Stronghold (914)

[Buzz Lightyear]

Doesn't translating take at least a bit of concentration? When your mind is preoccupied with something as big as whether or not the Jaffa will vote for democracy, translating might not be possible, even for Daniel. I think he needed to do something that didn't require mental processes, because they were already on overflow. Plus, to me, the force that he was bouncing the ball also suggested that his mind was going a mile a minute and he was full of nervous energy. I imagine at that point, any inscriptions on the walls would look like gibberish until they got word that the vote had gone through.

eta: Another thing I liked with Daniel was not only did he come up with the idea of trying the ritual on the Jaffa, but the way he and Bra'tac tag played off each other relaying the info they found to Landry.

I'll concede your points but I still think he was out of place on the rescue mission.

[Buzz Lightyear]

I noticed that Ba'al dropped his flanged voice when Tea'lc accused him of being a false god. He was almost folksy with Tea'lc, and he almost made sense! Hmmmm--so Ba'al knows about Tretonin. I wonder how it would affect a Goa'uld? Anyone notice that Ba'al kept his hand above the button on his wrist in his last scene? I wonder what that was about--it didn't help him much, did it? I don't think he's dead, though, and I really don't think it was a clone, either. I get the impression the clones are on earth, but not elsewhere. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

What's the purpose in having clones if you can't use them in risky situations like this? The real Baal could have been nearby monitoring everything aboard a cloaked transport vessel.

Baal only used his host's voice when he was alone with Teal'c, who called him on the whole false-god charade. The pompous Goa'uld voice was back in place when any of his own Jaffa underlings were present.

I believe the button on his wrist was for raising a personal shield but he got distracted by Mitchell, thus allowing Teal'c to blast him with the staff weapon. At first, I didn't think Baal would give Teal'c a functioning weapon and only meant to test whether the brainwashing procedure had worked but if he had a personal shield at his disposal, then he'd feel perfectly secure in handing Teal'c a loaded weapon since only the dispensable Jaffa fodder would be at risk in a firefight.

[entil2001]

I happen to find the evolution of the Jaffa from an enslaved race to a more enlightened nation to be full of potential, so episodes like this are always interesting. Granted, the writers still aren’t taking full advantage of the storytelling possibilities available, but part of that could be attributed to the incursion by the Ori. The typical history for revolutionary movements for independence demonstrates how often success breeds civil war.

Sometimes that happens when the original oppressors come along and attempt to control one emerging faction within the new government. In a very mild sense, that’s what Baal attempts in this episode. (Or one of the Baals, anyway!) It’s closer to the truth to suggest that Baal was trying to take control of the entire Jaffa Nation through subversion of its ruling council. What I find intriguing is the fact that Baal is not completely wrong. He identifies a real concern and acts on it, probably with a great deal of self-interest, but if his methods were more reasonable, wouldn’t he be making a very good point?

On the other hand, this also continues to demonstrate how a beaten foe is not a completely docile foe. The Goa’uld will continue to look for ways to rise again, and the rise of the Ori presents them with opportunity. They have already taken a degree of control over human politics and they are making moves on the Jaffa. Resources that might have been devoted to containing and addressing the Goa’uld are now focused on a greater threat.

I was also a bit more impressed with the Mitchell subplot. Unlike “Collateral Damage”, which attempted to give Mitchell depth through a forced storyline that shoved the rest of the cast into the background. This time, however, the writers made the character development part of a more balanced episode, and I was far more pleased. (OK, it was a bit much for Mitchell to drag alien technology into the middle of a public hospital and then leave it there, but I’ll set that aside for the moment!)

What I didn’t buy was the suggestion that Teal’c was actually considering surrender and that he was ever in any compelling danger. I’m not sure if it was the writing or the editing, but it just didn’t gel. Similarly, the battle sequences were just plain wrong. How many times were people exposed, in the middle of the firefight, and not one shot was taken at them? It just didn’t come together very well.

In terms of the Jaffa election, it’s likely that Bra’tac or Teal’c will be heavily involved in the new government, if not elected to the highest positions. If the Ori become enough of a threat to require a stronger response by the Jaffa, then this would make sense. However, even if this episode had some good ideas in terms of the Jaffa/Goa’uld interaction, I still think the snakeheads need to stay well in the background. It just seems better to keep them out of sight until a strong role can be found for them.

[KillerMercury]

I agree with you both. They're in a temple on the planet of Dakara and all Daniel can find to occupy his time is bouncing a ball off a wall? You mean they've translated every single inscription on every single wall and artifact in that place?

That just shows me how much Jack has rubbed off on him over the years. Daniel's come out of his "geeky shell" and is becoming more of a, dare I say it, normal (or as normal as any person could get). He's become a little bit restless, and it's understandable. Democracy is a big step for Jaffa, so everybody's anxious, that's just how Daniel calms down.

[joasia]

OK, Baal needs to test his cloning facilities. Because it looks that this week's Baal is a bootleg copy of the original or the original is not so intelligent as he would like to be. Why?

1. The symbiont-removal procedure is known to undo brainwashing for Jaffa.
2. It worked for Teal'c once.
3. Because of that Teal's is harder to brainwash.
4. Teal'c does not have a symbiont anymore.

So Baal's course of action has been the only logical one:

• Teal'c will not get another tretonine shot until he will be almost on a verge od death - and if he goes and gets it he will be mine! It has to work! After all not getting his ground goa'uld dose on time is nothing like removing a symbionte (see 1.), right? Right!?

I'm beginning to think that, considering this flawless logic shown above, Baal should change his name a little. To Baal Adder. Or Baaldrick. It has been such a cunning plan after all...

[Agent_Dark]

and she didn't leave classified tech lying around in a hospital

Can't really fault Mitchell there. The hospital is fully aware of what happens at the SGC (Mitchell talking with that female doctor confirmed it. She says something like 'we have access to technology that most places dont'). Plus I doubt Sam would have brought the tech over by herself. There would have been Airman that helped her

[Agent_Dark]

You know, I never heard the word flanged before this thread. I had always just called it the Goa'uldy voice.

It's actually the technical term used for that type of audio effect

[Agent_Dark]

The episode was good overall. The Mitchell friend dying plot dragged on a bit, and possibly got too much emphasis while the Teal'c missing plot kinda got shoved over.
The Sam/Cam and Cam/Teal'c moments were good though, maybe the best thing to come out of Mitchell's dying friend plot.
Landry saying the 'Teal'c is family' line was odd - it just didn't come off right. That line made me wish Hammond was back in charge
Sam in command - Hooah! The battle sequence was pretty cool for the most part. Bra'tac giving air cover in the Alkesh (though Ba'al's air defences need a little work... ), Carter charging up the ramp with the SG teams following and the ensuing gun battle. Mitchell going up to take out the staff emplacement was cool (though why their sniper didn't take it out I don't know...) but his charging off Rambo style was definitely not cool. It screamed 'Hollywood Action Movie' to me, and felt really lame. Probably the biggest downer of the episode.

Also I've noticed their using a few more weapons now... G-36's and DAO-12 Stryker shotguns (Mitchell had one of the Stryker shotguns). I also noticed BSG were using the DAO-12's for a few episodes too.... O.o

[LMichelle]

This ep kind of bored me. It was nice to see someone on SG-1 has a personal life. The SGC seems to frown upon that.

So if I become terminally ill can I find out about the Stargate program, too?

[Dani347]

It's actually the technical term used for that type of audio effect

Now how come everyone knew that but me?

LMichelle

So if I become terminally ill can I find out about the Stargate program, too?

Or, you could get zatted.

[BubblingOverWithIdeas]

Everyone who thinks Cameron would be susceptible to Baal's brainwashing please post so.

[betjam]

I had a hard time with letting Mitchell "tell" his buddy everything.

All those soldiers lined up to go through the gate and into the heat of battle and no helmets for SG-1. (I know, it's a TV show)

I really liked the Jaffa robes and the way they have the draped neckscarves and the big necklaces.

[nccjones]

All those soldiers lined up to go through the gate and into the heat of battle and no helmets for SG-1. (I know, it's a TV show).

Very true. In the early years they always wore their kevlar helmets so I'm not sure why they didn't here. I also miss the original Stargate music whenever they are dealing with the Goua'ld. It would have been nice to hear that nee'eet nee'eet (ok, so I'm tone deaf) like they played alot in the first season. Whenever that music played you knew a system lord was around the corner.

[shaqarava]

Baal admitted he doesn't see himself as a true god, and doesn't care about being worshipped should he take control of the Jaffa nation. Yet why were there Jaffa serving under him? Was all that god thing speech just for teal'c, whilst he still told other stupid jaffa he was still a god? Or were those jaffa brainwashed?

[Agent_Dark]

Very true. In the early years they always wore their kevlar helmets so I'm not sure why they didn't here.

I think its got to do with the filming side of things. The helmets kind of obscure the actor's features making it harder to identify them, especially on wide shots.