Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
This engaged my interest more than the previous 5 episodes, which is good. Very good indeed.
Some thoughts:
- I noticed Dr. Keller didn't lubricate the paddles when she went to shock Dr. Baxter. Without the conductive gel...hello, chest burns?
- Do they remember their own names? Their previous skills? Apparently the cerebellum is unaffected - they can walk, for example. The language center is unaffected. And they seem to have no trouble remembering ingrained tasks - opening doors, for example, or Rodney's remembering pi. But if that's true, why didn't Dr. Zalenka know how to turn on Rodney's tablet PC?
- Lorne and his men had memory loss, but could apparently remember that they needed to round everyone up into the mess hall. Force of military training, maybe? Obeying their last order?
- Stimulants slowing the growth of bacteria? I'm no biochemist, but that seems like a stretch. Wouldn't it have been simpler to say they should take antibiotics to slow it down? But then I guess they wouldn't have been able to use them as an excuse to have Lorne and his men go all nut-balls.
- Teyla kicks *ass.* I love watching her take down half a dozen armed soldiers at once. I noticed her pregnancy when they rolled her over after they stunned her, but mostly they kept her abdomen out of the shots. I can't recall - what are they going to do about it? Have Teyla get pregnant, or write her off the show for awhile, or what?
- Why would Rodney write the lock code for the brig on his arm?? "Hey, someone might get thrown in the brig and noone will remember the lock code!!" Seriously, that'd be the *last* thing I'd put on a list of shit to remember if I was losing my memory. It doesn't make sense, and I don't like bending the plot that way. (Incidentally, Atlantis is a city - shouldn't it be called the jail or prison, not the brig? I know the brig is on a ship, and Atlantis is technically a ship, so maybe that's why... What do branches of the service other than the Navy call their happy little holding cells?)
- Another "Why remember that and not anyone's name?" moment - Rodney apparently remembered enough to get the program finished, even if it only meant punching a button.
- Why the hell didn't Ronon just feed the plant to Sheppard before taking off from the mainland? If Teyla could "put it into the ventilation system" (the fuck...did she use a juicer??) surely Sheppard could just eat it? I'm tired of shows seeming to think that any medication that can be taken orally or injected can also be breathed with the same effect.
- I *really* thought they were going to kill Katie - I'm glad they didn't. I had "BASTARDS!" on my lips and had to swallow it.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Haven't watched this ep yet, but I'll be doing so later today... so skipping over any spoilers for the moment.
I just thought that it's a funny coincidence that the same day this show was aired, a games company released an MMO game of the same name, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa. Which is a game about humanity figting aliens, and traveling to other planets and continents using wormholes...
quote:- Do they remember their own names? Their previous skills? Apparently the cerebellum is unaffected - they can walk, for example. The language center is unaffected. And they seem to have no trouble remembering ingrained tasks - opening doors, for example, or Rodney's remembering pi. But if that's true, why didn't Dr. Zalenka know how to turn on Rodney's tablet PC?
In the real world, amnesia can work just like that. In grained skills like language, walking, opening doors, bike riding, can be retained as they're almost hard-wired in at a young age. It's also why feral children are rarely integrated back into society or even taught language after growing up in the wild. So it is logical that those skills are the last to go as they're more instinct than memory. Also I think as long as certain things are constantly re-enforced and repeated they have a better chance of being retained, hence the guard's rounding everyone up regardless of anything else, though in their case the stimulants helped, though obviously also re-enforced the sense of paranoia.
quote:- Stimulants slowing the growth of bacteria? I'm no biochemist, but that seems like a stretch. Wouldn't it have been simpler to say they should take antibiotics to slow it down? But then I guess they wouldn't have been able to use them as an excuse to have Lorne and his men go all nut-balls.
I think it was more a matter of stimulating the brain to slow the effects of the bacteria, not slow the bacteria itself because they couldn't do that at all.
Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
I know; what I was saying was, if this disease allows ingrained memories to stay, why didn't Zalenka know how to turn on Rodney's computer? I'd think for most engineers - and *especially* someone working somewhere like Atlantis - nothing would be more ingrained than basic computer tasks. (Hell, once I woke up to my screaming alarm clock and tried to click it off with a nonexistent mouse )
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Well there was a whole bunch of plot holes in that ep, some have already been said. I found this a very mediocre episode at best.
- Why didn't they just wear name tags? Or make little movies or notes or whatever to themselves, explaining things like who they are, what's going on etc. Especially for the soldiers who were herding everyone into that room, you'd want them to be able to know who they were, and what to do before you have them all memory wiped and running around the base with weapons.
-How come the SGC didn't send people in hazmat gear?
quote: - Why the hell didn't Ronon just feed the plant to Sheppard before taking off from the mainland? If Teyla could "put it into the ventilation system" (the fuck...did she use a juicer??) surely Sheppard could just eat it? I'm tired of shows seeming to think that any medication that can be taken orally or injected can also be breathed with the same effect.
I remember thinking that when watching it, but perhaps the plant is poisonous if ingested like that. And seeing how that Teyla's people were able to use the planet, the method for "extracting" the cure can't be some highly techonological procedure. So something as simple as chucking the plant into hot or boiling water and the "fumes" are what hold the cure. So this is something that can be pumped into the ventilation system.
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
(Sorry for resurrecting the thread; I just finished watching this episode.)
quote:Why would Rodney write the lock code for the brig on his arm??
Because he saw Lorne and his men taking Teyla to the brig before he lost his memory.
quote:Incidentally, Atlantis is a city - shouldn't it be called the jail or prison, not the brig?
But it's run by military personnel; a brig is the place of incarceration for the military. For example, the US Navy operates a brig in Charleston, South Carolina. (Though according to Wikipedia, Air Force units generally call it a "stockade" instead. Dunno if/why the USAF consultants missed that...)
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
Well, although you didn't *quote* the question I asked about whether other military branches also call it a brig, you still answered it
Registered: Jul 2005
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Obeying their last order? 
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