Before I Sleep

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S1 (Before I Sleep)

At the sight of 'Excerpts written by…' I tend to feel disappointed, as, knowing the 'Stargate' franchise, it usually means a clips episode. I didn't think 'Atlantis' would go that route, especially not in its first season, but maybe they spent so much on the sets and CGI work that late in the season they needed to save money? Well, that may be true, since this is a bottle episode, occurring pretty much all in the city, but fortunately the excerpts were few and only fuel for a cool retcon: ten thousand years the city awaited their expedition, and more to the point, the person who put the dust sheets on the consoles and put the city into sleep mode, like an oversized computer, was none other than Weir herself, thanks to some zany time travel foolery! Not to mention the addition to the continuing arc with this Weir bringing 'gate addresses of five planets containing functioning ZPMs. The episode begins suitably and encouragingly mysterious with the discovery of an old, old woman in a stasis tube, and it ends affectingly with Weir contemplating existence while letting the ashes of her elder self float away above the city. A hauntingly sad fate awaited this other self, left alone on the city after The Ancients had abandoned it, with a ten thousand year wait for revival to come. It was just that the bulk of the story had none of the wonder and fascination that such a science fiction idea held in potential, The Ancients a rather boring group. We've waited so long to see this backbone of the series' and when we do get a good amount of time with them (having only had slivers here and there before), it's all very underwhelming.

I have to stake my views out on time travel, too. They use the currently fashionable theory of quantum mechanics that suggests that every decision ever made splits off into another universe, so there are practically infinite alternate versions of our reality. But it makes no sense (admittedly, not being a professor or having any intellectual standing, I'm sure my views have very little value, but I know what makes good drama and what makes reality purposeless and unimportant). Why would anyone's decision have an impact on the layout of the universe, it's simultaneously arrogant and demeaning, in equal measure? Arrogant because it means that every action and thought could affect such a vast thing as all existence, and demeaning because it means our reality wasn't planned or has any other meaning to it beyond being the one that we happen to inhabit, with no more validity than any other possible variation. But enough with my complaints about the current time travel trend - I've always preferred the majority of 'Star Trek' time travel variations (and 'Back To The Future,' which gets referenced here), in which there's a set timeline that we are a part of, and any tinkering in the past will alter our future, while also, the altering can be undone, rather than people splitting off into other universes. But they did do a fine job of getting an alternate Weir into a story, using time travel, and having it mean something, her whole life effectively dedicated to keeping the city ready for the eventual visit of her people.

The old age makeup was very good, and I certainly didn't peg that it was Dr. Weir at all, though I felt her voice should have been deepened to match the rest of her ageing. The return to scenes set during the 'first' visit to Atlantis, with Sumner and the others from 'Rising,' the pilot episode, became interesting when it branches off and happens differently than we remember, the city becoming flooded and many dying (Rodney and Sheppard argue over who had the best death!), and the time ship is clearly part of the double-pumping of this and 'SG-1,' since that series ended its season using the very same kind of ship, presumably designed by this same Ancient, Janus, since he says he hopes his research will survive to create another one, after the Ancients' Council decides to destroy the machine to prevent any more meddling. Interesting choice of name considering the franchise's connection to so many deities of the ancient world - he is a bit two-faced, too, since he hides Weir so she can be put into stasis instead of returning with the Ancients to Earth (I couldn't help find it funny the way she hides behind a pillar in the command centre, watching The Ancients leave through the 'gate, peeping round the corner!).

I also can't help but feel Weir is a bit too pushy when it comes to decision-making, and just makes a decision because she knows she has to, rather than thinking it through or paying much attention to the advice of others. This episode she's too quick to awaken the old woman they find in stasis, even when Dr. Beckett warns the shock of coming to could kill her. She's willing to take the risk. And then again when she wants answers, she doesn't seem to care about medical ethics, but wants Beckett to give the poor old dear a stimulant so she won't keep dropping off so irritatingly before important details can be got out of her. She feels the oldie will be able to take it, and so they do. Okay, so she was right, and it was necessary, but it's just the way Weir comes to these conclusions so seemingly unfeelingly. A leader has to bear these things in mind, too. I kept thinking of Captain Janeway of 'Voyager' who also sometimes made questionable decisions, and I wonder what it is about female commanders that makes them so stubborn. Maybe the male ones do such things, too, but somehow it's more noticeable in these.

In terms of the acting of two characters, I felt Torri Higginson did a good job, so much so that it took me a while to be sure it was her (she even gets an extra title in the end credits), and there's plenty of dramatic effects work, like the command centre filling with water after the shield fails. But there's something about the city Atlantis that I'm not sure about. They've made some big sets and varied locations, but whenever they go anywhere, it always feels small and cramped, with tiny doorways relative to the size and grandeur of the place. It just feels like the style they chose was too confining, perhaps coming from budgetary constraints, but unlike, say, 'DS9' where I always felt the station was bigger than it seemed, this seems smaller. And I'll go back to The Ancients again: they were very bland, apart from slightly rebellious, but quiet, Janus. Like the Tok'Ra they wore unflattering beige robes and spoke in careful, measured tones just as we've seen from so many races in 'SG-1.' I don't know, I'd just have thought they could make these Stargate builders more interesting, engaging and energetic! So I'd have to give them points for a promising idea (wish they'd mentioned the 'SG-1' team's time travel, but maybe that was kept secret, I can't remember), but it's another one that falls short, and even with ten thousand years behind it, the city still fails to be an invitation to mysterious exploration. And did Sheppard really need to come and interrupt Weir's musings after she'd just seen her older self die? That would have been a more contemplative choice to end on, without the jerk back to reality.

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