Overall Rating: 7.8
This episode, like the previous half of this quasi-two-part cliffhanger is standard sci fi action without a lot of depth. However...this standard sci fi action does not suffer from weighty exposition. That has been replaced with multiple battles taking place simultaneously and feels much more engaging and broad.
Plot Synopsis:
A full summary of events may be found at the Stargate Wiki.
The Skinny:
I give this episode credit for trying to think big. As the franchise ages, the writers get bolder and bolder with their military actions and larger and larger with their jeopardy, which is necessary when the original show concept (plucky humans facing massively overwhelming odds and feeling a deeply personal stake in the battle) begins to fall apart (how long can you keep the humans down...how long can you delay our acquisition of real technology before it starts to become impossible to believe that the Goa'uld wouldn't just wipe us out?). This is one of the first episodes that allows for intergalactic stakes and begins to show our enormous potential.
However, while they were "thinking big" and giving us some new meat to chew on, the writers left out the dialogue and we were given a very ordinary presentation of a rather extraordinary set of circumstances. This episode is a plot mover...nothing more. It's entertaining, but I can't give it too much credit for the writing or the message. When I compare this script to the season 1-ending action episode entitled "The Serpent's Lair," I find it's missing something. It's a chess board with the pieces moving cleverly...but our heroes shouldn't just be pawns.
Writing: 7.5
Take an average episode (6.0 rating)...and move it about a third of the way to "awesome!" territory for the solid, fast-moving plot that keeps us entertained...but that's about the best I can do, because the rest of the elements of a good drama are completely absent.
Acting: 8.5
On the other hand, I did enjoy the performances of RDA and Amanda Tapping in particular amongst the regular cast. Tapping injected some cuteness and charm into a few moments (e.g. her sampling of Asgard "food" and the look on her face when she was told the name of their new Replicator-Battling ship) and RDA does "aw crap!" moments in battle very humorously. :)
Message: 7.5
Doing battle with the replicators shows off one of humanity's greatest virtues...our adaptive thinking outshines a whole heck of a lot of technological superiority on a regular basis in Stargate canon...I believe this is a potentially unconscious attempt to emphasize our evolutionary edge...it is not our technology, per say, that will save us from our problems...it is our ability to recognize problems and solve them with whatever we have at hand.
Highlights:
THOR: The Asgard have tried to stop them. You have demonstrated their weakness may be found from a less sophisticated approach. We are no longer capable of such thinking.
DANIEL: Wait a minute, you're actually saying that you need someone dumber than you are?
JACK: You may have come to the right place. (snerk)
HAMMOND: Thor, with all due respect to your situation we need SG-1 here.
CARTER: I could go, sir.
JACK: I don't know, Carter. You may not be dumb enough. (LOL!)
CARTER: (after the O'Neill blows up and takes out the bugs) We did it!! (she hugs Thor really hard and quickly realizes he's got a very frail little body) Oooh...sorry! (LOL)
THOR: It was your...stupid idea, Major Carter. (indeed. :) )
No comments:
Post a Comment