SGA 4x18 Kindred Part 1
Feb. 25th, 2008 02:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadesfireI feel like I haven't left work at all in the past week – I've only had yesterday off, and I spent a couple hours of that asleep, a couple of hours writing and a couple cleaning the flat. Guess which was the most fun…
Anyhoo, as a result, I only got to see 'Kindred Part 1' in my lunch hour today, and my notes are far more eccentric than usual. So, no promises for anything approaching sense in the following, but I'm enjoying writing reaction posts, if only so I can come back to them later when I've changed my mind :)
First of all, I am not a fan of Joe Malozzi's writing. I like his ideas, but the actual script tends to do less for me. At one point in my notes for this episode, I actually wrote "scenes too short and with B-movie dialogue." From his blog, the guy reads and watches a huge amount of sci-fi, and I think that comes across in his writing. It feels like he gets over-excited by the story, and forgets that they still have to sound like people. So I guessed this wasn't going to be my favourite episode ever, but it was absolutely saved by the performances.
I completely adore Rachel Luttrell, who is doing such a fantastic job of showing a strong, scared and desperate Teyla, who is still her calm, determined self. I couldn't pick out a single moment that I liked the best, and she really provided the backbone of the episode. Oh, alright, my favourite scene was with Carter in her office ("Call me Sam" *flails*). I like Carter well enough, but she's never been my favourite, so I was expecting to not really notice her in Atlantis. Instead, I think I like her far more than I did in SG-1. The scene between the two of them, Teyla's reminder that she doesn't need permission, Sam's acknowledgement of equality, and the sense that they're coming to an understanding is just spot on. Speaking of Sam, I loved her face at the beginning, watching Rodney disinfect his hands. Like Sheppard, she's mastered the slight puzzlement, slight amusement, entirely 'oooookaaaaay….' look, and she and Rodney make a great double act now.
I think my biggest problem with Malozzi scripts is that they tend to have shorter scenes, and feel choppier even if they're actually the same length - it doesn't give room for the characters to react to each other, only to the events around them, so the little things tend to stand out more. There's usually a lot of plot to be crammed into an episode, and while that's great from a story point of view, I find myself feeling rushed through the episode, and that the characters are back and forth, back and forth with barely time to breathe. It makes it hard to get a handle on really feeling for the characters, which is very annoying.
Having said that, I wrote down lots and lots of things that I loved and some things that made me go 'huh', which I present in not quite list form, more or less as I wrote them.
- Rodney's gift to Teyla. Bless!!! I loved that she confided in him, instead of saying it was nothing and going to talk to someone else. I loved that she seemed to get that he's not being egotistical, or at least he is, but he's not trying to be. He's just being Rodney, and that's what he does. *pets him*
- How much do I want a Teyla/Kanaan (sp?) fic on Croya, where she buys him the necklace? THIS MUCH!
- Sheppard telling Sam that it doesn't matter what he thinks, because it's Teyla. *hugs him*
- I completely and utterly missed Sheppard and Teyla's exchange when they got to the planet because I was too busy watching Jason Momoa try to make David Hewlett laugh.
- Teyla says that the man made 'Handcrafted jewellery'. Does that imply that there are facilities for mass production in Pegasus? I've always assumed that that level of technology would be destroyed by the Wraith. It's a tiny point, but I notice these things…
- "We've given this place the twice-over." *grin* I'm so going to use that at some point
- Yes, Rodney, I'm sure the hungry Wraith get cranky just like you do. Hee.
- I love that Hoff has come back to haunt them, although I have no idea what the whole scavenger thing was about, unless it was to show that Rodney is now brave enough to walk into the scary dark place all by himself.
- Sheppard, love, it's not very sunny. I think you can lose the shades. Yes, they do look very cool. In the shade, they also look silly.
- I'm rapidly becoming a big fan of Lorne. He says that the market reminds him of "the bay area" back home – what bay? He's a great actor, although…I've got to say it…are there height restrictions on entry to the Air Force? Because next to the marines in his team, he's kind of…vertically challenged… But we don't care because he does the groovy hand signal thing. With flair.
- LOVE scary!Teyla. And Teyla with a big stick. *grin* The interrogation scene was silly but great, and I really liked the fact that Atlantis' reputation has got around. It's nice to be reminded how different Pegasus is to the Milky Way, that people are much more into 'gate travel and trading.
- Oh Lorne, you are in so much trouble. His face when he came back through the 'gate was just perfect. A kind of 'this so isn't my fault but it so is' feeling.
- Todd is officially the best Wraith. Ever. Michael is officially the weirdest. The B-movie villain thing…isn't really working for me, I have to say. I liked it when he was a common or garden psychopath. Having said that, I may change my mind in part 2, when hopefully he'll be able to do something other than smirk menacingly through the bars of Teyla's cell.
Overall, I didn't hate and didn't love this episode. I'd been spoiled for the ending, as well as being spoiled that it was the ending, so I wasn't too disappointed. Although I think I'm going to be avoiding spoilers like crazy for the next week…
Anyhoo, as a result, I only got to see 'Kindred Part 1' in my lunch hour today, and my notes are far more eccentric than usual. So, no promises for anything approaching sense in the following, but I'm enjoying writing reaction posts, if only so I can come back to them later when I've changed my mind :)
First of all, I am not a fan of Joe Malozzi's writing. I like his ideas, but the actual script tends to do less for me. At one point in my notes for this episode, I actually wrote "scenes too short and with B-movie dialogue." From his blog, the guy reads and watches a huge amount of sci-fi, and I think that comes across in his writing. It feels like he gets over-excited by the story, and forgets that they still have to sound like people. So I guessed this wasn't going to be my favourite episode ever, but it was absolutely saved by the performances.
I completely adore Rachel Luttrell, who is doing such a fantastic job of showing a strong, scared and desperate Teyla, who is still her calm, determined self. I couldn't pick out a single moment that I liked the best, and she really provided the backbone of the episode. Oh, alright, my favourite scene was with Carter in her office ("Call me Sam" *flails*). I like Carter well enough, but she's never been my favourite, so I was expecting to not really notice her in Atlantis. Instead, I think I like her far more than I did in SG-1. The scene between the two of them, Teyla's reminder that she doesn't need permission, Sam's acknowledgement of equality, and the sense that they're coming to an understanding is just spot on. Speaking of Sam, I loved her face at the beginning, watching Rodney disinfect his hands. Like Sheppard, she's mastered the slight puzzlement, slight amusement, entirely 'oooookaaaaay….' look, and she and Rodney make a great double act now.
I think my biggest problem with Malozzi scripts is that they tend to have shorter scenes, and feel choppier even if they're actually the same length - it doesn't give room for the characters to react to each other, only to the events around them, so the little things tend to stand out more. There's usually a lot of plot to be crammed into an episode, and while that's great from a story point of view, I find myself feeling rushed through the episode, and that the characters are back and forth, back and forth with barely time to breathe. It makes it hard to get a handle on really feeling for the characters, which is very annoying.
Having said that, I wrote down lots and lots of things that I loved and some things that made me go 'huh', which I present in not quite list form, more or less as I wrote them.
- Rodney's gift to Teyla. Bless!!! I loved that she confided in him, instead of saying it was nothing and going to talk to someone else. I loved that she seemed to get that he's not being egotistical, or at least he is, but he's not trying to be. He's just being Rodney, and that's what he does. *pets him*
- How much do I want a Teyla/Kanaan (sp?) fic on Croya, where she buys him the necklace? THIS MUCH!
- Sheppard telling Sam that it doesn't matter what he thinks, because it's Teyla. *hugs him*
- I completely and utterly missed Sheppard and Teyla's exchange when they got to the planet because I was too busy watching Jason Momoa try to make David Hewlett laugh.
- Teyla says that the man made 'Handcrafted jewellery'. Does that imply that there are facilities for mass production in Pegasus? I've always assumed that that level of technology would be destroyed by the Wraith. It's a tiny point, but I notice these things…
- "We've given this place the twice-over." *grin* I'm so going to use that at some point
- Yes, Rodney, I'm sure the hungry Wraith get cranky just like you do. Hee.
- I love that Hoff has come back to haunt them, although I have no idea what the whole scavenger thing was about, unless it was to show that Rodney is now brave enough to walk into the scary dark place all by himself.
- Sheppard, love, it's not very sunny. I think you can lose the shades. Yes, they do look very cool. In the shade, they also look silly.
- I'm rapidly becoming a big fan of Lorne. He says that the market reminds him of "the bay area" back home – what bay? He's a great actor, although…I've got to say it…are there height restrictions on entry to the Air Force? Because next to the marines in his team, he's kind of…vertically challenged… But we don't care because he does the groovy hand signal thing. With flair.
- LOVE scary!Teyla. And Teyla with a big stick. *grin* The interrogation scene was silly but great, and I really liked the fact that Atlantis' reputation has got around. It's nice to be reminded how different Pegasus is to the Milky Way, that people are much more into 'gate travel and trading.
- Oh Lorne, you are in so much trouble. His face when he came back through the 'gate was just perfect. A kind of 'this so isn't my fault but it so is' feeling.
- Todd is officially the best Wraith. Ever. Michael is officially the weirdest. The B-movie villain thing…isn't really working for me, I have to say. I liked it when he was a common or garden psychopath. Having said that, I may change my mind in part 2, when hopefully he'll be able to do something other than smirk menacingly through the bars of Teyla's cell.
Overall, I didn't hate and didn't love this episode. I'd been spoiled for the ending, as well as being spoiled that it was the ending, so I wasn't too disappointed. Although I think I'm going to be avoiding spoilers like crazy for the next week…
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 03:14 pm (UTC)One thing I love about Todd discussing the Wraith is how political they seem to be. They polarized into various camps behind leaders and are starting to kill each other, which reminds me of the same back-stabbing hierarchy with the demons on Supernatural -- good stuff!
Michael is one distinctly unsettling dude. *shudders*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 03:49 pm (UTC)This episode bugged me because the commercial gave away the ending- the voiceover for it said "and you'll never believe what happens in the last five minutes" (or something like that) and they showed the scene of storming in and seeing Carson. Way to ruin the surprise people.
I like Micheal because he's a villain that the SGA itself created, they mucked around with something they probably shouldn't of and didn't consider the consequences. Michael was altered (twice) as a result and no longer wraith but not human... He's a bit off his rocker from it all and not surprisingly blames them.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 04:27 pm (UTC)You can be a bit on the short side and be in the military. Lorne is like 5'9". My dad was Army, and he was 5'9".
And yeah, as someone else said, Lorne is from San Fran. Joe M confirmed it on his blog.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 04:38 pm (UTC)Teyla with the knife, then the big stick was just awesome. Mad as hell and not going to take it any more. I'd wondered how they were going to let her 'fight' when she was pregnant - should have known they'd find a way!
The Wraith politics makes the whole thing so much more interesting. It's much better when the baddies have more then one dimension, even if it does make Michael seriously freaky to watch. I always feel the urge to hide behind a cushion when he's on the screen.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 04:41 pm (UTC)I've heard about the commercial problem, which sounded like the most pointless exercise in 'teaser trailers' that I've ever heard of. Definitely spoils it for everyone. I shall be hiding from spoilers like the plague this week. It's worked so far for Torchwood, so I should be able to manage it :)
Totally agree about Michael. SGA is actually getting good at continuity and cause and effect, which Doctor Who has started tackling a little, but SG-1 never quite got to grips with. Michael is a brilliant baddie, and of course part of the problem is that killing off the Wraith? Not such a bad thing. What Michael's doing, though, is so much worse. It comes to something when the Wraith are the lesser of two evils, and it's happened twice now. At this rate, the Wraith are going to end up the good guys!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 04:43 pm (UTC)The height thing really struck me when he was standing in front of the rest of his team, who are presumably meant to be marines - everything's relative :)
I love that they're giving the supporting characters proper backgrounds and personalities - the fans will do it anyway, so it's nice to have TPTB helping us out :D
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 04:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 04:53 pm (UTC)But the Wraith are...complicated. It's not *really* their fault that this is the only way they can survive, especially if they only came about because of the Ancients anyway - like the replicators, there's an argument for saying the Ancients had a responsibility that they shirked, and it came back to bite them. Kind of like the SGA team and Michael.
Of course, the Wraith don't have to enjoy eating as much as they do, but compare it to Rodney eating a steak and...well. The comparison starts to get uncomfortable.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 04:56 pm (UTC)I loved the early replicators, the little mindless buglike machines. They were great because they just did like they were programmed to- I'm not as big a fan of the current version.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 05:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-25 07:22 pm (UTC)I loved the scene with Sam, too. So much packed into that one line!