Promo for next week's SGA

[eregyrn]

In case you're like us, and you tend to watch SG-1 and SGA through TiVo, this week the timing was screwing up the ability to actually watch the promos for next week's Summer Finale eps. In particular, our TiVo cut off the promo of SGA before we could get to see the full thing, and there was something in particular I was looking for...

You can now watch the full promo at SCI FI's Atlantis page, or here, on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WzKuQl7joI



So first, let me say: JACK!!!! SQUEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

And this is Jack in action, too -- or at least, a Jack *ready* for action, wearing his SGC BDUs. (But the olive ones, not the black ones; *sigh*. How come when current SG-1 goes to Atlantis, they all dress in the sexy black BDUs... but *Jack* goes, and *he* doesn't?) And all serious and commanding and in peril! WOO!

I was a little surprised that I didn't see other "squees" around the flist about this coming up, and that's why I started wondering if other people besides us missed it while watching on Friday night.

I was kind of interested by the fact that while he *was* included, and recognizably so (given that he speaks), he wasn't precisely *forefronted*. You do get to see him clearly a couple of times on the view-screen as he speaks, but otherwise you just catch a very choppy glimpse of him in a very kinetic action scene. That he's standing next to Woolsey in that scene, you can really only make out if you already know to be looking for Woolsey. You have to be able to pause it to figure out that that scene is Jack and Woolsey on Atlantis surrounded by a bunch of Asurans (more on that problem in a moment).

What interests me about this is that when they got Jack back for "200", they definitely made sure you knew *all* about it. As the ep says: "Are you kidding? It'll be in the *commercial*." I can't quite recall the commercials and the promos for "200" well enough now to remember whether the voice-over alluded to his being there, but they sure did give us a clear shot of Jack in the doorway, waving.

In contrast, here, Jack is just worked into the promo, but he isn't mentioned specifically in the voice-over or anything. In fact, the voice-over and the promo itself doesn't really talk about this ep being a SGC/SGA crossover at all -- if you weren't in the know you could be forgiven for thinking that all the SGC uniforms belonged to Daedalus people, and you kind of have to be alert to realize that some of the shots of the SGA folks are in the SGC briefing room and that we get shots of the SGC control room and Gateroom later in the promo. And of course, there's Jack. But the promo just doesn't really point him out much, although I assume that the face-time they give him on the viewscreen, along with his voice, is enough to make people who know SG-1 say "hey... wait a minute".

I just find it interesting that, clearly, when it was the SG-1 anniversary ep, they wanted to make good and sure that people knew that Jack would be back. And didn't they show him pretty clearly in all of the promos for SGA's "The Real World"? But here they've got him for a big two-parter, but they don't seem to me to be promoting it especially prominently.

So, as it is, I know of at least two friends who I bet didn't get to see the full promo, and for whom, therefore, his popping up on SGA really *is* going to be a surprise this week -- which is kind of neat.

I would just like to note, finally, that I really hate the fact that these flash players are *crap* (on a Mac, at least) at letting you pause video that they're playing, let alone, go through the things frame-by-frame. Their controls *suck*. I was hoping that I could use the new skeevy way I discovered to download videos from YouTube to grab a copy of it when somebody put it up there, and be able to do some screencaps from it *that* way, but... no. For some reason, there are some things posted on YouTube that I can't download in the skeevy way that I found out about, which annoys me, of course. So I've been able to do very little analysis of the promo, because it's really hard to pause it at just the right time. If anyone else is able to get caps from it, that'd be cool.

Finally... you know, I could SWEAR that it looks like the lead Asuran chick is being played by Megan Leitch (aka Ke'ra/Linea from S3's "Past and Present"; aka Samantha Mulder)... but I could be wrong. Just something about her face and her voice... Well, we'll see.

Comments

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

the previews went by utterly too quickly on tv too. *sigh*

and how am i going to make it until next spring waiting to see what happens next? meep.

ah, jack. :)

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

In all seriousness, I have been giving serious thought to downloading. Because after all, as far as I know, the UK is going to start showing S10/S3 in mid-Oct and then they're just going to run through to the end. Which means they will have shown the entire seasons through, before they start showing the US the second halves. (Unless something weird happens.)

Normally, I have not really given downloading a thought, because the UK wound up being just 3 or so eps ahead of us, and my feeling was: ehn, I can wait 3 weeks to see the ep.

But *now*... there's too much happening in the second half of both seasons that I'm on tenterhooks over. The second part of this on SGA. "The Shroud". And of course, the damn *series finale*!!!

I am not very strong, with regard to avoiding spoilers anyhow. Indeed, in the normal course of things, I would sometimes crack and read UK and downloading people posting about the new eps they were getting before us. In these cases... I just *know* I won't be able to keep from reading those ep reviews... and I'm not sure that reading the ep reviews is going to be *enough* for me. I just have a really hard time avoiding spoilers that I know are out there.

The thing that is still making me hold back is that my main pleasure is sharing the eps with others on my flist when they are new. So, sure -- we could download them, and telepresence could put them on DVD and we could watch them together... but I still couldn't really TALK about them with my flist, unless all the folks on my flist were doing the same thing, and I kind of doubt they're going to be, so....

Aaugh. Dilemma!

[aeshna_uk]

It still boggles me somewhat that you guys don't just start showing a season and run right through to the end - the whole mixture of new stuff and repeats just seems terribly confusing! Still, I guess it's nice for us over here to be in front every once in a while.... ;)

On a sillier note, I'm finding it very amusing that you seem to have the Giant Space Jellyfish on your new LJ theme! :D

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Look, believe me, many of us still find it terribly confusing, too! American TV didn't used to work like that. I forget exactly when most networks switched over to this piecemeal scheduling -- but it *still* feels unnatural to me, not to mention, annoying.

Especially since it's so transparently ratings-driven.

But also, it's really difficult for you to compare it to UK television when *your* "seasons" are usually about half the length of our typical "seasons".

And don't even get me started on why they bother with staggered releases in various countries, any more. Especially between the US, Canada, and the UK.

... Giant Space Jellyfish? Huh? Where? I'm not seeing it...

[aeshna_uk]

But also, it's really difficult for you to compare it to UK television when *your* "seasons" are usually about half the length of our typical "seasons".

For home-grown series, certainly, 6-13 episodes is standard, but we show a lot of US imports as well and those are run through end-to-end. I'd hate to imagine hopping backwards and forwards in a plot arc-driven show like "Babylon 5", "Lost" or "24"!

Huh? Where? I'm not seeing it...

There's just something about randomly illuminated trees that always reminds me of your local green over Christmas/New Year.... :)

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Believe me, we all wish they'd go back to the old model of broadcasting seasons here, too. And yes, it gets really annoying on arc-driven shows. Or on any shows with ongoing plots.

Which is why we're bitching right now about how we get this mid-season break in SG-1 and SGA, and then we don't get the second half of the seasons for *6 months*. Which is abnormal even by US television standards... but then, that's the SciFi Channel for you! Asshats to the end.

There's just something about randomly illuminated trees that always reminds me of your local green over Christmas/New Year.... :)

Oh, right! *Those* Giant Space Jellyfish! The FESTIVE kind. (Nah, these trees don't remind me of that, just because, what makes the Waltham green trees into Space Jellyfish is the sheer laziness of the stringing of the lights, resulting in the vertical stripes effect.)

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

as you know, i have no ability to resist spoilers...and it ends up making me twitchier waiting for more episodes.

it's a terrible dilemma that i have no answer for...except to hope that we all cave in together? ;)

:::whimpers:::

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

I expect a lot of people will download, and I think I may join them this year. A lot of people do--last year, it seemed like a majority of people in my fannish circle were downloading SGA early--and what with there being some episodes I want to see, and the break being so long, and it looks like it'll show early in the UK... so I'll probably download.

I feel a little guilty about it, though, since it does mess with the fannish dynamics. Oh well.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I don't know -- if a large enough number of people in your fannish circle are doing it, then it won't mess with the dynamics all *that* much. I'm thinking I might do a poll about it. (I've never done a poll before!)

I remember noticing some folks employing various strategies wrt watching things early, but trying to preserve the dynamics. There was someone, but I don't recall who, who was doing write-ups of the eps, but waiting to post them until they finally ran in the US. Or was it someone who was doing write-ups at the time, and who then posted further thoughts when they aired in the US? Either way, it seems like a viable option.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

That was me for S8--I watched early and commented on others' posts, but held off myself. I'm thinking I'm not going to do that this year, though--I don't want to feel left behind, you know? Though then I feel bad about leaving behind people who can't download, for whatever reason.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Me too. But the poll I put up is definitely leaning me in the direction of DLing and watching/reacting/posting on that schedule, because it looks like *most* of the people with whom I share the SG experience will be doing the same thing. And I don't want to feel left behind, either.

I'll feel bad for those who *can't* DL, yes. But hey, I never let the fact that I have UK people on my flist stop me from watching/reacting/posting about the seasons before they could get the eps, even if some of *them* were in the position of not being able to or just not wanting to DL.

And from the poll, there seems to be a percentage of people who probably could DL but who won't anyway, so... ehn. (In retrospect, I wish I'd broken out those options to: "could download, but won't", "always have to download anyway, I'm in Germany/Australia etc.", and "can't download even if I wanted to, woe is me".)

[miera-c.livejournal.com]

Dude, they didn't run a single ad for SGA during SG1 that I saw. Not one. single. ad.

And they wonder why the ratings are down? Bah.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Oh, no! They totally did! I mean, we FFed through all the ads anyway (I don't like watching the ads for SGA when I'm just going to be watching the ep next anyway), but I was sure I saw them go by, multiple times, too. (Now you've got me doubting that memory, though.)

I'll double-check, because I still have both eps on TiVo, and I was planning to skim through SG-1 as I was writing up a review of it this afternoon, anyway.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Okay -- they ran *one*. During the last commercial break, at minute 52 according to my TiVo, right before act 4, they ran the full promo for SGA's ep coming up next.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! I hadn't seen the promo. JACK!!! SQUEEEE!!!

I think the reason they're not promoing the hell out of him on SG:A's "next week"s is because he's SG-1, and a lot of SG:A fans don't make the connection. For SG-1's 200? Yeah, that's the fan base; for SG:A, not so much.

So what I want to know is, why are they calling next week the "season finale"? It was in my SciFi e-mail, too. It's the calendar year finale, but it's actually the mid-season finale. I'm absolutely flubbudgeoned as to why they would screw up that vocabulary word.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

But when you listen to TPTB talk, *they* don't seem to really think of the fanbases for the two shows as being all that different.

(I'm also not entirely convinced that the casual fanbase for both shows is as different as the hard-core fandom-participating fanbases are, if you know what I mean. The ratings comparison is just too steady. I don't actually believe that any significant portion of SG-1 viewers are turning off the TV after SG-1 and that approx the same number of people who didn't watch SG-1 are tuning in to replace them to watch SGA.)

At any rate... it just seems to me as if they *would* want to promote this heavily to *SG-1* viewers -- and unless I'm completely mistaken, I think that the 20-second promo they show at the end of the eps for next week is about the same as what they run as a commercial for the show *during* the week.

So even if you were going with the idea that emphasizing Jack in SGA at the end of the SGA ep wouldn't garner you much... if the same promo is being used as a commercial, then it should be shown during SG-1 broadcasts in order to entice *those* viewers.

Finally -- oh, SciFi has done the same dumb damn thing since they acquired the show, and for all I can recall, they did it back in the Farscape days as well. That isn't new this time around. They're always *saying* "Season Finale" when they mean "Mid-Season Finale"... and they're always being inconsistent about it on their own sites, too. For example, the promos on the SCI FI website are listed as "Summer Finale" (which makes a great deal more sense).

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's true. My exposure to fandom is fanfic writers, and there are a ton who came into SG:A without going through SG-1 first, but I'm sure they're a drop in the bucket compared to the masses who just turn on the TV on Friday nights and park their butts for the evening. OK, stupid Sci Fi!

And stupid on the "season finale" thing too! Jeez, it'll be a miracle if RDA ever wants to do anything with them again if they barely give recognition that he's appearing. :-(

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Well, as usual, though -- it's not the SG PTB, the Bridge guys, or MGM who are barely giving him recognition -- it's the idiots at the SciFi Channel who tend to create the promos/commercials, I believe. (Hasn't there been a lot of commentary before about makers of shows being annoyed by how the network promos/commercials blow their surprises?)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. But if it's Sci Fi that's going to be doing an SG-1 mini-series, or if Atlantis wants him back -- it's still Sci Fi that's blowing it.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

I don't know -- it just seems to me like RDA understands the difference between the Bridge folks wanting him back, and SciFi wanting him back. After all, he's the one who put that "call me" in his "thank you" ad, which I think of as only half-joking. I don't think his being back this season had anything to do with SciFi -- it was between him and the makers of the show. Not that SciFi isn't pleased to exploit it, of course (... or not, as we're discussing here). But for him, it sounds like it's about the people he describes as a family to him wanting him back, for the *show*, not for a ratings stunt for the network.

And I imagine he'd also understand that his further involvement benefits the property of Stargate quite a ways beyond the SciFi network. (Let's not forget that this is a man who is going to a convention in the UK in a couple of months.) There's broadcast in other countries where the show is popular, there's DVD sales... there's a whole lot of ways that his being involved again is a bigger thing than just how it benefits (or doesn't) SciFi.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

True, just for the chance to see "the family" again he'd probably still do it.

[janedavitt.livejournal.com]

EEEE! Jack!!! Thank you for the link.

And I'm hoping we get to see them in Canada earlier, like last year so they'll be up for d/ling because that's one hell of a break.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that since the six-month wait is a purely network decision by SciFi (the eps will be DONE in time for normal Jan. showing, because that's the schedule they've been shooting on), that anywhere else they're shown won't have this problem. What network are they shown on, in Canada? And is it unrelated to SciFi? If so, you're probably in luck.

Yeah, as I was saying to Jenlev above -- in the past, I have not given in to downloading, because the UK tended to get only 3 weeks or so ahead of us, and I could wait 3 weeks. But I don't know how strong I'll be, knowing some of these BIG eps have been broadcast already, but we won't see them for *months*. On the other hand, though... even if I give in, a lot of my flist probably won't, and I don't know... I wouldn't be able to talk about them with everyone that I do now, and that's a lot of the fun, for me.

I just don't know what I'm going to do, yet. ;-)

[cofax7]

I will probably be DLing. I didn't last year because the delay didn't seem that long, but having to wait until March? No. I'll ahem, and I expect a lot of other people will. You'll have people to talk to.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm truly wondering how many of us are just going to crack, this time. Maybe I'll do a poll...

(I was just thinking that, well, I could write up my thoughts after the ep and then just hold that to post until after the ep actually aired, and get in discussion the second time around. Or something. And it wouldn't be like I wouldn't want to still talk about it with folks who get to see it later.)

[janedavitt.livejournal.com]

I get them on Space; not sure about SGA but SG-1 starts in November, so it'll soon catch up to 10.10 or whatever one they end on.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

I'll be interested to hear what they do about it. But hey, if they're not SciFi, then presumably they can run them in any way that they want. As I say, SciFi isn't waiting to run the second halves because of production hold-ups or anything. They're just being weasels.

[destina.livejournal.com]

Yay, Jack, but. Well, I didn't squee because I'm not sure yet there's anything to squee about. The last ep of SGA he was in, I almost fell asleep despite his presence there. It's not the same when he's not with his team; it's the context I miss. We'll see. Thanks for the link.

Also, that's definitely the actress who played Kera.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

For me, it being Jack and him being in action is enough for squeeing. :) And it kind of looks like it at least has the potential to be a dramatic couple of eps.

But I get what you mean about context. I suppose there are some reasons why they wouldn't have considered it, but I *wish* they had sent Daniel with Jack, instead of Woolsey. Not that I'm not interested to see Jack interacting with Woolsey, and of course their interaction is going to be different than it would be if Jack had familiar people around him, but... it's just not the same. Not by a long-shot.

And, not so very deep in my heart, if Jack's going to be put in peril as a cliffhanger (yay!), then dammit, I want SG-1 to be going to his rescue, not just the Atlantis folks... to whom he doesn't mean as much, merely by the nature of things. And... that's just not in the cards, however good the rest of the story is. *sigh*

(Though otherwise, as I've always said, I genuinely like crossovers, particularly for the way we get to see two sets of characters familiar to *us* but not familiar to each other react to and develop bonds with each other. So I'm kind of interested in this ep for that, as well, just as I was interested in the Pegasus Project on that level. And I get the feeling that this ep might be a tiny bit more satisfying in that way because it avoids the character-bloat problem that Pegasus Project had. There is, in other words, something that *is* satisfying to me about getting to see the Atlantis folks react to and develop and act on their own connections with Jack, and seeing them rescue him. No, it won't be *as* satisfying as getting to see him in his SG-1 context, of course. But for *me* anyway, crossover-fan that I am, it'll be satisfying in a different way.)

So, I'm at the point where, yes, just giving me some dramatic Jack is enough to make me squee.

[lerefuge.livejournal.com]

Uhm, I feel stupid but... Season Finale? Bzuh?

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

See above: SciFi is always pulling this stupid terminology crap. Nobody knows why. It's ludicrous -- they can't even agree with *themselves*.

When you go to their website, on the front page, it says "Season Finales!". When you go to SG-1's page (from "Shows"), it also puts the promo under "Season Finale". But if you go to the Atlantis page, it says "Summer Finale".

They're such dorks. But they've been doing the exact same thing for years.

[lerefuge.livejournal.com]

Oh sorry. I R DUMB.

I had no idea Sci-Fi did that. How stupid.

At least, I am not scared anymore they had cut episodes number in half ;)

[starglyph.livejournal.com]

Accorging to Gateworld: "Major General Jack O'Neill is summoned to Atlantis to deal with the new threat from the Asurans, the ancient relatives of the human-form Replicators ("Progeny"). But when the Asurans invade Atlantis itself, no one is safe."

Could the Linea/Kera actress be reprising her Linea/Kera role, and the Asurans got her from Daniel's mind?

Why bring up the older replicator story line but expect us to forget who actress/Kera was in another older story?

Thank you for the link, I'll take Jack any way I can get him, *g*

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Could the Linea/Kera actress be reprising her Linea/Kera role, and the Asurans got her from Daniel's mind?

But when would the Asurans have gotten her from *Daniel's* mind? I'm confused. The Asurans haven't had any contact with Daniel, or any of SG-1, for that matter. And none of the Atlantis folks ever saw/met Ke'ra.

...but expect us to forget who actress/Kera was in another older story?

Seriously? Because the guy who played *Narim* (who was a much more prominent character than Ke'ra) was brought onto "Atlantis" to play Weir's not-husband back home! And people did complain about this at the time, because hey guys, that's a little *too* prominent, you know? But they did it anyway.

Heck, just in "Memento Mori" -- the guy who played that redheaded Trust operative who got captured and brought back to the SGC, was the same actor who played the spoiled prince-guy who didn't like Sheppard in "The Tower" last season on SGA.

Both shows have done this all the time, basically. SG-1 has reused the same actor in different roles during its own run. Example that leaps to mind: the guy who played Young Hammond in "1969" came back later in S7 as Major Harper -- I think that's the correct name -- part of the SGC SF forces. And that isn't the only example. (Also? The guy who played the Goa'uld Camulus in S7 is the guy who once played "Sergeant/Major Coburn" back in S3/S4.)

So really, it's just one of those things. If you have a good eye for it, you can play "spot the Vancouver-area guest actor" a *lot* in both series (and then expand it to their roles on *other* prominent genre series, of course, because they're all over the place).

[starglyph.livejournal.com]

Sorry, no, it's me. Not up on the SGA stuff as much as SG-1, confusing my replicators *g*

Appreciate the clarifications

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, a lot of folks have been puzzled by the huge similarities between the Asurans of Pegasus, and the human-form Replicators of the Milky Way/Ida galaxies. So far the shows have seemed to suggest that they are unrelated... but there's been a lot of speculation about how they might be related after all.

(Speculation that Reese's father was an Ancient, for example. Although, Reese was an android, not a human-form replicator, even though *she* in turn made the Replicators, who, it was suggested, developed the nano-block technology themselves.)

But there's been no confirmation of that yet, to my knowledge. And certainly no indication that any human-form Replicators left the Ida or Milky Way galaxy to go to Pegasus. But I could see someone suggesting it was possible (so long as a contingent of them left prior to "Reckoning", where those left in our galaxy and the Asgard galaxy were destroyed), and I could see the show pulling that out of their hats. But they just haven't done so yet.

I think it was kind of sloppy of the show to make the behavior of the Asurans so similar to that of the Replicators, if there *wasn't* ever going to be any relationship established between them. In particular, the hand-through-the-head method of accessing human minds is just too much of a Replicator signature now. But we can't tell if the show gave that to the Asurans on purpose to make us wonder, or not.

I also think it's kind of dodgy to call Jack in the hopes that he can deal with the Asurans just because he's dealt with the Replicators before. It seems like a reach to me, but I guess they're desperate.

I mean, the weapon he created that was so effective against the Replicators was something he was only able to do because of the Ancients download plus the support Thor's ship was giving to his brain at the time. It's not the innate quality of the ATA gene. Maybe he's bringing the physical weapon with him, though. (But again -- anyone with the ATA gene should be able to use that thing, so why is Jack needed? Not that I'm not happy they'll calling on him, but...)

Well, these are the sort of things the ep will answer, I guess. I'm also hoping they'll say something that makes this whole relationship or lack of one between the Replicators and the Asurans clear.

[starglyph.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your understanding. I also only get to see each new ep once, no TiVo here. (excuses, excuses! *g*)

I hope there's a real reason they brought Jack back, not a lame one. It's an almost-finale, it's gotta be good, right?

And yes, it can be as confusing a a really, really confusing thing *bg*