The Intruder (202)

[Traveler Enroute1]

I just don't want Elizabeth to become the Hussy of Atlantis.

And that goes for Teyla, as well.

And Vala.

And Dr. Lam.

And something tells me we'll never revisit Sam's love life again.

Sam's love life returns in Season 10!

Oh, did I say that out loud? Not a spoiler, just a prediction.

Just sayin'.

[BloomGate]

Overall, I thought it was a well done episode.

However, I have 2 issues that bug me.....

1. Does it weird anyone else out that Narim is Weir's husband? I understand that they have certain actors that they like and they see re-use, but when Narim says "he's met someone", don't you automatically think of Sam? As far as enjoying the episode and "suspending belief", wasn't that a major buzzkill?

2. When Shep throws on the brakes so the other F302 "flies right by", does anyone else have a Top Gun flashback? I suppose it makes sense since nobody in that Galaxy has ever heard of Tom Cruise, but wasn't that a bit cliche? I was waiting for Shep to "buzz the tower" and hear "Take my breath away" by Berlin when Shep and Weir saw each other again in person.

Just some random thoughts...........

[JanusAncient]

He isn't Weir's husband, but he was her boyfriend, but her leaving for Atlantis opened up some new options for him. The episode in my opinion was horrific, all except Hermiod that is, but that manuever was cliche, I have seen it, or something similiar done, in multiple movies/shows, but what is there to do, it was already a re-tooled Sg-1 episode, "Tangent" and "Entity."

[ShadowMaat]

There is an official ep discussion thread for Intruder already. Rather than having parallel conversations, it might be best to keep it all in one place. Unless you have a specific reason for separating this out?

http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=13901

[Vicious]

i've never seen top gun.

[joasia]

There is an official ep discussion thread for Intruder already. Rather than having parallel conversations, it might be best to keep it all in one place. Unless you have a specific reason for separating this out?
http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=13901

Erm... Looks like someone joined the two threads, so the one above does not exist anymore. I'd say that it shoud be this one to disappear...

[ShadowMaat]

Erm... Looks like someone joined the two threads, so the one above does not exist anymore. I'd say that it shoud be this one to disappear...

Looks like someone hiccupped and merged it the wrong way. Stupid Mod parties, getting out of hand again and causing craziness to spill into the forum proper.

[QuiGonJohn]

Yes, the official INTRUDER (202) Thread is missing from the EPISODES section!

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

Yes, the official INTRUDER (201) Thread is missing from the EPISODES section!

Ah! Thanks for the heads up. I thought I was having a stroke....

. When Shep throws on the brakes so the other F302 "flies right by", does anyone else have a Top Gun flashback?

Can you actually do that in space???

[joasia]

Yes, the official INTRUDER (201) Thread is missing from the EPISODES section!

Everything is back to normal now...

[NotANumber]

i've never seen top gun.

You haven't lived until you've seen Top Gun!

[the dancer of spaz]

I wondered where my subscription to this thread went...

[watcher652]

Lots and lots of good questions asked, watcher, but you forgot something a little obvious that answers at least half of them: Atlantis is the greatest, most brilliant, most perfect team in the history of the universe (other than SG-1, of course). They can do absolutely ANYTHING, which is very handy since most of the people around them are so absolutely incompetent it's a wonder they can keep their jobs. So the Daedalus crew is made up of a bunch of idiots, led by an even BIGGER idiot, and that's why the Atlantis team had to take over everything in order to save the day.

Well, of course I don't mind that it's John and Rodney and Carson doing their jobs. Watching them is what keeps me coming back. It's Stargate Atlantis, not The Daedalus show. But it just struck me as odd that the 3 of them didn't have counterparts on the ship. I can't really think of a good reason to explain why the Daedalus crew didn't participate more and maybe the writers couldn't either.

You could explain Carson if you imagine Carson is responsible for the Atlantis crew. So the dead Dr. Monroe would be attended by him.

John being John, I would have expected him to know everything about the F-302s. It flys fast, right?

But I was especially amazed at the knowledge Rodney had of the Daedalus' systems. Did he get to see a lot of the tech that made up the ship in the short time he was back on Earth while he wasn't reviewing personnel lists? Did he work on that tech before he was assigned to the Atlantis expedition? Maybe that's where Rodney met Caldwell. Not that he actually knows Caldwell from before. It just seems that way to me.

I forgot to mention that the scene of Lindstrom and Rodney made my jaw drop. What, what, did I just see that? And Rodney looking so horrified at what he just saw and could do nothing about. David Hewlett is simply great in those kinds of scenes. I know Rodney said he "snapped" in The Siege part 3, but I'm waiting to see when these accumulated deaths would make Rodney really snap.

When you join the military, you expect you might see people dies. When you're a medical doctor, you know you might have to deal with death. You don't expect to deal with death if you're an astrophysicist. The death of a star or of a galaxy. Not human death.

[entil2001]

After a season premiere that capped off a three-part action-driven epic, I think the writers were right to focus more on character. Two themes were evident as the episode marched on: “you can’t go home again” and “threats can come from unexpected directions”. A lot of the focus is on Weir and her struggles to keep control of the expedition, now that the political landscape on Earth has changed a bit and there’s more of an SGC presence.

The plot revolves around the potent threat posed by a Wraith virus left dormant in the Daedalus computer network during the previous episode and the efforts to eradicate it. As usual, it takes a while for everyone to recognize the scope of the danger and get a complete picture as to the solution. If there’s one thing that’s predictable in this episode, it’s the fact that if something can go horribly wrong, it will do so without fail and with a few choice snide comments from McKay!

As many have already noted (including the producers!), this is really just a variation on the “Stargate SG-1” episode “Entity”. Thankfully, this wasn’t a case of the writers cribbing old episodes without acknowledging the past. There’s something to be said when the characters recognize that it’s a familiar situation and respond accordingly!

This episode could have easily been centered on the return to Earth and the experiences of the characters. But the writers wisely recognized that this wouldn’t have served the story as well. Switching between the two themes, along with some action scenes to keep the episode moving, kept things from being too pedestrian.

The most obvious “intruder” in this episode is the Wraith virus itself, but that’s only in terms of the big picture. Taken from Weir’s perspective, there’s another, more personal threat: Caldwell. Caldwell has very clear ideas about how the operation should be run from a military perspective, and that’s a battle that Weir thought she had won. Now she’s dealing with someone with a lot less reason to follow her lead, since Caldwell is only weeks away from Earth and his command structure at any given time.

Many feel that the presence of Daedalus will detract from one of the primary elements of the series: the fact that the team has been isolated by the inability to return home to Earth. On the other hand, it’s still not a Sunday drive, and the past two episodes have provided a keen reminder that human technology, even mixed with Asgard enhancements, still doesn’t hold all the answers. Supplies and personnel might be more readily available, but for the most part, it’s just an ongoing source of dramatic conflict, since Weir can no longer assume that her authority remains as strong as it was.

More importantly, this episode makes the case that the team on Atlantis has lost some connection to the world they used to inhabit. Weir’s struggle with Simon and his new life says it all. The team on Atlantis was not unlike a division deployed to foreign front lines, with survival and return far from certain. They held a vision of the world they left behind in their minds, but it was an image of what was. In the meantime, people had to move on, assuming the worst. Weir learns that the hard way with Simon.

Along with getting him his promotion, Weir seems to be recognizing just how important Sheppard has become to her sense of control. Most importantly, Sheppard is part of her team; he’s experienced the same level of adversity, and he understands how the team must interact. He brings his military experience to the table, but he’s not some outside, inexperienced authority. Sheppard is going to be even more important to Weir in the episodes to come, and with Simon out of the picture, who can say what will happen?

There were the usual bits of humor, centered on McKay and Hermiod, which gave the episode its distinctly “Stargate” flavor. Sheppard continues to drop the O'Neill-esque one-liners, and while one continues to wonder if the man has ever owned a comb, he’s still one of the best parts of the series. Thankfully, it looks like Teyla is going to get some screen time in the next episode, since the few moments with her this season have been less than impressive.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

About the idea that what happens here ties in with Tangent: I didn't see it that way at all. Sure, Sheppard spent a minute in the runaway glider, but that was because the virus had already taken over the navigational controls in it. The runaway glider was simply the "gun on the mantlepiece." It was the key to Sheppard figuring out why MacKay's plan continued to fail.