Atlantis is not much of a city

[Gotham Central]

One of the things I have never liked about SGA was the so called "city" it self. Superficially it does resemble a city, but the design choices for the sets make it feel more like a starship. All of the coridors look basically the same, there are few windows....but most importantly, there's no "outside" or street level. If you think about it, even the gateroom was poorly concieved. The set designers made the gateroom more reminicient of the SGC than what it should have been...something like an airport terminal or train station. It should not have been at the top of a tower, but more of an open planned struture on the street level.

I just think that there are alot of things that they could have done to make Atlantis seem more like a city. I think had they gone for more of a city feel, it would have gone a long way toward distinguishing it from SG-1

 

[Hermiod]

^Don't forget, it is a spaceship.

 

[Jax]

I just think that there are alot of things that they could have done to make Atlantis seem more like a city.

I for one would of added random hot dog stalls and when you walk down the street random people begin to flip you off

 

[Kpnuts]

^Don't forget, it is a spaceship.

Don't remind me

 

[bullethead]

If you think about it, even the gateroom was poorly concieved. The set designers made the gateroom more reminicient of the SGC than what it should have been...something like an airport terminal or train station. It should not have been at the top of a tower, but more of an open planned struture on the street level.

Actually, putting the gate room at the top of the tower made a lot of sense. It prevents enemies fro just waltzing into the streets and killing people, minimizes the damage of a stargate related explosion, and allows the civilian populace get to a safe distance within the city in case of such an event.

 

[Kirby]

If you think about it, even the gateroom was poorly concieved. The set designers made the gateroom more reminicient of the SGC than what it should have been...something like an airport terminal or train station. It should not have been at the top of a tower, but more of an open planned struture on the street level.

Actually, putting the gate room at the top of the tower made a lot of sense. It prevents enemies fro just waltzing into the streets and killing people, minimizes the damage of a stargate related explosion, and allows the civilian populace get to a safe distance within the city in case of such an event.

[nerd] Technically the gateroom is not at the top of the tower. The jumperbay is at the top. [/nerd]

 

[USS Kongo]

Atlantis also doesn't seem to be as big as they say it is. In The Prodigal, Teyla bumps into Rodney and Sheppard while they're racing RC cars--twice! If the city was as big as it's supposed to be, you'd think they'd be able to find a remote spot so they could play without any interupption.

 

[bullethead]

Atlantis also doesn't seem to be as big as they say it is. In The Prodigal, Teyla bumps into Rodney and Sheppard while they're racing RC cars--twice! If the city was as big as it's supposed to be, you'd think they'd be able to find a remote spot so they could play without any interupption.

Everyone probably lives in the general area of the tower, so they can get to where ever they need to be quickly if the transporters fail.

 

[The Borg Queen]

^Don't forget, it is a spaceship.

A spaceship with a forcefield capable of sustaining structural integrity at the bottom of the ocean with however high the "atmospheric" pressure would be there. It should be fully able to have a whole load of "outside" while flying through space, protected by that same forcefield.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Atlantis also doesn't seem to be as big as they say it is. In The Prodigal, Teyla bumps into Rodney and Sheppard while they're racing RC cars--twice! If the city was as big as it's supposed to be, you'd think they'd be able to find a remote spot so they could play without any interupption.

Everyone probably lives in the general area of the tower, so they can get to where ever they need to be quickly if the transporters fail.

Nope! Because when the power failed, Rodney & Sheppard stopped playing with their cars, went to a balcony and they could see the main tower far away. (They must have been in one of the far 'piers') Yet Teyla manages to run into them ... Some walk she went on.

 

[Kpnuts]

^ Lazy writing, again

 

[Hermiod]

^ Lazy writing, again

Hardly, they make that sort of trek on a regular basis while on missions and the city is full of transporters to move you around. She met them before the power failed.

 

[Kpnuts]

Ok, it's likely she'd run into them, not once but twice, in the 1 or 2 thousand corridors in the city?

 

[Hermiod]

Ok, it's likely she'd run into them, not once but twice, in the 1 or 2 thousand corridors in the city?

First time might have been an accident, but the second time she might have wanted to run in to them.

 

[Kpnuts]

Ok, it's likely she'd run into them, not once but twice, in the 1 or 2 thousand corridors in the city?

First time might have been an accident, but the second time she might have wanted to run in to them.

 

[Hermiod]

Ok, it's likely she'd run into them, not once but twice, in the 1 or 2 thousand corridors in the city?

First time might have been an accident, but the second time she might have wanted to run in to them.

indeed.

Is it so bizarre that she'd want to see Sheppard ?

 

[Kpnuts]

I find your excuse-making for the writers' incompetence more bizarre, not to mention the inability to admit it was just lazy writing that in the thousands of corridors on Atlantis... Teyla happened to run into them.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter though, it seems the episode was a good one and that's what matters most.

 

[Gotham Central]

^Don't forget, it is a spaceship.

A spaceship with a forcefield capable of sustaining structural integrity at the bottom of the ocean with however high the "atmospheric" pressure would be there. It should be fully able to have a whole load of "outside" while flying through space, protected by that same forcefield.

It seems to me that the whole point of the "cityship" is that its capable of functioning as a city. You have to look at this from the prespective of the ancients. In flight mode, with a full compliment of ZPMs, the ship still functions as a city. In fact, the ship is not habitable in space without the shield. Thus you'd think that more time would have been given to making it work more like a city.

I guess, for me, the fact that they spend an inordinate amount of time in windowless rooms and corridors, destroys the illusion that Atlantis is a city. DS9 and Babylon 5 felt more like cities, and they were both spacestations. Hell, B5 managed to have buildings and simulated "outside" environments.

 

[Hermiod]

I find your excuse-making for the writers' incompetence more bizarre, not to mention the inability to admit it was just lazy writing that in the thousands of corridors on Atlantis... Teyla happened to run into them.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter though, it seems the episode was a good one and that's what matters most.

You know full well that I am more than willing to go after lazy writing when I see it, this was not a case of that. It was a case of two character scenes book-ending the episode.

If you read the post where I scored the episode, you will notice that I picked them up for their repeated use of Character A visits injured Character B in sickbay scenes at the end of episodes.

 

[cylkoth]

^Don't forget, it is a spaceship.

A spaceship with a forcefield capable of sustaining structural integrity at the bottom of the ocean with however high the "atmospheric" pressure would be there. It should be fully able to have a whole load of "outside" while flying through space, protected by that same forcefield.

It seems to me that the whole point of the "cityship" is that its capable of functioning as a city. You have to look at this from the prespective of the ancients. In flight mode, with a full compliment of ZPMs, the ship still functions as a city. In fact, the ship is not habitable in space without the shield. Thus you'd think that more time would have been given to making it work more like a city.

I guess, for me, the fact that they spend an inordinate amount of time in windowless rooms and corridors, destroys the illusion that Atlantis is a city. DS9 and Babylon 5 felt more like cities, and they were both spacestations. Hell, B5 managed to have buildings and simulated "outside" environments.

That was a nitpick I made in the review thread. The car racing would've been cooler had it taken place outside, on the streets. In 5 years, the show has only had terraces for out of doors scenes. A simple half block would be doable. Soap operas build sets that can be pretty expense looking to depict streets or city blocks. Heck, NBC's Chuck has a nice looking courtyard set for Chuck and Casey's apartment complex.
Something, anything, just to get out of the windowless corridors.