Critical Mass (213)

[Unamed]

imo it was one of the seasons best, the song went perfectly with the discovery of caldwell, especially when sheppard was shocking him with the tazer/stun gun. It set the mood perfectly. Shame about the poor dubbing though.

[the dancer of spaz]

nope! you're not the only one! I would have loved for someone from SG-1 to for example come to Atlantis and help with some problem. I think that a few episodes with AT or MS wouldn't be so bad... and then on SG-1 they can say "oh he's in Atlantis" or "She's in Atlantis" This would be so cool!
And I was hoping to actually see Carter working on solution about the bomb, because Dr. Lee (was it?) mentioned that she was working on it!
But I knew they wouldn't show her

And it would be nice to see Atlantis characters in SG-1 episodes too, wouldn' it?

He actually mentioned her? Wow, they're really pushing these Carter/Jackson crossover bits, eh? They want it to look and sound as seamless as possible...

I don't quite know how I feel about all of these crossover eps. I mean, it's nice for me, because I watch both shows, but I'd imagine it's probably pretty frustrating for the solely-Atlantis fans.

Either way, AT/Sam and MS/Daniel are great characters, and I hope the writers can find a way to add them without taking away from the others.

Hey, are there transcripts out for these eps yet?

[Jonzey]

I like crossovers. Would be awesome if they have a major two-part episode where Sheppard's team and Mitchell's team have to work side by side on something (maybe not something goauldy, wraithy or oriiy (oriiii?)- but maybe some new episode with a new enemy (not necessarily a whole race of baddies- maybe just one super-evil guy with super technology and the ability to cross galaxies in the blink of an eye- or something. As you can see, there's a reason I'm not a writer.)

Edit: I forget where my brackets are supposed to begin and end

[the dancer of spaz]

I like crossovers. Would be awesome if they have a major two-part episode where Sheppard's team and Mitchell's team have to work side by side on something (maybe not something goauldy, wraithy or oriiy (oriiii?)- but maybe some new episode with a new enemy (not necessarily a whole race of baddies- maybe just one super-evil guy with super technology and the ability to cross galaxies in the blink of an eye- or something. As you can see, there's a reason I'm not a writer.)

Edit: I forget where my brackets are supposed to begin and end

Well, I think there's definite potential for some kind of "Two-Hour Crossover Event" where SG-1 and SGA have to work together, and you essentially see both teams on Earth and Atlantis...

But it kinda takes the umph away from any sort of Special Event if they have crossovers all the time, ya know? And I'd imagine that scheduling that sort of thing for the crew and actors would be really difficult.

I'd still like to see it though!

[immhotep]

yeah totally i loved this episode, its been the best one yet IMO, i love SGa uner pressure. i really wanted to see kavanaugh beaten though! i hate that guy.
i think crossover are such a good idea cant wait til GUP now.

[Yeade]

anyone notice that when theay showed the city it was still all lit up even thought theay ahd removed the zpm, also how coe theay where able to explore the city looking for the bomb without power, wasent that why we couldent go exploreing in the first season?

I assumed that when McKay disconnected the ZPM, Atlantis switched over to naquadah generators. First season, the (five? six?) generators the expedition brought with them were at least enough to power the central section of the city, and I'm sure more generators were procured once contact with Earth was reestablished. The lack of a ZPM through most of S1 really only hurt Atlantis because the shield couldn't be raised and, I think, the expedition didn't want to risk exploring too much of the city and accidentally starting systems that might drain what little power they had. The bomb search in "Critical Mass" went through parts of the city already being used for technical stuff like power distribution and whatnot.

I thought it was great to see that Sheppard is the only one out of practically all the characters on both shows who actually reads and remembers the SG-1 mission reports

LMAO! Really? Though I don't think he started reading these in earnest until S2 kicked off; he was kind of busy with other things for most of S1--heh, like trying not to die. Certainly explains why he brought a taser along.

just a question though, why does weir look at sheppard when she leaves the room, why leave at all did she think somthing could happen to her?

Personally, I thought Sheppard was silently asking her permission to use whatever means necessary to get the access code out of Goa'uld!Caldwell, and she tacitly agreed when she left. Like xfkirsten wrote, she might not have wanted to stick around for the actual torturing, and it's also possible she wanted to preserve plausible deniability as the civilian expedition leader. Deniability is probably, in part, why Ronon was sent to interrogate Kavanagh without Sheppard's or Caldwell's supervision; as an alien officially affiliated with an alien military, defunct or not, Ronon has a lot more leeway in pursuing less-than-savory methods than either the military commander of Atlantis or the Deddy. Even if Sheppard or Caldwell had just observed, it'd be harder to, well, get around any negative repercussions.

Getting pass Stargate Command detection is sort of believeable, but how can a Goa'uld trick the very advanced Ancient sensors?

Maybe it can't discern life signs to that degree? Doubtful it was ever even designed to, considering the obviousness of the Iratus bug (the only other real parasite/symbiote encountered).

IIRC, the Ancient biometric scanner did detect Sheppard once he truly started going... buggy. When his transformation first started though, a) Beckett's engineered retrovirus was gradually hacking apart his DNA (or something), and it might not have reached detectable levels and b) nobody thought of it, lol.

As for why the Ancient sensors didn't detect Goa'uld!Caldwell, well, a) the parasite might be integrated enough into the host that it's (just!) under the detecting range of the biometric scanner, b) the sensors in Atlantis aren't tuned for picking out Goa'uld as well as Wraith or Wraith-like creatures, c) Caldwell spent most of his time on the Deddy, and d) nobody thought of it. Again.

The big-ass logic hole regarding the whole 'if they dial Earth, they'll go KABLOOEY!! I mean, why the hell didn't the SGC just set up the relay, and when a few minutes before Atlantis was scheduled to dial in, put something inside the Stargate to block an incoming wormhole!

Atlantis might've gotten blown to hell anyways, even if SGC did this. While Atlantis wouldn't have been able to establish a wormhole, would merely trying to have overloaded the ZPM? In that the Atlantis stargate would be drawing power from the ZPM in preparation for establishing a connection to Earth. Maybe.

Finally, it occurred to me that I've been tossing the word "torture" around pretty casually. It's both more efficient and deniable to start with psychological torture before moving to physical, so I'm thinking Ronon went in there intending to scare the crap (and the access code) out of Kavanagh a la his knife-in-the-table negotiation style in "Trinity." If Kavanagh turned out to be a great deal more resilient than expected, he'd progress to harsher methods. Not that this changes the fact that everyone in that conference room agreed to leave open the possibility of hardcore torture.

[Jonzey]

Maybe the Atlantis alien sensors are tuned for every lifeform the ancients encountered in Pegasus. And since the ancients in pegasus had no goa'uld troubles, a goa'uld could fly under the sensors undetected.

I thought it was funny when they were talking about the Atlantis operating system. I kept picturing ''Microsoft Windows for Ancients''.

[Metarock Sam]

Well I saw the episode today and I thought it was quite good. And Was quite a good crossover (shame we didnt get to see Daniel, Mitchell,Teal'c or Carter for the matter). I was sure the Cavanagh was the Gou'ald and was suprised Caldwell being it.
I loved the whole twighlight bark scene that was hilarious. Well done for a great episode.

[Yeade]

Don't you know, Jonzey? Atlantis is the City of Dorks. McKay made a crack about the ZPM in "Childhood's End" running on an older version of Windows when he couldn't get the thing to "plug and play."

On a more serious (and relevant but, sadly, no less obsessive) note, you've reminded me of another time reference. Since Caldwell accessed the city's operating system, copied it, took it back to the Trust, then returned with the rewritten version, he's been compromised for the Deddy's last two visits to Atlantis. I think it's safe to assume he planted the "bomb" on this latest trip, which the Deddy was returning from at the beginning of the episode, and that once the Trust got him as an operative, they didn't waste time in having him hack the city system. The only question is how long it took the Trust scientists to rework the ZPM failsafes.

At any rate, Caldwell's been under Goa'uld control since at least "The Hive."

Spoiler:

Where he pushed the Deddy's engines to make it back to Atlantis to, ostensibly, help in the search for Sheppard's team. Hmm...

[KRiZ]

If you re watch the ep and watch caldwell he does give off signals as being the go'auld, its not quite up there with spacey/keyser soze in usual suspects, but there are moments.

quick example when he hears the news from earth about the bomb he looks concerned, pausing before trying to send it on.

also another good one he takes the daedalus out of range so earth cant contact with more info, poss revealing him as the spy

[brandohall]

When Weir accused Caldwell of taking it back to the Trust, she didn't know he was a goauld. It is very possible that as a Goauld, Caldwell could have done all of this on his own, and hence, did not have to be a goauld for more than one visit.

[Cynicat]

I thought it was funny when they were talking about the Atlantis operating system. I kept picturing ''Microsoft Windows for Ancients''.

I kinda see the Ancients as Mac fans - OSX, it's all about the aesthetic

They're a plug'n'play civilisation

[Yeade]

When Weir accused Caldwell of taking [the Atlantis OS] back to the Trust, she didn't know he was a goauld. It is very possible that as a Goauld, Caldwell could have done all of this on his own...

Seriously? I, er, haven't watched much of SG-1, so I have no idea how easily the Goa'uld can use and/or modify Ancient technology. My uneducated opinion, though, is that it's... a bit too much of a deus ex machina for Goa'uld!Caldwell to be capable of recoding the operation of such a crucial function as the ZPM failsafes and disguising his tampering well enough to escape detection by the city. I find that harder to believe than the Trust think tank pouring over the Atlantis specs and doing the same.

I kinda see the Ancients as Mac fans - OSX, it's all about the aesthetic

Ah! I see. That's the deal with all those transparent, glowing crystal control panels and burnished metal fittings. I can see the design connection there.

[PG15]

You have to remember that the Gou'ald have been parasitizing (sp?) Ancient tech for a long time (Stargate anyone?), so this kind of understanding is not unbelievable.

[immhotep]

yeah also the trust goaulds were probley agent of anubis who used ancient tech almost exclusivly to upgrade his ships ( with the exception of asgard holograms and beams) in addition ancient codes. so its not surprising. plus they did study that database they got given by cadwell