Prototype (909)

[Redwall]

Given the events of Fourth Horseman, I find it interesting that everyone seems to agree Woolsey was wrong.

[Quinn Mallory]

Great episode. I think this is what Lockdown from early last season (season 8) was supposed to be in terms of the chasing scenes inside SGC. This episode also raised some interesting questions about ascension and the Priors. Are the Priors' evolution accelerated by the Ori to give them those powers?

[Congerking]

Are the Priors' evolution accelerated by the Ori to give them those powers?

Yes, I believe the Priors' evolution is accelerated by the Ori. The Ori are ascended beings, so they wouldn't need a machine to do it; they would probably just zap your brain and tell you how to use your staff.

But MY questions is, why doesn't daniel or someone else go into the machine and get themselves evolved up a bit. I know that Khalek was grown in the lab and was not a normal human to begin with (created with the machine), but shouldn't the SGC try to use it???

[Samuel J. Tilden]

Khalek reminded me of Sark with superpowers.

The only Sark I know of carries a frisbee.

While I don't think Stargate should be above the occasional "Dick" joke, I don't think a Gou'ald, Anubis or otherwise, would resort to such an Earth-centric innuendo. The only logical explanation I can come up with is that Khalek read Woolsey's mind, discovered that the name Dick irked him and decided to enact a bit of psychlogical warfare. Still, it sounds like something more suited for Jack rather than the alien baddie of the week.

[AGateFan]

The only Sark I know of carries a frisbee.

While I don't think Stargate should be above the occasional "Dick" joke, I don't think a Gou'ald, Anubis or otherwise, would resort to such an Earth-centric innuendo. The only logical explanation I can come up with is that Khalek read Woolsey's mind, discovered that the name Dick irked him and decided to enact a bit of psychlogical warfare. Still, it sounds like something more suited for Jack rather than the alien baddie of the week.

I thought the exact same thing. How would the goa'uld know what that particular slang meant? But then I came up with the same solution you did. He read Woolseys mind and found he hated that name and why and so started using it just to annoy Woolsey.

[KatG]

A decent episode. But the end was silly.

Lets get this - Carter reprograms the other side gate ( uh, when and why, ok - why is clear ) but she doesn't tell anyone when Khalek goes through that he's coming back.
I was expecting her to say "Security to the gateroom" so they could damn shoot him when he steps back. But no, she waits till there is a big risk. The other guys could've been tossed around or killed. After the luckily make it, she says -- oops..gate was programmed to dial back.

Its crappy writing/directing like this with obvious hole that breaks it for me.

Overall -- the season began with a big bang but this mid season is ending in a whimper and more and more bizzare for Stargate. Bring back the old magic, please.... and who Ben Browder... he can be completely omitted and people won't notice...

When Daniel/Teal'c/Carter are on Kalek's planet testing the ascendometer, before they go back to the SGC to tell Landry what they found, Daniel says to Carter "I think you should do something first." I'm pretty sure that's when they decided to set up the "call forward" program. (I didn't catch it the first time watching either, only the second time through) So Daniel and Teal'c knew what was going on, hence why Daniel entered the gateroom and shot Kalek. The fact that they didn't have a chance to tell Mitchell or Landry worked to their advantage. Otherwise Kalek would have "overheard" them telling Landry, and could possibly have "read" the fact that Daniel was coming up on the other side from Mitchell, thus negating him being taken by surprise.

As to the episode itself, I thought it was really well done. One of the best eps I've seen this season. Nice team intereaction, all the characters worked together doing what they do best. Landry was definitely in charge and Lam seemed to warm up a bit and seem to fit better with the rest of the group. I was quite happy with the results.

[Callie]

Loved this episode. A couple of minor glitches at the end: when Daniel and Cam had finished blasting the heck out of Khalek, I would have expected Daniel in particular to make very VERY sure that he was completely dead. If he'd only been mostly dead, he could have ascended. So I was kind of bothered by the two of them just looking down at him and then wandering away.

Also, in view of the fact that Khalek could read Dick's mind, I would have expected Sam to have stayed away - certainly out of his line of sight - rather than sitting down in the Control Room and staring at him, cos if he'd worked out what she'd done to the dialling programme, he might have worked out another way to escape.

But those minor gripes aside, this was SG-1 at its best.

[Daniel's_twin]

Forgive me for blasting one of your gripes, but they said that it would require 90% brain functioning in order to willingly ascend of your own accord, and he was only at 80%, and I doubt the others would help him.

[Ugly Pig]

Actually, they said he'd need another dose of "the machine" in order to evolve to the point where he could ascend on his own. So there's no way he could ascend.

[sgatelvr]

Like so many others have already said - this is my favorite episode of the season so far. It was nice to finally have an episode that the whole team played a part. Team epsiodes have been some of my favorite episodes in the past. The new guys are finally feeling comfortable to the show. This is the first time I've liked Lam. Looking forward to seeing the next story Alan writes. Fresh blood in the writing pool can be a good thing.

I haven't liked Lam so far this season, but I have to say, her expression (and trying not to laugh) with Kalek's reference to "Dick" was priceless!

[LiquidBlue]

Doesn't earth now have the technology to prevent the Ori/Priors from using the MW Gate network to entire the Galaxy.

Each DHD simply needs to be modified in much the same manner as Anubis's was. One might even have the MW DHD's automaticly authenticate themselves to each other. Whenever they try to to send unathenticated objects from another Galaxy, they are either sent some place nasty, or deleted altogether.

Of course, this is a much more practical solution is these changes could be propogated using an avenger-like program, but even if each DHD would require a new control circuit imagine it could still be useful. You don't want priors visting, you install a new chip. They won't be back until they come in ships. A much more portable solution than trying to install iris's all over the galaxy.

--A side effect could be the "balkanization" the gate network.

[entil2001]

I was never particularly taken with Anubis as a villain, largely because he was very impersonal opponent. Apophis was right there, flaws and all, and Ba’al has a distinct personality that is enjoyable to watch. Anubis was more of a concept than a presence, and that detracted from his power as a force of despairing evil. Note how the Ori are all the more disturbing because of the Priors and their personal involvement in the subjugation of worlds.

This episode revisited Anubis as a concept and gave him a personal focus, and for that, I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. This was actually an interesting commentary and expansion on the concepts of “ascension”, which is something that the series needs to address. The treatment of “ascension” has been far too vague and indistinct over the past several seasons, but now that the Ori are around, that concept needs definition.

What this proto-Anubis represents is not unlike a proto-Ori, as the characters openly mention. (Indeed, much of the episode is spent considering how such a being presents the perfect lab rat, objectively speaking.) In this particular instance, this proto-Anubis also had the “benefit” of the genetic memory of a Goa’uld.

Khalek is a particularly good adversary because he gets to build on the relationship between Daniel and Anubis with relatively little difficulty, and since he gets to speak with Daniel a bit more freely (without the cowl), it gets wonderfully tense. We also get to see Daniel in his archetypical role as scholar of all things Ancient, which reminds the audience of where his strengths lie.

A lot of time is spent with the SGC personnel believing they are in control, when Khalek is really toying with them, waiting for the moment when he can determine the response most aligned with his self-interest. It’s a good thing that Daniel and the others took so long to identify the source of his limitations, because if it had been a bit earlier in the story, Khalek would have caught them completely off guard. (As it is, I think that little trick at the end was a little suspicious.)

One interesting aspect of the episode is the prominence of the International Committee, in terms of their leverage and clout. Woolsey is a particularly annoying bureaucrat, and he gets a good look at why the word “threat” has a different scale in the SGC. The whole question of funding the SGC and thereby controlling its activities finally comes back into play here, and quite a few casualties can be laid at the feet of such interlopers.

In many scenes, this felt like the old “SG-1”, especially since Mitchell is mostly in the background, making a few snide comments and playing the heavy when necessary. Much of the episode is spent with the characters in their typical roles. Even Dr. Lam plays a capable enough stand-in for Fraser this time around. While this isn’t the most exciting or stirring episode of the season, it does add a few connections between the old and new aspects of the mythology, and in this case, that’s a good thing.

[Mattathias2.0]

Errr... acting like a Goa'uld involves what, going bad guy a la William Shatner? I've never seen any Goa'uld portrayal that required anything other than over the top BAD acting.


Don't give the writers any further encouragment. We need them to just say no to rehashed enemies. I'm not opposed to the idea of a Mattathias2.0, but Anubis version 24.2 is out!

Most Goa'uld were Over The Top, but I was happy Khalek never once said "Bow before your God." The Goa'uld-Human hybrids aren't as overdramatic in my opinion.

I think Ba'al is enough as an opponent right now as far as the Goa'ulds go. Tho I do wonder what other System Lords survived. Morrigan? Amaterasu?

[AGateFan]

Doesn't earth now have the technology to prevent the Ori/Priors from using the MW Gate network to entire the Galaxy.

Each DHD simply needs to be modified in much the same manner as Anubis's was. One might even have the MW DHD's automaticly authenticate themselves to each other. Whenever they try to to send unathenticated objects from another Galaxy, they are either sent some place nasty, or deleted altogether.

Of course, this is a much more practical solution is these changes could be propogated using an avenger-like program, but even if each DHD would require a new control circuit imagine it could still be useful. You don't want priors visting, you install a new chip. They won't be back until they come in ships. A much more portable solution than trying to install iris's all over the galaxy.

--A side effect could be the "balkanization" the gate network.

Well its obviously not that hard to bypass. I mean Carters smart but shes still just human and she figured out a work around pretty quick.. I'm sure the ori would have little problem doing the same.

[LiquidBlue]

Well its obviously not that hard to bypass. I mean Carters smart but shes still just human and she figured out a work around pretty quick.. I'm sure the ori would have little problem doing the same.

Carter was able to get around Anubis's choice of authentication. Another choice of authentication, one that recognizes that the authentication scheme will come under attack may be more robust.

On the other hand, it may be decided that the risk of visitors and invasions from other galaxies outway the benefits of the gate network entirely. In that case the best action would be to disable all of the MW galaxy gates and destroy the Priors that are already here.