SPOILERS: Episode #310 "The Return" part 2

[Smallrus]

I don't think we'll see any 'replicators' in Atlantis. Reese originally created and taught her replicators to make more of themselves for defensive purposes... until she lost control. I do believe Reese was created by an Ancient, at least partially. Maybe there was a similar situation to the one we witnessed with Orlin.

The Asurans may have never needed to replicate in the form of the block shaped replicators we've seen. This is most likely why we haven't seen any Replicators in the Pegasus; you'd think they'd go nuts for the organic based technology the Wraith utilize. They most likely lack the basic command to replicate at all costs that was present in SG-1's replicators.

It'll be interesting how TPTB present the Asuran's origins... how they jumped from nanites to human form. These guys are going to be way more advanced and dangerous than the human form replicators we've seen. For starters, they've mastered ancient technology and probably reconfigured it to remove the ATA gene necessity.

I think a city ship with millions of these guys can turn out to be a great (and unique) twist to Atlantis.

[GateAngel]

Can someone clue me in as to way some fans on other boards and forums are saying, based on spoilers for this episode that Jack is retired from the military?

Marla

[talyn2k5]

Jack's status after S8 is purely conjecture at this point although I think alot of people are hoping that he left the military so that he and Carter could get together!

I believe the link TPTB are making between Asurans, Ancients, Reese and Replicators is as follows...

The Ancients created the nanites that would become the Hot Zone virus as a weapon against the Wraith. But they screwed up and the nanites started attacking the Ancient gene before becaming sentient. They escaped from/left Atlantis and became the Asurans. Whether or not they built their city, took it, or were given it by the Ancients is unknown.
When the Ancients returned to Earth, one of them ended up on Reese's planet and for some reason decided to build a hot android (maybe he was lonely!). He gave her a modified version of the HZ nanites to use as a repair and maintenance system and so she could make anything she liked.
When he tried to shut her down, she felt threatened and created a macroscopic version of her nanites to defend her - the Replicators. As we know she made so many that she lost control and the great Replicator plague was unleashed.
The Replicators presumably retained the awareness of their microscopic ancestors and when faced with the time dialation device they created First who was the only one who could get to the device.

And that's the story up to now. I don`t think i`ve missed anything.

[Platschu]

If Reese's planet is in the Milky way, then how could the Replicators go to the Asgard's galaxy? They picked up them to study? I hope that Hermiod will speak about this mission.

[Ltcolshepjumper]

I believe the link TPTB are making between Asurans, Ancients, Reese and Replicators is as follows...

The Ancients created the nanites that would become the Hot Zone virus as a weapon against the Wraith. But they screwed up and the nanites started attacking the Ancient gene before becaming sentient. They escaped from/left Atlantis and became the Asurans.

Actually, the spoilers for Progeny say

Spoiler:

They are artificial lifeforms that evolved from a Lantean experiment to create powerful and aggressive nanites to attack the Wraith on a cellular level ("Hot Zone"). But the microscopic creatures came together to form increasingly larger and more complex organisms, eventually imitating their creators to become human in appearance. When the Lanteans realized their experiment had gotten out of hand, they attacked this new race with their fleet of warships and nearly wiped them out.

The Ancients were the first ones to attack, according to Progeny spoilers. Obviously the Asurans ae holding a 10,000 year old grudge.

[TPL2005]

Perhaps this is how it went:

1. The Ancients in Atlantis create the nano-bots to attack the Wraith.

2. The nano-bots evolve into higher life-forms, the Asurans.

3. The Ancients attack the Asurans.

4. The Wraith attack the Ancients and the leave for Earth.

5. An Ancient back in the Milky Way gets curious (and we know how curious the ancients were) about how the Asurans could come about.

6. He creates Reese on the planet SG-1 found her, and then she creates the Replicators which kill the Ancient and anyothers on that planet.

7. We know the rest of the story.

[prion]

Can someone clue me in as to way some fans on other boards and forums are saying, based on spoilers for this episode that Jack is retired from the military?

Marla

that's merely SPECULATION.

[freyr's mother]

Atlantis gets shanked in this episode.

[prion]

Robert Picardo (Woolsey) made some comments about this episode in a recent interview at the Saturn Awards.

I posted the transcript I did at

http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=28330

[The Shadow]

A little bit ironic isn't it? They called Jack to help them with the Rep. problems, and there goes Jack getting captured.....AGAIN

LOL..I hope that Jack won't start smart-mouthing....or else it's more of the hand-probing treatment.

Jack will not one happy camper when he realizes that he's gonna get the probing AGAIN......although he's gonna be even more mad..maybe a little embrassed that McKay and Mr. I-Told-You-Not-To-Touch-Anything aka Sheppard has to save the day......it's like the a rescue for the rescuers....

[Lone Wolf]

To tell you guys the truth...I`m not thrilled about this at all. The writers are really walking a thin line with this re-hashing of old stories.

Trying to recreate the dynamic of "the good old years" of SG-1 can be done with other methods than actually re-creating the same stories.

All the ascended beings and replicators worked great in SG-1 but Atlantis really needs something different in order to keep the fanbase happy. See, I used to be really thrilled with Atlantis but since the hiatus I`ve started watching my dad`s old videotapes of Sg-1 and I now see how many of the Atlantis ideas are just remakes of the old SG-1 episodes.

Now, Atlantis done the way it is done now could still impress viewers that are not familiar with SG-1, but how many people who have watched little SG-1 in the past actually watch Atlantis now. I used to only watch SG-1 from time to time and I got hooked on Atlantis mainly because my dad bought the DVD`s and I could watch all of season 1 in a few days (it adds to the "feeling").
Now I`m hooked on SG-1 as well.

My point is: maybe the writers should try to work on some stories meant to impress viewers already familiar with the Universe rather than new viewers who are going to be impressed anyway if the show is done right.

Here are some original Atlantis-storylines:

The Wraith - not nearly sufficiently explored. There are so many things we don`t know about the Wraith that it would take way too long to count so I`ll just name the most important: Homeworld.

Alone - a storyline sadly destroyed at the start of season 2. The biggest mistake the writers did was to reestablish earth contact...it ruined the whole dynamic the show had in season 1 when they were alone having to survive by themselves. Ofcourse, there could have been no crossovers then but I for one wouldn`t have necessarly missed them.

The city - Need I say more? Tons of stuff to explore.

The planet - the same.

Ford - the rogue member of SGA. A guy that fans actually care for on an odyssey of his own.

Michael - the rogue Wraith, an interesting new concept.

Backstories - especially for Teyla and Ronon who are directly connected to the Atlantis universe.

On top of all of these potential storylines we have tons of new worlds to explore in the Pegasus galaxy. But instead we get Goa`uld, replicators, crossovers and a delicious fat guy.

[talyn2k5]

If Reese's planet is in the Milky way, then how could the Replicators go to the Asgard's galaxy? They picked up them to study? I hope that Hermiod will speak about this mission.

I knew I missed something
Yes, I believe Thor mentioned in an ep that the Asgard encountered a planet populated by Replicators, got a bit curious, beamed some up to their ship and the rest is history.

[NotAscended]

I know my opinion will be in the minority in this thread, but I think the whole idea of the Asurans has a lot of potential and I think they will be significantly different from the Replicators of SG-1. The replicators of the Milky Way galaxy were a very young evolution of humanoid replicators, and given that they were led by a very young and emotional Fifth and then a wacky Replicarter, we never saw what they would have evolved into. They were just running around trying to conquer everything and work out their messed-up trust issues from their betrayal by SG-1.

By contrast, the Asurans will have been around for thousands of years, evolving their own distinct culture, and presumably haven't bothered to even involve themselves much with all these human cultures in Pegasus or with the Wraith. I think/hope their motivations and actions will be substantially different than what we saw in Milky Way replicators. Personally, I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can do.

[freyr's mother]

I know my opinion will be in the minority in this thread, but I think the whole idea of the Asurans has a lot of potential and I think they will be significantly different from the Replicators of SG-1. The replicators of the Milky Way galaxy were a very young evolution of humanoid replicators, and given that they were led by a very young and emotional Fifth and then a wacky Replicarter, we never saw what they would have evolved into. They were just running around trying to conquer everything and work out their messed-up trust issues from their betrayal by SG-1.

By contrast, the Asurans will have been around for thousands of years, evolving their own distinct culture, and presumably haven't bothered to even involve themselves much with all these human cultures in Pegasus or with the Wraith. I think/hope their motivations and actions will be substantially different than what we saw in Milky Way replicators. Personally, I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can do.

I am looking forward to this episode, but i don't think i am looking forward to the story arc so much.

We better not betray them this time, or else what happened in the MW, could end up happening in Pegasus.

[Naonak]

Okay, just watched Menace, and the only things we know about Reese's "father" and the planet's civilisation are that they looked human on the outside, weren't robots themselves, and were destroyed by the Replicators.
That's it - we don't know for sure that they were human. Her father at least could easily have been an Ancient.