'Hope' (214) General Discussion

[Duval]

I liked a lot this episode, very moving, not a lot of action but with a dose of suspense ^^

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Good episode, definitely better than yesterday's (I don't know why I'm doing that).

Great character moments. Those 2 moments with Park and Brody were great.

Also, Earth once again doesn't reveal the Stargate program to the public.

Tomorrow, the partial crossover with Stargate Atlantis.

[ZRFTS]

The episode itself has surprising potential in the plot between Eli and Gin. Gin retains that type of warmness and charm and cold calucatedness that is the definition of his character and because of that which works to her advantage as it draws us into her and makes us care about every moment; from the moments where she's both scared and excited to the moments where Chloe surfaces and all confusion reigns loose. Eli definately manages to perfect that awkward lover to excellence, the certain shyness that he shows when he's around is both cute and something that people would probably do in real life when faced with such a person like this, when faced with emotion... and the determination that he shows towards not losing her definitely reflects passion, as if he is focused on fulfilling this dream even though other people may say otherwise; every movement, every vocal infliction adds a certain kind of quality to the episode; one that suggests determination to the work of acting, one that represents real life.

What ruins it is that the potential is untapped; while the two characters are interesting and the race against time is good, there is nothing that elevates it to greatness. No exploration of the things we hold dear, no exploration of possible loss, no exploration of what makes us do these things... It's oddly a common day on the Destiny in which the crew races to save somebody utilizing their wits and brawns. I blame it mostly on the fact that the writing staff lost the ability to see the hidden beauty; there has been many episodes where the potential of said subject is not exploited. Take for instance Atlantis' "The Queen", this episode had an interesting idea in that Teyla was forced to portray this Queen and that idea would naturally lead to exploration of the corruption of power between her duties and her personality, the struggles to break moral ground, the fine line between ruthless and downright despicable but instead we got an episode where Teyla acted out of character (acting irrationally, firing Darts at the enemy ship.) and managed to sleepwalk through the thing without learning a single thing. It may have been in the old format but the fact that it's potential is unexplored relates to what I'm talking about here. No matter what your format, potential is potential.

This episode also weakens the perception of Death in Universe; when your consciousnesses are able to be rescued and transferred to the Destiny itself, what's the purpose of such deaths in the first place. Rush killed "Simeone" in a fit of rage, not being able to handle the loss and not understanding the consequences of what his "death" meant and Eli managed to face emotion for the first time in his life but seeing those two alive just dilutes that. Rush and Eli are probably both thinking "Wait, why did we did those things again." It seems like the only serious death was Sgt. Hunter Riley, which is a shame because this is a show that could deal with loss, that could take risks and provide an even more realistic environment. These people are flawed, these people are trying day in and day out to keep it together, they have certain traits we don't know about and to see these people die in the line of duty, to see someone he's been so attached to gone would definately send him in desirable directions, same goes for the audience. It tests our faith in these characters, how much we'll cry for them, how much we'll remember them. When we see Wray or Greer dieing before our eyes, we'll think to ourselves "How could they do this, how could they kill of a main character like that." but then we'll realize that it's just life. If only SGU could learn to break away from the one Stargate trait that is consistent in every series, "main characters never die."

Brodie and Greer I didn't care for much, while I did find it noble that Greer would give his kidney for him and while I did find it cute in the park sitting together; there's just a sense of "been there, done that" feeling to it. TJ as the unqualified nurse, Brodie as the person in trouble and Greer as the willing candidate. There is nothing that ever stands out as unique or memorable and the entire thing to me just seems to reflect on the unmemorability of the Brodie character (I keep confusing him with Volker and vice versa.) I will say that it does reinforce Greer's determination, giving a kidney like that without fear, he's aware of the risks, he's aware that he might not make it but those demons inside compel him to go through anyway. He's serving as a friend, someone who you could go to a bar and have a drink with while at the same time he's also serving as the hardened military veteran. The kind of personality we see from him provides a multidimensional facet that improves his character. And I appreciate the small bits of comedy, the erection joke while stupid was a reflection of the naturalistic family like bond that the cast share; they can't help but to laugh as if they were good friends, while playing 2001: A Space Odyssey may have been overdone, at least they managed to include it in a personal matter while including some intriguing social commentary that raises it above the pack.

[Matt G]

Midweek...another ep of SGU...

1. This time round...I was sort of waiting for Perry to show up.

2. Volker...trouble sleeping then...hits the deck! Ouch!

3. I can imagine Eli and Rush feeling a bit wierd...but I don't think this really cheapens Perry and Ginn's deaths.

4. Interesting that Eli wanted to save Ginn but er...you've already lost her mate! I wouldn't have wanted to risk Chloe's life...end of.

[ZRFTS]

3. I can imagine Eli and Rush feeling a bit wierd...but I don't think this really cheapens Perry and Ginn's deaths.

They had their entire personalities intact.

Both of them could talk to them as if they were actually there.

They were transferred into the computer as AI's.

They could be transferred into new bodies (supposedly)

The point of loss (as shown in Mallace) is to deal with the suddenness of life and face the emotional burdens that we might have locked up; the fact that we'll never see such a thing again. What's the point of dealing with the issues if these two people are suddenly alive?

[jelgate]

Because they are not suddenly alive. The circumstances of them being "half-dead" brings it own cicumstances of emotion.

[ZRFTS]

The circumstances of them being "half-dead" brings it own cicumstances of emotion.

I know the circumstances of them being "half-dead". The point is, they basically went through all of that emotional turmoil for negligible effect.

It would of mattered if they were truly dead but they're not. (they're even in "quarantine") True death would of made the performances even more brilliant and unlocked tons of layers for the characters and since this is a series focusing sorely on the characters... (Weir's "half-death" played out mostly the same way.)

[jelgate]

No it wasn't. The emotions Eli and Rush were real when they died. It stays the same emotions with new ones since because of the state of what Ginn and Perry are. It wasn't negliable. It just changed to emotions to something different than the general grief in normal death

[Krisz]

Of course no one really dies in Science Fiction, Ginn and Amanda Perry turn up again as disembodied consciousnesses, in Chloe’s body! What a weird situation though with Scott, Rush and Eli all trying to talk to their respective ‘lovers’ whilst trying to keep their hands off her! Especially awkward not knowing when each of them would suddenly appear. The way Amanda Perry pulled her ‘hands’ away awkwardly when she saw she was holding Scott’s hands when he was consoling Chloe was a funny moment though.

The Volker and Greer moment stole the show, the powerful impact of a simple act of honest concern for a fellow human being, two people you would never imagine sharing that moment in the garden. The humour was great in this too, the discussion of certain post operative effects in front of poor old Volker and his expression was funny. Brody’s questionable music choices and selection on his iPod was hilarious, when I first saw that I laughed as much as my favourite humorous Stargate moment of Jack and Teal’c golfing through the Stargate in ‘Window of Opportunity.’

It’s moments like these in this episode, where things jump from the sublime to the ridiculous that pull it up from being boring to quite an entertaining one and shows that SGU can have as much humour as SG-1!

[Lieutenant Sparrow]

Just another okay ep.

Wasn't expecting to see Gin or Perry again, that's for sure.

Scott really really annoyed me in this ep with how selfish he was. Look Eli I don't give a damn about your girlfriend. She can die again for all I care. Just give me Chloe back.

I forgot this happened to Volker the space odyssey music really ruined the tension though.

Would the Asgard tech on the Odyssey be able to make new bodies for Gin and Perry?

[garhkal]

Scott really really annoyed me in this ep with how selfish he was. Look Eli I don't give a damn about your girlfriend. She can die again for all I care. Just give me Chloe back.

Can you blame him for being that way?

[Lieutenant Sparrow]

Yes I can. Its one thing to be worried about your girlfriends safety. But to completely disregard the lives of the other two is just wrong. Its probably the only fault I've found with Scott so far.

[garhkal]

People are selfish. Look at how many looters care not for the livelyhoods of those who they loot from?

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Looters in general probably don't think they're stealing from people, they think they're stealing from stores or corporations. They may also think (if they think at all) that insurance will cover the losses.

Seaboe

[jelgate]

Its episodes like this that really boil my blood that SGU was cancelled. This was such an interesting story arc to start. To quote Mr. Spock from the original Star Trek, I found how the stones stored Amanda Perry and Gin's consciouness to be fascinating. I added a new dimension to the stones that had not ever been explored. We always thought when someone died using the stones the person just died. But this episode shows the contray and demonstrates that the stones store a person's mental processes. I found that interesting and was hoping to see that story explored more. Sadly MGM and SyFy had other ideas. As for the debate about Scott I do not think too harshly about him. Was it selfish? Maybe. But Chloe is the one he loves. Of course he is going to put the well being of her over the others. Given the seizures that was happening to Chloe and the danger to her life I fully understand Scott wanting to protect us. I would say most of us selfishly put the well-being of our loved ones over others. Look at Eli and how he wanted to continue because its all that remained of Ginn.

As for the B story I always had a hard time believing this one. Not only of the rareity of Greer being a kidney match for Volkner but the insanity of a medic being able to do an organ transplant. I can suspend disbelief for some things but it was crazy believing TJ could do this. Even with Perry being a Destiny program to help TJ. I don't buy it