This episode accomplishes a lot in the run up to the two-part finale, which starts next episode.
-Teyla's been having nightmares about BEING a Wraith. Skipping over the exposition part, we eventually learn through psychoanalysis that she is imbued with Wraith DNA!
-Apparently, a while ago some Wraith scientist experimented on some people (Athosian and otherwise) to make them more... Palatable to their nutritional needs (like genetically engineering fatter cows). However, a side effect of the manipulation enabled two-way telepathy between the subjects and the Wraith. The experiements were stopped and some populations exterminated by the Wraith to eliminate the threat.
-Others were alowed to live, in the hopes that the manipulation would be eventually bred out of the gene pool. By the time we get to Teyla (who may have been captured by the Wraith as a later experiment - I've glossed over this part), this explains why she can sense the Wraith when they approach.
-As a side note, if the genetic manipulation was meant to produce better livestock, and life force to feed on, this could accont for why Teyla is a natural fighter, athletic and a hottie to boot.
-The gang determines that the Wraith language is a derivative of the Ancients' own language, concluding that they evolved after the Ancients arrived in Pegasus. Linking back to the insect creature seen in "Thirty-Eight Minutes", they think that one of those things may have consumed some of the Ancients, gotten some of their DNA, and rapidly evolved (presumably in a remote part of Pegasus) into their current form.
-Exploring her new powers, Teyla tries to spy on the approaching Wraith by establishing a psychic connection via hypnotic trance inducement. Unfortunately, they didn't figure on the two-way connection, and Teyla is temporarily possessed by a Wraith for a while.
-While possessed, the Wraith figured out from her where the Atlantis team was expecting to establish their Alpha Site refuge for when they attacked the city. The Wraith then attack the Alpha Site - everyone gets out, but now they don't have a place to run to.
-While they're at it, the Wraith drop one of those big sky-pointing beacons we saw last week. It's an analog way of attracting the Wraith to a prime culling ground, it seems.
-We are introduced in this episode to Dr. Kate Hottiemeyer, the expedition psychologist. I guess Wier really was packing for a long haul.. Dr. Kate even has her own office with a great view, and apparently McKay is one of her patients.
-Ford is actually given someting to do that doesn't involve him blowing stuff up. This role is instead given to Sgt. Bates, who blows up plenty, getting more screen time in the process. Why don't they just MERGE the two roles?
-We're introduced to the Atlantis chair, which we knew was there but hadn't seen yet. However, they figure quickly that even with Shep in the seat, they can't conjure up a spark - they NEED a ZPM. I guess it wouldn't help any that they blew a chunk of their power reserves sending the SOS call.
-We confirm that the Wraith aren't just after the technologically-advanced humans - they want the city. Not necessarily for the tech itself, but for the means to get to the Milky Way galaxy and its plentiful feeding grounds.
***
I've been thinking about this for a bit, but I think that while this hasn't been spelled out, Atlantis and its original population must have spent most of the time between their arrival in Pegasus and their abandonning of the city asleep or in stasis or something. Their story doesn't seem to jive with what we know of the Ancients and their history... For whatever reason, they seem to have avoided the plague, and didn't seem to be worried about contracting it when they went back to Earth. Plus, the Asgard did note that the Ancients ascended quite some time before the Goa'uld showed up, which was shortly after the Lanteans came back. Finally, the Ancient girl (who was infected with a plague, presumed to be the one that killed them all) we see in SG1 "Frozen" was supposedly present at Atlantis' departure from Earth, millions of years ago.
So, I'm thinking that Atlantis left Earth some years, but not TOO long before the Ancients were wiped out. They got to Pegasus, seeded the place, then possibly took a nap to let their seeds bear fruit. While they were out, the Wraith evolved, the rest of the Ancients were killed or ascended, and they were accidentally or deliberately forgotten. Millions of years later (though thousands of years before they abandon the city), they wake up, figure out they're the last, and while annoyed at this fact they continue with their mission. The Wraith ultimately show up and beat the Lanteans back to their city, who then abandon it for a plague-free Earth.
This theory still has some holes in it, and I'm not sure if the writers had thought it all through. However, I've always been unsettled by the notion that the Ancients hung around in their city for millions of years, leaving it apparently unchanged (at least from the CGI model perspective), using the same technology they brought with them, and so forth. Even the lispy guy from "Before I Sleep" seemed amazed that Atlantis would remain intact for ten thousand years after they left; for a city that had aleady been around for five to ten MILLION years, I find his comment a little odd. Granted, if could have been he was thinking it could remain intact without anyone minding the fort, but still...
Mark
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"By the time we get to Teyla (who may have been captured by the Wraith as a later experiment - I've glossed over this part)..."
Unless I missed something, there's no indication that Teyla was ever experimented on. It was one of her ancestors.
"Others were alowed to live, in the hopes that the manipulation would be eventually bred out of the gene pool."
That, actually, was the stupidest thing they said in the whole episode. I can only assume the test subjects actually escaped, and the Wraith scientist just claimed to have let them go. "Yeah, uh... I meant to do that."
Why would you let any of them live? If you kill them all, you know the manipulation can't spread. If you let them go, you run the risk that the manipulation will not, in fact, be "diluted" through interbreeding. Which, incidentally, is exactly what happened.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
They didn't let any of them go... eventually - the Wraith came back to get rid of the enhanced ones only, a lot of the enhanced ones had been kicked out.
BTW, just finished watching it. Another GREAT episode - way better than what I thought it would be and the blurb that was given about it!
Ohhh, I'd go to the Counsellor woman too if I was McKay! LOL! Anyone noticed that he didn't know which way to go - behind Taylah when he left Hatmayer's office!?!
Snot-nosed geek was back.
McKay and Zylenka work well together.
And I *LOVE* How McKay and Dr. Weir are first name basis. It's just... I dunno - nice!
Dr. Beckett still rocks! Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"And I *LOVE* How McKay and Dr. Weir are first name basis. It's just... I dunno - nice!"
Just like on "SG-1", pretty much all of the main characters refer to each other by first name, other than within the military structure.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
I think Jack and Sam stick with military protocol... Jack always calls Sam 'Carter' and Sam always calls Jack 'General' for the most part.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Except for when he says 'blah blah blah call me Jack'. Teal'c always says "Daniel Jackson", "O'Neill" or "Captain/Major/Colonel Carter".
Carter always says "Daniel", "Teal'c" or "Colonel/General".
So no it's not the same as with Weir and McKay and Beckett.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Tim's statement is accurate. Outside the military structure, people address each other by their first name. Sam and Jack being inside the military structure, they don't.
And Teal'c says "Samantha Carter" sometimes.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
He also said "Daniel", erh, a few times.
(Well, once. In one episode.)
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I'm kind of surprised that Teal'c hasn't started saying "Sam" and "Jack" as part of his ongoing Earthlingization. But it's good that he doesn't. I mean, they can't just completely turn him into a regular "human" character. Then there's no point, really.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)