Covenant (808)

[Mio]

Overall I don't think that it was a bad episode. It's certainly better than that horrible horrible affinity....

Right! Back on Topic...

I liked the part with Thor's hologram on the news <G>

[Ramne]

I enjoyed this ep very much, although I also thought it sputtered a bit at the end.

[She Lurks]

Spoiler space (better save than flamed! I'm a newbie)
>>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Didn't think I would, but I really liked this one! Nice to see a 'Sam in control' ep. Of course, the first thing I noticed was that Sam was flashing her 'ringless' hands around early on - just to find out that the eps aired out of order. But still - gets to fly! She gets to drive that sweet red converible! And an appearance by the Asgard is always a plus.

The episode felt 'tight' to me, had a story that held me.

[muffo]

This episode was so much better than anything they've done this season. I was delighted. It moved well and there was logic to the action. It was intelligently edited, the characters all acted like themselves. Thor was there. Gotta love Thor. He and O'Neill make a great team. You have to admire Alec's democratic spirit. Not much understanding of human nature, but maybe that is what moves humanity along--someone who refuses to be hampered by reality and trys to create they own view. It was a great Sam episode. She was normal!!! I'll keep this one for later viewing.

[Ali_gater]

Okay, this completely went over my head. What is wrong with a captain named Sheffield?

The name of the character Charles Shaughnessy played on "the Nanny" was Maxwell Sheffield. A little like the "McGyver" comment made by Sam in COTG.

[Elfinwood]

Best part of Covenant...the Jack, Thor and Daniel scene in Jack's office. The rest...meh.

Although it did bring up a bunch of things from the past and added some new tidbits to the mix, if I wasn't such a fan of AT and Sam, I probably would have zoned out. I really liked Sam in this episode. She was competent, professional and compassionate.

One thing that really bugged me...I usually find RDA's quirky mannerisms and ad-libs entertaining, but the heartburn routine last night was a real distraction for me from the dialogue and looked rather inappropriate in that scene.

I'm curious to know what the reasoning was for flip-flopping this episode with Affinity. I know that Covenant filmed early. Deadline problems with special effects, maybe?

[Critter]

My impressions of Covenant:

Dull, dull, dull, dull, boring, and dull. A financial scandal? Ho-hum. A captain named Sheffield? Um... okay. The AlphaSite is in a mountain now. How many does that make now? Three? Four? "The people deserve the truth!" Yes, we know. Emmett gave a much more passionate speech about it last season, thank you.

On the up-side: Sam looked fabulous, Teal'c got a line (did they use up his quota for the season already?), Daniel's shrug was cute, Jack's "It wasn't us," line was *very* remiscient of Hammond's "It was an accident" line from Secrets, and Thor. Gotta love Thor.

So out of 44 minutes, I truly enjoyed maybe 7 minutes of it, at the most. The rest I found dull. Boring.

And did I mention dull?

This is pretty much how I feel too. Thor was a great surprise to me, love him! Sam in charge was nice but she is just too darn well made up to feel any real seriousness about the situation. It's like she's just come from the beauty salon to fly the plane. Daniel looked great in his suit .

Mostly I missed, really missed, the team interation. Jack couldn't have been more bored or more unhappy looking or more rude to Sam about her knowing Alec. I really miss the family of SG-1 this season. I know, change is good, but I still want to go back to the good ole days where the team worked together and they all had approximately the same number of lines per show!

[jyh]

I actually kind of liked it. I understand why all you "action Jacksons" prefer eps with Goa'uld and firefights and lots of stuff blowing up might not like it, but I think it's a realistic part of the evolution of how the "secret of the mountain" is going to leak out. With all the Air Force personnel and contractors and other specialists who have some activity with the SGC, it's only a matter of time before someone spills the beans, so it's interesting to see how they handle it.

I still think Shaughnessy sounded a bit British, altho it was never said explicitly what his nationality was so I guess it doesn't matter.

When he was doing his expose news conference I thought he was going to show the satellite photos he showed Sam & Daniel. but when he gestured for the door to open & someone was obviously going to enter the room I said sarcastically to my son: Who's it going to be, Thor?? Then when the cloned asgard came it I almost fell on the floor. I just could NOT figure out how they 'captured' an asgard. The clone-growing from DNA was a great twist-- totally unexpected. Yet also an interesting plot point for how the Trust can get stuff, since bits & pieces of technology & 'evidence' is being farmed out to contractors here on earth. My son (he's 16) was suspsicious of Colson's assistant right away.

I loved the Thor hologram during Sam's TV interview... that was cool. And very clever on their part. It discredited Colson's alien without ripping Colson to pieces.

Did anyone else think the same thing I thought during this episode? Remember during Wormhole X-treme, Jack or Hammond or someone said that having a TV show like that would be good cover in case rumors of what was going on at Cheyenne Mountain ever got out? Then this episode, Covenant, talks about TV special effects. Hmmmm... maybe Stargate-SG1 is a clever cover story for some special military prgram that they don't want us to know about. After all, the Air Force does have some advisory input to the show don't they??

I liked Daniel's role, tho it was limited... he was cute as always. And Chris Judge must have been on vacation the week they filmed this. (And his sleeveless shirts still bother me.... are his biceps so big now that a regular t-shirt won't fit? Put a jacket on, man!)

I take it the Trust is sort of an evolutionary form of the NID, but probably including more civilians? Can't wait to hear more about them. I thought they were going to suggest that Colson use his resources to find out about them. And WHY didn't they explain how people kept getting Carter's cell-phone number?? Who are everyone's "sources"???

Here's one point that nobody mentioned but I noticed right away.... Did anyone notice that the Colson Industries logo was just the Sci-Fi network slogan flipped around??? It's prominent in Colson's office during the Colson/Sam/Daniel interview. It's a stylized "C" for Colson, but also, conveniently, the flip-side of the network's logo.

[Mio]

The name of the character Charles Shaughnessy played on "the Nanny" was Maxwell Sheffield. A little like the "McGyver" comment made by Sam in COTG.

That's how she became, the Nannnyyyyyy... Who would have guessed that the girl we've describ---err---- Right!

<cough> I couldn't resist.

[Mar9645]

ok, 5 mo nths since new order, death knell was a couple to few before that, i just don't see how they hollowed out a mountain in less than a year

To paraphrase a line from Independence Day, you don't think the Pentagon really spends $600 for a hammer?

This episode was outstanding and, IMHO, the best of Season 8 so far. There were no annoying ship moments, nauseating soap opera story lines, simplistic comic book plot ideas, disgusting video game violence or moronic situation comedy cliches.

Stargate SG-1 was being who and what they're supposed to be. That's only happened once before this season in Icon. The plot lines all made sense and came together the way the best writing for this show has so many times pre-Season 7.

Alex's determination to reveal the alien threat was believable because he really didn't know about the Stargate. His companie's work filled in some of the blanks about the effects alien technology is having on Earth society, both good and bad. There was just the right level of drama (which has been sorely missing in most of the episodes this season): an attempted assassination, his assistant's betrayal, his hiding out at the Alpha site.

The new Alpha site is fabulous. It's a joy to the eye and a great setting for future SGC plot use. The familiar visuals didn't bother me because the story was so strong.

The Trust as a growing new enemy is believable and has great potential for story arcs.

Sam is back to being the competant professional she was in Season 6. Let's hope she stays that way.

I was happily able to ignore Jack's pointless appearances.

The only negative comment I have is that the story could have done without Daniel's reference to that weasel Emmet Bregman.

Covenant was drama at its best within Stargate SG-1's action/adventure framework. The plot and pacing were very reminiscent of Season 6. There is broad potential for future stories, primarily ones that concentrate on Sam, Daniel and Teal'c. If there is a Season 9, I hope this represents the direction the stories and the characters will take.

[Scarym1]

is it just me or does the new alpha site look a lot like atlantis just redressed???

I like it being buried but i wonder how the heck they did all that in a few months??

ok, 5 mo nths since new order, death knell was a couple to few before that, i just don't see how they hollowed out a mountain in less than a year

Maybe they had some help from some of those tokra crystals that grow tunnels. The crystals go in first to clean everything out and then The SGC goes into fix it how they want it.


I really like this ep. I thought that scene where Sam and Daniel meet Colson in his office was cool. I like how he knew who Daniel was. Daniel seemed a bit embarrassed when Colson mention Daniel's theories about Pryramids being landing pads for alien ship. I love how Daniel said he has been around. On a more shallow note: DANIEL LOOKED SO HOT IN THAT SUIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was really surprised when the Asgard showed up at the press conference. It was like OMG how are they going to cover that up. The explanation for it was quite fascinating.

I enjoyed Jack's comment about Thor wanting to give the President a present, like maybe a Hyper Drive. Sam seemed surprised by Jack and Thor just beaming out while Daniel appeared so casual about it.

I do have one question. Colson got to meet Thor but why not Tealc as well?

I was wondering how they were going to stop him from revealing the truth. I like how it was accomplished. I felt sorry for Brian, Colson's Friend. I thought he was going to be a bad guy. I am glad he wasn't. He was just afraid. I think Colson was just too arrogant in thinking that he knew what was best for the world. I liked his character but I didn't feel sorry for him.

I like how Daniel checked he cell phone for messages and got 13 from that Documentary director. I can't think of his name right now. I also like how they showed that lady reporter from the Promethus.

I think that the SGC should see about getting a more secure phone system because it seems that certain people, The Trust from Affinity and Colson, have no problems accessing it.

Other than that I enjoyed. I thought the whole story was well written and directed. I didn't find it slow at all. Maybe it flows differently when you don't get the commercial breaks. I guess watchin on Squinty has its advantages. : )

[Mio]

This episode was outstanding and, IMHO, the best of Season 8 so far. There were no annoying ship moments, nauseating soap opera story lines, comic book plot ideas, video game violence or moronic situation comedy cliches.

Not to mention the fact that it had the asgard in it..... <hums that music that always plays when an asgard comes on screen>

But. The music that normally plays when an asgard comes on screen didn't play during this episode!!!

[Albion]

Well, I was looking forward to this one - albeit with a little trepedation that they might actually reveal the secret, which I was so hoping wouldn't happen - and I wasn't disappointed at all. I really enjoyed it.

It was quite dark, reminding me of earlier seasons, and unlike the murder mystery element of Affinity last week, it kept me guessing and intrigued right through till the end. When that door opened at the press conference and I realised just before it happened that an Asgard was going to come out, I just said, OMG, aloud to the screen. <g> Great twist!

Couple of down points - Sam, it seems, has been learning bad habits from Pete. What on earth was she doing talking so indiscretely on her cellphone to Colson after her TV appearance? "I'm sorry...I was just obeying orders'. Well, lucky Colson wasn't taping that little conversation, huh, Sam, or you might just have undone all that hard work! (Loved that TV spot btw and it was cool to see Julia back as the reporter - nice tie in to previous episodes there).

I have issues with the scenes involving Jack - part of an unwelcome trend I've noticed in other episodes this season. They were mostly pretty flat - mostly having him either walking or sitting in silence for the majority of the scenes. I don't mind a Jack-lite episode - we knew we were going to get them and it's been amazingly balanced so far, much more than I could have hoped for - but I've often had the feeling this season so far that when we do get him on screen he's not being used to the extent he's capable of. Which is somewhat disappointing. Too much listening and not enough reacting. Suffice to say, I'm looking forward a LOT to the first episode where we get Action!Jack back. Have him react to something, do something, rather than sit there. At the moment in many scenes he seems ... subdued somehow. A shadow of his former self. And it seems such a waste of his screentime when it's so precious these days.

Having said that he did shine now and then. Loved his wicked grin just as Thor whips them away to visit the President. And the having to repeat his dramatic announcement because Thor was late. LOL.

ROTFL'd at Daniel's "I've got 13 messages from Emmett" - and the expression on his face was priceless.

So, yes, on the whole this is one I'll revisit again. It was kind of nice too to see a lot of Sam and Daniel focus in this one with them working together - and I'll say it again, isn't that guy gorgeous in civvies <G> - although poor Teal'c was kind of a fifth wheel.

Conclusion - highly enjoyable.

Albion

[Livi2Jack]

Is it me or does this new Alpha Site bode well for S9? There could be some really cool stories out of that scenario. In fact, it could be its own spin-off. SGC-Alphasite....kewl. I like Earth centered stories. I like us meandering in OUR galaxy from OUR point of view. Atlantis is fine for a spin-off, but the fun of SG1 was that it happens in the here and now with folks operating on a current level of understanding, mores, issues, and science. SG1 for those reasons is a real twist vs ST.

[Mio]

I have issues with the scenes involving Jack - part of an unwelcome trend I've noticed in other episodes this season. They were mostly pretty flat - mostly having him either walking or sitting in silence for the majority of the scenes. I don't mind a Jack-lite episode - we knew we were going to get them and it's been amazingly balanced so far, much more than I could have hoped for - but I've often had the feeling this season so far that when we do get him on screen he's not being used to the extent he's capable of. Which is somewhat disappointing. Too much listening and not enough reacting. Suffice to say, I'm looking forward a LOT to the first episode where we get Action!Jack back. Have him react to something, do something, rather than sit there. At the moment in many scenes he seems ... subdued somehow. A shadow of his former self. And it seems such a waste of his screentime when it's so precious these days.

It may not be such a bad thing that they are doing that. I mean, think about it, If by the end of Season 8, we are used to Nearly no Jack Interaction, and OK with it, and they left open some great stories for a season 9, but RDA can only do cameos, isn't that better?