Wow. This episode ties up so many loose ends it's boggling!
-The Ancient Genesis Device uses the stargate to propogate its wave accross the surface of the target planet, reducing everything living to consituent molecules - sorta like Jack's anti-Replicator gun. The key thing Carter wants to do is dial all the stargates IN THE GALAXY simultaneously, so they won't have a chance to adapt. So who do they go to? Baal - who did somethign similar in "Avenger 2.0".
-The Ancient Q-bert table is the same one used for the time loop machine in "Window of Opportunity". The monitor panel display was borrowed from Atlantis.
-While no "Siege Part II", the massive Replicator-controlled Ha'taks vs. Goa'uld Ha'tak batter had some nice shots. Coulda used more variety though - and less Trekkian "shields down to XX%" dialogue.
-Cliff Simon said he wanted to humanize his portrayal of Baal, and it did - sorta made him come off a little TOO desperate, but certainly less one-dimensional than usual.
-When they activate ALL the Stargates, we're given a lot of stock footage - including a certain purple-leaved planet that I thought existed only as a dream in Daniel's head.
-Baal gets away, again, but the damage is done. The Jaffa fifth column is not only stronger than ever *AND* motivated thanks to Ta'kara, but they have control over a sizable fleet of the formerly Replicatored Ha'tak.
-Daniel gets skewered AND left aboard a disintigrating ship. This ties in directly with next week's "wanna ascend again?" episode, which is a special 90-minute episode that also ties up the new Jaffa rebellion. After that, all that remains will be for SG-1 to find a ZPM for the Atlantis gang, and everyone'll be hunky dory!
Mark
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
See, this is the disadvantage to having Atlantis start earlier on another station; the season's already done and SG1 hasn't caught up yet! Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
I enjoyed this episode... FRIGGIN' HEAPS! Wooooooo!
O'Neill "Siler, this means you've got to put me in your will" Siler: "Already in there." O'Neill: "That's a little creepy"
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Pretty neat, however, I do have one criticism. I mean seriously, yet another countdown ending where our heroes win just in the nick of time with a uber-super weapon that just appears?
Sometimes I wish that there would be more episodes where our heroes just fail out of no fault of their own (and not like that absurd episode where Carter just gives Replicarter the information she needs), because sometimes thats just what happens and not just in a cliffhanger.
The classic example that I can think of off the top of my head is Chrysalis in Babylon 5.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
This happens in ALL shows - a cliche at its simplest. SG-1 has done shows against the grain, though. One xample is when they wanted to modify an alien mine to make it look like Heru'ur was attacking Apophis; while they succeeded in their mission, they didn't count on Apophis having an ace up his sleeve to save his ass AND kill Heru'ur, absorbing his fleet and becoming even MORE powerful. In other words, they lost.
Mark
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
"Serpent's Venom"?
I thought there was one bit that was stretching things - the fact that Teal'c talked about capturing T'akara and that ALSO happened to be the ONE place in the galaxy that had that Ancient weapon.
Oh and how'd they open all the gates again? Through Baal? I'm guessing he didn't open gates to other Galaxies... so what about the replicator problem in the Asgard's galaxy!?!
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
They pretty much eliminated the Replicators in the Asgard's galaxy. The only ship left was Fifth's and he set out for the Milky Way, hellbent on revenge.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"I thought there was one bit that was stretching things - the fact that Teal'c talked about capturing T'akara and that ALSO happened to be the ONE place in the galaxy that had that Ancient weapon."
It's not that strange. They attacked Ta'kara because it was the #1 Goa'uld "holy site". And the reason it had that distinction was because of the weapon. The knowledge of why it was important had simply been lost with time.
Am I the only one to whom the first letter in "Ta'kara" consistently sounded like a 'd'?
And, on a similar note: Was it just me, or did it seem like Amanda Tapping pitched her voice a little higher than usual when playing the Replicarter?
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Yup. She was playng the character younger and more innocent-sounding, and it worked.
Ta'kara was mentioned as the place where the first Jaffa was created, and where Anubis rose form the dead (this latter was probably much more recent). Both imply technology capable of altering life at its most fundamental level, so having the Ancient Gensis Device there is more serendipity than anything else.
Dunno why some people seemed to be calling it "Da'kara". Maybe it's the same thing as why people keep saying "gould" instead of "Goa'uld". I just keep hearing the name of a popular Japanese scale model manufacturer.
Mark
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
I also thought it was Da'kara when I first heard it.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I don't see why they couldn't have gotten the Asgard to fight off Baal. Or, rather, I would have liked it if the Asgard had come to fight off Baal. I mean, they've said that the only reason they haven't done more against the Goa'uld is because they've been busy with the Replicators, and that's no longer an issue. Not to mention that this turned out to be their big shot to wipe out the Replicators. Of course, the plot problem is I guess obvious, namely that the Asgard could easily dispatch Baal's fleet with plenty of time to spare. But didn't he (or Anubis, I'm sketchy on the past few seasons) specifically harden his ships against Asgard weapons? So it wouldn't necessarily have thrown off the tension required by the story. I don't know.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Yeah, I think Anubis - and thus Baal (after taking over his fleet) had become more of a 'match' for at least 1 Belisknar type ship.
I guess that the replicators are still creating problems in other Galaxies - like the Asgard's.
Its a wonder all the gates - everywhere didn't open - but maybe Baal didn't know about what an 8th Chevron does.
Anyone think they are going to explore what the 9th Chevron does?
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Well supposedly season 9 will explore more about the Ancients and the origins of the gate system, so they just might deal with the 9th chevron.
Posted by machf (Member # 1233) on :
Maybe it's a "hold" button...
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Well, since they likened the eighth chevron to an area code and it lets them into other galaxies, maybe the ninth chevron is like an international code, and it lets them get to other galactic groups, or something.
We know it isn't for time travel, anyway.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Maybe it's an internal code - accessing stargates within one system!?! If that was possible.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Well, presumably, by the time the Ancients developed the stargates, they probably already had pretty good means of intra-system transport by ship.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Sure - and even the Goa'uld's relatively primitive FTL technology is STILL the better alternative to transport cargo and troops. But if a few people want to go literally from doorstep to doorstep withour all that mucking about in hyperspace, not to mention spaceports, transport to and from said facilities, etc., a gate's still the way to travel.
Mark
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
You know, the one thing the gates seem perfect for is sending small groups of people on missions of exploration. Convenient. (Though it makes me wonder: perhaps the Ancients only built the gates for that purpose, and never actually used them much themselves, outside of the occasional emergency? A social engineering project, say, instead of a transportation system. Or maybe the weapon found in this episode constitutes the actual purpose of the gates.)
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Hm. Anyone ever play the Myst games? Spoilers for it, so stop here if you care.
The D'ni civilization wrote books that linked to fantastic worlds, which they referred to as Ages. The operating principle was that every possible world must exist or have existed in some universe, somewhere, at some time. Thus, write the book describing it (it's more complex than that, of course), and you can go there. Some families owned ages for personal use, others were in public libraries. Might be something similar, gates used to give people easy access to park worlds, or garden worlds, or whatever.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)