Stargate Atlantis - The Last Man (1)

[Sadara]

My husband was swearing when the end of the show came and I hit the tivo button. Was a pretty decent episode, but I knew it was going to be a cliff hanger. They were drawing out the back story quite a bit.

I have to say they did a good job making Rodney look old.

[balboa dave]

In case you forgot.

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[HiddenSky]

My husband was swearing when the end of the show came and I hit the tivo button. Was a pretty decent episode, but I knew it was going to be a cliff hanger. They were drawing out the back story quite a bit.

I have to say they did a good job making Rodney look old.

I really enjoyed the episode but I hate the ending. Instead of showing Sheppard emerging from stasis with holo-Rodney there to meet him and succeed at a plan that was 25/48,000 years in the making, they rushed him back through the gate in order to tack on the ending where they get caught in Michael's booby trap. They could have cut it as early as Sheppard coming back through the gate to warn everyone and while it wouldn't be an intense cliffhanger, knowing the steps they'd have to take at the start of the next season to prevent a dark future would have been fine with me.

If they had cut it right at the countdown like the end of one of the earlier episodes this year when Sheppard and McKay are tracking the ships on the sensors, I think that would have preserved some of the suspense. The CGI of the building coming down felt cheesy to me.

I liked the AU glimpses and seeing how each character went out. I believe Rachel Luttrell wrapped after "The Kindred," so Teyla's demise had to be told more than shown, but Carter's decision to go down with her ship is the sort of thing Sheppard would relate to, and the scene with Ronon and Todd working in cooperation was a fun pairing.

I was a bit surprised by McKay/Keller but didn't mind it. After Rodney's ineptitude with Katie Brown, it was nice to see he did find happiness for a while.

All of the little cameos were a nice nod to secondary characters. The moment where Rodney says he doesn't remember if Zelenka was on the Phoenix but Zelenka's in the background leaving a cup of coffee for him was one of my favorites. I called that the commander at the SGC would be Lorne before they turned the corner and Kate Hewlett's credit at the beginning spoiled me for her appearance near the end. Woolsey's appearance was one I expected.

BTW, props to David Hewlett. He was the thread that tied together the episode.

[Kamakzie]

Was that the season finale?

[HiddenSky]

Was that the season finale?

Yes. Sci-Fi hasn't announced it yet, but rumor is the new season may be airing as early as July instead of later on in the year like it was for season four.

[cheesesteak]

The last five minutes were good. The first fifty five were a snooze fest.

[Amnesia]

(...) the scene with Ronon and Todd working in cooperation was a fun pairing.Except that there was no way for Rodney to know what happened.
I called that the commander at the SGC would be Lorne (...)How come they only made him a colonel? Since when has the SGC been a colonel's billet?

[Archangel00]

Wow, yet another stranded duo episode.....go figure....the creativity(or lack there of) amongst the writers has been so sporadic, and at times non-existant, this season....

Seems this episode was written as a series ending episode and adapted to a season ending maybe. Or at least purposely written to fufill either possibility.

Sheppard going into stasis then fade to black would have been my preferred ending and not that rushed final 5 minutes.

The building imploding was some of the most gawd awful looking CGI ever.

[jehma]

Except that there was no way for Rodney to know what happened.
How come they only made him a colonel? Since when has the SGC been a colonel's billet?

I thought they said colonel too, but didn't the desk name plate say General?

[boywaja]

Except that there was no way for Rodney to know what happened.


Ronon's crew certainly had the framework for the story based on what they saw and what they were told over the radio. Clearly they would pass that info back to Atlantis.

Is there the possibility that the story was Flight 93 style mythology? Sure. But that's not "no way for rodney to know"


How come they only made him a colonel? Since when has the SGC been a colonel's billet?

I didn't pay attention to the uniform, but I thought he was refered to as general

[jehma]

The building imploding was some of the most gawd awful looking CGI ever.

I agree!

I enjoyed the episode. That "rushed final 5 minutes" is the kind of the the Stargate shows have always had - *shrug*. I would have loved it if they had Becket in a stasis pod next to Sheppard :D

[busyba]

I didn't pay attention to the uniform, but I thought he was refered to as general

I don't recall the dialogue, but his shoulder boards had two of those "futuristic" square bricks on them, so I figure he's supposed to be a 2-star gen.

[Anubys]

The building imploding was some of the most gawd awful looking CGI ever.

Funny you would mention this...I was watching Tom and Jerry with my 4-year old and Jerry made a dog house explode on Tom and the house fell on Tom the exact same way!

the only way they survived is by being beamed out (with O'neal/sheppard saying something like "well, that was good timing!";))...the only question is who beamed them? I vote for the replicators (Weir)...

[Jonathan_S]

Normally these dead end timeline stories annoy me (see ST Voyager's Year of Hell for example), but this time since you knew almost immediatly that they were trying to revert the timeline it wasn't as annoying.

I do like the continuity where Sam asked why the gate protocol didn't protect against the solar flare (since in SG-1 they claimed the problem occured because the dialing computer didn't implement the full saftey protocols of a DHD).

But I wish they had explained why they couldn't use the time jumper to attempt to retrieve Sheppard. (The one that SG-1 used, not the one that the wraith shot up). Sure, by the time Rodney figured out when Sheppard ended up it was probably too late to do the cute revert the timeline fix; but he wouldn't have wanted to yet.

And retrieving Sheppard from the future to the present wouldn't affect any known timeline, so getting IOA approval shouldn't have been a huge problem.

[windracer]

(see ST Voyager's Year of Hell for example)
Speaking of Voyager, I wonder if Robert Picardo enjoyed having David Hewitt be the "holographic doctor" for once. :)

[danterner]

So, was the statis chamber that Sheppard entered the same one in which Carson was stored in the episode prior? I was half-expecting Sheppard, 48,000 years in the future, to find Carson in statis. Then, holo-Rodney could cure Carson by applying medical knowledge gleaned over the past 25 years, and Sheppard and a cured Carson could BOTH return to the 'present' after their 100-year sleep.

[Anubys]

then we would have TWO Carsons!

[danterner]

then we would have TWO Carsons!

You can never have too many Carsons.

Actually, you're right. There would be the present-day clone in stasis, and the cured clone returned from 48,000 years in the future. But the original would still be dead, from the explosion. Messy. Reminds me of Farscape, with multiple Chrichtons.

[TreborPugly]

I really wish more science fiction writers would get on the "there's no such thing as a time paradox" wagon. I always get irritated by the logical inconsistencies when they change the past. It is so much more elegant and interesting when the time loops integrate for one continuous, non-paradoxical timeline.

[ADent]

I think the Canadian dollar's rise was showing on this episode. The uniforms looked cheap, the ending SFX were state of the art - 15 years ago. Really trying to stretch the budget.

These everyone is killed endings are lame - is it that hard to negotiate a contract w/o a plausible death of the character? We know everybody is coming back (well one isn't, but they weren't involved in the collapse anyways).

Hope next season is better - this one was weak.

[wmcbrine]

I would have loved it if they had Becket in a stasis pod next to Sheppard :DI don't think that could happen, because the Atlantean "stasis" isn't complete. Remember when Weir went into stasis, and she aged to about 100 over the course of 10,000 years? Carson was already dying when he went in, and had maybe a few days... I figure they can only keep him in stasis for a year or two (much less 10,000, much less 48,000).

This episode kinda ripped off DS-9's "The Visitor", but not too much.

[sushikitten]

I thought they said colonel too, but didn't the desk name plate say General?

Yes, the desk plate said General.

I agree!

I enjoyed the episode. That "rushed final 5 minutes" is the kind of the the Stargate shows have always had - *shrug*. I would have loved it if they had Becket in a stasis pod next to Sheppard :D

Exactly. WAAAAAY too rushed. At the very least they should have ended it with him coming through the gate - or better yet, with Rodney waiting for the stasis chamber to open.