'Air, Part 2' (102) General Discussion

[AtlantisRules!!!]

Rush made himself look better In Part 1 it was obviously Young who grabbed the case with the stones, but, in PArt 2, Rush told them he did

[Ramses818]

Shan

First off, I didn't say that it wasn't a bad way of killing him off, I just said that it could have been done with a little bit more emotion and feeling. There should have been a much better way of killing him.

"The original intention was to send the ship out and then gate to it, so it had to have all of that stuff working. "

So they could have set it up like Atlantis to have the life-support turn on when they gated in. Rush said that they planned on joining the ship but probobly ascended first. They were obviously waiting for it to reach a certain place in space before joining it.

[Ramses818]

Rush made himself look better In Part 1 it was obviously Young who grabbed the case with the stones, but, in PArt 2, Rush told them he did

It is a power play. Also, Rush may have been the one to have brought the stones to Icarus base. It was only Young who had the intelligence to take them with in the evacuation

[Shan Bruce Lee]

So they could have set it up like Atlantis to have the life-support turn on when they gated in. Rush said that they planned on joining the ship but probobly ascended first. They were obviously waiting for it to reach a certain place in space before joining it.

The life-support was already on in Atlantis. The lights and modules started turning on.

Somebody said the Destiny started filling with air during the opening scene. I'll have to go back and look at it next time I watch it.

[fandomatic]

I really was suspect on the series sir.
How with this much information do we keep these people from turning this ship around and heading home? How many contrived points are they're going to be just to keep these people far and away from home on the other side of the universe?

Yeah, you're right. It's not rocket science... Oh, wait. It is.

4. They didn't use the obvious remote probe to close the door. (which is a really bad solution coming from the supposed geniuses on the team.

The whole idea was to present a heroic act from an un-heroic figure—the show premise. If I recall, they tried propping the shuttle door open while they got out and it worked for a few minutes but the door just reopened. It’s not unreasonable to assume a human element has to be present. It is a life boat and exit. Mass panic rules would apply -- Replicators and Wraith may not play here.

As for the door(s) being contrived? The ship is old. Mechanical failure is real. Without the right parts to install, no amount of programming is going to make a door move past an obstruction.

Anyway, it was two doors they were dealing with. The stuck one on Destiny (which they were trying to fix) and the shuttle door, which even I wouldn’t volunteer to ‘fix’ since it’s on the wrong side. I’m no genius, but I’d work on the mechanical failure, too.

[jelgate]

Sir the ship was falling apart!
The probe said there was air. Who's to say...well...the ship said and dialed.

Am I missing the logic sir.
Doesn't immediate peril sort of trump possible (not probable) peril, sir?

The unknown of the planet. All we know is air. What if the planet contained deadly solar radiation? What if the planet contained deadly microrganisms? What if... Well you get the point. Better to risk a few lives then many.

[garhkal]

Same old story... Seriously, this isn't any different than "Children of the Gods."

How was this like children of the gods?

[techwork]

What do you say? The idea of such a ship is not realistic and stupid. Why do that then begin if the fruits of this can not be used.
Why do need to put stargate if you do not use them?
In order to explore a planet clearly not ample hours. And for millions of years of the planet become unsuitable for human life.

There is no reason to discuss the rest.

[BIG_GATE_HEAD]

I just wanted to say that I thought SGU's pilot was better than I had expected. I do think that the show has great potential. I think that if it stays closer to SG1 and SGA it will be fine. It obviously closely resembles a couple of other shows but which show doesn't these days. There are some questions that I would like ask like why did they Hammond not kick the crap out of the Gould mother ships? What's with the ships? They were clearly different. And when do you think we will find out who attacked the base. IF WE DON'T HIND OUT WHO ATTACKED THAT BASE AND WHY I WILL BE SO PISSED OFF!

[BIG_GATE_HEAD]

Oh I almost forgot! Did anybody else fill like there was only two or three minutes worth of show and then five minutes of commercial? Whats up with that?

[BIG_GATE_HEAD]

I can't say I cared for that at all. I am so disappointed.

Firstly, the editing was terrible. The backity-forthity was just too much! And then, there were WAY too many commercials in the second half. I timed 6 minutes of show at one point, flanked by 3 minutes of commercials. That was a very poor choice and made it hard to really get into.

Next, I find it very hard to believe that this many dysfunctional people would be working on the most important project since the Stargate was found. Heck, I can't believe those people would be in the Stargate program AT ALL! That brings me to the sex scene. In and of itself, it was whatever, but I do not believe for once second that marines have sex in store rooms while on duty.

The sad thing is, I can't say I like any of these people. In the past, our main characters have been whole people with some background problems that make them interesting and sympathetic, (ie dead son, Goa'uld-ed wife etc) but these characters seem to BE their problems.

Basically, whereas the Atlantis Expedition marooned the best and the brightest, the Icarus Mission seems to have marooned the insane and unstable.

I'm so sad. I'll keep watching, though, for a few more weeks anyway.

Man, I am so glad that someone else mentioned the amount of commercials that were in the pilot! Did they think we would not notice??? And I agree with you about the way that the military people were conducting themselves. The one guy who was locked in the room for whatever would never have lasted long enough in the military or made it high enough in rank to make it to a top secret project. I know that the whole point of the show is that those people are the wrong people to be stranded like they are but come on if they were good enough to make it to a TOP SECRET program they would be prepared for it.

[fandomatic]

I disagree with this line of logic about leaving the ship and I agree.

Leaving the ship for a the 11 hours could be a good idea, it would get everybody some real air and they could conserve the bad air that they have by turning off the life support system.

At the expense of water? To keep hydrated for 11 hours in the heat, you'd need to carry A LOT of water. I didn't see any water bottles flying through the gate.

[PG15]

Sir, I get the sense the producers instructed the writers to get the characters in a contentious situation ASAP after the attack when it would have served psychological profiling to see these characters in a non harassed, non beligerent situation and working as a cohesive unit we're used to SG team working as. Quickly then progress them to infighting and fragmentation on a "REAL" threat and not just the really contrived threat of having to close....a door.

The producers are the writers.

You're missing the point. Any arguments that start with something like "like what we've seen before" is irrelevant, as that's the basic goal of the writers on this new series. They've said it many times that they are trying to do something different.

Think about it, sir. The writing made sure the characters didn't think of some obvious ways to survive the "door ordeal".

1. They were too busy bickering among themselves to diagnos their situation quickly.

I rather liked that. It makes it different from the usual "let's all look to the designated genius to figure it out while the rest of us make jokes; oh, and he/she WILL figure it out; just you wait!"

What actually happened, with Rush showing a disturbing lack of respect for human life, was much more interesting.

2. They only think to use the Stargate at the end. (WHY)

They only used the Stargate when they found the address to Earth. I would assume from that that they didn't much care to ponder the option of losing the ship (and the only obvious way back to Earth) by getting off of it, unless it was absolutely necessary.

And it wasn't. They still had an hour to figure out how to plug up the air leak.

5. A big problem with the show seem to be the path they're taking. That they are having difficulty with the ships systems They've had 5 years of experience with the Ancient style of programing and GUI and mechanics. This shouldn't be hard.

The ship is clearly from another era of the Ancient civilization; I wouldn't be surprised if they had to relearn everything. Furthermore, there was a lot of problems associated with actual hardware being broken down, which would've hampered any sort of software searches and programming.

And I don't know who this "they" are; we know of several people quite well-versed in Ancient hardware and software, but the rest? I wouldn't be so sure that anyone on the Universe team knew as much as, say, Carter or McKay.

I really was suspect on the series sir.
How with this much information do we keep these people from turning this ship around and heading home? How many contrived points are they're going to be just to keep these people far and away from home on the other side of the universe?

Carlye is no Carter or Rodney McCay. Zelinka could of figured that one out.

Yep, and it would've been the same old same old stuff. Boooooooring.

They were a plot device.
a reason for the events that took place, an enemy.
That's what Stargate has been about for the last 12 years. A transition from that would have made this pilot more believable as a stargate franchise and then the rapid deterioration of the situation would bring about SGU.

They had a lot of time to develop this.
I hope this gets better.

Again, you're missing the point of the new series. It's not trying to redo what came before; it's taking the franchise in a new direction. They made it very clear when they first announced the series that they were going to get away from having a series-long major enemy. So yeah, the LA was only a plot device to get the crew onto the Destiny; from there on out, the story will be about them.

But of course, nobody said that the LA couldn't come back some other time...

This could have been stated with one sentence.

Or it was so obvious that it didn't need to be said.

Sir the ship was falling apart!
The probe said there was air. Who's to say...well...the ship said and dialed.

Am I missing the logic sir.
Doesn't immediate peril sort of trump possible (not probable) peril, sir?

There was no immediate peril on Destiny. They had another day's worth of air left, thanks to the Senator. For the time being, they're actually quite safe.

[Saquist]

Yeah, you're right. It's not rocket science... Oh, wait. It is.



The whole idea was to present a heroic act from an un-heroic figure—the show premise.
As for the door(s) being contrived? The ship is old. Mechanical failure is real. Without the right parts to install, no amount of programming is going to make a door move past an obstruction.

There are a 12's of other doors with the exact same mechanism.

The producers are the writers.

What actually happened, with Rush showing a disturbing lack of respect for human life, was much more interesting.

Sir, I can't assume that.
The story telling was poor, we are story-guessing at this point about the character. Yet this isn't a mystery. The characters are being overt to the viewer. The guy taking rations with out permission. Sex in broom closets and etc.

Sir, they are not formulating a mystery, yet they give little indication if what Rush does is poor judgement or just poor conveyance of his intentions compared to others in the story.

They only used the Stargate when they found the address to Earth. I would assume from that that they didn't much care to ponder the option of losing the ship (and the only obvious way back to Earth) by getting off of it, unless it was absolutely necessary.

Sir, again that's story-guessing.
Good mysteries give you clues to guess.
Bad works force you to guess.

In this case faced with immediate death they instead of attempt to dial Earth as they did at the....end of Part II chose to let someone die.

Sir, humans aren't always logical but survival is straight forward.

The ship is clearly from another era of the Ancient civilization; I wouldn't be surprised if they had to relearn everything. Furthermore, there was a lot of problems associated with actual hardware being broken down, which would've hampered any sort of software searches and programming.

And I don't know who this "they" are; we know of several people quite well-versed in Ancient hardware and software, but the rest? I wouldn't be so sure that anyone on the Universe team knew as much as, say, Carter or McKay.

Yes, sir that maybe true but again-story guessing.

Yep, and it would've been the same old same old stuff. Boooooooring.

Yes, sir, the pilot was boring. The door problem was anti-climatic with a simple fix they couldn't figure out. That's why I contend that they need to do something else with the enemy instead of immediately setting these...contentious people at each others throat from the word go.

Again, you're missing the point of the new series. It's not trying to redo what came before; it's taking the franchise in a new direction. They made it very clear when they first announced the series that they were going to get away from having a series-long major enemy. So yeah, the LA was only a plot device to get the crew onto the Destiny; from there on out, the story will be about them.

Sir, and instant change in direction in direction for a franchise can be as detrimental as high G combat manuvers. People will black out, sir. It's so more important to make a believable story than single-minded objective chasing.

Or it was so obvious that it didn't need to be said.

Sir that means it was readily evident, overt. If there is any doubt then it wasn't. I have doubt, sir.

There was no immediate peril on Destiny. They had another day's worth of air left, thanks to the Senator. For the time being, they're actually quite safe.

Sir that was a sacrifice that by two options, they didn't have to make.
Safe sir, I don't think so sir. The hull is not intact, the vessel is in disrepair. The occupants do not know how to fix it (apparently) Food and water are highly limited. I can determine nothing safe in the assessment, sir.

THis would be equivalent to choosing to stay on a ocean going vessel made in the 14 century who's lower decks are flooded. Little to No food or water. with a continent of land right off shore.

Yes, there maybe violent natives, diease, and wild animals but the ship is threatening to sink. You need the ship...yes...to get home but you can come back. Compared to an ocean voyage, a space ship is risk personified.

[Naomi]

Finished watching the show. Meh. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it, either. I didn't find any of the characters interesting, or likeable, enough to care whether or not they survive. I think the premise of needing air was weak. Since SGU is a series, not a one shot movie, it's a safe bet that they will find air, making the peril seem forced and unbelievable.

Will I watch SGU? Maybe every 3rd or 4th episode, to see if there are any significant changes from this episode. Nothing about this premier makes me want to regularly view the show, though.