The Scourge (917)

[creed462]

It was good I like it.

[macktheknife]

Hmmn.

Rehased locations?

Cave from SGA Epiphany? Check.
Cave from SGA Conversion? Oh wait, it's the same one from Epiphany. And had bugs too.
Rock Wall\Area from SGA Micheal? Check.

Cop out ending? Check.

It was a pretty "bleh" episode, but Woolsey always kicks an ep up a notch, so it was'nt bad.

Personally, I was suprised at least tealc did'nt have a MP7 for another sidearm, but at least Mitchell kept is G36

[Sue_Jackson]

I love this episode! It was great fun to watch! Though.....those bugs were really nasty and did creep me out. It was gross when the bugs came out of the bodies. Eeeeewwwww!! Or, when the bugs came up from under that Airman, and swarmed all over him, devouring him. Eeewww!!

But, I love SG-1 working together!

I love how Ms. Shen knew about Daniel, and complimented on his many achievements. I also loved how they spoke Mandarin (Chinese) to each other, and then Cameron pipes in saying something in Mandarin. Who knew Cameron could speak Mandarin. (I wish they had put subtitles. I wanna know what they said.)

That French guy was purely annoying. He was such a whiney brat. Woolsey was also very annoying, and a jerk. His arroganceness and constant complaining was like nails on chalkboard. I loved it when the French guy was complaining about how he couldn't walk anymore. Then, Cameron puts then gun in his hand, and says about shooting the bugs. Then, Cam tells him about some ferrets that rips people's heads off. Of course, Cam was just BSing the French guy into scaring him, but it was funny! LOL! I loved the look on the French guy's face! He's like.....never mind! LOL!

I also liked the Teal'c and Cam bonding. I love how Cam respects Teal'c for being positive. I love how Teal'c wants to watch the movie, "Old School". I think Teal'c and Cam have good banter, and I like it!

Landry was good in this, too. I like his joke on SG-1 being babysitters for the IOA people. "Don't keep them past 10:00. And, don't forget to read them a bedtime story." LOL!

I like the end where Daniel says, "We still on for movie night?" I love how Cam wants "Star Troopers". I like how the gang hangs out together. May be someday we'll see them hang out someday. Here's hoping that will happen. I would like to our guys hang out at a bar, or at each other's homes.

[alexia_star_2002]

WOW!! What an episode!!! I must say though that it TOTALLY GROSSED me OUT. I'm not one for creepy crawly things...eeewww. I was really impressed with Woosley when he told the French deligate to shut up and let Carter work, that really changed my opinion of him in this episode. I hope they find a way to get ride of these bugs quick and they never come back, cause I don't think I could handle that again.

BTW did anybody else notice the parallel of Tremors to this episode? I felt like I was having flashbacks.

[alexia_star_2002]

OOPS! I forgot to ask if anyone was getting a little tired of the Oddyssey showing up just in the nick of time to bale out SG-1. So how's that playing for the rest of you?

I agree...the odyssey always just seems to show up in the nick of time lately. What happened to the days when SG-1 would save themselves

[GateAngel]

I'm still a bit puzzled by the actions of the bugs. How can they be both repelled by the gunfire/movement and attracted to sound? Or did I miss something in the "Man-Eating-Bugs" orientation session in the beginning?

It's not the sound they are attracted to, it's the vibrations the sounds create since most insects of that nature are deaf because they don't have ears. The vibrations can mean food is walking nearby or there is danger such as an earthquake/land slide or other dangerous disruptions that create vibrations.

[warmbeachbrat]

After seeing the commercials, I didn't have high hopes for this episode. It could have gone wrong in SO many ways. But I was pleasantly surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I know I've said it before, but I love the Teal'c/Mitchell relationship, and this episode didn't disappoint. Their banter and conversations were revealing and entertaining.

I've actually liked Woolsey for quite some time now, so his progression in this episode was quite nice. I thought they went a little over the top, though, with having Woolsey being the one questioning the gate's operation. I know it's a nod to his time on Star Trek, but it was a bit blatant to me. I loved his interaction with Sam in the cave. She was pretty snarky to him--I can't remember the last time she was like that (Emancipation, maybe? No, wait--Paradise Lost). It fit quite nicely in the episode.

It seems like they took every character back to their roots in this episode. Daniel to his linguistic background, Sam to her soldier/scientist self, Mitchell showed his leadership capabilities even more than usual, and Landry is gelling a bit more as the concerned commander of the base. Oh! And Dr. Lee! I love Dr. Lee (why isn't there an appreciation thread for Bill Dow/Dr. Lee?). He is just hilarious (as well as being a great scientist). *sigh* They don't use him often enough.

Nice episode with just a couple of caveats. I can't quite figure out where they're going with the Mitchell/Daniel relationship. There seems to be a bit of tension there--but it seems a little off and on, like they don't quite know how far they want to take it.

And the French guy--just a bit over the top, I thought. I can't believe they would have anybody so stupid and whiny on such a commission. From his first actions of brushing by the scientist and tapping on the bug container (what an idiot!), to his behavior in the cave and on the way to the field station. Just too, too much.

And, like everyone else, I loved the reference to Starship Troopers (even though I did NOT like that movie). All in all a good episode with a couple of minor quibbles.

[mat vador]

Poor, poor french... It's a horrible caricature... Jean la Pierre is funny, but, nevertheless...

[Zoser]

I didn't totally despise Mitchell in this one.

I worked in a research lab for many years - No, no ,no, we never just tossed something into the mix, say our lunch, to see interesting results. Totally absurd.
And then to send someone ill from a flesh eating bug back to Earth - just nuts. Hey lets infect our home planet.
The bugs were just stupid (or the guys that thought up that plot line) - did they ever hear of conservation of matter? You can't put in a few ounces of food and get fifty pounds of bugs.

As for movie night - isn't that straight from fan fiction? I wish they would read better stories so they could steal some decent plots.

They international angle is however interesting and has been simmering for years.

I wish they would let us know and actually care about people before the carelessly kill them in their contrived plots. The episode - Plotz!

[Zoser]

Did anyone else find it weird that the Research Center was a tent 10 miles away from the main site?

Well money is tight.
Wouldn't you put these possible destructive insect in a research center as opposed to the base? The precautions on the base were laughable. Don't have a secure lab that is sealed and you are able to neutralize. No, it is so much easier to nuke the whole base a kill everyone.

[Zoser]

snipped

Always a good thing.

Yea, I'm also sure Teal'c could have told O'neill to shut his mouth so as not to draw the attention of the bugs in a more candid and funny way.

He would have just said 'O'Neill' and O'Neill would have gotten the message.

[DEM]

This was an okay episode for me. Like others, some of the interactions really made the show. Sam (and Amanda Tapping) was fabulous with Woolsey (and I have always liked Richard Picardo--hope we see him again in season 10), and she was great at the end, having to tell everyone the reality of their situation. I also liked the interactions with Daniel and the Chinese embassador, and with Teal'c and Mitchell.

The actual episode was okay, but not great for me, simply because the storyline wasn't very compelling. I'd say a rewatch episode though. And the direction was very good.

I'm so lethargic that I can't be bothered to be original. chocdoc's post sums up pretty much exactly how I felt about the ep.

The Teal'c/Mitchell dynamic is interesting; they seem to be going for 'realistic' bonding with all of its fits and starts. If so, that's great, but it still feels sort of awkward and forced and inauthentic. I can't pinpoint exactly why it feels that way, but I think it has something to do with the weird, paradoxical (and dare I say it, nonsensical), characterisation of Mitchell as New Guy who nevertheless Knows Everything (or, relatedly, Irritating Guy Who Everyone Likes).

For example, there was a scene in which the entire group was walking through the forest. I think Carter was explaining something, and then Mitchell jumped into the conversation and recited a somewhat obscure factoid having to do with the SGC or Gate travel, and it struck me that it would be so much better if he didn't know those sorts of things. I'll have to go back later and find the scene -- assuming I can work up the energy. They did this sort of thing with Jonas, too, but at least I liked everything else about Jonas, and -- most importantly -- Jonas was not the CO.

I guess I just don't understand why Mitchell was given a pilot's background rather than an SGC background. Oh, because then it would have been harder to explain why we'd never seen nor heard of Wonderboy before. In any case, despite the fact that I didn't feel like shooting Mitchell as often as I usually do, these sorts of moments jumped out at me and irritated me no end. I wouldn't be surprised if we learn later that Mitchell learned Chinese as part of the Mission-Gone-Bad (Collateral Damage) because, in addition to his pilot duties, he was needed for covert ground ops as well.

Getting back to that scene. Actually, it might have been more than one scene in the walking sequence. Mitchell has a tendency to jump in and take over someone else's place in a conversation, and most often (at least in The Scourge) that person is Carter. I don't like that. Tapping, as great as she was, was noticably pushed back in many scenes to make way for BB's Mitchell. Likewise, the direction, as good as it was, often became awkward when it had to work out ways to make BB front and centre at the head of the column... and then front and centre of action taking place in the middle of the column. Now, obviously I can't know if this was lousy writing, a fallout of actor's contracts, or subtle characterisation (i.e., 'Mitchell's a know-it-all'), but it bugged. There are two Lt. Colonel's on the team -- only one of whom has had significant GROUND OPERATIONS/ OFFWORLD TRAVEL experience -- and even though the EXPERIENCED LC isn't the one who gets lines in every damn scene and THE BIGGEST GUN [my god, how trite], that LC ought to be be afforded the respect of handling the minor questions raised by the ambassadors.

Now that I think about it, the shuffling around happened a lot throughout the episode.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed Carter's understated professionalism and high degree of competence (gotta give M&M points when they manage to do that), and it was fab to see Daniel doing his social/social science stuff. Philology!

There were a couple of great shots of Carter/Teal'c that I'm hoping someone will use to make lj icons.

Points off for: 1) carting a body up to the Gate before the wormhole had been established, 2) Dr Lee the Swiss Army Knife of Scientists, 3) the fracking Odyssey and its beam, 4) the continuing blase attitude about implanting locators in people's bodies.

Rating: The exact middle of the scale.

[markaudette]

I stand corrected, Akai. Sorry for the mix up.

I would like to add to my post that there ...some few things of note that came out of "The Scourge." Watching the episode again, I can take away that the only thing that was added to the show's storyline is that something is amiss within the Chinese governemnt's involvement in the Stargate program.

As sort of a side note, I have been pushing the J Mazz and the other development team to make the Stargate program public. It is nice to see that it is being made slowly evident that the making the Stargate program more accesible to varying agencies is instantly having its drawbacks - as we all knew it would be. I think maybe, in my mind, we're being told that making the Stargate program public is a global cluster f-ck like opening up pandora's box.

Sometimes I think this scene between Daniel and the Chinese government's rep was kind of made for twerps like me who want to see the Stargate program made public. Earth won't blossom into a utopia simply because the lid was publicly blown off the Stargate program.

[Cory Holmes]

She was pretty snarky to him--I can't remember the last time she was like that (Emancipation, maybe? No, wait--Paradise Lost).

Any episode with Rodney McKay in it

[NeoSaber]

Something else I thought off... I thought that nobody could beam anything off that planet. That's one of the reasons they chose the planet as a research base, so the planet's stargate couldn't get stolen. Something to do with the ionized atmosphere?!? Right...

Did I miss something?

Ace

I think they said the ionized atmosphere prevented sensors/etc from pinpointing things on the planet. It didn't directly interfere with beaming things off the planet, just prevented targeting via sensors.