'Visitation' (209) General Discussion

[themeatcleaver]

Hmm, aliens give them a new shuttle, but people come back from the dead only to die again...

I thought long and hard about it, and there's only one explanation.

The aliens are trolling them! Destiny has inadvertently stumbled over the cosmic version of 4chan.

Eli is hopefully changing everybodys Facebook passwords as we speak. And I wouldn't ride a single lightyear in that shuttle. It probably has "COME INSIDE KIDS! FREE CANDY!!" written in all known alien languages on the side of it.

I can see it now.. Scott's standing there looking at the shuttle saying "Forget what Col. Young said! These guys look legit!"

[Browncoat1984]

I liked this episode, a little slow and disjointed at parts but it was decent, sure it was not as exciting as the last few episodes, but remember with shows like this (remember BSG?) You usually have a slight lull between big episodes. Notice that most of the sets used were existing sets and it was not a very effect heavy shot compared to the last couple episodes, so my guess is they needed a bottle-type show. Also wasn't this the first outing of a new writer on the team? If so it wasn't a bad first outing and I look forward to seeing future scripts from him.

I loved the part with Greer saying farewell to Chloe, I'm coming to really love Greer and his personality and his relationship to the rest of the crew and his protectiveness of them. I think we're really starting to see these characters come into their own this season and become a bit more likeable, its especially nice to see them start working more as a real team rather than a bunch of random people who shouldn't be there (as should be happening at this point).

I also like that we're not handed all the answers on a silver platter. Half the fun is asking questions and wondering what really happened. Granted, TOO much of that is not a good thing (I think BSG left a bit too much un-answered) but a little bit is good for discussion among fans and fellow viewers. I also liked that the whole crew returning to the ship didn't turn into some big alien threat (at least so far?)

[senilegreen]

It's easy to pick apart scripts of weekly series, because the stories tend to not be thought about for a long enough time to work out all the holes... nevertheless here I go:

One thing that bugged me about this episode is the death of the people on the Faith planet. Yes, I know the writers threw in that Greer line about them being scientists and thus having no survival skills, but that is weak. They were smart humans and would have figured out the following:

1) When fall came and they realized winter on the planet was going to be cold why not migrate south? They all had healthy legs - humans can walk several miles/day. Believe it or not, humans migrated across NE Siberia, through Alaska, down Canada, in the rest of the Americas at the height of the last glaciation on this planet!! It was damn more cold then (about 17000 years ago) then it is today, and yet humans made the journey, and did it fairly quickly too.

2) Figuring out how to build sufficient shelter/fires. If they can make candles (out of bees wax?) then they can make shelter for themselves.

The SGU writers just aren't handling real humanity very well. For some TV series that wouldn't matter, but SGU is being presented, week by week, as some serious study in humanity, with lots of introspection and inter-personal dialogue.

[Quallen]

One thing that bugged me about this episode is the death of the people on the Faith planet. Yes, I know the writers threw in that Greer line about them being scientists and thus having no survival skills, but that is weak. They were smart humans and would have figured out the following:

Well staying with the shuttle probably seemed like the safe bet and a sure thing right up until it broke.

[VampyreWraith]

I really liked this episode. It was a bit creepy and very sad. I liked Chloe and her kino videos. I liked Greer going to Chloe and asking for forgiveness for having to kill her when/if she turns. I liked Chloe and Eli's friendship. Even the Chloe and Scott scenes were pretty good.
I liked Caine and TJ' s scenes. The last scene between them was very sad, but it was probably my favorite part. I think Cain is dead; he did say that he remembered dying and its the one thing no one should have to remember. He was the last to die on the planet so he was alone and he said he prayed and then he and the others were in the shuttle but couldn't remember what happened to them. Maybe the Faith aliens felt bad in the way that everyone died because the only reason they stayed was because they believed; so maybe they wanted to give the people who stayed behind a chance to be with the the rest of he crew; to say goodbye, tell them what happened and not die alone, but among their own people. The beings were powerful, but not all powerful.

[themeatcleaver]

I like the fact that they have a shuttle now, which is convenient given next weeks previews. What i'm wondering though, is if it'll be more capable now that it's fully refurbished to like new condition, maybe a shield generator of its own? too much to ask for?

[RJLCyberPunk]

but what was the 'purpose' of bringing them all back (and back to life), only to have them all die again?

if the aliens could reanimate them, why let them die again?

I doubt that we will ever get a satisfactory answer to this question I mean as some mentioned some beings like the Ascended ancients don't give a hoot about corporeal beings with the exception of a few of them.

[JustAnotherVoice]

This time last season, everyone was at everyone else's throats. I marvel at the progress that the trio of Rush, Wray and Young have made in their working relationships. It just feels odd, in retrospect, that everyone is working together amicably.

It may just have been my imagination, but was there more than mutual respect in the scenes Wray and Young shared? I wouldn't quite call it friendship yet, but there's something there that I can't quite put my finger on...

[Velocy]

So this was Remi's first episode written. Personally I think he did a great job. Overall he did a good job. Still it's kinda hard to tell where the episode fits in. Don't get me wrong... but in the past the writers left us off with several big holes, like the Rush/Mandy and the Eli/Ginn inner conflict, or the lucian alliance guys being held in their quarters (like what's their state after the other guy rampaged?), or Telford being left on the Seedship with the aliens. The "Faith" story to me wasn't too much of an plot hole to me. People decided to leave the ship, they stay on planet, live their lifes and all that stay's back on Destiny are memorys (or in Destinys term "simulations"). I'm kinda suprised they picked up this arc again. This could easily have been one of the Elements which we'll never gonna see again in the whole Series (We'll I'd like to compare it to things like Ava from SGA 4.15 left behind in the simulation, Young Jack o Neill clone living his life, the woman Jack fell in love with on that planet he was trapped on before Teal'c came to rescue him and so on).

Well about the episode itselfe, it really has some great moments. Especially Greer & Chloe. I loved it how he overcame himselfe and his ideals (you know, being aware of anything that could be an enemy) and beg Chloe for forgivenes when time comes he has to fulfill his duty to protect the crew. Just 2 things that bugged me a bit. One is that I think Young could have told "the others" about what happened to Chloe and Rush, being implanted beacons / being infused with an Alien Virus or Alien DNA which could have made it easier for the other's to understand why the crew is so sceptic about and keeping distance to them. The other thing is Greer saying that he've seen a lot of people going, but never seen anyone come back, which sounds like a deep thought. But in relation to SGU he kinda saw Rush being gone, Chloe being gone... and both came back as well in one way or another. Well these are just tiny bits for my feeling of storytelling.

Oh well... another element I kinda missed was Eli suffering from Ginn's death. Personally I think this would have fit perfectly into the B-Story. Eli is seeing Chloe giving up... how she comes clean that she wont be herselfe for much longer and being killed due to this could have screwed him even more... you know... slowly losing another person he's being close to. Which kinda makes me think if the writers / producers watch their previous episodes? I mean... on one side, the pick up screwed characters (T.J. and her baby) on the other side screwed characters behave like normal (Eli and Rush). Maybe it's just a problem of a messws up episode airing order... at least I hope so. Still will be weird if Eli/Rush suffer from their losses in future episodes.

So much for my conclusion... I've been a SciFi Fan in terms in cases of SG1 and SGA... and never liked BSG or the BSG way of storytelling... but... this episode is one I really liked. Not VFX heavy... much character centric... probably not part of the "season story arc", but still no filler episode... more like part of the "series story arc" (I'm not sure about this... 10 more episodes to tell). I like it how the story was told.

[morbosfist]

Well, there's really nowhere to go but up after attempted murder and mutiny.

[wingsabre]

but what was the 'purpose' of bringing them all back (and back to life), only to have them all die again?

if the aliens could reanimate them, why let them die again?

Maybe it was just Return to Sender.

[Vapor]

In any case, the new dynamic is an interesting change. And as much as I enjoyed the near-constant antagonism this whole time, I think it was time for something else. Not that I expect it to be sunshine and roses from here on out, but this "working together" thing is nice too. >_>

[SGeff]

It's easy to pick apart scripts of weekly series, because the stories tend to not be thought about for a long enough time to work out all the holes... nevertheless here I go:

One thing that bugged me about this episode is the death of the people on the Faith planet. Yes, I know the writers threw in that Greer line about them being scientists and thus having no survival skills, but that is weak. They were smart humans and would have figured out the following:

1) When fall came and they realized winter on the planet was going to be cold why not migrate south? They all had healthy legs - humans can walk several miles/day. Believe it or not, humans migrated across NE Siberia, through Alaska, down Canada, in the rest of the Americas at the height of the last glaciation on this planet!! It was damn more cold then (about 17000 years ago) then it is today, and yet humans made the journey, and did it fairly quickly too.

2) Figuring out how to build sufficient shelter/fires. If they can make candles (out of bees wax?) then they can make shelter for themselves.

The SGU writers just aren't handling real humanity very well. For some TV series that wouldn't matter, but SGU is being presented, week by week, as some serious study in humanity, with lots of introspection and inter-personal dialogue.

1. If they move to the south, they will lose the shuttle, so they don't want to lose the only shelter.
2. There is no sign of animals there, not mention bees, so there is no wax.

[PG15]

Perhaps Wray has come to respect Young after she saw how he pulled himself out of the pit of depression he was in a few episodes earlier and how he's now trying to cooperate with Rush.

[hart37]

Well technically it's only been 10 months to those on destiny.