The Scourge (917)

[PG15]

What about the people who are watching the madness? Knowing that it's just a matter of time before they die? Unless they bow down to the Ori, of course.

Seems to be a pretty good motivator to me.

[uknesvuinng]

The bugs were stupid. What were the Ori trying to accomplish with the bugs? With the virus, the people suffer over time and become more likely to capitulate. With the bugs, the people don't even have time to starve before the bugs eat them.

Actually, they said towards the beginning of the episode that normally the bugs would eat and then die shortly afterwards. They only became long-living and carnivorous when they were kept from eating in the first place. Sounds like the plan is starve the people, and it the people are capable of preventing the bug, then eat the people. It's a good way to weed out people like the SGC who start poking around with the bug too much.

[the fifth man]

What about the people who are watching the madness? Knowing that it's just a matter of time before they die? Unless they bow down to the Ori, of course.

Seems to be a pretty good motivator to me.

Indeed! I know seeing that go on around me would sure motivate my a** to bow down to the Ori. I'd be all "Hallowed are the Ori.." and stuff real fast.

[Dana_Jeanne]

Mitchell really made me angry again in the beginning when he and Daniel were arguing in the hall and he pretty much told Daniel that his idea's were wrong because he is "always right".

I'd like to take Mitchell and toss hm backwards through a wormhole. I really really don't like him at all. A hot-headed lunatic like that has no business leading the #1-- heck, he has no business leading any team.
Dana Jeanne

[Dani347]

Well, I don't expect this to change people's minds about Mitchell (and I'm not trying to) and I don't think people who found the scene annoying will find it any less annoying, but I just wanted to clarify. Mitchell didn't say he was "always right." He said that he didn't want to talk about it anymore, he was right. This time. Which, was a very poor defense, and Daniel reacted appropriately. Just a sarcastic comment about how good his argument was. I don't think it deserved any more attention than that. But, I don't think it meant that he thinks Daniel's wrong in general, or he's right all the time. Just that in this particular case he disagreed.

Again, not that it doesn't mean that people shouldn't find that irritating if they do.

[PG15]

I took it as a joke to (playfully) annoy Danny.

I do it all the time to my friends.

[Vicious]

Two words....

Starship Troopers

[Callie]

Update on the Chinese interchange:

Shen: Your Chinese is supposed to be quite good.
Daniel: Not as good as your English.
Shen: Of course. What about him? (looking at Mitchell)
Daniel: We are still teaching him.
(Both laugh.)
Cameron: Yeah, that's very funny. Go to hell.

[morjana]

Not a terrific episode, but better than a lot of season nine episodes have been.

Sam has usually carried a zat as her side-arm, ever since season two. How come all of a sudden in this episode Sam is carrying a Baretta as her sidearm?

In "Stronghold," both Sam and Cam had zats as their sidearms.

Would have been interesting to see what effect the zat might have had on the bugs, but alas, they weren't carrying Zats for THIS episode, so we didn't get to find out.

The French committee member was seen in another episode too..."Fourth Horsemen, Part 2" I think (at the conference table with Landry and others).

Interesting conversation with the Chinese committee member and Daniel. Has China unconvered their own Gate -- or created one themselves?

Morjana

[Jonzey]

Not a terrific episode, but better than a lot of season nine episodes have been.

Sam has usually carried a zat as her side-arm, ever since season two. How come all of a sudden in this episode Sam is carrying a Baretta as her sidearm?

In "Stronghold," both Sam and Cam had zats as their sidearms.

Would have been interesting to see what effect the zat might have had on the bugs, but alas, they weren't carrying Zats for THIS episode, so we didn't get to find out.

Again, this is just me speculating, but it could be just for show. I mean, if the IOA (or whatever they're called) start seeing weapons technology like the Chinese woman wanted to, they'd be far more interested in the zats than in what they were meant to see. Theyd ask a lot of questions about how come they don't share the technology with them.

[Falcon Horus]

My take on the episode...

1. The Mummy all over again.... *sigh*
2. Few good lines (especially the one by Landry about the baby-sitting)
3. We had a gamma-site...luckily the greek alphabet has lots of letters left...
4. Bugs who clone themselves...cause wow they multiply really fast...a little too fast to remain believable...

5. About the Ori using this as means to make people bow to them, I personally would prefer death then to live in fear under these so-called all-mighty powerful beings.

[dosed150]

the british guy hardly said a word he should have talked more and how typical that the french guy is the coward

[FallenAngelII]

OK, people need to stop compaining so much. OK, so they kinda already did something like this in "Metamorphosis", but this was still vastly different. This episode had no parallels to "The Mummy" whatsoever other than that they were bugs of some kind that eats flesh. And how many movies/TV shows haven't used that plot?

And the thing about "re-hashing": So you expect a show that's nearing the end of its 9th season in 2006 to have original plotlines that no one has ever ever seen before in any form? Get real.

Although, I, as usual, figured out the most of the plot beforehand as the episode progressed. I didn't get the spoliers, so I didn't even know the episode's name. "Ouh, bugs. What are the chances of them becoming meat eaters, incubating inside someone and coming out of their mouth sometime later?" "'It bit him! Eggs!" "One guard standing at the entrance. A guest star we've never ever seen before. What are the chances of we finding out he's 'infected' by seeing something crawling beneath his skin?" and of course the extremely obvious things like "Dead guy's foot's moving. Bugs!" and "The Odyssey will beam them out at the last second.". I'm so sick and tired of last second saves right before people are supposed to die. They are so predictable and overused.

All in all, this was a very solid episode. Good acting, good plot and nice foreshadowing for the impending doom.

[Deejay435]

Again, this is just me speculating, but it could be just for show. I mean, if the IOA (or whatever they're called) start seeing weapons technology like the Chinese woman wanted to, they'd be far more interested in the zats than in what they were meant to see. Theyd ask a lot of questions about how come they don't share the technology with them.

I hadn't thought of that, but that's a very good point. Very good. It would make perfect sense, and fits in well with the general sub-theme of the mistrust between the SGC and China.

[Zoser]

Not a terrific episode, but better than a lot of season nine episodes have been.

Sam has usually carried a zat as her side-arm, ever since season two. How come all of a sudden in this episode Sam is carrying a Baretta as her sidearm?

In "Stronghold," both Sam and Cam had zats as their sidearms.

Would have been interesting to see what effect the zat might have had on the bugs, but alas, they weren't carrying Zats for THIS episode, so we didn't get to find out.

The French committee member was seen in another episode too..."Fourth Horsemen, Part 2" I think (at the conference table with Landry and others).

Interesting conversation with the Chinese committee member and Daniel. Has China unconvered their own Gate -- or created one themselves?

Morjana

If the hapless scientists had gotten to the bugs with three blasts of a zat we would have been spared this horror.