SGA: Travelers

[Mabus]

So the Stargate version of the Belters before the Belters were even a thing.

I liked this episode when it aired and still like it now. I really liked the idea of an advanced civilization avoiding the Wraith by constantly running away from them in their generational rust buckets, it's a much needed breath of fresh air from the Vancouver forest and generic medieval/wild west planet of the week, which in my opinion got overused to hell. Pity they only appear in like 2 more episodes, you'd think those junkyard sets were cheap enough that they could have reused them multiple times (surely it cost less than the Atlantis set which was like 10 mil $ I think).

Also the part with Sheppard launching the ship without the inertial dampeners active was really clever, this is one of the things that I liked about Stargate that even with many technobabbles available it's always the simple solution that solves the problem.

Also loved that they explained Ronon's gun origin. I suppose Ronon must have scavenged it from a dead Traveller during his running years, since Ronon never said exactly how he came into its possession. I guess Teal'c asked the wrong person where to find another one in "Midway".

I'm not sue what to make of Larrin's attitude regarding Sheppard. On one hand, she and her people have lived for the last centuries/millennia on a run, with the risk or running into the Wraith every single day. So it's natural they'd be "a little" cranky and xenophobic. To them every single other population out there was primitive and they encountered no one that were equal to them, so they'd view everyone else as either someone they could make a very one-sided trade (trinkets for fuel and raw material) or just someone they can just take stuff for free from them. So I'd be shocked if they were like the people from the planet Sheppard returned from, all too happy to make friends with everyone.

On the other hand, you'd expect that after all that has happened, Larrin would at least develop some different perspective on what her people became after all those centuries of being on a run, or at the very least the episode have her acknowledge that her ways were wrong and maybe some compromise of sorts, you know, basic character development. Nope, Sheppard is the one that has to point all this out, that, wow, if we could work together in the future we'd be better off. Especially since you know, as Larrin herself pointed out, they can't just land on any planet and start building ships since they don't have those resources anymore and the Wraith could find them at any time, while Atlantis could be used as a safe harbor for her people.

But hey, at least Jill Wagner is hot.

[Makeitstop]

I think it's entirely understandable that they'd be xenophobic and paranoid. The wraith wipe out those who are too advanced, so the galaxy is populated largely by primitive farmers, ambitious emerging powers, and the dangerously clever. I'm sure if the space pirates here have had run ins with the Genii, it probably didn't go well, and the amount of trouble that caused them was probably directly proportional to how much risk they exposed themselves to.

Of course, it's also understandable that the wraith would want to eat people and commit genocide anytime a particular civilization starts getting more advanced than the other livestock. Just because I understand why they do what they do doesn't mean I accept it and sympathize.

The problem is we are supposed to buy their sob story and be ok with them getting their hands on an amazingly advanced warship. We can't trust them with a pistol, but a mobile interstellar atrocity factory is ok I guess.

Now, I haven't seen this episode in years, so I'm going off fuzzy memories and the review here. But it seems like the way to handle this would have been to show them being both paranoid and reasonable at the same time. Have them try too hard to be warm, friendly, and diplomatic, but always keeping him on a very tight leash and giving him very little information. Sheppard can push back and point out that their attempts to win him over ring hollow if they won't trust him, and they can point out that he's not exactly eager to spill his people's secrets either. They give a little bit of a sob story but he doesn't trust them and they won't show him anything to back it up because they can't risk letting him know how weak they are becoming. The stalemate leads to things breaking down, especially when it becomes clear to Sheppard that what they by the time this is over, he will necessarily know too much for them to let him live, if he isn't at that point already.

So he goes along enough to get a chance to escape, the conflict plays out similarly to before, but Sheppard sees the reality they were hiding from him all along, that they are desperate and vulnerable. He sympathizes with what he sees happening in communications coming from other vessels, where systems are failing, innocent people (including families with small heart string tugging children) are slowly dying, and the wraith keep coming.

Eventually he ends up in partial control by locking down most of the ships systems with an emergency protocol that he doesn't fully understand but which leaves forcefields up on all decks and little else other than life support and navigation operational. He can't fight, but he can run and they can't stop him, even though they were moments from retaking the ship. But the communications equipment they brought on board still works, and he sees that the ships with them are being attacked by the wraith, who realize that he is going to outrun and thus are turning on the easier target. Their leader pleads with him to release the lockdown, as he can save their people. He has to choose between taking the ship and letting thousands die, or giving up his control in order to save them knowing that in doing so, he will be giving up the ship and likely putting himself at their mercy. He sides with his conscience, they retake the ship, and over the objections of others there, she lets him go despite the risks because she reasons that if he were that much of a threat he would have just taken the ship. She leaves him with a warning not to betray her trust, and the end result is ambiguous but slightly hopeful.

Normally I would also cut any attempts she makes to seduce him, but given that his value is largely genetic, it honestly does make sense for them to try to get what they want on a more permanent basis, as a long term investment.

[clearspira]

Regarding Chuck's comment about how he doesn't like the fact that a hardass woman is using sex as a weapon, i'm reminded (for some odd reason as I haven't seen it in about 15 years) of the manga ''Ranma 1/2''. In it, the main character is a fighter who changes sex whenever he comes into contact with cold water - and he HATES it due to being fiercely masculine. He basically thinks of himself as Captain Kirk and James Bond on steroids. However... even he will use his breasts to get want he wants from the frequently perverted bad guys that he fights, his excuse simply being ''it works.''

Its kind of like that here. Clearly beating Shepherd up wasn't working. This is a guy who can soak up torture like a sponge. So she went for plan B: ''make the idiot think that I am about to give him a handjob''. And it worked. Too well, tbh.

[Captain Crimson]

It's just amazing to me they could see the character criticisms about Weir, that she's good character but an otherwise bad leader, and then go on to double down on that. I guess it's what Mr. Chuck had said about SG escalating its adversaries, but within and out-of-universe. I really love the Travelers, interesting concept, another great new addition to the rich possibilities that is Pegasus, that was undermined by the meta-sexism in the writers' room.

I remember being very young and seeing this episode, I really wanted to see Sheppard punch Larrin, just ONCE, but never got to see that. I was confused if they felt we should want her to die or not, so that I got disappointed when she wasn't killed by the Wraith, and as SGA continued, I wanted her to get her comeuppance in some form or another, and that never materialized. It really informed my views early on about the double standards in our society, this attempted forced chivalry and the delusional games we tell ourselves in gendered relations.

Sheppard comes off as an idiot distracted by what's in his pants, and Larrin comes off as a murdering b****, but what irks me more is that I've had friends of mine defend Larrin, that she had no choice because their civilization was facing problems. Oh really? As Sheppard himself notes, they can't keep running even if the Wraith are still out there, and they apparently make routine travel to planets for trade, so how is it Larrin is this horrible at leadership, assuming that they've interacted with Pegasus natives prior?

Leadership flaws aside, Weir was a great character, and as I've observed before, one of my earliest crushes. Her primary flaw the writers seemed blissfully ignorant to was that she appeared out of her depth and overcompensated. But Larrin just makes me wanna smack her. She comes off as just as out of depth, but throw in murderous wrath, and you have, to me, one of the most unlikable characters in SG history. They were trying to do the strong wahman thing, but it's not like SG has ever had quite the progressive history with women as some of the writers or fans wanted or envisioned. Sheppard himself admits she could have just ASKED for his help rather than extort it from him. And yeah, a real leader would try diplomacy first, and then go the step further once that has failed. Her actions bear the hallmarks of a tyrant. I mean, they had escaped into hyperspace, and seemed pretty confident Atlantis wasn't coming for Sheppard until he sent off that signal, so she felt they need to coerce, threaten, beat down on, and emasculate Sheppard instead of explain the situation, really? And if he refused to help at all or even believe the sob story, which is totally understandable, does she kill him, therefore destroy what she claims is the last chance for a waning people?

It's almost as if she enjoys dominating men, and the leather? Ugh. Can you get any more cliche? I get the intent, I really do, they wanted to try belligerent sexual tension, and for Sheppard to keep cementing his Kirk persona, but it really felt until the halfway point that she just inexplicably wants to murder Sheppard, then goes to pout when those plains fail, like a bratty five-year-old. Basically they made a Karen into the leader of this unique and interesting society, which I think is a giant shame. I mean, really, they are fundamentally no different than the Genii, isolationist and paranoid, exerting control through fear, and yet how often do we hear fans defending Cowen or the others? Probably likely due to the fact none of them have a hot babe in charge, I guess. I can't help but think it may be a different story if, say, Sora was put in charge and not Ladon, Kolya, or Cowen.

I don't agree with Mr. Flanigan. I think his statements make it clear the chemistry is all on-set, not actually within the story. Very low bar for SGA, especially since unlike, say, something like Hathor, which was dead on arrival, this episode had far more potential. A complete waste of a fascinating premise, and a capable actress. Was this supposed to be Mr. Flanigan's stroke fantasy or something?