Getting there. Ronon is now part of AR-1 (if we can still try to call them that), and we visit a land of condemned prisonners isolated with a stargate but no DHD. Similar concept to that SG-1 episode, but executed completely differently.
-Looks like the official line now is that Atlantis is destroyed, but the recon teams are "survivors" looking to do some exploration and trade from a secret planet. I dunno how much this will fly, given tha the Wraith are still everywhere. A short term solution at best, while allowing the Atlantis team to scout things out.
-This is the second time that a jumper has crashed on a primitive world due to outside interference. Still a better track reocrd than Voyagr's shuttles, but here we KNOW that they can't build more in a secret sweat ship full of Athosians. Unless Atlantis has an automated factory that is now activated with the ZPM, they should be more careful.
-That said, I'm sure that the SGC would benefit from having a jumper or two around. They could easily refit the missile silo above the gate room as a hangar, and the jumper itself can barely fit in the gate room...
-May as well mention that they must have found some updated jumpers, too. The set is much brighter than before, and now includes lit panels on the sides. The forward control consoles are mostly new too, and the improvised "J1" or "J2" markers under the windshield are gone. In the aft compartment, the jury-rigged netting for supplies is all against one wall now, and the walls themselevs are different. The jumper Ford stole was of the same model - looks like the gang found these newer ones in the eight hours between Siege 1 and 3.
-Christian Bocher plays the leader of the prisoners. He also played Raymond Gunn, who played "Dr. Levant" in the hit sci-fi show "Wormhole X-treme!". Man, that show was cancelled before its time.. Also, the nameless Magistrate was the Canon in that SG-1 episode with the Unas and Christians. This time around though, he seemed perpetually about to sneeze...
-Is grey the new black? Both these baddies and the Genii dress in natty outfits of the same kind of grey as the Atlantis field uniforms.
-On that subject, while he's got the same ear radio as the others, Dex hasn't switched over to the grey duds, and doesn't look likely to do so, if the preview pictures are to be believed. But where'd he get the duster? He didn't have it in his premiere appearance. Maybe he pinched it from the same store of western-style outfits the Air Force has, that Daniel and Cameron pillaged last week.
-Hey, this series' obligatory MacGyver joke!!
-The old bearded guy seen in the background of the camp is one of the lighting crew on the set. He shows up all the time when either show needs bedraggled extras.
-So some Wraith still like to eat - it doesn't satisfy their nutritional needs, but they do admit it can taste better. We also learn that through arrangements like in this episode, some Wraith hives have been able to remain out of hiberbation thanks to a steady food supply. This offers insight into the government of the Wraith, which seems arranged along clan lines and based around their ships.
-At the end, they send the prisoners to one of the Alpha Site backup planets. I sure hope they don't mean the UNSUITABLE backups, like the one with the dinosaurs... Still, they sent everyone through with their weapons. Including a mess of convicted killers.
Mark
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Didn't Rodney suggest that the crashed jumper could be repaired if he had his tools? Maybe they're going to wait a while for the Wraith to finish feeding on the city, then come back and retrieve the jumper and fix it back at Atlantis.
By the way, don't we already know from the Genii that the Wraith attack societies periodically to stop them from advancing, so they won't become a threat? Shouldn't the team have been tipped off right away that the "feed the Wraith prisoners and they'll leave us alone" plan shouldn't have been working?
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
Any suggestions why a simple exploding cannon-ball could take down a jumper? I would expect that the hull could take a direct hit with only a noticable 'BONGGGG'. Heck, if an M1-A could shrug that off, shouldn't Ancient Technology?
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Well, the planet had some special mineral that sounded suspiciously like naquidah, so this may have been a much more powerful explosive than we usually deal with.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Oh, yeah, that reminds me. An "ore extracted from a mineral"? Doesn't that usually happen the other way around?
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
It always happens the other way around. Ore.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Yeah, that stuff DOES sound mysteriously like naquadah, which will likely become a factor if Atlantis is cut off again.
Mark
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I don't think it pays to look too closely into relative weapon strengths here. The equivalent of an 18th century pirate ship can take out a jumper, but a jumper can take out a Wraith cruiser.
That aside, I liked how bleakly the episode ended. Also, at this rate perhaps they'll deal with the weird weaponry issues of the jumpers by destroying or losing all of them.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Just shows how tough an 18th century pirate can be....Arrr!
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Except that something that perked my ears up concerning this mysterious mineral/ore/whatever... how the heck could they get "radiation-free" nuclear fission? That strikes me as pure bullshit to me.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
No deleterious radiation that can be detected, perhaps. It's the heat that regular nuclear fission produces that we use to create power. Who knows how naquadah, or any other strange nuclear gunk, actually works to be placed in a suitcase-sized module that you simply plug in...
Mark
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
It seemed to me that the Atlantis team arrived just at the wrong time. They didn't trigger any of the events in this episode (except for awakening the Wraith in the first place). That planet was screwed no matter if the Atlatis team showed up or not.
B.J.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I got the impression that they only turned on the mainland after being shot at. (And by an Ancient weapon no less.) If the jumper hadn't been there, they might have been willing to let the government gather the necessary sacrifice.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
As I recall, after the first ship was struck by the Ancient drone, the second still came flying in to the same location. It didn't head for the mainland until everyone on the island had escaped through the stargate.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, OK. But that's the same scenerio, more or less. Minus interferance from Earth, the Wraith may have been willing to eat the prisoners and wait for more.
Though I think it's clear that in the long term all those people were doomed, regardless. I doubt their deal would have held for long against the hunger of the whole Wraith population.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
True but also - the final scene was to mean that there were NO prisoners left for them to feed on. That wraith said there were more and more wraith now - and I guess they're not so patient for a 'feed'.
OR They just decided to extract a punishment on the Magistrate for letting all their 'food' disappear.
There have been some GREAT comedic moments lately.
Last episode with Rodney kissing Carson. This episode with Shepherd trying to break that branch that was too thick - over his knee!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)