First Contact

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (First Contact)

I don't believe it, how can they do this to me! It did seem to be going on a bit long, but I still felt like things could be resolved, and then the tower containing the Stargate on Atlantis explodes with Sheppard and Zelenka still inside the control area and the words 'To Be Continued' come up... It almost seemed like they might be blowing their tanks too early, because this level of shock and danger could be worthy of the penultimate episode of the series: Sheppard and Zelenka potentially killed, Rodney and Daniel Jackson (hooray!), trapped on some alien base having just activated a device that will make any Wraith ship blow up when going to warp, Wolsey held captive because Todd their ally Wraith believes they destroyed his Hive ships, and the Daedalus taken over with Ronon and Keller also trapped there... And blowing up the series' main Stargate, how could things get much bigger? Just when Keller's medical mission to cure the Wraith of needing to feed on humans was going well. All this and some fascinating tech, too: the idea of a device that destroys a warp activation, these suits that can drop down and bore right through multiple floors, and the glow-sticks Todd pushes together to knock out the entire ship, all added to this sense of things going wild and out of control. It's all so much to take in.

I had no recollection of 'Janus,' this Ancient who'd come up with this warp destruction device in the first place, so I'm not sure if he'd been mentioned before or this was a 'fresh' flashback. Either way it did seem a bit much to accept there was yet another secret room somewhere in Atlantis (they really haven't done enough stories where they go down and explore deep parts of the city as that's the kind of stuff I love to see, much like the potential of the ship in 'Universe'), and Dr. Jackson just happens to have worked out where it is, and there were other things in the episode which glossed over details (like Zelenka somehow able to track the signal of where McKay and Daniel are by saying it's too complicated to explain - cop out!), but that's all fairly irrelevant - the important thing is that we have Michael Shanks back and he's working with McKay! Makes sense, we'd had each of the other three main 'SG-1' characters who'd starred in the majority of that series, so it was time they brought in Jackson. It's nice that there's history between him and McKay in the sense that Rodney guest-starred here and there as a pompous, bigheaded science boffin, even if he was generally doing things with Samantha Carter. And now he's much more like his old self around Jackson - even if he is still a pompous, bigheaded boffin he tends to fit in a bit better with the Atlantis crew since they've seen more of him. But it was one of the joys of the episode to have him work with Jackson as it could just as easily have been anyone or no one - I especially enjoyed the moment they reflected on doing what they've done (don't forget it was Daniel that got the 'gate to work originally), and how they'll never get the recognition they truly deserve. That's the kind of stuff you want to see in a long-running franchise because that would be the reality.

Something else helping to raise the episode above the usual fun but derivative sci-fi was when Todd is confronted by Keller about whether he really wants his people to lose their dependence on human meat - he muses what will become of them and what will they do, and it's a valid point since their feeding is largely what motivates them, so to remove that throws all kinds of scary possibilities out and a very uncertain future. The big questions aren't usually the kind of thing this or its sibling series' dealt with so I was glad the issue was raised. I suppose I can understand Todd's jumping to conclusions in the destruction of two of his ships, too, though it seemed obvious from the fact that Wolsey was so set on leaving Sheppard behind so he could carry out the negotiation since he felt he had less 'baggage,' that trust was going to come into play somehow. The reality is that Sheppard had been through a few things with Todd, and Teyla too, so they would have been better choices to attend to provide continuity, but although it hasn't happened anywhere near as much as might have been expected, Wolsey's adherence to protocol above all else is the cause of things going wrong: I'm sure Sheppard and Teyla would have at least given Todd pause for thought, but with their absence as well it does look more suspicious.

The strange, armoured aliens, whatever they are, who make a heist on the newly discovered Janus lab, reminded me of the aliens in an early 'DS9' episode ('Captive Pursuit'), who make short work of that station's defences and are difficult to subdue. The same happens here, except these guys get what they came for, including McKay and Daniel and our team are unable to force entry to the man down they leave behind - could it be that the suit is robotic as Sheppard suggested, or could it even be something like a remote controlled device that the real culprits are operating from afar? I didn't expect to have to wait to find out! I was enjoying the story for all the stuff they were throwing in, everyone was getting something to do (except Teyla of course, who is just there with a weapon and is ordered to evacuate to the edge of the city), and it was quite a shock when the 'gate is going to explode, a really fast-acting threat. Zelenka may be the B-team when it comes to brain power, and McKay doesn't let him forget it, but he's still an invaluable fallback if Rodney's not around and seemed to be acquitting himself well until that fateful explosion. I can't believe they'd kill off Sheppard before the series ends so there must have been some escape somehow. Surely... The important thing is I can't wait to find out!

***