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.
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