Rewatch: First Contact

[twinsarein]

Rodney McKay and a visiting Daniel Jackson find a long lost room in Atlantis that served as a laboratory for the Ancients. Their entry into the room triggers a signal however and the city is soon invaded by an unknown race who steal a device from the lab and kidnap McKay and Jackson. The device is a powerful weapon that will destroy any Wraith ship

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[helenkacan]

Back on Hoth, Rodney's ready to activate the device, though Daniel tries to talk him out of it. But Rodney reminds him that, after they kill Daniel, they'll kill Rodney as well, so wouldn't it be better if neither of them gets killed at all? Rodney does his thing. Remarkably, they're still alive with no side-effects.

Oops, spoke too soon. On the Daedalus, Todd gets a private communication which he takes on the Bridge. But when one of his two support ships enters a hyperspace window, it's disintegrated. Todd is furious and wants to know how they did that, then adds that it was their plan to trick him using the "Attero" device. Of course, Richard denies everything.

So, Todd's retaliatory move is also EXTREMELY deus ex machina. He just happened to bring with him a portable stun weapon in his sleeves that he can activate in seconds.

Anyway, he learns that other Wraith ships have been destroyed, so he's decided to take the Daedalus.

Elsewhere Ronon is surprised by four Wraith appearing before him, but luckily - no kidding - their backs are to him. So he backs away and then goes to the lab where Jennifer is working. He doesn't answer her question about what's going on, just says they need to get to the Armoury and her a gun. Well, Todd makes it hard for people to move about as he activates Emergency Lockdown controls.

Back on Hoth, Rodney figures it's been ten minutes since he activated the device. But then he finds a log entry telling them what the side-effect is. While he and Daniel may be safe, the rest of the galaxy isn't. So he starts to shut the device down but is interrupted by an alien. Who shoots Rodney and then Daniel. I guess they were being monitored by a remote camera.

On Atlantis, Radek's tinkered with the 'jumper John, Teyla and the marines are planning to use to rescue their missing scientists. After he runs down the stairs, Radek orders the gate dialled but gets a surprise on his computer screen. Chuck confirms there's a power spike in the event horizon. Uh-oh. There's going to be a huge explosion, like a dozen nuclear explosions. There's nowhere they can evacuate in the time. Like 90 seconds? Or closer to 60. So here John gets to earn his Mensa status as he suggests collapsing the city's shield around the gate to contain the explosion. It works, just in time (naturally) but there's not enough power to divert to keep the shield up. It needs to stay up for at least a minute, but they don't have a minute, only seconds. John orders everyone escept for him and Radek to evacuate. That includes a very unhappy Teyla, but she goes.

Then, after Radek says it wasn't enough, we get the outside view from a distance, seeing a lurid orange-yellow glow from inside the Control Room just before all the windows there are blown out. And, of course, the screen is filled with the three most nerve-wracking words, "TO BE CONTINUED". Arrgghh.