Originally posted by Cinephilic TV Addict
PU was absolutely horrible. This should have been scrapped the second they saw the final product.
I don't feel like writing a book, so let me hit a few of the main points -
1) Everybody says "It's a fun episode, so loosen up." You know what I say - "Fun episodes are inherently supposed to be fun." If the dramatic part of the episode is dominant, a barage of silly jokes only hurts the episode. In other words, if you want a fun episode, make its theme and aura fun in the first place. This episode was dark in aura - the episode was a dramatic one unsuccessfully written to be funny. If it's gonna work, it's gotta be the other way around - a funny episode at heart, with an underlying dramatic quality that adds neccesary conflict so that the episode is just not a rambling mess. In short, this episode should never have been considered to be made into a funny one.
2) Who actually laughs at stargate jokes nowadays? They are NOT funny. The 'humor' in this episode was ridiculous - Jack O Neill was the comedy in the first five seasons, and his jokes were SPARSE and WELL-CONCIEVED. Nowadays, as in PU, you get a joke every two seconds written by writers who have no capacity to write an episode bulky with comedy. Yes, the writers are good, and yes, they deserve their jobs, but they are slacking off and putting out crap that they would never have risked doing back in the early days of the show, when you make gold or you're off the air.
Honestly, here's a solid argument for the reasons why this episode was so bad - Every time the writer came to a point where thought was needed to decide what happens next, they ditched thought and put in a lame joke.
Example - General Hammond, a fan favorite, has his moment of heroism (the only good idea that came out of this episode). He's passed out, and the drama reaches its peak. Us fans are on the edge of our seats, and what happens? A stupid stupid stupid bad bad bad unfunny unfunny ridiculously unfunny joke about mouth to mouth which was impracticle and ruined the intensity of the scene. i happen to know that this writer also wrote icon and space race (which together may constitute the three worst episodes of the series), but at the same time he wrote avatar, the only decent episode this season.
in other words, everyone knows the potential these writers have, but everyone can clearly see that they are refusing to use it and instead replacing it with bad, poorly written jokes.
If I was in charge of stargate, priority number one would be to take out every single joke in an episode, shoot it, and then put in four or five good ones afterward. I'm sorry, but the writers aren't funny. Their talents are in drama, not comedy, whether they like it or not.
3) Everything about Vala was horrible. Her character was not believable in any way what-so-ever (writer's fault, not the actress's) and every time she and Daniel fought or spoke or even breathed together i wanted to jump out my window to save what little intelligence I had left. I wasn't watching stargate when PU was aired - I was watching a B movie from the 1970s with tin-pan dialogue and a lously plotline. Maybe the producers think that because they've been on for eight seasons, they can put on anything and the fans will like it...wrong. In fact, I'd bet that they know their show has jumped the shark, but everything they try to do to fix it only makes it worse. Do I feel sorry for them? - NO! If you can't fix it, get it off the air and out of my sight. PU was junk.
4) Also, as in all episodes nowadays, there are too many plot elements for a forty-some minute episode. And putting in too much material means that every scene loses quality. If you want me to believe that Vala shot and dragged the whole crew of the Prometheus to the rings before Daniel could go get one gun, than you, mr. stargate writer, are gravely insulting my intelligence, and that makes for a bad episode. besides, once the crew was ringed off, how did they get moved off the ring platform before the next set of knocked out crew was ringed over?
This episode is the apitamy of what should not be on TV. No excuses - it should have been canned.
I don't feel like writing a book, so let me hit a few of the main points -
1) Everybody says "It's a fun episode, so loosen up." You know what I say - "Fun episodes are inherently supposed to be fun." If the dramatic part of the episode is dominant, a barage of silly jokes only hurts the episode. In other words, if you want a fun episode, make its theme and aura fun in the first place. This episode was dark in aura - the episode was a dramatic one unsuccessfully written to be funny. If it's gonna work, it's gotta be the other way around - a funny episode at heart, with an underlying dramatic quality that adds neccesary conflict so that the episode is just not a rambling mess. In short, this episode should never have been considered to be made into a funny one.
2) Who actually laughs at stargate jokes nowadays? They are NOT funny. The 'humor' in this episode was ridiculous - Jack O Neill was the comedy in the first five seasons, and his jokes were SPARSE and WELL-CONCIEVED. Nowadays, as in PU, you get a joke every two seconds written by writers who have no capacity to write an episode bulky with comedy. Yes, the writers are good, and yes, they deserve their jobs, but they are slacking off and putting out crap that they would never have risked doing back in the early days of the show, when you make gold or you're off the air.
Honestly, here's a solid argument for the reasons why this episode was so bad - Every time the writer came to a point where thought was needed to decide what happens next, they ditched thought and put in a lame joke.
Example - General Hammond, a fan favorite, has his moment of heroism (the only good idea that came out of this episode). He's passed out, and the drama reaches its peak. Us fans are on the edge of our seats, and what happens? A stupid stupid stupid bad bad bad unfunny unfunny ridiculously unfunny joke about mouth to mouth which was impracticle and ruined the intensity of the scene. i happen to know that this writer also wrote icon and space race (which together may constitute the three worst episodes of the series), but at the same time he wrote avatar, the only decent episode this season.
in other words, everyone knows the potential these writers have, but everyone can clearly see that they are refusing to use it and instead replacing it with bad, poorly written jokes.
If I was in charge of stargate, priority number one would be to take out every single joke in an episode, shoot it, and then put in four or five good ones afterward. I'm sorry, but the writers aren't funny. Their talents are in drama, not comedy, whether they like it or not.
3) Everything about Vala was horrible. Her character was not believable in any way what-so-ever (writer's fault, not the actress's) and every time she and Daniel fought or spoke or even breathed together i wanted to jump out my window to save what little intelligence I had left. I wasn't watching stargate when PU was aired - I was watching a B movie from the 1970s with tin-pan dialogue and a lously plotline. Maybe the producers think that because they've been on for eight seasons, they can put on anything and the fans will like it...wrong. In fact, I'd bet that they know their show has jumped the shark, but everything they try to do to fix it only makes it worse. Do I feel sorry for them? - NO! If you can't fix it, get it off the air and out of my sight. PU was junk.
4) Also, as in all episodes nowadays, there are too many plot elements for a forty-some minute episode. And putting in too much material means that every scene loses quality. If you want me to believe that Vala shot and dragged the whole crew of the Prometheus to the rings before Daniel could go get one gun, than you, mr. stargate writer, are gravely insulting my intelligence, and that makes for a bad episode. besides, once the crew was ringed off, how did they get moved off the ring platform before the next set of knocked out crew was ringed over?
This episode is the apitamy of what should not be on TV. No excuses - it should have been canned.
Hey, Mitchell! You want a turn? 
I’m still hoping one day to see SG-1’s musical episode. 
(I can’t wait to hear Teal’c sing. 
) I’m pretty darn sure that’s not in the contract, but every time I tune into an episode, I have hopes that maybe this is the one, yet I’m disheartened every time. 
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