The Tower (215)

[Easter Lily]

I have no doubts given the timeslot and general 'feel' of SGA that cutting straight to the next morning was to imply they had sex. They so did it. But the...*I never see these things coming* PLEASE! Blind Freddy could see it and this guy is our Military Leader.


Baldric, ROFLMAO that was priceless glad McKay got to say it.

I'm not sure why we're so quick to think that Sheppard is so keen for a tumble in the hay. While life in Atlantis isn't exactly a hippie commune, it'd be odd for Sheppard to be so eager to accept sexual favours, especially when he finds out that he's about as significant as a race horse. I just don't think he's ego will let him.
It's one thing to give in to the bottom half of your masculinity because a woman finds you attractive but it's another thing surrender it entirely because the same woman is only interested a gene that you have that switches things on. I would think that Sheppard would have much more self-respect than to allow himself to be used in such a calculated manner.
God forbid that a man can resist a naked woman... Are such men really such a rarity these days?
And then to lie about it to a woman that he purports to have a high degree of respect for... It confounds me... Sexual conquests and prowess aside... he didn't really need to tell Weir anything but he did... Could it be that he was trying to IMPRESS her with his self-restraint...
Maybe...

[DigiFluid]

I can't believe this episode didn't answer the most obvious question it presented. After a year of buildup to the mysterious "Lost City of the Ancients" in SG-1, more time dedicated to it in the Season 8 opener, its significance becoming even clearer and clearer with each progressive SG-1 and SG-A episode.....WHY THE HELL IS THERE A CITY IDENTICAL TO ATLANTIS ON SOME BACKWATER ROCK IN PEGASUS?

[prion]

Question to those who saw the episode:

From what I have read, they have now discovered a city, which appears to be identical to Atlantis (minus the gate)........so is there not the slightest concern, or mention of concern, in this episode that the wraith might now find the defensless city and take the "star drive" travel information and other technology from this city??? I mean, earlier this season the idea of completely destroying Atlantis to prevent its technology from falling into wraith hands was the prime issue. Now, they are totally abandoning what appears to be an identical city with very possibly that same technology.....does that make sense? ....or am I missing something in the reviews?

I suspect that during the commercial break, Beckett innoculated a whole ton of people and now half of 'em or 48% or whatever, can run the control chair; therefore, the tower won't be defenseless. However, I suspect the place could easily self-implode with the villagers saying hey, we're just like you twits in the bad outfits, so out! I see a bad version of a Dr. Seuss tale about to happen....

[CalmStorm]

EDIT: I re-read your post and noticed you mentioned the lack of the stargate. Yes, they're basically leaving all the technology necessary for reaching Earth on the planet. Maybe they're gambling on the wraith not coming to the planet again, not finding the city, being unable to power up the star drive and not being able to gain any useful knowledge from the city. Nice to see they're not taking the fate of our home galaxy lightly.

However, when Zelenka was going over the whole self-destruct demo with Weir he said that the self-destruct alone would not be enough. The wraith could salvage what was left from the ocean floor and use reverse engineering to figure out how to modify their engines to reach Earth, so I don't think powering up the systems is necessarily an issue.

[freyr's mother]

Shouldn't they have destroyed the city? I mean, like totally obliterated it. If the wraith ever came there, They'd be able to pull the database, or maybe even dig up some of the Star Drive's components.....

You couldn't use Zelenka's virus. There have got to be massive sections of the city that are totally disconnected from any central power/command controls, and the Ancient Database backs itself up to a LOT of places. You'd need a really big explosion. The database is probably even more dangerous than the drive itself.



Oh, and how did Rodney get out? I'm suprised that these cities don't have more transporters lying around that they could have used.

Wait! Are you telling me that there were things that we could've jacked in this episode and we didn't? Why didn't The Daedalus just beam up everything in there? Was it even in the episode?

[prion]

Wait! Are you telling me that there were things that we could've jacked in this episode and we didn't? Why didn't The Daedalus just beam up everything in there? Was it even in the episode?

Well, heck, can't have the Daedalus pulling the team's butts out of the fire every time they get in trouble. Remember, it takes like 18 days to fly back to Earth, and no, no spaceships in this episode.

[Eoin]

Getting the daedulas to beam out all the drones (didnt we get them all anyway?) and the rest of the PJ's is a great idea.

The chair is just another way to interface with the systems on Atlantis. The difference is that it requires that you have the ATA gene to use, which is why weapons are connected to the chair, and not to the regular system controls; it keeps stupid people from potentially destroying themselves.

IMO the chair can do allot more tham just fire drones and look at star maps, like in the tower we seen the grand protector use the chair to watch teyla, ronan and mckay in the village, thats the first time we seen the chair do that, i'd say the chair will be able to do allot more, itll just take time for us to figure out how to use it to its full potential.

[Willow'sCat]

I'm not sure why we're so quick to think that Sheppard is so keen for a tumble in the hay. While life in Atlantis isn't exactly a hippie commune, it'd be odd for Sheppard to be so eager to accept sexual favours, especially when he finds out that he's about as significant as a race horse. I just don't think he's ego will let him.

Well he seemed pretty eager before hand and what is to say he doesn't um, carry if you know what I mean. In other words the stud element doesn't have to mean right here, right now. It is the eagerness before hand that makes me think they did have sex, we didn't get that from any of the other episodes he encounters the ladies so either this is way out of character for him *yes I believe it is* or she must be his type.

And then to lie about it to a woman that he purports to have a high degree of respect for... It confounds me... Sexual conquests and prowess aside... he didn't really need to tell Weir anything but he did... Could it be that he was trying to IMPRESS her with his self-restraint...
Maybe...

My take on that is he was being 'cocky' until he realised who he was talking to then he quickly corrected himself. I see nothing in that exchange to suggest he didn't have sex with what's her name.

Of course the whole episode was a joke so I don't think we need to spend too much time on the whys and wherefores of it, all of it bar the Drones will be forgotten by the next episode unless they are going to use something here for Michael/Allies. *I can dream*

[berenikee]

It was fairly good episode, I liked it.

[eccscape]

**plothole **
how did Otho or whatever his name scan shep if he doesnt have the gene?

well he obviously has the gene because he a)scanned sheppard b)used the chair. but the question remains, why does he have the gene if he is not a member of the royal family?!!?!
i suppose it's possible otho was the only one who understood about the gene and hence the only one who knew other people outside the royal family had it also and he was just hiding that fact for his own gain.
i don't think beckett had already given anyone gene therapy s i think we can rule that out too!!

[AutumnDream]

Okay, I'm keen on defending flaws in Atlantis episodes to the death. Just read my posts in previous episode threads.

That said, this episode was utterly retarded.

It's the first time I've wished I could rip the pen out of their stupid hands and write it like it should have been written. Someone ought to, in the politest way possible, ask what they were thinking in the Joe Mallozzi thread.

There was absolutely no reason to leave so many plot holes, unanswered questions, and fill up all the valuable time with boring, annoying, and overdone characters. ANOTHER ATLANTIS? And the episode turned out like this?! That is some serious material to be worked with there, and it came out more like a joke episode.

I really just want to forget this and get on with what I HOPE will be another awesome 5-episode season end arc.

[darman]

well he obviously has the gene because he a)scanned sheppard b)used the chair. but the question remains, why does he have the gene if he is not a member of the royal family?!!?!
i suppose it's possible otho was the only one who understood about the gene and hence the only one who knew other people outside the royal family had it also and he was just hiding that fact for his own gain.
i don't think beckett had already given anyone gene therapy s i think we can rule that out too!!

I agree with Heaven, the reason Otho was able to use the chair is b/c Sheppard gave him the gene therapy towards the end...

This episode was TERRIBLE.

Too many plotholes and unanswered questions, such as why haven't they destroyed the stardrive. Wraith can still reverse engineer it or just get a power source. Also people doing stuff out of character, like Shep doing his "Hormone boy to the rescue!", Teyla just smiling after Ronon killed off couple of guys, especially after the events when Ronon used her to kill a guy and her being really pissed about it.

And costumes, oh the costumes!!!
Suddenly Pegasus galaxy became medieval Europe.

This episode is really bad, and I'm usually the apologist when it comes to Stargate.

[ToasterOnFire]

Yikes, five new episodes so far and I'd only rewatch two of them (Critical Mass and GUP). Not a good track record for the second half so far...


-Shep, Shep, Shep. You and your "open-minded" women. Sorry PTB, but his promiscuity is getting really old and has been featured way too much in the second half of the season. And what was with the sudden cut at the end of the bedroom scene? Is there a reason why TPTB wanted to leave what happened up to interpretation? The end scene with Weir didn't help either - "Get the girl" could have meant sex or could have meant riding off into the sunset together. And why in the hell would he come back and report his offworld "escapades" to his boss? *watches sky for anvils*

-Yay, after all this time we got to learn more about Shep's ATA gene! It doesn't make him stronger, it doesn't make him smarter, it doesn't make him shoot fireballs out of his eyes. Nope, it helps him score with the chicks! This had better not become public knowledge, or frat boys everywhere will be waiting in line at the Viral Therapy clinic!

-Viva la Revolution! Er...nevermind. But with the costuming and the nobles vs. peasants I was expecting someone to make a wisecrack about eating cake or removing heads...

-Along those lines, why did Teyla encourage the villagers to revolt when she had already seen that the LP can easily destroy them with drones? Had he not been stopped, it would have been a bunch of senseless deaths.

-Oh look, Ronon got carried away and killed someone. Didn't see that coming.

-I wish they had spent more time discussing the city. Was it built there or did it move there? Why did it sink? Were the rest of the towers destroyed or beneath the earth? Hopefully it will be mentioned or seen again.

-I agree with earlier posts - did Shep and co just take the PJs and drones from the second city? Are we to assume that the people were so happy that they willingly gave away weapons instead of keeping them to defend themselves?

-Hole leading into the catacombs = hole used for the ruins in Brotherhood?

-Rodney is back to his cranky, rude self. Guess he shook off that near-death experience last episode without a problem. A little episode continuity, please?

Hamlet, hmm? Actually it does, now that I think about it. I was getting more of a Dune vibe, though (the last scene in the throne room/hall, which I would quote if I had a copy remotely near me right now). Maybe I was just thinking Dune because of the odd orange-y lighting for the outside bits (did anyone else see that, or is my ep just a weird copy?).

When I saw the Lord Protector's son, I was immediately reminded of Sting from the original Dune movie. It must have been the tight pants and flaming red hair.

[Willow'sCat]

And what was with the sudden cut at the end of the bedroom scene? Is there a reason why TPTB wanted to leave what happened up to interpretation? The end scene with Weir didn't help either - "Get the girl" could have meant sex or could have meant riding off into the sunset together. And why in the hell would he come back and report his offworld "escapades" to his boss? *watches sky for anvils*

Well you don't really expect them to give us all the answers like they actually care about as poor viewers and of course he would talk about it with his boss his female boss, why not? That is right in so many ways.

-I wish they had spent more time discussing the city. Was it built there or did it move there? Why did it sink? Were the rest of the towers destroyed or beneath the earth? Hopefully it will be mentioned or seen again.

That would have meant less time on the b and c plots *sorry* the A plot.

-Rodney is back to his cranky, rude self. Guess he shook off that near-death experience last episode without a problem. A little episode continuity, please?

You want what in SGA?!!!

[obsessed1]

Damn it from the fast cut scene (Someone mentioned) he had sex! Damn him! Naked woman equals no brain in the upper half.

It would have been nice to see Sheppard fall off teh bed, jump up, grab her clothes and give them back to her saying, "I really reallywant to do this but it wouldnt be right. I wont be marrying you yadda yadda yadda - see much more relaistic.

Too be fair with the lack of back story on our Shep do really know what he is like? This might just be shep! We know hes at least impulsive and passionate! I mean his willingness to spend one night with these women (Chaya, teera etc etc) could show that he doesnt like to get close to people, he likes to be a fly by night kinda guy that way no attachments and no real repurcussions. I like to think he'd do that offowrld then perhaps get into a shippy relationship and mess them around. Does seem like his previous attachments (Excuse the pun!) have been with women who would inevitably leave him.

But as it is with his kirking ways we're soon gonna have these scenes:

Sheppard: Uh Beckett, I was uh, wondering if you could...take a look at something for me.

Beckett: Whats seems to be the problem?

Sheppard: It kinda burns...down there when i...uh...pee.

Beckett: Any other symptoms?

Sheppard: Yeah its uh......its gone blue!

Beckett: My my? Well lets take a look!

Embarrassing investigation of said problem.

Beckett: Well it could be an STD, you'll have to give me a list of your sexual partners.

Sheppard: Right, that could take a while.

beckett: Really?

Sheppard: I mean there was Chaya and Teera and Mara, that princess last week, the twins on Mx453, or was that Mx657, no....no that was the brunette and just yesterday I did it with a tech in the science lab.


Yep the first Alien STD..

Sheppard.....word of advice....just say NO!

[Eoin]

I thought this ep was good, but the only thing that bugged me was that there couldve been stuff in the city that wasnt in atlantis, like what the ancients were studying in the science and medical labs, maybe an ancient in a stasis pod, the answer to the wraith weakness, but rodney nor any of the team thought "hey thats another city like atlantis made by the ancients, it would be worth checking it out (in detail) to see if theres anything new there thats not on atlantis" anyway it was a good ep

[Wraith_Hunter]

They really need to go back to this, far too many unanswered leftovers.

They had severe problems with taking a nearly depleted ZPM from a bunch of children, yet saw it in themselves to leave some Shakespearian rejects without anything other than Axes of which to defend thmeselves by.

They improved upon the SG newtwork since they had been in Pegasus, so it's entirely plausible that they improved upon the original designs of Atlantis., which I think will have been the case. Think about it! They will have been in Pegasus for thousands/millions of years before they built this, so with the improved SG's in Pegasus, it shows that they were still improving upon their original technologies. So to just leave it & not bother there asses with revisiting this, really should have them have the show canned as the writers obviously aren't upto the task.

In the DB there could be coordinates of other galaxies, locations of knwon ancient settlements through the universe. Important notes regarding Ancient tech, like ZPM's, Cloning, Ascension, Weapons, StarGates, Time Travel, Shields, Hyper-Drives to name but a few. Not to mention that although it doesn't contain a Star-Gate, it still has a Star Drive that would allow them to eventually make their way to the MW & achieve their goal of finding a new feeding ground.

Although Atlantis has the important control crystal, that isn't the Wraith's main aim. Even if they could establish a connection to the MW. They would need to get their ships there anyway. So this can only be accomplished by them getting their hands on upgraded Hyper-Drives that would thake their travelling abilities from Interstellar to Intergalactic.

Besided they made a big goof when thery said that the Wraith hadn't been back in many generations, fair enough they had Drones to attack orbiting Wraith ships. However Atlantis also had them & their were placed under siege for many years & as a result were forced to sink the city to the bottom of the ocean for a little bit of light relief. They too had Drones & more importantly Ancients with the knowledge to create as many as they needed. So the fact that they shot down a few Wraith ships & they scapped their panties & left them alone, never ever looking in on them again after all this time, is completely unbelieveable. The Wraith would never have left them alone in the first place & after a while they will have been out of Drones & totally defenceless.

What I'd do, is relocate all the primatives to the Lantian mainland, which I'm sure they would jump at as the Athosians have probably had help with technologies from the Atlantis team. So they could have a better standard of life there, rather than waiting about with a Lord Protector who can't use the chair. Even if they could get some Naquadah genny's from Atlantis, as seen in 'The Siege II', there still wouldn't be enough power to take out the orbiting Wraith ships. Only a few Darts before the power goes out.

So take them all to the mainland, move in scientists from Atlantis. Bring a whack of MKII generators with them. Disable a Jumpers cloak & intergrate it into New Atlantis. Use the Genny's to run it on minimal systems. Then when they detect any Wraith ships, which if you listened to the primatives story, will not be for a long time. If they did detect any approaching, then they could turn off all other systems & start up the cloak for the short duration that the Wraith will have been in orbit. Once they detect no life signs, they will vamoosh off to another place. That is the only logical thing to do. However as we've seen previously with the writers, this will probably never be followed up again or if it is, then it'll be another filler ep. This allows them to take some critical part that Atlantis has somehow damaged & they need it Asap or something like that. Another one will be due to the SGA teams further negligence. The Wraith will find it & they'll send over Daedalus to destroy it.

I only hope, that they start to follow up on their stories, that they have written & have left so many unanswered questions & scenarios. Rather than another filler that allows them to surrenderthem off to the Genii in a couple of episodes time, or/& a cheap way of getting Drones to for the S2/S3 finale. If it is, whichI expect it will be, then when the show does eventually get the chop. You will know who to point the blame right at!

[ShadowMaat]

Follow-up? Umm... have you forgotten you're watching STARGATE? Follow-up is a dirty word in TPTB's book. ...And it's one of the few dirty words that they actually dislike!

[Eoin]

One more thing, if the team werent going to have a good look around the other city, shouldnt they have blown it up, think about it, the villagers have no way to defend from the wraith now, if a wraith vessel decided to try to kull that planet now, they would discover a city much like atlantis, which would give them all the info they need to become the single most dangerous threat the two galaxies have seen, they would get more advanced weapons, shields, hyperdrives etc.
IMO the writers have created a plot hole here, after all the city is like one big computer with all the research info the ancients ever did, i think this should be addressed somewhere along the line before the season ends

[PG15]

Follow-up? Umm... have you forgotten you're watching STARGATE? Follow-up is a dirty word in TPTB's book. ...And it's one of the few dirty words that they actually dislike!

Every episode can't be a follow-up of another one, it'll get boring really fast. I tell you, some people have to find out what the meaning of the word "one-off" and "stand-alone" means.

I can't believe this episode didn't answer the most obvious question it presented. After a year of buildup to the mysterious "Lost City of the Ancients" in SG-1, more time dedicated to it in the Season 8 opener, its significance becoming even clearer and clearer with each progressive SG-1 and SG-A episode.....WHY THE HELL IS THERE A CITY IDENTICAL TO ATLANTIS ON SOME BACKWATER ROCK IN PEGASUS?

Backwater rock? When? When the Ancients selected the planet to build a city, or now? Because there's a difference.

It's likely that they took Atlantis to Peg, and then decided to build other cities there. I don't know how that could be confusing.

2)How the heck does an entire city get buried and overgrown like this one did?

Look up "Angkor Wat", it's quite facinating actually.