The Stargate Franchise - A First Timer's Watchthrough
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To be honest, I wish they had done that. Could have added an interesting dynamic to things and it would have been an interesting take on the Stargate program becoming international.
In fact, it kind of sucks how little they dwell on the ships that are operated by foreign countries. The Russian ship is destroyed in its first appearance, then later in Atlantis we learn the Chinese had a ship when its destruction is reported.
And then SGC would have been moved to Russia, because the only reason they got the ship was so they couldn't get the Gate. It might have been interesting to see the Russian base of operations, but I appreciate still staying at Cheyenne Mountain.
Allies & No Man's Land (SG: A)
I think I liked this finale/premiere more than I liked SG-1s. Of course the Atlantians were stupid for ever believing the Wraith and didn't they have anti-viral software? Other than that, I really liked how Season 2 ended. Michael returns and I think he was used a lot better here than in the debut episode. We also get a further plot development with the retrovirus before it all goes to hell and we get a pretty epic space battle to end the season.
To start the season I wanted to say something about the SG-1 premiere and they did it with Atlantis here as well. I appreciated that both season premieres actually showed the cliffhanger and what actually happened with our crew. On SG-1, the Korolev is destroyed and we go into the break not knowing what happened to Daniel or Mitchell. When we get the new season, instead of jumping forward to the point where they are all of a sudden alright, we actually get to see what happened to them. If there is one pet peeve I always have with cliffhangers, most series always tend to jump forward and either deal with the cliffhanger too fast or barely touch on it and then move on. There's a reason you guys do cliffhangers, to make the season enders exciting. Well, we are hanging and we don't just get back up and life continues. We need a way to get pulled back up.
Anyway, the premiere episode was amazing. It was relentless, with some of the best space action sequences I've seen on Stargate between the Daedelus and the 2 hive ships, and we lose another ship in the Orion. Man I've seen 5 episodes of Stargate today and the ship carnage in all 5 has been quite high. Not as high as seeing numorous ships destroyed in B5 or DS9, but still high, especially when it comes to ships we have known and followed. The show then decides lets finish the original plan of the finale by sending over the retrovirus and now the Daedelus crew has commandeered a Wraith hive ship. Finally, a well deserved win for our side. That has also come on short supply in today's Stargate Season ender and Beginner episodes.
I also really liked Dr. Weir's storyline of having to face the music with her actions towards the IOA. It was like the show aknowledged the stupidity of trusting the Wraith and explored what to do about it. The more I see Woolsey, the more I'm starting to really like him. He's gone from Kinsey's advisor asshole to a somewhat honorable guy. That and Picardo is great in anything he's in and that helps too.
As for Season 2, I hate to say it but that was a step down from Season 1. There were many good episodes, but there were also episodes like Epiphany and The Tower which were excruciatingly boring. There were times where things felt repetitive as well, and I think they could have used the cast better. I'm glad the end of the season started to pick up the pace, and I really like where this Michael storyline is going (And the fact that now we have a hive full of Human Wraith, which will be nice to explore). I'm hoping Season 3 will continue that trend of the last few episodes and start using the cast better than they did in Season 2.
Top Five favorite episodes in Season 2 of Stargate Atlantis:
Critical Mass - I'm still awed by Rachel Luttrell's singing voice. She's only put out one single since then. I was hoping she had an album.
Grace Under Pressure - Probably the best McKay episode of the series so far
Duet - This one was a lot of fun and it introduced Cadman
Allies - Great end to season 2
Runner - We meet Ronon Dex
I think I liked this finale/premiere more than I liked SG-1s. Of course the Atlantians were stupid for ever believing the Wraith and didn't they have anti-viral software? Other than that, I really liked how Season 2 ended. Michael returns and I think he was used a lot better here than in the debut episode. We also get a further plot development with the retrovirus before it all goes to hell and we get a pretty epic space battle to end the season.
To start the season I wanted to say something about the SG-1 premiere and they did it with Atlantis here as well. I appreciated that both season premieres actually showed the cliffhanger and what actually happened with our crew. On SG-1, the Korolev is destroyed and we go into the break not knowing what happened to Daniel or Mitchell. When we get the new season, instead of jumping forward to the point where they are all of a sudden alright, we actually get to see what happened to them. If there is one pet peeve I always have with cliffhangers, most series always tend to jump forward and either deal with the cliffhanger too fast or barely touch on it and then move on. There's a reason you guys do cliffhangers, to make the season enders exciting. Well, we are hanging and we don't just get back up and life continues. We need a way to get pulled back up.
Anyway, the premiere episode was amazing. It was relentless, with some of the best space action sequences I've seen on Stargate between the Daedelus and the 2 hive ships, and we lose another ship in the Orion. Man I've seen 5 episodes of Stargate today and the ship carnage in all 5 has been quite high. Not as high as seeing numorous ships destroyed in B5 or DS9, but still high, especially when it comes to ships we have known and followed. The show then decides lets finish the original plan of the finale by sending over the retrovirus and now the Daedelus crew has commandeered a Wraith hive ship. Finally, a well deserved win for our side. That has also come on short supply in today's Stargate Season ender and Beginner episodes.
I also really liked Dr. Weir's storyline of having to face the music with her actions towards the IOA. It was like the show aknowledged the stupidity of trusting the Wraith and explored what to do about it. The more I see Woolsey, the more I'm starting to really like him. He's gone from Kinsey's advisor asshole to a somewhat honorable guy. That and Picardo is great in anything he's in and that helps too.
As for Season 2, I hate to say it but that was a step down from Season 1. There were many good episodes, but there were also episodes like Epiphany and The Tower which were excruciatingly boring. There were times where things felt repetitive as well, and I think they could have used the cast better. I'm glad the end of the season started to pick up the pace, and I really like where this Michael storyline is going (And the fact that now we have a hive full of Human Wraith, which will be nice to explore). I'm hoping Season 3 will continue that trend of the last few episodes and start using the cast better than they did in Season 2.
Top Five favorite episodes in Season 2 of Stargate Atlantis:
Critical Mass - I'm still awed by Rachel Luttrell's singing voice. She's only put out one single since then. I was hoping she had an album.
Grace Under Pressure - Probably the best McKay episode of the series so far
Duet - This one was a lot of fun and it introduced Cadman
Allies - Great end to season 2
Runner - We meet Ronon Dex
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That's a pacing issue we've hopefully seen the last of now that we're well into the age of the binge-watch. Back in the day, season finales would be the culmination of everything you've done all year, you know your audience has been hanging with you, you might've been building intensity for weeks, but season premieres come out of nowhere, a lot of new people might be checking out the show because it might be in a new timeslot, or they just saw ads promoting it, your loyal audience might miss when the season begins and jump back on in a couple episode, so you have to reset to Act-1 pacing, reiterate a lot of exposition and premise-stuff, and generally slow back down. Plus, if the show's doing any kind of re-tool, they might have to get to it immediately, which means they have to brush aside all old business faster than they like because the new actors need to be incorporated, or old actors aren't able to hang around for a transition. I remember Defiance loved completely reinventing itself over every season hiatus, which generally worked, but especially in the beginning of the second season, it was a bit of TV whiplash going from, "Boy, I can't see any way they're going to get themselves out of this one!" to "Oh. It looks like they didn't get themselves out of that one. Oh, dear."
I think it was the second season of Boston Legal where they retooled the show and in the second episode introduce new characters and William Shatner goes 'New people? If there were new people they would have been introduced in the season premiere!'
Misbegotten (SG: A)
This felt like a retelling on Michael, but instead of one Wraith you had a whole colony of Wraiths. It's amazing what Beckett keeps doing to Michael and he's had to pay the price twice. I think they made the right decision to destroy the camp, even if there was another hive ship coming. Of course we don't know if the camp really was destroyed, and maybe we will see Michael again, but hopefully that won't be for a while.
The storyline through this entire arc that I loved was Weir and Woolsey. This finally gave some much needed progression to Weir's character and showed her as the leader (And diplomat, I haven't seen her pick up a gun since The Long Goodbye) of the expedition. I'm also glad Woosley stood up for her, even telling her about inconvienant truths at the end and what the IOA needs to know and what they don't.
This was the weakest episode of the three, but I really enjoyed this arc. I think of the two arcs I saw today for either series, I would say the Atlantis one was better, even though SG-1 does set up for a promising final season.
This felt like a retelling on Michael, but instead of one Wraith you had a whole colony of Wraiths. It's amazing what Beckett keeps doing to Michael and he's had to pay the price twice. I think they made the right decision to destroy the camp, even if there was another hive ship coming. Of course we don't know if the camp really was destroyed, and maybe we will see Michael again, but hopefully that won't be for a while.
The storyline through this entire arc that I loved was Weir and Woolsey. This finally gave some much needed progression to Weir's character and showed her as the leader (And diplomat, I haven't seen her pick up a gun since The Long Goodbye) of the expedition. I'm also glad Woosley stood up for her, even telling her about inconvienant truths at the end and what the IOA needs to know and what they don't.
This was the weakest episode of the three, but I really enjoyed this arc. I think of the two arcs I saw today for either series, I would say the Atlantis one was better, even though SG-1 does set up for a promising final season.
I agree especially with the lack of O'Neil. O'Neil was basically the heart and soul of the show for so many years and I would argue the biggest reason you can even say the whole thing turned into a franchise. His humor really made it special instead of just being a kind of earnest, taking things to serious 90's era action romp show. Also the fact that you have this idea that he improved half of his funny lines also makes it feel even more real.
Jason
I hated the show after the repilot. Browder is wooden and generic and Black is do over the top it hurts believability. And the story just became about finding the next ancient artifact.
One thing I always wanted to see was for O’Neall to just happen to run into the people who helped him in 1969 and then have to deny he’s the alien returned to Earth after fighting the establishment.
One thing I always wanted to see was for O’Neall to just happen to run into the people who helped him in 1969 and then have to deny he’s the alien returned to Earth after fighting the establishment.
Morpheus (SG-1)
The stuff with SG-1 and the sleeping parasite was ok, and they set up the next episode going to Atlantis. The highlight of this episode for me was Vala's psyche test. I found the ink blot and the polygraph scenes hilarious. What are the correct answers to the ink blot test anyway. Vala was saying Kindness, Respect, and Courage and the guy was thinking she wasn't taking it seriously. I thought it was first word that comes to your mind and there were no correct answers.
The stuff with SG-1 and the sleeping parasite was ok, and they set up the next episode going to Atlantis. The highlight of this episode for me was Vala's psyche test. I found the ink blot and the polygraph scenes hilarious. What are the correct answers to the ink blot test anyway. Vala was saying Kindness, Respect, and Courage and the guy was thinking she wasn't taking it seriously. I thought it was first word that comes to your mind and there were no correct answers.
The Pegasus Project (SG-1)
I admit, I have seen a lot of episodes of Stargate today, maybe too many. With that said, and with the finales both in the rearview mirror, I think The Pegasus Project was the best episode of SG-1 and Atlantis I saw today. That episode blew me away. They finally take out an Ori ship and they also took out a Wraith Hive ship. That was insane and that was a great victory.
I also loved all the little banters between casts. All the stuff at the beginning was gold, the McKay and Carter scenes are always a lot of fun (Nice shout out to Grace Under Pressure) and I just loved how they took so much from both shows and made it work really really well. This single episode was so much better than any episode of Crisis on Infinite Earths. That's how you do a single episode crossover.
I have to talk about the Ancients now. When I asked a few weeks ago if the Ancients were good or bad, I wanted to believe they were good. Well, in this episode we got confirmation that they are cowards. They say they don't want to interfere with mortal life but the Ori are not mortal. The Ori have already interfered and the Ancients are like, humanity you take care of it. I actually was reading a great question asked on one of the forums and I was thinking about it watching this episode. I was thinking about the episode The 5th Race and how Thor said that Humanity was close to being that 5th race. Well, where are the Nox or the Furlings. Heck, the Nox have been completely forgotten, yet they could be a great help right now in fighting an enemy that the only way to beat them is to hover them over the Supergate right as it opens. The Ori and Ancients are both bad, and quite frankly petty. I think I was wrong when I compared the Ori and Ancients to the Prophets and the Pah-Wraiths. I think the better comparison would be to go to Babylon 5, and the Vorlons and the Shadows. I hope they find this weapon and Daniel Jackson has a John Sheridan "Get the Hell Out of Our Galaxy" moment sometime during this season.
I admit, I have seen a lot of episodes of Stargate today, maybe too many. With that said, and with the finales both in the rearview mirror, I think The Pegasus Project was the best episode of SG-1 and Atlantis I saw today. That episode blew me away. They finally take out an Ori ship and they also took out a Wraith Hive ship. That was insane and that was a great victory.
I also loved all the little banters between casts. All the stuff at the beginning was gold, the McKay and Carter scenes are always a lot of fun (Nice shout out to Grace Under Pressure) and I just loved how they took so much from both shows and made it work really really well. This single episode was so much better than any episode of Crisis on Infinite Earths. That's how you do a single episode crossover.
I have to talk about the Ancients now. When I asked a few weeks ago if the Ancients were good or bad, I wanted to believe they were good. Well, in this episode we got confirmation that they are cowards. They say they don't want to interfere with mortal life but the Ori are not mortal. The Ori have already interfered and the Ancients are like, humanity you take care of it. I actually was reading a great question asked on one of the forums and I was thinking about it watching this episode. I was thinking about the episode The 5th Race and how Thor said that Humanity was close to being that 5th race. Well, where are the Nox or the Furlings. Heck, the Nox have been completely forgotten, yet they could be a great help right now in fighting an enemy that the only way to beat them is to hover them over the Supergate right as it opens. The Ori and Ancients are both bad, and quite frankly petty. I think I was wrong when I compared the Ori and Ancients to the Prophets and the Pah-Wraiths. I think the better comparison would be to go to Babylon 5, and the Vorlons and the Shadows. I hope they find this weapon and Daniel Jackson has a John Sheridan "Get the Hell Out of Our Galaxy" moment sometime during this season.
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Hey, we were just talking about how SG-1 is similar to B5 and/or DS9. 
The problem is, we can't really go into it without going into spoiler territory.
I think I can safely say at this point in the series, but even earlier, I'd grown dispirited with the Ancients. Oma Desala's great and all, and she did make effectively the ultimate sacrifice to stop Anubis, and Orlin essentially killed himself to save Earth...twice!...but the "regular" Ancients seem akin to the Q Continuum as shown in VOY's "Deathwish". They don't seem to do anything but watch, and have forgotten how to live.
The problem is, we can't really go into it without going into spoiler territory.
I think I can safely say at this point in the series, but even earlier, I'd grown dispirited with the Ancients. Oma Desala's great and all, and she did make effectively the ultimate sacrifice to stop Anubis, and Orlin essentially killed himself to save Earth...twice!...but the "regular" Ancients seem akin to the Q Continuum as shown in VOY's "Deathwish". They don't seem to do anything but watch, and have forgotten how to live.
I mentioned some before. That it was written more as a comedy than a proper drama. Vala is way over the top.
The military advisor seems to be missing, otherwise the scene with Vala practically sitting on that senator's lap would not have happened. In general it does not shine a good light at the USAF anymore. And there used to be a lot of USAF members who were big fans of the show.
That Sam was wallpapered as the writers did not know what to do with her anymore now that they had Vala who was so much more fun to write for. That Mitchell recklessly went into situations without thinking of his team, as opposite to Jack who always considered himself last. That I keep calling him Mitchell instead of Cameron as if that was his name is also showing, isn't it?
Many years later I saw Ben Browder at a convention. Prior to Mitchell I had not known him from anywhere and was not interested in finding out more about him. It was at the con (I shamefully admit) that I realized that he is actually a very nice and funny and likeable guy and (again) that it is not the actor's fault when he can only do what the scripts give him to do. I did regret not doing a picture with him then.
Also, that the writers, instead of taking the fan's complaints into account, just flippantly said "If you don't like it you don't have to watch it" (or was that later with SGU?) I get it that writers have to do their own thing and cannot listen to every fan, but if complaints are so consistent and loud and a show gets changed so much from its core, maybe there is reason to listen.
And one of my personal gripes, that a lot of Farscape fans came over who loved these seasons but never made an attempt to watch what came before and didn't care. I once read on Gateworld someone asking "Who is Janet Fraiser" and another replying "I think she was some kind of doctor." For people who still missed and mourned her deeply, that was just insulting.
I did start to watch X-Files when Robert Patrick joined, solely because I had enjoyed him as T-1000. But then I did go back and watch the show from the beginning.
I did like Vala's line "I think I understand why you came back, Daniel. I wouldn't have liked their company either.". Vala has a way of being the comic relief but then inject some seriousness when it is needed. Her tone of voice as she delivers that line is perfect.
Yeah, I agree that the Nox should have helped. We know they are an ancient race with knowledge and powers that could help defend against the Ori.
You will need to go back and read the spoiler tags on the previous pages. Me and @DonIago were discussing some different ways that the show could have handled the Ancients better.
I was a bit disappointed that the only Atlantis characters who had anything meaningful to do in The Pegasus Project were Weir and McKay. Not anything against those characters, but they were introduced in SG-1 anyway, so there isn't really any novelty in seeing them interact with the SG-1 cast, and that's why crossovers are so fun, IMO. The novelty of seeing different casts interact. I mean, I get that it was just one episode, and the Atlantis cast had their own episodes to focus on. Still, they should have at least given Sheppard a larger role in the episode. For the months leading up to the seeing the episode, I kept hoping Sheppard and Vala would be playfully flirting with each other, it would totally rock. But, alas, nothing. Mitchell and McKay had some good moments, though.
Not sure how the military advisor would have anything to do with that. Vala is not a military officer, and the intent of the scene was that she was acting inappropriately.
That's a bummer to hear. That feels like today where it seems like if you have any criticism of a show you're just labeled as a troll and not to be taken seriously.
I'm surprised and bummed by that. I've talked to many Farscape fans and a lot of those people were just really nice. I know these shows have their bad apples, (It's inevitable really) but this was the first time I've heard anything negative towards Farscape fans. As for the Who is Janet Frasier talk, yeah that is wrong. I will say Season 9 did feel like a different show, and Jack not being there was a big reason why.
I guess it didn't really bother me that it was mainly Weir and McKay. Sheppard got some good lines in, like the whole thing with the Citrus, and Zelenka had a nice role, but you can only do so much in a crossover episode. What we lost in the cast interactions I think we gained in the fact that they were fighting the Wraith and the Ori at the same time. That allowed both series to shine rather than letting one overshadow the other.
I think if I had one minor gripe, I think this might have been better served as just a Friday Night Stargate event where both episodes could just go together. Then you had time for more character interactions and maybe even include Teyla and Ronon. I brought up Crisis on Infinate Earths in comparison to this episode last night because I was thinking about how crossovers work now and how the CW shows feels more fanwank than anything else and the writers seem to forget they are supposed to actually tell a story. I think that's what Pegasus project did. It was a crossover, but the focus was still on the story rather than the fact that it was a crossover.
By the way, Atlantis will have some more mini-crossover episodes later. But yeah, "Pegasus Project" felt like a big crossover event, probably because we get all of SG1 actually get to visit Atlantis for the first time. And considering all the times that Daniel missed going to Atlantis, this was a long time coming. It was something that fans were really waiting to see and it did not disappoint. I agree "Pegasus Project" did the crossover the right way. And the destruction of both the Ori ship and the Wraith ship was immensely satisfying.
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