The Hive (211)

[Vee]

I'd like to see some wraith living quarters other than their weird sleeping pods. Or maybe some wraith civilians. Bankers, soccer moms, pianists, basketball players, authors.

How awesome would that be? A couple of wraiths, hanging out and talking about the stock market or the latest fashions in tattoos. I was pretty bummed that we didn't see much more of the wraith. We had an entire episode on a hive ship and all we saw was a couple of hallways, a weird interrogation room, and a couple of holding cells. I realize the show is from the perspective of the Atlantis team, but it would have been nice to learn more about the wraith than we did. At the very least, I'd like to see the wraith gym where those guards hang out and pump up those huge muscles. Man, those guys are ripped!

Pretty much everything I would have said about this episode has been mentioned. I will agree with those who've mentioned the fragmented feel of the plot. I found it disappointing. It felt like an action packed episode with a whole lot of nothing going on. There were parts I enjoyed, but it was a bit of a let down.

[mgbland]

I have lot of captures, can I put the pictures here ?

I liked this episode very much! But does a question remain, Ford is it always in life?

I make a vid about this episode, if you are interresting:
The hive
music: hysteria, Muse

Nice vid. Would have liked Weir to hug Sheppard's team at the end. About 1 month to go!

[Crichton]

I'm shocked at some of the complaints on this one. The episode was amazing, it wasn't super plot heavy but it was a conclusion to another episode. The special effects were probably the best of the entire show's history to date. The opening credits were stunning.

Spoiler:

The withdrawl acting was phenomenal from everyone, especially McKay. Ford's martial arts scenes were some of the best done on the entire show; fast, powerful, and convincing.

I thought Ronon had a cool scene with Teyla showing some insight into how he thinks. Teyla asked about how Ford might be doing and Ronon's response was cool..."If it distracts you, forget it. If it fuels your anger, use it." Pretty tough dialogue.

I just don't know what else you guys could honestly expect from a tv show??

I'd like to see (some) wraith civilians. Bankers, soccer moms, pianists, soccer moms, basketball players, authors.

This is a very bad idea. JMHO.

Spoiler:

Sheppard don't like clowns? Me neither so I can understand him

That was seriously hilarious. Same with the-

Spoiler:

Rodney wraith drug fight scene. I was totally into it, especially when he resorted to silly slapping in the face.

Is it just me, or did they change their Camera-work a bit...well...more agile? Maybe just my impression

Agreed, the look of the show was amazing. They have the best camera work and special effects of any show on television right now except HBO/premium channel shows. I was blown away by the professional look of the shots, lots of new CG shots.

Spoiler:

The Daedalus landing in Atlantis, the shot of Atlantis with the sunset was stunning, the Wraith darts flying out of the Hive ships, and the battle scene with Shep flying around the Hive ship in a dart at the end had a Star Wars: A New Hope feel. For straight action, this episode was amazing.

I was just thinking,

Spoiler:

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.

The Wraith constantly underestimate the entire human race. Therefore, these actions still fit with their character. Plus, on many occassions they have shown that they enjoy toying with or breaking particularly stubborn individuals.

[Yeade]

I'm shocked at some of the complaints on this one. The episode was amazing, it wasn't super plot heavy but it was a conclusion to another episode. The special effects were probably the best of the entire show's history to date. The opening credits were stunning.

I can't speak for others, but I got no problem with the special effects (wish I could watch all those Wraith darts dogfighting in widescreen HDTV), and I don't think I'll ever tire of watching the shiny opening credits (yay for their return to Skiffy in January). The same goes for the acting, fight choreography (love how fast and smoothly Ford tossed that pistol stunner back to Ronon during the escape), and camera work (probably my two favorite frames are the wide shot of McKay at the DHD and the tight, close focus on Sheppard and Neera's faces when she's trying to seduce information from him).

That said, I also watch for plot and continuity and the little details that support both these, and SGA sometimes struggles with this. "The Hive" has the added problem of having to cover so much happening over the course of several days, maybe nearly a week.

Perhaps I'm asking too much of the show, but all the things TPTB do well, so well, and the relative ease with which many of these continuity issues could be resolved makes me hopeful. I criticize because I care.

I thought Ronon had a cool scene with Teyla showing some insight into how he thinks. Teyla asked about how Ford might be doing and Ronon's response was cool..."If it distracts you, forget it. If it fuels your anger, use it." Pretty tough dialogue.

Yes. From now on, I'm going to think of Ronon as a kung fu master. Sort of fits the way he's so still and quiet except when he's expressing what he thinks or feels through action. He doesn't talk much either. Just the bare minimum needed to convey an idea or insightful commentary.

"Epiphany":

Spoiler:

Might also explain why Ronon seems so interested in Ascension. Kung fu masters are generally not only concerned with the physical but the spiritual.

'Course this could also all be attributed to Ronon's warrior ethos and seven years of solitude as a Runner. It's more amusing to think of him as a kung fu master though.

[O]n many occassions [the Wraith] have shown that they enjoy toying with or breaking particularly stubborn individuals.

Mmm-hmm. The hive queen probably thought she could take her pretty time interrogating her prisoners. After all, the chances of them being able to escape the hive were... well, nobody would've gotten out if our heroes living to fight another day wasn't one of the fundamental tenets of episodic television.

Now that I think about it, the hive queen acted to speed the questioning process once Sheppard lied about being in league with the other queen. This was information she needed immediately, and she was all set to shave off years from Sheppard's life to pressure him into talking. If Sheppard hadn't talked before dying, she probably would've went through the others like wildfire. Ford really did a neat bit of nick-of-time rescuing there.

Or, at least, that was the way I saw it. I don't think she intended to kill Sheppard quickly, and from "Rising" and "The Defiant One" we know Wraith employ such interrogation tactics. Works pretty well, too.


edit: tags

[Whatazarian]

Wouldn't it be cool if the information about the 'Clowns' that Sheppard told that girl was percieved as a threat by the Wraith and sent to another Hive Ship with the subspace communicators (assuming the Wraith have any) and in a future episode where the Wraith are interrogating Sheppard (It'll happen eventually) they ask him something like, "What are the co-ordinates to the clown home planet??"

[Stevo]

yeah that would be a great episode

[DragonGate]

Yeah, that would be funny. Here's a version of that conversation:

Wraith Queen: What are the coordinates to the clown home planet??
Sheppard: (ABSOLUTELY straight face) I can't tell you that because I can't inflict that kind of torment even on you.
Wraith Queen: Tell me!
Sheppard: I can't! I have to keep anyone from releasing them on the galaxy!
Wraith Queen: (applies her freaky psychic powers full-on)
Sheppard: (rattles off an address to a horrible planet they've found, akin to SG-1's 'black hole address.')
Wraith Queen: We always get the information we want.
Sheppard: (hides a snicker as the face-mask guards take him back to his cell.)

[Whatazarian]

Lol.. that would be great.. but seriously, that would be the most hilarious segment in SGA history, they should do it in SGA's version of Window of Opportunity (By that I mean SG-A's top comedy episode).

[Eoin]

Wouldn't it be cool if the information about the 'Clowns' that Sheppard told that girl was percieved as a threat by the Wraith and sent to another Hive Ship with the subspace communicators (assuming the Wraith have any) and in a future episode where the Wraith are interrogating Sheppard (It'll happen eventually) they ask him something like, "What are the co-ordinates to the clown home planet??"

lol that would be so funny

[The Signal]

Lol, that would be a good one to try and explain

Wraith [after torturing shep] I will ask you again, where is the clown planet
Shep: I keep telling you was kidding
Wraith: Fine! Now, where is the location of the "Planet of the apes?"

[Astrofighter]

No reason why the asgard couldn't make a black hole in the galaxy some where. Just a quick one and keep a gate there as well it would last a few years and we could use it to kill our enemies etc, just like the aschen.

[Wolf Eire]

I don't know if this was touched on before but I'm quite new here. I think this episode contradicts episodes in Season 1 where when the Athosians are accused of collaborating with the Wraith in Suspicion and towards the end of the season around The Gift and The Siege when Teyla is accused of possibly helping the Wraith she keeps emphasising how much of an impossibility it is that a human would ever help the Wraith and how terrible an insinuation it is. We are also made to feel that Bates is a bad guy and unreasonable for suggesting this. Yet in this episode we now see that some humans do collaborate with the Wraith. It makes going back and watching Teyla's arguments seem a little silly now. So much for continuity.

[PG15]

Maybe Teyla didn't know?

[maxbo]

I don't know if this was touched on before but I'm quite new here. I think this episode contradicts episodes in Season 1 where when the Athosians are accused of collaborating with the Wraith in Suspicion and towards the end of the season around The Gift and The Siege when Teyla is accused of possibly helping the Wraith she keeps emphasising how much of an impossibility it is that a human would ever help the Wraith and how terrible an insinuation it is. We are also made to feel that Bates is a bad guy and unreasonable for suggesting this. Yet in this episode we now see that some humans do collaborate with the Wraith. It makes going back and watching Teyla's arguments seem a little silly now. So much for continuity.

That's not quite true - Teyla kept insisting that no Athosian would help the Wraith and that it was an insult to an Athosian to to be accised of being Wraith collaborators. In addition, Halan also stressed that he was talking about Athosians only when he told Elizabeth and Bates that they would be hard pressed to find any Althosian who had not suffered at the hands of the Wraith, to back his argument that the Althosians were not Wraith servants.

In fact, Teyla's argument with Bates about how perhaps he wasn't aware that "to be accused serving the Wraith was the greatest insult among her people" was my first indication that perhaps there were human Wraith servants. Otherwise, why would that accusation be such a bone of contention among her people?

[Wolf Eire]

The implication was clear. The reason why it was so disgusting to her to even dare suggest an Athosian would collaborate is because the Wraith feed on them like livestock. It didn't enter into her comprehension why anyone would possibly serve the Wraith. What she said of Athosians clearly relates and extends to any human. We as an audience were made to feel Bates was a bad guy for suggesting this crazy notion. We later see in The Hive for some bizarre reason humans do indeed serve the Wraith making the disgust of Teyla and Bates made out to be a bad guy pointless in hindsight.