The Powers That Be (905)

[Madeleine]

This was mostly great. It was tense (in a good way) to see Daniel arguing with the Prior. It was like watching a drowning man who can almost - but not quite - swim. I got the feeling that Daniel was really close to winning but all the time I knew he'd lose. Teal'c needed more of something. An explanation of his presence would have been a start.

Vala's still fab. I enjoyed her 'god' act, and the boys' discomfiture as they tried to work out how to respond. Nice to see she has a heart, even though she pretends not to.

Mitchell is pretty blank. Ben's not had anything to stretch him since the opener. He's a superb actor, but there's not much acting for him to do. It saddens me a little that the writers are giving him the same habit of spouting pop-culture quips at uncomprehending offworlders that he had as John in farscape. He's doing it well, and I like Mitchell cos there's no reason not to... I just feel a bit like the writers have bought a prime fillet steak and minced it up to make chilli.

Beau Bridges still hangs his mouth open. I got two sudokus done while he was onscreen.

Lam is surprisingly good. Where Janet was a doctor by vocation Lam seems to be a doctor by profession. I don't mean that as a judgement on either, just that I'm impressed by how Lam brings a very different sort of energy to the CMO role to what Janet did. I still miss Janet, but what we've got is pretty good.

The only bad bit was the stupid contrived father/daughter thing. Blee.

[gone_fishin']

Agree totally about the poorly executed 'threat' of Cam dying.

Ask yourself this though -- we all new that RDA wasn't going to die in Frozen (or Solitudes, or *countless* other eps) but there was a real tension and involvement there, so why did we feel a threat then, despite the fact that we knew The Hero (TM) would never get killed and not now?

While others will rabidly disagree, I think it's essentially down to a few factors:
1) Cam has been force-fed as Hero without any proof, so who really cares?
2) BB is a fantastic actor and I loved Farscape, but on SG1, let's face it, he may as well not be there (due to to the writing and the uber-Jack-Jonas-lite slant of his character)
3) The writing for S9 in general and this episode in particular varies from Train Wreck TV to incredibly average sci-fi lite
4) Yet another reworking of previous SG1 episodes (in this case Cor-ai and Frozen). Are we going to see _any_ original ideas here in S9? Been there, done that, seen better.
5) As much as I hate the fizzling out of Sg1 as a team (and by the looks of it, as a series), I am liking Vala. No I don't want the OTT panto character to totally dominate the show, but at the moment there's a great big honking hole which just ain't being filled by washed-out faffy characters. See (6)
6) Say what you want to say about some of the S7/S8 performances (when they were good they were very very good and they more than make up for the yech), but RDA simply has a massive amount of charisma. I just don't see that with SG1 members (or actors) at present -- hence a Big Honkin' Hole -- and I find it hard to really give a stuff about any of them.

I'm convinced I must be watching a different show to everyone else.
I really felt S9 was going to go somewhere with the new direction and I welcomed the initial change but each episode has been at best a further anti-climax or at worst a strange Wormhole Extreme without the wit where I've felt it was a total waste of my time watching it (and I've *never* felt that about Sg1 before -- not even the dodgy episodes).

If this episode was supposed to have been the best so far, to quote Tangent: "Cheyenne, we have a problem".

J, non-plussed

[The Signal]

Yes, I thnk you are watching a different series. I do agree with the first part of number one, he has been force fed as a hero, but he is going to take some getting used to, had he been there from day 1, and RDA had just come in, you wouldnt like RDA yet. I found the episode gripping and written to almost perfection, you dont need to agree with me gf, but i think that it was well worth watching several times. But i did find the Michell dying threat pointless, had it been done from the begining, it would have been better, that is why the Jack bit was so good, it was done with more depth, whereas this was done during the part of the episode where things were just about to be wrapped up, but this is all that stopped it, IMO from getting a PTCG 9/9 chevrons, it got 8, still one of the best episodes out there in my book

[Hulabaloo]

Well this was a good ep, i enjoyed it a lot.

[Jeffer]

it just aird in Canada and it was good that didn't even look like Mitchel on the bed it looked more like Kurk russel

[SeaBee]

Better, but not brilliant.

The writers seem to be slowly getting the hang of writing Vala, although I still feel that they are still putting in too much comedy into her.

They still seem to be struggling with Cameron, though.

[phaeton]

Good to see the Gen Landry / Dr. Lam relationship revealed ot will be interesting to see what the tension is all about.

Another Vala/Ori storyline which I didn't mind, it seems the Ori are very masterful at manipulating/convincing people to there way, this I feel will be a big problem down the track.

I'm still waiting for a Teal'c / Jaffa storyline (I know its coming).

Overall Rating 7 3/4 out of 10 - Cool Story but not cool enough.

[anulus]

I must have missed something -- why was Teal'c there? Last week, didn't we see him leave? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he was -- but an explanation would have been nice. It made me think it was out of sequence or something.

Not my favorite ep -- but I am still enjoying the season. I didn't like every ep from the past seasons either -- so no biggie. I have always liked Vala and she keeps growing in character every week. Daniel is just his usual wonderful self. I'm also ready for them to let BB loose.

Exactly. Why was Teal'c there? He seemed to have reverted to his Season 1-3 character. Strong silent and letting all the humans do all the talking. He didnt add to the story at all which is a shame. In Seasons 7-8 Teal'c wasnt just a hanger-on.

To be honest, this is the first time I thought an SG 1 ep was boring. I miss Jack. To me it isnt SG1 anymore. Maybe they should have done another spin off instead of thinking that SG1 could continue.

I thought Daniel was written as naive and we know his character has gone way past that.

I wonder how Sam is going to fit in. There will be two Colonels wont there?

[John's PuddleJumper]

Hi

Don't know if anyone has asked this, but anyway.

How come one minute Mitchell is perfectly fine then really really sick with this virus with no inbetween. It was a really good line for me as I like Mitchell, but how come no one else got sick, Teal'c I can understand, Vala possi, but every one else.

Still thought it was a good epi, shame Vala didn't die

[garhkal]

Inbetween we saw back at SG1 the doctor and crew gearing up.. that takes time... SO we are left to assume that he fell ill in that time..

[John's PuddleJumper]

I suppose so, but it still would have been nice to the "down fall" off an SG-1 member, it would have been a slightly better story line for me.

[Cascade]

I only properly noticed this today, when I paid attention to the new opening credits, and when it was in this ep too - the new wormhole-travelling graphics! It looks very snazzy. This episode was good. The Ori are so evil. (I love this smiley, hehe. )

[Corpze]

This was excellent episode! First all that Vala-worshipping-thing and all and soon she was in jail And that Mal Doran thing was so hilarious

After people got sick, I think, this ep wasn't so big joke anymore. Prior came in and started to do his tricks. Then I first noticed that Vala actually cares about someone else than just herself. Well, mostly about herself, but still..

This ep was also once again good example of Prior's powers. I knew they can cure a disease, but that revival thing was something even I couldn't expect despite my lively imagination.

Well, I'll just have to accept that Ori and their Priors really are much more powerful than I thought. I was actually kind of waiting for some worse enemy, but if these guys can "control the death" I think there can't be much more worse enemies, can there? Not in SG-1, but I'll try Atlantis after finishing SG-1.

Ok.. Whole ep in itself was quite wonderful, not as good as "Avalon Part1&Part2", "Origin" and "The Ties That Bind", but still very intriguing experience.

I'd say 8/10 points, if I had to rate this ep.

[SG1FanOregon]

This was a great ep for Vala & showed she has real feelings and serious potential as a member of the SGC. She really cared & felt responsible for the villagers

[EvilSpaceAlien]

Vala was brilliant in this episode! Every comedic line she said was delivered perfectly and the scene when Vala is imprisoned and Mitchell comes to tell her that the villagers are holding a trial is a perfect example of that.