This is a discussion of Stargate, Season 9, episode 902: Avalon, Part 2. This first post prevents a mouseover from revealing any spoilers.
It was very moving when Valla/Sallis actually burned to death as a heretic. I thought that they would have some convenient intervention at the last moment. I was shocked and pleased that the last-minute-save was not invoked, and yet annoyed that the Deity’s Messenger didn’t show up just a bit sooner to prevent her from burning to death! They probably needed to demonstrate their all-powerfullness.
Daniel and Vala handled the stones on Earth. Harrid and Sallis should have been the last to handle their stones and that is why they were possessed. I think the stress of connecting to the communication device knocked Daniel and Vala unconscious. Harrid and Sallis had more time to get in tune with the rocks or have a physiology that the communication device knows. So Daniel and Vala are in Harrid and Sallis’ bodies and Harrid and Sallis are in the unconscious Daniel and Valla’s bodies.
Vala’s body experienced great stress due to Sallis being burned alive. Since Vala’s body did not get burned then the system is just feeding back the mental experience to the body. So, it seems like an error in the system to swap minds/bodies and still allow the mental experience to feedback to the original body. Imagine a couch-potato swapping with an Olympic runner. Should the runner’s fatigue/stress/heartrate be fed back into the couch-potato’s body? The process may be messed up because Daniela and Valla went unconscious.
I would love for Daniel and Valla’s bodies to wake up with Harrid and Sallis in them. They would relate some backstory and give the actors a chance to broaden themselves. What would be great is that Harrid and Sallis are a loving married couple and so Daniel and Valla’s bodies would be all lovely dovey. The real Daniel will be pisssed when he sees this on videotape. Also, if the experiences are being fed back to the body, and Harrid and Sallis make love then the feelings of lust may feed back and cause some undo attraction between Daniel and Valla causing …
Carter is still listed as a primary cast member and I hope that she’s just on hiatus. I want her to be part of the show, but still have the desire for her and O’Neill to become a couple.
Can someone tell me if Claudia Black/Vala is only slated for five episodes? I thought I read that somewhere, but Sci-Fi has her listed as a cast member. Even if CB doesn’t stick around, I’m getting into Stargate, so I’ll keep watching (yes, I’m a Farscape fan who watched for CB/BB - but I will also continue to watch a show if it impresses me, as Stargate has).
I missed the first part of this, so bear in mind, I’m only going on what I’ve seen in this episode.
I thought the burning to death was well-done - I don’t think my stomach has ever pulled up in knots like that during a show. My husband was upstairs painting and heard me screaming “Beam them back! Hurry up! Beam them back!” during that part. Subconsciously, there was a part of me that wondered if Vala was going to die - even though I knew that she was going to be around a bit longer.
I’m really liking Daniel Jackson. I’ve got a bit of a crush on him after that episode. And I think he’s got excellent chemistry with Vala - I’m kind of hoping to see their romantic get-together.
Anyone know what the link is between the new doctor and Beau Bridges’ character? It almost seemed as if she was his daughter.
I’ll admit, the show hooked me - even if CB hadn’t been in the role of Vala, I’d probably still be watching it. Ben Browder is…well, he’s Ben Browder. He’s William Shatner with more talent. He’s always playing the same character, but he’s immensely likeable and lovable.
E.
Not sure how many episodes she’s doing exactly, but I’m pretty sure she was listed as a Guest Star in the credits. They’ve had an awful lot of very regular guests over the years, including characters that showed up in probably the majority of episodes in a season like Bra’tac and Jacob/Selmac.
And I also got the Father/Daughter vibe from Beau and the smoking hot Lexa Doig, even though they have different last names in the credits.
Vala’s burning hit me a little harder than anything in this show is usually does, got to give them some credit for that.
She’s listed as a guest star in the credits, but she’s on Sci-Fi’s Stargate website as a cast member - sorry, I should’ve made that clear.
I’m hoping that means even if she’s billed as a guest, she’ll show up in a majority of episodes.
One thing - I actually got the husband to watch this show - he’s not into sci-fi, except for Doctor Who, but he actually thoroughly enjoyed it. Shocked the hell out of me.
E.
Isn’t she preggers? She’ll be back as maternity issues allow.
I love, love, love Lexa Doig. Why is she the doctor? She needs to be the hot ass-kicking super-babe she is.
I am so very, very tired of Stargate crews ending up on planets where everyone is more or less still living in medieval Europe. That is such a tired plot gimmick. If I never see another medieval European planet episode, it will be too soon.
Having Claudia and Lexa around certainly does up the babe-quotient some. Or even quite a lot.
And sorry Elza B, I was the one not being clear. I was trying to say that she might show up as often as one of those two characters, though I’d expect a little less. Hope for more, but expect less. But we’ll probably see her a lot until Amanda Tapping gets back.
I love that Daniel and Valla’s “other” names were basically Harry and Sally. 
It gives me hope that those two will hook up eventually.
Agreed.
Can I ask for a little backstory about her character? Again, I’m new to Stargate, as a Farscape reject, and I’ll even admit that [SIZE=1]I partially blamed Stargate for Farscape’s demise[/SIZE, but I’m way over that now and I realize how stupid that was. However, after really enjoying last Friday’s episode (I’ve watched it two more times to catch subtle items this week), I’m thinking about getting the first season DVDs to watch. But I’d like to be prepared when Amanda Tapping’s character returns - anything I should know about her?
I do adore Ben Browder and Claudia Black together (their characters), but I’m crushing on Michael Shanks big-time and I’m really hoping for a Daniel/Vala pairing.
E.
I just started watching a year ago when I could TiVo it. I’ve caught up quite well with all the SciFi Channel reruns. Check here for some character bios.
I’ve never seen Vala until she started this season, so I’ve either missed episodes, or her backstory is implied and will be revealed later. For example, I didn’t know she used to be a Goa’uld host.
If you are starting with Season 1 DVDs realize that this is Season 9, so you’ve got a bit to watch. However, I appreciate the way a relationship can develop or be played in an episode with depth and without requiring having watched previous episodes. It’s the way you can see people at a party who know each other and whom you’ve never met get along well.
I’m looking for a new show to watch on DVD anyway - it’ll probably take me a year or so to gather all of the seasons, so no big deal.
I actually wanted background on Amanda Tapping’s character - Samantha Carter. I’ve read a little about her - the Sci-Fi website, but I’d still like to get a little more.
E.
I did enjoy these first two episodes, but for the moment I’m withholding judgment on the changes in the show. I like the new cast members well enough, but I’m not sure I’ll get used to not having O’Neill around or the whole new story lines. Honestly I wouldn’t have been disappointed if the show had ended with last season, but I suppose I’ll still enjoy it even if it does feel different.
Elza B, giving background information on Carter is of course difficult since there’s eight seasons’ worth of it, but here are a few things I can think of at the moment:
Carter is the astro/wormhole/general physics genius of the group; she studies and figures out the various gizmos the team finds (often with translation help from Daniel), and she’s usually the problem-solver when something technologically disastrous occurs. She generally has had less of an outside life than the others, often voluntarily spending lots of extra time on the base working on something. But she does her share of ass-kicking, too. Over the course of the show she has been important in several major plot developments that frankly don’t matter much now (almost everything was resolved last season), so I won’t bother with them. You may have read about them anyway.
There was always a suggestion of something between Carter and O’Neill (whom you’ve also missed out on if you just now started watching), but generally their relationship was professional. There were several amusing occasions in which they’d kiss or something, but it was always an alternate reality or something like that. In recent seasons she met a guy named Pete, and they planned to get married, but toward the end of last season she broke it off at the last minute when she and O’Neill finally admitted to their feelings for one another.
Those are the important Carter basics I can think of right now. I’m sure there are others, but maybe that’s a good start.
“Moving” doesn’t quite cut it for me. I freaked. I was thrilled to see her in the ep last season, and even more thrilled to find out she would be on this year. But they are being a bit coy about her role this year so I had no idea how long she would be around.