Phantoms

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S3 (Phantoms)

Shooting up the woods is always fun, but for much of this episode there didn't seem to be much more to it than that. It got better towards the end as the phantoms of the title ratchet up the drama for everyone, but I felt for the most part they didn't use the premise quite well enough. It's a good idea: a Wraith experimental generator that is supposed to control the minds of prey for some nefarious reason, gone wonky thanks to Genii interference, and our little band stumbles upon it when trying to track down an incommunicado team. The concept of friends and allies turning on each other and fighting to the death with whatever is to hand is one of those old sci-fi tropes that this franchise likes to use as much as the next series, and you can't fault them for that, it can be a very creepy setup: waiting to become affected, knowing it could happen, the team splitting up, encountering hallucinating members who see all kinds of things. If anything, that was where the characters let themselves down as they knew, or had surmised, that this was how both the Genii and their own people had died and yet they didn't seem all that concerned about it happening. Perhaps it didn't help that the forest was bathed in sunshine and it was all quite pleasant in appearance, the kind of place it would be nice to go for a long hike.

I was also confused that they didn't go back through the Stargate at the end - Weir sent supplies, presumably dropped from an ARV, rather than sending soldiers to get them out, and they had to wait for the Daedalus to come for them. I suppose this could have been because they'd gone too far from the 'gate, but if an ARV could find them, why not bring them in? Clearly the Stargate must still operate from Atlantis' end? Ending the episode on a technical question might suggest it wasn't quite engaging enough, for all its fast camerawork and stylish chasing through the verdant foliage and ancient trunks, but it had its moments. It was good to see Anubis' old Super Soldiers (Kull Warriors they were originally called), even if they were only an errant imagining, and I would have liked to see more with them. Dr. Beckett probably had the worst time of it, thinking his patients were dead, then that they were alive, then discovering one of them was actually dead, before carrying the live one off into the forest! McKay of course is the brains of the operation, set to take out the machine that's controlling them until even he becomes susceptible, thinking the place is about to explode and diving out of the familiar cave set. I must say he took the bullet from Sheppard well, it was only fortunate that it was fired off to the right of his torso instead of dead centre. Dead being the almost operative word! And Teyla didn't really have a lot meaningful to do again, even if she does get Sheppard to the machine and tell him which lead to pull.

The other thing that took something away from the episode was that all the main cast survive (clearly not a bad thing!), but also that we didn't have any lasting impact from what occurred - they're all sitting round in the woods at the end with plenty of supplies, laughing about McKay still complaining, and somehow an experience like this should have had more consequences. I'm not sure exactly what, and I'm pro an upbeat ending, but they came close when Teyla asks Sheppard if he did get the guy he was seeing in his imagination to safety originally, and he admits he didn't. There needed to be more of a punctuation like that. But 'Stargate' prefers to keep things light for the most part, it's just another crazy adventure for our heroes this week, and I can understand that attitude. Another thing is Weir not getting concerned when a team who went to find another team don't check in. You'd think she'd be more worried. Overall, not bad, but not up to the higher standards of which the series is capable (see previous episode), an enjoyable romp round the great outdoors, one of those 'going down to the woods to be in for a big surprise.' Except without the bears or the picnics. One thing that did confuse me was seeing the episode came out in 2006, when I thought it was post-'SG-1's finale (2007). Now I realise it must be in tandem with Season 10, so they had three years of overlap with the parent series, not two. All this time I was so pleased whenever 'SG-1' sets or personnel appeared and it's not such a wonder after all!

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