did a great job.

On second viewing however, now that I know what was coming, I was able to lose myself in the episode much more easily.

And McKay. Man I love this guy.

Atlantis is a really great spinoff. Definitely growing into the Stargate mantle that it's inherited. Kudos so far. And is it just me, or does anyone else still get chills watching the opening sequence? Wow....

It was HILARIOUS how McKay made those kids cry. I love that man.

This ep was like Stargate: Lord of the Flies. And what was that kid's name? Ares? Aries? If it was either the god of war or the obstinate ram, that was some major foreshadowing. Too much, if you ask me. But you probaby didn't.

It was a damn good episode in my opinion.
Mckay has to be funniest jerk in the universe. I doubt that they are any other contenders that could even get close...

Last week Atlantis lost by quite a bit in ATLANTIS vs. SG1....This week, Atlantis triumphed. SG1 lost by a mile I have to say, and Atlantis is REALLY looking like its going to shape up to be a solid series.

The first episode where they went offword, and they did a great job. I loved the acting (especially McKay, who was GREAT. I loved the scene with the children ) and the plot was good as well. I also like that guy who played Eliot, I think he's a great actor too.

I was really beginning to sit on the edge, especially when I saw that Wraith thing turn on....I was wanting to scream "turn it back on! Turn it on!!!" so that those people didnt die, as annoying as they were....

But I was really impressed with the acting. I was also happy that Weir wasn't on for long

9/10, Atlantis seems to be improving with each episode.

This was one of those AVERAGE episodes..not too good but not too bad. I have to say SG-1 was the winer this week because Avatar was immense. This one was just a 'usual' episode which gets a 5/10 for me because it wasn't that impressive...

It reminded me more of Peter Pan and Never Land, you're always a kid there cos you're not allowed to grow up hehehe.

It was a great ep, lots of suspense indeed.

Love the Wraith Probe!! I think they should take it back to Atlantis and check the Data Base for info on it. But obviouly encase it in a lead box hehehe. If they find out that it's useless to them, they should disable it and use it at a baseball hehehe.

Do you know how unbelievably screwed up those kids should be? A child will not understand why their parents have to kill themselves simply because their brains have not developed enough psychologically.

Well at least they thought about the effects of incest by sending the children to other villages to try and maximise the gene pool rather than breeding with blood relatives *eewww*

Did anyone notice that guy that came back from the EM thing yelling it works? I swear I've seen him in something (maybe stargate I'm not sure) so can any of you help me out.

Overall an excellent episode and those kids were so annoying I almost feel bad for Mckay (or wait no I don't)

I didnt think of it like that, I thought it was to stop emotional attatchment ...

was better than I expected and enjoyable enough. Would have been cool to see the puddlejumper open up its drive pods and nail the wraith scanner on its own when it was being scanned. Liked the Ewokesqe village.

Meant to say also liked the windows plug & play reference

This post has been edited by Cackles: Aug 14th 2004, 11:46 AM

He was in SG-1's 100 Days. He was that no-good-floozy's son. He was also on MacGyver. He played Mac as a kid.

This post has been edited by xayeidemon: Aug 14th 2004, 10:51 AM

An Atlantis episode that wasn't boring! Carry on.

I didn't even realize that Caris or whatever the village "elder's" name was was played by the same guy as Lt. Elliot until I read the posts here! lol. Anyways, all in all this was a pretty good episode.

McKay - hilarious as usual, loved that he was out of breath when he ran and that he sat down in the treehouse like an old man. The scene with the kids was terrific, it reminded me of myself! Little kids freak me out.

I wish they would give Ford more of a defined personality though. He still seems a little bland. I mean, Shepperd is the military leader, McKay's the scientist, and Teyla is a guide to the Pegasus galaxy, but Ford? What's his purpose?

Plus, practically no Weir! I love it!

This was one of my favorite Atlantis eps so far, maybe that's cause they were actually on another planet. I loved seeing Keras, especially his hair, he was great, I was like Lt Elliot lives!
I never liked McKay on SG-1 but he is most definitely my favorite Atlantis charactor. At the beginning when he mentioned Carter's name and lost his train of thought was hilarious. When he made those kids cry I was like you jerk but it was good that he warmed up to them at the end. When Sheppard gave Keras chocolate McKay was like get him kids.
And at the end when they mentioned the shield should last until he's a grandfather I started to think that now they're going to have to revisit Keras's planet later (hopefully!).

I actually really liked Ford in this episode. He was great with both McKay and the kids. "You're great, do you do kids parties?" He's funny, and he seems like he'd be a great older brother or even dad in a few years. Very sweet.
McKay continues to rock, and I liked Sheppard even more in this episode. While I enjoyed Teyla in all the previous episodes (except Hide and Seek), she seemed kind of dry in this episode. It's like she said all of her lines monotone or something. I don't know.
Noticable lack of Beckett, but it looks like next weeks episode will make up for that, so I can wait. Also, and I know I'm in the minority, but I like Weir, so I missed her too. The scene she was in was done nicely though. I like seeing her going up against McKay. She actually listens to him, and he seems to have enough respect for her to know when to can the sarcasm and get to the point. Good guy.
Overall, a better episode than I thought it was going to be. Nice to see them off-world, and nice to see Eliot again. At least he lived this time. I hope the team comes back and we're able to see how all the kids are doing . . . Clea and Casta (I think those were the names) were so sweet. "I'm not a quiet person." Hee.

This post has been edited by Cerridwen: Aug 14th 2004, 5:26 PM

I thought this episode was well made, i loved the whole attitude of McKay, because i also hate kids

One thing struck me as odd though, that Keres person wasn't very good at grammar...

"The full-growns have agreed to leave... and never come back. I will take them to the well myself, all of this will be over soon and we can get all on with the ceremony"

but shouldn't he have said "and we can all get on with the ceremony"

Oh well, apart from that i liked the device thing, but i think it's weird that it needed a combination to make it start again, i thought it would be plug and play (windows reference was great, not windows, that sucks ), i mean why do you need a combination for something that can be figured out in a while and that only does one thing?

Weird...

Great episode, but not better than SG1 this week.

This post has been edited by Jack_O'Neill: Aug 14th 2004, 6:38 PM

Aha! So there is someone else out there that is getting shivers up their spine as well at the opening theme. I stated this in the Atlantis Theme thread in the General Discussion Forum previously.

Cool...I mean...wow.

He said "and we can get on with the ceremony".

Also, possibly there was more to do than just plug it in because the device needed to be instructed how far to extend the shield; after all, he said he boosted the coverage.

This post has been edited by drew00149: Aug 14th 2004, 9:43 PM

Is it me, or was the guy that was gonna get executed look like Elliot to you? (In season 5) Maybe hes a look-a-like.

Anyways, I love McKay and those lil kids. Its obvious hes not around kids that much and the way Ford gave em chocolate really made me smile! I loved this episode, suspenseful and funny!

OMG how badly I want to be one of those kids! I get to hold a bow, I get to wear cool costumes, I get to be on one of my favorite shows, I get to get my face painted...shall I continue?

I loved the kids, always asking "Why?". I know a kid like that...he's cute but once he starts on the "why"s you can't get him to shut up. I do like wier, but I didn't find her absence to be a problem. I loved the jokes and the team dynamic...reminds me of sg1 days gone by.

OT: I'm addicted to the atlantis theme song...the only thing that gets it out of my head is the Olympic song...