Crusade (919)

[LMichelle]

I enjoyed this episode very much. I wished we had gotten more of Daniel acting like Vala. I'm sure TPTB didn't want to turn it into the comedy hour.

SG-1 didn't seem very sympathetic to Vala's plight. She is pregnant because the Ori "gifted" her with a child. Hell, I'd be scared, too. She had to endure three days of being chained up with no food or water. No one seemed to care. I think if she had been telling this to Daniel he'd have been more sympathetic.

We didn't get any reaction from Daniel about Vala "borrowing" his body. I thought we'd get something. Anything. I know they've got a mission to prepare for and more pressing concerns right now, but Daniel could have said something.

[DEM]

CJ's line-reading of "Darth Vader" was the absolute high-point. Teal'c said it as if he were on a gameshow! Heh.

Oh, wait, no. Sam's breakfast reaction was equally swell.

Did not miss the long look between CB and BB--as if to say "together again" ugggg.

Heh. Definitely excessive. Is that what people mean by 'smarm'?

They are even recycling names - Tomin. It is the same as the boy whom Teal'c befriended in 'The Learning Curve'.

So what? How many people you know have the same first name as you?

That sounded overly defensive. IIRC RCC's unimaginativeness when coming up with character names is recognised enough to be a friendly joke amongst the writing staff. In a show where a significant majority of guest characters are known only by their first names, those names ought to be unique.

The most boring of the season for me.

For me, that place is still held by all of the first five eps. I enjoyed this ep fairly well, despite its rather obvious goal of making Vala 'sympathetic' (aww), and although I don't imagine I'd ever want or even need to seek it out again.

Scratch that: I will be looking for good screencaps of two-shots of Carter & Teal'c so I can make icons.

Basically, it took an hour to learn that: 1) Vala was impregnated by Dahak and 2) the Ori have a whole lot of ships and many, many foot soldiers. In the present day, the U.S. gave Russia one of those take-a-long-time-to-manufacture yet ready-right-when-we-need-them spacecraft. *gack* In the end, I found it rather too prosaic for a 19th episode. If this is what TPTB have to do in order to have a bang-up season-ender, I'd rather they cut down the number of explosions planned for said ep.

By the way, I thought Mitchell's Guh-ran-maw was an evangelical Christian. Was her remark about confession, then, supposed to be ironic or sarcastic or something?

PS

• Immaculate Conception = Mary was born free of sin
• Virgin Birth = Woman gets pregnant without doing the deed

[Deejay435]

Except they could just as easily have had him in the beginning scene with Mitchell for the joke and to establish that she was in Daniel, and then not show any of him until the end when she was gone and Daniel was back. Or, they could have written some other way for Vala to communicate what happened without making her inhabit Daniel's body and he could have just been with the rest of SG1. Even if they were making it a showcase for CB (and this episode was 99% Vala), I can't see why they would want to wallpaper MS more than the other actors, who weren't exactly taking up gobs of screentime themselves. MS has gotten some nice stuff to work with this season (and no denying in the first half, which was full of Vala) and also in the second half (although I think we might disagree here), and it seems he's going to be active in the next episode, so it doesn't seem like they have some desire to wallpaper him.

I don't think it's a desire to wallpaper MS specifically. I just think the number one priority for tptb now is Vala, and they don't care who they wallpaper to give her a great chunk of screentime. Even Mitchell, their brand new lead, was wallpapered in favor of Vala in the beginning of the season. (That's part of the reason, I think, that the Mitchell character doesn't work for so many people. Part of how uneven his characterization has been.) This episode did little to make me believe season 10 is going to be anything less than the Vala show.

As you said, they could have written this episode a lot of different ways that didn't include makign Daniel all but invisible, and making the rest of SG1 nothing but a Greek Chorus that sat on their butts the entire episode. We've had single-character focused episodes in the past, but even then the story involved the others, and their actions and reactions vis-a-vis that character and what they're going through.

[Dani347]

You're extremely unfair here, but of course I respect your opinion. But after what Vala was through in the Ori galaxy (and don't forget it was SG-1's fault, they really should have listened to Vala in Beachhead), she deserved her own story. An extensive one. Just like this. THANK YOU CLAUDIA, THANK YOU ROBERT C. COOPER!!!

I don't know if any fictional character "deserves" a storyline for their suffering. That seems to be mixing real life (storylines are given to actors, and CB didn't get shipped to the Ori galaxy) and fiction. I'm sure when weighing up the scales of justice and finding something to make up for her time there, no one in the Stargate universe would be thinking of storylines. Now, Vala deserved to be listened to, but as for the storyline, they could have given her one, but made it more show and not tell. Which would have accomplished the same thing.

[metatron]

Does anyone know a link to the preview for Camelot ?

[Deejay435]

Scratch that: I will be looking for good screencaps of two-shots of Carter & Teal'c so I can make icons.

Basically, it took an hour to learn that: 1) Vala was impregnated by Dahak and 2) the Ori have a whole lot of ships and many, many foot soldiers. In the present day, the U.S. gave Russia one of those take-a-long-time-to-manufacture yet ready-right-when-we-need-them spacecraft. *gack* In the end, I found it rather too prosaic for a 19th episode. If this is what TPTB have to do in order to have a bang-up season-ender, I'd rather they cut down the number of explosions planned for said ep.

By the way, I thought Mitchell's Guh-ran-maw was an evangelical Christian. Was her remark about confession, then, supposed to be ironic or sarcastic or something?

PS

• Immaculate Conception = Mary was born free of sin
• Virgin Birth = Woman gets pregnant without doing the deed

I would have greened you for this post, but I guess I love you too much already. ;-)

I'd love to see those icons when you've finished with them.

You know, I'm glad someone else didn't get the grandma thing either. I just didn't see what it had to do with Vala's reference to the Ori village having more sin than we'd previously thought. It was jarring.

Also, speaking of the Ori village-do they all look identical? And Vala's husband has the exact same decorative scheme in his bedroom as Salis and...oh, I forget his name.

Finally, was I the only one to see Michael Ironside's character as the leader of the resistance coming a mile away?

[Formerhost]

Does anyone know a link to the preview for Camelot ?

http://www.sg1archive.com/s9.shtml

scroll to the bottom of the page. But you need Quick Time or Quick Time Alternative to watch it, as it is .mov file.

[Dannygirl]

Well, I gotta say that I haven't been this excited to see the season finale since season 7. I thought this was an awesome precursor to the final epi. As for Vala, sometimes she drove me crazy at the beginning of this season, but I thought she was excellent in this epi. Not overly sarcastic as we're use to seeing her, though I think that fits given she's "undercover" in enemy hands. Sarcasm wouldn't be wise. I'm glad they focused on her story in this given she is in enemy territory. We've known she'd be coming back so the big question would be what's been going on with her there. I think they answered that well enough. Not to mention that the story wasn't just about her, but about the people there and what the Ori were up to and just how willing they were to murder people for the sake of their "Gods".

Very clever of her to come up with the excuse she did while keeping an innocent expression at the end with her husband aiming a weapon at her. The beginning was classic Vala, not to mention Daniel's expression in the mirror in front of Mitch. Couldn't stop laughing at that. Very looking forward to the finale and no doubt next season. 5/5

[Formerhost]

I don't think it's a desire to wallpaper MS specifically. I just think the number one priority for tptb now is Vala, and they don't care who they wallpaper to give her a great chunk of screentime. Even Mitchell, their brand new lead, was wallpapered in favor of Vala in the beginning of the season. (That's part of the reason, I think, that the Mitchell character doesn't work for so many people. Part of how uneven his characterization has been.) This episode did little to make me believe season 10 is going to be anything less than the Vala show.

As you said, they could have written this episode a lot of different ways that didn't include makign Daniel all but invisible, and making the rest of SG1 nothing but a Greek Chorus that sat on their butts the entire episode. We've had single-character focused episodes in the past, but even then the story involved the others, and their actions and reactions vis-a-vis that character and what they're going through.

When somebody is credited as SPECIAL GUEST STAR, that means that this person is actually sort of the lead in these episodes.

[cafine_us]

Finally, was I the only one to see Michael Ironside's character as the leader of the resistance coming a mile away?

Not at all. Okay, I didn't know he was the leader, but I could tell he was part of the resistance. Somehow that was incredibly obvious. Now that he's dead, I wonder if and how Vala will communicate with his connections for further planning and intel.

[Skydiver]

Have we already returned the stargates from Off the Grid? During the entire Russian subplot, I kept thinking we would just let them have their gate, and set up a new gate with a DHD. Ours would of course have priority with the DHD. We'd keep a gate and the 304.

not just the OTG gates, after 9 years im sure there is no shortage of 'this planet's inhabitable, but they have a gate' that we can send the odyssey to go and snag.

in fact, i would think having a spare gate would have been a priority

[Amanda Eros]

An okay episode, IMO, learned three things

Spoiler:

1. Vala's having an Ori baby. 2. The Ori have a super gate. 3. The Russians are getting an American made ship. Otherwise, everything else is just extra details.

[DEM]

When somebody is credited as SPECIAL GUEST STAR, that means that this person is actually sort of the lead in these episodes.

Er, no. It just means the person is 'important' in some way; either the person is special to the franchise or the producers, or commands a lot of pay or good billing. Vanessa Angel (Freya-Anise) rec'd Special Guest billing in all of her appearances, as did Alexis Cruz (Skaara). Either one or both of the USAF Chiefs of Staff rec'd Special Guest credit.

[shockwave]

was a good episode
the ori warriors look a lot like jaffa
was it me, or did this prior not have eyes?

[DEM]

I would have greened you for this post, but I guess I love you too much already. ;-)

Ah, shucks. Thanks.

Finally, was I the only one to see Michael Ironside's character as the leader of the resistance coming a mile away?

I was fooled. Indeed, thinking back on it, I'm not sure I'd be able to see it even with the benefit of hindsight. I mean, sure, he didn't seem all that pious, but...