Why didn't Atlantis warn the SGC using the ZPM?

[AscendedThor]

The moment Atlantis realized the Wraith went to the Midway station, it should have been obvious they will try to get to Earth.
So they should have immediately dialed Earth directly using the ZPM to warn the SGC, check the status and if necessary send reinforcements there.

[Major_Griff]

Good point. But then we wouldn't have gotten to see Teal'c and Ronon beast 40 wraith all by themselves.

[Vala_M]

That was back before they knew the Wraith were responsible for the Intergalactic Bridge not working so that wouldn't have made sence to do.

Vala,

[gopher65]

That was back before they knew the Wraith were responsible for the Intergalactic Bridge not working so that wouldn't have made sence to do.

Actually, they find out the Wraith are responsible well BEFORE the Wraith dial Earth. They also know what the wraith are up to. So it takes them a few minutes to assemble a team to retake midway... why can't they use that time to direct-dial Earth? "SGC, we have a problem. Close your iris and send reinforcements to midway ASAP! We'll do the same." Then, as soon as John and team are ready, they send them through, and Earth does the same 3 minutes later. Midway saved.

This episode had so many stupid illogical plot devices and plot omissions in it that I simply can't enjoy it. Writing this poor should never make it on to TV.

Carl Binder, you have let me down.

[Argosy]

Wow! I just saw this thread, & am glad that I’m not the only one to see that the “Emperor is wearing no clothes”.

To me this is one of the worse episodes of the season.

I could barely sit through it to see the fight scenes.

[SoulReaver]

The moment Atlantis realized the Wraith went to the Midway station, it should have been obvious they will try to get to Earth.
So they should have immediately dialed Earth directly using the ZPM to warn the SGC, check the status and if necessary send reinforcements there.

maybe they never expected the wraith to be able to crack the IDC & make it to earth, nor overcome SGC's defenses if they did make it there - sure they could've warned earth but maybe for all they knew the invasion stopped at Midway & only Midway was targetted (and compromised)

or perhaps they've become even stingier than before when it comes to using the ZPM ^_^

[rarocks24]

maybe they never expected the wraith to be able to crack the IDC & make it to earth, nor overcome SGC's defenses if they did make it there - sure they could've warned earth but for maybe all they knew the invasion stopped at Midway & only Midway was targetted (and compromised)

or perhaps they've become even stingier than before when it comes to using the ZPM ^_^

At the rate we go through them, that's the likely explanation. And we had to see Ronon and Teal'c kick Wraith ass for 30 minutes in the SGC (mostly due to cost of effects and production).

[gopher65]

Yeah, but remember Letters From Pegasus? They opened the wormhole for 1.3 seconds and sent a databurst containing everything they had. If they just wanted to send a 4 world warning (DANGER: WRAITH AT MIDWAY) they could have blipped the wormhole open for a millisecond and then closed it.

Heck, they wouldn't have even needed to use the ZPM for that. I assume that after season one they had a bunch more Naquada generators brought by the Daedalus and the Apollo. If four generators in overload mode can power the gate to Earth for 1.3 seconds, surely 10 or 15 mark one's could power it for that same amount of time in their normal mode.

[Redhooks]

Yeah, but remember Letters From Pegasus? They opened the wormhole for 1.3 seconds and sent a databurst containing everything they had. If they just wanted to send a 4 world warning (DANGER: WRAITH AT MIDWAY) they could have blipped the wormhole open for a millisecond and then closed it.

Heck, they wouldn't have even needed to use the ZPM for that. I assume that after season one they had a bunch more Naquada generators brought by the Daedalus and the Apollo. If four generators in overload mode can power the gate to Earth for 1.3 seconds, surely 10 or 15 mark one's could power it for that same amount of time in their normal mode.

But it would have made the episode not as thrilling because Earth/SGC would have never been invaded and then we would have missed all the cool parts with Teal'c and Ronon defeating the Wraith. There is almost always a better way to do something in a story, but it would make the story boring and not very exciting. For example, in Travelers, if Larrin would have immediately released Sheppard after she found out the Wraith ship was coming, he then could have moved the ship into hyperspace and the Wraith ship would have never found them. Instead, she hit him three times and threatened him with her energy pistol, thus giving the Wraith time to arrive. But then, half of the episode would have changed since there was no longer a threat from the Wraith. Sometimes I think a story is thought up with the end first and then the details are worked out backward towards the start. Also sometimes, you have to ignore the better method of something occurring in order to make the story interesting.

[gopher65]

But it would have made the episode not as thrilling<snip>

Clever, intelligent writers don't need to use illogical plot devices to write a thrilling, interesting story. REAL writers don't do that. Only hacks do that. I knew Stargate had a limited budget, but geez. I'd be willing to have them cut one 4 second long CGI scene from each episode if they would use that money to hire writers that were... you know... actually good at their jobs.

[inta]

I pointed this out in the "midway has no iris" thread.

this episode was a bunch of fun, but as far as logic and sci fi goes it was pretty weak.

also, why didn't the wraith CLOSE the iris in the sgc to block any reinforcements from possibly coming?
they figured out how to turn off the midway alarm and crack the midway-to-sgc macro... they easily could have put walters hand on the console and closed the iris.

fun episode, but pretty weak in some areas.

[PG15]

Why would the Wraith close the Iris when they themselves were expecting back up? How do they even know that there was an iris to begin with?

[Redhooks]

I pointed this out in the "midway has no iris" thread.

this episode was a bunch of fun, but as far as logic and sci fi goes it was pretty weak.

also, why didn't the wraith CLOSE the iris in the sgc to block any reinforcements from possibly coming?
they figured out how to turn off the midway alarm and crack the midway-to-sgc macro... they easily could have put walters hand on the console and closed the iris.

fun episode, but pretty weak in some areas.

Maybe because only Drones made to the SGC and not any of the scientist Wraith?

[jdbond]

Who knows, may be they tried but no one answered thanks to wraith stun device. Would it be illogical to presume that wraith knocked everyone out before Atlantis command could do something about it?

[Jeffala]

also, why didn't the wraith CLOSE the iris in the sgc to block any reinforcements from possibly coming?

Hell for that matter, why didn't Teal'c close the damned thing when he and Ronon were in the control room?

This was a good shoot-'em-up episode but it was just chock full of stupid.