Oh dear, looks like the "wormhole drive" is coming back

[Kpnuts]

I despair, I really do.

http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com...s-recluse-paul-mullie-answers-your-questions/

A wormhole drive is just that – a drive that sends the ship through a wormhole, like a person stepping through an active gate. The advantage being that you don’t “travel” through hyperspace for hours on end. You get de-molecularized, or whatever you want to call it, and then spit out at the other end a few seconds later. It’s basically instantaneous, which is why I needed it as a device in this episode. Some people have complained that it was a bit of a deus ex-machina, to which I don’t really have much of a defense. At one point, Brad was thinking about using this as a set-up for a similar drive in Stargate Universe, but he’s since changed his mind. But since it IS set up now, Joe and I do intend to use it as part of the story for the Atlantis movie.

What a useless **** of a writer

 

[The Borg Queen]

"Some people have complained that it was a bit of a deus ex-machina, to which I don’t really have much of a defense."

Which basically means you're a bad writer.

 

[steveman]

Plot devices are a common occurence in science fiction, as we all know. But this is a little much. Devices can sometimes add to a story, but bringing back the whole "wormhole drive" thing from the finale just seems really... unnecessary. Makes me cringe, really.

 

[bigdaddy]

"Some people have complained that it was a bit of a deus ex-machina, to which I don’t really have much of a defense."

Which basically means you're a bad writer.

Yeah that comment is terrible! "Yeah, we will use it because I don't feel like writing something better that makes sense".

So Atlantis gets to Earth and then the next "episode", now the movie, they just fly away? that's some epic story telling!

What a useless **** of a writer

If you don't want to say it I will.

What a useless fuck of a writer.

 

[Kpnuts]

So Atlantis gets to Earth and then the next "episode", now the movie, they just fly away? that's some epic story telling!

No no, you've got it all wrong...

They don't just 'fly' away in the movie... they use the wormhole drive to get back to Pegasus! duuuuhhh

 

[Pilot Ace]

Rather than place blame on a single writer/writing team, I think the blame falls on the entire writing staff.

This is the reason a staff arrangement exists, the reason showrunners run the show. It's unfortunate that not one of them could solve the problem without the deus ex machina. But, I think it reiterates the need to bring new blood in, which we've gotten indication of at least a little bit with Universe.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Let's not blame the wormhole drive. Let's blame the lack of anything compelling in the writing, so that ridiculous nonsense like wormhole drives, which otherwise might simply be forgivable band-aid solutions to slight writing dilemmas, command so much of our attention.

 

[FreezeC77]

They could easily write wormhole drives "out of the storyline" by borrowing something from the whole Star Trek thing where at some point they found out going over a certain warp speed was destablilzing space or causing fissures of some sort.

Just have Atlantis discover that the point from which they initiated the wormhole drive ended up causing a black hole and destroying the solar system they initiated it from. Then just abandon the technology. They got to use it for 'sloppy writing' to get Atlantis back to Earth, but can thankfully get rid of it so it doesn't ever have to come up again or nobody can ever ask "Hey, why not just equip this thing on all ships."

 

[DWF]

Just for the record that was Paul Mullie in that quote not Joe Mallozzi and I don't see what the big deal in using it a second time it exists now not using it again would be a mistake. I'm sure they also regret Zat guns and teleporters for the same reason.

 

[Samurai8472]

They wrote themselves into a corner with the Uber hive. It was either Sheppard nuked the ship or miraculously have Atlantis pop up with the

"plot drive" as I like to call it

 

[Dac]

Personally, If I had to get Atlantis from The Edge of the Galaxy to Earth in an instant *and* destroy the Hive Ship, heres how I would have done it.

Have Zelenka say McKay's wormhole drive theory is whack, but it could be done another way. Thanks to all 3 ZPMs, they can somehow tie the cities Beaming technology and amplify it through the hyperdrive, and use an active stargate to carry the beam. Have Earth's finest in 302s that are left in a futile attempt to try and destroy the hive ship get wiped out, have Sheppard and his team Evac via the gate only to have the nuke do nothing. The Hive repositions itself to being orbital bombardment when on the Hive ship, the Gate Suddenly dials, and a transport beam shoots through, rematerializes and grows exponentially as Atlantis appears in the middle of the ship, splitting it in two, the hive explodes to reveal Atlantis in the center of the explosion.

If your gonna Fan Wank the ending, make it good fan wank at least.

 

[Kirby]

I don't understand why they had to introduce this wormhole drive in the first place. All they had to do was make the wraith a little slower in getting to Earth. Have Atlantis break down much closer to earth and have them work on the stardrive. Shortly before it's ready they try to dial earth again and let them know they're on their way but they end up dialing the wraith ship which just showed up.

After that, Rodney and team gate to the wraith ship, and do what they have to do, and Atlantis fires up the stardrive and it's only an hour or so to get to earth. Meanwhile Shep and his flight are taking on the darts.

 

[Kpnuts]

Just for the record that was Paul Mullie in that quote not Joe Mallozzi and I don't see what the big deal in using it a second time it exists now not using it again would be a mistake. I'm sure they also regret Zat guns and teleporters for the same reason.

I'm aware it was Mulllie.

You don't see what the big deal is in using a pathetic and cringeworthy deus ex machina plot device for a second time? It was bad enough the first time, but they want to use it again

And no, ray guns and teleporters are a little different to this magical technology that puts a flying city in any SPECIFIC (down to the right orbit in a solar system) place in the universe.

DWF, did you think the wormhole drive was a great idea, and illustated excellent creative vision from the writing team?

 

[Kpnuts]

They wrote themselves into a corner with the Uber hive. It was either Sheppard nuked the ship or miraculously have Atlantis pop up with the

"plot drive" as I like to call it

Or possibly... NOT have Atlantis drop out of hyperspace early? Or just have Zalenka fix it? It's not as if the plot was so badly written that it NEEDED to exist.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

You mean rather than deal with the ramifications of Atlantis on Earth and the IOA decide whether fighting the Wraith in Pegasus is actually WORTH it their just going to use there deus ex machina as a reset button and fuck it all.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!!!!!!!

 

[Pilot Ace]

You mean rather than deal with the ramifications of Atlantis on Earth and the IOA decide whether fighting the Wraith in Pegasus is actually WORTH it their going to use there deus ex machina as a reset button and fuck it all.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!!!!!!!

That's actually the plot of the movie and would have been the focus of at least two episodes in the would-be season six, according to Mallozzi's blog.

 

[Brent]

The Wormhole drive was not neccassary. I don't see why Atlantis couldn't have got there a lot faster than the hive ship considering Atlantis was using 3 ZPMs and the hive ship was using 1. Atlantis should have been a lot faster than the hive ship just by default.

 

[Silvercrest]

I'm still trying to figure out how the Wraith have a star-drive that can take them between galaxies. Did the show already establish that, and I missed it?

 

[Hyperspace05]

I'm still trying to figure out how the Wraith have a star-drive that can take them between galaxies. Did the show already establish that, and I missed it?

The ZPM supposedly enhanced their hyperdrive capabilities... It was mentioned in the episode I think.

 

[DWF]

Just for the record that was Paul Mullie in that quote not Joe Mallozzi and I don't see what the big deal in using it a second time it exists now not using it again would be a mistake. I'm sure they also regret Zat guns and teleporters for the same reason.

I'm aware it was Mulllie.

You don't see what the big deal is in using a pathetic and cringeworthy deus ex machina plot device for a second time? It was bad enough the first time, but they want to use it again

And no, ray guns and teleporters are a little different to this magical technology that puts a flying city in any SPECIFIC (down to the right orbit in a solar system) place in the universe.

DWF, did you think the wormhole drive was a great idea, and illustated excellent creative vision from the writing team?

To be honest I really don't care right now either way, the term Deus et Machina is way overused in it's own right and it used to be an acceptable way to end stories. And in any event it's not really important the show is over and there's more important things to think about. There really was no way the city would get there in time and gave the show a heroic ending. I guess no matter what they do you're going to complain anyway.