Actually the whole 'threading the needle' part made absolutely NO sense to me ...

Its automatic and they knew it ... Sheppard flew like hell towards it, theres far too many fail safes for threading the needle to be a problem ... and too many fail safes for this to happen in the first place id say

Sheppard also has a much greater control over Ancient technology than anyone else in Atlantis. For all we know this was the kids first time trying to pilot it. If a sheer thought could launch a drone, wouldn't you be a little cautious?

oh yea but id still be goin like a bat out of hell out of it in the full knowledge that the end was automatic.

One minute its a case of if he doesnt thread the needle theyre all dead, putting the pilot under more pressure and then the next its a case of its cool, its all automatic from here ... all youd need to is concentrate on the event horizon, just on getting the jumper into the puddle in the middle of the ring ... cant miss cus it wont let you ... you get near it by that time its on auto pilot you jus think about it stopping in time other side ... thats only 2 things to think about ...

I am enjoying this. Still getting the feel for all the important characters, but it's going along smoothly. There are some characters that I am starting to not like, but will keep watching and maybe my opions of them will change.

Not at all. My money is on the producers developing a Sheppard-Teyla relationship.

A nice twist of SG1's "48-hours", a really great plot idea to have the puddle- jumper stuck half-way in the stargate.

Really, the actor who plays McKay should get top billing (or his name before the credits). SO far he has carried the show.

Ford's character is pretty well undefined at present, all we know is that he remains calm under stress (a good contrast to Dr. McKay).

Teyla's character needs filling-out but has potential.

I love the medical doctor, so far he has had more screen impact than Ford.

Yes the money is definitely going to Atlantis (the new baby always gets better presents). So far I think the series has real potential and I hadn't really planned to watch it.

Did anyone else notice that this week's commonality was that energy blasts came out of the stargates to hit the home bases?


I think the writers need to be a little further way from each other...

James

When SG-1 was launched we got episodes like The First Commandment right in the beginning. Those "bold adventures on strange foreign planets" were just what everyone wanted to see after the Stargate Movie, just remember the folks from the "Land of Light" from The Broca Divide, the Nox, or the Greek looking people from Argos (Brief Candle). For an initial season, such a direction was good and interesting.
But somehow I don't get appetite on Atlantis. In the last two episodes nothing really happened. I want the team to visit other planets and make extraordinary discoveries. They can later focus on little dramatic plots like expelling some entity from the base or dealing with technical problems in the puddle jumper.
If they show me soon what I want to see I'm willing to say okay those first episodes were also good and had their reasons... but if the story continues like that I will be quite disappointed...

Yeah, I was actually noticing that myself. That commonality thing between Stargate and SGA. I'm sure the same writers are doing the scripts so we'll probably see some overlap. Which sort of makes me wonder why they didn't hire a different team of writers to do SGA.

I have mixed feelings about this episode. In general, I thought it was a decent show. I think that poor ol' neurotic Rodney Mckay was getting on my nerves. Okay, we learned he can be squeamish in Hide and Seek. But, he was really falling apart in this episode. That's sort of out of character for him since he's been portrayed as such a know it all personality.

I do like that this show treats has different people working together to solve a problem. Of course, it struck me that if the ancients were so brilliant at designing the stargates, then they would have had fail safes that would have ensured that a "puddle jumper" wouldn't get caught in the gate. The science seemed off to me in this script.

I just found it interesting that it wasn't just that they were stuck in the gate, but Major Shappard also had that larval wraith stuck to his neck as well. I believe that's called heaping. Where solving one problem isn't good enough. You have to be presented with multiple problems. And I enjoyed seeing the Czech scientist too.
It's good that Atlantis has a multinational team. Of course, I'm wondering who ends up as the red shirts in this series. I mean, how many scientists and soldiers went through the gate in the opener ?

Beckett is really growing on me as a character. At first, I thought he was just going to end up as comic relief. Which was fine because his scenes with McKay are funny. But, no... Dr Beckett has turned out to be one highly skilled and competent physician. I enjoyed they way he asked what items they had on the puddlejumper and then put those same things on the table for himself to look at. Very smart move.
I also wonder why he isn't in the opening credits. He sure seems like an integral part of the team to me, not just a secondary character. I hope the producers put him in the opening later in the season. He deserves to be there.

I don't know if I like Teyla or not. I do like the father figure of her people. He seems to be a very calm, reasonable sort of person. He's a definite contrast to Weir.

Still, I can't get over how much they've seemed to learn about the ancients technology in so short a time. I know that Sheppard and Beckett both have the ancients' gene that helps them to interface with the technology. But, really... if you think about it, everyone needs time to learn something. It seems to me that the writers seem to be rushing their accumulation of knowledge. Maybe so they'll be better at fighting off the wraiths ? don't know, but the Atlantis crew do seem to be the high end of the learning curve.

Okay, some of those things were nitpicky, but... I suppose I'll let SGA grow on me and see what happens.

This post has been edited by CitizenK: Aug 3rd 2004, 9:30 PM

I watched this ep again, (love vcrs) and was struck by another theme running through this ep. Not only was it about the Atlantis team pulling together to solve a problem, but it also snuck in a bit of a character study of how these characters react under a deadline (no pun intended)

• For instance, Teyla's people were all for giving her a chance to prepare for death ahead of time, as if it were inevitable and it was something they just needed to accept.
• McKay, apparently, strings together long, 'we're so screwed' proclamations when he begins to panic...also, the more I see this guy, the more I realize he is SO not meant to be out there. I mean, we know from SG1 he's allergic to lemons...but apparently he's also claustrophobic and..diabetic??? What the hell is this guy doing on the other side of another galaxy?
• Cavanaugh is a smart guy, but he was focusing on worst-case scenarios about the fate of the jumper...which is okay, except that no else thought it was as likely to happen as he did.
• The Chzech (sp?) scientist was very level headed and totally dedicated to his work when faced with the deadline at hand. I like this guy.
• Weir seemed to be trying to will herself to keep her focus on the problem and not get stressed out, especially with all the problems/people that confronted her. However, there was a great moment at the end when they realized Sheppard was going to be okay, and you can see the relief on her face. Its as if she's just realizing how devastating it would've been to loose Sheppard in all the roles he provides, both as a fellow strandee in Atlantis and as an ally with military know-how.
• Beckett was also great to watch under pressure, althought I think my favorite moment was when he came in the control room..
  Beckett:"Where's my patient?"
  Weir: "There's been a problem. Into the conference room."
  Beckett: "Oh...no..."
  The tone/reaction when he said that was great,just great.
• Ford was a pure level-headed soldier under pressure.
• Teyla was both level-headed and trying to help Sheppard at the same time. There's a quiet, understated strength there that will hopefully come out more.

okay, done again...

Oh wait..is it just me, or is the guy in the control room doing the communications stuff the same guy who just played Camalus? Kinda looked like him....

yeh it was an okay ep

i'm hoping to see somemore ancient technology or find out more about who/wat the wraiths are

Errr... wouldn't that make human blood poisonous or at least repulsive to the bug and to the Wraiths? Sheppard was bleeding and the bug was not affected by that.

Oh, the salt in human blood is too low compared to raw table salt? That's like telling a kid that brocolli tastes good if they eat just a bit and not a bunch

Oh, yeah, and I'd give this eposide a 6.5.

TauJin

This post has been edited by taujin: Aug 4th 2004, 5:14 AM

What I want to know is how come all the gate control rooms are right in front of the gate (although elevated and out of the direct line of fire). Theoretically, the gate control rooms at both SG Command and Atlantic could be destroyed by a small bomb or projectile coming through the wormhole. If I were the architect, I would put the gate control room BEHIND the StarGate, and place a high-resolution video camera in FRONT of the gate to see what came through.

I was also expecting the Atlantis gate room to have a force field to protect the room from any weapons fire or hostiles coming through the gate. So far, it seem like the Ancients are using good old glass. Maybe one day, we'll find out the glass is made from a special material that is indestructable and can absorb energy and projectile blasts.

TauJin

It was a smart move, although I was disappointed that Beckett didn't even think to try putting the CHOCOLATE on the bug. I thought they were going to try everything. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs, so why not life-sucking bugs?

Once they showed the defibrillator, the plot was up for me. It was just too convenient to have something to stop and start the human heart.

TauJin

I liked this episode even better than the first one!!!!! Its looking realy good, i have high hopes for SGA.

Mckay is an ASS! But OMG..hes starting to grow on me and I liked him in last weeks and this weeks episode. He's actually funny sometimes and can act on the drama side too.

Dr Becket is very good and I like his character very much.

I like all of the cast they seem okay but Teyla needs to do more(hopefully in next few eps) and I liked her showing concern for Sheppard.

Weir was right in scolding that greasy-bad karma-geek guy for being egotistic and not thinking of the whole team, after all, they do need Sheppard to run the Ancient technology as the others are still afraid and cant concentrate on using the technology.

Production wise, isnt the bug the same as in "Bane" only without wings? lol.

I liked the "stuck in the gate" idea for this episode. It was done in such a way that it gave the show a bit of originality and piqued my interest. This is a scenario that couldn't be done with SG-1. And that's nice to see. The ending, however, was classic Stargate SG-1. Everyone gathered round the injured person in the infirmary. But the idea works.

It's just too bad that the attractive cast of characters have absolutely no charisma. Sheppard telling the panicked McKay to "stop using his mouth and start using his brain"...that was funny in how truly awful the line was delivered. Weir's confrontation with the ego scientist...she tried very hard to project authority. And that was the problem. The effort was painful to watch and wasn't believable. Ford came across as twitchy, hopped up on something and playing "soldier" as he guided the pilot towards the gate. And Teyla...well, she had nothing to do.

No charisma.

This post has been edited by dorien: Aug 4th 2004, 7:39 PM

Some people here complained about the bad chemistry between the characters. Well in this regard they were well written and acted. I especially grow to like Dr Weir, potentially even more than Sam Carter in the future. Now don't laugh I'm a man and that's important for me. Considering there are typically twice as much men in the main cast of sci fi series than women... it's just more important they are sympathetic.

I will have to agree with some of you about Dr Weir, I do not like her so far.Something about her I just can not stand.

This really has nothing to do with this specific episode, I just wondered how long the writers will take for the Wraith to realize that these people are in the city of Atlantis. The only tell tale signs I can see for the Wraith to realize this is:

1. The obvious use of the Stargate by the Atlantis crew, which the Wraith have witnessed.
2. The posession of and use of specific Ancient technology(which mostly requires a gene), such as the puddle jumper and in the premiere, that locator device.

I mean if the Wraith get any inkling that the people are coming from Atlantis and go to invesitage...everyone in Atlantis is screwed.

I would hope that our "heroes" first priority would be to get some kind of device that will power the shields for Atlantis. The ones that kept the water at bay when it was submerged. Maybe even find some kind of lost Ancient cache somewhere in the pegasus galaxy (which is the most likely to happen), and get a few zpms.

Just food for thought. Talk amongst yourselves

I'm glad that I'm not the only one to think that this cast hasn't come together yet. I get nothing from Teyla. I cannot stand Weir. For Lt. Ford, insert, unknown ensign from ST and that would be him. Mckay, is too over the top. He wasn't this paranoid before. I do like Beckett. He should be part of the opening credits. His character is one that has been well thought out. As far as Sheppard, I like him. Don't know why, but I do. He seems to be a good leader. I thought it was a nice touch to have him have the ancient gene and be able to access their technology. They should be doing more of that. They should be actually exploring and trying to make new friends, find others that can help them.

For an episode that involved being stuck in the stargate I was actually on the edge of my seat more than I thought I would be. They did a really good job with this episode I'd give it a 8.5 outta 10.
And as for everyone complaining about them not being as connected as a team I totally disagree. It's like only the fourth episode and so far I'm already caught up with these charactors. I really hated McKay when I first saw him and now I find the guy hilarious.

It was a smart move, although I was disappointed that Beckett didn't even think to try putting the CHOCOLATE on the bug. I thought they were going to try everything. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs, so why not life-sucking bugs? (taujin)

Although the idea would be to try everything but in the case of chocolate, it is posionous to dogs if ingested and the amount is typically greater than a chocolate bar (that amount could cause diarrhea). Although I agree in that why not try it on the life sucking bug, it unfortunatly is not truly practical in that the bug's "mouth" is firmly attached to sheppard's neck and having sheppard ingest the chocolate to basically go to the bug would take a consider amount of time.

Anyway. After watching the episode (only seen once) I was wondering did the bug start to swell when salt and water were applied? or was I imagining things

If you mean the Theobromine in chocolate...well, I suppose it's worth a try, but I really can't see how that would help fend off a carnivorous insect. Theobromine is only toxic to dogs because they can't metabolize it as quickly as we can.

A bug is hardly a dog.

love the line dr Weir we got a cling on

8 outta 10

Brilliant episode, one question, why did they use the alarm SFX from Goldeneye (N64 game)?