'Travelers' (405) General Discussion

[LoneStar1836]

ugh.. I was so excited for this episode. But to me:

Travelers=Prometheus Unbound

I will give this though: Travelers is the better version.

Agreed.

While I completely despise PU (such an appropriate abbreviation for that ep) and think it's one of the worst episodes of SG-1 ever, Travelers luckily avoids that fate by not incorporating the crude, juvenile humor as well as a bunch of other elements I dislike about PU, but it still wasn't a satisfying episode.

I wasn't anticipating this episode even though I had read where others on GW were. Hadn't read anything about it, so the promo was the only info I had on this episode though I guess I wasn't paying very close attention to that either. On the other hand, I was really looking forward to PU when it was announced, but then came away disgusted at how it turned out.

When the "sexy alien" captor was revealed, like Teyla, I had to roll my eyes. Loved her eye-roll. Another Kirking episode was in store, but it wasn't as cringe-worthy as I thought it would be. So that coupled with an unimaginative plot, some uninspiring dialogue, and the actress playing Larrin didn't make for all that entertaining an episode. While I like the actors playing the two dudes who bit the dust, her acting was off. Though I usually don't care for/am annoyed by the actors as well as some of the crappy dialogue they are given for parts like theirs.

Anyway the Shep whumping, getting a clue about the origin of Ronan's sidearm, and the shallowness of getting to watch JF on screen for the majority of the episode were the only things I found mildly interesting about this one. Oh and Major Lorne's appearance even though it wasn't very substantial.

I'm guessing we will see these people again somewhere down the road since this appears to be a set-up episode.

Overall, Travelers was a lackluster episode. The story was not very engaging. It gets a "meh" rating from me. Not a horribly bad episode, but not a satisfyingly good episode either. So far, the weakest episode of the season, imo. Next week's looks better...or at least the promos look interesting.

[Amakusa]

I am more interested in the Wraith that Shepherd let go. If he keeps that up more than one Wraith out there is going to learn that this guy is an honorable dude.

[Balmung]

i liked it.

plot twists, happy ending, open stories to the future.

great, only if all non-main-arc-episodes were as good as this

[Leliana McKay]

The episode was okay I guess, entertaining but not that awesome unless your only purpose in life is Shep whump, Shep acting like Kirk or Sheppard in general.

My first thought was...
Where is Sam? No explanation given, Rodney seems to be in charge (love that thought! Rodney fangirl giggling,)

I loved the conversation Rodney and John had over the radio. Rodney thinks John only volonteered for the mission to one of his scientific outposts because it is located on a socially inhibited planet. lol

Fav scenes: Larrin punching John in the face three times (gotta love the girl who doesn't become a Sheppard groupies and kicks his ass!)

Questions: okay, why is there a Chair room aboard a ship? I thought that the weapon control systems where in the MAIN control room. But to anwer my own question...the Wraiths destroy the Lantian Main control room so I guess we know why the writers needed a CHAIR room!!
But there's also an AUXILIARY control room = How many control rooms are there on a Lantian ship? *Confused*

I liked: John doing his impersonation of Rodney playing with the crystals and actually getting the chair to work (I was impressed, I guess he learned from the best!)

The romance thingy: Sheppard saves the girl twice, get locked in an empty closet with her, kisses her (This sounds cliché and obviously targeting a certain audience. I don't mind, but please not too much either!)

I was not happy: with the lack of team obviously. SGA-1 was rather useless. Rodney is not up to his usual standard, Ronon and Teyla barely say two words, Lorne is there but to what end?

The episode ends is good. Rodney's famous line from the promo teasers "For once I would like to be captured by the sexy alien" to which John answers "Well, she is still out there". TEAM INTERACTION!!! Teyla rolling her eyes...just great.

Spoiler:

Aren't the Travelers supposed to appear in next week's episode Tabula Rasa? Or some other episode this season?

[Redhooks]

A couple of thoughts on Travelers:
Too many things were left not shown or unanswered to me that I think could have been added to make a more than one episode story, but not enough for a two episode story without the addition of another sub-plot.

No real mention that the Travelers got some of their stuff from scavenging and looting other cultures that the Wraith have culled as some of TPTB stated in interviews. I would have liked more info about their history, but I guess some people probably would have gotten bored and TPTB thought they needed more action.

Thought we would get more info on Ronon's gun then what was shown. Just because the Travelers have them doesn't mean they made them and I thought a mention by Sheppard to Ronon at the cafeteria table was needed.

Even though I was happy not to see Col. Carter in this episode, I agree that a mention that she approved the mission would seem logical and would have taken one sentence from Lorne about her order not to risk the rescue mission personnel unecessarily.

Sheppard should have said when Larrin asked about the detector he got from the Auxilary Control room that it wouldn't work for her because she doesn't have the gene. Then to his surprise, it would work and then he could have said he never saw one that only needed to be initialized. That would have answered some of the questions about Larrin using it before they could be asked.

I wonder how much extra footage had to be cut from this episode that could have explained some of the questions I have about Ronon's gun, the Travelers history/culture, Larrin using the LSD, and why was McKay more worried about Larrin and not about the Ancient Warship and what kind of tech the Travelers have. Joe Mallozzi talked about how much was dropped from Reunion and I wonder how much, if any, ended up on the editing room floor?

One bad directing bit I noticed was near the beginning when Larrin has Sheppard shoved into the hanger bay. Why does she have to walk over about 5 feet in order to stand? To show the hallway of the Travelers ship behind her to justify the cost of making it? About two steps should have been enough to allow the crewman to activate the hanger bay controls.

I think there were too many clips released early from the episode and they gave away too much of the plot. To me, it would have been better if we didn't know the Wraith were in the episode prior to it airing.

For the people commenting on Jill Wagner's acting, as a fan of hers, I will say that she will probably never win an acting award, but, I think she does an adequate job considering she is fairly new in acting and I think she is getting better with every role. Compare her acting now to some of your favorites when they were starting out and also realize she got a Bachelors degree in Business and didn't go through acting school like most actors. But everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I thought it wasn't the best written of episodes with some of the things I have mentioned above making me ask more questions than I should have to of a story IMO.

I'm sure I will think of more after I have watched the episode some more times.

[female Wraith]

Good episode. Wraith survived! And the ancient ship! I can't believe it!

[freetoken]

Agreed.

Another Kirking episode was in store, but it wasn't as cringe-worthy as I thought it would be.

Well, I cringed. Yet another JTK wanna-be, seducing (or seduced by) the evil but sexy alien. To me it is one of the silliest parts of Atlantis.

So that coupled with an unimaginative plot, some uninspiring dialogue, and the actress playing Larrin didn't make for all that entertaining an episode. While I like the actors playing the two dudes who bit the dust, her acting was off. Though I usually don't care for/am annoyed by the actors as well as some of the crappy dialogue they are given for parts like theirs.

Concur with your general synopsis. Hope they will be more creative (and more engagingly acted) in the rest of the season. I've rather liked the first 4 episodes, and this was the first one in which I felt like I was wasting my time.

[garhkal]

pretty nice episode--I thought Larin was done for after the Wraith got her

So did i, but i loved how shepard remembered what happened in Common ground and got the wraith to give her life back.. though i do wonder why he let the wraith go in the end after getting the stunner...

ugh.. I was so excited for this episode. But to me:

Travelers=Prometheus Unbound

I feel like they are borrowing too many things from SG-1. Just new characters.

Other than PU had vala 'using saving her people and needing the ship' similarities to this, i do not see them being equal or based on one another. Heck this was imo a lot better AND Lara was truer to her motives than Vala was..

YEAH! For once, an Ancient ship SURVIVES!!!!!

Though for how long??

c
Nice to find out information on Ronan’s gun.[/quote]

Other than they also had them, we did not really find anything new about them. Do the travelers make them? Did they also get them from somewhere? Did ronon get his from them? Not a single question on them was answered..

Ooooo Laren got wraithed. I could see it coming only after she shut the door but otherwise it was an unexpected turn in the show. I was however, immediately thinking about how Shep was going to threaten the wraith into de-wraithing her.

I too expected her to get wraithified, but was actually surprised that Shep thought of doing what he did.

Good job with Teyla talking about negotiation and fairly OK reason not to given by the others. Big old ataboy to Sheppard for actually managing to talk and establish and alliance and without any sex jokes.

True, it was nice to see him make a deal without making sexual references..

One question though. Why did the weapons have to be fired from the control chair? Why not the bridge?

IMO 2 reasons.. 1 in atlantis the chair is seperated from the control room, so maybe there is some reasoning for having it separated that we don't know of, such as some form of interference from other tech. 2) safety. First target when you have an enemies shields down is take out the bridge (which the wraith did do) THEN engines/weapons etc.. Having the chair separated from the bridge protects it and allows someone to still return fire.

- What was the name of the ship?

I am surprised we did not find out its name as well..

I liked this episode but the constant betraying got a little old.

The Wraith boarding the ship was a great add to the story.

Agreed, the constant betraying was a little trite... the first few times i could see it and even liked it, but the ones near the end was unnecessary.

And how gutsy for Shep to threaten the Wraith with a drained gun. Plus the look on his face as he watched the life go back into Larrin. I suspect a little Common Ground remembrance going on in his head.

Agreed on both parts, the look of horror (or was it shock) on his face was priceless, and i do wonder what shep would have done had the wraith NOT complied..
Gutsy, i will give him that.

I loved that Teyla and Ronon listened patiently to McKay's technobabble about the morse code. *team love* And Ronon's statement that it didn't matter if it was a fleet of hive ships, they wouldn't turn back (and Lorne agreeing). *happy sigh*

Yup. That was a great team moment. And i loved how rodney was like "you know how i said there are just times you cannot do anything... well this is not one of those".

One thing I have a question about. Why couldn't Atlantis's sensors pick up the Ancient warship? It was active after all.

Distance.. We know from the siege that her sensors are not all galaxy encompassing, and we also don't know how far away shep and co were from atlantis.'

Also how do they know so much about Ancient tech? I missed the first few minutes. It can't be that easy to fix an ancient hyper drive system.

They have lived their lives on those ships of theirs so had much knowledge on hyperdrives.. And IMO the type of tech from one races hyperdrive is not going to be that much more different than any others...

I do like the idea of the Travelers and humans in the Pegasus Galaxy that found a way to maintain their advanced technology and escape the Wraith. It would have been nice to have seen more of their culture, but I understand time constraints..

Agreed. It would have been great to know more of their past, like which planet (or group) they initially came from. How many of them there are. Where they got the ships (and guns) from..

Wasn't our ship to begin with. It was theirs. What if they had not kidnapped Sheppard, do you think we should have attacked them and stolen it?

Being that they required shep to use it, i don't really see it as being theirs. And with how some here are all for us kidnapping and mind messing with that chick from the Brotherhood to get the info on their ZPM so we can get it, i can easily see them feeling we should have attacked/blown them up and taken the ship by force..

It wasn't his to lose. He never owned it. It was clear that it was the travelers ship. Him being kidnapped doesn't make it his.

And how was it theirs? Just cause they found it first, does not make it theirs any more than ours since we are required to use it.

Some of the dialog wasn't all that great either. Shep's "This just...isn't...RIGHT!" when he's suspended over space comes to mind, yikes.

I loved that scene.. Especially since it came after we learned she loves to jetteson people out into space who displease her.. THen we saw the lantean ship underneath...

They. Lost. Another. Ancient. Warship. Why.

We never had it in the first place, so how could we lose it>?>

And will the fact that Sheppard let that Wraith go have any consequences? It's not exactly the kind of thing the Wraith are used to. That Wraith may also have been supprized that Sheppard knew about the de-feeding aspect.

One problem I have, and correct me if I am wrong. But as far as I can remember, Wraith Cruisers have never carried Darts before. Didn't know they could. Am I wrong on this? Or is it a new aspect we just haven't seen before?

I do wonder if that piece of info will make the wraith more worried or more inquisitive that humans now know of that titbit of information. And as to the cruiser, i always thought htey did have a few... Even if they were only for cruiser to hive travel... Remember in Aurora, that dart looking ship was headin for those 2 cruisers which were coming to check on the ship..

Thought we would get more info on Ronon's gun then what was shown. Just because the Travelers have them doesn't mean they made them and I thought a mention by Sheppard to Ronon at the cafeteria table was needed.

That is true... i am surprised shep did not mention it on screen to his crew (or ronon at least) about the gun connection..

[Kliggins]

I was bored, I needed chocolate to make it through the episode.

Reusing, rehashing, adapting, or whatever the writers want to call it a script from 2-1/2 years ago is pretty sad I think. At least go back 5 or 6 years and pick a better script to reuse, rehash, or adapt.

It was lovely to see Lorne in the episode though.

[morjana]

Bravo Joe M. and Paul M. - excellent episode!

Shep whumpage!

Loved Larrin.

"Reed Richards" - LOL! So is that a secret desire that Shep wants to be able to stretch himself, or to be married to Susan Storm (or Jessica Alba, who played SS in the flicks). And I know that Joe M. is a comic afficianado...

We found out (possbily) where Ronon's weapon is from...

Shep knows Morse code?

More Shep whumpage!

Ronon, McKay, Teyla and Lorne off to the rescue. Sigh, Kavan Smith has the most beautiful eyes...

Wraith!

More Shep whumpage.

Oohhh...Larrin gets Wraithed - but wait, Shep cons the Wraith in reversing the life sucking.

An aliance with the Travelers? Yes, please, I'd like to see Larrin again.

Spoiler:

Larrin returns in 'Be All My Sins Remember'd,' which is scheduled to air January 4, 2008

You know, it's a good thing these spaceships aren't coal powered. It would make it awfully hard for one guy to run the spaceship like they do now. Shep would have to lot of running to the engine room to shovel coal, and the back to the bridge to control the ship.

Very enjoyable episode. What a hoot!

Morjana

[morjana]

I'm glad the ship wasn't destroyed, but the stupid Travelers (worst. race. ever...

You mean in the SGA universe?

Or in SciFi general?

If you meant SciFi general, the WORST race would be from ST: TNG - the Pakled from the ST:TNG episode, 'Samaritan Snare'

From Memory Alpha: "The Pakleds are driven by their unwillingness to wait to gain their own technological knowledge. They therefore try to acquire technology from other species, generally by theft."

When I read first the plot description for Travelers, the first thing I thought of was this ST:TNG episode and the Pakled's.

Fortunately, the Travelers in no way resemble the Pakled's, either in physical form or mental prowess.

Morjana

[Shan Bruce Lee]

I am more interested in the Wraith that Shepherd let go. If he keeps that up more than one Wraith out there is going to learn that this guy is an honorable dude.

It's like honor among thieves without the stealing. It gives them a chance to introduce more individual wraith characters like Micheal - I hope they get into that.

[AutumnDream]

Wow. That was not at all interesting or engaging. Usually I start with the + but today I'll start with the - .

- In terms of basic plot, this was derivative, predictable, and dull. We have seen characters stranded in space on derelict ships billions of times before and Travelers handled the concept more poorly than almost any example you can name from any series. There was nothing compelling about it at all - from the general scenario, to the technical problems, the character interaction, the (non-existent) character development, the action scenes, the infantile humor... the list goes on. It failed to provide points of interest all across the board.

- So there's a new group of people. Okay, so they live in space and are having trouble. The other thing we learned about them was... oh, oops! There was nothing else, had to make room for intense sexual tension!, goofy quips!, and action shots! Seriously, why are we supposed to care about these people, or even be interested in them? This was their introductory episode and we only "got to know" one of them. If the viewer doesn't care about the shiny new aliens the episode is centered around, how do you expect the episode to succeed as a work? Besides Larrin, who was a cheesy overdone rogue female archetype, the other Travelers we met were mere henchmen.

- Larrin is the leader of her people? Really? Why? How did she become the leader? Why is someone so young in such a position? What's the immediate history of her people? Their long term history? (Aside from vague, skimmed-over references.) Were they originally a planet of people that took to space at the last moment? Were they a rag-tag fleet assembled from various planets whose names are not even remembered now? How has the presence of such a group effected the Pegasus Galaxy? Did they salvage technology from Sateda once it was destroyed? Do they have any other potentially interesting connections to things we know? This sort of information would have made the episode much more compelling. The showrunners would probably say, "Hey there! We can't go giving it all away at the start!" I know they usually consider this sort of basic information material for an elaborate 5-season arc, but it's stuff that should be covered in the first 20 minutes. No, that doesn't mean endless boring exposition. There are more ways to structure a story than putting characters in a room telling each other what they are about to do, and subsequently having them go do it, cue short closing scene. What if - and I know this will be shocking to some- you cut out the parts that make the show indistinguishable from a cartoon targeted at preteens and focused on developing the "civilization" you so heavily promoted as a major new element for the season? For Stargate, this is a pretty unique idea. It's incredible how dismal the handling of it was.

-All the silly leather. Are they superheroes? Is that Larrin's casual wear? Battle wear? Why the cleavage then? This is supposed to be the central figure to the race you are trying to introduce and she saunters on screen, kind of coming off as a total ass. Are we supposed to take her and her race seriously, or roll our eyes and accept that Sheppard will easily outsmart them, if not for...

-Sheppard thinking with the wrong head. Again. Yeah, man. Rock on, Shep. It's totally rad to make out with chicks that just - as you put it - kidnapped you, tortured you, and threatened to throw you out an airlock. Just drop your guard like a good little trained military officer trapped in a hostile environment with untrustworthy company and outright foes around and slobber all over her. I sure am glad it's you looking out for the safety of the Pegasus Galaxy! Hey, and no pressure - if you need a lay, you need a lay. Don't worry too much about things like your personal safety or the mission, just get yourself some sweet ass. This is not a gritty, realistic character flaw in Sheppard. It's asinine, it's outside the realm of believability, and it's idiocy. You not only devalue him as a character when you do this, but you damage our perception of all his current and subsequent relationships. If the man is willing to trade saliva with a hostile stranger, what exactly are his standards for relationships, remantic or otherwise? Is this man a total joke or what? If he actually has some form of neurosis that causes him to behave this way, please make it known ASAP. My gods. 13 year old boys are writing this drivel.

- Just had to mention the juvenile humor in its own point.

+ Carter wasn't in the episode.

+ Decent visual effects.

[bluealien]

Incorrect, he couldn't keep it in his pants and because of that he ****ed up again!

Um ...what are you talking about?.

[Shan Bruce Lee]

Well, I cringed. Yet another JTK wanna-be, seducing (or seduced by) the evil but sexy alien. To me it is one of the silliest parts of Atlantis.

What's so silly about it?