Review of Serpent's Venom

[Cat]

The following review appeared today in the Sydney Morning Herald's television supplement. It was SUPPOSED to be a review of The Curse, which is on this Thursday, but well, go figure:

By Michael Idato -

"A difficult call, because in purely production terms, Stargate SG-1 is a well made, well written series. Where it collapses is in accessibility.

No-one expects TV programmes to remain wide open for the casual viewer, but there must be some availability to the occasional visitor which does not compromise the complexity demanded by loyal fans. The X Files demonstrates that balance beautifully - it presents a complex, multi-layered framework riddled with plot and counter-plot, but at the same time presents stories and characters whose complexity does not defeat their accessibilty.

Stargate SG-1 cannot make the same claim, in part because it involves alien cultures and completely fictionalised concepts (the X Files is, at least, steeped in real world themes such as law enforcement and UFO cliche), but mainly because of the sheer laziness of its writing staff.

As the episode opens, Teal'c (Christopher Judge) has returned to his home planet, Chulak, to try to turn Jaffa against the Goa'uld. No explanation is offered for either, so presumably if you watch the show regularly it all makes sense. Teal'c meets Rak'nor (Obi Ndefo), a Jaffa warrior, but Rak'nor betrays him and he is captured.

Meanwhile, on Earth, a transmission from the Tok'ra is intercepted throught the "stargate" which reveals the two most powerful Goa'uld, Apophis (Peter Williams) and Heru-ur (Douglas H Arthurs) are planning to meet in the Tobin system to discuss an alliance.

The confusion deepens at this point and the show devolves into something which would undoubtedly tantalise a fan but offers very little to the occasional viewer in the way of either information or entertainment."



"sheer laziness of its writing staff" !!!!!!!!! - illegimate son of a .........

:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

 

[ShelbyS]

This guys is crap. What the hell would he know about SG?
The whole idea of science fiction television (and series television in general) is that there are story arcs that carry on through the series. Why did they get him to write it if he is not familiar with the show? And as for that stuff about being about to sit down and watch any ep of X Files, I say, yeah right. That show is even more confusing for the non-XF fan than SG is. At least you can sit down and genuinly enjoy SG even if you are not familiar with it.

I say we go and egg this guys house. :angryfire: angryfire:

 

[Martouf]

haha, so it's meant to be for the curse? someone should write back and tell him he screwed up!!!

 

[ShelbyS]

They stuff up all the time in the Sydney papers. When Point of No Return aired they had a totally different description. They said something about the Tollan. The Canberra papers are worse they're just lazy and put "The team goes through the Stargate", to which I reply, "Well, derr".

 

[Martouf]

hey, did you know tangents the only epsiode where we don't see the stargate? where was i reading that recently?

 

[Raptor]

*Egg* his house? I say we land a rather large spaceship on it. That'll teach 'im!
Raptor

 

[ShelbyS]

Originally posted by Martouf
hey, did you know tangents the only epsiode where we don't see the stargate? where was i reading that recently?

Yeah, I noticed that the first time I watched it. It's because they used all their budget on the space sequence special effects and they didn't have any money left for a Kawoosh. They don't even show it when Sam and Danny go through.

 

[ShelbyS]

Originally posted by Raptor
*Egg* his house? I say we land a rather large spaceship on it. That'll teach 'im!
Raptor

Yeah, that's a great idea....now where do we get one of those...

 

[Martouf]

ebay

 

[ShelbyS]

ROTFLMAO
:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

Really, how much was it goin for?

 

[Martouf]

Originally posted by ShelbyS

Yeah, I noticed that the first time I watched it. It's because they used all their budget on the space sequence special effects and they didn't have any money left for a Kawoosh. They don't even show it when Sam and Danny go through.

we also don't see it in DM

 

[Cat]

Originally posted by Martouf
hey, did you know tangents the only epsiode where we don't see the stargate? where was i reading that recently?

can't remember seeing it in the Curse either

 

[Martouf]

ok, is there an ep that's has nothing to do wiht hte Goa'uld?

 

[ShelbyS]

Originally posted by Martouf
we also don't see it in DM

hehehehe, i noticed that too. how kick ass was that ep!!!

Originally posted by Martouf
ok, is there an ep that's has nothing to do wiht hte Goa'uld?

Well, that depends, almost all of them have some reference or another to the Goa'uld, after all that's why they're exploring.
I can think of the major ones:
S1: The Broca Divide, Enigma, Emancipation.
s2: Bane, Prisoners, Gamekeeper, MIAB, Touchstone, MOT, One False Step, 1969.
S3: Learning Curve, Past and Present, Foothold, Urgo, A Hundred Days.
S4: Other Side, Window of Opportunity, Scorched Earth, Chain Reaction, Prodigy, Entity.

Any others?

 

[Martouf]

i didn't like DM heaps, i don't know why, who was the guy who shot Jack, or did i miss something?

and i thikn u've got all the main ones, ta

 

[ShelbyS]

The guy who shot Jack in the back was that Simmons guy from the Pentagon who appeared in Ascension. Remeber how evil he is.

We also don't see the gate in Wormhole Xtreme!