Alternate ending - Ronon saves the day

[Lahela]

I know jumpers don't normally have shields, but I'm sure that particular jumper had a shield - we saw the blue flashy thing to show it... maybe it was the jumper from GUP and they kept it as shielded instead of cloaked?

[andromeda_dan]

I take back my comment about Shepard ramming the building wiith a PJ with shields, to convert cloak to shield would take Shepard too long to make it happen (unless McKay obliged Shep's need for 'plug and play', in this case, its press the shield's up). The ancients just built a really darn good space ship that can hit a building at speeds of god knows how fast he is going without squashing the ship like a tin can. The inertia dampening system may save Shepard from being bounced straight up to the window and get squashed like a bug, but the physics for that ship's survival from such a crash at that speed is just.....

[Ltcolshepjumper]

I actually think having Teyla come up with the solution would have been the best course. Not only has Shep done the reckless hero routine twice in a row now (I can't believe I'm saying this, but it is getting old) - it really didn't fit with the episode IMO. AND - it didn't make a bit of sense, to me anyway. I don't see a single reason that Shep wasn't swallowed up in tentacles the instant he set foot out of the jumper. Even if he still had some of the stuff in his system like Ronon did (and that's questionable, considering he was supposed to be cured), Ronon was taken down when he started shooting. How much more aggressively should the thing have responded to the jumper impact?

Teyla, on the other hand, has the wraith gene, and if the Wraith really grow these ships, they must have some way to control their growth, possibly telepathically. I think they could have used that to find a solution that made more sense, and it would have been a good way to get Teyla back in action. While I enjoyed her scenes with Rodney and her leading the team, she vanished rather inexplicably for the last 15-20 minutes of the show. And Sheppard didn't really need to be the "big damn hero" (apologies to Firefly) two episodes in a row.

Honestly, if the solution had just made sense to me, I don't know if I'd have cared that Sheppard was the one saving the day. Again. But it didn't, and that made Sheppard charging off to do his hero routine just that much more jarring. Urm. No pun intended.

I agree. This was the same tentacle like stuff that was on the Wraith Queen in Spoils of War, and yet the queen could control it. Teyla definitely should have been the one to go in.

[Jackie]

But again I ask: what choice did he have? What could any of them have done to save the creature from consuming the city?

People keep criticising and criticising, e is no other way to get into the building, then Shep's way, though dangerous, is the only thing that could've happened.

And they can certainly fix jumpers. I don't think it was that badly damaged so as to be unsalvageable.

I honestly kept waiting for the Deadelus to show up at the last minute and beam him in. Beam out Ronon and then beam keller to the infirmary. I was glad tptb didn't go with that option.

Though, I see no reason for why teyla didn't go with either sheppard or ronon to deliver the magic cure all.

[Carter1994]

Hmmm, seems I've come in rather late for this discussion. Oh well, I suppose it just means extra studying & reviewing (Yay! I love debates!) on my part.
Alright, so I've read over the entire thread and chosen some of the key issues to deal with in this particular post. Here we go!

1. The Jumper
a. Was there a shield or not?
b. So why wasn't the jumper destroyed on impact?
c. How did Sheppard know where to crash?

A.) I just replayed it (gotta love TiVo! ) in slow-motion, and there was definitely no shield, which makes sense since jumpers don't normally have shields. (Grace Under Pressure; The Return pt. 2)
B.) While the jumpers have their flaws and aren't near as tough without the shield, they are pretty sturdy things. Considering how much Sheppard knows about not only the physics and such of flying, but also jumpers in particular, I find it very easy to believe he would be able to determine how fast to go without severely damaging the jumper or threatening the structural integrity of the tower.
C.) Are you kidding?! He's been the head of military operations for 5 years now, and you don't think he knows his way around? He probably knows more about the base than anyone, and he's proved it on multiple occasions. (The Eye; The Long Goodbye)

2. What's with the oblivious vines?!
a. Why didn't they attack him the moment he set foot out of the jumper?
b. Why not after that?

A.) Well, you have to take into account that he did just ram a jumper into it. My guess is the vines were severed from the main part, rendering them useless.
B.) I'm not to sure about this, but I think the reason Sheppard had Beckett and Woolsey talking to 'Keller' was to distract it, therefore giving Sheppard the ability to walk through unnoticed.

3. Dumb idea?
a. Does he distrust his teammates?
b. Any other way?

A.) Absolutely not! He trusts them completely, but anyone could tell that it was going to go disastrously wrong, Ronon's only shot was if he could get through without having to fight.
B.) I certainly can't think of one, other than using drones which was suggested earlier in the episode.

4. Fine, but why'd it have to be him?
a. Ronon
b. Teyla
c. Other

A.) If Ronon had gotten through, I would have been extremely ticked with them. And I have nothing against Ronon- I'd be mad with them if they'd made Sheppard do it that way. There ware vines everywhere, and if we're going at this realistically, there is no way anyone could have made it through.
B. Although (most ) everyone seems to have forgotten, Teyla does have a baby! I was surprised she even went with Zelenka, does Atlantis have a nursery now?
C.) Once again, who else could do it?

________________________

Wow. That was a mouthful! Sorry, I sometimes get a little carried away when I write! (Strange, though... I'm actually very shy in person! )
Anyway, that was everything from my view point,and if there's any other possible situation anyone comes up with, I'd be quite interested!

[Laura Dove]

B. Although (most ) everyone seems to have forgotten, Teyla does have a baby! I was surprised she even went with Zelenka, does Atlantis have a nursery now?

Well, I don't suggest that she should have gone all the way to Keller, that would have been way to dangerous for a young mom. But I still think that she should have at least tried to telepathically connect with the growing ship. It could have provided the distraction that effectively allowed Sheppard to access Keller without being attacked, and it would have been team work, instead of single hero work.

[Carter1994]

While the ship was 'sentient' (per se ) and had accessed Keller's voice and tactics, it wasn't a wraith mind, it's a machine using a human mind, like in the SG-1 episode Entity, and we've never seen Teyla be able to link with a human mind, which is what she would be doing since it was in Keller's brain.
Also,I highly doubt Michael would have or could have given it the ability to access the wraith collective, seeing as if it was possible to do this to ships, that would mean Teyla could reach out to a regular Hive ship and order it to stop firing at the Daedalus in a battle or something like that? it just doesn't make sense!

Of course, I am a bit biased because while Teyla is one of my top 3 favorites, I hate it when she does the wraith telepathy stuff.

[Mitchell82]

I know jumpers don't normally have shields, but I'm sure that particular jumper had a shield - we saw the blue flashy thing to show it... maybe it was the jumper from GUP and they kept it as shielded instead of cloaked?

It had a shield that is quite obvious I don't see how it isn't

Spoiler:

It's also not the first time we've seen that either...

Spoiler:

That is Return II. They normally don't have shields but in these two cases they did.

[Carter1994]

I'm sorry, but how does that picture make it "quite obvious" that there was a shield? All I see appears to be smoke, possibly even the windscreen reflecting smoke, and the occasional spark...?

[Mitchell82]

I'm sorry, but how does that picture make it "quite obvious" that there was a shield? All I see appears to be smoke, possibly even the windscreen reflecting smoke, and the occasional spark...?

Um the blue fluctuation is exactly what something impacting the shield looks like.

[Carter1994]

The only blue I can see is just part of the jumper's consoles to the right... (My graphics card can't be that bad, can it? )

[KindlyKeller]

I would have rolled my eyes and been pretty annoyed if Super Ronon just hacked through like Hercules as he usually does, and I didn't at all mind that Sheppard saved the day. But then again, I don't like Ronon and I like Sheppard a lot, so my feelings on the matter are pretty predictable.

I do agree that playing off of Teyla's vague Wraith telepathy would have been a good way to go, even if it wasn't only used concurrently with John's plan. They could have just used it as "Teyla keeps the entity completely occupied, which is why Sheppard was able to walk through unharmed."

[Carter1994]

Well, I like 'em both, but as you said, there's just no way Ronon (OR Sheppard, or Teyla, or anyone) could manage to hack through all that, there was just way to much of it.

[Zamboni]

It would have been better if Woolsey saved the day... With his bureaucratic prowess. He should have overwhelmed the vines with triplicates, forcing each vine to sign a release form here, here, and here.

And while the vines are busy signing, He just walks right in and injects Keller with his ballpoint pen... Err I mean antidote...

[perkin127]

well my first impression was not again give it a rest shep, i know ronon is always being all super man but he never really saves the day! plus with the whole keller thing it might have been nice for ronon to save her, also i like the idea that it could have been teyla, as she certainly never saves the day (although she saves kellers life in missing) but u am getting a little bored of shep being the rebel with a cause that always saves the day, and thats saying a lit as i love shep.

And one more thing i think we also have to remember that beckett is the one to come up with the antidote in the first place so technically he's part responsible for saving the day