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    #16
    Originally posted by techjunkie View Post
    Not Quite Spoiler-ific Time!

    Just caught the HD Echoes episode, and was impressed. Not too worry, the spoilers are below in tags. I was a little miffed; Movie Central aired it at the wrong time on the west coast, and I was a little blue over the news of the impending loss of one of the characters next season. My Turtles!

    Overall - a return to what makes this series cool, and one of my personal wishes - to explore Atlantis! Okay - Now for the spoilers:
    Spoiler:

    These are semi spoilers

    The episode sees the return of the whale-like big fishes that circled Rodney's downed jumper last season. We do get up-close and personal with one, and their arrival was done in a very good suspense building way. Are they good guys or bad guys - and yes they are connected to the visions of a burned Atlantean among others.

    We do get an update to the massive plot holes that have been discussed on this board.

    (1) No Atlanteans survived last episode. In fact, it's referred to as the 'murder of the Atlanteans' several times.

    (2) Atlantis HAD three ZPM's, fully charged. They now have one. One was sent to power the Antarctic defensive system, the other was sent to the Odyssey to give it a boost against the Ori. Sweet.

    The ending was a a brute-force solution, thought of by Major Sheppard. Quite cool, neat effects, and we get to see Caldwell act angry.

    Oh yeah, and Tayla and Ronin are starting to look like they need some private time.


    Overall a good episode. Kept me in suspense, although I kinda knew 'who' was doing this. 'Why '- was a surprise.

    Tech Junkie
    sweet! thanks for the info!

    Say hello to my little friend!!

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      #17
      Originally posted by Capricorn_One View Post
      COOL , can't wait to see this episode. When does it air in Canada?
      About 12 hours ago.



      Comment


        #18
        Originally posted by daniel9 View Post
        i cant beleive the stupid blockheads gave their zpms to the odysessy and earth
        Yes lets just let Earth die.

        Atlantis doesn't NEED 3 ZPMs if it has 1. Earth does. It REALLY does.

        What's wrong with sharing the joy?

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          #19
          Okay so I'm typing up a nice big long summary of the ep - it's turning out reeeeeally long so probably will take more than one post. So here's the first bit - I'll put it in spoiler tags to be on the safe side:

          Spoiler:
          The episode begins with Sheppard flying Zelenka and Ronon back from the mainland where Zelenka has been performing some scientific tests and Ronon was hunting – Ronon is in a foul mood cos the noise of Zelenka’s tests scared off any game! Sheppard suggests he try meditation lessons with Teyla. They suddenly realise that they should be able to see Atlantis but it’s not there. After a coupla moment of confusion Zelenka tells Sheppard to change course and they find the city right where it should be – the jumper’s navigational system is off. They get back to the city and Ronon joins Teyla for a meditation lesson… and falls asleep! Teyla is not too impressed when he starts snoring! Teyla leaves the meditation session and as she walks back to her quarters she sees an Ancient woman walking down the corridor towards her, speaking in a weird noises that Teyla cannot understand. Teyla tries to speak to her but the woman walks right through her and disappears.

          Opening credits.

          Rodney bugs Elizabeth about his desire to keep all 3 ZPMs the city was left with after the replicator takeover. Elizabeth tells him it’s not possible – they need one for the Antarctica outpost and one for the Oddysey to help them in their fight against the Orii. Ronon and Teyla stick fight (and she kicks his ass! ) and as they walk through the corridors together afterwards, Teyla sees the Ancient woman again – Ronon can’t see her. This time, Teyla steps aside and lets the woman walk past her and follows as she walks up to a door which opens and a terribly burned man staggers out. The vision disappears leaving Teyla shocked and Ronon confused – he saw nothing.

          Sheppard meets Rodney on a balcony where Rodney is using binoculars to watch the whale creature from GUP (he thinks it’s the same whale) swimming around not far from the city. Teyla has a brain scan which is clear with no sign of any abnormality. No-one can work out why she saw what she saw. Teyla theorises that perhaps she is seeing the “ghosts” of Ancients who died recently during the Asuran attack and who tried to ascend but were prevented from doing so fully and are trapped between planes of existence.

          Rodney tells Weir and Sheppard that he has found information on the whale-like creature in the Ancient database. He mentions that “Sam” lead Sheppard and Zelenka to him in the submerged jumper and hastily covers up by saying he has named the whale Sam! Night time. Teyla gets into bed but before she can fall asleep she is disturbed by a noise – the same odd speech she heard the Ancient woman make before. She leaves her room and sees the same thing – the woman walks past her, the door opens and the burned man staggers out. This time before they disappear the woman catches the burned man and turns to, it seems, cry out for help. Teyla clutches her head as though the noise causes her pain.

          Teyla talks to Heightmeyer about her visions and they discuss why they are appearing only to Teyla. Teyla thinks if the visions are Ancients trapped between planes, they may be trying to communicate and ask for help. Heightmeyer updates Weir on the situation with Teyla – after she leaves, Weir opens a transporter door to be confronted with the burned man. He disappears, leaving Weir shocked. Weir and Teyla discuss the visions with Heightmeyer and she thinks it may be the power of suggestion and that both Weir and Teyla are tired and need a break. Teyla has headaches and cannot sleep - Heightmeyer suggests both Weir and Teyla see Beckett for something to hekp them sleep.

          McKay shows Sheppard that he has found a second whale on the scanners – possibly “Sam’s” mother. Sheppard claims calling the whale Sam is creepy but suggests they take a jumper and take a closer look at them. Zelenka warns them that he’s not yet sure he has fixed the problem with the navigational glitch but that he will track them from the control room. Beckett gives Weir and Teyla sleeping pills and tells them they should make time for at least 8 hours uninterrupted rest. After they leave, he sees a team of Ancient medics treating/operating on the burned man. They disappear.

          McKay and Sheppard fly the jumper underwater to get a closer look at the whales. In a corridor on Atlantis, Ronon sees a team of Ancient scientists gathered around a console then they disappear. As they get closer to the whales, Sheppard starts to get a headache. They have a problem with navigation again and suddenly find themselves much closer to the whales than they intended to get. McKay gets a sudden headache too. They agree that it’s not a coincidence and decide to pull back. Zelenka suggests it may be the whales’ echo location system creating uncomfortable vibrations and causing the headaches. On the monitor Radek suddenly sees many more whales – dozens of them – heading for the jumper. McKay’s nose starts to bleed.

          Weir, Beckett, Ronon and Teyla discuss with Heightmeyer that they have all seen the visions now and others in the city are starting to report seeing them. In all the visions the apparitions are Ancients and seem worried. Weir is called to the control room. Sheppard and McKay are trying to get away from the whales to alleviate the pain they are experiencing but the whales are cutting them off. Rodney passes out, bleeding from his ears. Sheppard decides they need to get out of the water now. His ears start bleeding too as he flies the jumper straight up out of the water. On the scanner, hundreds of whales are now heading to Atlantis.

          In the infirmary, Sheppard and McKay are in bed and Beckett and Zelenka explain their eardrums have been perforated by the whales’ sonar. Close proximity to the whales’ communication is very dangerous to humans. Sheppard and McKay are partially deaf – though Beckett says it should heal soon – and are shouting when they talk!

          Whales are approaching the city from every direction. Their communications are affecting the people in the city – people are experiencing headaches and nosebleeds etc and the closer the whales get, the worse it will get. They turn on the shield. Teyla suggests if the Ancient visions they are seeing are trying to warn them of something, perhaps this is it; her visions started when they first noticed the whale.

          In the infirmary, Sheppard is starting to feel better – the pain is less and he thinks he hearing is getting better. He tries to tell McKay who doesn’t appear to hear him. Sheppard tests McKay’s deafness by making a few snide comments “Canadian football league’s a joke”, “Celine Dion is over-rated” and “Zelenka is smarter than you are!” No response from McKay who is working on a datapad – until he announces that he has found mention of a biolab the Ancients used to study animal life.

          More people are getting ill – all Beckett can do is give people painkillers. McKay and Sheppard decide to leave the infirmary, saying they are feeling better. Beckett tries to order them back to bed but they explain about the Ancient biolab and that it might help solve their current situation.
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            #20
            Concluding part of my episode summary:

            Spoiler:
            The Daedalus arrives and Weir asks them not to beam anyone down as they will be safer on board the ship. Teyla sees another vision and experiences intense pain and collapses, bleeding from the nose. Ronon helps her up and takes her to the infirmary. Sheppard and McKay find the biolab. Weir explains to Caldwell that the whales’ signal seems to be able to penetrate the shields and that there are now hundreds of whales and they are still coming closer. Caldwell suggests that if the whales don’t leave the only option may be to use drones and kill them – before they kill the humans. McKay arrives and explains the whales are not trying to kill them but to help them.

            The Ancient biolab contains a transceiver the Ancients were using the study the whales and try to interpret their language. The ghosts are not ghosts but image projections caused by the whales. The ghosts aren’t warning about the whales – the whales are causing the ghosts to try and warn the inhabitants of Atlantis. It’s an attempt to communicate and the console in the bioab should be able to help interpret it.

            More and more people are ill and Teyla is in the infirmary. She keeps seeing the burned man being operated on – she is seeing the visions almost constantly now. They decide to beam the most sick people up to the Daedalus. Beckett thinks Teyla should go but she refuses. She realises that the burned man in the visions is wearing the uniform of an Ancient pilot. Carson’s nose starts to bleed.

            McKay manages to get the console to translate the weird speech of the woman in the visions – it is distorted but it is Ancient. The console is a transmitter as well as transceiver – the Ancients had been transmitting the whales images and sounds to try and teach them the Ancient language. While they were doing this, there was some kind of disaster and the whales saw and heard the images and sounds of that disaster. The descendants of those whales are now transmitting back those images and sounds to try and warn Atlantis but their playback is imperfect because over the images etc have been passed down through genetic memory and the new whales can mimic the sounds etc but don’t understand them so the mimicry is imperfect. Weir understands enough of the garbled Ancient speech to work out they are talking about something being attacked or overtaken and something called Adaris.

            Caldwell again suggests killing the whales but Mckay and Sheppard have found out that the Adaris was an Ancient ship. 15,000 years ago the entire crew except for the pilot was killed when the ship was hit by a massive blast of radiation from the sun. A coronal mass ejection. The badly-burned pilot (the man in the visions) survived long enough to open a hyperspace window and made it back to Atlantis just ahead of the resulting massive wave of radiation in time to warn the city. The Ancients raised the shield and extended it enough to protect a large part of the planet from the blast. The same thing is about to happen, in fact has already started happening, and that is what the whales have been trying to warn them about.

            Ronon talks to Teyla in the infirmary – she is getting weaker and weaker. Ronon tries to keep her conscious, telling her to hold on as she has to teach him those meditation lessons. She loses consciousness.

            Rodney explains that the solar flare is already building and it will soon collapse and cause the massive ejection of radiation from the sun. it will start as a narrow beam but will spread and will encompass the entire planet. They have less than an hour before the radiation hits them. The whales detected the event in advance, being able to detect small changes in the magnetosphere. The Ancients managed to protect most of the planet with the shield but they had 3 ZPMs – the team only has 1 and it’s too late to get any of the other ZPMs back before the blast hits them. They are out of options - they can’t gate to Earth because they need the ZPM to power the shield, they can’t use the gate bridge because the midway station isn’t completed yet (so they are planning to make it an actual space station type thing where you can use the gate bridge on foot! Wooot!) so people would have to be ferried by jumper. Even if they go to the alpha site, the entire ecosystem of the planet will be damaged for centuries by the blast. No plant life so no breathable air etc. The discussion is interrupted when Weir suddenly collapses.

            Sheppard carries Weir into the infirmary and Beckett rushes over. Sheppard sees a nurse pull a sheet over a soldier’s face and Beckett explains they’ve had their first fatality; an aneurysm from the pressure. Sheppard goes to check on the unconscious Teyla and Ronon tells him she is out of time. He asks Sheppard if he has a plan and Sheppard answers, “Sure” and leaves the infirmary. Sheppard contacts the Daedalus.

            Sheppard and McKay remove the ZPM from Atlantis; Sheppard’s plan is to use it to power the Daedalus’s shields enough for them to manoeuvre close to the sun and deflect the radiation blast away from the planet before it begins to spread. McKay thinks the plan is insane – says they would have to be dangerously close to the sun and that the heat build up behind the shield will turn them to toast etc. Sheppard thinks they can do it – in any case, they have no other choice.

            The Daedalus flies towards the sun whilst McKay tries to connect the ZPM. The prominence is collapsing and they are running out of time. Just in time, McKay gets the ZPM connected and powers the shields and a blast of radiation shoots out from the sun and hits the Daedalus’ shields, splitting in two around the ship. The blast goes on and on and on and McKay says it could last anywhere between a few seconds and several hours. Heat begins to build behind the shield and McKay warns them he told them this was a bad idea. On Atlantis Zelenka explains to Ronon that the blast wave should have hit them by now but it hasn’t so it appears the plan is working.

            The Daedalus starts to take damage from the blast; there is a hull breach in the F302 bay. They seal the breach but another area breaches and they are venting atmosphere. Suddenly, the blast stops. Everyone is shaken and surprised – and relieved – that they made it.

            Back on Atlantis, Zelenka explains that most of the whales are gone now; they had all taken cover within Atlantis’s shields and then began to disperse as soon as the threat was over. Elizabeth is back on her feet and talking too loud – she’s partially deaf now! Teyla is meditating when Ronon joins her, asking if she is ok. He asks if he can try again with the meditation and she warns him that if he falls asleep again… he hands her a fighting stick and tells her to hit him with it if he does.

            Sheppard finds McKay on the balcony again – not all the whales are gone. His friend Sam has hung around a little longer, Rodney thinks he is saying goodbye. Sheppard says that makes sense; “He saved your life and then you saved his. Now you’re even.” Rodney smiles.

            THE END!
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              #21
              It was fun seeing John & McKay doing the whale thing. "Stop calling him Sam its creepy". This type of episode would be where Daniel is needed lol & hmm there could be something going on with Teyla & Ronan in the future
              Last edited by Starxgate; 28 November 2006, 07:42 AM.

              Comment


                #22
                Total filler episode. Giving away two of the three ZPMs was a total cop-out. We already freaking established that Ancient weapons were ineffective against Ori, so why does Earth need TWO of them? Oh, I forgot, Atlantis can't be too powerful, that's why!

                The whole deal with the whales was DUMB: why are they out looking for WHALES when they have two extremely dangerous enemies (replicators, wraiths) out to destroy them?

                Good:
                - Ronon falling asleep during Teyla's stupid meditation session.
                - Sheppard making fun of Canada.
                - McKay being deaf.
                - Caldwell: "let's kill the whales!"
                - I like Zelenka.
                - Pretty cool SFX when they were on the Daedalus
                - It wasn't Teyla centric which I first thought it was going to be.

                Bad:
                - No references to the fact that Atlantis had just been invaded and occupied by replicators? Total reset. Disappointing.
                - Giving away the ZPMs... dumb.
                - Whale storyline, what the hell?
                - Every time they said the word "whales" I snickered.
                - The psychiatrist scenes, is Teyla insane or not!? Yawn, why?
                - TOO much technobabble.
                - Interfacing the ZPM with the Daedalus sure was easy.
                - The ending was unsatisfying, everything was concluded too quickly, felt rushed.


                5.5/10. Star Trek IV was better.
                We're whalers on the moon,
                We carry a harpoon.
                But there ain't no whales
                So we tell tall tales
                And sing our whaling tune.

                Comment


                  #23
                  Originally posted by Oka View Post
                  Giving away two of the three ZPMs was a total cop-out. We already freaking established that Ancient weapons were ineffective against Ori, so why does Earth need TWO of them? Oh, I forgot, Atlantis can't be too powerful, that's why!
                  Where does it say that Ancient tech doesn't work against the Ori? Lets face it a ZPM on the Oddy will seriously help, it is the only ship we have in the MW full time at the moment! We need the strongest shields we can get.

                  I feel having a ZPM on the oddy will seriously help it survive in a future episode.

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Originally posted by Oka View Post
                    Total filler episode. Giving away two of the three ZPMs was a total cop-out. We already freaking established that Ancient weapons were ineffective against Ori, so why does Earth need TWO of them? Oh, I forgot, Atlantis can't be too powerful, that's why!
                    Or maybe because having a ZPM to power their shields might give the Oddessy a greater chance of survival in an encounter with the Ori? And because it's a good idea to be able to use the Ancient weapon on Earth.. you know, there being more to the Universe than just the Ori and all...

                    Originally posted by Oka View Post
                    The whole deal with the whales was DUMB: why are they out looking for WHALES when they have two extremely dangerous enemies (replicators, wraiths) out to destroy them?
                    They weren't "looking out for them". Rodney was researching them in his own time - as he clearly stated.

                    Originally posted by Oka View Post
                    Bad:
                    - No references to the fact that Atlantis had just been invaded and occupied by replicators? Total reset. Disappointing.
                    There were several references to that fact actually. I admit though, the reset was huge - no mention of any repercussions of the Sheppard and co disobeying direct orders, no signs even that the expedition had ever been away from Atlantis. That was annoying. Tho not unexpected, sadly...

                    Originally posted by Oka View Post
                    - Whale storyline, what the hell?
                    - Every time they said the word "whales" I snickered.
                    I thought the story was good. There was the required element of danger so that the team save the day etc, there was a mystery, there was whumpage, there was great team interaction. I really enjoyed this ep.

                    Originally posted by Oka View Post
                    - Interfacing the ZPM with the Daedalus sure was easy.
                    Well, McKay had interfaced a ZPM with Earth technology before (using what looked like an identical interface) to power the gate and get them to Atlantis in the first place....
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                      #25
                      Good episode overall. Yes, I agree, whale story was a bit pushed. And I was looking for a bit more re: the fallout from the replicators on Atlantis. Loved the McKay/Sheppard banter and the Ronan/Teyla interaction. I'm being patient about fallout from Sheppard's disobeying the chain of command, hoping it will be dealt with in a future episode. Sheppard should have at least had a talking to by General Landry or a nice visit from O'Neill, so O'Neill could say, "Colonel, you were out of line!" then a whispered, "Nice job."
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                        #26
                        Odyssey might last a little bit longer VS an Ori ship with a ZPM, won't change anything though they'll just die slower I still think it's a waste, and a cop-out, just like the fact that they never get to keep any ships they find........

                        The whole storyline with the whales was cheesy. There was some good moments in the episode though (the ones I listed, primarily), so it wasn't a total waste.


                        Still, Star Trek IV was better.
                        Last edited by Oka; 28 November 2006, 08:40 AM.
                        We're whalers on the moon,
                        We carry a harpoon.
                        But there ain't no whales
                        So we tell tall tales
                        And sing our whaling tune.

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Awesome episode! The idea of the whales and the shielding was cool
                          LONG LIVE THE WRAITH!
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                            #28
                            I was pretty impressed by this episode. I thought I would just be a filler episode, but it got me way more excited than some of the over-arcing stories concerning the Wraith.

                            I'm glad to see the whales back. It makes Atlantis more real. Heck, it's a small island on a large water planet (mostly). And having some sort of recreational experience when watching life in the water is also not uncommon.

                            But a few things I don't understand:
                            - Why was Zelenka out of uniform at the beginning? He may have said it, but it's still not clear to me.
                            - Was it stated how much time has passed between Return P1 and this ep? Weir said she hasn't had much spare time in the recent past. During Return P1, she had plenty of time to write her memoirs.
                            - If Teyla was really the worst off as was stated(?) why wasn't she also one of the first to beam to the Daedalus? Or did I miss something?

                            Originally posted by Oka View Post
                            The whole deal with the whales was DUMB: why are they out looking for WHALES when they have two extremely dangerous enemies (replicators, wraiths) out to destroy them?
                            I was seriously expecting the whales to carry some sort of bomb (implanted by the Wraith maybe?) or to destroy Atlantis from the underwater thing from last ep. Yeah, I know, stupid thinking.
                            No, 'Eureka' is Greek for 'This bath is too hot.'

                            "Because only an extremely deranged individual would think of doing what we're doing."
                            (LOST producer Damon Lindelof, May 2007)

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                              #29
                              Well, I really liked it. Certainly better than R2 (although aspects of R2 were fun) I'm finding that more and more (at least since the Siege I,II,III) that SGA really does much beter with episodic stories and not 2 parters (I haven't been REALLY fond of a 2 parter since season 1)

                              I loved the snark, its good to see tha back again. And the simple fact that Sheppard and Rodney got into trouble during their "time off" Sheesh, just can't leave those two alone for 2 minutes without one or both of them getting into trouble

                              The yelling stuff was hilarious, and I loved the whole pigeon reference. LOL

                              The scene in the PJ was very cool, nice building of tension!

                              I loved to see the scenes with Ronon and Teyla even if it was just so Teyla was actually used as a character.

                              Ronon snoring in meditation... hilarious!

                              Overall, I thought the ep was pretty good
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                                #30
                                Originally posted by Oka View Post
                                5.5/10. Star Trek IV was better.
                                HA!! That's the first thing I thought of when I read the spoilers about the whale.

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