SGA squee

Yes, it IS hard. And I realize my list won't be like anyone else's list or will have a lot of the same episodes but for different reasons.

I realized I was overthinking and I needed to just post it--like you have here.

You should see my list--I put down things spontaneously only to cross them out and put down others with an "oh! oh!" and then scribbled madly some more.

You *ranked* yours! I don't know that I can do that! I would have to say some of the more outstanding eps did occur in later seasons, but my heart belongs to the characters we met early on. *sigh* Where to start...
I'm reading your list/reasons and thinking 'yes! yes!' and then squinting at mine again. :-)

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My rankings, and even my favorites, change from one day to the next. Just go with whatever works for you. :)

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In order of season:

S1
1.The Storm
2.The Eye

Really, these two should be considered one episode. Here we have all the maverick qualities we've seen in John so far come to perfect fruition--*this* is why he's the right person for this job, whether anyone realizes it or not. We have Rodney being clever *and* brave. We have John thinking "What would McKay do?" and Ford fiercely confident in his commanding officer's ability to get them out of this. We have Teyla fighting Sora because she has to--and taking the chance the Sora will back down at the end. We have John taking that dangerous shot to save Elizabeth. We have Koyla established as a new bad guy, with promise of more to come. It just combines SO much of what makes SGA great into one two part episode and showcases so many characters at their best because things are at their worst. *happy sigh*

3. The Defiant One

There is SO MUCH to love about this episode. The playfulness between the boys--taking the 'junior' team out for a little exploration. Already, they've become a little too secure in their roles as intergalactic explorers--they've forgotten how rapidly things can go wrong. When they find themselves in a situation spiraling out of control, John has the confidence in Rodney to leave him with Gall. Not the choice he'd have made if he'd had any other, but he knew he had to make sure the jumper was secure before trying to move Gall. Rodney, however, is edgy and concerned for John the entire time he's gone--much more so than he is for himself. Gall's suicide releases him to go help John and he does so without hesitation. That scene where is loading the gun with shaking hands and asking John what he should do next? My favorite in the entire series. ♥

S2

4. Grace Under Pressure
I had a lot of other S2 eps on this list (Sateda, Runner, Duet) but I crossed them out in favor of others on down the line. GUP made the cut because of the awesome showcasing of David Hewlett's skills as a actor. He essentially fought with his subconscious in the form of Sam Carter and DH made it work. We had Rodney being the brave little toaster again but we also had John refusing to give up on finding him--using his intuition in the end to pinpoint Rodney's location in a huge search grid. The scene at the end, where John has Radek extend the force field so they can access the other jumper? That's some brilliant out of the box thinking and there's that moment where it looks like they might not have arrived in time...*shivers with delight*

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My rankings, and even my favorites, change from one day to the next. Just go with whatever works for you. :)

*points at you*

YES!!!!!

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I am wiser than you know. *nods earnestly*

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I love Echoes better than any other episode. Flirting! Whale-watching! Ronon and Teyla! High-volume shenanigans! \o/

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S3
5) Common Ground

This on the surface of it, doesn't seem to be a pivotal episode. It is really a stand-alone ep in many ways but this is one episode that I keep coming back to (I think I've written 3 tags for it). We have John being tortured on camera for all of Atlantis to see. Tortured in a way that is everyone's worst nightmare. We get to see Rodney's woobie face as he watches what is happening to John, and then the determination to go out an be a part of the rescue team, when really, he should have had no part of that! And John! Slowly being sucked dry by the Wraith, but firm in telling Elizabeth not to give into Koyla's demands. Okay, fine, that's what he's been trained to do. But in the cell, he is *still* thinking about how to get out and how to move on--not freaking out about how much he's aged so far or what this might mean to his future in Atlantis if he survives this. It is so *John* and I love him for it. Even when he thinks Todd is going to kill him in the end, his defiance is still there. Oh, John. And when Rodney bitches about how John looks even younger than when he set out? That is the sort of inappropriate statement people make when they are relieved that their worst fears have not been realized.

S4
6)Doppleganger

I've probably watched this one S4 ep more than any other. There is the whole aspect of seeing what everyone's worst nightmares might be (along with the whole reinforcement of the idea/fear that if you die in your dreams then you will really die in RL). Again, we have John making an intuitive, out of the box leap in thinking to SAVE RODNEY. We also get bad-ass Evil John, which is simply downright creepy--Joe Flanigan did an outstanding job of introducing that element into the Dream John. There's that look of utter hopelessness and stunned failure on his face when he thinks that Rodney is dead and then we find out John's nightmare is to be the last man standing in a deserted Atlantis. *shivers* That this theme is echoed in The Last Man is one of the stellar moments of continuity in the whole series. When Rodney shows up at the end, coming down the stairs, all smug and Rodney? I cheered. When Rodney questions why John's subconscious doesn't contain any hot girls, John should too. *beams*

7) Miller's Crossing

All of the team that can reasonably come to Earth to help Rodney rescue Jeannie *does*. Rodney is in a terrible position (he had to *break* his sister's legs to keep the nanites occupied so they wouldn't kill her while they solved the problem). He has to come up with a solution before Jeannie dies and he doesn't have one. He might get one with Todd's help, but Todd needs to eat. At that one moment, Rodney places a higher value on his sister's life than anything else. I find it interesting, though, that he confides his plan to John. He didn't have to. He could have just done it. On some level though, I think he knew John would come up with a solution (though if I had been Rodney, I would have been afraid John would decide HE was the solution). Instead, as it has been pointed out elsewhere so elegantly, John talked someone else into killing himself instead. It is that ruthless streak in John, that only comes out when the people he cares about are threatened, that keeps John Sheppard from being a two dimensional character. Love, love, love it.

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I do love Echoes too. I don't know why I often leave it off my list of favorites, but it seems I almost always forget about it until someone points out all the lovelies in it! :-)

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It has John call Rodney Meredith! And I barely resist using capslock here! *flails*

*g*

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Echoes was the first episode I ever watched so it has a very special place in my heart. I'd been reading in the fandom for some time -- and loved the slash -- but didn't expect to see it be so obvious in the first episode I saw!

(It should be noted that, during the commercial break, I went online and ordered the first two seasons. A friend kindly sent me the first half of S3 to catch up. Yes, I was completely hooked. That's what Echoes did to me!)

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ailurophile6.livejournal.com

This is pretty much my list, except maybe Tao of Rodney instead of Aurora :)

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S4 continued
8) The Last Man

Lordy, there is just so much here. First, the idea of John coming through the Gate to a deserted Atlantis 10 K years in the future. John's worst nightmare again; outliving everyone he cares about. I think it's his worst nightmare because John doesn't *expect* to live to see old age. He'd realistic about his career and the life he's chosen to live. The thought of everyone else being dead and gone while he still lives is terrifying to John because while he is a loner, as long as the people he cares about are still there, he isn't alone. A very big distinction.

Then we have Rodney determining that the point in time he needs to go back and change is the point at which they lose John. Really? Not when they lose Elizabeth or Carson? No, John. Somehow he decides that everything that went wrong with the expedition would have turned out differently if John had been there. I'm not arguing with Rodney, mind you, but what an assumption to make! He proceeds to *give up the remainder of his life* to the problem of trying to get John home again. Knowing that by doing so, he will change his entire history--including possibly any relationship he might have with Jennifer. Damn, that's a powerful lot of confidence to have in one person. Flip side? John follows holographic Rodney's instructions. He gets into stasis, not knowing what it will do to him or whether Rodney's plan will work or not. How can you not love that?

S5
9) The Shrine
Probably makes everyone's list. Makes mine but also makes me wonder why we weren't getting episodes like this all along. Yes, there are some moments of fail here (Why didn't Jennifer take herself off Rodney's case when she realized her emotions were in conflict? Why did everyone ignore the *natives* of Pegasus in their recommendations for treatment for so long?) but what shines (hah, pun!) in this episode for me is that no matter how confused Rodney got, it was *John* he wanted. It was John he turned to in the middle of the night. The scene with them on the pier? Brilliant. Rodney is losing his grip on himself, but he still knows John and what the nature of his relationship with John is. The beer-spitting is priceless.

As it the power tools comment. And how Rodney is pissed when he regains his senses and is not happy about the 'farewell to Rodney' party the Team has in mind. Once again, John delivers out of the box thinking. Love, love, love.

10. Vegas
OMG. Vegas. They did such a beautiful job of imitating a CSI type drama. The mood, the lighting, the music. Again, why the heck are we just seeing this kind of stuff now? My heart ached for this John Sheppard. I found this Rodney intriguing and sexy as hell. I wanted more of this story and this universe in a way I can't even begin to describe--down to wanting to create my own com to wallow in the Vegas universe. THIS is the dark, gritty drama they should have spun off into another series. THIS is where SGA should have ended, since they were determined to end it now. This universe, this episode: it opened up so many possibilities, so many directions in which a new show could go. I. WANT.

Edited Date: 2010-08-10 05:41 pm (UTC)

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Ack! Common Ground! Doppleganger! Tabula Rasa! *points at you!*

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Yes! Tao! Maybe I should have made it The Top Twenty?

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Really? Really? Wow! No wonder it holds a special place in your heart! I was reading fanfic before I saw the show too (in fact, even penned a couple of gen efforts). A friend sent me S1 and I fell in love.

That's probably why so much of my stuff is set in S2-3. I was behind everyone else for the longest time!

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No, see, I left off Tabula Rasa! But it should be on there! I thought about it the other night when Flanigan tweeted he was writing important phone numbers on his arm before going out on the town with Jason.

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The top ten was almost too hard as it was! I don't know if I can explain. My criteria for top 5 would be a lot tougher than for top 10. I waffled a lot about the top ten. I think I would still pondering a 20 list...

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Hee! Understandably so! It really is my favourite episode - I swear they could have kissed and it wouldn't have made the episode much slashier. Plus, it still had a plot! Many of the later eps were sadly lacking in that regard.

What a very good friend you have.

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Should have made it the Top Twenty! Yes, I love all of these episodes too! Hummm. Polls. We need polls...

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Damn, I've loaned out that season, or else I would watch it. And I can't find S1 anywhere. Beginning to think I left it behind at Squee weekend...

But I'd forgotten the Meredith scene. *wants to watch NOW*

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POLLS.

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Hee! That's exactly why I keep, uh... electronic copies. *coughs*

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She's wonderful! She watched the show but was never in the fandom. She DVR'd it to watch on the weekends and copied it off for me as a favor. Very sweet and generous of her. :)

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Yeah! It's like my sister sending me the Granada TV Sherlock Holmes Complete Collection because I wouldn't shut up about it. There are lovely people in the world. *nods*

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ailurophile6.livejournal.com

Those would be some long entries, lol, but it might be easier for some of us :D

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kimboosan.livejournal.com

What I'm loving here is that this is like a built-for-ME-ME-ME guide to "what to watch", as I have not seen a whole lot of the actual show (which I'm totally comfortable with). Of this list, I've seen three. SO! Time to queue up! :)

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There were so many very good episodes! And some so-so ones. And some really bad ones. But that's why we have fan fic! \o/

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hilde.livejournal.com

In addition to the wonderful episodes you've listed I have a fwe more which I watch over and over. Hide and Seek, McKay and Mr. Miller, Letters from Pegasus and Duet. This definitely needs to be a top 20...LOL

Love the comm!! :-)

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My list of ones to skip entirely is much shorter. And there are definitely some so-so ones with WTF moments. But even in eps where I otherwise wasn't overwhelmed with the quality of the rest of the show, there are moments...

Like in The Prodigal, where John is about to make some self-sacrificing suicidal move and Rodney wants to have a 'if you don't make it' moment and John won't let him. :-)

(Not that I didn't enjoy the Prodigal--I think it was one of the better eps in S5. I don't get where some people think that Teyla's actions were OOC, though. It was Michael. The man who had kidnapped her and threatened her BABY. The man who keeps COMING BACK for her BABY. You're telling me Teyla wouldn't have eliminated that threat once and for all, given the chance?)

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We need a poll--Top 10 eps for people who have not seen SGA to watch?

Though I think the best way to go is to watch the series from the beginning. If we hand out all the best episodes, the newbie viewer might be disappointed as time goes by.

Maybe the top 10 eps that a newbie should watch? Because that might be different from the top 10 best, yes?

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kimboosan.livejournal.com

Hah! I have actually seen Prodigal. I did not like it a lot but it was okay, and quite frankly I think Teyla NOT killing Michael would have been OOC. I mean, she's a warrior and she knows how ruthless and determined Michael is, and that sometimes it does really come down to "them or us". Seriously, how is that in any way OOC? *shakes head*

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See, all those made my original list and then I crossed them off to make room for the ones I did list.

Hide and Seek--just for the balcony scene and Rodney sing-songing "Invulnerable" and John's proud "I shot him."

McKay and Mrs. Miller for Rodney's jealousy of *himself* and his relationship with his sister and the fact that John has his 'last letter' ON HIS LAPTOP.

Letters From Pegasus--where everyone writes home, except for John.

Duet--because it was simply an awesome showcasing of David Hewlett's acting abilities.

*happy sigh*

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kimboosan.livejournal.com

We need a poll--Top 10 eps for people who have not seen SGA to watch?

Oh! I vote yes for this poll! You could break it down by season, and do the top five of each season that a newbie should watch, or something.

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hilde.livejournal.com

and the fact that John has his 'last letter' ON HIS LAPTOP.

I KNOW!!! I rewatched that episode last night and it was just a wonderful McShep moment :) *twirls*

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That's what puzzled me about some of the commentary I read after Prodigal aired--there was a bit of an outcry on the part of some people that Teyla was acting OOC in killing Michael. Perhaps because in other episodes, we've seen Teyla show mercy to an enemy in battle (Sora comes to mind)?

But Michael was INSANE. And dangerous. *Not* killing him would be like refusing to put down a rabid dog. Teyla might be merciful but she's not stupid and I think if you threatened Torren, you'd find out just how ruthless she could be. :-)

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