Tin Man (118)

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

• Best screen effects for the doubles was with the Jacks. Sam's double was visually off-scale.

Agreed, although once you know it's Dan Shea (Siler) playing O'Neill's body double it becomes impossible not to register it!

Taste?

Ha.

[Traveler Enroute1]

Wow, so many people here actually like Harlan?! He literally makes me to want to smash the TV screen whenever he's on, and his delivery of "comtraya" is like nails scratching down a chalkboard to me! What am I missing?

LOL! No worries, LHG. He's a bumbler on a mission and as such, does wrong things for right reasons. I had my issues with him, but decided he was just too desperate for the niceties up front.

[chaddergate]

Wow, so many people here actually like Harlan?! He literally makes me to want to smash the TV screen whenever he's on, and his delivery of "comtraya" is like nails scratching down a chalkboard to me! What am I missing?

Yep, me too (smashing screen)...but I thought this episode overall, was pretty good, however, I like the sequel better.

[Kunoichi]

There is a quote by the two Carters you may miss without subtitles as Jack walks out of the room in search of his copy. She says "We should evolve into different people based on our individual experiences" or something to that effect. It is a passing line which i think sums up the moral complexities of the episode. Over time, they will develop into unique people, it is just that they are starting from the same base.

It's an interesting thought, isn't it? Despite having seen this episode loads of times I only picked up on this line this time round - probably as I'm watching on my laptop with my headphones on.

I felt great sympathy for Harlan. He is simply alone and wanted some companionship and assistance. His situation and story are very heatfelt. Last surviving member of his entire race. All alone. World falling apart around him. Helpless. His plight is quite tragic.

On the other hand Harlan was definitely in a sympathetic situation, alone deep beneath an unlivable planet with ancient infrastructure breaking down around him. Harlan was at the very least, a desperate survivor.

I found Harlan irritating but I felt that his enthusiasm and odd behaviour was easily explainable by his having been stuck by himself for such a long time.

Harlan seemed like a likable guy, but when I saw that the real SG-1 was lying on slabs AWAKE and immobile, probably wondering fruitlessly what was happening? Well, that wasn't very nice, it bordered on torture. I'm sure he never thought of it that way but I did.

This was one of the things that irritated me about this episode. I just felt that SG-1 should have been more aggressively annoyed with Harlan about keeping them immobilised that way. They just seemed to accept it and move on, rather than deal with the fact that Harlan had hell them captive.

[juggernaut975]

Surprisingly, this was my least favorite episode of Season One. Looking back to when I first became a fan I always leaned towards Emancipation/Brief Candle but since the Re-Watch I've found that they weren't nearly as bad as I first remembered. Tin Man though...?

It's just a depressing episode. Sure, there's that neat twist where it turns out that...gasp...there are TWO sets of SG1...and the ones we've been watching for 30+ minutes are the copies.....

But what's the end result? They're stuck there for the rest of their lives. Which is now thousands of years.

Comtraya, indeed.

Jack mentions that Harlan 'had no choice' when he kidnapped and copied SG1 but will that excuse still fly in, oh, let's say a century when the factories could have become even more dilapidated? Would they then support Harlan taking another group of travelers? It's just a very bizarre set of circumstances and a solution that I doubt any of them would be satisfied with.

Just imagine that you're in their shoes: Hey, we're going to make you nigh immortal....but you're going to spend a huge chunk of that doing repair work.

I'm vaguely aware of what happens down the road to the SG1 copies but in the context of Tin Man the idea of them being trapped there is just unsettling.

And what caps it for me is Harlan's cheerfulness and positive attitude, grinning and Comtraya-ing his hands together upon informing SG1 V.2 that they're going to be assisting him maintain that facility for thousands and thousands of years, Comtraya!

Ugh, what a dick lol.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Ugh, what a dick lol.

YES! Thank you. There is nothing to like about his character.

[juggernaut975]

YES! Thank you. There is nothing to like about his character.

Exactly....it's just so odd to see Jack and Co. so willing to just disregard the fact that they were kidnapped and expected to be put to work.....you'd think that they'd (the 'real' SG1) would have raised more of a fuss about the rights of the SG1 copies.

[Dave2]

I am trying to figure out all the ways we can make use of the word COMTRAYA!
One way is for WOW! Another would be GREETINGS! or BE WELL!
What about IT'S ABOVE MY HEAD BUT SOUNDS GREAT!

[lostmonkey70]

Just imagine that you're in their shoes: Hey, we're going to make you nigh immortal....but you're going to spend a huge chunk of that doing repair work.

I'm vaguely aware of what happens down the road to the SG1 copies but in the context of Tin Man the idea of them being trapped there is just unsettling.

And what caps it for me is Harlan's cheerfulness and positive attitude, grinning and Comtraya-ing his hands together upon informing SG1 V.2 that they're going to be assisting him maintain that facility for thousands and thousands of years, Comtraya!

Ugh, what a dick lol.

Literally all things that could have been solved by NOT just burying the gate and never going back to that planet. Establish that as a research facility, work with Harlan and allow him to make more duplicates so they could study the technology and the facility as they helped him maintain it. That's the sort of thing I would have seen the SGC and the Pentagon going for and would have made sense once the real SG-1 explained things to them.

[moondragon]

Ive always been on the fence about this episode. I find Harlan grating and off putting. Yeah sure, hes been stranded alone for 11,000 years, but his level of cheeriness seems fake "I have made you better"...and don't even get me started on the "Comtraya" *bangs head on desk*. I thought the interaction between both SG teams to be very spot on for who their characters are. Both Carter's talking about the logic of being the same person and how their experiences would eventually change them. The Daniels were in awe of each other and poor Teal'c was like the lonely kid in the corner without a friend. The Jack's interaction gave us another look into his persona. He felt unsettled and maybe you could say violated to know that his consciousness and self had been duplicated. Someone else out there also knows about everything that happened to him while a POW. Also, the copy has to stay behind knowing that someone else is living the life that he beliefs to be his.
Favorite line: Jack "Don't worry, I just wanna talk, robot to robot"

[Dimes]

Good episode.
Always wondered what the clones are doing or WILL do.

[Darian]

Comtria this was a cool episode

[Sam-n-Jack-in-<3]

Eh? It's Com-tria and not Con-tria? OK.

[Major Clanger]

Just watched this for the first time in years and years and years
It didn't get better with time. Harlan was too annoying and there wasn't enough... I don't know, naval gazing?
Loved Jack talking to Jack though

[Major Clanger]

was just saying this on the Fire & Water thread but I'm always sad when characters / worlds / Tech like this, which could be so useful, isn't followed up on.

Having said that Harlan was too annoying and the whole Comtraya thing made me want to get my slapping hand out. (if not my spoon, which I am pleased to see has come back to me)

Spoiler:

which is why I am particularly pleased that the bot SG1 team showed up again in S4