There really wasn’t much more I could have asked for in this episode, and ending things off with a cliffhanger is what a fall finale is all about. Syfy even did the right thing and didn’t blow it with a spoilery preview after the final scene!
I was definitely reminded of Battlestar Galactica in those battle scenes with the smaller saucer ships. I believe we even got one of those shaky cam shots. Substitute Cylon Raider sounds during those scenes and there wasn’t much difference!
If there’s one thing I have a complaint about it’s Dr. Park having a place on the bridge. I get that she has value to the team, but should someone who looks completely terrified and ready to cry at any moment really a fit person to be manning Destiny’s weapon systems? In fact, it’s a bit odd that the science crew is responsible for handling Destiny at all during battle when there’s an actual military presence on board, come to think of it. I get that people like Scott and Greer don’t know the first thing about how to operate a starship, but these science geeks would be first to hesitate on Young’s orders, as we’ve already seen in the past.
I think everyone watching SGU knew we hadn’t seen the last of Telford back in the season’s third episode, though his sudden appearance at just the right moment was a bit odd. I have to admit I laughed a bit when Telford’s voice came over the comm, because it was kinda absurd; not that he was still around, just the timing of it. I am a bit confused, though, as to the whole aspect of Destiny and the seed ship siphoning power off suns. Doesn’t that pretty much power up the ship’s energy stores to full capacity? So what was the issue with both ships and the jump? Also, if I recall correctly, Destiny puts all of its power to shields in order to survive entering a sun. So when it was reported to Destiny’s shields were weakened, how the hell did it survive that last one?
Any guesses as to what Chloe did when she said it was “too late?” My best guess — and the most obvious one, I believe — is that she initiated some feature of Destiny not yet seen, and it may execute some sort of extreme one-shot damage control protocol. It might be some sort of huge blast or, I dunno, a teleport of some sort. I’d love to hear what you all think it might be.
Lastly, if I have one bit of advice for future space explorers, it would be this: never go exploring space debris all willy-nilly. Haven’t we all seen enough space/horror movies to know bad things happen when you go exploring space wreckage? Helllooo, Alien anyone? Firefly?
“You can’t judge a neighborhood by a bunch of bad neighbors.” – Dr. Park
“Are you kidding? That’s exactly how you judge a neighborhood.” – Volker
*BEEP!*
“What the hell was that?” – Col. Young
“It’s Destiny letting us know that it finished the simulation. Either that or pie is done. … Nope, simulation.” – Eli
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Nov 30, 2010 @ 22:52 EST5EDT
I think Chloe meant it’s “too late” – she did what she did under the influence and since she came back for a second, she has no idea what she actually put it play. She’ll be shocked when the itty bitty ships fall asleep around Destiny! Hooray for Chloe’s latent new abilities, but she has bad skin still, put her back in her crate!
I really enjoyed the episode. I would have liked to have taken some time to have heard Telford’s story in more detail, but I guess we’ll get more information next season.
It did not even cross my mind about who should be manning the bridge. Parker did seem pretty frightened. Are any of the military folk sophisticated enough to run the bridge? Hmm. Doubtful.
I thought the neighborhood argument was funny.
Having Park and the geeks on the bridge helps SGU to differentiate itself from other spaceship dramas. If they wanted to be really cliche, they would put Greer at weapons.
With regards to needing to use the seed ship to jump, my impression was that things, like the FTL drive, were broken during the battle. Even after refilling their energy stores these still needed to be repaired before they could make a jump by themselves.
I kind of think that they could teach the military staff how to use the bridge. I mean, Scott can fly the shuttle, right? They have training in the basics, they just need to pick up the specific details of this technology. But I gather that there hasn’t been a lot of time for them to be taught, plus even the science crew hasn’t figured everything out yet.
Scott is a pilot. The rest of the people are pretty much just ground staff from Icarus Base. Some scientists (Brody, Park) some soldiers (Greer, James), etc. Not exactly people prepared to be dropped onto the bridge of a starship.
That’s a good point. I guess I was just thinking of which would be better, training up the military folks or dealing with civilians who aren’t as reliable at following orders and such. I think it would interesting to watch with a mix. Especially since they are still figuring things out.
The Stargate program is run by the Air Force so wouldnt they all have atleast some training in flying and air combat?
And I do believe that the Destiny’s FTL was damaged in the battle with the sentries which is why they couldnt escape from the battle before the Seed Ship showed up.
The battle was really well done and very cool. It was nice to see a real battle, and the indication that another will follow soon, rather than the blow up the enemy ship or raise the shield and run sequences that we’ve seen before.
I think Chloe may have powered up some sort of beacon or sent some kind of message to the aliens. Something that will let them catch up / find the Destiny.
From what I remember, the readouts are all in Ancient. Park may be one of the few people with the necessary knowledge to man the station, but yeah, she is still a bit green when it comes to conflict. However, I say more Dr. Park.