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Posted by: Arcady Dec 20th 2006, 9:19 PM

Season 3, Episode 16 - The Ark
Air date: 2007

The team discovers the last of a civilization in suspended animation, whose survival is at risk when their station is critically damaged.

http://www.sg1archive.com/atlantis/s3.shtml#316 | http://www.sg1archive.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15158 | http://www.sg1archive.com/teasers/a316.html

(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.)

Posted by: Coca2Cola Jan 10th 2007, 1:47 AM

This was an ok episode. I liked how the people of the planet had used wraith tech to save there people from extinction by the wraith, and that they found another somewhat advanced human civilization in the peagaus galaxy.(This is my favorite part of Stargate) This episode felt similar to the episode "Lifeboat" from sg1. where the people were in suspended animation on a ship to save there civilization from destruction. There were of course no multiple personalities and the wraith drove these people to what they did, not a collapsing sun, this episode still reminded me of that episode from sg1.

This felt like a typical Atlantis episode. Mckay finds something interesting, turns it on and causes everyone big problems, they discover someone and the team gets seperated and then colonel Shepard saves the day at the last moment.

Whats with the Apollo mission's space suits? Why did they use those for this episode? why not use something cool and shiny or some ancient space suits or something?

p.s. I do like that these episodes play in Canada 4 months before they play in America. Thank you Canada!

Posted by: Lagger Jan 10th 2007, 6:21 AM

hmmph... ark wasnt that good...

and once again teyla is compromised

Posted by: JTMAG1 Jan 10th 2007, 11:27 AM

I was entertained by the ep. It did remind me of the Ark. I was just happy to see an episode after such a layoff.

Posted by: poundpuppy29 Jan 10th 2007, 3:18 PM

I did like this Ep I liked the banter between Rodney and Sheppard I always enjoy that. I did like the Teyla stuff she is under utilized IMHO. I did find amusing that Rodney tried to get out of the bet he can't stand to lose can he.

Posted by: AngelofDarkness34994 Jan 10th 2007, 4:14 PM

Yeah I enjoyed the episode not my favorite episode but a fairly good episode.

Posted by: Xen Jan 10th 2007, 4:31 PM

Good episode, mainly because I've been on a part of the set. It's always funny when Rodney and Sheppard banter. Also Ronan's and Sheppard's "fight to the death" talk.

Posted by: Stalky Jan 10th 2007, 6:12 PM

"yaaaaaayyyy faint hope" ah that made me laugh

Posted by: More Cowbell! Jan 10th 2007, 9:39 PM

Well, he really didn't make the bet, did he?

I thought this ep was so so. I'd say one of the worse from Atlantis this year. It just had this 'been there done that' feel to it for me.

Posted by: Revan Jan 10th 2007, 11:11 PM

This was a fair filler episode. Nothing really happened in it, but thats alright. I got a little bored, but I was content to watch it, overall.

We got to see Teyla do a bit more in this episode, so that was nice. Got to see Rodney whine...

My favorite part of the episode was when Weir asked Shep if he came to the infirmary to get his head examined... very nice...

Posted by: Raxor Jan 11th 2007, 12:16 PM

I enjoyed this one, though i was somehow remind of that DR who episode in a similar setting (one with the black hole and the devil thing)

my favourite line was something a long 'you should have used a mac' sorry but i had to laugh

Teyla really should do a little more in the future and was good to see in this episode

I was confused when they showed the guy at the start in the shuttle with the door open > unless it had some shield tech or he was already dead with no air wouldnt it have decompressed?

My rating *** same as SG1 1011 even though it was filler i still enjoyed it

Posted by: Catania Jan 11th 2007, 2:05 PM

I found the episode boring tho I did want to see it. the comment about the mac and when ronan fixed his arm that was cool.

Posted by: Revan Jan 11th 2007, 3:45 PM

The shuttle bay was pressurized. The outer doors were sealed, he ignited the engines to breach the seal and turn himself into ash. Interesting way to commit suicide, though I think he wanted to destroy his race in the process... it would be a painless death for them, I daresay.

Posted by: Natoma Jan 11th 2007, 4:08 PM

I liked this episode except for the part where Sheppard survives the re-entry after the asteroid exploded. I mean c'mon! And then to come to a perfectly safe landing without even so much as a cracked rib?

But other than that 5 minutes, I thought it was a really good team cohesion episode. It would've been much better imo if Sheppard had at least come away with some broken bones. Hell even show the damn ship depressurizing. Something!

That would've made it a great episode imo.

Posted by: KillerMarv Jan 12th 2007, 1:18 PM

This episode was too weak for anything worthy of Stargate...

1. Didn't they conclude that there is no possible way of making heads or tails about the people inside that Wraith materialiser thing? How the frell did that guy manage to get that specific life sign out? And why was him out of all the 1,000 people the one to get out, why was he so special? And more importantly... The first guy got out and fainted because he couldn't hold it after being cramped in there, the second didn't faint... and why do you ask: Because they would have wasted time with waiting for him to recover too...

2. How could the ship survive through an exploding hollow asteroid hurdling at 20,000 miles or more per hour through the atmosphere... Answer: IT COULDN'T...

3. That landing the ship while an almost uncontrolled entry in the atmosphere reminded me of Star Wars Episode III... Actually it was just the same thing... And the camera job going to the ship was the same... Only thing is that R2 didn't seem to help Sheppard this time.

And they didn't take out any towers...

A poor excuse for an episode... Mark 12/100

Posted by: Revan Jan 12th 2007, 1:20 PM

I think that is part of what that planet's engineers did to modify the device.

Posted by: KillerMarv Jan 12th 2007, 1:22 PM

Yes, so they said... It still makes for a very poor storyline though... Nothing changed.

Posted by: Revan Jan 12th 2007, 1:25 PM

Well, I was bored the entire episode. It wasn't a bad episode, but I felt it was boring and predictable.

Posted by: Raxor Jan 12th 2007, 1:51 PM

That may be true but i enjoyed it, not the best the series has produced, but once you disregard the obvious physics problems its not so bad

Posted by: KillerMarv Jan 12th 2007, 1:53 PM

I can't do that... It's not in my nature...

Probably the only positive thing about this episode is that they managed to get more of Teyla, and perhaps that we've seen Lorne again after a pretty long absence.

Posted by: deadulus101 Jan 12th 2007, 3:05 PM

farily decent episode. I loved the part about the mac. it really cracked me up I really thing they should have more lines in there like that. But it also struck me as odd that they made that joke yet everyone in atlantis uses pc's. just thought it was funny

Posted by: Remco Jan 12th 2007, 7:38 PM

Haha, the ending felt kind of cheap indeed. An exploding asteroid and the ship is all intact? Whatever! Besides that I thought the episode was enjoyable.

Posted by: dr lee Jan 13th 2007, 12:39 PM

Not a awful episode but then again it wasn't a great one.

I loved Sheps face when Ronon popped his shoulder back into place.

This was simply a filler episode nothing more nothing less, nice to see lorne used in a different way than simply being the one to set up the episode.

7/10

Posted by: Pitry Jan 13th 2007, 2:33 PM

Well.
I liked this better upon second viewing, but IO still feel it was sotr of a "meh". And I can't understand why they seem to have regressed, both with The Ark and The Game, back to the season 2 pattern insteasd of contiuing the fantastic episode quality they've had so far.

First, I was really glad it didn't end up turning up as another "Lifeboat", it seemed like that at some point... a bad enough episode on its own, it doesn't need an Atlantis version!

And.. well! they gave Teyla something to do. Now, taht wasn't that hard, was it?... However Weir and Beckett still had nothign to do.
Sheppard. once again, is the hero saving the day in a copmlpetely insane plan, I could live without that part - the problem with the entire episode - there was nothing exciting about it! So you have the teaser that starts at the end of the episode - yet again, how many tiems have they done it already this year? - I mean, c'mon, the beginning teaser was enough as it was to be "exciting", I can live without the promise of action. And the risk factor was compeltely ridiocuklous. Had they lsot the Jumper or been cut off in vaccuum or were about to burn out in the atmosphere... but all three? That's when it's overdone. And therefore, addnig the "lost the control room" schtick at the middle was one thing to much, I truely did roll my eyes at that - don't get me wrong, watching Rodney gets hysterical is always fun and David Hewlett, brilliant actor as he is, always pulls it off best - but come on.
Speaking of Rodney - why did they feel the ned to regress him together with the episode? He's elarned so much this season - enough that it showed in the Game. Why throw him back into the old "Rodney square"?

Oh, and yeah, one more thing - I'm stil waiting to hear why a civilisation on a different galaxy feels like decorating/ writing on its shuttles using the Greek alphabet

Posted by: JTMAG1 Jan 13th 2007, 7:57 PM

I'm sure that Dell is not happy about that comment.

Posted by: Revan Jan 13th 2007, 8:04 PM

Doesn't Rodney make MAC comments sometimes...? I seem to recall another such joke.

Posted by: NRJ Jan 13th 2007, 8:18 PM

I didn't like this episode at all

Posted by: JTMAG1 Jan 13th 2007, 8:19 PM

I do think that he has made comments like that in the past, however... I can't think of any specific instances. I remember him sayins that the Wraith OS is worse than DOS.

Posted by: Revan Jan 13th 2007, 8:20 PM

Do you have any reasons for that?

Perhaps you liked the lack of storyline, or the poor CGI, or the impossible re-entry...?


Ah yes that I do remember. I might be thinking about general computer stuff that he makes comments on... stuff that is only funny to him because it makes little or no sense to most people.

Posted by: KillerMarv Jan 13th 2007, 8:21 PM

Can you tell us all why do you have this feeling... so we can compare it to other opinions, or you like saying something to other people, and not explain your reasons, just to keep them in suspense?

A one-liner like that is usually considered spam... I'd be careful in the future if I were you.

Posted by: glom Jan 17th 2007, 2:23 PM

67% Quite good. It was pretty science fictiony, which is a bonus and the characterisation was fairly strong.

SUPERAUTOMATION OF THE WEEK: Flick a few switches in a supposedly 1960s level of technology and suddenly powers goes up and life support comes on. They don't know they're born these days!

REPETITION OF THE WEEK: The in medias res opening is getting a little overused. In the case of 'Memento Mori' it wasn't so bad, but here, it is seems totally gratuitous.

DODGY EDITING OF THE WEEK: When the decompression happened, the cut to Teyla and Shepherd getting thrown off their feet happened some second after the first cut making it look a bit like a bunch of stunt men throwing themselves around.

NEW MECHANICS OF THE WEEK: Shepherd and Ronan are pretty strong. Those airlock doors are probably about 1½m² in size. When you're venting an atmosphere of close to an atmosphere, the weight on those doors would be over 100 tonnes!

NEW ASTRODYNAMICS OF THE WEEK: When an asteroidal moon decays in its orbit and enters the atmosphere, it apparently slowly falls vertically down rather than sweeping along at high speed as we would normally expect if the laws of gravity and the laws of inertia applied. Fortunately, the graphics later on were a little more accurate.

POOR RECRUITMENT OF THE WEEK: This civilisation doesn't screen its recruits very well. The operation was highly stressful and had a lot of risk. A guy who would commit suicide at the first sign of a personally afflicting setback is, as we saw, a liability.

GOOD CHARACTERISATION OF THE WEEK: I liked Jamus. He was a well executed character. I thought Teyla was strong opposite him too.

Posted by: Dafmeister Feb 14th 2007, 4:43 PM

A poor episode with a poor plot. It was just a rehash of episodes like 'The Other Side' and 'Lifeboat' with very little else added in. The guy wanted to kill the remains of his race just because his wife and child didn't survive? Ok, his family is dead but it's a tad extreme to want to kill those who had nothing to do with their death. I found it unbelievable that Sheppard knew where to find the docking release on the shuttle only a few seconds after he sat in the pilot's chair, given that none of the controls were marked. It was unbelievable that the control room's window cracked after debris impacted it slightly yet the shuttle's cockpit could withstand flying through the debris of an exploded moon.

Posted by: baggers1982 Feb 14th 2007, 6:05 PM

i've got no idea how anti gravity technology works but would it still have an effect in the compartments that had been depressurised. it doesn't seem realistic to me that makay was walking around like normal even when he was basically in a vacum?

Posted by: Parmenides Feb 14th 2007, 6:08 PM

Well, anti-gravity is pretty sci-fi anyway, but real gravity doesn't have any dependence on atmospheric pressure, so I don't see why artificial gravity should have any requirement on it. I can see where you're coming from though.

Posted by: baggers1982 Feb 14th 2007, 6:20 PM

It just didn't seem right. considering the window in the control room shattered, the atmosphere was sucked out and the room was exposed to the vacuum of space. so in the middle of the room he could walk as normal, but if he stepped out the window he'd surely float away. the mind boggles.

Posted by: Parmenides Feb 14th 2007, 6:34 PM

Well yeah, but anti-gravity is generally mind-boggling. It's just like on the Discworld...

Posted by: Revan Feb 14th 2007, 7:23 PM

Real gravity is the reason our planet has an atmosphere at all... Given artificial gravity is fictional, we can't know how it would affect gas particles in the air... I don't think the two are related, least not in scifi so far.

Posted by: KillerMarv Feb 14th 2007, 11:04 PM

It all depends on how strong their gravity field is. We can perfectly speculate that the field is not strong enough to keep gas in. We don't know if stepping out the window would necessarily throw anyone floating into space, they could return back in just as well, although artificial gravity is reproduced in some Sci-Fi shows by the rotation (somehow) of the target object, so by stepping out...

Posted by: Parmenides Feb 15th 2007, 8:08 AM

Well, that's actually the closest we can come to artificial gravity with current technology. It has negative side effects, like the Coriolis effect, and gravity gradients, but it's still doable. Watch 2001.

Posted by: JC1 Feb 21st 2007, 11:58 AM

Another episode about people in some sort of suspended animation, which has been done before on SG1 and Atlantis. There was nothing exciting or new about it and it was fairly average.

The episode quality in first half of season 3 was a lot better, it seems to have dropped off a bit in the second half.

Posted by: Reignfire May 18th 2007, 11:11 PM

Like many others, I didn't care much for this episode. The whole suspended animation thing is over used and made it feel like I've seen the episode already. Adapting Wraith tech was kind of interesting, but nothing really came of it.

Also, the design of the re-entry vehicle bugged me. A bubble cockpit didn't seem realistic on a vehicle like that.

Posted by: Sylver May 19th 2007, 6:00 PM

I have nothing new to add to the discussion except to express my disgust as well.

*Sheppard knowing how to fly the ship? Don't think so.
*The reentry into the atmosphere? Iffy at best.
*Crashing onto the ground and NOT exploding? Right.
*The suicidal guy? Whatever. He should never have been brought onto the program and shouldn't have been the one intergraded first (talk about piss poor planning! 5 generations' work down the drain).

On the other hand, Teyla and Jamus had great scenes and she really was the one to be stuck in there with him. I think that if they'd focused more on that, instead of the unrealistic plot they did focus on, it'd have been a much better episode. Not every one needs to be action oriented. Sometimes it's the character interaction that's best.

And on a side note, whatever happened to Teyla's people? Are they still on the continent on Atlantis? Weren't the kicked off by the Atlantians return?

Posted by: JTMAG1 May 19th 2007, 6:36 PM

Remember that Flying is pretty simple. Shep wasn't fighting a battle at all. There is a throttle and rudders and a the primary flight controls. Once you know what they are, it's not terrible difficult. That's why he could fly a jumper or a 302 with no training. We've seen this before with Jack.

It was designed for atmospheric rentry, what was iffy?

Not everything that crashes explodes. That's over dramatization and overuse of special effects. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywqqxLafdAA

Posted by: KillerMarv May 20th 2007, 2:35 AM

Lol, I think they shouldn't have fed that horse chili peppers...

Posted by: IndyJan May 20th 2007, 3:26 AM

One thing about this episode bothered me. Either they didn't explain it, or I blinked and missed it.

Jamus told Herick that he postponed the second shuttle leaving by a day. Jamus said there were riots once the people knew about the shuttles. Jamus said the Wraith came. Jamus said they attacked all the Wraith ships with nuclear weapons as soon as they landed. Jamus said the fallout would kill his people and make the planet inhabitable for years.

With all that, how did Jamus get to the moon base, and be incorporated into the device? Herick was already there and in the device. That is why Herick didn't know that the second shuttle didn't follow him. Now we saw Jamus incorporate both Teyla and himself into the device, so he knew how to do that part, but how did he get there?

Posted by: Shylodog May 20th 2007, 4:24 AM

My best guess would be that Jamus was calling all the shots from the moon base. He was likely already up there before the first ark was launched. After arrival, all of the station's manpower (including any remaining leadership) was zipped into storage. Herick's pattern was merely coded as the first to be reintegrated since he's the only one who could fly the ship back down to the planet.

Any yeah, they should have known how unstable he would have been, and if there were no other candidates, they should have made sure his family was on the first ark just to be safe.

Posted by: Sighfienerd May 20th 2007, 12:44 PM

Best line: Mckay saying "you should have used a Mac"!!

One thing that struck me wrong was that Herick, who supposedly spent his entire life working to help people, became a kind of improbable deus ex machina by essentially sociopathically (okay, so maybe that's not a word), leaving innocent people to die who were there to help him. Wow...that sentence was a little convoluted. Sorry!

Posted by: Revan May 20th 2007, 6:06 PM

I did find it unusual that the poor Scientist Guy cracked so completely all at once, almost ending his entire race.

Posted by: Sighfienerd May 20th 2007, 10:24 PM

And now that I read back a little further on these comments (and just to get completely nit-picky), I was reminded that I was highly doubtful that Ronan and Shep could have closed that door when decompression occurred. If it's impossible to open a car door from the inside underwater, I can't see how this would be possible either. But...that Ronan does have some pretty large muscles, so what do I know?

Aaaaand...the crash landing thing without a nick or a scratch was a bit hard to swallow as well. I mean, couldn't there have been just a little blood? Or possibly a broken bone? How about a concussion at least. I'll settle for a concussion.

I thought the storyline was an interesting one - an Ark Nouveau as it were, but they should have had a few of the people re-materialize or whatever because the two that we got generally failed to impress and make me care about what happened to them anyway.

A similar storyline and much better done was in Star Trek TNG where Picard gets zapped by that space probe thingy and essentially lives out an entire lifetime in order to propagate the memory of a people long dead. That was a good episode, but I digress....

Posted by: Sylver May 21st 2007, 9:52 AM

Ok, so I didn't exactly expect it to explode, but it seemed a little too convenient. He managed to get atmospheric reentry with no problems, no scorching of the hull, no worrying about much of anything except they were going down fast. That's what I had a problem with. Even our shuttles wait for the atmospheric window for reentry. Granted, this one was far more sophisticated (despite Sheppard's comments) but considering all the trouble they kept having, suddenly being able to understand what the nifty 1960s buttons and switches meant was a stretch.

Maybe it was the fact that I found much of this episode over-done and over the top and I'm taking it out on the ending.

Posted by: ancient01 May 21st 2007, 11:25 AM

Scotty is stuck in the transporter again, huh? They re-used too many old storylines for this one IMO. I'm ready for next week to move the story along a bit...

Posted by: Revan May 21st 2007, 3:02 PM

I don't recall the door closing.

If he was pulling it against the current of air, it would have been highly difficult to close, otherwise it would have slammed shut on its own.

Posted by: Shylodog May 21st 2007, 3:49 PM

Yeah, he (Sheppard) closed 2 doors. For dramatic effect, they kept the wind blowing even after he got one of the doors closed. Was a little unrealistic, and in all reality, he shouldn't have gotten the first one closed given the direction of air flow. Now, I'm just working off of memory, so I'll double check it tonight when I get home, I just remember thinking the same thing when I re-watched it on Friday.

Posted by: Kate May 23rd 2007, 2:27 AM

Soooo not my favorite episode. It was rather boring in parts. Reminded me too much of several other episodes. However, I never grow tired of seeing Rodney girl-out when somethin bad happens. lol

Posted by: bostjan91 Aug 16th 2007, 2:30 PM

This was not a good episode in opposite it was the wors ever (if you ask me) - It reminded tooo much of several other episodes - it was boring, and i think Teyla could easily get t he gun from the old man.

Posted by: Revan Aug 17th 2007, 11:12 AM

Of which episodes are you reminded?

There is a risk of getting shot, or putting a bullet through the walls and causing decompression, if you try to disarm a person.

When you disarm a handgun at close range, you can attack the gun from the outside, and the forearm from the inside, turning the gun away, while twisting it out of the person's hand. However, the gun may go off anyways, and though it won't hit you, it could hit somebody else, or something else.

Posted by: bostjan91 Aug 17th 2007, 11:43 AM

I think that the wals in a space shutle are bulet proof.
Off course there's a risk of getting shot, so is the risk to burn in the atmosfere - with all of your friend abord.

Posted by: KillerMarv Aug 17th 2007, 11:56 AM

Even worse... If walls are bullet proof, bullets could bounce and hit either someone else or a critical system, as Revan said.

Posted by: Dafmeister Aug 17th 2007, 2:43 PM

Wouldn't a bullet proof shuttle be extremely heavy? Ok, in space that wouldn't be a problem but on re-entry, it wouldn't make for good flying.

Posted by: KillerMarv Aug 17th 2007, 3:16 PM

Well, they have been making very light bullet proof materials lately, like ArmorCore fiberglass for instance. Even with more layers of such materials in a ship, I think it would still make the ship light enough for an easy to handle re-entry. Of course, we're talking about an alien ship now, but I think the specific race would have been advanced enough to think of similar methods.

Posted by: Revan Aug 18th 2007, 8:15 AM

It's like,

"Why not make an entire airplane out of that blackbox material?!?!?!"
"Well sonny Jim, it is because the plane wouldn't be able to fly..."


We don't even know that this race was all that advanced. They "borrowed" some of their technology from the Wraith, but overall, that station didn't look all that advanced.

Posted by: Invisible Painting Aug 18th 2007, 8:58 AM

Teyle was the only one there....I don't see a problem.


It was in an asteriod, I don't think they built it with landing in mind...

Posted by: bostjan91 Aug 18th 2007, 11:23 AM

Actualy it was a space shutle ment to land on a planet and re-populate it .

Posted by: Uncle JTMAG1 Aug 19th 2007, 3:51 PM

He actually said

Posted by: Dafmeister Aug 19th 2007, 4:09 PM

IP was referring to the shuttle though which was built to ferry the people back down to the planet hence they must have built it with a re-entry and landing in mind.

Posted by: Heru-ER Oct 28th 2007, 2:36 PM

Pretty nice episode I really like it
the moon was sooo alike as Phobos