The Siege, Part 3 (201)

[Admiral Q O]

In the Inside Scifi special, Torri Higginson says quite unequivocally that they do butt heads from time to time... In fact, they showed a short clip of Weir and Caldwell having an altercation of sorts...

Good to know. Thanks!

I look forward to it...I can see some serious chemistry there, and not shipper stuff...just good tension.

[entil2001]

Before I go any further, I just have to have a moment of silence for the first season opening theme. I’m not sure why SFC decided to chop it down and remove the inspiring and memorable music, but I suspect it had something to do with adding commercial time. (Networks do silly things like that and pretend it doesn’t matter.)

I liked how it started right where it left off, and for the most part, the transitions were seamless. In fact, I was left wondering if the entire first act hadn’t been the original final act for the first season finale. Bear with me…wouldn’t that have actually been a logical place to end the series, if SFC had pulled a “Farscape” on it? It’s like the rest of the episode was somewhat tacked on to the original ending. I didn’t think it was bad, but there was a slight different feel to it after the first act. Very strange.

I think the addition of the Daedalus to the series will be a good thing. “SG-1” was always introducing new technology to the mix as the series went on, and having something bigger than a puddle jumper around is going to come in handy. It also adds an “outside” military presence to the series, which ought to play nicely against the group led by Sheppard. There are now several groups with very different levels of experience with the Wraith and the status quo of the Pegasus Galaxy, and that ought to be fun for the writers to play with!

I’m not sure what to think of Mitch Pileggi’s role yet. Supposedly it’s only going to be a recurring role, which I think would be unfortunate. For one thing, the man needs work! But he also needs a chance to get out of the chair and develop more of a personality. He’s something of a cardboard cutout right now, which is all right for an introduction under such circumstances, but his motivations need to be clarified.

The battle against the 12 Hive Ships was a great showcase for the special effects, and I’m glad the situation wasn’t resolved so easily as suggested. The final solution is also a mere delaying tactic, though. The writers make it sound like Ford is the weak link, and that his presence beyond Atlantis is likely to break the illusion. But that ignores the fact that they run around from planet to planet all the time! Aren’t the Wraith going to find evidence of their continued presence anyway?

I buy the fact that the Wraith would see the explosion and assume that the city was destroyed in a moment of spite. (I’m not sure why the Ancients would have failed to attempt a similar tactic, but there we are.) But the thing with Teyla and her little telepathic connection to the Wraith comes across as too convenient, especially after how difficult it was for her at the end of the first season. For that matter, in a few scenes, Teyla was a little “off”, like in the scene with McKay in the first half, so maybe that’s why I didn’t buy it completely.

This thing with Ford ought to be interesting. It’s about time they gave him something to do. He was probably my least favorite character from the first season, and frankly, he could have been the first major casualty, and I wouldn’t have minded. Now, though, he ought to be trouble for the team, and his ordeal might serve to explore more about the Ancient/Wraith connection.

I love the Daedalus! I thought the Prometheus kicked some serious butt, but this ship is even more massive and formidable. I love it when the writers actually think about how the shields and weapons work, and keep the technobabble to a relatively low roar by using established concepts and playing them out. By using and removing the one quick advantage of having the Daedalus around, the writers keep it from becoming too convenient a plot element.

As season premieres go, it was pretty good. It had a lot to cover, and it did that and more. I didn’t see Ford’s thing coming at all, especially since problems like that typically get resolved. I hope that this is a sign that the writers will continue to “up the ante” and keep the episodes from becoming too self-contained. The first season had a nice balance of dropping information about the mythos into each and every episode, and I’d love to see that continue.

[IMForeman]

Fantastic episode. Just fantastic. Can't wait for more. Sorry to see what happened to Aiden though.

-IMF

[uknesvuinng]

Yeah, I remember that, but I didn't get "Half the Ancients turned into Wraith" out of it. Besides, aren't humans and Ancients different? Hence the whole point of having an Ancient gene?

Ancients are humans further along the evolutionary path. The ATA gene is a marker specifically for identifying those who are permitted to use certain Ancient techs. The gene is more of a "security clearance" than a feature of Ancient-hood.

I think the "half the Ancients" thing was a misunderstanding of Beckett's theory. There's a whole lot of purely fan speculation about Wraith turning humans/Ancients into Wraith. Some people mistakenly take this as canon and mix it with other ideas (the wraith a result of bugs incorporating human DNA). The result? Suddenly half of the Ancients turned into Wraith.

[not so ancient]

The Shep/Weir stuff was the biggest downside of the entire ep. I liked the ten-second opening better than the shippy moments- that's how much I hated it.

I managed to rationalize it away as Weir simply being really happy to see one of her lost ducklings returned to her, but it's a very flimsy explanation, especially given the fact that a majority of TPTB are shippy to their core. The hug, the moment, the look... it all lasted a little too long for my tastes and please, dear gods above, have mercy and DO NOT ADD SHIP TO ATLANTIS!!!

Leave the "moments" SUBTLE and open to interpretation. PLEASE!

It was entirely open to interpretation, unless you are so allergic to 'ship that anything that even might be liberally interpreted as ship is enough to trigger a reaction.

Which seems to be the case.

Ship is in the eye of the beholder. I saw one colleague hug another out of deep relief and genuine regard for the person's heroism and place in Atlantis. You looked for something you hate, and not surprisingly, you found it.

I'm sure the writers will never have anyone hug, clasp hands, put and arm around another's shoulders, smile or anything like that again because that's just automatically schmoopysexromance and not, you know, normal human behaviour.

[not so ancient]

I don't have time to scan 5 pages...

Is it just me or did Caldwell come off as being a bit too weak?

He seemed like an errand boy, not a commander of a warship.

Loved the ep otherwise.

Excuse me, did you watch The Siege, Part 3, the Season 2 Premiere of Stargate Atlantis, that aired on July 15, 2005 on SciFi?

If you think Caldwell is weak, then you have to be watching another show with another character named Caldwell.

[not so ancient]

In the Inside Scifi special, Torri Higginson says quite unequivocally that they do butt heads from time to time... In fact, they showed a short clip of Weir and Caldwell having an altercation of sorts...

It might be just me, but I think Torri sort of suggested something along the lines of a sparks/attraction thing along with the conflict between Weir and Caldwell.

Which wouldn't surprise me at all, because that's the kind of chemistry Mitch Pileggi makes with a lot of his costars: one minute they're shouting at each other and the next minute they could be tearing each others clothes off. Offscreen. Darnit.

[TheCorpulent1]

I got that impression as well. It seemed as if TH was suggesting that the conflict between Caldwell and Weir over Atlantis' leadership might inspire some sexual tension between the two. Which is fine by me. Better Caldwell for Weir than Shep, in my opinion. Shep should stick to the Captain Kirk routine.

[morjana]

Excellent episode.

Another familiar face on the Daedalus was the helmsman (I think that's what that position is called -- the one to the right of Caldwell [camera left]). That young airman was portrayed by actor Kirby Morrow, who guest starred on two SG1 episodes, season one's, "Cor-Ai," and season five's, "The Warrior."

Nice to see him again.

Loved the Shep-Weir hug, Shep did look startled (and uncomfortable), but Weir looked very happy.

Rainbow -- wow, what a great performance. It will be interesting to see how Ford transforms over the next couple of episodes. I thought Sheppard and Ford had a good rapport going, and it's a shame to lose that. But now there's another mission for Sheppard to undertake...In Search of Ford.

Everyone's performances were terrific -- and the special effects were wonderful. Welcome back James Tichenor, we missed you. (However, Michelle is doing a terrific job on SG1.)

Really missed the opening theme music, and because of the SciFi Channel announcer talking over the end credits, we missed out on the end credit theme music.

Bad, SciFi Channel, bad!

Looking forward to this week's episodes -- and the rest of the season.

Morjana

[SGalisa]

In the situation with Lt.Ford looking like he was being turned into looking like a wraith via the enzyme connection... he was okay personality wise, until he was advised to continue resting. Then he lost it. Just totally went nutso. Did he ever look in a mirror before or after that point?

(or NEW theory:
was that physical abnormality actually an injury caused by the grenade blast? However, it wouldn't explain the totally dark eyeball bit that is usually typical make-up used for people who are possessed by the "darkside" from external evil forces, etc., or would it? ...and what is the cause behind this phenomena, in Lt.Ford's situation?)

Since there was no mirror scene shown, it just seemed odd (behavior) that Ford thought of himself as a freak and got paranoid as a result -was he not thinking clearly and simply associating everyone's reactions based on him being rescued out of the water with the Wraith still attached to him? Meaning the idea that he survived (and never looked in the mirror!) such a traumatic experience, and everyone was afraid of him because of that?

(That would lead to paranoia.) Or was it an emotional chemical reaction from being weaned back to life from the superdrug created from the enzyme itself?

Originally posted by uknesvuinng:
There's a whole lot of purely fan speculation about Wraith turning humans/Ancients into Wraith.

Until viewers get the full background story, perhaps too much speculation.

Originally posted by uknesvuinng:
I think the "half the Ancients" thing was a misunderstanding of Beckett's theory.

Actually, in the case of what I said, it was a blending of trying to understand the time frames of 10,000 years ago and beyond and *guestimating* where the balance of numbers came from that the war became "officially" lost (see post #177 of this topic).

Originally posted by SGalisa:
Here's the "half" which may more be like an "undetermined portion" of the population:

If the Ancients seeded the Pegasus galaxy... After their hiatus, upon their return, they met up with the Wraith (whom everyone is guessing is the "dark enemy, who's technology riveled their own"). If the Wraith were created by the bug critters (aka "38 Minutes"), somehow the Wraith also had time to evolve, grow, develop technology, and greatly multiplied in their numbers.

By the time the Ancients entered or decided to leave the Wraith war (large variance here!), it was most likely that half of their populations in the Pegasus galaxy equalled the Wraith numbers. That's where the estimated "half" of that point in time came from.

Well, from my limited understanding of it, anyway.

[mcdonis]

Does anyone else think it a little strange that Teyla was the only person in her team to survive? And the way she was acting and her facial expressions made me think that she was under Wraith control the whole time.

Especially when she was sending her message to the wraith. Perhaps the real message she was sending was that deadulus was the real key to getting to Earth not Atlantis. (hyperdrive tech)


Anyone else think the whole Teyla thing was a little strange in the latest episode?

[Qasim]

She said that she got separated from her group

[Elitenova]

Does anyone else think it a little strange that Teyla was the only person in her team to survive? And the way she was acting and her facial expressions made me think that she was under Wraith control the whole time.

Especially when she was sending her message to the wraith. Perhaps the real message she was sending was that deadulus was the real key to getting to Earth not Atlantis. (hyperdrive tech)


Anyone else think the whole Teyla thing was a little strange in the latest episode?

I dont know about that. It could be.

[mcdonis]

She said that she got separated from her group

That was what she said..... Perhaps she lied



Frankly it just seemed a little creepy the whole thing. Could be nothing, but it would be a great twist. And dont you think the whole logic of the message was a little off?

[Qasim]

So in other words your accusations are based on your supposition (i.e guess: a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence) that she lied. For some reason you believe her to untrustworthy for what reason is that?