Arthur's Mantle (918)

[Fargater]

After thinking about this episode for a bit and re-watching it, I have come to the conclusion that my favorite part of it is Teal'c. I really like what they are doing with the character and finally playing up the warrior aspect of him. Teal'c is a Jaffa and was training to be a leader and a warrior before even Gen. Landry was born. It's nice to see those skills and leadership abilities being used. I have no problem with Teal'c being able to use two weapons at once in the manner that he does. Teal'c is not human, he is a Jaffa and he is stronger than most men are and he has been trained to be able to handle things this way. I'm sure the staff weapon weighs more than both those weapons combined.

And to be completely honest and shallow about it, I love action hero Teal'c. Of all the characters of SG1 he is the most suited for this and he has the intelligence level to raise the bar for this kind of characterization as well.

hee hee

Hmmm. You make a convincing argument. I never thought about it much except that the Teal`c-inator with the two guns in opposite directions might be a bit . . . well, silly. But maybe you`re right.

And AMEN about the leadrship abilities being utilized. :thumbsup:

I've noticed that they seem to want to buddy Teal'c up with Mitchell and create a bond between them, just like they tried to do back in season 6 with with Teal'c and Jonas Quinn. I do have to say that the dynamic is working better between Teal'c and Mitchell than it did for me between Jonas and Teal'c. Teal'c seems to have a more clear cut level of interaction and sense of purpose with Mitchell. The 'Jonas and Teal'c as two outsiders' thing just didn't find a resonance between the characters to me. Unfortunately the very thing that does find resonance between Teal'c and Mitchell to me is also the very thing that makes it hard for me to accept Mitchell as the team leader. Mitchell is every bit the newbie and he's like an exuberant kid in need of a gently restraining and guiding hand. That is what Teal'c is doing IMHO, being that gentle restraining/guiding hand. That is the bond he has with Mitchell and within its own context I like that bond. I like their banter and their dynamic as friends. However to me it just doesn't fit the overall picture of the team and the position of leader that Mitchell has within it.

Interesting comments. Although maybe I missed it, but I never saw any 'Jonas and Teal'c as two outsiders' thing. One of my fave things in S6 is when Teal'c approaches Jack about giving Jonas a shot and Jack pointedly replies, "He`s an ali- en. He`s an alien." Maybe Jonas tried to work that angle to get Teal`c`s support, but Jack never seemed to see it that way. It was very telling to me because it showed Jack was past thinking of Teal`c as anything but a valued member of his team.

Anyway I have to agree with your assessment of the Teal`c-Cam dynamic. It`s nice but further points out why anyone but Cam should be in charge.

At first glance the interaction between Daniel and Sam seemed to be like old times. However the more I looked at it, the more I began to see things that were wrong with it, things that didn't feel right to me. For one thing, I never realized until I was watching Serpent's Lair last night that Daniel has quit looking directly and intensely into anyone's eyes when he is making a point or trying to get them to see his perspective. I did like that he was solving the puzzle and that he got credit for figuring it out. Daniel made some adorable facial expressions, but to me they seemed out of place for him to be doing them. My first thought on the very first viewing was 'man, Michael Shanks can really do a dead on impersonation of Amanda Tapping/Sam Carter'. Daniel was doing that exact same 'cute little shrug/smile' that Sam Carter does when she get's praise for something or has no explanation for something. It was a perfect imitation and it was funny, but I'm not sure I want to see Daniel do that again. I would like Daniel to stay being Daniel.

I loved Bill Lee and his miniturization theory. It wasn't silly or inept. He is a man who has learnt that you simply have to think outside of the box in these situations and where alien technology is concerned, nothing is impossible. He was smart in ruling out things as he went along. I loved General Landry in this episode. Beau Bridges is really settling in and Landry has become a very complex and interesting character, though I have to say that I don't miss the Lam/Landry thing. Nothing against Lexa Doig or her character, I just didn't like the daddy/daughter issues storyline or interaction. I felt it limited the growth and interaction potential of both characters.

I`m liking these sorts of posts on Lee. You people have changed my mind about him in this ep.

What I didn't like was the callus dismissal and discarding of the Sodan warriors. They were interesting and, especially the two brothers who were IMHO an important part of the storyline of Mitchell. There was so much potential there and they took such time building up this dignified encounter between Mitchell and the Sodan in Babylon that the way it was dismissed and played out in Arthur's Mantle was insulting. It was so poorly handled and the scenes between poor Volnek who got zombiefied and Mitchell were so busy being played out for laughs that Mitchell lost all the dignity that having such a formidable enemy as the Sodan Warrior Volnek gave his character and that facing him down had to offer. I mean by the time they got to that childish display in the woods where Mitchell was taunting Volnek, I forgot all about the history they had and why Volnek, even in his zombie state, would be so bent on killing Mitchell.

Just a stupid waste of something that could have been so much more.

Marla

Wow! That`s sort of what I said but you said it so much better!

[Stricken]

Arthur’s Mantle played with a subject that is a core Stargate theme, alternate dimensions, and as Cam mentioned he only has the time travel experience to go and he's done the SG-1 trifecta. Flashback to Avalon and the discovery that Merlin is an Ancient, who in this episode we discover that he was an ascended being who re-took human form in order to help out the decedents of the Ancients from the threat the Ori would one day have. Keeping the instructions in a device which could be accessed in this dimension for all to see, such as a Prior who could give it to the Ori to use against the Ascended beings here in our Galaxy.

Sam working on the device tentatively trying to make it work just like she would have done in the good old days when she would discover something amazing about the device SG-1 would go off explore some lead and be home in time for dinner. The devices flashes and Sam and Cam are gone, off to some other dimension which we learn from Carter are different to realities which there are infinite number of compared to the 11 dimensions that there are, so after this episode SG-1 have been in two and the third being from Season 6 with the freaky creatures, leaving 8 for future story lines which I'm sure will happen, maybe Season 15

Whilst the whole dimension thing was going on the Sodan were attacked by one may who had been infected by the Ori to unleash the terror on the Sodan after they had gone against them, if they infect entire planets with this new curse then they will have massive armies to do their bidding, and who don't listen to reason and who are almost impossible to kill except for when being blown apart. An un-killable killing machine is what the Goa'uld never had until Anubis came up with the Kull warriors, the technology is around the same meaning we are going need some weapon to use against this threat, but it is possible that this was an isolated incident if this is the case then it would be a let down as the Ori are going to take us to our limits. They have already destroyed the Prometheus through their followers and have wiped out the Sodan they won't stop until the MW is like their own Galaxy full of define Ancient speaking peoples who will do as they are commanded.

It couldn't be any episode where characters are out of phase with out Daniel Jackson joining them, and Bill make another error of judgement he really needs a break where what he does makes a difference, when you think about it he has had bad luck all season on SG-1, Atlantis is a different story.
With Teal'c and co stranded on the Sodan planet, with reinforcements there and Cam. Cam would have to be the one to mess their plan up by tagging along, mind you it wasn't his fault Sam and Daniel deactivated the device, in the end Teal'c saved him, Cam got the crystal, they all returned home in time for dinner. A subject which played through the episode with the breakfast at the beginning of the episode, beef for lunch and then home in time for dinner

Arthur’s Mantle receive a S.G.C rating of 7 out of 9 Chevrons!

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

Someone on another thread brought up an interesting question:

If Orlin could only retake human form as a child to use his knowledge to help find a cure for the plague, and if he lost his memories before completing the task, how the heck did Merlin succeed in building a secret weapon powerful enough to kill Ascendeds?

[Jonzey]

Someone on another thread brought up an interesting question:

If Orlin could only retake human form as a child to use his knowledge to help find a cure for the plague, and if he lost his memories before completing the task, how the heck did Merlin succeed in building a secret weapon powerful enough to kill Ascendeds?

Was Merlin ascended ever? All I remember is he was one of the ancients who returned to Earth from Atlantis.

Unless they mentioned in this ep that he was ascended and I just can't remember...

But then Orlin retook ancient form and retained all his memories back in season 5.

[Daniel's_twin]

Even if they didn't actually say he was ascended (which I think they did, his "fellow ascended beings"), I think it would be common sense to assume he was, seeing as how the legend of Merlin would have taken place at least a thousand years (probably more) since the Ancient's return to Earth.

[Jonzey]

Even if they didn't actually say he was ascended (which I think they did, his "fellow ascended beings"), I think it would be common sense to assume he was, seeing as how the legend of Merlin would have taken place at least a thousand years (probably more) since the Ancient's return to Earth.

But don't ancients live a really really really really really long time?

[cafine_us]

I really didn't like that as Sam and Mitchell were walking down the hallway, they moved out of the way for everyone that walked by. As they were out of phase, they should have just kept walking straight through them. Okay, sure, there's a limited budget and they could only afford to do the fancy effect occasionally. The directors should have just kept the extras from walking by. This way, we get the "walk and talk" exposition, with no distracting breaks in continuity.

[JUNIOR]

Was Merlin ascended ever? All I remember is he was one of the ancients who returned to Earth from Atlantis.

Unless they mentioned in this ep that he was ascended and I just can't remember...

But then Orlin retook ancient form and retained all his memories back in season 5.

Yes he was, when Daniel was reading the text in the alt. deminson log he said that Merlin ascended then descended to be able to work on the weapon in another dimension in secret.

[Dani347]

I really didn't like that as Sam and Mitchell were walking down the hallway, they moved out of the way for everyone that walked by. As they were out of phase, they should have just kept walking straight through them. Okay, sure, there's a limited budget and they could only afford to do the fancy effect occasionally. The directors should have just kept the extras from walking by. This way, we get the "walk and talk" exposition, with no distracting breaks in continuity.

I liked that they did that. Yeah, they could have walked through if they were actually out of phase, but I think it's second nature to step aside if you see someone coming towards you and you're not really thinking.

[JUNIOR]

Someone on another thread brought up an interesting question:

If Orlin could only retake human form as a child to use his knowledge to help find a cure for the plague, and if he lost his memories before completing the task, how the heck did Merlin succeed in building a secret weapon powerful enough to kill Ascendeds?

You have to remember that Orlin sad that he knew how to make the cure for the disease. The problem was that the SGC just didn't have the sufficient tools for him to whip up a cure in a sufficient amount of time. That being said, Merlin could have gained most of the knowledge he needed when he was ascended. He could have chose to hold on to it just long enough to get a running head start and give himself a chance to finish the weapon after he let go of all of the ascended knowledge, and after he let go of the knowledge he could have taken all the time he needed to finish it.

[JUNIOR]

I really didn't like that as Sam and Mitchell were walking down the hallway, they moved out of the way for everyone that walked by. As they were out of phase, they should have just kept walking straight through them. Okay, sure, there's a limited budget and they could only afford to do the fancy effect occasionally. The directors should have just kept the extras from walking by. This way, we get the "walk and talk" exposition, with no distracting breaks in continuity.

~$10,000 a pop for vis. effect.

[PG15]

I liked that they did that. Yeah, they could have walked through if they were actually out of phase, but I think it's second nature to step aside if you see someone coming towards you and you're not really thinking.

There's also the fact that it's very unnerving having someone walk through you (as per Daniel in Crystal Skull).

[Schrodinger82]

I'm a little late into this thread, and someone might have already mentioned this, but...

This is a team with some ofthe best military minds on the planet. One of them is one of the best translators in the galaxy. They're communicating on a device where they're forced to use a series of taps on a single dial.

And nobody thinks of using morse code?!

[Jonzey]

I'm a little late into this thread, and someone might have already mentioned this, but...

This is a team with some ofthe best military minds on the planet. One of them is one of the best translators in the galaxy. They're communicating on a device where they're forced to use a series of taps on a single dial.

And nobody thinks of using morse code?!

I don't think Morse code applies to ancient letters or gate symbols.

Yes he was, when Daniel was reading the text in the alt. deminson log he said that Merlin ascended then descended to be able to work on the weapon in another dimension in secret.

I see. In that case, I reckon he did a season 5 Orlin style descension to ancient form, rather than a season 9 Orlin descension to human form.

[naseuy]

Why would they use morse code when they don't have anything substantial to say?