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February 22, 2014: Videos news of note! Our Stargate Atlantis rewatch continues with…Siege I!

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Let’s start you off with a grammar lesson…

Dad’s six minute cell phone video of kids falling…

This looks like a good movie :

There but for the grace of God goes Equestrian Dressage

Continuing our Stargate: Atlantis rewatch with season one’s penultimate episode: The Siege – Part 1!

1Atlantis’s first season ends with a bang.  Actually, multiple bangs.  My thoughts on the big two-part season finale here:  June 17, 2012: Checking out the new food trucks! Days of Stargate Atlantis Past! Siege I and II!

As for Akemi, she quite enjoyed this one.  High points for her included McKay, Zelenka, and the “very cool computer graphics!”.   She loved McKay’s EVA: “I found very cool the scene to jump in space.” and the destruction of the hive ship: “Like the shot of them destroying the ship.”

The episode was not, however, without its bumps.  The second Halling walked into Weir’s office: “Oh, no.  Ritual!”  And then, after the conversation about the saving Atlantis, she was much relieved: “I thought he was going to do another ritual.  Did ritual for Teyla dying.  Maybe ritual for wraith is coming.”

She wasn’t a fan of the later (filler) Weir-Zelenka scene in which Weir expresses her desire to save more of the Ancient database (again) and Zelenka explains it is quite impossible (again): “I’ve heard this all before.”  She also found McKay’s spacesuit altogether hilarious: “Silly looking suit!”she laughed.

Props to Rachel (“Whenever Teyla try to read mind, so scary.  She is good actress.”) and Torri (“She is beautiful woman.”).

But she is still hung up on the wraith hair.  When Bob makes his first appearance: “Bad hair!”  And later, when Bob is imprisoned: “First one, Steven, had such beautiful hair.  But this one has ugly hair.  Dreadlocks.  Like rock ‘n roll hair.”  Das, is there something you’d like to add?

She seemed strangely unmoved by the shocking demise of Peter Grodin.  “Did you feel sorry for Peter?”I asked.  “Sure,”she replied.  “He seemed nice guy, Peter-san.”

And tonight, things wrap up with Siege II.  Akemi is looking forward to it: “Excited for the next episode.  Hopefully it’s happy ending.”  Errr….

So, what did you all think of Siege I?

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13 responses

  1. gforce Avatar
    gforce

    Don’t even get me started on the misuse of the word “literally”. I have similar issues with the word “presently”, but I think I’m facing a losing battle on that one.

    If Akemi thought the VFX in Siege I were good, wait until she sees the next episode! I also thought the “zero-gravity” moves in the space stations were very well done and believable.

    I remember seeing this the first time and being quite horrified at the loss of Peter! He was a nice guy!

    Um, yeah – happy ending… who was it again that wrote this next episode? 😉

    Reply
  2. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    Rock n’ roll hair. Spot on, Akemi. 😀 The Wraith are the rock stars of the Pegasus…

    Sigh, I just love those guys…

    (Would love to stay and chat, but had a huge day cleaning out kitchen cabinets – only made it through half. Lor’, do I have a lot of crap. 😛 )

    Boo kitty is already in bed, waiting for me before he gets too comfy (Hubby’s already pinned down by Julien kitty), so I better run! Nites!

    das

    Reply
  3. thornyrose01 Avatar
    thornyrose01

    Liked the links. As for Siege 1, if it hadn’t been followed by Siege 2, it might have been the best episode of the season. Grodin didn’t exactly sacrifice himself, but he had the moral courage to recognize nothing could be done, and made sure no others died with him. Loved the destruction of the Wraith ship, only to realize all the work and sacrifice was not enough to save Atlantis. Nice to see McKay continuing to evolve, actually feeling something when “his” people don’t make it. Great season for the season finale/cliffhanger.
    Thanks for the ongoing review, thank Akemi for her comments and insights, and looking forward to the next few episodes. (REALLY want to see what she thinks of Ronan).

    Reply
  4. Jenny Horn Avatar
    Jenny Horn

    First off….holy amazing musical score, Batman! Them thar’s some hot stuff.

    Is it the DP who decides how to light each scene? I was specifically drawn to the way McKay and Miller are lit when Grodin is killed. Eerie and effective.

    Bates was right to be concerned about Teyla’s being a liability, but he needs to learn that people are more likely to listen to your input if you’re not such a dick all the time. It hardly matters at this point because he is gone after this Season. I liked it when Teyla clocked him, but I also lost some respect for her just then. He had it coming, but…

    Does anyone else feel the Athosians are ridiculously annoying by now? I don’t remember minding them so much when I first watched the episodes several years ago, but now Halling is quite tiresome. It could be that they are not given good material to work with.

    Rock, paper, scissors can actually work with three people, but you need elimination rounds and hope that you don’t start out like our guys did, which mathematically only has a 10% chance of occurring anyway. If anyone doesn’t understand the math behind that, let me know and I will be happy to explain it. It is along the same lines of, yet a little different than, the math Sheppard and the Genii use to determine the number of possible gate addresses in Brotherhood.

    Anyway, I digress…

    Poor Grodin. Poor, poor Grodin.

    And I have a chastisement regarding Bob. Don’t talk to your food before you eat it! You were stunned and captured because you took the time to say something to Sheppard right before you reached for him…and look where that got you. This is like twirling your sticks…cut out the extra flair and just get down to business if you want to achieve your immediate goal. Wait, am I actually coaching a Wraith on how to better kill humans?

    Does anyone know if David Nykl plays piano? Because he was playing his laptop keyboard like a piano when Zalenka was placing the virus in standby mode. It was very smooth with a flourish at the very end.

    I’m falling asleep, so that is all for tonight.
    I would be so pleased if 3 more new posters came out of the shadows and said hello in the next say of two. And a big howdy and welcome to those who have posted for the first time recently. I applaud you!

    Reply
  5. herbertsommerfeld Avatar
    herbertsommerfeld

    I will literally be showing that grammar video to my grade 9 and 10 English classes this upcoming week.

    Reply
  6. skua Avatar
    skua

    I agree with Akemi the filler is redundant. A better filler would have been if a passing Wraith Dart takes Halling & Kavanagh. 😆

    Scalzi confesses. this is relevant to the TOE debate. I wanted to put it days ago but i forget :
    http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/02/03/these-books-are-partially-my-fault/

    Reply
  7. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    Regarding grammar – I don’t get my knickers in a bunch over mistakes (‘cept me own), because I figure most people know how to properly use the words that are most often misused on the net (its, it’s/there, their, they’re/your, you’re/two, too, to). So, why do they misuse them in type? I think it’s a combo of muscle memory and phonetic thinking, along with fast typing (or, at least that ‘s what happens to me). When I’m typing I’m not thinking in ‘grammar’, but more in the spoken word. That’s why I often put on ‘accents’ when I’m typing, knowwadimean?

    That video was funny, though, and I must say that the internet pretty much cured me of using the word ‘literally’ a while ago, though sometimes I still slip up…literally. 😉

    das

    Reply
  8. fsmn36 Avatar
    fsmn36

    Love this episode. That is all. 🙂

    Reply
  9. lauramultidimensionalocean Avatar
    lauramultidimensionalocean

    yup… the enitre Siege saga truly kicks ass! my favs.. real sci-fi and action with humor also.. all new, new cast, and did I mention action??? 😉
    Lol McKay would never look good in a suit… but not sure does it have more to do with Rodney than with the suit… he will never be able to wear a suit like in the Pacific Rim movie.. lol 🙂 and is too old to wear one like in Ender’s Game… 🙂
    Sayanara Peta San!

    Ah! I managed to find my first Japanese mini writing piece for Akemi and you! this is about ウイー　ン

    ローラ･

    オ－ストリアのウイー　ンです。
    オ－ストリアの北東にあります。人口は二百三十万人です。なつはとてもあついです。さいこうきおんは３５度です。ふゆはとてもさむいです。０度からー１８度になります。有名な人は、モーツアルトとハプスブルク家です。ウイーンはオースとリアの首都です。地下鉄はべんりです。ドナウ川はヨーロッパで一番長い川です。ウイーンの言語はドイツ語です。ゆうのいな食べ物はツュニッソィル、クネーデルです。そしてカフィ・ミット・ンュラーグオーバです。おいしです。そしてやすいです。ウイーンの男性はハンスムです。ウイーンはにぎやかな町です。ウイーン大学は１３６５年からです。有名なばしょはシューンブルンきゅうでんです。
    シューンブルンのこうえんきれいです。

    Reply
  10. Mike from Canada Avatar
    Mike from Canada

    The Siege p1
    Good episode. Tension, heroism, self sacrifice.
    Bates has his nickers in a knot, but he does make some good points. He screws himself when he jumps to the conclusion the wraith attacked the party.

    On the way to the weapons platform satellite, the jumper pilot and Dr. Peter Grodin are wearing red jumpsuits.
    Subtle (or not so subtle) foreshadowing?

    It’s interesting that Cooper (?) added the scene of Halling talking to Weir, his insistence that the ancients will somehow arrive to save the day, as apposed to Weir, who says they need to save themselves. This idea runs through all three series. Clearly (to me at least) the series gives the impression of being very pro science. The series is clearly not “Saved by an Angel”. In fact, the ones closest to “angels”, the ascended ancients, are forbidden to assist humans and prevent their own kind from doing so. It doesn’t seem as overt as SG1 with parasites and Ori masquerading as Gods, but there still seems to be a small thread. Or am I imagining this?

    McKay’s fall is not funny, but his reaction is. “That’s vertebrae damage. That’s a life of pain.”

    Why didn’t the wraith suck Bates dry and hide his corpse?

    Zelenka is looking for ways to destroy the city if need be. Why not overload a naquadah generator right beside the stargate? Wouldn’t a stargate explosion destroy a good part of the planet?

    Did you see that look between Zelenka and Weir? Maybe there’s something going on there. Probably not.

    I very much liked the CGI of the weapons platform and the set design. I thought they did a very nice job.

    Reply
  11. whovian Avatar
    whovian

    This episode was intense. I loved Teyla punching Bates. A wraith on the loose was super scary. And then poor Grodin. It was definitely a cliffhanger ending. The first time watching I remember thinking “Oh now what will they do?”

    Reply
  12. Bella&Kasper Avatar
    Bella&Kasper

    First name: Elke. Location: Outside of Edmonton, Alberta. Favourite thing(s) (according to my husband): my 2 horses, my 2 dogs, and my husband (in that order). I also happen to love photography, hiking, reading, and scifi movies/tv. Really enjoyed all of SGA (gotta love McCay) but particularly season 2 and beyond.

    Reply
  13. Duptiang Avatar
    Duptiang

    Ah yes, more of the McKay competition bites the dust. I am touched by McKay’s moment of humanity when one of his colleague is about to dawn the “red shirt”, be it in Siege I or in the Defiant One. I liked the Peter character. He was a real foil to McKay. He was well grounded, not neurotic under stress, and had a telling sarcastic reply to the ego; guess it was the English in him. Zelenka has a willingness to back down and play the side kick for universal peace.

    In watching some of the other episodes I was wondering about the Athosians as well. With all the resources: human, material, technological, they seemed to be socially stunted.

    Reply

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