Cinescape reports:
By: T.K. MERCHANT
Stargate SG-1: The Series So Far
Season Five of the venerable sci-fi series kicks into gear on Showtime
Okay, folks – for those of you who are unfamiliar with the popular sci-fi series, think of this this article as your STARGATE: SG-1 primer course. But be warned – the piece will be followed by a short quiz.
STARGATE: SG-1 is Showtime pay cable TV’s continuation of the feature film from Centropolis Entertainment [though Centropolis has had no involvement with the development of the series]. Viewers of the movie will remember that the discovery of a strange portal in 1928 Giza, Egypt, eventually led to present-day use of the device. A military team, headed by Capt. Jack O’Neill (Kurt Russell in the film, Richard Dean Anderson in the TV show) and civilian linguist/archeologist Dr. Daniel Jackson (James Spader in the original, Michael Shanks on the series), goes through the "stargate" portal and finds itself on the planet Abydos.
Abydos bears a striking resemblance to ancient Egypt because, as it turns out, its human inhabitants were actually abducted from that era and placed on the planet to serve the Goa’uld. The Goa’uld are a parasitic, but techno-savvy species that have tried to ensure a steady stream of host bodies, as well as general slave labor, by scattering human beings far and wide throughout the cosmos.
Once a Goa’uld has taken up permanent residence in a human body, it is extremely difficult to remove without killing the host. The Goa’uld symbiont – think of a worst-case scenario Trill from DEEP SPACE NINE – completely overpowers the host’s prior personality and is generally dictatorial and imperious, with ambitions of galactic domination. Prior to this, the Goa’uld larvae incubate in temporary human hosts, a warrior caste called the Jaffa. The Jaffa can survive the exit of a mature Goa’uld, but can’t live long without a resident
One of the SG-1 team, Teal’c (Christopher Judge), is a Jaffa and he harbors a childlike fascination with the fact that the Goa’uld have never dominated the human home world. You see, Teal’c was formerly a feared Serpent Guard (soldiers who serve the Goa’uld wearing armor with elaborate cobra-like helmets) and is responsible for the kidnap and Goa’uld implanting of Jackson’s Abydos-born wife. However, when Teal’c realized there was an alternative to Goa’uld rule, he turned on his fellow Serpent Guards at a crucial moment and has become a trusted and valued member of the SG-1 team: even Daniel has forgiven him. Got all that?
In the original STARGATE movie, Jack O’Neill and Co. succeeded in destroying the chief local alien, Ra. In the series, however, Daniel discovers the Goa’uld map room, containing charts indicating various planets where humans have been seeded. Various Stargate – or ‘SG’ – teams are sent through the portal to find some means of defending Earth from the still-menacing Goa’uld and to make contact with the human colonies, most of whom have no idea that their ancestors came from Earth.
O’Neill’s team is the first string, hence the appellation ‘SG-1.’ Besides Col. O’Neill, SG-1 consists of the aforementioned Teal’c, the military scientist Maj./Dr. Samantha ‘Sam’ Carter (Amanda Tapping) and civilian team member Daniel, the resident archaeologist. The paternal, but no-nonsense, Gen. Hammond (Don S. Davis) supervises from the secret SGC facility, buried deep beneath a
STARGATE has begun its fifth season, and viewers are pyramid-deep in ongoing plot complications. Goa’uld overlord Apophis (Peter Williams), who has proved as hard to kill as Wile E. Coyote, has conquered many of his fellow system lords and is busy coordinating the remaining Goa’uld troops for another tilt at taking over the universe and blowing Earth all to heck.
However, over the past few seasons Earth has discovered that it may have some alien allies throughout the universe (some more reliable than others). The Asgard (who look like Area 51 E.T.’s) are well-disposed and highly technologically advanced, but have their own problems, as their galaxy is being overrun by spider-like, mechanical, frantically reproducing Replicators. The Tolan are snobs who won’t share their technology and the Nox are powerful, fairylike beings who don’t like to take sides.
Then there are the Tok’ra – an offshoot of the Goa’uld. The Tok’ra are dedicated to overthrowing the Goa’uld, who they view with the particular loathing that can only be felt toward a relative who has disgraced the family name. Unlike the Goa’uld, a Tok’ra host and symbiont each retain their individual personalities within the shared body. Carter’s father, Jacob (recurring cast member Carmen Argenziano), agreed to become a host to the wise and powerful Tok’ra Salmac in exchange for having his terminal cancer cured – and the chance to save the universe, of course. Meanwhile, Daniel’s wife, Shar’re, gave birth to the son of Apophis, a child that contains all the knowledge of the Goa’uld. Shar’re is now dead (Teal’c had to kill her when the Goa’uld inside Shar’re was about to murder Daniel), but the child is safely hidden away with friendly (albeit mysterious).
Although SG-1 has a commendably complex arc that trusts the audience to pay attention, its chief charm may be the snarky, deadpan dialogue that is a particular trademark of O’Neill. (It’s probably no accident that Anderson, who is one of the show’s executive producers as well as its star, gets a lot of good lines.) The series also has the grace to acknowledge its own areas of credibility-stretching – one episode had the SG-1 team defending their funding to a government committee that wanted to know why, if the Goa’uld were so dangerous, they were defeated so consistently by just four people.
When we last saw SG-1 at the end of Season Four, things looked problematic as usual. Jack, Daniel, Sam and Jacob/Salmac had been blown 1,000,000 light years from home by a supernova and Teal’c is missing/possibly dead.
In the Season 5 opener “Enemies,†scripted by Robert C. Cooper and directed by Martin Wood, we find that Teal’c is in the clutches of Apophis, whose mothership has also been whisked to this corner of the universe. Apophis would like to blast the SG team to bits, but he’s got Replicator problems. However, Apophis has managed to brainwash Teal’c into believing he’s once again Apophis’ loyal servant.
The rest of SG-1 manage to rescue Teal’c and make their way back to Earth’s galaxy, while Apophis is finally destroyed by the Replicators (apparently – Apophis has so far proved one hard-to-kill baddie). However, there’s one lingering problem – Teal’c is still firmly convinced he’s on Apophis’ team. Stay tuned.
Not bad, huh?
By: T.K. MERCHANT
Stargate SG-1: The Series So Far
Season Five of the venerable sci-fi series kicks into gear on Showtime
Okay, folks – for those of you who are unfamiliar with the popular sci-fi series, think of this this article as your STARGATE: SG-1 primer course. But be warned – the piece will be followed by a short quiz.
STARGATE: SG-1 is Showtime pay cable TV’s continuation of the feature film from Centropolis Entertainment [though Centropolis has had no involvement with the development of the series]. Viewers of the movie will remember that the discovery of a strange portal in 1928 Giza, Egypt, eventually led to present-day use of the device. A military team, headed by Capt. Jack O’Neill (Kurt Russell in the film, Richard Dean Anderson in the TV show) and civilian linguist/archeologist Dr. Daniel Jackson (James Spader in the original, Michael Shanks on the series), goes through the "stargate" portal and finds itself on the planet Abydos.
Abydos bears a striking resemblance to ancient Egypt because, as it turns out, its human inhabitants were actually abducted from that era and placed on the planet to serve the Goa’uld. The Goa’uld are a parasitic, but techno-savvy species that have tried to ensure a steady stream of host bodies, as well as general slave labor, by scattering human beings far and wide throughout the cosmos.
Once a Goa’uld has taken up permanent residence in a human body, it is extremely difficult to remove without killing the host. The Goa’uld symbiont – think of a worst-case scenario Trill from DEEP SPACE NINE – completely overpowers the host’s prior personality and is generally dictatorial and imperious, with ambitions of galactic domination. Prior to this, the Goa’uld larvae incubate in temporary human hosts, a warrior caste called the Jaffa. The Jaffa can survive the exit of a mature Goa’uld, but can’t live long without a resident
One of the SG-1 team, Teal’c (Christopher Judge), is a Jaffa and he harbors a childlike fascination with the fact that the Goa’uld have never dominated the human home world. You see, Teal’c was formerly a feared Serpent Guard (soldiers who serve the Goa’uld wearing armor with elaborate cobra-like helmets) and is responsible for the kidnap and Goa’uld implanting of Jackson’s Abydos-born wife. However, when Teal’c realized there was an alternative to Goa’uld rule, he turned on his fellow Serpent Guards at a crucial moment and has become a trusted and valued member of the SG-1 team: even Daniel has forgiven him. Got all that?
In the original STARGATE movie, Jack O’Neill and Co. succeeded in destroying the chief local alien, Ra. In the series, however, Daniel discovers the Goa’uld map room, containing charts indicating various planets where humans have been seeded. Various Stargate – or ‘SG’ – teams are sent through the portal to find some means of defending Earth from the still-menacing Goa’uld and to make contact with the human colonies, most of whom have no idea that their ancestors came from Earth.
O’Neill’s team is the first string, hence the appellation ‘SG-1.’ Besides Col. O’Neill, SG-1 consists of the aforementioned Teal’c, the military scientist Maj./Dr. Samantha ‘Sam’ Carter (Amanda Tapping) and civilian team member Daniel, the resident archaeologist. The paternal, but no-nonsense, Gen. Hammond (Don S. Davis) supervises from the secret SGC facility, buried deep beneath a
STARGATE has begun its fifth season, and viewers are pyramid-deep in ongoing plot complications. Goa’uld overlord Apophis (Peter Williams), who has proved as hard to kill as Wile E. Coyote, has conquered many of his fellow system lords and is busy coordinating the remaining Goa’uld troops for another tilt at taking over the universe and blowing Earth all to heck.
However, over the past few seasons Earth has discovered that it may have some alien allies throughout the universe (some more reliable than others). The Asgard (who look like Area 51 E.T.’s) are well-disposed and highly technologically advanced, but have their own problems, as their galaxy is being overrun by spider-like, mechanical, frantically reproducing Replicators. The Tolan are snobs who won’t share their technology and the Nox are powerful, fairylike beings who don’t like to take sides.
Then there are the Tok’ra – an offshoot of the Goa’uld. The Tok’ra are dedicated to overthrowing the Goa’uld, who they view with the particular loathing that can only be felt toward a relative who has disgraced the family name. Unlike the Goa’uld, a Tok’ra host and symbiont each retain their individual personalities within the shared body. Carter’s father, Jacob (recurring cast member Carmen Argenziano), agreed to become a host to the wise and powerful Tok’ra Salmac in exchange for having his terminal cancer cured – and the chance to save the universe, of course. Meanwhile, Daniel’s wife, Shar’re, gave birth to the son of Apophis, a child that contains all the knowledge of the Goa’uld. Shar’re is now dead (Teal’c had to kill her when the Goa’uld inside Shar’re was about to murder Daniel), but the child is safely hidden away with friendly (albeit mysterious).
Although SG-1 has a commendably complex arc that trusts the audience to pay attention, its chief charm may be the snarky, deadpan dialogue that is a particular trademark of O’Neill. (It’s probably no accident that Anderson, who is one of the show’s executive producers as well as its star, gets a lot of good lines.) The series also has the grace to acknowledge its own areas of credibility-stretching – one episode had the SG-1 team defending their funding to a government committee that wanted to know why, if the Goa’uld were so dangerous, they were defeated so consistently by just four people.
When we last saw SG-1 at the end of Season Four, things looked problematic as usual. Jack, Daniel, Sam and Jacob/Salmac had been blown 1,000,000 light years from home by a supernova and Teal’c is missing/possibly dead.
In the Season 5 opener “Enemies,†scripted by Robert C. Cooper and directed by Martin Wood, we find that Teal’c is in the clutches of Apophis, whose mothership has also been whisked to this corner of the universe. Apophis would like to blast the SG team to bits, but he’s got Replicator problems. However, Apophis has managed to brainwash Teal’c into believing he’s once again Apophis’ loyal servant.
The rest of SG-1 manage to rescue Teal’c and make their way back to Earth’s galaxy, while Apophis is finally destroyed by the Replicators (apparently – Apophis has so far proved one hard-to-kill baddie). However, there’s one lingering problem – Teal’c is still firmly convinced he’s on Apophis’ team. Stay tuned.
Not bad, huh?
Gonna check out Fifth Race for the now much announced butt shot. Just this last week all the Jack threads mentioned it once. I'm must just be so happy to see Jack talking again I forget to look for it.
