The Hive (211)

[Agent_Dark]

Synopsis for anyone who's interested. Obviously spoilers for the episode, but if you dont want spoilers what the hell are you doing in this thread?

Queen Wraith (Have we got a name for her???) is about to interrogate Sheppard when the arrival of another Hive Ship interrupts her. Sheppard is taken back to the cell where they all manage to escape (Ronan would never be able to make it through an Airport metal detector without being detected... ).

Back on the planet McKay is freaking out because he knows his team is in trouble, however Ford's cronies wont let him dial back to Atlantis for a rescue team. So he injects himself with a whole vial of the enzyme thus transforming him into Super!McKay where he then unleashes the power of a 'Brilliant Scientist backed into a corner'. Trademark. Two guards now incapacited and McKay get back to Atlantis. However the enzyme has messed him up and Weir is unable to get anything meaningful out of him. After rambling on (think normal McKay panicky rambling then x100) he passes out. Some great acting by DH there

Meanwhile, back on the Hive ship, Shep and teh gang run into some humans being cocooned. After a plea from one of them, they try to rescue them (which Ford is opposed to) but the Wraith arrive and overpower them. Teyla, Ronan and Kanayo awake in one cell and Shep, Ford and one of the girls they tried to rescue are in another cell. Now Kanayo and Ford are in some pretty deep strife as their enzyme is wearing off. Teyla and Ronan aren't feeling 100% either. Kanayo soon bites the dust and Ford is not far behind when the Wraith show up and take Kanayo's body and Ford away. The Girl tells Shep of her simple life and how the Wraith fed upon her mother and brother in front of her. Shep then attempts to comfort the girl by telling her he's not afraid of the Wraith (though apparently Shep has some clown issues...). The girl attempts to get Shep to tell her more about the world he comes from, but Shep is relucant to do so.

Back at Atlantis, McKay is having some serious withdrawal issues. Beckett is doing his best to help him, but without more of the enzyme to ween him off slowly they have to go cold turkey and hope for the best. McKay manages to pull through (no doubt due to his stubborness) and informs Weir of their predicament. He also had the co-ordinates to the planet that the Hive Ship was on teh way to cull, so McKay and Major Lorne board the Daedalus to intercept and attempt to stop the Wraith from culling the planet (and rescue Shep and the gang of course!).

On the Hive Ship, Shep is taken to the Wraith Queen again. However he's realised that the girl was actually a plant to try and draw information out of him and says as much. Turns out the Wraith have human worshippers who live at the beck and call of the Queen in exchange for their lives. Shep bluffs the Queen by saying he too has made deals with the Wraith (how else would he get his hands on a Dart and have all the info he needs to blow a hive ship etc) and that the Wraith he bargained with is actually the queen aboard the other hive ship and that the other queen was going to double cross her. This Queen doesn't seem to thrilled at that, and is about to feed on Shep, when Ford rocks up and takes out the Queen and her guards (with Ronan's gun none the less. I want his gun...). Shep and Ford then go to rescue Ronan and Teyla, but Ford stays behind to 'watch Shep's back'. That's the last we see of Ford on screen. Shep free's Ronan and Teyla, they head to the Dart hangers where Shep steals a Dart and picks up Ronan and Teyla in the beam.

So McKay and Lorne are on the Deddy with a Puddle Jumper which they are gonna take out (cloaked) and attempt to establish radio contact with Shep while Caldwell keeps the Deddy hidden behind the planet. No luck on contacting Shep, so Caldwell orders the Deddy out and attempts the 'Beam the Nuke aboard the Hive Ship' trick. Of course, Wraith are too smart for that now, so the Deddy is engaged with two Hive Ships with the odds way in favour of the Wraith. Back aboard the Deddy, McKay notices a lone Dart making a strafing run on one of the Hive Ships. It is of course Shep, in an attempt to get the Wraith fighting each other. The Wraith fall for it, and start shooting each other up and in the process manage to blow each other up. Stupid Wraith
Anyway, nothing survives, and McKay, Caldwell et al assume that Shep didn't make it.

Weir back at Atlantis gets the bad news and is about to Angst when the Gate dials up. Shep, Teyla and Ronan swagger through having survived another day Once Shep saw the Wraith engaging each other, he hauled arse for the gate and dialed the nearest planet with a gate on it, landed and beamed Teyla and Ronan out of the Dart, then dialed home. McKay gets back and his relieved to see his teammates alive and well. And all is well

So what'd we get out of the episode?

* Wraith have human followers who worship them in exchange for their lives.
* Wraith are definitely terratorial. That was why they turned on each other so quickly
* Ford's fate is unknown. He was last seen on the hive ship before it was destroyed, but we never saw him die. It's entirely possible he managed to make it off somehow.
* Shep has clown issues.... o.O
* Ronan carries alot of knives on him.... O.o

[keppiezbt]

Synopsis for anyone who's interested. Obviously spoilers for the episode, but if you dont want spoilers what the hell are you doing in this thread?

Queen Wraith (Have we got a name for her???) is about to interrogate Sheppard when the arrival of another Hive Ship interrupts her. Sheppard is taken back to the cell where they all manage to escape (Ronan would never be able to make it through an Airport metal detector without being detected... ).

Back on the planet McKay is freaking out because he knows his team is in trouble, however Ford's cronies wont let him dial back to Atlantis for a rescue team. So he injects himself with a whole vial of the enzyme thus transforming him into Super!McKay where he then unleashes the power of a 'Brilliant Scientist backed into a corner'. Trademark. Two guards now incapacited and McKay get back to Atlantis. However the enzyme has messed him up and Weir is unable to get anything meaningful out of him. After rambling on (think normal McKay panicky rambling then x100) he passes out. Some great acting by DH there

Meanwhile, back on the Hive ship, Shep and teh gang run into some humans being cocooned. After a plea from one of them, they try to rescue them (which Ford is opposed to) but the Wraith arrive and overpower them. Teyla, Ronan and Kanayo awake in one cell and Shep, Ford and one of the girls they tried to rescue are in another cell. Now Kanayo and Ford are in some pretty deep strife as their enzyme is wearing off. Teyla and Ronan aren't feeling 100% either. Kanayo soon bites the dust and Ford is not far behind when the Wraith show up and take Kanayo's body and Ford away. The Girl tells Shep of her simple life and how the Wraith fed upon her mother and brother in front of her. Shep then attempts to comfort the girl by telling her he's not afraid of the Wraith (though apparently Shep has some clown issues...). The girl attempts to get Shep to tell her more about the world he comes from, but Shep is relucant to do so.

Back at Atlantis, McKay is having some serious withdrawal issues. Beckett is doing his best to help him, but without more of the enzyme to ween him off slowly they have to go cold turkey and hope for the best. McKay manages to pull through (no doubt due to his stubborness) and informs Weir of their predicament. He also had the co-ordinates to the planet that the Hive Ship was on teh way to cull, so McKay and Major Lorne board the Daedalus to intercept and attempt to stop the Wraith from culling the planet (and rescue Shep and the gang of course!).

On the Hive Ship, Shep is taken to the Wraith Queen again. However he's realised that the girl was actually a plant to try and draw information out of him and says as much. Turns out the Wraith have human worshippers who live at the beck and call of the Queen in exchange for their lives. Shep bluffs the Queen by saying he too has made deals with the Wraith (how else would he get his hands on a Dart and have all the info he needs to blow a hive ship etc) and that the Wraith he bargained with is actually the queen aboard the other hive ship and that the other queen was going to double cross her. This Queen doesn't seem to thrilled at that, and is about to feed on Shep, when Ford rocks up and takes out the Queen and her guards (with Ronan's gun none the less. I want his gun...). Shep and Ford then go to rescue Ronan and Teyla, but Ford stays behind to 'watch Shep's back'. That's the last we see of Ford on screen. Shep free's Ronan and Teyla, they head to the Dart hangers where Shep steals a Dart and picks up Ronan and Teyla in the beam.

So McKay and Lorne are on the Deddy with a Puddle Jumper which they are gonna take out (cloaked) and attempt to establish radio contact with Shep while Caldwell keeps the Deddy hidden behind the planet. No luck on contacting Shep, so Caldwell orders the Deddy out and attempts the 'Beam the Nuke aboard the Hive Ship' trick. Of course, Wraith are too smart for that now, so the Deddy is engaged with two Hive Ships with the odds way in favour of the Wraith. Back aboard the Deddy, McKay notices a lone Dart making a strafing run on one of the Hive Ships. It is of course Shep, in an attempt to get the Wraith fighting each other. The Wraith fall for it, and start shooting each other up and in the process manage to blow each other up. Stupid Wraith
Anyway, nothing survives, and McKay, Caldwell et al assume that Shep didn't make it.

Weir back at Atlantis gets the bad news and is about to Angst when the Gate dials up. Shep, Teyla and Ronan swagger through having survived another day Once Shep saw the Wraith engaging each other, he hauled arse for the gate and dialed the nearest planet with a gate on it, landed and beamed Teyla and Ronan out of the Dart, then dialed home. McKay gets back and his relieved to see his teammates alive and well. And all is well

So what'd we get out of the episode?

* Wraith have human followers who worship them in exchange for their lives.
* Wraith are definitely terratorial. That was why they turned on each other so quickly
* Ford's fate is unknown. He was last seen on the hive ship before it was destroyed, but we never saw him die. It's entirely possible he managed to make it off somehow.
* Shep has clown issues.... o.O
* Ronan carries alot of knives on him.... O.o

well this seems like it is going to be a really good episode

[GateMan2000]

My fourth cousin in the Yukon's tape should arrive this afternoon

[Blue Banrigh]

McKay on the extra enzyme was funny. Super strong he may be, but he still kinda fights like a girl. And him at the DHD was hilarious, didn't understand a word (I may have heard 'blue jello' mid rant), but the hysterical noises he makes is too much.

And the whole knives routine. Hehehe. Sheppard feels left out.

I thought it was kinda stupid for them to stop for the humans. Heroic, but stupid. But since Sheppard mentioned it was a trap, I guess they couldn't have gotten away anyway.

[AutumnDream]

And the whole knives routine. Hehehe. Sheppard feels left out.

That was hilarious. "How many do you need?" says Ronan. Hooo... this was totally the funniest "serious episode".

Once again DH proves his awesome acting skill!

I don't think they could have gotten off the ship anyway, at least not until it dropped out of hyperspace.

Did anyone else think the wraith were acting... weird? Or, I should say, "not as usual". I thought there was going to be some reaction to Sheppard having turned into one.

[xfkirsten]

I thought this one was great!! Sheppard and the clowns was hilarious. He was so deadpan about it! "...and they just keep sending them in..."

Loved the Weir angst at the end. Torri played it really well - made it clear that she was trying to hide it, but let a bit slip through the cracks, especially as she turned to go back into her office.

IMHO, though, David Hewlett was really the show stealer. First, when he comes back through the gate and is babbling to Weir... had me on the floor, laughing! He's just to neutoric and drug-addled. But what really did me in was his withdrawl scenes. I thought he did an INCREDIBLE job. Huge props to DH for turning out an amazing performance!

[Liverpool_chicK]

Anyone notice at the end the IDC came in before the stargate wooshed ?

Now that you mention it, I did notice that. The gate had not even finished dailing when the IDC came through.

I guess that I have to watch the epi again.

[angeltorri]

I have lot of captures, can I put the pictures here ?

I liked this episode very much! But does a question remain, Ford is it always in life?

I make a vid about this episode, if you are interresting:
The hive
music: hysteria, Muse

[Merlin7]

Totally MEH ep for me. Very disappointing.

Not being a Rodney/DH fan, his bits were also meh, bordering on making McKay be the person to laugh at again, which is getting old. He was just Rodney ratched up a notch so..meh. Nothing surprising, but gee..miraculous healing powers.

The Knife thing and Clown thing were funny but..

where was the danger or intensity. I believe this was the same writer as CONDEMNED right? Which would explain it. Condemened was equally MEH as far as danger/intensity went.

HIVE could have been a great ep. And EDGE OF MY SEAT ep. It was...bland and rather boring and even my love of Shep and the fact he saved the day couldn't make this ep good cause it just was lacking in about every way and way too rushed.

[AutumnDream]

Carl Binder wrote it. His first Atlantis script was "Aurora", which was my only "meh" episode ever, but he later on wrote classics like "Before I Sleep" and "Letters From Pegasus". I think he's shaping up to give Martin Gero some good competition!

True, I was expecting a little more intrigue involving the mysteries of the wraith and Sheppard and Teyla's "relation" to them, but I loved the episode because

A) I was just so happy to see a new Atlantis.
B) It was pretty awesome anyway.
C) Hilarious.
D) It had some good plot stuff in it.
E) I was overjoyed to see a new Atlantis.

[Ouroboros]

Ok sorry folks this was pretty freakin' weak, made even more disapointing in context of the cliffhanger and the long wait.

The pace and flow was jarring and disorienting and the episode overall felt like more of a mish-mash of scenes than an actual continuous story.

This episode is also packed to the brim with the dreaded cliches and ridiculous plot contrivances that pop up to move the story along in those times when Atlantis sinks to its worst. Despite the massive influx of SFX it also manages to somehow be rather boring.

Ok lets run down the list of those contrivances and cliches I was talking about so I don't just come off as full of it.

-Door controls that make the door open when you shoot/damage them: Try this with ANY technological device, I dare you.

-The Wraith prison bars have gaps big enough for people to fit through, especially Teyla.

-What would happen if an SGC member lost their IDC because they were captured or forgot to use it because they were doped up on Wraith enzyme. Could this be a possible point of tension in the sotry perhaps, where the control room has to gamble on trust?.... We'll never know.

-Classic junkie withdrawl scenes from the evil drugs. Drugs are bad m'kay and every drug will have a horrible heroin like withdawl period. Yes every drug and yes regardless of what it does or it's chemical make up. You get your fancy pants science out of my science fiction.

-Sheppard gets saved from certain death at the hands of the Wraith queen because she gets a phonecall. It's never explained where she went or what she was doing. Did the other queen want to trade recipies, did that boy she likes finally let slip that he thinks she's cool? We wouldn't want to see any of that crap right. If we did we wouldn't be able to show Teyla sweating for 14 minutes and asking Ronan if they'd escaped yet.

-*Insert various scenes of Wraith hissing at people, bending their necks, bugging out their eyes and drooling for no reason here*. When Shep was talking about Wraith and clowns was I the only one thinking "seperated at birth?".

-The mysterious hot chick is not just a mysterious hot chick but actually evil! OMG unexpected!

-We learn that there's Wraith worshippers, how novel. We of course never get any explanation of why the Wraith need or want worshippers. I'm sure some fans will be able to make up a good explanation like usual though. That's what I love about Atlantis, the degree of audience participation in making the stories.

-Later on Shep's about to be eaten again but Ford, who was a twitching junkie wreck the last time we saw him, suddenly storms in, with Ronan's gun no less, and shoots an entire room of armed guards to save him. You know now that I think about it maybe you should of shown us Ford's miraculous unarmed escape from 5 armed Wraith guards while in a state of semi-coma and his re-finding of Ronan's confiscated gun on an entire frigging' hiveship instead of showing us Teyla and Ronan sweating. I'm just saying it probably would have been a bit more interesting, you know as opposed to the nothing you did show us. Couldn't think of a way to make it believable huh, yeah me either. Good to see that that didn't stop you from using it anyway though. The fans can go ahead and make up an explanation for it if they really want one right?

-As the episode draws to a close we go outside where we see Shep provoke the Wraith ships into killing each other by shooting a mile long hiveship with a dart's puny gun that barely sets grass of fire. The two hiveships start shooting each other as a result of this heinous attack and then one of them blows up and takes out the other one. Conveinient huh. They're like dominos, or those slime barrels in Doom. Of course even a 12 year old playing Doom learns not to shoot the slime barrels up close after he gets blown up the first time. I guess this is something the Wraith will need more than the alloted 10,000 years to wrap their heads around. If only they had some twelve year olds.

-Oh but wait there's more. In the roughly 30 seconds between the time Shep provoked them and the time they blew up he was able to fly to safety (never actually shown on screen of course) and "surprise" us later with his miraculous survival.

This entire thing played out as almost a parody of it's own ridiculousness. It would have been excellent and hilarious as a satire of sci-fi cliches had it not been trying to present this stuff seriously. It was though so that makes it cringe inducing.

Lost Boys was a good episode with some nice character development for Ford and a decent argument on behalf of using the enzyme. This thing just has McKay say "you know when you're under the influence of drugs you see the world differently, whoda thunk it eh, guess Ford's auto-wrong now huh huh" and that's supposed to be the wrap-up I guess.

This episode doesn't continue off of any of that good stuff that was laid down in part one and instead just opts for the SFX orgy approach. This is pretty much exactly what happened with Seige 1,2 vs 3. What gives? Is it something about the long breaks that allow the continuations of these episodes to develop dry rot or something?

"The storm" and "the eye" kicked ass though so what went wrong here?

This one fights it out for the title of lamest episode of the series with condemned and Seige 3 I'm afraid, and I think it's stepping into the ring as the favorite.

The Wraith chick was hot though.

[AutumnDream]

The Storm/The Eye did set up a pretty big expectation for the mid-season two parter. I mean, those were the episodes that really sold me on Atlantis.

[Wraith_Hunter]

Anyone notice at the end the IDC came in before the stargate wooshed ?

Now that you mention it, I did notice that. The gate had not even finished dailing when the IDC came through.

I guess that I have to watch the epi again.

No I didn't notice it because it didn't happen like that. The Iris was raised & it had fully activated before they mentioned the IDC.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Just watched it. It was a good episode. **** I give it.

Good Scenes:
Ronan's knives. Damn did he have a lot.
McKay freaking out while dialing the gate
McKay high on the enzime after her returns to Atlantis
Sheppard's references to Clowns

And Cool Visual Effects

[Darkhawk]

Didnt they promise a BIG space battle in the hive?
Even reckoning and lost city had a bigger space battle <.<


I really hope the new ally wont be a Wraith Hive...

[mcalex22]

Synopsis for anyone who's interested. Obviously spoilers for the episode, but if you dont want spoilers what the hell are you doing in this thread? o

Great summary!

I had mixed feelings about this episode. I enjoyed bits and pieces of it but there were other bits that left me confused and I felt it didn't flow very well in general.

However, being the huge Atlantis fan that I am, I still enjoyed watching it.

Though I am a huge McKay fan, I enjoy storylines that deal with the team in general.

My favourite bits (personal opinion and in no way meant to be critical of anyone else's):
- McKay going hyper/neurotic and his scientist line (and beating up the bad guys!)...
- Sheppard and clowns in VWs (OK, that guy has issues and what's with the VWs? He had me laughing though!)
- Ronon and his knives
- Ronon's gun - they all need one of those!
- Teyla had some lines...
- Ford - it was good seeing him almost reverting back to his old self as the enzyme effects wore off.
- Ford calling Sheppard "John" (unless I misheard) - adds a personal touch.
- Sheppard calling Ford "Aidan".
- Caldwell - OK, I'm probably one of the few - I kinda like the guy around! I think he's good interaction with Weir.
- Radek - great to see him in dark BDUs, but pity he didn't go along.
- Lorne - always nice to see him take on a more proactive role and he and McKay do have great interaction with each other.
- Nice to see Rodney go all brave and want to save his team mates and actually show concern in his little "Why aren't you dead?" Rodney way.
- Glad to see Beckett and it was nice of him to sit with Rodney - good friendship moment there.

Weaker points (I think or felt, once again just personal opinions):
- Weir - I love Torri but I don't know if it was the writing or directing but I got this sense of urgency that Weir seemed more concerned with Sheppard than anyone else... of course I could be imagining... (incidentally I'm not a shipper here so it was odd for me to pick it up)...
- Ronon - pls give him more lines (though he had great moves).
- Sheppard - I love this character, but I felt as if they didn't write him well in this episode, though I do think Joe did a good job and I liked the way he interacted with Ford and the others.
- I was trying to decide if I missed something - did Sheppard and his team just return to Atlantis without finding out how Rodney was going or did they already know that the Daedulus had come to rescue them as they escaped the hive ship? Am I thinking too much? It just didn't flow on from the Hive?
- More lines for Teyla please!

As I said, they are just some of my thoughts/feelings and I could have missed something.

Overall, I liked the episode coz I'm a big fan of the series. I was trying to figure out why some bits didn't rub me the right way and I realised that it was written by a different writer and maybe I might have subconsiously picked up a different style (I just discovered that a lot of my fave epis were written by Martin Gero)... Still, it was a good epi overall and I mean no disrespect to anyone - I do love Carl's writing and some of his other epis are my faves (letters from Pegasus for example).

Ta,
Alex

[AutumnDream]

- McKay going hyper/neurotic and his scientist line (and beating up the bad guys!)...

Don't forget, "You're jealous because I get all the women!" XD

[Nem2k]

quick question guys...how are you managing to watch this episode?
i thought this airs in January on scifi?

[Agent_Dark]

quick question guys...how are you managing to watch this episode?
i thought this airs in January on scifi?

Time machines

It aired in Canada the other night.

[Franklyn Blaze]

No I didn't notice it because it didn't happen like that. The Iris was raised & it had fully activated before they mentioned the IDC.

Oh, but it did. Just replayed it to make sure.