First Contact

[annundriel]

SGA - "First Contact"

It's been a while, but for once I was really into an episode this season. There was some laughing, some flailing, and it's left me feeling a little jittery with anticipation.

Just when I was starting to feel like SGA was becoming a chore to watch, it goes and does something like this. I'm going to miss this, damn it.

The following is random stuff. Not necessarily interesting, just stuff that made me interested and/or happy.

- DANIEL. OMG, Daniel! Watching this made me realize just how much I miss him. And his fast, fast talking. Wow.

- Bored Rodney. Aw.

- "He had lovers?"

- Woolsey put John in command instead of letting him go with. Because finally someone thought, "Hey, you can't let the captain and the second in command get beamed down to the planet." Geez.

- Ronon and Keller! And then Daniel getting really close to Rodney. I could've sworn he called him Rod.

- McKAY: Oh, like the Batcave!
JACKSON: Yes, just like the Batcave.

Daniel's face.

- "Did we keep detailed records? Who are you talking to here?"

- Rodney snarking at Daniel about the three tone code. "No such luck."

- Daniel's "ow" from the floor.

- Uh oh, flashy light. And answering flashy light. I don't think I mentioned it in my post about "Tracker," but it's interesting to get to see other advanced technology. Who are the people that have that sort of transportation tech? And who are the folks in the suits?

- "Today is an historic day..." Oh, Woolsey. ♥ On the one hand, I love it because that's as far as he's gotten. On the other hand, I love how very clearly he says, "an."

- "You know, he could have been in Mensa." And the looks Daniel and Rodney get on their faces. And John's mildly unhappy face. Aw. C'mon, Rodney. You know he's smart.

- Poor Woolsey, losing his chance to make a speech. And the amusement Caldwell seemed to get out of it.

CALDWELL: Robert who?
WOOLSEY: Never mind.

- I loved the conversation between Daniel and Rodney in the lab, beginning with Daniel's, "Seriously? Is everything a competition with you?"

I especially liked how Daniel shared that he's used to being doubted. Which got me to thinking about how the academic world might view him. To the world outside of the Stargate program, is Dr. Daniel Jackson still the crazy archaeologist who believes aliens built the pyramids? Does his name get mentioned in academic venues where people wonder what happened to that crackpot?

Oh, Daniel. I kind of love him a lot.

- McKAY: So, I guess none of us signed up to get famous.
JACKSON: No, we did it for the money.
McKAY: Ha. Good one...Wait a minute. You don't get paid more than I do, do you? (Daniel sighs.) Do you?

- The hyperspace window opening above the water was neat.

- Chuck reading! What looks like a pulp novel. That's basically what I do when I'm at work, so is it weird that seeing that behavior on Atlantis makes me feel slightly less guilty? Yes, definitely. But it does. Because waiting for a library patron is so similar to waiting for the 'gate to activate.

- John asleep with his book. "Just resting my eyes."

- The ship passing through the shield. "Ancient chips can do it." Uh oh.

- John immediately getting Teyla.

- The device they used to drop through the floor was cool.

- SHEPPARD: What's at the bottom of this tower?
TEYLA: Rodney.

I like that it's Rodney and not the secret lab that's the focus here.

- John's unhappy face when Rodney is gone. :(

- John and Rodney thinking simultaneously across who knows how much space makes me happy.

- Daniel not telling Rodney about the beams of their prison shocking people when touched. "You could've told me." "I could've, yes."

- McKAY: We've got one thing going for us.
JACKSON: What's that?
McKAY: We're not dead yet.
JACKSON: Good point.

I also liked Rodney's point about coming up with a plan. "Always do."

- Zelenka with the glasses. Doing his best to cut through the mystery suit. And then it exploded. (I am reminded of Teal'c here. "I do not understand why everything in this script must inevitably explode.")

- Wraith angst! "But then what would we do? Who would we be?" I think this ties in with my questions about Wraith names and identity. Do the Wraith have a culture outside of killing? Do they have art? Stories? Are they anything besides what they appear to be, beings that kill to survive?

Which also makes me wonder just how "evil" they can be. I mean, when it comes down to it, aren't they kind of like the shark in Jaws? Or the tyrannosaurus in Jurassic Park? The T-rex isn't evil, it's just doing what it does. Hunting and eating to survive.

Or are the Wraith more like the raptors? Thoughtful and strangely calculating. But, again, they do what they do to survive. Not because they woke up one day and made the choice.

Um. That's a bizarro tangent. Anyway.

Oh, but is it only the fact that they can form sentences that makes them so very evil? They're a predator. It's just where they happen to fall on the food chain.

- Talky McSays-a-lot. Oh, Rodney. I feel like less of a dork for saying things like that now.

- ZELENKA: No offense, but the math I'm using is so complicated I don't know if I can dumb it down enough to make sense.

There aren't necessarily a lot of digs at John's intelligence in this episode, but there are two obvious ones.

- At first I thought the device might have been similar to the one in "Trinity," especially with the thinky look Rodney got. Not quite. It's an end game machine to stop the Wraith through their hyperdrives. Which is a cool idea. But, y'know, probably going to blow up in their faces.

- "We reason with them." Because that's what Daniel does; he talks about things.

- Poor Daniel. "Great plan, Danny. Great plan." Aw, and Rodney doesn't want Daniel to die.

- McKAY: You still alive?
JACKSON: Think so. I'd hate to think heaven looks like this.
McKAY: Who says we went to heaven?
JACKSON: Hmm.

- Oh, the timing. The bad, bad timing. Of course the device is on when the Wraith they're trying to work with need to get away. But that was kind of cool how Todd took everyone down. And now he has control of the Daedalus. Great.

- Ronon immediately finding Keller to arm her.

- I liked that John thought of narrowing the shield so that it only contained the 'gate.

- John's, "Teyla, please" when he wanted her to leave. She has things to live for outside of Atlantis. And then his, "Come on, you can do it, Radek." Belief in his people.

- Of course, two parter. But we can't exactly be worried about John if he's in the preview for next week.