Well, I’m pleased to report that after a night at the vet’s, Jelly is back home and scrapping with Lulu. She was in much better spirits when I picked her up this afternoon and, aside from her IV armband, seems perfectly herself. Of course, just to be sure, I was given a list of medications for her. Add the medications she already takes and her daily schedule breaks down something like this:
Wake up:
– 2.5 mil. Sulcrate (on an empty stomach)
– Tacrolimus ointment applied directly to her eyeballs.
One hour later:
– 10 kg Metacam + ½ tablet Pepsid served with her breakfast + 1 capsule glucosamine and chondroitine
On hour later:
– 1 tablet Metronidazole
Five hours later:
– 2.5 mil. Sulcrate
Pre-bedtime:
– 2.5 mil Sulcrate
– Tacrolimus ointment applied directly to her eyeballs.
Repeat.
All well and good except…now Maximus is beginning to feel queasy.
With five stories in place, we turned our attention to episode #6 today, beating out Marty G.’s very first SGU script. This one involved a long, loooooong discussion on the workings of a certain technology which forms the impetus to another terrific character-driven story. Next week, we have stories to break for Rob, Alan, Paul, and myself after which we head off for two weeks of fun in the sun (or rising sun in my case). Then, we’re back in the office for one more week of discussion on the (hopefully) completed outline.
Thanks to fans who provided the link to the ongoing Stargate auction. If you’re interested in getting your hand on a zat gun or two, head on over to:
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/stargate_legacy
Yep, tomorrow I’ll be posting my post-Remnants write-up. Come on by to find out what the hell I was thinking!
@ Joe – Thank god! So glad to hear Jelly is feeling better! Give her kisses from me!! And Maximus, too…
@ Shawna – 😆 Todd, drawing Wraith in compromising positions…now THAT would be something to see! What would be more entertaining, however, would be watching his human ‘class’ squirming uncomfortably in their seats. 🙂
@ Narelle from Aus – See? NOW don’t you wish the Wraith were real??! 😉
@ Perragrin – I have seen a French rugby player calendar…and lemme tell ya, it gave a whole new meaning to scrum…
A while back I posted a Wraith rugby team here…not sure you saw it. It’s also here:
http://forum.gateworld.net/showpost.php?p=9128695&postcount=13705
I need to change it to add some of the new boys, but I’m not exactly sure where they’d best show off their talents. Hmmm…maybe in the locker room… 😉
@ CazzBlade – THAT was brilliant! 😆
@ BlueJay – Oh, don’t try to defend me, Blue…I think Joe has my number already. 😉
Okay – finally watched The Prodigal, and it was okay – I neither hated it, nor loved it. The thing with the baby’s name, and Teyla refusing to reveal it, was a nice touch. I liked Michael’s reaction there. My main problem here, as always, is the Lanteans refusing to acknowledge exactly what they did to Michael. It was all left up to Michael to speak of their sins (which just makes him look whiny), with Teyla being too proud to just say, “yes, we were wrong.“ Their morally superior attitude is what is ruining the overall show for me, and every time there’s a chance to see some humility on their part (Inquisition, The Prodigal), they just keep pointing their fingers at everyone else to take the blame off of themselves. Makes the team very unlikable to me.
Remnants…okay, gotta say that the beginning was great, I think I was really ready for a good Shep whumping (not because it turns me on, but because he deserves it), so I was a bit disappointed when I realized what was really happening. The episode was good overall – some nice moments, enjoyed Woolsey and especially the opening and closing scenes, but I would have preferred to see things unfold as they were starting to in the beginning…I’m just that sick. 😉
das
OMG, what is that hideous thing you are holding? Maybe you can sell it to the Supernatural prop people, cause that is seriously scary.
Glad to hear Jelly is on the mend.
LibKat
A bouquet of virtual roses for the second week in a row. Great job on Remnants. I’d suspected part of the plot twist from the start, and had most of it put together about halfway through, but that didn’t detract from the enjoyment of the episode. And double cheers for your torturing of the Shep whumpers and fans. Give em a taste of what they want, but withold the real meal…what is it exactly the man is running from? Great job.
As always, loved Picardo’s depiction of Woolsey. Probably the only real let down was the view of the “real” form of the alien race. Shiny Asgard? Mind, I would not have enjoyed seeing a Horta, and like MdKay said, “neat”, but just not what I’d expected. I’m hoping you will take the time to give us a breakdown of this episode before finishing up your work on SGU and heading east.
Glad to hear Jelly is better, and good luck with the others, especially Maximus. As for the staff weapons and what not, I can only hope for a jury that understands sci fi and Stargate if and when I resort to robbing banks to get hold of the goodies you folks are offering up. Thanks for the pictures and updates.
I am glad to hear jelly is doing better. What was wrong with her?
You guys just have way too much fun. I need to buy one of those weapons and tell everyone at work we need to have more fun.
Finished Remnants. This day definately took forever to get here. Being a big Sheppard fan, I could of used a little more in depth look into his hallucination. I knew Zelenka was Rodney’s hallucination when he called him brilliant. Now, I will admit that I sort of knew things before hand because, well, someone did post a portion of the scrip online (God only knows how people do that) and me being curious, I had to look, but didn’t know about Rodney being affected, so, that was a surprise. Interesting concept into the minds of the characters and how their minds work/think on a day to day basis. Next showing in 10 min.
Hi Joe! Is that a Washington shirt Carl is wearing? I thought he was a u$c grad? Has he finally seen the light? 😛
Enjoyed Remnants!
Joe,
Re: Remnants – when Kolya’s blade went down and then there was a quick cut to commercial? Wow. Fantastic. I was sorta disappointed that Sheppard wouldn’t (literally) have another shot at Kolya.
I think we can all agree that Sheppard has some mighty fierce demons and I loved the moment that Kolya says that Sheppard has to be running from something. So that’s my question to you – what did you have in mind when you wrote that scene?
Best,
Rose
Glad to know Jelly is feeling better! See, it was probably just a 24-hour bug.
Not so glad about Maximus. Are you giving them all the same dog food? Maybe it’s tainted.
Hey Joe!
Welcome back Jelly! Glad to know you are doing well..take it easy on Lulu 🙂
I liked Remnants. I really liked the opening scene with the team..Ronon trying to hint to McKay why Sheppard went to the mainland was hilarious..actually there were some very scenes..the scene with Woosley seeing Vanessa on his private spot/balcony..had me laughing out loud..oh and the scene..call me Dick! funny stuff…
Yes, I know I say this all the time and just can’t seem to get enough..but where was Ronon and Teyla! I want to/need to see more of them!
I love Sheppard. I’ll tell you exactly when I fell in love with him..I mean really fell in love with him. It was the Sateda episode that did it for me…his talk with Teyla..just the way he looked and said “I’d do anything” it really broke my heart..words can’t explain but I’m sure others feel the same way.
So, I was really looking forward to tonight’s episode to learn some new things about Sheppard..a look into his past? What is he running from..why does he have a death wish? But none of those things were answered. You really teased me good with this epi!!
I’ll be here tomorrow for the breakdown..I’m looking forward to it 🙂
Hi
I was wondering what was the motivation behind Shep whump of himself. Didn’t quite get the motivations. Sorry if I am dense. Also, why the hand. Was it to wash away his sins or to torture himself that he can not longer fly and be part of Atlantis thus losing himself to both things he loved.
I really enjoyed this episode but would have liked to see a little more reaction from Sheppard as to his ordeal.
Can you go over what was actually cut from this episode since I believe somewhere you mentioned it went long.
BTW, I liked very much the Woolsey storyline. You guys are brillant in making MR Woolsey one of my favorate characters.
Finally, thank you so much for remembering Parrish and Lorne. Its nice to see little reminders of episodes past (Runner)
Sue
Okay – just finished watching Sanctuary, and seeing Ryan Robbins practically naked…with nipple and belly button piercings… 😯 was kinda…
Hot. 😳
I will NEVER look at Ladon Radim the same way again. 😕
And Chris continues to be simply brilliant, both as Druitt and as Bigfoot, in this show. So glad I started watching…it’s really starting to draw me in, and besides, it helps to hold me over between Todd fixes. 🙂
Sorry about all the smilies lately – spending the last 4 days watching a certain prince has put me in a very good mood, and hearing that Jelly is feeling better has added to it – I was really very worried about her today.
das
*HUGS* for Jelly!
And kudos to you for Remnants! Every time I thought I had things figured out, there would be another great twist! Boo to Sci Fi for the spoiler on the hand, though — thet made me assume right off the bat, before the ep even aired, that at the very least, there was something up with Kolya. 🙁
Loved:
(Whether you intended a McSheppy overtone here or not) Rodney’s whinyness/alarm over Sheppard’s going to the mainland. (And Ronon’s eyebrow thing, with Rodney’s total lack of understanding.)
Sheppard’s getting ignored in favour of Parrish. (Poor Shep! XD)
The Rodney/not-Zelenka stuff. (Was he just saying all that stuff to get Rodney to work, or did he mean it? Or both?) And Rodney’s “What, are you sick? Am I sick? What have you heard??” Nice nod to The Shrine, that.
Woolsey’s puzzling out what was really happening with the IOA.
Woolsey’s awkwardness with Vanessa, especially at the transporter (Dick), in the infirmary, and in his quarters.
John’s hand. That’s one of my worst fears, and seeing it in film always freaks me out, even when I kow it wont stay that way.
The IOA doublecross.
Rodney’s reaction to Vanessa, and Sheppard’s reaction to Rodney’s reaction.
Rodney’s learning the truth (which I had suspected from about halfway through the ep, but when nothing was said at first, I thought I was wrong!)
I look forward to the break-down of the ep! 😀
10 KG!! of Metacam!?! That’s like 22 pounds! No wonder she’s throwing up! Are you sure you don’t mean 10 mg (milligrams)? In any case, I’m glad to hear she’s feeling better, in spite of the all the pharmacopoeia she’s forced to endure…
Looking forward to downloading Remnants this weekend off of iTunes. (I don’t get SciFi channel) It looks like an intriguing episode.
Double post..sorry..but I forgot to say in my 1st post that Ivon is a cutie 🙂
I love Carl..besides the cute pups I like seeing his pics..he is such a character..and I like you too Joe 🙂
Re-asking my last question to make sure that you really don’t want to answer it or, if you’ve already answered it, you can skip over it again:
What makes the sci-fi genre so hard to write compared to others? Is it the fact that it requires knowledge of viable science or is there some other reason? I would like to write sci-fi (be it for television or in a general story/novel setting) so I’m interested in your perspective.
I’m glad Jelly’s feeling better. I like the dog bowl beside her.
I’d keep an eye on Lawren. Seems a bit sketchy.
Sorry for another post so soon – I promise I won’t use smilies!
I did like seeing the ‘self-torturing Sheppard’ – sorry I didn’t mention that. I do know that he shows on his face what he’s feeling inside – just sometimes I’d like to actually hear it. But here, at least we got to see it. That was nice. Looking forward to your notes on the ep!
das
Dear Joe,
LMAO… best video yet man. Glad to hear Jelly is better. Made a little prayer for her and all….. ok I lied about that but my heart was with her. Anyways man, can you please answer the following two questiona… it would mean a lot to me:
1. How many Wraith Hives can we assume were destroyed due to the brief moment the Attero device was on?
2. Will the Destiny Space craft be comparable to Atlantis city ship or an Aurora class ship?
Thanks and take care of ol’ Maximus
Remnants…A very good episode. I was fooled for a while, perhaps because I wanted Kolya to be alive. However, despite the coolness the Shep whumpers felt, cutting off you know what had to be a delusion. Still, great to get Robert Davi back. I thought Radek wasn’t “real” but you did a great job of leaving the possibilities open that I wasn’t convinced until the end of the episode. Nice to see Woolsey stand up for himself, although he also appeared to have multiple personalities due to the device. I’m glad but surprised that Keller appeared. Since she was only in one scene I thought you wouldn’t have spent one of her episodes in this way. I liked how he was describing the “buzzing” in his ear. Poor John. He goes to the mainland to impress the scientist and is abandoned for a plant. Not the potted plant, however. I liked how he told the guy to shut up. After all he went through I thought he might punch him. All in all, a satisfying episode. Next week…bring on Brain Storm.
Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jelly is OK! (whistles!) Was worried about her all day, because of what had happened with my dog (who is still with me—whew).
What was Jelly’s diagnosis?
The other variable I forgot to mention about my dog’s gastro emergency/ hospital visit: She and a neighbor dog were both taking the same formula of glucosamine and chondroitin – and both were vomiting for a couple days. We each stopped that med completely, and have not seen that severe gastro upset since. And won’t, please God.
I only mention the form of glucosame/chondroitin because Maximus is queasy now. By the way, the vets prescribed Metacam for my dog, too, and she tolerated it very well.
Hey, there’s your back-to-school picture! And it’s just as creepy as one of the real ones, LOL, you and Scary Bo-Peep. What episode did SHE come from?
Thanks for answering my question the other day. It was the first one and I hadn’t expected a reply. I had had a bad day at work, and seeing that right afterward was a nice surprise. 🙂 Was going to say thank you the next day, but then saw the news about Jelly Grrrl. Doggies trump happy dances any day.
For the love of Beckett writes: “ Character-driven, interpersonal relationships, but NO romance in the Universe? Not a smidge?”
Answer: Smidges are certainly possible. I didn’t mean to imply there would be no romance on SGU, only that the main focus of the interpersonal relations would be non-romantic in nature.
Here’s to smidges in the Unvierse, the advent of affection for Sheppard, Teyla, Carson, and Alison in the Atlantis movies 😀 , and lots of gratitude to the hearer of good thoughts and prayers.
Jelly is OK! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!! And please, may Maximus be well, too.
Is that it for the auction or will more be added? I would love to send my husband (deployed to Iraq) a replicator for Christmas. They totally freak him out. 😉 Any chance?
Hi Joe,
Loved Remnants a lot. So where did Will hide the pineapple in this episode?
Loved Remnants tonight but I was a bit alarmed when Sci-Fi announced that next week’s episode would be the series finale. A mistake on their part or are the last four episodes not going to be aired?
I bow down to you in worship. I am not worthy to even comment on Remnants. IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!
I can honestly say that I was waiting for Kolya to come back since season 3’s Irresponsible. He was always my favorite Atlantis bad guy because he was so evil yet so human.
I knew that something was up with Kolya when he kept disappearing and reappearing right behind Sheppard, but I figured he was just using more ancient technology or something like the Sodan cloak. I also knew that there was something weird about Zelenka when he called McKay “brilliant” and because of the fact that he was the one who kept solving all of the problems when it’s usually McKay. Not that I mind that. He deserves to be right now and then.
The best part was definitely Woolsey forgetting Chuck’s name repeatedly. I’d been missing Chuck, and I was beginning to worry that no one else was. I also loved the Shep whump and the angst when he realized that he was really the one torturing himself. He never believes that he can keep his people safe, which has to be the greatest agony that someone like him could experience. Joe Flanigan had some great acting in this, especially (this is going to sound horrible) the look of complete terror right before Kolya cut his hand off. Which, by the way, I thought was just a threat, and Kolya would have struck the sword into the ground to scare Sheppard. I couldn’t help thinking “What the heck did you do to him?” when I saw him with the bandage over the stump.
When Remnants was being filmed, did Joe Flanigan have a green glove over his hand? I’ve always wondered how missing limbs were done. Did you use the same technique when Daniel was missing a leg in Continuum?
Looking forward to the write-up tomorrow!
I liked Remnants and thought each individual story was good and quite interesting.
But….(of course there’s a but) I have been waiting sooooo long for an exploration of Sheppard’s demons (he is after all, my favorite character) that every time they switched away from his story, I was frustrated and just counted the minutes till the focus returned to Kolya and him. And it drove me nuts. I really wanted to have this episode be Shep’s episode and find out what drives him, what makes him tick. And I wanted the others on his team be there to provide him with support and concern.
Because that is not how things worked out, I’m a bit disappointed. I would have loved the whole alien AI hallucination thing otherwise. Don’t get me wrong, I did like it, I just wanted more Shep!
PS – I’m glad Jelly is doing better and hope your other pups don’t get sick too.
And really looking forward to your discussion of Remnants!
Thanks so much!
PSS – (doing my duty by adding to your comment count) Woolsey is truly the best Commander Atlantis has ever had. What a wonderful character. Hope he’ll play a good sized part in the movie,when it comes out. And also Zelenka, I have LOVED seeing him play such a prominent role in the last two eps.
Great having both Chuck and Amelia in the control room, and Keller in this one was fine, but what was even better was no mention of McKeller!
Tacrolimus ointment applied directly to her eyeballs. Urgggg. Sounds like fun!
Not to make light of Jelly (& glad she is on the mend by the way), but maybe Maximus is getting queasy watching ointment being directly applied to her eyeballs.
*shudder*
And with the way my week has been going at work, I’m heading over to pick up a zat right now!
And maybe see if there is a zed p m.
Hello Joe,
Yay! Jelly is feeling better! Yahoo!
I loved Remnants a lot! Way to go Joe!
All the story lines were very well done. Loved the banter and the personal conversations. WELL DONE!!!
Thank you so much! You are a great writer!
Cheers
Patricia Lee
BTW…Has your blog reached 2 million hits yet?
Glad to hear Jelly is on the mend!
I just found out today that my parents are coming to Cleveland tomorrow (all the way from Scranton!) to see me!!! I managed to bully them into bringing our dachshund, too, so I get to see my little Hershey Kisses tomorrow!!! I’m so excited!!! 😀
Remnants rocked!!!
Obligatory Remnants spoiler warning:
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My initial reactions:
A love interest for Woolsey! Awesome! (even if she does disappear by the end of the episode…)
Hot astronomer! Awesome! I actually really liked the two scientists introduced with Sheppard, even though they were supposed to be your typical dorky scientists. I’d like to see them again sometime 🙂
I actually cried when Kolya cut off John’s hand. I guess I really do have a soft spot in my heart for Sheppard, because I knew that he would have it back by the end of the episode… and got emotionally involved anyway. But I just couldn’t help myself… Joe F’s face made it seem real. And dang, Joe: that whole Kolya/Sheppard sequence was disturbing. On so many levels.
Could Sheppard actually have died when he was being tortured by “Kolya” or was the hanging over a cliff all in his head, too? (The blending of reality and hallucination confused me a little)
It seemed a little bit too much deus ex machina when it was revealed that Kolya was just a manifestation of an alien race. I guess I was hoping for more of a conclusion.
My favorite amazing and/or hilarious moments:
“Neat?””What would you have said?””Weird”
when it is revealed that McKay had been “seeing things” too
“You can call me…Dick”
“You broached me in my private place… I mean….”
when it is revealed that Xiao hadn’t really changed her mind on her own
Sheppard hanging off the cliff á la Indiana Jones and the last crusade =)
the last scene, where Woolsey finally sits down with the team
Woolsey forgetting Chuck’s name. I mean, I’ve been a fan of SGA for less time than Woolsey’s been in command of Atlantis, but even I know his name! Made me chuckle that he remembered Banks’ name though 😉
Was there a deleted scene where McKay actually does the work on reconfiguring the sensors? Since Zelenka wasn’t real, he couldn’t actually do anything…
I would complain that there wasn’t enough Teyla/Ronan action, but I’m sure others have taken care of that for me 😉
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The SG-1 repeat on right now is Bad Guys so I’m laughing as I type… “unless you get cute, in which case there’s gonna be killin’ and… whatnot…” Ahh, I <3 Daniel Jackson!!! 😉
On Sanctuary, before one of the commercial breaks, “Act 5” flashed on the screen briefly… I’m assuming it’s a side effect of the green screen? But I absolutely love imagining that Tesla was a vampire… and also that he is still alive today. I mean, imagine what he could be accomplishing!!!
Is there gonna be more stuff put up for auction soon?
I look forward to the breakdown tomorrow 😀
Joe;
How come another network was not considered when Scifi and MGM decided Atlantis would be canceled? If they didn’t want to spend the time and money why not send it off to another home to keep it alive? I mean if you’re throwing it out, why care? Or was that not an option because there wasn’t a network that wanted to take on the show. I can’t imagine that but hey didn’t think they’d cancel Atlantis in the first place when it was doing so well and won the peoples choice. What is your all time favorite Atlantis Episode? Thanks as always, Nicole.
I liked Remnants. Thank you for writing it.
Now here is something else, I won’t watch Sanctuary and won’t be watching SGU because I feel they are cheap replacements for Atlantis. If SGA had been renewed for another season I would not be so bitter about anything else connected with Stargate (I consider Santuary Stargate related because of Amanda Tapping and all the actors who have appeared on both). I think I would have eagerly been anticipating Universe and watching Amanda’s show, but all I have is bitterness and resentment towards them. A SciFi Friday with Universe, Atlantis and Sanctuary would have been so very cool and I think I’d even be open to the Babes in Space aspect at that point.
I’m sure most fans are not as emotional about this as I am, but I bet there are more than a few.
I am glad to hear jelly is doing better.
Hey Joe,
Just wanted to drop you a note about this week’s Atlantis… Really good story, seems like the show has been getting better every week this season. It’s a drag because it’s almost over, but a testament to the quality of the whole staff.
Hey Joe,
Posting on the run. Haven’t had a chance to read the rest of your entry but just wanted to say it’s great to see Jelly on the mend.
Have a good night.
Hugs to the dogs and the family. Nothing better than having everyone back home.
Dear Joe,
Remnants was a great episode, I think excluding season 1 this is your best yet. Looking forward for Enemy at the Gates.
take care and please don’t forget to answer my questions
Hey Mr. M.,
I just watched Remnants and I LOVED it. Awesome plot and very unsuspecting how the 3 story lines became one. That had to be the best writing of the season – so far. 🙂
I’m glad to see your companian animal (did you read that story about the animal rights activists in the Vancouver Sun?!) is home again. Wow that’s a lot of meds. She must hate the eyedrops.
Thank God those staff weapons don’t actually work, or Carl would be in jail by now – check out his expression!
Glad to hear/see Jelly’s return home. Wow…mean looking food/water bowl; complete with metal studs.
Remnants was awesome. Loved the storyline. The unfolding of the threads was brilliant. As others have mentioned much more one liners for us.
The opening was gorgious…that is a great “outdoor dining area scene.”
Looking forward to your story breakdown.
Coucou joseph!!!
Vous allez bien?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh enfin une nouvelle photo de vous!! trop beau!! Rohh c’est qui la femme a côté de vous lol!
Super cette video, vous êtes trop drôle!!
Bon, et bien aujourd’hui c’est shopping et dinner familiale avec Cassoulet fait maison! miame!
Lol j’ai été stupéfier de voir hier l’incroyable buz qu”il y eu autour du cassoulet lors des éléctions américain!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-doAmxrKouI
Alalal ils sont fou ces américain^^!
Gros gros bisou Joseph a demain!
Jelly is looking a helluva lot brighter dare I say perky? obviously I do. Hugs now for Maximus, hope it isn’t a bug thats doing the rounds.
Do you find that Glucosamine and Chondroitin actually works?and if so how do you know?
Haven’t seen remnants as yet but I have to admit to being somewhat intrigued by what I’ve read here today. Mind you I forgot what day it is today so am probably going to spend the remainder of the weekend burbling at this rate.
Glad Jelly’s better! Adorable photo, by the way.
Loved the show last night, wonderful story!
Uh… Remnants.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about the eppi just yet to be perfectly honest. A little confused. A tad conflicted perhaps. Maybe left feeling that, once again, we’ve been robbed of something that has dangled just out of reach for the past five years. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was brilliant and Carl was right, Joe.. your writing on this one was fantastic. Far outweighing anything else i’ve seen you pen this year.
The storyline itself, based on the discovery of the seeding pod, was well thought out and I loved the way that everything tied together in one of those ‘Oh, yeaaah’, moments near the end (sorry, it’s difficult to describe something without giving too much of the plot away to those who’ve not seen it yet). The way in which our characters were each individually touched, was a lovely twist to the story and seeing how they coped gave a little more insight into what we already know of them. Also, the fact that they were facing themselves and their own fears added a whole new dimension that took away from what they thought they were seeing and made you smile with one of those… ‘Ah.. But, of course. That’s wholly how i’d expect him to react.’
I’m not gonna get too much into the Sheppard side of things because I know you want to put pen to paper first and give us your own thoughts. And maybe once you’ve done that and i’ve had the chance to watch the episode again, i’ll not feel quite so-.. I’m trying to think of the right wording here: ‘Let down’ feels and sounds too harsh, and as i’m not one for bashing any episode of Atlantis, I don’t want to come across like that. ‘Deflated’ perhaps? I don’t know.. it’s hard to put into words. I feel as if we’ve had that carrot dangled in front of us yet again, you know? The preverbial, ‘Oh, but we’re gonna finally address the issue of Sheppard’s past and give you an idea of what makes the man tick.’ Trouble is, you haven’t. Well.. not really. We’ve seen snippets in episodes such as Phantoms, Outcast, even Rising and Common Ground.. But I know more about what makes the likes of Ronon or Mckay tick, than I do about Sheppard. And it’s getting more and more frustrating as each episode passes by.
Based on what I know, I can only assume that whatever haunts the guy in somehow connected with his inability to rescue his friend and fellow pilot, Captain Holland. Is it that guilt he carries around with him? Does he go through each day torturing himself with the knowledge that he couldn’t save his friend and so must somehow attone for his past failures? Or is there something even deeper that drives him? A family tragedy perhaps? Something not connected to his career in the military?
It’s wierd.. We see Sheppard putting his neck on the line time and time again without ever really knowing why. If I didn’t know better, i’d say he was simply a nut case who needed sectioning before he finally won through with that suicidal streak of his. But I know better and certainly from the way you guys have written the character over the past five years, I also know there’s so much more beneath the surface that we haven’t even touched on yet.
It’s not a rant, Joe.. I honestly thought the episode was great. And kudos to you as the writer and also to the cast and crew for giving us such a wonderful story once again (especially Joe F. and Robert Davi, who are as always, incredible when thrown together into any scene). I guess i’m just feeling a little.. dissapointed. Yep, I think that’s the word. And knowing that we’ll possibly never find out what makes Sheppard the guy he is, somehow puts a bittersweet taint on the drawing close of the season. It’s almost like coming to the end of an epic novel, having been thoroughly drawn in and enjoyed every second of reading it, only to find that the ending didn’t quite add up.. That a little something was missing and you may have understood things all the better had it just been included.
Remnants…
It’s a bit hysterical that the IOA was so uptight about Weir and Carter’s decisions when they were in command, then they appoint one of their own and are disappointed when he makes the same sorts of decisions… and they don’t realize that maybe the way they, from their cozy seats back on Earth, think Atlantis should be run are perhaps not all that realistic, practical, or right?
Yeah, it was pretty clear that those three were hallucinations (or whatever) once Shep got his hand chopped off. I knew that that being real was too much to hope for. I’m not a Shep whumper or anything, but I think him suffering such a dramatic and permanent change would have been fascinating. Dealing with something like amputation always does interesting things to a character.
And I was really hoping Kolya was really back.
I’m with das on this one. I would have much preferred everything that appeared to be happening at the beginning really was happening.
There were a lot of nice character moments, and Woolsey was great, but the plot itself just did nothing for me.
I’m sad to say, that this ep was another that was disappointing to me. The whole concept (the alien device from an ancient civilization influencing the main characters by causing hallucinations) is just so done. It bears some resemblance to that earlier ep (Phantoms, I think), but it’s also an awful lot like an ep of Voyager. Not that that’s the first Stargate ep to resemble something already done, of course, but normally Stargate manages to put a great twist on it and make it a great ep anyway. This one was just so… meh.
It didn’t make a great deal of sense and everything just seemed so thrown-together. The events didn’t seem to happen because they absolutely needed to in order for the story to work, so they ended up feeling more like filler for a story that could have been told in about five minutes.
But mostly, I suppose I’m disappointed because I just couldn’t appreciate the ending, the goal that the entire plot was driving for. This is, of course, due to my own disbelief in (macro)evolution which causes me to think that a few biological samples, no matter how well-placed, have exactly zero chance of evolving into anything, much less a sentient race, much, much less the same race and civilization that they came from. Which means, in my mind, the crew just listened to some very compelling and highly-advanced technology and threw away a huge store of valuable information to absolutely no purpose, which strikes me as idiotic. Though, as I say, that’s entirely due to my own views on things and obviously many people would disagree with me and find it a fitting, heart-warming ending.
All in all, it seemed like a mediocre episode of Star Trek, complete with moral lesson and “I learned something today” closeup at the end. I’d come to expect more from Stargate.
ROTFLMAO about the timer video. Oh and this Alan is cuuuuteee! It’s a good thing I have a waterproof, droolproof keyboard.
It’s weird that your dog is on artrosis medication (glucosamine and chondroitine) considering you brought him in with digestive problems?
I too suspected that it was a group hallucination once Zelenka called Rodney brilliant and knew it for certain once Sheppard’s hand was chopped off. But in the end, I liked it a lot which is surprising because I had liked last week’s episode a lot as well and it’s a bit rare nowadays that I get two episodes of SGA that I liked… Before last week’s episode, I had been feeling like maybe it was good that SGA didn’t get picked up for another season but these two weeks have really made me regret that feeling. I can only hope the rest of the episodes left will be as good as well.
Thank goodness Jelly is alright! And now Maximus is feeling off? Hope he’s ok.
OMG, OMG, OMG!!!
YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!
FINALLY AN AUSTRALIAN HAS MADE IT ONTO STARGATE ATLANTIS!!
LOVED THE EPISODE BTW =D
Good, solid ep. But I really wanted to know WHY Sheppard has a death wish, or WHAT he is running from. Since there are very few eps left, I doubt I will find out.
Wish the whole episode had focused on Kolya (the best bad guy ever) and Shep, but I liked the other bits too.
Glad Jelly is on the mend.
Oh, and if you think giving meds to a dog is bad, trying doing all that to a cat, not pretty.
HAH, great video.
Have you ever considered putting a “Director’s Cut” of some episodes on the season 5 DVD? I’d love to see the full/extended version of “Remnants”, with those nine or so extra minutes, or however much it turned out to be.
I enjoyed the episode. As it went along, I had an increasing suspicion that something was up with Kolya (well, that was kind of a “gimme”, the guy was dead when we last saw him, so something had to be up), Vanessa, and even Zelenka. But I couldn’t quite figure out what until the three threads came together. Nice, that.
I, too, was hoping for some more Sheppard insight in this ep. Ended up with more questions than answers!
Looking forward to your “Remnants” breakdown later on. Thanks Joe!
Ah, yes, yes, yes – I love the ‘call me Dick’ thing, BUT it also worries the hell out of me because of this:
http://forum.gateworld.net/showpost.php?p=9086559&postcount=13259
Does this mean we think alike? If so, that’s just too damn scary for me. 😛 Next thing ya know, I’ll be defending Keller, and slappin’ Shep with left-handed compliments. Oh, wait…
😐
And finally watched the video – 😆 !!!! Alan sounds just like a Canadian ‘Oh, eh…what’s going on?’…if I didn’t know better, I’d think he was one of the McKenzie Brothers…only thing missing was a tuque. And you sounded like…now…don’t be offended…but you sounded a little like Kermit the Frog. 😕
das
Yay, Joe! Very much enjoyed Remnants. Great way to bring Kolya back without being excruiating. I love Robert Davi! Weird to hear him call Sheppard ‘Johnny Boy’, though. And I have to say, being Australian, my household went, ‘Oh, something’s going on here’ as soon as Vanessa mentioned watching Kangaroo Jack. Joe, no intelligent Australian would choose to watch Kangaroo Jack. (No, I haven’t seen it. The ads looked bad enough, thanks very much.) It did give everyone a buzz to see the old flag, though, even if Anna Galvin sound scarily like Olivia Newton-John in Grease. Other points of enjoyment:
1. Chuck. Yay Chuck! We love Chuck, and are sad when he’s not there. (No offense Amelia, we just love Chuck more.)
2. Parrish. Yay Parrish! That guy was great in Runner, and it was very cool to see him back, and great the way you echoed his introduction in Runner, as well. Nice work.
3. Sheppard’s hand. EWWW. JFlan did a great job, though. He plays very well against Mr Davi.
4. Robert Picardo – he just rocks. “You can call me …. Dick.” Ha!
5. Rodney. Now, I adore Rodney, but I love the fact that he had to realise at the end that it was hallucination Radek who called him brilliant, not the real Radek. (PS: I also adore Radek.)
Heaps and heaps of fun, Joe! (Then we watched The Pegasus Project. I love SGA, but I just don’t get SG1.) WHY MUST THERE BE ONLY 5 MORE??? Argh.
ROTFLMAO! I love the video!!!
Anyway, we enjoyed Remnants last night! Looking forward to the discussion!
S
One good reason to avoid posting at 1am: typos. Another: forgetting to add things you intended. Glad Jelly is better, but take good care of Maximus, The Cutest Dog Ever. Now I must go give my cat her blood pressure medication. Good night.
I’m so glad that Jelly is feeling better. Perhaps she just had a bout of gastro. My cat had that a couple of years ago and it was not fun at all. It only lasted for about 24 hours. I hope Maximus feels better and that the other pooches don’t catch whatever this is.
Remnants was quite enjoyable. I was very much looking forward to seeing it and it did not fail to impress me. It was quite a treat to watch while eating my birthday dinner. We had an Indian feast with some garlic prawn masala, tandoori chicken, another chicken dish, and some garlic naan. It was beautiful. My favorite gift this year came a little early at the expo in Melbourne when I met David. 😀 He even signed the picture happy birthday, despite my birthday being two weeks away at the time. Well, today, I’m one year closer to thirty. haha.
Thanks for the entertaining episode. I’m one of those crazy Sheppard fans, so my birthday wishes were fulfilled for the most part. 😉 I look forward to hearing your comments about the show.
I’m really glad to hear that Jelly is doing much better. I hope you have a great weekend, I know that I am. 🙂
I.
Oh, dear, poor Jelly, I hope she’s doing better by now or is at least on her way to get well. 🙁
II.
I still won’t watch SGU! With its Birth, it killed my Beloved SGA! TT_TT
III.
A question about the Ep. ‘The Prodigial’, why, damn… why do you people let Major Lorne always look so idiotic?!?
You cannot tell me an USAF Major would be so over eager to run towards an Enemy like Michael without watching out for Traps. *doh^10*
Though on another Note I have to say, well done Mr. K. Smith you fainted very nice, we all had a laugh at his graceful backwards Fall. 😀
Also this Ep. just as The Kindred, (at the beginning of) The last Man, S&R and way back in Spoils of War… his behaviour towards Teyla made every Lorne/Teyla shipper happy! D:
But he still behaves like an imbecile at Times. Also couldn’t have Sheppard or McKay warned him earlier???
IV.
About the last Pic.
You know, as a Gentleman you are not supposed to touch a Lady underneath her Dress!
P.S.: Yay Parrish was back!!! Would have been better if he would have been there, with Lorne! ^_^;
Hey Joe!
I just wanted to say that it’s good to hear Jelly is on the mend.
Are we going to be seeing any more weird food of the day videos? I miss the fun and laughs at watching you try something “weird”.
Cheers, Chelle 🙂
Glad to hear Jelly is home and on the mend. Just watched Remnants and it was awesome. Sigh, so sad, the show is cancelled.
So I guess….Sheppard’s a whumper!
Cool ep. Joe. I understand people getting frustrated by the quick edits on the Sheppard scenes, but I think that it helped to give them impact. Those scenes were pretty powerful. An entire episode of Kolya beating up and torturing Sheppard might have been too heavy and wouldn’t have served the story.
Joe F was brilliant, although he did snap his head half a second too early the first time Kolya punched him. I really loved the shot from above when Kolya was hitting him and the cliff scene was so well done. Great stunt.
Best line – you’re going to give us a hand. I totally cracked up.
Looking forward to the DVD deleted scenes. Hope we get to see some of the 9 minutes you cut. Why don’t the DVDs have director’s or producer’s cuts? It would be great to see an episode with all of the scenes that were cut purely for time not because they weren’t needed. Would there be an episode of Atlantis where you would love to have a director or producer’s cut?
Cheers, Chev
Oooh I forgot to say thanks for the Ivon and Alan photos – mmmmmm and the funny Alan vid. The last photos is too creepy. Dolls, man they’re just as bad as clowns. Glad to hear Jelly is home. Hope Maximus doesn’t get whatever it is.
Cheers, Chev
I am glad that Jelly isn’t feeling so wobbly… 🙂
Remnants was a great episode, intelligent but easy to watch and understand – and loads of Sheppard whumping (even if only in his own mind).
Another great episode – and one step nearer the end of the series. 🙁
Mr. M,
I have to say I liked Remnants. From the Woolsey scenes, to Zelenka saying Rodney was brilliant, pretty much the whole episode. When I saw the preview after I watched “The Prodigal”, I was really excited to see which “discovery” of this “ancient race”. I was surprised that you would introduce a new race right before the season finale. Not that it really matters, seeing as it’d take quite a long time for this race to be reborn again. When I first heard about the episode, for some reason, I felt that it was going to be a race that we had met before, or was somehow related to one we’ve known.
My initial impression was a discovery about the Ancients. Maybe there was a race that was even more anicent than them, and the ancients wiped them out or stole there stuff. Now that would’ve been interesting! I’ve never really liked the Ancients. They seem kinda snooty, arrogant, uncaring, irresponsible, and rather overconfident. (a lot of adjectives, and I spent a little more time on coming up with them than I’d like to admit 🙂 So if it would’ve been shown that the Ancients weren’t that cool after all, it just would’ve made sense to me.
My second impression was the Gadmeer, (sp?) the sulfur-based life form that was mentioned in Scorched Earth of SG-1 Season 4. I always wanted to learn more about them, and when the biological samples were discovered by McKay, I got excited. Then I realized that wouldn’t happen.
So good job with the episode overall, I know my post may seem like I didn’t enjoy it that much, but I enjoyed the Saraaki, even though the concept might be copying the Gadmeer just a tad. 🙂 Hope Jelly gets better soon!
Halo Luver
NICE twists in Remnants!!!! And thanks for the throwing us a bone and showing a new species LOL! The past two episodes have been FANTASTIC. Thanks!!
hey joe. AWESOME job on Remnants. awesome aliens, and awesome revelation about rodney being fooled too. 😀
Who was the actress who played Vanessa Carlton? She looked so familiar and I couldn’t place her. She isn’t on imdb either.
Glad to hear Jelly is better, sick dogs are the worst.
Hi Joe,
I’m glad to hear Jelly is feeling better. Good luck dispensing all that medicine.
I enjoyed Remnants, it was great to see Kolya one last time, and I really liked the twist on the story.
What was up with Rodney though? He seemed excessively abusive to Zalenka, and he reminded me more of season one Rodney, rather than present day Rodney. Was that intentionally written that way, or was it David’s decision to deliver the dialogue that way?
Joe and Paul… so, 3 story lines in one eppy? That must have made for some fierce balancing, struggling, contortionist moves whilst writing. Good job though, enjoyed Remnants immensely!
Do you find it difficult with 3 plot lines running simultaneously to handle scene cuts to and fro? How do you keep it from appearing choppy and being distracting? Will Waring did a great directing job.
Very powerful character reveal with Sheppard daily fighting his demons. Interesting that you chose Kolya to be the instrument of his self-abuse. Was Sheppard unconsciously feeling guilt or regret for killing him? I always thought Sheppard had a grudging respect for Kolya.
Very strong eppy for Bob Picardo and he did an excellent job. I’m glad Woolsey takes pride in leading Atlantis and doesn’t refrain from stepping outside the constraints of the IOA when necessary. I hope the SGA movies will also use Woolsey so we can continue to see this fascinating character evolve.
I was absolutely surprised at the closing table scene that Zelenka was revealed as Rodney’s hallucination. I had guessed Woolsey’s hallucination as she only interacted with him, even when other people were present. No one else seemed to notice her. Then putting together Sheppard’s plight as a hallucination followed logically.
Very well done eppy gentlemen!
Thanks for being upbeat and hopeful for SGU. I am anticipating a good show since Carl, you and Paul and Alan are involved with the scripts. Good quality flows from good sources.
Avoiding raking the fallen leaves off my lawn in N,
Carol Z
P.S. Glad that Jelly feels better. I understand your meds routine, one of my cats is a diabetic, 2 shots insulin daily.
Hey Joe!
Good to hear that Jelly is doing well, and I hope Maximus does well too. 🙂
I would love to try for that staff weapon in the auction, but the price is getting quite high. Now, if I won a lottery, perhaps that would change my mind. 😉 Wish you folks the best with the auction!
The next time Lawren sets up his explosive, make sure he doesn’t set it upside down. Wouldn’t want a 25 minute timer to end up as 25 seconds now, would you. 😉
Thanks as always!
– Enzo Aquarius
I liked Remnants but found it a bit choppy. I would have preferred more emphasis on the Sheppard story. I suspected that something was up the first time Kolya called him “John” — something Shep does when he criticizes himself (Epiphany and Common Ground come to mind) — but Kolya always referred to him as “Sheppard.”
I look forward to reading your Remnants write-up. Will you talk about scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor?
After five seasons, is this it for “depth” when it comes to Sheppard? Certainly Vegas isn’t going to delve into his psyche? Can you at least throw the Sheppard fans a bone and give us some tiny sliver of additional insight into him in Enemy at the Gate and/or the SGA movie? Please.
After I finished watching Remnants, all I could think was “And that’s it?” There was no fall-out, no consequences to what Sheppard went through. At the end of the ep, it felt like nothing happened, he was his old snarky self. I like whump but not torture for the sake of torture itself. I’m sorry to say that I was disappointed. I expected more tension and angst and this felt too choppy, too many storylines.
poor Lulu, she’s got to take a lot o.O”
I’ve just watched Remnants (Spoilers ahead) and Congratulations! It was great (Whispers wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but this one definitely was) ^^
I loved the character moments. Especially the focus on Woolsey and how he dealed with all those things he had to face. Woolsey has really become one of my favorites in the show (which I find still very, very strange but I just like him ^^”).
At first, I thought the Dr. suddenly appearing ‘out of nowhere’ and liking him when he needs someone to talk to was a big coincidence as well as the not-really-existing explanation for Kolya’s survival seemed to be a point worth criticizing but those things obviously explained themselves later on.
And I was as surprised as Rodney with the Zelenka-revelation (I liked their interaction very much and wasn’t the tiniest bit suspicious even though, in retrospect, Zelenka tried very hard to distract Rodney from the radiation).
I didn’t even doubt Kolya o.O
Not even the fact, that they seemed to really have taken Sheppard’s hand made me doubt it.
I was like: OMG! OMG! They really DID it! O.O How the hell are they going to fix his arm?
I was already thinking along the line of artificial replacements but it never occured to me that it might just not have been real 😉
Poor Chuck had to suffer… Woolsey seems to have a much better memory for female names 😉
I’m not really sure if I got it completely right that everyone was more or less responsible themselves for their halluzinations but if they were Sheppard’s really a lot more messed up on the inside than he usually lets people see (on the surface, between him, Rodney and Woolsey, he seems like the “most normal” person but thinking about what he halluzinated and what they did his imagination definitely isn’t the healthiest.)
And he’s still suffering hard for every loss that occured. That’s no surprise but it doesnt usually show so much.
He’s one of the most present characters in the series (perhaps the most present but I’m not counting screen times 😉 ) but also one of the most “unknown” characters. (Perhaps that’s usually not so much apparent (to me, at least) because he gets to talk a lot about all kinds of things).
So thanks for a lot of character insights, great job!
ah, just realized that I messed the names up, sorry o.O”
I meant poor Jelly ^^”
First and foremost let me say that I enjoyed Remnants, it was a good episode and I loved Woolsey’s storyline in particular – BUT (you knew there was a but coming didn’t you?) as a Sheppard fan I was left feeling disappointed at what a missed opportunity this was. It wasn’t so much that we didn’t learn anything new about Sheppard (maybe you stated it in a more blunt fashion than before but all of these issues have been touched upon before, particularly in Doppleganger) but that once it was all over and done with he just brushed himself down and was back to normal.
Don’t get me wrong, this is Sheppard I’m not expecting tears and histrionics. I know he’s good at keeping the mask in place and I wouldn’t have him any other way but just some little acknowledgement of what he had been through would have been nice. One line of dialogue could have done it, just someone asking if he was okay. The team showed more concern about Woolsey being lonely than they did Sheppard being tortured – and it “all being in his head” didn’t lessen the fact that it was torture.
You said that this episode would give us more of an insight in to what made Sheppard tick but if it did I was clearly too dense to pick up on it, you raised more questions than you answered. We know Sheppard beats himself up over everything and is guilt ridden over his past failings but what we don’t know is why?
In this episode “Kolya” asks Sheppard what he is running away from but we never get an answer – his problems in Afghanistan and his broken marriage seem to be symptoms of rather than the cause of his behaviour. Are we supposed to believe that he is the way he is because he’s a poor little rich boy who’s Daddy didn’t hug him enough?
If we had a season 6 to look forward to then perhaps this wouldn’t be so disappointing but knowing there won’t be another chance and that the series will end without us ever really knowing who Sheppard is… well its deeply frustrating and more than a little depressing.
Glad to see Jelly is getting back to normal. That is a beautiful picture of her. She looks like a show dog! Hope the other “kids” don’t catch whatever she had . . . but I wouldn’t be surprised . . .
Joe, wow, I liked this episode and I look forward to your take on why you wrote Sheppard being internally hard on himself. Loved the way you spinned Remnants. Great job!
Are Teyla and Ronon even part of this show any more?
Hi Joe,
The last two episodes were t-rific. Wonder what info Sheppard put into the “mission report” he filed for his encounter with Koyla. Did he keep all his demons out of it? Can’t imagine him admitting what he experienced. I am a Sheppard fan, also,– wish we could’ve learned more.
Question: does SGU have a firm commitment for a set amount of episodes? What happens if the new show is a flop? Maybe Wright/Cooper could stand to experience a little failure in their careers–make them appreciate their successes more and not be so quick to bail on a fan favorite. Five and counting–bummer.
So glad your pooch is feelin’ better!
Thanks for posting the picture of Jelly and letting us know how she is doing. Glad that she is going to be o.k. I hope that Maximus doesn’t catch it too. As far as your schedule for Jelly…*lol*… I’ve sooo done that before.
I’m looking forward to your write-up on “Remnants” tonight. Loved Woolsey in it. Good episode.
dff
I enjoyed Remnants, loved the Shep whump even though it wasn’t real. What happened to us getting an insight into what makes Shep tick? I didn’t learn anything new. That was a huge disappointment. I guess we will never know what he is running away from.
Joe couldn’t the Atlantis team have sent the device on its way, then after it “seeds” at a later date go pick it up and access the information?
Kolyaa was a pleasant surprise, although once Shep lost his hand i was waiting for the “I am your father” bit. All in all an 8.5/10 episode 🙂
Hi Joe!
Glad to hear Jelly’s feeling better. She sure looked better in this day’s photo.
Love the pics – oooh, scary Carl! – and Alan go BOOM! Love it!
But nothing is as scary as that doll you’re holding. Put Bo-Peep down and nobody will get hurt. Looks like something that would’ve been sold in the Friday the 13th TV series antique shop!
I’ll post my Remnant thoughts on the next post. 🙂
eddy
HA! Loved the video.
How does someone send in an Audition tape to you guys for SGU?