'Faith' (113) General Discussion

[theta123]

I liked this episode

It has this mystery like other SG1 and SGA episode's.

Cant wait for this friday!

[blackluster]

I really enjoyed the ep. I was very pleased with the amount of content in terms of discussion topics. Even though I don't stake much on Lt. James' insight into robotic technology, the mere possibility of an ancient robot of this period in Ancient history makes SGU exponentially more awesome. Though some have theorized that it is a repair bot I actually wonder if it isn't perhaps some aspect of Destiny's defense system. A sort of Mk 1 of the drones they would later use to defend their ships and facilities.

I really enjoyed the Rush scenes as well. At last, Young does virtually all the things he should have been doing a long time ago. His discussion with Wray and Rush really showed the benefits of letting them provide input. The way their discussion panned out, it was as if Wray spoke to Young's conscience and Rush spoke to his practical mind, which I think provides exactly the kind of balance that Young's decision making has been lacking till now. In the end he was able to walk a middle ground that he could resolutely believe in which is important for his own mental stability.

I laughed at the end where Young sympathizes that Rush couldn't get the answers he wanted. Rush was truly dumbstruck. I must say though that I felt something important about Rush was revealed to the other characters that we the viewers have known for some time. Rush's motivations, what truly moves him, is the desire to discover and learn in this dangerous yet spectacular situation they find themselves in. I know some people have attributed a passive aggressive connotation to Young's statement about enjoying chess, but I felt it was a truly peace offering comment that came from Young since he was finally able to understand something about what makes Rush tick, some motivation of his that cannot be easily linked to some nefarious will to do harm. He lives his life on Destiny as someone embracing his destiny (to discover amazing knowledge), not as a victim of his destiny as some people seem to be who are being whittled away in mind and spirit.

I found myself absorbed by some of the fantastic ideas of exploration that came to the fore in this ep. I sort of wondered to myself if I'd be able to embark on that camping trip spending a week away from what I've come to know in an expedition based on so many variables. The mystery of this planet and star was also fascinating though unlike other viewers, I didn't really relate the lack of information about it or the obelisk to a commentary on faith, but rather on the amazing things that lie in wait at the far side on the universe.

In terms of plot going forward, I suspect that while we won't see the planet or the departed again, do have a feeling that we'll being seeing some more obelisks in the future. It would be interesting if they had some role in the politics in the parts of the universe Destiny travels. What I mean is that it would be interesting if the blue aliens perhaps knew of these structures but such that they knew to stay the heck away from them. Destiny may well have triggered a galactic incident and while that is just fanciful thinking, I think it creates some plausible avenues for the writers to explore. As another poster mentioned, we may be seeing the prelude to SGU's "Thor's Hammer" episode.

Overall, nice ep, plenty to talk about and the beginnings of some intriguing canon that would be completely unique to SGU.

[PG15]

Nice review, PG.

Snort! Oh my gosh...I think I woke up the neighbors with that laugh.

Excellent review, PG15! Thank you!

PG do not ever apologise for being sickening positive. It makes me all sickeningly glow-y inside with sickly joy. Give me a P!

P!

Give me an ositivity!

ositivity!

Positivity!

I love your positive review, and you've touched on so many things that I liked about the episode as well!

Wow, the review was better than the episode itself.

Thanks folks!

POSITIVITY!!

Can you take some time to do another Earth and Life review please?

Actually, I've already written a review for Life, but I just didn't post it here. Instead, I posted it in the comments of Joe Mallozzi's blog entries, here. You'll have to scroll down a bit to get to my comment. Or, just search for the word "pg15" in your Internet browser (that's my name on his blog).

I haven't written one for Earth yet, and unfortunately I'm pretty busy with exam finals these days. Maybe later.

Really? Interesting, I didn't see that at all. In fact, since there were no spoken lines, we have to take it as fact that they didn't feel that way at all. It's one of the things other people in the forum have drilled into me: if we don't blatantly see or hear it on the show, it didn't happen, and there is obviously no subtext or anything like that going on.

Well, I don't know how those other people feel, but IMHO there is plenty of subtext happening all the time. With that scene specifically, there were very subtle smiles on both Scott and Chloe's faces when they were looking at each other, and I see that as a sign that they really do want to stay together.

I found it interesting that she didn't say anything about helping while on the ship, just a "I want to go" kind of thing. I wonder how she would have responded, if she was asked to dig the latrine?

I think she'd've been fine with it, to an extent. She's never really complained about having to work (she complained more about feeling useless); she's just done very little, for good reason.

I also found the subtext to hint more at still being attached to Scott, which is the reason she ultimately came back as well. Her motives were never explained, otherwise.

I can agree with this; they are very much each others' emotional anchor on the ship.

[Pharaoh Atem]

so is stargate infinity the only series now to not feature a cast member having a baby??

[Alder]

Doing my usual, writing this up while watching the episode - standard apologies for repeating stuff already said...

• I still wish we had a better idea of how much time (approximately) passes between episodes. Rush is clearly still unwell - but able to get up - and there's still military/civilian tension...
• Don't eat alien fruit, Greer...<headdesk> (Was that supposed to make him look badass? It just made him look idiot...)
• Hm. What's up with TJ...?
• Oo! An obelisk.
• That shuttle seems to take more folk than I expected. Though it's been a while since we saw it full...
• Gah, TJ's pregnant, isn't she... At least, that's what I'd guess if it was any other show.
• I love outside shots of the ship. I wish we knew a bit more about the Destiny. Actually, I rather liked that short sequence at the start where they were repressurising a section, it's nice to see ongoing repair work.
• And now they are exploring more of Destiny. Hope they find interesting stuff...
• Heh, bonding over football...
• Yup, pregnant. Oh dear.
• I wish Young would get past the whole, "work it out/deal with it/fix it" thing he does, which makes the scientists get testy. One of my favourite lines in SG-1 was after the gate had malfunctioned one time and Hammond was told it would be X hours before it would be fixed and he said something along the lines of "you've got 1/2 X!" and Siler told him, "It doesn't work like that, General". I wish someone would say something similar to Young...
• Eep. Obelisk woke up.
• Hmmm, folk wanting to stay...and only 10 minutes to wrap this up?
• What the...was that a joke from Young? Heh... And possible bonding over chess?

Okay...well...overall impression...
I liked this episode. Really liked it, though I can't quite put my finger on why...
Perhaps because there was a greater feeling of folk working together, and for once things went well...ish...and there was a puzzle, but it's just been left for the moment, and also - Young was much more mellow and reasonable. Hmmm...I hope that keeps up...
I'm a little uncertain - did some folk still stay behind? I don't recognise enough of the secondary characters to be sure.

(Now to go back and read what everyone else made of it...)

[skarwolf]

I found it boring. The doctor walks around looking bored and constipated most of the episode. If they're going to find something why an obelisk? I'm curious how the writers decided on that.

Also it bothers me they seem to just forget about the fact that someone was murdered, tried to frame young and he left Rush on that planet and lied to everyone about it. But hey they're ok with it so everyone else must be.

[Dr. Michael Benjamin]

An interesting episode. When the story reached the point of the characters wanting to stay on the planet I had a sense that perhaps the writers were influenced the story of the wreck of the Sea Venture and the original settlement of the Bahamas. Did anyone else get that impression?

For those who might not be familiar, the Sea Voyage was an English ship that was wrecked in the Bahamas. The people aboard the ship wanted to stay on the island as it had an abundance of food and other resources. Many argued that life would have been better for them there rather than continuing on to their original destination of Virginia. Most aboard the doomed vessel had indentured servitude and a tough life ahead for them in the new colony. The people believed that God had sent them to the island to save them from the uncertainties that awaited them in Virginia. In the end, however, the people built new ships and continued on their journey. To me, this episode parallels this story greatly.

Also, and maybe this has already been addressed, but is it not possible to dial earth from any of the stargates on the planets at which that the Destiny stops? Maybe there is a good explanation for this but I might have missed it.

[senilegreen]

Also it bothers me they seem to just forget about the fact that someone was murdered, tried to frame young and he left Rush on that planet and lied to everyone about it. But hey they're ok with it so everyone else must be.

I'm still trying to figure out why, in the previous episode, so many of the civilians sided with Rush. Rush is the reason they are lost in space, and most of them (if they were written as real humans by the SGU writers) would have cheered when Young finally got rid of the guy, if not had taken out their anger on Rush long before then.

[Col.Foley]

Not as good as Divided but it was pretty good.

The planet was excellent as was the mystery and the light and the obilisk. Just a solid episode all around that really raised good moral questions and showed the team in their dispair and what they are going through through their every day life.

[Infinite-Possibilities]

I'm starting to think maybe I'm not going to be enjoying most of SGU. I think the show was slowly improving since it started and the last few episodes have been fairly interesting but this episode kind of put me off.

I think it's because I'm just not a fan the new format or rather where I think the new format will be going. It's basically a different genre of television show than either of it's predecessors and thus many long time viewers may not longer even be in the target audience.

I never liked watching soap opera-ish teen dramas and while I wouldn't strictly call SGU one, it's really kinda heading in that direction a bit too heavily for me. Following TJ's pregnancy reveal, I was sighing in disappointment. Whatever the reason for it may be, there's really no denying that's a pretty big soap opera element. It didn't really help the show by making it another step closer to that stupid joke about it being The Young SG-1 show from "200."

As for the episode itself it seemed a bit hit and miss. It started off truly intriguing, but eventually I started to realize it was moving along really slowly. And i kept waiting for something noteworthy to happen on the planet and nothing did. By the end I kept hoping the aliens would make it to the planet in time so the episode would be more interesting but I realized a while before the end that there probably was not sufficient time left in this episode before the end.

I'm not sure how I feel about the introduction of new aliens. On the one hand I like it, it gives the feeling of being in the presence of awe inspiring beings like in the earlier episodes of SG-1, which is really as it ought to be. On the other hand...I dunno. I'm thinking introducing advanced aliens after more advanced aliens after even more advanced aliens gets a little tiring after a while.

If nothing else, I hope that we don't learn more about them only to find they were actually all somehow idiots and we can do everything better than them.

I did generally like some of the characters developing more that we did have the chance to see, I guess.

[jelgate]

I'm still trying to figure out why, in the previous episode, so many of the civilians sided with Rush. Rush is the reason they are lost in space, and most of them (if they were written as real humans by the SGU writers) would have cheered when Young finally got rid of the guy, if not had taken out their anger on Rush long before then.

Because in the civilians eyes the see the attempted murder (if you can call it attempted murrder) on Rush due purely out of annoyance. Remember they don't know the crime Rush committed that made Young do this. Despite the wrong of what Rush did in stranding them most of the civilians won't think it warrents Rush dying.

SGU is complicated

[nx01a]

YOUNG: Oh, that's great, Rush, coming from you.
RUSH: Come on, it's simple.
YOUNG: First you wanna kick the military out, and now you want us rounding people up at gunpoint.

Faith

The Good:
>Wrath of KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! Genesis Device reference.
>Rush's logic. I agree entirely with him and Young's comeback was brilliant. It's an interesting spin on what happened last week and what the civilians were fighting for. You want to stay here and potentially get yourselves killed? Fine. Free will... and all that.
>The atheist scientist. Sadly, I agree.
>The 'created' solar system. Eden, anyone? Was the planet created as a zoo for humans?
>Why do I think the Born Again Scientist was just a manifestation of the obelisk designed to get people to stay on the planet? Nah. Couldn't be.
>Looking to the all-powerful beings to save you? Hmm. Usually in Stargate, and as is the case in the overall plot of SGU, it's 'looking to the all-powerful beings' technology to save you. Well, in the Stargate universe , God really WAS an Ancient astronaut who created life on Earth. Aliens as gods is standard Stargate fare, but I don't think it's been handled quite like this before.
>The scene with the shuttle flying towards the huge obelisk. It reminded me instantly of Enterprise when it went through a cloaking field and flew towards a Sphere for the first time.
>The most powerful race EVAR! It seems like foreshadowing and I'd hate to never know the truth about where that solar system came from and who the Obelisk Builders are [just like Rush]. I'm unsure about introducing an even more godlike race than the Ancients, but we'll see how it goes. Hopefully, this massive a revelation about the powers that lurk beyond the rim won't be dropped like the Nox, never to be seen again.
>THEY MENTIONED FRANKLIN!!!!
>THEY REFERENCED 'TIME'!!!!
>I loved seeing the crew actually start to work together. Greer's drill sgt. routine worked well: community through adversity. Rush and Young and Wray actually talking out the pros and cons of the non-lethal situation and Young making the final decision.
>Park. She's a very optimistic reader. Those scenes were hilarious.
>TJ. I really felt for her this episode. If the aliens kidnap her baby... Sorry. Teyla flashbacks. The chances of the kid surviving on Destiny are slim, and on SGU... none.
>Ancient Ancient crates! Ancient Ancient robots! They really built things to last, didn't they? I wonder if they're suped-up versions of the Kinos?
>Greer eating the fruit.

The Bad:
>Chloe. WTF was she even DOING down there?!?! Were all the other useless civilians doing something? I saw no reason for her to be on the planet except to be the one TJ confides in. Chloe = Plot Device. Ah. And, of course, showing skin while bathing. I wanted her to stay underwater longer than she should be able to and realize the aliens had altered her DNA. But, alas, no. So much for interesting.
>Chloe and Scott walking through a field of flowers, laughing. *gag* Move on, love sick puppy. Go back to being a horn dog. James can love you in broom closets better than she can.
>Are those people really ready to say goodbye to everything and everyone they left on Earth to live the agrarian life on the other side of the universe? Stupid. I have faith they'll get vivisected.
>Giving them the shuttle?! If they're so sure the Obelisk Builders will save them, then take the shuttle back with you... if possible. Young should have kept the damaged shuttle and had Scott bring up the good one and then go back to the planet. You're losing people, you shouldn't lose another potentially invaluable resource, too.
>Young's wife and Telford. TJ having Young's baby will equal more time dealing with Young's wife and all that ridiculous drama. *gag* Hopefully, the wife's also pregnant with Telford's baby, so it'll all balance out in the end. If you're gonna go soap opera, go ALL the way.

The Verdict:
>THIS is the kind of human episode that 'Earth' and 'Life' weren't. I really felt something for these people and their situation. I even cared about TJ and Young's upcoming baby mama drama! Well done. I must admit to not having much faith in the show after the previously mentioned episodes, but the second half of season 1 is batting 3/3. I now have a bit more faith in SGU. Don't let me down!

[Lahela]

I really enjoyed this ep, for so many reasons, but especially for...

The set-up: The writers are doing a bang-up job of giving us a little taste of something before we really get to know it, and I'm confident that we'll learn a whole lot more about whoever built this planet before the show ends its run.

The characters: Park's perky optimism contrasted with Brody's gloomy pessimism - so good to see that kind of characterisation flowing through the series. Young, Rush and Wray trying to work together, without it looking like they've all been castrated (metaphorically speaking).

The themes: I think "Faith" is a bit of a misnomer. I saw Kaine's unshakable faith in whoever (God, aliens...) to be more a sign of desperation based on a lack of faith in Destiny to get them home. When faced with a choice between a rock (planet) and a hard place (Destiny), lots of people would choose the one that they want to be the better choice.

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

Finally got round to watching this having been away for the weekend and I must say it was another excellent ep for me. I think we'll see a slower change of pace after the first couple of eps which will then ramp up before the end. The ep itself was nice bread and butter sci fi. The nature of faith and how technology and aliens could border on the divine was an interesting discussion. I also like their wasn't some clean resolution, I liked the fact some of the crew stayed behind. Not a particular fan of the pregnancy storyline, not because of any soapish tendencies but because we've had pregnancy storylines in both previous shows. I guess tptb have the worst luck when it comes to picking actresses who then promptly go and get pregnant . Apart from that some more beautiful cgi and a neat set up for the new aliens, I'm sure we'll run into these ones again, but I like the fact we don't immediately meet them, I like the slow build up and the mystery.

[suqata]

Paradise Lost anyone? I have not seen any mention of it so far, they are too similar to be accidental.