Sanctuary (114)

[Cronus]

If Chaya has to protect her people then why don't Shep lure the wraith to outside her planet. That way she can destroy the wraith, Atlantis can survive and everyone can go home happy. It may be morally wrong, but tactically it would be genius.

[WormholeAlien]

There are 10 Pages in this thread and I'm sure it has been said a number of times in these 10 pages, but.....

The ancient in this episode was Super hot, as in beyond gorgeous.

[Cronus]

There are 10 Pages in this thread and I'm sure it has been said a number of times in these 10 pages, but.....

The ancient in this episode was Super hot, as in beyond gorgeous.

I agree, she was the reason that made me watch this episode over and over and over again.

[Major Tyler]

If Chaya has to protect her people then why don't Shep lure the wraith to outside her planet. That way she can destroy the wraith, Atlantis can survive and everyone can go home happy. It may be morally wrong, but tactically it would be genius.

How, exactly, would he "lure" the Wraith halfway across the galaxy?

[Cronus]

How, exactly, would he "lure" the Wraith halfway across the galaxy?

No idea. That's one for Mckay to come up with.

...

Maybe one of those wraith distress signals, or something like that necklace Teyla used to wear.

[American3.141592654]

I can only review, I don't have time for a summary.
There is a LOAD of spoilers in it too, so watch out.

I believe that Major Sheppard is, without any doubt, becoming a mirror image of Captain Kirk, as Rodney so aptly describes as "So 1967".

Here's my review.

I found the episode quite relieving from the tense episodes we've seen of late (what, FOUR episodes with impending doom in them? I was getting tired of it). The relationship between the High Priestess and Sheppard was surprisingly familiar (the Kirk bit) and we get to see Sheppard's first on-screen kiss, with an ANCIENT, no less. The whole romance thing became a key factor in the episode too quickly in my view, with Sheppard jumping the gun and Weir LETTING him go out alone on a PJ to fight a fleet of Wraith Darts.
But still, the episode was extremely interesting and calm (aside from McKay's apparent blunders here).

Here's a major spoiler: We can now see an Ascended Ancient's power. Let's just say it's not a pretty sight when it's unleashed.

Well about him being a "captain kirk" he's a man so when he sees a beutiful woman he loses his capability to use reason, Trust me I know first hand what that's like.. Secondly he's a better character and a much better soldier. Lets face it, kirk never single handedly killed off 65 enemy military troops. hehe... Also he's a much better character and far more cerebral than kirk ever was...

[Bobthespirit]

Pretty strong episode, except that....we've all done the 'found potential help from outside forces but they can't/won't help us for some reason' thing before. It seems like a variation of the Tollan.

Loved the Kirk comments though.

[Icemancmd]

ANother great Atlantis ep. Much better then the SG1 ep before it. Next week eps looks great again..unlike SG1s.

[BruceDickinson]

Hey all, first post, been around awhile, great site - thanks for that!

This was a decent episode, but had some problems.

First, the Atlantis staff should show a little more wisdom in the writing of their characters. I mean, here they are trying to force themselves onto a planet like they have the right. Did they forget that they are the reason the Wraith are around again in the first place? Please cut down on the holier than thou art attitude...

This episode should have been called, "McKay's Manifest Destiny". I was honestly a little disgusted with the attitude several of these hand picked "best of the best" displayed. I would hope in the future the writers present this cast with a little more respect for other people's cultures. The whole flying in and telling everyone, "Hey! We just flew in from another galaxy!" thing is a bit stupid.

The shows been great this season and has become my favorite show on TV, Rachel is smokin, and hopefully the Ancient hottie make occasional appearances too , but I hope all the disrespecting of unknown alien cultures thing comes to a quick end.

McKay acting like their god was a joke was pretty disturbing, and if the writers think that makes his character endearing, I think they are a bit foolish. I'm not a very religious person myself, but I would hope that initial contacts with alien peoples would be done in a more sophisticated manner. It is possible to show concern without being abbrasive or neurotic as McKay's character seems to relish so much. Were it not for those ridiculous antics, I would give this episode 4 stars, but as it stands with all the banal behavior from McKay, I have to say 2, maybe 2 1/2 stars.

Thanks for reading, and again, great site! Hope to discuss this awesome show with you all in the future!

[NightGloom]

I think McKay said it best that during this episode Sheppard was Captain Kirk. I'm not saying that he's becoming an exact replica, but during this episode he sure as heck acted like him. Frankly, I didn't like the episode too much, solely because it takes a lot for me to go for the whole romance thing. It was also kinda a little bit too much like Ascension I think. We really didn't learn that much in this episode either. There wasn't much towards character development, besides turning McKay into a complete jerk, not a funny sarcastic guy like he usually is, he was a complete jerk in this episode. And Ford had, what? One? Maybe two lines during the ENTIRE EPISODE!

[Ace]

Hey all, first post, been around awhile, great site - thanks for that!

This was a decent episode, but had some problems.

First, the Atlantis staff should show a little more wisdom in the writing of their characters. I mean, here they are trying to force themselves onto a planet like they have the right. Did they forget that they are the reason the Wraith are around again in the first place? Please cut down on the holier than thou art attitude...

This episode should have been called, "McKay's Manifest Destiny". I was honestly a little disgusted with the attitude several of these hand picked "best of the best" displayed. I would hope in the future the writers present this cast with a little more respect for other people's cultures. The whole flying in and telling everyone, "Hey! We just flew in from another galaxy!" thing is a bit stupid.

The shows been great this season and has become my favorite show on TV, Rachel is smokin, and hopefully the Ancient hottie make occasional appearances too , but I hope all the disrespecting of unknown alien cultures thing comes to a quick end.

McKay acting like their god was a joke was pretty disturbing, and if the writers think that makes his character endearing, I think they are a bit foolish. I'm not a very religious person myself, but I would hope that initial contacts with alien peoples would be done in a more sophisticated manner. It is possible to show concern without being abbrasive or neurotic as McKay's character seems to relish so much. Were it not for those ridiculous antics, I would give this episode 4 stars, but as it stands with all the banal behavior from McKay, I have to say 2, maybe 2 1/2 stars.

Thanks for reading, and again, great site! Hope to discuss this awesome show with you all in the future!

I wonder if I should watch the episode a 5th time, as I didn't see anything even similar to what you are talking about.

Force themselves on a planet? They weren't forcing anybody, they were discussing a treaty...

Holier than thou attitude? Once again haven't a clue as to what you are referring to...any examples?

McKay's Manifest Destiny? - Yet again I am perplexed as to what you mean by this...at no time did McKay suggest that we simply go ahead and send people there for sanctuary. Want to give an example of how you see Manifest Destiny in any part of this episode, especially in McKay.

McKay acting like their god? - What?!? Now I know you have to be watching a different episode. There was no part or dialog at all in the episode that made McKay act like he was a god to the people on the planet. He did express his dislike for their religion...but then again he's a scientist and he's McKay

Initial contacts - I myself am not religious but once again I am unsure of your complaint about inital contacts. Sheppard, Teyla and Ford I thought were doing an outstanding job of trying to be understanding to their culture. Even setting aside logic to make it easier to communicate. McKay, well he spoke his mind. Which is something I have come to expect and like about McKay.

Maybe this is what you meant by all of those other comments, McKay spoke his mind throughout this entire episode. About their religion, the notion of a weapon on the planet, and finally about Chaya! IS this what you meant?

Ace

[DJFavorite]

I'm not to sure I liked this episode. Rodney's pessimistic additude is starting to get a little old. I'd like to see him think a little more positively.

The story was ok, nothing spectacular in my opinion.

On a side note, I chuckled at how similar Chaya residence looked an awful lot like Mayborne's current residence.

[SmartFox]

The ancient in this episode was Super hot, as in beyond gorgeous.

I have to agree.

And Ford had, what? One? Maybe two lines during the ENTIRE EPISODE!

That is becoming a trend unfortunatly.

I think this was a pretty good ep. Though i could tell she was an Ancient from early on. Especially since Mckay is never wrong.

[Jolinarsam]

I thought that was weird too that they just go and show this woman everything in Atlantis without knowing really anything about her. I was having deja vu of certain SG-1 episodes. How many times do they have to make this mistake before it sticks in their heads? They got lucky this time. Plus it seemed like McKay was the only one wanting to take precautions which should be standard procedure.

When they zoomed in on her with a big slit up her dress I was just kind of stunned. Not that it's that important, but it just took me out of the story for a second trying to figure out why someone would kneel down like that with no one else around when it was obvious her dress had been strategically placed that way.

[Jeril]

Er, okay... I'm confused about one thing about Chaya and her being Ancient and Ascended 'n all that nifty stuff.
Soooo, she was Ascended she said but she comes and visits her people every once and a while. So, she's going back and forth from corporeal to Ascended, corporeal to Ascended, which kinda contradicts what I remember Orlin in S5 of SG-1 saying about Ascension. He said that once the Ascended take human form, they can't become Ascended again without the help of the Others. (Which, by the way, always makes me think of that Nicole Kidman movie. )
This means that the Ascended Ancients were hanging around the whole time in SGA because they had to have been there at Atlantis to allow Chaya to re-Ascend. This doesn't kinda make sense to me though because Chaya said her punishment was to protect her people. But then why would the Others let her leave? She couldn't do the protecting if she was gone so she'd be kinda escaping her punishment, yes?

Oh, side note!
I loved the comments about Kirk! Completely rocked my socks!! Sheppard was getting all Kirk-y there for a bit and I loved it when Rodney made the comment that they weren't in 1967 or something like that. That made my night.

Er, but one last thing... what was with the Ascension soul-sex? I'm sorry, but that just creeps me out. It made me cringe when Carter and Orlin did it on SG-1 and I cringed just as much when Sheppard and Chaya did it here.
Is it just me or is the whole thing kinda creepy? They just meet these people and they're like, "Sure, I'll share my very essence of soul with you! Like that's not important!" Shouldn't they want to get to know these Ascended a bit more before doing this? Maybe I'm just being uber-conservative but it kinda strikes me as the Ascended version of sexual promiscuity...

So, yeah... my thoughts, whether you want 'em or not.