The Stargate Franchise - A First Timer's Watchthrough

[Romulan_spy]

He's already found the kid or the Knowledge he possesses isn't entirely useful unless he wants to become Hitler or something.

That is now how I would put it. But Daniel did see the knowledge of the harcesis child as all important. He thought he had to gain this knowledge, to give his life purpose, and more importantly, in order to defeat te Goauld. But the child showed him what could happen if he did gain all the knowledge, how it could bring out a darker side of his personality. So the child was showing him that gaining the knowledge was the wrong goal.

Trust me. There is a major arc with Daniel going forward that will be very important to the series.

 

[thribs]

The Bill McCay ones?

I thought they were entertaining but obviously vastly different from what the series would turn out to be like. I think I've still got all of them and probably should reread at some point.

Spoiler: Spoilers

No Sam, Teal'c or Hammond. Hathor played a much larger role as did the Abydonians.

I assumed they would be very different. I wonder if they were closer to the original idea the movie creators intended.

 

[tomalak301]

Exodus

Ok, that was amazing. That's how you do a season finale, bringing elements of the series together for a big episode and then leaving the audience wanting more in the next season. Everything about this episode came together so well, but just a few points that caught my attention:

1. Jack seemed a little more arrogant in this episode than in others. Of course his relationship with the the Tok'ra has been sketchy at best, but he really did come across here as a child who refused to give up his new toy (The mothership). The scene where Jacob was telling Jack that because of humanity, the Goa'uld has sped up the pace in their attacks, I was thinking back to The Nox episode and these two quotes:

Anteaus: The very young do not always do as they are told.

Anteaus: Maybe one day you will learn, that your way is not the only way.

Humanity seems to want to jump into everything as quickly as possible, wanting to take the more "direct" approach as Jack says. The Tok'Ra seem much more methodical, playing the long game. However, why not share technology. Let the Tok'Ra have the ship but teach humanity how to use it. That's what I meant by having this alliance be a little more one sided. SG-1 is doing the dirty work and the Tok'Ra are coming across as bureuocrats saying thank you, but don't call us, we'll call you. Things should be more "collaborative", shouldn't it? It makes for an interesting debate in this show though.

2. I loved the other character moment in this episode between Daniel and Teal'c. We've seen these characters evolve and grow over the last 4 seasons, to the point where the comparisons between Shau'noc and Sha're are easy to be made and we get to see the internal struggle Daniel and Teal'c both have and the decisions they want to make. That's great character development in the 4 seasons of this show so so far.

3. How this episode took elements of what came before was really well done. From the Black Hole to Teal'c and Jack stranded on the glider, like I said, this is what a season finale should do.

4. That Supernova destroying Apophis's fleet and then the planet was amazing. Someone up thread said something about a moment that a lot of fans show newer fans of the series, and I wonder if that was it. Now that I've seen Exodus, if that wasn't it, what was it?

5. So far before this episode my favorite finale was Season 1's finale. I think Exodus has past that now. I just love how everything here came together and I can't wait to see Part 2 and 3. Also, now that our crew (And Apophis) are now 125 years away from home, that makes things even more interesting. What a way to end the season.

As for Season 4 on a whole, I think this was my least favorite season so far. When the show was good, it was very very good, and the Finale is a great example of that. However, when the show was not good, it took a while to get good again. There were two parts of the season where I thought it dragged, and if I was watching this on a week to week basis, that's two months wasted in one season. I might have gotten impatient, even if I was dedicated to completing it.

Favorite episodes this year:

Exodus
Window of Opportunity
Tangent
The Curse
2010

Looking forward to season five and finding out how SG-1 gets home.

 

[David cgc]

4. That Supernova destroying Apophis's fleet and then the planet was amazing. Someone up thread said something about a moment that a lot of fans show newer fans of the series, and I wonder if that was it. Now that I've seen Exodus, if that wasn't it, what was it?

That was definitely it. "That time Carter blew up a sun" is definitely something that's brought up a lot, in and out of the show.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Humanity seems to want to jump into everything as quickly as possible, wanting to take the more "direct" approach as Jack says. The Tok'Ra seem much more methodical, playing the long game. However, why not share technology. Let the Tok'Ra have the ship but teach humanity how to use it. That's what I meant by having this alliance be a little more one sided. SG-1 is doing the dirty work and the Tok'Ra are coming across as bureuocrats saying thank you, but don't call us, we'll call you. Things should be more "collaborative", shouldn't it? It makes for an interesting debate in this show though.

This is the philosophical difference between the Tok'ra and SG1 that was referring to before. SG1 wants to take a direct approach while the Tok'ra want to take a more stealthy, methodical approach.

Yes, the alliance does appear to be one-sided many times. The Tok'ra seem to use SG1 to do their dirty work while never reciprocating the fruits of their successes unless it suits them. But as you pointed out, the humans are a young race compared to the Tok'ra and they do tend to act perhaps in a rash manner. So I think the Tok'ra attitude is somewhat understandable even if we don't agree with it.

As for Season 4 on a whole, I think this was my least favorite season so far. When the show was good, it was very very good, and the Finale is a great example of that. However, when the show was not good, it took a while to get good again. There were two parts of the season where I thought it dragged, and if I was watching this on a week to week basis, that's two months wasted in one season. I might have gotten impatient, even if I was dedicated to completing it.

The unevenness in the episodes might be a by-product of the mixture of serialized episodes and stand-alone episodes. The season arcs tend to be the best parts and are really well done. So I think the viewer tends to feel let down by the stand-alone episodes because we are eager to get back to the arc that interests us more. Of course, some stand-alone episodes are good but they still pale in comparison to the season arc.

Looking forward to season five and finding out how SG-1 gets home.

The conclusion is pretty great. You are in for a real treat.

Personally, I think Season 5 has some great episodes. And the season long arc is really good. The mid-season two parter is great. And IMO, the season 5 finale has the best cold open of the series.

 

[JD]

The unevenness in the episodes might be a by-product of the mixture of serialized episodes and stand-alone episodes. The season arcs tend to be the best parts and are really well done. So I think the viewer tends to feel let down by the stand-alone episodes because we are eager to get back to the arc that interests us more. Of course, some stand-alone episodes are good but they still pale in comparison to the season arc.

I find that kind of funny, because in one of the other shows that did a lot of stand alone and arc episodes, The X-Files, it was the other way around. There the Monster of the Week episodes tended to be some of the best, while the arc episodes weren't always as good.

 

[tomalak301]

Enemies & Threshold

I'll get my one qualm out of the way early. I wish they had spent more time in the distant part of the Galaxy instead of returning to the status quo so quickly. I mean the selling point of the cliffhanger was "holy crap, they have been flung 125 years away from home" but they were back the very next episode. It's a minor complaint, but it's still a complaint.

With that out of the way, I really appreciated how this was a 3 part story, but each episode was it's own unique thing. Enemies was about getting back and dealing with the replicators (Nice to see them again, by the way), and the irony of the Replicators actually helping in a way to deal a blow to the Goa'uld, especially the death of Apophis. This was basically your action episode and it was a great one at that. Threshold was probably my favorite of the two though, as we came to understand Teal'c journey from Apophis first Prime to Bra'tac's apprentice to Jaffa freedom fighter. They really did use the flashbacks really good here and while there hasn't been a clip show for the series in a while, the ending served as a bit of one going back to Children of the Gods and showing Teal'c does belong with SG-1. I really enjoyed seeing that turn develop over the course of this episode and Bra'tac might be my favorite guest character when all is said and done.

This was a really good start to Season 5.

 

[The Wormhole]

This episode went from Air Force recruitment video (Even got the general himself at the time as a cameo) to fighting off electric mosquitoes in that 44 minute span.

When General Ryan was in studio to film the scene, RDA asked him if there really are Colonels in the Air Force like O'Neill. General Ryan responded "we have plenty of Colonels who are just like O'Neill. And plenty more that are much worse."

And although General Ryan was a fan of the show, his successor, General Jumper, was fanatic about the show. Reportedly, the very first question he asked when he became Air Force Chief of Staff was "when do I get my Stargate cameo?" General Jumper appears in the season 7 finale,

Spoiler: season 8 spoilers

and in the real world even made RDA an honorary USAF Brigadier General after O'Neill was promoted to that rank in season 8.

I'll get my one qualm out of the way early. I wish they had spent more time in the distant part of the Galaxy instead of returning to the status quo so quickly. I mean the selling point of the cliffhanger was "holy crap, they have been flung 125 years away from home" but they were back the very next episode.

The writers joked they had to return them home because they couldn't get a hold of a robot with flailing arms to constantly yell out "Danger! Danger, Jack O'Neill!"

 

[David cgc]

Threshold was probably my favorite of the two though, as we came to understand Teal'c journey from Apophis first Prime to Bra'tac's apprentice to Jaffa freedom fighter. They really did use the flashbacks really good here and while there hasn't been a clip show for the series in a while, the ending served as a bit of one going back to Children of the Gods and showing Teal'c does belong with SG-1. I really enjoyed seeing that turn develop over the course of this episode and Bra'tac might be my favorite guest character when all is said and done.

Especially in the original version of the pilot, Teal'c's change of heart really does seem to come out of nowhere (he's giving up his entire religion, family, and way of life... because of a digital watch?). The re-edit helped by putting in more reaction shots of disgust while he's watching Apophis's various schemes and abuses, but it's really "Threshold" that makes it clear that he'd been waiting for someone like SG-1 for most of his life, and that's why he jumps at the opportunity they present.

 

[tomalak301]

Ascension

Don't really have much to say about this episode other than it was nice to see John DeLancie in a role that was not Q. Also, Orlin was kind of a stalker, which is a little discomforting for Carter. The connection between him and Oma Desalla though was interesting, as well as building a mini-stargate in Carter's home.

 

[fireproof78]

And although General Ryan was a fan of the show, his successor, General Jumper, was fanatic about the show. Reportedly, the very first question he asked when he became Air Force Chief of Staff was "when do I get my Stargate cameo?" General Jumper appears in the season 7 finale,

"Got your hands full with that one, George."

I really appreciated how had SG-1 worked to be close to the Air Force when possible.

Ascension

Don't really have much to say about this episode other than it was nice to see John DeLancie in a role that was not Q. Also, Orlin was kind of a stalker, which is a little discomforting for Carter. The connection between him and Oma Desalla though was interesting, as well as building a mini-stargate in Carter's home.

Has some of the best quotable lines from Orlin, but yeah, he is definitely a stalker. I felt bad for Carter though with having all that stuff shipped to her house and coming under the focus of the NID.

 

[DonIago]

I confess to having a bit of a soft spot for Orlin. His whole existence seems to be tragedy on top of tragedy, and I'd like to think his stalkerishness was mostly due to his being unfamiliar with human etiquette about such things. By the end of the episode I was really hoping we'd somehow get to see him again.

Though between him and Martouf, Carter's starting to become a bit of a black widow.

 

[tomalak301]

The Fifth Man

I have to think Simmons works for the NID, and is maybe one of Kinsey's men. The way he acts, his almost wanting to shut down the base, it's very similar to the other guys who are against the Stargate project. It is still nice to see John DeLancie in this role though. I think I only saw him in one non-Star Trek role before and it was a show called Legend that helped launch UPN.

As for The Fifth man, this was a really good episode. I really liked Tyler's reason for putting that memory into SG-1 (He needed protection and was trying to get to his hidden world) and I would say this was a Dr. Frasier episode. Also, it's always fun watching SG-1 kick some Jaffa ass, which this episode had plenty.

 

[David cgc]

Though between him and Martouf, Carter's starting to become a bit of a black widow.

Don't forget back in season one, that one guy who went nuts and declared himself God was Carter's ex, too.

 

[tomalak301]

Though between him and Martouf, Carter's starting to become a bit of a black widow.

Carter certainly has had some interesting relationships on this show, and one can even say she's lived (Or had memories of) two lives, or three if you include the artificial intelligence.

 

[Jayson1]

The Fifth Man

I have to think Simmons works for the NID, and is maybe one of Kinsey's men. The way he acts, his almost wanting to shut down the base, it's very similar to the other guys who are against the Stargate project. It is still nice to see John DeLancie in this role though. I think I only saw him in one non-Star Trek role before and it was a show called Legend that helped launch UPN.

As for The Fifth man, this was a really good episode. I really liked Tyler's reason for putting that memory into SG-1 (He needed protection and was trying to get to his hidden world) and I would say this was a Dr. Frasier episode. Also, it's always fun watching SG-1 kick some Jaffa ass, which this episode had plenty.

You never saw him on "West Wing" or "Breaking Bad?" I think I got a couple more shows for you to do a re-watch thread over!


Jason

 

[tomalak301]

You never saw him on "West Wing" or "Breaking Bad?" I think I got a couple more shows for you to do a re-watch thread over!


Jason

I never saw those shows. There's only so much TV to watch.

 

[Jayson1]

I never saw those shows. There's only so much TV to watch.

You should definitely make room for them. Two of the greatest tv shows in tv history.


Jason

 

[DonIago]

I've got "West Wing" on my "watch eventually" list. I've been really enjoying "Better Call Saul", but I suspect "Breaking Bad" has more of the elements of BCS that I don't really enjoy.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I confess to having a bit of a soft spot for Orlin. His whole existence seems to be tragedy on top of tragedy, and I'd like to think his stalkerishness was mostly due to his being unfamiliar with human etiquette about such things. By the end of the episode I was really hoping we'd somehow get to see him again.

Yeah, his stalker behavior is understandable. He is not trying to be a perv on purpose. He simply does not understand human etiquette since he's not a human and his existence is incredibly lonely. And yes, his life is a tragedy once we learn what really happened on his planet. But it still a bit uncomfortable to watch. And it must have been super weird and uncomfortable for Carter, knowing this invisible being is in her house and can see her every move. Her privacy was definitely violated, not just by Orlin but also by the NID.