Off The Grid (916)

[sci_fi_child]

1.) I believe the answer to number one is in number two...but I was in the kitchen at that point and didn't see

2.) They have to be ready for action! But it would be greatly amusing if they all got beamed on the Bridge in a squatting position and then fell on their butts. thunk!

[Uber]

Wow there are lots of examples you could have chosen ... anything in Gemini for one ... but of the examples you gave.

I did not see O’Neill’s choice to be wrong. In fact I think he was the only one who has ever thought clearly about the human form replicators.

I'm iffy here. We don't know what would have happened had they helped Fifth escape with them. But we do know that because of Sam's betraying Fifth on Jack's order, that Sam was tortured in New Order and Replicarter was formed. I also had issues with Jack killing Reese. Why not zat her? Everyone stressed how important it was to preserve her and Jack shot first and thought later.

I definitely did not see Daniel trying to free Unas from slavery as a bad choice. Plus he didn’t go off and do it himself. He convinced his commanding officer it was the proper course of action.. They came up with a plan and executed it. The failure in the plan was O’Neill’s non-commitment to the military action as well as the unexpected revelation that Chaka would not leave without freeing his companions. Those are sentient beings and should never have been enslaved. SG-1 as a team came up with a plan to free them, it just didnt work because of a few unexpected circumstance and a fairly intelligent enemy. (fat guy was annoying but he was pretty sharp)

I had no problems with Daniel helping the Unas for all the reasons you said. It would go against Daniel's nature to turn his back on sentient beings who are being oppressed.

The Teal'c thing, yea he should have went through the gate sooner and NOT pursued the glider as long as he did especially when he was told not to by his commanding officer, so shame on him.

I agree. Teal'c did screw up because of his need for revenge. Did so in Exodus too and as a result he was captured and brainwashed.

The Carter ones... it looks like you combined 3. The collapsing sun? If that is throwing the gate into the sun that was a tokra plan. The dialing a gate through a sun, thus bypassing the Stargate Safety protocols was stupid but no one knew the outcome and that was the next address on the mission list, her job was to establish a lock.

True on all counts. But as Sam said, she felt guilty about the Red Sun because she pushed the button...not because she gave the order. She was ordered to do something and she did it and was upset at the outcome that could have cost an entire planet their lives.

The Replicarter one... there is no excuse for anyone’s behavior in that ep, it was just a bad, bad, bad, poorly written stupid episode.

I'll disagree with this one. Golfbooy wrote a really impressive analysis of that episode that showed that everyone acted entirely in character given the situation and the choices presented to them. Check it out on the Gemini thread.

And I'm not suggesting that she's perfect in all her ways either...just that the examples given by the original poster are not truly representative of her achilles heel, which is that she tends to give the people around her the benefit of the doubt too often (Felger, Mitchell). Too loyal perhaps?

Jonas most trusted teacher told him his government was developing a WMD to use against someone else on his planet, which would have ended in planetary destruction. What do you expect him to do? He didn’t go running off by himself, ramboing it up to save the day, he reported the issue to his commanders who came up with a plan and ultimately determined Jonas's friend and some "issues". Not sure what trouble SG-1 really got in with that ep either.

Jonas was really great in this episode actually...standing on his home planet and challenging the leaders there. He listened to his mentor and did what any of our heroes would have done...pushed for a peaceful resolution but ready to fight for what's right.

You are right, there have been occasions when every main character has done something fairly stupid to cause the team to get into trouble but I have never seen anyone (besides maybe early season niave Daniel) quite as good at it as Mitchell.

How many times did O'Neill put his people in danger by acting rashly? I really and honestly can't think of any off the top of my head (other than what I wrote above) although I'm sure examples exist. What about Sam in her leadership capacity?

Mitchell...in his first real exercise as a "team leader"...putting his foot down and doing things his way...got his entire team lined up for execution, not because of a wrench thrown into a well thought out/executed plan, but because he doesn't think much at all and is impetuous to the point of being a danger...not only to himself, but to his team.

[GateAngel]

Aside from Mitchell, things were pretty good. I turned on this episode a bit late (damn recorder) and thought that Mitchell had gotten high off the corn because of the way we was acting.

Well I don't think that was what they meant to imply about Mitchell, but I had the same thought. Especially after that scene where they all pop up out of hiding in the corn field and Mitchell is chewing on piece of corn stalk. Does the man not know anything about plant biology. What would be in the corn would also be in the leaves, stalks and silk as well. I was left wondering why Sam hadn't yanked it out of his mouth and given Mitchell a lecture about it. Of course if they were all chewing on pieces of corn stalk or inhaling the pollen from the plants, that might explain why they were all acting off-kilter.

Also did anyone else besides me get flashbacks to the Aschen with this. The whole geneticly engineered corn thing made me think that we might be seeing the Aschen again. This seems like something they would do. I wonder how the Aschen would deal with the Priors and the Ori considering they have bio weapons as well.

Marla

[The Signal]

2.) They have to be ready for action! But it would be greatly amusing if they all got beamed on the Bridge in a squatting position and then fell on their butts. thunk!

Most sci-fi's have what i call the shape changing transport phenomenon. I would love to see a series where it doesnt happen, like if someone is transported while leaning on a wall, so that they collapse when they get beamed to where ever.

[cafine_us]

1) How did Mitchell get freed from the drug dealers?

I don't think the episode really explained how Mitchell escaped from the drug dealers the first time around. Perhaps the rest of the team was able to provide enough of a distraction to let Mitchell run.

[cafine_us]

This was a pretty good episode.

The Bad Things:

I never really understood the whole "addictive corn" plot line and how it affected the rest of the story.
<snip>

The corn plot was incredibly stupid. I really hope that it somehow is involved in later episodes, although I doubt this will happen, just to give the corn some depth and purpose. I really think the writers just pulled some random item out of their behinds and thought it would be funny. It wasn't.

[Dani347]

The corn seemed to be nothing more than a reason for them to be on the planet so that they could see the gate disappear.

[Mattathias2.0]

After rewatching this episode.

I don't understand the "addictive corn" and it's purpose for the storyline, nor do I understand how this episode deals with the events of The Ties That Bind. I only understood that this corn was somewhat of a danger when Teal'c mentioned how it has caused disruptions on other planets - but it's corn.

The Teaser becomes a complete waste of time in this episode, when normally it is a pivitol piece of the story, and the plot.

Baal's sense in this episode didn't make sense compared to what he said in "Stronghold"... reminded me of what O'Neill said in Reckoning Part II about the original Baal and his ego - this was what Baal was about here.

I have another question now tho. Since when have we figured out how to create virusus against Ha'taks with that method?

Why wasn't these beacons seen previously in another episode as to create a familiarity with them?

Was it a fun episode? Yes, but did we learn anything or acquire something of value? No.

Ethon was great... Stronghold was good... This episode I still can't make heads or tails with.

Mattathias

[FerCryinOutLoud!]

Well, first of all, like you said, some people complain about each of these things. So that doesn't mean if they put in an episode with Ba'al it's going to make everyone happy, because not everyone wanted the Goa'uld. Some people have been upset about the team being split up, so theoretically, putting the team together would please them, but it doesn't mean it'll please those who had a different problem.

I understand, i was just saying that it doesn't appear as though TPTB are ignoring the Goa'uld completely now that they've been defeated and the Ori are present, for those who wish the Ori were never written into existence.

Plus, it's not that simple that you just add in the componets and it makes a good story. I know that for some people it sounds like people are never satisfied, but if a person wants team episodes, it's not merely enough to say, "Okay, this episode the team is going to be together for the majority of the episode." Or, "okay, you want to see more of the Goa'uld, so we'll throw Ba'al in" No. It's like someone wants a cake, and they get a few eggs, some flour, some frosting. All the components are there, but that doesn't mean it's what people wanted. Of course, for some people, the components did blend in right and they liked it. Which is fine. But, for others, just because the bare bones were there doesn't automatically make it a good episode.

Nice way of putting it. I believe that you're right, it takes more than the components to make the story great. But it first takes the components to make the story. I merely meant that by adding more of the stuff people still want to see that has been lacking in SG-1 recently, it appears that TPTB are at least trying to get their feet back on the ground to tell future stories with the loss of an original cast member. It seems they're trying to get back to the "roots," or, "meat and potatoes," of Stargate.

Also, it does seem that some people are never satisfied. This is sometimes frustrating when i know it shouldn't bother me. It seems that a lof of people will nitpick the little things. This is entertainment, not real life. So try enjoying an episode for a change. That's not to say people should be satisfied no matter what, or that they should ignore gaping plot holes, though.

By the same token, a lot of people judge and praise before they know what's going to happen. "I can't wait until next week." "This season is shaping up to be the best yet." "I read the spoilers and the season finale is going to rock!" (I'm not quoting directly, just giving examples) If people should wait to complain, they should wait to praise.

Exactly! That's not to say that they cannot say they didn't enjoy or hate any certain episode before the season is completely finished. But, that people should wait to see how things turn out before they cry, "plothole" or something of the nature. There have been so many times when someone has said that TPTB didn't follow up on something they should have. Or that the way something played out was a plothole, only to be shown a few episodes later follow up, reference, or explanation of something that was left up in the air previously. The spoilers don't help either. People will read spoilers and paint a picture in their mind greater or smaller than should be imagined before seeing the actual work of art, so to speak.

Quote:
For whomever said that killing Ba'al every three seconds, loses it's impact. I agree with you. They should make killing one of the coolest bad guys on Stargate mean a little more everytime they kill him. But, i think in the end killing him every three seconds will play into things later on and does serve a purpose, otherwise they wouldn't kill him every three seconds. And, whose to say Ba'al isn't crankin' out more Ba'als on an assembly line?

They should just let Ba'al escape a few times. We know another Ba'al is going to pop up again. So, why not just let it be that this Ba'al gets away, instead of killing him?

I know what you mean. I was saying that they shouldn't be killing him all the time, even if there are more of him. It's less impactful and you tend to care less everytime you see it happen. They should let him escape or do something besides die everytime you see him in an episode. But, if they are indeed killing him many times to play into a later storyline hypothetically speaking, such as killing every Ba'al until there is no one left but the real Ba'al. It would seemingly make Ba'al desperate enough to do something drastic that would put SG-1 and the galaxy in jeoperdy. Or, finding out that the real Ba'al was killed a long time ago, and that the only one left is a clone, which has developed much different personality traits than the original. It would reinvent Ba'al as a character. Because, unless i'm wrong, though they share the same DNA i don't think clones inherit the personality of the original specimen.

[FerCryinOutLoud!]

Unless of course you take into consideration that Goa'uld symbiotes have genetic memory. I forgot about that part. But you know what i mean.

[dosed150]

I know what you mean. I was saying that they shouldn't be killing him all the time, even if there are more of him. It's less impactful and you tend to care less everytime you see it happen. They should let him escape or do something besides die everytime you see him in an episode. But, if they are indeed killing him many times to play into a later storyline hypothetically speaking, such as killing every Ba'al until there is no one left but the real Ba'al. It would seemingly make Ba'al desperate enough to do something drastic that would put SG-1 and the galaxy in jeoperdy. Or, finding out that the real Ba'al was killed a long time ago, and that the only one left is a clone, which has developed much different personality traits than the original. It would reinvent Ba'al as a character. Because, unless i'm wrong, though they share the same DNA i don't think clones inherit the personality of the original specimen.

cloning doesnt pass on memoreies but ba'al copied his memories etc as well like the asgard do so all the clones have exactly the same memories up until the time they where created

[Buzz Lightyear]

By contrast, "Ethon" was superb.

Only if you ignore the musical command-chair-of-indecision aboard the Prometheus.

[Jumper One]

Most sci-fi's have what i call the shape changing transport phenomenon. I would love to see a series where it doesnt happen, like if someone is transported while leaning on a wall, so that they collapse when they get beamed to where ever.

lol

Now, thats a good idea.

[DragonGate]

Most sci-fi's have what i call the shape changing transport phenomenon. I would love to see a series where it doesnt happen, like if someone is transported while leaning on a wall, so that they collapse when they get beamed to where ever.

I thought of that after reading the ep thread. It would make a good running joke in a series.

[AGateFan]

hey i was watching Off the Grid on Friday, a couple things jumped out at me. this was probably answered in another thread but there is too much to search through:
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1) How did Mitchell get freed from the drug dealers?

2) Before sg-1 was beamed off the planet to the Odyssey, they were in the seated position, but once they reached the odyssey, they were standing up. shouldn't they have re-materialized in the seated positions?

~martouf

1) Magic
2) Fancier Asgard magic.