'The Daedalus Variations' (504) General Discussion

[starfox]

I could get into all the...cliche's that have been forged every time a baby in danger enters the story line and I for one don't want to put the Teyla character in that situation....

Oh, I'm not hoping for a "Baby Torren gets stuck in an exploding lab" (which would be way too cliche) or "Michael comes back to run experiments" situation at all - although it would be fun to see Teyla strap Michael to a table and get this close to torturing him before someone came and pulled her back from the edge. I just don't want the existence of the kid to be completely forgotten. Although if they hadn't already done "Tabula Rasa," I would love an episode where Teyla forgot she had a son. That could be fantastically creepy.

[Platschu]

We always complained that SG-1's and Atlantis's heroes don't have family life. Can you imagine so many lonely people without girlfriend and boyfriend? And it wasn't acceptable for me, that they didn't want to have wife, husband, or a child because they worked so hard for Earth. Ok, the writers used this plot with early Jack, than with Daniel through Shifu,than Vala through Adria, but I like that Teyla became a mother with a "normal" baby. What can be a next step? Will somebody have a working marriage too?

[the wraithwaxer]

Is it just me, or there a huge error in this one? The fighters on the Daedalus were constantly being referred to as 'F-302s'. I thought they were X-302s.

No. As soon as a fighter tests out ok and it's put into production, the military drops the x (stands for experimental) and puts an f in its place (stands for fighter).

[bluealien]

I really enjoyed this episode. It was 43 minutes of a fun space romp for me. I enjoyed the story, and where it took me, and loved the action too - though there was nothing deep here for me to enthuse over. It was what is was; action, team, space and shoot out sort of television. Fun, and entertaining, but not going to have me thinking about it for hours and hours after. That's fine. Not all episodes can do that, nor should they.

Yep that pretty much sums it up for me... a great space romp with lots of action that entertained me for 43 minutes.

I adored the alien bad guys, and really hope we'll be seeing them in our team's reality/timelime. They were really creepy! I really thought the vis effects were outstanding too, and loved the space battles. The new little fighter alien ships were really cool, IMO.

Loved these aliens... they really made me stand up and take notice... hopefully we see them again.. hated the replicators and the Wraith are loosing their appeal as well... so these new aliens were sorely needed..

Enjoyed seeing the team together, that was a plus point for me too. There were some funny moments too. Initially the Alt Shep Our Shep complimentary scene threw me a little. It seemed out of character...until someone pointed out to me that Sheppard was trying to annoy Rodney when doing it, and then it made much more sense to me. I laughed when I watched it the first time, but appreciated it more after looking at it with a different perspective.

LOVE team eps.. they are pretty much why I tune in but I have to say I thought the team had regressed a bit here.... Rodney was bordering on hysterical, Ronon was shown to be a bit of a grunt again .. though I have to admit I did laugh out loud when he banged the controls... the Sheppard/McKay back and forth became a tad annoying.... and as someone else said Teyla seemed to lack any presence at all... I found Shep congratulating himself a little odd as well.. although I did it enjoy it more the second time I watched it... but Shep has usually been portrayed as shrugging off anyone tyring to thank him or praise him... but I took it for the light hearted moment I think it was intened to be..

Teyla? Hmmmm, well, it was nice she had something to do, I suppose, though I do feel it was a bit of a stretch that a lesson with Marks suddenly made her seemlingly an expert. But I think it does add another dimension to her, and she sorely needs that, IMO.

I didnt have a problem with her working the controls at all.. she has been shown doing this in a few eps now.. but she just seemed a carricature of her former self.. where is her spark and vitality gone.. she just came across as flat..

I am finding the baby thing a trifle overdone now. Can the baby just go away now? Teyla has made a decision to rejoin the team. I understand about her concern for her child, but I just don't want to keep hearing about it. Sorry. I haven't really enjoyed the Teyla pregnancy storyline, and though I do understand the necessity to include it because of real life events, and have sympathy for the writers here, I just groan sometimes. I did like how it was all resolved in S and R, and thought it was important that Kanaan etc were dealt with, as they were in BT. But I've sort of had enough now.

I agree .. I have had enough of the baby now and hope we are not going to see her worrying about him in every episode.. I wonder how on earth the writers will continue with this storyline.. they have really backed themselves into a corner here.. I really can't see them having this baby/child on the show for the next few years.. if the show continues for this lenght of time.. to me babies have no place on Scifi shows.. I have no interest in my heros having babies .. I have enough of this in real life.. the baby story arc was brought in out of nowwhere to explain RL pregnancy and it was just a plot device and should have been put to rest at the end of season 4...
I would much prefer to see the writers touch on some of the crap the characters have been through, most recently Ronons ordeal... what about some consequences for these events instead of baby angst every week... Teyla has had months to decide about coming back to the team so I also feel enough already..

I didn't really miss Woolsey here and saw no need for him to be in a token scene, which is a contrast to how I felt last season when Carter was missing so obviously on occasion. I don't know why it is that I felt differently in this episode. Maybe it's because it was on the Daedalus and Lorne did mention informing Woolsey of events? It seemed really well handled without him, IMO. I certainly didn't miss Keller. In fact it was rather nice NOT to have her around. She's just not part of the core team as far as I'm concerned, and a break from her rather distinctive voice was quite nice for me. I don't dislike Keller, but I really don't love her. I've liked her better this season, most definitely, so there's an improvement there, certainly, but I really was glad for the break. Sorry

I have enjoyed Woolsey a lot but I don't mind not seeing him.. the team are really what I enjoy about the show and I didnt miss Keller in the slightest.. I have really tried to like the character but so far in season 5 she has gotten worse IMO... so I am not looking foward to any of the future Keller centric eps at all...

So, all in all, a fun ride. Not a deep and meaningful episode for me, but an entertaining 43 minutes of scifi, with space battles, action and the odd bit of humour. 8/10.

Defninitley a fun ride and an ep I will be quite happy to watch over again..

[Briangate78]

I'm going to have to disagree with those who wish the baby storyline would be dropped. While I don't want it to take over the show, I think they do need to at least mention him every couple of episodes. You can't just forget that you have a kid, nor would it make sense for the team (esp. Rodney, who's made mentions of wanting marriage and family eventually) to ignore his existence. Plus, Torren is a great window into the lives & customs of the Athosians and all those fun cultural things that have been more or less left out of Teyla's character since season one.

That said, I think they'll back off on the baby thing after DV. S&R was the birth, BT was the decision to come back, and DV was her first off-world mission officially back with the team, as Rodney pointed out; it made sense for her to be a little worried. Now that we've established that the team can still get out of bizarre scrapes, Teyla's probably going to calm down a bit, and the baby worries will diminish.

They have handles the baby arc very well. All we need is an episode where Michael returns and tries to kidnap the baby and possibly succeeds. That would be really interesting, imo.

[starfox]

They have handles the baby arc very well. All we need is an episode where Michael returns and tries to kidnap the baby and possibly succeeds. That would be really interesting, imo.

See, IMO Michael kidnapping Torren would be a regression to S4. I don't think he won't try, I just don't think succeeding would show us anything we haven't already seen. You can only steal Teyla's friends & fam so many times before it gets old.

[Briangate78]

See, IMO Michael kidnapping Torren would be a regression to S4. I don't think he won't try, I just don't think succeeding would show us anything we haven't already seen. You can only steal Teyla's friends & fam so many times before it gets old.

The baby has to have an active story sometime in the season. BTW, did you like how they are making Teyla and Ronon smarter and not just these two warriors from alien planets? I liked that touch in the episode.

[starfox]

The baby has to have an active story sometime in the season. BTW, did you like how they are making Teyla and Ronon smarter and not just these two warriors from alien planets? I liked that touch in the episode.

Oh, I loved seeing Teyla use the computers. I also liked that Ronon had picked up some multiverse theory from McKay. Proves that they take an active interest in their surroundings.

[Naonak]

I could get into all the...cliche's that have been forged every time a baby in danger enters the story line and I for one don't want to put the Teyla character in that situation....I would have to question if she really loved her child if she continued with active duty and the child was continuously in danger. It wouldn't be believable.

Teyla being part of the team isn't going to put Torren in danger, though - it's not like she's taking him out on missions. Sure, Atlantis itself gets in trouble once in a while, but it's not like the rest of the Pegasus Galaxy is exactly safe. Like Kanaan said, by staying in Atlantis, she can help to defeat the Wraith, which helps everyone, including Torren.

[jelgate]

Oh, I loved seeing Teyla use the computers. I also liked that Ronon had picked up some multiverse theory from McKay. Proves that they take an active interest in their surroundings.

Well, he did say he needed to learn some science in First Strike.

[Jeffala]

Well, he did say he needed to learn some science in First Strike.

Yeah, and it would be completely unnatural if the characters didn't show at least some interest in the technology and science that they use every day.

They don't have to be experts in the fields, but they need at least a basic working knowledge.

[OaTmEaLfAiRy]

I am so NOT impressed with this episode. From Teyla out-science-ing McKay, to McKay being comedically pushed aside by Teyla, this episode was just too goofy for me.

[jelgate]

I am so NOT impressed with this episode. From Teyla out-science-ing McKay, to McKay being comedically pushed aside by Teyla, this episode was just too goofy for me.

What episode were you watching? All Teyla did was search through logs and run a diagnostic. Stuff that pretty much any Daedalus crewmember could do. Its not like she knew how to fix the sublight engines.

[DragonLadyK]

See, now that's what I'm talking about: that's SGA. Team, team, and more team. From Teyla being an overprotective new Mom and not letting Rodney hold Torren after he dropped him (until he was sitting down), to Rodney being all "it's the principle of the thing," to Zelenka & Lorne being the ever-dependable "we've got your back" people that they are, to "they were us and they failed," to asking themselves what the other person would do (Teyla and shutting off the power, McKay taking Sheppard's reverse idea), to the Shep&McKay snark at the end -- yeah. That's SGA.

So far, this is the best ep of the season: lots and lots of Team with some action in the middle.

Personally I think those aliens were that reality's versions of the Wraith, but I could be wrong.

From Teyla out-science-ing McKay, to McKay being comedically pushed aside by Teyla, this episode was just too goofy for me.

I didn't see her as out-sciencing McKay. He dismissed her as an inadequate minion, she proved she was in fact worthy of miniondom, and then she proceeded to follow McKay's instructions for the rest of the ep. Not out-sciencing at all.

DragonLady

[Briangate78]

Oh, I loved seeing Teyla use the computers. I also liked that Ronon had picked up some multiverse theory from McKay. Proves that they take an active interest in their surroundings.

Yup, the character interactions have become excellent and they are using a lot of continuity, meaning when something happened to a character they refer back to it. I am still waiting for another dark moment from Sheppard like in "Miller's Crossing".