The Intruder (202)

[White Knight]

Loved the episode. It was Entity with a twist of Battlestar Galactica (computer networks + science fiction → bad news + good story), presented in the unique Atlantis way.
I think I liked the character developments more than the actual story. For starters, in one fell swoop TPTB established that Sheppard was an Air Force pilot (not an Army pilot like many were suggesting on other threads), rectified SG-1's and Atlantis' timelines, and told us that Sheppard has been promoted (and was really happy about it!). Then there was the beginings of the Atlantis team/Caldwell conflict that's bound to become a major plot point. And Weir sticking up for Sheppard in front of (the apparently power-hungry) Caldwell and Landry. Its good to see the team sticking up for one another. My opinion of General Landry has dropped a couple of notches, though.
Hermoid...what can I say about Hermoid? This is what happens when an incredibly advanced alien race decides that Jack O'Neill if the greatest thing since yellow foodstuff cubes ("How perceptive of you."). And Sheppard's reaction was priceless...he is the personification of everyone who came into Atlantis without the foggiest notion of what SG-1 was about ("Is he supposed to be naked like that?).
As for the Weir/Simon story...glad its over. And I'm intrigued by the fact that now, besides her obligatory reports to Stargate Command and the Pentagon, Weir has no reason to return to Earth. Puts her in the same boat as Sheppard.

Not like a shippy boat ot anything, but like their situation; they've got no close relatives or friends or spouses back on Earth...that doesn't mean they should get together, though!...aww, fudgepops.

[Easter Lily]

See, I agree with that statement...and yet at the same time I don't. In my own earlier post, I mentioned that this plot was a bit of a retread. (Although I disagree about "Before I Sleep." There's a difference between containing similiar elements and containing a similar plot.) However, I felt that this episode was an improvement on the "SG1" episode utilizing the same device. The difference, as I also stated earlier, was in the execution, with the "Atlantis" characters and universe giving it a much more interesting spin. The lines and characters moments made the old plot more attractive and intriguing. Again, I like some character development with my plot, and I feel like "Atlantis" consistently does a better job of that than "SG1" does.

Penguin, I can definitely see where you're coming from. This is the reason why I don't think SGA will ever be just a clone of SG-1... Maybe I'm just not that much of a fan of SG-1... and all past episodes are a blur in my mind... or perhaps I'm just completely deluded about the freshness of the SGA. If so, I'm happy to stay deluded...
The biggest reason why I think Atlantis is a completely different show rests with its characters. As long as the stories revolve around that rag tag expedition team, I think it will maintain its own identity. I love our Atlantis screw-ups and the trouble they seem to get themselves into from one occasion to the next. Let's face it, with uber smart Carter, did we really think that she wouldn't find some way out of it that wouldn't cause any subsequent fallout? Entity must've been one of those forgettable episodes for me because I really didn't remember it... but I don't know that I would've cared all that much even if I did...

Also, the other thing I like about Atlantis is that sense of continuity between episodes. OK, it's a virus like in the other show.. but at least it's a Wraith virus... The Wraith we've crossed swords with and will most probably turn up again. The entity in Entity was just that... an entity...

To me, the Wraith aren't that easily boiled down. They are ruthless and single-minded, yes, but that doesn't necessarily compute to make them stupid as well. They've shown a fair amount of technological sophistication. It's their emotional and cultural development that can't seem to move past their need to cultivate humans as food.

From reading ahead to some of the minor spoilers of future episodes, I'm actually beginning to find the Wraith a little intriguing... Can't say I was in any way taken with their initial entry as villain of the week but now they might actually be something to sink one's teeth into...

[LoveYouBaby]

Did anyone see the little yellow stuffed duck (or was it a chick?) in one of the F-302s. I thought it was adorible. Wonder what the story is behind it.

Yeah, I recall saying, "Awwww... isn't that cute. In a middle of a chaos, there's an toy ducky, how cute"

LOL

[White Knight]

To me, the Wraith aren't that easily boiled down. They are ruthless and single-minded, yes, but that doesn't necessarily compute to make them stupid as well. They've shown a fair amount of technological sophistication. It's their emotional and cultural development that can't seem to move past their need to cultivate humans as food.

From reading ahead to some of the minor spoilers of future episodes, I'm actually beginning to find the Wraith a little intriguing... Can't say I was in any way taken with their initial entry as villain of the week but now they might actually be something to sink one's teeth into...

I believe that was the intent of this episode, as well as a large part of Season 2; to show that the Wraith are more than the vampiric space-demons thet we saw in Season 1. The discovery of a Wraith virus was the thing that made me sit up and go "Hang on, if the Wraith can make a virus A.I. to infect out computers, what else don't we know about thier capablilities, and what else can they do to hurt us?"
Looking forward to seeing Sheppard and his team on recon missions to find out exactly what the Wraith's capabilities are, as opposed to the standard fare of either "Lets see what we can find in Atlantis today" or "You're a human civilisation and you've got what to defeat the Wraith?"
Not to diss Season 1 or anything. It was heaps good, much better then SG-1 Season 8.

[Carbito]

Also, what was up with those "memory" things? Where they suppose to be a HDD or something? What ever they are why would the most advanced fighters Earth has have their primary memory storage connected via a old serial cable?!?

[LoveYouBaby]

Hey, it looked hi-tech!


ROFL!

[keppiezbt]

good ep. not the best but still good. love mckay, love hermy....so funny....crap indeed

[Sela]

Hermoid...what can I say about Hermoid? This is what happens when an incredibly advanced alien race decides that Jack O'Neill if the greatest thing since yellow foodstuff cubes ("How perceptive of you."). And Sheppard's reaction was priceless...he is the personification of everyone who came into Atlantis without the foggiest notion of what SG-1 was about ("Is he supposed to be naked like that?).

I think we tend to forget what our reactions would be if we were to encounter a real alien face to face for the first time. I like Shep's reaction. I mean, who knows if he's suppose to be nekked or if he's making a political statement about working with humans. He doesn't seem to be too crazy about it, so maybe Hermi was mooning us all to show his displeasure. LOL! I hope they keep up the Shep / Hermi conflict. It's wonderfully funny.

[knocknashee]

This was a great ep!!! Last week and this week the eps didn't just solve one problem - it was ongoing issues that had to be addressed! Once one problem is taken care of, there's another one that has to be solved!

Shep was awesome!! From his little boy excitement at his promotion, to his saving of the day....again. He and Rodney are just an awesome team - this time around Shep solved the problem and implemented the solution. He's smart and he's quick on his feet! Rodney talks fast, but needs Shep around to bounce his ideas off of - they're great together!! And Caldwell is gonna realize at some point that Atlantis has become a somewhat well-oiled machine - teamwork baby!!!

Joe Flanigan is terrific - he can totally carry a scene!! Loved him in the 302 when he was flying away waiting to be beamed. He was tense but trusted in his team to get him home. And loved him with Hermiod especially knowing how Joe hates to work with the puppet!!

So far this season ROCKS!!

I can't wait to see all the confrontation that's going to come out of this triangle...

I don't think Joe said he hated the puppet, more that it was weird acting along side one...

[QuiGonJohn]

This was a good episode as well. I liked how Wier exerted her influence in getting the team she wanted.

[not so ancient]

Ok, I haven't really commented too much on Atlantis, certainly not to the extent that I blither on about SG-1. That said, I continue to be impressed by the quality production that Brad Wright puts together week in, week out. Atlantis has certainly reaped a multitude of benefits from it's parent show.

Atlantis got a great running start from SG-1. But Atlantis does not depend on SG-1 any longer.

However, Intruder is another in a pattern of recent episodes that seem to borrow too heavily, at least for me, from SG-1. If Before I Sleep was Brief Candle, Point of View, and Moebius mixed together and swirled about, then Intruder was an unforgivably huge bit of Entity, Nemesis, and Tangent mixed in the same blender.

That is true only if you're looking at Atlantis through SG-1 lenses, which is exactly what you're doing.

That's your right, but it's my right to think that your view does a disservice to Atlantis.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed each and every one of those SG-1 episodes. And, admittedly, I did enjoy Intruder, to an extent. I'm just saying, from a story perspective, it was a little redundant.

Redundant if you (1) immediately recall those SG-1 episodes (2) immediately see the story as not just the same theme, but actually identical.

Now, I fully recognize that it's the same guys writing both shows; I expect there to be some "borrowing". But this just seems blatanly lazy. And no, having McKay mention the events of Entity doesn't make it better. Not only was this a rehash of older SG-1 stuff, but the same damn thing kept happening over and over and over. How many times can you play the same damn card in the same episode? And thank Odin (well, at the very least Hermiod) for those Asgard transporters. Those things are lifesavers, literally.

Despite all of that, my biggest problem with the episode has to be the virus itself. I'm certainly no expert on Atlantis, but I can't recall ever seeing the Wraith presented as technologically inclined enough to resort to something so...so...so...high tech.

Um, the wraith have hyperspace drives, beaming technology, and ships that can survive and function for more than 10k years even crashed. I think I wouldn't be too hasty to dismiss them as dumb little Paclets.

It's usually more, ARRRGGGHH, me kill, me hungry. I mean, let's face it, they're not exactly the Aschen, are they? Joking aside, in just the last episode they resorted to kamikaze attacks against the city of Atlantis. After all, why not try downloading the virus to Atlantis? We've got enough Earth tech there to infect the city, right? To go from such crude, yet admittedly effective, tactics to something so Machiavellian over the course of one episode is a bit hard to swallow.

Uh huh. Well. Moving on.

Nonetheless, I choked it down. And I'm glad I did.

Are you?

The reward was a good bit of character development, mostly for Dr. Weir. She's really been great this season so far. She's been so good in the last two episodes that I'd gladly trade Beau Bridge's General Landry for Torri Higginson's Dr. Weir in a heartbeat. In general, I really don't think that Atlantis has much over SG-1, but she's got way more going for her as a character than Landry does. Oh well, can't have it all.

Of course, you've seen Weir for 22 episodes now, and Landry for only two, so the comparison is entirely fair.

As for the Simon stuff, well, fans are gonna see what they want to see. And, that's just what fans have been asking for from TPTB--ambiguity. Of course, they weren't too ambiguous with the shippy overtones of Sheppard's and Weir's late night coffee rendezvous, so what do I know?

God, it's just so unbelievably romantically shippy and just like a damned Harlequin Romance novel that two people didn't know the other was up late, happened to run each each other, have coffee and chat. My goodness, it's just so sugar sweet romance. Quick, get the insulin.

And, what's up with the writing of McKay? As many have pointed out already, he seems to be rapidly devovling into the Felger persona that SG-1 scuttled (dear God, let him be scuttled) back in season seven.

McKay is really not at all like Felger. Of course, if you see Atlantis as nothing more than a blurry mimeograph of SG-1, then everything about it has to be limited to what you've seen in SG-1. That's a failure of your imagination, not the show itself.

McKay's always been a difficult character to place in an appropriate context, at least as far as my tastes go, but this year he's just been a clown.

Yeah. Clown. Right. Okay, moving on.

And I'm not talking Feste here. Rodney's perspicacity seems to be a rather selective trait. Give me Beckett or Zelenka any day. Still, we're only two episodes in; though, the spoilers from Duet already have me cringing.

I'm shattered. My tears could fill an ocean. How can we go on? ::: rends garments, douses self in ashes :::

In the end, for me, Intruder was a thoroughly enjoyable, if forgettable, episode of Atlantis.

If that's what you think of as 'enjoyable' I cringe to think of what you hate.

Bring on Runner, where I hope some more substantial events take place.

Just a suggestion here: save some time and just rewatch SG-1 episodes, since that's all you see.

[MartoufMarty]

I liked this episode.

Rodney cracks me up.

And I was waiting for Rodney to realize this was like the Entity at the SGC.

And what's with Teyla sounding like an office assitant? That made me kind of cringe.

Heh. And the guy that was sucked out the air-lock played that Tok'ra that got killed by the Ashrak in the SG-1 episode Alliegance back in Season 6...

What made me kind of sad was that they didn't have any flashbacks to what Rodney was doing when he was on Earth

[golfbooy]

Why am I not surprised to see this response? Again, not so ancient, your need to try to invalidate my own opinion simply says more about you and how you feel about Atlantis than anything I could have written. Where does your need for everyone to absolutely enjoy every single aspect of the show come from? And what exactly is your objection to a dissenting opinion being expressed?

Disagreements are one thing, discussion would be welcome, but you simply resort to attacking me rather than refuting what I say. Can you offer no better defense of Atlantis? And no, that is not an invitation for you to continue to ramble on about how unfair, prejudiced, and (at least in your mind) wrong my thoughts on Intruder are.

And please, don't delude yourself into thinking that my appreciation for SG-1 extends as far as your apparently undying, irresolute, oft-expressed love of every single aspect of Atlantis. I've taken more than my fair share of digs at SG-1 for what I percieve as missteps. And yes, all shows have them, even Atlantis. Ultimately, I can't grasp why you seem to be constantly ashamed of Atalantis' origins.

Either way, next time, spare me your petulant, immature, and, let's face it, woefully inadequate personal attacks. You're not going to change my opinion of Atlantis, and I was never trying to change yours.

[ShadowMaat]

I suggest doing what I did, golfy, and putting him on ignore.

An exchange of opinions/ideas is what this forum is all about. Nowhere in the rules does it say that complaints and dissenting opinions are not allowed.

The fact that some feel the need to personally attack others over comments posted on a bboard dedicated to a piece of fiction is disappointing, but not terribly surprising.

I have and always will speak my mind, even if it means voicing a complaint about a show I otherwise love. If I tried to ignore everything that bugged me and tried to steadfastedly maintain that everything (including the stuff I hate) was rainbows and puppydogs, my head would explode. While some might see that as a bonus, I am personally rather attached to my head and like it as is. Although I could really use a haircut...

Anyway, there were some good character development bits in this ep, but I think that the over-all story arc was weak and overly redundant. For the second ep of the season, it was a big disappointment and all the humor in the world can't make up for the lack of a good plot. Not for me, anyway.

[golfbooy]

Originally Posted by ShadowMaat:
I suggest doing what I did, golfy, and putting him on ignore.

Ignore function? That little gem had slipped my mind. But now that you mention it, not so ancient does seem to be the perfect candidate, huh?