1013 - The Road Not Taken Options Rating

[Jerrodw]

We all agree there were lots of plot holes in this filler episode but only the dedicated views like those on this forum probably pick them out.

When I saw Hammond I thought for sure we would see some RDA. Sadly no. It is so strange that about every character was mentioned except Jack and, long shot, sadly missed Dr. Fraiser who could have been alive in this reality.

If I didn't nitpick, I suppose this episode was alright. Sam's gratuitous boobage shots were a nice treat.

[Pitry]

Well that is one thing I notice about stargate, they never (or rarely) nowerdays seem to have any two parters apart from at the mid season gap or as finales/openers. It's just a bit odd watching other shows like doctor who, farscape or BSG who put two parters anywhere if the story fits but stargate rarely does it. Two parters are good and seeing two parters like this would be good. It's a shame they don't turn some of their stories into two parters if it would fit.

Look at it that way, SG1's gone the Babylon 5 route - they don't need two parters, their entire 2 seasons arc together.
Two parters are justified when the story you're telling is too long for one episode. For example, the three parter of Origin/ Avalon that was originally meant to be a two parter, Heroes being extanded into a two parter, etc (dunno about Reckoning. was it supposed to be a one parter?). Sometimes they make a two parter on purpoes for the mid-season thingie - Fourth Horseman could have easily been one episode.. but I agree that to extend a single story into a two parter... well, sometimes they seem to be reluctant to do that (*cough* Fallen *cough*).

We all agree there were lots of plot holes in this filler episode but only the dedicated views like those on this forum probably pick them out.

When I saw Hammond I thought for sure we would see some RDA. Sadly no. It is so strange that about every character was mentioned except Jack and, long shot, sadly missed Dr. Fraiser who could have been alive in this reality.

If I didn't nitpick, I suppose this episode was alright. Sam's gratuitous boobage shots were a nice treat.

Yeah, a shame we didn't get to see Frasier or Jacob. I was kind of hoping we'd end up seeing Jacob in this episode.
The Shroud spoiler

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cheer up, Jack's in the next episode ;)

This post has been edited by Pitry: Jan 26th 2007, 4:17 AM

[LyaOfTheNox]

ok, I don't care what anyone says about how horrible this episode was-- Mckay was hot! Those little glasses, and I have a thing about button-up shirts...

That's really all I need to love an episode.

Love, love, love Mckay/Carter, it's one of my favorite ships. Sams's face when Lorne (yay for Lorne!) told her she used to be married to Rodney was *priceless*

Definitely makes up for how rushed the ending was, IMHO. And what was up with that, anyway? I was really confused when they showed Dr. Lee in the lab; I thought it was suposed to be the AR Lee. Then he said "you're back" (or something to that effect) and it took a while for it to click into place ('course, I could just be slow )

[thehighcommander]

Look at it that way, SG1's gone the Babylon 5 route - they don't need two parters, their entire 2 seasons arc together.
Two parters are justified when the story you're telling is too long for one episode. For example, the three parter of Origin/ Avalon that was originally meant to be a two parter, Heroes being extanded into a two parter, etc (dunno about Reckoning. was it supposed to be a one parter?). Sometimes they make a two parter on purpoes for the mid-season thingie - Fourth Horseman could have easily been one episode.. but I agree that to extend a single story into a two parter... well, sometimes they seem to be reluctant to do that (*cough* Fallen *cough*).
Yeah, a shame we didn't get to see Frasier or Jacob. I was kind of hoping we'd end up seeing Jacob in this episode.
The Shroud spoiler

» Click to Show Spoiler «

cheer up, Jack's in the next episode ;)

except for landry being president, it looks like everything in that reality took place the same up until about a week before the anubis attack, since dr weir never took power, and since janet was killed before then, she woudlnt have been there. since they were severing all ties with other races i can only guess that jacob had to return to the tokra and besides he woudlnt be living on earth anyway

[replicant]

thought the epsiode was awesome I would probably rate it as one of the best epsiodes i've watched. There were so many parts that i loved about it.
Lorne being the leader of SG1
Carters dress
Mackay /Carter banter
America becoming a military dictator ship.

At first I thought it was just going to be a copy of "there but for the grace of god" but it was suffiecently different for my liking.

I thought that Sam would tell them to go to Egypt and get the ZPM that they found in Mobieus(sp).

The ending was rushed I thouht it was going to be a two parter.

[originIsSalvation]

I thought that Sam would tell them to go to Egypt and get the ZPM that they found in Mobieus(sp).

The ending was rushed I thouht it was going to be a two parter.

The idea is good, but remember, after 'Lost City', history played out differently in this universe. As has been suggested in this thread, it is likely that Jack died from the Ancient repositary, thus when they found the puddle jumper in 'It's Good to Be King' (if they even went there at all) no one would have been able to fly it that they knew of. So that jumper would certainly have been destroyed or captured by Ares.
So it's safe to assume that they never traveled back to Ancient Egypt, meaning that Ra took the ZPM with him when he left Earth 5000 years ago.

I would have liked to see it as a two-parter too, but apparently TPTB have stopped making two-parters at random points during the seasons

[KillerMarv]

I thought that Sam would tell them to go to Egypt and get the ZPM that they found in Mobieus(sp).

The ending was rushed I thouht it was going to be a two parter.

They already had that ZPM... In Lost City they defeated Anubis, even if they informed the whole world about it, and they could have done that only with the chair platform. That ZPM was depleted in that process... The ZPM they used to defend Earth now from the Ori was surely the one from Moebius.

[Pitry]

except for landry being president, it looks like everything in that reality took place the same up until about a week before the anubis attack, since dr weir never took power, and since janet was killed before then, she woudlnt have been there. since they were severing all ties with other races i can only guess that jacob had to return to the tokra and besides he woudlnt be living on earth anyway

Not necessarily. McKay and Sam got married, sot he changed might have occured somewhere near 48 Hours?
Also, Weir coudl still have taken over hte SGC - once the mess has happened, the president realised he wanted an air force officer in command after all and gave the job back to Hammond.

[originIsSalvation]

They already had that ZPM... In Lost City they defeated Anubis, even if they informed the whole world about it, and they could have done that only with the chair platform. That ZPM was depleted in that process... The ZPM they used to defend Earth now from the Ori was surely the one from Moebius.

Actually, that was the ZPM they found in Lost City. It wasn't fully depleted after Anubis's attack, and they used the remaining power and drones to fight off the Ori.

[Invisible Painting]

Actually, that was the ZPM they found in Lost City. It wasn't fully depleted after Anubis's attack, and they used the remaining power and drones to fight off the Ori.

But it was close to depletion, for it to have only been able to dial atlantis once and it wear out (when with the ZPM in atlantis they can dial earth frequently sugesting that it doesn't drain too much power to do so) I doubt that there would have been enough power left in it to repel an entire Ori armada.

[Jade]

Well, like many people already mentioned, how could Sam not ask about Jack, that was a big hole, considering she asked about everyone. If Hammond is there, I would think she would be extra curious to find out what Jack is doing in. I knowRDA is not contracted to appear in this one, but surely the writers could give a two second mention like Teal'c and Daniel had in this episode.

I thought this episode underline a too serious political message, something for everyone to ponder, a bit too serious for a stargate episode, luckily, there are some funny bits to lighten the topic. The best part was with Mackay but marry? thats almost too fictional for me to believe.

[Revan]

I thought this episode underline a too serious political message, something for everyone to ponder, a bit too serious for a stargate episode, luckily, there are some funny bits to lighten the topic. The best part was with Mackay but marry? thats almost too fictional for me to believe.

Why is it too serious? It may have been blunt, but there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that there are real problems in the real world.

[wonderland]

Why is it too serious? It may have been blunt, but there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that there are real problems in the real world.

I usually don't like the 'politicians gone wild' episodes but it was about the only good thing about this one.
I thought this was a bit of a bow to "There But for the Grace of God", showing what could so easily have happened.

[Reignfire]

No wonder Amanda has been wearing such revealing dresses at those recent award shows.. It's because of this ep and was the thing that saved it from total disaster

Is it just me or has Amanda been more "revealing" since coming back after her pregnancy?
This episode, Off the Grid, and Grace Under Pressure come to mind... Not that I'm complaining

[IndyJan]

I really liked this episode because it was Carter driven and once again we saw the Carter of old. I'm probably one of the few that likes the alternate universe stories.

It was great to see Hammond in charge of the SGC. Since I have stayed away from spoilers, I was totally thrown by Lorne in charge of the SG1. I love him and it was nice to see.

Landry as president, that came out of left field. Cam in a wheelchair, Teal'c gone and Vala in jail. I have to agree with others, Sam asked about everyone else, she should have asked about Jack.

I loved it when the president's aide told Carter, "Major Carter you have to come with us." She left them have it, it could a zat to bring her down.

Sam said she thought Landry was a good guy underneath and just needed to be nudged. I'm not too sure. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

To find out that Sam and McKay were married and divorced in this universe, was a riot. Of course, the McKay that Sam described was a lie, LOL, but it got McKay to help her.

My husband and I were sitting and watching and he said, "man it doesn't seem like they can wrap this up," I agreed with him. Then a few minutes later, slam, bam she's back home. I agree the end was rushed, but McKay did explain how he was going to get her back home.

I did enjoy the last scene between the 4 of them and especially Vala's hug and telling Sam that she missed her.

[sg1JaffaJoo]

I agree with what everyone else has said. Big shocker, eh?

We did learn one important thing...we can de-phase an entire planet! If it's possible to do it again, that is. I just wish they wouldn't have wasted so much airtime on an episode that didn't really get us any closer to the final bang!

Some parts were sweet. I liked the ending with the team, but it was sad to see Cam in such a sorry state. I thought the political parts of the episode were well-done, kind of refreshing I suppose, but would have been better as a seperate episode aside from the alternate-reality plot. Besides, haven't we seen enough alt-reality crap already?

I totally agree...seeing the team 'converse' with Sam would have been awesome.

It wasn't a really bad episode, but it could have been better.

[soma_momma]

Okay. I guess we are to presume she did ask about Jack but that it happened off screen.

But I guess I blinked when they explained how she got back.

[Shylodog]

Okay. I guess we are to presume she did ask about Jack but that it happened off screen.

But I guess I blinked when they explained how she got back.

Well, they didn't explain how she got back in this episode. Basically, we need to believe that Sam and McKay were able to recreate McKay's experiment from "McKay and Mrs. Miller" to send her back.

[Revan]

Well, they didn't explain how she got back in this episode. Basically, we need to believe that Sam and McKay were able to recreate McKay's experiment from "McKay and Mrs. Miller" to send her back.

They used a combination of that and the phase-shifting device... similar to how she got dragged into that reality.

[Shylodog]

They used a combination of that and the phase-shifting device... similar to how she got dragged into that reality.

Right. The phase shifting device was a given, since they did not have a personal shield. The hard part for them was figuring out how to "push" her through, since everything AU Carter had done was to "pull" the energy through.

[ancient01]

This one was ok, but just that. I'm never crazy about the alternate universe storylines. This one wasn't much better than the average. I guess they needed a filler to lead up to a particularly good episode. At least that's what I'm hoping...

[row4d]

Well it is possible Jack died without ever being in the SGC... he may have died on the Abydos mission, committing suicide like he had intended...

But if Jack had set off the nuke in order to destroy the Abydos gate as originally intended in the movie, wouldn't that interfere with the events that led to creating the Stargate program in the first place? Rather than Apophis gating to Earth and kidnapping a potential host or two like he did in the pilot, he may have just showed up in a ship intending to crush the Tau'ri threat by destroying Earth's major cities from space a la TBFTGOG. Then again, this is an alternate reality after all -- since there are so many different permutations of events in each one, it's a really convenient tool for the writers to explain away plot holes big enough to fly an al'kesh through!

[Revan]

But if Jack had set off the nuke in order to destroy the Abydos gate as originally intended in the movie, wouldn't that interfere with the events that led to creating the Stargate program in the first place? Rather than Apophis gating to Earth and kidnapping a potential host or two like he did in the pilot, he may have just showed up in a ship intending to crush the Tau'ri threat by destroying Earth's major cities from space a la TBFTGOG. Then again, this is an alternate reality after all -- since there are so many different permutations of events in each one, it's a really convenient tool for the writers to explain away plot holes big enough to fly an al'kesh through!

He still would have come through Earth's gate, which he did not enter from Abydos, but from his planet.

He didn't stay long enough to see what was going on, on Abydos or Earth, he just wouldn't have gone to Abydos... though wwe don't know what would have happened to Ra in that instance.