SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILERS!)

[Swarles Barkley]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

Disclaimer: I'm just a casual SG:A fan. But this episode encapsulated most of the reasons why I'm just a casual SG:A fan, so I had to give it a Bad. Even though I'm not a huge fan of this show, I still feel it deserved a better sendoff. Yes, I know they didn't have much time, but they still could have come up with a better plot. And so many of the usual cliches...The big Reset Button (Ronon's "death", which I didn't buy for a minute, and resurrection), what sounded like a nifty space battle between the super hive ship and the two earth ships...oh but it's off screen. Great! That was exciting. The deus ex machina ("Wormhole Drive"? Where'd that come from? Good thing they had it lying around for just this particular moment!) And the colossal letdown of the ending. Why not let the city just float into SF Bay uncloaked? Why not finally have the big reveal to the people of Earth? That would have been a better ending, IMO.

This just smacked way too much of the way I felt at the end of "Endgame" on Voyager. Is that it? Really? Flawed as SG:A was, I liked a lot of the characters. They deserved better.

 

[DontFeedPhil]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

It was alright. It really would have been much better if they could have integrated it more with the CSI episode. but I suppose they didnt have time.
I wonder if they do get a movie are they gonna be set on Earth or have some stupid reason that they went back to the most boring(est) Galaxy in all of the Galaxies out there...The Pegasus.
I did like the lines between Todd and Sheppard at the end...

Sheppard," The question is, what would happen next time?"
Todd," Is there going to be a next time?"

I think that was a little dig about the show being canceled.
Overall I think the whole episode felt like a big Deus ex Machina...Everything that needed to happen did, and a little too easily...But then again we could have gotten These are the voyages...

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

What a weak finale. Damn.

To be fair though, the episode's biggest enemy was its length. They just couldn't do enough in an hour and it really should've been two. The story needed breathing room that showed obvious signs of shoe-horning.

And why did they push the reset button on Ronon? He should've stayed dead.

 

[kitkat]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

I gave it 3 ZPMs. I thought it was great. Especially because for a few minutes I thought that Ronon was dead and then he wasn't. Yay!!

I will not mention things by names but it was sooooooooooo much better than lots of series finales I've seen in the past. There's no reason to end things on a bad note. I like happy endings and when writing fiction, there's no reason (IMO) to end things with everybody dying.

I'm just glad they didn't blow up my beautiful Sheppard. I would have been seriously pissed if they had ended it that way.

 

[Rÿcher]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

Mistakes in the episode:

In no particular order

Spoiler: One

they knew the Wraith uberhive was in orbit of earth and didn't have an iris or a shield. Why didn't Atlantis toss in a nuke?

Spoiler: Two

Why didn't they send Shep directly to the Ancient chair if they knew the Wraith were on their way to Earth?

Spoiler: Three

You would have thought it to more appropriate to land Atlantis in the middle of the Atlantic ocean rather than the Pacific?

And my memory must be failing me but who in the heck was the woman at the end of the episode who came to visit Ronon in the infirmary and later stood out on Atlantis' balcony with the rest of the crew? At first I thought it was Dr. Lam.

It was nice to hear General Hammond getting props.

And just because a ship is called Sun Tsu doesn't mean it would have to be a Chinese ship. His works are studied and revered worldwide.

 

[Rÿcher]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

Overall I think the whole episode felt like a big Deus ex Machina...Everything that needed to happen did, and a little too easily

I agree, especially about the wormhole drive or whatever. Convenient, don't you think?

 

[Brent]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

they knew the Wraith uberhive was in orbit of earth and didn't have an iris or a shield. Why didn't Atlantis toss in a nuke?

I doubt they had nukes on Atlantis. However, they could have taken a Naquadah generator and set it to overload and explode. IIRC they should be more powerful than a nuke, it is basically fusion generation afterall.

Why didn't they send Shep directly to the Ancient chair if they knew the Wraith were on their way to Earth?

very good point, as soon as he got there they should have flown him immediatly to the chair in Area 51 to take out the ship before the darts even were launched

You would have thought it to more appropriate to land Atlantis in the middle of the Atlantic ocean rather than the Pacific?

might not have had much choice, depending on how much power was left to fly the city

And my memory must be failing me but who in the heck was the woman at the end of the episode who came to visit Ronon in the infirmary and later stood out on Atlantis' balcony with the rest of the crew? At first I thought it was Dr. Lam.

don't know, but she was cute

It was nice to hear General Hammond getting props.

Indeed

And just because a ship is called Sun Tsu doesn't mean it would have to be a Chinese ship. His works are studied and revered worldwide.

good point

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

Gah! This really wasn't a terrible episode, but it suffered so much from how short it was! This story would have been great if it had been saved for the first Atlantis movie. It had everything in it that I love about Stargate, but it was just very rushed.

Oh well. It could have been a lot worse.

 

[kitkat]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

I agree with you RoJo that it did feel a bit rushed but they did what they could with the time limit.

I was also glad but/and got a bit sniffly at the mention of Hammond. It was very sweet though.

 

[cylkoth]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

Where was Chuck?

Rycher said
And my memory must be failing me but who in the heck was the woman at the end of the episode who came to visit Ronon in the infirmary and later stood out on Atlantis' balcony with the rest of the crew?

That was Amelia, the gateroom tech, who mans the control room with Chuck, who dials the gate.

 

[Kirby]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

I gave it a Good. Not bad, but not great.

As they're making they're escape out of the hive, I really wanted to see one of the masked Wraith soldiers start attacking the other soldiers, buying the team some time, and then after Shep goes through the gate, the soldier rips off his mask revealing Super Ford. He realizes that they're back and Earth, and the humans are about to win the battle. He says "I finally get to see my Grandma again!" and heads toward the gate, to follow his friends back home, only to have the gate suddenly shut down. Pan back to show the exterior shot of the hive blowing up... Thus finally resolving the Ford storyline.

 

[Lord Lunacy]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

Text book status quo episode with the hero saves the day without taking casualties ending...Meh. Average.

 

[TemporalFlux]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

So Cheyenne Mountain just became irrelevant? The only working earth gate will be in Atlantis.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

So Cheyenne Mountain just became irrelevant? The only working earth gate will be in Atlantis.

Depends whether or not Atlantis stays put.

 

[Brent]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

They have a patch, a workaround, which can make the gate in the SGC be the default gate. They had to use it on the midway station. But, they could just as easily just use Atlantis as a base and use its Stargate, OR they could also take Atlantis's Stargate and put it in the SGC since it is newer.

 

[Gatekeeper]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

I gave "Enemy at the Gate" a "Good" rating.

The rating would have been even better, if TPTB hadn't brought Ronon back to life after killing him off. Now, that's not because I don't like the character — I do — but I found it to be aggravating in how they did it (plus, isn't it odd that the Wraith have no other way to figure out how many intruders there are on their ship?).

Also, another demerit is awarded because, once again, the vast majority of Earth is left in the dark regarding the Stargate Program and Atlantis. I'm sure the hive ship's destruction will be written off as an asteroid destroyed before it struck the planet, as will Atlantis' descent to Earth's surface.

C'mon, TPTB: Make the Stargate and Atlantis public!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gatekeeper

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

Publicizing the Stargate always struck me as a job for an SG1 episode or movie. It would feel weird to me if it happened on Atlantis.

 

[Gatekeeper]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

Publicizing the Stargate always struck me as a job for an SG1 episode or movie. It would feel weird to me if it happened on Atlantis.

Agreed, really, but we've had two Stargate DVD movies so far, and neither one made the Stargate program public. Heh. What are the odds it'll ever happen?

Gatekeeper

P.S. Oh, and, as others have mentioned: Kudos to TPTB for the mention of Gen. Hammond. That was a "real" moment, IMO.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

I have a feeling it won't happen until the Stargate franchise comes to a real end.

Or in an SG1/Atlantis crossover movie!

 

[archeryguy1701]

Re: SG-A – Enemy At The Gate (5x20) FINALE – (Discuss – Grade | SPOILE

Why didn't they send Shep directly to the Ancient chair if they knew the Wraith were on their way to Earth?

very good point, as soon as he got there they should have flown him immediatly to the chair in Area 51 to take out the ship before the darts even were launched

If I recall the explanation correctly though, the Wraith ship stayed out of range of the chair. Recall how it didn't finally approach Earth until after the chair was destroyed.