Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

Well woke up this morning in my own apartment with Aengus next to my pillow.

There is much to do but the first thing I did though was log on and go to iTunes to pick up this weeks episode of Stargate Atlantis. I only saw the first 5 minuts or so last night at Steve's before he came home so I just sort of got the "flavor" of the episode.

So my take on Vegas:

From the very begining it was obvious that this was not going to be a usual Stargate Atlantis episode. From the first strains of the Steele Guitar in the sound track to the desert outside Las Vegas it is obvious that not only are we not in Atlantis but also not even in the Pegasus Galaxy.

Now I knew from my following of the writing of this episode that this was going to be Earth based and have a more CSI style to it. And they did put in a lot of the visual techniques that have become the standard for those shows. The jump cuts, the playing around with video effects, freeze frames, the speeding up and slowing down of shots for effect and for the most part did a pretty good job with it.

This was also a very different John Sheppard than we are used to darker, moodier, more troubled and played as always with great skill by Joe Flanigan.

So just some thoughts on varius things in the episode:

Loved the quip by John to Jennifer Keller about her age as she is doing the autopsy on the latest murder victim. Shows to me that the writers are aware of the uneasiness that some of the fans have been having over the age of the character given her position as the head of medicine on Atlantis.

I really liked the scene with the Wraith putting on the make up and prothetics to make him look more human. I never knew that they had a ridge down their backs before. Is this something that is left over from the evelution from the Iratus bug?

I did think to myself several times that Joe must have really loved working on this episode since it was filled with a lot of the physical action that he loves so much. He must have had a blast with the chase scene in the casino.

Love Joe's expressions. That man can say so much with just a look or a slight movement. He is so in touch with the emotions of his character that you can really see what John Shepphard is thinking and feeling.

Really liked what this showed about how differently Shephards life would have been had the circumstances in his life turned out just a little bit differently. Which could give a little more insight into the John Shephard in our reality as well.

Interesting seeing the different versions of Rodney, Zelenka and Woolsey and the dynamics beteen them and Shephard.

I am not entirely sure about how I feel about the ending. Yes John became the hero in the end that he was always meant to be obvously no matter what the Universe which is a very good thing. I am sure that Rodney and the rest of the Stargate Group new that John was still there. They had a tracking device on his car so even though the EM emission of the Wraith device probably fried the cell phone they would know he was there. Besides they would have to "clean-up" before any civilians got to the area.

So in my own mind I think that right after the scene we say Rodney all of a sudden rememberd Shephard and sent someone to get him. Having advanced medical techiniques they got him back to health and he went on to be the hero he was always meant to be either with the Stargate Program or in the Pegasus Galaxy. I know I am always an optimist. Especially when it concerns characters that I love as much as this one. But even if they did not get to him in time he still was a hero and I think especially Rodney knowing this one and the one he met in his alternate universe would see that this "version" would be given his due in the end.

So that is my view on this weeks episode of Atlantis. Frankly I am dreading next weeks episode because it will be the final episode of the series. Although they say they are going to do tv movies they will never be quite like having 20 episodes to look forward to.

So on to other things: I talked a bit to my friend Jane in Oregon via IM.

Did some more data entry on my Performer Track (loving it)

Went to Dueane Reade to pick up some cat food for Aengus and noticed that they had a big sign saying that they were freezing their prices for the month of January. Nice thing to do.

Also watched some episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Da Vinci's Inquest on Hulu.