Grace Under Pressure (214)

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Zelenka was great in this ep. Although I'm a bit surprised that Sam didn't vocalize what I was thinking after Rodney b****ed about how Zelenka should have been on the mission: Maybe Radek was well aware of that and felt guilty about it.

Hope we get to see more of him in future eps. Oh, and how cool is it that Zelenka had to play off of someone OTHER than McKay?

It makes me wish all the more that we could see an AU ep where Zelenka became the lead scientist after McKay was killed. It'd be interesting to see how that would affect things (including Radek himself). I like his comparatively calm reaction to crisis. McKay's freak-outs are always fun to watch, but I like Radek's quiet efficiency, too. And, of course, the muttering in Czech.

That was a good Zelenka. His best episode of the Series, I think.

[Yeade]

Oh, and how cool is it that Zelenka had to play off of someone OTHER than McKay?

Very cool.

I found Zelenka and Sheppard rather... soothing. Neither are as high-strung as McKay (then again, who is?), and both react to crisis situations by getting smart, calm, and kind of scarily efficient and effective. Zelenka just doesn't have Sheppard's martyr streak. Though he can be persuaded to temporarily grow one.

On the flip side, McKay is sent off with Griffin (read: a military guy who isn't Sheppard) and reacts pretty much the same way he did when he was alone with Lorne in "Runner."

Sheppard and his charming flyboy personality get along well with everybody, even if these people aren't quite as tuned to his little quirks, but McKay... Well, I'm thinking the entire science division and all the other Atlantis recon team leaders thank whatever deities they believe in every day that Sheppard wanted McKay on his team. This way, he's not in Atlantis all the time and he isn't tramping about off-world with you.

Not that people aren't grateful to McKay for saving the city time and again--or just plain hold a great deal of affection for him as a friend and peer--but he'd be hard to deal with day after day. People would die for him and do whatever it takes to rescue him, but when there isn't a crisis, for pity's sake, Dr. McKay, stop screaming over my shoulder, take a vacation, and let me do my work in peace!

[Astrofighter]

the whale creature was picking up on the distress beacon, whales speak to each other through sound waves. The distress beacon was sending out a single on a wavelength pattern that the creature could pick up and had never heard before so it was curious and came to investigate. They have found that with certain harmonic signals can attract pods of whales to the source of the signal. The writers took it to and just made it an alien whale nothing telepathic about it.

[Quinn Mallory]

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode since I've always been a big Carter fan. I can see people who doens't enjoy McKay to find this episode being a bit slow early on.

Good Zelenka character development as well. I wonder if the McKay/Zelenka relationship will change a bit after this episode.

[the fifth man]

This ep definitely sounds kick-a**. I can't wait until we in the States get to see it. Carter in her underwear, gotta see that one. Plus, I just love the eps those two have been in together (Carter and McKay).

[Liverpool_chicK]

I totally LOVED this episode, but dont get mad at em for saying.... I feel with the last couple of episodes, that TPTB are recycling old Stargate episodes, but with a makeover. I sat through the show, thinking to myself that I had seen something like this once before. However David made up for it, with his crazy Canuck humour. I just dislike seeing recycle story ideas.

[rexpop]

Overall a great episode, one of this seasons best. However a couple of things are worth mentioning:

- I really hope this is the last McKay centric episode this season and the maybe for the first half of the next. While I love the guy, a little Rodney goes a long way but 3 episodes is pushing it a bit. Hopefully the writers will now focus on some of the other characters, like Weir who has barely had any development all season despite being the female lead.

- I liked that they focused on one plot thread this episode rather than trying to cram in a b-plot. 'Critical Mass' suffered because of that. Hopefully this is a trend that will continue.

[GatetheWay]

After seeing this episode I'm kind of surprised that Ancients built the Jumpers with GLASS windsheilds when the PJs were being used as subs. The back half sealed off lasted much longer under the water pressure then the front half. The windshield was the weakest part of the Jumper so why have a windshield at all?

In the scifi miniseries the Triangle, they go down in a sub and instead of having glass windows they had these sort off electronic windows that projected what was outside so they can had a view without providing a weakness for the pressure to exploit.

One would think the Ancients would come up with something like that but better.

[macktheknife]

I would have not bothered with the windshield, kept the same material for the front, and put a hud\view screen up. And yeah, no more mckay only. And more please more one plot shows. They are stronger.

[Cynicat]

The partially dressed Sam didn't bother me cause it was in context. She was McKay's hallucination and she was trying to distract him, what else could she do?

Prime/Not Prime?

Another freakin' AWESOME performance by DH - like Ben Browder, he's another actor who does 'unhinged' very well. The character development for McKay over these two seasons has been fantastic, and the Carter-as-subconscious really showed that. The writers aren't afraid to strip the character bare of his defences, and have an actor who is not the least bit afraid of going to those places. That said, it would be very nice to see the same level of development for some of the other characters - namely Sheppard *jumps on the "Gorramit, We Know Nothing About The Hero!" bandwagon* I'm hoping TPTB have something good in the works for him, 'cause it's clear JF can go there.

Speaking of the lovely Shep, it was nice to see how he handles a crisis like this. With nothing to shoot at, he goes on a Tony Robbins hyper-efficiency kick - rallying the many capable minds and bodies around him into action, and asserting his leadership to formulate a rescue plan.

The VFX in this episode were fantastic, the PJ crash and underwater sequences looked great. On the practical front, the submerged PJ set was an art department marvel - 'water tank' type sets aren't a simple undertaking.

[russ_sg1]

Did anyone notice Shepherds sneaky comment about the winch being originally used to lower the F302s into the jumper bay? What possible reason could they have for this as they cant take off from the bay and they cant fit through the gate...

any ideas cos I'm all out!

[prion]

Did anyone notice Shepherds sneaky comment about the winch being originally used to lower the F302s into the jumper bay? What possible reason could they have for this as they cant take off from the bay and they cant fit through the gate...

any ideas cos I'm all out!

Uh, er, maybe F302s have VTOL capabilities? Or they wanted to bring one in to work on it (repairs?)

[Arlessiar]

Did anyone notice Shepherds sneaky comment about the winch being originally used to lower the F302s into the jumper bay? What possible reason could they have for this as they cant take off from the bay and they cant fit through the gate...any ideas cos I'm all out!

I asked myself the same question when I heard that - why do they need the F302 on Atlantis, they have the Puddlejumpers!
Maybe they lost too many PJ already and want to have more aircrafts to potect the city. Maybe there are also a few pilots who had no luck with the gene therapy and cannot fly a PJ.

Bye, A.

[xfkirsten]

My thought on the 302s was just that it was for variety in spacecraft. I mean, different types of aircraft have different strengths and weaknesses, so there's a variety of them out there for whatever suits their needs. I just figured it was something along those lines.

[prion]

After seeing this episode I'm kind of surprised that Ancients built the Jumpers with GLASS windsheilds when the PJs were being used as subs. The back half sealed off lasted much longer under the water pressure then the front half. The windshield was the weakest part of the Jumper so why have a windshield at all?

In the scifi miniseries the Triangle, they go down in a sub and instead of having glass windows they had these sort off electronic windows that projected what was outside so they can had a view without providing a weakness for the pressure to exploit.

One would think the Ancients would come up with something like that but better.

Well, the jumper isn't a sub, and therefore can only take so much pressure. I mean, if you take one of our shuttles, crash it and sink it 2-6,000 feet below seal level, the windows on it might crack too, plus, we have no idea what damage might have been done in the crash.

My bugaboo, after watching it a second time, is Zelenka reaching McKay on the radio. McKay wakes up and Zelenka goes "we've been trying to reach you for an hour." If you're unconscious for an hour, you are not going to be walking and talking in an okay fashion. We're talking major concussion or worse (shades of subdural hematomas, quite fashioned in the '70s on Mod Squad and the like). And...... stuck in FREEZING water... definite hypothermia. Oh well, maybe he just passed out after the hatch sealed shut on the other jumper (did love the 'shield bridge' between the two jumpers). But then we really don't know about what kind of weather pattern Atlantis resides; and maybe the water wasn't Arctic temps but more tropical. So many variables...