Stargate SG-1 Season 6, Episode 19

"The Changeling"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Excellent

Commentary by:

Christopher Judge – “Teal'c”
Martin Wood – Director

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 episode opens in an Earth hospital, moving through the hallway towards an operating room.  There are two patients there, lying down for surgery, and one of them is a not yet anesthetized Teal'c.  As an anesthesia mask is placed on his face, the surgeon comes into Teal'c's view and is none other than Apophis.  Complete with the Goa'uld's glowing eyes and deep, reverberating voice.  Before I have time to pick my jaw up off the ground, the scene shifts to Teal'c waking up in a dimly lit bunk room.  Oh, it was just a bad dream, then.  Teal'c heads to the bathroom and splashes water on his face.  A concerned Jonas follows him there from the bunkroom, to check if Teal'c is alright.  Teal'c responds and … wait a minute.  The gold emblem from being Apophis' First Prime is gone from Teal'c's forehead!  There's no Goa'uld emblem at all on Teal'c's forehead, nor any sort of scarring where one might have been.  Meanwhile, the two briefly chat about something Teal'c is going to do for his stepfather.  And, to top it all off, Jonas calls Teal'c “T.”

Stepfather?  No forehead emblem?  Teal'c tolerating a nickname?  What's going on here?

What's going on is a skillfully crafted journey, with incredible surprises and amazing moments.  This outstanding episode is a prime example of how to keep the audience off balance, without the episode being off-putting.  Stargate SG-1 has demonstrated this before in the episode “Forever in a Day.”  “The Changeling” takes things to another level with the adeptly smooth transitions from one of Teal'c's “realities” to another, interlaced into an intriguing whole.  There are three scenarios rotating throughout the episode.  Teal'c the human fire fighter.  Teal'c the Jaffa, as we are used to seeing him as a part of SG-1 at SGC.  And, Teal'c in one more scenario which isn't revealed until about the last third of the episode.  All three have common threads about Teal'c processing vital, yet potentially deadly, situations.  

Throughout the revolving settings, all of the Teal'c variants interact with those he is closest to in Stargate SG-1.  O'Neill, Carter, Brat'ac, and Jonas.  Not just those currently alive have parts to play.  Apophis (“Enemies”) shows up, at times as a human and other times as a Goa'uld.  Shan'auc (“Crossroads”) appears alive, and human not Jaffa.  And, Daniel Jackson (“Meridian”) is also a guest star in this episode.  Even though there is a lot to take in, the story moves smoothly and logically.  Everything builds upon itself, with a very surprising ending.

Christopher Judge is remarkable as T. the human, and Teal'c the Jaffa.  All of the regular cast provide outstanding performances, especially when O'Neill, Carter, Bra'tac/Brae, and Jonas are interacting with T. the human, and yet interacting on a different note with Teal'c the Jaffa.  Teryl Rothery is in fine form as Dr. Janet Fraiser.  Carmen Argenziano as Jacob/Selmak also makes an appearance, which is always a pleasure.

Failures:

None.

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.

Stargate SG-1 Season 6, Episode 17

"Disclosure"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Good

Commentary by:

Don S. Davis – “General Hammond”
Joseph Mallozzi – Supervising Producer
Paul Mullie – Supervising 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: 

This is a clip show, with the framework being the U.S.A. and Russia finally telling a few (a very few) other countries about the Stargate program.  Representatives of Britain, France, and China are made aware of what has transpired for the past six years.

While I'm not a fan of clip shows, this is a good one.  Over the course of Stargate SG-1, the stakes for Earth have been very high.  SGC, and later Russia but still mostly SGC, determining actions that impact the entirety of Earth has always irked me about Stargate SG-1.  The addition of more countries being involved, or least being aware of, the stargate program is a good change, one that's long overdue.

Ronny Cox returns as Senator Kinsey (“Smoke & Mirrors”) and continues to be amazing as this character.  Kinsey still has no love for SGC (General Hammond and Jack O'Neill in particular), and does his darnedest to bring the representatives to his point of view.  Kinsey hasn't gone soft and caring.  Being who he is, Kinsey is trying to gain control of the stargate program.

Upon finding out about the advancements in technology and weaponry garnered from the stargate program, the representatives are unhappy with the U.S.A. and Russia having these advantages.  The anger and bluster of the representatives following this disclosure rings true.

There are weak points in the episode (outside of using clips).  The idea by some of the representatives to make the stargate program and the threat of the Goa'uld public is not believable.  There is no gentle way to share information about the stargate program, let alone the Goa'uld, with the general public.  Granted, at the start of “2010,” the general public is calm knowing about the existence of the stargate.  However, those folks also had the Aschen to smack down the Goa'uld or any other threats to Earth, except for the hidden threat of the Aschen themselves.  Go watch that episode.  In the Stargate SG-1 world of this episode -- the main timeline -- everyone knowing about the stargate program would, more likely than not, result in wide scale panic.

The finale of this episode holds up, but that is a spoiler.

Overall, this clip show has a decent support structure with the story.  And, the clips shown are very good.  Ronny Cox as Senator Kinsey, and Don S. Davis as General Hammond, provide strong performances that are a delight to behold.  Colin Cunningham as Major Davis is in Davis' balliwick as he makes points and counterpoints without backing down.  François Chau, Martin Evans, and Paul Batten are believable as other countries' representatives.  Garry Chalk is strong as Colonel Chekov, supporting the U.S.A. running the stargate program, without being crass or a crony.  Always a pleasure to see him on Stargate SG-1.

Failures:

It is a clip show.  But, I think that failure is minor as the framework for the clips does advance the Stargate SG-1 story.  I'm still not a clip show fan, and never will be one, however this episode is worth viewing.

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.