Covenant (808)

[major al]

So you loved this episode, but yet you think its ok, so i guess thats good? Haha... Like everyone else (or just maybe some), i was a bit confused with the episodes having to deal with the Trust, and it seemed like they haven't much about them yet, well to me they didn't. Yah the always 'suprising' face emotions they show, wonder how much they practice that in the mirror

Bah!!!!!! you get what i mean =P

[DarkQuee1]

I'm the "terrible" camp. I didn't think they could come up with something as boring as Icon so quickly, but they did. Amazing talent, there.

And before you start calling me an "action Jackson" or having "non-attention span"--I'll match my attention span against yours any day --I loved "Abyss", which was a lot of talk and virtually no action. But it was intense and dramatic. I was glued to the screen. With Covenant, I was glued to my watch. "Oh, only another ten seconds have gone by? Darn."

Other than to introduce the concept of the Trust (and they shouldn't have reversed the order of the eps, so that Daniel's line last week made no sense), there was no point to this show. It went nowhere. It accomplished nothing. For Colson and his friend, there was a change by the end of the show--but that's it. Nothing else changed.

And I couldn't believe that I was hearing what the government was doing. Let's see: they gave a civilian outfit alien DNA? They used the same company to help clean up the mess after Nuby's attack, instead of keeping it in the military? They gave the same company some alien tech stuff? They used the same company to make parts for the X-303?

They were dropped on their heads a lot as infants?? As Forest Gump would say, "Stupid is as stupid does."

I found Colson totally unlikeable. He was arrogant (in a quiet sort of way), smug and self-righteous. He set himself up as the final arbiter of what should be told to everyone. I wonder if he were as free with his own company's technical secrets?

And I wonder how his friend's family feels about him now?

Worse, when Sam tells him that it could lead (probably because (a) outsiders would also want the tech and/or (b) it would challenge established religious beliefs) to planetary conflict--and she left out that it might also cause planetary panic--and we could end up destroying ourselves, Colson's attitude is that, if that happens, we deserve it. I suppose that also includes the people who *don't* panic or have trouble accepting it, the innocent bystanders (including children), who would also end up destroyed in the conflict.

Which was something I kept waiting for Sam to point out, but she didn't; I've noticed a tendency on the part of the writers not to follow through with the next logical comment (another example: in "Past and Present", when Daniel does his rant about who do you trust, claiming that they trust Teal'c and look who he was --I kept waiting for someone to point out the flaw: Teal'c actively *chose* to change, to stop being First Prime, to deny and fight his former "god", but Linea made no such choice. She changed only because she fell victim to her own machinations--and thus we have no idea what she would do if she remembers who she is. *But* no one followed through on the response.)

At least, I wanted her to ask, "Who died and appointed you God?" He criticized the government for deciding what the people should know, but he was doing the same thing--and not giving a damn for the possible consequences.

You want to refer Colson to Gandalf, when he claimed that maybe they deserved it: as Gandalf noted, many who die deserve life. If you can't give it to them, don't be so fast to deal out death, either.


The thing is, I suspect we were supposed to think Colson was a perfectly wonderful person, just as we were supposed to find Pete fine in Chimera (and, no, I don't want to re-hash that). I personally have a problem with both characters, and I don't quite understand why they have been written this way. I've generally been in synch with their perceptions of the characters in the past, but they are losing me these days.


J.

[AlphaBlu]

Copy & Paste...


For a Martin Wood episode, the directing was pretty subtle. Normally you can tell when it's a Martin Wood episode because his directing style is so fluid compared to that of PDL (not that PDL's style is bad, it's just different). Yes the camera moved a lot, but I dunno, I just didn't notice anything that made me go 'nice shot' like he usually does. Maybe on second viewing I'll notice it.

The effects were very nice in this one. The joyride on the F-302 was quite nicley done, as were the effects for the new new Alpha Site (which was cool BTW, and Sheffield in command! Hilarious!). I'm wondering about Colson's office and where they filmed it however. I know the boardroom in Prometheus was the actual production office at the Studios where they make Stargate, and this office in Covenant had a 'done up' feel about it that makes me think it wasn't a built set.

As for the story, I was hooked. O'Neill was used exceptionally well, far better than he was in the first half of Season 7 (not that that'd be hard - Night Walkers had better use of O'Neill than Season 7, and he wasn't even in that one!). It was nice to see Thor again, even if his voice did sound a little off - can Asgard get colds? - and it's nice to see him helping us out.

"Empty Vessle" Asgard was spooky. My jaw dropped when Colson brought him out. I instantly thought "How are they going to explain this one!". This episode was definately not one of those ones where you can just go back to the way it was. No trite ending that covers everything up at the end; this one will come back to bite us in the ass.

In the end Shaughnessy did annoy me a little. He had more lines than anyone in the episode and every now and again I could just imagine him yelling "Oh Niles!" or "Miss. Fine!". Still he was a likable character and I'm glad he did pick apart some of Sam's reasons for not telling the word, as some of them were pretty thin.

The episode loses 0.5 because Teal'c was (as usual) wall paper. Granted we've had 2 Teal'c centred eps in a row now, but that's no reason why Teal'c should be in two scenes only and have maybe a single line. I know Chris Judge was probably shooting Avatar or Affinity, or maybe even on location doing Sacrifices at the time (and therefore wasn't around enough to warrent being in the scenes), but it was fairly blatant just how "missing" he was.

The episode also loses 0.5 points in my ratings because I felt that Daniel was handeled clumsily in this one. We spent so much time with Colson that it was really only Sam who got a look in as far as development goes. Normally they can put in some good screentime for atleast two of the title characters during an episode, but this time they sorta tried with Daniel but didn't go all the way.

Thankfully, the 0.5 points is regained with the inclusion of the lovley Kendall Cross, reprising her role of Julia, our all-too-inquisitive reporter. Maybe the writers haven't forgotten that Season 6 actually happened...

In the end, a 4.5 episode goes down to 3.5, but goes up to 4 thanks to Ms. Cross. 4/5 in total for that one. I'm glad that we'll be getting more of this story line again, as they've made the bad guy NID interesting again.

BYE

[ravinia]

I have to agree this one bored me as well. There were a few moments, but overall, the focus on the Shaunessy character just didn't engage me. I know we truly have been spoiled with this amazing show and our expectations are high. There have just been too many earthbound, expositionary type eps this season while we are missing our old SG-1 team and wishing and hoping the magic can be recaptured. So it's hard to wait through these earth-bound, Jack-lite, low key eps.

Quality vs. quantity : Yes! Give RDA a chance to shine while you have him! Even if he did not appear in some episodes at all to save up his screen time to really kick ass, have some lines that have some life in them, and be his old Jack self when he does.

^Ravinia^

[greytop]

I may reconize him if I saw him or seen the show he was in but right now I completely stumped. Who is Emmet Bregman?

[Major Fischer]

I may reconize him if I saw him or seen the show he was in but right now I completely stumped. Who is Emmet Bregman?

The doc producer from Heroes.

[greytop]

The doc producer from Heroes.

Thanks. No wonder I didn;t reconize the name I only caught the tail end of Heroes Pt2. Waiting for the DVDs to come out to see it.

[Major Fischer]

Thanks. No wonder I didn;t reconize the name I only caught the tail end of Heroes Pt2. Waiting for the DVDs to come out to see it.

I still don't have the heart to watch it. I know the summery, I just ... like I said, don't have the heart.

[AlphaBlu]

I still don't have the heart to watch it. I know the summery, I just ... like I said, don't have the heart.

Watch it. It's better to know what happens than to let your imagination run rampant. I had tears in my eyes the whole way through, but I'm glad I watched it.

BYE

[AsgardCarnage]

good ep, prob 3rd or 4th fav ep from the season (ep1 and 2 first then zero hour) as soon as i saw him i just kept waiting for him to say "MISSS FINNNEEEE!!!".

is it just me or did colson have a picture or a sketch of the earth SGC stargate in his office behind him when he was showing the pics he had to sam and danial?

loved thor and jack talking, and using the transports to move around, thoese small little guys sure do love their transporters. also "we are calling in a marker! *smiles* . . . . waits. . . . . yep calling in a marker . . .. " and then thor beams in great stuff!

i didn't find it slow, but i saw it wihtout ad's, carter played out well as her charictor should.

so what can colson do for them? wasn't his power his money and control over so many companies? they have smarter people then him.

sorry for the large size of the pic, but is it just me or is that a gate pic witha ramp going up to it?

[Elwe Singollo]

Ahh! I didn't catch that, how interesting, but yah, maybe its just something else, but i think its a stargate like you pointed out

[Elwe Singollo]

I still don't have the heart to watch it. I know the summery, I just ... like I said, don't have the heart.

The summaries sometimes aren't just giving the episode itself the true lighting, whatever that meant, but like greytop said, you should watch it

[Albion]

It was nice to see Thor again, even if his voice did sound a little off - can Asgard get colds?

Yes, I noticed the voice was off too. Weird. I didn't notice if there was a credit for it at the end of the show - well, when I say didn't notice, there weren't any end credits on the dl <g>. Anyone notice if it was credited to someone other than MS?

Albion

[pettygrew]

The credits were skipped again. They went straight into Atlantis.

Speaking of pictures. Did you see the poster size picture of the show's producer N. John Smith? It was hanging on the wall of the television studio behind Sam as she talked on her cell phone.

Good catch AsgardCarnage.

[Orce]

They didn't show the credits, they went right to Atlantis again.