Thirty Eight Minutes (104)

[ShadowMaat]

People don't have to be in the military to come across as cold and impersonal. I've already explained my feelings and reasonings on the character before, I really don't feel the need to explain myself to you.

[Tokraed]

I'd have a hard time ranking mine, but Shep is first, no doubt. I think McKay, Weir and Beckett are tied for second, then Teyla and Ford in third. Actually, I'm liking them all. They are growing nicely! And worked really good in this episode.

McKay is at the top of my list with Beckett a close second. That Czech scientist, you know ... What's His Name ..., for having such a brief appearance, I thought he was pretty cool.

Hated the American scientist ... Anderson?? Was that his name?? Very appropriate that he wore a pony-tail because he was a horse's ass and Weir every right to geld him. Though, I agree with a previous post that he'll come back and cause trouble later.

Sheppard's okay. I don't know if they're setting Weir up for something in the future, but her character seemed to be in over her head during parts of this episode. Don't like how she handled Teyla's people when they wanted to make sure Teyla was prepared for her death. Not very diplomatic. Very ethnocentric.

I'm still waiting for more development of Ford and Teyla's character, as well as some more development of Teyla's people. The Death Preparation Ceremony was just a hint, at taste -- a tiny smackrel, if you will -- of their culture. Hope the writers have a few stories down the road that delves more into how people living in the shadow of the Wratihs deal with knowledge that they're just a food source waiting to be harvested.

[Bobthespirit]

I have to say that I'm getting a little annoyed at the character dynamics. The characters just act a whole lot less disciplined than the characters from SG1. The only one that seems to have any real appearance of discipline is, ironically, Teyla. Maybe Ford.

McKay does nothing but whine about how doomed everyone is (Something, by the way, he *never* did in the SG1 episode Redemption). Weir yells at everyone antagonistically and risks their entire central base of operation to save a few people (Something which, if they got in the habit of, *ought* to eventually lead to their destruction). All the characters who aren't at the main cast do nothing but banter egomaniacally...

There isn't even a clear chain of command between Weir and Shepherd.

There are plenty of good things about Atlantis, I just hope they all become more disciplined, like 3/4 of the SG1 cast are.

[Major Fischer]

There is a clear one, IMO. The colonel in Rising goes "as long as you remember who is in charge." and Sheppard replies, "That woudl be Dr. Weir."

That's pretty darn clear.

[Yu Huang Shang Ti]

The Death Preparation Ceremony was just a hint, at taste -- a tiny smackrel, if you will -- of their culture. Hope the writers have a few stories down the road that delves more into how people living in the shadow of the Wratihs deal with knowledge that they're just a food source waiting to be harvested.

I thought there was a pretty good allusion to that -- after millenia of being harvested again and again with no hope of ending it, the people have chosen dignified acceptance of the inevitable. They aren't used to fighting, but surviving, and Halling's insistance on performing the ritual shows that.

I'd rather have several more events like that throughout the season than one "very special" religious episode that focuses squarely on it, and then that's it for years. We don't need the Athosians to turn into the Maquis.

[zen.monki]

Hey, I just thought of a question for whomever remembers the SG-1 episode where they went to the abandoned planet and the giant flying bugs got a hold of Teal'c and injected him with some venom that essentially would have turned him into one of the bugs.

Do you think those bugs are related to the one that attacked Sheppard? I wonder if that planet was actually an Ancient outpost but we never went back to explore because of the dangerous insects.

[ShadowMaat]

I would be very interested to see that idea explored. Even if the wraith bugs aren't related to the Bane bugs, if the one injected something into Shep... it could have some very interesting repercussions down the road...

[Newbie]

well those Wraith bugs were on the planet that Sheppard found the Wraith base...so why did Wraith sleep on that planet? may be it's their homeworld, real one? and those bugs are their monkeys? But then again Teyla was saying something, and may be there are the same bugs on their planet...may be it's Wraith's homing 'devices'? And that's cool, I think, that there is a possibility that Wraith are the evolution of Wraith... that is something I'd like to see explored! And I do not like the idea of Sheppard being injected with something...that be too much of a copy from SG1...bad idea.
anyway, I loved the ep! I loved the flashbacks!!! And it's really cool that S(heppard)team decided to go back to the planet, and check it out. I didn't like that we did not see how Sheppard choose his team. I'm still not sure who is in his team... and Sheppard...what was he gonna say? was he gonna admit in love to Wier?

[ShadowMaat]

Do we know if the Athosians did a lot of exploring through the stargate? I think something was mentioned in the pilot ep, but I can't recall.

I'm just curious about how Teyla could have heard of the bugs if they were only on the wraith homeworld (or whatever it was). How could they have gotten there, anyway? The gate is in orbit. Or are the bugs on other worlds, too? I don't know if I'd call them "homing devices", but maybe the wraith DO take them along as a weapon of some sort.

Incidentally, am I the only one who saw the wraith finger armor and thought of the goa'uld ribbon device? Mechanical cousins or random coincidence? And is the armor meant to help them pierce the skin of their victims or does it serve some other purpose? Maybe offering some protection against the blood of its victims. They don't like salt water, right? Or at least the bugs don't.

[Newbie]

well they did traide for sure...that's what was mentioned in pilot...and Teyla said that every world they VISITED knew about Wraith...and then the little boy knew some adresses, and Teyla knows some!
In 38 minutes...Teyla said that they told their children not to go far into the foods, beacuse of something like that living there...or something....so i think it's their homeworld she was talkin about.

[ShadowMaat]

So... how did they get to the wraith world, then? Or do they know of another wraith world and the one with the gate in orbit just happens to be a current base which just happens to include some bugs?

[Ugly Pig]

I apologize for being the only person who truly comprehends how screwed we are! Here's

PIGGY'S USELESS OPINION
of 'Thirty Eight Minutes'

This episode was great! Not a dull moment, and with the story playing out in near-real time, the sense of urgency was ever present and provided some actual tension. The icky wraith-parasite contributed its share, too. I wonder if we'll see this thing again and learn anything about its relation to the Wraith? I also liked how despite the return to the Wraith world (Why did they go back there, by the way? I'm sure there was a reason I didn't get.) we didn't see much of them. We still have left to see the full force of the Wrait... It might get interesting when we do, and until that happens just alluding to it could create enough tension.

The story this week wasn't very character-driven, but there were some nice moments for Weir this time around. She seemed more self-secure and in control than before. I especially liked it when she told off the Ego Guy (I don't remember his name, so I'll just call him that... Ego Guy.) who came across as a real self-centered jerk. While he did end up providing (part of) the solution to the problem, I don't like him. At all. Will we see him again? Will he still be a jerk? Or has he realized that the Atlantis world doesn't revolve around him?

Ford got to perform this week's heroic act, but other than that I still think the character needs more development. This is only the third (or fourth, depending on how you look at it) episode though, so there's no rush. I'm sure it will come with time. Same with Teyla, who I still feel is just "there".

McKay, despite his whining and reacting "a certain way to certain doom" (Nice line, by the way. Probably my favorite from this ep, maybe tied with his "screwed" line.) seems to have become more of a team player than before. I also got the feeling that he was concerned for his team mates when they were in trouble. He may be a bit arrogant, but at least he does realize that there are other people around besides himself.

Did anyone notice that they're using a new font for the episode title and the following credits now? For 'Rising' and 'Hide and Seek' they used the same font as they do in SG-1, which I liked for concistancy. I guess they changed it because they wanted a unique Atlantis font... Oh well. It's nothing I'll be losing sleep over. And while I'm on the subject of credits - interesting to see Mario Azzopardi back as a Stargate director. He directed the pilot of SG-1 as well as a couple of other early episodes, but nothing new for years. I guess TPTB want to work with people they're familiar with when they hire the additional staff needed to be able to run two concurrent series. Oh, and Brad Wright wrote this episode... Every episode of Atlantis thus far has been written either by him or Robert C. Cooper, or both.

And... And... wait, I don't have anything else right now. I guess I can only ramble so much. Once again, great episode. Now I can go back and see what everyone else have been saying about it.

[ShadowMaat]

Didn't notice the changed font, but I did recognize Mario's name. Yay for TPTB for bringing him back. And I'm with ya on hoping for development of Ford. AND Teyla. And give Weir some NICE qualities, eh?

So far Shep, McKay, Beckett and maybe Halling are the only ones with good character development and strong established personalities.

[Newbie]

So... how did they get to the wraith world, then? Or do they know of another wraith world and the one with the gate in orbit just happens to be a current base which just happens to include some bugs?

sorry i guess i screwed it up....by their homeworld i ment Teyla's homeworld.

[jckfan55]

I agree that Weir had to assert her authority with the self-involved scientist. I wasn't as pleased with her handling of the "death ritual" confrontation. I'm surprised that as someone who's been involved in diplomacy, she started out with such a hard line with him--in effect dismissing his culture. Of course, time was short and she could hardly get into a deep cultural discussion. And she did eventually point out her rationale of focusing on any chance of life. It occurred to me that if Teyla wound up sure death was imminent, she probably could have done some form of the ritual herself.

BTW, who do you think it was who leaked the idea to Teyla's friend that they were all doomed? The pony-tailed scientist, perhaps?