She may have recorded the song in a studio but she was definitely lipsynching, not doubt about that.
The song could've been fantastic but this is why i wanted to shoot myself throughout the whole ending...
(I should say, I was more amused than terrified of the song, and laughed uncontrollably)

The song coulve been wonderful if it weren't for the fact that there was an orchestra in the background and her voice wasn't so synthesized. In my opinion, the same effect of panning to the rest of the team to show threir struggles during Teyla's song wouldve been much more affective if they wouldve made the song scene as such:
Did anyone find it awkward that none of the other villagers were humming or playing instruments or anything...they just stood there are Teyla broke into song backed by a full tiered orchestra? I think if they wouldve had the villagers playing the instruments and Teyla faltering throughout the song, seeing as she would clearly be upset and contemplating the words she was singing, the whole thing wouldv'e been acceptable...It makes it look more spontaneous and realistic. Watching Teyla sing was like watchign Pippin sing at the end of LOTR 2....minus every single bit of elegance of that song.

The whole thing was just awkward.

This post has been edited by Austin: Jan 21st 2006, 11:29 AM

OK...Rachel has a lovely voice and it was a beautiful song. I just don't think it fit in with the rest of the epi. I think it would have worked better with another storyline. To me, the two storylines just didn't mesh.

I agree. I know some don't like it, but it would be wrong to ignore the connection.




I just keep wondering who else from Xfiles they will bring in. I assume since Xfiles was filmed in Vancouver, that many of them live there/near there. That must at least explain part of why we keep seeing Xfile actors in both SG series.

Loved the LOTR/Dalmatians line...... except I thought oh man he has kids.

Hahahahaha.

That is the SAME thing I thought.

And then I wondered how many times had he watched 101 Dalmatians to refer to something at the government run SGC...as the "Twilight Bark" *Sigh* His kids might be a bit more flaberghasted-like than him.

That happened to me last week, but I was able to catch the repeats.

I think what's happening is that the DVR thinks it's a repeat, even if it's new. If you press the info button for it, it has the date as 2005. If you set it to record both repeats and first runs (instead of first runs only), it should tape it.

This post has been edited by rob117: Jan 21st 2006, 5:40 PM

something about TIVO and atlantis

that might help in working out whats happened.

This was a good episode. Can I say how much I detest Kavanaugh!!!! It was quite obvious that they were trying to make him the one. Consequently, it wouldn't be him. But can we just ship him home and forget about him.

Then McKay mentioned Cadman, and I thought, nah, not her.

When they showed Caldwell, I turned to my hubby and said, "I wonder if it could be him." I had not heard how long MP would be on the show. Caldwell has been a hard-ass at times. Definitely pro military, much like the NID. Yet, he also comes through for them. So I wasn't surprised by it being him. I have to say, I was glad how they did it, because they can now keep Caldwell around.

We got a Teyla background story, but once again, BORING! It did nothing for me.

Poor Zelenka, what did those kids do to him?

Edit: regarding Teyla's singing, I got to read the words because I watch in CC. The words were fine, but the story along with the song didn't do anything, like I said. It was boring. It was quite obvious that she was not singing live, but lipsynching.

This post has been edited by IndyJan: Jan 21st 2006, 11:12 PM

I'd review the episode, but thought of this after erasing mine.

Was it mentioned about how far back Caldwell probably got the symbiote?

Hope it was quite recent, since otherwise, all of Caldwell's attitude would have been Goauld and not himself.

It'd quite annoy me to find out to find that he was a generous and caring and nice person, but it was only the symbiote that made him abrasive.

The only thing mentioned was that it had happened recently. So I'm assuming it happened his last visit back to earth. Caldwell a caring, generous and nice person? Who have you been watching? That has never been Caldwell's character. He has been a bad-ass, take no charge military person. He has wanted to take over Atlantis and run it himself. He has gone head to head with Weir. I will say that he has come through when the team needed him to say the day at times, but that's all.

Fantastic episode, the BEST ONE this year.

.

If you look harder, they were playing instruments.

Any with a shows as important as SG-1 and Atlantis, do you really want your trust your DVR and let I do it all by itself. I certianly wouldn't and in fact i don't. I do all mine manually.

He's not that bad IMO. He's just the tough military guy with the 'shoot first' attitude, he always sees the worst case scenario and is ready to do anything to minimalise the threats. If I were on his side in a battle I'd feel pretty safe and certain that he'd be the man to protect his people.

Actually he reminds me of O'Neil in the Stargate movie just without the suicidal tendency. I can understand why he doesn't like the way Weir (a civilian for crying out loud!) runs Atlantis - it often seems that she's not decisive enough and thinks first about moral and only then about safety (I'm exaggerating a little but you get the idea).

This post has been edited by Ilzy: Jan 22nd 2006, 1:49 PM

I think you missed my point, Indy. IF the symbiote was introduced to Caldwell a year ago (before he met the Atlantis team), we would have no idea what his non-symbiote personality would be. He could've been Mr. Happy until the symbiote and we've just been seeing the symbiote personality all the while.

Don't get me wrong, Caldwell is who I would want on my side also. He is a take charge kind of guy. He wants the military in charge, right or wrong. I don't always agree with him, but he definitely is the type to have at your back.



Okay, my bad, I misunderstood what you were saying. I thought you were describing the Caldwell we have been seeing. But I doubt very much if his personality could have been Mr. Happy! I don't think he could have gotten that far in the military with that attitude.

Enjoyed the episode very much! Plenty of twists and turns and the humor that I enjoy so much about this show was definitely there.

The whole Teyla singing thing...

Yes it was a very pretty song, and she looked beautiful singing it, and her voice was great. The problem for me was that a musical number - however somber - is totally out in left field for what I expect from a show like Atlantis.

I'm all for giving new things a chance, but it seemed so abrupt. One minute they are gathering for a funeral rite - the next there is a full orchestra of Celtic music playing over a montage of events.

I think it was that full orchestra of instruments that was way too over the top for me. If they had let Teyla sing alone, perhaps accompanied only by someone on a simple flute or whistle instrument, someone you could see standing in the circle around the deceased lady...

Everything else could have been left the same, the montage was effective and the imagery of the funeral rite itself was gorgeous.

But as it was...My hubby started laughing at the screen - I just felt embarressed. Oh well...it was a beautiful song!

I wasn't laughing, but getting angry. Yes, it was a beautiful song, but it had no business being in this particular episode. I really liked this storyline until Teyla's portion was introduced.

I'm of agreement that Caldwell's melding was recent and not long term otherwise he would have been spending a lot more time trying to access Ancient technology and that might have caused some suspicion. Not that he was a snakehead but that he might have been in the trust.
Then again not many people in Atlantis would be very aware of the trust and not recognize the problem. More than likey this was a situation very similar to what happened to Senator/VP Kinsey last year. They grabbed him and implanted him on the spot.
I didn't take their reason why the trust would do this either.
The goul'd are on the run. Their base of power is gone. They have no army other than of themselves and other goul'd and that probably means infighting at some point. They have no fleet other than a few scant ships here or there that they managed to either hide or get ahold of since last year. They might have managed some things but for the most part the issue is that they have far worse to fear in the now rather than worry about the Wraith who I'm afraid are not nearly an issue in our galaxy or ever will be. The Ori are a much, much, much greater threat and the Wraith are nothing in comparison. The sum forces of those intelligent space faring races in this galaxy could easily defend against a wraith invasion.
So why would the goul'd within the trust really concern themselves so much with what they know is a cat out of the bag situation? The wraith already know we're here. They just can't cross the span between galaxies to get to us. But they know where we are.
In fact I would have surmised that for the Wraith to think there was no other life in the other galaxies they would have to be dumber than the goul'd.
I'll go even farther and say that the wraith are an even weaker opponent than the goul'd by far and wide. I don't really consider the wraith that much of a threat to Atlantis, and that's not based on my knowing that the good guys win on these tv shows but instead is based on the fact they've been outsmarted and outfoxed at every angle so far.
The only impressive thing they've done so far was in the finale last year and detonate the mined nukes by sending astroids into their path.
The more I watch the wraith the more I am amazed that the ancients lost to these creatures cause I can't for the life of me think the wraith had anything more than numbers on their side and that should not have been enough considering the technology advantage the ancients had.

But overall it was a good episode. I was totally caught off guard about Caldwell being the goul'd. I also didn't expect him to be a goul'd at all but just a spy of some kind. A member of a militant pro-earth faction of some sort that wants to destroy any threats to the planet by any means necessary, including destroying Atlantis so that it doesn't allow the wraith to get to our galaxy.

I thought the singing part at the end by Teyla fit cause it a tense situation where the wraith were about to get to the city and they were trying to find who the goauld was! I thought she sang good and the overall of the episode was awsome! The best it has ever had this season i think!

I thought this was a good epsiode, one of the best of season 2. Hermiod telling Cavenaugh to stop talking was the best part, followed by Zelenka after he returned to Atlantis.
Teyla's song seemed out of place but I think it was a good addition to the episode (obviously she was lip synching but was it really her voice?).

EDIT: Did anyone else notice that when Dr Lee was drawing on the board he used Earth's point of origin as the symbol for Atlantis? Earth was just a circle with an "E" in it.

On a side note, Leiutenant Cadman...wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Dare I say that she is a hottie? Yes, I dare.

This post has been edited by Dafmeister: Jan 25th 2006, 4:17 PM

Yes, yes you do dare! I dare too!

I noticed about Lee using Earth's PoO to represent Atlantis, which was just weird...surely it should be reserved only for references to Earth itself?

I really liked all of the minor characters that featured this week that we hadn't seen for a while, like Cadman, Hermiod and Hiccup-lady...and I suppose Cavanaugh!

Liked the tense scenes, as in a rare occurence they were actually tense!

Didn't see Caldwell coming, though as soon as he was beamed down it was obvious...which was the point, I assume. I was trying to decide between it really being Cavanaugh or if it was Cadman, but Caldwell didn't cross my mind. I was particularly pleased with this unpredictable ending!

I would've liked it if Cavanaugh had actually been beat up during the interrogation...not just because I hate him so, but because of the moral and ethical implications that would arise, especially when it turned out not to be him. To have him faint at the last minute just seemed like a cop-out. Boohoo, Weir gets upset at the line that she'd cross, but it would've been more powerful if she had to actually deal with the consequences.

Teyla's story was touching, but seemed completely disjointed from the rest of the episode. We saw real emotion in Teyla, which was a nice change. I've always liked Teyla, and this type of thing is just another reason why. I liked the song, but I do agree, there was something weird about it.

The Wraith were the B-story!

This post has been edited by Parmenides: Jan 25th 2006, 4:43 PM

Definately, one of better episodes this season. Although, I really could have done without Teyla singing and I felt her story just got in the way of the main the story.

I didn't think the Goa'uld was Kavanaugh or Cadmen, but I didn't think it was Caldwell either. He didn't seem to be acting any different than usual. So I wonder how long he was a Goa'uld, and if he was working for 'The Trust' before he became one.

Not sure why the Goa'uld are worried about the Wraith any way. They don't represent much of threat to the Milky Way galaxy.

Still, an enjoyable episode, with some nice cross-over to the SG1 galaxy.

51% It's not like there's an excess of good material this season. They could have fleshed out these stories into a couple of episodes worth. Maybe then, it would have been better.

TREKKISM OF THE WEEK: It's called a fuse, people!

TREKKISM OF THE WEEK RUNNER-UP: So it seems Atlantis has some big ass operating system. Obviously it's run by the same Big Brother computers that have caused the demise of so many Starfleet ships due to their fundamental flaw of total centralisation.

MYSTERY OF THE WEEK: Why exactly did the Goa'uld want to blow up Atlantis?

AIR FORCE UNINTELLIGENCE OF THE WEEK: Just how long was the captain of the most powerful vehicle ever built by the Tau'ri? At a time when it is known Goa'uld have infiltrated high level government, shouldn't the proper exams being a requisite? He must have been taken as a host while on Earth, so why wasn't he checked before reboarding the Daedalus?

TRUST UNINTELLIGENCE/UNNECESSARILY SLOW DIPPING MECHANISM OF THE WEEK: If this Trust sabotage had been more intelligently thought through, then as soon as Caldwell had gone to hyperspace, the program would have immediately activated the stargate, the stardrive, the shield and finished the job there. Instead, we have the usual painfully slow routine of gradually ramping up the jeopardy in order to give the heroes time to jerry-rig a solution.

TRUST SUPERINTELLIGENCE OF THE WEEK: Sure they're Goa'uld, but being able to rewrite the operating system of The Greatest City Ever Built is a stretch.

CONTRIVANCE OF THE WEEK: This plan must have been in the works a long time. Isn't it fortunate that the NID broke it just hours before it was about to reach the endgame?

MORAL AMBIGUITY OF THE WEEK: Beckett declares that he will not standby and allow a patient to die, when he could prevent. Then he pauses and decides he will. Given the simplicity of that, I fail to see why there was so much fuss with Terry Schiavo.

WHITEWASH OF THE WEEK: So Kavannah fainted before Ronan could touch him? How lucky! Now we can get away with some quiet musings from Weir over the fact she, hippie-in-chief, ordered a prisoner to be tortured for information she didn't even know he possessed. By turning it into a bit of slapstick, we completely whitewash over this darkness. Was this story conceived by the same Brad Wright who wrote 'The Other Side' or has Wright been possessed since by a Goa'uld?

HIPPIE OF THE WEEK: Well it sure wasn't Weir, that's for sure. But I thought we were about to hear 'Age of Aquarius' when the song started. It was a nice song, but this was hardly the time for it.

AIRBUS COMMONALITY OF THE WEEK: Well it seems that cross-continuity is a common thread of both episodes this week. This obviously looks very good from one angle. It makes the two series look more like variants of a larger, grander epic, than just two individual series with a common setting, much like the A330 and A340 are essentially variants of the same family. The downside is that when the particular thread is not something you want in one series, it is rubbing salt in the wound to put it in the other. The Trust might just be one of those threads.

CHEESE OF THE WEEK: "Oh my god! The Trust have planted a bomb on Atlantis! We're in BIIIG trouble!" Man that teaser was cheesy.

I really liked this ep..despite the slightly cheesy singing bit. It was nice and everything, but I was on the point of cringing. A storyline like that should have been saved for another ep, because it couldn't really get enough foothold what with the rest of the stuff going on, and it just felt a bit superfluous. Rachel has a very nice voice though.
I was wondering when they were going to get round to a Goa'uld/Atlantis storyline. I liked the way they did that, with the Earth crossover. I kinda feel sorry for Kavanaugh..yet at the same time I really wanted Ronan to beat him up. Grrr! And I love the way everyone in the meeting suddenly perked up when Dr Lee mentioned LOTR...haha.