Rac80
The Belle of the Ball
Link to front page review HERE
Sorry this is so late- the ep stunk!
Synopsis:
Action on a planet, whining on the ship….and plenty of draaaama!
Ok I should do a better job so here it is:
The crew is setting up a temporary base camp on a forested planet (another Vancouver forest eh?) and we find Scott, Greer, James, and Park discussing whether the local fauna are edible. TJ wants help so Park and James go to help while Scott and Greer go to get “alien deer” for dinner. The deer flee and an unknown predator attacks the group, injuring or killing several and taking TJ and a young corporal captive. Greer froze and didn’t shoot the predator when he had the opportunity. Back on the ship, Rush has sent a resentful Eli and Brody to investigate another part of the ship. Eli is whining his ass off because Rush has taken charge and won’t let them spend any time messing with what they find. They find a section that is all stasis pods but Rush wants them to keep looking around and not try to figure them out. A rescue party is sent to the planet (we don’t know when/how the people left on the planet contacted/returned to the ship) with Young in the lead (it’s TJ after all!) and he leaves Lt. Scott in command on the ship. Young also chews out Greer for not killing the predator when he had the chance. Chloe has now become medical personnel (oh those tricky aliens taught her lots of stuff didn’t they?) and has several survivors in the medical bay- one is a whiney guy with a sore ankle, the other is Park. Volker visits Park and is very concerned about her. Chloe gets a clue and tries to play ships counselor with Volker, encouraging him to try harder with Dr. Park. Varro approaches Scott offering the help of the Lucien Alliance saying they are hunters and know how to track. Meanwhile Eli has returned to the stasis pods and is playing with the controls on the outside and Brody is messing with the inside controls. Suddenly Brody is frozen in the pod, the camera flashes to Rush playing with a console with a nasty smirk on his face. We are suddenly back on the planet and TJ has discovered that she and the corporal are in a cave on the side of a cliff. Due to a cache of bones, it seems the predator is “saving them for later”. The corporal is very whiney about his injury and tells TJ he thinks his leg is broken, she says “no, it’s only fractured”… What a medic she is! The scene now turns to Varro and the LA helping the crew track the predator. A group of the predators attack and kills/ wounds several. Young stays behind to arrange burial for the LA killed and to take the injured back to the ship. Varro and a resentful Greer continue looking for TJ and the young corporal. Greer expresses his disapproval of Varro and TJ getting together. Back on the ship Rush tells Volker that he isn’t good enough for Park; he would never be able to hold her interest. Meanwhile Eli is frantically trying to get Brody un-frozen and tries to get Chloe to help him. Suddenly Brody unfreezes and the scene flashes to Rush with another evil smirk on his face. Greer and Varro find the cave where TJ and redshirt are being held. They join them in the cave and are again confronted by the predator. TJ has lit a fire (why in hell?) and the predator seems to recognize them as intelligent and lets them leave even though Greer froze yet again. Back on the ship, Volker approaches the sick bay with flowers for Park and sees her canoodling with Greer and walks away all sad. Eli and Brody return to the bridge no longer eager to explore anything new, Rush smirks. TJ drops by Varro’s new quarters and expresses her sympathy for the death of the rest of the LA. Varro is just about to kiss her when an injured Young shows up. An awkward moment ensues and TJ leaves Varro’s room. The final scene shows the crew eating “alien deer” and having a high old time.
Critique:
The episode was very predictable. After all the complaints of “forest planets” for SG1 and SGA, where did we end up? On a forest planet. I am sure a medieval village is next!
The lighting was dismal as always- during the hunt they had some sort of dark filter on the camera lens to simulate night but didn’t digitally remove the shadows the sun left on the ground. 
There wasn’t as much shaky cam as usual so that can only be a good thing. Yes we had a music montage- to eating. I wasn’t impressed by the “animal’s view” they used…I think they used the same effect during SG1’s The Tomb (Season 5 ep. 8), I think they should have tried something different. After all this show is supposedly soooo sophisticated compared to SG1! The increased production costs are certainly not being spent on CGI! The alien animals (both prey and predator) were only okay, nothing really interesting. 
As to the characters- well Rush is a manipulative SOB and we all knew that. Eli was right – why didn‘t they further explore anything they discover? I think it is probably because Rush knows what everything is on the ship and is simply keeping the others busy while he does his own thing. Greer freezing when the predator first attacked was totally out of character. He’s a kick ass Marine not a pansy! Now Chloe knows medicine? I am shocked!
Well not really- now that she’s no longer turning into an alien they need a reason to not redshirt her. TJ’s near kiss with Varro convinced me that she really is a “ho”. I know many will disagree but she seems to not understand the idea of fidelity at all. When Young nearly catches her kissing Varro, she looks very embarrassed. Obviously she hasn’t “ended” things with Young…but hey she’s moving on anyway. Varro is now the only Lucien Alliance member left so he is free and given his own quarters. Mike Dopud is a joy to watch in the midst of so-so acting and horrible characters.
His is the only character I feel like rooting for; I want him to airlock everyone else and laugh, but his character is too decent to do that I am sure. My only complaints about Varro were the leather wasn’t tight enough and covered too much of him!
Although I will admit that this episode was so horrible that even the presence of Varro/Mike Dopud couldn’t save it. All in all a forgettable episode of a very forgettable series. :beckettd:
Sorry this is so late- the ep stunk!
Episode 16: The Hunt
Synopsis:
Action on a planet, whining on the ship….and plenty of draaaama!
Ok I should do a better job so here it is: The crew is setting up a temporary base camp on a forested planet (another Vancouver forest eh?) and we find Scott, Greer, James, and Park discussing whether the local fauna are edible. TJ wants help so Park and James go to help while Scott and Greer go to get “alien deer” for dinner. The deer flee and an unknown predator attacks the group, injuring or killing several and taking TJ and a young corporal captive. Greer froze and didn’t shoot the predator when he had the opportunity. Back on the ship, Rush has sent a resentful Eli and Brody to investigate another part of the ship. Eli is whining his ass off because Rush has taken charge and won’t let them spend any time messing with what they find. They find a section that is all stasis pods but Rush wants them to keep looking around and not try to figure them out. A rescue party is sent to the planet (we don’t know when/how the people left on the planet contacted/returned to the ship) with Young in the lead (it’s TJ after all!) and he leaves Lt. Scott in command on the ship. Young also chews out Greer for not killing the predator when he had the chance. Chloe has now become medical personnel (oh those tricky aliens taught her lots of stuff didn’t they?) and has several survivors in the medical bay- one is a whiney guy with a sore ankle, the other is Park. Volker visits Park and is very concerned about her. Chloe gets a clue and tries to play ships counselor with Volker, encouraging him to try harder with Dr. Park. Varro approaches Scott offering the help of the Lucien Alliance saying they are hunters and know how to track. Meanwhile Eli has returned to the stasis pods and is playing with the controls on the outside and Brody is messing with the inside controls. Suddenly Brody is frozen in the pod, the camera flashes to Rush playing with a console with a nasty smirk on his face. We are suddenly back on the planet and TJ has discovered that she and the corporal are in a cave on the side of a cliff. Due to a cache of bones, it seems the predator is “saving them for later”. The corporal is very whiney about his injury and tells TJ he thinks his leg is broken, she says “no, it’s only fractured”… What a medic she is!
The scene now turns to Varro and the LA helping the crew track the predator. A group of the predators attack and kills/ wounds several. Young stays behind to arrange burial for the LA killed and to take the injured back to the ship. Varro and a resentful Greer continue looking for TJ and the young corporal. Greer expresses his disapproval of Varro and TJ getting together. Back on the ship Rush tells Volker that he isn’t good enough for Park; he would never be able to hold her interest. Meanwhile Eli is frantically trying to get Brody un-frozen and tries to get Chloe to help him. Suddenly Brody unfreezes and the scene flashes to Rush with another evil smirk on his face. Greer and Varro find the cave where TJ and redshirt are being held. They join them in the cave and are again confronted by the predator. TJ has lit a fire (why in hell?) and the predator seems to recognize them as intelligent and lets them leave even though Greer froze yet again. Back on the ship, Volker approaches the sick bay with flowers for Park and sees her canoodling with Greer and walks away all sad. Eli and Brody return to the bridge no longer eager to explore anything new, Rush smirks. TJ drops by Varro’s new quarters and expresses her sympathy for the death of the rest of the LA. Varro is just about to kiss her when an injured Young shows up. An awkward moment ensues and TJ leaves Varro’s room. The final scene shows the crew eating “alien deer” and having a high old time. Critique:
The episode was very predictable. After all the complaints of “forest planets” for SG1 and SGA, where did we end up? On a forest planet. I am sure a medieval village is next!
The lighting was dismal as always- during the hunt they had some sort of dark filter on the camera lens to simulate night but didn’t digitally remove the shadows the sun left on the ground. There wasn’t as much shaky cam as usual so that can only be a good thing. Yes we had a music montage- to eating. I wasn’t impressed by the “animal’s view” they used…I think they used the same effect during SG1’s The Tomb (Season 5 ep. 8), I think they should have tried something different. After all this show is supposedly soooo sophisticated compared to SG1! The increased production costs are certainly not being spent on CGI! The alien animals (both prey and predator) were only okay, nothing really interesting. As to the characters- well Rush is a manipulative SOB and we all knew that. Eli was right – why didn‘t they further explore anything they discover? I think it is probably because Rush knows what everything is on the ship and is simply keeping the others busy while he does his own thing. Greer freezing when the predator first attacked was totally out of character. He’s a kick ass Marine not a pansy! Now Chloe knows medicine? I am shocked!
Well not really- now that she’s no longer turning into an alien they need a reason to not redshirt her. TJ’s near kiss with Varro convinced me that she really is a “ho”. I know many will disagree but she seems to not understand the idea of fidelity at all. When Young nearly catches her kissing Varro, she looks very embarrassed. Obviously she hasn’t “ended” things with Young…but hey she’s moving on anyway. Varro is now the only Lucien Alliance member left so he is free and given his own quarters. Mike Dopud is a joy to watch in the midst of so-so acting and horrible characters.
