Stargate Atlantis "The Tower" 02/03/06

[Anubys]

Since I just finished SG-1, I figure I might as well start the Atlantis thread too...

I love sci-fi Friday...be back after I watched the ep...

[Jonathan_S]

That was quite a few drones. I hope that Otho didn't waste too many of them with the failed attack on the village. Too bad the ZPM is dead; although it would be too simple for Atlantis to have a fairly full ZPM available.

Kind of sucks for the villagers since with no ZPM they no longer have the protection of the drones. Spare drones and no power isn't any better than spare power and no drones.

Oh, speaking of Otho, it was a serious deja-vu moment when I saw him. Otho managed to forcibly remind me of Peter Woodward's previous role as Galen the techno-mage.

[WinBear]

Otho managed to forcibly remind me of Peter Woodward's previous role as Galen the techno-mage.

Thank you! that was bothering me too, but I couldn't place him.

[Arcady]

I personally believe that "The Tower" might be the worst hour of Stargate ever made. Seriously. This episode was just bad. Even for a Mullie & Mallozzi script. Yuck. Can I buy season 2 on DVD without this episode? I'll pay extra.

[Vito the TiVo]

Just wait, there's some good stuff down the pipes...

[Arcady]

Oh I know. I've already seen the entire season. But the Tower makes me cringe just thinking about it.

[ogden2k]

I really enjoyed this episode. It's good to see that we are getting more Puddle Jumpers and drones. I wonder what the purpose of the second city was for? Too bad they couldn't salvage any possible data from the city.

[Dr. Thodt]

That was quite a few drones. I hope that Otho didn't waste too many of them with the failed attack on the village.


Those drones aren't wasted. If i'm rembering correctly from SG-1 (when they found the chair in Antartica) The drones can lose power and crash to the ground and then be reactivated.

[vikingguy]

IT was not a very good episode but at least they get to restock puddle jumpers and drones for I am sure a major battle to end the season. I can take a bad episode here and there if they fill a purpose to the over all story line. I can't wait for the wraith to come back to atlantis because the drones will be a nice surpise for the wraith.

[emandbri]

I don't care if the episode was crappy, Peter Woodward is hot so I don't care.

Emily

[cheesesteak]

I wonder what the purpose of the second city was for?
And why the Atlanteans have such unimaginative architechs and interior decorators that the second city was identical to the real Atlantis.

At least Ronon got to kill somebody this episode.

[Rob Helmerichs]

And why the Atlanteans have such unimaginative architechs and interior decorators that the second city was identical to the real Atlantis.
Maybe that was the Ancient equivalent of pre-built homes. They had a factory somewhere that churned out Ancient Cities, and they're all over the galaxy. And they didn't offer a lot of options... :D

[JustAllie]

Interesting how, at the end of the episode, Sheppard felt it necessary to tell Weir that he had turned down the girl's offer back on the planet.... :D

[dcheesi]

Interesting that Sheppard thought it preferable to kill the ZPM and leave them wide open to Wraith attack. I wonder if the people from the other villages will be very happy with the Earthers after this?

Thank you! that was bothering me too, but I couldn't place him.He also did a show called "Conquest" on the History Channel. Basically using random guys to test out ancient weaponry in little contests...

[mportuesi]

Oh, speaking of Otho, it was a serious deja-vu moment when I saw him. Otho managed to forcibly remind me of Peter Woodward's previous role as Galen the techno-mage.


Galen was the very first thing that popped into my head when Peter Woodward's face appeared on the screen. God, I hated the Galen character with a passion.

Interesting that they actually wrote in a new source for the drones and puddle jumpers. I was beginning to think Atlantis was like Moonbase Alpha, which destroyed at least one Eagle every episode with no explanation where they got more from. I think maybe they had an Eagle factory in the basement.

[bryan314]

Well, at least it wasn't a clip show and they only threw some drapes on existing sets. When they do a budget saving episode it usually means they're stealling part of the budget for a later bigger episode.

[Tangent]

And why the Atlanteans have such unimaginative architechs and interior decorators that the second city was identical to the real Atlantis.

Those cities are also starships and huge things like that tend to have alot of engineering involved. Why would you go through the trouble of reengineering something that obviously takes tremendous effort to get right the first time just so it looks different? Not to mention they were in a war with the wraith and personnel might transfer from one cityship to another. Why throw in the added difficulty of having to learn a whole new layout? In my opinion the city ships looking different would be kind of strange. After all, unless there's a major change in technology and/or mission all of our warships (of the same class)are all essentially identical. I was stationed on the USS Constellation (CV64) when I was in the Navy. The few times I was on the USS Kitty Hawk (CV63) it was kind of eerie how everything was the same except for some minor touches.

[Anubys]

Interesting how, at the end of the episode, Sheppard felt it necessary to tell Weir that he had turned down the girl's offer back on the planet.... :D

I didn't see much "turning down" the first night...maybe she just wasn't very good ;)

[mrpantstm]

not a bad episode. I think standard SG training should be 'If another planet's person is being nice to you, they're probably getting ready to screw you.'

[Mr2sday]

I was just wondering how thousands of years of random breeding could have Sheppard with a better chance of using the tech than specifically bred people.

Does it seem kinda wrong to give almost nothing to these people for the valuable drones? It's like me offering to a kid 5 shiny hard metal pennies for his one floppy boring $50 bill.

I really did like the show, I don't find problems with shows until after I think about it.

[Timbeau]

Interesting how, at the end of the episode, Sheppard felt it necessary to tell Weir that he had turned down the girl's offer back on the planet.... :D

He's still saving himself for you was my thought... :)

[allan]

I was just wondering how thousands of years of random breeding could have Sheppard with a better chance of using the tech than specifically bred people.


Too much inbreeding? ;)

[Jonathan_S]

I was just wondering how thousands of years of random breeding could have Sheppard with a better chance of using the tech than specifically bred people.

Does it seem kinda wrong to give almost nothing to these people for the valuable drones? It's like me offering to a kid 5 shiny hard metal pennies for his one floppy boring $50 bill.
Inbreeding will do that to you. :)

And with the tower's ZPM drained, the drones were next to worthless to them. Worth a lot to Atlantis, sure, but not much to them. Why overpay if the tower doesn't value them anymore.

[JustAllie]

He's still saving himself for you was my thought... :) :D

[marrone]

I thought this was a pretty good episode. Kinda odd how the communication wasn't working underground, when it does in Atlantis.

I'm sure they'd be able to rig up some kind of temporary power and try to download some data. But even so, I'm sure Atlantis would be more up to date with information than this planet.

-Mike

[Rob Helmerichs]

I thought this was a pretty good episode. Kinda odd how the communication wasn't working underground, when it does in Atlantis.
Atlantis isn't underground...

[Tangent]

Presumably they also can use Atlantis' own communications system to relay their radio signals.

[sieglinde]

Yeah, I was thinking "repeater". We have them in our thicker walled buildings where I work for cell phones.

I guess I liked the costuming too much to think this was a bad episode.

[ADent]

I was waiting for MacKay to find out what he had missed, since he has the gene too.

[JustAllie]

I was waiting for MacKay to find out what he had missed, since he has the gene too.Actually, McKay doesn't have the gene, although he has been given the gene therapy (which isn't as good as having the actual gene, apparently). I'm not sure if the gene therapy shows up on the sensor equipment used by Otho (Peter Woodward).

[7thton]

Brain cramp....remind me why they had to drain the ZPM.

Was the city on self destruct?

EDIT: Was it because of the drones headed to the city...and the son was the one who fired them? What was his goal, again?

[busyba]

Otho fired the drones to destroy the village in order to quell any thought of dissent in the other villages.

[SteveInNC]

He also did a show called "Conquest" on the History Channel. Basically using random guys to test out ancient weaponry in little contests...

Thank you, thank you! I spent the whole episode thinking "...I've seen that guy before, and for some reason in this same context..."

[digdug]

Ack! I love SG Atlantis but I'm getting sick of them visiting these agrarian societies, er..villages where the gentle and blissfully ignorant locals run around in robes and pajamas, know nothing of technology, cringe in fear of some overlord who demands a human sacrifice or a portion of the crops in payment for 'protection'.

Our vallient heroes stumble into town, and though not looking for a fight, end up spoiling the plans and reign of the overlordish bad guy.

Why can't they visit a society which is more advanced? They could then in turn learn something or acquire better technology. This is really starting to take on a Star Trek TNG tint where the Wraith are the equals to the Borg.

[Tangent]

Why can't they visit a society which is more advanced?

Because it's a bit difficult to develop an advanced society when the Wraith are always coming around and knocking you back to the stone ages every few hundred years. So far the only reasonably advanced civilizations have been the one that had the entire undergound city with the fake agrarian culture living above, and the one that had struck a deal with the Wraith. Not only do they get beat up right around the time they might make any advancements, but the Wraith also leave them only enough people alive to "restock" their food source, not enough to effectively form a modern civilization.

[marrone]

One possible plot blunder.

They wanted to kill the villagers. But wasn't it the villagers that provided the Tower people with food? If they killed everyone, then the tower people would have to *gasp* become farmers!

-Mike

[Rob Helmerichs]

One possible plot blunder.

They wanted to kill the villagers. But wasn't it the villagers that provided the Tower people with food? If they killed everyone, then the tower people would have to *gasp* become farmers!

-Mike
They were only going to wipe out one village, to serve as an example to the others.

[Church AV Guy]

I got a distinctive "Upstairs/Downstairs," "A Tale of Two Cities," and "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," vib from this episode.

I assume the purpose of this was to lay groundwork for replenishing the jumpers and drones for Atlantis.

There were a few moments... Talia could have taken the guards. Ronan could have done it with one hand. Rodney talking about his expertise, and the villager replying that he had just said that he hadn't done anything like this before, and Rodney replying, "My GENERAL expertise!" So very in character.

Of course, the writer's couldn't let them have ANOTHER ZPM. That would be too convenient. In all the info that they have decoded from the ancients, why couldn't they look for the "Here's how you make a ZPM," instruction manual? If the ancients made them, then they had to have left instructions on HOW they made them. Maybe it is impractical, like they had to detonate a sun or something, but at least they could address it, since the ZPM seems to be the local equivalent of the holy grail.

[busyba]

I'm getting sick of them visiting these agrarian societies [....] Why can't they visit a society which is more advanced? They could then in turn learn something or acquire better technology.
Didn't Rodney say pretty much exactly that in the beginning of the episode? :D

I believe Shepard responed with, "They can't all be planets with cool technology and open-minded women." Apparently, they can. ;)

[Church AV Guy]

Apparently, they can... But he never sees them coming.

[mrcoaster]

Damn Tivo seems to have crapped out right in the last five minutes I had left in the episode! I ended up using BT to get the ep again and watch the end, but it's aggravating just the same.

As far as Rodney goes, shouldn't his brilliance be legendary around the quadrant at this point? ;)

[busyba]

As far as Rodney goes, shouldn't his brilliance be legendary around the quadrant at this point? ;)

I'm sure he thinks so. :)

[allan]

Apparently, they can... But he never sees them coming.

I don't know why he doesn't. After all, he's KIRK! :D

[marrone]

Of course, the writer's couldn't let them have ANOTHER ZPM. That would be too convenient. ould address it, since the ZPM seems to be the local equivalent of the holy grail.
Actually, they could.
Considering the ancients left ~10,000 years ago (Atlantis, anyway, I'll assume throughout the galaxy they left around that time as well, though I dunno when they all ascended...anyone?), most ZPMs I would think are exhausted (is there still one in the Daedelus?). Obviously this one in the tower was just about out. So is the one on the kid planet.

They could always let Rodney snag an almost depleted ZPM so he could tinker with it for a little while (or to let Atlantis sink for another wraith invasion) then have it expire.

-Mike

[busyba]

Actually, they could.
Considering the ancients left ~10,000 years ago (Atlantis, anyway, I'll assume throughout the galaxy they left around that time as well, though I dunno when they all ascended...anyone?), most ZPMs I would think are exhausted (is there still one in the Daedelus?). Obviously this one in the tower was just about out. So is the one on the kid planet.
Atlantis had 3 ZPM's that were powering the shield with enough energy to hold back millions of tons of ocean water for nearly 10,000 years non-stop. That's why they're exhausted.

It would not unreasonable for them to find a ZPM that has been just sitting around unused or lightly used for 10,000 years that has a significant amount of power left.

If I recall correctly, the kid planet's ZPM was not exhausted, the Atlantis gang just elected to not take it away from the kids, since to do so would have left the kids severely scrod.

[WinBear]

There was also the planet that had the complex puzzle to find the "potentia" (ZPM) and they double-crossed our guys and kept the "potentia" to hide it again.

[Anubys]

There was also the planet that had the complex puzzle to find the "potentia" (ZPM) and they double-crossed our guys and kept the "potentia" to hide it again.

I was going to mention this...it still irks me that they didn't go back and beat the snot out of those people and take the Zed PM ;)

that was at a time when they really needed it, too...

[busyba]

Finding a ZPM is like Gilligan finding a way to get off the island. :)

[JustAllie]

Finding a ZPM is like Gilligan finding a way to get off the island. :) :up: :D

[bootedbear]

I think maybe they had an Eagle factory in the basement.

They did. There was a huge underground fabrication facility. And remeber that an Eagle is mostly empty space. Probably not too hard to make a bunch of...