Letters From Pegasus
Well, I didn't think it would come in the first season but here it is... Atlantis's first clipshow! Feel free to get up and get a beer or maybe a couple of snacks while Atlantis reminisces about the good old times. Actually, it isn't much of a clipshow as it is a hybrid clipshow/character revelation episode/Stargate episode so those of you worrying flat up about it being 100% clipshow can feel relieved, but the fact of the matter is; it's still a clipshow.
Through the guise of sending a message to Earth, every one of the Atlantis crew is allowed to record videos and through them, we learn something about the characters. Some of it may be substantial, others minor, others we already know about but the point is is that it allows us to get into the characters a bit more then normal. Becketts revelation about stuff regarding her mother is good but when it actually gets into her mother, it paints Beckett as something more, something human... Same goes to John (or whoever his name his) who's message to his son has got to be one of the deepest things about his character; both of their revelations allows us to see an emotional side that lies deep down within them that makes them more then just characters. This type of stuff is something that you can't get from any ordinary episode, it takes a certain situation that provides them the opportunity to reveal this stuff and that alone makes the emotional reveals that much special. Of course there are also the humorous ones such as the one involving the Japan doctor; I honestly haven't noticed her at all but it is nice they're giving her a chance to speak though much of what she does is talk about McKay as if she had a crush on her, it's nice to know she has something for McKay and it's nice to give her some background and attempted to include some humor but honestly she fell flat for me; I do take pleasure in knowing that she'll likely contribute to a future McKay episode later in the future.
Now is your chance to shine...
There are also the familiar that's reinforced here. I quite liked Weir's message; it just accurately showed her character and reinforced it in a positive way. As she sends message to all of the families and feels compassion for the people who've died; she's showing to us that she cares about everyone, that she would like to do the things she wants despite the limitations that surround her. Most people already know that about her character but watching her be compassionate and empathetic, you won't even mind that it's common because you'll realize it's something that's an ever essential part of her character. If you've watched her from the beginning then you'll appreciate just how amazing Weir is as a character. Rodney records a one-hour video where he sprouts out about various stuff but manages to sidetrack himself speaking about personal opinions and getting shy while never getting to talk about the one thing he wanted to talk about... While some of it does reveal his personality, I just found it a pain to watch mostly because McKay doesn't have the adamance to make these scenes bearable; even when he does talk about Samantha Carter. The only thing I liked about it was the end where he makes a statement to his sister that's as sweet and compassionate as it can be; otherwise his video serves to reinforce the obvious, that McKay is this egotistical, self-centered person who's main skills come from his intelligence but desires more to be annoying then anything else.
The Czechian doctor describing the pilot in Czech for his family to see is something nice in that shows the excitement of certain people. I like the fact that there are people onboard Atlantis who are excited enough to spill the beans; I mean sure, it may have been just for the clipshow but it showcases the excitement and amazement of all people, who doesn't want to explain what they just saw to their loved ones? specially something as amazing and awe-inspiring as the things they just saw. It's just something that shows the excitement in people, nothing more, nothing less and they haven't forgotten about the hard stuff too, Shephard gets his chance to remember a one-off character (who mostly everybody has forgotten including the audience) and Weir gets to show us that thing that she desires for back at home and both of those moments show off their characters in a way that's good; all in all the look into our characters is satisfactory but we must not forget that this is a clipshow, you could argue that the clips are short and they're good selections but still, they're showing scenes from the previous episodes in certain contexts for the people who are just joining Atlantis or have forgotten about those scenes entirely. Sure, we all like to reminisce but only when I'm watching TV; not when I have all of the episodes on a DVD readily available to watch. As such, I'm not a major fan of clipshows.
At least this mixes stuff up a bit.
They do include something that could resemble it's own episode and it does prove that this is more then just a clipshow. Shephard and Teyla heading out to examine the Wraith and potentially save some people is a nice way to keep people engaged and prevent the show from 100% entirely consisting of clips. It seems like that with ever society of people Teyla makes, we learn a little more about her and that's good because Teyla is a character oozing with personality and to see them exploit that just makes it happy; we also get to see the Wraith culling and destroying a city for a long amount of time and to see the effects it generally has on a city, who knew that it could be so deadly? Unfortunately, with much of that comes scenes which generally play the waiting game and though there is some dialog involving the desire to help, taking on an entire Wraith army by themselves and leaving behind people and taking things which help to give the scenes some metaphorical ground which the genre is know for, it still feels like we're mainly watching them as they watch the city get culled. There is some action in the form of Shephard and an unexpected something which shows how powerful and deadly the Wraith truly are but you'd have to wait along time in order to see those scenes and is watching through a bunch of scenes where nothing happens truly worth it?
I'll admit, I went into this expecting a clipshow but I came out pleasantly surprised; mainly because it wasn't the clipshow I thought it would be. We get some insight on the characters and it proves to be pleasantly decent but let us not forget that this is a clipshow and such it's repeat viewings are limited. Through every good moment you have to deal with the fact that this was designed to show new viewers things that happened or recap viewers about the events that have happened. Sure it has a plot but all the plot does is set up the moments where the clips do appear; it's a decent character episode but it's still a clipshow and it's rewatchability is severely impacted by that one single fact.
6.0/10
Well, I didn't think it would come in the first season but here it is... Atlantis's first clipshow! Feel free to get up and get a beer or maybe a couple of snacks while Atlantis reminisces about the good old times. Actually, it isn't much of a clipshow as it is a hybrid clipshow/character revelation episode/Stargate episode so those of you worrying flat up about it being 100% clipshow can feel relieved, but the fact of the matter is; it's still a clipshow.
Through the guise of sending a message to Earth, every one of the Atlantis crew is allowed to record videos and through them, we learn something about the characters. Some of it may be substantial, others minor, others we already know about but the point is is that it allows us to get into the characters a bit more then normal. Becketts revelation about stuff regarding her mother is good but when it actually gets into her mother, it paints Beckett as something more, something human... Same goes to John (or whoever his name his) who's message to his son has got to be one of the deepest things about his character; both of their revelations allows us to see an emotional side that lies deep down within them that makes them more then just characters. This type of stuff is something that you can't get from any ordinary episode, it takes a certain situation that provides them the opportunity to reveal this stuff and that alone makes the emotional reveals that much special. Of course there are also the humorous ones such as the one involving the Japan doctor; I honestly haven't noticed her at all but it is nice they're giving her a chance to speak though much of what she does is talk about McKay as if she had a crush on her, it's nice to know she has something for McKay and it's nice to give her some background and attempted to include some humor but honestly she fell flat for me; I do take pleasure in knowing that she'll likely contribute to a future McKay episode later in the future.
Now is your chance to shine...
There are also the familiar that's reinforced here. I quite liked Weir's message; it just accurately showed her character and reinforced it in a positive way. As she sends message to all of the families and feels compassion for the people who've died; she's showing to us that she cares about everyone, that she would like to do the things she wants despite the limitations that surround her. Most people already know that about her character but watching her be compassionate and empathetic, you won't even mind that it's common because you'll realize it's something that's an ever essential part of her character. If you've watched her from the beginning then you'll appreciate just how amazing Weir is as a character. Rodney records a one-hour video where he sprouts out about various stuff but manages to sidetrack himself speaking about personal opinions and getting shy while never getting to talk about the one thing he wanted to talk about... While some of it does reveal his personality, I just found it a pain to watch mostly because McKay doesn't have the adamance to make these scenes bearable; even when he does talk about Samantha Carter. The only thing I liked about it was the end where he makes a statement to his sister that's as sweet and compassionate as it can be; otherwise his video serves to reinforce the obvious, that McKay is this egotistical, self-centered person who's main skills come from his intelligence but desires more to be annoying then anything else.
The Czechian doctor describing the pilot in Czech for his family to see is something nice in that shows the excitement of certain people. I like the fact that there are people onboard Atlantis who are excited enough to spill the beans; I mean sure, it may have been just for the clipshow but it showcases the excitement and amazement of all people, who doesn't want to explain what they just saw to their loved ones? specially something as amazing and awe-inspiring as the things they just saw. It's just something that shows the excitement in people, nothing more, nothing less and they haven't forgotten about the hard stuff too, Shephard gets his chance to remember a one-off character (who mostly everybody has forgotten including the audience) and Weir gets to show us that thing that she desires for back at home and both of those moments show off their characters in a way that's good; all in all the look into our characters is satisfactory but we must not forget that this is a clipshow, you could argue that the clips are short and they're good selections but still, they're showing scenes from the previous episodes in certain contexts for the people who are just joining Atlantis or have forgotten about those scenes entirely. Sure, we all like to reminisce but only when I'm watching TV; not when I have all of the episodes on a DVD readily available to watch. As such, I'm not a major fan of clipshows.
At least this mixes stuff up a bit.
They do include something that could resemble it's own episode and it does prove that this is more then just a clipshow. Shephard and Teyla heading out to examine the Wraith and potentially save some people is a nice way to keep people engaged and prevent the show from 100% entirely consisting of clips. It seems like that with ever society of people Teyla makes, we learn a little more about her and that's good because Teyla is a character oozing with personality and to see them exploit that just makes it happy; we also get to see the Wraith culling and destroying a city for a long amount of time and to see the effects it generally has on a city, who knew that it could be so deadly? Unfortunately, with much of that comes scenes which generally play the waiting game and though there is some dialog involving the desire to help, taking on an entire Wraith army by themselves and leaving behind people and taking things which help to give the scenes some metaphorical ground which the genre is know for, it still feels like we're mainly watching them as they watch the city get culled. There is some action in the form of Shephard and an unexpected something which shows how powerful and deadly the Wraith truly are but you'd have to wait along time in order to see those scenes and is watching through a bunch of scenes where nothing happens truly worth it?
I'll admit, I went into this expecting a clipshow but I came out pleasantly surprised; mainly because it wasn't the clipshow I thought it would be. We get some insight on the characters and it proves to be pleasantly decent but let us not forget that this is a clipshow and such it's repeat viewings are limited. Through every good moment you have to deal with the fact that this was designed to show new viewers things that happened or recap viewers about the events that have happened. Sure it has a plot but all the plot does is set up the moments where the clips do appear; it's a decent character episode but it's still a clipshow and it's rewatchability is severely impacted by that one single fact.
6.0/10
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