Stargate SG-1 Season 6, Episode 16

"Metamorphosis"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Good

Commentary by:

Peter DeLuise – Director
James Tichenor – Visual Effects Producer

The commentary is very informative, and interesting. Lots of behind the scene information. The commentary stays on point with what is on screen.

 

Review: 

The Russians have their own teams out on offworld missions.  That team returns to SGC from P3X-367 with an unannounced visitor.  SGC is firmly against bringing unknown beings back to Earth without permission.  The alien – who is human in appearance and named Aldebran – says that the Goa'uld Nirrti (“Rite of Passage”) is experimenting with his people on P3X-367.  The Russian team's leader, Colonel Evanov, wrongly brought Aldebran back to SGC for the right reason.  Well, the right reason with a side of petty.  Evanov pointedly points out that SGC allowed Nirrti to go free after helping Cassandra.  Unsurprisingly, Nirrti didn't give up on engineering the perfect host for herself after departing SGC.  Leading to the current situation with Aldebran and his people.  Turning back to old habits, Nirrti is using the population of a little traveled planet for experimentation.  Again (“Singularity”).  This time it is Aldebran and his people.

Aldebran spectacularly demonstrates that SGC needs to address the situation on his planet.  General Hammond gives a go for SG-1 and Colonel Evanov's team to deal with Nirrti.  SG-1 and Evanov take down the Jaffa guarding the stargate on P3X-367, and then SG-1 heads to the location of Nirrti's lair with the Russians guarding the stargate.  At the lair, SG-1 meets those of Aldebran's people who still live.  Instead of a warm welcome, SG-1 is met with resistance by Alderan's people.  Nirrti stuck with the Goa'uld playbook by presenting herself as a god, and made some striking physiological changes to Aldebran's people.  Changes that include extraordinary powers, powers they use against SG-1 and Evanov.

Captured, SG-1 and Evanov are new test subjects for Nirrti's experiments.  In her search for crafting the ultimate host, Nirrti intends to get what she wants, even if the cost is the deaths of SG-1 and Evanov.

Jacqueline Samuda returns as Nirrti, and does a good job in her performance.  Everyone's acting is fine.  There are some nice special effects.  Kudos to the effects and make-up teams.

Failures:

Nirrti is up to no good, manipulating the physiology of humans.  All with Nirrti having the moral compass of, well, a Goa'uld.  Why wouldn't SGC immediately check Aldebran to see if he had a bomb inside of him like Cassandra did in “Singularity?”

 

This is an episode well worth viewing.  However, there is no clear message to the story, other than "Nirrti is up to her old tricks."  There are touching moments, due to the expertise of the actors.

Stargate SG-1 Season 6, Episode 15

"Paradise Lost"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Good

Commentary by:

Robert C. Cooper – Executive Producer

Michael Greenburg – Executive Producer

The commentary is very informative, and interesting. Lots of behind the scene information. The commentary stays on point with what is on screen.

 

Review: 

Harry Maybourne, (“48 Hours”) suddenly shows up in Jack O'Neill's backyard.  This is surprising on two counts.  One: Harry is still guilty of being a traitor and faces a return to prison.  Two: Jack has insinuated, and flat out stated, a number of times that he would be okay with shooting Harry.    Before any gunplay ensues, Maybourne tells Jack that he knows why Frank Simmons stole the X-303 (“Prometheus”) – to plunder a stockpile of advanced alien weaponry.  Harry knows the stargate address where the weapons are located, and will provide it if he is allowed to go offworld to the location with the team.  On one hand, what Harry's saying doesn't have more than a whiff of believability.  On the other hand, Harry Maybourne has come through for SG-1 in the past.  The mission is approved by SGC.

So, Harry Maybourne provides the gate address to the alien weapons stash.  He and SG-1 head offworld.  Will they find the treasure trove, and return to Earth with their loot?  Of course not.  Maybourne is involved and (unsurprisingly) perfidy is afoot.  Maybourne's treachery takes SG-1 and SGC by surprise.  However, his plan doesn't pan out the way he thought it would, and instead places himself and O'Neill in a deadly situation.

Tom McBeath again excels as Maybourne.  Richard Dean Anderson provides a strong performance as well.  The two actors mesh their characters together perfectly.

Failures:

Carter gets utterly, totally, and completely defied and shut down by Dr. Lee (“Prodigy”.)  Granted, the Dr. Lee character is not yet as meek as he will be in future episodes.  Still, their exchange made Carter seem like an ineffective leader.  I think it could have been handled better.  What Dr. Lee said to Carter should have been delivered to her by General Hammond.  Getting verbally owned by the mild-mannered Dr. Lee totally undercuts Carter as an authority figure.

Stargate SG-1 Season 6, Episode 14

 "Smoke & Mirrors"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Good

Commentary by:

Peter DeLuise – Director
James Tichenor – Visual Effect Producer
Gary Jones – “Walter”

The commentary drifts away from what is on screen at times, but it is interesting.

 

Review: 

Events start fast, with Senator Kinsey (“2001”) being assassinated before the opening credits role. Considering Senator Kinsey's behavior in past episodes, the list of potential suspects for the assassination should be very long.

 

Jack O'Neill rolls into SGC, freshly back from his vacation, unaware of Kinsey's demise. Minutes later, MPs arrive at SGC to arrest O'Neill for killing Kinsey. The evidence against Jack is damning, but he insists that he is innocent. Does the rest of SG-1 believe that Jack is guilty? No way! Does General Hammond believe that Jack is guilty? Highly unlikely! Then there is Major Davis who, after looking at the mountain of evidence against Jack, seems a bit inclined to scratch O'Neill off of his holiday card list.  Major Davis is just being pragmatic.

 

There is a mystery afoot, and SG-1 is on the case, working to prove that Jack did not kill Kinsey. They have knowledge that is not widely known outside of SGC, and pursue leads to determine the true culprit. Carter connects with an N.I.D. contact, while Teal'c and Jonas pursue another lead.

 

This is an aptly titled mystery-based episode, and most anything I write about it would be a spoiler. It is a straight line mystery, not one full of twists and turns. So, I think it's best on the first viewing. Still, a good episode for subsequent viewings. A couple of the more entertaining parts of this episode are watching Teal'c trying to absorb the concept of due process, and then Teal'c's spin on interrogating a prisoner without physically attacking said prisoner. Christopher Judge is amazing as Teal'c.

 

All of the actors provide very good performances.

Failures:

Nothing egregious.

 

Stargate SG-1 Season 6, Episode 13

 "Sight Unseen"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Fair

Commentary by:

Peter F. Woeste – Director
Andrew D. Wilson – Director of Photography
Rick Dean – Chief Lighting Technician

The commentary is very informative, and interesting. Lots of behind the scene information. The commentary stays on point with what is on screen.

Review:
This is a filler episode, set on Earth.  You'll lose nothing by watching this episode.  You won't gain anything, either.  The best part of this episode is the commentary.

Having learned nothing from past experience, SG-1 returns to Earth from an off-world mission, bringing back a piece of unknown alien technology.  What could go wrong?

Shortly after stepping through the Stargate back to SGC, Quinn sees a giant alien insect buzzing around the gate room.  No one else sees anything, but General Hammond sensibly sounds an alert.  Nothing is found.  What does the frontline defense against potential alien incursions to Earth do in this situation?  Pretty much blow raspberries at Quinn, dismissing his sighting.  And then, go on to putter around with the unknown alien tech they brought back to Earth.  It hurts my head to type this out.

Eventually, others begin seeing the technicolor big 'ol insectoids around SGC.  And, the cause is ... wait for it ... the alien tech.  Not even Carter understands how the alien machine works, yet she and Quinn work on the machine to fix things, i.e., make the giant bugs go away.  The situation becomes worse, with more people at SGC seeing the bugs, and then people outside of the SGC begin seeing the bugs.  In addition to exposing the Stargate program to the general public, the situation has the potential to become deadly.  SGC must find a way to fix the situation.

I'm bothered by the relatively mild reactions by SGC personnel when seeing the insectoids.  An 18 inch long, brightly colored, flying grub worm with very long fangs rates more than a fairly calm, “Whoa, did you see that?” in my book.  There should be screaming, throwing of things, running from the room, and possibly weapons fire.  Kudos to the person in the SGC mess hall who had an appropriate reaction to the situation.  Now, non-SGC folks have the sort of reactions I'd expect.  Much screaming and yelping.  Jody Racicot's performance as Vernon Sharpe is very good.  The candy color alien insects are a very nicely done effect.

The cast perform fine, my questioning the SGC characters near blase reactions aside.

Failures:

SGC has yet to learn not to bring unknown alien tech to Earth. 

Stargate SG-1, Season 6, Episode 12

"Unnatural Selection"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Very Good

Commentary by:

Andy Mikita – Director

Jim Menard – Director of Photography

The commentary is very informative, and interesting. Lots of behind the scene information. The commentary stays on point with what is on screen.

Review:

This episode picks up immediately after the end of “Prometheus.”  Colonel Simmons and the Goa'uld infested Adrian Conrad's (“Desperate Measures”) efforts to out maneuver each other ended in both their deaths, and the X-303 is stranded in space, light-years from home. Carter states that there is no way to get back to Earth. While SG-1 processes their current, untenable, situation an Asgard ship appears. It's Thor (“Descent”). The Asgard keep an eye out on hyperspace activity near Earth, and noted the X-303's trip. SG-1 is saved! Sort of. Thor's appearance is a mix of benevolence and self-interest. The Asgard homeworld has been overrun by Replicators (“Menace” ), and Thor needs SG-1's help. Oh, and the Earth's shiny, new, partially completed ship, too.

Turns out the Asgard used information gleaned from their study of Reese (“Menace”) as bait for a Replicator trap. The Asgard found one core command in Reese that all Replicators would follow, the command, “come forth.” Our favorite little gray aliens then broadcast this command throughout the galaxy, an irresistible “come hither” for all Replicators in the galaxy. Summoned to one location, where the Asgard set up a time dilation device trap. Within the time dilation device's bubble time is considerably slowed. One year passing for the Replicators in the bubble would be about 10,000 years passing in the rest of the galaxy. A trap that gives the Asgard a lot of breathing room for finding a permanent solution to defeating the Replicators. A great plan … that didn't work. The time dilation device did not activate.

Seemingly, the Replicators managed to disable the device. The Asgard need a physically fit team, one with projectile weapons and a space ship whose tech is so low brow that the Replicators would sneer at the thought of consuming it. So, the Asgard want SG-1 to enter Replicator dominated space, repair the time dilation device, and activate it.

O'Neill is reluctant on many levels about the Asgard's plan. There's little food on the X-303, and fewer weapons. O'Neill has zero authority to commit Earth's new spaceship to the mission. And, SG-1 is currently lost in space … oh, wait. No, they aren't. Thor instantly towed the X-303 back to Earth, beamed the non-SG-1 folks from “Prometheus” on the ship to SGC, and beamed up a huge stock of weapons and food stores from SGC.

Unsurprisingly, the mission is approved by SGC. Between the possibility of losing favor with one of their few space faring allies in the fight against the Goa'uld -- admittedly one that doesn't often help out -- and the threat of the Replicators, “no” wasn't really an option for Earth.

SG-1 heads to the location where the Asgard sent the “come hither” command, the Asgard's original home world of Hala. Upon arriving at Hala, Thor discloses new information. It turns out that the time dilation device was activated, however instead of slowing time within the device's bubble, time within the field is moving faster than for the rest of the galaxy. Replicators were smart enough to keep the time dilation device from activating; then reverse its effects; and essentially had hundreds of years of free time on their hands. Upon landing on the planet, SG-1 discovers just what the Replicators were up to within the time field. A new, bigger threat to not just the Asgard, but for the entire galaxy.

The acting and effects are great, and the story provides a chance for the members of SG-1 to reflect, and act, on their morality, rather than just running and gunning towards their mission goal.  Their moral quandary is tied to the Replicators, and the answer seems easy considering the Replicators' mandate to essentially destroy and consume everything in the galaxy. However, SG-1 is left to question a decision in regards to completing their mission -- do the ends justify the means?  I think the situation is well handled, with varying reactions from the different characters.  I like that they question their decision, with some team members being more overtly bothered by their actions.

I rate this episode as Very Good because while the story is engaging, there are enough minor plot holes to keep me from giving this episode a higher rating. And, because once again Carter is used as the target of alien insta-love, a ploy used all too often in Stargate: SG-1.

O'Neill and Carter are prominent in this episode's story, with Teal'c and Quinn having little input. Except for one moment where Quinn channeled Daniel so hard, it seemed like that bit of dialog was originally written for Daniel, not Quinn.

Failures:

O'Neill spends too much time considering helping the Asgard at the beginning of the episode, even after Thor tows the X-303 back to Earth. He knows he doesn't have authority to agree to the mission, yet doesn't come out and say so for far too long.

After all this time the Asgard have yet to develop something to for situations requiring the physical presence of robust individuals and some projectile weapons. Other than calling on Earth for some (literally) heavy hitters.