A Matter of Time (216)

[SaraBahama]

I like the exploration into Jack's backstory. I came to like Cromwell as the story progressed (I do wish that we had seen him again). His name should have been mentioned at the end of the ep after Jack woke up in the infirmary.

Jack's feeling of responsibility for Hank Boyd and his team, and the contrast with Cromwell having left him behind ("It's the same d**n thing!") were gut wrenching. Jack's pride in Carter throughout was very cool -a far cry from CotG ("I like women, I just have a little problem with scientists"). Teal'c and Sam's efforts to pull Jack clear in time really tugged my heart.

[Matt G]

Just caught the fan commentary for this ep...not my favourite ep of S2(Serpents Lair) or the one I voted for and won(The Fifth Race) but still a v.cool ep.

1. Had forgotten that Graham Simmonds would show up in S8.

2. Is the Iraq incident the same as the black hole incident? I'd say not quite.

3. I knew it was two weeks that the SGC had been hit by time dialation!

[SF_and_Coffee]

Well, to be fair, what Cromwell was pointing out to Jack regarding the similarity between Iraq and the fate of SG-10 was that in both cases, you don't send in live people in a futile effort to recover someone. There was no known way to recover SG-10, who had to be left on P3W-451. And in Iraq, Cromwell had thought Jack was dead. ("You got hit; I saw you go down," and the implication is that this happened in such a way as to make it appear definitely that Jack had been killed.) Everyone who's been in combat knows that you don't sacrifice live guys to retrieve a corpse.

So both Cromwell and Jack now shared the experience of having been placed in situations where they had no choice but to leave someone behind when they very desperately wanted not to. Cromwell pointed this out to Jack whether Jack liked it or not, and personally, I think Cromwell was well within his rights to do so.

[Matt G]

Well retrieving SG10 from the black hole planet would have 'definately' been suicide.

I'd have given Cromwell better odds of retrieving Jack, they may still not have been odds he fancied but they'd have been better that retreiving SG10. As we only have Jack and Cromwell's word for what happened there...who the hell knows. Surely no Iraqi platoon could be deadlier than a black hole though.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

I've always thought that they were both right--Jack because there was no way to retrieve SG10 as a practical matter and Frank because yes, they were leaving them behind in order not to lose any more people just to bring back the bodies. To me, that has always been where the power of that exchange comes from.

Seaboe

[lookupwardsnshare]

Just got done rewatching the ep with the fan commentary. It is really a good episode. Very character driven with a good storyline...a blackhole threatening earth and not the gou'ald, a nice change of pace.

I think Jack deep down knows Cromwell did the right thing in Iraq (even before this blackhole situation and Cromwell's presence), but it is hard for him to admit it since all he had been thru there and probably felt guilty for have putting himself in that situation. It was probably easier for Jack to blame someone else in order to move on and continue within the military and maintain the intensity and confidence of his duties. Btw, great scenes between Jack and Cromwell.

Thanks to David and Darren for doing a good job with the commentaries

[SF_and_Coffee]

Well retrieving SG10 from the black hole planet would have 'definately' been suicide.

I'd have given Cromwell better odds of retrieving Jack, they may still not have been odds he fancied but they'd have been better that retreiving SG10. As we only have Jack and Cromwell's word for what happened there...who the hell knows. Surely no Iraqi platoon could be deadlier than a black hole though.

Trust me, you can get just as dead by getting shot as you can by being sucked into a black hole. It just takes a lot longer by the black hole method. And you don't send live guys to retrieve a corpse. The way I read the dialogue, after losing Jack, Cromwell was left in charge of the rest of their team, and at that point his duty would have been to the living.

If you're at all interested in one person's take (mine, in fact) on how that mission may have gone down, feel free to read this. I've fleshed out what imagine might have happened that could explain the whole situation. (Be forewarned: the linked scene does contain elements of violence and a bit of coarse language, all completely consistent with a ground battle.)

Just got done rewatching the ep with the fan commentary. It is really a good episode. Very character driven with a good storyline...a blackhole threatening earth and not the gou'ald, a nice change of pace.

I think Jack deep down knows Cromwell did the right thing in Iraq (even before this blackhole situation and Cromwell's presence), but it is hard for him to admit it since all he had been thru there and probably felt guilty for have putting himself in that situation. It was probably easier for Jack to blame someone else in order to move on and continue within the military and maintain the intensity and confidence of his duties. Btw, great scenes between Jack and Cromwell.

Thanks to David and Darren for doing a good job with the commentaries

I think you've hit the nail on the head, and I even have Jack allude to that in his own thinking in my fanfic.

[Matt G]

Fair point - if Jack took a headshot then I wouldn't blame Cromwell for writing him off.

[Dimes]

Interesting episode with the whole Slo Mo problem.
At least they've got some security now, hehe.
The episode is very intense as well.

[Mrs. Rush]

I am just going through SG1 for the first time (how did I miss it for so long!!!?!?!?).
I just finished up this episode and, it was a good one, but I kept thinking to myself...when they went to overpower the gate...

They could not control what world the wormhole jumped too, how do they know it wouldn't of gone to an inhabited world?!?!
I mean, save Earth and all, sure.....but for them being very protective of other cultures that was a big risk on the SGC’s part.

[hlndncr]

I am just going through SG1 for the first time (how did I miss it for so long!!!?!?!?).
I just finished up this episode and, it was a good one, but I kept thinking to myself...when they went to overpower the gate...

They could not control what world the wormhole jumped too, how do they know it wouldn't of gone to an inhabited world?!?!
I mean, save Earth and all, sure.....but for them being very protective of other cultures that was a big risk on the SGC’s part.

That's a good point. I honestly had never thought about where the wormhole went to. I wonder if they just failed to consider that as well in their desperation to save the planet.

[SF_and_Coffee]

But the end of the wormhole that was connected to the black hole was the end that jumped to another planet. In other words, it didn't connect the black hole to another planet; rather, it disconnected from the black hole altogether and left the SGC's Stargate connected to the gate on the new planet, which we were told in the final scene was P2A-870. So P2A-870 was never in any danger, and in fact the only thing that ever confused me was why no one thought to gate there and check to make sure that nothing from the SGC had wound up there when the wormhole jumped.

Of course, wondering that gave me an entire fanfic story... *points at signature*

[hlndncr]

That's right. Because it was an outgoing wormhole, the destination end was what would jump not the origination end.

Whew. I feel better. I usually don't care about plot holes if I enjoy the ep, but that would have been a big one. And that makes more sense in light of Exodus/Enemies where they were able to dial the blackhole planet in order to blow up the sun of Vorash.

[Mrs. Rush]

But the end of the wormhole that was connected to the black hole was the end that jumped to another planet. In other words, it didn't connect the black hole to another planet; rather, it disconnected from the black hole altogether and left the SGC's Stargate connected to the gate on the new planet, which we were told in the final scene was P2A-870. So P2A-870 was never in any danger, and in fact the only thing that ever confused me was why no one thought to gate there and check to make sure that nothing from the SGC had wound up there when the wormhole jumped.

Of course, wondering that gave me an entire fanfic story... *points at signature*

Mmmmm. I had not considered that. Good point. Thanks!

That's right. Because it was an outgoing wormhole, the destination end was what would jump not the origination end.

Whew. I feel better. I usually don't care about plot holes if I enjoy the ep, but that would have been a big one. And that makes more sense in light of Exodus/Enemies where they were able to dial the blackhole planet in order to blow up the sun of Vorash.

me too. I guess it makes sense. Also because the whole time they were talking about how this should not be possible.

[Darian]

Cool episode the eventhorizing of the stargate is so cool

[SF_and_Coffee]

It's definitely one of my favorite episodes.

[Darian]

Yeah it is a great episode

[Sam-n-Jack-in-<3]

Ok, so we've got more backstory for Jack, time dilations, suspense, all-hope-is-lost-we're-gonna-die, and Carter's technobabble?

Awesome!

Best moment:
*Sam spouts off a ton of technobabble*
*Jack nods*
Col Cromwell: "Don't even pretend you understand that."

[SF_and_Coffee]

I absolutely love that line of Cromwell's. Well, I always loved the Cromwell character anyway, and the idea of his history with Jack. I definitely thought he deserved better than what we were shown as his fate, and since the writers did kind of leave things open, I decided to explore that.

[Major Clanger]

hmmm. Another meh ep.

Interesting for the physics and a bit more knowledge about the gate and wormholes and black holes in general. I find it hard to believe that Jack doesn't have, apparently, even a rudimentary knowledge of what a wormhole is, given his interest in astrology (similarly, he shouldn't have look so baffled by the words shift and red in close proximity)