Avatar (806)

[Ugly Pig]

Ok, I hate plot holes, so I’ll just make something up, in Gamekeeper, he could access Teal'cs mind, but the Symbiote encrypted the information or something like that, so the Keeper had the information but couldn’t use it, I’m happy now

Ah, but that doesn't explain how the people on the planet could have stored his data back then (as was revealed in this episode), and how that data is not encrypted!

[DarkQuee1]

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I *really* liked this episode (and I had not thought that I would)--though it was not without problems, including a major one for me with the set-up (further down the post). It was fast-paced and interesting--and a total contrast to the incredibly boring "Icon". A very good Teal'c ep and a pretty good team ep overall. Liked the fact that they trusted each other at the end.

Loved that Siler was the Goa'uld. I always thought it was suspicious, his hovering around all the time with that wrench. <<g>> And remember how he got Jack into trouble in "Upgrades" by throwing himself over that railing!

Problems I had:
1) Even though there was a lot more Jack than I had anticipated--and I liked that!--it still was noticeable that there were things caused by his reduced schedule. There were at least two scenes where, in seasons 1-6, Jack and most likely Hammond would have been present, while here Jack was not there either as Jack or as the base CO. And though they tried to give us an explanation, there is still no doubt in my mind that in seasons 1-6, Jack would have been the one to go in.

1-1/2) They are still using Jack to explain things to the audience, and it adversely affects the character. The Matrix line was "cute", but we have learned this year (from the stuff on the walls in Jack's office) that he not only has a certificate from the AF Academy for academic excellence, but he also has an engineering degree. There is no way he wouldn't have understood Dr. Lee's statement; I did, and I am non-science all the way. If they weren't sure the general audience would get the point, they should have had Jack say something like, "So what you're saying is....blah blah", instead of needing it explained. They have been doing this for 8 years--using Jack to explain things and thus have him ask questions he wouldn't and shouldn't really be asking--and they need to find another way, as it is to the detriment of the character.

2) Because of RDA's reduced schedule (I think) they are using Daniel more in military situations, which is a head-scratcher in terms of believability--maybe they should have explained that Sam didn't go in because her scientific knowledge would be more useful on the outside, but they didn't address it, *despite* the fact that Daniel had been compromised in the scenario by being the Goa'uld. Or, are we to assume that Daniel was sent in precisely *because* he was not an expert--Sam saying that Jack didn't go because adding his skills and abilities to the machine's computer base would be disastrous--and thus didn't have anything to add to the chair's ability to foil TEal'c?
( While I have no problem with Daniel's becoming more field savvy [he should be after all this time], we are seeing too much of a Daniel-Rambo and it undercuts his presumed different perspective. Look at Icon: Daniel did not even suggest trying to talk to Soren or to the people in the bunker; it was just blast away. That makes those times when he suddenly goes "pacifist" look more like plot devices than character. Just MO.)


*Biggest problem for me:*

The set-up. I can understand the people on the Gamekeeper's planet wanting *their* chairs to be controlled only by the user, considering their experiences before (and the fact that, most likely, their "fantasies" would not be violent). However, it makes no sense for the SGC to do that, especially in light of all the things that can go wrong with tech and in light of the nature of the "game" they would be engaging in. They could certainly have insisted that the chair they got had an on/off switch, and they should have. For me, it made everyone involved look very dumb in regard to something about which they should have known better.


J.

[Anthro Girl]

My comments on "Avatar":

"Teal'c is trapped in a video game and running out of lives!!!" - SciFi Announcer in "Avatar" teaser promo. (Gawd...I still think that teaser line was so stupid and it didn't do the episode any favors.)

I've only had one pass at it, so I'm probably not remembering everything. I also haven't read this thread yet, so apologies for repeating everything.

I liked Dr. Carmichael! Andrew Arlie makes a good doctor and he didn't have that same "I'm a big dummy" look on his face as he did when he (very effectively) played Kalan in "Learning Curve". I hope we see him again.

It's becoming increasingly evident that Dr. Lee's presence is to spread the technobabble around so Carter can do more stuff. Kewl! I really like Bill Dow.

I'm not a big fan of video games, but it was neat to see the footage.

Daniel goes Rambo saves the day! Yay! So, why hasn't he gotten contacts or laser eye surgery to correct his vision?

I loved the standoff within the team at the end. That's something we've never seen before and it was a great moment for the whole series. I was almost sure that O'Neill was the Goa'uld, but the truth was a great twist. Siler being a Goa'uld...that should happen more often.

The time-loop/reset stuff got a little jarring after awhile, but that was probably the point. It was hard to watch Teal'c "give up", but I'm sure *that* was the point.

Overall, it was a good episode for me. It's not one of my favorites, but probably only because I'm not a big fan of the video game portrayal, even though the footage was cool.

I am kind of surprised that they're doing two Teal'c-centered episodes in a row. Not that Teal'c can't carry it, but it just seems like it would be better if they spread 'em around. I could be wrong, though, since I don't know anything about "Affinity" other than what was in the teaser (HINT: Don't tell me!). Also, it looks like we'll be playing more of the Spot-The-Former-Guest-Star game.

[DarkQuee1]

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Forgot to add: I really liked the Jack/Teal'c scene at the end. Nice brother/friend feel to it.


And I feel really forgetful--comes with age, I guess--that I had not remembered that in the original season 2 ep, the chair could not read Teal'c's or Sam's mind. Big, big plot flaw, that.


J.

[Major Fischer]

Waitaminute... Sam should have been the one to go help him! If the chair can't read her mind, there's no risk of the game learning anything from her to make it more difficult!

Bah, why did I have to notice this? Curse my brilliant brain!

Darn it all Ugly Pig, you've made the plot hole bigger. You're right, Sam should have been the one to go in.

[Replicarter]

Im going offline know, so i closed my notepad with readymade IMG codes, so no pritty posts, anyway, yes it does explain everything, even though it was encrypted they could still copy it, just couldent access it, and carter with her super advanced computer that can interface with crystels and everything, could dycript it, she just dident mention it.

[Anthro Girl]

Bah, why did I have to notice this? Curse my brilliant brain!

Curses, you Piggy! Knock it off! Besides, it's glaringly obvious that at some point they went back to The Gamekeeper's planet and said, "Fix your stupid machine!" There. Plot hole plugged.

Other stuff I forgot to mention or was reminded of:

The Matrix line and the "It's what we do..." line. I know some people think the "what we do" line is hokey, but I love it. So there.

I actually paused it at the point just prior to the standoff where Carter is working on the generator. We placed bets on who the Goa'uld would be...and we were totally wrong! Loved that!

In the beginning, I was thinking we just might see the return of The Gamekeeper just so he could fix his darn machine, but I'm actually glad we didn't. Never really much liked him.

Video Game Daniel not only had bushier eyebrows, but he went a little overboard on the spiky gel, too!

I didn't see it as an "advertisement" for a video game, but the same company that is producing the video game did the graphics for the episode. In that sense, yeah...for those people that like that sort of thing, I guess it's neat to get a preview of what it'll look like. If you didn't know that, it would just be cool FX...or in my case, "<shrug>...video game stuff".

The camera movement during the sims when Daniel had the previsions was just great!

[Ugly Pig]

Besides, it's glaringly obvious that at some point they went back to The Gamekeeper's planet and said, "Fix your stupid machine!" There. Plot hole plugged.

Sounds awfully convenient... Works for me.

[Liv]

The camera movement during the sims when Daniel had the previsions was just great!

I was thinking the same thing! Great camera workmanship there.

[Elwe Singollo]

Yah, it kind of felt like a fast pace Dead Zone episode with much more visions

[Col.Mike]

This episode was getting a little boring until that interesting twist with Jackson when he shot the chevron guy. From there it picked back up again. I'm looking forward to next week episode, two weeks in a row where Teal'c is the center of attention.

[AgentX]

I liked this episode, sure the whole 'trapped in a VR game' has been done multiple times on SciFi shows but I found what set this apart from others was the humour. Jack's little comments were great, there were a couple that I recall actually laughing out loud on including the Matrix one.

Enjoyed the Sam and Daniel chat regarding the creepy nature of the chair's producers having the neural imprint or whatever on file - I would find that a bit unsettling too.

And those game graphics. Those are what I would like to see in a SG1 game, when I first saw the game SGC personel I immediately thought I was watching someone play Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64, they looked so similar and I thought fit the scenario well.

Have the Goa'uld eyes gone down in quality? I mean when Daniel's eyes glow it looked as if he was turning into Catwoman or something. It just looked campy and not spooky. Oh well, minor thing I guess.

[NightGloom]

I think the quality of Daniel's glowing eyes was done purposely to show that they were in the game. I don't know if it was just me, but everything else seemed a little different than if it had been a "real" attack. Meh, maybe I'll just have to go watch it again.

[Asgard Buddy]

Um, forgive the dumb question, but why was it called "Avatar"?

[Teal'c]

Um, forgive the dumb question, but why was it called "Avatar"?

An avatar is a representation of yourself. Like you're Chevron picture there is your avatar, it represents you in the forum. In Andromeda, the Rommie android is an avatar representing the ship in human form. And in this episode obviously Teal'c and Daniel in the game were their avatars, since the real Teal'c and Daniel were sitting in chairs in a lab.

Now, I knew there was a reason I was looking forward to this episode.

I think I'm banned from watching episodes at 9am now after the second "OH MY GOD DR. LEE!!!!" incident this season and waking up the house Everything about the episode was just so cool. And you could tell all of those scientists were waiting to go home to play Doom3

As for Piggy's "plot hole"... well, obviously part of it is Teal'c is snake-less now. The information from the GK people is easily explained. Teal'c was hooked up and interfacing with the machine, it had to have recorded something. And as for the whole Carter thing, it's very possible they were able to compensate for the blocking of symbiotes etc. so Sam could have gone in, but was too experienced like Jack

Edit: Wooo, 1,000th post!