Inferno (219)

GateWorld · #1 January 2nd, 2006, 09:03 PM

ATLANTIS SEASON TWO
INFERNO
EPISODE NUMBER - 219

Sheppard's team meets a civilization about to be destroyed by a super-volcano, and is trapped there when the Stargate is destroyed during the evacuation.

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Willow'sCat · #2 January 24th, 2006, 02:15 AM

Did everyone in Canada go to bed? I want spoilers. Please...anyone?

Zamboni · #3 January 24th, 2006, 02:56 AM

Woohoo!!! Second post!!!

Summary below:

Sheppard and team find an Ancient warship in an Ancient base built inside an Ancient super volcano on some Ancient planet (yes... they're all ancient). McKay discovers that the local hot blonde has upset the geothermic pressure by running the base shield continuously and the entire continent will soon erupt. Weir convinces their leader to evacuate, but his eruption, err I mean a volcanic eruption engulfs the stargate trapping many on the planet.

The Deadalus arrives to take the survivors, but cannot evacuate all the settlers in a single trip because they don't have enough toilets. McKay and company now race against time to fix the newly branded "Orion" in order to escape certain death.

Back in Atlantis, Zelenka made the discovery that an icon in the shape of a Wraith hive ship has appeared on the computer screen. He then realizes that it is a Wraith hive ship and it is on its way and will reach Atlantis within three weeks, just before his ebay biddings arrive.

As molten rock starts to flow McKay realizes it's not possible to fix the engine in time so he enables the shield and engages hyper drive allowing Orion (with the settlers inside) to jump to the planet's orbit with only seconds to spare.

Sheppard meanwhile, is busy screwing yet another "hot" (quoting Weir) Pegasus chick. As for Ronan and Teyla, they were sweating and panting until the Deadalus beamed them up.

Franklyn Blaze · #4 January 24th, 2006, 03:07 AM

SCORE!!!
They got a an ancient ship intact (needs engine work but not a lemon) and it wasn't destroyed!!!!
And plus the people on the planet with the volcano that blows up aren't evil backstabbers. They let us use the ship in return for saving them. The new ship is called the Orion (guess who names it) and there is one hive ship headed for atlantis currently.

This ep totally makes up for Aurora IMHO. It has good chemistry and is a boon for season two. Now on to The Siege part 4! err I mean Allies, yah!

Wraith_Hunter · #5 January 24th, 2006, 03:13 AM

There are a few more posts regarding the ep in the season 2 folder.

Just finished watching it.

Very good episode. This is what Atlantis is all about, In my opinion ranks alongside 'The Siege III' as the best so far in season 2.

I didn't like the overall look of the Ancient ship though, Daedalus class & Asgard ships are far nicer looking on the eye.

Though at the end when the ship is launched into space, it looks like it has two energy cannons on the side that you can see. So since both sides look equal to each other. I'm assuming that it has two big space guns on each side. They have also said it has an armoury full of Drones. The shields are temporarily drained, having been used to ride the volcano to help blast it off the ground. However it'll simply be a matter of recharging those. The sublight engines are currently down, however McKay is taking a repair team to get them fixed. He just didn't have enough time in the episode to do it. Other than that, so far it seems in pretty good shape. A lot better than was told in the other 'Inferno' thread.

They also detected a single Hive ship on approach half way through the episode. They have estimated it to be at least 3 weeks away. So that should be plenty of time to get the 'Orion' fixed up like new. It took Daedalus 12 hours trip from Tarranis to Atlantis & back. So assuming McKay gets the engines patched up. Then it should be able to make it back before or shortly after the Hive ships have reached Atlantis. My bet is it'll be used to help take them out in the S3 opener.

Right at the end, Weir says that they have been allowed to use the ship in return for helping their peple by the chancellor. So it doesn't seem that it's actually been given to them, just a loner for the time being.

Hopefully it does have them big honkin space guns!

Buzz Lightyear · #6 January 24th, 2006, 03:30 AM

Here's a summary:

Atlantis expedition has responded to overtures from a planet called Taranis which possesses Ancient shield technology. However, the shield has been malfunctioning and the Taranians have requested help to repair it because their understanding of Ancient tech is very limited. The shield is powered, not by a ZPM, but by the planet's plentiful geothermal energy.

While McKay starts analyzing the shield generator at the Ancient base with the beautiful Taranian scientist Norina, the rest of the team are given a tour of the facility by the Chancellor of Taranis. McKay postulates the base was built during the height of war (with the Wraith, no doubt).

The Chancellor guides Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon deep underground into the base where he shows them an Ancient spaceship. Along the way, they experience some strong earthquake-like tremors.

Sheppard reports to Weir that it is an Aurora-class warship but it's damaged, likely from battle with the Wraith. The Taranians have been examining it for years but can only turn some things on and off; they have insufficient expertise to fix any malfunction. Weir returns to Taranis with Sheppard to start a diplomatic dialogue with the Chancellor.

McKay discovers the Taranians have been running the shield continuously for over a year. Norina states they increased the shield strength when long range sensors detected increased Wraith activity. They had to over-ride alarms in order to do that. It was around this time that the tremors started increasing in frequency. McKay then realizes the shield generator facility was built on top of the caldera of a dormant super-volcano. However, it's no longer dormant due to the generator drawing so much more power than intended, for so long. McKay informs the Taranians that the volcano is building up to a catastrophic eruption that will destroy half of the continent and the resulting dust cloud will cover the entire planet, killing every living thing on the surface.

McKay advises the Chancellor to evacuate everyone from the planet and Weir offers the Taranians sanctuary at Atlantis. The Chancellor reluctantly agrees though he is suspicious that Weir et al conveniently come up with this plan when they find out there is an Ancient warship on the base. Weir and the Chancellor lead the first group of Taranians through the stargate to Atlantis but a fissure opening near the gate disrupts further gate use. Soon after, the Taranian gate sinks into a pool of molten lava, stranding all the remaining inhabitants and Sheppard's team.

On its way back from Earth, the Daedalus is diverted to Taranis where it begins to pick up people to shuttle to Atlantis. Unfortunately, finite life support resources on the Daedalus only permit it to transport one-quarter of the refugees at a time, with each trip taking 12 hours. As the first group is being taken back to Atlantis, Sheppard decides a plan B is needed, namely, having McKay get the Ancient ship operational to transport the remaining people, should there not be enough time for the Daedalus to make all four trips. His instincts are correct as the volcano becomes increasingly unstable with progressively more violent eruptions.

McKay races against time and comes up with a crazy plan to use the volcano's explosion under the Ancient ship to propel it upwards from the base. The ship's shields can protect it briefly from incineration - just enough time to engage the hyperspace drive for a short jump into orbit over the planet.

The plan is a success and now Atlantis has an Ancient warship at its disposal.

Meanwhile, back in Atlantis, long range sensors detect a lone Wraith hiveship...

slammed · #7 January 24th, 2006, 03:54 AM

woooo for the orion.... the fact that atlantis has an ancient war ship.. hopefully fully operational by the next episode is... well the greatest thing that has happened this entire season

Willow'sCat · #8 January 24th, 2006, 04:56 AM

Thank you, thank you and Oooh a Ship of our very own.

OK I'm slow who got to name it?

Jarnin · #9 January 24th, 2006, 05:10 AM

Quote:

McKay discovers the Taranians have been running the shield continuously for over a year. Norina states they increased the shield strength when long range sensors detected increased Wraith activity. They had to over-ride alarms in order to do that. It was around this time that the tremors started increasing in frequency. McKay then realizes the shield generator facility was built on top of the caldera of a dormant super-volcano. However, it's no longer dormant due to the generator drawing so much more power than intended, for so long.

Once again, the writers get the science completely backwards. If they're drawing their power from geothermal energy, they'd be removing energy from the planet, not adding to it.

Oh, but wait! A shiney ancient ship! Oooo, look at the ship...

Buzz Lightyear · #10 January 24th, 2006, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarnin

Once again, the writers get the science completely backwards. If they're drawing their power from geothermal energy, they'd be removing energy from the planet, not adding to it.

Oh, but wait! A shiney ancient ship! Oooo, look at the ship...

I think the amount of power the shield generator is drawing from the planet is a drop in the bucket, so to speak - and irrelevant. However, the process of doing so is de-stabilizing the previously dormant super-volcano.

ItsColdOutside · #11 January 24th, 2006, 05:27 AM

Shep got to name it.

Well, it seems backwards, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on the volcano thing.

However, they should have taken everyone to the other side of the planet (where the danger is less immediate) before they made their four trips. Then there would have been plenty of time to save everyone, and only the ship would have been in jeopardy.

Pretty good episode, though, fun explosions and the like, and the ship offers some good potential. And perhaps they'll come up with a new plan for what to do about the hive ship, rather than just a firefight.

randy · #12 January 24th, 2006, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarnin

Once again, the writers get the science completely backwards. If they're drawing their power from geothermal energy, they'd be removing energy from the planet, not adding to it.

Oh, but wait! A shiney ancient ship! Oooo, look at the ship...

The withdrawl of the ancient shield was most likely miniscule compared to the total geothermal energy of the planet. The aformentioned synopsis was probably referring to the instability the shield caused due to the ever increasing energy consumption.

Jarnin · #13 January 24th, 2006, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzz Lightyear

I think the amount of power the shield generator is drawing from the planet is a drop in the bucket, so to speak - and irrelevant. However, the process of doing so is de-stabilizing the previously dormant super-volcano.

We're talking thermodynamics here folks, you can't add energy to something you're extracting energy from.

If the volcano was dormant, it would continue to be dormant unless the planet became unstable, which would have nothing to do with the shield extracting energy from a dormant volcano.

It's a plot device, and a pretty shady one. You can explain it with as much technobabble as you want, it doesn't negate the fact that the writers got the science wrong again.

randy · #14 January 24th, 2006, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarnin

We're talking thermodynamics here folks, you can't add energy to something you're extracting energy from.

If the volcano was dormant, it would continue to be dormant unless the planet became unstable, which would have nothing to do with the shield extracting energy from a dormant volcano.

It's a plot device, and a pretty shady one. You can explain it with as much technobabble as you want, it doesn't negate the fact that the writers got the science wrong again.

When did they add energy?

SmallTimePerson · #15 January 24th, 2006, 06:19 AM

wow, we got to keep it? great

now bring on the hive!

shockwave · #16 January 24th, 2006, 06:28 AM

wasn't that good
the sfx were the best part of it

glad that Orion isn't yet another Daedalus class ship, but a Aurora class ship.

Lexa Jayde · #17 January 24th, 2006, 06:34 AM

thank you everyone for the spoilers!!!!!

Azrial · #18 January 24th, 2006, 06:49 AM

I quite enjoyed this ep...first stargate episode for a while to have real tension and place characters in real risk.

macktheknife · #19 January 24th, 2006, 06:51 AM

I think Katie Brown is going to pissed once she finds out about "Hot blond that ruined the entire planet" whom rodney is apparently going on a date with.

I thought it was heading for "To Be Continued" then rodney came through with the "fix" that was pretty cool.

Nice ep, changing the "danger" from teyla\ronon (another teyla\ronon "moment") then the group as a whole.

Agent_Dark · #20 January 24th, 2006, 07:24 AM

lol, McKay's solution to the problem (riding the ship out on the blast from the volcano and doing a short hyperspace hop) was pretty random and kinda dodgy

There were a few pacing issues. The bead with Sheppard trying to lead the villagers back to the Orion was unnessacary. I would have dropped that for some more jeopardy of Teyla and Ronan.

I did like the fact we got to see Weir flex her diplomatic muscles. However, I would kill for a real diplomatic negotiation that she participates in (by real, I mean actually showing the whole 'song and dance' routine that is a part of all diplomatic negotiations).

The anti-kirkers might have a few problems with this episode - it seemed to me that Shep and Rodney were trying to compete with each other to see who would get to score with the chick. Also, I was kind of dissapointed at the lack of purposful involvement for the chick (her name alludes me atm...). Alot of the time she was just standing there while Sheppard and McKay tried to outdo each other.

But overall it was a generally enjoyable episode. The Orion looks pretty cool, and we'll probably be seeing it in action next week.