2.09: Aurora

[ray gower]

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Synopsis: from Scifi.com
When Atlantis's deep-space sensors detect the Aurora, an ancient Atlantian warship, at the edge of the galaxy, Sheppard's team wastes no time hitching a ride to it aboard the Daedalus. Upon their arrival, they encounter a Wraith scout ship. They destroy the scout before it can cause trouble — or so they hope.

Sheppard leads his team onto the derelict warship, where they discover hundreds of crewmembers frozen in stasis pods. Although technically alive, the Atlantians are thousands of years old, and their aged bodies can't survive the defrosting process. Still, there might be a way to talk to them: McKay discovers that all the pods are linked by an active neural interface, allowing the crew to coexist with each other in a virtual environment.

Eager to chat with these survivors from the distant past, Sheppard enters an empty stasis pod and McKay connects him to the interface. Sheppard immediately finds himself aboard a fully powered Aurora. To his surprise, the Atlantians there treat him like an intruder and toss him in the brig.

The Aurora's captain is intrigued by Sheppard's story, but doesn't remember entering a stasis pod, doesn't believe that his world is a computerized fiction, and certainly isn't convinced that 10,000 years have passed. Instead, he and his single-minded first officer apparently believe that they're still in their own time. They're racing to upgrade their ship's hyperdrive engines so they can reach Atlantis quickly and deliver vital intelligence about a critical weakness in the Wraith's defenses.

Back in the real world, the Daedalus's sensors spot two Wraith cruisers heading their way. They'll arrive in just over an hour. Then Ronon and Teyla make an even more chilling discovery: One of the stasis pods contains a Wraith. He has hacked into the neural interface and must be posing as a crewmember within the virtual environment.

McKay enters the virtual world and warns Sheppard of the impostor. The two must win the captain's trust and root out the Wraith, and not just to save themselves. After all, by spying on the hyperdrive modifications, the undercover Wraith can learn how to build much faster intergalactic ships. If Sheppard and his team can't stop this virtual espionage, the Wraith will soon be able to travel between galaxies and attack the richest feeding ground of all — Earth.

[Krystal]

Good episode, I enjoy it a lot. I really enjoy the Aurora's story. And McKay and Sheppard were hilarious in this episode.

Krystal

[Dave]

I thought this was a reasonable idea but there were a number of problems with the plot that spoilt it.

For a start, these ancients were just too much like us, or like Battlestar Galactica or Voyager or the people in Logan's Run. I just think they ought to have been more alien.

Then there is the fact that the Captain never thought to ever check what the Wraith technology weakness might be in all this time, but just kept it on the Computer until the Wraith kindly deleted it for him.

In all that time there must have been signs that this was an artificial environment. Call it 'Deja Vu' or a 'glitch in the Matrix'.

And I don't quite get the Wraith motives here. How did they know that the Aurora was carrying information on a Wraith technology weakness? They only detected it when Atlantis came back on line and powered it up again.

The Wraiths we've seen before seem to be so focused on their desires to feed upon human souls that they are blinded to anything else. Yet this one passed up any chance for a quick lunch upon a few geriatrics, and immediately connected himself into the machine, in order to, in some very convoluted way, gain the secret of intergalactic hyper drive to get to Earth. Sorry, but that just seems unlikely, and completely out of character.

And finally, has everyone on Atlantis now had the 'ancient gene therapy'. Once upon a time, any discussion of who should or shouldn't use ancient technology centred upon the ancient gene, but here it wasn't even a consideration. And the big question must be where did the Wraith get hold of the ancient gene?

[RangerOne SG13 SOR]

Dave, if you cast your maind back to the very first episode they said not all equipment required the gene. I suppose, kind of the ancients to help out the script in that way :rolly2:


Overall I enjoyed it becuase they didnt go too far with it but once Sheppard went in I was waiting for one of the following to happen;

1. They couldnt remove sheppard and he would die in 1 hour...PANIC!

2. They couldnt remove Sheppard and teh reactor had gone critical and was going to blow in 1 hour...PANIC!

3. A fleet of Wraith ships would turn up and arrive in 1 hour...PANIC!

So No3 wins!!

Hints of "the gamekeeper" and just about every Star Trek episode ever but at least they allowed themselves to pop in and out of the virtual world.

Again like a dangled carrot they give hints to Wraith major weakness/massive gun/cure for baldness etc only to finally find it destroyed/deleted/lost/forgotten at the end.

And how jolly nice of the Aurora crew to give up their lives at the end to kill the Wraith.

Heres a hint for any remaining ancient ship, if you detect the Deadulas on sensors then run away cos your sure to die. In fact your probably better off with the Wraith :rolly2:

HEHE


Ranger