Thursday, May 15, 2014
I feel like I could make a really compelling case that Teal'c and Daniel Jackson are closeted, late-blooming gay or bi men who could have fallen in love. For one, they both have wives they never really seemed to want to spend time or have sex with. For another, they held together pretty well when events forced them and their wives apart. Hey guys, I've been there. You think you have to settle down with a woman because that's what everyone expects of you and you're doing your best, but they never really seem to complete, you, you know? But Teal'c smells like home and Daniel is adorable when he furrows his brow over something and you should just hold each other to get through this hard time. And maybe make out a little, just to see.
To Boldly Gate, Season 2
Having purchased season 2, you are no doubt eager to see if the main cast and the planet earth will indeed die in episode 1. I salute your willing suspension of disbelief in dedication to the Stargate program. The TV program I mean.
Episode 1: The Serpent's Lair
The mighty Bra'tac arrives to give SG-1 the edge they need to send Apophis and his Skaar-stealing son crawling back to their home territories. This and the last really are pretty decent action episodes, and this one has a great finish. They escape a giant fireball in death gliders. That sentence alone should sell the episode.
Episode 2: In the Line of Duty
After a fairly disturbing opening scene, where Carter's reward for trying to resuscitate a human alien with CPR is to get a mouth-to-mouth brain snake infestation, Carter is possessed by the Tok'ra Jolinar. Carter's life is ultimately saved by the alien's sacrifice. This is the first indication that not all parasitic brain worms are as evil as they might appear at first glance. An important introduction to the Tok'ra with many repercussions down the line.
Episode 3: Prisoners
A prison episode! The team gets sent up the wormhole after accidentally breaking the laws of a draconian alien civilization. Here they meet a helpful old chemist who helps them escape. They then set her free, because it fails to occur to them to ask what she's there for. It turns out she used to make chemical weapons of mass destruction and unleash them on planets as a former career. Oops. Also, for a prison episode, there was a disappointing lack of homoerotic subtext between team members, trapped in a strange and confusing place. Or was there? I like to imagine Teal'c and Daniel Jackson had some tender moments in between scenes.
Episode 4: The GameKeeper
A classic SF trope episode, featuring Barkley from Star Trek. The team is trapped by VR chairs in the middle of a garden. There an insane AI has trapped real people in the virtual reality he's constructed, and convinced them that it's too unsafe for them to disconnect. I think they've done this exact same episode in Star Trek Voyager and Lexx. Kind of a good episode, a little creepy and a little goofy.
Episode 5: Need
The team is captured after Daniel saves the princess of another world. Except for Daniel, who is rescued by a princess who gives him access to a goa'uld sarcophagus. Little does anyone know, but extended use of goa'uld sarcophagi makes the user kind of crazy and unpleasant. So that doesn't end well. My favorite part is how everyone on the team spends the whole episode toiling away in a mine and hating Daniel, who is quietly going insane on the surface. But hey, at least we know why the Goa'uld have such charming personalities now.
Episode 6: Thor's Chariot
Another great Asgard episode. The team returns to Cimmeria because they broke Thor's Hammer, the magic device that protected Cimmeria from the Goa'uld, and they've since become enslaved by Heru'ur. The team journeys deep into an asgardian temple, where Thor is revealed to be a little grey alien via long-distance holgram. Most notable for the awesome CGI ship they must have dumped most of the episode's budget into revealed in the last few minutes. One of my favorite scenes in the series.
Episode 7: Message in a Bottle
One of the gloriously weird alien machine intelligence episodes. A crazy device pins O'neill to the wall and threatens the entire base. Just a brutal and tense episode. One of the best this season, although there are many good ones here.
Episode 8: Family
What a totally awkward episode. For one: child actors. For another: lots of crying and yelling from child actors. Teal'c's son has been brainwashed, and they all attempt to deprogram him. Has the weird vibe of an after-school show about cults. Ends with this excruciating scene where Teal'c shoots his own kid with a Zat. The solution literally turns out to be: shoot him with a stun gun. Not my favorite episode, just more fall-out from Teal'c's choice.
Episode 9: Secrets
The second act of Daniel's doomed marriage. He returns to Abydos to find his Goa'uld wife pregnant with his enemy's son. So that's a little rough. I think this was about the time they weren't going to make much long-term use of Sha're's character, so they just set her on the downward path. Also features a reporter on Earth threatening to expose the program, which is a topic they return to often, but never to my satisfaction. Ends with the government apparently murdering the reporter by vehicle in order to keep him quiet. This show has a pretty dark view of U.S. politics. But really, can you blame them?
Episode 10: Bane
A good Teal'c episode. Teal'c gets stung and starts turning into a bug man, as happens so often in the Stargate universe. After he escapes the SGC he befriends a precocious child who tends to him while he cocoons himself to complete his transformation. I'm reading that sentence again and realizing this is a very weird episode with some cool bugs.
Episode 11: The Tok'ra (Part 1)
A great episode starting the end to the story arc between Carter and her dad started a few episodes back. The team finally meets the Tok'ra, introducing Carter to her second alien suiter, Martouf/Lantash. Lots of freaky-voiced people standing around in silver outfits though. Although not subtle on the fore-shadowing. Hmm, this alien is dying and needs a host. Hmmm, this human is dying and an alien parasite could cure him. If only there were a way to meet both their needs. Both are doomed I guess.
Episode 12: The Tok'ra (Part 2)
Or are they? I really enjoyed the scene where Carter tells her dad about the stargate and the miracle head-slug cure. They didn't have that kind of moment enough in the series for my taste. The ending you didn't see coming happens on alien planet and Carter's dad becomes part man/part snake. I tease, but these couple of episodes are pretty good. Selmak/Jacob is one of my favorite characters, and his "origin story" is pretty good.
Episode 13: Spirits
The team attempts to bargain with the descendants of native americans (again, roughty 30 within walking distance of the stargate) for mineral rights to a valuable mineral. An odd story about guardian forest spirits who turn out to be weird aliens with fancy technology. I'm not sure what to think of it.
Episode 14: Touchstone
An "earthmen can be bad guys too" episode where the team tracks down a rogue team running illegal missions from the second stargate. Features a very silly island nation whose very comic booky "weather machine" has been stolen by Team X. And, as they've been violating the natural weather with their machine for hundreds of years, the planet unleashes a grudge storm in an attempt to destroy all their simple huts and carefree island barbecues. Warehouses are investigated, shots are fired, nobody gets caught, but hey, at least the islanders get their machine and carefree lifestyle back. I like to think Daniel and Teal'c took a moment to celebrate amidst the dunes, under the moonlight, waves crashing to the shore ....
Episode 15: The Fifth Race
The first official contact with the Asgard! I love everything about Jack talking to the little grey aliens. And the bit where he gets the ancient language upload and starts inserting random ancient words into sentences is played well. Also introduces the concept of 8-gate address for connecting to other galaxies. Great episode.
Episode 16: A Matter of Time
Another one of my favorite episodes of the series. A panicked team dial Earth trying to get away from a black hole. But they're so close to getting sucked in it causes a time to slow down at the Earth's end as well. The fact that the physics if all wrong in this scenario is waved away by the presence of the stargate. A fun episode with some fun time compression aspects about a black hole nearly destroying Earth through the back door. Sneaky bastards.
Episode 17: Holiday
An old man switches bodies with Daniel and won't give it back. Not as much fun as Freaky Friday. Not my favorite.
Episode 18: Serpent's song
The first death of Apophis and the introduction of Sokar. The team captures Apophis, watches him die, and then, under threat of attack via scary Goa'uld hologram, returns him to Sokar who will undoubtedly revive and torture him. So not a feel good episode, but a good episode.
Episode 19: One False Step
One of the last and weirdest classic SF stories of the first 2 seasons. Little strange, mute bald boys in earth-tone unitards running around everywhere. The alien physiology turns out to be interesting but definitely a foray into the weirder, experimental theater side of Stargate.
Episode 20: Show and Tell
A nice and enjoyably weird episode about a boy and his invisible bug mother who arrive to warn of an attack by invisible bug terrorists. Luckily the Tok'ra have some invisible bug-exploding black light weapons to suss them out. Solid all around.
Episode 21: 1969
Probably my favorite episode of the second season, even though it's completely silly. A solar flare sends the team back down the wormhole only to emerge in 1969. I mostly love it for Teal'c dressed as a tie-dyed hippie. Although the time travel stuff is kind of fun too. And I suspect Teal'c and Daniel learned a little something about the summer of love. Which again, they frustratingly leave on the cutting room floor.
Episode 22: Having learned nothing from what I imagine was a well-coordinated and irate letter campaign about season cliffhangers, the season ends with the team once again on the brink of disaster. This time they've been captured by Hathor the seductive snake, who puts on an elaborate charade to convince each member of the team that they've been frozen for 8 decades or so and should therefore casually mention all of Earth's secrets. Disappointingly, due to this setup, Daniel Jackson and Teal'c have no opportunity to exchange lingering glances. The real cliffhanger, as always, is when those two are finally going to admit how they feel about each other. Not this time. Maybe next season.
Time to buy season 3. Yes, these summaries will probably eventually be taken over almost entirely by slash fiction style shipping of Daniel Jackson and Teal'c. Yes, that would be awesome.
Episode 1: The Serpent's Lair
The mighty Bra'tac arrives to give SG-1 the edge they need to send Apophis and his Skaar-stealing son crawling back to their home territories. This and the last really are pretty decent action episodes, and this one has a great finish. They escape a giant fireball in death gliders. That sentence alone should sell the episode.
Episode 2: In the Line of Duty
After a fairly disturbing opening scene, where Carter's reward for trying to resuscitate a human alien with CPR is to get a mouth-to-mouth brain snake infestation, Carter is possessed by the Tok'ra Jolinar. Carter's life is ultimately saved by the alien's sacrifice. This is the first indication that not all parasitic brain worms are as evil as they might appear at first glance. An important introduction to the Tok'ra with many repercussions down the line.
Episode 3: Prisoners
A prison episode! The team gets sent up the wormhole after accidentally breaking the laws of a draconian alien civilization. Here they meet a helpful old chemist who helps them escape. They then set her free, because it fails to occur to them to ask what she's there for. It turns out she used to make chemical weapons of mass destruction and unleash them on planets as a former career. Oops. Also, for a prison episode, there was a disappointing lack of homoerotic subtext between team members, trapped in a strange and confusing place. Or was there? I like to imagine Teal'c and Daniel Jackson had some tender moments in between scenes.
Episode 4: The GameKeeper
A classic SF trope episode, featuring Barkley from Star Trek. The team is trapped by VR chairs in the middle of a garden. There an insane AI has trapped real people in the virtual reality he's constructed, and convinced them that it's too unsafe for them to disconnect. I think they've done this exact same episode in Star Trek Voyager and Lexx. Kind of a good episode, a little creepy and a little goofy.
Episode 5: Need
The team is captured after Daniel saves the princess of another world. Except for Daniel, who is rescued by a princess who gives him access to a goa'uld sarcophagus. Little does anyone know, but extended use of goa'uld sarcophagi makes the user kind of crazy and unpleasant. So that doesn't end well. My favorite part is how everyone on the team spends the whole episode toiling away in a mine and hating Daniel, who is quietly going insane on the surface. But hey, at least we know why the Goa'uld have such charming personalities now.
Episode 6: Thor's Chariot
Another great Asgard episode. The team returns to Cimmeria because they broke Thor's Hammer, the magic device that protected Cimmeria from the Goa'uld, and they've since become enslaved by Heru'ur. The team journeys deep into an asgardian temple, where Thor is revealed to be a little grey alien via long-distance holgram. Most notable for the awesome CGI ship they must have dumped most of the episode's budget into revealed in the last few minutes. One of my favorite scenes in the series.
Episode 7: Message in a Bottle
One of the gloriously weird alien machine intelligence episodes. A crazy device pins O'neill to the wall and threatens the entire base. Just a brutal and tense episode. One of the best this season, although there are many good ones here.
Episode 8: Family
What a totally awkward episode. For one: child actors. For another: lots of crying and yelling from child actors. Teal'c's son has been brainwashed, and they all attempt to deprogram him. Has the weird vibe of an after-school show about cults. Ends with this excruciating scene where Teal'c shoots his own kid with a Zat. The solution literally turns out to be: shoot him with a stun gun. Not my favorite episode, just more fall-out from Teal'c's choice.
Episode 9: Secrets
The second act of Daniel's doomed marriage. He returns to Abydos to find his Goa'uld wife pregnant with his enemy's son. So that's a little rough. I think this was about the time they weren't going to make much long-term use of Sha're's character, so they just set her on the downward path. Also features a reporter on Earth threatening to expose the program, which is a topic they return to often, but never to my satisfaction. Ends with the government apparently murdering the reporter by vehicle in order to keep him quiet. This show has a pretty dark view of U.S. politics. But really, can you blame them?
Episode 10: Bane
A good Teal'c episode. Teal'c gets stung and starts turning into a bug man, as happens so often in the Stargate universe. After he escapes the SGC he befriends a precocious child who tends to him while he cocoons himself to complete his transformation. I'm reading that sentence again and realizing this is a very weird episode with some cool bugs.
Episode 11: The Tok'ra (Part 1)
A great episode starting the end to the story arc between Carter and her dad started a few episodes back. The team finally meets the Tok'ra, introducing Carter to her second alien suiter, Martouf/Lantash. Lots of freaky-voiced people standing around in silver outfits though. Although not subtle on the fore-shadowing. Hmm, this alien is dying and needs a host. Hmmm, this human is dying and an alien parasite could cure him. If only there were a way to meet both their needs. Both are doomed I guess.
Episode 12: The Tok'ra (Part 2)
Or are they? I really enjoyed the scene where Carter tells her dad about the stargate and the miracle head-slug cure. They didn't have that kind of moment enough in the series for my taste. The ending you didn't see coming happens on alien planet and Carter's dad becomes part man/part snake. I tease, but these couple of episodes are pretty good. Selmak/Jacob is one of my favorite characters, and his "origin story" is pretty good.
Episode 13: Spirits
The team attempts to bargain with the descendants of native americans (again, roughty 30 within walking distance of the stargate) for mineral rights to a valuable mineral. An odd story about guardian forest spirits who turn out to be weird aliens with fancy technology. I'm not sure what to think of it.
Episode 14: Touchstone
An "earthmen can be bad guys too" episode where the team tracks down a rogue team running illegal missions from the second stargate. Features a very silly island nation whose very comic booky "weather machine" has been stolen by Team X. And, as they've been violating the natural weather with their machine for hundreds of years, the planet unleashes a grudge storm in an attempt to destroy all their simple huts and carefree island barbecues. Warehouses are investigated, shots are fired, nobody gets caught, but hey, at least the islanders get their machine and carefree lifestyle back. I like to think Daniel and Teal'c took a moment to celebrate amidst the dunes, under the moonlight, waves crashing to the shore ....
Episode 15: The Fifth Race
The first official contact with the Asgard! I love everything about Jack talking to the little grey aliens. And the bit where he gets the ancient language upload and starts inserting random ancient words into sentences is played well. Also introduces the concept of 8-gate address for connecting to other galaxies. Great episode.
Episode 16: A Matter of Time
Another one of my favorite episodes of the series. A panicked team dial Earth trying to get away from a black hole. But they're so close to getting sucked in it causes a time to slow down at the Earth's end as well. The fact that the physics if all wrong in this scenario is waved away by the presence of the stargate. A fun episode with some fun time compression aspects about a black hole nearly destroying Earth through the back door. Sneaky bastards.
Episode 17: Holiday
An old man switches bodies with Daniel and won't give it back. Not as much fun as Freaky Friday. Not my favorite.
Episode 18: Serpent's song
The first death of Apophis and the introduction of Sokar. The team captures Apophis, watches him die, and then, under threat of attack via scary Goa'uld hologram, returns him to Sokar who will undoubtedly revive and torture him. So not a feel good episode, but a good episode.
Episode 19: One False Step
One of the last and weirdest classic SF stories of the first 2 seasons. Little strange, mute bald boys in earth-tone unitards running around everywhere. The alien physiology turns out to be interesting but definitely a foray into the weirder, experimental theater side of Stargate.
Episode 20: Show and Tell
A nice and enjoyably weird episode about a boy and his invisible bug mother who arrive to warn of an attack by invisible bug terrorists. Luckily the Tok'ra have some invisible bug-exploding black light weapons to suss them out. Solid all around.
Episode 21: 1969
Probably my favorite episode of the second season, even though it's completely silly. A solar flare sends the team back down the wormhole only to emerge in 1969. I mostly love it for Teal'c dressed as a tie-dyed hippie. Although the time travel stuff is kind of fun too. And I suspect Teal'c and Daniel learned a little something about the summer of love. Which again, they frustratingly leave on the cutting room floor.
Episode 22: Having learned nothing from what I imagine was a well-coordinated and irate letter campaign about season cliffhangers, the season ends with the team once again on the brink of disaster. This time they've been captured by Hathor the seductive snake, who puts on an elaborate charade to convince each member of the team that they've been frozen for 8 decades or so and should therefore casually mention all of Earth's secrets. Disappointingly, due to this setup, Daniel Jackson and Teal'c have no opportunity to exchange lingering glances. The real cliffhanger, as always, is when those two are finally going to admit how they feel about each other. Not this time. Maybe next season.
Time to buy season 3. Yes, these summaries will probably eventually be taken over almost entirely by slash fiction style shipping of Daniel Jackson and Teal'c. Yes, that would be awesome.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
To Boldly Gate
I've been watching a little stargate recently because I loves it, I wants it, I needs it. Here's my brief recap of season 1 for no reason (with many spoilers).
I saw the Stargate movie on Netflix and it drew me in the other night. Kurt Russell and James Spader are still dreamy. And Jay Davidson is incredible as Ra. Back down the wormhole we go.
Episode 1/2: Children of the Gods.
Feels a bit like a poor man's rehash of the movie, but it's a fairly strong start. Introducing the new actors and characters. On Amazon, episode 1 is the showtime pilot, and episode 2 is an abridged version of that to start the syndicated series. You can safely skip episode 2. If you watched all of episode 1, there's literally no new footage. Although it may just be that Amazon botched the DVD upload or something.
Episode 3: The Enemy Within.
It's time to kill off the characters who didn't get picked up for the full season after the pilot. In this case, poor Major Kowalksy who becomes the first of many protagonists to get possessed by the Goa'uld. A strong follow-up to the pilot with a somewhat more gruesome-than-normal ending.
Episode 4: Emancipation.
The first couple seasons contain some mildly regrettable classic SF tropes. This episode would not have felt too out of place in Star Trek: TOS. They journey to a world ruled by descendants of Monguls (who have never advanced), who have regressive attitudes towards women. Although I love the quicky establishment of Captain Carter as a character who kicks ass and does not particularly give a crap about romancing men, the episode as a whole is a bit cheesy. A fun story about Carter versus sexist barbarians, but strangely antiquated in its own way. Skippable.
Episode 5: The Broca Divide.
Another Tropish SF story about Minoan descendants life on a world strictly separated in to a "light side" and a "dark side" This is a little more fantasy than usual, and I suspect this episode and the last were SF short stories that were bought and adapted for the series. Or at least, that's how they feel. There a morlocks (of generic name) on the dark side, and it turns out they are the demented victims of a strange disease, that the light-side minoans are strangely not panicked about considering how often it seems to happen. And it should alarm them considering their population seems to consist of roughly 25 people due to budgetary constraints. The cure turns out to be Daniel's antihistamines, because science. Skippable. Although having said that, potentially worth it for the part where Carter and O'neill devolve into cave people for a bit.
Episode 6: The First commandment.
This is a story archetype Stargate: Atlantis will come back to a few times down the road. A SG team leader goes crazy from heat stroke from weird solar radiation and takes over a random human village as a god. The nice thing about the Stargate universe is you can always count on finding a village of about 30 people within comfortable walking distance of the stargate. These kind of stories tend to bore me, but this one is solid enough. I liked the angle that this was Carter's crazy ex-boyfriend. Especially given her reaction to the news. "Oh, he thinks he's god? Yeah, that sounds about right."
Episode 7: Cold Lazarus
Kind of a sweet story about a sentient blue crystal that takes Colonel Oneill's form and goes back to Earth to try and fix the brokenness he senses in the Colonel around the death of his son. It's a very odd way to explore such a heavy topic, but it works.
Episode 8: The Nox
The early seasons have some interesting alien costume designs that wouldn't feel out of place in the original Star Trek. This episode, in particular, has Armen Shimerman in one of the silliest get-ups you'll ever see him in, and that includes his Quark costume. That said, I still enjoy this episode a lot, partly for the pacifist message of the Nox, and partly for the clear Jack Kirby influence apparent in the final shot. Definitely a little silly, but this is an important episode for the first season, where they start to set the seeds of future plots.
Episode 9: Brief Candle
Another classic SF style episode. An alien babe marries an unsuspecting O'neill on a world once ruled by the Goa'uld. The catch: in this city everyone ages rapidly and lives exactly 100 days from birth to death. Somehow O'neill gets infected and it's up to the team to figure out how to reverse the effects. The first of several "Jack gets marooned and romances a woman" episodes. As well as the first "someone on the team ages rapidly then gets returned back to normal unharmed." episodes, which are always a little funny. Apparently artificial aging wears off after a while. Good to know.
Episode 10: Thor's Hammer
One of my favorite, maybe THE favorite, episodes of the season. First introduction of the Asgard race. Viking village with badass women as leaders. Cool interpretation of Thor's hammer. First introduction of the Unas, who are scary. Genuinely hard choice at the end, that has repercussions later in the season. Builds further on Goa'uld mythology and introduces the possibility that hosts can be saved. Must watch.
Episode 11: The Torment of Tantalus
Another great episode, tying all the way back to the stargate movie, and filling in some of the time between the discovery of the stargate in Giza and the modern day. Love the premise, that Catherine's lost love went through the stargate and has been trapped on the other side for 50 years or so. Love how they take the opportunity to expand the universe's mythology of ancient races at the same time.
Episode 12: Bloodlines
This one is notable as the first introduction of Bra'tac, as well as Teal'c's whiny son Rya'c. What I like about this episode is how it more or less lays out the logical ramifications of Teal'c quitting his Job and running off to help Earthlings fight Apophis for a year or so: His wife marries someone else and his son hates him for not being there. There is some reconciliation at the end, but it doesn't last. Teal'c sacrifices a great deal to fight the Goa'uld and this episode is where we and Teal'c start to understand the depth of that sacrifice.
Episode 13: Fire and Water
Not central to the main story, but I like this one. I like fish people and fancy underwater technology and this has both. A little silly in parts. For instance, one thing the show simply gave up on from the get-go was dealing with language difficulties in communicating with people from other planets. To keep it simple, everyone in the galaxy speaks English and they dance right past that without ever explaining why. So the occasional episode where the alien doesn't speak english, or only speaks broken english is kind of jarring. Because why does everyone but this guy seem to know it? Because the ancients, that's why. Or because history. Or because science. Because shut up, that's why.
Episode 14: Hathor
One of my favorite episodes of first season. The Goa'uld Hathor seduces uses powerful lady magic to seduce the dudes on the base, and the unaffected women led by Captain Carter go Full Metal Jacket on Hathor and her drones because nuh-uh. I love this episode because I feel like the series creators tried hard to create fully-fleshed out female characters who are smart, competent, decisive bad-asses who bow to man in defending their expertise in their fields and who are not dressed as if they exist only to appear attractive to men. And this episode is a great combination of an old-school "lady seductress disrupts the boys club" SF plot and a modern "and here's what the bad ass, fully actualized women of SG-1 think of that noise." Especially entertaining is Dr. Frasier in fatigues kicking ass. Great episode, even the silly bits. As always, I enjoy Jack's complete apathy in response to seduction. "... okay I guess."
Episode 15: Singularity
Non-necessary story, but introduces Cassandra, who shows up a few more times later in the series. Highlights what nasty pieces of work the Goa'uld are. Morbid episode, with lots of tension at the end. Great development of Captain Carter's character. In general I love how Captain Carter's character defies TV trope gender expectations and this episode is no exception.
Episode 16: Cor-ai
Teal'c is tried on a random planet for his crimes as First Prime of Apophis. I really enjoyed this episode, and really enjoyed how Christopher Judge plays it. This is one of those episodes that shows off the good heart of the series. The dark side of Teal'c's former life had to be dealt with at some point, and they handle it very well here. Further, I enjoy a plot that explores the power of change and forgiveness, and the risk/rewards versus self-righteous vengeance (or justice if that's what you're calling it).
Episode 17: Enigma
One of the first episodes where Carter picks up a moon-eyed suiter on a mission. One of the things I love about Carter's character is how romance is clearly not all that interesting to her in the face of exploring other planets through a convenient portal. Introduces the Tollan as reluctant allies who show up in the first 5 seasons quite frequently.
Episode 18: Solitudes
One of the better stories in the first season, with a great mid-episode plot twist. Carter and O'neill get stuck on an ice-world after an explosion rear-ends their wormhole. Introduces Earth's second stargate. Explores Carter and O'neill's relationship a little further. More on that later.
Episode 19: Tin Man
A fun episode about how the team gets cloned as androids by the eccentric remnant of a long dead civilization. Comtraya!
Episode 20: There but for the Grace of God
I love alternate universe stories, so I enjoyed this episode in particular. Daniel finds a cache of alien technology, and after a brief but completely professional round of "what does this button do?" is dismayed to find himself in an alternate universe where Apophis is about half-way through destroying the world. Basically an excuse to tell the story of Apophis destroying earth without lasting consequences. Unless you're one of those poor bastards stuck on Earth B of course. I'm sure the knowledge that another Earth can be saved from their destruction is a great comfort to them as they slave endlessly in service to the old gods, come again.
Episode 21: Politics.
An almost unforgivable clip episode. It's the FIRST SEASON and there isn't a strong enough overall plot to require one. There's an incremental but important 10 or so minutes of new plot inter-woven between all the clips, so it's hard to recommend skipping. Especially as this is the introduction of the domestic political side of the Stargate universe and one of their biggest enemies on that front, Senator Kinsey. But still, it's a CLIP EPISODE.
Episode 22: Within the serpent's grasp
If there's one thing I hate more than season openers it's end-of-season cliffhangers. The team accidentally gates onto Apophis' starship (which is admittedly cool) and are captured attempting to save Skaar. It's the end of the team and of Earth. Or is it? If you only bought season 1, you don't get to know. Bastards.
Time to buy season 2.
I saw the Stargate movie on Netflix and it drew me in the other night. Kurt Russell and James Spader are still dreamy. And Jay Davidson is incredible as Ra. Back down the wormhole we go.
Episode 1/2: Children of the Gods.
Feels a bit like a poor man's rehash of the movie, but it's a fairly strong start. Introducing the new actors and characters. On Amazon, episode 1 is the showtime pilot, and episode 2 is an abridged version of that to start the syndicated series. You can safely skip episode 2. If you watched all of episode 1, there's literally no new footage. Although it may just be that Amazon botched the DVD upload or something.
Episode 3: The Enemy Within.
It's time to kill off the characters who didn't get picked up for the full season after the pilot. In this case, poor Major Kowalksy who becomes the first of many protagonists to get possessed by the Goa'uld. A strong follow-up to the pilot with a somewhat more gruesome-than-normal ending.
Episode 4: Emancipation.
The first couple seasons contain some mildly regrettable classic SF tropes. This episode would not have felt too out of place in Star Trek: TOS. They journey to a world ruled by descendants of Monguls (who have never advanced), who have regressive attitudes towards women. Although I love the quicky establishment of Captain Carter as a character who kicks ass and does not particularly give a crap about romancing men, the episode as a whole is a bit cheesy. A fun story about Carter versus sexist barbarians, but strangely antiquated in its own way. Skippable.
Episode 5: The Broca Divide.
Another Tropish SF story about Minoan descendants life on a world strictly separated in to a "light side" and a "dark side" This is a little more fantasy than usual, and I suspect this episode and the last were SF short stories that were bought and adapted for the series. Or at least, that's how they feel. There a morlocks (of generic name) on the dark side, and it turns out they are the demented victims of a strange disease, that the light-side minoans are strangely not panicked about considering how often it seems to happen. And it should alarm them considering their population seems to consist of roughly 25 people due to budgetary constraints. The cure turns out to be Daniel's antihistamines, because science. Skippable. Although having said that, potentially worth it for the part where Carter and O'neill devolve into cave people for a bit.
Episode 6: The First commandment.
This is a story archetype Stargate: Atlantis will come back to a few times down the road. A SG team leader goes crazy from heat stroke from weird solar radiation and takes over a random human village as a god. The nice thing about the Stargate universe is you can always count on finding a village of about 30 people within comfortable walking distance of the stargate. These kind of stories tend to bore me, but this one is solid enough. I liked the angle that this was Carter's crazy ex-boyfriend. Especially given her reaction to the news. "Oh, he thinks he's god? Yeah, that sounds about right."
Episode 7: Cold Lazarus
Kind of a sweet story about a sentient blue crystal that takes Colonel Oneill's form and goes back to Earth to try and fix the brokenness he senses in the Colonel around the death of his son. It's a very odd way to explore such a heavy topic, but it works.
Episode 8: The Nox
The early seasons have some interesting alien costume designs that wouldn't feel out of place in the original Star Trek. This episode, in particular, has Armen Shimerman in one of the silliest get-ups you'll ever see him in, and that includes his Quark costume. That said, I still enjoy this episode a lot, partly for the pacifist message of the Nox, and partly for the clear Jack Kirby influence apparent in the final shot. Definitely a little silly, but this is an important episode for the first season, where they start to set the seeds of future plots.
Episode 9: Brief Candle
Another classic SF style episode. An alien babe marries an unsuspecting O'neill on a world once ruled by the Goa'uld. The catch: in this city everyone ages rapidly and lives exactly 100 days from birth to death. Somehow O'neill gets infected and it's up to the team to figure out how to reverse the effects. The first of several "Jack gets marooned and romances a woman" episodes. As well as the first "someone on the team ages rapidly then gets returned back to normal unharmed." episodes, which are always a little funny. Apparently artificial aging wears off after a while. Good to know.
Episode 10: Thor's Hammer
One of my favorite, maybe THE favorite, episodes of the season. First introduction of the Asgard race. Viking village with badass women as leaders. Cool interpretation of Thor's hammer. First introduction of the Unas, who are scary. Genuinely hard choice at the end, that has repercussions later in the season. Builds further on Goa'uld mythology and introduces the possibility that hosts can be saved. Must watch.
Episode 11: The Torment of Tantalus
Another great episode, tying all the way back to the stargate movie, and filling in some of the time between the discovery of the stargate in Giza and the modern day. Love the premise, that Catherine's lost love went through the stargate and has been trapped on the other side for 50 years or so. Love how they take the opportunity to expand the universe's mythology of ancient races at the same time.
Episode 12: Bloodlines
This one is notable as the first introduction of Bra'tac, as well as Teal'c's whiny son Rya'c. What I like about this episode is how it more or less lays out the logical ramifications of Teal'c quitting his Job and running off to help Earthlings fight Apophis for a year or so: His wife marries someone else and his son hates him for not being there. There is some reconciliation at the end, but it doesn't last. Teal'c sacrifices a great deal to fight the Goa'uld and this episode is where we and Teal'c start to understand the depth of that sacrifice.
Episode 13: Fire and Water
Not central to the main story, but I like this one. I like fish people and fancy underwater technology and this has both. A little silly in parts. For instance, one thing the show simply gave up on from the get-go was dealing with language difficulties in communicating with people from other planets. To keep it simple, everyone in the galaxy speaks English and they dance right past that without ever explaining why. So the occasional episode where the alien doesn't speak english, or only speaks broken english is kind of jarring. Because why does everyone but this guy seem to know it? Because the ancients, that's why. Or because history. Or because science. Because shut up, that's why.
Episode 14: Hathor
One of my favorite episodes of first season. The Goa'uld Hathor seduces uses powerful lady magic to seduce the dudes on the base, and the unaffected women led by Captain Carter go Full Metal Jacket on Hathor and her drones because nuh-uh. I love this episode because I feel like the series creators tried hard to create fully-fleshed out female characters who are smart, competent, decisive bad-asses who bow to man in defending their expertise in their fields and who are not dressed as if they exist only to appear attractive to men. And this episode is a great combination of an old-school "lady seductress disrupts the boys club" SF plot and a modern "and here's what the bad ass, fully actualized women of SG-1 think of that noise." Especially entertaining is Dr. Frasier in fatigues kicking ass. Great episode, even the silly bits. As always, I enjoy Jack's complete apathy in response to seduction. "... okay I guess."
Episode 15: Singularity
Non-necessary story, but introduces Cassandra, who shows up a few more times later in the series. Highlights what nasty pieces of work the Goa'uld are. Morbid episode, with lots of tension at the end. Great development of Captain Carter's character. In general I love how Captain Carter's character defies TV trope gender expectations and this episode is no exception.
Episode 16: Cor-ai
Teal'c is tried on a random planet for his crimes as First Prime of Apophis. I really enjoyed this episode, and really enjoyed how Christopher Judge plays it. This is one of those episodes that shows off the good heart of the series. The dark side of Teal'c's former life had to be dealt with at some point, and they handle it very well here. Further, I enjoy a plot that explores the power of change and forgiveness, and the risk/rewards versus self-righteous vengeance (or justice if that's what you're calling it).
Episode 17: Enigma
One of the first episodes where Carter picks up a moon-eyed suiter on a mission. One of the things I love about Carter's character is how romance is clearly not all that interesting to her in the face of exploring other planets through a convenient portal. Introduces the Tollan as reluctant allies who show up in the first 5 seasons quite frequently.
Episode 18: Solitudes
One of the better stories in the first season, with a great mid-episode plot twist. Carter and O'neill get stuck on an ice-world after an explosion rear-ends their wormhole. Introduces Earth's second stargate. Explores Carter and O'neill's relationship a little further. More on that later.
Episode 19: Tin Man
A fun episode about how the team gets cloned as androids by the eccentric remnant of a long dead civilization. Comtraya!
Episode 20: There but for the Grace of God
I love alternate universe stories, so I enjoyed this episode in particular. Daniel finds a cache of alien technology, and after a brief but completely professional round of "what does this button do?" is dismayed to find himself in an alternate universe where Apophis is about half-way through destroying the world. Basically an excuse to tell the story of Apophis destroying earth without lasting consequences. Unless you're one of those poor bastards stuck on Earth B of course. I'm sure the knowledge that another Earth can be saved from their destruction is a great comfort to them as they slave endlessly in service to the old gods, come again.
Episode 21: Politics.
An almost unforgivable clip episode. It's the FIRST SEASON and there isn't a strong enough overall plot to require one. There's an incremental but important 10 or so minutes of new plot inter-woven between all the clips, so it's hard to recommend skipping. Especially as this is the introduction of the domestic political side of the Stargate universe and one of their biggest enemies on that front, Senator Kinsey. But still, it's a CLIP EPISODE.
Episode 22: Within the serpent's grasp
If there's one thing I hate more than season openers it's end-of-season cliffhangers. The team accidentally gates onto Apophis' starship (which is admittedly cool) and are captured attempting to save Skaar. It's the end of the team and of Earth. Or is it? If you only bought season 1, you don't get to know. Bastards.
Time to buy season 2.
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