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So in this episode we learn that the Ancients built at least one weapons platform at the Lagrange point of a planet on the other side of the solar system in which Atlantis is located. Crashed on the planet is a Wraith supply ship, loaded to the gills with humans in stasis to feed the troops or some such. Which kinda throws away the notion that the Wraith don't actually know where Atlantis is. Also, Wraith can apparently live for 10000 years, feeding off a ship full of humans and even each other. Some nifty Wraith grenade-things are used by Sheppard to try and kill the Wraith, to no effect. This Wraith guy seemed an awful lot like Steve...
Poingant moment of the episode: Gaul committing suicide so McKay can go help Sheppard. Totally unexpected.
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Registered: Mar 1999
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I've only seen the first two episodes: which one is Gaul?
What can the weapons platform do?
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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It seems then that Atlantis WAS meant to sit on this planet for an extended period time. We'll have to wait for "Before I Sleep" to see Atlantis in all her blazing glory, but this offers tantalizing hints at what the whole Altantis system has to show off.
posted
Mabye there are other artifacts in-system they can use to their defense.
There must have been several other weapons platforms at one time: even something Deathstar-sized could not cover all aproach vectors for a planet.
Best positioning would have the platform directly above the city in synch-orbit to cover it in an umbrella-like arc.
...of course, that also kinda places a biig bullseye on the city itself.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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-Richard Cox, the guy who played Gaul also played the alien archeologist Nyan in SG1 "New Ground" (he's also the English voice of Inu Yasha in the anime of the same name, and I met / interviewed the guy this spring. You should see how far out he can turn his feet. Mary Poppins, beware!). They *could* have just made him Nyan, but that would have added a dimension to the episode that wasn't necessary. The role certainly wasn't written for the actor, but he did it well.
-McKay is wearing the darker outfit for some reason. He wore it once before, during the brief Genii alliance mission to infiltrate the Wraith ship, but that seemed to make sense to wear a darker uniform. Why now? To differentiate him as being in charge, or something?
-The weapons platform is fifteen hours away from the Atlantis planet, sitting at some sort of "Lagrangian point". On Earth, a Lagrange point is where the gravitational forces of the sun, the Earth and the Moon cancel each other out, creating gravity "dead zones" essentially orbiting the Earth - a really nice place to keep stuff stationary without using propellant or gyros. I'm not entirely sure how this one works.
-Hey, it's the glowey bug things from SG1 "Prodigy"!
-When Weir asks Ford to prep a potential rescue team, the Lieutenant looks a little winded. I suspect an edit where he was running or something when he was called (he's dressed for it).
-Abrams is really only the second time we've seen the Wraith feeding process in action. Unlike Solonel Sumner, they instead substituted an older actor as the dead body.
-I'm still wondering how this "sucking years out of your life" thing works. Does it REALLY cause people to prematurely age? How does the process cause hair to go white - does it literally suck the pigmentation out? Teeth are pretty intact, though. I think the writers still have to think this through... But McKay suggests that whatever it is may not be permenant; they simply don't know how it works.
-How do the Wraith create the webbing? I'm guessing it's similar to whatever makes up their hair.
-The Puddle Jumper is equipped with a subspace radio. This is no big deal, as it explains the lack of time lag in communications. I'm sure it's not good for interstellar travel.
-The Wraith was wearing an older version of the armor we see on the big hulking guys. He also healed pretty darn fast, because he'd just fed.
-On that note, a well-fed Wraith ARMY equipped with ships and big guns would have to be really scary - more evidence that the Wraith have been pretty easy to deal with so far, as they're still just waking up. The Wraith here was fairly bright, feeding on Gaul enough to make McKay stay behind. He also knew enough to wire a Jumper to create a force field.
-Well, we now have an unpowered (and visually damaged) Ancient weapons platform, plus most of an older-style Wraith transport to study. I'm sure both with figure in later this season.
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Notes follow:
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