Just finished season 1 of SG-1

[species5618]

My friend is trying to get me into Stargate, so she's lent me the first season DVD's, which I completed last night. Other than the original feature film, I didn't know anything about Stargate, beyond the fact there's SG-1 and the spinoff Atlantis.

So far, I haven't exactly been bowled over by season 1, with the exception of "There But For the Grace of God" and "Within the Serpent's Grasp." That end arc (with the exception of the awful clip show "Politics") was pretty compelling, with Jackson's foray into the alternate earth and his attempts to convince everyone on the 'real' earth that a Gou'ald invasion is imminent. The rest of the season seemed to deal with 'planet of the week' type situations that were easily and neatly resolved within the hour.

My question is, does the show (second season and on) focus more on the 'planet of the week' type episodes or does it concentrate on what was started in this arc that ended with season 1? As the seasons go on, does SG-1 tend to favour more arc based serialized episodes or does it focus mainly on the one-off 'bottle' type episodes? As far as sci-fi goes, I enjoy the shows that tend to set up elaborate story arcs, like DS9 and nBSG.

Basically, I don't want to waste my time with 9 more seasons of episodes like "Hathor" or "Emancipation." The program is showing some definite promise, but I'm unsure if I should press on or not.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Just to give a quick reply.. after season 1 it gets A WHOLE LOT BETTER!

Infact, each season onwards is better than the season before it. So even if you were to watch season 2 and think it was only slightly better than season 1 don't feel disheartened because season 3 will be even better!

 

[DWF]

Stargate SG1 has both long story arcs and standalone eps. so you can get into the series pretty much at any point.

 

[Gotham Central]

Like DS9, the first few seasons are mostly episodic. However, gradually arcs start taking over. The last 3-4 seasons are almost exclusively arc based.

That said, Stargate is not a heavily arc based series. What arcs that do exist are hardly "deep." they mostly involve a season long quest for some super weapon.

 

[DWF]

That said, Stargate is not a heavily arc based series. What arcs that do exist are hardly "deep." they mostly involve a season long quest for some super weapon.

That's hardly accurate the only full season they look for some kind of "super weapon" is the ninth.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Stargate dabbles in arcs but the most frustrating thing about the series is how they broach interesting ideas and fail to really pay them off drama-wise. They're better at the immediate, little-picture stuff but being able to craft a well-paced, complex, intelligent, seasons-spanning story arc with a solid dramatic payoff a la DS9, B5, BSG or Lost - never happened. Stargate is unambitious that way.

That said, Stargate is not a heavily arc based series. What arcs that do exist are hardly "deep." they mostly involve a season long quest for some super weapon.

That's hardly accurate the only full season they look for some kind of "super weapon" is the ninth.

That's whatcha call your "splitting hairs" argument. The arcs continually deal with surface stuff of that sort - Ancients tech, Asgard tech, let's play find-the-doohickey for the millionth time. Solve all our problems with C4. It's not watcha call "deep." We shouldn't give anyone inflated expectations. The storytelling is not at the level of the best arc shows, not even at the level of a sloppy-but-ambitious show like Heroes.

 

[DWF]

Yes SG1 gets better as it goes along and I personally think it's better than Heroes.

 

[Lindley]

SG1 doesn't do story arcs so much as they do story threads. They'll leave a concept alone for a while---and then pull it back out to the fore again unexpectedly a year later.

One example of this you've seen already is the Nox. SG1 met them early in the year, and then later sent the Tollan to their planet to get them away from the NID.

They do this very well for the first six or so years, upping the stakes regularly and tying together previously unrelated stories in interesting and unexpected ways. (I think every single episode of season 5 begins with a "Previously, on Stargate SG-1..." segment.)

After that it begins to get a bit on the repetitive side, story-wise, although it's usually still worthwhile for the simple fun value.

 

[Harvey]

You might struggle to get through season two, but it reaches its best in season three, and manages to maintain that quality until season six. Season seven and eight are still good, but hampered by reduced participation by Richard Dean Anderson. Seasons nine and ten feel old, and boring, even with all the new things they introduce.

Lindley and Temis both explain how the show does arcs pretty well, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[Smiley]

Some questions to ask yourself:

1. Do you enjoy watching the main characters and their interactions?
2. Are you looking for a show that doesn't take things too seriously but still has moments of genuine emotion and depth?

If the answer to both questions is yes, then you should continue watching.

The standalone episodes do get much better than "Emancipation" and "Hathor." Those are stories that represent growing pains of the series.

 

[archeryguy1701]

SG1 does indeed get better. It's a fun show that makes fun of a lot of SciFi cliches, and has a good balance of seriousness while still having fun. Definately hang in there!

 

[Brent]

S1-5 the best, stay the course, you won't regret it

 

[highlander]

SG1 does indeed get better. It's a fun show that makes fun of a lot of SciFi cliches, and has a good balance of seriousness while still having fun. Definately hang in there!

I think archerguy1701 sums it perfectly. I just started making my way through the series a couple of months ago. I just finished season 8 (and started season 1 of Atlantis). And it does get better. I really love it myself. It is fun and the characters are great. Keep watching, you won't be out anything if you are borrowing the DVDs. I"m buying them (on sale now at Amazon) and I'm glad I did.

 

[Kirby]

I've watched the whole series once, and now my wife wants to watch it. I'm having a great time going back and watching it over again, and my wife is really enjoying it too. We just watched Hathor from S1 today. I think seasons 2 - 5 are the best, and I really don't care much for seasons 9 - 10.

 

[species5618]

Thanks for all the replies from everyone! Right now I've just finished "The Fifth Race" a little past the midway point of season 2. It is getting much better, and they're starting to reference past episodes and addressing unanswered questions (a good example for me would be the episode "Touchstone" which answered what happened to that 2nd Stargate found in the Antarctic)

After season 2 is done I'll post a more detailed analysis.

Quick question about episode order in season 2--the dvd's I have list the order of shows differently from what I've found in wikipedia or other sites. Some episodes such as "The Fifth Race" and "A Matter of Time" are reversed in terms of order between the two lists. Is there an 'official' viewing order?

As always, thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[DWF]

Quick question about episode order in season 2--the dvd's I have list the order of shows differently from what I've found in wikipedia or other sites. Some episodes such as "The Fifth Race" and "A Matter of Time" are reversed in terms of order between the two lists. Is there an 'official' viewing order?

No the order on the DVDs is just fine.

 

[TedShatner10]

The tail end of Season 1, then Seasons Two to Five was the Golden Age of the Stargate franchise.

 

[Kpnuts]

As has been mentioned, seasons 1-6 are the best the show has to offer, 4/5 being my personal favourites. After that it just gets rehashed, silly, with endless quests for endless super weapons and mostly braindead writing.

 

[RoJoHen]

As has been mentioned, seasons 1-6 are the best the show has to offer, 4/5 being my personal favourites. After that it just gets rehashed, silly, with endless quests for endless super weapons and mostly braindead writing.

But some of us still thought it was fun!

 

[Jax]

Most people think 2-6 is the golden age 1,7,8,9,10 is split so don't listen to people about that, you will just have to make up your own opinion.