Instinct (207)

[ShadowMaat]

I thought it was obvious- Shep's role is the same as Mitchell's on SG-1: Stand around and look pretty and crack jokes. Save the Day if absolutely necessary or be the source of angst if not.

[SGLAB]

I thought it was obvious- Shep's role is the same as Mitchell's on SG-1: Stand around and look pretty -snip

But is that so bad?

[ShadowMaat]

But is that so bad?

Not if you go for that sort of thing.

And I'll agree with those saying there were no real surprises involved. No, I didn't suspect that the "dad" was only 34, but I wasn't surprised that she was feeding off him, I wasn't surprised she tried to take the retrovirus, I wasn't surprised about the battle or its outcome OR the casualties...

Ditto whoever wondered why the hell the villagers suddenly and randomly decided to grab pitchforks and torches (so to speak) and go marching off to the castle- I mean the forest- to slay the monster. I suppose it could be explained as them feeling silly that Shep and crew came along and instantly marched off in the jaws of death (oh, such colorful descriptions!) while they sat around and did nothing, but that doesn't quite do it for me and it seems awfully silly to wait for ten years or whatever it was before finishing the job they themselves started.

[SGLAB]

Not if you go for that sort of thing.

And I'll agree with those saying there were no real surprises involved. No, I didn't suspect that the "dad" was only 34, but I wasn't surprised that she was feeding off him, I wasn't surprised she tried to take the retrovirus, I wasn't surprised about the battle or its outcome OR the casualties...

Ditto whoever wondered why the hell the villagers suddenly and randomly decided to grab pitchforks and torches (so to speak) and go marching off to the castle- I mean the forest- to slay the monster. I suppose it could be explained as them feeling silly that Shep and crew came along and instantly marched off in the jaws of death (oh, such colorful descriptions!) while they sat around and did nothing, but that doesn't quite do it for me and it seems awfully silly to wait for ten years or whatever it was before finishing the job they themselves started.

I could just see the "pitch forks and torches" coming. I was half expecting to see them catch her and tie her to a stake. Then Sheppard moves in front of her trying to convince the villagers not to kill her. Ironically that's what was happening in the Firefly episode Friday night. I was glad it didn't go that far.

[Lida]

I could just see the "pitch forks and torches" coming. I was half expecting to see them catch her and tie her to a stake. Then Sheppard moves in front of her trying to convince the villagers not to kill her. Ironically that's what was happening in the Firefly episode Friday night. I was glad it didn't go that far.

Referring to to the line......

Villager: "She's a witch!"
Person on Firefly (sorry, I hardly ever watch it):"But she's our witch!"

Priceless line.....

However, back to the important stuff.....have to agree, Sheppard is more than a pretty face.....he is the glue that holds the team together. Elizabeth might be the titular head of Atlantis, but it's Shep, who week after week, puts his neck on the line. He is the only one capable of keeping the arrogant genius of McKay, the eagerness of Beckett, the impulsiveness of Ronon and, well Teyla, in check. Granted, he has had his failures, but hey, no one is perfect, though some might like to believe they are.

[FoolishPleasure]

I thought it was obvious- Shep's role is the same as Mitchell's on SG-1: Stand around and look pretty and crack jokes. Save the Day if absolutely necessary or be the source of angst if not.

I posted earlier that I felt Sheppard had gone "stale" recently, but couldn't put my finger on it. You got it right. I like Mitchell in SG1, but he isn't doing much, nor is Sheppard lately. Stand around, look cool, crack jokes, shoot guns sometimes, make out with hot alien chick of the week (oooh, now THAT is exciting, ). Our handsome Sheppard doesn't even have a backstory after a year and a half. At least we knew poor Ford had loving grandparents, even a cousin who cared. We don't even know if Shep had parents. . or if he was left on a doorstep by Dumbledore.

[ShadowMaat]

Our handsome Sheppard doesn't even have a backstory after a year and a half. At least we knew poor Ford had loving grandparents, even a cousin who cared. We don't even know if Shep had parents. . or if he was left on a doorstep by Dumbledore.

I'm sorry, maybe you weren't paying attention? He's there to look good, not have a back story! Gods, if we knew all the back stories of all the glamorous people in the world, they wouldn't be glamorous anymore, and without glamour, they're useless. Same goes for Shep.

I'm just flitting with this idea for fun, mind you, but at the same time there seems to be a sad undercurrent of truth to it. *sigh*

But then again, back stories have NEVER been one of the strong points of Stargate and Shep is hardly the only one to suffer from historical entropy.

[JanusAncient]

Shep doesn't have a family, he is all alone, watch LFP, read between the lines, and come to the conclusion of your choice, but it is there.

[GatetheWay]

I think his initial character profile said that his father was a Cold War General (or was it Colonal? can't remember) and that the only reason he wasn't court marsheled for whatever he did in Afganisan was because of intervention by his father. And something about Antartica being a self exile, not quite sure about that one.

[ShadowMaat]

Character profiles are worth dirt, as far as I'm concerned. Until we see something on screen (or implied/referenced), it isn't real.

[FoolishPleasure]

Shep doesn't have a family, he is all alone, watch LFP, read between the lines, and come to the conclusion of your choice, but it is there.

In LFP Shep mentioned, "I'm done" when asked if he wanted to send a message. He never has said he has no one back home. At least in SG1 you knew O'Neill's motivations (his son's death), and you knew about Daniel's parents, Teal'c's family, Carter's estrangement with her father. We know NOTHING about Sheppard after all this time. We don't know what drives him. We don't know why he feels the need to disobey orders. It would be nice for TPTB to let us know why Sheppard behaves the way he does.

[kiwigater]

Having just finished a PhD in biochemistry, why didn't you also bring up the fact that a retro-virus could not possibly work that quickly, as it operates on a molecular level. Perhaps because this is a TV series, that consistenly gets the biology, chemistry and medicine wrong??? I think suspension of belief is a requirement to watch most SciFi and SG-1 and SGA are NO exceptions. I hold several advanced degress in "life sciences", and I still enjoy the shows, errors and all.

Well, in the first part of my reply I was intimating that I think the notion that biological research is not a science is extremely low in merit, and that while I would agree some parts of it are definitely more qualitative than others, I think it's also true that biological systems are inherently more complex than pure physics, and that what often seems random and chaotic is actually the result of the overlapping complexities, feedbacks and interactions of a mind-bloggling number of systems.
I wasn't actually attempting to critique the science of the epiosode. I WAS attempting to provide an opinion on why it might be more challenging to deal with the Wraith compared to the Goa-uld.
Yeah, I definitely had massive ..... issues with the way the retrovirus worked (altho isn't it fascinating how much of our genome is made up of odd bits and pieces we "picked up" along the way ). It's not so much that things acting at a molecular level are slow (in fact, frequently quite the opposite - the depolarisation of nerve cells in muscle movement is very very fast), but I did laugh my ass off at the concept that you could just "remove" the Wraith DNA and she would suddenly be magically human again - dead more like cos her cells couldn't function But, as you say, watching these shows requires a suspension of disbelief, and just cos it's not possible for us in the real world, given their circumstances, who knows!

[White Knight]

So where's the inconsistancy? In the episode, or in your explanation?

[Xanderic]

yeah i thought the timeline was a bit confusing.

From what I understand, the wraith ship crashed about 10 years ago. They killed the Wraith but left two survivors. The first one was an adult and was probably recovering/hibernating for about 2 years. The second one was the little girl. The son found the girl, hid Elia in the caves and periodically went to check up on her. After two years, the adult Wraith felt a need to feed so started ravaging the villages every quarter year or so. The son took the chance and fled to the caves forever and had the village assume he was dead. When Elia reached puberty two years ago, she needed to feed and he let her feed on him. Since then, he's been giving her the potion thingie which of course, has not been working. Elia has been deceiving him all this time.

[Dr Weir]

I'm spoiling the ep too much for myself as I haven't seen that ep, but why didn't the adult wraith return to a hive ship?