5.19: Sentinel

[Dave]

I'm surprised at the lack of posts too. Especially since there were lots of plot holes.

Originally posted by Brit Chick
Like how did the sentinel machine KNOW who the enemies were ? If it was a Thor's Hammer kind of deal then WHY was Teal'c not affected.

I hadn't thought about that. I just thought 'Goa'uld Mothership firing at the surface of the planet' would be identified as an enemy. But you are right because the Leader (forgot his name) seemed to expect it to attack all the Jaffa too, just for being there at all.

It is a good action-driven episode though!

 

[Brit Chick]

Yeah, it was the way that all the Jaffa in the Sentinel Cave were zapped out of existence (or transported somewhere), BUT the SG people, including Teal'c were left untouched.

I agree it would certainly see the mothership as a threat, but how did it define between Jaffa carrying weapons and SG personel carrying weapons

Having said that I did enjoy the action stuff - Teal'c was in his element there wasn't he !

I guess at least the renegage operative did the right thing at the end when he realised what he need to do - but wasn't he a right git in the flashbacks we saw - ooh nasty nasty

 

[crazypetealive]

ummm

my question is if Grieves worked the weapon just like the caretaker did then wouldn't he been alive still? The weapon worked with man and machine as they stated most likely Grieves identified which was friend or foe while it scanned the planet. I just wonder since the caretaker was always able to work it and never died then maybe Grieves was sent to another cave like thors hammer did and it also sent the jaffa to a underground prison or something.

 

[skydiver]

it's possible that teh sgc folks were spared because they were inside the force field. one thing we've often seen with 'superior' tech is peoples' absolute faith and trust in it. it may have been beyond their comprehension that an enemy could get inside teh field. and in the past 300 years noone has. the jaffa have never stayed on the planet long enough to find the cave and figure out the code.

was teh goauld's name sparak? (sound on squinty vision isn't always the best)

and danny got teh line of the week 'yeah, which end do the bullets go in again?'....had me rolling.

some folks have been less than enthusiastic about this one but i liked it. nice mix of action and personal drama...little jack whumping, moral dilemma of a sorts.

my one big question...they knew jaffa were around...why did they apparently make no effort to hide their tracks? i mean by now there isn't a jaffa in teh universe that wouldn't recognize the lug soles on army boots and know they're tau'ri

 

[ShelbyS]

How COOL were those missiles at the beginning that they shot through the Gate? That was totally awesome. They worked with the UAV to target Jaffa weapon locations. What a great invention. I wonder who thought of that one.

This ep had a good momentum to it. The continual action was great and it was good to see them off-world fighting Goa'ulds again. The focus seemed to be spread out over all of them, no one in particular was the feature SG1 character like it has been over the last few weeks.

Where was Clair Tobias? I though she was supposed to be in this ep? Instead we got grieves and that other woman, name started with a K but I can't remember it. I was looking forward to her and Sam being competitive.

I guess I have the same question as everyone else has already raised. Some things weren't pieced together very well. One other thing, what was the point of GH telling Tech Davis that grieves had shot 3 people with a weapon when he was escaping another planet? Was it supposed to let us know that the man is trigger happy or something? I didn't get that.

And lastly, what is it lately with these episodes all ending abruptly? The Jaffa disappear and then its the end. What happened next? SO many unanswered questions again. It's like they're trying to cram evrything and then realise they dont have enough time left so were just sort of left hanging there. It's getting annoying.

I agree with Sky, the line of the week definetly went to Danny.

 

[Anni]

LOL....... I would have posted my thoughts on this episode, but

1. I have been working until 9pm every night this week apart from the night the eppy was on

2. I was curious to see whether anyone else would post any thoughts, because for the last two to three eppys, it's been me that's put down what I felt and did a sort of review.

I have noticed that generally until you get people like Dave or Sky posting, the only comments which happen are things like.....

RDA is KEWL! (Is it just me or does the lack of spelling/grammatical ability in a lot of postings get up anyone else's nose?) or Didn't 'x' look hot in that episode..... or even worse the constant gushing about how the show, writers, producers etc can't do anything wrong, all episodes are wonderful etc etc blah blah.....

This episode had more plotholes in it than plot. I did notice that the M & M's were supervising producers though, which didn't give me a great deal of heart, since anything they do switches me right off. Like Shelby I totally agree that they are trying to stuff too much into episodes. The episodes are not clean cut. Half the time I spend it trying to figure out just why they're doing what they're doing and why they're doing it. Did anyone else buy the line about that young SG9 member being 'passed by' by the Jaffa because he was out for the count?

Either the Jaffa are getting even more inept or this medication is affecting me more than I thought! Like they would pass by him and not check for a pulse, given the often repeated desire by the System Lords to capture a live member of those pesky Tau'ri. Come on! This is suspending disbelief to the 'n'th degree in my book!

I too didn't understand why Grieves died. However, I imagine it would be to satisfy the viewers desire to see justice done...... American style. After all, he had been a baddie before..... Revenge not justice is the name of the game especially in the current climate of the real world. Personally I would have thought that the real and very poetic justice would have been for Grieves to be tied forever to the machine he tried to sabotage in the first place.... having to live like a hermit and on a planet light years away from home... miles away from the nearest bar or steak house. But hell.... he'd have been alive and not on death row.

There is no way that the death sentence would have been commuted..... and Stargate couldn't be seen on screen to justify terrorist acts going unpunished. It wouldn't be politically correct in the current climate of the US war on terrorism and the relevant advisers for MGM would have stamped on any attempt to do so immediately in case it offended viewers. I know from my friend who is such an executive with that kind of role in the US movie business that this does for a fact happen, especially with shows like Stargate which often mirror real events.

All in all, one of the more dreary episodes, but hey.... you got lots of SG1 time, so don't complain. And Danny got a good line..... let's hear it for good old Danny. And Jack got to do a lot of pointless facial twitching in the very beginning when he interrupted Hammond with the relatively unimportant posturing over his mission report. Something that a professional soldier and high ranking officer would NEVER do, no matter how good a relationship he considered himself to have with his commanding officer and he certainly wouldn't do it in front of subordinates.

Methinks the USAF adviser was asleep when this eppy was being shot. Of course I do realise that the facial twitchings and childlike behaviour along with the sarcastic comments are what endears this character so to many of the fans..... but they are no substitute for real acting. Something which RDA has yet to achieve in my opinion.

So there you are...... my review...sort of. And better late than never. Am I the only one who tries to induce some thought provoking discussion on these episodes?

come on guys..... let me have it....both barrels, straight between the eyes! I'm a roughie toughie soldier, I can take it!


:evil: :evil:

Incidentally, I think that the name of the System Lord was Svarnog..... at least that's what I thought he said and someone on another list agreed. Maybe he's one of the non cannibalism clan of System Lord and therefore wasn't invited for munchies on the space station. Tch tch and him a nasty Goa'uld too. You'd think he'd at least go with the flow wouldn't you? What's with this younger generation these days?

 

[gategeek]

RDA is KEWL - just kidding anni
just saw this ep on squinty vision. i too thought the beginning was bizarre - did rda have gas or something?
my expectations are fairly low when it comes to stargate - it's mainly just an escape from reality for me and part of that is appreciating the scenery so i do have some sympathy for the "didn't character x look hot" set.
my husband is one of those ubergeek types who is constantly examining the philosophical nuances of EVERYthing but he doesn't like sci fi so stargate is my chance to be shallow
shanilka

 

[Anni]

ROTLMAO.......Hee hee...... yes, he looked exactly as though he wanted to let a huge one rip out! Or possibly he was constipated, that thought crossed my mind too! I'm kind halfway between you and your hubby Gategeek. I don't look for all the nuances, but I don't have low expectations of the show either. However, although I can sympathise and totally understand your viewpoint..... I find it really sad that the show seems to be unable to inspire more than this, especially since it started out so promisingly.

I find it sad that it has denigrated itself to the point where enjoying the eye candy view and criticising the plot or lack of it is the only thing that strikes the viewers. I like my Sci Fi or shows in the like, to be thought provoking and subjects for debate. If I wanted eye candy I would go and watch the plethora of shows which provide this..... For me, actors don't have to be blindingly good looking in order to attract my attention. They just have to be able to act and further my interest in the show they are acting in. Out of the Stargate actors I have met, the most charming and delightful one was Tony Amendola, and he is far from good looking.

 

[skydiver]

joe posted over on another forum that it was svarog, the slavic god of....something. <G> anyway he was at the summit. he was the blond late arrival wiht the woman slave. he was all dressed in black. i'd have to go back and watch for sure.
the slavic part makes sense because i thought the tattoos on his jaffa looked a lot like viking type dragon necks (i know vikings aren't totally slavic...but it's the right neck of the woods)

jack in the beginning did annoy me. he does anymore when he does his burping brain donor impression...but in the rest he actually was acting like i'd expect a colonel to act. you know, like he's smart enough to pour water out of his boot.

watch out for the ship fic from this one. anyone notice the parallel to upgrades? sam on one side of a force field, him on the other...one of them in mortal danger.

close enough to liven things up (although i don't think they will right now. since there is a season 6 then any ship resolution won't come for another year)

any guesses if marule is alive or if the jaffa toasted him? i know i've seen that actor before. anyone have any clues?

i read on another forum that kershaw used to be angie on FX which is where i thought i recognized her from.

i need to stick my SOG tape in and see if that control room shot really was there or not. i don't seem to remember it but i can't be sure.

i was also thinking, it's likely that grieves told the machine who to kill...but i also didn't get hammy's comment about the other planet. was it supposed to warn us that grieves was a cold-blooded sob? we already knew that by the way he treated the caretaker.

 

[Anni]

Ah yes...... I remember him. Looked like a tattooed blond biker type with blue markings on his cheeks and neck.

Yes, it was Jack at the beginning that irritated me too. But what irritates me more is that they have the character doing that and then behaving like a soldier as if to say. "Hey! Look guys, this colonel is a mean, tough guy who gets the job done, but is human too and can fool around!" I'd have more respect if they showed him in the officer's mess playing a hectic game of carpet bowls on his night off. (A typical officer's game played at Regimental Dinners which rapidly degenerates as the night wears on! I have seen some officers and SNCO's in quite some states during and after!).

Henry Gibson, who played Marule, is quite a well known character actor. But those old enough to remember Rowan and Martin's Laugh In would remember him from that. He always tends to play aggrieved ' put upon' little characters. But then he has that sort of face!

Oh yes.... the shippers will read much into the intense exchanges through the force field between St Sam and Paladin Jack!! All sorts of meaningful things will be construed, when in fact, all Sam was trying to do was communicate with Jack that there WAS a plan (of sorts).

This again was just a messy episode which desperately tried to tie together the loose ends of something which didn't actually need tying together in the first place. Strange how they seem to leave so many decent and promising unfinished storylines alone and try to bring together things which might well have been best left alone or that didn't really need any further clarification.

 

[skydiver]

aah laugh in. i remember him now. thanks.

nice to see grogan around. seems he may get shot all the time but keeps surviving it (he was the one in proving ground that kept getting shot.) nice little bit of continuity there

 

[ginner]

OK, time for my tuppence worth. Having watched this episode on Sky One on Wednesday I was a little disappointed with it. This could be partly to do with Sky ceasing to show two episodes back to back a week, but then I suppose that would only make the break until the next series longer. Is it being filmed yet? How are we expected to survive until, what will it be, October?

It started well, and I was greatly impressed by the missle system hooked to the gate. Though I figure they'll have it rigged to hold more than two next time.

The SG9 member being left unharmed was very suspicious, I was ex[ecting the whole Goau'ld host thing that we're growing used to to resurface again and his eyes to glow, but no.

I'm a little confused by the whole Tollen thing now. The Tollen were originally brought to Earth and relocated with relations to being too great between the SGC and them. They were then sent to another planet where Jack stole technology, but only as part of a plan to uncover Maybourne's covert operations. Then they were made to create the phasing weapons and eventually bombarded from space. Are they dead now? The intelligent, technologically advanced guys? Gone? Are we sure?

These guys on this planet that didn't know how the technology worked, are they Tollen too? Are they the only ones left? Or are there some extra bright Tollen somewhere else still?

I think the whole inside the forcefield explanation for why SG-1 didn't disappear is a good explanation. The way I get the whole man and machine relationship only those that threaten the caretaker are taken away in the light. I'm not sure that the caretaker isn't killed in the process and replaced each time by someone else. Though I don't think that he got on with Sg-1 all that well so they should probably have gone at the same time. And he had no problems with killing of the Tollen so why didn't they go? I think that would have been an interesting idea, as SG-1 would be left on an empty planet with all the technology left around so that they could investigate and backwards engineer it. Looking forwards to the next episode, we're towards the end of the series so there should be no more of this poorly thoughtout filler.

 

[skydiver]

there were no tollan in this. the planet was called latona. granted i watched it on squinty vision but i don't recall anything about the tollan.
and now that the sentinel is back in working order, it's likely that sg-1 just picked up kershaw's body and went home. their job here was done, and like jack said, them asking for tech would likely have gotten a no answer.
and if they go back to the city, then they'd have to admit that they fixed the device that they broke by murdering one of the citizens...and thus totally eliminate any chances of ever getting the sentinel. assuming marule is dead of course.

and they also run the risk of a ticked off populace. cutting and running seems the best course of action to me

 

[crazypetealive]

hehe

I swear I heard them say tollan but I figured out alter it wasen't them . they were pretty advanced like the tollan but stupid since they forgot how to use there tech . plus like the last post I had to squint to watch it.

 

[Jackers]

Originally posted by Anni

I too didn't understand why Grieves died.

Grieves didn't die did he?? I thought he just vanished like the rest of the baddies. Grieves would have been an enemy for what he did to the keeper person but Kershaw tried to help him so I think that's why she didnt disappear. Then again I could be wrong because I also had to squint to watch it!!!

 

[imported_Aphrodite]

Originally posted by Jackers


Then again I could be wrong because I also had to squint to watch it!!!

..Why did you guys have to squint? I watched it OK...

 

[skydiver]

downloads my dear. many of us are watching stargate on 2x2 bits of our computer monitors...which means the picutre is less than perfect adn the sound sometimes is too...but it's waaaaaayyyyy better than waiting until march to get new eps

 

[Dave]

Don't worry, squinty-vision had nothing to do with the blurred sound quality. I can completely understand 'Latonan' being confused with 'Tollan', and how you ever came to work out that the System Lord was 'Svarog, the slavic god', beats me!

The point about Grieves dying/ disappearing or whatever -- he was meant to be taking the place of the Caretaker, and the Caretaker had been alive and well, and frequently seen by the planets inhabitants (whoever they were) up to the point at which Grieves killed him, so why could we no longer see Grieves. But it's really pointless carrying this any further, since continuity in this series is all but gone anyway.

 

[skydiver]

i got svarog only because joe popped into starguide and spelled it out for us.

true i've taken a mythology class or two in my life...but i've never heard of this dude

 

[kmg]

I liked the episode, but thought it was a little on the dark side.

My favorite line was Daniel saying "I'm on it." That sounded so much like the old Daniel.

Had a few questions about the show though.

1. I would be a little suspicious of that one SG-9 member they found lying in the road. I don't remember his name at the moment, but his remark that he guessed the Jaffa just missed him was pretty lame.

2. I too was wondering how the Sentinenal took out only the Jaffa. Much like Thor's Hammer. The only reason I could see why Teal'c wasn't affected was because he was inside the force shield.

3. Daniel went to untie O'Neill at the end, yet we didn't see the force shield go down.

4. Are you noticing all these new young service men? We're not seeing any of the pre-established SGC members.

5. Although the missiles were cool, how do we know none of our own people were standing with the Jaffa? That seemed a bit careless.

6. I recognized a number of the locations as previously shot locations. Guess it saves money.