The episode that failed

[Kliggins]

Sometimes we really look forward to an episode because the spoilers sounded so interesting. Sometimes we watch the first ten minutes and are thrilled with what we've seen so far because it looks really promising. But then the episode falls flat, leaves us disappointed and with an empty feeling. These are the episodes I want to talk about!

I guess the episode would be Grace. Reason why; I am not really sure. I am not even sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't there. Pretty definitive answer, huh?

[saraloui]

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I was quite dissapointed with Heroes Pt 1 although it was a good setup for part two which was much much more impresive. I just felt let down with the first part. I think if there hadnt been so much hype what with Janet's departure, the episodes especially the second half would have been more believable. The script had been written in order for the audience to believe perhaps O'neill was the one who had died (although would we have believed they had killed off his character?) even so we would have been wondering who had died. The fact that the fans knew before season seven even aired that Frasier would be killed off made the episode strange to watch given the storyline. The first half was dissapoting to say the least, the second was the one the hype surely was supposed to lean towards. I was dissapointed not too see a hint of Cassandra there or even more than one or two lines relating to her given the situation. I do ask what the whole point in getting rid of Frasier was?

[flynn1959]

Grace...w.t.f. was that about...Sam would give up everything if Jack said he loved her!!!!!What the hell happened to Sam circa season 1-3. I'm sorry but Jack is not that great a catch.The man is way too old for Sam.He is her C.O.
they should be friends not would be lovers.

For Gods sake let Sam be a soldier/teamate/friend.

The only ships on Stargate should be spaceships.

[VixyOwl (~~Ani)]

It's freaky how much my opinions parallel Madeleine_W's...those were my thoughts to the letter. On all 3 counts.

There's a conceit on Stargate, which generally works well, that alien cultures can have evolved similarly to Earth's in some ways, but not in others. That's how the show isolates issues from our culture(s) and explores them. Fair enough.

Spoilers season 7
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But I quake at the thought that annoying sportscasters have even the the potential to be a universal constant.

I think in Space Race the sportscasters jarred so much because we were asked to accept the conceit at face-value in terms of the race, but then to approach the conceit ironically in the case of the sportscasters.



And Heroes 2, to me--well, trotting out flags, funerals, and babies is a tried-and-true heartstring-puller, and I admit that my heartrate rose. Even though I was aware of being manipulated, I have to admit that I *was* manipulated--the trick worked on me, and it doesn't always. So that's a mixed review, but I can't say the episode "failed," because I think it did what tptb wanted it to.

[memnarch]

Chimera all the way. I used to be fascinated by the myth of Chimera. Now I can't even think of the word without physically gagging. There I go, again. I have lost all respect for Damien Kindler, who wrote the final version of the episode (Robert Cooper came up with the Daniel storyline).

[zombie8]

The First Commandment was an episode that I never really liked.It was early in the first season and there was already a renegade sgc commander!And an ex-lover of Carters!That all seemed a little implausible(sp?) to me.
I also thought it was a little odd that Makepeace was a hero in the beginning of the 3rd season.And by the end of that same season he was a traitor.And that col.greaves was supposedly part of the offworld rogue nid that jack took down in "shades".Why didnt they just use "makepeace" or "nueman"?Did you notice that they filmed scenes of greaves and the other rogue agent and added them to the "previously on sg1" section of the opening of "The Sentinel",As if they were there?

[joshing123]

There are episodes that I didn't care for, didn't hold my interest etc., but the only episode that actually failed for me was Meridian. Not only was it was a terrible way to send off a main character but it was an even worse way to introduce a new main character! And by terrible in regards to Daniel's death I mean booooring. Long, drawn out, sappy & way to much Oma. There was no sense of danger before he got hurt, no excitement in the episode. It was just dull.

An episode that would have failed had it actually turned out to be the series finale was Full Circle. It was an okay episode, nothing special, but if the show had ended w/it I would have been ticked movie or not.

[Crazedwraith]

The First Commandment was an episode that I never really liked.It was early in the first season and there was already a renegade sgc commander!And an ex-lover of Carters!That all seemed a little implausible(sp?) to me.

Well its more likely the guy would go renegade earlier than later, I mean the first time some calls you a god must be the wrost, right?

Anyway, agree the fact he Carter's ex was a bit implauisble but like Sam says there was a reason she gave him the ring back.

[Misty]

I'm not particularly fond of "Nightwalkers". I dunno why. I just don't like it.

[MasterPower]

I was extremely disapointed with Grace. I didn't like the plot at all.
I was also disapointed that they killed off Daniel for a season.

[crimsontide101]

For me it was the first Stargate Atlantis, that i can think of first off. I looked forward to it for a long time and it was if they just thew everything together to get the sga team to atlantis instead of giving the fans all the juicy plot details... that is what i was hoping for. Ex. Atlantis is located in the pegasus galaxy and here is the long lost mystery cheveron out of no were , with out a explaination. Like that wasnt what SG1 were trying to do all last season. grrr

[VirtualCLD]

For me it was the first Stargate Atlantis, that i can think of first off. I looked forward to it for a long time and it was if they just thew everything together to get the sga team to atlantis instead of giving the fans all the juicy plot details... that is what i was hoping for. Ex. Atlantis is located in the pegasus galaxy and here is the long lost mystery cheveron out of no were , with out a explaination. Like that wasnt what SG1 were trying to do all last season. grrr

Possible Rising Spoiler









I didn't think Rising was a downer, I loved it!!! I think you were expecting too much plot build-up from SG-1 which is exaclty what TPTB were trying to avoid. I really didn't care how Daniel got the last chevron, there are plenty of ways he could have gotten from the outpost.

[DarkQuee1]

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There are some eps that just didn't work overall--Revisions, for example, which had no tension or excitement and Sight Unseen--some that had no apparent point for me, some that annoyed me, like EM, and some I slept through, like The Curse.

However, the ep that failed most "spectacularly" for me, the one that failed most to live up to expectations, was SE. Which blew itself to pieces in the last ten minutes. As to why (before I give my reasons, as I understand this thread, it's for each of us to just say which ep was the worst in her/his opinion and why. It's not to discuss or argue the eps. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind about SE and I would appreciate it if no one tried to change mine.):

There was a great ep going here. It had a tremendously difficult moral issue at its core, and a terrible moral dilemma. It really was a Coventry/enigma-type choice all over again: a choice between two evils. I was really enjoying the ep up to the last ten minutes, when they blew their own premise apart--and pulled one of the most overworked and least creative solutions to a problem.

Set up: both races need this world. Lotan, near the beginning, tells SG-1 that, once started, the process cannot be stopped. He does *not* qualify this in any way, nor does he give any indication that it is not absolute. The main problem is a time constraint: the Enkarans near the gate will not leave without the rest of their people who are too scattered to gather in time.

Everyone is aware of this set up: SG-1, the Enkarans and Lotan. OK, the ep continues on for 45 minutes, building on this. Then, in the last ten minutes, it all falls apart. Daniel's plan, which was to talk to Lotan, show him the Enkarans and convince him to leave, fails (after Daniel helps Lotan to destroy the bomb, the Enkarans only defense)--and we know it fails, because Lotan says, "This changes nothing". Suddenly, out of nowhere, we get told that Lotan can stop the process temporarily, *not* for 5 minutes or an hour--but long enough to gather all of the Enkarans together (which was the problem all along, wasn't it????), put them on a ship and take them to a whole new planet!

Excuse me?! Well, hey, why didn't you say that 40 minutes ago? The whole problem goes away, doesn't it? Lotan, despite knowing what the problem is, says nothing all along. Notice that none of the team--with all the "find me another option" stuff going on--asks Lotan to stop the process to allow them to gather the Enkarans. Why? Because they read the set-up the same way I did: the process can't be stopped at all, once started.

Either that, or we are to assume that everyone on SG-1 is an idiot, and too stupid to ask Lotan to stop the process temporarily. And that Lotan is too stupid to mention that point.

On top of that, we get the dreaded, overworked and lazy solution: the deus ex machina. In the last ten seconds before the Enkarans are destroyed, we suddenly find the Enkarans homeworld. Among 400 billion stars. How convenient. Well, better to be lucky than smart, right?

And this makes us ask why none of the team asked Lotan to check his computer records earlier. Except that we know why: there was no point in asking because, as far as anyone knew, the process couldn't be stopped. Which brings us back to the wrecked set-up.

The episode should have ended with one of the two species destroyed, as would have happened in reality with that kind of a situation. It should have forced the Coventry/enigma choice and gone with it. It wouldn't have been happy, but it would have been real and hard-hitting. And an episode not easily forgotten.

In fact, that's what was supposed to happen: the Gadmeer would have been destroyed. Part way through, they apparently decided to go for a happy ending--and ruined the episode. IMO, of course.


J.

[MartoufMarty]

um... i think a couple episodes did that for me. falling short that is. (Spoilers up with stuff up to Lockdown)

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i didn't like how they just wrapped up Lifeboat so quickly. they suddenly get the greatest idea ever and it works! so clean and simple. i think that could have been a great two parter. but nooo.... i don't like the five minute solutions. the episode was so great up until that point.

Lockdown... this episode was great... except for the ending. i would have just LOVED to see Anubis just waltz out of there no problemo... but Sam had to be able to change the dialing to some really cold planet and he gets frozen. bummer...

Enemy Mine was cool... for about the first 12 minutes when they were shooting all the Unas cause they were attacking... but no... they had to calm down, and have negociations. and instead of having little subtitles so we can know what the Unas were saying, we had to have Daniel repeat every single word. at that point of the episode i was yelling saying, 'JUST SHOOT ALL THE UNAS AND GET IT OVER WITH!' they obviously fell a little short there.

Legacy...not that there is anything wrong with the episode, i couldn't honestly care less about what happened after Daniel got 'un-crazy'.

not an episode, but a storyline: Daniel in Season five when he left... though what they did now seems kind of cool, i still would have loved to have seen Daniel somehow become a host and be the ULTIMATE ENEMY. i know it sounds kind of cheesy (maybe) but i thought that would be cool. i was just a little disappointed by what actually happened.

now, there are probably a half a dozen more episodes i could knock at,, but it's about 1 in the morning. i should sleep.

[Sicarius]

Red Sky, way cop out ending.