The Fourth Horseman, Part 1 (910)

[wolverine_nl]

I wonder why they didn't go to Khalek's planet and use Anubis's genetic manipulation technology to find a cure for the virus.

I don't think that the answer of an Orii virus would be in a Lab of Anubis, It doesn't contain all the knowledge of the ancients. If it did, then Daniel and Teal'c would've take longer to search the database in that lab, and they did that twice.

I really like were this is going with S9

I also like the part where Dr. Lee says something like he finally gets some acknowlegment or something, and you hear somewhere in the back someone (non of the castmembers in frame) say something like :"Sure Bill!" referring to Dr. Lee (played by "Bill" Dow.

[Mio]

Orlin said that he knew what he had to make, but that he didn't have any of the proper tools or materials.

Well. Isn't the answer obvious? Atlantis. I realize they want to keep the shows seperate, but they shouldn't do things that have the obvious solution of contacting Atlantis. (Which Orlin probably could have done with some spare parts from an air conditioner)

[cafine_us]

Unfortunately, it would take a couple weeks for the Daedalus to get to Atlantis, and we don't really have that much time. Eight have died already. Atlantis might not have anything useful anyway.

[Mio]

Unfortunately, it would take a couple weeks for the Daedalus to get to Atlantis, and we don't really have that much time. Eight have died already. Atlantis might not have anything useful anyway.

I editted my post as you wrote that. If O'Neill could build a power source out of a staff weapon power cell, I'm sure Orlin could have thought of something.

And even if Atlantis didn't have exactly what Orlin needed, they definetly would have had tools more advanced and better suited to designing a cure.

[veneticuss]

I editted my post as you wrote that. If O'Neill could build a power source out of a staff weapon power cell, I'm sure Orlin could have thought of something.

And even if Atlantis didn't have exactly what Orlin needed, they definetly would have had tools more advanced and better suited to designing a cure.

I agree,there was surely at least one lab that studied some viruses, so, surely some tools and other stuff could be useful

[warmbeachbrat]

I thought 'Prototype' was great and 'The Fourth Horseman: Part 1' was good except, except, except for Cameron Blight. He suuuuuucked as Orlin. No emotion at all. His performance totally took me out of the episode. I bought the whole "child" thing used to explain why Sean wasn't there, but they could have got someone better to do it. That just happens to be the way that I feel about it. What do you...oh wait, that's a quote, never mind.

I agree--I thought he was just terrible. Kinda creepy, too! Especially when you realize he did a similar turn in that movie with Nicole Kidman. Poor kid! I hope he's not typecast. You're right--the explanation was good, the acting was bad.

[SierraGulf1]

I thought he was okay, but I haven't watched Ascension in a while.

I just watched my third viewing of it, I love how Avalon 2, TPTB, and TFH1 end, what with Priors popping up and the credits starting to role with creepy music.

I also loved the Administrator in this one. At first the Priors seemed like empty, blank slates, but that dude was pissed when Gerak refused to end Chulak!

[White Knight]

A good solid episode. Not as intense as Prototype, but it had a good story, good acting from regulars and guests (though Bright was a little too wooden), nice info on the nature of the Ori and Alterans (I wasn't expecting the Ori to be killing their followers), and that great little fight with Mitchell and the Sodan - and what a cliffhanger! Can't wait to see the conclusion. 8 out of 10.

I've also been thinking about why the Ori, already ascended, need more power from their followers (and I apologise if someone already covered this, but there's a lot of posts to read)...perhaps, if enough people in the Milky Way galaxy converted, the Ori would be powerful enough to defeat the Ancients and rule the universe?

[Pharaoh Atem]

love the music at the end and i wonder if the ori did this to us on purpose there know there can't go though the our gate so there infect one of the members of the sgc and kill us all beucase we will never believe in them

[AGateFan]

love the music at the end and i wonder if the ori did this to us on purpose there know there can't go though the our gate so there infect one of the members of the sgc and kill us all beucase we will never believe in them

Actually they probably would find quite a few followers on earth if they ever got here. Maybe they should ask Gerek if they can borrow a ship.

[Scarym1]

All things we've speculated on. Which makes their "big catch" not all that surprising...not that I mind. I couldn't see them going in any other direction.

It's nice to have so many answers. Now we can start more speculation. I begin to see more clearly the anti-religious themes others were talking about.

I really like this ep. I agree that having some many answers was nice. I like how they explained how Orlin had to come back as a kid.

I don't see this as anti-religion. I see it as anti-fanaticism/anti extremism(sp). I think that freedom to believe as one chooses is a big theme in Stargate. That to kill someone just because they don't believe as you do is wrong. I think Garek was beginning to see the light on that but by then it was too late for him.

Love the Dr. Lee and Sam scenes in the lab. He is doing all this talking and she isn't even listening. Then Dr. Lee saying he is still waiting for the day that he gets some respect around here and Daniel says he is still waiting for that day. Then he sniffs Dr. Lee's coffee. What did he expect to find there?

I like the beginning with Daniel and Mitchell walking down the hall and chatting after their Basketball game. I thought Mitchell's defends of Dr. Lam after that rude comment about a sponge bath was a very admirable thing to do. Nothing shippy at all. Just good manners. I guess you could say that Mitchell is an officer and a gentleman.

Loved the rest of the ep. It was great to see Hammond. For a moment I thought TPTB were going to kill him. I almost shouted out loud "NOOOOO" I hope we get to see more of him.

I don't think Orlin will die. I think he will just lose all his memories of his life including his past with Sam. Then he will be adopted by a family with a proper security clearance. Just like what they did with Mini Jack.

No new eps until January. I guess I will just have to make do with getting to watch the first half of S9 again (on bigger TV scene) when it finally starts to air here in Canada on November 10.

[Droops]

I really enjoyed this for a couple of reasons.

One, the Ori background is critical. We now have a good reason to fight and weapons to do it.

Two, all of our old characters! If Janet weren't dead I bet we'd have had her as well. Good to see everyone again.

Gerak is a great character who has the possibility either of being really evil, or of real redemption. His character can go a long way in all of this.

Did anyone else catch the mention of FURTHER evolving? I think that there is an even higher plane of existence and that whoever is there will step into this at some point.

Energy, yummmmmmmm

[chiefchucky]

I liked this episode....but I have a few complaints.
1st- orlin the kid suuuuuuuucked!!!(If Sean wasn't available they could have made up a new character)
2nd-The stock shot of the warlock dude who played Doci was incredibly tack beyond belief(they could have left him out entirely if the actor wasn't available)

However I did like this ep. I liked seeing Cam use his sodon martial arts training. I liked seeing Hammond again and the twist at the end was soooooooooooooo awesome!

[jyh]

The comments directed toward Doc Lam seemed highly inappropriate (can you imagine a similar scene written back when Frasier was still around?). I guess they need more sex appeal on the show now that Vala's gone and Carter's, well, old.

EXCUSE ME??? You're referring to Sam Carter (and Amanda Tapping) as "old"??? I beg to differ. Just because she's not a 23-year-old Playboy model doesn't mean she's OLD. I would think that only an immature 18-year-old would think of her as over the hill. Personally, I think women in their 30s and even 40s are looking better than ever these days. (Otherwise Desperate Housewives wouldn't be as popular as it is.... for some inexplicable reason.) As for Stargate's 'sex appeal' factor, Carter is Air Force, and she (thankfully) dresses in regulation fatigues. (I'm glad she no longer wears the cheesy tank-top she wore last season.)

I thought this was a good episode, lots of new intel & a good set-up for upcoming episodes. As for the sponge bath incident.... I can't believe so many people are reading so much into this. Colonel Mitchell heard a junior officer make a derogatory, disrespectful comment about a senior member of the SGC. It was his DUTY to reprimand Fisher. Maybe the writers added that scene to fan the flames of speculation they know exist about the Cam/Lam relationship. (Personally, I hope they don't go that route... I want to keep all soap-opera elements out of this show!)

Question: Daniel asked Orlin Lite why the Ancients allowed him to 'descend' without wiping out his memory. Yet the second time HE descended, Daniel's memory was intact. I don't think that was ever explained, was it?

The scene in the lab when Sam said "I was so close" and a vioce said "I know," was HILARIOUS. Once again, we had to pause the episode, we were laughing so hard. I knew Orlin would be appearing, but it was so out of the blue, it was great.

I too wondered what band/song Dr. Lee was listening to. Sounded techno to me.

Lastly, the Gerak-turning-into-a-prior thing was interesting... I didn't see that coming! I do wonder though... does being a prior automatically give you skin problems? Just sayin'....

[golfbooy]

Damn two episodes in one night making me write two of these things in one day. I must be a pretty big Stargate fan. Stargate nutcase. OK, just nutcase. But I'm getting help, really. I am. I swear.

Yet again, in incredible definace of the laws of nature, Sci-fi continues to find new and innovative ways to bungle with SG-1. The Fourth Horseman is a fine episode and deserves far more praise than it's likely to garner after this showing. Sci-fi's decision to air it coupled with Prototype is bound to invite unfair comparisons between the two, and fans are far more likely to feel that the story with an actual resolution was more interesting, more well-told. Such is life.

Like Prototype, there's not much to complain about here. Being Part I, this episode's job is to set up conflict and inform the viewer of all the information necessary for a kick ass resolution. Here's hoping Part II lives up to the task.

And before anything else, I'm gonna get through with Orlin. I've never liked the character. For the better part of five years or so now I've been astounded as to how so many fans have liked him. How they've adored him. How they didn't find him creepy as hell in Ascension. Well, let me ask ya, how do you feel now? So he's been "watching" Sam from some nebulous higher plane of existence for who knows how long, eh? So he's still in love with her, eh? So he's looking forward to more "intimate" contact with her in a few years, eh? Still not creepy, eh? All that being said, it was nice to see Sam's discomfort with the situation as well.

I'm relatively unimpressed by Cameron Bright's performance. Whereas Sean Patrick Flannery's Orlin came across as timid and meek (or gentle and sensitive, depending on who you ask), Bright was just flat. There's no denying that the kid had a difficult task. He had to emmulate a previous actor's interpretation of the character, he had to portray a character much older than he is himself, and he had to deal with the whole "I love Carter" bit. Throw in the massive amount of exposition and technobabble the part required and it's unsurprising that things turned out as they did. But it does make you appreciate the fine job Amanda Tapping and Michael Shanks do when they have to explain something. They actually make it seem interesting and important.

Lou Gossett gives his best performance in Stargate to date. His portrayal of a conflicted Gerak who eventually turns to the Ori is nuanced and moving. It's believable to see Gerak struggle with his own personal certainty of the situation, despite whatever outward appearance he gives the other Jaffa. I'm sure there's more to come in that regard, even after his becoming a Prior. After all, SG-1 has always been, by and large, a story of redemptions. It would be peculiar if Gerak didn't receive a measure of it himself before all things are said and done. And apparently all he really needed to become a force in the story was a scene or two with Bra'tac.

Which brings me to my next point. NEVER KILL BRA'TAC. EVER. I don't care what kind of sublime purpose it would serve, I don't care what kind of payoff for the story it leads to. Tony Amendola has been paying big, huge dividends for SG-1 since he was first cast way back in season one. His appearance here, as always, lends weight to whatever scene he's in. It illustrates the urgency and importance of Gerak's proposal to the council, and it gives both Gerak and Teal'c the foil they need to articulate their positions to the audience. Bra'tac is the figure who makes the Jaffa's plight three-dimensional, he's the Jaffa's nobility. And Tony Amendola always does a wonderful job of convincing me that he's every bit as strong and necessary as Teal'c. So, again, NEVER KILL BRA'TAC.

General Landry gets some heavy screentime in this episode, as does Dr. Lam. Both do little more than move the story along, but their relationship gives their scenes a tinge of something more than pure expostition. It's nice to see the SGC fleshed out a bit after its contraction over the last couple of seasons. Again, three-dimensionality is a good thing for every aspect of the story, even the SGC program itself.

Daniel doesn't get much. He's there to fill out scenes, throw in a word or two edgewise, but aside from that he simply doesn't have a role to play in this one yet. That's OK, especially given how this season began. There's really not room to give everyone something substantial in every episode (see Teal'c about that), and this time it was Daniel. As above, such is life.

Carter gets to play with Orlin. How unfortuante for her. While her past with the character makes it necessary, it also restricts her from taking a more active role against the plague's outbreak. As Orlin puts it, she only seems to "keep him company". Well, that and explain exactly what's going on with Orlin. Nice bits with her and Dr. Lee, and nicely done with glossing over her past feelings for Orlin (whatever they may have been). Focusing rather on how she feels now, how she's rather uncomfortable with the situation and maybe even uncomfortable with what previously transpired between them, is the right way for the story to go. Here's hoping for more of the same in Part II .

I saved Mitchell for last, because he's got me buggered again. I like the character. He's a good addition to the Stargate universe. But his involvment in this story was, as previously, largely as an individual. I get that the members of SG-1 know him. That much was told to us by the producers long before the season began. And that's what it looks like, with Daniel and he playing basketball and with his good natured ribbing of Sam. But when it comes time for Cam to do something he's off on his own again, coordinating the SGC's interests with the CDC and telling us how things are progressing with the spread of the virus. And when he finally gets to go off world to the Sodan planet, it's only with Daniel. Continued sidestepping of the leadership aspect of Cam's role is sure to be expected in the second half of the season. SG-me indeed.

Finally, and I've probably got my hopes up for nothing, but I'm desperate for Jaffa Civil War. It's their fault, they gave me the hope. And while the Jaffa Council has been realistically portrayed, it has proven realistically boring. The Jaffa are much more interesting, much more dynamic when at odds with each other. And I think that such a turn would be in keeping with the realism of their situation. Most revolutions such as the one the Jaffa have undergone lead to more revolutions. So here's hoping. And here's hoping that when Part II airs all of the disparate elements of the story come together in one place. Daniel and Mitchell with the Sodan, Carter and Orlin with the cure, and Teal'c and Gerak with the Jaffa, if done well, should produce a memorable confluence of events. If we ever get SG-1 all together in one place, that is.

Bring on Part II. Damn hiatus.