Dial the Gate: The Other Guys

[fignewton]

redial_the_gate recaps The Other Guys today, and I've been mightily resisting the temptation to read beanpot's recap that is sitting innocently in the queue right now. :)

It's going to be a little... difficult for me to liveblog this one. I've read the transcript more than once and I disliked it strongly. Yes, I learned my lesson with Prodigy - transcripts don't always do justice to the scene onscreen. But I am particularly wary of that closing fantasy scene, and I'm aware of the large contingent of fans out there who complain that it's not just Felger; much of the characterization is insanely over the top. OTOH, there is Jack the Grammar Police, and that never gets old! Also, there is just as large a contingent of fandom that adores the ep, so... Okay. I'll try for the open mind. That's the best I can do.

So. No real review, just liveblogging my reactions. Onward!

Ooh, stunning opening visuals. Pyramid in background, ship gliding over the water. And since I paused it to type this, I also noticed the rippled reflection of the ship in the water - nice touch, that.

Herak, or however you spell it! We see this guy in Full Circle and Fallen.

Goa'uld with really Bad Hair! You know it's all about the hair. Anubis flunky, I see. Well, if your fashion consultant walks around like a laundry pile, what can you expect? Also, I had this idea that Herak was a First Prime? He doesn't have gold, just the tattoo.

"Three humans and a Jaffa"? That is very un-Goa'uld-like. It ought to be "The shol'va and his three human traitors" or something.

Ruins! Aw, I miss Daniel. I am very very fond of Jonas, but I do miss Daniel. OTOH, geeks through the Gate! That is always fun.

Aha. And there's the infamous Jay Felger, with his fanboying of SG-1. "They are so cool!" Heh - I have to agree with Geek 1 and Geek 2 - "It's embarrassing!" "Not to mention unprofessional." Hee hee hee. And maybe that's my problem with this from the transcript? I love competent SGC personnel.

"Hockey? Remember with the ice and skating?" Heeee! And thus is born a million fanon fanfics about Jack's obsession with hockey! (Why yes, that is part of canon vs. fanon, over here.)

Teal'c pwnage is always fun - letting Jack babble on when he not only knows exactly what Jack's talking about, but even knows enough to venture an opinion on the teams. Love that little smirk.

Okay. I am embarrassed for Felger - and even more for his fellow geeks. This is high school stuff. Lack of professionalism. I don't mind geeks being hapless in the firefighting department, but they ought to be completely competent in their own fields, and Felger is anything but.

TEAL'C!!! ::squishes him:: Felger fawns, "You can get back to saving the world again for the seventh time," complete with faux buddy slap that has Jack eying him, and Teal'c calmly says without even looking up, "Eighth." Oh do I love that man. Or Jaffa. Whatever. :)

Felger leaning in on the radio. Ergh.

Star Trek! "I don't know how you can call yourself a scientist and not worship at the altar of Roddenberry!" And boy do I pity Geek 2. :)

"Nerd." "Geek." A long-standing feud, this. Poor Geek 2.

Okay, so here's my problem with this scene: I remember enough from the transcript to know this is a set-up. So yes, Jack ordered the civilians to stay out of the way. But that's not good enough. It makes absolutely no sense to me that Jack, or Hammond, would allow civilians to be anywhere close to a fake ambush like this. This is the kind of glaring plothole that sacrifices realism for the sake of the story - that Felger could go "rescue" SG-1 - and I really don't like that.

(But the shadow of the al'kesh flying over them was fabulous.)

Felger totally did the right thing by radioing Jack. And Jack's "I KNOW!" over the radio was hilarious. :)

How come Jonas hasn't had a chance to say one word yet?

"Senior advisor of this mission"? Why? But I do like the idea that his hero-worship translates into "They never leave a man behind. Ever." Yes, he's totally wrong and he is, in a way, actually "leaving them behind" by not alerting the SGC to their need for assistance, but I'll grant Felger that.

Ah. "Tell General Hammond what's happened." Good for him.

Oh, LOVE. "What would Colonel O'Neill do if he was here now!" "...You want me to shoot you?" Laugh-out-loud moment, and totally deserves iconning.

Okay, I can't, I can't take this seriously, with Coombs curled up on the floor and Felger shooting in a cricle with his arm hiding his eyes. I'll talk about this more later, but I guess that for me, my problem with Felger is that he's OOC humor for humor's sake, not in-character humor that's in-story.

"They did WHAT?" Bwah! The look on Hammond's face is utterly priceless. And I don't mind Geek 2 being largely incoherent - he's not trained for combat. Although again, I say that I find it utterly unrealistic to allow the Geek Team to be on the planet when the sting went down.

Hey, I recognize those ducts from Homecoming! Daniel was crawling through 'em, too.

...Of course, he had some kind of nifty marker so that the sensors shouldn't detect him, but we're supposed to handwave the idea that two guys can ring onto a ship and roam about with impunity and no one will notice, right?

Sam and Jonas! "How come you're not smiling?" "Should I be?" "Well, it is your first time being captured by a Goa'uld." Hee hee hee.

"Shouldn't we be trying to escape?" Wait, so Jonas isn't in on it?

Love Jack snark!

Ah, so here's the stress on the "shol'va." And Jack patting Teal'c on the shoulder, hee!

Aw, poor Jonas - "You I'm not familiar with."

Herak specifically says he's First Prime here. And... he suddenly has a gold tattoo. The problem with DVD players is that you can't just flick back and forth like you can when it's on your computer, so I may or may not go back to double-check whether or not it really was just black ink in the opening sequence.

Yes, I went back afterward, and I think I saw a gold glint in that opening scene. It's dark and shadowy and it doesn't look embossed, but I saw a glint.

"Carter, be honest. The resume gag...?" "It needs work, O'Neill." ::sporfles:: This ep is one massive Teal'c pwnage, isn't it?

It occurs to me that Coombs' messy hair is oddly endearing. He's a civilian, so why not? Other than floppy-haired Daniel in S1-2, I don't think we ever see any non-regulation hair at the SGC, do we? (Unless you include Teal'c's caterpillar. And S4 Sam's dire need for a haircut. And Daniel's face fuzz in early S9...)

"Is that a... bird?" ::snickers::

Because OH YES there are huge air ducts leading RIGHT INTO the holding cells from a random corridor. The suspension of disbelief has officially crashed, thank you.

"We're on a mission, you nit." ::grins:: Although again, what about Jonas and his apparent ignorance earlier?

I love Jack ordering Sam to talk to Felger and Coombs in the vain hope that she can, y'know, actually communicate with them.

Okay, Sam's explanation puts the "allow civilians into danger" problem into a little perspective - but too late to send them home? I don't really buy that, as Jack clearly knew the "ambush" was going to take place before the al'kesh showed up. Also, here Jonas shows he is clearly in the know, so why the wondering about escaping before?

Love Teal'c's better hearing, although it was only a second or two ahead of time.

Even knowing the Goa'uld is a Tok'ra doesn't explain the Really Bad Hair. Naquadah-enhanced gel, perhaps?

There's that extra little beat before "...My lord" when Herak is talking to Tok'ra-guy. I'm trying to remember from the transcript if Herak knows at this point that he's actually a Tok'ra or not.

I love the Free Jaffa's guy courtesy with Felger and Coombs, when they are so utterly alien to everything he knows. Think of how long it took Bra'tac to warm up to Daniel, who at least was, y'know, competent.

"Ginsu-Guy"? Ah, Jack. :)

Neat prison. Shame we never see it again.

"What, no gloating? Take some pride in your work, son!" I'm disappointed Jack didn't say, "That's better!" afterwards, although Jonas' headshake is funny.

Okay, I REFUSE to believe that Felger doesn't get the redshirt reference. No one with access to television, whether they watch Trek or not, can miss the reference to redshirts!

So the Free Jaffa are dead, and the Jaffa who killed them don't bother to search the room where they'd been sneaking around? Shyeah, right.

"I teach applied math at Yale! I have two cats!" Yes, I like that, actually. There should be complete civilians at the SGC.

"Jaffa don't kill each other for fun!" "They don't?" "...Okay, I don't know that for sure." Bwah!

Out-of-shape Jaffa and no one notices. Shambling Jaffa and no one notices. That threshold of disbelief is so far over my head I'd need binoculars to see it.

Jaffa in glasses and no zat activation time and I just give up.

I like the little detail of the staff weapon blast hole in the back of Coombs' pilfered armor.

Seeing Herak and the others march towards Tok'ra Guy makes me wonder - don't the Goa'uld ever get bored, just sitting on the throne like that?

...Yes, Herak knew about Tok'ra Guy. Poor Tok'ra Guy. Although the entire scenario of Herak et al knowing there are Tok'ra and shol'va Jaffa around just makes the premise that Felger and Coombs can sneak around with impunity all the more ridiculous.

Where did Felger and Coombs get the ink for their fake tattoos, anyway? Did they find spare eyeliner sticks in the storage room? I am, however, amused that the tattoos seem to be a little bit off.

Herak sitting on the throne is hilarious. Pretensions of grandeur, old boy?

I think this is the first time we see someone zatted who remains fully conscious afterward without other mitigating circumstances. I need to do a canon vs. fanon on that, but the idea of watching every zat blast is a little daunting. :)

Jack snarking flat on his back is a thing of joy and beauty!

"You ended that sentence with a preposition!" Hee, Jack. But too over the top, even for the Master of Snark. Also, do we ever see him sniping about grammar at any other point? I have some vague idea that he does it once to Maybourne. Or maybe Simmons.

Why, aside for exposition-dump purposes, would Hammond tell Geek 2 all this?

"I'd be... happy to volunteer." And Hammond's little half-smile. Awwwww. :)

Again, with an insurrection going on, the idea that Coombs and Felger can wander around sensitive areas with impunity is utterly ridiculous.

I really, really like the idea that the scientists at the SGC are required to read Goa'uld.

"Do it again, and I'll shoot you!" Hee - Coombs definitely called that one. :)

I have a little problem with Jack agreeing to a plan that leaves a civilian behind, alone, to rescue himself. One of the team should've joined Coombs in the control room.

"This is what you do!" Something tells me that Felger watches Wormhole X-treme in his spare time (instead of Star Trek). Love Jonas' bemused look of disbelief.

"I can't believe I'm here, with you, like this!" "Yeah. I'm having the same problem." Surely Felger can't be totally oblivious?

The menacing shadows of the Jaffa preceding them into the chamber is a nice piece of staging.

Yeah. Coombs could've used some backup there.

"Even if see you writhing in agony and calling my name, I'll be right here on this spot." "Exactly." Hee hee hee. Jack finally put the Fear of O'Neill into Felger!

Did Sam have a boonie before? We so rarely see her in a boonie!

Urgh. Drowning by suffucation after being zatted.

Teal'c is beyond awesome. No other words.

And WORD when he blows the gun Jaffa with the second gun!

Love Coombs with his smudged tattoo running with sweat.

Yay for Sam and Jonas dialing home in advance.

NO NO NO way would Jack stand there, framed as the perfect target against the backdrop of the open event horizon, in order to smirk at Herak.

Now I know going in that this last scene is Felger's fantasy, and I am hugely amused that he envisions himself in a nice suit and Coombs in a tuxedo, complete with slightly crooked tie.

I am assuming that there is No Such Thing as the Air Force Civlian Award for Valor.

"You are true heroes." ::gags::

Yeah, and Geek 2 giving them a gleeful thumbs-up. Ah, Felger, you have real self-esteem issues.

I couldn't do it. I fast-forwarded through the kiss until Felger got nudged out of the daydream.

Well, I can understand the theory that suggests that this ep is actually Felger's fanfic rewrite of events. :) It certainly fits with the hero-worship and the fanboying. We know that the ep happened because we meet Herak again and he references this meeting. I like the premise that the ep is sort of based on Felger's report of the mission, much as Joe's reactions to SGC events are through the lens of Jack's thoughts.

However, I'm bothered by the massively huge plotholes that drive the storyline, as I've cited above. I love the in-character humor of WoO, and maybe that's because (from what I've read) the script ended up being several minutes short and much of the funnier bits from that ep are more or less ad-libbed on the spot. Here, though, it's over-the-top humor for nothing more than the sake of being funny. I guess it's a matter of taste whether or not someone enjoys that, and I fall into the "not" category.

I think, though, that my absolute biggest problem with the ep is the general lack of competence. There's the Jaffa, of course, although Jaffa competence does tend to fluctuate according to plot. But these Jaffa were supposed to be on the highest alert, and yet Coombs and Felger were able to wander at will without anyone noticing? But most of all, there's Felger's incompetence. And I hate that. The SGC deserves the best and brightest, and especially among the civilians - why bring someone in from the outside unless they're really worth it?

I enjoyed a lot of the team moments, and if I take it with a hefty grain of salt (Felger writes his fanfic version of what really happened) I can even accept it as canon. But someone is going to have to convince me why this deserves to be a fan favorite, because right now, I don't see it.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?"

To keep the discussion in one place, please comment over at LJ. Thanks!