5.21: Meridian

[Hatshepsut]

Actually, my most serious criticisms of the plot of That Episode, are those of hard science and the unquestioning acceptance that Danny was a real hero in sacrificing his life to save millions of others who would otherwise have been killed in the ensuing explosion.

I had to laugh when they were watching the experiment from outside the lab., and when the 'device' started emitting mega doses of radiation, someone told Danny to stand away from the glass, like stepping back a pace would make any difference!

And did anyone else register the fact that if he hadn't done what he did, he would have been dead anyway...?

However, I'm prepared to accept that the first thought that crossed his mind would have been that prompt action by him could prevent a catastrophe, and he took that action without stopping to consider the consequences to himself. In that respect, his action was hero-ic. Like fish-ing

I'm also now wondering if it will spawn a whole load of new graffiti along the lines of "Daniel lives!" like all the "Frodo lives!" slogans that decorated London back in the '60s

Best wishes,
Hatshepsut - off to post Part 4 of her fanfic... :wave:
--

 

[ShelbyS]

Ah, i'm back cos I can't sleep cos I keep analysing this ep over and over in my head.

Another thought, I think Danny's death would have meant alot more if we had actually seen some of the people he sacrificed his life for. We must have see only 5 people on the entire planet. They could have at least included some footage of the general population. I feel like Daniel died for a bunch of jerks who were jsut power hungry and weapons hungry,

And last of all, cos I really am going to go to bed this time. But did anyone else feel kind of bowled over at the very beginning when they came through the gate? I wasn't expecting them to jump straight into the radiation thing.

 

[skydiver]

it was a little odd to start so fast but...heck we all knew what was going to happen. there woudl have been no suspense to have us wait 15 minutes to zap him.


as to worse eps....totally my opinion

cor-ai, bane, need (the acting was great but danny acted such a jerk i can't stand to watch him)
entity (see above but just teh general attitude)
bts- the chip squeamed me out. i would have liked to see the characters more out of character...they were basically more casual versions of themselves.

 

[skoon]

OK, just saw it. Hmmm, well I ah, almost shed a tear. Not quite. When Danny was talking to Oma's trash talk, I was laughin' cause you could tell Danny was gettin' a little ticked. Not really sure what to think. ya I agree about that useless tid bit between Sam & Janet. Are they trying to give some points to euthanasia? I think I'll have to think about this ep a bit more. Even though we've been talking about it & all knew what would happen, I think I'm in a denial slittly stunned mode. I'll get back to ya...

 

[Dave]

:crying: :crying: :crying: STOP crying, and write your letters. . .
http://www.savedanieljackson.com/ :crying: :crying: :crying:

as if. . .

 

[jsc]

Hey, I didn't mind the new guy... I rather liked him. I was sorry to see Daniel go... I would rather he died or went archaeologying around with another SG group... especially after Menace.... and that ending... would have been more realistic than the Saint Daniel of Desala ending...

I do wish Michael Shanks and Corrin Nemec good luck!

 

[skoon]

OK, I've been thinking a bit. I suppose that whole deal with Danny feeling that he'd failed & this & that was to reflect many peoples thoughts when they're at deaths door...'how will people remember me' 'regrets' bla bla bla. I think they slipped it in there along with Danny's means of death (him saving people even though they refused his knowledge & advise) so that we could see Oma's point that all there is & all it take s to acend is if you are good or evil. Obviously Danny is good...I don't think I'm explaining myself very well. I'll have to go do some more reflection. I am however, starting to think that the episode is a bit deeper than it appears at first glance, even with it's hacked edges here & there.

 

[xxloub]

I was a bit disapointed that there wasn't more emotion between Jack and Daniel. One measly 'I care about you' just didn't really do justice to their close relationship. Nothing about Daniel helping Jack over his thoughts of suicide in the movie, or helping save his life time and again.

I thought Jack would be more upset. Did anyone else find his reaction a bit low key?

 

[skoon]

I dunno, I thought there was a lot of emotion hidden under all that stern military face of his. Jack was never one to show emotion but the whole show you could tell he was really down. Of course one is down when they are in a bad mood, not when one's best friend is dieing. Maybe they all had hope that one of their alies would come to the rescue?

 

[xxloub]

I guess SG-1 has had such extaordinary luck, perhaps Jack did think they'd pull one more miracle from the hat?

I just had hope that this tough strong soldier man might show Daniel the effect he's had on him, the humanising effect overall. Not a hug necessarily, but some emotion pulled from his depths to say goodbye, I'll miss you.......?

 

[orange]

More thoughts

Originally posted by ShelbyS
Ah, i'm back cos I can't sleep cos I keep analysing this ep over and over in my head.

Another thought, I think Danny's death would have meant alot more if we had actually seen some of the people he sacrificed his life for. We must have see only 5 people on the entire planet. They could have at least included some footage of the general population. I feel like Daniel died for a bunch of jerks who were jsut power hungry and weapons hungry,

And last of all, cos I really am going to go to bed this time. But did anyone else feel kind of bowled over at the very beginning when they came through the gate? I wasn't expecting them to jump straight into the radiation thing.

Shelby: It's funny how we get an image in our head - preconceived notions - about how an eppy will play out. I had envisioned DJ's sacrifice would include the saving of at least one of his teammates who would be right there with him - on a hostile planet, unable to return, Jack frantically trying to get him back, no choice in the matter- either die or ascend.

I also had a sense that there weren't many people around on the planet although I knew they intended to the contrary.

As to the opening: yes - like being thrown into cold water. Talk about the middle of things. I liked that, really grabbed my attention.

Skoon: The useless tidbit on euthanasia: I felt like they were just pulling my chain without any purposeful need to bring up the subject. If they had followed it up, I would've accepted it more readily.

 

[skoon]

I think what I was trying to get at before was, they peposely didn't have Danny saving one of his team mates becasue that would have some selfish? motivation to it. This way it showed his true "goodness" that Oma alluded to. Acting unselfishly to save others he did not know & indeed who disregarded his warnings.

 

[murfff]

Maybe we will see the effect Daniel's death has on Jack in the next episode?? He's never been one to show much emotion anyway, not directly or obviously...

 

[Jobeth]

Geez, what a lousy episode. I was expecting a good three hankie weeper, not this ****.

1. Jonas - I had him pegged as a cowardly little weasel the first moment I set eyes on him.

2. Doubleheader! Not only did we get Sam's usual boring technobabble, we also were treated to a load of boring mystobabble. I was hoping DJ would say 'cut to chase willya, I don't have much time'.

3. For an episode that should have featured Daniel, it's surprising how little he was actually in it. Scene after scene featured Jonas and Jack, Sam and Janet, Jack and Hammond, etc.

4. Pretty tacky to have Daniel's replacement overshadow his final moments. I was expecting a good death scene, with a "tell Maybourne I've always loved him" or some such thing. Not some guy we've never seen before and don't care about angsting over his government's political situation. Also, the science was totally bad. Window panes don't block radiation, and seeing that Daniel broke the window while Jonas was nearby, how come Jonas didn't get fried too?

5. Why did Jacob, et. al., just accept Jack's 'he doesn't want you to do this'? You'd think Hammond or someone would have said "how do you know?".

All in all, this was a pretty ridiculous finale. I think the characters, actors, and the viewers deserved better. Of course, as I've said before, they should have had Daniel go join the Russian project for a while, maybe after a confrontation with Jack. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can take the show seriously again.

 

[RangerOne SG13 SOR]

BRING BACK WORMHOLE XTREME hehe those characters has depth.

 

[orange]

Glitches

Originally posted by Jobeth
Geez, what a lousy episode. I was expecting a good three hankie weeper, not this ****.


4. ... Also, the science was totally bad. Window panes don't block radiation, and seeing that Daniel broke the window while Jonas was nearby, how come Jonas didn't get fried too?

5. Why did Jacob, et. al., just accept Jack's 'he doesn't want you to do this'? You'd think Hammond or someone would have said "how do you know?".

All in all, this was a pretty ridiculous finale. I think the characters, actors, and the viewers deserved better. Of course, as I've said before, they should have had Daniel go join the Russian project for a while, maybe after a confrontation with Jack. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can take the show seriously again.

As to #4: I considered this also. I don't know how they are explaining this away, but Jonas was terribly close. Someone mentioned it wasn't glass but some special technology like say, the clear pane they used when Spock died in [whatever # Star Trek movie that was. Dang, that was sad - Kirk's hand lifted up to Spock's, the glass between them. "You have been and always shall be my friend" Something like that.].

#5: Thought of that too. Would anyone have believed him? "yeah, right, Jack, let us show you to the counselor's office."

A confrontation with Jack would've been exciting. A falling out.

I ignored these little glitches in favor of emotional gushiness. <g>

- Orange

"I survived Meridian and all I got was this lousy t-shirt." - sg1fan

 

[skydiver]

i don't know the science but...would leaded glass have prevented the radiation from seeping through?

or then again...it is alien radiation. i mean who would think that glass can hold sulphuric acid which will eat through pretty much anything else?

any nuclear experts around here? do nuclear power plants etc have special glass to make it radiation proof or resistant?

 

[Jobeth]

Anni wrote:

But to tell you the truth, the character of Daniel Jackson had more guts and courage to him than any of the rest of them, especially Jack who seemed to be totally overwhelmed or perhaps he was underwhelmed, it's rather difficult to tell with the limited facial expressions the actor uses as his method of acting. Daniel seldom took the high moral ground or sat in judgement, preferring instead to be the voice of reason and equilibrium. I have met guys like him and believe me, they don't lie down and accept death as easily. People like him struggle and fight to live. They have a quiet strength.

I feel that the writers, producers of Stargate have done the actual characterisation of Daniel Jackson a great disservice. The actor wanted to leave, that was his choice, but the method that the writers chose to send him on his way was pitiful and insulting to say the least.

You're starting to sound like a Danielite <g>.

 

[Arc_Angel]

I thought this ep could have been better as well, not as good as I hoped, pity

 

[skydiver]

it was revealed at wolfecon that apparently there was a scene cut from meridian.

here's the post

Apparently in "Meridian" we should have had a wonderful Sam and Teal'c friendship moment, which was cut.

I can't help feeling it would have been better to cut some of the many scenes with Jonas Quinn instead, which really didn't add a lot to this episode and felt inappropriate given the circumstances anyway.

At Wolfcon AT talked about the Sam and Janet friendship and then says: "I want more with Janet and I want more with Teal'c…. We've been talking for three years about that and in fact in "Meridian" there's a scene…There is a scene where I'm coming out of Michael's uh Daniel's hospital room and Teal'c is about to go in and the scene is written that Carter and Teal'c pass each other in the hallway and acknowledge a silent glance and then continue down the hallway. And Chris and I couldn't stop crying for real so - and Michael wasn't even in the room anymore, there were just shooting the hallway - so there was this empty bed and it was symbolic and every time I look at it I start crying, so I turn to Chris and said "This our chance. This is our moment to play something organic where it happens. These characters care about each other and we're losing one of our best friends." So what we did and the cameras kept rolling and it was just so beautiful and so spontaneous is I walked out and he's standing there, and he's like twelve feet tall. I just rested my head into his chest and cried and he put his arms around me and I cried and he did his 'Teal'c, I'm about to cry' thing and it's so moving when he does that and then we released and I kept walking on down the hallway and he steeled himself and then went in to the hospital room. And they cut that."

[HUGE groan and "Nooooo!" from the audience]

"For reasons of timing, whatever, whatever. I thought that would have been such a crystal clear solidity for that friendship."

[HUGE burst of applause from the audience.]

~~~~
i'm sure this isnt' the first time a taped scene's landed on the editing room floor...they oughta put this stuff back into the dvd's and videos.
1) it's fun
2) they already have it and have went to the cost of taping it, might as well use it
3) it's a great way to get folks that have 'taped from tv' tapes to buy commercial ones if they have 'never before seen footage' in them

and dang it....i wanna see it for cryin out loud <G>