Letters From Pegasus (117)

[SeaBee]

Yep, liked this one.

I do hope that Kavanagh gets a Wraith handshake soon, though. He really gets on my nerves.

[zats]

Wraith handshake. I like that!

[SGalisa]

As much as I detest Kavanagh's rotten little attitude...

The only bad thing about giving that "Wraith handshake" to Kavanagh, is that Kavanagh knows as much as McKay and is apparently just as intelligent as McKay. I think McKay said something about that in one of the earlier eps.

That would make Kavanagh a *very* dangerous adversary if he ever got "wraithed" with the giant database sitting in his brain.

Earth would definitely be in serious jeapordy with that kind of knowledge being passed on. Smorgasbord for the taking.

[Shep'sSocks]

I like Kavanagh. He's the voice of the people who say "Life sucking aliens, let's run away." Plus his criticisms of Weir are actually valid. She's supposed to be a diplomat and have leadership skills and up until BiS, shows neither trait.

[Osiris-RA]

KAVANAGH IS MY HERO!! I do Love a trendsetter - and people who aren't preturbed by flippant remarks *cough* Ford *cough* That look of pure "did you say something?" I love it!!

*sighs dreamily* Kavvy's the best!

... AND PONYTAILS ROCK!!

[mgbland]

This may sound strange, but after several viewings Weirs messages and McKay's message to his sister still have me in tears.

Usually clip episodes bore me, but this one worked! Powerful counterpoint between the messages being recorded and Sheppard & Teyla witnessing a culling.

Edited to add:

Loved Ford's line to Cavenaugh - "I'll leave you to record your whining in private."

[mentalmichael]

KAVANAGH IS MY HERO!!!

Are you kidding me? he's a whiny little sexist brat who got upset when he realised he couldn't boss Dr Weir around. And also, Mckay is the voice of the people who says "Life sucking aliens, let's run away."

[silverdamascus]

I like Kavanagh. He's the voice of the people who say "Life sucking aliens, let's run away." Plus his criticisms of Weir are actually valid. She's supposed to be a diplomat and have leadership skills and up until BiS, shows neither trait.

I'm not fond of Kavanagh, I didn't mind him at first I thought he had backbone standing up to his team like that. He had a vaild point in 38 minuites and Dr Weir was well out of order snapping at him like that. But what Kavanagh did was much worse, complaining to her at the point he did, which considering the situation they were in was a horiffic thing to do. Then the whining? Gahh.

And the "life sucking aliens, let's run away" always does sound better from Mckay I think.

[Willow'sCat]

This may sound strange, but after several viewings Weirs messages and McKay's message to his sister still have me in tears.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry then, he certainly went on an emotional roller coaster recording his message. *Gold*

Usually clip episodes bore me, but this one worked! Powerful counterpoint between the messages being recorded and Sheppard & Teyla witnessing a culling.

Hmm, yeah, I notice a lot of people calling this a "clip" episode and although sure it has a lot of clips, I still feel this episode gave us greater insight into the characters, McKay definitely (his kitty cat and the Sam line! ), Sheppard and Teyla's working relationship too, and the so-called minor characters are all heard form.

Not to mention it showed just how talented they all are, oh and funny Dr Zelenka's message had me in stitches by the end.

Do we need to pick on Kavanaugh so much? *Yes I hear you say*

He is there to be a certain way, an antagonist, I mean I remember a certain SG-1 character um, Dr Rodney McKay who came into the show to do just the same thing.

[Cynicat]

This has probably been discussed countless times, both within this thread, and elsewhere, but I feel compelled to toss in my $0.02. Warning - nitpicky blathering ahead!

Sheppard's private message (seen only as the "goodbye"). Did he or didn't he? Personally, I think he definately recorded a second message after the one to Sumner's family, here's my reasoning:
The background: placing something as obvious as that framed photograph isn't done lightly by the art dept - that's deliberate dressing. Slight spoiler for "Conversion": Interestingly, it's not the grandfather and son-type photo as the one seen in his room in that episode. It appears have been shot in the same room, but the camera has been turned slightly to the right - the same grey wall is in the background(not much to build a case on, I know - Ancient interior design being what it is), and the lighting on Sheppard's face indicates that he's turned slightly towards the light source, but hasn't actually moved any closer to it.

The framing: most of the other messages recorded by Ford - including Sheppard's message to Sumner's family - are framed in a very similar way: the subject is about the same distance from the camera, head-and-shoulders shot, and centered in the frame. Sheppard's second message is a tighter frame (he's closer to the camera) and he's slightly off-centre, giving the impression that he's placed the camera himself.

His demeanor: Almost goes without saying, doesn't it? He only speaks one word, but he says a lot with it. I got the impression that it took a lot of consideration for him to say whatever was in that message, and that it wasn't neccessarily something he wanted to say... or someone he wanted to say it to.

[GatetheWay]

Interesting. I thought it was just a mistake by the camera people but I guess you explination can work too.

[Cynicat]

It still could be a mistake, but personally I think that's a really long shot - I'd like to hope the combined efforts of the set dressers, continuity, and camera crew would be beyond such an obvious error. I mean, they're shooting with the assistance of a video split (little monitor showing what the camera sees, also records the footage to a DV tape for quick review) so it's a simple matter of rolling back the tape to look at the previous setup if there's any concerns about framing, dressing, lighting; or simply to review a performance. I think this was very deliberate look into part of Sheppard's character, something that we will hopefully learn more about in the future.

For my fellow nitpickers, here's a direct comparison...

First message, to Sumner's family:


Second message:

[Lysia]

I'm not the Kavanagh fan myself, and I thought that Ford was funny when he left him to do his 'whining in private'. The only thing that's ok about him is that he was against what they did to poor Steve the Wraith.

This episode made me laugh a lot.

Any idea what that weird Wraith beam shooting up into the sky during the culling was?

[Daniel's_twin]

Possibly "marking" the planet as being culled or claiming territory or something like that?

[timdalton007]

Pretty good...for what essential is a clip show. Still, it is a strong set up for the season 1 finale.

timdalton007