Great banter at the beginning of the episode. Scenes with the entire team are almost always my favorite - at least, for dialogue. This one is no exception - but then Rodney finds a large glowing light on a tree trunk.
John, of course, is drawn to it, and it zaps him or something. I'm surprised Ronon didn't fry it.
At the infirmary, though, John is givien a clean bill of health. Teyla is with him, and he reassures her. When he slaps her back, however, I don't think his handprint was supposed to glow. No one noticed it, of course, and Teyla goes on her way. Only to have some very weird, slightly icky dreams, featuring John.
Teyla is slightly off during the day, and she shies away from John when he joins her and the rest of the team for breakfast. A very interesting reaction, especially since he didn't actually do much in her nightmare except look repellent.
When she goes to see Keller, Teyla touches her, and that night, Keller is the one with the nightmare. It also features John in a not-nice-light. We get an Alien moment in Keller's dream - with Teyla being the one to get her tummy exploded.
Keller goes to the infirmary to get some sleeping pills (I assume), and she's sartled by Ronon and John appearing right behind her. Ronon is seriously huge next to her. Good lord. She stitches him up (John got in a lucky hit), and the next thing we see is Ronon leaving the infirmary. Only we can't see where he was stitched up.
I was feeling so proud that I'd caught them in a continuity error, but then realized that Ronon was in a dream. Nightmare. Again featuring John.
The next morning the team, minus John, plus Keller all compare nightmares. Ronon utters those famous last words - "What's the big deal, it's only a few bad dreams."
Sorry, but I'm just not up to doing an exhaustive (and exhausting) commentary tonight and I only watched it once.
This is both an episode I dislike intensely (because of the creepy factor) and love-love-love.
This was a really tiring episode for Joe F to shoot, because he did his own stunts (yay for swinging harnesses) and had to do those John-on-John scenes twice after which they spliced out the doubles. Surprisingly, it was also the first episode filmed in Season 4. What a way to wake up the cast!
It's not a commentary on the character of John Sheppard, but it certainly seems as if it is, because we're convinced to take his behaviour at face value. Oh, Col. Sheppard is evil, etc., etc. Of course, Joe F's acting ability adds to the reality factor. It did seem super creepy that John appeared to be affected immediately and his facial expressions reflected his infected state. I think Joe F had a marvellous time playing the nasty guy, 'cuz otherwise he's the hero All. The. Time which can limit one's range of emotions portrayed.
I loved the fact that, for once, Rodney wasn't complaining as they were trekking through the jungle. Even Ronon was fed up and John wanted to end the mission after ten minutes.
It was cute to see another aspect of the Rodney-Radek rivalry being played out. And, hey, there's that number 42 again. Which John, of course, remembered.
Okay, time to drag out yet another ancient (not Ancient) computer reference, this time about a Commodore 64. And, hee, yes, Rodney IS a science team. Those words will soon haunt him.
I thought that the writing/directing were sloppy where Teyla's speech was concerned. Is it not canon that Teyla does not use contractions; when I hear them the odd time, it's very jarring.
I was reminded of the Trek episodes The Naked Time and The Naked Now merely from the shimmery sound as one infected person touched another ... at least in the beginning.
Did anyone else feel as if the planet of crystals was anthropomorphized? At the end, with increasing numbers of crystals activating, it seemed our people were being faced with a tangible threat.
OT, but at least Amanda T's hair was slightly closer to regulations.
Uh, does it make ANY sense to have a locked drug dispensary cabinet (a really tiny one considering it has to serve a couple hundred people) with GLASS doors? ::rolls eyes::
Poor Ronon. Imagine him running through a deserted Atlantis and then end up being hunted and ::shudders:: disposed of by the one man who'd saved and befriended him, namely John. Though it was a cool trick to see the transporter doors slide open to reveal a forest.
I was upset that TPTB killed off Kate Heightmeyer's character, but only because they'd already started having so much fun killing off principal and secondary characters. Though she was no Elizabeth or Carson, she was one of the original expedition. I found TPTB's attitude horrible (gee, what a surprise NOT) about the fact that killing her off was not such a big deal but at least much better than killing off a mere redshirt. I also remember the gossip when the episode first aired: that Claire Rankin was fired (character killed off) because TPTB weren't pleased that she'd dyed her hair from blonde to red. Hey, considering their obsession with blondes, I'd believe it! In any case, they got their jollies by putting Claire into a slinky black slip for her deathbed scene. And BTW just how did Teyla get into Kate's room? Were they more than just expedition mates? Good friends (though not something that TPTB wanted to actually tell or show us), not that it would end up mattering if they just killed Kate off.
The escalation from terrifying dream to a sleepwalking incident for Lorne was scary. Because now the crystal entity had the ability to harm others more directly.
Hee – another Trek joke where John asks if he had a goatee in people's dreams. Oh, John.
Poor Radek. He gets roped into going on the retrieval mission by Rodney.
Did anybody else think it was a bit of a stretch to go from the crystal spreading by direct touch to using the power conduits? That just sounds like lazy reasoning to me.
Poor John. First we have to see him lying on his ridiculously wee bed. Then he always looks so stiff and uncomfortable when he has to hug somebody, this time a grieving Teyla.
When Rodney's trapped in the isolation room, the others are talking about him. I think John will end up choking on his words: “We are talking about McKay. Scary things are not exactly his strength.” Oh, John. Have you forgotten about the energy-sucking creature? Or the other times he went above and beyond the call of duty? For you and the city?
So, it's time to pay Rodney's dreams a visit, though poor Rodney admits he's pretty screwed up.
I had to laugh at how the distinction was made between good John and evil John in the boat. Good John's hair was flat while his evil twin had very perky hair, even in a torrential downpour! BTW I don't care for clowns either and never really cared to go to the circus. The “Moby Dick” reference and Rodney's nightmare of being swallowed up by a gigantisaurus whale are courtesy of writer/director Rob Cooper's real-life childhood. His father took him to SEE Jaws - when he was seven!
When infected John is walking through empty corridors in his dream after he thinks Rodney's died, I can't believe the sharp detail of the wall panels. I'd never really noticed them before.
Near the end is where I go off in rhapsodic ecstasy about how committed John and Rodney are to (saving) each other. I was just thrilled when Rodney volunteered to go into John's dream. And it was his quick thinking that led to the evil entity being defeated. I don't know how many times I replayed this bit, starting at 39:40 when we hear Rodney's voice - “I'm not dead!” - and hear the conclusively heroic feeling Joel Goldsmith composed with ONLY FOUR NOTES (A Bb C D) to accompany his confident stride down the steps to the gateroom floor, when it originally aired. ::loves eminently confident Rodney::
Once the electricity weakens the entity, then good John gets to build up some centrifugal force before tossing it through the active stargate. And then he's back to being dorky John with the flaily hands. “Me me” indeed!
It was a surprised to have them reveal the shared weird thought as to the absence of “hot girls”??? Uh ... guys, we think you're a bit clueless. Or a lot. When you're in each other's dreams and the worst nightmare would be to lose the other. No, no. No Freudian interpretation there at all (not like the vagina dentata of the huge whale). And, then, when they both resume consciousness, they provide a lovely mirror image, yearning to reach out to the other. So, was this another crumb tossed to the McSheppers by TPTB? Hmmm, I wonder. Especially as it did sound like a love theme at the moment they look at each other. Thanks again to Joel for some astute scoring in the episode. When the music was meant to be heard, it did have an impact.
Oh, before I forget, I loved the way the blue of the open gate cast reflections through all of the surfaces in the gateroom.
I just got some additional insight (like two seconds ago). When John refuses to get up and fight the entity, he's sacrificing himself – AGAIN – in the hope that the creature will be killed without his energy to keep it alive. Oh, John. Is it any wonder that fans love to try to get into his mind with the stories they write, especially considering that TPTB never found it necessary to give him a thorough backstory?
Lorne goes nuts, and we find out that he was sleepwalking. He almost shoots John and Sam. People start figuring out what's going on, and send a team back to the planet to find the glowing tree thing.
I'm surprised they sent John on that mission, since they know he's been compromised. I'd think they'd want to keep him under observation, or at least away from the planet. Especially since there was no reason to have him there - he didn't do anything special, in other words.
They found the glowing tree thing, but it wasn't glowing anymore, but there was another one nearby. They took the original one and the new one back to Atlantis to study them both. The 'live' one almost reeled Keller in, but Zalenka stopped her from touching it.
Unfortunately, Ronon's words did come back and haunt them. The psyciatrist, Katie, did wind up dying in her dream, and on one could wake her afterwords. Sam made an Atlantis-wide announcement about it, which also seemed weird, as they've lost many people on this expedition, and they couldn't make an announcement every time.
Zalenka does managed to find out who's hosting the entity, however. Rodney. Of course. They trap him in a room that the entity can't escape, even if it leaves its host, and Sam, John, Teyla, and Ronon try to work out a way to help McKay.
John is going to go into Rodney's dreams. Rodney starts dreaming of being out on the ocean, far from Atlantis. A whale is nearby. A John is dragging him down. Our John encourages him, and says he can't do anything to McKay. Only he makes the whale swallow the boat and McKay.
McKay dies on the table, but it turns out to be a dream because the entity moved from Rodney to John. Our John fights him, and it was cool to see John really fight - high kicks, punches, etc. This time Rodney goes back in to rescue John. I liked Rodney's honest concern/worry about John
I'm glad John through the entity through the gate, but I was surprised to see it still alive once the boys got back to the real world (and disappointed, too). Radek put it back in the crystal and it was then taken back to its planet, where thoughsands of them started to light up.
I enjoy this episode. The creep factor is fun, and I can't help but feel that Joe F had the time of his life playing a bad guy.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2012-08-18 02:54 am (UTC)John, of course, is drawn to it, and it zaps him or something. I'm surprised Ronon didn't fry it.
At the infirmary, though, John is givien a clean bill of health. Teyla is with him, and he reassures her. When he slaps her back, however, I don't think his handprint was supposed to glow. No one noticed it, of course, and Teyla goes on her way. Only to have some very weird, slightly icky dreams, featuring John.
Teyla is slightly off during the day, and she shies away from John when he joins her and the rest of the team for breakfast. A very interesting reaction, especially since he didn't actually do much in her nightmare except look repellent.
When she goes to see Keller, Teyla touches her, and that night, Keller is the one with the nightmare. It also features John in a not-nice-light. We get an Alien moment in Keller's dream - with Teyla being the one to get her tummy exploded.
Keller goes to the infirmary to get some sleeping pills (I assume), and she's sartled by Ronon and John appearing right behind her. Ronon is seriously huge next to her. Good lord. She stitches him up (John got in a lucky hit), and the next thing we see is Ronon leaving the infirmary. Only we can't see where he was stitched up.
I was feeling so proud that I'd caught them in a continuity error, but then realized that Ronon was in a dream. Nightmare. Again featuring John.
The next morning the team, minus John, plus Keller all compare nightmares. Ronon utters those famous last words - "What's the big deal, it's only a few bad dreams."
Comment 1
Date: 2012-08-18 03:21 am (UTC)This is both an episode I dislike intensely (because of the creepy factor) and love-love-love.
This was a really tiring episode for Joe F to shoot, because he did his own stunts (yay for swinging harnesses) and had to do those John-on-John scenes twice after which they spliced out the doubles. Surprisingly, it was also the first episode filmed in Season 4. What a way to wake up the cast!
It's not a commentary on the character of John Sheppard, but it certainly seems as if it is, because we're convinced to take his behaviour at face value. Oh, Col. Sheppard is evil, etc., etc. Of course, Joe F's acting ability adds to the reality factor. It did seem super creepy that John appeared to be affected immediately and his facial expressions reflected his infected state. I think Joe F had a marvellous time playing the nasty guy, 'cuz otherwise he's the hero All. The. Time which can limit one's range of emotions portrayed.
I loved the fact that, for once, Rodney wasn't complaining as they were trekking through the jungle. Even Ronon was fed up and John wanted to end the mission after ten minutes.
It was cute to see another aspect of the Rodney-Radek rivalry being played out. And, hey, there's that number 42 again. Which John, of course, remembered.
Okay, time to drag out yet another ancient (not Ancient) computer reference, this time about a Commodore 64. And, hee, yes, Rodney IS a science team. Those words will soon haunt him.
I thought that the writing/directing were sloppy where Teyla's speech was concerned. Is it not canon that Teyla does not use contractions; when I hear them the odd time, it's very jarring.
I was reminded of the Trek episodes The Naked Time and The Naked Now merely from the shimmery sound as one infected person touched another ... at least in the beginning.
Did anyone else feel as if the planet of crystals was anthropomorphized? At the end, with increasing numbers of crystals activating, it seemed our people were being faced with a tangible threat.
OT, but at least Amanda T's hair was slightly closer to regulations.
Uh, does it make ANY sense to have a locked drug dispensary cabinet (a really tiny one considering it has to serve a couple hundred people) with GLASS doors? ::rolls eyes::
Poor Ronon. Imagine him running through a deserted Atlantis and then end up being hunted and ::shudders:: disposed of by the one man who'd saved and befriended him, namely John. Though it was a cool trick to see the transporter doors slide open to reveal a forest.
I was upset that TPTB killed off Kate Heightmeyer's character, but only because they'd already started having so much fun killing off principal and secondary characters. Though she was no Elizabeth or Carson, she was one of the original expedition. I found TPTB's attitude horrible (gee, what a surprise NOT) about the fact that killing her off was not such a big deal but at least much better than killing off a mere redshirt. I also remember the gossip when the episode first aired: that Claire Rankin was fired (character killed off) because TPTB weren't pleased that she'd dyed her hair from blonde to red. Hey, considering their obsession with blondes, I'd believe it! In any case, they got their jollies by putting Claire into a slinky black slip for her deathbed scene. And BTW just how did Teyla get into Kate's room? Were they more than just expedition mates? Good friends (though not something that TPTB wanted to actually tell or show us), not that it would end up mattering if they just killed Kate off.
Comment 2
Date: 2012-08-18 03:27 am (UTC)Hee – another Trek joke where John asks if he had a goatee in people's dreams. Oh, John.
Poor Radek. He gets roped into going on the retrieval mission by Rodney.
Did anybody else think it was a bit of a stretch to go from the crystal spreading by direct touch to using the power conduits? That just sounds like lazy reasoning to me.
Comment 3A
Date: 2012-08-18 03:32 am (UTC)When Rodney's trapped in the isolation room, the others are talking about him. I think John will end up choking on his words: “We are talking about McKay. Scary things are not exactly his strength.” Oh, John. Have you forgotten about the energy-sucking creature? Or the other times he went above and beyond the call of duty? For you and the city?
So, it's time to pay Rodney's dreams a visit, though poor Rodney admits he's pretty screwed up.
I had to laugh at how the distinction was made between good John and evil John in the boat. Good John's hair was flat while his evil twin had very perky hair, even in a torrential downpour! BTW I don't care for clowns either and never really cared to go to the circus. The “Moby Dick” reference and Rodney's nightmare of being swallowed up by a gigantisaurus whale are courtesy of writer/director Rob Cooper's real-life childhood. His father took him to SEE Jaws - when he was seven!
When infected John is walking through empty corridors in his dream after he thinks Rodney's died, I can't believe the sharp detail of the wall panels. I'd never really noticed them before.
Comment 3B
Date: 2012-08-18 03:39 am (UTC)Once the electricity weakens the entity, then good John gets to build up some centrifugal force before tossing it through the active stargate. And then he's back to being dorky John with the flaily hands. “Me me” indeed!
It was a surprised to have them reveal the shared weird thought as to the absence of “hot girls”??? Uh ... guys, we think you're a bit clueless. Or a lot. When you're in each other's dreams and the worst nightmare would be to lose the other. No, no. No Freudian interpretation there at all (not like the vagina dentata of the huge whale). And, then, when they both resume consciousness, they provide a lovely mirror image, yearning to reach out to the other. So, was this another crumb tossed to the McSheppers by TPTB? Hmmm, I wonder. Especially as it did sound like a love theme at the moment they look at each other. Thanks again to Joel for some astute scoring in the episode. When the music was meant to be heard, it did have an impact.
Oh, before I forget, I loved the way the blue of the open gate cast reflections through all of the surfaces in the gateroom.
I just got some additional insight (like two seconds ago). When John refuses to get up and fight the entity, he's sacrificing himself – AGAIN – in the hope that the creature will be killed without his energy to keep it alive. Oh, John. Is it any wonder that fans love to try to get into his mind with the stories they write, especially considering that TPTB never found it necessary to give him a thorough backstory?
no subject
Date: 2012-08-18 03:43 am (UTC)I'm surprised they sent John on that mission, since they know he's been compromised. I'd think they'd want to keep him under observation, or at least away from the planet. Especially since there was no reason to have him there - he didn't do anything special, in other words.
They found the glowing tree thing, but it wasn't glowing anymore, but there was another one nearby. They took the original one and the new one back to Atlantis to study them both. The 'live' one almost reeled Keller in, but Zalenka stopped her from touching it.
Unfortunately, Ronon's words did come back and haunt them. The psyciatrist, Katie, did wind up dying in her dream, and on one could wake her afterwords. Sam made an Atlantis-wide announcement about it, which also seemed weird, as they've lost many people on this expedition, and they couldn't make an announcement every time.
Zalenka does managed to find out who's hosting the entity, however. Rodney. Of course. They trap him in a room that the entity can't escape, even if it leaves its host, and Sam, John, Teyla, and Ronon try to work out a way to help McKay.
John is going to go into Rodney's dreams. Rodney starts dreaming of being out on the ocean, far from Atlantis. A whale is nearby. A John is dragging him down. Our John encourages him, and says he can't do anything to McKay. Only he makes the whale swallow the boat and McKay.
McKay dies on the table, but it turns out to be a dream because the entity moved from Rodney to John. Our John fights him, and it was cool to see John really fight - high kicks, punches, etc. This time Rodney goes back in to rescue John. I liked Rodney's honest concern/worry about John
I'm glad John through the entity through the gate, but I was surprised to see it still alive once the boys got back to the real world (and disappointed, too). Radek put it back in the crystal and it was then taken back to its planet, where thoughsands of them started to light up.
I enjoy this episode. The creep factor is fun, and I can't help but feel that Joe F had the time of his life playing a bad guy.