Prometheus Unbound (812)

[DetriusXii]

Is there any explanation as to why the anti-supersoldier weapon didn't work? Would regular gun fire have worked on her while she was wearing the suit?

[keshou]

An enjoyable hour of entertainment, to be sure. But at the end of it, I was left wondering; what was the point? Okay, so she obviously lied about the whole rescue-mission thing. Was she only after the Naquahdah? What about her ability to use Goa'uld technology? Was she telling the truth about having been a host previously? We never find out, as she escapes at the end, avoiding any questioning. What was this episode about? Was it intended to introduce the character in the hopes that we'll see her again? Or was it just about showing Daniel and Vala kicking the crap out of each other, plus some cool space action, with no real point to it?

It reminded me of Aris Boch's introduction. I kept thinking we'd see him again because he was such an interesting character. You never knew how much of his story was true and it just seemed ripe for a follow-up episode. But nope -never saw him again.

I know they were talking about bringing Vala back as soon as they shot the episode but that was only going to happen if they got another season. Which of course is happening.

Otherwise, I think it was just intended to be a fun romp with Daniel facing a woman who was a total "fruitcake" and him living to tell the tale. Nothing explained. Just one of those random nutjobs you run across that messes up your day and you never hear from again. Kind of like that woman (ETA: her name was Vash) Captain Picard ran into on his vacation on Risa. She was kind of a con woman who reminded me a little of Vala. Without the cat fight of course.

Is Vala the first character on the show to actually utter the words "have sex" when coming on to someone? Seems like most people on Stargate just aren't straight-forward enough to use those actual words.

Now that you mention it, I think you're right. Poor Daniel. Hearing the word is as close as he's been in awhile.

- Teal'c and Sam were no-where to be seen in this episode at all. It's official: No regular cast member have now appeared in every episode of the series, even if you count the flashbacks in the clip shows.

Hmmm. Yet another fun factoid. The Stargate hasn't even appeared in every episode.

[Markey2]

My "weapons grade naquadah" comment was more of, why did Vala want it? I know it was on the show ages ago and it's Sam's term for the useful Naquadah but why did Vala want it? For a ship? There was a lot of it as well. Think back to season 4. One small little Block was really heavy and really valuable it seemed, and they've got a whole honking crate full of it. I really want to know stuff about Vala's race and the weird Aliens because we know and knew nothing about them.

Lack of all of SG-1 seemed almost horrific. When the other team ringed to the Alkash and poked around that should have been SG-1!! I thought, that should have been Sam, Teal'c, Jack and Daniel, but as is the standard with S8 SG-1 it's as little of the SG-1 team as possible.

[Skydiver]

i sort of enjoyed it, despite some of the glaring mistakes

in upgrades, a couple of bricks of weapons grade naqahdan took two jaffa to carry it, but these dudes lug a whole box full....unlesss they're just super strong

daniel put vala's BOOTS on??? oh please, trust me it ain't easy to dress an unconscious person. this is about as bad as in the light when a dying daniel was dressed, down to his boots to be lugged through the gate.

vala zatted the whole crew???? dang, i thought promie need a crew of several dozen to hundred (we saw quite a few in forsaken)

i find it hard to believe she got them all.

but, even despite that, it was kinda fun. the lines were funny adn the dialogue snappy even though i do think that shanks was trying to act like crichton and play the irreverant action hero

I liked doctor hiccup and it was nice to see reynolds....and especially nice to see hammond again. dang, that man has slimmed down LOT

Vala did seem a rather obvious set up and the episode was a clear filler....just tinged with a bit of continuity to keep it from being so glaringly obviuosly a filler

If the first 5 eps of s9 are like this, they won't be the massive stinkers they could be, and i would rather have that than 5 episodes like Life Boat or Icon....but 5 hours of irreverant romp are going to be a bit too long, IMHO.

Heck, the way those two whack at each other i doubt they'll both surivive it

NOt the worst, and a nice break from past daniel episodes that have left me distinctly cold and reaching for the remote, but i really wish they'd find a way to do something odd like having ALL the cast members in an episode here and there.

[po134]

Is there any explanation as to why the anti-supersoldier weapon didn't work? Would regular gun fire have worked on her while she was wearing the suit?

Are you kidding me ? She wasn't a super soldier ! So it was ineffective ... it was normal ! Just watch the episode aigain man you missed a lot
I think they weren't enough aboard the ship, one or 2 douzens perhaps ?And they want to rescue a 40-50 people team ? Damn ...
I also noticed that the other people onboard didn't shoot her because she was wearing a Super-Soldier suit, so they knew their weapons would be inefective aigainst him (her ). That's why they lost aigainst her.

miss piggy: But Their Arguments aren't even arguments ... they just talk about their feelings so there is no debate at all ! that's why we don't care.

[Crazedwraith]

Is there any explanation as to why the anti-supersoldier weapon didn't work? Would regular gun fire have worked on her while she was wearing the suit?

THe Kull disruptor works bu nullifing the Anicent fountain of life force that enables the biological part of the super-soldier to live. Vala's anot a Kull and was given life via the usual method rather than being grown and zapped.

[Dani347]

daniel put vala's BOOTS on??

Okay, for a second I thought you were saying he wore Vala's boots.

[JackDaniels]

And the rest of the episode did have many strong points. Hammond in action, cool space action, fun moments between Daniel and Vala (loved it when she's just kicked his ass and thinks he's out, sits down comfortably and gets zatted from off-camera Daniel), an overall feeling of weirdness (or is that just me?) not common in the Stargate universe and some aliens we haven't seen before.

I liked that we had some different aliens for once, and I can't remeber who said it now (sorry or I would have quoted your name) but they did remind me of ja-ja Binx. My only problem with these aliens was Daniel's apparent disrespect for these "non-human" life forms. How did he really know that these weren't Vala's people (they could have been a mixed race like those from 'Foresaken'.

An enjoyable hour of entertainment, to be sure. But at the end of it, I was left wondering; what was the point? Okay, so she obviously lied about the whole rescue-mission thing. Was she only after the Naquahdah? What about her ability to use Goa'uld technology? Was she telling the truth about having been a host previously? We never find out, as she escapes at the end, avoiding any questioning. What was this episode about? Was it intended to introduce the character in the hopes that we'll see her again? Or was it just about showing Daniel and Vala kicking the crap out of each other, plus some cool space action, with no real point to it? I'm not really complaining here, I'm just wondering if there is something I didn't get.

Initially I wondered the point of the episode in many ways, though, just like Home, it showed the difficulties they were inevitably facing in making contact with the Atlantis team (and keeps us holding our breath for a cross over episode or two!). I also belive though, that at the end when Vala was asking Daniel what he was going to do with her, she said that she was going to tell him something and he zatted her, preseumably because he was pissed that she'd lied (though also possibly because he didn't want the others to see that someone had gotten under his skin). I think she was going to tell him her real plan, which was most likely the use of the naquadah for weapons or as a trade for the protection of her people, or a way for them to build a viable city. Though they didn't know there would eb a season 9 at this point, this episode was filmed after the mid season hiatus, therefore TPTB may have been pretty certain that a season 9 would be secured. If you read the spoilers for Prometheus Unbound from various places you would notice that the premise and action of the episode changed quite a bit from its initial outline. This may have been to provide a more human link for Daniel (as Hammond was initally supposed to be stranded on the ship with him) and to provide a way to bring Vala back, by making her necessarily ambiguous (as its no fun if you find out everything about a character straight away!)

I see I'm still trying to fully show my approval off this episode. I loved it, and appreciated its light-hearted nature.

I will also add one thing however, I know there has been a lot of discussion on Daniel and his ability to fight, and I think he was more capable than he showed. Vala indicated several times that her greatest weapon is her sexuality, and this probably helps her prevail in a lot of fights, along with being sneaky and wearing super-soldier armour. I think Daniel is too much of a gentleman to fight a woman properly (he's a traditionalist). We know he's had extensive gun training (he has gone from using a simple handgun to a P-90 and this ain't an easy weapon to master. And whilst his hand to hand skills have never ben shown to any full extent, it would be hard to accept thathe had none, especially being on a front-line unit (he took a lot of stick in the past for being a civillian scientist on a military unit, and I would find it difficult to accept that a man like Daniel would not wish to do something about it). You saw briefly in Icon, Endgame and Avatar that Daniel can fight hand to hand - though it wasn't his best display in Endgame, when he did less damage than sam who had her hands tied behind her back!) Nonetheless, i think all of the team have such a tight bond that they would train together and work together. Daniel may not be military officially, but hew's certainly absorbed a lot of the culture over the years.

As a final note, I would like to say I felt for Reynolds, even when you know nouth to mouth is a necessary thing, you may grimace for a second (an i really expected Walter to dive in to try. I also want to express my appreciation to the writers for giving us another episode where Hammond get sto do something action related. He watched those teams go through the gate for seven years, and did very little gate travel himself. He wanted to do something, so he did. This also sets us up for the greater possibility of Jack going through the gate. Hammond showed hisregret at not being able to do it more, and now, as head of homeworld securities, he can do whatever he wants - the same will apply to Jack at the SGC. I wanna see him off world!

Rant over. I hope some of this came off as contructive.

As a final note, I'm in the middle of writing a transcript for the episode if anyone is interested, I hope to have it finished by tomorrow. And then I'm going to watch episodes 1-12 of season 8 all in one go!

[Watters87]

Is Hammond a Lieutenant General now? I could have sworn I saw three stars.

[Skydiver]

Is Hammond a Lieutenant General now? I could have sworn I saw three stars.

yep, he's a lt general


i do think, in a way, this was a lot like space race, just without the annoying announcers

[Skydiver]

Okay, for a second I thought you were saying he wore Vala's boots.

lol
no, he's not wearing them. but those boots are hard enough for a person to put on themselves, it'd be dang difficult to put on an unconscious person, and lace up. especially when you have no idea how long they'll be unconscious

to me, it would have made more sense had he dressed her and left her there barefoot, with the boots to the side

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

I just bet Vala stole that Kull armor from Jacob.

[Skydiver]

I just bet Vala stole that Kull armor from Jacob.

lol, the super duper altered version

actually, tha'ts another oops. Your average super soldier is 7 feet tall...as is dan payne who plays them....yet not only did thoth not seem to notice that Jacob got stuck in the shrink cycle, but they glossed over jacob fitting into the armor, which now fits claudia AND daniel

so they're the super duper mini soldier

[SP90]

I just have one question, when did Walter find time to learn how to fly an Al'Kesh? Hes been sitting inside the SGC for 7 1/2 years dialing the gate. It's not that I mind but it seems so out of place seeing him fly that Al'Kesh into a dogfight. If I'm not mistaken, he was flying the Prometheus too. (seat on the right of the command chair is helm?)

Go Walter! Maybe now he'll get some more field time, possibly get transfered to a F-302 squadron.

[Skydiver]

I just have one question, when did Walter find time to learn how to fly an Al'Kesh? Hes been sitting inside the SGC for 7 1/2 years dialing the gate. It's not that I mind but it seems so out of place seeing him fly that Al'Kesh into a dogfight. If I'm not mistaken, he was flying the Prometheus too. (seat on the right of the command chair is helm?)

Go Walter! Maybe now he'll get some more field time, possibly get transfered to a F-302 squadron.

mmhm, good point.

maybe they have alkash simulators at the sgc???

ooh, did anyone else crack up at reynold's balking at giving hammy mouth to mouth??

ooh, and another question, my version of the show didn't show hammond on the teltac. was that just missing or did they not show the general going to get the crystals?