'The Last Man' (420) General Discussion

[Briangate78]

Fast paced?!? Are you kidding me?

My cat was even more fast paced than this, and he was asleep.

There is something called going too far with an opinion. Now if some characters were still alive and full-time in this episode I bet some people would turncoat in a heartbeat even if it was the same exact plot and story. I have learned a lot posting here. I just think people watch the show blinded because certain characters are no longer with the show. That is my opinion of course. But am I really that far off with this?

I wonder if there is an AU SGA airing with all the main characters still alive and full-time, and if those fans are singing a different tune. I'd pay money to see that.

Just to add, I know because I was like this for Season 9 of SG-1. Which I regret doing so.

[Shan Bruce Lee]

There is something called going too far with an opinion. Now if some characters were still alive and full-time in this episode I bet some people would turncoat in a heartbeat even if it was the same exact plot and story. I have learned a lot posting here. I just think people watch the show blinded because certain characters are no longer with the show. That is my opinion of course. But am I really that far off with this?

I wonder if there is an AU SGA airing with all the main characters still alive and full-time, and if those fans are singing a different tune. I'd pay money to see that.

Just to add, I know because I was like this for Season 9 of SG-1. Which I regret doing so.

I don't know but I think I agree with you.

[Demerzel]

Great episode.

I enjoyed it very much despite the plotholes found here and there.

A star undergoing a change to either red giant or supernova will take millions of years to do so as its a very long process. Had they arrived right before it happened, then okay. But there was still an atmosphere and such so there was no way only 500 years would mean it's over. The planet itself would have been almost destroyed long before the star is actually "dead". Best example I can give is the Eye of Jupiter episode in Battlestar Galactica. They arrived on Ageia -right- as the star was going supernova, but the planet was far enough to not be affected much until the star actually blows up and destroys the solar system.

As for the rest, it was a good episode. I looooved the last moments of Todd and Ronon and the expression on their faces. You could almost think they were a team. The Mckay scenes were good, I think it was some of his best acting so far.

Even knowing it wasn't going to remain that way, Sam's death got my eyes a bit wet. But there's something wrong with a lot of pilots in that show, they all want to ram other ships and sacrifice themselves!

General Lorne!! But man, 25 years to go from Major to Major General? Slow promotions, for sure. His futuristic uniform was bleh, I thought.

Keller and McKay. Ugh. UGH. That alone was reason enough to cancel the timeline. Too bad that whiny overrated brat didn't die for real.

And finally, Woolsey. If this is what we can expect from S5, then I'll just watch the storyline episodes in early S5 and then find another show to watch. It's going to be the last season I'm pretty sure and it's one of the worst character moves I've seen to put him in charge when he has zero credibility and can't seem to make good decisions, ever.

The end was predictable and didn't leave me on the edge of my seat. But overall it was a good season finale, just not as good as other shows who actually leave us on a cliffhanger that is part of the story and not another "Oh noes, everyone blew up! How will they survive?!". Battlestar Galactica anyone?

[rovex]

Not bad at all. Best thing about timeline episodes is that they can do things that they could never do in the real story arc.
Im a 33 year old man and i almost cried when Sam heroically took out the wraith hives. Watching a character on TV for 11 years has an effect on you.

[Pharaoh Atem]

i watched this ep and i never once thought about crying .....guess i was to into the ep ....damn paul

[francis]

just watched it finaly a good stargate time travel episode it didnt make me cry though. Its always fun to see what happens when the bad guy wins it ups the tension show how big the stakes are all in all a good episode

[jelgate]

Peg and her novels

11 pages already? Wow you lot are a chatty bunch today. So this review might be a bit different to my normal reviews as i've just watched it.

So here goes, bear with me while I ramble (probably excessantly).

How is that different from your previous reviews.

While I loved certain elements in this ep, the banter between Shep and Rodney. Shep's expressions at finding out he was on his own and everyone else had died. Both boys (Joe and David) played those parts really well and were exceptionally believable in their portrayal. But did I feel the urgency and the direness of the situation? Was I on the edge of my screen squeeing with delight? To a degree, there were some great moments, but on balance, it just didn't 'do' it for me.

Your just mad that you didn't see the ultimate whump with Sheppard being dead

It was interested in seeing Ronon and Todd working together, and I got the impression that Ronon loved the fact that if he was going to die, he wasn't going alone and was more than happy to take the wraith with him!

I agree with that statement. Ronon would be that if I am going die, I should take a bunch of people with me.

I loved Michael going all evil, and no mercy sort of killing! But again for me, it was proably too much of a leap from what we had seen in Kindred.

I'm sorry, I don't see it that way. The autrocities he committed in Kindred match to what he was doing The Last Man. He said he planned to wipe out the Wraith and that exactly what he did. I don't see how it was a big leap

As for Keller.... well surprisingly, I actully quite liked her in this! The smooching, hmmm, well still not convinced.

We will convince you yet

Hidden in spoilers to avoid controversy
[SPOILERS]Maybe I liked Keller in this timeline she died??!!

Spoiler:

Bad Peggy!!!

Spoiler:

*Breaks into Peg's house and steals her whip*

I actually liked the fact that she had the courage to stand up to Woolsey even if it was just a bit. It's a start, and allowed me to see a different side of her, but i'm surprised she quit to be honest.

If people were being killed left and right and you could do nothing about it, I know I wouldn't.

As for the ending.... hmmm not sure how to take it to be honest, they're all buried under rubble, hopefully hurt and injured especially sHEP, AS THAT WOULD REALLY MAKE ME SQUEE. aND YES i AM THAT SHALLOW.

We know

I do like time travel and 'what if' stories, but I think more along the lines of 'It's a wonderful life' type of timeline as opposed to jumping from person to person, time frame to time frame.

Thats boring to me as you don't get see Sheppard's reaction. Don't tell me you didn't like seeing Sheppard walk through the sandstorm.

But great acting to Joe and David, I did love their banter, and 'snorted' in a very unladylike manner about the hair thing, and the superbowel etc. But not even one tear rolled down my cheek. There should have been hugs! Then i'd have been bawling like a baby and probably would have liked it more because it hit me on a more emotional level. Yes, I am that shallow.

Do worry I didn't cry either, but then again it takes a lot for me to cry.

Okay, i'm done. Roll on season 5

I can''t wait so I can make fun and torture Peg.

[Integrabyte]

Runs in ....shouts "Boooooo it sucked"....runs out

[Cautious Explorer]

I had hopes that this epiosde could actually be interesting. It started out well, but then bogged down with Carter and Keller's portions. In the end, Sheppard didn't get to do much except listen to hologram Rodney recite his story.

It felt very detached to me. Teyla's dead and no one reacts --it's ancient history by now to hologram Rodney and we don't get to see anyone else's reaction. How did Atlantis react to Sheppard being lost in the future? We didn't get to see that. Was it a difficult decision for Ronon to leave Atlantis? We didn't get to see that either. It was basically a story told as: this happened, and then this happened, and then, and then, and then....

I prefer a story that revolves around the characters and how they react emotionally to events. There wasn't much here.

The entire focal point of this season-ender was Rodney McKay -- how his life changed, personally and professionally. Too much McKay for me.

I didn't care what happened to Carter or Keller. They're new to Atlantis. I'd rather see how the remaining members of the original expeditiion were affected. We get Carter and Rodney working on her ship with a whole second of Zelenka's hand. A lengthy look at Keller's failure to defeat the Hoffan disease and her resulting love affair and death. I just didn't care.

No explanation was given as to how Teyla's child provided the stepping stone for Michael's mutant army to conquer the Pegasus Galaxy. What happened to the child? Without feeding on life force, what makes the mutants more powerful than the Wraith?

It didn't hold my interest. Another badly written episode in a badly written season IMO.

There is something called going too far with an opinion. Now if some characters were still alive and full-time in this episode I bet some people would turncoat in a heartbeat even if it was the same exact plot and story. I have learned a lot posting here. I just think people watch the show blinded because certain characters are no longer with the show. That is my opinion of course. But am I really that far off with this?

I wonder if there is an AU SGA airing with all the main characters still alive and full-time, and if those fans are singing a different tune. I'd pay money to see that.

Just to add, I know because I was like this for Season 9 of SG-1. Which I regret doing so.

In my case Briangate, you're completely off base. All of my favorite characters are still there -- sort of. I should say, the characters and the actors who portray them are still part of the show. But I think they're written differently this season. The dialog is often stilted IMO. They seem to behave out of character and fluxuate from one week to the next. I'm finding the plots uncreative and unexciting.

It's not so much the lack of certain characters for me, as my frustration with the dull, shallow characters who replaced them. If Weir or Carson had been replaced with vibrant, exciting characters who interacted well with the existing Atlantis crew, then I would probably be enjoying season four as much as I enjoyed previous seasons.

[toomanysides]

Holy crap. Okay if you take out the anti climatic ending, a few plot holes/eh stuff, it was a pretty good damn episode, but I'm biased.

I really wish Sam's demise was not AU. I really could accept such a end for her, it was fitting that she would go down with the ship. She went out fighting. I'm still feeling the impact.

Ronan/Todd end was equally as awesome. Going down together side by side for the same cause.

Plot for originality was eh, as with someone telling what happened but I forgive. For giving us two great ways to end such great characters.

[JackHarkness_Hot]

I really did admire Carter's dedication in the alternate timeline, when the USAF and the IOA were "retreating", she demanded that they got to do all they can to protect the lesser humans throughout the Pegasus galaxy.

The fact that she got the command of the Phoenix and how dedicated she was in getting the ship up and running with Atlantis personnel in a month and went on recons and 1-on-1 death battles, really confirms what I knew all along - she's better as a commander of a team or a ship, but she's just not good as a base commander. She's a "Girl-who-thinks-on-her-feet" and we have seen her on SG-1, where her idea of a good time was tuning her bike or tweaking alien devices (i.e. the earlier forms of the Naquadah Generators), she's not the type to sit behind a desk.

As weird as it sounds, she did great in the alternate timeline!

[Integrabyte]

On a more serious note, my opinion about this episode. In the whole SGA franchise I had one episode I loved and it was "Before I sleep". I love that episode because it involves time travel and whatnot. I am a sucker for those so, you guys can imagine that TLM is on the top spot now for me. The episode had more inconsistencies than SGA S1 and S2 put together. I am willing look past those because David's performance was flawless and because they finally gave me something I wanted: the real SAM.

The good:

1. Rodney not willing to give up.
2. Sam forcing the IOA to give her The Phoenix and her teamwork with Rodney.
3. Lorne shoving the temporal prime directive where the sun don't shine. He finally convinced me that he deserves to be on SGA as a regular.
4. Keller dying
5. Ronon seeing the light and being honoured to meet his end alongside a brother in arms. Todd has done well this season.
6. Michael, one nasty bad guy with great potential.
7. Zelenka for showing us that he is still around


The bad:

1. 1969/VOY and DS9 rip off
2. Earth has 3 ships + The Phoenix. I understand that the Odyssey is our strongest ship but why give Sam an unfinished ship? What was the Apollo doing? Seeing that Atlantis was under threat why not commit both to the PG? One of them to stay in orbit to protect Atlantis and one of them to give Sam help. Ridiculous really.
3. It is hard to believe that Atlantis the most advanced thing in stargate does not have any surprises under its sleeve.
4. IOA chaos

The ugly:

1. From an astrophysics point of view the episode was 5 ly off. I had a module with general stuff on red giants and supernovas and my course was way different. Through natural causes a sun will never become a red giant in such a period of time. It takes a lot longer.
2. Plothole over plothole regarding science.


Conclusion: Ignoring the flaws, it was enjoyable.

[LoneStar1836]

General Lorne! The only good thing about this episode. Course now that the big ol’ RESET button was depressed, that will never happen now.

Shep goes missing and the galaxy goes to hell and everyone dies. (Yes I know it started because of the mutant baby, but come on. They acted like the military efforts were in shambles just because Shep was gone.)

I knew the button was going to be pushed and these people weren’t the “real” characters so I didn’t care if they died. Nothing emotional there from me…mostly because it was becoming a joke that everyone was going to end up dead except for Rodney.

Even Woolsey coming in as commander was already a joke. Instead of having him be seen as a serious character, the writers make him look like some dope in that stupid uniform. Yeah he had the ***** to shut down off-world activities and focus on Atlantis, but the writers still had to get in their ha has by making him look like a doofus…which doesn’t make me want to take him seriously next season.

I have a feeling that we are going to get a reset within a reset. McKay survives and gets future Shep to just push the reset button again. Either that or they get beamed out. No real suspense there.

I didn’t like Moebius. I didn’t like Unending. I don’t care for this one, but luckily for it, I feel more strongly in my dislike for those other two for various reasons. TLM was more of a “meh” episode. I was just not invested in this episode. The plot didn't grab me. I thought this episode might be halfway decent. I'm not anti-AU stories. Some have been done well (ex: Before I Sleep) and some not so well. This one was just down right boring.

Waste of an episode.

And of course this is all just my opinion in case anyone needs a reminder.

[mave0206]

hey guys just wondering...wat happend to Carson Beckett? haha

does that mean he's still in the stasis pod? that he's buried somewhere in the future?

well that just sucks...

[chensuu]

I had hopes that this epiosde could actually be interesting. It started out well, but then bogged down with Carter and Keller's portions. In the end, Sheppard didn't get to do much except listen to hologram Rodney recite his story.

It felt very detached to me. Teyla's dead and no one reacts --it's ancient history by now to hologram Rodney and we don't get to see anyone else's reaction. How did Atlantis react to Sheppard being lost in the future? We didn't get to see that. Was it a difficult decision for Ronon to leave Atlantis? We didn't get to see that either. It was basically a story told as: this happened, and then this happened, and then, and then, and then....

I prefer a story that revolves around the characters and how they react emotionally to events. There wasn't much here.

The entire focal point of this season-ender was Rodney McKay -- how his life changed, personally and professionally. Too much McKay for me.

I didn't care what happened to Carter or Keller. They're new to Atlantis. I'd rather see how the remaining members of the original expeditiion were affected. We get Carter and Rodney working on her ship with a whole second of Zelenka's hand. A lengthy look at Keller's failure to defeat the Hoffan disease and her resulting love affair and death. I just didn't care.

It didn't hold my interest. Another badly written episode in a badly written season IMO.

Oh, sniff, sniff..thank you. One other person stating exactly what I felt but was unable to articulate. I guess this episode proves once and for all that the Pegasus Galaxy and the Milky Way really do revolve around Rodney McKay. I really don't understand how anyone can consider this episode fabulous.

It's simply Sheppard being told a bedtime story by McKay with the largest chapter being the love he found with Keller. We're treated to her complete story with only a few minutes devoted to Ronon, a character I care more about, and Todd, oddly enough a character I also find more interesting than Keller. And Sheppard, wow, the Sci-Fi ads really didn't do him justice. This has got to be the most "inactive" I've ever seen the character.

And I don't want to sound like a broken record so forgive me if I do, but what the heck ever happened to leaving no man behind? Sheppard wasn't dead. Rodney was aware of that. But he still jumped ship with Keller with no plans at all to help Sheppard return home and only became determined to mess with the timeline once Keller was given a death sentence. If Keller was alive and well are we expected to believe that Rodney would have DONE NOTHING????

Not enough team love for me. I don't think at this rate I'll ever warm to Keller.