Morpheus (1002)

[Nolamom]

I don't think so - they will be in Atlantis, but it's a joint project. i don't think that you have to see an episode of Atlantis in order to "finish" the show. That wouldn't be fair to markets that don't play both shows.

[Pocus]

I enjoyed this episode. I thought that the idea of a parasite (and I despise bugs ) that causes you to sleep until you die was a different twist on an old storyline. I usually don't like the heroes vs bugs (e g Scourge) scenario. I don't know what it was about this plot that caught my attention. Maybe it was the interesting lighting.

I liked the Vala storyline. It was a bit long but I liked seeing her go from conniving to pass a test that is based on letting someone evaluate "you", to letting some of her real thoughts and feelings out. She is so used to putting up a front that it was refreshing to get a glimpse of the real Vala. It was great to hear her say she was a bit overwhelmed when Landry told her the Dr. ? sees great potential and so did he. Great look from Claudia!

I do think she will give us the same irreverant humor that Jack did. I miss that. Mitchell's humour is more on the "obvious" side or it references something else that not everyone will understand.

[binkpmmc]

Honestly, there's not too much to say about Morpheus. Really, there's not. I guess I'll have to, ahem, struggle to work up a post of adequate length. Yeah, that's it--struggle. Anyway, cheers to whoever came up with the "Joe and Paul Tidy Syndrome" line. It's right on the money. Morpheus is so very stereotypically Mallozzi and Mullie that it's disappointing. It didn't become tragedy until Misbegotten aired afterwards.

Since you all know I take great pride in my role as Mr. Positive, I've decided to start with the things that were good about Morpheus. First and foremost among them is the fact that there were no space ships, no shots of space, no pointless explosions or showers of sparks, and no pointless CGI just for the sake of having some CGI. I know that many fans can't get enough of that stuff, but none of it is what made SG-1 great. Going through the gate (even if we didn't get to see it) is a step in the right direction. Alas, it appears we'll be running backwards next week. Sigh. The lack of those often overused elements in this episode is sure to elicit many compliants of boredom from some fans, but I've always found the quieter, more subdued episodes provide better opportunities for meaningful character interaction as well as better opportunities for the actors to shine. The strength of the show has always been the characters (this is particularly true for M&M episodes), and I think that Carter and Daniel really saved the whole episode.

To get some of the more pedantic things out of the way, I do want to mention that I liked the atmospheric set up of the village set on this occaison. It's one of the few times that the producers have managed to make those standing sets feel like a different, unique planet. I liked it. It worked for me. I also rather enjoyed the bleached-out feel that Andy Mikita decided to go with. I think it helped give the script some much needed authencity and provided much of the tension and feeling of unease that the planet had. I'm thankful for those aspects of the episode because I feel like the actors needed something to grab on to and use to help sell the dialogue and story. So, good on the production team in this one.

Last of the good, the show really, really needed to get away from the Ori for a bit. One of the great things about the Goa'uld was the ability to write stories where elements of the "big bad" were there, but where the Goa'uld had little to no presence. It allowed the show room to breath and the characters opportunities to develop absent the constant plot-heaviness that pervades most of the episodes of New Stargate. I understand that many fans enjoy the arc-based approach SG-1 has adopted, but I can't help but feel the Ori too didactic (read: boring) for weekly consumption. The Ori are simply thrust too far to the front of the story; they're a bigger character than any of the actors on the show, and that's just not right. So, I'm hopeful for more standalones in the rest of the season, but not too hopeful.

As for the bad? At the absolute top of the list is the major, major cop-out ending. Seriously, get better writers. Shut up about how you "only have 42 minutes to tell a story" and try actually telling one. I don't know where completely omitting resolution to conflict counts as "telling a story", but it sure as hell isn't in my book. The ending to Morpheus was so bad that I'm getting angry just thinking about it again. And they didn't even pull off the crap ending they did try to foist upon the audience. Certainly a scene where Landry actually indicated he might send a team to help out was required. Surely some explanation as to exactly how the serum was developed so quickly was required. Mallozzi has always had a penchant for hand waving when it comes to actually explaining why or how things are happening in his stories, but this one was particularly heinous. It makes "the bomb is the building" look like genius, I tell ya.

Also disappointing was the lack of any real character development amongst the team. As others have noted heretofore, this episode was rife with oppotunity for some sort of angst between team members. To have not even attempted something meaningful for any member of SG-1 in such a slow moving, open field type story is criminal. You've got tired, cranky, and about-to-die-any-moment characters sitting around for 42 minutes and all they are is tired, cranky, and about-to-die-any-moment? Really? Are you sure? I'm sure there's stuff going on beneath the surface, stuff they'd not say or do under normal circumstances. But here they don't say anything, do anything, or think about anything. What gets me the most is that The Light presented the team in exactly the same, um, light (forgive me), and took advantage of the situation. How hard is it to copy your own show?

The Vala B-plot was both distracting and predictable (not a good combination). Most of all, there was far too much of it. I understand that the writers needed to contrive explain Vala's newfound home at the SGC. And on that front, I don't have a problem with the whole idea of a psych evaluation as part of that process. But it was just all so damn silly. Really, I know that Mallozzi considers himself a humorist of sorts, but I didn't find myself laughing at any of the "jokes" during those scenes. Kudos to Claudia Black for trying hard to sell those scenes, but there's only so much humor to be had in screwing up one's face in frustration and annoyance. It wasn't working for me. And honestly, in the first half of the episode I found the constant cutting back and forth between Vala and SG-1 on the planet very distracting. There were at least four or five different scenes of Vala being "cute" at the SGC. That's too many. SG-1's story would have had a better sense of tension and urgency if it wasn't constantly being undercut with the completely tensionless scenes at the SGC. On top of that, I find it impossible to believe that one of those trite Landry/Vala or Vala taking the test scenes couldn't be cut in order to facilitate the inclusion of the infamously edited-out Sam/Vala character development scene. Both Amanda Tapping and Claudia Black have publicly lamented that it was the first thing to be cut out of the episode. After seeing what did stay in, I'm more astonished than ever that the development of that relationship isn't more important than Mallozzi or Mullie getting a chance to devour some more "writer candy". It's crap decision making with no sense of priorities. All of those cutsie Vala scenes weren't necessary to the plot; I can't believe that any single one of the writers, producers, or editors truly believed that they were.

Right. On to the characters. And I'll start with Daniel and Carter. They were this week's big winners. Their interaction in this episode was by far the best part of the story. There is just such a natural comfort and familiarity between Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, and Christopher Judge that really does come through in their characters. Daniel and Sam were great here, and the honest sense of caring that the actors had to convey was effortlessly handled. Their reliance on each other to stay awake and their trust in the others abilities was a nice reminder of why SG-1 has stayed on so long. It was also nice to see the two of them interacting after hardly having any scenes together throughout the whole of season nine. More, please.

I have mixed feelings on Mitchell in this one. Well, they're only mixed in that I liked much of his interaction with Teal'c, but I suspect that's because I like Teal'c. By the way, I really liked that Teal'c was the one to "save the day" by catching the lizard and making it out of the cave. Chris Judge often has to do the "strong warrior under extreme duress" schtick, but he does do it well. I also laughed at Teal'c smacking random-soldier to wake him up. Mitchell, much like last week, came across as very downtrodden and far more low-key than he has been wont to do in the past. I'm now suspecting that everyone involved has simply hit the reset on his character and are going to pretend that the frenetic, overwrought Mitchell of last season never existed. We'll see.

I've seen some fans complain that Vala's character has been grinded down in Morpheus to such a degree that she's lost what made her appealing to them last year. I don't agree, and find even this small modicum of depth a welcome change to what was all artifice at this time last season. Her not being placed on SG-1 may please some fans, but it really is nothing more than a matter of semantics. For all intents and purposes, Vala has joined the team. Here's hoping that the jokes about loot run out sooner rather than later.

Finally, Robert Picardo was back as Woolsey for an effective role. Despite its transparency, his "test" of Vala indicated a much higher level of involvement for the IOA than in the past. Coupled with his interactions with Weir, the IOA itself is the apparent happy beneficiery of the ever increasing crossovers between Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis. I think the organization has been well incorporated into the framework of the Stargate Program and to the show itself. The military's decreasing autonomy has been one of the more subtle changes to the show in the past couple of years, and it's been fairly well done. Oh, and thankfully, M&M waited until Atlantis to completely assasinate Robert Woolsey's character. Kudos.

That's all. Not too bad for length, right?

Excellent, well thought-out critique and analysis. I agree with everything you said - well done.

[binkpmmc]

Ah, golfy has posted; my Saturday morn is complete.


I extracted the above because it's so very important. Thank you for remembering and mentioning it.

I have to third this sentiment - I cannot believe they cut the Carter/vala scene for the schtick that they showed - what an utter waste. Confirms for me that TPKTS decision making abilities have been seriously flawed and will likely never return.

[binkpmmc]

I forgot to mention that I wasn't really buying into the last scene with Mitchell and Vala, either. I just sort of laughed out loud at Mitchell there. I find that there is just no menace or authority to the character. His lack of presence comes primarily from the dialogue he's forced to deliever. Seriously, him gleefully reminising over Deuce Bigalow, the kooky salad bar line, etc., all serve to downgrade any sense of competence that the character might otherwise have. Richard Dean Anderson, for all of O'neill's jokes, always brought an underlying cynicism and subdued hostility to the character's humor. Jack could be menacing. I find Mitchell's ubiquitous pop culture references and not-funny one liners undercut the character. Honestly, who talks like that? Where's the depth to the character? So, for me, the last scene came across more as Mitchell being somewhat of a bully, unnecessarily hulking over the much smaller Vala. He could have stood where he was and uttered the same lines to better effect. This struck me as heavy (gauntlet clad) handed.

This opinion is sure to be unpopular, but there it is.

I will not strike you down - I applaud you and agree 100%. mitchell is still, IMO, a useless waste of time.

I can say at least it was shared leadership, if even that, since Sam seemed in charge at points, mitchell (who grates on me no end and I FF through as much of him as possible without FF through the BIG 3) seemed in charge some and even Daniel and Teal'c seemed in charge. There were no orders given by or to anyone and each seemed to make their own decisions with appoprriate input from the others - so that aspect was okay.

I really think that they gave the ending short shrift and that the vala scenes should have been cut down drastically (if not cut out altogether) in order to put a proper ending to what (and I say this sarcastically) was supposed to be the A plot.

[majorsal]

i have a reply to this, but since the entire post is a mitchell rant, i'm answering it here.



sally

mitch's threats are....well rather toothless at the moment

jack we knew could kick bootie. while he was a fantastic man and great leader, he had a very real dark side. he had the devil within him. he could be a stone cold killer and had been in his career

mitch???? i sense no menace from mitch. no seriousness in his past or background. he's a lot like sam in that - at least in the early seasons - so steeped in innocence that you just can't ever see them doing the dirty work. Sam could be innocent. She wasn't the leader.

while i would have no doubt that jack would kick vala's tush...mitch is more liklely to just shake his head and yell at her for not listening to him and powerlessly stomp away.

I think that's why mitch as the boss just doesn't work for me. the writers keep having him deliver all these menacing lines and dramatic phrases adn he sounds like a 14 year old kid yelling frusteratedly at the bullies that he's powerless to do anything about.

Mitch will never be jack because jack was a man...and mitch will never be more than a teenage boy trying to fill the shoes of his 'dad'

and so, mitch's 'threats' to vala....empty threats, which only makes the lines rather funny

[majorsal]

Well, the "A" plot sucked miserably, but Vala managed to carry the entire show with her little subplot, so I'm glad they went that route with the episode.

maybe the 'a' storyline wouldn't have sucked -as you put it- if more time had been spent on it instead of the vala one (so much). hmm.





sally

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

All I can ask of any show is that it be entertaining, and I can say with some enthusiasm that I throughly enjoyed this episode.

Despite with the distinctly Family Channel vibe of the ending scene, I have to say that this ep was my kind of SG-1. All the characters were terrific and had meaty, dignified roles for a change. I loved Sam's line about how Daniel was harder to understand than she ever was.

I liked that the red shirts were given just cause for dying, as they'd been up much longer than SG-1 had.

I do wish the doctor, Whatisname, had survived, though, even if it was a little distracting seeing the guy from WOO, there. I think MS and AT did a good job of being clumsy-drunk from sleep depriviation while desperately trying to save the doctor. I liked the actor in this role and I think he'd have made a terrific field doctor. Personally, I'd prefer him over Lam, and now that we have Vala and Adria on the series a male regular doctor would be okay by me.

And speaking of Vala, welcome aboard, Ms MalDuran!

Vala had me LOLing but at the same time there was an endearing quality to her that I really liked. This is only the second ep where I can say I found her antics endearing, though(last time was in season 9's Crusade), so I am really hoping for some consistency from the writing staff. I thought it so funny that Wolsley didn't even flinch when Vala told Landry about "this annoying little man." Beaurocrats must be immune to such insults.

Morgan Le Fey and Merlin! And Atlantis! Kewl! Crossover time must be near. Bring it on!

[Dani347]

I do wish the doctor, Whatisname, had survived, though, even if it was a little distracting seeing the guy from WOO, there. I think MS and AT did a good job of being clumsy-drunk from sleep depriviation while desperately trying to save the doctor. I liked the actor in this role and I think he'd have made a terrific field doctor. Personally, I'd prefer him over Lam, and now that we have Vala and Adria on the series a male regular doctor would be okay by me.

I still think they should bring back the doctor from Avatar, even though he was also another character on the show. But, I liked him best out of all the post Janets, and he's still alive.

[Mesenet]

Thoughts, random and on the spot:

I hope we'll see more episodes like this one. By that, I mean episodes where SG-1 goes to another planet, runs into trouble, and has to get out of it. LOL Particularly trouble not directly because of/ engineered by the Ori. I do wish that Doctor Rymer (sp?) hadn't died. .

The team stuff is starting to jel again. Hope they let it set.

Vala, as usual, had me in stitches. I could see the "loyalty" test thing coming a mile away, of course, but who cares? She didn't, and that's the key. I have to say, though, the funniest part was the polygraph scene. I should have seen it coming that the machine would react when she tried to flatter the shrink, but I didn't.

Speaking of Vala, I think the fact that she's not "officially" part of SG-1 might relieve some of the people up in arms about her permanant presence on the show.

Still not a Vala fan. She is not so over the top with the sex kitten thing as in last season but (jmho) I found the big really cheesy expressions that accented her comedy scenes annoying. I liked her more last week when she was more sincere or subtle with her lying. Though the ink blot scene and flustering Woolsey was funny.

Overall, not the deepest, most riveting episode ever, but structurally it felt a lot more like the Stargate formula we know and love than a great deal of last Season.

I rate Ep 2 as good. So far S10 is keeping my interest and has me looking forward to next week. Last season I watched each new eposide hoping the season would get better.

[e-dog]

I'm really, really new to the show. Like, just started watching last week new. Haha, but I've always wanted to start watching. I really wanna buy the DVDs and get all caught up. (Nine years of catching up could take a while, eh?)

Anyway, I just wanted to comment on the ending. Being new to this show, it didn't bother me and maybe I'm just a fresh face giving it a first Stargate viewer look, but I liked it. I mean, it was rushed but I felt for different reasons besides lack of writing skills.

Going back to the state of mind of SG-1 and the hallucinations as a result of sleep deprivation (ie Sam thinking she was in a coffin, or Cam talking to no one but himself). I felt the fade out and coming back to suddenly find the team alive and well did just what it was supposed to.

They were asleep for the duration of making the cure, asleep while being treated then finally woke up. Maybe that was a way to see their point of view, which was nothing at all. That missing scene, where some felt the audience should have seen some kind of more concrete resolution, is exactly what it is. Missing.

I think we were supposed to feel as disoriented as they must have felt once they realized they were safe, but hey, that's just how I interpreted it. All in all, I've been enjoying what I've been seeing. And as a Farscape fan, I'm totally loving the Ben and Claudia screen time.

I enjoy their characters, finding Vala to be strangely endearing. I plan to stick around for the rest of the season.

[Mesenet]

This is the episode that cut a Sam/Vala scene because it didn't move the plot along? You're right, there are other things that could have been cut instead without affecting the story. We already had a scene with Vala telling Daniel she was going to use his computer to cram for the evaluation, so the scene with Landry while she was doing it could have been cut. It didn't move anything forward, and they could have had the Sam/Vala scene.

Hmm, will the PTB and MGM be smart enough to add the cut scene for S10 DVD

Echoes "more please" I love the brotherly/sisterly connection I see with them, and love seeing them interact.

Here's another vote for more character interaction. But no shipping for Daniel/Vala.

[Mesenet]

I'm really, really new to the show. Like, just started watching last week new. Haha, but I've always wanted to start watching. I really wanna buy the DVDs and get all caught up. (Nine years of catching up could take a while, eh?)

Welcome to GateWorld and the Stargate fandom. It will set you back a bit to get all 9 seasons but you should also rent the movie that started it all... STARGATE.

All in all, I've been enjoying what I've been seeing. And as a Farscape fan, I'm totally loving the Ben and Claudia screen time.

I enjoy their characters, finding Vala to be strangely endearing. I plan to stick around for the rest of the season.

Ahh, as a newbie, tread carefully with the Farscape fandom. There are those who are anti BB/Mitchell and CB/Vala and you don't want to be preceived as a Fargater

[the fifth man]

Ahh, as a newbie, tread carefully with the Farscape fandom. There are those who are anti BB/Mitchell and CB/Vala and you don't want to be preceived as a Fargater

"Fargater" is a stupid concept anyways. One can be a loyal fan of both shows. I know I am.

As for "Morpheus", I've watched it several times now. And each time, I've found something else I liked about it. Vala was great, SG-1 was great. All around, great ep IMO.

A scene I found especially funny was near the beginning, when Vala said she was going to use Daniel's computer to research the psych evaluation. His reaction to that, and her having his password, was priceless. Also, I loved how Mitchell practically dragged Daniel into the GateRoom.

[battleaxe22]

It was okay ...i realy don't like vala that much

*** first post *** : D