'Brain Storm' (516) General Discussion

[losernerdfriend]

Just watched this. I thought it was a fantastic episode. I was laughing through it all.

Neil deGrasse Tyson & Bill Nye? Wonderful. Brilliant. Superb.

Rodney insulting Bill Nye? Wonderful. Brilliant. Superb.

Rodney and Jennifer? I'm actually completely fine with this relationship. I was also fine when it looked like it was gonna be Ronon and Jennifer. I don't really care what happens, I'm just extremely happy they took that ridiculous love triangle out.

Also Keller's outfit was super cute.

And a quick cameo from Walter!!

And I thought Keller's viewpoint on "save the planet" was extremely interesting. I had never thought of it like that. I'm going to use that logic in the future.

[Davey]

How was it possible that the US defense and security infrastructure system didn't detect the storm in the desert, or make any provisions for ambulances to help the freezing people? And where were Jennifer and Rodney coming from and going to that would not reveal the existence of SGC in Colorado? Wouldn't the organizers of the conference have had background information and clearances for all participants?

[Xaeden]

Does the US defense and security infrastructure system closely monitor weather satellite feeds around the clock? And if they do, how do they know to send ambulances to help freezing people when they would only know people were freezing after everything was over and someone was able to call for help? Also, how would we know if they did or did not send ambulances? It was far out in the middle of nowhere and the actual incident took place over a short period of time. The episode then skipped past the aftermath to show Mckay and Keller back in the jet.

The people in the Stargate Program and Atlantis Expedition have cover stories that involve them telling people they work for the government. Sometimes the details are vague. For example, people know that Sheppard is involved in top secret work resulting in some assuming he's flying secret missions in various parts of the world. This is something people do, so there's no need for him to say anything more than that he's in the military and can't talk about what he does. In other instances, people have a fake job title. Carter, for example, told people she worked on satellites at NORAD, and every day she did go to NORAD. She just didn't stop there and instead went a few levels deeper.

I don't know the specifics of Mckay's cover story, but it shouldn't be surprising if he's able to tell people he does government consulting work (he indicated as much in this episode without revealing what he actually does to people). As Stargate Command was built under NORAD and as NORAD is operated jointly by the U.S. and Canada it would not be unusual if he goes there from time to time and then flies out of the nearest airport.

Btw, NORAD moved in 2008 in the real world, and the episode aired after the announcement, but it was written beforehand. Of course, whether NOARD is still there or not in the Stargate universe is unknown.