i did not like this episode very much, ok the idea was nice, and everything, but we already had that in a way with SG1 (as mentioned before) and on the other hand the fate of Sheppard did not touch me very much. It was not compelling nor very believable that he was there for 6 Months (!!!).

And you have to compare that to the SG1 episode were O'Neill was on that planet "only" for hundred days, what a drama!!! when he got rescued and had already given up all hope you really could see how that hit him. And John Sheppard was there for 6 Months?! I did not feal any relationship between him and that woman and the whole aspect of this evil beast was not very intelligent.

Another thing that i did not like was all these strange aspects like Weir going through the gate without having ANY idea wheter Sheppard lives or how she may get back (thefe could be a forcefield surrounding the power source, whatever). i just dont believe that the leader of an expedition just steps through there like "who cares?!". Could you imagine General Hammond doing something so stupid? Its all very strange in this episode somehow...
The foundation for a good Episode may have been there but they did not get much out of it imho.

"malp on a stick" LOL. i did think this was kind of like a cross between 100 Days and Paradise Lost. i was confused by weir's sudden remarkable ability to read ancient (or if that device really was translating, how come the team wasnt already carrying one? would seem smart) i also agree that sheppard didnt seem very attatched to anyone to have been there for 6 months. overall really good episode though. atlantis is turning into a really good show

I feel the reason Sheppard didn't really feel attached to anyone, is cause everytime something happened everyone abandoned him except the girl. Plus, judging by the end of the episode, Sheppard tries to withhold such emotions.

This episode was okay, not great, but okay. What I did like was hearing and learning new things about the Ancients. I also liked that they were exploring and not just fighting the Wraith again.

This episode did have the feel of 100 Days with RDA. The one difference was that the people actually wanted Shep there, whereas O'Neill was not wanted by the one farmer.

Has anyone seen the movie "The Forbidden Planet?" The beast in that movie was created out of fear by the lead actor's brain. He was kind of invisible much like the beast in this one that was created by "their" fear. I'm not saying that it's wrong to recycle story ideas, in fact they can be good when done well. Epiphany was done re-using 100 Days and Forbidden Planet to advance the story and knowledge about the Ancients.

As far as why Teera couldn't see them all facing the beast, it all boils down to the fact that they hadn't faced their fears. It took Shep being there and telling them to make them do that.

Loved Rodney's comment about "what is it with you and the ancient girls?" I guess it's that Ancient gene that Shep has.

Not a bad episode. However, I wish the writers would make up their minds. In the early episodes of Season 1, we were informed that the Ancients had left the Galaxy, now we find out that they left people behind.

These are not Ancients. At least that is not what I got from it. These are people in the galaxy that want to ascend. They went to the portal, that the ancients left for people to enter and to ascend. They have been there for many years because they hadn't ascended. Shep helped them face their fears to accomplish that.

I enjoyed the episode. It wasn't great but it had its moments, namely those involving McKay. "Can you get me a real jumper pilot? Because I don't trust him," points at Beckett "and I can't fly the damn thing in a straight line." Loved that and the malp on a stick gag. My biggest gripe was that it was Sheppard who got sucked into the barrier in the first place. It's always the laid back sexy leading man character who gets stranded in paradise. That annoyed me. Why couldn't it have been Rodney? Although, I do give kudos to John for never giving up hope that he would be rescued. I think McKay would've gotten himself out given that much time. He would've found the power source or tried to and as a result, gotten himself kickied out. The ending was kinda lame. My theory on what the beast was had me thinking that a wraith had somehow gotten stuck there but a failsafe designed to protect the sanctuary did something to him and he was unable to leave or some such. I would've found that much more plausible. The almost ancients could've still ascended afterwards, telling John that he was right, they were afraid. I think it still would've had the same impact and been less corny. I was in unison with John when he said, "That's it?"

Of course, I was also in unison when he asked Teera, "The one, what?" His lack of attachment to anyone in the village, coupled with wanting something else from her makes him look that much more like a playboy, to me anyway. "Yeah, you know, I don't really care about you but I want to get you in bed." I saw more chemistry between him and Rodney. Which, if I may point out, it did seem that McKay was extremely emotional over the whole thing. Granted, he understood the time dialation issue better than most but his concern even drove him to admit it was his fault and that he was a bad PJ pilot. Out loud! In a room full of people!

And what was up with showing Teyla as smarter than she looks? I guess it's possible but we haven't seen much indication of it before. Maybe it was because she didn't have much higher education before meeting the the Atlantis expedition and now she can exercise her brain more. Maybe the writers are trying to make her less two dimensional and they don't want to just jump into it for fear it would be less realistic. Another thing I'm annoyed with is her 'sensing' the beast. That was what cemented the wraith idea in my head and why I was like, "WTF?" with the ending they had. What is she, the Atlantis version of Deanna Troi? This same thing annoyed me in The Hive. I thought she could only sense their presence, not how many there were and certainly not their emotional status. I thought she could only discern something so specific when connected to them and they would've known about it! Which would've been a nearly dead givaway about who they had captured.

'Nyways, good ep, not great but it wasn't completely useless.

This post has been edited by Samara Draven: Jan 15th 2006, 4:27 AM

Pretty good episode! I liked the malp on a stick idea! I wonder if this will be the new way they'll determine if a planet is safe or not LOL! Rodney is hilarious. And of course the soon to be ascended know his intentions, he's a shifty scientist, after all. Sheppard wasn't bad as a protecter for these people, especially against an enemy that was cloaked and seemed to phase in and out! I recognized the guy he saved as the guy who wanted T'ealc to pay for killing his father in SG1's episode, Cor'ai. I don't know if anyone noticed the similarity in the monster in the movie the Forbidden Planet and this episode. Both were constructed by the inhabitants of their respected planets, both people were advanced in one way, F.P. were really smart, and this episode they were reaching a new plane of exsistence. The Atlantis episode had a much happier ending, with the inhabitants reaching ascendance by ridding the planet of the monster they created. I find the ending a little fake, like Teyla was pretending to care what Sheppard was saying, and he was trying to look for sympathy for being away so long.

I have to disagree on two points.

One: Unless the guy he saved was in two sg-1 eps, I'm pretty sure where we saw him was in Demons, I think is the episode's name. It was the episode in which sg-1 finds a Christian society that makes human sacrifices to the goa'uld. There's a girl who's sick and the magistrate chooses her for sacrifice and her friend wants to save her. Because of their interference, sg-1 is put into cells and Teal'c is put through a ritual in which they drown him. Anyhoo, the guy who played the girl's friend was the same actor as the guy Sheppard saved.

Two: I don't think Teyla was pretending to care because I think she actually did care and was worried. She seemed to understand the time dialation concept... better than Ronan anyway. She was able to figure the time dialation ratio on her own. I think she was worried because they might not be able to get Sheppard back in time to make it worth it. That hours and days for them meant months and years for her friend. That'd worry me too.

Anyhoo, those are my disputes and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Thank you Samara. I do see the similarities between the characters on the episodes Cor-ai and Demons. I'll have to check the credits to see if you are correct. And it could be that in fact Teyla could care, or that she said that to Sheppard because she did understand what he went through. Thank you for the way you presented this information. There is one member in this forum who isn't so nice. Great chatting with you.

He was in "Demons" and he was in "Cor-Ai"

Thanks. According to Auntie Em, we're both right. I guess I thought it was a different guy in Cor'ai. Now, I'll have to go check it out. I'm normally a little better at these things. Feedles gizz...

Addendum: Off checking the eps, now. Later.

This post has been edited by Samara Draven: Jan 16th 2006, 7:18 PM

Yes his name is David McNally.

In S3 "Demons" he played Simon and in S1 "Cor'Ai" he played Hanno.

Hi Samara!
I did some investigating, and I found out that we were both right! David McNally played Hanno from Cor-Ai and Simon from Demons, as well as the character he played in SGA's Epiphany! There have been a few actors who have been in both series, so this is nothing new (as minor characters in one episode).

Now if by digging, did you mean looking at the post above yours, and the post above that one, and the post above that one to see that the answer to your "problem" has already been solved?

LOL. I was like hey what the hell does my post not show or what!

Nice one Hobo!

58% Nicely executed, but disappointing story

Well this was just a barrelful of rip-off, wasn't it? 100 Days or Predator, anyone?

Aside from that, I did like the episode. Not the beard though. The beard made me cringe.

I found the concept of the time-dilated sanctuary very interesting, and it was well put together. I disliked Ronon this week - he was an insensitive jerk, towards his own teammates no less!

I'm glad the writing was up to standard this week, especially since it was Joe's debut - I was worried that the story might be crummy/discontinuous, but it was great!

Teyla kicks ass!

Poor show glom, poor show... [Edit] Huzzah glom, huzzah! [/Edit]

This post has been edited by Parmenides: Jan 18th 2006, 5:19 PM

58% Nicely executed, but disappointing story

EVOCATION OF THE WEEK: Where to begin? 'Darmok' [TNG] for the first scene battling the invisible beast in the meadow. 'The Storyteller' [DS9] for the whole fear created monster idea. 'Gravity' [VOY] for the time differential between the rescuers and the rescuee theme.

ATLANTIS UNINTELLIGENCE OF THE WEEK: Why bother with stupid flowers, when you could just send a watch through?

LAMENESS OF THE WEEK: Another goddamn Pacific-Northwest rural village! I was hoping something really cool would be on the other side of portal. There's a lack of cool ideas these days.

CHEESINESS OF THE WEEK: The scene at the end where villagers march on the meadow ("Brains! Need brains!") to vanguish the beast by not being afraid.

EMPATH OF THE WEEK: McKay says what we're all thinking; specifically about Shepherd and ascended women. To think that McKay was a last minute addition to the cast.



Well I couldn't think of much this week.

This post has been edited by glom: Jan 18th 2006, 4:49 PM

I liked this ep, the plot line did remind me alot of 100 days, but the fact is, that it is just impossible these days to not every now and then do a similar script.

In an interview, he said that he had given the writers several other scripts in the past, but they pointed out that they were too similar to a sg-1 script.

Somone once said "that it would have been better if Mckay had been stuck there instead of sheppard."

Well the reason for them not making this a Mckay episode is most likely because of the upcoming "Grace Under Pressure ep"

And as for Sheppards attitude towards the girl well He is a guy, and being there 6 months he probialy (like Jack) thought that he would never get to come home again.

I know that they up the graphics on Atlantis. but i really thinbk that the ancients acended energy could have been more focsed on.

The MALP-on-a-stick joke will probialy be long rememberd.

I am just wondering why they didn't send in a real MALP and attach a long cable to it?

Seconds did count, but if they waited one more hour and sent the MALP it may have saved them time.

(In their own minds)

Anyway great ep!

Like MessianicCadet said above, it was too much like 'A Hundred Days' in SG1. It wasnt a bad episode just not very good. McKay was the obvious good point about this episode:
"I asked for a branch not a log"
"It's a M.A.L.P on a stick"
"It was...Zelenka's idea" [to launch the probe into the "bubble"]
"What is it with you and ascended women?"
McKay was brilliant as always, he is the best character on the show.
It was obvious that the invisible beast was in some way connected to their ascension and they would have to defeat it before they could ascend. Other than that, a pretty average episode.

The writing was great, and Mckay was absolutly hilarious. Calling Ronon and Teyla, Conon and Xena. The plot sort of reminded me a little bit of the SG-1 episode 100 days, from season 3. Jack goes through the Stargate, and then these asteroids come, and while the team gets back, Jack is worried about the people in the village. So the stargate gets hit by one of the explosions, and he has to stay there. He develops a bond with these people, and he's there for quite some time. Blah, blah, blah. Wish they would do something a bit more original.

This post has been edited by Trudi~: Jan 19th 2006, 8:47 AM

Hobo and Auntie Em! I did not see your posts because when Samara orginally posted her question/response, I researched her question and posted my response, and did not notice any other postings. My investigating was through a website, not a forum page!

This post has been edited by startreksuite: Jan 19th 2006, 8:29 PM

I forgot one.

HANDWAVING OF THE WEEK: McKay again detects "energy readings". What kind of energy? Infrared radiation? Gamma radiation? Charged particles? Hot gases? It's an interesting question, what's better? SG handwaving or Voyager technobabble. Both are equally meaningless scientifically and are simply ways of saying "Some weird crap is coming out of this think" while trying to sound like they know what's they're talking about. Just say x-rays. If you detect them coming from something without reason to suspect it is a particularly hot natural blackbody source, then it's likely worth investigating.