Poll: Jaffa-centric episodes

[Wicca who Wonta]

I find Jaffa-centric episodes quite boring. It's all politics and vengeance.

Am I the only one?

 

[backstept]

nope . . .

on a similar note I think it's funny that most 'alien' people have a somewhat more formal way of speaking

Teal'c, Teyla, random Jaffa #3

 

[Wicca who Wonta]

^ Agreed, it might be better to distinguish the people from other worlds with some sort of accent, instead of formal speech.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Dislike. Too bad, because politics and vengeance are far from being bad topics for a story. It's just that the writing is pedestrian and the acting is often just horrendous.

I liked where they were going a while back with that episode that threw the Jaffa, Tau'ri and Tok'ra together in a very precarious alliance - the Jaffa hate the Tok'ra for being "Goa'ulds" and the Tok'ra hate the Jaffa because the host remembers them being oppressive overlords on whatever their home worlds might be, and the Tau'ri have to scramble to keep the alliance from imploding - potentially great stuff - but the writing and acting would have had to have been a lot more DS9-level to really capitalize on the dramatic potential.

 

[cultcross]

Like so much in the Stargate world it depends very much on when you mean. Early on, and up till they got their freedom in the Reckoning triple whammy, they were interesting and I liked the episodes about them. Yes, they were the generic 'warrior race' that graces Sci-fi so often, they even had ketracel white *ahem* sorry, symbiotes, keeping them tied to their gods.
But at the same time I found them a lot of fun, and some episodes used them very well. Two that come to mind immediately are The Warrior - the Imhotep idea I found very engaging, and Allegiance, the Tok'ra/Jaffa infighting being a nice touch of realism in the alliance.

However, post-Dakara, the 'Free Jaffa Nation' became stupid, irritating and unengaging, and Teal'c actually seemed to manage to regress, character wise. Wasn't a fan of the Jaffa in the final two seasons, at all.

 

[Broccoli]

Well, I didn't dislike them, but for the most part, by the time of season 4 and upwards, I found them repetitive. Same thing: "I die free." "Honor/Honor/Honor" "Bratac is the shit/he makes old-wise-man comments."

However, I never found the idea behind them dull. When the were free and all these other leaders came out of nowhere and started turning their freedom into stupid decision making and all the distrust/hate towards Teal'c and, to an extent, Bratac, I really disconnected with them. Where the hell did all those other council members come from anyway? Where were they fighting the war?

That's another thing, going back to the "we want freedom" plotline. It seemed completely unthinkable that a Jaffa would turn against their master. Now, I expected other Jaffa to rebel as the series progressed, but by season 5, there were hundreds (seemingly) all banding together. Where? How did this happen?

 

[roguephoenix]

for me, the jaffa are like klingons. one can only stand so much of them before you get sick of it. >_< this is why i liked eps that centered on b'elanna's klingon side. we share the same affinity for it.

 

[Harvey]

They worked early on, but they quickly became repetitive. More so than Klingon episodes on Star Trek, which I always enjoyed. The Jaffa simply never developed enough depth. After a while, they were simply the foil for our heroes, whether it made sense or not. Our heroes want one thing, the Jaffa want another, and it continues until bad things happen and our heroes are proven right. Usually, the Jaffa end up dead by the end. Sometimes they get to redeem themselves by self-sacrfice. Sometimes not. Rinse, repeat.

And once they found their freedom, the writers had nowhere to go with the Jaffa. Teal'c goes back several steps, and the characters become even more simple-minded foils for our heroes.

 

[unimatrix7]

Dislike. Too bad, because politics and vengeance are far from being bad topics for a story. It's just that the writing is pedestrian and the acting is often just horrendous.

I liked where they were going a while back with that episode that threw the Jaffa, Tau'ri and Tok'ra together in a very precarious alliance - the Jaffa hate the Tok'ra for being "Goa'ulds" and the Tok'ra hate the Jaffa because the host remembers them being oppressive overlords on whatever their home worlds might be, and the Tau'ri have to scramble to keep the alliance from imploding - potentially great stuff - but the writing and acting would have had to have been a lot more DS9-level to really capitalize on the dramatic potential.

Let He Who Is Without Sin cast the first stone

 

[archeryguy1701]

I've personally enjoyed most of the Jaffa-centric episodes. I've always found them very interesting.