The Tower (215)

[Trig]

Its the little humour things that make this episode, the rest of it is wasted..

Shepard in his room and the blonde woman walks in, first thing he says is "hows your father" ...

[Lythisrose]

Joe Mallozzi's comments on this episode:
http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...ing-ice-cream/

THE TOWER (215)

In first season or so on the Stargate franchise, my writing partner and I co-wrote scripts in the truest sense of the term. We actually sat (or paced) in an office, bouncing ideas and dialogue off each other, hammering out every scene and every line in the script. Eventually, we found it easier (and faster) to simply pitch the script back and forth between us. I’d write a scene, send it his way, then he would rewrite the scene, write the next one, and send it my way. I would re-rewrite his rewrite of the first scene, rewrite the second scene, and move on to the third. And so on. As the demands of production increased, it simply became easier to write our own first drafts and then have our partner do a pass on that. By the time Atlantis was in its second season, we were at this third stage of our writing partnership. I came up with the initial kernel of an idea involving a sister Atlantis, but it was the writing department that developed the story while Paul did the lion’s share (aka = all) of the work on this one. And what the hell was I doing? Well, given the timing, I believe I was either rewriting Ripple Effect, writing The Scourge, or locked in my office making plans for my next trip to Tokyo.

Lots of humorous moments in this one and great visual cues, one of my favorite being the segue that juxtaposes the polite table manners of the downtrodden villagers to the boorish behavior of the so-called nobles. Also, as far as great exchanges go, this is one of my favorites:

OTHO: This is terrible. I knew Tavius was cruel and vindictive, but to want to murder his own father?

SHEPPARD: Raising children can be very dangerous.

And later, after he ends up getting tossed in a cell with Sheppard, Beckett’s lament: “I really need to stop making house calls.”

Actor Jay Brazeau (Harlan from SG-1?s Tin Man and Double Jeopardy) returns to the franchise, this time playing the ailing Lord Protector who places his trust in the wrong person. Peter Woodward is delightfully devilish as the scheming Otho. Brendan Beiser (who used to play basketball with former Stargate script coordinator Alex Levine) was an unbelievably pleasant surprise as the scene-stealing Tavius. And, of course, those of you watching Martin Gero’s new show, The L.A. Complex, will recognize Chelan Simmons who plays the role of Mara here (Alicia Lowe there).

The episode’s colorful characters were matched by some equally colorful costumes, rentals actually because the wardrobe department was swamped by the demands of two productions.

Finally, loved the fact that Atlantis gets to supplement its supply of puddle jumpers and drones – but this is one of those stories that simply begged for a follow-up episode.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Fun episode, but still average.

The sequence of the drowns circling the town and flying off was cool.

Monday, Shep and Weir are compromised.

[Krisz]

I have to admit that I quite liked this episode, surprising since the first time I watched it I remembered it being just a filler episode filled with terrible cliched characters, scheming and technicolour Regency costumes reminiscent of Hollywood 'historical 'movies of the 1940's and '50's. It was quickly forgotten and not watched again until now!

This time I enjoyed it for the whole idea of how a race of people who had a sister city of Atlantis at their disposal degenerated into a society that used what was vaguely remembered about the Ancient genetic ability to put a few individuals into a privileged position.

It made me wonder if some Atlanteans survived the Wraith wars but were cut off and ended up mingling with other humans that must have ended up on that planet at some point when escaping Wraith cullings. Then as time went by the knowledge of how to use the technology faded in the face of having to feed themselves, the city as a place to live for the whole society became unnecessary, hence the Feudal agrarian society alongside the drone technology. The weapons knowledge being carefully passed along to use as protection against the Wraith whilst enforcing the right of a privileged few who could protect everyone to enjoy a life of luxury.

At least they got some drones and more puddle jumpers, those people couldn't use them. The people would have been in a position of being vulnerable to Wraith attacks anyway when the ZPM failed. McKay only made it happen sooner on firing up the star drive to drain what little power was left quickly to help save lives,

[Lieutenant Sparrow]

Ordinary ep.

Interesting idea, having a sister city to Atlantis.

Got some more drones and puddle jumpers.

[Matt G]

Midweek, another ep of Atlantis...

1. Didn't have good memories of this ep to be honest.

2. McKay realising that the natives weren't completely irrational...

3. Er...Rodney, these guys have drones, not a good idea to p them off!

Other than that it was a bit cookie cutter.

[ZRFTS]

The Tower

They say that the concept of another city splinting off from Atlantis is interesting. Just think, there could of been a couple of Ancients who could of designed a similar city and sent it off to a different location and just imagine, they could of conversed with the village, they could of done some innovative stuff, hell, they could of even lived out their lives. Thinking about the ancients inhabiting this city brings tons of ideas.

Unfortunately, the idea seems to be the most interesting part of the episode.

This episode seems to exist for one reason and one reason only, to provide Atlantis with a couple of drones and some fresh Gateships because everybody knows they can't run out of gateships and drones; it wouldn't be SGA without them. Sure, there was an idea behind it about Sheppard being used as a pawn in their game of kingdoms and bloodlines and all that and that idea may have been interesting at the time but this mainly exists so that Atlantis can get it's share of new gateships and drones! What I would of done is just have O'Neill appear through the Stargate with all of the drones and gateships Atlantis can handle plus two free ZPM's so they can get full functionality out of Atlantis; it would of been a bit convenient but man would of it been better then this.

This guy looks pretty... awkward...

The plot seems disjointed, there doesn't seem to be any consistency or sense of involvement & progression that surrounds these types of episodes. At one moment we're being introduced to the twin city of Atlantis, then we're being introduced to a girl and inheritance then we're being introduced to bloodlines and then we're being introduced to their gateships, it does make some lick of sense but it feels like these people cut from one plotline to another in the most amateurish way possible, hoping that the threads connect in some way to form a plot. What's worse is that there is no sense of involvement; there is literally nothing that makes you care about the situation they're in, nothing. There are moments which try to get you engaged but it seems like they're only built for one purpose, to move the plot forward. The best moments usually have something more, maybe something revealing character or reflecting on the situation; shame they have none of that. And we can't forget about the characters...

It seems like the characters themselves are aware of the script and as such, they don't bother to do good performances, instead utilizing cliches known since the dawn of time. Their medieval accents don't even bother to craft good characters we can get invested in; they come across as sterile, one dimensional and at times contradictory. Never have I seen people phone in a performance such as this, they gasp at obvious times, they do poses that clearly show that they're scared or angry and they even throw subtly out of the window and act as the obvious bad guy or good guy; it's like they don't even care they're playing characters, they just want to get their paycheck and be done with it. At least during the rare moments where they show their personality and stray from the path well taken, they seem like characters with depth. A few characters manage to show this, the elder guy is possibly the best acted mainly because he does his role with sensibility... Sensibility which none of the other guys manage to show.

Look at us, we're medieval!

The episode is like the equivalent of a 60's-70's sci-fi film; poor acting, contrived moments, costumes that look like they were bought from an outlet store, action that's capable but unintentionally hilarious and obviously the plot. It can be fun if seen in the right light, the over-the-topness, the cheesiness of it... It can be the perfect experience if you manage to be in the perfect mood and if you manage to not compare it to other SGA episodes. Unfortunately if you do see it in the wrong light then well... It can detract from the experience; these cheesy moments mainly get in the way of what the episode is trying to do, things such as topless scenes, scenes involving the bad guy, even the scenes involving the guards assaulting the villagers. It's like this episode is trying to be serious at times right, get us involved in the plot and the characters, show the inner workings of the city and then the cheesy stuff comes along and while it makes us laugh, it ruins the momentum; anything that could of been taken seriously? derailed by the cheesy stuff.

It's a shame though because there is some stuff that seems interesting... The shots of the city are a sight to see; even though they're utilized as the backdrops for this conflict, we can't help to imagine what the other sections of the city look like or even what they did with it. The inner workings of the city are nothing to brag about, we get to see how some things work and go in-depth on how these things work exactly, reminding SGA viewers what they're watching the show for; to explore the unknown. And even the bloodline/revolution concept had something that could of made a great episode, something that is hinted in a couple of scenes, but those small things can't compare to the big things that hurt this episode. At least the SGA team acts well, though some of their lines are forced. Sheppard and McKay certainly know how to take bad material and make it good, with Sheppard's edginess and legitimate and McKay's enthusiasm and cockyness both working together to improve the scenes. Can't say the same for Ronan and Teyla who seem unusually stiff and robotic, I do admire their efforts though...

This fight seems cheesy.

This is the second worst episode of SGA this season but what barely saves it is the stuff that we learn, the interesting concept and the above average acting from our team. Compared to "Duet" we learned a bit more about Atlantis (due to the amount of focus given to multiple things.) and the scenes that Rodney were in were mostly tolerable or in rare cases, good; however just because it's a bit better then "Duet" and the fact that it has an interesting concept does not make it a must see. In fact you should avoid this episode in exactly the same way, simple as that.

2.5/10

[Jae'a]

My LiveJournal post
I liked this ep quite a lot, but I might be a bit bias because I love Peter Woodward.

Man, I'm still so behind...

[jelgate]

This is another one I don't really agree with fandom on. I don't like it but at the same time I don't hate. It is just your standard planet of the week episode that SG1 has been doing for almost a decade. The noble villagers were annoying and greedy but is that not the feudal system? I actually thought it brought realism to a medieval village. I also kind of liked the McKay exploring the Tower and discovering that it was identical to Atlantis. It was interesting to see how much similar it was and yet at the same time different. It makes me wonder why the Ancients left it there and further more why the Wraith didn't destroy it like they tried to do to Atlantis. Finally I have to say the ally of Sheppherd being the villian and posioning the Lord Protector was predictible. Its a cliche that our closest ally becomes the villian. I could see it a mile away when Sheppherd befriended to guy. Just like the girls going all over him predictible. Speaking of the girls I will say I cringed when Sheppherd just let them continue kissing him. Where is your professionalism?

[sgelite]

That was just downright awful. There have been a few episodes in this half of the season that I've quite enjoyed watching, but this was simply a painful experience.

The acting was poor all-around (David Hewlett not withstanding), the plot unoriginal, predictable and uninteresting. The existence of a second Atlantis-like spaceship/city could have made for a very interesting story, but it was all wasted. We basically have a stand-alone episode that provides Atlantis with a few more drones and jumpers but doesn't explain the second city at all. It's possible we'll come back to this storyline later, but I'm not holding my breath.

At least Sheppard got some. AGAIN!

I don't think it was a terrible episode but I agree that we could have been privvy to more info about the second city,even in another episode whilst looking through the data banks on atlantis.
This leads me to believe that maybe it was the remnants of the first Asuran city that the ancients destroyed when they realised that they were a failed experiment, hence no info in the atlantis database.

[sgelite]

This is another one I don't really agree with fandom on. I don't like it but at the same time I don't hate. It is just your standard planet of the week episode that SG1 has been doing for almost a decade. The noble villagers were annoying and greedy but is that not the feudal system? I actually thought it brought realism to a medieval village. I also kind of liked the McKay exploring the Tower and discovering that it was identical to Atlantis. It was interesting to see how much similar it was and yet at the same time different. It makes me wonder why the Ancients left it there and further more why the Wraith didn't destroy it like they tried to do to Atlantis. Finally I have to say the ally of Sheppherd being the villian and posioning the Lord Protector was predictible. Its a cliche that our closest ally becomes the villian. I could see it a mile away when Sheppherd befriended to guy. Just like the girls going all over him predictible. Speaking of the girls I will say I cringed when Sheppherd just let them continue kissing him. Where is your professionalism?

Well if captain kirk could get away with it...why not sheppard

[jelgate]

Just because someone in another show got away with it does not make it acceptable

[Lythisrose]

There's always been a question as to whether he actually got any or not in a reference to a deleted scene or a script. Can't remember where this came from (Ep commentary or Joe Mallozzi perhaps?) but it is open to interpretation.

[sgelite]

There's always been a question as to whether he actually got any or not in a reference to a deleted scene or a script. Can't remember where this came from (Ep commentary or Joe Mallozzi perhaps?) but it is open to interpretation.

I can't remember the episode name off hand but I do Remember a line from the episode where sheppard has meet an ancient who has been protecting her planet and says she came to atlantis cause of shepppard basically and then Rodney say "my god he is Kirk always makes me laugh.
As for professionalism, they were in the pegasus galaxy, As I stated in another thread, normal rules do not apply in pegasus lol.

[jelgate]

The rules of US military still apply to Sheppherd