SGA - Fantasy Magazine: Crossing Lines: There’s No “I” In Team:
At Fantasy Magazine:
(Please follow the link for the complete article.)
Crossing Lines: Stargate Atlantis — There’s No “I” In Team
by Naamen Gobert Tilahun
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
One of the strengths of the final season of Stargate Atlantis so far has been the focus on the team. In the episodes: “Whispers”, “The Queen”, “Trackers”, “First Contact” (Part 1) & “The Lost Tribe” (Part 2) that strength has been tossed with questionable results to say the least.
“Whispers” introduces us to an all-female Stargate Team we’ve never met before - Major Anne Teddy (Christina Cox), Sergeant “Dusty” Mehra (Janina Gavankar), Captain Alicia Vega (Leela Savasta) and Dr. Alison Porter (Nicole de Boer) who are accompanied by John Sheppard and Carson Beckett on a visit to a planet where one of Michael’s early research facilities lies. Although I must say I enjoyed the inclusion of an all-female team in the Stargate universe and they were all fantastic in their roles it felt a bit “too little, too late” for my tastes. Some of us have been complaining about the roles of women and People of Color on the show since the beginning and to finally do something in the last season seems more patronizing than anything else. ‘Cause it’s not like we’ll get to see them again. Despite all that, Sgt. “Dusty” Mehra may be my favorite one episode character ever on the show, her propensity for violence and sarcastic attitude were great and really show what they could have done had they been invested in portraying Women of Color in a more interesting light from the beginning.
**snippage**
The next episode “The Queen” is my favorite of this lot. It focuses on Teyla, who we don’t get a lot of focus on in general, undergoing a procedure to make her look and sound like a Wraith Queen. All of this so that she can masquerade as the Queen of their Wraith ally Todd’s hive to try and convince the Queen of Queens, the Primary to allow them to alter the DNA of all Wraith so they won’t have to feed on humans anymore. Yeah, about genetically modifying the Wraith? You would think that the Atlantis team would have learned their lesson after their previous experimentation unleashed one of their most persistent enemies yet. But the leaders of Atlantis seem to have a big hard-on for experimentation, they’re just lucky there’s no ERB (Ethical Review Board) in the Pegasus galaxy.
**snippage**
Then we have the midseason finale cliffhanger episode “First Contact” – although the gap between the first ten episodes and the last ten this season was so small compared to previous seasons that there was actually very little suspense built up at all. I think the reason we were all supposed to care about this two-parter was the appearance of Daniel Jackson. I need to confess something at this juncture - I am not a Daniel Jackson fan. He has his moments don’t get me wrong but mostly I find him arrogant and annoying. Anyway Daniel Jackson shows up looking for the secret lab of some Ancient scientist, Janus. He and McKay find the lab and trip a subspace signal that ends up with a new alien race showing up in battlesuits and kidnapping the two of them and some device.
**snippage**
All in all the season continues to decline from its pretty awesome beginnings. I can only hope the upcoming episode where Atlantis is put on trail by the Pegasus galaxy lives up to my expectations and puts us back on course.
At Fantasy Magazine:
(Please follow the link for the complete article.)
Crossing Lines: Stargate Atlantis — There’s No “I” In Team
by Naamen Gobert Tilahun
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
One of the strengths of the final season of Stargate Atlantis so far has been the focus on the team. In the episodes: “Whispers”, “The Queen”, “Trackers”, “First Contact” (Part 1) & “The Lost Tribe” (Part 2) that strength has been tossed with questionable results to say the least.
“Whispers” introduces us to an all-female Stargate Team we’ve never met before - Major Anne Teddy (Christina Cox), Sergeant “Dusty” Mehra (Janina Gavankar), Captain Alicia Vega (Leela Savasta) and Dr. Alison Porter (Nicole de Boer) who are accompanied by John Sheppard and Carson Beckett on a visit to a planet where one of Michael’s early research facilities lies. Although I must say I enjoyed the inclusion of an all-female team in the Stargate universe and they were all fantastic in their roles it felt a bit “too little, too late” for my tastes. Some of us have been complaining about the roles of women and People of Color on the show since the beginning and to finally do something in the last season seems more patronizing than anything else. ‘Cause it’s not like we’ll get to see them again. Despite all that, Sgt. “Dusty” Mehra may be my favorite one episode character ever on the show, her propensity for violence and sarcastic attitude were great and really show what they could have done had they been invested in portraying Women of Color in a more interesting light from the beginning.
**snippage**
The next episode “The Queen” is my favorite of this lot. It focuses on Teyla, who we don’t get a lot of focus on in general, undergoing a procedure to make her look and sound like a Wraith Queen. All of this so that she can masquerade as the Queen of their Wraith ally Todd’s hive to try and convince the Queen of Queens, the Primary to allow them to alter the DNA of all Wraith so they won’t have to feed on humans anymore. Yeah, about genetically modifying the Wraith? You would think that the Atlantis team would have learned their lesson after their previous experimentation unleashed one of their most persistent enemies yet. But the leaders of Atlantis seem to have a big hard-on for experimentation, they’re just lucky there’s no ERB (Ethical Review Board) in the Pegasus galaxy.
**snippage**
Then we have the midseason finale cliffhanger episode “First Contact” – although the gap between the first ten episodes and the last ten this season was so small compared to previous seasons that there was actually very little suspense built up at all. I think the reason we were all supposed to care about this two-parter was the appearance of Daniel Jackson. I need to confess something at this juncture - I am not a Daniel Jackson fan. He has his moments don’t get me wrong but mostly I find him arrogant and annoying. Anyway Daniel Jackson shows up looking for the secret lab of some Ancient scientist, Janus. He and McKay find the lab and trip a subspace signal that ends up with a new alien race showing up in battlesuits and kidnapping the two of them and some device.
**snippage**
All in all the season continues to decline from its pretty awesome beginnings. I can only hope the upcoming episode where Atlantis is put on trail by the Pegasus galaxy lives up to my expectations and puts us back on course.
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