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Episode Summary

On the eve of Jed's participation in a national television conference with thousands of school children as the Galileo probe arrives at Mars, NASA loses the communication link; Leo contends with a Russian ambassador who denies that a fire has broken out in a nuclear missile silo; C.J. and Sam accompany Jed to a concert where they're each faced with people they'd rather not see; Josh and Donna work on the nomination for the next person to appear on a postage stamp; C.J. wrangles a minor controversy ignited by a leak that Jed doesn't like green beans.moreless
9.1
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  • The Broader Theme.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    I love when they are able to take two problems and use one as the solution to the other, as they did in this episode with the stamp problem and Bartlet's dislike of green beans. Plus it provided some laughs,

    Josh: "There's a Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee? Made up of members of the 'There but for The Grace of God Go I' Club."
    Leo: "You wanna mock people or you wanna let me talk to Toby?"
    Josh: "I wanna mock people."

    Donna: "We have colonized Puerto Rico and they will rise up against us."
    Josh: "I think we can take them."

    I kind of felt bad for CJ in the scene with Charlie. She knows the green bean issue is dumb, just as Charlie does, but it's her job to deal with it. Felt even worse in the scene after that, when the guy she used to date accused her of not picking him for the job because of personal reasons. Her shouting out that she was great in bed had me rolling though.

    The explosion of the Russian intercontinental missile in its silo was pretty sobering news. Especially after finding out the warhead was on it's way to the black market. The scene between Bartlet and the Russian Ambassador was excellent. Though I don't care how long and hard their winter is, you cannot allow a threat like that out into the world just because you're too stubborn or prideful or paranoid to ask for help.

    The plot about the Galileo V Mars Probe led to some really well written(and acted) moments. Sam and Mallory's scene in particular was amazing. One of my favorite scenes with Sam so far. And I love how Mallory tests him to make sure he's not just doing what he's told, but truly believes in the things he's doing.

    Sam: "There are a lot of hungry people in the world, Mal, and none of them are hungrier 'cause we went to the moon. None of them are colder and certainly none of them are dumber 'cause we went to the moon!"
    Mallory: "And we went to the moon, do we really have to go to Mars?"
    Sam: "Yes. 'Cause it's next. 'Cause we came out of the cave and we looked over the hill, and we saw fire. And we crossed the ocean. And we pioneered the West. And we took to the sky. The history of man is on the time line of exploration, and this is what's next!"

    Though I may be partial to it because I am a big fan of space exploration. CJ finally saying "Galileo" right was a really touching moment as well. And Bartlet's final line as he looked up at the stars was just beautiful. "Talk to us."

    Hilarious, with a touch of drama to keep things interesting. With almost every episode I watch now I get more disgusted with myself for not having started TWW sooner.moreless

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  • Even grown ups dream about Mars...

    9.3
    "Superb"
    This episode defenetly showed that it doesn't matter if you are young schoolkid or grown up man, president of USA or a press secretary - everyone wanted to know as much about Mars as they can.. everyone somehow even knew but CJ missed some things. So, yes - one of the main storylines focused on NASA sending sond to Mars and president was going to answer some questions kids asked on Tv. But the sond gets lost... I loved specially the part when they president asked everyone to say the Galileo 5 right. It was funny but there is different the way to say things.. The second storyline concentrated on Russia as they had oil tanker fire.. but it was not so simple - as there were rockets honestly if nothing else and they denied that and refused help. Leo tried all he can to help them..

    Also Charlie got taste how every world you say can be twisted and brought back to you.

    Really good episode.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • The episode focuses on a "Galileo 5" mission to Mars. In fact, there was just one Galileo mission, to Jupiter and its main satellites. Edit
    • Leo McGarry tells the President of Iceland's Ambassador, Vigdis Olafsdottir, that "he's very excited to meet you." But Icelandic surnames are formed from the father's first name plus "-son" or "-dottir", so a name finishing in "dottir" is always a woman's name. Also, Vigdis is a female forename. Edit
    • FYI, if an Icelandic woman has a child out of wedlock, or the father's name is simply unknown, it is permitted to use the mother's first name to form the child's surname. Edit
  • Notes

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    • Additional Credit: Washington D.C. Production Services by ThinkFilm, Inc.

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    • Awards and Nominations: Allison Janney won the 2001 Emmy in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in this episode and in "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part 2" This episode in conjunction with several others from the season won The West Wing the 2001 Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series (Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, John Wells, Kevin Falls, Michael Hissrich, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jr., Kristin Harms, Llewellyn Wells). Edit
  • Quotes

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    • Josh: There's a Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee? Made up of members of the 'There but for The Grace of God Go I' Club. Leo: You wanna mock people or you wanna let me talk to Toby? Josh: I wanna mock people. Edit
    • Donna: We have colonized Puerto Rico and they will rise up against us. Josh: I think we can take them. Donna: That's what we said about the British. Josh: We took the British. Donna: You know what I'm saying. Josh: Hardly ever. Edit
    • Sam: Write this: Good morning. Eleven months ago a twelve hundred pound spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Eighteen hours ago... Is it eighteen hours ago? We're on the air at noon eastern. Aide: Yeah. Sam: Eighteen hours ago it landed on the planet Mars. You, me and sixty thousand of your fellow students across the country, along with astro-scientists and engineers from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California, NASA Houston and right here at the White house are going to be the first to see what it sees. And to chronicle the extraordinary voyage of an unmanned ship... called Galileo 5. Bartlet: (nodding towards Sam) He said it right. Edit
  • Allusions

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    • C.J.: Oh, God. He's got me in his tractor beam. The tractor beam is a fictional piece of hardware featured in Star Trek and all its sister series. A tractor beam provides a force that either tethers an object or irresistibly draws it to the source of the beam. Edit
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