The comedy episode of the season still fits into the plot arcs, despite really only having just one of the regulars present. A decent action episode, if only because of all the sexual innuendo going around.
-"And I'm taking Walter with me too."
-It's always good to see Hammond back, and this time he's given more to do than even the time when he helped Bra'tac fly an old death glider through a stargate to rescue SG-1. There was no real reason HE had to be the guy to beam over to the cargo ship to get the control crystal; if Novak had done it she'd have finished much sooner by knowing what to do in the first place.
-SG-3 is seen again, with Colonel Reynolds in charge. For those who don't know him, Reynolds is probably the longest-lived SGC field member besides the SG-1 members, having first been seen as a Major at Area 51 in the second season, then as the temporary commmander of the SG-16 engineer team. SG-3 is probably no longer a marine combat team, as Reynolds is USAF; given the amount of action they've seen in the last three years, they're probably one of the SGC's top combat units, after the SG-1 and 2 flagship teams.
-Prometheus must have either a really small, or really wimpy crew to be taken over by one woman with a zat gun. Fine - so zats, the anti-Kull pulse weapon and bullets won't work; can't they just wrestle her to the ground? Does the Kull armor have some sort of Iron Man quality to it?
-Vala escapes at the end of the show basically the same way, so she's gotta have something about her...
-As Vala is kicking everyone's asses, they figure one way to stop her is to use the manual override in the engine room. Hammond orders Daniel to go do it - why? Daniel goes on at length about how he can't operate the ship. At least a couple of jumpsuits go with him to make it make a little more sense.
-Speaking of which, she's coming back next year for five episodes, alongside new regular cast member Ben Browder as a former F-302 pilot and new military member of SG-1.
-"My name is... Olo. Hans Olo."
-So, just how much of Vala's story is true? We're given little substantiation of what she's spouting through the episode. Other than that she must have been a Goa'uld host at some point (so she can operate their technology), there's little proof that she's anything but a thief who can hotwire most anything and look great in a black bodysuit.
-Thanks to Vala and Daniel, the hull is literally shot. They have to head home for repairs, and thus can't finish the trip to Pegasus. Luckily though, the Asgard engines are fine, so they can easily be transferred over to Daedalus...
Mark
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
For some reason, I didn't like it. Seemed off. Might have been that the audio track on my download was out of synch, all the smacking just didn't work at all. Continually pausing couldn't have helped, either. But... come on, what are the odds that Daniel AND Sam would end up in such similar situations? That Prometheus can't get ANYWHERE without running into trouble...
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
I for one haven't been much of a fan of the "let's do the four-person dynamic WITHOUT four people" efforts for these last two seasons. There have been decent episodes, but SG-1 is a team-rooted show, and is at their best when adventuring as such. I'm really looking forward to a restoration of that particular formula with the next season.
As for Prometheus getting smacked around so much, well... Aside from the above paragraph almost necessitating these sorts of episodes, she's Earth's first battleship. The SGC is continuously outclassed by just about everyone's tech, so their being dropped into these sorts of situations are almost expected. Next year, it'll be Teal'c's turn to be trapped on a nonfunctioning Prometheus and making out with someone as a result.
Mark
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Daniel goes on at length about how he can't operate the ship."
Except, he was lying, as evidenced by the fact that, after he locked Vala up, he wanted her to give him the new codes so he could (wait for it...) operate the ship.
Observation: Perpetuating a problem that started (as far as I know) earlier this season (with a Jaffa in the episode "Sacrifices"), Vala used the word "zat".
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
SHIT! I just typed a whole heap and accidently when back a screen and now I've lost it all.
Basically:
What's up with the Zat thing - the fact that they shortened the word?
I too thought there was something a little off with this episode. Basically it had no point.
It was a very funny episode - but that's pretty much all it had going for it - apart from Claudia Black in a cat-suit.
What point is there in bringing her back for *5* episodes next season? She did nothing for the story line. *apart from the fact it's Claudia Black in a cat-suit. Anyway I find her voice more sexy *Homer Simpson growl*
I'd rather have the crazy hiccup chick back - yes, yes except for the whole CB in a C-S.
What is the Daedelus? The next Prometheus Class F-303? When did they mention it's name?
The Prommie ran out of weapons and shields pretty quickly.
Who's symbol was that in the Alkesh control room?
Vala was good enough to take out all those military officers but she fought with Daniel like Xander and Harmony did in Buffy!?! (albight with less hair pulling and more actual punches).
Are the Tau'ri becoming more like the Goa'uld? Their technology is scavenged from other races - Bit of Terran tech, Goa'uld tech, Asgard tech.
Did they get to keep Osiris' Alkesh from a few episodes ago? Was it intact?
And just a random thought - how many Galaxies did the Ancients go to and put gates on? We know of 3 so far. I wonder if the Asgard originally came from their Galaxy or migrated there?
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
"What's up with the Zat thing - the fact that they shortened the word?"
This was from the very first episode (the first season's finale) that they introduced the weapons to SG-1. Teal'C identifies them as Zat'ni'katel, and Jack, ever the one not to be able to pronounce things not English, just orders everyone to cell them zat guns. In the subsequent years, this has seemed to flow into the vernacular of the Goa'uld (and everyone else), who commonly use phrases like "zat blast" and "if you zat me even once" that they wouldn't have before.
But the Jaffa have been known to shorten their own awkward word themselves (takunitagaminituron), so it may have been a parallel development. And zat just happens to sound cool.
Mark
[ January 11, 2005, 08:34 AM: Message edited by: Mark Nguyen ]
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"Taks."
"Tak'nikitels?"
"Tak'unitagaminiturons."
"..."
"Taks."
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Heheh yeah - the Taks - what did they look like again?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Are the Tau'ri becoming more like the Goa'uld? Their technology is scavenged from other races - Bit of Terran tech, Goa'uld tech, Asgard tech."
The difference, of course, being that the humans aren't going around conquering people and stealing their technology.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
This epsiode, BEING a comedy episode, sorta belittles the Prometheus and her crew. Luckily she's operable by as few as one or two people... OTOH, I think that a partial explanation as to why Vala could take the ship over so easily was that there were so few people aboard in the first place. Why so few? It's more than likely that they were on a skeleton crew in case they had to evacuate everyone from Atlantis. This amounts to over a hundred people; add in stores and logistics for the trip there and back, and it figures they wanted to take a lean crew to Pegasus. There's no mention of HOW long transit to Atlantis would take, but it's probably significantly longer than four days - wait for the Atlantis finale for an explanation of that number.
Daedelus is not mentioned in this episode - it's obstensibly the second in the BC-303 line of Earth warships, and a tip of the hat to the Macross anime that I know one of the writers has seen.
The Al'kesh that Osiris had shows up again this season. It wouldn't be the first one the SGC had captured - another Al'kesh was captured by O'Neil and Teal'c last season, and they incorporated its hyperdrive into the Prometheus, which had been stranded on an alien planet since the previous year (when her original naquadria-enhanced hyperdrive overloaded). It follows with at least one Al'kesh being captured that the SGC would know how to operate it, as Walter so aptly demonstrated with this episode.
The Ancients (Lanteans) may have only placed stargates in two galaxies, this one and in the Pegasus dwarf galaxy, but there's absolutely nothing to say that they didn't do so on many more. The one seen used by the Asgard may be the only one for all we know, used by them for travel intergalactically only, since their own FTL is pretty effective. We haven't seen other gates in the Ida galaxy, as near as I can remember...
Mark
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mark Nguyen: The Al'kesh that Osiris had shows up again this season. It wouldn't be the first one the SGC had captured Mark
Yeah but I can't remember what happened at the end of the episode - the ship was left intact after the Trust people were stopped?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Erh, yes, because it daringly escaped into hyperspace at the Last Possible Moment™.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
No no, that was in "Prometheus Unbound" - I'm talking about the one Osiris had parked in orbit, the Trust were using it, SG1 captured The Trust - I can't remember if the Alkesh ended up remaining 'undestroyed' or not.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
No, that was in Endgame. And, like I said, the ship got away, so, yes, it remained "undestroyed".
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I wasn't a huge fan of this one either.
Was what's her name's immunity to the fuzzy blast because the armor was different, or because whatever that is just affects the mutated weirdos that normally wear it? Because if its the latter, it seems like a clever Goa'uld could just strip out the freaks and put in regular soldiers who would be unstoppable again. (At least for the 40 minutes it would take our heroes to think up and build yet another superweapon.)
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Well, the idea was to supplant the Jaffa, who were busy turning to the resistance. The Kull were Goa'uld themselves (sorta) and emphatically could NOT be turned.
Mark
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
I finally watched "Full Alert" - I have up to Reckoning 1 downloaded... now I remember about the Alkesh flying off in that episode too.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Re the armored dudes: yes, I know. What I'm saying is that apparently a more or less regular human in that armor becomes immune to all weapons again, which seems like a useful fact.
I don't think I watched any episodes from the last season beyond part of the season premiere and then, later, the finale, so I do not know how exactly their countermeasure is supposed to work.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Maybe they should build a gun that combines the zat, replicater-killer, and kull-killer. Oh, and a spork.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
Or just call MacGyver and have him build a super weapon from a paper clip, rubber band, used chewing gum, and nail clippers.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
What exactly is the "replicater-killer"? I've only seen afew episodes with the Replicators (rejects from Runaway), but the weapon og choice seemed to be a shotgun.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Omega: Maybe they should build a gun that combines the zat, replicater-killer, and kull-killer. Oh, and a spork.
Plus a normal Taur'i weapon, a Ree-tu/Nyrrti-tech spotter and a staff weapon!
Jason don't worry about the so-called "replicator killer" it was something from an episode or two in season 7. Just keep watching. P.S. It of course doesn't eventually do the job. So don't think the replicators are toast just yet. Keep watching.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
It'd be nice to see what they learned from discecting the android woman that made the replicators in the first place.
Or did she make them?
It seems unlikely they could have traveled into Asgard territory from SG1's relativly small sphere of explored planets.
Still....you'd think the SGC would be very intrested in returning to the planet of the Replicator's origin: and to uncover the android's origins as well (schematics and such).
Something that kinda irks me about the SGC: why not send out some specialty units o hunt (uninhabited) planets for precious minerals, and other valuable stuff? It would only make sense to at least survey planets for future resourse-gathering (though surveying an entire planet would take years, if not decades).
Some plnets SG1 "explored" may have been teeming with inteligent life at the bottom of their oceans but SG's limited abilities would mean that some would would go unchecked.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
That's part of the problem: as it stands, the stargate isn't a practical tool to transport resources to Earth from elsewhere en masse. At least part of the SGC is permenantly assigned to survey locations for naquadah, and several episodes have dealt with that theme. But stargates, being open only 38 minutes at a time, in in the case of Earth needing to be a secret, doesn't make sense to use it to transport stuff around in large quantities. It doesn't help that right now Earth's gate is being used for exploration and military purposes almost full-time in conflicts against several enemies.
Until Earth can develop a worthwhile interstellar merchant fleet (and have the existance of anything outside our solar system made public, natch), it's pretty much stuck for recon and transportation mostly people. If and when the Goa'uld cease to become the dominant threat out there, the SGC will have ample time to explore places in detail on a planetary scale.
Mark
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Technically speaking - the planets that the SGC have explored wouldn't be in any sort of 'sphere' - since they haven't started from an initial point (Earth) and explored outwards - the gate network - of course - allows them to jump to all different points around the galaxy and even to others. I'm just being pedantic! Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Yes. You are.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Well, the "sphere" in question would be, essentially, the Milky Way, since the SGC has only dialed a separate galaxy on a grand total of two occasions. I think "sphere" was being used in the same sense as the phrase "sphere of influence". So, not literally the set of points in three dimensions equidistant from a given point.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Yes, I meant "Sphere of INfluence" (obviously). It would be intresting to see what the Aincents used for transportation before (and possibly after!) the Stargate network was made.
Mabye a stargate version of those transport rings- a personal version that traveled with you.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Yet another Goa'uld ship slips through their fingers...
"I'm crushing your head!" LOL!
I'm suprised nobody else picked up on the 50 light years in 20 minutes comment. ASSUMING that this is their top speed, it would take them about a month to cross the Milky Way (100,000 ly) without stopping. It would also take them about 2 years and 4 months to reach the Pegasus galaxy (!), assuming it is of course the dwarf galaxy in the Local Group. (No reason to assume any differently.) http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/galaxies.html
So, considering that they have an Asgard hyperdrive, I'm guessing that they have a MUCH higher top speed, and there was some other reason for going so slow at that point.
B.J.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Well, there's all those stars and planets in the way... As this is their first intergalactic trip in a ship of their own building, it makes sense not to push the throttle until you get out of the galaxy where there are far fewer navigational hazards to bump into.
Mark
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
The odds of bumping into anything even in the very densest stellar cluster is so small as to be essentially zero.
(This sounds like the grumpiest nerd grump ever, but I guess I will stand by it, even though I do not want to seem grumpy. I should work in a joke or something.)
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Plus, I mean, I guess I should clarify myself. You aren't going to run into a star or a planet unless you mean to. On the other hand, you'd probably collide with a fair number of dust particles, which at serious speeds will do serious damage. But, I mean, they don't seem to be traveling in completely regular space anyway.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Nor did the Millenium Falcon.
[duck]
Anyway, I think my original argument holds - for whatever reason, I think they're flying in second gear until they leave the Milky Way. We should hopefully hear in a matter of hours now about the ACTUAL transit time to Pegasus with a human ship equipped with an Asgard hyperdrive...
Mark
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Isn't the effect for Super-Amazing Speed different than the one for just regular speed (which was the effect being used in this episode) anyway?
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Sometimes, IIRC. The Goa'uld cargo ship that O'Neil modified to SA speed did indeed have a different effect, but the Asgard hyperdpace effects tended to be the same as always. Gonna have to confirm that, though.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
*Homer Simpson growl*![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)