401 - Adrift Options Rating

[ha'tak]

I have to say Ive succeeded in boycotting Sci-Fi (not that it matters since I'm not a Nielsen Family) for Atlantis thanks to iTunes and their wonderful (and legal) services. But after watching the episode I have a few things to say.

One after keeping myself spoiler free I was shocked to see Amanda taking Torri's spot in the opening title sequence, and now it seems that Torri is now just a recurring character. But I'm not surprised there were rumors there'd be some SG1 bleeding into Atlantis this season I was just surprised to see it in the first episode.

Then with the whole 'we dont have the power to run the hyperdrive/shields' issue. Im sorry but I think Atlantis has played that card several times too many in the last few seasons. And now with from the blatant plot punch for the next episode at the end of Adrift we know its back to the old 'Atlantis Team: the Quest for the ZPM's' show again.

I dont think we have to mention Teyla again ... Im sorry but I could just never relate or connect with Rachel's acting as the character. Or maybe its the writers choices that have made me uninterested.

One thing that I think they got completely right on this episode was the music it kept me with the plot really well too, much obliged to Goldsmith. The zero gravity introduction to the midway station just had that classic sound to it that just missed ... that was untill Doc Lee throws up.



oh and for the whole Apollo dialing the midway station ... I'm pretty sure it was described in The Return Pt II that the connection to the gate bridge is just a 'macro' (program) thats uploaded into the DHD that allows it to connect to that line. Im assuming its like uploading a new gate location to that gate/DHD and the program for the 'call forwarding' to send it though the gates in the bridge.
On top of that what I dont understand is how does the gate bridge allow for a two way conversation when there are many gates you have to travel though before reaching the midway station. I thought a gate in the bridge stored the object in its buffer and then dialed the next in the chain and sent it to the next.

This post has been edited by ha'tak: Sep 30th 2007, 10:09 PM

[Revan]

I think midway was hailed by the Apollo... the gate bridge connection does not allow for two-way communication, only data burst transmissions.

[JTMAG1]

I think midway was hailed by the Apollo... the gate bridge connection does not allow for two-way communication, only data burst transmissions.

The Midway station has to allow two way communication, because both Atlantis and the SGC have an iris. How would you know if it were safe to travel through?

Plus, didn't the Dadaelus communicate with Atlantis through the gate when they were testing it during 'The Return'?

[Revan]

The Midway station has to allow two way communication, because both Atlantis and the SGC have an iris. How would you know if it were safe to travel through?

Plus, didn't the Dadaelus communicate with Atlantis through the gate when they were testing it during 'The Return'?

I wonder if TPTB have even worked that out. The way the gate bridge works, it shouldn't be possible to have two-way communication, because the gates activate in succession, not all at once. The dialling macro probably automatically sends an IDC.

I am too lazy to go and check, so I dunno.

They may have communicated through an offworld team.

[Pitry]

I agree. We pretty much know how they are going to keep Torri Higginson as a recurring character.

I'm still sceptical about the "keep" tho, something tells me that if there's a season 5 we'll see Elizabeth as much as we've seen Ford in season 3.

I have to say Ive succeeded in boycotting Sci-Fi (not that it matters since I'm not a Nielsen Family) for Atlantis thanks to iTunes and their wonderful (and legal) services. But after watching the episode I have a few things to say.

LoL, so they fixed the problem then? It is Adrift they're selling now?

[Ziu]

As being mainly a SG-1 fan, my comments might be considered prejudice. However, I used to watch SGA as it followed SG-1 in my area.

The worst and most annoying part of this episode was girlie-man McKays' constant whining. One would think that the writers would stop this part of his character after three seasons.

The best and coolest part of this episode was the portion with all those jumpers and asteroids. This part gave me hope that SGA might turn into an exciting Stargate franchise.

Over all, it was a pleasant, but not great episode.

[Athena]

Could it be because you watched the episode without any of the background music/noises edited in?
They weren't using the ship as a mid point. The gatebridge has been discussed in depth there.
Oh how quickly we forget. Beckett was unsure of himself from day 1. Remember rising? He showed confidence sometimes, but he acted unsure of himself far more often

I watched the episode over a week ago on a legal website without the music and other sound effects. It was a little disconcerting at first. You'd see the weapons firing, but no sound. The finished episode was, of course, much better.

I liked seeing Amanda's name in the opening credits. The screener episode I saw had the old credits, so that was a nice surprise for me.

I think it’ll help the Sci Fi ratings, and chances for renewal, that the U.S. is getting the episodes first. In prior years, when the show premiered elsewhere, I’d go on spoiler sites and find out the gist of the episode, and whether or not people liked it or not. If it looked like it was a snoozer episode, I didn’t bother to watch the U.S. airing. I’m not a Nielsen Family member, so my watching habits didn’t affect the ratings or chances for renewal. But, I can see how a Nielsen Family member might have skipped the U.S. airing also.

[ha'tak]

LoL, so they fixed the problem then? It is Adrift they're selling now?

yeah... although I have to say I was one of the proud who got to see the mistake and scream 'WTF!' at iTunes. I actually started to download Doppleganger but before it could complete it cut out, and Adrift started up. I think I was at something like 80% of the download too

[Pitry]

I think it’ll help the Sci Fi ratings, and chances for renewal, that the U.S. is getting the episodes first. In prior years, when the show premiered elsewhere, I’d go on spoiler sites and find out the gist of the episode, and whether or not people liked it or not. If it looked like it was a snoozer episode, I didn’t bother to watch the U.S. airing. I’m not a Nielsen Family member, so my watching habits didn’t affect the ratings or chances for renewal. But, I can see how a Nielsen Family member might have skipped the U.S. airing also.

Well, ratings. Apparently not brilliant, according to JM's blog,m but he dind't give an actual number.

yeah... although I have to say I was one of the proud who got to see the mistake and scream 'WTF!' at iTunes. I actually started to download Doppleganger but before it could complete it cut out, and Adrift started up. I think I was at something like 80% of the download too

Ah, that's a shame, apparnetly they gave people who downloaded Doppleganger instead Adrfit for free

[Dave312]

yeah... although I have to say I was one of the proud who got to see the mistake and scream 'WTF!' at iTunes. I actually started to download Doppleganger but before it could complete it cut out, and Adrift started up. I think I was at something like 80% of the download too

Sounds to me like another episode will be leaked for illegal downloading. But as we all know: illegal = bad

[Th?t]

It may sound more like nitpicking than anything else, but... anyone else had a problem with the first explanation a doctor gave Ronon about decrompressive craniotomy? "basically, the brain is allowed to expand outside her head"... Come on! I thought it was common knowledge that neurons DON'T divide after they reach maturity. the pressure is due to oedema. All a craniotomy would to is to allow the blood and/or cephalo-rachidian fluid to be expulsed... and a drain would be more than enough to do that.

I don't usually care about medical errors in sci-fi shows. Every functional MRI we've seen so far in the SG universe is impossible to get in a living human unless they took it from an epileptic going under a major seizure but heh! that's prop, I don't care much about that. But for them to go ahead and give us a faulty explanation for something? If you're gonna bother to explain it, please bother to research it first.

Thôt

[Lancelot]

firstly I think people are right jewel got the role because of the T and A vote (T*Ts and A$$)
or she slept with the producers (not unheard of). also I think that the midway station would most likely have a two way subspace communicator relay but that it isn't yet fully funtional, allowing only databurst transmissions until it is fully operational.

[JTMAG1]

It may sound more like nitpicking than anything else, but... anyone else had a problem with the first explanation a doctor gave Ronon about decrompressive craniotomy? "basically, the brain is allowed to expand outside her head"... Come on! I thought it was common knowledge that neurons DON'T divide after they reach maturity. the pressure is due to oedema. All a craniotomy would to is to allow the blood and/or cephalo-rachidian fluid to be expulsed... and a drain would be more than enough to do that.

I don't usually care about medical errors in sci-fi shows. Every functional MRI we've seen so far in the SG universe is impossible to get in a living human unless they took it from an epileptic going under a major seizure but heh! that's prop, I don't care much about that. But for them to go ahead and give us a faulty explanation for something? If you're gonna bother to explain it, please bother to research it first.

Thôt

No one said that her neurons were dividing. It was said that they brain was swelling. If I remember correctly, there are 5 types of Edema. One of them occurs when the brain cells actually take on pressure, and they expand. This would make the brain grow increasing pressure. In this instance, the brain could expand outside of the skull if there were enough pressure. There are more factors that go into this, but she wasn't trying to tech Ronan to do brain surgery, she was just giving him a brief laymen's explanation of what was going on.

EDIT: I stand correct, there are 6 types of cerebral edema and Cytotoxic cerebral edema causes the cells to retain fluid and swell. Plus I think Osmotic Edema causes the same thing, but I'm not a Neurologist, I'm just going off the good ol' memory. I'm sure there is a page on Wiki about it

firstly I think people are right jewel got the role because of the T and A vote (T*Ts and A$$)
or she slept with the producers (not unheard of). also I think that the midway station would most likely have a two way subspace communicator relay but that it isn't yet fully funtional, allowing only databurst transmissions until it is fully operational.

Why is everyong hatingon Jewel? Is she the new Teylay? She's been in like 2 eps for about 5 minutes. Lets give her a chance to do something.

This post has been edited by JTMAG1: Oct 2nd 2007, 9:54 AM

[Lancelot]

I knew they'd get the pj's to have hyperdrives sooner or later
but daf said it wasn't going to happen(haha nuh nuh nu nuh nuh).
maybe now if the hyperdrives work well we could use them on missiles cause they obviosly arent that big if thier for a jumper.

[Ziu]

No one said that her neurons were dividing. It was said that they brain was swelling. If I remember correctly, there are 5 types of Edema. One of them occurs when the brain cells actually take on pressure, and they expand. This would make the brain grow increasing pressure. In this instance, the brain could expand outside of the skull if there were enough pressure. There are more factors that go into this, but she wasn't trying to tech Ronan to do brain surgery, she was just giving him a brief laymen's explanation of what was going on.

EDIT: I stand correct, there are 6 types of cerebral edema and Cytotoxic cerebral edema causes the cells to retain fluid and swell. Plus I think Osmotic Edema causes the same thing, but I'm not a Neurologist, I'm just going off the good ol' memory. I'm sure there is a page on Wiki about it
Why is everyong hatingon Jewel? Is she the new Teylay? She's been in like 2 eps for about 5 minutes. Lets give her a chance to do something.

I agree with you. Give the gal a chance. Also, she is eye-candy. Like my Grandfather used to say, if you don't like it, don't eat it.

[wonderland]

Why is everyong hatingon Jewel? Is she the new Teylay? She's been in like 2 eps for about 5 minutes. Lets give her a chance to do something.

I don't know Jewel so I couldn't possibly hate her. It's not personal. I still think she's too young for the role, but that's just my opinion.

[Revan]

TPTB did what they wanted.

They picked Jewel Staite, so I believe they want her... they would fire her if they didn't like her performance. She is playing the character they want her to play.

Remember everybody hating on Morena Baccarin and saying she was a horrible actor? Yeah, then we watched Dominion and all of a sudden she was great... hmmm, lets think about it for a spell...

TPTB, while crazy in their own way, probably know what they want for the Keller character... so why don't we exercise a minor amount of patience and wait to see what they intend to do...?



EDIT: Remember Julian Bashir in Deep Space Nine...? He was like a little kid in the beginning, but he eventually matured... the character grew... maybe thats where they are going.

[IndyJan]

TPTB did what they wanted.

They picked Jewel Staite, so I believe they want her... they would fire her if they didn't like her performance. She is playing the character they want her to play.

Remember everybody hating on Morena Baccarin and saying she was a horrible actor? Yeah, then we watched Dominion and all of a sudden she was great... hmmm, lets think about it for a spell...

TPTB, while crazy in their own way, probably know what they want for the Keller character... so why don't we exercise a minor amount of patience and wait to see what they intend to do...?
EDIT: Remember Julian Bashir in Deep Space Nine...? He was like a little kid in the beginning, but he eventually matured... the character grew... maybe thats where they are going.

I was someone that didn't care for MB. I'm sorry but one episode does not make a correct actress for that role. I still do not care for her. She's eye candy and the males will like her.

The same can be said for JS. She's eye candy and the males will like her. In the correct role, she works. JS worked in Firefly and Serenity. I liked her a lot. So don't say I have a problem with female eye candy.

As far as waiting for a character to grew, how long are we to wait? After 3 seasons, I'm still waiting for Teyla's character to grow. She's eye candy for the male viewers and that is all. I don't care for storyline they have lined up for her this year. As far as I'm concerned, it's too little, too late.

[Revan]

I was someone that didn't care for MB. I'm sorry but one episode does not make a correct actress for that role. I still do not care for her. She's eye candy and the males will like her.

The same can be said for JS. She's eye candy and the males will like her. In the correct role, she works. JS worked in Firefly and Serenity. I liked her a lot. So don't say I have a problem with female eye candy.

As far as waiting for a character to grew, how long are we to wait? After 3 seasons, I'm still waiting for Teyla's character to grow. She's eye candy for the male viewers and that is all. I don't care for storyline they have lined up for her this year. As far as I'm concerned, it's too little, too late.

My point was that TPTB wanted MB to play Adria in the way she played her. In Dominion she was playing Ba'al for a fair bit of the time, and it was a different character entirely.


I chalk the Teyla thing up to the fact that TPTB are all male and none of them have the slightest idea how to write for female characters. Also, as an alien, it is difficult for Earthling men to relate to her... so yeah... lack of imagination on their part?

Frankly, I am astounded any of them are married.

[wonderland]

My point was that TPTB wanted MB to play Adria in the way she played her. In Dominion she was playing Ba'al for a fair bit of the time, and it was a different character entirely.
I chalk the Teyla thing up to the fact that TPTB are all male and none of them have the slightest idea how to write for female characters. Also, as an alien, it is difficult for Earthling men to relate to her... so yeah... lack of imagination on their part?

Frankly, I am astounded any of them are married.

I think you are probably right, it's a case of the men just not knowing what to do with her. I have to admit, Teyla has never intrigued me, her character is so poorly developed. I don't blame that on Rachel, but rather the writers, directors, etc.
If they'd like some advice from women, I'd certainly like to give some of them a piece of my mind.

[Pitry]

firstly I think people are right jewel got the role because of the T and A vote (T*Ts and A$$)
or she slept with the producers (not unheard of). also I think that the midway station would most likely have a two way subspace communicator relay but that it isn't yet fully funtional, allowing only databurst transmissions until it is fully operational.

You do realise Jewel Staite is a very good science fiction actress who's also very known in science fiction due to her role as Kaylee in Firefly, a show the various producers of Stargate have expressed their love to on various occasion.
She's also Canadian and already lives in Vancouver.
Whether Jewel Staite is right or not for the partb is one thing. But I think it's quite clear why she got the job, and no, it's no such reason.

My point was that TPTB wanted MB to play Adria in the way she played her. In Dominion she was playing Ba'al for a fair bit of the time, and it was a different character entirely.

I dunno, could be my dislike of her acting style but I dind't feel she was a differnet character when playing Ba'al - and I certainly didn;t feel she was trying to give the feeling of Cliff Simon, which is what I would have expected, for her to match her performance as much as possible to Cliff Simon's.

This post has been edited by Pitry: Oct 2nd 2007, 6:38 PM

[IndyJan]

You do realise Jewel Staite is a very good science fiction actress who's also very known in science fiction due to her role as Kaylee in Firefly, a show the various producers of Stargate have expressed their love to on various occasion.
She's also Canadian and already lives in Vancouver.
Whether Jewel Staite is right or not for the partb is one thing. But I think it's quite clear why she got the job, and no, it's no such reason.

As a fellow female, thank you for this response. While I might believe JS was added for her eye candy look, I would never say what was stated. That was in very bad taste. Like I said, I do like JS and loved her on Firefly and in Serenity. I just feel that she's too young for this character.

This post has been edited by IndyJan: Oct 3rd 2007, 2:57 AM

[usmctech99]

As a fellow female, thank you for this response. While I might believe JS was added for her eye candy look, I would never say what was stated. That was in very bad taste. Like I said, I do like JS and loved her on Firefly and in Serenity. I just feel that she's too young for this character.

I agree. (though as a male) While she definitely qualifies as eye candy, she's also an accomplished actor and doesn't deserve to be dismissed as "T and A".

As far as her suitability to the role, figuring for 4 years of pre-med and 4 years of med school, generally 1st year interns are around 26 years old, so either she's playing a character a few years older than herself (she's 25), or her character is a child prodigy. Remember, we know nothing about Dr. Keller, other than that she was on Carson's staff... probably his deputy chief of surgery, or whatever they call their 2nd in charge, to be promoted to division head.

And I liked Keller's composure while trying to save Weir's life; she didn't panic and made good, quick decisions under pressure. Hopefully the writers can figure out a good way to draw out her character... ... not holding my breath...

[Pitry]

As a fellow female, thank you for this response. While I might believe JS was added for her eye candy look, I would never say what was stated. That was in very bad taste. Like I said, I do like JS and loved her on Firefly and in Serenity. I just feel that she's too young for this character.

I don't think it's just a matter of male/ female to be honest, but basic respect. Saying she must have slept with a producer to get the role is basically calling her a whore, and that's quite uncalled for.
I agree about her being too young. I like her, I much prefer her who is a really good actress rather than someone like Morena Baccarin who is only a mediocre actress IMO and was in Stargate strictly on "eye candy" basis, an dI did enjoy the very little of her I got to see in Adrift - but she's too young to play a doctor on Atlantis, especially as the two doctors we've seen so far in the role or considered to it were Beckett, late 30s and Simon whom Weir tried to convince joining up who's at least 40.