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Can I actually be the first of my friends to post on this episode? I can't find any posts, so I don't know what anyone else thought (except Brilliant Husband).
Summary without spoilers: I had been looking forward to this episode; I knew it was supposed to be a Teyla and Keller episode, and I knew the general outline. I like Jennifer Keller, and I like Teyla! I am . . . disappointed. The script had one giant bloophole (if you're not familiar with this term, run and get Jasper Fforde's Eyre Affair and read it and the sequels!) and some other problems. Perhaps the most annoying thing is that they were fixable! Some scripts can't be salvaged (I'm still planning to post my rant on "Allies" when I find the time, and I think "Gemini" and "Ascension" on SG-1 were two of the worst scripts they ever wrote); this one could have been quite good if they had taken the time to revise it! After the cut, I'll explain how.
First, the bloophole; I'll take pity on those of you who have not had time to read Fforde and explain that a bloophole is a major error necessary to the plot. Fforde's example is a novel (I can't remember which one, and I'm not taking the time to look it up; I have laundry doing!) that opens with the protagonist swimming a long distance in chains that would surely have drowned him. If he drowns, however, there's no book.
"Missing" has a huge bloophole: Teyla immediately recognizes that Nabel is not Athosian. Yet Teyla doesn't live among the Athosians full-time. If Teyla knows he isn't Athosian, how can she--or we--possibly believe that he infiltrated the Athosians and lived among them for days without them noticing he's not one of them! Do correct me if I'm wrong, because I would surely like to have this problem cleared up. Teyla is very upset and arguably not thinking clearly, but surely at some point this should have crossed her mind or Keller's!
The fix is easy: Nabel can say that he was a trader, or a refugee, or even that he's a Genii spy, as long as he doesn't say he "infiltrated" the Athosians. We're not stupid--and Teyla and Keller should be at least as smart as we are.
A second error probably big enough to call a bloophole: you're telling me Teyla takes down multiple Uruk-Hai--oh, sorry, Bolokai--and continues to fight with her knife and a stick, leaving Keller with a cheese knife, when there are dead Uruk-Hai with battle-axes and bigger knives at her feet?! Do we think Teyla is an idiot? That was the point at which I said, "I need a big pack of rubber bands--and Carl Binder. I'm going to shoot him, over and over."
Now for the Keller rant. I like Jewel Staite. She is a very fine actress. She had me convinced that she knew her way around starship engines in Firefly and that she was a self-centered psycho in Wonderfalls; I can believe that she's way out of her comfort zone on Atlantis and New Athos.
What I cannot believe is that she is a doctor. I'm not a doctor. The bloopers have to be pretty darned big for me to notice. So far I've observed:
Keller giving CPR with no rhythm or count whatsoever. None.
Keller shocking John by using defibrillator paddles on the approximate location of his kidneys (that's gotta hurt).
Keller binding a sprained ankle mostly by wrapping her foot. Stabilize the ankle, you twit!
I will say that if Jewel Staite is going to play a doctor, she should take some basic first aid--or at least read up on it on the web. I will also say, however, that the director has a responsibility to guide the actress (particularly to say, "I've never seen defibrillator paddles applied to that part of abdomen before").
Paul McGillion isn't a doctor, but as much as I disagreed with some of Carson's moral choices (for which see the soon-to-come "Allies" rant; I find it impossible to believe that a good and caring doctor has no ethics, and I'm declaring this writing error more than dark characterization), I never had any trouble believing that Carson was a doctor.
Teryl Rothery appears from stories told at cons, and clips I've seen of her at cons, to be a complete flake and ditz (and I mean that in the nicest possible way). Yet I utterly believe that Janet Fraser was a doctor and a frelling good one.
I can only believe that Keller is a doctor as long as I don't have to watch her do medical stuff. That's bad. I can believe she cares about Nabel, and I liked her declaration to Teyla that she knew Teyla on her own would never leave a man behind (but drop the word "innocent"! He has admitted being a Genii spy!), so she must want to abandon him because of Keller. If the whole ep had been conducted at the level of that scene, I'd be happy!
I can believe Keller is a small-town girl from Wisconsin (I'll even buy that that's a Wisconsin accent!) who panics. When she starts screaming and no Bolokai come, I can't believe that this woman ever got shipped to the Pegasus Galaxy (surely now they make these people go out from the SGC before shipping them off!). And do the Bolokai have a collective IQ exceeding the temperature of lukewarm water?
The whole script needed revision. I honestly think it could have been a really good script if they gave Nabel a cover story we and our protagonists can accept, if they made Keller just a little less foolish and a little more like a doctor, and if Teyla had picked up thoseUruk-Hai Bolokai weapons. With those weapons, Teyla could more plausibly defeat multiple Bolokai.
One last thing: New Athos isn't answering any hails, two Lanteans have gone missing, and the rescue team consists of two soldiers and Rodney! Yes, Rodney was holding his own, but take Lorne and a pack of Marines! Anything that could silence an entire settlement might be a little much for three people! (Last thing prime: can we at least say that Sam approved the mission instead of pretending she doesn't exist?)
Oh, wait, this is really the last thing: I've been waiting all ep for a payoff. I'm finally going to get what should be an honest emotional scene without someone being deceived by Nabel or acting like she's twelve: Keller telling Teyla why she has kept her in the infirmary. And they CUT IT! Oh, for heaven's sake! Yes, we probably all know what it is, but I want to see their faces! This scene represents an important moment.
I believe male writers can write strong, believable female characters (see: Jasper Fforde). Sadly, these guys failed to do it for me this time. Please, get at least one woman in the writing room!
I'd like to identify some good things, but I know I've really gone on, so I'll be brief:
Nice rope bridge! Read Joe Mallozzi's blog from yesterday for a few tidbits on it.
I like that we're getting a focus on Teyla. I really liked Rachel's performance.
I'm very glad they mentioned Carson. S3 episodes after "Sunday" mention him once; honestly, was it because they filmed out of order and they didn't want everyone to know they were killing him, so they couldn't mention that he was dead?
I like Rodney's healthy appreciation for arrows (even if, darn it, it means I need to revise a scene in one of the stories I'm currently writing).
I like that the team knows Teyla so well there's no real hesitation in going after her when she's late.
I'm intrigued by the mystery. I hope it goes somewhere. And I want to know more about this Kanan (spelling?).
Summary without spoilers: I had been looking forward to this episode; I knew it was supposed to be a Teyla and Keller episode, and I knew the general outline. I like Jennifer Keller, and I like Teyla! I am . . . disappointed. The script had one giant bloophole (if you're not familiar with this term, run and get Jasper Fforde's Eyre Affair and read it and the sequels!) and some other problems. Perhaps the most annoying thing is that they were fixable! Some scripts can't be salvaged (I'm still planning to post my rant on "Allies" when I find the time, and I think "Gemini" and "Ascension" on SG-1 were two of the worst scripts they ever wrote); this one could have been quite good if they had taken the time to revise it! After the cut, I'll explain how.
First, the bloophole; I'll take pity on those of you who have not had time to read Fforde and explain that a bloophole is a major error necessary to the plot. Fforde's example is a novel (I can't remember which one, and I'm not taking the time to look it up; I have laundry doing!) that opens with the protagonist swimming a long distance in chains that would surely have drowned him. If he drowns, however, there's no book.
"Missing" has a huge bloophole: Teyla immediately recognizes that Nabel is not Athosian. Yet Teyla doesn't live among the Athosians full-time. If Teyla knows he isn't Athosian, how can she--or we--possibly believe that he infiltrated the Athosians and lived among them for days without them noticing he's not one of them! Do correct me if I'm wrong, because I would surely like to have this problem cleared up. Teyla is very upset and arguably not thinking clearly, but surely at some point this should have crossed her mind or Keller's!
The fix is easy: Nabel can say that he was a trader, or a refugee, or even that he's a Genii spy, as long as he doesn't say he "infiltrated" the Athosians. We're not stupid--and Teyla and Keller should be at least as smart as we are.
A second error probably big enough to call a bloophole: you're telling me Teyla takes down multiple Uruk-Hai--oh, sorry, Bolokai--and continues to fight with her knife and a stick, leaving Keller with a cheese knife, when there are dead Uruk-Hai with battle-axes and bigger knives at her feet?! Do we think Teyla is an idiot? That was the point at which I said, "I need a big pack of rubber bands--and Carl Binder. I'm going to shoot him, over and over."
Now for the Keller rant. I like Jewel Staite. She is a very fine actress. She had me convinced that she knew her way around starship engines in Firefly and that she was a self-centered psycho in Wonderfalls; I can believe that she's way out of her comfort zone on Atlantis and New Athos.
What I cannot believe is that she is a doctor. I'm not a doctor. The bloopers have to be pretty darned big for me to notice. So far I've observed:
Keller giving CPR with no rhythm or count whatsoever. None.
Keller shocking John by using defibrillator paddles on the approximate location of his kidneys (that's gotta hurt).
Keller binding a sprained ankle mostly by wrapping her foot. Stabilize the ankle, you twit!
I will say that if Jewel Staite is going to play a doctor, she should take some basic first aid--or at least read up on it on the web. I will also say, however, that the director has a responsibility to guide the actress (particularly to say, "I've never seen defibrillator paddles applied to that part of abdomen before").
Paul McGillion isn't a doctor, but as much as I disagreed with some of Carson's moral choices (for which see the soon-to-come "Allies" rant; I find it impossible to believe that a good and caring doctor has no ethics, and I'm declaring this writing error more than dark characterization), I never had any trouble believing that Carson was a doctor.
Teryl Rothery appears from stories told at cons, and clips I've seen of her at cons, to be a complete flake and ditz (and I mean that in the nicest possible way). Yet I utterly believe that Janet Fraser was a doctor and a frelling good one.
I can only believe that Keller is a doctor as long as I don't have to watch her do medical stuff. That's bad. I can believe she cares about Nabel, and I liked her declaration to Teyla that she knew Teyla on her own would never leave a man behind (but drop the word "innocent"! He has admitted being a Genii spy!), so she must want to abandon him because of Keller. If the whole ep had been conducted at the level of that scene, I'd be happy!
I can believe Keller is a small-town girl from Wisconsin (I'll even buy that that's a Wisconsin accent!) who panics. When she starts screaming and no Bolokai come, I can't believe that this woman ever got shipped to the Pegasus Galaxy (surely now they make these people go out from the SGC before shipping them off!). And do the Bolokai have a collective IQ exceeding the temperature of lukewarm water?
The whole script needed revision. I honestly think it could have been a really good script if they gave Nabel a cover story we and our protagonists can accept, if they made Keller just a little less foolish and a little more like a doctor, and if Teyla had picked up those
One last thing: New Athos isn't answering any hails, two Lanteans have gone missing, and the rescue team consists of two soldiers and Rodney! Yes, Rodney was holding his own, but take Lorne and a pack of Marines! Anything that could silence an entire settlement might be a little much for three people! (Last thing prime: can we at least say that Sam approved the mission instead of pretending she doesn't exist?)
Oh, wait, this is really the last thing: I've been waiting all ep for a payoff. I'm finally going to get what should be an honest emotional scene without someone being deceived by Nabel or acting like she's twelve: Keller telling Teyla why she has kept her in the infirmary. And they CUT IT! Oh, for heaven's sake! Yes, we probably all know what it is, but I want to see their faces! This scene represents an important moment.
I believe male writers can write strong, believable female characters (see: Jasper Fforde). Sadly, these guys failed to do it for me this time. Please, get at least one woman in the writing room!
I'd like to identify some good things, but I know I've really gone on, so I'll be brief:
Nice rope bridge! Read Joe Mallozzi's blog from yesterday for a few tidbits on it.
I like that we're getting a focus on Teyla. I really liked Rachel's performance.
I'm very glad they mentioned Carson. S3 episodes after "Sunday" mention him once; honestly, was it because they filmed out of order and they didn't want everyone to know they were killing him, so they couldn't mention that he was dead?
I like Rodney's healthy appreciation for arrows (even if, darn it, it means I need to revise a scene in one of the stories I'm currently writing).
I like that the team knows Teyla so well there's no real hesitation in going after her when she's late.
I'm intrigued by the mystery. I hope it goes somewhere. And I want to know more about this Kanan (spelling?).
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