TFMF Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Update: Poll attached. Discuss the latest episode of Stargate Atlantis. [3x15 - The Game] This thread may contain spoilers so don't read any further unless you have watched the episode or if you are comfortable seeing what the episode is about. Vote on how good you thought this episode was. Do not vote untill you have watched this episode. Before the episode airs or before you have seen the episode you can also use this thread to discuss rumours, spoilers and your hopes for what this episode will be about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mrthumps Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 I thought it was a good episode and my vote reflects that. It was really funny how Rodney and Sheppard kept sniping at each other even after they were told it's no longer a game. "That's because you cheated!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurion Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Great episode! No Wraith, Asuran etc., but great nonetheless. I cracked up when the team entered McKay's village and a bunch of "Carters" started popping up. Man, that was hilarious! So were the countless images of Rodney throughout the place. Sheppard and McKay ranting over the game was also very funny. Even funnier was how the representatives of the two peoples argued just like Sheppard and McKay do. This ep was definitely the best filler of the season so far. So the Lanteans were not bound to the no interference rule, huh? If you ask me, they pretty much acted like the Ori, posing as Gods and so on. What made them change their minds after ascension? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybrick Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 So the Lanteans were not bound to the no interference rule, huh? If you ask me, they pretty much acted like the Ori, posing as Gods and so on. A more appropiate comparison would be to the Asgard rather than the Ori, I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Ancients only did the non-interference thing when they ascended. Otherwise they wouldn't have seeded 3 galaxies with life. Weir irritates me more with each passing week - she's the stereotypically badly written strong woman. Her idea of negotiation is going "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" to people - she just seems redundant, unlike Hammond she never really adds anything like the "call to washington" or the like... she's playing a kind of supporting role but she's getting about as much screen time as a main characters. She's just a bore. Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable episode - I was kind of expecting the end to have Rodders and McKay give us an after school special on how to not abuse video games or some rubbish like that. To be honest though, they really dropped the ball on this one. They should have gone back to the computers, fixed it via playing the game and THEN come clean. Idiots... Still enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilander72 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 A silly episode, but still some enjoyable moments. Average. All I could think of was: "Restart", "End process", "Reboot" and "Uninstall". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurion Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 A more appropiate comparison would be to the Asgard rather than the Ori, I believe. I don't think so. The Asgards have protected worlds, but they let those worlds follow their on path. That was clearly not the case with the Lanteans. Indeed, they had all the tools in place to literally shape whole civilizations at their will. They could decide everything from clothing/hairstyle to scientific achievements, which is the sort of thing the Ori do. To be honest though, they really dropped the ball on this one. They should have gone back to the computers, fixed it via playing the game and THEN come clean. Idiots... I was thinking the same thing, but, you know, Weir is acting more and more like a famous (or infamous) Star Trek Captain always taking the moral high ground and so on, instead of focusing on fixing the immediate problems. When you come to think of it, introducing McKay and Sheppard to the people of those villages like that was the worst thing she could've ordered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybrick Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 A more appropiate comparison would be to the Asgard rather than the Ori, I believe. I don't think so. The Asgards have protected worlds, but they let those worlds follow their on path. That was clearly not the case with the Lanteans. Indeed, they had all the tools in place to literally shape whole civilizations at their will. They could decide everything from clothing/hairstyle to scientific achievements, which is the sort of thing the Ori do. But that was likely never the Ancient's intention. The Asgard had the capability to reshape whole civilizations as well, but didn't. The reshaping of the society on that planet was brought about by Sheppard's and MacKay's misunderstanding of what the technology was for. An advanced benevolent society like the Ancients would never interfere with the development of a lesser one to the extent that Sheppard and MacKay did when they thought it was nothing more than a game. I just don't see how consulting the Ancient Atlanteans via that machine is any different than consulting the Avatar of Thor in that early SG-1 episode with The Hammer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 I don't know, surely interference is interference and given the depth of the control options - it would seem strange to think that the Ancients made those just to mess around. The concept was interesting though but it was tackled in too typical a way to really explore the idea properly. Actually, you could probably make a pretty cool show based on the overall premise. I personally thought that the bit with Zulenka and ensign red shirt playing with the game was silly. Gave Weir a good opportunity to look like she was chewing a wasp again though. I certainly agree with the comparison of her moralising rather than problem solving. Why the hell is she still in charge anyway? All she does is go "I'll try and fix this with diplomacy! Oh, well - that didn't work. Rodney and/or Sheppard devise a plan to save the day." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybrick Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 I don't know, surely interference is interference and given the depth of the control options - it would seem strange to think that the Ancients made those just to mess around. The thing is here is that it all comes down to choice on the part of the inhabitants of the planet. They could choose to listen to "The Oracle", or not. That's a major key difference between the Ancients and the Ori. It's not like the machine was a mind control devise. It's the equivalent of us giving a cellphone to a tribe of Neanderthals. It isn't like the Ancients could just push a button and "will" things into existence. The changes had to be brought about physically by those people, and they had to do it willingly. As far as we've been shown, the machine didn't have a function to "smite them down" should they choose to disobey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurion Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Yes, but they did obey every "instruction" and treated McKay and Sheppard pretty much like Gods, just like the followers of the Ori do... Is choice that relevant when one starts receiving instructions from God, or the Oracle? Besides, most of the people from the Alteran Galaxy follow the teachings of the Ori voluntarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybrick Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Yes, freedom of choice is VERY relevant in drawing the distinction between Ori and other belief systems. Until the Ancients have been proven to destroy entire planets for not following their ways, you simply cannot compare the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFMF Posted December 20, 2006 Author Share Posted December 20, 2006 I gave this episode an Excellent rating. I just loved the whole idea of the game being real and the twist at the end (with the Deadalus creating the doomsday simulations to both villages) was just fantastic - i had no idea that was planned. Another funny episode as well with the whole McKay/Sheppard war and McKay having the woman similar to Carter. Interesting prospect for more of these villages roaming around the galaxy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybrick Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 A few more observations of mine: Yes, but they did obey every "instruction" and treated McKay and Sheppard pretty much like Gods, just like the followers of the Ori do... Is choice that relevant when one starts receiving instructions from God, or the Oracle? Besides, most of the people from the Alteran Galaxy follow the teachings of the Ori voluntarily. True, they all follow Ori religion voluntarily. That's because the Ori murdered all the people who wouldn't follow them voluntarily! The Ancients aren't "Gods" in the traditional sense, but they did seed the human race throughout several galaxies. As such, they are the true progenitors, or parents, of the human race. Isn't it the duty of every parent to look out for and guide their children? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurion Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 Look out, yes, control every aspect of your children's life, I don't think so... That's the sort of thing you would expect from the Ori, not the Ancients. Then again, maybe Sheppard and McKay did abuse the Ancient technology, as you suggested previously. In fact, if they knew the whole thing was real, they wouldn't mess up with the people from those villages like that. If simple humans wouldn't do it, one would expect an even more responsible approach from the Ancients, but who knows? Anyway, it'd be interesting to find out if these Ancient experiments were restricted to the Pegasus Galaxy, or also happened in the Milky Way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[MM] Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 A good ep I thought... .... but couldn't help thinking of the Trek TOS episode - A Taste of Armageddon. (where the initial premise was a war played out between two peoples on computer , and was solved by Kirk actually forcing the onset of "real war" to scare the two sides into peace talks....) Also spotted Daisy Adair from Dead Like Me playing the role of leader of the Geldar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tablet Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 This has to be my favourite ep to date, i just loved it so much that it was 'real' people being commanded by Rodney and Sheppard and how much they teated it like a really bad game of age of empires in the beginning. Oh i've watched far too much sg-1 recently, when the deadalus beamed up rodney i said "Asgards" lol speaking of asgards we havent seen Hermis since season 2 i think though he did get a mention last week ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 That'll be budget - Hermis is a puppet, so it's probably a pain to set him up and shoot him. This might actually have been a better episode if they'd mentioned the game before and we had seen the rivalry before and then we'd have all gone OMG IT WAS REAL! The premise was not really explored enough though, which was a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFMF Posted December 22, 2006 Author Share Posted December 22, 2006 This might actually have been a better episode if they'd mentioned the game before and we had seen the rivalry before and then we'd have all gone OMG IT WAS REAL! The premise was not really explored enough though, which was a shame. I'd have to agree. Having some kind of build up to this episode would have really helped make the idea funnier. Just a little scene once every few episode with Rodney and McKay playing the game in the previous episodes allowing us to see just how much time they'd put into it. I mean they'd apparently been playing this game for over 2 years, and yet the idea was used in 1 episode. Although, as i said before, the idea of more villages/towns/cities and even civilisations existing run under this kind of system, so we probably haven't seen the last of 'The Game'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subspatial Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 yeh i really loved this ep, although i agree with most that the ending could have been better, and it should have had references in preceding episodes. But as a massive Civ, C&C and Sims player i thought it was cool. Now if only they released that game on PC..... :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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