The Intruder (202)

[Nessva]

Although I enjoyed this episode, it did encompass the thing I sometimes get annoyed with on Atlantis:

The storyline. I know, Rodney said it, "There was an incident similar to this..." but to me, these half-similar storylines bug me. Yes, they're well done, usually just with elements of the story the exact way it was on SG1, but I'm pick and it does grate on my nerves.

I didn't really understand why Elizabeth was so shocked that Simon had met someone else - I saw that one coming a mile off.

As for Teyla coming across as an office assitant - I don't think it was so much the lines as the way they were said.

I wonder if we'll ever get to see more detail on Ford's family background.

Space battles etc were cool to see.

[ShadowMaat]

Just because you TELL us you're ripping off something doesn't make it OK.

[NotANumber]

I enjoyed the episode, but there were a few things that I feel the need to nitpick...

Why did the entire senior staff have to go to Earth? Weir picked the original team for the Atlantis expedition, why couldn't she have picked the newbies as well? I was surprised that Shep wasn't back in Pegasus leading the search for Ford; that scene with Ford's cousin seemed pointless and ultimately created for the purposes of making it seem like he had a reason for going. We've no idea why McKay was there, and aside from picking new doctors Beckett seemed to have taken over the job as the Daedalus' Chief Medical Officer.

McKay is one of my favourite characters, but did his whinging throughout this episode really annoy anyone else? It's like the producers have hit the reset button on all of his development throughout season one. And that scene with Lindstrom and the air lock could have been done better. Didn't Rodney know the fella's first name?

And why didn't Sheppard and McKay do anything to protect their eyes, and skin too, from the star in the F302? I supposed you could argue the same thing about Caldwell, but the Daedalus does have shields to protect it from different kinds of radiation.

And speaking of Caldwell, are they trying to make him out as some kind of power-hungry pain in the neck? This is what I got from a few articles on GW before the season started, but personally I didn't see that here at all. It seemed like he might have been Landry's choice to become the military commander but accepted that wasn't going to happen after Weir stood up for Sheppard. It didn't look like there were any problems between him and Shep or Weir, with the exception of the scene at the start where Caldwell (rightly or wrongly) asks Weir to respect the chain of command.

Anyway, it definitely had its good points but it wasn't perfect.

[the dancer of spaz]

McKay's whining is totally within character, IMO. He's the perfect cross between the wuss and the hero, because even after all that, he actually wanted to fly the freaking ship! His whining was annoying, but I tend to enjoy it when McKay is annoying, so...

I think the senior officers needed to go back to Earth so that they could all meet with the President, the JCs and Landry. Still, I wonder what the wisdom of taking ALL of the senior staff was. If the Wraith had decided to check out Atlantis, who the heck would've made the command decisions? Some green Captain? Somehow I don't think it would have - or could have - been Teyla, despite her new secretarial duties...

I think John's heroics at the end kinda proved to Caldwell that he deserves the job. Caldwell's ego and pride and... other things... just might get in the way of him admitting it anytime soon, though. Still, he cares about his people and he does care about doing the right thing. Caldwell, just like the past two Colonels who've been in charge, judged John right off the bat based on his past record. Until they saw him in action, they had no idea what kinda man he was. I'm hoping that Caldwell comes around, because I like Mitch Pilleggi. TH is right: He's a hunk-a-hunk of burning love.

I'm surprised they had Landry so steadfastly on Caldwell's side, though - especially considering Jack trusts her and the freakin' President trusts her. It kinda made him look like the antagonist with an agenda, which is disturbing considering he's supposed to be a good guy in SG-1... I wonder if they'll ever explain his behavior in this episode at a later time...

[Atlantis_Man]

Hermy was great, maybe they should call him Hermy now rather than Hermiod, Crap Indeed!

Anyway I thought some of the effects spoiled the viewing, for example, the decompression of that guy with the hand,
the X302 fight scene, could have been better without all the camera turns (making me sick) and that god awful sounds, i was hating the sound of Wraith Darts and thier motor lawn mower enginne but i would prefer that over the high pitch squeeling of the formula one cars

the story line was great, mainly the flash backs of earth, brought the action down a bit and focused a fair share on the characters and the emtional and inter personal relations.

felt the continous reboot thing was tedious, although with the gradual progression and that you can follow McKay's (and others) line of thinking through the episode as they tried get rid of the virus kinda got involved and made you feel like you understood and could be there yourself working with him.

Nice to see more of the Daedelus,

other than that great !
theres my 4 dollars and 2 cents

[ToasterOnFire]

Why did the entire senior staff have to go to Earth? Weir picked the original team for the Atlantis expedition, why couldn't she have picked the newbies as well? I was surprised that Shep wasn't back in Pegasus leading the search for Ford; that scene with Ford's cousin seemed pointless and ultimately created for the purposes of making it seem like he had a reason for going. We've no idea why McKay was there, and aside from picking new doctors Beckett seemed to have taken over the job as the Daedalus' Chief Medical Officer.

Good point. I also thought it was odd that all the higher-ups left Atlantis for weeks (months?). It was doubly odd that Shep went too, both because he's the leading military guy on Atlantis and one would think he's want to keep an eye on things there, and also because of Ford. The only reasons why I can see Shep going are:

-He is/was/is again the head military guy on Atlantis, and as such needed to pick more military team members.

-He was going to meet with SGC/other military personnel/the pres to talk about what happened on Atlantis. One would only assume such discussions would involve a thorough chewing-out regarding the insubordination in Hot Zone. Of course, giving him a promotion afterwards (and really only because Weir insisted) probably made it seem like a slap on the wrist. Looks like Shep got away scot-free while Weir had to pick up the pieces.

-He's the hero of the show. He has to go everywhere or the SGA as we know it could fall apart.

[joasia]

One thing still bothers me - why didn't the Wraith use the very basic test: dialing the Atlantis Stargate? Is it possible that they do not know the address? I do not think so. They probably do know it, but the shield will not let them go through. OK, so the Wraith will not get though that way, but if the wormhole opens they will know that the Stargate still works... And I would not think it could survive a nuclear blast.

[the dancer of spaz]

One thing still bothers me - why didn't the Wraith use the very basic test: dialing the Atlantis Stargate? Is it possible that they do not know the address? I do not think so. They probably do know it, but the shield will not let them go through. OK, so the Wraith will not get though that way, but if the wormhole opens they will know that the Stargate still works... And I would not think it could survive a nuclear blast.

I'm pretty sure a Stargate could survive a blast like that, which is why episodes like "A Matter of Time" had to end the way that they did. I think.

Hmmm...

[NotANumber]

One thing still bothers me - why didn't the Wraith use the very basic test: dialing the Atlantis Stargate? Is it possible that they do not know the address? I do not think so. They probably do know it, but the shield will not let them go through. OK, so the Wraith will not get though that way, but if the wormhole opens they will know that the Stargate still works... And I would not think it could survive a nuclear blast.

I don't know. Stargates have been able to survive plenty of trauma before (in A Matter of Time the off-world one was able to last quite a while against the black hole and the Earth gate survived the bomb detonation, and in Exodus the gate was able to last at least a few minutes inside the star).

But anyway, Teyla had convinced the Wraith that they were about to abandon Atlantis. And even if the Wraith tried to send through a few Darts, they could have interpreted the ships being destroyed by the shield as them being instantaneously crushed by the water pressure at the bottom of the Atlantean ocean.

[NotANumber]

I think John's heroics at the end kinda proved to Caldwell that he deserves the job. Caldwell's ego and pride and... other things... just might get in the way of him admitting it anytime soon, though. Still, he cares about his people and he does care about doing the right thing. Caldwell, just like the past two Colonels who've been in charge, judged John right off the bat based on his past record. Until they saw him in action, they had no idea what kinda man he was. I'm hoping that Caldwell comes around, because I like Mitch Pilleggi. TH is right: He's a hunk-a-hunk of burning love.

Maybe I'm missing something, because I haven't seen Caldwell really give Sheppard any attitude in the way that say Colonel Everett did in the holographic projection room in The Siege II. I don't think he's challenged Shep on his record.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

Pretty good. It was nice to see a rested MacKay. He remained surprisingly civil throughout the entire episode. Pity we didn't get a Rodney flashback. Did he seek out his sister? If so, it must have gone well; they only show angsty flashbackies. Poor Liz!

I missed Novak! I'd have liked to see her in the same room with Rodney. I bet she could play a decent game of chess with him, too.

Hermiod did get the chance to do more without Novak around, though. "Crap, indeed!" What a great line!

I think the only complaint I have about the show is a technical consideration: it would have been much stronger if there had been no "space sound." Music, yes, definately, at times, especially when the two fighters are "dancing" but, also, how cool if Sheppard would have soundlessly taken out the array. But that's just my only real quibble.

Rock on, season two!

[the dancer of spaz]

Maybe I'm missing something, because I haven't seen Caldwell really give Sheppard any attitude in the way that say Colonel Everett did in the holographic projection room in The Siege II. I don't think he's challenged Shep on his record.

I thought both he and Landry did so in the flashback of what happened on Earth between Elizabeth, Landry, Caldwell and a bunch of other brass. Caldwell and Landry seemed to think that Sheppard wasn't cut out for the job, and went so far as to challenge his insubordinate attitude - the very thing that Everett and Sumner did when they first met him.

Rather than having the snarky colonels challenge Sheppard, each additional colonel seems to find Weir AND Sheppard to be a collective pain. Caldwell, out of the three, seems to find Weir particularly threatening. He wanted Sheppard's job, and was willing to discuss his moments of insubordination while on Atlantis to get it, despite the fact that Shep did save many, many lives. Now, I'm not excusing Shep's behavior in any way (I actually kinda find it a bit offensive), but he is a good leader. The colonels that keep coming onto the scene seem to be in denial of that fact.

I think something happened on Earth, besides Elizabeth's political threat, that kinda wised Caldwell up to the fact that he wouldn't be getting Sheppard's job.

[ShadowMaat]

Well, all the higher-ups also left in Home, although they didn't get as far as they thought they did, that time.

It seems a little odd that the entire senior staff would abandon ship- er, city, especially so soon after a full-on battle with the Wraith, but it seems to be consistent with the characters' mentalities to do stuff like that.

[GeekPride]

This ep seemed boring and the plot was from an old Stargate SG-1 ep called Entity. I did like the parts where they flashed back to Earth, that seemed kinda original. It was really cool when Weir stood up to the military and was all like "Don't mess with me! Give me what I want or else." and then refused to take any crap from Caldwell. Go Weir!!!

The best parts were definately Hermy-the asgard with a 'tude! "Crap indeed." Who needs Thor? We've got a naked Hermy!

Even though Teyla seemed to do an exellant job of taking care of Atlantis while Weir, Sheppard, Beckett, and Mckay were gone-it seemed a bit irresponisble of the senior staff to all leave at the same time. They were just attacked by the Wraith! Who says the Wraith weren't planing to send a small salvage team to the Atlantis site at a later date just to double, triple, make sure that there wasn't anything left?

[gwangung]

Well, all the higher-ups also left in Home, although they didn't get as far as they thought they did, that time.

It seems a little odd that the entire senior staff would abandon ship- er, city, especially so soon after a full-on battle with the Wraith, but it seems to be consistent with the characters' mentalities to do stuff like that.

I'm curious....with instantaneous travel like a StarGate, what's the tactical disadvantage of not being on-site if there's an attack?