'Tabula Rasa' (406) General Discussion

[Briangate78]

Just rewatched the end of SGA and I can confirm the new line up is:
Flash
SGA
New SGA

Yeah!

Man, it was even better the second time around. This is actually in my top ten SGA episodes, I think.

I loved Teyla's fight scene, too. The little moments on the planet with Ronan and John nearly coming to blows were pretty great, too. And Lorne...he was just great!

I just rewatched it as well. Yeah, when an ep is still interesting the 2nd time around, that is a good sign. The only ep I did not really enjoy the 2nd time was Travelers.

BTW, thanks for clarifying the new Sci-fi lineup. I am predicting that SGA could very well end up in the 9pm slot for their new Season 4 eps in the 2nd half. That would really help live ratings. I guess it all depends what programming they have planned after Flash ends.

[Melora]

I have to say this is my favorite episode so far this season. It was just a great team ep where everyone had something important to do. The story was interesting and well executed and the character moments were well done. I was worried at the beginning b/c there was so little of Teyla and Ronon, but that was remedied in the second half.

There were so many great moments. I loved Rodney keeping Katie company and watching over her. It was really sweet and shows a lot of growth for him. I really hope nothing happens to her or their relationship. She's good for him.

I loved how strong and calm Teyla was and how she kept Rodney focused on the task at hand. I liked Ronon and Sheppard confronting each other by the puddle jumper. And I really loved the scene with Sam and Rodney talking about how they could search the city for Teyla b/c "how big can it be?" and then finding out just how big it is.

For his first SGA outing, Alan McCullough did an excellent job.

[mrtwidlywinks]

Great episode, I loved the whole shedding the light on rarely seen/fairly new characters. Crazy-rogue Zelinka was great.

BUT

I found it a little too convenient that McKay had the code for the cell written on his arm, and that Carter knew to look in the holding room-it's amazing they even found it, considering they've forgotten how to get around ("How big could it be..."). Seriously, why did they need to find Teyla in the first place? Finding her didn't really do anything, except she gave McKay the encouragement to press "Enter". He should've just recorded himself saying something like "press enter and it will make everything better," or something. Lastly, Ronan's speech at the jumper to Sheppard was horrible-I normally love the guy, but he had no emotion in his voice when he spoke, and what could have been a very emotional, moving scene ended up more like someone just reading a script.
Otherwise, very good episode, this whole season has been great.

[Melora]

Great episode, I loved the whole shedding the light on rarely seen/fairly new characters. Crazy-rogue Zelinka was great.

BUT

I found it a little too convenient that McKay had the code for the cell written on his arm, and that Carter knew to look in the holding room-it's amazing they even found it, considering they've forgotten how to get around ("How big could it be..."). Seriously, why did they need to find Teyla in the first place? Finding her didn't really do anything, except she gave McKay the encouragement to press "Enter". He should've just recorded himself saying something like "press enter and it will make everything better," or something. Lastly, Ronan's speech at the jumper to Sheppard was horrible-I normally love the guy, but he had no emotion in his voice when he spoke, and what could have been a very emotional, moving scene ended up more like someone just reading a script.
Otherwise, very good episode, this whole season has been great.

Actually, they mentioned how they found the holding room. When Teyla asked how they had found her, they said that they followed one of the soldiers.

[vaberella]

9.5 OUT OF 10

After my utter disappointment with Travelers this was a fantastic ep. It flowed well, back to the team ep. I wasn't too into Teyla's usage---she wasn't as active as I'd like to see her be, but in the scenes she was in she was cool. Normally she's active on screen even if she's not utilized to her magnitude, but I'll elaborate later, I'll give a general idea on this ep.


Very "MEMENTO" -ish. I was waiting for McKay to say, "You see...I have this condition..." It would have been class really. I love the pic addition and the whole writing on his arm...long live Memento in setting a wicked presedence. SGA did well in utilizing aspects of the movie in the show.

Okay, I'd like to give a big, "woohoo" in again seeing the entire team working on this, again wanted more Teyla, but it's neither here nor there. It was still balanced and functional.

Adored him. I loved his scenes, and those in paticular with Zelenka. He was a far more frantic 'Leonard' but Leonard was used to the state of his affairs, so that's the difference. It was just cool to see the writing on the arm and trying to remember important points..."I have this condition..."

She was cool, not specky but wicked. I liked her matrix moves from the stunner in her little moment versus Lorne and crew. She put up a good fight, and of course Teyla had her "uber smart" moment, which I was begging for. Thanks JM for that, I really enjoyed seeing her in action.

Totally entertaining and better usage of his character versus that non-sense called Travelers. I like the looks of intensity in Shep and I like seeing Shep uncertain and unsettled. It's invigorating for his character and it's such a juxtaposition to his role as second in command in SGA.

She was entertaining, it was a bit easy for her and her memory was great for someone lost. But I liked her usage. The whole proletariat versus bourgeoisie moment ie scientists (proletariat under military control and jurisdiction) versus military (bourgeoisie controlling the scientists and taking over Atlantis). It does play on the fears of many of the fans of SGA---of course this is me taking a more philosophical turn with the ep which may not have been implied, but this was the first thought running through my head when I saw the scientists bumrush the military. Great plan Sam (she's extraordinary because she's both military and scientst)!!!

He was class...was it my shipper heart that picked up on something when Teyla told him to inform Keller and there was a little...meh, don't know...Anyway he was great, and I loved his moments. But you know the writers love Ronon so this is as per usual.

(Keller) Not to be funny, but I actually liked her more than I liked Carson in eps where he was utilized a lot. I think it's because it was beautiful and her usage was realistic. Her purpose was well defined and she wasn't worthless, plus you felt her anxiety and she was just aware of her surroundings. She was great.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now a few more general statements. I might be the only one who saw this, much like the whole pro/bourg concept, but I totally saw this ep as an extention of Doppelganger.

John not being capable of carrying out his posts because of his mental health problems. He feels inadequate and useless.

Teyla's situation of feeling untrust worthy as seen with Lorne's statement. The dynamic was there and made fully descriptive.

Ronon's is a bit different because they maintained the whole Atlantis connection but they did revisit the whole uninhabited world and he's sent there to get the herbs and bring it back since he's on a race against time.

Keller's fear of not being able to do her job and just being incapable of fulfilling her duties. I was impressed, because it was another way of giving us that story and maintaining continuity.

McKay's fears weren't really touched upon but his was a bit more fantastical and out there.

Lorne's not trusting John was revisited again and it was great taht Shep thought ahead with the picture.

Again it was just a really good balance not only of characterization, added social commentary ---from my perspective, and I was totally excited by the fact that we had another moment of continuity and reflection of the intentions and motives and feelings of the characters from Doppelganger!!

9.5 OUT OF 10

[lirenel]

I greatly enjoyed this episode. I'm always wary about Katie/Rodney ship, since before it seemed kinda forced to me. But having McKay go with her when he doesn't like being around sick people, plus the end scene, was just precious. DH uses his facial expressions to great advantage.

I also like how, even when losing their memory, most people seemed to keep a sense of what was most important or ingrained. This seen especially in the soldiers. They were obviously affected, but they still retained that sense that they had to obey orders, and kept a vague recollection that that order was to herd the people in the mess hall. Then, once they were told that Sheppard was their commanding officer, they flawlessly moved into asking for orders. Then, as someone else mentioned, Sam also did the same, falling back into her personality from when she was on SG-1 which would also be very ingrained in her.

As a McKeyla shipper (yes, we actually exist, even though it's technically my secondary ship after McWeir) I enjoyed the Rodney/Teyla scenes. Don't get a lot of those. As for what someone mentioned above, about why Teyla was needed, I have a theory. I think Rodney recorded the message, tied himself up and continued working on the problem until his memory left for good. Of course, when he recorded the message he wouldn't have known how far he would have gotten before his slate went blank. So the fact that all he had to do was hit the enter key wouldn't have helped when he recorded it. Just a theory.

9.5/10, because I'm still a bit petulant about lack of McWeir.

[KiLL3r]

Great Episode. The start reminded me of the blink episode from doctor who with the leaving the message sorta thing. I liked how they used flashbacks to show what had actually happened instead of explaining it verbally. Zelenka was great as usual the thought of him running around knocking off the soldiers made me chuckle.

And im sure everyone thought katie was gonna be knocked off at the end


9/10

[mrtwidlywinks]

Actually, they mentioned how they found the holding room. When Teyla asked how they had found her, they said that they followed one of the soldiers.

Oops-must've missed that line.

[majorsal]

great ep!

tightly written and directed. and very enjoyable watching out ppl lose their memories.

the only complaint is that it ended too abruptly.

this is my 6th ep and i've not seen one weak one of the lot. well done!

~my fave line was sam saying 'do it'. just have to squee at that!! ~




sally

[lord-anubis]

soo this teyla chacter is new to the show???j/klol

i really can't rember the last time i have seen teyla in a ep so much maybe i havent been paiding ehough atentson. it was petty good. i all most dident watch it sent i dident like the idea of the ep but im gald i did. also i don't know if any of you people watch attack of the show on g4. they had one of the people form it on stargate atlantis i was the one telling shepp that he dident want to go to the caffitra i think.

[Michelle05]

Wow, great episode! Very tight plot, great filming techniques with the high- contrast shooting. Wonderful character moments all around, and I thought David H did an exceptional job, giving lots of nuance to his usual panic.

Loved the John and Ronon scene. Loved Lorne and his team's single-mindedness with the one thing they had left in their memories. Loved John waking up and soon asking after Rodney.

The only criticism I would give, and I know I'm biased, but I find Keller's manner of speaking too dry and unemotional. Maybe it's realistic that a doctor would be that way, but it's the same reason I never warmed up to Dr. Lam on SG-1. I miss

But overall, very well done to the handsome Allan McCullough and Martin Wood. Can't wait to hear the commentary for this one!

[WHG5885]

Another brillant episode for this season. Not only was it a great episode, but well written, I really enjoyed the attention to detail, and the whole back story flashbacks. And the opening scene with McKay watching the video of himself, that was a great way to start off the epsiode.

McKay writting little notes on his arms, was a great little nod to "Memento," very appropiate for a episode where everyone has no memories. And the fact that Ronon and Teyla were immune becasue its a natural bacteria in the pegasus galaxy was great(slightly mutated bacteria, but generally the same).

I'm so glad that Katie didn't die, it was scary for a moment when it shows Rodney holding her hand and he is face down, like he was crying, but it turned out ok.

I also want to add that I am pleased with the introduction of Niall Matter as Lt. Kemp in this epsiode. Niall is great in Eureka as Zane Donozan, he is a great actor with alot of potential, I can't wait to see his character again in "Be All My Sins Remember'd," hopefully his character will be seen more in the future. I think Lt. Kemp could be a great addition to the stargate universe, he just has a great feel about him.

Anyway, it was a great episode, and the preview for next weeks episode looked very promising.

[majorsal]

I thought Carter went back into SG-1 mode when she lost her memory, too. She was going on pure instinct. She knew who she trusted and went with her gut. She reminded me of the Sam from Beneath the Surface, and that made total sense since that episode involved memory loss, too. I also think that Sam's behavior at the beginning (cool headed Sam-in-Command but still trying to fit into her new environment) contrasted well with Sam minus her memory (SG-1 mode and going on gut instinct).

i thought the scene where sam told the guys to take the jumper and/or go through the gate, and then ronan and teyla told her that she'd prevented it - amanda did great with that confused 'i said what? i did?' look.

on a cute sidenote, in my tv section of the newpaper, this is how they wrote up about tonight's ep: 'a virus-enducing amnesia has the whole cast forgetting their lines."



sally

[female Wraith]

Very good episode

[RealmOfX]

I am gonna get something thrown at me for this one...

I predict the thread traffic will be spread out throughout the weekend because a lot of people DVR'd the show and will watch over the next few days.

OR

it could be because the people who post in this forum come from all around the world and it takes them various amounts of time to get their hands on an ep