The Defiant One (112)

[Leeta]

I'm adding to the poor Greg theme as well. He was also probably going insane from being alone. I agree with Bajka that the ending was sad but that might be the fan girl in me talking.

I thought Rodney was pretty funny in this episode when he was shooting his gun. He didn't have a clue what to do.

[maneth]

Loved this ep, I really like how Rodney's finally coming into his own. Compared to the misogynistic egomaniac in SG-1 he really is a different guy.

[Skie]

Two questions arise from this episode:

1. The wraith seemed to have some kind of protective armor, which fended off some of the bullets Sheppard throwed at him. So why don't the wraith use that know, would come in quite some handy against the lanteans.
2. Did he feed on those glowing bugs? Maybe he was just crushing them, but why bothering doing that at the end when he had still two enemies to defeat, I mean feed on. So this would mean that they can eat on something else. Perhaps wraiths can feed on pure energy, now that would open up a hell of new perspectives.

[mathpiglet]

I'm confused by the glow bugs. They went to Shepherd because he had food, and followed the food when he threw it. They didn't go near McKay, but went to the Wraith, who does not have food, but actually feeds on them. Do they actually have enough intelligence to decide Shepherd and McKay are good guys and the Wraith is the bad guy, so they should help the good guys?

Seems to me a bit of a stretch!

[EdenSG]

I'm confused by the glow bugs. They went to Shepherd because he had food, and followed the food when he threw it. They didn't go near McKay, but went to the Wraith, who does not have food, but actually feeds on them. Do they actually have enough intelligence to decide Shepherd and McKay are good guys and the Wraith is the bad guy, so they should help the good guys?

Seems to me a bit of a stretch!

If you are referring to the last few minutes of the episode the reason the bugs went to the Wraith is because Sheppard stuck an opened power bar in his clothing. The bugs went to the Wraith because of that.

[mathpiglet]

If you are referring to the last few minutes of the episode the reason the bugs went to the Wraith is because Sheppard stuck an opened power bar in his clothing. The bugs went to the Wraith because of that.

Thank you. I missed that. Now it makes sense!

[mrscopterdoc]

Two questions arise from this episode:

1. The wraith seemed to have some kind of protective armor, which fended off some of the bullets Sheppard throwed at him. So why don't the wraith use that know, would come in quite some handy against the lanteans.
2. Did he feed on those glowing bugs? Maybe he was just crushing them, but why bothering doing that at the end when he had still two enemies to defeat, I mean feed on. So this would mean that they can eat on something else. Perhaps wraiths can feed on pure energy, now that would open up a hell of new perspectives.

I think he was just squishing them, I didn't get the impression he fed on them.

[garhkal]

Since I can't start any new threads in the episode discussion section, this should be fused into the official thread. I will warn for SPOILERS here and now, since this is a temporary thread for the episode.

DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.

I just saw it and LOVED it.

From what I could see, we've seen two new pieces of Wraith technology: A Cargo ship and a Wraith Grenade.

From what I can see the grenade has massive radius, with blast noise that can be heard for several hundreds of meters, with a lot of impact noise.
Also, there was a LOT of development on the Wraith: we now know that if a Wraith has fed recently, they can regenerate much faster and much more damage.

What with the wraith having fed upon two men, he was able to take well over 20 P90 rounds, three full clips from a handgun and a Wraith Grenade, nearly in his face, yet KEPT ON GOING.

I believe that this is why the Ancients had a hard time during the war: the wraith are incredibly resiliant when they feed appropriately. Making their bodies nearly impossible to kill without having them vaporized.

It was said in rising pt2 that a fed wraith would be tremendously difficult to kill.

In the showdown between Sheppard and "Greg", "Greg" learned how to use a handgun REALLY quickly... Could it be that the Wraith have advanced analysis abilities? Because, it seems to me that no wraith or ancient weapon has a finger-operated trigger. Not to mention how "Greg" had killer aim in a fast-paced skirmish.

Being they have their own hand weapons, it is not surprising that he adapted to our pistols quickly.

In The Lost City, Part 2, the Ancient Drone weapons looked like Jellyfish. Since then, they've appeared to change the CG slightly, but they are still Glowy Jellyfish of DOOM.

I prefer the term SQUIDDY!!

[Sllimy]

three full clips from a handgun

I know this was posted nearly 7 years ago but my God do I have to point it out...

They're called magazines, pistol MAGAZINES. Clips are used to hold rounds together, making it quicker to load them into the magazine. They are two different things.

[The Flyattractor]

I think he was just squishing them, I didn't get the impression he fed on them.

it seemed like he did it right after he got hurt and then got better.
And they did make mention of the bugs having a High Energy Life reading..or some such nonscene.
And this was early in the series. I am sure the writers realised that if they could feed on the bugs persay,that would probably have thrown a monkey wrench into their long term stories.

[Lythisrose]

From Joe Mallozzi's Blog:
http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...-win/#comments
THE DEFIANT ONE (112)

Peter DeLuise’s last script for the Stargate franchise is a terrific episode with the feel of an old Western – a duel to the death between two worthy warriors, battling it out against a dusty desert backdrop. We see a return of a life form surprisingly similar to one we’ve encountered before (back in SG-1?s Prodigy), a species that figures into a clever conclusion.

Here, we see the horrifying effects of the wraith’s feeding process – not death but pretty damn close. Another step in the evolution of the McKay character as he wrestles between staying safe and watching over a fallen comrade, or going out and helping Sheppard. And, when that fallen comrade takes his own life, Rodney doesn’t hesitate, putting his own life at risk to make a timely intervention and save John.

Cast your vote for your favorite Stargate mid-season two-parter for a chance to win some signed scripts.

[hlndncr]

Not my kind of episode. I really didn't enjoy it at all. (Not surprising since I usually don't care for PDL eps.) A run and gun shoot out between Shep and a Wraith who's hard to kill is just a bunch of mindless blah to me. We've just seen in The Storm and The Eye that Shep is a good soldier and Rodney would risk his own life to save his friends, and those episodes showed more depth of character. We also know the Wraith are hard to kill. So this episode added nothing at all to the series. It is the epitome of filler.

It also bugged me that the scientist guy who got sucked on by the wraith and later shot himself was the same actor who played Nyan from SG-1 New Ground. Really the reuse of recognizable actors from SG-1 is getting a little out of hand. In fact, it would have been much more interesting if the guy had been Nyan. He was a scientist, exciled from his own world in our galaxy, and supposedly worked with Daniel at the SGC for several years. I could see him joining the Atlantis expedition.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

This was a pretty good episode. I've always enjoyed episode Peter DeLuise has wrote, really mythos-based.

Rolling down a sandy hill, nice way to infect your shoulder, John. Not much else to say.

Tomorrow, Atlantis is infected with a Virus.

[Krisz]

Not a bad episode. I did like the creepy atmosphere of the derelict Wraith ship, and because you knew there was a surviving Wraith lurking somewhere!

I agree hlndrcr with your view on the 'Nyan' actor. Whilst he was good as the Wraithed and then dying man it would have been more poignant to lose him like that if he did play that original character from SG-1.

Sweet 'toothed' energy bugs, that was different! It would have been good if they'd attacked the Wraith as they did the scientist in SG-1's 'Prodigy' when the Wraith started to grab at them! Annoy the nasty Wraith a bit more before its annihilation by the drone!

[Jae'a]

My LiveJournal post

Wow, a 10,000 year old Wraith. Pity they couldn't save all those people in the pods. So they're just going to stay frozen there forever?