Who else hated this episode? Supremely badly written?

[Cryowolf]

I think it follows the trend of Season 5 so far of being horrible, the only exception imho being "The Shrine". I don't know why but I just don't like season 5, it's plagued with inconsistencies, continuity errors and just bad writing and out of character behavior. It's almost as if they wanted to create a new series but weren't allowed, and thus they tried to remake Atlantis and all its characters into something else.

[Lianne]

Actually, I looked forward to this episode....seemed interesting enough and finally something that wasn´t directly spinning round Todd and Wraith and garbage (and Keller).

But....I didnt even manage to watch the episode to the end (I started to do something else about in the middle of the episode, but still listening, but after couple of moments realised I just really don´t care)....

But I don´t like to burn things to smitherness (or maybe my standards are set really low) in hate and critique....so I just go with bad.

[supersoldier34]

I liked the episode for what it was but it could have been better written.

[IrishPisano]

it made me think of: The Blair Witch Stargate...

[PeteJ]

it made me think of: The Blair Witch Stargate...

The Blair Witch Project is a decent movie so it won't fit. Whispers was more like a Dracula 3000 in the Pegasus galaxy.

[SaberBlade]

Personally I think was the absolute worst that SGA has done, perhaps the worst SG has done. The only thing that stops me from putting this episode on a lower scale than 'The Light' is because the only good thing about it was Nicole deBoer and McGillion.

The only good thing to happen in the episode was watching one the team members die because they thought nothing bad would happen, then I realised it's such a terrible cliche as the same thing happens in any move when people don't think there is a threat and let their guard down.

[Pegasus_SGA]

NOTE: For those who aren't aware, "OK" means "Neutral", neither good nor bad.

Hear me out before flaming me and neg-repping me. I didn't really mind it too much after having just finished watching the episode, I just had a few things bothering me. But as I mulled them over (and discussed them here on the boards), the small things grew into big things and more things were added up.

I personally find this one to be a supremely badly written (and finalized) episode. You heard me, PTB, it was shoddily written.

Good for you if you found it shoddily written, I didn't.

The most glaring stupidities were (in chronological order).
The Fist Bump: Yes, the fist bump. Yes, I know some of you guys don't find it objectionable, but think it over. First, what was the fist bump for? It was obviously an "Alright! 4 hot ladies!"-fist bump. They wouldn't have done that had that been 4 men. Or 4 ugly women. Yes, fraternization was out of the question for John, but for him (and I'd guess Carson), it was probably just a "Ouh, I'll get to oogle hot chicks all day!"-thing.

I didn't find it objectional, and i'm female. As a women, i've heard, wolf whistles, remarks... so a fist bump that no one saw, that's pretty mild even in the military. Besides it was an adlib from the actors not the characters. I'm assuming it was kept in to be funny, not offensive. Nothing wrong with ogling hot chicks, i'm sure I wouldn't hear much complaint from many of the male members of the forum.

Now, according to Joe Mallozzi's blog, it was not in the script. Joe Flanigan (John) and Paul McGillion (Carson) ad libbed it. So boo them, I guess. But that doesn't absolve the PTB. The writer(s), producer(s) and everyone else involved in post... apparently none of them found it objectionable enough to remove.

Correct. Boo to them? Seriously, it was a bit of fun, men do have fun now and again around pretty girls. I didn't find it objectionable at all.

It's not like it wasn't noticeable. You saw it right away. Why did it slip through? Let's see... a bunch of straight, white middle-agish men. It's no wonder the women on the show come in mostly 3 flavours; Man in women's clothing (Written just like any male character), Damsel in distress (self-explanatory) or Tough Warrior Chick (also self-explanatory).

It didn't slip through, it was allowed through, there's a difference. One is by accident, one is purposeful. You forgot about the science guys, and you forgot about the hot aliens (a la Teal'c and Ronon). And please, man in women's clothing??? I don't remember Shep wearing any skirts in this ep, now that i'd have liked to have seen and maybe Beckett in his kilt, he's got great legs ya know, seen them up close and personal... but alas not a true Scot! However it was the coldest day in Vancouver, so he's forgiven for that. NEXT!!

In other words, IMO, the staff needs more diversity, more people to tell them "Wait, that won't fly" and "Wait, these and these people will find that objectionable" and stuff.

Well instead of saying what you don't like, why not say what you would like?

The Chest Pounding: At the end there, John went all chauvinistic (in my eyes). Suddenly, he had a brilliant plan. And it was brilliant, no matter what anyone else had to say! Major Teldy tried helping by pointing out that plan could've gone wrong and that they should work out a backup plan or a "just-in-case" scenario but John was awfully snippy all of a sudden.

Shep was pounding his chest??? Really? Did he have his shirt off at the time? Oh please tell me he did so that I can pause and rewind that very scene.

What you have to realise is that if the plan works... ie kills the bad guys, then it's a good plan. With no casualties... Brilliant plant. It's that simple
Besides you should always have confidence in your own plans, they could have had plan f as in they're totally... i'm assuming that was when Vega got killed though.

He wouldn't even let her finish her sentence. No, his plan was perfect. Nothing could go wrong! He's the man, he's in charge and the womenfolk should shut the hell up and be nice like women and hang back.

He's the boss at the end of the day. As a boss they have the last word. Trust me on this, I speak from experience.

What happens? He ends up almost dying and only surviving because Carson happened to wander by and help him. Nice going there, John.

Nothing wrong with a bit of whump, I find it adds to the danger.

This fails because even the John fans will dislike his behavior this episode. All of a sudden he's as immature as a teenager despite having turned 40 (we're assuming).

I'm a Shep fan, and I didn't dislike his performance, so did I just blow your theory out the water there hon.

The Stupidity: And then there's the blatant stupidity. OK, what did Dr. Porter tell John? "[It]'ll draw them right to you".

What would anyone with half a brain do if they had a tablet which would emit an ultrasonic burst which would immediately start drawing 9 crazed killers to them? They'd friggin' set the charge of C4 before activating that damn tablet.

The plan was to draw them all together, so they've got them all in what hit. And you forget he has to take one for the team, because he's the 'guy'

No, really, there was no good reason for him to activate that tablet first! None. Unless he, somehow though the creatures wouldn't get there within 5 minutes (which would be a BS reason since it'd buy him only a few seconds).

Given the timer was very short on the C4, he didn't know how far away they were and he had to get away, so don't see a big problem with that.

Let's see, creaky well with a creaky crank. What do I do? Well, first, I crank the bucket all the friggin' way up, making as much noise as I can just for the sake of it (you not just get it within reach so you easily grab it by reaching for a bit or gently drop the tablet, nooooo, that's not enough. Waste as much time and make as much noise as possible.

Well, to be fair if he'd have thrown it down the well, it would have broken into tiny lil pieces... end of plan, then they would have ended up at Plan F.

Then, you activate the thing that'll immediately start drawing the enemy to you (and you're friggin' dead if an enemy is close by). Then you set the charge. No, John. That's what someone with an IQ which strives to be three digit would do. You're supposedly the military commander of Atlantis, has 4 and a half years of field experience in Pegasus and was smart enough to get into MENSA.

So what would you have done oh wise and master of military strategic manouvers?

(Minor stupidities:
"Oh, you look pretty harmless, you can go." - So he behaved suspiciously by following you guys around, sneaking around in the shadows and seemed jumpy. But you'll just let him go, no questions asked. Hmmmm...)

he did question him, and no he wasn't part of the bad guys, he was just a bit of a muppet wasn't he? Would you have preferred he tied him up and kept him there and let him be eaten to?

[stclare]

I think its the weakest episode of the season so far. the build up on JM's blog had me expecting a lot and for me it did not live up to the hype.
im afraid i didnt enjoy the female team at all and felt no enjoyment in the ep by the end i was just glad it was over.

however i must confess that i probably wouldnt dislike it as much if i didnt know this was the last season. knowing its the last season and having an episode spent on cliched cheesy horror without the team made it worse for me. i watch for the team. im not interested in new characters, esp now and find myself wondering how the ep would have been if the team was there either aswell as, the other team or instead of. its a selfish thing i know and probably not logical production wise, but there you go. i can see that other fans found this ep enjoyable which is cool for them. it just did nothing for me.

sorry

[IrishPisano]

I think its the weakest episode of the season so far. the build up on JM's blog had me expecting a lot and for me it did not live up to the hype.

that's why i don't read the blogs... or the spoilers at all....

these writers, producers, actors always claim that there's going to be this "really huge, really exciting episode coming up..." or "this episode is going to take Ronon right to the edge, and possibly over it..."

and what happens? nothing
"huge" turns out to be "a decent size"
"really exciting" turns out to be "at least we didn't make it an episode based entirely back on earth
and Ronon doesn't get anywhere close to the edge... he just gets a little upset...

out of all the movies, films, tv series, and episodes that i have read the hype for over the past few years, very.... VERY few have lived up to it or not disappointed at all:

1. 300
2. The Dark Knight
3. Ark of Truth
4. Continuum
5. Season 1 of Rome
6. The Fountain
7. LOTR


that's it...

i have gone back and read the blogs of some of TPTB AFTER watching the episodes of SGA... and found myself doing nothing but laughing at them... and how they claim they have these great and amazing episodes...

now, there is a decent amount of hype surrounding Michael Shanks' 2-parter this season... i hope and pray that they do not overhype it at all...


and if TPTB want to know what a truly great and amazing TV episode looks like, i recommend they look at the handful of episodes of The West Wing that Aaron Sorkin wrote and Tom Schlamme directed (Noel, Two Cathedrals, etc)... until they get their perspectives in check, i won't be reading their blogs

[ReP_ZaPPer]

Yeah, when i read about this ep i was thinking... hmm Michael's Lab, odd creatures. It was basically a re-tooled Vengeance with only 2 known main characters playing a big part in it (of course there had to be lots of new faces or how would there have been the "who will die" element).

But be reasonable, I'm sure they've shown us the capabilities for bad eps in the past *cough* Irresistable/Irresponsible? So I'm not quite gonna rank it that low. (Yes Beckett in it was one of the main interests for me other than that bleh)

[Yaxez]

Very good episode, loved Dusty.

You can punch holes in most episodes, this isn't the only one with flaws.

The only reason you people didn't like this episode is because it wasn't centered around Rodney or Sheppard. (assumptions, yeah yeah)

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I wont bother arguing with you hardcore fans.

[Lautu Loman]

I'm doing the major "oh, brother!" eye-roll at an all-female team. Right: 3 super tough chicks are gonna save the day. C'mon, gimme a break!

[MIZA]

I don't think it was that bad, i mean it was nice to see Beckett again, but what i didn't like was not seeing the rest of the characters , that really sucks

[PG15]

"Good"

[Yaxez]

out of all the movies, films, tv series, and episodes that i have read the hype for over the past few years, very.... VERY few have lived up to it or not disappointed at all:

1. 300
2. The Dark Knight
3. Ark of Truth
4. Continuum
5. Season 1 of Rome
6. The Fountain
7. LOTR


that's it...

The ark of truth??
-Really??