'Enemy At the Gate' (520) General Discussion

[fyere]

Not bad overall. The sweet lovey ending was a little forced, and I'm not sure how S.F. is gonna function with a giant unseen 'thing' randomly blocking their harbor, but eh, what you gonna do.

Pros:

-Liked Sheppard in this.
-Also liked Todd.
-The Antarctic Ancient chair was destroyed. Good, because then they can't rely on it to save their butts all the time. Of course, there's still that chair on Atlantis...but I'll bet Atlantis won't stay on Earth forever.
-Speaking of which - Atlantis on Earth. Let's see how they deal...
-Hey, Major Davis.
-The tribute to Don S. Davis/General Hammond ship. I'm surprised they went ahead with killing off the character as well, but the tribute and kind words were a nice touch. That's one Earth ship that'll never be destroyed, out of respect (and the fact that Sam is commanding it).
-Sam as ship commander could prove interesting in further SG-1 movies (SG-1: "We need help! Hey, Sam's got a ship!").

Cons:

-They went back on Ronon's death. That was a good death, and the impact was lessened by just bringing him back like *fingersnap*. Death is cheap to the SG writers.
-Teyla was sadly underused as usual, as was Beckett.
-The super fast travel to get Atlantis to Earth in one second. O hai, plot device.
-The McKay/Keller at the end. I'm no raging hater, but would it be possible to sound any more disinterested, Hewlett?
-The SGC gate looked really fake. That was a CGI gate, right?
-Where was SG-1? Stuck off-world or something? Would've expected them to stick Mitchell in a fighter and send him out with Sheppard.

So, okay. Better than the varied and sporadic eps I've seen lately, which is to say it didn't make me turn it off and leave or go to sleep. For sheer emotional impact and a better ending, I'd say 'Unending' was superior. For story threads left dangling and a 'what are they going to do now' feel, 'Enemy' is better.

[chris777]

Keller's already had the whole friggin season to herself! (I know, I exaggerate)

not by much it was at least 25% no less.
Not dissing Jewel, but talk about cramming her down our throats.

[Anakin Flair]

FYI, our transcript of the episode is up here.


By the same token, no way would people not notice darts and a nuclear explosion in low Earth orbit and go crazy over it! So to me the episode tried to be bigger than it could be in 43 minutes.

Same thing could be said about 'Lost City' in SG-1. All those motehrships being blown up... and the gliders and al'kesh may have come into the atmosphere close to populated areas...

I missed most of this episode, but I'm going to watch the replay in an hour. <snip> I think it's a good ep; the only effects shot I didn't like was Atlantis coming in over the ocean (I caught the last 5 minutes, and that was a terrible effects shot). I do love the possabilities of Atlantis on Earth, especially so close to a major American city. The cloak could still fail, you know- the city sustained a lot of damage.

With Atlantis on Earth, though, they can dig into any story ideas they had before the writers moved it to another galaxy, which I'm kind of hyped for.

Oh, and for the person who asked the question about how the cloak doesn't show an Atlantis indent in the ocean; my best guess is that the shield encompases the entire ciyt, top to bottom- litterally. The shield wraps around the city, ergo the cloak would as well. Since it would extend below the waterline, no indent would be shown.

[Jackie]

The ep was alright over all. For the series final I would have liked for them to have had Dr. Wier in it--even in spirit would be nice.. It was nice for them to give a notion to General Hammond. RIP Don Davis.

The plot was a bit predictable. Todd was great though...he kind of made the ep to be honest.

Ep, todd should get his series. Stargate Wraith!

[Shan Bruce Lee]

I think that was the best episode of Atlantis.

I loved all the action, especially the fighters at Area-51.
Shep's suicide run was a nice recall of 'The Siege'
I really thought they were gonna kill off Ronon.
All the guest stars were awesome.
Atlantis is on Earth now... It'll probably end up in the middle of the Pacific somewhere.

[jelgate]

I think that was the best episode of Atlantis. I loved all the action, especially the fighters at Area-51.Shep's suicide run was a nice recall of 'The Siege'I really thought they were gonna kill off Ronon.All the guest stars were awesome.Atlantis is on Earth now... It'll probably end up in the middle of the Pacific somewhere.

Did you see the last scene. They are kind of stuck near the Golden Gate. I believe Atlantis drainied all there ZPM's

[jvmauck]

I loved this episode, however it didn't feel like a series finale like "Unending" did for SG-1. However, with the movie coming up, I can easily forgive that.

After hearing about Don S Davis' passing, I was slightly irritated that they didn't give him any kind of a tribute. (Yes, I realized that Continuum was too far in production to add that, but still...) I was so pleased that they gave a scene dedicated to General Hammond and Don S Davis. Very thoughful of the Stargate staff.

Space battles = Cool. Enough Said.

Ronan's death = Emotional, but not convincing considering they showed us a picture of the final scene with HIM in it. Haha.

All in all, a great episode, but not a fair enough finale. 9.5/10.

[Daniela]

This was a great episode, but I wish it were a 2 parter.

Also, I hope Ronon and Teyla get to tour Earth. Perhaps even go shopping! Ok, I know, I know.

[chris777]

I wonder if the Wraith will start super mass culling & just taking out everyone after realizing Atlantis is no longer there & the team returns to an almost empty Pegasus. Now would be a good time to cull

You noticed that tiny fraying thread as well, eh?
Especially since not only Atlantis, is back on earth, but also Toddward the only restraint they had.

[Starsaber]

Did you see the last scene. They are kind of stuck near the Golden Gate. I believe Atlantis drainied all there ZPM's

Shep told Ronon that "even with 3 ZPMs they wouldn't be able to leave for a while." Not quite sure how that fits in with what Beckett said during the fight, but it is what it is.

[Infernorhythm]

They said they can get back to Pegasus, but it's going to take a while. The city was pretty damaged. Like, post-Siege level, and maybe more. I expect the first movie will be about Atlantis returning to Pegasus.

[Vala_M]

What a very cool episode! A fitting end to the show, I was sad today because tonight, Atlantis would be over but this was actually a great end! NOTHING like the horrible joke the writers played on us with "unending" - I still never got over how bad of an ending that one was. Now this, makes me feel happy in a way that we got something so cool as this episode as a finale!

So I guess we know that Todd is cured and still doesn't need to feed on humans anymore, I was wondering if his Iratus bug healing would restore his sucker but I guess not, which is good. I came to the conclusion based on the fact that he wasn't under guard constantly anymore like he was before.

I always figured that Todd took more than 3 ZPM's from Asuras, with as many as they have, why only take 3?

I always wondered what a ZPM in a hive would do, was it just me or did the super hive look red at first?

If Asurans with Ancient technology couldn't detect cloaked jumpers, how could a hive ship? I think that was just convenient writing.

I didn't like how the Daedalus barely fired at the hive at all. Just one Asgard beam hit and that's it? Then they stood there to take fire from the super hive's bolts? That sounded like it was written that way on purpose to keep the Daedalus out of the picture. However, I am grateful that the Daedalus [and to a lesser extent, the Apollo] survrived. What is the deal with the chinese ship? That seemed odd.

I hate that we didn't even see the Apollo engage the hive, it was just referred to later.

I know, they had to make everything fit into the episode.

So Todd came through with 2 ZPM's! Cool! I was afraid that they were going to take back the Odyssey and Earth's ZPM's. About time the writers write something good instead of bad with ZPM's. Good they thought of checking the ZPM's just in case they were tampered with.

The part of Atlantis preparing to launch should have been longer, at least from my point of view, they just plugged in the ZPM's and launched, no charging the intertial dampeners or warming the engines like the last time.

I'm surprised they trusted Beckett to launch and fly Atlantis, considering how he doesn't have great control over the ATA gene, or maybe he's practiced since then.

I never thought they'd launch Atlantis ever in the show, much less launch it TWICE in the run of the show or even go to Earth. I was pleased that they at least showed Atlantis actually going through hyperspace most of the way to Earth. Wormhole drive? Sounds like convenient writing to me and very unusual. I hate that they didn't even TRY to explain how the wormhole drive works.

How stupid to move the control chair to Area 51! I'm also amazed, treaty violation or not that the IOA would allow America to have control of the chair. I hope the drones weren't destroyed or the ZPM. They better make a new chair using the Asgard core or I will be extremely disappointed with the writers for destroying the chair.

I figured that since Antarctica is international, the IOA would prefer it stay there.

So stupidity got the chair destroyed. I guess they should have had Sheppard use the chair instead of being in an F-302 against the darts.

The hive gate was a really cool idea! Very Goa'uld/SG-1-esque if you ask me.

I'm glad they tied it into the midway space station gate switchover story as I always wondered why they had 2 gates at the midway station.

Like the IOA delegates ever deserve to go to the Alpha site!

Atlantis fighting the hive in orbit of Earth was really cool, I was surprised they only fired a few drones at the hive.

How could Ronon have died from just a stab wound? He's had a lot worse before, or are the Wraith knives poison or something like that? I am glad that the Wraith healed him and then the team saved him.

I was thinking that the drones would destroy the hive but Sheppard's nuke did it! Cool! Sheppard saved Earth!!

Atlantis landing at San Francisco! Does that mean that as long as Atlantis is on Earth, tha the SGC gate won't work?

I'm glad that it was just damage that caused Atlantis to stay on Earth, I was afraid that they writers would pull the "ZPM's are depleted, we're stuck on Earth!" move - I'm glad after many years of screwing up ZPM useage that the writers actually did multiple smart moves!

- NOT taking back Earth's ZPM's
- Extra ZPM's from Tood
- NOT depleting the ZPM's for the trip to Earth

I would have enjoyed the final scene better if Atlantis hadn't landed at San Francisco, I don't know about everyone else, but I would have considered the team looking at the ocean or a natural scene a lot better than San Francisco.

Welcome to Earth - to Ronon. But Ronon has already been to Earth.

Vala,

[Shan Bruce Lee]

-Where was SG-1? Stuck off-world or something? Would've expected them to stick Mitchell in a fighter and send him out with Sheppard.

I think they were on the Odyssey.

[Hermiiod]

Ronan's death = Emotional, but not convincing considering they showed us a picture of the final scene with HIM in it. Haha.

That's why it's best to refrain yourself from spoilers like that.

[chris777]

I sure hope that they come up with a reason to explain why wormhole drives won't be that prevelant in the TV movies. I think that would just be much too convenient and take away the awesomeness of the stargate.

If they refactor typical atlantis luck all 3 of the zpms will have been completely depleted and since the chair was destroyed that one will be gone too, and of course the oddy will deplete its zpm as well, so their will be no way to ever duplicate the drive again with the "power" requirements.
and given this was the luckiest they have ever been in 5 seasons I suspect that will be the case.