Vengeance (319)

[Alipeeps]

That would be interesting, making things from DH's real life part of Rodney's backstory. Just like both JF and Sheppard like Johnny Cash and surfing and golf. I'm just waiting for the skateboard to show up.

I wish! I asked Joe about that at Expo and he said he keeps pitching the idea of Sheppard skateboarding or surfing in the show and TPTB keep turning him down!

[ToasterOnFire]

This ep was far better than last week's Submersion and it had the added benefit of Michael, but there was enough holding it back from being a great ep.


The good:

-Anything with Michael is a good thing, especially when we get repeated confirmation that the team royally screwed up with the retrovirus arc. Uh, duh? Michael has proven himself a worthy, crafty villain, something Atlantis desperately needs after axing Kolya in such a stupid manner. It was also nice to see more of a gray morality brush painted here - no one is really innocent in this situation.

-Teyla had a lot of screentime, which was a nice compliment of her additional screentime in Submersion.

-Nice atmosphere in the beginning, very creepy.

-A Teyla/Weir scene! And a bonus Ronon/McKay bonding (sort of) scene!


The bad:

-Some of the dialog was off, especially the Shep/Michael scene and the flat "Dr. Evil" reference. Shep just doesn't snark like O'Neill did, so why try to write him as such?

-The control crystal is gone out of the DHD and Shep and co. just assume that McKay can magically fix it? Come on, I can't believe that the head offworld team is that daft when it comes to the DHD.

-I've grown weary of the closed hallway sets of impending doom, especially in episodes shown so close together.

-Also, trying to slam a door shut only to have a creature brace it with its hands? Complete horror movie CHEESE.

-Yet another Weir-light ep. Wow, there have been a lot of those in the second half. Guess TPTB are just easing the transition to recurring next year.

-The Big Reset Button has officially struck Carson. Funny, considering how his research was what created Michael in the first place...

[HyperCaz]

Chuck never spoke to anyone. They received a "data transmission" from the marines. It was sent as a report, not an in person conversation.

oh is what happens when attempting to write fanfic at the same time as watching....

even so, I'm just going to keep blaming chuck

[spoilerfix]

The Vengence

Spoiler:

Ronon and Rodney are sparring. Rodney's getting beat up when Weir and Shep walks into the gym. Weir says that the super volcano people from season 2 have been out of contact for a long time. So the team visits their new settlement, but no one is there. Rodney notices a life sign in an underground structure the previous inhabitants abandoned. The team checks it out. The settlers are found dead in a room. They all have wounds on their necks just like the way Iratus bugs leave on their victims. They explore more and encounters a huge man-like iratus bug. The Marine team sent by Weir arrives and contacts Shep. Shep, trying to see what's kind of enemy he's facing, orders radio silence. Then suddenly, a dart dials in and beams up the Marines. After finding out that their enemies are giant bugs, the team blows up a room with giant egg pods where bugs are hatching and goes outside to meet up with the Marines. They cannot find them, so they try to dial home, but are unable to b/c someone took the control crystal. So the team goes back to the underground facility and explores more and Tayla gets sidetracked and captured by no other, Michael. Michael explains that he was rescued by a Hive ship after Atlantis team left him on the humanish Wraith refuge planet. However, he was discriminated and barely escaped the Hive. With no family or friends and no where to go, Michael decided to create army of super wraith (Iratus bugs). Wraiths were created by Iratus bug DNA mixed with human DNA, but Michael, inspired by the retrovirus, creates a new method to create super Wraith bug thingy... (they look like huge Iratus bugs with arms and legs). He let bugs feed on human subjects as much as the bugs could until the subjects died. Then before the human DNA Iratus bugs had in them got broken down, he made bugs lay eggs. He manipulated human DNA of the embryos in the eggs to create his bug army. Shep, Ronon, and Rodney looks for Tayla and fights off some bugs. Michael release a bug on Tayla's tied body then leaves for some reason... Just as Tayla is about to be fed on, the rest of the team arrives and kills the bug. While Rodney and Tayla attempt to download info about bugs (Michael calimed that there are many more labs and many more super Wraith bug things), Shep and Ronon goes after Michael. Shep and Ronon fights off the bugs. Shep finds Michael's dart and fly it and beam up Ronon, Tayla and Rodney. He then uses the dart's DHD to dial home. Weir is surprised that Michael is alive and creating army of super bug things... She feels guilty b/c Michael found out about the super volcano people and other things from the database the Wraith stole at the end of season 2. Overall, this episode was great with a lot of actions and Alien-like monsters popping up and surprising even the viewers.

[caien]

Disappointing, predictable, and a little fake. I'm terrified of insects, so I thought I'd at least be a little creeped out by an episode consisting almost entirely of the team fighting giant bugs. But I had such a hard time buying the bug-creatures that the whole episode didn't even faze me.

Michael said " 'your people' this" and " 'your people' that" that so many times it almost seemed like they were avoiding talking about Carson. I mean, it was his retrovirus.

I agree with the comments that say that Teyla doesn't seem to do much anymore except be a damsel-in-distress figure. But I did like how she actually contemplated what Michael's life was like pre-retrovirus. I'm surprised no one else brought it up before this episode.

[sueKay]

my usual plea...

...any screencaps?

eta: found some!

[Alipeeps]

Why have you posted this here when there is a) an entire forum for discussion of Atlantis Season 3 eps and b) an entire discussion post (within that folder) devoted solely to discussion of this very episode?

[Agent_Dark]

Why have you posted this here when there is a) an entire forum for discussion of Atlantis Season 3 eps and b) an entire discussion post (within that folder) devoted solely to discussion of this very episode?

post count +1

[Franklyn Blaze]

My only gripe was that the aliens got progressively easier to kill as the episode went on.
In the beginning it took 4 people to take one down, in the beginning the alien got away even.
Near the end Ronon is one hit KO'ing these guys, by himself. What's up with that?

[prion]

One of the better episodes of the season imo. I guess the 'Zombies' (they kinda looked like the zombies from Half Life 2 imo) are gonna be the Atlantis version of the Super Soldiers in s4. Though slightly odd how they suddenly turned from 'extremely hard to kill' at the start of the episode, to Ronan picking them off with single shots on the run lol... :s Michael will probably be a fairly large antagonist in season 4 too, by the looks of it. They seem to be setting him up as a renegade Wraith who will be an enemy of both the Wraith and Atlantis.

Also, I think Team Shep needs a refresher course in military tactics.... All this wandering off by themselves, splitting up and going solo when facing an unknown number of hostiles, splitting up and going solo when their communications were jammed...., chattering away like no tomorrow when 'tracking' a bogey - in tunnels none the less (sound carries a long, long way in a tunnel...). I know Sheppard is the only US military officer on the team, but that's what training is for... Ronan and Teyla should be both adequately versed in US military tactics by now.

I'm probably the ONLY one who saw the creatures and thought, my god, BEMs!!! I figure the first time they were hard to kill with bullets, but once Ronon was able to get in there (remember, HE was the one being attacked) his marvelous laser pistol whatever did a good job. Chitinous shells can't fight off laser bolts.

As for the military tactics... well, so much reality is tossed out in the Stargates (both series). They went solo cuz, well, duh, they were stupid (and they read the script that said, let's separate them so we can put one in jeopardy - which was cool anyway). Would be good if one day it backfired terribly adn someone got injured and they had to face the reality that running to do what you want just doesn't always work. Hmm....fanfic....

No mention of Carson, in a story relating to his character's main (if not only) arc?

Submersion was forgiveable, but this isn't

I won't be watching this one either.

1. He was mentionned. Unless "your doctor" is someone else.

2. The Atlantis team didn't mention him, but I actually found that to be quite believable. I think the fact of Carson being dead has people viewing the situation differently than they would otherwise. If they had time to go back to Atlantis and try and analyse Michael's data and didn't mention him, that would be one thing. But this... even if Carson was alive, it's very unlikely he'd get a direct mention in the middle of a battle (which this essentially was). The team would have been focused on the situation at hand and how to get out of it alive, and deal with the rest of it later. That is entirely realistic in terms of real military situations.

True. If Carson was alive, we wouldn't hear his name. Although I must admit there were one or two times when I thought Michael should have said "Dr. Beckett," instead of 'you people.'

This plot was very much the BEM flicks of the 50s (where yes, people separate but unlike in those movies, someone isn't eaten). Even the air ducts (which, by the way, Aliens ripped off It, the TError From Beyond Space - a classic BEM flick).

[prion]

Oh, http://www.scifiquest.com/stargateat...teatlantis.php has transcript and screencaps. Ah, that beginning sequence with Ronon teaching McKay combat techniques. So funny! However, they shoudl have done a Kung Fu, not Jet Li, reference since David Hewlett had been in Kung Fu (TLC)....

[HyperCaz]

I got happy in the flashbacks at the beginning 'coz it meant seeing Carson LOL *is very, very sad individual*

Beckett is not a dirty word! I wanted to hear it, just once! They'd make me less cranky by mentioning it. I wonder if the hybrid thingies feed as well? Considering it's got the iratus bug DNA...

I am now very curious as to how Wraith reproduce and I doubt it would be through pods like the Alien thingoes were. I guess it's just down to what parts of the human DNA ended up in the genetic make up.

Ah yes. I was distracted. The amount of Carson in the flashbacks should certainly suggest that the story arc needs him.

[PG15]

I'll admit, it was a slight letdown from what I envisioned; I mean Trip...er...Michael was back! It could've been better. Still, I enjoyed what I was offerred; the pacing, as mentioned, was perfect, not to mention the setting as well. The first part had me on the edge of my seat; I was freaking scared man! I guess that's what happens when you rarely watch horror movies.

So, the points:

Michael; even though I wanted him to have more screentime, what he had was wonderfully portrayed by Connor Trinneer (who will forever be Trip to me ). I loved how he basically turned the retrovirus on its head and hammered back with all the issues we had with it right here on this board. I mean, what he was doing was pretty much what we did. And of course, Trinneer gave the wraith some personality; he was pissed when his "children" got blown up, and we can see how he felt that he was defeated when Shep took the Wraith dart. I CANNOT WAIT to see him again!

Pacing and Setting; like I said, even if the episode had shortfalls, these weren't part of it. Andy Mikita and the set guys did a wonderful job making the corridors small, dimly/scarily lit, and dirty; just enough to make the hairs on your back of your neck stand up throughout the entire episode (well, it worked for me). The music near the beginning was excellently done to build up the tension; I knew *something* was gonna pop up somewhere, and unfortunately, I was too chicken and turned the sound waaay down just before the first bug-guy popped up.

Speaking of them; Mikita did very well to film them just long enough and with enough movement to make them menacing, and yet not cheesy as with pretty much all movie monsters these days.

Team: if this isn't a team episode, nothing is (note: I'm not counting Weir since, technically, she's not part of the team). Pretty much everyone had something important to contribute, and they had pretty much an equal amount of dialogue, especially on that first walk back to the gate; it was like everyone was speaking every 4th line of dialogue or something. I liked John's referencing of Aliens, I liked McKay vs. Ronan at the beginning, I LOVED the Teyla and McKay scene where they "fleshed out" a bit more about Michael and how they felt about him, and of course, who can forget the timeless Ronan/Shep banter?

Speaking of Ronan (ain't I awesome at seguing?), he finally spoke about what's been on many fans' minds; namely, they screwed everything up with the retrovirus; it's good to know that the characters aren't totally oblivious about this sort of stuff.

Anyway, slightly disappointing compared to what I thought it would be, but solid episode nonethless.

Score: 8/10

*LOL* However, it would be nice if Teyla wore a UNIFORM off world. Oh, wait, she did, it just happened to pop open. Too bad Shep's "uniform" doesn't expose his chest every week.

Well, it makes sense this time; the bug had to feed on her neck, which was partially blocked by that uniform.

[memnarch]

I agree that it was a slight let down from what I was hoping for in Michael's return. First of all, what happened to all the other Wraith who had been altered in Misbegotten? Weren't they ostresized too? It's possible that they were all killed by the other Wraith and that only Michael escaped, but seriously there were about 80 of those altered Wraith on that planet!

I would have thought Michael would've been trying to find a way to create a Wraith/human hybrid with a Wraith's lifespan and a human's ability to eat non-sentient beings. That would've been productive, for him and his race.

Okay, rant over (sorta)! I loved the beginning with McKay and Ronon, but I would've liked it if it payed off later in the episode, like McKay keeping his eyes on an enemy and it working for him. I liked seeing Michael again, simply because now that Kolya's gone (don't even get me started on that!) Michael's the only villain on the show with a name. Seriously, start giving Wraith their own names! Teyla's continued sympathy will hopefully pay off eventually and gain some insight into who Michael really is and the Wraith as a whole.

The creatures started off okay, but I agree with some other posters here that they became progressively easier to kill and thus less threatening.

Overall, ** stars (but only because they didn't kill Michael like I thought I they would. I would've been seriously ticked off if they had)

[Sweetsong]

It's good to see more character development on the wraith, in this instance Michael. Here we see how he could have been as important to the wraith as Mckay is to Atlantis, yet all that was taken away from him due to the retro virus experiment. Now Atlantis realizes they have created a monster. I look forward to seeing more run-ins with Michael in season 4.