Prometheus Unbound (812)

[Bobthespirit]

I must say...this episode had me rolling my eyes bigtime.

What's her name's dialogue was unnecessarily sexual and designed around making her look cool without really doing anything that cool, and apparently Prometheus's brig is as pathetically easy to break out of as Voyager's.

If they wanted to have her escape, they should have at least showed us how she escaped. I hate it when characters do stuff offscreen, the only explanation given to us being 'she's just that cool'.

I also want to know how she managed to lock out a completely foreign computer system. They should have given an explanation like "This ship was designed partially based on gu'ald technology, and she had the knowledge of the gu'ald". Another thing I guess we're supposed to accept simply on the grounds that 'she's just that cool', but that happened so often in this episode that every part of the plot seemed totally arbitrary.

Stargate often tries to sell us a character's personality -- but in this episode, it was way too hard a sell.

[Jeff O'Connor]

What about the fact that maybe they're simply trying to widen viewers' eyes now with her abilities of 'just that cool'ness, so that later on, when she's mainstay in Season Nine, we'll get to see the secrets behind the tricks. I mean, really, when Aeryn Sun in Farscape started off as simply a 'badass Peacekeeper who could do things no one really got' she was eventually fleshed out and by the end of the first year, it was understandable how, and why, she pulled the stunts she did.

If Vala really is similar to Aeryn Sun in several ways like they're aiming for from what I see, they'll undoubtedly treat the situation accordingly. For now, her just managing to get out offscreen was basically the writers' way of saying, 'look what she can do! You'll see how she's so proficient, later on.'

[UnderT]

I thought it was awesome that they brought Hammond back, even if it was only for one episode, they need to bring him back more often.

[Bobthespirit]

^^
That is a point, but it doesn't change that it just felt like the writers were making a really hard sell on the character. Used car dealers and timeshare peddlers don't make that hard a sell.

If they wanted us to think she was cool, they should have let the character and her actions speak for themselves rather than shoving all the sexual innuendos and self-interested-with-a-conscience-ness in our face so transparently deliberately.

[Jeff O'Connor]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I think it was at times a bit too crudely thrown at us, too. Heh... it's good when two people on opposite sides of a spectrum can come to agree with a compromise, over situations like this. Doesn't happen enough.

[Bobthespirit]

I thought of a better way to put it.

I felt the interaction between Daniel and Vala was extremely forced.

And the entire character of Vala seemed really unnatural.

[Jeff O'Connor]

There are certain points by which I would tend to go along with those words. I'm glad we see eye to eye on things.

[Madeleine]

I felt the interaction between Daniel and Vala was extremely forced.

Yup, Vala was definitely forceful .

Seriously, I know what you mean, but I rather liked that aspect of it. It was fun to see Daniel squirming (metaphorically and literally) at the brashness of Vala's approaches at him and at her coming onto him after knowing him for seven seconds.

And it was even more fun watching Vala clumsily try to charm and beguile a reaction from Daniel to get him distracted and dazed, and getting it so very wrong.

In fact I think that if the interaction hadn't felt forced the ep wouldn't have worked so well. There were a couple of scenes where the two of them were talking calmly which felt natural and good, so it's nice to see some potential for a development of their, um, 'relationship'; but the forcedness was an interesting and bold addition to the mix, i thought.

[IMForeman]

Yup, Vala was definitely forceful .

Seriously, I know what you mean, but I rather liked that aspect of it. It was fun to see Daniel squirming (metaphorically and literally) at the brashness of Vala's approaches at him and at her coming onto him after knowing him for seven seconds.

And it was even more fun watching Vala clumsily try to charm and beguile a reaction from Daniel to get him distracted and dazed, and getting it so very wrong.

In fact I think that if the interaction hadn't felt forced the ep wouldn't have worked so well. There were a couple of scenes where the two of them were talking calmly which felt natural and good, so it's nice to see some potential for a development of their, um, 'relationship'; but the forcedness was an interesting and bold addition to the mix, i thought.

I think that's what I liked most about it. Vala seems aware that she's attractive, but no real clue about how to use it to her advantage. She sort of tries one thing, then another, and then falls back on violence. I also like that Daniel just didn't fall for any of it... his exasperation was totally in character, I felt... and understandable.

-IMF

[Unas]

I didnt like the childish banter between Daniel and Vala. Vala seems to be able to read English, thus deepening the language problem.

Some complained about Sam (and to a lesser extent Tealc)'s stupidity in Gemini but the incompetence of the Prometheus crew is ridiculous. Vala made fools of them twice. They are suppose to be the elite of the air force.

This episode felt rushed. Vala upped and escaped at the very end without ever showing how she did it. The ending was just a means to make her reappear next season.

[LoneStar1836]

I was chanting hurry up and end like after the first 15 minutes so Atlantis could hurry up and occupy my TV screen.

I didn’t particularly care for this episode, and I was trying to have positive thoughts going into this one thinking it might be good. But sadly I was disappointed. My whole problem with this episode was that it was off-beat and trying to be humorous. I think it could have been a better episode if it had been played out in a more SERIOUS tone thus practically necessitating a rewrite of the entire episode. And I love the campy shows when appropriate. Upgrades and Wormhole X-treme! are some of my favorites. But this one just didn’t work for me. Maybe I’ll develop a different opinion for it down the road after other viewings like has happened with other episodes I didn’t like upon first seeing.

My favorite part of the episode: Wally getting to fly the Al’kesh and shoot the bad guys. Oh and poor Daniel’s reaction to the “super-soldier” coming on to him. LOL. (Though it wasn’t quite as funny the second time since I had been spoiled on “Behind the Gate”) Followed by Col. Reynolds and the whole mouth-to-mouth scene with Gen. Hammond. Since this was an off-beat episode, I can live with the fact that a seasoned officer was acting like “Who me? Do that?” in order to elicit a laugh. If I was supposed to have taken this episode seriously, I would have been majorly PO’d because Reynolds is one of my favorites, and he wouldn’t act that way because he’s usually all business.

Yay. Hammond’s a three-star now, but come on, he never would have made that stupid decision to go himself to the cargo ship to retrieve the crystals. Yeah, okay it was a possible one-way trip, but that’s why generals lead and others follow. Considering the condition of the cargo ship, (no offense to the general) they should have sent someone younger and in better shape and who knew what they were looking for.

Geez, I know Daniel was the center of the episode, but honestly I can live without the sexual tone to this one. I’d hang on to Daniel, too in order to have some eye-candy for the trip , but I didn’t need the juvenile humor, the umm….catfight, and the flashback to the James Bond movie, “GoldenEye”, with the thighs of steel. Since Vala is coming back for a 5 episode arc, they seriously better get SERIOUS with the character and drop most of the sexual innuendo between her and Daniel. I was hoping for more from the writers for CB and her character.

I think I’ll stop because I could go on ripping this episode apart (but others have expressed some of these dislikes so I’ll leave it at that), and I’d much rather not do that to a SG-1 episode, but this one was a stinker in my humble opinion. I think I would have liked this episode better if it had been more SERIOUS. Guess I was just expecting something else form this episode. I’m trying to stay positive about S8 while avoiding spoilers. I was looking forward to Gemini and came away less than satisfied, and I was really looking forward to this one and came away more disappointed than last week. I’m hoping for redemption with the huge story arc that is coming up at the end of the season with Reckoning, etc.

Thank the heavens for Atlantis. At least tonight was not a total bust for me.

[Hyperspace]

I can see where some would say that SG-1 possibly would benefit from female writers...

Fun ep though...guilty pleasure.

[Gategirl]

I loved this episode! Hit her again, Daniel!!! That was priceless!! And was it just me or did anyone else love the "MR. Bean" squish her head bit? Now THAT was a Jack moment, and the Hans Olo was too, but I have no problem with Daniel developing a little humor. Don't we all want to be funny like Jack? He's just rubbing off on everyone, that's all it is!

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS EPISODE!

[Carole]

I loved this episode, especially the openeing scene with Jack, Daniel & Hammond. More please.

This was the best 'fun' episode I have seen. Each season you have your clip show and your fun show. This season they have both been exceptional.

Carole
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"Come on Daniel, you've seen me naked, the least you can do is cook me dinner" - Vala - Prometheus Unbound.

[Hathor999]

The best thing about PU it´s...that´s I will no longer be sad about Jack´s absence in season 9: So I have at least no reason to watch this crap anymore...Some people compared PU with "American Pie" and I think that it´s a good comparsion. Comparing it with Farscape would be an insult: Farscape tried to sell itself as a campy, "adult" show (what was maybe the reason because it was never a real success) but it was still intelligent and mostly well written but PU it´s just a bunch of bad jokes and pseudo-erotic fight scenes.
I suppose that this episode was something like a look into the crystal ball which gave us a example of what season 9 will be...I doubt that I will come back for it...