'Sabotage' (116) General Discussion

[reddevil18]

Okay, people, say it with me. Climatic=/=climactic.
Climatic - of or relating to climate.
Climactic - of, relating to, or constituting a climax.

Class dismissed.

[prion]

Jelgate's Two Cents

I remember this episode being discussed months ago when the casting call for Amanda (then Eleanor) Perry came out. It made the notion of a crippled person seem very demeaning. And fandom doing what fandom does criticized and overreacted to the casting Perry call. But I kind of knew they were wrong. And for the most part I think I was right. The episode is not without its faults and it’s defiantly not the highlight in SGU (in fact its one of my least liked) but it was defiantly better then the negative hype that was spreading almost a year ago. You know where to go.

Yawn. Sorry, but where it is written that fans must sit and go ‘oh, that’s nice’ to anything/everything that leaks on a show? Fans have ALWAYS criticized show, long before you were born. Yes, before the internet. They actually wrote those things called ‘letters.’ And if you recall, it wasn’t just ‘fans’ who were pissed off with the spoilers, folks outside of fandom were too.

In all honesty, why is Carter the expert on hyperdrives? We were never told that she was instrumental in our own hyperspace experiments, only that she knows a bit about modifying drives. Why would she be the best when we undoubtedly have people who spend their careers working in that one area now? Such as Perry.

Carter is the expert because the writers luv her. I mean, seriously, they do. Judging from watching over a decade’s worth of SGs

Well, there were definitely rewrites done for Perry in this episode. Besides the name change (Eleanor was changed to Amanda), the scene in which Perry flirts with Eli was substituted with a scene in which Perry admits to Eli that she has feelings for Rush. Most of the rest of the Perry scenes that were in the casting sides happened pretty much the same way in the actual episode. Except that the scene with Rush in Perry's room was changed. In the original casting sides, Perry removed her shirt after they kissed and then they continued kissing. The casting sides didn't actually say that they had sex, so anyone who posted that they had sex were filling in what they thought would happen based on the way the scene left off in the casting sides. Also, I don't think that Perry and Rush had any sort of previous feelings for one another in the original casting sides (hence her also flirting with and basically propositioning Eli in the sides). The original Perry from the casting sides was much more about drinking/kissing/having sex (things she'd never done before), so that part of the character was toned down and a previous mutual attraction between her and Rush was included in the episode instead of Perry acting like a "girl gone wild." I much prefer the Perry from the episode to the Perry from the casting sides.

Perry from the show was much better than Perry from the sides. Yes, obvious rewrites and it’s not the first time that’s happened (SG1 fans may remember when Jonas Quinn was basically given Daniel Jackson’s background; that did not sit well with fans).

Perry was more mature, but still, the idea of having sex with Rush, using someone else’s body, is just wrong, unless it was agreed upon that hey, while you have my body, sure have sex, but just don’t eat fattening food. The whole body-swapping stuff is still squicky as the writers have yet to have a participant get upset over something the other person did (like Chloe getting drunk – yeah, thank you, the other woman woke up with a hangover).

However, oddly enough, I do like Rush a bit more after this episode.

I was hoping that Eli-Chloe-Scott would not just miraculously show up on the ship, as they did. The aliens were, eh, they’re not too threatening yet.

[reddevil18]

Yawn. Sorry, but where it is written that fans must sit and go ‘oh, that’s nice’ to anything/everything that leaks on a show? Fans have ALWAYS c
Perry was more mature, but still, the idea of having sex with Rush, using someone else’s body, is just wrong, unless it was agreed upon that hey, while you have my body, sure have sex, but just don’t eat fattening food. The whole body-swapping stuff is still squicky as the writers have yet to have a participant get upset over something the other person did (like Chloe getting drunk – yeah, thank you, the other woman woke up with a hangover).

Well, the stone thing was explained in the kinosode thingy. So, yeah, basically, it's understood that sex is one of the things that might occur. In fact, it's expected.

[jelgate]

Yawn. Sorry, but where it is written that fans must sit and go ‘oh, that’s nice’ to anything/everything that leaks on a show? Fans have ALWAYS criticized show, long before you were born. Yes, before the internet. They actually wrote those things called ‘letters.’ And if you recall, it wasn’t just ‘fans’ who were pissed off with the spoilers, folks outside of fandom were too.

That wasn't the point. Critique and critizing is one thing. Overreacting to spoilers is another.

[EllieVee]

Oh cool... we're taking credit for that now?

Yep. Don't you feel a great satisfaction?

Interesting Analysis

I don’t think in their scene Eli showed interest in Amanda. I think he was just surprised that anyone would find Rush desirable. Prior to Sabotage Rush has been cold, abrasive and unlikable. In this episode Rush was warm and approachable a nearly different character from the pre-Divided persona.

To you. I don't see that much of a change except he's a little more open. I have always seen him as pushing people away so he doesn't get hurt.

And you may be right that Eli isn’t part of any social groups yet. They evacuated on the same day he arrived at the Icarus base. He probably hasn’t had time to form friendships yet and his allegiance to Young’s side probably hasn’t helped matters. Now, I think the distinction in the two camps is disappearing and it won’t continue to affect his social interaction with the civilians.

Yes, it's always so hard when people don't let you into their social groups after you start spying on them. Frankly, the spoiled little Me Generation kid needs to pull his head and get over himself.

Part of his social isolation may be his age. I think his character’s age is very early 20’s. He is probably suppose to be younger than most everyone else on board.

He's supposed to be 25, I believe. He's not that much of a little boy.

Part of his problem in finding girlfriends may be that is he is shy and inexperienced and a little immature. Part may be his genius. Intellectual women may find him intimidating although I think that is worse with very intelligent women than it is with men.

Shy? Where'd that come from? He's not shy, he's self-involved.

I suspect that in the not too distant future they will have an episode with him getting involved with another woman on the crew. If it happens it will be interesting how the writers handle the new character. Will they show them breaking up later or have her die in some crisis and have Eli go to pieces over it?

To their credit, the writers have tried to avoid cliches and thankfully don't take suggestions of story ideas from fans.

I think you are right that the novelty of their situation has worn off and the reality of it is a little disheartening. I think the positive aspect of his personality will assert itself and he won’t go all dark side on everyone.

I think his true personality is asserting itself now.

Okay, people, say it with me. Climatic=/=climactic.
Climatic - of or relating to climate.
Climactic - of, relating to, or constituting a climax.

Class dismissed.

[hisg1fans]

well, being pregnant has been known to make a woman nuts
TJ and James look nothing alike, so I don't get it?

Sorry, I mixed up the names. Was partially asleep when typing (and watching).

I did spell anti-climactic correctly though (by the way, the hyphen was meant to emphasize the "anti" part of the word).

My pet peeve is people typing "should of" when they mean to say "should have", which contracts to "should've". OMG!!! That drives me nuts. And so many people do it all the time. Drives me nuts!!!

[EllieVee]

My pet peeve is people typing "should of" when they mean to say "should have", which contracts to "should've". OMG!!! That drives me nuts. And so many people to it all the time. Drives me nuts!!!

I have two pet peeves. One is subject-pronoun agreement and the other is multiple exclamation marks, as Terry Pratchett says, the sure sign of someone who wears underpants on his/her head.

[hisg1fans]

I have two pet peeves. One is subject-pronoun agreement and the other is multiple exclamation marks, as Terry Pratchett says, the sure sign of someone who wears underpants on his/her head.

Guilty on the mutliple exclamation marks and underpants ARE on my head

I thought all my subjects and pronouns matched though? Did I get some wrong? Or is this not directed at me?

[LoneStar1836]

Well, the stone thing was explained in the kinosode thingy. So, yeah, basically, it's understood that sex is one of the things that might occur. In fact, it's expected.

I don't watch those. If it's not shown in the show then as far as I'm concerned it doesn't exist for me because I don't know what's being said on those kinosode whatevers on the internet.

As to the actual episode, I liked it well enough. At least it wasn't the controversial episode that I thought it would be as I was prepared to really dislike it. Better than a number of first half episodes, but probably the weakest of the back half so far...either it or Divided.

[Briangate78]

I have two pet peeves. One is subject-pronoun agreement and the other is multiple exclamation marks, as Terry Pratchett says, the sure sign of someone who wears underpants on his/her head.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[EllieVee]

Guilty on the mutliple exclamation marks and underpants ARE on my head

I thought all my subjects and pronouns matched though? Did I get some wrong? Or is this not directed at me?

Not aimed at you. Except for the exclamation marks, of course.

[Replicator Todd]

This episode would have been an easy way to get either McKay or Carter on to help fix this problem

I agree, I liked the character that was chosen. But to me it would make sense that it would be Mckay and Carter, unless they are both busy which could be likely.

[mere earthling]

I'm going to have to watch the episode again, it was a bit disjointed to me. There was too much happening and some of the story lines left me wanting- the kids returning, while the Camille as the quadraplegic kinda dragged. Although I thought it was well done- I'm a nurse that works with ventilator patients so I'm a bit jaded.

The Franklin scene at the end was very BSG- I loved it.

[Tuvok]

Much to my surprise, I liked this episode. Scott, Eli and Chloe's return may have been a little too easy, but it makes sense when you come to think of it. Interestingly enough, the use of the stones was alright, or so I thought, and exposed Destiny to the alien sabotage through Lt. James. Basically, it's not safe to use the stones anymore, which is good.

Amanda Perry is a very likable character. I'm glad fans changed TPTB's minds about the whole sex in someone else's body crap. Hope we get to see her again in the future.

At last the whole Franklin and the chair thing paid off. And wow, what happened to him? Did he undergo some sort of digital ascension like those Asuran rebels on SGA and now resides on the ship's computer?

So the aliens are still following Destiny, huh? How long have they been chasing the ship, and through how many galaxies?

Nice to see the repair bot operational. How many are there on the ship? It'd be cool to see Destiny slowly returning to its former glory as the show progresses due to the little bots.

8/10

Actually the synapse was for intimate scenes. The fans assumed ( including myself ) that it meant sex. Guess we underestimated the writers. Didn't occur to me Intimate was smoldering looks and making out.

[SG7]

Now, of course, Eli's interpretation of what actually constitutes hard work is a little sketchy, I imagine.

LOL! I too wonder what Eli considers "hard work", given what he was used to doing before being recruited for the Icarus project and then suddenly dumped on board a self driving ship with no way home.