Epiphany (212)

[GateWorld]

ATLANTIS SEASON TWO EPIPHANY EPISODE NUMBER - 212 Sheppard finds himself on a planet where time passes more rapidly, with no way to contact his team or return to Atlantis. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >> SPOILERS! PHOTOS! AND MORE!

[TOA]

Seeing as im working from home I figure Ill fill some gaps in for this episode.


Mini Summery:
The team (aka Shep, Mckay, Teyla & Ronan) are on a survey mission when Mckay notices a bizarre energy signature. They land the puddle and walk to the site of the energy and discover *gasp* a cave with Ancient writing next to the entrance.

They realize there is some type of shield in place and use a camera to check it out. When they pull it back the camera seems fine, so Shep volunteers to go through. *cue ominous music* As Shep stretches forth his arm he realizes he cant pull it back he's stuck.

He goes through the portal to an empty cave, and waits around for a few days but no one shows. They do send him some food though.

In the mean time Mckay has figured out whats going on and does the Mckay dance of distress. He goes back to Atlantis to get supplies.

Shep gets sick of waiting and starts wandering out into the forest and later into a field - where scary sounds of growling are heard... All of a sudden someone crys out for help... its a bird.. its a plane.... no its an Ancient... Shep saves the cringing fearful person but gets hurt in the meantime.

He wakes up later with a little girl standing over him, as he lies in bed. She has apparently healed him. Cue: Hot older sister. Hmmmmm havent seen this before.. The older sister explains that they arent Ancients **everyone yell: "AWWW SHUCKS!!!"** but we're somewhat akin to worshippers (my word not hers) and have been here attempting to ascend for their whole lives.

The people in the village are all that remains of the civilization that originally travelled here.

Mckay and the others attempt to entire the protected area from orbit but realize they would be instantly destroyed trying to get to the surface - only the doorway is safe.

In the meantime Shep and the older sister (did I mention she was Hot) get ummm close... Yeah thats it.. She also explains that she can farsee (ie see images of things beyond normal vision) and that she had sent her brother (the cringing coward from the field) to get shep.

The beast attacks the village again and all the villagers run and hide, but John stands and makes snide comments which prompts the older sister to stand with him.

John wakes up as younger sister heals him, but still doesnt remember how he got to bed. Again...

Meanwhile the gang - now acompanied by Weir & Beckett are going through the portal and figure they will deactivate the time device from the inside.

John and the villagers are later eating dinner/lunch/brunch whatever and john begins trying to tell them that they arent living just hiding and that that is why they arent ascending. (its really really obvious to everyone except the clueless villagers) And that they must fight the beast that has been attacking them.

As they travel through the field they are once again attacked. Luckily the hot sister tells John they are about to be attacked. John jumps up and runs the ... several miles to their rescue.

Meanwhile Ronon and Teyla are taking the beats, the beast is kicking some serious pegasus ass. John arrives in the nick of time and somehow dispatches the beast. But then...

The beast reappears - but he's like 500 ft tall.

The atlantis team readies themselves to face this new foe.... but then......

The fearful villagers appear and announce they must fight the beast. So they all stand in a circle and the beast disappears (no im not kidding).

The villagers then begin to ascend but the hot sister stays and asks John to join them - john says no. So she ascends...

The End..

Overall I really didnt think this was one of the better episodes so far - I was really looking forward to actually seeing them TALK to an ancient but.. *sigh*

Theres always "The Tower" and "The long goodbye"...

[mcalex22]

Originally Posted by TOA

Seeing as im working from home I figure Ill fill some gaps in for this episode.
...

Theres always "The Tower" and "The long goodbye"...

Love your summary - it's really funny but unfortunately doesn't inspire me to watch Epiphany... damn, I was hoping it would be better than Hive!

I won't be watching it for a while but being the big Atlantis fan that I am I suppose I will be catching it soon!

Hmm, hot sister and Shep, and Weir makes a trip offworld? Cool.

Thanks!

[SmallTimePerson]

it sounds like a good episode thanks for the summary TOA!

[Franklyn Blaze]

What a ripoff on the beast, they copied and pasted the Predator right into that episode. Tisk tisk.

Aside for that it was okay for a one off, shallow plot development for 6 months of being with the pre-ascended people. I would have expected more from a "stranded with village people episode" or a "time differential episode". Those eps have already been made in other series and here they just mooshed them together. (no offence anyone but its hard not to compare)

There is something about having a oneoff when there is a main story arc going on that is just doesn't seem to work for me. I don't know if its just me but when the episode doesn't add to the main arc (that I really like btw) it reminds me of someone who digresses a lot and I find myself wanting them to get back on topic. ( Again no offence to ppl who like one offs mixed in)

[Dorka]

Thanks for the summary...makes waiting till today evening better

I think I'll like every episode Elizabeth is going off-world, so I think I'll like it this time too

Awww..John and the other girl get close... awww...no Kirk-style please!

[macktheknife]

Rips off:

The Matrx : OMFG SHEP YOU ARE "THE ONE" AND I"M IN LOVE WITH YOU!
Predator : Invisible Evil Creature
Star Trek : Similar to the episode where Miles (or The Doctor?) got stuck into a "mind prison" for years and years, but without the prison, and with ascended people.

And probably a host of others.

That's not to say it was a bad episode, just not great. A resonably solid, zero story arc, minimal character development (even after a few months, he seemed back to normal once found), and something which is already becoming cliche with the kirk shep. It's a stand alone episode of the highest throw away value, just enough "danger" to make the episode work, but pretty much nothing will be mentioned of this again.

[Jarnin]

Sounds like a direct rip-off of the movie Sphere.

In the movie, they discover an "alien" ship at the bottom of the ocean, mostly buried by coral (the coral growth indicates that it's been there at least 300 years).
As the team of heros enters the ship, they discover that the ship isn't alien at all, it's an Earth ship from the future that traveled through a black hole, which for some reason slung it back in time. They also discover a giant "sphere" in the ships cargo hold, and nobody knows what it is.

Eventually, one by one, the heroes somehow enter the sphere, but they don't remember going in. Afterwards, alot of weird things happen; all the secondary characters end up dead, all by strange underwater creatures; giant squid, jellyfish, seasnakes, etc.

As it turns out, when the heroes entered the sphere, they gained the power to make their thoughts real; one of the crew was afraid of the book 20,000 leagues under the sea, so a giant squid shows up. Another crewmember was afraid of seasnakes, so the seasnakes appeared. They were making everything happen, all without realizing it, yet they were all genius-level scholars and scientists.
Eventually figure it out, and they come to the conclusion that the power to make your dreams come true is way too powerful for stupid humans, so they hold hands, sing kumbaya, and wish the sphere, their powers, and their memories of the sphere away, so it's like it never happened.


Seems like Epiphany is basically the same thing; the villagers realize that they're the ones that are making the beast real, so when they figure that out, the beast disappears.

Rip. Off.

[caty]

I haven't watched it yet (I am about to in 30 minutes ), but I don't know if you all know that Joe Flanigan wrote the episode.
Since we know that he wasn't big on SciFi before Atlantis, I doubt that he copied what he wrote in any way, much less ripped it off..

We'll always find similarities with other shows/movies, it is just hard to find stories that haven't been done in some way before... So don't be so hard on him...

[AutumnDream]

It wasn't even three minutes in until Sheppard cracked me up.

"MALP on a stick."

Awesome.

[Jarnin]

Originally Posted by caty

I haven't watched it yet (I am about to in 30 minutes ), but I don't know if you all know that Joe Flanigan wrote the episode.
Since we know that he wasn't big on SciFi before Atlantis, I doubt that he copied what he wrote in any way, much less ripped it off..

We'll always find similarities with other shows/movies, it is just hard to find stories that haven't been done in some way before... So don't be so hard on him...

He basically pitched an idea. From what he said in the interview with him regarding this episode, Brad and company changed alot of what he pitched because it had been done on SG-1.

[Buzz Lightyear]

Originally Posted by Jarnin

He basically pitched an idea. From what he said in the interview with him regarding this episode, Brad and company changed alot of what he pitched because it had been done on SG-1.

This episode still reminded me too much of season 3 SG-1's "A Hundred Days" in which O'Neill was stranded on a planet with no hope of rescue and fell in love with a woman in a village.

http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s3/317.shtml

[AutumnDream]

Including when O'Neill was stuck on that planet for months and the girl fell in love with him?

EDIT: Eek. I was posting as you posted. Sorry.

[Jarnin]

Originally Posted by Buzz Lightyear

This episode still reminded me too much of season 3 SG-1's "A Hundred Days" in which O'Neill was stranded on a planet with no hope of rescue and fell in love with a woman in a village.

http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s3/317.shtml

Yep, just got done watching it, and it reminded me of that episode alot.

Overall, the story was "meh".

I liked:

1. The humor: It was actually a pretty funny episode.
2. Weir on an away mission was cool.
3. Teyla being smart enough to surprise Rodney was cool.

I didn't like:

1. The special effects: I'm continually impressed by how little the VFX guys know about physics.
2. The look of the beast: Actually, I guess it was ok. I suppose it if was just a collective thought by the people in the village, then it wouldn't have a defined look.
3. The psychic chic was way off. She could "see" Sheppard since she was a small girl, but she couldn't see that the beast was just a collective thought? Silly.
4. I'm getting tired of seeing actors reused. They must only have a handful of actors in Vancouver, because the guy who played Avrid in this episode also played Hanno in the episode Cor-Ai.


Overall, this episode gets 2 out of 5 stars IMO.

[Domesticated Equine]

I think it was better than the last episode and I actually enjoyed watching it. Still, it was very much a stand-alone episode with minimal character and plot development. This also felt way too much like A Hundred Days, Part 2 with not enough of a twist to justify using this plot again.

Kudos to David Hewlett and the writers for keeping the character of McKay interesting to watch. He's my favourite character on the two shows at the moment and a big reason why I keep watching Atlantis.

Edit: One other thing that bothered me was the native woman who had an interest in Sheppard (don't remember the character's name). I didn't like the actress and thought her delivery was too flat which made suspension of disbelief quite difficult.

[xfkirsten]

Hmm... I kind of liked this one, but that's coming from a Weir fan. Not a perfect ep, by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoyed it.

-The Sheppard "Kirk" routine got old, but I'll give him credit for not ever really giving up on going home. It was always clear that while there was a mild attraction between the two of them, all he really wanted was to go home
-Second, I think John definitely has some big abandonment issues, and I got the impression that there's a deeper reason for that somewhere in his past
-It felt like the oher characters just didn't grasp the concept of why they had to hurry. I mean, to me, it's not exactly rocket science to figure that out. Weir and Beckett are very intelligent - why did Rodney have to spell out for them the fact that John could die of old age so soon?
-"I have a date tomorrow night with Lt. Cadman!" "Oh, no, so we've only got twelve years in here!!" *hugs Rodney* Love that line!
-I definitely loved seeing Elizabeth getting to join the action! I wish she got to do that more often.
-The whole Beast defeat was really anti-climactic. I understand that their storyline had to be wrapped up... but it was just so boring to solve the Beast problem that way
-"What is it with you and ascended women?" Once again, Rodney tells it like it is!
-I loved the whole beard exchange between Weir and Sheppard at the end!

[caty]

I am very disappointed with this episode!

The worst thing of all is that they cheated us out of the stuff dealing with Shep's past. IMO, it was actually quite smart to let us hang for awhile not knowing where the main character comes from or what he experienced, resulting in the way he is now.

But honestly, now it's just downright annoying. Just from the pilot and LFP, we know more about ALL the main characters including recurring ones like Bates than we do about the leading character.

Anyway, I thought the episode was boring, the beast wasn't scary at all and I think they could have done a better job showing what life was like for John.

What I liked was that Sheppard stood up to the beast every time he was confronted with it and that he did get annoyed at the townspeople for abandoning him.
He showed off his acting ability once again in acouple of scenes (and again, only with his eyes or expressions) like the meditating scene and some other ones where you could really see how much he misses Atlantis and the team.

I also think it's funny that Ronon seems to be very protective about Sheppard when he's not there. I think he really likes and respects him more than he lets on.

Overall, the plot was disappointing, but the epi had some great scenes.

[alyssa]

Originally Posted by xfkirsten

I loved the whole beard exchange between Weir and Sheppard at the end!

What beard exchange?? Elaborate!!

[gooner_diva]

Originally Posted by alyssa

What beard exchange?? Elaborate!!

Weir: Well, the beard is... interesting.
Sheppard: The first thing to go when we get home.

[IWantToBelieve]

After how dissappointed I was in Hive, this episode made up for it. It was very insightful into Sheppard's character but you had to really watch and pick up on it, nothing was spelled out.

Pros: The way the writers portrayed the two different time zones. It was easy to feel how fast time was going for Shep while how slow it was going for the others. JF again delivers an amazing nuanced performance. He isn't an actor you can look away from, or you'll miss everything. The way his eyes move, his body langauge, the looks...it all comes together to deliver so much more than just his lines. Teyla continues to grow into her position and show why she's there. She's an asset to the team and her and Ronon play well off of Sheppard and McKay. There weren't any gaping plot holes this time. Beckett and Weir were wonderful for the time they had on screen. I really do love all the actors and characters on this show!

Cons: Okay, let's admit it, the plot is rehashed. It needed just that little bit more oomph to make it original enough to be reused. But, it wasn't so cliched that it was unenjoyable, so not a huge knock against it. The nice character insight, like someone else said, shows that Sheppard does have abadonment issues. If you missed it, watch it again, because it was a very poignant side of this episode. It alone makes up for the con of using an old plot mechanism like this. The beast's FX were kind of lame. They could've done a better beast. The ending was anticlimatic, but it does make sense. The beast didn't kill Sheppard both times and he said twice "I don't remember winning". The fact is, he didn't, and he couldn't. The defeat wasn't physical, and while it makes for anticlimatic screen time, it's a deeper answer to the problem at hand. The beast was their final hurdle, to face their fears, and that's why they were able to defeat it in the end and save Sheppard and the gang. Could've been written a little better to have not fallen so flat, but overall it doesn't ruin the episode.

The first half had a lot of intensity, the second half started to drift. Overall though, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5, because of the character development and great lines. MALP on a stick, that's got to become a classic.

And it is way overdue to find out more backstory on the main character for the show!