Who else hated this episode? Supremely badly written?

[FallenAngelII]

The ark of truth??
-Really??

"The Ark of Truth", while not bad, wasn't exactly steller.

[nx01a]

After the superb 'The Shrine', this was bad. There were some good points [the mirroring of McKay scenes at the beginning and end, Dax] but it was a horror movie ripoff that tried to be self-reflexive by stating that it was a horror movie ripoff but never managed to rise above that or do anything groundbreaking with the genre.

[Womble]

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.

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.

I don't think it should have been removed. It struck me as fairly normal behavior in the context given. It's the team of four hot chicks that was the sexist thing; the rest just naturally followed.

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.

Screw diversity; they just need better writers. Joss Whedon is a straight middle aged male, yet somehow his female characters are anything but deficient.

[bluealien]

After the superb 'The Shrine', this was bad. There were some good points [the mirroring of McKay scenes at the beginning and end, Dax] but it was a horror movie ripoff that tried to be self-reflexive by stating that it was a horror movie ripoff but never managed to rise above that or do anything groundbreaking with the genre.

Well for me the Shrine was anything but superb. I'd watch Whispers anyday over another McKay tear jerker or McShep bonding... yawn !! and don't even get me started on how awful Keller was. Whispers wasn't the best ep ever but it certaintly wasn't the worst.

[ablevins425]

Has anyone rewatched the episode? I found when I watched it the first time, it couldn't even keep my attention, though when watching it the second time, barring the horrible inconsistensies (sp) it wasn't god awful.

[Asgard29]

I quite enjoyed this episode.

[Linzi]

I liked Whispers, so I gave it a 'good'. In fact all of the episodes in season 5 thus far have been at least a 'good' for me, with some achieving an 'excellent'.

I'd have liked for Whispers to have been more creepy and scary, but looking at the general tone of the show, and the fact it's heavily censored, then I know it couldn't really be what I hoped it might be, because that would have been too adult, and more of an 'R' rating than the normal PG13.

I liked the female team, especially Dusty, but if I had a criticism of the episode, it'd be that Sheppard had not a lot to do and was just standing around much of the time. Now, if this wasn't the last season, then maybe I'd have not been too concerned, but as it is, and this is counted as an episode Shep has a lot to do in by JM... well, I was disappointed in the substance or lack thereof for him, put it that way.

But, I did enjoy the episode generally. Beckett's still a spare wheel to me, but I waaaaay prefer him over Keller. So, all in all, I think the episode achieved what it set out to do - be a fun, creepy and spooky story, being something a little different from the norm. Is it my favourite episode? Nope. But I was entertained when I watched it, and at the end of the day, that's what it's about for me.

[nx01a]

It might have been better if Keller went along with Shep. There he is, completely surrounded by estrogen. We might have even seen some character development from Killer... ahem... Keller.

[g.o.d]

this was one of the worst scifi episodes ever. I don't know what was worse, bad writing or bad acting from "Delta Force" sergeant...

[Kezia]

Everything about this episode was just, bad. From the predictable plot to the cheesy characters to the "creatures" that were supposed to be creepy but ended up being exceedingly lame.

Not only was this horrendously written, it was not scary AT ALL. What with it being touted as a horror episode and everything. Even relatively tame episodes of Dr Who are way scarier and creepier than this one.

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

Uhh, no. I didn't like it because it was boring, period.

[huntress]

A waste of to use Paul McGillion in such an episode. The whole episode wasn't scary. It was laughable.

[g.o.d]

A waste of to use Paul McGillion in such an episode. The whole episode wasn't scary. It was laughable.

x2

[Lythisrose]

In retrospect, I think this one was written MUCH better than Tracker.
IMO.

[travis]

I loved this ep. Was a nice change from the original team not that we get to see the original team that often lol. I so dig the all girl team thought they played all well off each other.

[nx01a]

In retrospect, I think this one was written MUCH better than Tracker.
IMO.

I second the motion.