The whole business about the lost away team finding their way home so quickly was a bit of a letdown. This should have involved another episode tackling character building on their end (at least). Allowing the reality to sink in that they were just starting to accept life without destiny would have been interesting. And [b]then[/b] they could cue the aliens and excellent destiny timing, and things would make more sense.
The way I see it is this:
On the planet, begin to settle down and chill out. Team spots something entering the atmosphere. The Kino-controller sounds an alarm or something about destiny being active. The team kicks it into gear and escape just as the aliens return to the gate. This also leads the aliens to know with certainty that their sabotage of Destiny was successful, thus to begin their attack. Somewhere before this, we get a flash into the head of Lt. James where she's just barely seeing the aliens (which I do not believe she ever saw) during the body-swap. Her description of them makes everyone realize what happened. Bam! It all comes together.
Also, the part where the aliens promptly attack once they are identified as the guilty party just felt wrong. Why after three weeks drifting and countless hundred of thousands (millions?) of light years away from the galactic boundary would the crew of Destiny suspect that [b]this moment[/b] is [b]the moment[/b] the aliens choose to attack? Hell, how did the Stargate even work at that distance from the galaxy? They're primitive and can barely connect a few star systems over, but can reach all the way beyond the perimeter of the galactic plane?
There could have also been at least one scene showing Lt. James doing something malicious. The sudden "I sabotaged it--well, they did" business was just terrible last-minute plot fixing to bring the aliens in. I liked the fact that the ship was just plain old and starting to wear down, but that isn't as exciting.
The Rush and Earth plots were fantastic. I very much enjoyed how they went, though some of the writing was once again weak in the details (One moment "She needs to get some time to herself" juxtaposed with "I didn't think you were ever ever coming back!" felt stupid given the lack of apparent time passage). Good ideas derailed by a simple lack of attention to detail.
On the local scale, it was a fairly good episode. It just really lacked any strength in larger story.
Follow-up note: Rush talked about giving the scientist a choice. They didn't. They basically ordered him to do it. That's all find and dandy given that the guy actually volunteered to do it, but still. It's just another case of poor dialog choice. I'm also hoping the guy comes back later. More likely than not, he preserved himself ala O'Neill somewhere on board the ship. They'll likely find him later. (And hey, maybe an ancient or someone else helpful!)
I hope the aliens don't follow them to the other galaxy. It'd just undermine the concept of how advanced Destiny really is by making it feel "normal" versus the rest.
I was a bit puzzled... wait a minute, that's not the Milky Way. :D
ShadowDancerWhen I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie."London, UK
I would seem to be in the minority then in that I enjoyed both the last 2 episodes.
I think the biggest problem with the episodes is purely that they're trying to do too much in a short space of time. I dont know when this episode was written, but maybe it was before they knew they'd gotten a 2nd season, so it needed to be fast paced to get to a decent ending if need be. Chloe, Eli and Scott really did need to be stranded a bit longer, the aliens did arrive just one cue, but it never bothered me too much. I do hope they dont skip or compress too much of the crossing, it would be a good chance to do some character development, as well as getting across the whole "space is big" thing.
Perhaps I'm more willing to overlook these things because its one of the few shows out there that I want to watch, so I'm not going to pick too many holes in it.
I disagree about the smurfs being done with. Based on visual cues alone, they clearly made it nearly half way into the void between galaxies. I see no reason why they would somehow be gone now.
[QUOTE=Sanfam;188457]I see no reason why they would somehow be gone now.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't put it past the writers to write them off like they did in the episode of the stranded away-team. Pew-pew, no more blue kitteys.... oops, wrong movie. :D
Well, the theory I read on Destiny's FTL system made for a viable approach to galaxy crossing. Instead of simply pushing the vessel to a specific >c Speed, the FTL drive continues to accelerate the ship in whatever permutation of space it resides within, then lets it drop back down as it nears its destination. This way, galaxy crossings don't take years of ship-time.
The trip being this short, however, is just weak writing.
I forgot to mention it last night but we saw the aliens coming through the stargate on Destiny, it was just part of Rush's hallucination rather than an attack. So maybe they won't be back afterall? Who knows.
Apparently we've seen the last of the Sombreroids, sadly. Also, the episode belongs where it was (or the idea to move it came before it was shot), as there were a couple of lines putting it unambiguously after the last one, with the soldiers talking about the search for Franklin being called off after he vanished out of the chair (which apparently was a pre-control chair as well as being a pre-head-grabber) and Chloe making a sarcastic crack about "the new galaxy" when they found the first peyotick.
ShadowDancerWhen I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie."London, UK
Well I guess we need to wait to see what the next episode brings before we can call it either way, but if it was shown in order then I think they dropped the ball on that one. Good episode otherwise, but it should either have been earlier on, or later once they're established in the new galaxy.
Earlier, probably. It's main result seems to have been to reset several character back to a position of mistrust or vulnerability that they'd advanced beyond, and also being the first time in seventeen episodes to give us any kind of insight about how James felt that Scott had traded her in for a more naïve model.
Hey, here's a thought! If she's mooning over Scott, and Eli's mooning over Chloe, maybe Eli and James should hook up. Now, if you want to really start emulating Battlestar Galactica, that's exactly the sort of desperate and self-destructive, yet flawlessly logical, behavior your characters should engage in. Eli Wallace could be the next Kara Thrace!
Are you reading this, Mallozzi?
ShadowDancerWhen I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie."London, UK
Actually I like them all for the simple reason that none of them are perfect. I also think James is quite hot ;)
Chloe is a bit annoying, but that's just her character, the actress (Elyse Levesque) is a babe. I think Eli is actually alright, he's not convincing as a math genius though but his dialogue is usually well written. I'd rather picture Eli in a teenage comedy with guys hitting on girls (and failing miserably) than solving alien mathematical puzzles. :D
Camile Wray is played by Ming-Na, I mistook her for Linda Park who played Ensign Hoshi Sato on Enterprise. They all look Asian to me, although both actresses are from different countries. Wray's character is annoying in the sense that she's a scheming female dog. :D And even if she's not scheming you don't feel like trusting her at all even after that selfless act in the prior episode, as was evidenced by Greer's hallucinogenic reaction to her.
Yeah, Julia Benson as Vanessa James is a babe too... look at that nice pair of... eyes. :D
ShadowDancerWhen I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie."London, UK
Heh man you gotta love those regulation issue tight t-shirts don't you! :D
Actually, eyes are something I tend to look at before anything else
In other words David Blue is just being himself... and not really acting... not that this constitutes a flaw considering how Keanu Reeves turned out. :D
This means that anyone can act if given the opportunity. At least being a natural talent comes across much better and is more convincing than anything say that popular Canadian starship Captain ever did. :D
Comments
The way I see it is this:
On the planet, begin to settle down and chill out. Team spots something entering the atmosphere. The Kino-controller sounds an alarm or something about destiny being active. The team kicks it into gear and escape just as the aliens return to the gate. This also leads the aliens to know with certainty that their sabotage of Destiny was successful, thus to begin their attack. Somewhere before this, we get a flash into the head of Lt. James where she's just barely seeing the aliens (which I do not believe she ever saw) during the body-swap. Her description of them makes everyone realize what happened. Bam! It all comes together.
Also, the part where the aliens promptly attack once they are identified as the guilty party just felt wrong. Why after three weeks drifting and countless hundred of thousands (millions?) of light years away from the galactic boundary would the crew of Destiny suspect that [b]this moment[/b] is [b]the moment[/b] the aliens choose to attack? Hell, how did the Stargate even work at that distance from the galaxy? They're primitive and can barely connect a few star systems over, but can reach all the way beyond the perimeter of the galactic plane?
There could have also been at least one scene showing Lt. James doing something malicious. The sudden "I sabotaged it--well, they did" business was just terrible last-minute plot fixing to bring the aliens in. I liked the fact that the ship was just plain old and starting to wear down, but that isn't as exciting.
The Rush and Earth plots were fantastic. I very much enjoyed how they went, though some of the writing was once again weak in the details (One moment "She needs to get some time to herself" juxtaposed with "I didn't think you were ever ever coming back!" felt stupid given the lack of apparent time passage). Good ideas derailed by a simple lack of attention to detail.
On the local scale, it was a fairly good episode. It just really lacked any strength in larger story.
Follow-up note: Rush talked about giving the scientist a choice. They didn't. They basically ordered him to do it. That's all find and dandy given that the guy actually volunteered to do it, but still. It's just another case of poor dialog choice. I'm also hoping the guy comes back later. More likely than not, he preserved himself ala O'Neill somewhere on board the ship. They'll likely find him later. (And hey, maybe an ancient or someone else helpful!)
I hope the aliens don't follow them to the other galaxy. It'd just undermine the concept of how advanced Destiny really is by making it feel "normal" versus the rest.
I think the biggest problem with the episodes is purely that they're trying to do too much in a short space of time. I dont know when this episode was written, but maybe it was before they knew they'd gotten a 2nd season, so it needed to be fast paced to get to a decent ending if need be. Chloe, Eli and Scott really did need to be stranded a bit longer, the aliens did arrive just one cue, but it never bothered me too much. I do hope they dont skip or compress too much of the crossing, it would be a good chance to do some character development, as well as getting across the whole "space is big" thing.
Perhaps I'm more willing to overlook these things because its one of the few shows out there that I want to watch, so I'm not going to pick too many holes in it.
I wouldn't put it past the writers to write them off like they did in the episode of the stranded away-team. Pew-pew, no more blue kitteys.... oops, wrong movie. :D
In the season 1.5 preview, we see the Aliens coming through the Stargate on the Destiny.
The trip being this short, however, is just weak writing.
It would have made more sense to have had this one a few weeks ago.
Hey, here's a thought! If she's mooning over Scott, and Eli's mooning over Chloe, maybe Eli and James should hook up. Now, if you want to really start emulating Battlestar Galactica, that's exactly the sort of desperate and self-destructive, yet flawlessly logical, behavior your characters should engage in. Eli Wallace could be the next Kara Thrace!
Are you reading this, Mallozzi?
Camile Wray is played by Ming-Na, I mistook her for Linda Park who played Ensign Hoshi Sato on Enterprise. They all look Asian to me, although both actresses are from different countries. Wray's character is annoying in the sense that she's a scheming female dog. :D And even if she's not scheming you don't feel like trusting her at all even after that selfless act in the prior episode, as was evidenced by Greer's hallucinogenic reaction to her.
Yeah, Julia Benson as Vanessa James is a babe too... look at that nice pair of... eyes. :D
Actually, eyes are something I tend to look at before anything else
Worf
This means that anyone can act if given the opportunity. At least being a natural talent comes across much better and is more convincing than anything say that popular Canadian starship Captain ever did. :D
I believe the word you are looking for is... perky? :D