SGA Episode Review 3x20 "First Strike"
Feb. 7th, 2007 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liresiusWhoo! I love my show still ...
First Strike was up there with Echoes for the m/m character moments and interactions, Echoes being my second favourite ep of S3. I liked the general structure of the ep - all the scenes flowed well. It pretty much had everything I really love about the show – good character bonding, lots of cool SFX and the boys looked sexy as hell in their uniforms and the lighting was kind.
Loved the performance evaluations - Rodney trying to complain and wheedle his way out of it and John just giving everyone “Excellent/Above Average, *giggles*, and having a sassy answer about “telling lies” to justify himself. Very little boy, smarty-pants to the “teacher”! Very cute!
Why was I surprised to hear “Yes, Chuck?” Is that the first time his name’s been said on screen? I read an interview mentioning his name, I’m sure, but yeah ... this must be a canon moment.
Huh … I really enjoyed not liking that Col. Ellis guy – and I suppose that was the point! He played his part well, but where was Caldwell? I hope he hasn’t been dropped too. But where does Ellis get off just beaming scientists against their will? "Be still, my indignant heart!".
Hee! Loved Radek suggesting “sabotaging” the weapons. What a great subversive he is and that's a very Czech (albeit unreliant) trait! Loved that whole discussion, with Rodney almost willing but thinking better of it. He struck a lovely low register in that scene.
Yay, Rodney for “Yeah, I don’t think that’s your call.” And “Aye, aye, Captain.” So LOYAL!
Loved Teyla for “How come you get to be Mr Fantastic?” and John escapes to his one team/true member with a comic book super-hero passion. *g*
Ronon didn’t annoy the hell out of me, as he has in recent episodes with his short fuse and snippy, childish impatience. His frustration at inactivity came across as much more believable in this situation, ‘cus he didn’t take it out on anyone.
Oh god, John you’re so gay with the “Why don’t you guys just make out and get it over with?” Of course he can afford such generosity since he then does the whole “on the same wave-length unspoken conversation” with his boyfriend Rodney, and Radek’s left in the dust!
John doesn’t want to be The Man. ”Who would I have to rage against?” Nice to get the matched bookend to the performance evaluations.
I liked the way they played the tete a tete with Ellis verbally seducing Sheppard (military types) on the one hand, Elizabeth and Teyla (the diplomats) on the other and both of them dropping their mutually exclusive bonding sessions to come running ... to hear out the pivotal scientists who are going to save their arses!
Hey, so the planet has a name at long last! John calls it ‘Lantea when he gets the idea for the moon rocks. Cool!
Yeuch! at Ellis’ “I do know General O’Neill is awfully fond of you.” How patronizing.
I really liked John in this ep. Not only for the cool “flying Atlantis via mind meld in the chair” stuff but also because he hit the right note/tone with Rodney in various places … You too. Huge improvement on S1’s parting.
Atlantis was so pretty going down and up, and then out into hyperspace – all very grandly heroic music, intercut with shots of John in the Chair. Still, I can’t help thinking it would have had much more impact if they’d resisted showing the Replicator's Atlantis flying in Progeny. They lost a lot of dramatic effect by playing their hand too early. So if this was part of the surprises that were supposed to blow my socks off for end of S3, well, *looksdownatsocks* “Nup, still there”, I have to say.
So … Jewel Staite. I haven’t seen her before, except wraithified. Hmm, she’s not as frail or young as I’ve read her described. She seems quite a mature young woman. I think it was quite clever of TPTB to bring her up from the rank and file already on Atlantis and to have her very resistant to, and lacking in confidence in the job. It cuts down on the sense of antipathy some might feel at her replacing Carson. It’s early days but I doubt I’ll change my mind on wishing Carson was still with the team. ETA (9/2): The more I think about her introductory scene, the more I'm convinced that her "not wanting the job" was a politically motivated scripting decision to reduce fan backlash against her. Jewel even stated in an interview, "Please don't hate me." and it just demonstrates a PTB awareness of Carson's huge popularity with the fans, so yeah it just doesn't make sense to me as to why they dropped him, if they have to go to such lengths ... *colour me perplexed*
Also it’s pretty clear they’ve laid the foundations for Elizabeth being turfed. I kind of doubt she would really resign (given her state of depression in The Return) – I mean John was right when he said “You’ve peaked.”, so the injuries are probably going to work in with what she said about being pushed aside anytime there’s a crisis for Earth. None of this really surprises me though because of the casting news, so I’m a bit baffled about DH’s assurances of shock/surprise. I guess he must just mean Atlantis taking wing and getting LOST in Space! “Danger! Danger! John Sheppard!” So does that make Jewel the older sister? Hee!
Despite being vaguely disappointed with how “not shocking” the events were it’s my favourite finale of the three seasons. Lots of lovely, slashy sub-text moments with my favourite boys and loyalty towards everyone on Atlantis.
There's a .zip file of about 75 caps (mostly of John, Rodney and the SFX) here
and a few caps
First Strike was up there with Echoes for the m/m character moments and interactions, Echoes being my second favourite ep of S3. I liked the general structure of the ep - all the scenes flowed well. It pretty much had everything I really love about the show – good character bonding, lots of cool SFX and the boys looked sexy as hell in their uniforms and the lighting was kind.
Loved the performance evaluations - Rodney trying to complain and wheedle his way out of it and John just giving everyone “Excellent/Above Average, *giggles*, and having a sassy answer about “telling lies” to justify himself. Very little boy, smarty-pants to the “teacher”! Very cute!
Why was I surprised to hear “Yes, Chuck?” Is that the first time his name’s been said on screen? I read an interview mentioning his name, I’m sure, but yeah ... this must be a canon moment.
Huh … I really enjoyed not liking that Col. Ellis guy – and I suppose that was the point! He played his part well, but where was Caldwell? I hope he hasn’t been dropped too. But where does Ellis get off just beaming scientists against their will? "Be still, my indignant heart!".
Hee! Loved Radek suggesting “sabotaging” the weapons. What a great subversive he is and that's a very Czech (albeit unreliant) trait! Loved that whole discussion, with Rodney almost willing but thinking better of it. He struck a lovely low register in that scene.
Yay, Rodney for “Yeah, I don’t think that’s your call.” And “Aye, aye, Captain.” So LOYAL!
Loved Teyla for “How come you get to be Mr Fantastic?” and John escapes to his one team/true member with a comic book super-hero passion. *g*
Ronon didn’t annoy the hell out of me, as he has in recent episodes with his short fuse and snippy, childish impatience. His frustration at inactivity came across as much more believable in this situation, ‘cus he didn’t take it out on anyone.
Oh god, John you’re so gay with the “Why don’t you guys just make out and get it over with?” Of course he can afford such generosity since he then does the whole “on the same wave-length unspoken conversation” with his boyfriend Rodney, and Radek’s left in the dust!
John doesn’t want to be The Man. ”Who would I have to rage against?” Nice to get the matched bookend to the performance evaluations.
I liked the way they played the tete a tete with Ellis verbally seducing Sheppard (military types) on the one hand, Elizabeth and Teyla (the diplomats) on the other and both of them dropping their mutually exclusive bonding sessions to come running ... to hear out the pivotal scientists who are going to save their arses!
Hey, so the planet has a name at long last! John calls it ‘Lantea when he gets the idea for the moon rocks. Cool!
Yeuch! at Ellis’ “I do know General O’Neill is awfully fond of you.” How patronizing.
I really liked John in this ep. Not only for the cool “flying Atlantis via mind meld in the chair” stuff but also because he hit the right note/tone with Rodney in various places … You too. Huge improvement on S1’s parting.
Atlantis was so pretty going down and up, and then out into hyperspace – all very grandly heroic music, intercut with shots of John in the Chair. Still, I can’t help thinking it would have had much more impact if they’d resisted showing the Replicator's Atlantis flying in Progeny. They lost a lot of dramatic effect by playing their hand too early. So if this was part of the surprises that were supposed to blow my socks off for end of S3, well, *looksdownatsocks* “Nup, still there”, I have to say.
So … Jewel Staite. I haven’t seen her before, except wraithified. Hmm, she’s not as frail or young as I’ve read her described. She seems quite a mature young woman. I think it was quite clever of TPTB to bring her up from the rank and file already on Atlantis and to have her very resistant to, and lacking in confidence in the job. It cuts down on the sense of antipathy some might feel at her replacing Carson. It’s early days but I doubt I’ll change my mind on wishing Carson was still with the team. ETA (9/2): The more I think about her introductory scene, the more I'm convinced that her "not wanting the job" was a politically motivated scripting decision to reduce fan backlash against her. Jewel even stated in an interview, "Please don't hate me." and it just demonstrates a PTB awareness of Carson's huge popularity with the fans, so yeah it just doesn't make sense to me as to why they dropped him, if they have to go to such lengths ... *colour me perplexed*
Also it’s pretty clear they’ve laid the foundations for Elizabeth being turfed. I kind of doubt she would really resign (given her state of depression in The Return) – I mean John was right when he said “You’ve peaked.”, so the injuries are probably going to work in with what she said about being pushed aside anytime there’s a crisis for Earth. None of this really surprises me though because of the casting news, so I’m a bit baffled about DH’s assurances of shock/surprise. I guess he must just mean Atlantis taking wing and getting LOST in Space! “Danger! Danger! John Sheppard!” So does that make Jewel the older sister? Hee!
Despite being vaguely disappointed with how “not shocking” the events were it’s my favourite finale of the three seasons. Lots of lovely, slashy sub-text moments with my favourite boys and loyalty towards everyone on Atlantis.
There's a .zip file of about 75 caps (mostly of John, Rodney and the SFX) here
and a few caps
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-02-11 11:33 am (UTC)Actually I found that part unsettling but overall the interview made me feel edgy and I think you've nailed it on the head with the explanation of his reaching for something to say. Both times I watched it I mentally remarked on his "uh, uh, uh"s (we call them "fillers"/"hesitation phenomena") ~ well whatever they are, they gave a really jerky feel to parts as if he was mentally editing as he was speaking which clued me in on his own sense of unease, and the jerkiness also just really irritated me. I do remember his body language too. You're right on that.
So I got the sense that he was working very hard to keep it light and that disparity between tone and his real state made me feel like I was being fed a line and I'm not dumb enough to not recognise that. Also the meaningless banter? Yes! It's all been trotted out before and you hear the same stuff over and over again from all of them and that too contributes to my sense of unease (for them), as if they are hard pressed, mined out of stuff of interest that's shareable.
I've been meaning to reply to your other comments, but just quickly here ... I think I'd prefer the more serious David. Simply because the ancedotes/info are just accumulating as "lines" for me. I feel like his promotional role in SGA is coming across sometimes as if he's under strain and it makes me feel horrible to be witnessing it.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-11 02:04 pm (UTC)And look also at his discomfort about recording an xmas message - that was the "real" David - as, incidentally, was the message itself. I think he felt they'd crossed a line asking him to do that, especially "in character" as he was in character as public!David in that interview. Hence the very small element of subversion we saw.
I so agree re the strain of the promotional role. It's interesting most of all when the cracks show...*g*
no subject
Date: 2007-02-11 03:20 pm (UTC)I was quite stunned with the intensity and the prolongedness of the performance. It was remarkable for how sustained it was. I imagine, since our email discussion that he must have done some intensive prep for it - perhaps even been schooled on certain parts????
And yes he was reluctant to do the Rodney McKay Xmas greeting. Actually I thought he was showing more than just a small element of subversion. He was very resistant and the final response was very delayed, as if he was tossing up on the consequences of refusing outright. I thought he was going to berk at it! But they also really went into crazy fan territory with that idiotic "question" "Tell us something about DH that you wouldn't want the fans to know" or somesuch. Duh!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-11 04:10 pm (UTC)And yes re the xmas thing - he SO wanted to refuse. I think there was a moment of rebellion and then he gave in. Interesting how that plays out in the wider context of an interview where his body language is at such odds with what he's saying.
And yes re that stupid question. He was trying to make light of it but you could see the shutters going down.
Also there were two people there - one doing the interview and one off behind him - and the one off behind him seemed to be his SG "minder" - she was the one who made him include PM in his answer. It all seems rather creepy doesn't it?!