The Stargate Franchise - A First Timer's Watchthrough

[tomalak301]

Thirty Eight Minutes (SG: A)

I wish some of these characters would talk a little slower, like Rodney. There was a lot of technobabble in this episode and I was trying to understand it. For example, the jumper is lodged in the event horizon, why not just go through it without the ship. Then as the episode went on I started to understand what they discussed. It would just be going into the event horizon part of the ship, not actually through the gate, kinda like what we saw in Barcley as he was going through the transporter in that TNG episode. Also, Rodney is still so disrespectful towards Dr. Weir. Maybe it's just me, but them being on a first name basis when she is the leader of the base just feels awkward.

I did like this episode though. I liked the disagreements, Dr. Weir telling Kavanagh to shove it and figure out the solution, and I liked Ford in this episode being the voice of calm. I also liked the format it used to tell the episode, using flashbackis to see how they got to that position.

By the way I've been thinking about this today so I might as well say it. If I grow to like Rodney (I'm not there yet), I am free to change my opinion on him. I know he's a massively popular character, so like I said, I hope they have a Cordelia-like transformation of him as the series goes on.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Also, Rodney is still so disrespectful towards Dr. Weir. Maybe it's just me, but them being on a first name basis when she is the leader of the base just feels awkward.

Definitely, McKay is disrespectful and insubordinate towards Weir. I guess Weir tolerates it because McKay is a genius who saves the day. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say that McKay's attitude and arrogance will be a recurring theme in several episodes.

 

[bigdaddy]

Thirty Eight Minutes (SG: A)
By the way I've been thinking about this today so I might as well say it. If I grow to like Rodney (I'm not there yet), I am free to change my opinion on him. I know he's a massively popular character, so like I said, I hope they have a Cordelia-like transformation of him as the series goes on.

Season 7 is massively popular and season 6 is massively not.
People are wrong.

 

[fireproof78]

Or people like different things...plus, McKay is always goes at the problem as being the smartest guy in the room,no matter what. Titles mean very little to him in terms of how he relates to people.

 

[Jayson1]

One thing with McKay is I think some of the things people most like about the character are the same things people might not like about the character. I suppose it depends if one is a fan of that kind of archtype of a character. His arrogance can come off as funny to some and annoying to others. I do notice people love to see him put through the ringer and in highly stressed situations because that is when he becomes unhinged. Also his friendship with Sheridan will be a key I think. The Ying and Yang of two different personalities.


Jason

 

[The Wormhole]

I liked the disagreements, Dr. Weir telling Kavanagh to shove it and figure out the solution,

Ah, Kavanagh, he brings some good fun to the stories. I mean, yes, the character is a complete tool and there really isn't much redeeming value to him, but he gets what's coming to him frequently enough and when he does, oh does that ever make for a fine moment.

 

[tomalak301]

Icon (SG-1)

I think this episode would have worked better without the flashbacks. One minute you have tourists see the MALP come out of the gate and the next minute Daniel is bandaged up being taken care of by a woman named Leda. I do like the idea of SG-1 coming through a gate that was on public display and the consequences of that, especially when it comes to religious extremists who believe that it would be used by the Gods to return to the world some day. Thinking about the time this aired it was commentary on religious extremism and the Iraq War and I think that part of the episode actually worked for the most part. It probably could have been a little less boring, and while it's the weakest of the season so far, it wasn't too bad.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Icon (SG-1)

I think this episode would have worked better without the flashbacks. One minute you have tourists see the MALP come out of the gate and the next minute Daniel is bandaged up being taken care of by a woman named Leda. I do like the idea of SG-1 coming through a gate that was on public display and the consequences of that, especially when it comes to religious extremists who believe that it would be used by the Gods to return to the world some day. Thinking about the time this aired it was commentary on religious extremism and the Iraq War and I think that part of the episode actually worked for the most part. It probably could have been a little less boring, and while it's the weakest of the season so far, it wasn't too bad.

I agree. The story itself was good but I could see how the flashbacks might have been a bit confusing. I do think some writers overdo it flashbacks, like they think it makes the episode cooler. It seems like every show does an episode with the events out of order. Sometimes, it works well. But sometimes it seems like it is being done just to be cool and it does not work as well.

By the way, the next SG1 episode is "Avatar" which is a really neat episode.

 

[David cgc]

I think this episode would have worked better without the flashbacks.

I was going to blame that on Battlestar Galactica, but I checked and they didn't start really leaning on flashback-based episodes as a structural crutch until nearly two years later. Oh, late season two BSG, will you ever learn that sticking the end of the episode at the beginning doesn't automatically make it suspenseful?

 

[tomalak301]

I was going to blame that on Battlestar Galactica, but I checked and they didn't start really leaning on flashback-based episodes as a structural crutch until nearly two years later. Oh, late season two BSG, will you ever learn that sticking the end of the episode at the beginning doesn't automatically make it suspenseful?

I’m trying to think what episode of BSG did that. Was this the Memento effect of tv shows trying to latch on the success of that movie? It was kind of interesting that the last episode of Atlantis I saw too was a flashback episode, kinda, but it was a little easier to follow.

 

[bigdaddy]

By the way, the next SG1 episode is "Avatar" which is a really neat episode.

Oh yes the episode I don't like that I thought was in season 7. It's 'neat' because what they did probably saved money for the later season episodes.

Icon is fine. My issue is it feels like Stargate did that storyline several times.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Oh yes the episode I don't like that I thought was in season 7. It's 'neat' because what they did probably saved money for the later season episodes.

Spoiler

I thought the video game concept was cool. My only criticism of the episode is that the video game scenes look really dated now. I am sure they were cutting edge back when the episode first came out but now, the graphics look very dated since computer game graphics have gotten so much better.

 

[tomalak301]

Suspicion (SG: A)

I really liked that episode. It further developed the Athosians, it gave them purpose by not staying on Atlantis but going to the mainland to provide crops and another source of food, and it writes off that large group of people for the time being and frees the show up to do what it needs to do. Of course Teyla stays behind, because she's part of the main cast, but I did like how this episode developed her, and her fighting ability. She held her own against that Wraith guy. The security officer, Bates, was a total pain in the ass and I kept thinking he was the collaborator. I'm actually glad it wasn't who I expected and it turned out that the necklace gave Teyla in the first episode had a homing device in it so the whole thing was inadvertent. Now that Atlantis has a wraith has prisoner, I'm hoping to learn more about them.

I will say the best moment of this episode did come from McKay, when he was talking to Zalenka (SP?) saying how much he enjoyed hospital food and the only reason he didn't enjoy airplane food was because they don't give him seconds. It was weird, but it was a funny conversation.

 

[JD]

I was going to blame that on Battlestar Galactica, but I checked and they didn't start really leaning on flashback-based episodes as a structural crutch until nearly two years later. Oh, late season two BSG, will you ever learn that sticking the end of the episode at the beginning doesn't automatically make it suspenseful?

I think it was Lost that really set off the craze for flashbacks in TV series.
Although I just checked Wikidedia and SG:A premiered a couple months before Lost, so that might not have been the case here.

 

[David cgc]

I’m trying to think what episode of BSG did that. Was this the Memento effect of tv shows trying to latch on the success of that movie? It was kind of interesting that the last episode of Atlantis I saw too was a flashback episode, kinda, but it was a little easier to follow.

The first time they did it was in "You Can't Go Home Again," the episode where Starbuck has to train some new pilots. Every act started with a flash-forward to her Viper crashing at the end of the episode. Since that episode was really good, I guess they got the idea that brief flash-forwards to the end of the episode were a good way to add whatever spark was missing from an episode once they started editing it. They did it in "Resurrection Ship, Part II," "Black Market," and "Scar," three out of four episodes in a row (though, looking it up, it looks like "Black Market" is the only one that wasn't written that way. "Scar" just shouldn't have been written that way, since it'd almost certainly be better told linearly, with us not seeing Scar until the end of the episode, as opposed to right at the beginning in a scene that takes place at the end).

 

[tomalak301]

The first time they did it was in "You Can't Go Home Again," the episode where Starbuck has to train some new pilots. Every act started with a flash-forward to her Viper crashing at the end of the episode. Since that episode was really good, I guess they got the idea that brief flash-forwards to the end of the episode were a good way to add whatever spark was missing from an episode once they started editing it. They did it in "Resurrection Ship, Part II," "Black Market," and "Scar," three out of four episodes in a row (though, looking it up, it looks like "Black Market" is the only one that wasn't written that way. "Scar" just shouldn't have been written that way, since it'd almost certainly be better told linearly, with us not seeing Scar until the end of the episode, as opposed to right at the beginning in a scene that takes place at the end).

The only episode of that list that I liked was Resurrection Ship II. Now that you mention it, yeah I do vaguely remember BSG had a streak of flash forward episodes during that season. It only works if you do it sparingly.

 

[bigdaddy]

Stargate is better than BSG. Stargate has more vision. BSG did some good things really well, but most was bad. There was very little in-between. Where Stargate I feel like it's good and okay and even the bad is watchable at least once.

Spoiler

I thought the video game concept was cool. My only criticism of the episode is that the video game scenes look really dated now. I am sure they were cutting edge back when the episode first came out but now, the graphics look very dated since computer game graphics have gotten so much better.

Oh that doesn't bug me, it's now old sci-fi and that happens. I just don't like the episode. It's another one of those episodes when I watched it it felt like Stargate had already done that a few times, even when I first watched it. Which is my main complaint with the later seasons of the show, been there, done that.

 

[tomalak301]

Avatar (SG-1)

That was massively entertaining. Teal'c is put through the ringer of a simulation that keeps adapting to Teal'c psyche and it was like Stargate does the first person shooter video game. There was even a Doom reference in there. In episodes where things reset over and over, you run the risk of being tiring to see the same thing over and over, yet this one each reset felt like it had purpose and they were all different. I also loved that we got to see how much Teal'c had developed in the series up to now, even his admission that defeating the Goa'uld didn't seem possible in season 2, like it is now. I also liked that the way to beat the game was basically keeping SG-1 alive. Great episode.

 

[The Wormhole]

Avatar was meant to tie-in with an SG-1 video game that was being developed for the X-Box at the time but was ultimately cancelled before release. The bits where the people are monitoring the game from outside and we see CG renderings of what Teal'c is doing in the game were actual gameplay footage from the real game.

 

[tomalak301]

Avatar was meant to tie-in with an SG-1 video game that was being developed for the X-Box at the time but was ultimately cancelled before release. The bits where the people are monitoring the game from outside and we see CG renderings of what Teal'c is doing in the game were actual gameplay footage from the real game.

Interesting. I actually liked that aspect of the episode, except I think they could have done a better job with Daniel. He looked really really weird.