Stargate SG-1 Season 6, Episode 18

"Forsaken"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Good

Commentary by:

Andy Mikita – Director/Producer
Damian Kindler – Producer/Writer

The commentary is interesting, and stays with what is on screen.

 

Review: 

SG-1 is off-world, on a planet never visited before by SGC because … reasons.  Carter has set up a small telescope to view a nebula.  The Goa'uld are still a threat, but somehow SGC's foremost SG team has time for this.  But, wait!  Jonas finds a crashed spaceship of an unknown design nearby.  Jonas comments that the markings on the ship resemble ancient Celtic.  And then, up pops three human survivors of the crash.

Everyone points weapons at everyone else.  Talking starts before the shooting.  The survivors are Aden, Tanis, and Lyle from a world (not the one the ship crashed on) they call Hebridan.  O'Neill is in top notch form, not too aggressively suspicious, with a definite “don't start nothing, won't be nothing” attitude.  Carter follows his lead.  Teal'c is ready for anything, always.  Jonas wants to be friends.  Things are moving along as a first contact, when the camera pans to two technologically advanced humanoid, very not human, beings spying on the chatting group.

A gun battle erupts with SG-1 and the Hebridans on one side, and the two humanoids on the other side.  Aden has said that the humanoids are vicious and murderous.  One of the humanoids is killed by Lyle, to O'Neill's annoyance because he can't question them.  Tanis is injured in the fight, and taken back to Stargate Command for medical treatment.

At SGC, Carter and Jonas report to General Hammond.  Carter wants to study the more advanced than Earth's Hebridian technology by helping to repair the crashed ship.  Carter has got a little sneaky in her, and I approve.  Carter heads back off-world to work on the ship, and Jonas heads to sick bay to seemingly tell everything he knows about everything to Tanis.  How Jonas ever got any kind of security clearance with SGC is a mystery.

By now, the three Hebridans are coming across as being less than truthful.  Aden is creeping on Carter so hard that his "flirting" attempts are painful to watch.  Back on Earth, Tanis flirts with Jonas a bit, but that proves unnecessary to get information from Jonas the blabbermouth.  Lyle likes to hit on folks too, but he uses weapons not words. 

Off-world, O'Neill and Teal'c catch one of the humanoids before Lyle can indulge his “kill 'em all” proclivity.  The humanoid's name is Warrick, and his story about the situation is quite a bit different from what Aden and company told.  SG-1 has to wend through conflicting stories to uncover the truth, and then survive the consequences of their discovery.

Martin Cummins does a great job as Aden, keeping the character's sleaziness from going over-the-top.  David Paetkau is good as Lyle, aptly sort of reigning in Lyle's kill any- and everyone who gets in his way tendency.  Sarah Deakins is okay as Tanis, which isn't a reflection on her acting abilities as it is that Tanis doesn't get to do or be much in this episode.  Dion Johnstone once again shines in a Stargate SG-1 episode, emoting through layers of prosthetics and make-up to bring the character of one of the humanoids to life.  The regular cast is very good.

Failures:

O'Neill seemingly lost interest in, and basic knowledge about, astronomy since “Children of the Gods” as he comments on not being able to see a nebula through a small telescope during bright daylight.  If this was an attempt at being humorous, it's a miss.