The Hive (211)

[Cynicat]

I'd like to know all that stuff too! We can at least be pretty sure there are wraith fashion designers and seamstresses.

*mental image of a wraith Carson Kressley* Sweet Jesus on a pogostick, that's a scary thought...

Besides, these are the same people who built the Atlantis set, right? Which is, IMO, a thing of beauty. So I'm willing to trust that everybody knows what they're doing. For the most part.

Actually, parts of the Atlantis set are actually the office building set from "Blade: Trinity". It also does double-duty as Asgard ships on SG-1. Very spiffy bit of recyling there, I reckon

The Atlantis sets are all kinds of spiffy, as is all the Ancient tech. There's a clear continuity to the design - ie you can always tell just by looking at something if it's Ancient tech, as there are definate recognisable visual elements that are apparent in all of it. IMO the wraith tech in this episode lacked that level of continuity. Most of the wraith gear we've seen has been quite uniform - the darts, hive exteriors, and weapons all have a certain organic quality (it reminds me somewhat of a Moreton Bay Fig tree, actually) which is really effective, but the sets in this episode diverted from that a bit too much and it was a little jarring. The knobbly wall bits and tyre-track-like geometric shapes that abounded on the walls were a little too different - and too arbitrarily placed - to really feel like they were a product of the same culture. But then I'm a nitpicky little sod who figures organic alien environment design peaked in 1975 with Giger's "Alien" sets, heheh.

[Brendan]

Just watched the episode tonight.

No I didn't notice it because it didn't happen like that. The Iris was raised & it had fully activated before they mentioned the IDC.

Oh, but it did. Just replayed it to make sure.

No it didn't! You hear the gate activating & then the kawoosh starting, before chuck says "we have an IDC".

The gate guy says, "We have an IDC." just a second or two before the whoosh happens. I just played it back and without a shadow of a doubt that's how it happens. Listen carefully my man. It's very clear. Crank the volume up if you need too and replay it a few times.

At 41:00 a beep happens signalling an IDC is incoming. At 41:01 the gate guy says, "We have an IDC." Then at 41:01 and a half/41:02 the whoosh happens and ends at 41:03..

And did anyone else notice the production guy hiding behind the DHD when Drugged Up Rodney was dialing out on that planet? You can see the guys arm pop out at around 9:55-10:01. Just look on the right side of the DHD. I think his leg pops out on the left side as well. I took a screen cap but I have to resize it. It's late for me right now so I can't do it now.

[AutumnDream]

It's true. He mentions the IDC after the gate activates, but before the woosh.

[GatetheWay]

Okay, I figured out the amount of time the episode was set over. In the very begining when Sheppard is brought back from the meeting with the Queen, Ford's guy (can't remember his name) said that the hive ship was "a few days away from the planet." So since at the end the hives did battle at the planet that means that the episode must of taken place over three or four days. Funny how Sheppard didn't even have a 9 o'clock shadow.

[AutumnDream]

He was shaving with all of Ronan's knives. Duh.

[AutumnDream]

I was just thinking, if the queen needed such vital information from Sheppard that could prove to be decisive to the survival of her hive, why didn't she try to read one of the other prisoner's minds when she realized she couldn't get the information out of him? Ford is mentally weak right now, he'd probably cave.

If she was concerned that another queen might be conspiring against her, you'd think she'd at least consider it important enough an issue to interrogate everyone who came aboard in the dart. Right?

[GatetheWay]

It was established in The Gift that Wraith cannot read the minds of humans. All they can really do is prompt people into answering questions, which I'm guessing is easier for some people to resist but harder for others.

I think the Queen made a mistake in asking the wrong questions. She asked where the ship came from and he honestly didn't know where Ford had gotten it.

[Cynicat]

And did anyone else notice the production guy hiding behind the DHD when Drugged Up Rodney was dialing out on that planet? You can see the guys arm pop out at around 9:55-10:01. Just look on the right side of the DHD. I think his leg pops out on the left side as well. I took a screen cap but I have to resize it. It's late for me right now so I can't do it now.

LMAO - you're right! A black shape pops out near McKay's leg during the line "Must...finish..dialling..", and a white shape pops out on the far side as he says "Please work... please work...". Wonder who it is? The most obvious conclusion I can come to is the boom swinger (aka guy with the mic on a stick) recording a guide track for sound (exterior location like that would be a bugger for sound, and the fact you can't actually see DH's face means it'd make more sense to loop that dialogue in ADR, but they'd still want a guide track... they always want a bleeding guide track...*grumble*). Can't really think of anyone else who would have a reason to be there at the time.

[AutumnDream]

It was established in The Gift that Wraith cannot read the minds of humans. All they can really do is prompt people into answering questions, which I'm guessing is easier for some people to resist but harder for others.

I think the Queen made a mistake in asking the wrong questions. She asked where the ship came from and he honestly didn't know where Ford had gotten it.

Right. So what I mean, then, is since Sheppard is so resistant to their "prompting", she should have tried someone else.

[xfkirsten]

And did anyone else notice the production guy hiding behind the DHD when Drugged Up Rodney was dialing out on that planet? You can see the guys arm pop out at around 9:55-10:01. Just look on the right side of the DHD. I think his leg pops out on the left side as well. I took a screen cap but I have to resize it. It's late for me right now so I can't do it now.

LOL!! Good catch! I hadn't noticed that, but went back and looked and you're absolutely right!

[GatetheWay]

Right. So what I mean, then, is since Sheppard is so resistant to their "prompting", she should have tried someone else.

Well, thats one of the many big plot holes in this episode, isn't it?

[AutumnDream]

This episode is swiss cheese. ; _ ;

[Yeade]

Right. So what I mean, then, is since Sheppard is so resistant to [the Wraith's] "prompting", [the hive queen] should have tried someone else.

Erm. The queen first wanted to question the pilot of the dart, but eventually she caught on to the fact that Sheppard was the unofficial leader of the merry band she'd captured? Seems the Wraith can't psychically rip answers out of people's heads, but the Keeper and the hive queen could mentally pressure Sumner and Sheppard, respectively, and force the men to their knees by stint of will alone. Steve could pick up surface emotions, and Bob and the other Wraith were aware of Teyla's probing.

So, I figure the queen picked up on the fact that the others looked to Sheppard for guidance and was willing to spend time she thought she had slowly breaking the one most likely to provide her with valuable information. No need to rush to the others. She might also have felt Sheppard's strong feelings on "leave no man behind," as he was probably mulling over that in regards to Ford, and hence felt confident that Sheppard would stop to rescue Neera and co.

OR you could always assume the queen somehow sensed Sheppard's wacky Ancient/human/Wraith/whatever DNA and wanted to spend quality time with him... I know I would. Though I'm not sure I would've been able to pick between all teh pretty in that cell.

[Quinn Mallory]

Good episode. A little bit of that convenient SG magic toward the end that saved our heroes.

I hope when Ford comes back, they would explain how he survived the end of this one.

Well, thats one of the many big plot holes in this episode, isn't it?

Yeah, there were a few convenient short cuts that the writer took to get Sheppard out of the sticky situation. The revelation about the territorial nature of the Wraith was interesting though, and you also got to wonder whether this was the secret that Aurora was trying to relay back home.

And did anyone else notice the production guy hiding behind the DHD when Drugged Up Rodney was dialing out on that planet? You can see the guys arm pop out at around 9:55-10:01. Just look on the right side of the DHD. I think his leg pops out on the left side as well. I took a screen cap but I have to resize it. It's late for me right now so I can't do it now.

Oh yeah, that's pretty clear when you look for that. Good eyes.

For people who complain that the Wraith didn't try to get the location of Earth out of anyone else, Sheppard was the only out of the captured that came from Earth other than the drugged up SuperFord.

[GatetheWay]

That's true. I never thought of it like that. This episode may not of had so many plot holes if the writers had just taken the time to explain some of the more fantastic things that happened aka Ford's escape, the Wraith ships blowing each other up etc...