SGA 5x02 "The Seed" Talkback (Spoilers)

[JME2]

The clone of Dr. Carson Beckett is removed from stasis because he's the only one who can take action to figure a way out of a serious dilemma before it's too late for some of his close friends.

***

Didn't see a thread up for last night's episode, so here we go.

Well, not a bad episode per se, but really average IMHO. Woolsey as base commander has potential as this episode demonstrates, but so did Carter, so we'll see how it turns out.

3/5

[Atavarius]

1/5 and thats only because I like Picardo and McGillion.


This has to be like the 47th "oh noez, a new pathogen is threatening the whole base doodz".

Organic tech wank, although I know its been used in the series since day one still annoys the hell out of me.

All the damage and shit from the tendrils will be "voyager reset buttoned" out by next week.

I'd complain some more but honestly this ep really didn't hold my attention.

Stargate: Voyager continues.

[Timotheus]

The clone of Dr. Carson Beckett is removed from stasis because he's the only one who can take action to figure a way out of a serious dilemma before it's too late for some of his close friends.

***

Didn't see a thread up for last night's episode, so here we go.

Well, not a bad episode per se, but really average IMHO. Woolsey as base commander has potential as this episode demonstrates, but so did Carter, so we'll see how it turns out.

3/5

So who wrote line you have in boldface because it in no way describes the episode. Carson was taken out of freeze because they thought they had a cure. Further he was taken out of freeze before anyone knew about the alien infection. Finally the only reason why he led the effort to stop it was because the actual resident doctor was taken over by the virus.

Beyond that the episode was rather middle of the road filler fluff. Looks like the CO isnt going to be all stiff-necked by the book.

I am going to get annoyed to no end though if every other time someone farts we hear Mr. Woolsey yelling "I need to talk to the IOC!!!!!"

[PREDATOR490]

The issue of how the Wraith built their fleets has been something they left way too late and this episode's explanation is pushing it to me.
A single person can be turned into a Wraith Hive ship and this episode would suggest they possess some sort of intelligence. The Explosive Tumour Generator the Ancients devised suddenly seems a bit more understandable when the Wraith could literally turn people into warships. I presume this explains why the Wraith built such a massive force so quickly against the Ancients. They spawned an army of clones then turned them all into ships...

As for the characters, I liked Picardo's performance but it is essentially what I expected. Woolsey wants to follow the rules to the letter and only broke them due to the demands of the situation. Hence, I fully expect the season to be a combination of forced situations where we see Woolsey bend the rules then watch him be a prick the rest of the time.

Overall, the episode remains fairly unremarkable to me and rather unfufilling. The episode wasnt all that good either for banter between characters and I get the feeling Woolsey is going to be a severe dampner on any decent drama while he continues to be a stuffy pen pusher.

[Netko]

The episode had a very blatant feel of a "rearrange the deckchairs" structural episode (Woolsey becoming commander, showing that he isn't wholly "by the book" since that character trait wouldn't work in his new role within the series structure, Beckett getting treated and shipped off into recurring land), and whats worse, the main story mashed on the reset button with a sledgehammer:

"Oh, hi Sheppard! Sucks to be you, what with the spike through the gut - it will sure take some time for you to recuperate. Oh, by the way, you know how my entire skin actually grew those spikes and tons of gross alien leather? Yeah, it all good - I'm back to my cute self within a day, and look - no scarring or nasty alien flesh remnants - even though they essentially had to cut me out of a cocoon made out of alien flesh that grew out from me!"

[Argosh]

He-heh, tentacles.

Also, Atavarius, cute avatar.

[[R_H]]

What's with the red, blue and yellow on the shoulders of the jumpsuits? Looks a lot like Starfleet uniforms to me.

[NecronLord]

What's with the red, blue and yellow on the shoulders of the jumpsuits? Looks a lot like Starfleet uniforms to me.

They've had those colours for on-base jackets since season one. It may even be ST inspired, in-universe.

[Stargate Nerd]

Ugh worst episode yet.

There was so much wrong with this episode I don't even know where to begin.
- what's with that phage stuff Beckett just got out of nowhere? why is Michael creating virii designed at stopping Wraith ship production? and how did Beckett get his hands on it?
- so assuming 10,000 years ago the cloned wraith were all turned into bio ships, where did the wraith get all that energy from? the two ZPMs they stole?
- how does one little human have enough "biomass" to turn into a wraith cruiser or better yet a hive ship?
- if making ship is so easy why aren't the wraith replacing some of the hive ship losses? seems easy enough.
- ok how did keller get infected with this stuff? and why was michael spreading ship creation pathogens over the planet where teyla was going to have her baby? or was her son supposed to become a space ship?
- why did sheppard have to be such a cornball when talking to woolsey at the end?

*sigh*

[PREDATOR490]

I believe the idea was that people form the 'intelligence' aspect of the ship but it gets resources from the surrounding environment. Although, following that idea would mean each Hive ship can be substantially different because of where it was 'raised'.

Unfortunatly this episode would indicate the ship can mentally fuck with the host and possibly even use their memories which brings up a really major problem in the Ancient war. If the Wraith were to turn an Ancient into a warship then would'nt this thing have databanks full of Ancient technology or possess different abilities ?

[Anarchist Bunny]

Ugh worst episode yet.

There was so much wrong with this episode I don't even know where to begin.
- what's with that phage stuff Beckett just got out of nowhere? why is Michael creating virii designed at stopping Wraith ship production? and how did Beckett get his hands on it?

Michael was planning on wiping out the Wraith too. And while we know where Beckett found out about the Phage, how the hell did he recreate a virus is a plot hole.

- so assuming 10,000 years ago the cloned wraith were all turned into bio ships, where did the wraith get all that energy from? the two ZPMs they stole?

There were probably a lot more ZPMs in those days. Besides the tentacles didn't just grow from power from the ZPM, they stated that it was consuming the building as i grew as well. Maybe they just dumped several dozen infected hosts onto one of the many rich life filled planets in the Galaxy with a stolen ZPM and it used the energy of the ZPM, as well as the resources of the planet, to grow Hiveships.

- how does one little human have enough "biomass" to turn into a wraith cruiser or better yet a hive ship?

Stated above.

- if making ship is so easy why aren't the wraith replacing some of the hive ship losses? seems easy enough.

We don't explicitly know they aren't, however with out the massive energy output of a ZPM it may take considerable time.

- ok how did keller get infected with this stuff? and why was michael spreading ship creation pathogens over the planet where teyla was going to have her baby? or was her son supposed to become a space ship?

Hello? The lab building that imploded? Haven't you ever played a Resident Evil game?

- why did sheppard have to be such a cornball when talking to woolsey at the end?

*sigh*

Cause he, much like we, are stuck with Woolsey until he leaves or Robert Picardo makes him into someone we can like.

Not saying it was a great episode, I think 3/5 is pretty fair. But not the abortion your misconceiving it to be.

[[R_H]]

They've had those colours for on-base jackets since season one. It may even be ST inspired, in-universe.

Really? I only noticed them in this episode.

What I don't understand about the whole "grow the ship" biowank is that eventually you would need scaffolding or something to shape the hull. And if it was using material from around itself, why weren't there any holes etc. in the interior of the building? Wouldn't it's growth be restrict by the form and materials of its surroundings (if grown in an urban environment like Atlantis).

The hive ships being grown like that really killed it for me.

[Revy]

3/5 - not bad, I quite liked it. Not fantastic or anything, it felt like yet another filler, but I've seen much worse scifi than this lately (Stargate Continuum and Who, Journeys End to name a few). The ending seemed a bit wonky, but meh. Woolsey I quite liked as well, except for his self doubt at the end. He generally seemed competant and like a realistic 'boss' - I liked the briefing bit when he was like 'Well you have a soloution, problems not gonna fix itself, so either go for it or get back to work, kay?'.

I'm so-so about this new season so far. Too early to say one way or the other IMO. So far it hasn't been fantastic, but hasn't been terrible. It could go anywhich way I think. Still, looking forward to some of the stuff that's rumoured to be turning up this year for the show. Fingers crossed they don't screw it up.

[Timotheus]

They've had those colours for on-base jackets since season one. It may even be ST inspired, in-universe.

Really? I only noticed them in this episode.

What I don't understand about the whole "grow the ship" biowank is that eventually you would need scaffolding or something to shape the hull. And if it was using material from around itself, why weren't there any holes etc. in the interior of the building? Wouldn't it's growth be restrict by the form and materials of its surroundings (if grown in an urban environment like Atlantis).

The hive ships being grown like that really killed it for me.

As a small defense for the episode the virus was not intended for use this way. I doubt the Wraith used their ship growing ability as a weapon so odds are when they did use it they used it within prepared facilities.

[NecronLord]

Really? I only noticed them in this episode.

Colour coding!

What I don't understand about the whole "grow the ship" biowank is that eventually you would need scaffolding or something to shape the hull. And if it was using material from around itself, why weren't there any holes etc. in the interior of the building? Wouldn't it's growth be restrict by the form and materials of its surroundings (if grown in an urban environment like Atlantis).

I'm pretty sure in the later stages, it was meant to be growing right out of the building. And yeah, it'd need some kind of framework, but I'd assume that the thing was actually going to first gain power and material.

Remember, it seemed stupid here, but we weren't seeing it in ideal conditions, at all. Presumably the wraith would 'plant' these using some seed creature, in areas where heavy metals, naquadah, and geothermal power were abundant, as opposed to in a bed in a building.

[Stargate Nerd]

Michael was planning on wiping out the Wraith too. And while we know where Beckett found out about the Phage, how the hell did he recreate a virus is a plot hole.

Even if the fact that he presumably managed to do so in such a short time irks me. The future flashes from the last season made it seem like Michael was TAKING over Wraith ships too.

There were probably a lot more ZPMs in those days. Besides the tentacles didn't just grow from power from the ZPM, they stated that it was consuming the building as i grew as well. Maybe they just dumped several dozen infected hosts onto one of the many rich life filled planets in the Galaxy with a stolen ZPM and it used the energy of the ZPM, as well as the resources of the planet, to grow Hiveships.

I think Todd stated that the Wraith stole only two ZPMs.

I didn't hear anything about the tentacles consuming the building, but Zelenka and McKay both made a fuss about the tentacles spreading towards power sources.

We don't explicitly know they aren't, however with out the massive energy output of a ZPM it may take considerable time.

True.

Hello? The lab building that imploded? Haven't you ever played a Resident Evil game?

True again.

Cause he, much like we, are stuck with Woolsey until he leaves or Robert Picardo makes him into someone we can like.

I actually meant the lines given to Sheppard by the writers. Shit like "welcome to Pegasus where we break the rules". Ugh.

[JME2]

So who wrote line you have in boldface because it in no way describes the episode.

I took it from the Wikipedia list of Season 5 episodes; I'll stick with Gateworld from now on; sorry.