SG-U – Darkness (1x04) - (Discuss – Grade | SPOILERS)

[Kelthaz]

If Chloe is so useless, why isn't Colonel Carter or somebody more qualified body-swapping with her in this time of crisis?

Because having someone swoop in and magically fix the tech is boring. And really, if that's going to be the solution to all the problems on the show there's no reason not to have one of the regulars like Eli or Rush do it.

Sacrificing an obvious technical solution for the sake of cheap drama (or giving your regulars something to do) only means the writers didn't have any foresight.

Oh come on, you could make that complaint about every spin-off in existence. Spin-offs simply can't go calling in the main characters of their parent/child show every time there's a problem.

Why didn't Buffy call in Angel for help fighting Glory?
Why didn't Angel call in Willow to try some magic on the physically indestructible beast?
Why wasn't the most powerful ship in Starfleet not in any major battles against the Dominion?
Why was Sisko not captaining the Defiant during the Borg battle?
Why is Garbielle writing a play while Dahak, in Iolaus' body, is destroying Greece?
Why was Cliff's retirement party at a bar in Boston not held at Cheers?

 

[amdmiami]

I gave it 6 chevrons. It was pretty good but the show seems to be already sliding into this pattern of : OMG WE HAVE NO AIR! OMG NO POWER! And then next week: OMG WE'RE FLYING INTO THE SUN!

Hopefully it'll stop being so "there's a problem and then there's a lucky solution". But I think the show has a lot of potential, so lets see where it goes.

BTW I absolutally hate Rush!!!!! He's an annoying asshole Gaius Baltar ripoff who just screams for 45 minutes. Hope he goes next.

 

[RJDiogenes]

She is a stunning woman, though.

I think she's going to be stunning Eli pretty soon.

 

[Pingfah]

I liked it.

But I like anything with pretty spaceships.

 

[cultcross]

I gave it 6 chevrons. It was pretty good but the show seems to be already sliding into this pattern of : OMG WE HAVE NO AIR! OMG NO POWER! And then next week: OMG WE'RE FLYING INTO THE SUN!

Hopefully it'll stop being so "there's a problem and then there's a lucky solution".

Of course, only one of those 3 has produced a lucky solution to date

 

[MPH]

I gave it 6 chevrons. It was pretty good but the show seems to be already sliding into this pattern of : OMG WE HAVE NO AIR! OMG NO POWER! And then next week: OMG WE'RE FLYING INTO THE SUN!

Hopefully it'll stop being so "there's a problem and then there's a lucky solution". But I think the show has a lot of potential, so lets see where it goes.

BTW I absolutally hate Rush!!!!! He's an annoying asshole Gaius Baltar ripoff who just screams for 45 minutes. Hope he goes next.

Another BSG reference He is nothing like Baltar.

 

[bigdaddy]

Yeah Baltar is smart.

 

[Harvey]

Sacrificing an obvious technical solution for the sake of cheap drama (or giving your regulars something to do) only means the writers didn't have any foresight.

Oh come on, you could make that complaint about every spin-off in existence. Spin-offs simply can't go calling in the main characters of their parent/child show every time there's a problem.

So...that's it? Everyone else did it?

The thing of it is, the body swap stones mean that Daniel Jackson could be on the Destiny and they could still use all their regulars. Jackson wouldn't really be there, he'd just be inhabiting another person's body. A compelling argument could be made that Jackson and the rest of SG-1 are committed elsewhere (although where that is has yet to be said). The same reasoning explains why the Enterprise-E wasn't fighting in every major battle we saw on Deep Space Nine. There were other battles, and it was needed elsewhere, obviously. But that doesn't explain why the body swap stones aren't being used to fulfill their logical function at all. There are certainly other capable scientists and the like who could be of help onboard the Destiny.

Colonel Young's leadership is needed in the middle of a dramatic crisis that will probably end in his entire crew's death, and he's allowed to take a long visit to his ex-wife after a short mission brief? Is this really the time? And who gets to inhabit his body but Telford, who, as a commanding officer, slows down everyone by asking them the same questions and giving the same orders that Young has already given.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Rush is no Baltar because, among other things, he has no strong dramatic handle to make him dynamic or interesting.

Just being murky and difficult and hinting at some unknown motives is not nearly enough.

See, even stripping away the varying charisma of the actors the difference between these two characters speaks to the difference in the quality of writing on the show. By his actions in the pilot and early episodes - not by his quirks of temperment or the actor's performance - Baltar was motivated from the beginning in a dramatic way.

Baltar has done things that, if discovered, mark him as an enemy and a target of all humanity. He has to keep that secret to physically survive. He's put in a position of trust by the leadership of the surviving human race, and told to solve certain problems that - so he realizes - might cause his secret to be discovered. So he has to sabotage the humans he depends upon, without getting caught, while carrying on furtive communications with an enemy about whom he knows little, who are unpredictable and who seem willing at any given moment to betray his secret to the other humans.

The dude has to wake up every day wondering if he's going to end it hanging from the end of a rope.

And - most importantly - the audience is let in on the secret from the beginning. We become, willingly or not, co-conspirators with the most alienated surviving human being in the Universe.

 

[JuanBolio]

My prediction for next week - the sun is going to recharge the ship, but they won't know that until the last possible second, and in the meantime will be at each other's throats as to who survives and who doesn't. Everyone will be exposed for who they truly are in a life-or-death scenario, as well as who would off who if it came down to it.

You have my word.
(And you have my bow)
(and MY axe)

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Finally there was some reasonable character development beyond Eli and Rush.

Like spying on Lt. Vanessa James

 

[Brent]

My prediction for next week - the sun is going to recharge the ship, but they won't know that until the last possible second, and in the meantime will be at each other's throats as to who survives and who doesn't. Everyone will be exposed for who they truly are in a life-or-death scenario, as well as who would off who if it came down to it.

You have my word.
(And you have my bow)
(and MY axe)

I think you are right

 

[PorthosShadow]

My prediction for next week - the sun is going to recharge the ship, but they won't know that until the last possible second, and in the meantime will be at each other's throats as to who survives and who doesn't. Everyone will be exposed for who they truly are in a life-or-death scenario, as well as who would off who if it came down to it.

You have my word.
(And you have my bow)
(and MY axe)

Thats what I kind of figured but I hope that ship doesn't solve the problem all on it's own. I'm fairly confident that the solution will rely mostly on the crew.

 

[Checkmate]

Thats what I kind of figured but I hope that ship doesn't solve the problem all on it's own. I'm fairly confident that the solution will rely mostly on the crew.

Nah.

The ship has to know how to refuel itself. It's been operating continuously at FTL speeds for the better part of a million years. I seriously doubt the ancient Ancients (yes, ancient Ancients) created a powercell that superior, especially when the more modern Ancients weren't able to do so for thier state-of-the-art-but-not-FTLing-24/7 city, Atlantis. A city that was only underwater and otherwise powered-down for only a tiny fraction of the Destiny's lifespan.

Not being able to repair its only air scrubbers is believable enough. The ship wasn't intended to be active this long and it was also intended to have a crew at regular intervals to maintain that sort of thing. But it was designed to travel at FTL speeds practically non-stop for ridiculous amounts of time. So refueling itself has to be a core function.

 

[gturner]

My prediction for next week - the sun is going to recharge the ship, but they won't know that until the last possible second, and in the meantime will be at each other's throats as to who survives and who doesn't. Everyone will be exposed for who they truly are in a life-or-death scenario, as well as who would off who if it came down to it.

You have my word.
(And you have my bow)
(and MY axe)

Thats what I kind of figured but I hope that ship doesn't solve the problem all on it's own. I'm fairly confident that the solution will rely mostly on the crew.

I think the ship has probably recharged itself countless times, considering what we learned about the long-term power usage of Atlantis and that this ship stays FTL, stays shielded, and constantly dials up stargates.

As for the body swapping, obviously there are hot chicks like Chloe who will be conned into body swapping with a hooker to visit their mother. Later, back on the ship, the girls ask Dr. Rush and Eli how come body swapping always leaves them so sore.

Remember, you heard it here first!

 

[gturner]

Thats what I kind of figured but I hope that ship doesn't solve the problem all on it's own. I'm fairly confident that the solution will rely mostly on the crew.

Nah.

The ship has to know how to refuel itself. It's been operating continuously at FTL speeds for the better part of a million years. I seriously doubt the ancient Ancients (yes, ancient Ancients) created a powercell that superior, especially when the more modern Ancients weren't able to do so for thier state-of-the-art-but-not-FTLing-24/7 city, Atlantis. A city that was only underwater and otherwise powered-down for only a tiny fraction of the Destiny's lifespan.

Not being able to repair its only air scrubbers is believable enough. The ship wasn't intended to be active this long and it was also intended to have a crew at regular intervals to maintain that sort of thing. But it was designed to travel at FTL speeds practically non-stop for ridiculous amounts of time. So refueling itself has to be a core function.

Exactly. Plus I'll venture that some of the severe hull damage filled the air with particles that the scrubbers weren't designed to scrub.

 

[HighteeHeller]

And I'm registering my prediction now that the ship is not on a collision course with the star, but is going to dip in and recharge itself with star-stuff, like at the end of Rendevous With Rama.

Oh my god! I was totally thinking the same thing!!

 

[Snaploud]

And I'm registering my prediction now that the ship is not on a collision course with the star, but is going to dip in and recharge itself with star-stuff, like at the end of Rendevous With Rama.

Oh my god! I was totally thinking the same thing!!

I can see that as a possibility, but why would the ship wait so long to do an emergency recharge?

 

[DWF]

And I'm registering my prediction now that the ship is not on a collision course with the star, but is going to dip in and recharge itself with star-stuff, like at the end of Rendevous With Rama.

Oh my god! I was totally thinking the same thing!!

I can see that as a possibility, but why would the ship wait so long to do an emergency recharge?

The ship's reserves wree probably pretty low after X number of years of travelling in hyperspace and the presense of the new crew turning things on might've lowered them even further.

 

[gturner]

And I'm registering my prediction now that the ship is not on a collision course with the star, but is going to dip in and recharge itself with star-stuff, like at the end of Rendevous With Rama.

Oh my god! I was totally thinking the same thing!!

I can see that as a possibility, but why would the ship wait so long to do an emergency recharge?

Because the Ancient who wrote the flight control software always waited until his gas guage was well below "E" and his dashboard idiot light was blinking at him. Some people are like that.