1.04: Astronaut Dreams

[Dave]

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[Dave]

NASA's Project Bright-Sky is accelerated due to Ed Scriven's death. A prototype version of the Bright Sky satellite is to be launched 3 years earlier than in the timeline they knew. Knowing that a next-generation version of the Bright Sky satellite is what Odyssey 5 was launching on the day Earth was destroyed, Taggart determines that he must put his career on the line to sabotage the deployment of the current version.

Neil digs up medical records on the mission commander. They expose his cover-up of his inner ear medical problem, to get Chuck the mission. Next Chuck uses some gadget on the satellite so that after the launch it fails to position itself in the correct orbit. He has to quickly discard the gadget, which may come back to haunt him.

Neil realizes he's falling in love again with his old high school girlfriend, Holly. Only he forgets her birthday and the concert they were going to.

Sarah and Angela use their knowledge of the future to try to stop the kidnapping and murder of a young girl, which was front-page news in the original timeline, only to find that their actions have changed the future unpredictably. A different girl is kidnapped, but it all ends well.

Mendel, determining that an organism comprised of the mysterious artificial tissue would be cold-blooded, assembles a thermal imaging system that will distinguish humans from the "Synthetics". It seems that there is at least one "Synthetic" in the street outside his flat.

This series always leaving me wanting more. My only criticism would be that I thought that the ending of the 'B' story about the kidnapping was too easy.

 

[Tabitha]

Lovely jubbly. I skipped a night out for this show (and SG1 of course), and am actually very happy with that decision. I know Sky re-broadcasts the new SG1 eps on Saturday, has anyone come across an Odyssey 5 re-broadcast? I don't have a VCR, and can't forfeit all my wed nights!

On to the ep. I enjoyed it immensely. Kurt is slowly becoming my favourite character, and while he didn't play a major role in the episode, he did set up the thermal scanner thing - I can see that becoming a major factor in the developing plot. Is it just chance that a non-human walked past the scanner at the end? Are we to think that there is already suspiscion, and therefore surveillance, of the 5, or do you think this indicates that the non-human prescence is already in large numbers? Hmmmm

Okay, so that kind of tackles it backwards. Let's talk about it from the beginning.
I thought Sarah might be skipping town and lying to both family and work in order to settle some personal matter, for example spending sometime with an estranged parent. Finding out the actual reason for her deception seemed in character - would you try and right these kind of wrongs? I think I might, but would probably be persuaded by the "But what if that kid turns out to be the next Hitler?" argument, which, BTW, I am surprised Angela didn't use.
Although, what authority could such an argument have if the whole reason you are in the past is with the express purpose of altering the future?

Which brings me on to a very interesting point: Chuck admits that the only reason he told the seeker to send the 5 back was because Angela was dying. That came as a shock, but on second thought is a perfectly logical explanation. There was little time for the astronauts to digest what the seeker had told them, so it is unlikely that they made an informed and balanced decision
I loved the moment when Chuck admits this to Neil, and Neil's reaction is great too!

I hope we don't revisit the idea that any action will change the progress of events - it was a bit weird that no-one called the police about the two women camped out in an SUV in that residential area, and yet their presence managed to frighten off a kidnapper. This might become too convenient a plot device - however the writers do seem to have done a sterling job in keeping me surprised so far, why worry now?

 

[triffid]

Tabitha, I'm taping every episode so if you want to borrow any tapes PM me .

Very much enjoyed last night's episodes, more than I did last week's (only by just a smidgen ). I just have to ask one question, if Kurt bet and lost all his money on the football game in the first episode, where did he get the cash to buy the imaging system? I mean you can't just pick those babies up like a cheap VCR from Currys. Looking at the flat he was in it looks like he might have sold his old place and bought a new one, but he must have made a mint on the sale to furnish the new pad AND buy the imaging system.

I didn't think the side story about the kidnapper was that bad, although like Tabitha said it seemed to be resolved a bit too easily. Maybe a not so happier ending would have been called for just to put across the fact that you can't stop all the bad things from happening. I just hope this show isn't going to lose it's dark edge.

It's going to be interesting to see if the magnetic erasing equipment that had been discovered is going to be linked to Chuck. All the director has to do is ask the guards if they noticed anyone acting suspiciously lately, what if one of them tells her that Chuck had been seen standing near the satillite while all others were rushing to evacuate the building? One finger print test would be all that's needed to prove he was the culprit.

I like the last scene of this episode, it was good that they only had one person showing as green, nice and subtle .

 

[Tabitha]

You are too kind Trif

I wondered about Kurt's cash flow too, actually. I didn't notice that he was in a new (presumably less swish) apartment, the new one looks quite nice as well! I suppose he could have got the money for the equipment from a research grant, or some other connection in the scientific community.

What also amazed me is that in between two bouts of nooky, he was playing with samples of that alien arm thingy. Ewwwwww.
Was anyone else expecting his girlfriend to be a cold-blooded thing?

 

[triffid]

Originally posted by Tabitha
You are too kind Trif

Heh, no probs, your recorder does do short and longplay tapes doesn't it?

I wondered about Kurt's cash flow too, actually. I didn't notice that he was in a new (presumably less swish) apartment, the new one looks quite nice as well! I suppose he could have got the money for the equipment from a research grant, or some other connection in the scientific community.

Could well be where the dosh came from, can you imagine the justification he gave for that one? .

What also amazed me is that in between two bouts of nooky, he was playing with samples of that alien arm thingy. Ewwwwww.

That's just his dedication to the cause coming to the fore, although you notice that as the *ahem* young lady slinked off to the bathroom his priorities suddenly changed

Was anyone else expecting his girlfriend to be a cold-blooded thing?

I did indeed have a second where I thought she might show as green on the scanner, would have shown that the enemy was onto our heroes.

 

[Dave]

Originally posted by triffid
I just have to ask one question, if Kurt bet and lost all his money on the football game in the first episode, where did he get the cash to buy the imaging system? ]

He does do those Lectures, he would be paid quite well for them. But it wouldn't surprise me if he has run up some astronomical credit card bill, who would care if you only have 5 years left before the end of the world?

Originally posted by triffid
It's going to be interesting to see if the magnetic erasing equipment that had been discovered is going to be linked to Chuck. All the director has to do is ask the guards if they noticed anyone acting suspiciously lately, what if one of them tells her that Chuck had been seen standing near the satillite while all others were rushing to evacuate the building? One finger print test would be all that's needed to prove he was the culprit.
]

I got the impression at the end that she already knew it was Chuck. She was just puzzled as to why he did it.

Originally posted by Tabitha
Was anyone else expecting his girlfriend to be a cold-blooded thing?

Yes, at first I thought that he had built it just to check her out!

I thought that the green image meant that 'they' were everywhere, if they had him under surveilance wouldn't they keep off the street in front of his window?

 

[Tabitha]

Posted by Dave
I got the impression at the end that she already knew it was Chuck. She was just puzzled as to why he did it.

Yep, that was my thinking too. Apart from the possibilty that she might have had it swept for fingerprints etc, there is also the likelihood that the area the satellite was kept in was under huge amounts of surveillance. Even if Chuck disabled the cameras (off-screen), he may have missed one or two. After all, he is an astronaut, not a security guard!
She seems like a cast iron *****. I am hoping she is in on the whole conspiracy thing, but I don't suppose she will be. I wonder who in NASA will be exposed to be part of the plot? And if these aliens (or whatever they are) can assume identities or take people over (still a bit fuzzy on this one), anyone who the 5 think they can trust could turn out to be an enemy.

 

[Krystal]

It was a good episode. I suppose for Sarah it was logical to try and make a difference because of her mommy factor. The machine Kurt have could be of very good use for the team in their search. Very interesting how it shows humans and nonhumans. Is going to be interesting to see what Hodge is going to do about it, and what role she's going to play in the future. Her character is an dilemma, probably we'll see many surprises from her. And many confrontations between Chuck and her, I wonder what side she really is.

Krystal