SGA 5.03 "Broken Ties" Episode Guide

Précis

Ronon endures a grueling ordeal after his former friend, Tyre, captures and delivers him to the Wraith. Meanwhile, the team launches a rescue mission for their missing comrade.

Guide | Transcript

MGM/SciFi.com Official Summary

The official summary is not available as this episode has not yet aired in the United States.

Spoiler Summary

A captured Ronon is fed on over and over again by a Wraith in order to break him into becoming a worshipper. Ronon is strong, but the Wraith proves stronger as Ronon cuts his hair and pledges his life to battle against the Wraith’s enemy, Atlantis, and to show no mercy. In the meantime, the Satedan Tyre (from “Reunion”) has information on where Ronon is being held, and claiming to have turned from the Wraith himself, offers to help Sheppard’s team find him. But, is Tyre really a changed man or is this another trap?

Cast

• Joe Flanigan as Lt. Col. John Sheppard
• Rachel Luttrell as Teyla Emmagan
• Jason Momoa as Ronon Dex
• Jewel Staite as Dr. Jennifer Keller
• Robert Picardo as Richard Woolsey
• and David Hewlett as Dr. Rodney McKay

Guest Stars

• Mark Dacascos as Tyre
• Kavan Smith as Maj. Lorne
• Wraith

Production

• Written by Joseph Mallozzi
• Directed by Kenneth J. Girotti

Production Gallery

The following are links to images concerning the production of this episode and were published by Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog:

• Concept Art: Tyre's Pendant (February 12, 2008)
• Concept Art: Tyre's Sword and Scabbard (February 12, 2008)
• Concept Art: Stage 6 Lighting Sconces (February 12, 2008)
• Candid: Jason Momoa with his new haircut (1) (February 13, 2008)
• Candid: Jason Momoa (2) (February 13, 2008)
• Candid: Jason Momoa (3) (February 13, 2008)
• Candid: Cover of the Art Department Package (document) for the episode's Concept Meeting (February 28, 2008)
• Candid: Director Ken Girotti at the Concept Meeting (February 28, 2008)
• Concept Art: Room with a man strapped to a chair (February 28, 2008)
• Candid: Tyre's sword from Props (February 29, 2008)
• Candid: Close up of the etching on Tyre's sword (February 29, 2008)
• Candid: 1st AD Alex Pappas showing off Tyre's sword (February 29, 2008)

Related Articles

Keywords

• Atlantis
• Wraith

Other

• Season Five Episode Guides
• Episode Guides
• Season Five Transcripts
• Transcripts
• Previous: SGA 5.02 "The Seed" Episode Guide
• Next: SGA 5.04 "The Daedalus Variations" Episode Guide

Production Notes

• "I have a first draft of Broken Ties in hand [...] worrying about the tighter shooting schedule or whether or not Mark D. will be available for a return engagement ..." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, December 20, 2007.
• "Apparently, I’m the Ties Guy, as I’ve written The Ties That Bind, Family Ties, and now Broken Ties." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, December 21, 2007.
• "I don’t think a wig would look anywhere near as good as the real thing. If it came down to a choice between wigging Jason and losing the dreads, I’d rather lose the dreads. [...] I’ve left the ultimate fate of those dreads in Jason’s hand. I have already scripted an appropriate scene should he choose to do away with them." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, January 18, 2008.
• "As for episode #3 - the great hair debate rages on." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, January 21, 2008.
• "The first three [directors] on deck: Andy Mikita, Will Waring, and Ken Girotti." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, January 22, 2008.
• "Production Designer James Robbins swung by the offices to show us some of the concept art for the first three episodes. [...] I offered my thoughts on Broken Ties (At first I thought Rodney might have had a bathtub shipped over from Earth but, ultimately, decided to go with one of Lantian design). — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, January 24, 2008.
• "Rachel remains a series regular and an important part of the team. Two of the first three episodes see some major developments for the character." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, February 4, 2008.
• "We’ll be seeing Tyre (played by Mark Dacascos) in season 5’s Broken Ties." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, February 6, 2008.
• "Anneteldy writes: “And some people become Wraith worshippers because they are ‘addicted’ to the pleasurable aspects of getting one’s life returned. How’d I do?” Answer: You did great. How great? Check out season 5’s Broken Ties." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, February 10, 2008.
• "Despite the delay, I got in about five minutes before the prosthetics meeting. We discussed upcoming episodes Whispers, The Daedalus Variations, The Seed, and Broken Ties. Among the subjects covered: visual versus practical effects, stunt people vs. acrobats, fog, elements of the visual we saw in Spoils of War, yogurt, and, of course, methacil." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, February 12, 2008.
• "I’m hoping to complete a first draft [for Whispers] before Thursday - when prep begins on Broken Ties. Jason came in and we discussed the big sword fight (Enough with the sparring! Let’s see some real clashing steel!), hair issues, and redemption. You know, the usual." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, February 22, 2008.
• "And, today, it was my turn to as prep began on my episode, Broken Ties. We kicked things off with the 9:00 a.m. concept meeting. In attendance = everyone! In addition to special guest director we frankly don’t see enough of Ken Girotti. I love this guy. Not only is he a terrific director (his credits include 24, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Supernatural, Xena), but a genuinely fun guy to hang around with. Ken, myself, and the representatives of the various departments sat around the big conference room table while first A.D. Alex Pappas took us through the script, scene by scene. We stopped occasionally to discuss the transformation scenes, with Todd Masters and Mark Savela weighing in with their thoughts, recommendations, and best-case scenarios. By the time we hit FADE OUT, it was 9:28. “Time!”I yelled. “This has got to be a record!” I’d never sat through a concept meeting that clocked in at less than 45 minutes before! Sadly, we weren’t even close. The record is held by a Robert Cooper SG-1 season 10 script that took less than 1 minutes to get through!" — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, February 28, 2008.
• "Prep continued today on Broken Ties with a 9:00 a.m. stunts meeting during which we discussed, well, stunts, squibs, and Tyre’s kick-ass sword that Evil Kenny brought in for approval. Halfway through the show and tell, 1st AD Alex Pappas snatched it up and proceeded to show off his mastery of the blade. We were all blown away - until BamBam lost the tip of his ear. // From there, we rolled into the visual effects meeting. We ran through our options with Todd Masters and Mark Savela, talked playback (I later approved a fantastic PET scan), then talked stunners, blasters, matte shots, morphs, the money shot, and the view out the window. // I let Ken handle the extras meeting..." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, February 29, 2008.
• "Jason came by the office about a half dozen times today, each time popping up to discuss Broken Ties for all of two minutes before being called back down to set. Then, I rounded out my afternoon by skimming past scripts for appropriate flashback sequences." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, March 4, 2008.
• "Congratulations to Jason Momoa who came into my office today, clearly smitten by the brand new addition to the show: Tyre’s sword. 'It’s perfectly balanced,' he enthused, brandishing it threateningly. 'Can I keep it?' In the interest of keeping my actors happy (and my fingers attached) I happily agreed." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, March 5, 2008.
• "We had the production meeting for Broken Ties this morning. It’s all systems go. We start shooting Monday at The Bridge while BamBam runs Jason and Mark Dacascos through the paces over at Norco. The tendril meeting was scheduled for tomorrow, then canceled after careful consideration." — Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog, March 6, 2008.

Further Reading

• Joseph Mallozzi's Blog
• Solutions: SGA S5: What Defines Ronon Dex? (about Ronon's hair), February 18, 2008.
• Solutions: SGA S5 Spoilers: Broken Ties, February 23, 2008.

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--DeeKayP 11:18, 25 January 2008 (PST)