Redial the Gate: Prodigy

[fignewton]

Remember that poll I had up last week about watching Prodigy?

The last choice on the poll was this: I don't care if you watch it or not, but SG-1 is LOVE!

I was SO RIGHT.

Just... 42 minutes of NEW show. That is pure GLEE, people.

I was grinning at vintage Jack in the teaser with Generals Hammond and Ryan. "Sir. Sirs." "Your Air Force. The Air Force. I love the Air Force." And I love that it's the real Chief of Staff.

Eeee! Show!

Sam: "...No offense, Professor."

Abyssis, I take it all back. A transcript doesn't do Hailey justice. I was waiting for the arrogance and you know what? It wasn't there. And SAM, Sam I love you! Such delicious intellectual honesty, after the professor dismisses Hailey and she walks away - Sam looks again at the board and openly admits her mistake. Take THAT all you silly Sam-haters who think Sam refuses to ever admit to being less than perfect!

Major Griff, nicely recovered from being shot in The First Ones! I love continuity with other SG teams. And yay that he gets out before getting whumped again. Also, that smirk at Jack as he passes the buck on the annoying scientists is priceless. :)

Now, see, this is where what I call Mary Sueishness comes in: "Her SAT scores were through the roof, even higher than yours." That's classic Mary Sue there: being better (or should that be "bet-ter"?) than the main character. "Her physical skills are terrific, despite her size..." And so on, and so on. Seeing those lines in a transcript without the scene in front of you... Yeah.

BILL LEE IN A BASEBALL CAP!!!!!! Ahem. Scuse me. :)

Still getting Mary Sue vibes from the little scene between Sam and Hailey. (Although am vastly amused at what we know and she doesn't re matter and wormholes, heh.) Ah, well. Pressing on, pressing on...

Okay, you know how much you missed watching new Stargate when you find yourself giggling at a single "Indeed" from Teal'c!

"Actually, it's a P-90." Oh, Jack. ::loves him:: Talk about smirks!

Teal'c is too awesome for words! Pointing out his age along with his and Jack's experience. And how gleeful am I that Teal'c once again knows more pop culture than I do? "Thank you, Rocko." Gracious nod from Teal'c. Someone care to explain this to me?

Okay, scene with Hailey and Sam in Kerrigan's office. Good for Hailey for breaking the guy's nose :) but I'd be happier if we'd know what punishment Hailey got - as it stands, it feels like not only doesn't she get expelled, but she gets rewarded with a trip through the Gate. OTOH, yay for Sam telling her she's not always going to be the best at everything - I needed that, heh.

Don't get me wrong. I agree with what a lot of you said back on the poll entry (which I never dreamed would explode like that!). Hailey is what Sam used to be - bright and frustrated and longing for a challenge. And I do find myself liking her. But what I call Mary Sueism (not the anti-woman thing, but the guest star being so wonderful thing) still seems pretty prominent.

The gas giant in the moon's sky is stunning. I love the simple shorthand for OTHER PLANET.

Bill Lee is so much fun! I love that he is utter scientist and still follows protocol - the way he takes the time to yell into the radio to tell Jack what's happening.

Random challenged me to consider where Daniel would fit into the episode. The moment when the scientists see the lightning swarm and Hamilton walks forward - that was it for me. I so wanted Daniel to try to talk to them right then! "Hello, we're peaceful... scientists from the planet Earth!" :)

So, we jump to Hailey in the SGC. Okay, she's passed security, she's signed the non-disclosure form, Sam only told her that she's going to see "deep space telemetry" (and I love the expression on her face when she says that, heh) - but... I'm sorry, Hailey fans. It feels wrong. I know the secret of the Stargate is a huge joke in later seasons (in S9-10, they're not even trying any more), but at this point, the only non-SGC member who has ever walked through the Gate is Jacob Carter, on his way to become a host for Selmac. A cadet? This is the biggest Mary Sue moment for me, and it really does break my threshold of disbelief. YMMV, of course. I do like what many people pointed out: that Sam is acting as mentor here, for a girl she sees as being where she once was. But I just can't buy it.

Best line ever: "...an officer worthy of serving under your command." Oh, I love that. Hammond. Yes, Sam, that is perfect.

I have a special fondness for shots through the event horizon at what's past it. Love that Sam's technobabble isn't babble to Hailey!

Aw, such a nice little friendship scene with Jack and Sam at the Gate! And I liked Hailey here, yes.

Eee! Swarms attack! And yes, right after they trapped one and released it. Again, Bill tries to radio Jack. Did I mention I love Bill Lee? :) Neat intelligence pointer, how they slap the radio right out of Bill's hand.

"So, I'm guessing you're not...

"Human."

::squishes Teal'c for that half-smile::

Okay, so retreat into the hut. Zats. Electrocute the walls. Am I the only one who was thinking giant bug zapper?

Also, I was utterly fangirling Teal'c for saying the full word: "zatnikatel." I think my Teal'c love has grown irrational of late. I don't actually see a problem with this. :)

To me, it said so much about the team of SG-1 that Sam automatically knew that if anyone was going to make the run, it would be Jack. All three of them accepted it as a given. Yes.

Okay, I forgive Hailey for almost everything for this line alone: "We hold them off with those phaser things." :)

Sigh. Then she ruins it with this: "You're not right. I am." Ergh.

And here again is a place where Daniel is missed, because he should have been bolstering Sam's argument here about lifeforms and intelligence and the SGC vs. the natives - Sam with scientific proof, Daniel with humanistic (if you'll pardon the pun) theories.

Oh, Sam, I love the way you spelled it out for Hailey on the choices Jack makes. That is leadership - not just from Jack, but from Sam too. Excellent.

"Carter, if he so much as brings a file folder, shoot him!"

"Yes, sir."

::grins::

"Are you ready, O'Neill?"

"No. ...Give me a warning."

~click~ "I am going to shoot you."

I LOVE TEAL'C SO MUCH.

And then this had me laughing out loud: "I was thinking more along the lines of 'on three.' One..." ~zap~

Why oh why did Jack do things so slowly and deliberately? Why not zat the swarm and dial out as fast as possible? And then he drops the zat! But Teal'c, of course, is so fantastically awesome that he risks himself and strides out there, unzatted, to save Jack. ::nods::

"I'll never complain about mosquitoes again." No crack from Teal'c after their fishing expedition in The Curse? :)

And Bill stops to thank Jack. Y'know, I adore Bill Lee, and I never saw this ep before. Why doesn't everyone else love him to the nth power after this?

Bottom line: No, this is never going to be a favorite of mine. Yes, I still see Mary Sue aspects to Hailey, but it's not half as bad as the transcript led me to expect. Yes, I did find her (mostly) likable, and I look forward to seeing her again in Proving Ground to see if my opinion of her will change in that ep too. Yes, Teal'c is awesome. :D Yes, Jack is too. Yes, so is Sam. Yes, Bill Lee is great. Yes, Daniel could have fit into this, and I'm sorry he wasn't there.

YES, it was fantastic to watch a brand new ep of SG-1, and I'm suddenly looking forward to S6!

...And yes, I want someone to write the fic where the lightning bugs turn out to be the Furlings! :)

Comments

[ryf.livejournal.com]

It makes sense for someone (who *is* smart and such) who is constantly having to prove herself to become that way

Interesting how differently we interpret this - in her, I see the classic behavior of people who have been told how smart they are a couple of times too often. The students I have met who are like this (and they seem to occur most often in Physics and Computer Sciences) were the ones that surpassed their teachers in the last grades at high school and have never really been challenged before - never really had to study and just trust themselves that they are right because so far no-one could have proven them wrong.

Then suddenly, they come to college and their professors *are* actually smarter than they are :)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's that different.

I do think that pre-Academy Hailey was a lot like described. I mean, if I have timing right she would be around my age (maybe a year or two older?), so probably have about the same nurture-women-in-science experiences I had. So I'm guessing pre-Academy she did have that - win all the awards, darling to her teachers, etc. Was always told how great she was.

Then she hit the Academy, which, while getting better, is still not an easy place to be female. And when you hit college level in the states, physics is usually among the worst in gender-issues. So suddenly she was having to prove herself even while she was still scoring higher and, man, that's gonna make her cranky. I did like that she was trying to do thinks like challenging herself with a more difficult project than was assigned (which is something you tend to see among bored females in classes than bored males - though that's not universal).

So, yeah, I think we see things pretty similarly.

[ryf.livejournal.com]

Yes, that definitely makes sense! The women that went into Physics (and to a lesser extent those that went into CS and Maths, which is why I know that behaviour from me personally) really have to be better than their peers to be noticed.

I did like that she was trying to do thinks like challenging herself with a more difficult project than was assigned

I totally loved that exchange. The doing more than expected and thinking you will be praised for that is so typical for the really smart people just coming out of high school, in my experience and when they are then told off for not solving the assignment - that really pulls one down.

And since it is ten to midnight, I am not sure whether I am still making sense, but yeah, I loved that point and I can see that we do actually agree. My year doing CS was very much marked by me trying to be one of the guys, although I never developed the ambition Hailey and many of my female co-students showed.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

*nod nod nod*
I was *this close* to majoring in physics (and took a fair bit of physics, CS, and math despite not majoring in any of them) and had a lot of friends who did and, well, yes. While I still have moments of physics-nostalgia I'm not sad to have avoided the larger culture (again, I don't know how much of it is US specific - I do know I've read studies that in the last 30 years physics is the only major science field to not increase it's % of women).

Hell, even in my more-female-open field, my labgroup made up half the women at the conference we went to last week.

I totally loved that exchange. The doing more than expected and thinking you will be praised for that is so typical for the really smart people just coming out of high school, in my experience and when they are then told off for not solving the assignment - that really pulls one down.

YES! It was so believable and so perfect from every angle. Totally makes sense that Hailey would choose to challenge herself and think she was doing right. Totally makes sense that, especially in the Air Force world, that wouldn't be acceptable. There is value to self-challenge and there is also value in doing what a superior asks you to do.

You're making sense! Different people handle the situation differently. Hailey's coping method is only one of many possible options.