Countdown (311)

[Alex Rubit]

Stargate: Horizon - Season Three
"Countdown"

"Countdown"
Ep: 3.11
Release Date: March 1, 2007
Written by Alex Rubit

While David, Tom, and N.I.D. Agent Malcolm Barrett investigate a bombing on Earth, Zach Hoffmann returns home after hearing that someone from his past has been murdered.

[Alex Rubit]

Another Thursday, another new episode!

Today's episode, "Countdown," will be up on the site very shortly, but until then you can download it from the following link:

http://uk.geocities.com/alex_stargat..._countdown.pdf

Make sure to stop back here to discuss the episode after reading!

[Elite Anubis Guard]

Woot. New episode. *Goes off to read*

[Lt. Colonel Ryu Gaia]

Very, very nicely done. Not a groundbreaker, not by a long shot. But Zach is finally redeemed as a person. He's no longer a Lucius or a Jacek, but he's starting to come into his own.

The plot of the episode was decent. Not fantastic, but not bad. What really made the episode, I think, was the interaction between Zach and Jerry. They feel like real people! That doesn't happen for me very often on Horizon. Even Tom and David gelled really well this episode - usually I find their conversations to be contrived, but this time it felt almost entirely genuine. That is, indeed, a good sign.

Overall: ***

Nicely done.

[Elitenova]

The episode is good, glad to see Agent Barrett in this episode.

[knowles2]

Right first, I would just like to say that perhaps I was a bit harsh and mean on the last episode that review or commented on.

This episode was a lot better.

Interaction between all the characters were good.

And I love interaction between and zach and zach oops meant his wife.
Hope we see more of her in the future.

And I thought the david, and tom was good. And their interaction between Caitlin and Julia was so natural.

The story was alright and pretty good, through a few twists would of been good.

A overall 7, needed a bit more of a thicker plot line.

Would love to finally hear it the president behind the whole phoenix coalition or at lease they control him.

[Elite Anubis Guard]

Was really awesome seeing the Coalition again. Thought you guys had forgotten about them! While it was a nice Zach episode, he's still by no means my favorite character. I think it might have been better to have him die in that explosion, would have saved the hassle of trying to make him likeable.

And on that notion - why didn't they just beam the bomb in space?

Not really too much to say on this one. Really looking forward to the next arc though! Good work.

[Lt. Colonel Ryu Gaia]

Probably easier to lock on to lifesigns than to bombs.

[Alex Rubit]

Even Tom and David gelled really well this episode - usually I find their conversations to be contrived, but this time it felt almost entirely genuine.

That's odd. Because there's no change in how either of the two were written. And I should know, since most of the time I'm working on several episodes at the same time. So this was just one out of a few I was working on at the time. I think it's probably because we got to see them interacting away from their respective jobs, in a more relaxed environment -- in the teaser at least. There's more moments like that coming up, by the way.

Regarding Zach and Jerry, I quite like them because they're not exactly the kind of characters you'd normally see on a show like this. I wouldn't say that they feel any more "real" than our main characters.

The reason things might not seem natural for you when reading it, might even be because you're probably not familiar with all of the voices the characters are written for. Sometimes things are based greatly on how they tend to talk (i.e. Callen's clearly Dennis Haysbert in just how he says certain things). Of course, everyone should know Dennis from the various AllState commercials. So there's Callen for ya.

So I wouldn't say that the dialogue ever seem contrived. But that's just my opinion regarding that. I had to address it, because I think getting the dialogue to sound right is one of the most important things if you ever want to be working on television shows.

But anyway, I'm glad you liked the episode. There's some more nice character moments for Zach coming up later this season.

[Alex Rubit]

Right first, I would just like to say that perhaps I was a bit harsh and mean on the last episode that review or commented on.

Not at all, by all means. There's no need to hold back. Just wish we'd see more reactions to episodes, be it good or bad.

And I love interaction between and zach and zach oops meant his wife.
Hope we see more of her in the future.

Not this season. But I doubt this was the last we saw of Susie.

Would love to finally hear it the president behind the whole phoenix coalition or at lease they control him.

Hmmm.

[Alex Rubit]

Was really awesome seeing the Coalition again. Thought you guys had forgotten about them!

We try not to forget about past storylines and/or elements. Including say... those dissipation weapons that were mentioned in a couple of Season Two episodes. It's possible they'll play a significant role in an upcoming episode.

While it was a nice Zach episode, he's still by no means my favorite character. I think it might have been better to have him die in that explosion, would have saved the hassle of trying to make him likeable.

Spoiler:

Well, he'll find himself in a bit of screwy situation in "Together We Stand." Can't say any more.

And on that notion - why didn't they just beam the bomb in space?

Like Ryu already said, it would have taken too much time to have the ship's sensors lock on to the bomb, and beam it up.

And aside from that, we felt it would be fun to blow up a warehouse.

[Alex Rubit]

The episode is good, glad to see Agent Barrett in this episode.

Glad you liked the episode.

[The Sentinal]

An incriminating audio tap hey.... reminds me of 24 episode/s about a similar subject

Nice episode, not your best i must say but a good one over all.

[Col.Foley]

Hi.
I thought the episode was good, a slight bit boring at about one or two pages there in the middle, but the ending was good. Couple of things, one I still do not like Zach, and I would of had the ship beam out the regular crew, which brings me to the point that why wouldn't Agent Barret especially, and Zach to a degree be having a locator beacon under their skin, of course that leaves Suzie, but it would be easy enough to get her out, will we be seeing her again?
Also, I agree with Ryu, this ep really helped to define Zach's character, this was a much better character development episode then Journalists Day, in that he just annoyed me no end, he still does but in this episode it ended up being less annoying, and more human I suppose. Nicely done Alex I continue to look forward to any other episode in the future of this great series.

[SG-25CSAR]

I like this episode. The fact that the good guys are doing all the beaming for a change surprised me. Every time the ISGC gets close to arristing Trust members, thet beam out. This time the ISGC did the beaming. I like Zach and his relation with jerry, its not real stragate like but good enough to ad a brighter side to the show.

Barret is always welcomed in my book. He seems to be the same thing for the NID in horizon that woosely is for the SGC when dealing with the IOA.

Its a good one but not the best, not every episode can be the best.