Stargate, SGA, Season 3, Episode 15: Tao Of Rodney [SPOILERS]

User45701

Yes episode 15 i actually have it right this time there was a ****up and they aired 15 instead of 14

What did you all think anyway i have to say i am disappointed that episode 14 didnt come out this week i was relay looking forward to it

Was a good episode
i know that guy whatever his name is -the one who hates mackay must have loved this episode

Where a few good funny parts put the only thing that makes no sense was why not get jackson to come to atlantis
that is unless either earth lost its zpm or something happened to danial

Moe Lester

9

Great episode.

also thaught it was wierd when i saw that it said 315.

but it was indeed a great episode the cool things that he did when he was even more smart then he already is.

hyperdrives for the puddle jumpers.
improved shield for the daedalus

also he made a new math i think that part was cool

all and all it was a great episode.

Suaimhneach

7

Good episode. It was funny, and made me hate McKay a little less.

User, why would Daniel Jacksom come to the base?

I liked that Ronan hugged McKay at the end, it was very like... macho but sincere.

I also liked that within Rodneys powers he was able to block some out. Usually when a charachter in any show can read thoughts he's plagued by it, but he could just switch it off. Ithink thats an important factor.

I liked the ending too, where Rodney grabbed the Doc and stared at him. Freaked me out a bit but then it allll made sense.

Funny how you could tell the Dr, leader of the expedition woman was totally jealous and would like to assend!! Wouldnt we all though... maybe.

What was teh "You love me" thing about. Wasnt it a general freind thing, as opposed to an "In love with you thing".

Wonder what episode 14 will yeild to us!

User45701

8

Jesjes wrote:

User, why would Daniel Jackson come to the base?

Because he has ascended twice and earth has a zpm and they also have the intergalactic bridge so Danial should have come to help mackey ascend unless of coarse in SG1 11 12 13 14 or 15 something happens to Danial or they lose there zpm

mcgarnicle

Good episode although I think they are starting to take the piss with all the McKay focus of late.

User45701

8

mcgarnicle wrote:

Good episode although I think they are starting to take the piss with all the McKay focus of late.

Ye but you did laugh didnt you? i mean u dont want this every week but it was funny

Jesjes wrote:

Wonder what episode 14 will yeild to us!

(i read about future SGA and SG1 episodes , but never the last episodes in a season or the 1st in a new season, also i dont read spoilers for any other show especially BSG i guess after 10 years it does not bother me to know what the fillers are about, actually on that note you should read what episode 14 is about http://www.sg1archive.com/atlantis/s3.shtml (im 98% certain it only gives away the first 5 mins of the episode and it sounds like a goodie)

mcgarnicle

User45701 wrote:

Ye but you did laugh didnt you? i mean u dont want this every week but it was funny

Yes I did like it. It was funny in the way Stargate should be funny. Not in the over board ****fest that "200" tried.

alastair_doom

5

not a bad episode, just not a fan of the episodes where some crazy off the wall bit of science saves them in the last few seconds.

unbelieveable action, i can believe.
unvelieveable science, makes me sad

User45701

8

I loved 200 it was very funny

mcgarnicle

alastair_doom wrote:

not a bad episode, just not a fan of the episodes where some crazy off the wall bit of science saves them in the last few seconds.

unbelieveable action, i can believe.
unvelieveable science, makes me sad

I don't think it's much of a stretch to believe that the machine that changed his dna in the first place would be able to change him back

mcgarnicle

User45701 wrote:

I loved 200 it was very funny

I know, most people did so maybe I'm wrong. I honestly hated it though.

alastair_doom

5

mcgarnicle wrote:

I don't think it's much of a stretch to believe that the machine that changed his dna in the first place would be able to change him back

...Or accidentally turn him into a vindalloo monster.

Ok, maybe not overly in this episode, but i think its really damaging to the show that they can repeatidly just pull out science fixes in the last few seconds, which go against what the whole rest of the episode was about.

Kojak

7

I enjoyed this episode a lot. It reminded me of the ep at the end of season 5 where Jackson dies.

Rodney trying to "make up" with the others was interesting, but it has been done. I have to say I was surprised with how the episode ended - I was full sure he would ascend and then descend again.

The talk with Zalenka was priceless

Hewlett can nearly carry an episode on his own - another good filler from Atlantis, they seems to be able to do filler's better than SG1

senordingdong

2

I really didn't like this episode.
I mean, two episodes of humans with super powers from both shoes in the one week? Infact, it was like a good duy version of 'Protorype' from season 9.

All that talk of fancy things like Hyperspace jumpers, I doubht any of those will come to the show and if they do, they will probably further take the show awaty from it's roots. And that said, for all this crap Rodney could come up with after a few seconds in a microwave, why the hell couldn't the ancients come up with any of that in their few thousand years of being there?
On top of all that, it really is cheapening the idea of Ascension.

What also bothered me was the character interaction in this episode. This show doesn't seem to have much in 'developing' but has plenty in 're-painting' and 're-using'.
Like the Rodney and Zelenka thing...where the two put their differences aside, that is supposed to be some sort of rare heart felt moment or something, but it is becoming as tiresome as their bickering.
That said, Teyla and Ronin were pointless in this episode once again....untill the last five minutes were Ronin acted completely out of character and more genuine development and potential backstory (scars and tea ceremony) were completely ditched for what seemed like an essentially rushed ending.
It seemd like the only interesting parts of this episode were the first fifteen minutes and the other forty five were just an elongated ending.

User45701

8

senordingdong wrote:

it really is cheapening the idea of Ascension.

have to disagree there are plenty of people alive on earth now who could and would ascend but they cant because they lack the physical component (the modifications to the brain though either tech or prolonged evaluation)

senordingdong

2

That has nothing to do with anything.

User45701

8

Yes it does you where saying that the idea of Ascension was being cheapened.

from that i assumed u ment since rodney can ascend aswell its losing the whole pure/higher being lark i was making the point that Ascension from what we know of it is not not hard

senordingdong

2

That's not what I meant.
I meant that Atlantis' plots as of late have been cheapening the idea of ascension.

User45701

8

sry i still dont understand man.
What parts have cheapened ascension

ixoy

User45701 wrote:

sry i still dont understand man.
What parts have cheapened ascension

Ummm the fact that it's not easy? It took a lot of time for Daniel to reach the right mentality to achieve ascension and that was with the help of Oma Desala. So when he did ascend it felt like he had earned the right and, again, it was only the right of sponsporship by Oma.

Having someone ascend in 30 minutes cheapens that concept.

User45701

8

ixoy wrote:

Ummm the fact that it's not easy? It took a lot of time for Daniel to reach the right mentality to achieve ascension and that was with the help of Oma Desala. So when he did ascend it felt like he had earned the right and, again, it was only the right of sponsporship by Oma.

Having someone ascend in 30 minutes cheapens that concept.

Ye but what i am saying is being pure of heart is a key part of ascension but there are plenty of people alive now and in earths history who could ascend they just lacked the advanced brain development stage. With the brain augmented and a tech guide on your progress and if u where a "good" person then it would not be as hard

senordingdong

2

Yes but as Ixoy said, having it happen in thirty minutes....by McKay of all people, is just pissing on the story that began on Kheb with Daneil, Oma and the monk.

Johnmb

Unless I missed something, Rodney didn't ascend. He reached the measurements that he believed would lead to ascension, but it was left ambiguous as to whether or not it would have worked.

User45701

8

ascension only requires someone to be "pure of heart" then there is the physical requirement the advanced brain development which Rodney had, we don't actually know if he could have ascended or not, and the point i tried to make was that there are plenty of people who have lived who are worthy of ascension and are pure of heart they just lacked the advanced brain development.

robnubis

9

Moe Lester wrote:

Great episode.
hyperdrives for the puddle jumpers.
improved shield for the daedalus

plot devies for end of season/season 4

Jesjes wrote:

What was teh "You love me" thing about. Wasnt it a general freind thing, as opposed to an "In love with you thing".

Rodney and his ego tbh. Weir said "we love you" in that friend way, but rodney says he heard " i love you" and is smug thinkign weir likes him.

senordingdong

2

User45701 wrote:

ascension only requires someone to be "pure of heart" then there is the physical requirement the advanced brain development which Rodney had, we don't actually know if he could have ascended or not, and the point i tried to make was that there are plenty of people who have lived who are worthy of ascension and are pure of heart they just lacked the advanced brain development.

Think of all the effort Daniel put into it from season 3 when he first heard about it, untill now.
And then consider that there is a machine made by the ancients to do all that for them.
Completely pisses all over the achievment of the ascension, and the whole spirituality element that we've grown accustomed to.

mcgarnicle

senordingdong wrote:

Think of all the effort Daniel put into it from season 3 when he first heard about it, untill now.
And then consider that there is a machine made by the ancients to do all that for them.
Completely pisses all over the achievment of the ascension, and the whole spirituality element that we've grown accustomed to.

The whole ascension thing doesn't really make much sense. On the one hand we are being told that the Asurans can't ascend because they have an aggresive sub-routine. Yet at the same time we are meant to believe the Ori are all ascended despite clearly being rather aggressive. It all stinks of lazy writing to be honest and the entire argument is moot since it's obvious not even the writers have a clue of what is actually required to ascend.

durandal

5

The episode clearly had muddled, and pretty poor science babble, but was largely rescued by Hewlett's acting. Tayla and Ronin are completely redundant at this stage though. If they were killed there'd be no emotional resonance.

As far as having a machine that can break the ascension threshold goes, it completely contradicts the whole of SG1 ascension mythology; there's no need to be pure of heart if you can rig your body to shift.

rogue-entity

SG's Ascension mythos is as follows:
There are no rules, to ascend, you need to reach the right developmental stage, which is what Anubis was doing with Kaleb, using technology to alter his physiology in steps. Kaleb only needed a few more treatments in the machine and his body would have arrived at the stage where he would eventually be able to ascend on his own, like the Ancients did. Most of the ancients from the time they left Atlantis were evolved enough already and through meditation managed to ascend, others experimented with the device to speed up their development to the point where they too could ascend. There are no rules as Daniel said.

Daniel never reached this stage himself, when he was dying of radiation poisoning, Oma came to him, and offered him ascension because she knew he was pure of heart. The ascended ancients are capable of ascending others below them, as well as returning to human form at a high stage of advancement and keeping some of the ascended knowledge with them, e.g. Merlin/Myrdin/Moros.

BKtje

I think it showed very well the Science vs Religious aspect of ascension.

In science everything has a plausible explanation. Just because we don't know the reason doesn't make it magical or spiritual. Think it showed the flip side of the coin quite well.

robnubis

9

This was episode 14, they obviously have changed the air dates and order of episodes. If you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_episodes#Season_3 or here: http://www.gateworld.net/atlantis/s3/index.shtml

you see its correct, they've just changed the order of episodes. nothing has been skipped, if you didn't already know "phantoms" was in fact Episode 11, but was aired as episode 9, thus all episodes were cranked up 1 notch after the mid season break, its something that'll be altered for dvd release i assume.

senordingdong

2

mcgarnicle wrote:

The whole ascension thing doesn't really make much sense. On the one hand we are being told that the Asurans can't ascend because they have an aggresive sub-routine. Yet at the same time we are meant to believe the Ori are all ascended despite clearly being rather aggressive. It all stinks of lazy writing to be honest and the entire argument is moot since it's obvious not even the writers have a clue of what is actually required to ascend.

They already cleared up that the Ori turned bad after they ascended.