Collateral Damage (912)

[Zoser]

I really liked the actress who played Reya Varrick, think it would be cool if she had been casted as Lam. Plus she's quite hot.

With her hair down she reminded me of a young Mary Steenbergen. She should have been O'Neill's squeeze in Threads.

[Zoser]

Yeah, that scene did bug me. Also the fact that the Gate was never used in the show. I think what they should have done as they would have in the past is show Sam, Daniel and Teal'c coming through the gate and the General would be at the ramp and then Sam explaining what happened to Mitchell. If not that, using the Malp by the Gate to explain the situation. I found it odd that they were casually discussing it in the conferance room.

Another pet peave. When they said that the government was willing to let Mitchell go with no consequences, then Daniel (or Sam...can't remember which) said that Mitchell wanted to stay behind to find the killer...the General should have said NO! It was not their problem. Yes, Mitchell had the memories of the murder, but by all accounts he should have been dragged back to Earth. I just found it odd that the General was so willing to let them run around a planet that willing to frame him. They had no idea what else could have been done. To me that made no military sense at all.

Hammond would not have put up with that. I liked his strength; he gave a cretain order to the chaos of the SGC.

[vizel]

Well, you are not alone. I don't like the Mitchell character either. I can't seem to put my finger on it except that I keep saying "That sounds like what Jack would say or do." I understand from a business sense that TPTB needed to replace RDA's presence on the show, but Browder's character seems too Jack-like. Sheppard has Jack qualities while maintaining a uniqueness. Not knowing the backstory of Sheppard or any of the others hasn't diminished my enjoyment of Atlantis. I feel Mitchell is being forced on me. I'm waiting for Mitchell to be something more than a Jack replacement. JMHO.

Oh, and I miss Carter's technobabble.

I fell the same.

[Cinephilic TV Addict]

This episode had a lot of potential, but came out only so-so.

Cameron's back story was well done, for the most part. Interesting and tied in well with the rest of the narrative.

That said, the other parts of the episode were only okay - there were too many flashbacks of the murder (time killer), there was far too much unnecessary dialogue in the show, and the other 'planet' looked far too much like earth (I don't expect anything to look too alien, but besides the CG shots of the city, it didn't even look like there was any attempt to make it look different from earth).

The first act or two really felt trite – we’ve been there, done that. It just didn’t fit well with the rest of the show.

Yes, I was glad the murderer was not one of the two most obvious suspects, but the problem then becomes all the screen time wasted making the other two out to be suspects in the first place. Their dialogue, reasoning, etc., really didn’t make sense unless they were the killer, which they were not. There was potential for the leader to be a seriously disturbed individual, but it just came out bland and boring in the end.

I liked how this episode had a message, but it got convoluted in the middle and practically lost at the end - it switched from the dangers of playing with memory to the morality of murder with only a loose connector, and neither theme was developed well. Daniel’s whole spiel on memory/morality (which was stale to begin with) therefore became useless.

There’s a lot of potential buried in this episode. Too bad it didn’t come to fruition.

2 1/2 stars out of 4 (probably only deserves 2, but it was such an improvement over 4th horseman that it seems fair to be generous).

[GhostPoet]

WOW.. Excellant episode!! Very SG-1 classic. I loved it.

[doombringer333]

I haven't read through every post, so sorry if I repeat anything.

I liked the episode and felt it opened a window onto Cam. I enjoy having someone new on the team, someone we can learn about. The other three characters feel so well-explored to me that there's nothing new to them, but maybe I'm just jaded right now.

Carter didn't have a big role this ep and like last ep, she felt more like a supporting character, not doing a whole lot. I thought for sure that she would jump in a solve the memory thing, but she was rather passive.

I'm pretty sure the US won't follow-up any diplomatic relations with the people of that world (the Galerans?), so they won't get access to Earth tech. However, they seem like the kind of people who would quickly fall in league with the Aschen, should the Aschen ever cross paths with them. We may see them again sometime ...

[Droops]

[B][COLOR=darkorchid]I agree with you, NCC. That surprised me and it looked like the General lacked control.

Landry knew his service record and knew how much killing an innocent, or having a memory of something like that, bothered him. It's not completely implausible.

[PG15]

I'm a fan of Star Trek Voyager and have seen many of the show's episdoes but not all, so can anyone give me a name or reference of the ep Collateral was similiar to, so I can read about it or catch it on satelliteTV replays? Thanks

"Ex Post Facto"

[knowsfords]

Very good episode.

First thing I thought when I saw this episode was "wait, thats the console from revisions" at least they saved some money on another single use 50k console... by the way was it just me or did was the cleaning of the memory at the end with the guys face twisting into view kinda freaky?

[VOOK]

The only thing that bothered me about the Ep was the set in Lab was recycled from the episode with "The Link" it just stuck out like a sore thumb "(

[Posherella]

I thought this was a rotten stand-alone episode and while I haven't read all the replies to this thread yet, I'm very surprised that it's received so much favor.

This episode did not help define Mitchell's character any further for me, at least not yet. I'm sure it was very hard for him to go through and it's with him daily, but it doesn't seem to be affecting the choices he makes so much.

It's not like learning that Daniel's parents were also archeologists who were killed on the job; or like learning that Jack's son shot himself with his own gun; or discovering Sam's rocky early relationship with her father. Those were instances of past events that truly shaped these characters into the people we know and love on the show. It helps us understand their decisions.

I'm sure there will come a time where Mitchell makes a decision based on his past, but, eh, just color me unimpressed.

Now his nicely delivered line, "I didn't say I didn't want to," had me swooning and did much more for me to develop the type of character he is.

This whole episode seemed like a contrived way to tell a Mitchell back-story that I feel didn't really need to be told. To be honest, while I adore Mitchell's character, I'm getting tired of his whiny flashbacks.

[Quinn Mallory]

No actual shots of the stargate in this episode. I guess this is happening a bit more frequently now. The first episode to go stargate-less wasn't until episode 100+ (correct me if I'm wrong).

Oh well, shots of the gate wasn't really needed in this episode.

[Quinn Mallory]

IThis episode did not help define Mitchell's character any further for me, at least not yet. I'm sure it was very hard for him to go through and it's with him daily, but it doesn't seem to be affecting the choices he makes so much.

It's not like learning that Daniel's parents were also archeologists who were killed on the job; or like learning that Jack's son shot himself with his own gun; or discovering Sam's rocky early relationship with her father. Those were instances of past events that truly shaped these characters into the people we know and love on the show. It helps us understand their decisions.

Well, I think I disagree somewhat.

I think we're supposed to make a connection that Mitchell's tough rehabilitation from the crash in the Antarctic fight was encouraged by his dad's valiant attempt to live without shame after losing the legs.

The stuff with the killing the refugees may have future impact in setting up a potential refusal to follow the chain of command in the future.

[Quinn Mallory]

Carter didn't have a big role this ep and like last ep, she felt more like a supporting character, not doing a whole lot. I thought for sure that she would jump in a solve the memory thing, but she was rather passive.

Well, Carter is a physicist not a neurobiologist. Although she there were moments in the past, in sure, where she flashes her brilliance in other sciences, it would take a leap of faith to believe that she can just jump in and study those brain wave patterns or whatever more effectively than those other scientists.

Carter just showed her sister-like support for Cam in this ep.

[Quinn Mallory]

One more thing, I guess Cam "Shaft" Mitchell (as established in "Beachhead") is just living up to his old call sign in this episode.