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**SGalisa** · 21 May 2005, 08:33 PM

oops! sorry for the length... might be important goodies in here, tho...

Originally posted by Lida:
As for the Episode in question, The Eye, it was, in my opinion, one of the better ones in the season...

Originally posted by Gate Trippin':
The Storm/The Eye were some of my favorite eps from the season as well, not only because of the Genii arc continuation, but for the development between characters. I think you get to see a lot of Sheppard's determination and loyalty to his team and especially Weir and Mckay while they were being held hostage. Plus, some nice Mckay moments where he battles his ongoing inner conflict between heroics and fear. Some meaty stuff in this ep and I think it made the show much stronger!

I agree with both comments. Maybe experiencing a real life hurricane, IVAN (2004), while watching THE STORM ep, sort of helped make a bigger impact on me, as well.

Apart from both storms (real life and SG:A's whopper hurricane), THE STORM and THE EYE were both character driven stories. McKay's personality seemed to mature a little in THE EYE, even if he realized he was just a scientist and not a superhero. For his advantage, he played on the con factor later too...

Originally posted by david2708:

It's a little bit of a worry that at this half way point of the season I have found the show to be pretty ordinary after all the hype I've read....

Ordinary??
That depends on a viewer's definition of what *exciting* is. Re: SG:A Season One, 2nd half...

If blowing things up is more important than emotional anxiety, then portions of "The Seige, parts 1 and 2" might be more favorable. If the Wraith creatures are more to a viewer's preference style (evil, ugly, and humanly destructive), then "THE DEFIANT ONE" and "THE GIFT" are dedicated to them.

THE STORM and THE EYE are character driven plots motivated by the circumstances surrounding everyone involved. An episode like "Letters From Pegasus" is also character driven in its anxiety anticipation of facing the worst case scenario via the Wraith.

--------
How does one shatter wimpy impressions without being too revealing? Actually, in the cliffhanger for The STORM ending, when Sheppard was yelling at Kolya about giving him a ship, in order to save the lives of Weir and McKay, I got the impression that Sheppard just might give Kolya a memorable, dead-end ride! I didn't see Sheppard as caving in under duress or stress. He was definitely plotting alternate scenarios with serious consequences for Kolya in mind... just a gut feeling there...
--------

THE EYE, is where new aspects of Sheppard's life are revealed.

Ooooo Yeah!!
Sheppard *ROCKED* during THE EYE of THE STORM... and the "ground shook"! And if the real ground didn't obviously literally shake,

Spoiler:

certainly did! Whoah! (something to look for without giving away the details)...even gave Shep one of those strange "I can't believe you just did that!!" type of looks too during one of the most critical plot moments!

For people who don't like Sheppard or storm stories, maybe they oughtta skip the EYE. The storm's *EYE* portion is intellectually controversial, as well as revealing, in defense of Shep- a deeply hidden, new dimension to his SG:A character:

Spoiler:

Anyway, to add more controversy to any insults against Sheppard's wayward (??) persona, there was another SG forum topic specifically devoted to his possible reasons for

Spoiler:

...and whether it was *morally* right or wrong for him to do all of what he did.

Depending on which POV is preferred, i.e.: is the ruthlessly evil Kolya better? or Sheppard suddenly revealing himself as an *awesome* hero, and later acting like an ordinary everyday guy? In my POV, Sheppard was totally *cool* in his actions and reactions in the EYE!

On an important sidenote: Kolya in both the STORM and the EYE is a mega thief and cold-blooded murderer. In spite of him being told about the Ancient gene connection with some of earth's Atlantis crew, Kolya still failed to see any use for the Atlantis crew to stay or live at Atlantis. And forcefully taking the SGC's property (medical and weapons supplies) was pure thievery on his part. Because Kolya's nasty way of doing things includes killing off people from earth, well, that makes him just as evil as the Wraith (IMO).

Shep had every right to protect himself the way any special ops agent would in any life-threatening position. Sheppard basically could be (and most likely at critical moments might be) one of the SG:A's team last line of defense. In a way, it was helpful to him and the storyline that he got separated from everyone else during the STORM.

Another sidenote: I also found it extremely helpful reading the comments in the Episode (Spoiler) Topic for THE EYE- after *seeing* the ep first. Actually, most of the episode commentaries included directly within each "Episode" forum topic have been highly intriguing and entertaining. Many of those comments (written by GW forum members) provide keen insight into each story or storyline that might otherwise end up being overlooked, forgotten, or ignored.

**Panther** · 21 May 2005, 09:32 PM

Originally posted by Gate Trippin'

The Storm/The Eye were some of my favorite eps from the season as well, not only because of the Genii arc continuation, but for the development between characters. I think you get to see a lot of Sheppard's determination and loyalty to his team and especially Weir and Mckay while they were being held hostage. Plus, some nice Mckay moments where he battles his ongoing inner conflict between heroics and fear. Some meaty stuff in this ep and I think it made the show much stronger!

He was a wussball! Instead of drawing the enemy out and hunting them down one by one (using the lifesigns detector) he decided to "negotiate". Kiss my hairy beehind that was a good decision... Kolya didn't even know he was there.

**GatetheWay** · 21 May 2005, 09:42 PM

You seem to have an axe to grind. I don't understand how you thought Shep could of done it any differently than what he did. You say he should of hunted them down one by one with the detectior but Kolya could of easily of killed Weir out of retaliation. Shep wouldn't want to take that chance. The Genii would be smart enough to stay together so even with the detector he couldn't of killed them all without being killed himself. And I don't know how you can call him that when by the end of the EYE

Spoiler:

**Panther** · 21 May 2005, 11:04 PM

Probably, because it hadn't been screened yet here aye mate. Besides, they were "smart enough to stay together" was never implied in the episode.

**GatetheWay** · 22 May 2005, 08:21 AM

I'd think in order to be an efficiant military strike team they would of known enough to stay together. They weren't going to send one team after another if he was just killing them all.

**Panther** · 22 May 2005, 03:03 PM

Who knows really? That's just how clunky the episode is. The fact of the matter is he didn't even try to look at direct action option. He went straight to negotiation.

**SGalisa** · 23 May 2005, 07:38 PM

Originally posted by watcher652:
SciFi is holding an Atlantis marathon on Friday July 8...

thank you! I did see that marathon announcement a few days ago. Looking forward to seeing some of the eps, even if I'm unable to see all of them...

--------

eek! another long one, but for the sake of Atlantis and John Sheppard...

Originally posted by Panther:
Well I saw this episode last night. Confirmed what I thought always about Sheppard. He's a wussy.

and...

Originally posted by Panther:

He was a wussball! Instead of drawing the enemy out and hunting them down one by one (using the lifesigns detector) he decided to "negotiate". Kiss my ___ that was a good decision... Kolya didn't even know he was there....

and later yet, also...

Originally posted by Panther
...he didn't even try to look at direct action option. He went straight to negotiation.

details, details...by the time this gets posted, Part 2 -THE EYE- will have probably already aired in Australia.

In the *beginning* of THE STORM's story, Kolya did NOT know John Sheppard was still in the city premises. Kolya also didn't know that Rodney and Weir still had radio connection with Sheppard, who had stayed silent in the background when he heard Kolya's voice -asking specifically for Sheppard.

Logical question might be "why?" Shep overheard the ENTIRE conversation, before the radio headsets were removed from McKay and Weir, and he probably thought the exact same suspicious "why? ... what's Kolya up to?"... The Genii conveniently showed up now ~ for what purpose?

Aside from mere name dropping, what makes Sheppard so important to Kolya? Me thinks there's a personal grudge against Sheppard in there somewhere...? and probably has something to do with the Genii also being denied a puddle jumper during the "Underground" episode?

Logical reasoning reveals what Sheppard did do, was the primary PROTOCOL thing to do. Hunting down people he didn't know were chasing him was *NOT* Sheppard's PRIMARY MISSION. Batting down the hatches from the STORM was Shep's first mission motive. Save the city from potential STORM damage first. Locate Kolya and company later, if absolutely necessary and only when time permits... So, keeping that in mind...

Upon arriving at Atlantis, Kolya was clever enough to figure out a person of Rodney's intellectual stature had stayed behind for a reason, and not likely for just tidying up little things. So, Kolya had the info tortured out of Rodney. Shortly after in the control room, Rodney made a ditch effort to let Shep overhear more of Kolya's possible HOSTILE takeover plan; and so in radio silence -Sheppard proceeded to act from that point forward... starting with

- hiding the C-4 first (the Genii desperately wanted it, and Kolya was NO exception to that reality!)...

Sheppard *knew* Kolya was bad news from the get go, meaning Kolya= a potentially dangerous enemy. Therefore, Sheppard did what he could without anyone's knowledge, until he was absolutely ready to deal one-on-one with Kolya. However, time was against Sheppard as his PRIMARY mission was to separate the last remaining grounding device for the city, but that moment got seriously interrupted by Kolya's henchmen.

Sheppard was originally working against the wall of the hurricane's EYE-wall clock... so, contacting McKay pronto about the highly urgent bad news was his PRIMARY MISSION!

Sheppard *did* proceed to bop off those 2 guys out of the picture, before he said anything to Kolya. Shep could have pursued anyone else chasing after him, but his first and foremost *PRIMARY* mission was to set up the grounding station so that McKay could flip the shield's generator switch at the appointed time.

However, because Kolya's soldiers destroyed the surface controls on the last grounding station, Shep had no other choice. It was imperative that he HAD to get word somehow to McKay ASAP that they needed to proceed with an alternate Plan B FAST, because Kolya's guys broke the controls to the grounding station during their firefight against Sheppard.

Needless to say, Sheppard was quite PO'd over the entire incident. In addition to hopefully getting word out to McKay somehow, Sheppard's enraged reaction at Kolya was to let Kolya personally stew in his own anger after finding out that his takeover plan of Atlantis or whatever it was, had now royally screwed the city from having its last grounding station repaired in (plenty of) time against the Storm's worst moment of arrival.

(Note: McKay's reaction from hearing *that* lovely news!) At least Sheppard was considerate enough to give McKay some amount of time to quick think of another solution, and to actually complete an alternate plan, than to tell him an hour before the EYE-wall was at their doorstep. (Not a pleasant experience if Plan B or C failed to work!) As it was, the Storm's outer bands were already drenching the city.

Kolya didn't care about the Storm, and even said so himself. He only cared about getting the C-4 and possibly getting rid of Sheppard... but a puddle jumper would be a nice bonus as well (everything the SG:A team had, Kolya wanted -all of it!). So, I'm still inclined to go with my original instincts, as I mentioned before,

Originally posted by SGalisa:

How does one shatter wimpy impressions without being too revealing? Actually, in the cliffhanger for The STORM ending, when Sheppard was yelling at Kolya about giving him a ship, in order to save the lives of Weir and McKay, I got the impression that Sheppard just might give Kolya a memorable, dead-end ride! I didn't see Sheppard as caving in under duress or stress. He was definitely plotting alternate scenarios with serious consequences for Kolya in mind... just a gut feeling there...

Was Sheppard merely negotiating a puddle jumper, or deliberately *baiting* Kolya with his own permanent fix to stop Kolya's invasion of Atlantis? Afterall, it was Sheppard who told Ford to:

Spoiler:

during THE EYE half of this, I find it unlikely that Sheppard might actually negotiate with a hostile. He was in the military before Atlantis, and after seeing THE EYE... his training certainly did not go to waste.

including the

Spoiler:

scene.

**Panther** · 23 May 2005, 08:04 PM

We'll see how it goes then aye. Of course goign with the C4 concealment was definitely his first priority, the fact he left a radio there and decided to play a one man HNT is rather dodgy. He should have first moved to where Wier and McKay were being held by an indirect and concealed path and then asses the feasibility of direct action. Perhaps he could have created a distraction using some of the C4 or Atlantis' holographic facilities. While him eventually having to negotiate was probably always going to end up the way he went, those previous options I stated where never satisfactorally removed from the table.

**Panther** · 26 May 2005, 11:47 PM

Still a wussy...

**SGalisa** · 27 May 2005, 05:36 PM

hmmmm.... this is *really* difficult to stay neutral about...
an anti-Sheppard POV:

Originally posted by Panther:
Still a wussy...

Then perhaps -for your particular character styling- a Wraith is more preferable? or perhaps a ruthless and evil Kolya? or maybe even Kavanagh (known to many SG:A viewers as "the pony-tail scientist guy") instead...?

...especially Kavanagh in "Letters from Pegasus"... he definitely seems to be an earlier Kinsey type there.

McKay and Kavanagh may both be brilliant scientists, but McKay has the far better personality between the two. Of course, Kavanagh's self-masculinity remarks to Dr. Weir is an example of how to lose respect real fast and furiously (especially among caring females), as seen during his first appearances.

Kolya is tolerable, but he's still a cold-hearted killer, even in training. Sora didn't even like him.

========
...Sidenote: during one of SG-1's repeats for "Window of Opportunity", the guy who unknowingly kept smacking Teal'c in the face- looked an awful lot like Kavanagh without his long hair then... and if it was, when Teal'c finally smacked the door right back at him, ohhhh, that was good! (certainly a good feeling of *justice served*, if it was Kavanagh!)

========

for anyone who might get the jist of this next item as a joke:
oh look - it's the 3 K's: Kolya, Kavanagh, and Kinsey!

**Panther** · 27 May 2005, 11:01 PM

Actually, I like Ford the best, or at least how he intially came across in the Rising. The calm, collected and humble Marine, who knew when TACAMO is more important that listening to orders.

Kavanaugh is a dropkick. I rarely like characters who are more concerned about personal fulfilment rather than what best for the team. Also, I would hardly describe Kavanaugh's behavious as "masculine". Perhaps "pseudomasculinity", but not the former. Hence I would agree on your position on McKay.

Kolya, I think is just a soldier. Behaves like one, but his tactics aren't sophisticated enough, but considering he's probably behind in his methods I venture to say he, had he been on Atlantis Command's side would have been a valuable addition.

**watcher652** · 30 May 2005, 09:08 PM

Originally posted by Matt G

Bad US accent? I've never heard Colm Meany use a US accent of any quality - particularly in Atlantis. The guy's Irish and most of the Earth characters he plays are Irish.

I will have to agree with Matt G. Of course, Colm Meany was Genii, not Irish in the episode. But he wasn't "doing an accent". He spoke the way I've heard him speak in Star Trek and the movies I've seen him in.

**watcher652** · 30 May 2005, 10:07 PM

Originally posted by Panther

He should have first moved to where Wier and McKay were being held by an indirect and concealed path and then asses the feasibility of direct action. Perhaps he could have created a distraction using some of the C4 or Atlantis' holographic facilities. While him eventually having to negotiate was probably always going to end up the way he went, those previous options I stated where never satisfactorally removed from the table.

Maybe Sheppard didn't think of these options because they don't make any sense.

With the number of Genii covering all the entrances to the Gate Room and the Control Room, how was Sheppard going to sneak a peek in and check it out? I spotted at least 5 Genii in the Control Room with Weir and McKay while Sheppard was in the Jumper bay getting a life signs detector and contacting Ford. With the life signs dectector, he could see he was vastly outnumbered. Then Rodney leaned on the console and Sheppard heard that the Genii wanted their C4, medical supplies and the Wraith data device. That's all he had to work with.

How can you use any C4 in the Atlantis Gate Room or in any place in Atlantis? What would damaging any part of the city buy Sheppard? There was a city destroying storm approaching, isn't that damaging enough? Why would any of the Genii be distracted by a C4 explosion anywhere?

What could Sheppard do with the Atlantis holographic facilities? Tell the story of the Ancients? Because that's all we've seen a holograph do. Unless you count the Jumper map displays as holographs.

Originally posted by Panther

The fact of the matter is he didn't even try to look at direct action option. He went straight to negotiation.

I though negotiation was standard procedure in hostage situations. Expecially since Sheppard wasn't sure what the status of the rest of the Atlantis expedition and the Athosians on Menaria. For all he knew, if he took out the Genii force, Sheppard would be condemning the offworld expedition to death.

Originally posted by Panther

Still a wussy...

Huh. Oh, well, can't please everybody. Maybe you should wait and see the whole story before making that determination.

**Panther** · 31 May 2005, 04:56 PM