posted
A fun episode that again uses Vala as more than just comic relief. These "earthbound drama" episodes are often hit and miss, but this time around it wasn't bad at all.
-The "restaurant" used in the opening act is a hotel function room. So's the front door, really, and Athena's office seen later.
-We've pretty much confirmed that Vala learns about her pop cultrure via television. Anyone remember how freaked out Teal'c was when he first watched TV?
-We were wondering earlier this season what happened to the Tok'ra lie detector - we don't know if this is the same device obtained by the Trust or if this is something Athena brought in.
-The Trust guys are pretty deadly here, taking out SG-15 and a bunch of local SFs, all just to find Vala. BTW, this is a rare instance of another SG team being used on Earth; usually it's just SG-1. SG-15 has been wiped out once before, though this time we don't know anyone on it.
-Ahh, Teal'c. Is there no limit to how many ways you can intimidate a bad guy?
-Let's talk about Athena for a moment. Mythology tells that she is the goddess of wisdom and war, who sprung fully-formed from the head of her father Zeus. A quick search shows that one of her many aliases is "The Bright-Eyed One". Technically, she would be the grandaughter of Cronus, with whom intelligence says she was once allied. She seems to switch alliances fairly often, also hooking up with Camulus, Svarog, Anubis, and now Baal.
-Still, Jackson and Mitchell at least seem pretty nonplussed about ANOTHER Goa'uld running around on Earth. Kinsey might still be around too, as such - but odds are the writers wouldn't bring him back without bringing Jack back to play off him.
-So, anyone think that the key to this Ancient treasure trove might contain a certain, very important treasure? Good thing Vala is subconsciously carrying the code!
-Great character moment for Sal, proprietor of Sol's. When his place gets robbed, he first picks up a really big knife and butcher's knife, then ditches them for the meat pounding thing. It's awesome that the writers have consistently been able to give even throwaway characters like this a little meat, pun intended.
-"Valerie Todad". Awesome.
-So, we flash back from the robbery to three weeks ago when Vala was abducted, and when she escapes and wanders into Sol's Diner an hour later, we subsequently fast forward to "two weeks later". Since she woke up pretty early after being Shanghaied, it thus suggests that she was enduring torture for a whole week. Painful, exhausting, sweaty torture. IN THE SAME CLOTHES.
-While it's not tough to see the little things that prove the show is made in lower BC, here they make a rare "WE MAKE THE SHOW IN LOWER BC!!!" gaffe. When Mitchell is Matrixing after Vala and the Trust operatives, he zips by a green highway exit for Ladner and Surrey. Oddly enough, I was on that same highway on the way to White Rock in August. Just south of said highway are the back roads they used in the scenes following, and not two miles south of THAT is the US border.
-Mitchell was shot in the ARM. As a result, Vala takes off his PANTS.
-The directors of this show continually poke fun at the number of times in the "Earthbound" episodes our heroes break into a generic warehouse, only to find that the bad guys had JUST left. Here, they bust into TWO warehouses and find people there to firefight. Unfortunately there are four where they don't, which leaves the show in the red this time. Still, we get to see an innovative use of steel girders as a conductor to zat blasts.
-I'm inreasingly under the impression that Chris Judge enjoys the "Earthbound" episodes, as they basically let him show up to work in his regular clothes. If anyone has seen Chris at a convention, he basically dresses as you see Teal'c here.
-Yay, Vala gets her patch! But only after being cleared for active duty by the perpetually-absent Doctor Lam.
posted
Meat clever and knife, and meat tenderizer.
My wife, who hasn't liked SG-1 since RDA moved on thought this was a good episode too, which shocked me a bit. She never really like Browder if FarScape, or FarScape for that matter.
Taking his pants would kind of slow his escaping.
I liked the Sal/Sol exchange Vala and Sal had.
It looked like Vala caught an episode of Alice or two, taking ofter that red head character, or countless other shows/movies with the gum chewing waitress.
I thought, WTF with the Zat blast. If it worked that well why didn't he then just shoot the metal cargo container that the other two bad guys were on?
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I've gone far beyond the 'Why?' with Stargate. All the tricks and techs they have, but always do the same stupid tactics. Just accepting it for what it is
Registered: Aug 2006
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Technically, she would be the grandaughter of Cronus, with whom intelligence says she was once allied. She seems to switch alliances fairly often, also hooking up with Camulus, Svarog, Anubis, and now Baal. 
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