Underground (108)

[NurseRatched]

Nicely done. Again, it entertained me more than SG-1; good plot, good pacing, good SFX.

Teyla's hair looks a LOT better with her new 'do. Overall, a stronger presence for her in this ep, as opposed to her "Should we not do <whatever>?" every few minutes.

We learn that McKay, "in order to get his fair share" before supplies run out, drinks a LOT of coffee daily, and also designed a model of an atomic bomb for his 6th grade science fair. Mr. Hewlett's rapid-fire prattling about U-235 versus U-238 and all that nuclear physics stuff was utterly convincing.

I'm becoming more convinced as the show develops that Mr. Francks, will all due respect, should stick to the straight-laced, just-the-facts stuff; he's not that strong an actor to carry off even light comic relief. The quick salute to SG-1's "Children of the Gods" (the moonshine reference) was overdone, and quite clumsy IMHO.

Is Weir going to let Sheppard negotiate anything ever again? Next time she should handle that part of the exchange, perhaps via an audio/video link through an open wormhole. And exactly how many outfits did she cram into her backpack? That itty-bitty aqua tank top seemed a little on the skimpy side for someone in authority.

Colm Meaney. Yeah. Always good.

To make the Wraith even more despicable - on-board pantries stocked with cocooned live people. (And leftovers. Ewwwww.) And ruh-roh: up to 60 hive ships?

Shep: Poor negotiator here (seems rationing should have been implemented from day one, knowing they had finite amounts of consumable goods), C-4 (also limited availablity) in exchange for food they may have been able to obtain from another Athosian trading ally, or wait for the Athosians to grow) didn't seem very smart. Smart: cloaked jumpers. Diplomatic skills aside, he still rocks.

What was done well: SPOILERS AHOY:

Spoiler:

Nicely sets up the "Storm/Eye" arc - the Genii aren't too happy with the Atlantis team, and Sora is out for sweet, sweet revenge against Teyla, who indirectly caused her fathers' death. Look at the upcoming episodes gallery - it's Sora and Teyla in that knife fight.

[Jonas]

Really good episode. Atlantis seems to be hitting its stride. I agree that it was stupid for Teyla to try and rescue the cooned man. That scene reminded me of "Aliens" where the Marnies enter the hive and find that woman alive.

McKay had some great lines and i love all his techno babble. It was great to see Colm Meaney. (Chief Miles Edward O'Brien) I think that makes him the sixth "Star Trek" actor to appear on Stargate.

Good episode all around, the effects were great.

[Skydiver]

Not so much episode related as thread related...

... to the Mods, the information at the top of this thead is wrong, both the episode number and the picture.

yep. we know. but that's something that darren has to change, i don't quite know how.

he'll take care of it as soon as he can.

[Bobthespirit]

Okay, several problems I have with this episode.

1) Their secret hatch was *really badly* hidden.

2) When they find said secret hatch, they decide, rather to go back and radio what they're doing, to just push forward, and rather than *not* spying on their new friends, to spy on their new friends.

3) McKay "Oh yeah, I'll tell you exactly how to make an atomic bomb, just having met you and having no idea what you plan to do with it. I mean, sure, for all I know you could be planning to use it against innocent people later, but hey. While I'm at it, this is how you make nerve gas."

4) Teyla decides to tell them it's *their* fault the Wraith awoke, when she knew they were perfectly capable and perfectly willing to kill them on the spot without consequences, when she could have just said 'the wraith awoke'.

5) Weir...Weir..okay, this isn't specific to this episode, but GOD YOU ARE SO WOODEN. She's about three steps away from saying 'there's coffee in that nebula'. And when you have your heart to hearts with Shepherd, can you *pretend* you are disciplined military like people and not talk like kids in a treehouse?

So...we have Teyla about ten times as naive as Daniel with nobody balancing her out with hard military disipline like Jack, we have Shepherd who acts like he's on vacation, we have Ford who doesn't really say much of anything, and McKay who's never in his life heard of the word 'practical'.

We've seen some signs of hope with a few of the earlier episodes, but I'm really hoping Atlantis writing turns around quickly.

I do like all the characters in general except for the two that happen to be in charge, but up until those two ships decloaked I was feeling like I had no respect for the intelligence of any of the characters for the entire episode.

[Universal Nexus]

So we made mortal enemies with Bilbo Baggins and the techno-hobbits? Scary.

That. Line. Rules. May I please use that in my signature? Pretty please? It's a lot better than my current one!

My opinions on this episode are VERY positive. I really enjoyed it, much more than most of the previous ones. It wasn't action-packed or anything, but I truly found it something I could watch without rolling my eyes. I loved McKay, and Sheppard in it as well. The new villain was cool, too, being really different. I really think there's potential for the Genii in the villainry department, too...

Teyla was okay in this episode, I guess. She still hasn't grown on me. I liked Weir a lot, though. "THEN we'll talk about nuclear weapons." Hee hee. I liked that line...

[Summerfield]

My McKay love grows yet more.

I also liked the fact that, even with 50's technology, the Genii built a computer interface for a Wrath memory card. So seldom are other cutures in the 'Gate universe able to make use of the galaxy(s) the way Earth has.

I think it's kinda cool that Wraith ships seem biological. Neat departure for this universe.

I do think that the one Genii soldier, what was his name?, defeated his own purpose. Saving cocoon-man would have alerted the Wraith, so let's leave some bullets in him? It stops Teyla from exposing you, but... exposes you.

[ShadowMaat]

Not super-actiony, but it makes up for it with suspense (much better done than in Suspicion) and tension and a nicely complex new enemy.

McKay was, as ever, brilliant. Loved the atomic bomb convo with Ford. McKay's even smarter than I thought... and that's really saying something. Funny, though, the bomb thing reminded me of that ep of Joan of Arcadia where Luke and the angry chick build a model rail gun. Would have LOVED to see teenage Rodney showing off his model. The righteous indignation as he fails to win... which would probably be his primary complaint as he sits through the interrogation with government officials... lol

Interesting interior stuff on the hiveship. Reminds me a bit of Giger. Think the ships themselves are biomech? And how did McKay know he could cut through the wall/skin with a mere knife? Bad design flaw on the part of the wraith, there.

Good stuff with the underground lair, too. Nice visual FX. Liked the waterfall in the distant bg. Good reaction shots for Shep and McKay, too.

Teyla was somewhat less annoying in this ep, but I still don't like her. Weir was actually kinda tolerable. In fact, I wished she'd come down harder on Shep and his team. Nice dig about Bates securing them some supplies. hehe

Bit that bugged me: Daddy-o kept telling Teyla that they couldn't rescue anyone because it would alert the wraith. Then he turns around and shoots the yelling guy. WTF did he think THAT was gonna do?? Sheesh.

[vfxsoup]

Hey All,

I'm seeing some really great feedback on the vfx for this episode... which is great because this was one of the hardest so far, and one of my faves.

The Genii underground city was a massive project, existing entirely in 3D, Spin West put that together in remarkable time and with fantastic attention to detail. I would turn up there most evenings and we'd discuss how people would live there and how that would effect their environment... then, with that in mind, we would sculpt the Genii world until the early hours...

I remember one night, an artist there, Landon, posed the question of how they coped with all the water issues that you might get in a cavern that size... quickly adding that lakes and waterfalls might really help us believe in their world... we sat there a moment while this sank in, each one of us remembering how every cave we'd ever been in always had vast amounts of water everywhere... It was a genius moment, thanks Landon!

Even though it only appeared on the screen as Shepherd's POV for (I think) 3 seconds, and took us about 4 weeks to complete, it stands out as a real place that "makes sense" and that's down to the fantastic skill that the artists put into the shot.

Rainmaker created the Wraith hanger, awesome detail, hundreds of man hours in that one... great job guys! The Interface room was created by a young guy called Jose, and you can all expect amazing things from J and the whole Rainmaker team in a few episodes time... truely amazing... I didn't know you could do that with pixels!

Oh well, back to ... better not tell ya!

Thanks for watching!

Mark Breakspear
Visual Effects Supervisor
Atlantis

PS... If anyone has feedback on the VFX and wants to post it directly to me, you can post it at vfxsoup.com in the forum section...

[aAnubiSs]

Loved the episode.
SGA has more of a B5 feeling then SG1 does, revealing a little bit about the Wraith each episode instead of revealing it all in two-parters.

Guess my guess of 100 Hive ships weren't that bad.


And the Wraith Hive ships interior looks awsome.

Now I just wanna find out how much damage the Ancient Drones can do to a Hive ship

[Dragonlor]

Good episode. I liked everyone in it. Good story and it set up plenty to fuel many episodes in the future.

Funny how a simple trade for food turned into a nuclear arms discussion.
Let's just go to every planet and teach them how to build nukes! Maybe if we ruin every world the Wraith will go away.

[aAnubiSs]

Wonder if a regular US Nuclear Missile does any serious damage to a Wraith Hive if impacting with the hull.

Wonder if the Wraith Hives got shields... They probably do.

I can see the SGA->SG1 reunion..."Oh and Gen. O'Neill... We're gonna need a few hundred nukes"

[Dragonlor]

We're gonna need a few hundred nukes

Good thing Earth is in no short supply of nukes.

[aAnubiSs]

Indeed. Atleast now they'll be used for something usefull.

[Shipperahoy]

I really enjoyed this episode. My love for McKay grows by leaps and bounds. Ford is really growing on me as well. I've gone from feeling like, o.k well he's there, to looking forward to seeing him in scenes. I too liked Weir in this episode. She seems less stiff and cold as time goes by. I adore Colm Meaney and he can pretty much do no wrong by me. The visual affects were great. I loved the underground waterfall. I agree with Shadow about being confused by "Daddy-O" shooting the poor schmuck in the Wraith ship after saying that he didn't want to alert the Wraith. Okaaaay. Shep I still love cuz he's cute and funny. What's not to love? Oh and did I mention that I love McKay?

[aAnubiSs]

shipperahoy: Who's this McKay guy you're almost mentioning?

Wonder if I wouldn't rate Underground as the best episode of Atlantis yet... I think I will.