Critical Mass (213)

[Treadders]

Hey all...new poster, long time looker.

Having just watched this again, I loved Rachel's song. Is there anywhere you can buy or get the song she sings in this episode? Sorry if it's been asked already, but I cant see anything here.

[WraithQueenH]

Does anyone know where you can get a downloadable MP3 copy of Teyla singing the rings ceremony that I can listen to on my ipod??

[Kyarra]

Does anyone know the words to the song Teyla sang? I couldn't quite catch all of them. Sorry if this has been asked before, I was just a bit too lazy to scroll through 12 pages of posts.

[jelgate]

Beyond the night, a rising sun
Beyond the night,a battle's won
A battle is won

Fear and shame now in the past
Pain and sorrow gone at last
Gone at last.

Circle renewed, peace will be found
Beyond the night, on sacred ground

River flows, led by the wind
First new breath, Our journey begins
Our journey begins.

[1LTBarden]

I found a really good video on youtube of Rachel singing the song from this episode. someone pretty much just cut out the voices and left in the song. I believe the song is infact called beyond the night.

[Kyarra]

Thanks for the lyrics to the ring ceremony song jelgate!

[ktebid]

I did not like the way Teyla sang in this ep. I felt it was too recorded, and it didn't sound like her. Other than that, I thought it was a strong episode and brought some interesting decisions to the fore.

[mrscopterdoc]

I actually liked Teyla's song, and I think she has a beautiful voice. Love this episode!

[maneth]

Great ep, loved the Goa'uld revelation too! Kavanagh's nasty but even he didn't deserve a beating by Ronon, glad he fainted before anything happened.

[Blizzah]

This episode was tense and the storylines were interesting but I don't think it was the best so far this year. It was cool though to see the SGC, I have watched all the SG1 episodes and I miss the characters (would have been nice to see Sam, Jack, T or Daniel). Good to see the Asgard make an appearance, it always makes the shows storylines seem more cohesive. I did not care for the singing, I don't normally care for the songs.

Ronan didn't seem to involved in the episode and was more like a fish out of water without knowledge of the problems back on earth or his own storyline to follow. Given the amount of content already in the episode there was not room for Ronan.

[mathpiglet]

I thought this was a great episode. The philosophical question of when is torture justified was a good one to explore, especially when the target was not the right person. I did like Teyla's song.

[LT. COL. John Sheppard]

what was up with this episode i mean there is a mention on colonel carter and they have general landry but i was expecting a full SG-1 crossover

[jelgate]

what was up with this episode i mean there is a mention on colonel carter and they have general landry but i was expecting a full SG-1 crossover

It would be really expensive to have all of SG1 crossover. The SG1 actors are used a lot more then Landry simliar how we saw more of SG1 then Hammond then in the early years

[hedwig]

I liked the episode. Hated how petty and vindictive Rodney was toward Cadman to the point of actually accusing her of being the culprit, just because he can't deal with what happened between the two of them in "Duet". One of the many reasons I really don't care much for McKay.

[laserdude]

Doesn't this episode have a major flaw. if Daedalus left 1 week ago to be in range of milky way to receive transmission, how is it make it Atlantis instantly. the episode seems to happen in 1 Atlantis day.

[Lythisrose]

Joe Mallozzi's thoughts on this episode:
http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...critical-mass/

CRITICAL MASS (213)

One of the great things about having a franchise run as long as Stargate did was the opportunity we had to create and develop a very rich backstory. There were seemingly innumerable elements we could draw from in crafting new stories. While this was hugely satisfying for us as writers and equally rewarding for longtime fans, there was always the risk of confusing or alienating casual viewers. We tried to keep the two worlds of Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis as separate and distinct as possible but, occasionally, there were instances where crossover did occur. Like in this episode. I, for one, loved the idea of crossover when it came to characters, didn’t mind it when it came to shared mythology like the Ancients, but wasn’t exactly enamored of it when it came to unique aspects like, say, the goa’uld and the Trust. I thought it was unnecessarily complex, potentially confusing, and, for lack of a better way of putting it, “wasn’t clean”. And so, for these reasons, I objected to this story at the pitch stage. But, as so often happen over the franchise’s 17 season run, I was overruled and they went ahead and produced a pretty damn good episode.

It should be noted that I wasn’t the only one who had issues with this episode in its early stages. Some of the cast members objected to the introduction of SG-1 elements for completely different reasons: they felt Atlantis had to stand on its own and any crossover somehow minimized it as a unique series. While I sympathized, I nevertheless felt that crossover was a good thing, strengthening both shows and the franchise as a whole. Others found the story muddled (as result, the episode was renamed Critical Mess by some). But, in the end, while the presence of a go’auld on Atlantis still feels strange to me, the story is dynamic and suspenseful, building to a terrific surprise reveal and nail-biter of a conclusion

Rachel Luttrell makes her television singing debut in this episode with a song (“Beyond the Night”) composed by the late Joel Goldsmith and his sister Ellen, with lyrics by Stargate’s own Paul Simon = Carl Binder.

Some of my favorite parts of this episode have nothing to do with the main storyline. They all involve Zelenka who gets sent off-world by Rodney to help out those lovable scamps from the Childhood’s End planet. Zelenka’s angry mutterings “My sister has a child. He breaks things. He throws things. He smears things onto furniture.” fairly encapsulates my feelings toward kids as well. And the poor guy ends up getting stranded on the planet while Atlantis dealt with more pressing issues. Come on, fan fic writers! Where are the Zelenka/Lord of the Flies stories?

Interesting guest stars abound in this episode. There’s Mitch Pileggi reprising his role as Colonel Caldwell, Ben Cotton returning as the ever-annoying, Kavanaugh, SG-1?s Gary Jones as Harriman, and the great Beau Bridges as General Landry. I say “great” because, not only is Beau a great actor, but he was truly great to work with. And then there’s Hermiod, the cranky Asgard, who takes part in one of my favorites exchanges:

Hermiod: Dr Kavanagh?.

Kavanagh: Yes?

Hermiod: Stop talking, please. (Silence) Thank you.

It’s also great to see Bill Down, a.k.a. Dr. Lee, make a return appearance. He presides over another great moment when Lee is trying to explain the relay plan to a roomful of scientists. His first example, “the twilight bark” from 101 Dalmations, receives nothing but blank stares. But his second example of Gondor’s fire signals from Lord of the Rings has everyone nodding appreciably. NEEERDS!

In defending Cadman, Sheppard dismisses her as a suspect because she’s trustworthy while Weir initially casts suspicion on Kavanaugh because he’s not. Given the fact that everyone knows the goa’uld are behind the threat, doesn’t it seem odd that no one ever floats the possibility that someone may have been implanted with a symbiote?

Weir crosses the line, something that makes her uncomfortable and that she readily admits to at episode’s end. By giving Ronon the go-ahead to torture Kavanaugh, she makes a most uncharacteristic decision under extreme circumstances. Personally, I don’t blame her. I would have made the same call. Still, she’s a better person than I am so I hold her to a higher standard. Thoughts? Was it the right call?

[Lt.Colonel John Sheppard]

really enjoyed this episode but i have a couple of questions: 1) how did colonel caldwell get infected with the goa'uld and 2) how long was he a goa'uld host?

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Thought it was an average episode. I didn't like how the A-plot was structured.

I liked Beyond the Night, hope there's an instrumental included on the eventual soundtrack (along with Rachel's vocals).

Tomorrow, Rodney is stuck on a sinking Jumper.

[Krisz]

Even though Weir crossed the moral line with agreeing to the torture of Kavanaugh as a last desperate resort in the ultimately mistaken belief he was the saboteur, I couldn't help feeling that her decision was made a little easier because he was so obnoxious!

Being that I'm watching everything with the rewatch, I watched the ceremony and listened to Teyla's song this time instead of pressing the ffwd button. The ceremony didn't give anything to the episode overall for me, but the song used as a background for the scenes as time ran out whilst everyone searched for the way to stop the ZPM overload did work.

Tazering Caldwell to momentarily suppress the Goa'uld was a great unexpected low tech solution, given they had other more advanced weapons to hand. It's what I like about Stargate, the technology of present day Earth is not put aside in favour of the advanced technology they discover and utilise.

[garhkal]

When you U-tube Teyla's song i love how they backdrop it into the Siege Parts 2 and 3, rather than just stick with the ZPM overload of the episode..