Conversion (208)

[SierraGulf1]

Really? I'll have to check that on my second viewing. I didn't really get a good look at them.

Guess Lorne has to find a new posse.

[not so ancient]

Oh, and....?

Spiderman! Spiderman!
Does whatever
a spider can!

You were thinking it too.

I feel irreverent saying it, but you know, if Sheppard had been himself, he'd be the first person to have said it.

Don't e-ven try to tell me John Sheppard doesn't have a stash of Spidey comicbooks somewhere.

[ShadowMaat]

Really? I'll have to check that on my second viewing. I didn't really get a good look at them.

Guess Lorne has to find a new posse.

Well, he had a Big Brutish Black Guy and a Big Brutish White Guy. Either it's the same posse he always has, or he has some weird fetish about his team's dynamics.

Poor, poor Lorne. I wonder who'll be on his new team? If it's a BBBG and a BBWG I guess that will answer a few questions.

This could play havoc with my fic. Good thing it's still in the initial stages.

[Traveler Enroute1]

Great comments. Great ep!

The good -

-A Shep featured ep that he handled very well. Gotta be unnerving to know you're turning bug (or was it wraith?) from inside out. Loved how Joe showed his concern for Weir, warning her to tighten security, and his growing awareness of every change leading him to eventual extinction within his own body. The Darth Vader hood scene was priceless.
-The Kiss actually made me gasp, it was so unexpected! Guess bug juice amps up more than just...um...stamina? Teyla played her reaction just right: "What the..." Certainly not a shipper's moment. And the fight sequence was on.
- Weir and Caldwell played off each other to good effect. I felt their tension. Agree, Weir was a bit too smug when Caldwell offered a truce at the end.
- Caldwell apparently thinking he was taking Shep's place in a more personal way - stand down! A little boyishly overeager, but cute.
- Ronon is really part of the team in this ep. He's concerned, ready to help Shep and ready to take him down. And he's awesome.

The Weeelll...:
-Why not put Shep in the Cage when it's decided he's an increased security risk?
-Did they really need to off 2 extraneous soldiers? Predictable when it didn't have to be.
- A little too heavy on the DNA/retrovirus agent/counteragent gimmick.

But the overall story of a team member in trouble, and the team doing all in their power to help, this worked for me. The changing makeup on Joe was extraordinary, with detail even in his hands. The cave scene... ! It was a multilayered ep that had a neat ending, with Teyla more than happy to get past The Kiss, although she did tease him a bit by calling him John.

I liked this one a lot.

Just sayin.

[FoolishPleasure]

I found this to be a very good episode.

The kiss? Well, that was a bit of a violation, and Teyla was quite frightened (though it was obvious she knew something was "off" before it happened). I'm not sure it was even needed. Even the ending wasn't all that "shippy". When Sheppard apologizes to her, she turned her back to him with a (what my 13 year old son said) "Whew, glad that's over" look. Still, one could take it however they wanted to. I actually got a kick out of some of the looks Ronon and Teyla gave each other (*LOL*). I must say that Rachel Luttrell is doing a much better job lately.

I really like Major Lorne. Good to see another senior officer leading missions. He isn't too hard on the eyes either.

Excellent job by Joe Flanigan. In the past few weeks Sheppard has been a bit boring, but not this week. A few weeks ago, Martin Gero gave David Hewlett, "Duet" and this week he gave "Conversion" to Flanigan. What else is up his writing sleeve?

I need to think on the episode and do some good/bad analyzing. .my head is still reeling from the twist ending on BSG (whoa!).

[Traveler Enroute1]

Lorne, of course, must remain untouched. McKay and Beckett can argue over hair color.

Lorne got some good lines, too. Or at least the one about how Shep would do the same for anyone else. Good stuff. Hope we see more of him. LOTS more. And not in itty bitty pieces, please.

<<my snip>>

How could I forget dreamy Major Lorne! Great presence in tonight's ep. He's not gonna act like losing fellow soldiers is normal. This mission is over, indeed. He definitely is due for field promotion!

Just sayin'.

[ShadowMaat]

While I agree that the loss of the soldiers was probably just for drama's sake, it'd be interesting if it turned out to have more relevance down the road, at least regarding Lorne.

Also, he'll have to get a NEW team, now. I wonder how THAT will play, and if the newbies will be as good (and trustworthy) as the ones he lost.

[Erin]

the John and Teyla kiss reminds me of The Broca Divide when Carter was under the influence and kissed Jack! At the time they really weren't anything, like John and Teyla. They're just good friends, but maybe there's something more to John and Teyla's relationship that even they don't know about

[ShadowMaat]

I sure as hell hope not. Bleah. Talk about trite.

It would be interesting if Shep's "indiscretion", for all that it was under alien influence ( ), affected Teyla's trust in him. Not likely to happen on the show, but it'd still be interesting if she was more wary of him because of it.

[not so ancient]

It would be interesting if Shep's "indiscretion", for all that it was under alien influence () affected Teyla's trust in him.

Why should she not trust him? What he did was no more his fault than if he had a case of the flu and upchucked on her shoes.

Teyla and Sheppard, and the whole team, have been through a lot together. The John Sheppard she knows and trusts returned. There is no reason for the event to affect their future relationship.

[PsychoPenguin]

Someone up thread said something about still reeling from the end of BSG. I have to say I'm right with you. The show has really grabbed me lately by having so much going on in every ep, something always ends up blindsiding you.

And in a way, this relates to SGA, or specifically SGA episodes written by Martin Gero. I've said it before, and I'll said it again: what I like about his episodes is that he doesn't take one or two characters and shut them off in a vacuum. We get to see the other characters trying to help, trying to be sympathetic, or even just standing around and waiting to hear news. He takes the time to craft small bits, like the idea of Sheppard running regular races with Ronon and Weir playing solitaire at her desk. He also always has something running in the background: Shep recruiting Ronon in "Duet" and Weir/Caldwell command tensions here. In other words, he never forgets that these stories take place in a world of characters, and he makes better use of that world than any other writer I've seen yet in this particular franchise.

As for the story itself, I really enjoyed it, but not for the plot so much as seeing how all of this affected and deepened the characters. I've found some posts on LJ over the last few weeks, written by new SGA fans trying to figure out why they like this show, and I have to say a couple of them really nailed it for me. Atlantis, as they pointed out, is much like its parent show, SG1,--*not* the place you go for kick-ass plots or long-term arcs. They understand that in a bid to keep their shows accessible to the casual viewer, TPTB at Stargate will most always give us plots that easily wrap up week to week and don't add all that much to the ongoing storyline. They also realize that the episodes of season two have pretty well kept to that pattern, so these LJ writers were asking themselves, "What keeps me turning in every week?"

The answer, according to them? Namely the fact that there may not be much of a plot arc, but that there are actually character arcs. And that's why they keep coming back. Because they want to see how character X acts after the events of episode 3, and even if there isn't as much impact as they'd like to see (Say after the events of "Trinity"), there's typically enough good stuff and enjoyable character moments, that they're willing to come back for more.

So they've basically determined what I've always suspected, the reason why non-SG1 fans are attracted to SGA. We're not engaged with the characters of SG1; we are engaged with the characters of SGA.

And from that standpoint, I'd have to say MG didn't let us down here. Also, neither did the actors. JF did extremely well with the whole "I'm turning into a monster/maniac" bit, far better than I've seen other actors do on other shows. (*Cough* James Marsters, if you're feeling a prickly feeling between your shoulder blades--Yeah, I'm looking at *you*, bub.) He didn't go overboard with it, but you still got a real sense of menace rolling off of him. The other actors did their own variations of "concerned" quite nicely, with Rachel Luttrell and Jason Momoa impressing me far more than usual. (Yes, I'm adding my vote to those who say the addition of Dex has done wonders for Teyla. I'm enjoying her much more this season, especially the little "You're a bad, bad boy" look she threw him at one point after he teased McKay.) Mitch Pileggi, meanwhile, managed to convince me that while he's coming on sort of strong, he really is just trying to do what he sees as best, not grasping for personal power. And while I think Weir does go a little overboard on him, I can see where after all this time alone, she'd have a sense of "These are *my* people; don't screw with them" and I'm willing to give her a pass on that.

As a result of all this, I enjoyed this epsiode very much, and once again, I feel that Martin Gero should do all of the writing for Atlantis. He's far and away the most talented writer I've seen in this franchise in a very long time.

[drufan]

I thought this episode hit on all cylinders. It was a team bonding ep. The entire Atlantis team.
They seem to not like the outsiders too well though. The Weir/Caldwell scenes were a little too antagonistic but golly they did almost everything else right. I liked how we experienced Sheppard's transformation and then the reactions of those around him to the transformation. They cemented the Atlantis as family angle.
They did wrap it up too easily, though.
It is my favorite episode of this year.

[Kliggins]

I am sorry, but I have to post this frivilous comment in a serious discussion thread. I cracked up when I saw Joe's convention outfit appearing at the end of the episode; light blue shirt and tan pants. Anybody who was in Vancouver or Burbank knows what I mean.

I did like the episode though, although it did remind somewhat of Bane. Thanks.

[RexxRacerX]

Kinda lame rehashed storyline, too Broca Divide/Bane like for my taste. Writers should have mountains of material to use for this new spinoff, why are they recycling so much?

Actually liked Ronon for the first time this episode and last. Riddle me this though... why exactly did McKay and Beckett go to retreive the bug juice? What benefit/dynamic could they possibly bring to the "away team" in this episode? Becket said to fill up the jar, and McKay whined. Getting a little old, either McKay needs to grow a pair, or become the "science engineer" and stay home for non science missions.

I like Atlantis, I really really do... I just think hey, they're in their own environment (galaxy, ancient city, different threat, etc) They should have their own stories and stop trying to tie the 2 franchises together so much. Now that Atlantis has a ZPM, resupplied, recrewwed, not to mention having the Deadalus, where is the Ancient Tech?
We've seen/heard more of the Ancient Technology in SG1 this season than Atlantis so far.

The city is the size of Manhattan and it seems this season they just stopped exploring the city and the Ancient DB. Why are they not finding things left and right this season? Last season we had the personal shield McKay found, PJs, transporters, sensors, and a lot more discoveries that escape me at the moment. Where are the discoveries this season? An ancient outpost/weapon that no longer exists and that's the extent of it.

And isn't it just a little too convenient that the Wraith have not come to Atlantis to try to salvage any tech from the explosion? They were so enamoured last season with it being their gateway to a new feeding ground, I can't believe they would not search for wreckage after their long ordeal with the Ancients and the short fight with the Milky Way squatters.

I'm convinced the reasoning is that salt water, or water in general is the Wraith's weakness. This is the only explanation why Atlantis has not been set upon by a few hive ships trying to find anything to get to the Milky Way. This is going to ruin Atlantis for me if it turns out to be the case. How do you make a show titled "Atlantis" and have the main arch-nemesis' weakness WATER is what I'll be screaming.

Thanks for giving me an outlet to voice my opinion!

[Atlantis1]

I haven't had an SGA up to this point that I could say was a favorite. I loved them all equally. That is until this episode. It was awesome. Joe Flanigan did a fantastic job in the role and I loved the rest of the cast as well.

It was great to get to see more of the bugs and how they live. It would be interesting to see the creatures Ronan referred to as the enemy of the bugs. They must be something pretty intense.