Stargate Atlantis Rewatch: Childhood’s End
The Full Growns get captured (Photo from GateWorld.net)
Childhood’s End
Written by Martin Gero
Directed by David Winning
Guest starring Courtenay J. Stevens (Keras), Dominic Zamprogna (Ares)
WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND!
Summary
Sheppard’s team crash lands on a planet after encountering a strange energy field. They are taken prisoner by a group of children who are convinced that if any of them is allowed to grow past a certain age the Wraith will come and destroy them all. The children have a ZPM that’s powering the defensive shield, leaving the team with a difficult choice.
General Impressions
I recall not being all that enchanted with this episode when it first aired, but for the life of me I can’t remember why now since I liked it this time around. This time Rodney is the jerk. I really wanted to hit him, and Sheppard for letting him take the kids’ ZPM that powers their only defense against the Wraith back to Atlantis for testing. Dr. Weir speaks for me (and probably all viewers) when she tells him off for it and makes him put it back.
The good cop/bad cop routine with Keras and Ares was predictable, but the kids’ suicide pact turns out not to be. Our heroes think it’s misguided, but in fact it serves a very practical purpose: Population control to prevent the ZPM from becoming overloaded. It’s Dr. Weir who figures it out in the process of convincing Rodney that stealing is wrong. Rodney thinks it’s not wrong if the people he’s stealing from have a ZPM. Kudos to Weir for making it clear that the expedition can’t just take in everybody they displace due to their own irresponsibility or because they have technology we want. It also cuts down on the number of characters to keep track of on Atlantis and its host planet.
Rodney with the kids is cute. He’s the most awful babysitter ever, while Ford is quite possibly the best. Big over grown kid with chocolate makes for an awesome babysitter (unless the kids’ parents have something against sugar, of course). In the end, though, Rodney redeems himself with those same two kids by hiding them from the Wraith probe and giving them more chocolate.
The Good
Once again Rodney gets the best lines, but my favorite is this one: “Hey kiddies, everything you believe is wrong and trust us, because we’ve been here for almost an hour.” SG teams throughout SG1 and Atlantis do this all the time. They come to a planet, impose American moral values on the local culture and end up putting its people in mortal danger. It was refreshing to have someone on an SG team finally acknowledge it. Naturally, the only two people who really respect the kids’ culture are Tayla the Pegasus native and Weir the professional peacemaker. At least we get a happy ending, and good cop Keras gets to turn 25 without killing himself.
The Bad
That Ares kid was really annoying. He wasn’t just bad cop, he was an angry, close-minded zealot to the point of being a cliché. He’s just so unhappy that his reason for killing Sheppard’s team gets ripped out from under him. This guy wants anybody over the age of 24 to die. A lot. Even if they’re from another planet. This kid needs to be taken back to Atlantis for some quality time with the expedition’s resident therapist and perhaps some chocolate.
The Awesome
The reveal that the suicides actually serve a legitimate purpose, rather than being simply a misguided belief about what was keeping the Wraith from attacking the villages was great. It turns out it was only partially misguided, and the Atlantis team makes it possible to eliminate the suicides by improving the range of the shield and its efficiency. Way to make up for almost getting all those kids culled by stealing their ZPM, Rodney!
World building. We only have one episode to get to know these kids and their culture but within 15 minutes they’ve become a fully fleshed civilization with traditions, lore, laws, religion and unique architecture that’s very different from the stone constructions of their ancestors. It’s a believable culture immediately. We know more about these kids and their culture from one episode than we do about the Athosians, whom we’ve known since the pilot.
Rating
9 out of 10. Why I was so meh about this episode when it first aired is now a mystery to me. I really like it. Points for good world building, an unexpected plot twist, and the team taking responsibility for almost getting another culture attacked by the Wraith due to Rodney’s greed.
