SGA Re-watch No. 4
SGA Re-watch Masterlist
Episode Summary: Underground
Note: Taken from Stargate Wiki, original post here.
With Atlantis' rations dwindling and the crops on the mainland months away from being established, Dr. Elizabeth Weir concentrates her efforts on trading with other worlds for food.
Weir: We're still months away from producing successful crops on the mainland. And we're heading towards a food shortage.
McKay: I know, it's getting desperate. I'm almost out of coffee.
Sheppard: Well, maybe you should stop drinking eleven cups a day.
McKay: I'm just making sure I get my fair share before it's all gone.
Ford: Sounds fair.
Maj. John Sheppard feels they should be looking for allies against the Wraith, but he goes on a trading mission with Dr. Rodney McKay, Lt. Aiden Ford and Teyla ― who introduces them to the Genii, a simple farming people. Though the Genii have traded for years with Teyla's people, the Athosians, they are wary of Sheppard and the others.
McKay: Maybe we should offer a sense of humor in trade.
Sheppard: Sure. They can have yours.
McKay: *fake laughs* Oh please, my side, you slay me.
Cowen, their leader, is tempted by the medicine the Atlantis team offers, but he wants more, claiming that more land will have to be cleared of tree stumps before the Genii can replant enough crops to replace their stores ― a task that will take an enormous amount of time. Sheppard blows up a tree stump with a small C-4 plastic-explosive charge: Problem solved. But now Cowen wants the C-4 and the medicine.
Cowen: Teyla, thank you for bringing us these new trading partners. Please, stay as our guests. There will be a harvest ceremony later.
Teyla: Wonderful.
Sheppard: Ford?
Ford: Sir.
Sheppard: We're talkin' harvest ceremony.
Ford: Sounds like fun, sir.
Teyla and Ford remain behind for the Genii's "harvest ceremony" while Sheppard and McKay fly their puddle jumper through the Stargate back to Atlantis, where Weir reluctantly approves Sheppard's request to form a pact with the Genii.
Weir: Explosives? This is a scientific expedition, Major.
Sheppard: I know that.
Weir: But you want us to become arms dealers.
Sheppard: Have you ever tried to clear a stump by hand?
Weir: Yes, it's a hobby.
Upon returning to the Genii planet, McKay picks up radioactive readings ― quite unusual for an agrarian world. He and Sheppard follow the readings to a metal hatchway that leads to an underground bunker ― and to an amazing underground city, where they are intercepted by Cowen (who now wears a uniform instead of farming clothes) and heavily armed Genii soldiers.
McKay: You have no idea which way to go, do you?
Sheppard: I'm just trying to get my bearings.
McKay: Translation: I'm lost. They were very clear which route to take.
Sheppard: I prefer a straight line.
McKay: Of course, 'cause everything's a shortcut in Sheppard's world.
Normally, Sheppard and McKay would have been killed for discovering the Genii's secret ― that they pretend to be primitive farmers to avert suspicion while they prepare to resist the next Wraith culling. But Cowen is curious about just how much more helpful information he can extract from the Atlantis personnel.
Sheppard goes out on a limb and asks if the Genii would like to have allies against the Wraith. Cowen is intrigued. McKay has, by now, figured out that the Genii are working on a nuclear bomb with which to counterattack the Wraith, and that they need the Atlantis team's C-4 to complete their atomic trigger. McKay says he can help them.
Dr. McKay: You do realise that long term exposure to these levels of radiation is extremely dangerous?
Cowen: Our scientists tell me otherwise.
Dr. McKay: Well, they're wrong.
Maj. Sheppard: [nervously] Are we in danger now?
Dr. McKay: Oh, it would take days or weeks at these levels of radiation -- but I assume the Genii spend days or weeks down here?
Cowen: Many of our people have spent their entire lives here.
Dr. McKay: Their entire short lives. [To John] We'll be fine - just as long as you weren't planning on having children.
Suddenly, Sheppard and his team are no longer prisoners; they are ushered into the Genii's great meeting room, where Teyla and Ford have also been brought. Cowen explains how, before the next culling ― which the Genii think won't happen for a few more decades ― the Genii will locate the Wraith's hive ships and destroy them with nukes while they hibernate. Before he can go on, Teyla and Sheppard drop their own "bomb" ― the Wraith are already awake, and Atlantis is to blame. Cowen's mood turns sour again, but Sheppard tells him they have weapons beyond the Genii's imagination, as well as a space ship. If they work together, they can beat the Wraith.
Cowen is convinced and lets the Atlanteans in on the Genii's master plan: They have salvaged, from a downed Wraith Dart during the last culling, a Wraith data-storage device that contains information about the hive ship from which it was deployed. One of their scientists, Tyrus, has used it to find the 'gate address where a hive ship still sleeps. The plan is to sneak aboard the ship and download data containing the whereabouts of the other Wraith ships, which the Genii will later destroy with their nuclear arsenal.
Back at Atlantis, Weir responds to the plan with a resounding "No!" Sheppard and Ford calmly lay out the reasoning behind it, and she eventually agrees to an intelligence-gathering mission only.
Weir: Oh, well, it is. Personally I stop short of offering nuclear weapons.
Ford: They were building them anyways.
Weir: Oh, if they were building them anyways, Lieutenant, why didn't you just say so? You realize I originally sent you out for food?
Sheppard: I think we can still get that.
Ford: I don't see why not.
Sheppard: We kinda passed it with the whole atomic bomb thing.
Sheppard and team take Cowen and Tyrus to the Wraith target. Deep inside the Wraith hive ship, they find humans cocooned for future Wraith feedings. Teyla wants to save them. Tyrus refuses on the grounds they can't risk awakening this ship's Wraith. When she tries anyway, Tyrus shoots one of the cocooned humans.
Wraith guards come and shoot Tyrus in return. Cowen, Sheppard and McKay successfully download the data they need, then rendezvous with Teyla ― who gives them the news about Tyrus as they head back to the Genii planet.
There, Cowen and his men converge on Sheppard's team. Cowen wants the intel and the jumper ― or else. Sheppard, who suspected Cowen would pull something like this, orders two cloaked jumpers that have been hiding overhead to decloak and fire on his command. He takes back the download device from Cowen and returns to Atlantis.
Cowen: You do not want to make an enemy of the Genii.
Sheppard: Know what? Same here.
Though Sheppard has failed to make an ally of the Genii, the data they obtained reveals valuable information: There are more than 60 Wraith hive ships, and possibly many others. Sheppard and Weir can only hope they don't all attack Atlantis at once....
Me no meta, me just ranting
1) Watching this episode the first time, I was totally fooled by the Genii's 'we're simple farmers' act - now, whenever someone says something that amounts to the same, I inwardly cringe ^-^” Talk about dedicated and successful camouflage! There they are, sitting on an underground bunker and having - so far - the most advanced technology/weapon's of all the people in the Pegasus Galaxy and they fool all visitors and the Wraith (!) into believing that they are simple farmers...
The problem with that is that their deception is so perfect, it's uncanny; I always see the Genii as the humans evil twins, and, considering I know what humans do to each other (I'm not fooling myself that we are the 'better men' in RL or within SGA), that's saying something, that their coldblooded behavior gives me the creeps *shudders* But I love how the show explores different strategies for survival that the people developed over time, faced with the constant threat through the Wraith as they are - this is totally different to what we saw in “Childhood's End.”
2) I think this must be the episode that started it all, fandom-wise: harvest ceremony. Not only have Teyla and Ford to suffer through it, no, within the fandom, it has become a well liked staple that the SGA team sets out to explore new worlds and inevitably ends up having to partake in some kind of ceremony that usually ends with someone accidentally married or human sacrifices - or Shep & Co. simply getting smashed ^.^”
3) Is it just me, or do the people in the Pegasus Galaxy often suffer from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder? After the Genii, it seems to happen all the damn time...
4) 'Radioactive readings on an Amish world' indeed, yet many fans online complained about John and Rodney snooping around and getting on the Genii's bad side in the progress. But who wouldn't have gone down the hatch to investigate? We all know that radiation is dangerous, and if it is leaking to such a degree that the scanner can pick it up topside... Besides, at that point in time, Rodney and John still think the Genii are simple farmers, so maybe they don't even know that they are exposed to it and should be warned... I just think that our boys had very good reasons to go down there.
5) John's lack of sense of orientation is hilarious! XD I love him so much for it! Guess the world looks really totally different to a pilot from above *snerk* Rodney, on the other hand *facepalm* As soon as his scientific interest is piqued and he starts techno-babbling, there's no stopping him. I'm just glad that John was there to ask vital questions - like 'are we still prisoner's or allies?' - otherwise Rodney might have gone and built them the whole A-bomb just to prove that he can do it.
Episode Summary: Underground
Note: Taken from Stargate Wiki, original post here.
With Atlantis' rations dwindling and the crops on the mainland months away from being established, Dr. Elizabeth Weir concentrates her efforts on trading with other worlds for food.
Weir: We're still months away from producing successful crops on the mainland. And we're heading towards a food shortage.
McKay: I know, it's getting desperate. I'm almost out of coffee.
Sheppard: Well, maybe you should stop drinking eleven cups a day.
McKay: I'm just making sure I get my fair share before it's all gone.
Ford: Sounds fair.
Maj. John Sheppard feels they should be looking for allies against the Wraith, but he goes on a trading mission with Dr. Rodney McKay, Lt. Aiden Ford and Teyla ― who introduces them to the Genii, a simple farming people. Though the Genii have traded for years with Teyla's people, the Athosians, they are wary of Sheppard and the others.
McKay: Maybe we should offer a sense of humor in trade.
Sheppard: Sure. They can have yours.
McKay: *fake laughs* Oh please, my side, you slay me.
Cowen, their leader, is tempted by the medicine the Atlantis team offers, but he wants more, claiming that more land will have to be cleared of tree stumps before the Genii can replant enough crops to replace their stores ― a task that will take an enormous amount of time. Sheppard blows up a tree stump with a small C-4 plastic-explosive charge: Problem solved. But now Cowen wants the C-4 and the medicine.
Cowen: Teyla, thank you for bringing us these new trading partners. Please, stay as our guests. There will be a harvest ceremony later.
Teyla: Wonderful.
Sheppard: Ford?
Ford: Sir.
Sheppard: We're talkin' harvest ceremony.
Ford: Sounds like fun, sir.
Teyla and Ford remain behind for the Genii's "harvest ceremony" while Sheppard and McKay fly their puddle jumper through the Stargate back to Atlantis, where Weir reluctantly approves Sheppard's request to form a pact with the Genii.
Weir: Explosives? This is a scientific expedition, Major.
Sheppard: I know that.
Weir: But you want us to become arms dealers.
Sheppard: Have you ever tried to clear a stump by hand?
Weir: Yes, it's a hobby.
Upon returning to the Genii planet, McKay picks up radioactive readings ― quite unusual for an agrarian world. He and Sheppard follow the readings to a metal hatchway that leads to an underground bunker ― and to an amazing underground city, where they are intercepted by Cowen (who now wears a uniform instead of farming clothes) and heavily armed Genii soldiers.
McKay: You have no idea which way to go, do you?
Sheppard: I'm just trying to get my bearings.
McKay: Translation: I'm lost. They were very clear which route to take.
Sheppard: I prefer a straight line.
McKay: Of course, 'cause everything's a shortcut in Sheppard's world.
Normally, Sheppard and McKay would have been killed for discovering the Genii's secret ― that they pretend to be primitive farmers to avert suspicion while they prepare to resist the next Wraith culling. But Cowen is curious about just how much more helpful information he can extract from the Atlantis personnel.
Sheppard goes out on a limb and asks if the Genii would like to have allies against the Wraith. Cowen is intrigued. McKay has, by now, figured out that the Genii are working on a nuclear bomb with which to counterattack the Wraith, and that they need the Atlantis team's C-4 to complete their atomic trigger. McKay says he can help them.
Dr. McKay: You do realise that long term exposure to these levels of radiation is extremely dangerous?
Cowen: Our scientists tell me otherwise.
Dr. McKay: Well, they're wrong.
Maj. Sheppard: [nervously] Are we in danger now?
Dr. McKay: Oh, it would take days or weeks at these levels of radiation -- but I assume the Genii spend days or weeks down here?
Cowen: Many of our people have spent their entire lives here.
Dr. McKay: Their entire short lives. [To John] We'll be fine - just as long as you weren't planning on having children.
Suddenly, Sheppard and his team are no longer prisoners; they are ushered into the Genii's great meeting room, where Teyla and Ford have also been brought. Cowen explains how, before the next culling ― which the Genii think won't happen for a few more decades ― the Genii will locate the Wraith's hive ships and destroy them with nukes while they hibernate. Before he can go on, Teyla and Sheppard drop their own "bomb" ― the Wraith are already awake, and Atlantis is to blame. Cowen's mood turns sour again, but Sheppard tells him they have weapons beyond the Genii's imagination, as well as a space ship. If they work together, they can beat the Wraith.
Cowen is convinced and lets the Atlanteans in on the Genii's master plan: They have salvaged, from a downed Wraith Dart during the last culling, a Wraith data-storage device that contains information about the hive ship from which it was deployed. One of their scientists, Tyrus, has used it to find the 'gate address where a hive ship still sleeps. The plan is to sneak aboard the ship and download data containing the whereabouts of the other Wraith ships, which the Genii will later destroy with their nuclear arsenal.
Back at Atlantis, Weir responds to the plan with a resounding "No!" Sheppard and Ford calmly lay out the reasoning behind it, and she eventually agrees to an intelligence-gathering mission only.
Weir: Oh, well, it is. Personally I stop short of offering nuclear weapons.
Ford: They were building them anyways.
Weir: Oh, if they were building them anyways, Lieutenant, why didn't you just say so? You realize I originally sent you out for food?
Sheppard: I think we can still get that.
Ford: I don't see why not.
Sheppard: We kinda passed it with the whole atomic bomb thing.
Sheppard and team take Cowen and Tyrus to the Wraith target. Deep inside the Wraith hive ship, they find humans cocooned for future Wraith feedings. Teyla wants to save them. Tyrus refuses on the grounds they can't risk awakening this ship's Wraith. When she tries anyway, Tyrus shoots one of the cocooned humans.
Wraith guards come and shoot Tyrus in return. Cowen, Sheppard and McKay successfully download the data they need, then rendezvous with Teyla ― who gives them the news about Tyrus as they head back to the Genii planet.
There, Cowen and his men converge on Sheppard's team. Cowen wants the intel and the jumper ― or else. Sheppard, who suspected Cowen would pull something like this, orders two cloaked jumpers that have been hiding overhead to decloak and fire on his command. He takes back the download device from Cowen and returns to Atlantis.
Cowen: You do not want to make an enemy of the Genii.
Sheppard: Know what? Same here.
Though Sheppard has failed to make an ally of the Genii, the data they obtained reveals valuable information: There are more than 60 Wraith hive ships, and possibly many others. Sheppard and Weir can only hope they don't all attack Atlantis at once....
Me no meta, me just ranting
1) Watching this episode the first time, I was totally fooled by the Genii's 'we're simple farmers' act - now, whenever someone says something that amounts to the same, I inwardly cringe ^-^” Talk about dedicated and successful camouflage! There they are, sitting on an underground bunker and having - so far - the most advanced technology/weapon's of all the people in the Pegasus Galaxy and they fool all visitors and the Wraith (!) into believing that they are simple farmers...
The problem with that is that their deception is so perfect, it's uncanny; I always see the Genii as the humans evil twins, and, considering I know what humans do to each other (I'm not fooling myself that we are the 'better men' in RL or within SGA), that's saying something, that their coldblooded behavior gives me the creeps *shudders* But I love how the show explores different strategies for survival that the people developed over time, faced with the constant threat through the Wraith as they are - this is totally different to what we saw in “Childhood's End.”
2) I think this must be the episode that started it all, fandom-wise: harvest ceremony. Not only have Teyla and Ford to suffer through it, no, within the fandom, it has become a well liked staple that the SGA team sets out to explore new worlds and inevitably ends up having to partake in some kind of ceremony that usually ends with someone accidentally married or human sacrifices - or Shep & Co. simply getting smashed ^.^”
3) Is it just me, or do the people in the Pegasus Galaxy often suffer from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder? After the Genii, it seems to happen all the damn time...
4) 'Radioactive readings on an Amish world' indeed, yet many fans online complained about John and Rodney snooping around and getting on the Genii's bad side in the progress. But who wouldn't have gone down the hatch to investigate? We all know that radiation is dangerous, and if it is leaking to such a degree that the scanner can pick it up topside... Besides, at that point in time, Rodney and John still think the Genii are simple farmers, so maybe they don't even know that they are exposed to it and should be warned... I just think that our boys had very good reasons to go down there.
5) John's lack of sense of orientation is hilarious! XD I love him so much for it! Guess the world looks really totally different to a pilot from above *snerk* Rodney, on the other hand *facepalm* As soon as his scientific interest is piqued and he starts techno-babbling, there's no stopping him. I'm just glad that John was there to ask vital questions - like 'are we still prisoner's or allies?' - otherwise Rodney might have gone and built them the whole A-bomb just to prove that he can do it.