Actually, you're right Stingray, anyone can act. The problem is people tend to forget how to use their imagination when they stop being a child.
And I have noticed the characters I enjoy most tend to be played by actors that have something in common with them. In this case, I think Eli is an entertaining character and it helps that his geek character is played by a geek.
Julia can also act fairly well, too. Looks aside, I feel Lt. James would be one of the best characters in the series if given better dialog (and more of it). Every scene she has that wasn't for the sake of breast-placement alone has been good to great.
ShadowDancerWhen I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie."London, UK
Breast placement and good dialogue! Two things we need more of!
I'd say that was one of the best episodes of SGU so far but I fear the resolution to the cliffhanger will be as weak as others have been recently.
What is it that makes Telford's brain different enough that his memories are transferring to other people? They seem to have rules out brainwashing, my current theory is he's a Goa'uld.
I don't think it's explicitly him. Remember the incident with Lt. James and the Smurf aliens? They had a similar case of latent memory resurgence just two episodes ago.
[QUOTE=WORF;188609]That was different, she apparently didn't disconnect herself properly so one of the aliens was able to take over her body.
[/QUOTE]
Yep, but she kept having "dreams that weren't dreams" that were what tipped her off to the fact that she'd been body-swapped, just as Scott and Rush had.
[QUOTE=Stingray;188612]Do we know yet what happens exactly when one of the hosts dies during one of those stone communication sessions?[/QUOTE]
Nope. Well, not for sure. When Vala died using the stones, her own body died as well, and it revived as she was revived. But that was apparently a special case, because she and Daniel were just unconscious back home, and the Ori subjects they were in were apparently waiting in limbo, just as Daniel was when Vala swapped into him. Not sure why the Ancient stone controller works that way, instead of doing a full-on swap like the earth-built model, but it's possible that since there's someone occupying each body, they'd just end up trapped.
[QUOTE=Imhotep;188621]The reason Daniel and Vala didn't swap completely was beacuase the Ori Galaxy counter-parts didn't have their stones plugged into the Ancient communication device. When they(Daniel and Vala) finally put the stones in the Ori Galaxy ones woke up for second in Daniel and Vala until the Prior stopped them.
Anyone correct if I got it wrong or missed something...[/QUOTE]
It's been a long time since I saw it, but the [url=http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s9/transcripts/903.shtml]gateworld transcript[/url] makes it sound like when Daniel and Vala turned on the Ori-end of the device, it actually broke the connection and put the Ori subjects back into their own bodies before the Prior stopped them. Then Lam reports that they found out some unpleasant truths about the Ori and the Priors, but it's ambiguous about whether it was Daniel or the person he swapped with who said it, since it happened off-screen.
ShadowDancerWhen I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie."London, UK
This episode was pretty good, quite dark too. I also have concerns about the resolution, but I'm hoping it will turn out good.
Slow start, but the second half made up for it - Some very tense and emotional stuff there! And it's probably just me, but the music was channeling some Babylon 5 vibes there.
RubberEagleWhat's a rubber eagle used for, anyway?
[Rant] Why do some shows still insist on ending seasons with cliffhangers? A cliffhanger is a great tool to keep the audience wanting the next episode for a week, not 3-6 months! (or longer)
Does anyone remember what happened in the last eureka episode? Didn't think so. I know i don't. Take a note from other shows that have consistently NOT ended on cliffhangers, and still had awesome Season finales. For example the second season finale of Chuck. The Story-threads from the Season were finished, the story of the episode was finished, but the end showed the possibilities of the next season, made you wish for more without leaving you hanging in the middle of the narrative.
Babylon 5 never ended a season in the middle of a story.
Spoiler: The lucian alliance story-thread was introduced in the last 4 episodes of the season. Why not have the scene when rush reveals that commander telford is a spy for the lucian alliance the last scene of the season?
With cliffhangers you always paint yourself in a corner, and often the resolution is unsatisfying, because it was created months after last episode.
[/Rant]
Btw, the lucian alliance second-in-command that was shot and sewn back together by TJ, didn't the actor play a bountyhunter in SG1?
So you're saying the ending to Z'ha'dum was not a cliffhanger?
I agree with you though and I think Doctor Who does it best. The season storyline is wrapped up but they usually have a scene at the end to show more is coming.
Unfortunately Stargate shows always end with cliffhangers in the desperate hope they will be renewed for another season and to help keep the ratings up.
Worf
RubberEagleWhat's a rubber eagle used for, anyway?
Actually, no. For me, Z'ha'dum does not meet the requirements of a cliffhanger. It doesn't end with sheridan jumping and fades to black with a "to be continued" on screen. The epilogue with it's narration, where sheridan is actually shown in floating in Lorien's energy-field, wraps up the story of the episode. Yes, there are open questions ("What ever happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"), but the end has a feeling of closure. (For the record, i had to wait almost 3 years until the fourth season was broadcast over here. While it was an excruciation wait, i don't want to imagine how it would have been with a Stargate (or Star Trek for that matter) middle-of-the-story-cliffhanger)
I didn't mention Doctor Who on purpose. While it is probably the best example, it's not an american TV-Show. From my understanding, the clear separation of the Seasons, shown already in the fact that in British TV there are not seasons, but series, is very much a given. I wanted to emphasise the fact that there are american TV Shows (Buffy and Angel never had cliffhangers either (well except maybe the final episode of Angel) if i remember correctly)
Yeah, i wasn't expecting not to be left with a cliffhanger, but i would have been positively surprised if they had made a satisfying conclusion.
We do have Star Trek to blame, I can only imagine what it was like to watch The Best of Both Worlds and have it end half way through because it was the first time I'm aware of that such a cliffhanger was used. Interestingly enough, Deep Space Nine doesn't use cliffhangers for any of the season finales, except maybe when they are forced to leave the station.
In Z'ha'dum we don't see Sheridan after he jumps. Next time he appears is at the end of the first episode of season 4. The wait was painful, glad I didn't have to wait 3 years like you did for it.
With Buffy/Angel/Dollhouse, I think Joss Whedon understands it's not a good way to tell a story if you have to make the audience wait to see how it concludes. It also doesn't leave fans hanging in the series is cancelled between seasons. Most of the finales used the same approach as Doctor Who, a hint of more to come but the major threads dealt with. Heroes was good at that too, even if they tended to ignore the situations they setup.
Do they really think putting cliffhangers at the end of a season is going to keep the suits from canceling the show?
Also, firing projectile weapons in confined spaces isn't exactly the smartest thing to do, but since the writers always fire blanks, the thought of deadly ricochets never crosses their minds.
It was ok, but not great for a season finale. I was wondering why Telford waited so long before doing what he did? He could have taken her hostage all along, all this charade for nothing. So many casualties....
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
[QUOTE=RubberEagle;188831]Yeah, i wasn't expecting not to be left with a cliffhanger, but i would have been positively surprised if they had made a satisfying conclusion.[/QUOTE]
Didn't they say they were going to make each season its own self-contained story arc? i.e. something closer to the series concept. So much for that, I guess.
[QUOTE=WORF;188832]We do have Star Trek to blame, I can only imagine what it was like to watch The Best of Both Worlds and have it end half way through because it was the first time I'm aware of that such a cliffhanger was used.[/QUOTE]
According to that know-it-all website, it's actually Dallas and Dynasty that made it really popular; The Best of Both Worlds was just another straw.
Going by what happened with Atlantis in the second season, I'd say the first episode will resolve the current situation and set things up for the rest of the season.
Regarding how they move forward from here, the teaser for the new episodes coming in October looked like all new footage, which makes me think they've already filmed the conclusion of the current crisis.
The Alliance soldier TJ fixed up was indeed a bounty Hunter in SG1 and also a Runner in Atlantis. The SG casting crew do like to use familar faces to keep us on our toes. He was also a Pegasus crewman in BSG.
Good and intense ending to the season. I didn't expect the pulsar threat as I was thinking the aliens would turn up, attack again and force both sides to fight side by side for a while. I also thought the weird energy fluctuations might have been linked to the scientist who vanished after sitting in the chair during the last alien attack.
Comments
And I have noticed the characters I enjoy most tend to be played by actors that have something in common with them. In this case, I think Eli is an entertaining character and it helps that his geek character is played by a geek.
Worf
What is it that makes Telford's brain different enough that his memories are transferring to other people? They seem to have rules out brainwashing, my current theory is he's a Goa'uld.
Worf
Worf
Do we know yet what happens exactly when one of the hosts dies during one of those stone communication sessions?
[/QUOTE]
Yep, but she kept having "dreams that weren't dreams" that were what tipped her off to the fact that she'd been body-swapped, just as Scott and Rush had.
[QUOTE=Stingray;188612]Do we know yet what happens exactly when one of the hosts dies during one of those stone communication sessions?[/QUOTE]
Nope. Well, not for sure. When Vala died using the stones, her own body died as well, and it revived as she was revived. But that was apparently a special case, because she and Daniel were just unconscious back home, and the Ori subjects they were in were apparently waiting in limbo, just as Daniel was when Vala swapped into him. Not sure why the Ancient stone controller works that way, instead of doing a full-on swap like the earth-built model, but it's possible that since there's someone occupying each body, they'd just end up trapped.
Anyone correct if I got it wrong or missed something...[/QUOTE]
It's been a long time since I saw it, but the [url=http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s9/transcripts/903.shtml]gateworld transcript[/url] makes it sound like when Daniel and Vala turned on the Ori-end of the device, it actually broke the connection and put the Ori subjects back into their own bodies before the Prior stopped them. Then Lam reports that they found out some unpleasant truths about the Ori and the Priors, but it's ambiguous about whether it was Daniel or the person he swapped with who said it, since it happened off-screen.
And it was great to see O'Neill! :D
Worf
Does anyone remember what happened in the last eureka episode? Didn't think so. I know i don't. Take a note from other shows that have consistently NOT ended on cliffhangers, and still had awesome Season finales. For example the second season finale of Chuck. The Story-threads from the Season were finished, the story of the episode was finished, but the end showed the possibilities of the next season, made you wish for more without leaving you hanging in the middle of the narrative.
Babylon 5 never ended a season in the middle of a story.
Spoiler: The lucian alliance story-thread was introduced in the last 4 episodes of the season. Why not have the scene when rush reveals that commander telford is a spy for the lucian alliance the last scene of the season?
With cliffhangers you always paint yourself in a corner, and often the resolution is unsatisfying, because it was created months after last episode.
[/Rant]
Btw, the lucian alliance second-in-command that was shot and sewn back together by TJ, didn't the actor play a bountyhunter in SG1?
I agree with you though and I think Doctor Who does it best. The season storyline is wrapped up but they usually have a scene at the end to show more is coming.
Unfortunately Stargate shows always end with cliffhangers in the desperate hope they will be renewed for another season and to help keep the ratings up.
Worf
I didn't mention Doctor Who on purpose. While it is probably the best example, it's not an american TV-Show. From my understanding, the clear separation of the Seasons, shown already in the fact that in British TV there are not seasons, but series, is very much a given. I wanted to emphasise the fact that there are american TV Shows (Buffy and Angel never had cliffhangers either (well except maybe the final episode of Angel) if i remember correctly)
Yeah, i wasn't expecting not to be left with a cliffhanger, but i would have been positively surprised if they had made a satisfying conclusion.
In Z'ha'dum we don't see Sheridan after he jumps. Next time he appears is at the end of the first episode of season 4. The wait was painful, glad I didn't have to wait 3 years like you did for it.
With Buffy/Angel/Dollhouse, I think Joss Whedon understands it's not a good way to tell a story if you have to make the audience wait to see how it concludes. It also doesn't leave fans hanging in the series is cancelled between seasons. Most of the finales used the same approach as Doctor Who, a hint of more to come but the major threads dealt with. Heroes was good at that too, even if they tended to ignore the situations they setup.
Also, firing projectile weapons in confined spaces isn't exactly the smartest thing to do, but since the writers always fire blanks, the thought of deadly ricochets never crosses their minds.
It was ok, but not great for a season finale. I was wondering why Telford waited so long before doing what he did? He could have taken her hostage all along, all this charade for nothing. So many casualties....
Didn't they say they were going to make each season its own self-contained story arc? i.e. something closer to the series concept. So much for that, I guess.
[QUOTE=WORF;188832]We do have Star Trek to blame, I can only imagine what it was like to watch The Best of Both Worlds and have it end half way through because it was the first time I'm aware of that such a cliffhanger was used.[/QUOTE]
According to that know-it-all website, it's actually Dallas and Dynasty that made it really popular; The Best of Both Worlds was just another straw.
Good and intense ending to the season. I didn't expect the pulsar threat as I was thinking the aliens would turn up, attack again and force both sides to fight side by side for a while. I also thought the weird energy fluctuations might have been linked to the scientist who vanished after sitting in the chair during the last alien attack.