A Set Up

… in more than one way

You Can Go With This, or You Can Go With That…

I had plenty of thoughts drifting into and out of my head at the outset of Out of Mind.  First, I thought to myself that Netflix bugged out and was showing me an Atlantis episode, though it was clearly older than SG:A, so I just watched, curious as to what was going on.  When they unfroze O’Neill, I actually considered the idea of these SGC ‘personnel’ really being baddies, and that they were going to trick him into giving intel.  But then I remembered that was the plot to a Farscape episode, and dismissed it as being an unlikely coincidence (d’oh!).  So next, I went along with the story that it really was the year 2077, and that perhaps the resolution of the episode would involve going back in time with the Stargate.  Now that I think about it, I don’t really know how he’d do that without Sam.  Either way, after coming up with this new hypothesis, I set about overthinking about how to fit this new SGC into the continuity established by the scene with adult Cassandra in yesterday’s 1969.  Obviously, that ended up being unnecessary, as my instincts apparently don’t revolve (solely) around me being a Farscape fanboy.  When Jackson and Carter were finally revealed, I thought to myself that these people were the lackeys of some new enemy alien.  The charade didn’t seem like something Goa’uld System Lords would do.  Hathor isn’t really much of a System Lord currently, so I guess that all holds together.

Picture if You Will…

You know, as much as “clip shows” aren’t well received, SG-1 does pretty good with them.  All things considered, that is.  The intro was intriguing, the ending was a cliffhanger (as was Politics), and it had some pretty dramatic moments, such as Teal’c leaving the SGC and O’Neill walking into the more obvious section of the Goa’uld… ship? fortress?  I don’t remember it being mentioned where exactly they were.  It looked kind of like the inside of a Ha’tak, but who knows.  In any event, the memory recall sequences did a couple things right.  I suppose recalling the major points of lore and Goa’uld profiles are important, and can bring a new view up to speed (though they should go back and watch from the beginning anyway, for the sake of The Enemy Within).  It also just so happens that these clips are from the best episodes this season (The Fifth Race, Thor’s Chariot, and others).  It would’ve been more entertaining, I think, for the device to allow O’Neill access to the memories, and have him tell the story himself, rather than use clips (though of course, that would make no sense from Hathor’s point of view).  The point of a clip show in most series is to reduce production cost anyway, and shooting Colonel O’Neill giving a few monologues certainly wouldn’t have upped the cost much.  Oh well.  I will say, however, that be it gratuitous or not, I will always support the use of the footage of Thor’s Chariot demolishing Goa’uld structures and evil Jaffa!  Even if it has nothing to do with the plot, I could watch that attack over and over again.  Seriously.  Excellent clip selection :D

Or You Can Go With Us…

Hathor is back!  She’s such a scary type of sexy, it’s great.  And the end of this ep makes a lot of sense.  She’s out of power, she needs allies, she’s a Goa’uld and therefore not too subtle, and she could use the intel.  Still not sure how she captured SG-1, but if Teal’c was KOed for the better part of 3 weeks, I’m not sure I want to know.  This cliffhanger was punctuated really well by the adult Goa’uld, now in CG!  It seriously made me do a double take, that thing looked sweet!  Yet another reason to be excited for Season 3 – What happens next?, More CG Goa’uld, and Teal’c getting to save the rest of SG-1.  And whaddya suppose that’ll make Teal’c?  Big damn hero, that’s what.

See you in Season 3!

~Bryan

By the way, I predict Hathor getting impatient and giving Jackson the Goa’uld.  Just sayin.

Note To Self…

Ok, this episode was awesome!  After seeing a picture of SG-1 in 1960’s garb, I was actually crossing my fingers for a campy, cheesy time-traveling episode.  However, it actually turned out to be really good!  It wasn’t super serious and tense, but rather 1969 has got to be the most fun out of all of Seasons 1 & 2.  I don’t suspect the season finale tomorrow will be as lighthearted, so I think it’s safe to make that conclusion.

GREAT SCOTT!!!

Well, I count three science fiction references, 2 from O’Neill being a smart ass (“Ok, I’m not Captain Kirt, I’m Luke Skywalker”), and 1 from Teal’c, most likely without him noticing, but rather genuinely wishing to get BACK… to the Future!  However, while I enjoy Star Wars, appreciate Trek, and will forever love quoting anything Christopher Lloyd has ever said in any role ever (1.21 GIGAWATTS!!!), I think the biggest sci-fi-surprise was not a reference at all, but rather seeing Catherine played by none other than Canadian actress Glynis Davies, perhaps best known to us SG fans as Maryann Wallace, single mother of Math Boy himself(Eli Wallace of SG:U)!!!  So I was pretty much freaking all throughout that scene, and completely forgave some of the atrocious pronunciations of Daniels faux German accent (3 semesters at university will do that to you, even if I’m horrible at actually speaking it).  The actual phrases, however, did sound quite good.  But 23 languages???  I can’t even list 23 languages.  One second, I’m going to try, just so we can see exactly what this looks like.

English, German, Russian, Ancient Egyptian (I suppose that counts), French, Arabic, Swahili, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, Italian, Latin, Swedish, Norwegian, Hebrew, Yiddish (I’m really started to hope Daniel was exaggerating, because I don’t think he’s even Jewish), Korean, Hawaiian (definitely thinking he’s a liar at this point…), Greek, and… Ancient?  Screw it, this is my Stargate blog, I’m including Ancient.

So yeah.  The above list of 23 languages is as good a smoke detector as we need to see that Dr. Jackson’s pants are most definitely on fire in this case.  Or he’s exaggerating and I was taking him too literally.  Whatever.

Days of Future Past

I do love a good time-traveling episode.  And this one, focusing more on resolution and encounters along the way rather than the dire consequences of failure (System Lord Junior, ruler of Earth, anyone?), had some nice touches to it.  I always like seeing Catherine, at any age, but General… erm… Lieutenant Hammond was at LEAST equally awesome.  The actor who played young Hammond really looked like Don S. Davis, too, so that fit conveniently.  And he did an excellent job incorporating the character’s movements and mannerisms.  Also gotta say, after the lieutenant handed Jack the cash, I was waiting the rest of the episode for them to get back, so Hammond could make a joke about getting his money back.  Nice touch adding interest, by the way!  Well played, sir!

Finally, I thought that after they had jumped from 1969, that they had encountered an elderly Samantha, though I guess that wouldn’t explain why only she recognized her.  My instinct was “DON’T TOUCH HER THE UNIVERSE WILL EXPLODE OR SOMETHING!”  But it was Cassandra, which surprised me completely.  That was an excellent choice to have her, of all people, waiting for them.  It makes sense, after all.  Seeing the gateroom shut down, though, that makes me wonder.  Why was it all shut down?  What happens?  It seemed to be (based on Cassandra’s age) maybe 65 years in the future?  There abouts, maybe.  The gate is still there, but no one is around.  What’s more, an old lady in a nightgown can apparently get inside and activate the thing!  And, on top of that, this version of time travel is a neatly-fitting, “all is as it should be” model.  Hammond wrote the note because he had gotten the note in the past.  No explanation as to how that cycle started, it just is.  SG-1 did everything exactly as they were supposed to in 1969, as evidenced by the world not dramatically changing upon return to 1999.  So, it would seem that the universe unfolded as intended, and that includes the Gateroom being covered in sheets some day… Makes you think…

So anyway, I loved 1969.  I had completely forgotten how much fun Stargate can be (I’ve seen both the episodes Urgo, as well as the one were they’re caught in the time loop – HYSTERICAL).  So here’s to the lighter side of Stargate!  I can’t wait for the Season 2 finale tomorrow!  I’ll see you all there!  Happy Rewatch, and thanks again for reading!

~Bryan

They’re Heeeeeeeeere…

“We’re done playing with our parents… Now we wanna play with yooooou…”

~South Park, S4E16

Ok, that kid creeped me out.  That’s both a good and a bad thing.  The visible veins and stuff on the kid were impressive, so good job by the makeup department, A+.  The fact that he was genetically… crafty, really, was also interesting in kind of a sick way.  Without knowing where he came from (spoilers: an alien lab), I think most people can look at him and think ‘poor little boy, he’s ill.”  And then finding out his ‘origin,’ as well as his ‘mother,’ it adds a whole new lair of ‘Bryan, what exactly are you having me watch…?’  And it doesn’t matter, just keep watching.  Anywho, the kid was a great, interesting character.  Unfortunately for me, I don’t particularly like children.  I was standoffish about him even before I noticed the makeup and monster-mom.  Basically, I missed out a bit on this one, but I can appreciate the technical aspects of Show and Tell, so I’m cool.

Took’ya Home With Us

I somewhat questioned bringing in the Tok’ra, considering how “Charlie” reacted to Teal’c at first.  However, the whole thing turned out pretty well in the end, aside from the tragic loss of Mother (now I’m thinking about FFVII).  Actually, that sequence was clever.  You see Mother get shot, Charlie calls out, and it seems like it was someone from SGC that did it by accident.  Then the camera pans over to the other Reetou.  Technical aspects! :D

While children aren’t quite my cup of tea, Charlie would actually make a great protagonist for a story 20-30 years forward in the continuity of Stargate.  I mean, he’s got a really weird, tragic, unique backstory, plus he’ll have a Tok’ra symbiote, so there’s a possibility for a deep, dynamic relationship.  I’m actually thinking of a novel, to be honest.  I know that the Goa’uld/Tok’ra situation will be vastly different in the span of that much time (I’m fairly certain at least something gets resolved, what with the Lucian Alliance “filling the power gap left by the Goa’uld” and all), so I don’t know what kind of world he’d be in, but I think it’d be a great story to tell.  Wouldn’t be too farfetched, I don’t think.  There’s novels for the Diablo franchise, Farscape, even novelizations of the X-Men movies.

Anyway, this episode was pretty good, despite my lamentable aversion to small children.  Join me tomorrow for what I’m assuming is the single best, greatest, most AMAZING episode of any show, of any franchise, of any genre, EVER: 1969.  Oh God, I cannot wait :D:D:D

~Bryan

One Faulty Sound

Ok, I think we can all agree that today’s episode was more than a little strange.  Had a few humorous moments here and there, including Jackson’s impression of a UAV, so that was nice.  Jackson’s UAV actually reminded me of his chicken impression way back in the movie, on Abydos.

IT’S A PLANT!

When I first saw the alien creatures, I thought maybe they were a genetic, lesser evolved version of the Nox.  But after SG-1 came to the planet, I started to think they were plants themselves, that grow from the type of plant that was damaged by the UAV.  Then after seeing them behave, I just concluded they were more or less, creepy, human-shaped animals of some sort.  I didn’t really feel much for them, sorry.  Intellectually, I know it’s unfortunate, even tragic, that so many were being so ill-affected, but really… just a little too creepy and unhuman for me to care a whole lot.  I will say, however, that the way the moved and looked at SG-1 was convincing, but unfortunately, it was just convincing me that they were plants.  This probably contributed to how skeptical I was when they brought in Dr. Fraiser.  Nice to have all that screen time for Fraiser, but it just seemed odd to me.  Couldn’t really imagine how she could be expected to help something so alien.  Maybe if she also knew plants and/or animals, but even then, that’s a mountain they were asking her to scale.

I guess I just don’t have much to say about this episode.  The aliens looked and acting good, but I think I got distracted by/ wrapped up in trying to guess what was going on.  Especially since I was thinking it was more complicated than it was.  Oh well.  See you for tomorrow’s Show and Tell.

~Bryan

I Am Daniel Jackson!

Today’s episode, entitled Holiday, was yet another staple format in the world of Science Fiction TV series, the body swap episode.  Unlike most other shows that have taken the comedic route with this format, like Futurama, Holiday maintains at least 50% serious content, whereas Futurama has Bender robbing (what else?) while using Amy’s body, yet his own voice.  It’s pretty hilarious if you haven’t seen it, by the way.  It’s S6E10, The Prisoner of Benda.  And it has the Harlem Globetrotters, so you know it’s great (like Bender).  [FYI, the link I posted over “Futurama” actually gives credit to Stargate!  Thought that was pretty nifty :D]

CHANGE PLACES!!!

Well, first off, excellent performance by Richard Dean Anderson, Christopher Judge, and Michael Shanks for playing multiple characters.  As with the Tok’ra, it was a challenging job well done, with the added difficulty of playing a well established character in the case of Anderson and Judge.  In particular, I liked seeing Mr. Judge portray Colonel O’Neill, as Teal’c is such a wildly different (and often reserved) character, and I haven’t had the chance to see Christopher Judge’s other roles.

A few things about this episode though, the body swaps were a little predictable, and I’m not sure why Michael Shanks needed pulled double duty as Dr. Jackson and Ma’chello (though, of course, he did a good job).  However, there was unexpected science that was really interesting, as Dr. Fraiser explained, whereby the neural network in each person’s brain restructures itself to mimic that of the target.  I have to say, this explanation actually trumps my beloved Farscape’s mind-swap premise.  (In Farscape, the crew gets shot by a big laser.  Then they switch.  That’s about it.)  SG-1’s approach made me look at the mind-swap in a whole new way, less swapping, more copy/paste.  Very very cool.

The Ma’chello Code

So, Ma’chello seems to be intended to be Leonardo da Vinci.  Old white guy, big bushy beard, invents things, writes in code so they don’t get into the wrong hands.  Pretty sweet figure to model a character after, actually.  And for the SGC, it may be useless for now, but they hit a nice jackpot of technology.  Hopefully Samantha and Daniel will be able to crack into it soon.  I’m predicting that Daniel will retain some sort of remnants of Ma’chello’s mind, maybe even fleeting, disembodied thoughts that eventually go away, but allow him to figure out some of the new gadgets.  Something like how Sam retained a little of Jolinar.  Of course, the situation is pretty different, but even if there’s fading remnants, that means there could still be a funny back and forth between Jack and Teal’c a little more, before it’s all gone.

I don’t know if I liked Ma’chello or not.  He seemed a bit senile, but after he was brought back to Cheyenne Mountain, it became very clear that he was not.  For a bit I felt bad for him, but after the return, it was clear he was pretty jaded toward the prospect of sacrificing someone.  I suppose it makes sense, considering all he’s seen, but that doesn’t excuse it.  A shame he’s gone, though, considering what he could have contributed to the fight against the System Lords.

Speaking of the System Lords, I’m thinking about how many enemies they have, especially now, after having lost Ra and Apophis.  I know Ra was lost quite a while ago, but still.  There’s the Tok’ra, the Jaffa resistance, the Tau’ri, and the Asgard.  The Tollans seem to be helping out the Tok’ra, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if that brought the Nox into the fray (so long as they don’t consider their ‘way’ better…).  The Asgard are definitely the biggest threat from what I can tell.  Then there’s the Tok’ra, who seem like they could be crushed if the Goa’uld weren’t fighting on multiple fronts.  I don’t know how strong the Jaffa resistance is (though they have Bra’tac, so it’s a wonder he hasn’t single-handedly defeated them ALL already), but I think they’re in a situation similar to the Tok’ra.  The Tollans are safe.  They’re with the Nox.  The Tau’ri are the weird one, because they have a remote locale.  If I were a System Lord, I think I’d be most worried about the Asgard, as well as the Tau’ri.  The Tok’ra and Jaffa would probably be viewed as pesky insects (what with the arrogance from using a sarcophagus).  But we’ll see, I’m just thinking out loud.

In any event, Holiday was a good episode, and the ups certainly outweighed the few downs I mentioned above.  I just can’t wait for Daniel Jackson to get his credit card bill at the end of the month.  That’ll be great :D  Thanks for reading!

~Bryan