Deutsche Version | Season 6 | Season 8
Disc 1
Fallen
Synopsis: SG-1 is still searching for the “Lost City” or – as Jonas translates it now – “City of the Lost”, a city of the Ancients that wasn’t fully completed. They try to find the city with the help of the Gate addresses Jack entered into the computer when he had the knowledge of the Ancients. But they find something different – someone, to be precise.
My Opinion: The attack on Anubis’s ship was a nice homage to the battle above Yavin in Star Wars IV, including Jack’s comment that his F-302 (it’s obviously not eXperimental anymore) should have the call sign “Red Leader”. Michael Shanks has re-joined the main cast and returns to his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson. And while I liked Jonas, Daniel is somehow better. Jack and Daniel know each other for over seven years and even in the end Jonas was still “the new guy”. The chemistry between Jack and Daniel worked instantaneously again in terms of: they like each other but are totally different.
Homecoming
Synopsis: Daniel and Jonas are still aboard Anubis’s ship which hovers now over the capitol of Kelowna. Anubis wants to have the Naqahdriah and the knowledge of how to create a stable reaction.
My Opinion: On one hand it’s understandable that Jonas returns home. Daniel is back and all three countries on his home planet know about the Stargate now. It’s a bit sad, though. But since Daniel and he had basically the same role within SG-1 it would be hard to acknowledge this fact in future scripts.
Fragile Balance
Synopsis: When Jack awakes one morning, he is a teenanger of fifteen years. No one believes that he is Colonel Jack O’Neill. After his DNA has been confirmed they try to find out what happened and how to reverse it.
My Opinion: This time I even looked on the clock. The first appearance of RDA was in the 31st minute of this 42 minute episode. On the other hand one has to get used to it since his screen time will drop considerably from the 8th season on.
But it was good to see that not all Asgard are good and perfect, that even they have black sheeps.
Orpheus
Synopsis: After T’ealc has been wounded on a mission, he begins to doubt himself. Since he has lost “Junior” and has begun to inject Tretonin he doesn’t feel as a full-fledged Jaffa anymore. But then there’s a new crisis arising, Bra’tac and Rya’c are prisoners in a work camp that one only leaves dead.
My Opinion: A very good episode to show that something has changed for Teal’c. A symbiote has been part of his body for about 90 years (Teal’c is approximately 104 years old at this time) and now this part is missing. I can imagine that this is hard to get used to. I also liked the scene where his son helped im through the crisis by letting Teal’c kill the other Jaffa with his bare hands.
Disc 2
Revisions
Synopsis: With the help of the M.A.L.P. SGC surveys a planet with a highly toxic atmosphere. But then they discover a dome under which people still live. There existance has been threatened for a while yet they know nothing about it.
My Opinion: The link device was undoubtedly stolen from Seven of Nine but I still would like to have one of those. Permanently being online *dreaming*. Apart from that the episode was ok, but not exceptional.
Lifeboat
Synopsis: SG-1 discovers a crashed spaceship on which are several hundred people being kept in stasis. But then something extraordinary happens: The consciousnesses of 12 different people are put into Daniel’s head – additionally to his own. The problem is to get them out again.
My Opinion: Once again a very good episode for Michael Shanks who could play the whole range from a small boy to the arrogant sovereign. I liked it a lot.
Enemy Mine
Synopsis: A mining expeditions finds a huge vein of Naqahdah. The problem is: The local Unas tribes see this place as holy ground. Daniel tries to negotiate but he needs help – Chaka.
My Opinion: I liked the fact that Daniel’s was right about the new Colonel. Jack would have listened to him (probably). I also liked the negotiations and the fact that the arrogance of the Humans nearly led to their undoing (similar to Spirits).
Space Race
Synopsis: Warrick, the Captain of the Sebrus, invites Sam to participate in a space race aboard his ship. But the race doesn’t go as expected.
My Opinion: A pure fun episode based on the Pod Race in Star Wars I and probably on the Star Trek: Voyager episode Drive.
I also liked the regular product placements during the comments which reminded me of “Binford”. 😉
Disc 3
Avenger 2.0
Synopsis: Doctor Felger is afraid that he is about to be thrown out of the SGC. Thus he presents the (not yet fully developed) plan to infest the Stargate DHDs with a computer virus that would effectively render them useless. But this plan backfires on a grand scale and Ba’al takes advantage of the situation.
My Opinion: Unfortunately Coombs wasn’t present in this episode but Felger was fun to watch again. I find it interesting that they still have new ideas regarding the abilities of the Stargate and the DHD. But they always keep it simple and don’t start technobabbling. Still it gives them a means to tell interesting stories.
Birthright
Synopsis: SG-1 encounters a group of “Amazon” Jaffas who live in a secret place. From there they have to gather Goa’uld larvae on a regular basis to give it to their younger sisters. But SG-1 has a better idea.
My Opinion: Granted, I watched only half a season of Star Trek: Enterprise but I immediately liked Jolene Blalock (T’Pol in ENT) better in the role of the Jaffa leader than in her role as Vulcan. But that is also based on the fact that she could be wilder/more emotional. I also liked the conflict of whether they should use the Tretonin.
Evolution
Synopsis: A single super soldier slaughters the Jaffa of two minor Goa’ulds and kills one of the Goa’ulds. Bra’tac and Teal’c are able to stop him just to find out that it wasn’t them who stopped him. Anubis has built these warriors with technology of the Ancients. The same technology was used to build the very first sarcophagus aeons ago. Daniel tries to find this device now: The mythological “Fountain of Youth”.
My Opinion: It’s quite fascinating how single characters can defy the laws of inertia – no matter how big/fast the moving object or the explosion, they stand their ground if they want to. 😉 The introduction of the Kull warriors was nearly inevitable because even huge armies of Jaffa are no opposition to SG-1 anymore. But they didn’t make the mistake to portray the Kull warriors as invincible. Sooner or later that would lead to the need of finding a way to defeat them (keyword: the Borg). But instead they showed that there is a way to defeat them – in principle.
Evolution, Part 2
Synopsis: Through the captured Kull warrior the Tok’ra are able to find the home planet of these new super warriors. Jacob/Selmak, Teal’c and Sam travel there to stop the production of any more of these. While they’re off-world, Jack tries to free Daniel, who’s being held captive by rebels in the border region of Honduras and Nicaragua.
My Opinion: Jack didn’t have to have much luck with his comrades except for Kawalsky. That was before SG-1, of course. Back in A Matter of Time they also mentioned that he was left behind on a special op. Here they managed to portray his buddy very ambivalently. It wasn’t clear what happend back then until they revealed it.
I also liked the flight from Tartarus and the innovative way to use a ring transporter.
Disc 4
Grace
Synopsis: BC-303 (BC stands for Battle Cruiser) was finally salvaged after they transfered the hyperlight engine from an Al’kesh to it. But on the way home the Prometheus is attacked and when Sam re-awakens, she is alone on the ship.
My Opinion: Although they’ve used the known plot element that different characters portray different aspects of a person’s personality, I liked this episode. Especially because the character traits of Sam were well presented.
Fallout
Synopsis: As it turns out, the Naqahdriah on Jonas’s home planet is also not of natural origin. It was transformed out of normal Naqahdah. By detonating the Naqahdriah bomb they’ve started the transformation of Naqahdah into Naqahdriah in a very deep vein. If they can’t stop it the Naqahdriah will explode and destroy the planet.
My Opinion: Unfortunately this is the only reunion with Jonas Quinn. And while I did not watch The Core, the plots sound similar. The relation between Jonas and Kianna was interesting, especially because – as Kianna pointed out – Jonas actually never met the host, only the Goa’uld.
Chimera
Synopsis: Daniel has been dreaming of the time he met Sarah (Osiris’s host) for a couple of nights now. Sarah shows him a tablet of the Ancients and with this he might be able to find the Lost City. It is possible that his subconscious recalls knowledge from the time where he was ascended.
My Opinion: Regarding love relationships none of the four members of SG-1 had much luck. This time they made it look like another of these short romances. But luckily Pete did survive and with David DeLuise the third of the DeLuise brothers and the fourth DeLuise in total (Dom and his sons Peter, Michel and David) has made a guest appearance on the show. 😉
It was a bit hard to believe that Sam actually told Pete what she was doing when she hasn’t even told this to her father until he became a Tok’ra. But that’s no reason to not to like the episode.
Death Knell
Synopsis: The Alpha Site has been attacked by a Kull warrior and was nearly completely destroyed. Somehow the information about this place and the weapon they’ve developed there have gotten into Anubis’s hands. The Kull warrior is in pursuit of Sam to destroy the weapon that poses a threat to him. In the meantime General Hammond tries to find out how Anubis could have known about the secret base.
My Opinion: “The Fellowship of the Ring has broken” – whoops, wrong universe. I noticed in this episode that they seem to have problems to find film locations. After the Alpha Site has become a huge crater the place looks exactly like the place where the Stargate on Chulak resides – just from another angle.
Apart from that I had the feeling that the break-up is more a disservice to the Tok’ra and the Jaffa than to the Humans, but they tried to keep it together. It was a bit sad.
Disc 5
Heroes
Synopsis: A film crew has the assignment and the approval of the president to make a documentation about the SGC. This is for the case the Stargate program becomes public knowledge. No one in the SGC is overly enthusiastic about this idea.
My Opinion: This episode’s only purpose seemed to be the introduction of the characters. Then they don’t have to do this in the second part. Since it didn’t happen much in it, let me make a statement regarding the second episode: At some point the journalist gets angry and shouts at the soldiers that he – as well as they – also serves the people. I don’t know how you feel about this but I registered a remarkable drop in the quality of journalism over the last years/decade. Many reports are mere pimped Reuters reports and most newspapers are only dictated by cost effectiveness. There is very few investigative, but instead “embedded” journalism. This “to serve the people” is a noble claim but it’s not a reality.
I can only speak for Germany, of course.
Heroes, Part 2
Synopsis: SG-13 is trapped and is rescued by several SG teams (SG-1 amongst them). During the fire fight Colonel O’Neill receives a frontal hit by a staff weapon. Other people get also wounded and killed.
My Opinion: I honestly don’t remember what I thought when I watched this for the first time. When I watched it this time, I already knew that not Jack but Dr. Frasier had been killed. But I still waited for the moment this is revealed. It was a very emotional (and therefore good) episode. But it was a bit sad that Teryl Rothery didn’t get more screen time, considering that this was her last episode.
Resurrection
Synopsis: When the NID and SG-1 blow a rouge NID operation they find a young woman. She is an engineered Human-Goa’uld-hybrid whose growth rate has been accelerated with the help of nanites. She has been created to access the knowledge of the Goa’uld, but one half of her isn’t as innocuous as it seems.
My Opinion: This episode was written by Michael Shanks, directed by Amanda Tapping and Richard Dean Anderson was once again absent. I didn’t care much for it.
Inauguration
Synopsis: Henry Hayes is the new president of the United States and Kinsey is his vice president. After being briefed on all Top Secret projects there is yet another briefing where he learns about the Stargate project. Kinsey tries to convince him to replace most of the SGC’s staff.
My Opinion: The fourth clip show of the series and another episode where no member of SG-1 had a live appearance. But I like William Devane as president although he seemed to be a bit “simple” in the beginning. But, coming to think about the actual president Bush jr., … Anyway, I liked the fact that Woolsey (Robert Picardo, The Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager) was uncongenial yet he has integrity.
Disc 6
Lost City
Synopsis: Another SG team has discovered an ancient ruin and Daniel suspects to find a library in it – similar to the one that loaded all the knowledge of the Ancients into Jack’s head. But as soon as they’ve arrived they are attacked by Anubis’s troops who also wants to obtain the knowledge. Thus Jack must once again absorb the knowledge because there’s no faster way.
But things are changing on Earth: General Hammond has to stand down and is replaced by Dr. Elizabeth Weir. And then Master Bra’tac is the bearer of bad news: Anubis is gathering his entire fleet to defeat Earth once and for all. There is only one hope left: To find the lost city: terre atlantus – Atlantis.
My Opinion: “The battle’s done and we kind of won, so we sound our victory cheer.” (Giles in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Once More, With Feeling) A very good season finale that could have served as series finale, too. The story is very thrilling – I only noticed shortly before the end that this two-parter is edited as feature-length movie on this DVD.
I immediately had the feeling that I know the actress who played Dr. Weir. She flew the shuttle in Armageddon but I knew her as Jennifer “Pilot” Chase from Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. I could imagine that she would have done well but the producers decided to cast Torri Higginson for Stargate Atlantis.
The battle above Antarctica was great: The BC-303 and an entire squadron of F-302’s vs. Al’keshs and Death Gliders and high above in orbit a fleet of approximately 30 Ha’taks. This is what I call a battle.
The Season – My Opinion: The season had a surprising number of episodes that concentrated on single members of SG-1 (especially Sam and Daniel) and where the members of the team are on different missions. It’s probably because the producers thought that “SG-1 goes to a planet” has become tiresome.
I wouldn’t describe this season as the peak of the series yet I would say that they’ve past their prime with this one. I will elaborate on that at the end of the eight season.