Stargate SG-1, Season 6, Episode 3

"Descent"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Very Good

Commentary by:
Peter DeLuise -- Director and Co-Producer
Peter F. Woeste -- Director of Photography
Gary Jones -- Actor

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

Review:
Taking place not long after the events of "Redemption, Part 2" Anubis’ ship is spotted near Earth.  Yikes!  But, there’re no signs of life or activity on the ship.  Hmm.  SG-1 and Jacob/Selmak head out in a Tel’tak (a small space vessel of Goa’uld design) to check on Anubis’ ship.  Major Davis and a scientist named Friesen, are also part of the Tel’tak crew.

Jonas Quinn is now a member of SG-1, but O’Neill has not declared bygones about Quinn being slow to come forward with the facts of the accident that lead to Daniel Jackson's death ("Meridian").

Quinn and Teal’c are left on the Tel’tak, while the rest go over to Anubis’ ship.  O’Neill is less about forgive and forget, and more about putting aside differences.  He treats Quinn like the newbie on the team – SG-1 material, but untested out in the field.  Teal’c staying on the ship makes sense because he can fly the Tel’tak, and/or beat Quinn senseless, if either becomes necessary.

Aboard Anubis’ ship, everything seems to be working.  The ship is abandoned for no clear reason.  There’s an odd sound periodically coming from the ship’s P. A. system.  Certain areas have staff weapon damage, but there's no sign of why.

That’s a lot of intrigue.  This episode needs something more.  Some action!  How about a deadly mystery sabotaging Anubis’ ship, sending the ship crashing on Earth.  And a deadly mystery damaging the Tel’tak so there’s no escape for O’Neill and the others from Anubis’ ship before the crash.  That’ll do it.

Teal’c and Quinn return to SGC to work towards rescuing their comrades stuck in the crashed ship.  Aboard the ship, the survivors of the crash try to suss out what happened on Anubis’ ship to lead to it seemingly being abandoned.  An interesting episode, with some surprising twists.

Corin Nemec portrays Jonas Quinn.  Quinn replaces Jackson in SG-1.  Overall, I think Corin Nemec does a fine job as Jonas Quinn.  Quinn fills the knowledge gap left by Jackson’s demise, while being a unique character and not a Jackson clone.  Quinn has a lot of Jackson’s viewpoints on certain situations, but responds in his own voice without parroting Jackson.

Quinn becoming part of SG-1 is handled well.  He didn’t get instantaneous, 100% acceptance from O'Neill, Carter, and Teal'c, although he is never mistreated.  The long-standing SG-1 team members react to Quinn differently.  That rings true for me.

Side note: Christopher Judge does a most excellent menacing stare as Teal’c.

Failures:
None.

Stargate SG-1, Season 6, Episode 2

"Redemption, Part 2"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Good

Commentary by:
Martin Wood -- 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:
Continuing the events from “Redemption, Part 1,” with the failure of the X-302 as a means to contact the Asgard, the clock is ticking for Earth.  The energy build-up in the stargate continues.  Dr. Rodney McKay (“48 Hours”) is at SGC, working with (and against) Carter, and other scientists, to find a way to stop the impending explosion of the stargate.  Anubis revealed himself as the perpetrator of the latest attempt to destroy Earth.

Unknown to SGC, Teal’c and Bra’tac learn about Anubis’ attack on Earth, and they attempt to find, and stop, that Goa’uld.  Just two Free Jaffa against the might of Anubis’ Jaffa forces?  Of course not.  That would be silly.  Rya’c is going with them, so it is three Free Jaffa against the might of Anubis’ Jaffa forces.

Continuing the theme of redemption, Rya’c wants to prove himself a warrior to his father by accompanying him to stop Anubis.  Back at SGC, Jonas Quinn wants to redeem himself in O’Neill’s eyes, and work on his survivor’s guilt about Daniel.  After pushing a plan into action to stop the energy build-up in the stargate that fails, and leads to Carter being injured, Rodney McKay wants to redeem himself to Carter, sort of.  O’Neill does not have jack to redeem himself for, and is taking heroic measures to help save Earth.

While “Redemption, Part 2” is rife with adventure and suspense, it fails to maintain the quality level of the characters interactions and motivations in part one.  This episode lacks smooth transitions as individuals strive to redeem themselves for their real, or perceived, failings.  Instead, their redemptions take the form of grand acts whose successful completion is sketchy, or by pointing out the obvious to those folks around them.

All of the actors’ performances are fine.

Failures:
“Redemption Part 1” mixed character development with exciting action, and suspense.  In this episode, the character development is a distant second to the action.  I enjoy the action, and the special effects are phenomenal.  I think the handling of the characters seeking redemption in this episode is too glib, especially when compared to part one.

Stargate SG-1, Season 6, Episode 1

"Redemption, Part 1"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Excellent

Commentary by:
Martin Wood -- 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:
Three months after the events in "Meridian," SG-1 is off-world, running for the stargate, chased by a large number of the planet’s very angry inhabitants.  The team makes it back to SGC.  O’Neill’s knee is injured, and the ninth replacement for Daniel Jackson’s position in SG-1 is off the team.

Jonas Quinn lives on base at SGC, as Kelowna considers him a traitor.  He still blames himself for Daniel's injuries caused by the naquadria-bomb accident.  Teal’c is stoic about Daniel’s ascension, as ascension is the ultimate goal of many Jaffa who are at the end of their days.  Carter is cool towards Jonas, showing a disjointed mix of behavior towards him that wavers between acceptance and resentment.  O’Neill distances himself from Jonas, still angry that initially Jonas was willing to allow Daniel to be blamed for the naquadria-bomb accident.

Speaking of naquadria, a new flying craft is developed at Area 51 -- the X-302.  It is based on Goa’uld death gliders, but engineered from the ground up on Earth.  The X-302 flies in an atmosphere, or in space.  Additionally, the craft can also generate a hyperspace window, thanks to the naquadria pilfered from Kelowna by Jonas.

Colonel Chekov (“48 Hours”), the Russian envoy to SGC, wants a Russian to become the fourth member of SG-1.  Jonas Quinn also wants to become a member of SG-1.  O’Neill does not want either a Russian, or Jonas, on his SG team.  Jack is still hating on all things Russian.  Jonas’ initial unwillingness to come forth with the truth about what happened to Daniel left O’Neill not believing that Jonas Quinn is trustworthy.

Bra’tac gates to SGC with news for Teal’c.  Drey’auc is gravely ill.  Teal’c goes to Drey’auc, currently on the planet where the Free Jaffa movement is encamped.  There, he reunites with his son, Rya'c (“Family”), and checks on Drey’auc.

Later, SGC’s stargate activates.  No IDC is received, and no energy is detected coming through the wormhole.  Yet, the wormhole remains active, not shutting down even after the 38 minute window passes, the maximum time that a wormhole can continue (“There But For the Grace of God”).  Eventually, a build-up of energy is detected in the SGC stargate, a build-up that will lead to the destruction of the gate in a few days.  If the gate explodes, it will mean the end of life on Earth.  Unable to stop the energy feeding into their stargate, the decision is made to use the X-302 to contact an off-world ally for help.

“Redemption, Part 1” sets up a series of unrelated events that gradually begin to entwine.  Individual characters face the ramifications of their past actions, and wonder if there is any chance of redemption.  This is a very well written story, tying character driven plots with adventure.  All of the actors provide strong performances.  Chris Judge is outstanding in a brief scene between Teal’c and Rya'c.  Garry Chalk returns as Colonel Chekov, Tony Amendola is Bra'tac, and Neil Denis returns as Rya'c.

Failures:
None.

SG-1 Season Six DVD Set -- Content

I will rate each season’s DVD set before reviewing the season’s individual episodes.  My rating in this post solely reflects the DVD content, options, & extras (or lack thereof), not episodes.

Overall Rating for the Set:  Good

Audio commentary on each episode.

No "play all" option.
The only audio language is English.

Subtitles: None

This is a five-disc set, with 22 episodes.
Each episode is approximately 44 minutes long.

All episodes are anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1.

Sound: 5.1 (Dolby Digital)

The special features are not rated.

Although there are no subtitles, the episodes are close captioned. You can use the close caption option on your television to view the dialog in English.

The special features are not closed-captioned.

There is not a “play all” option.  Episodes have to be accessed for viewing one at a time.

Special Features -- A “SG-1 Directors Series” Featurette for:

Episodes 1 through 11
Episode 16
Episode 22

I rate this set Good because it has all of the season’s episodes in their entirety, and in broadcast order, and there is audio commentary for each episode.  Slim cases, and nice artwork.

SG-1 Season 5 At a Glance

My rating for each episode in season five.

Episode 1: Enemies -- Excellent
Episode 2: Threshold -- Excellent
Episode 3: Ascension -- Fair
Episode 4: The Fifth Man -- Excellent
Episode 5: Red Sky -- Fair
Episode 6: Rite of Passage -- Good
Episode 7: Beast of Burden -- Fair
Episode 8: The Tomb -- Excellent
Episode 9: Between Two Fires -- Excellent
Episode 10: 2001 -- Excellent
Episode 11: Desperate Measures -- Good
Episode 12: Wormhole X-treme! -- Excellent
Episode 13: Proving Ground -- Good
Episode 14: 48 Hours -- Excellent
Episode 15: Summit -- Excellent
Episode 16: Last Stand -- Excellent
Episode 17: Fail Safe -- Very Good
Episode 18: The Warrior -- Very Good
Episode 19: Menace -- Excellent
Episode 20: The Sentinel -- Very Good
Episode 21: Meridian -- Good
Episode 22: Revelations -- Very Good

I think this is one of the best seasons of Stargate SG-1. The storyline of the Goa’uld continues, and expands in scope, as new aspects of the Goa’uld System Lords are uncovered, and the depredations of the Goa’uld are demonstrated in new ways. This season also brought Anubis to the forefront, a powerful Goa’uld with plans that, if successful, will result in his being the one ruler of this galaxy, and his being a threat to the Asgard empire almost as great as the Replicators.

The Free Jaffa rebellion is covered to a greater extent during season 5. Up until this season, Teal’c and Bra’tac have been the faces of the budding Jaffa rebellion against the Goa’uld. Season 5 shows that the rebellion has been growing, and other Jaffa leaders are rising up in the fight.

Even most of the episodes that do not directly involve the Goa’uld storyline demonstrate improvements over previous seasons. Rather than such episodes being asides at best, filler at worst, they tend towards building on the Stargate SG-1 foundation, giving more depth to series, and the characters.

Season 5 ended without a cliffhanger, as Showtime had decided to stop producing the series, and a cliffhanger would be unfair to viewers. SciFi Channel took over producing Stargate SG-1 from Showtime beginning with season 6. SciFi Channel initially intended season 6 to be the series finale, however, the series was renewed at the last minute.

Why did Michael Shanks leave Stargate SG-1? Theories, and rumors, abounded on the Internet, with some finger pointing at Michael Shanks, and some at the controlling team of Stargate SG-1. My thoughts about the situation? I do not know Michael Shanks, nor was I involved in any part of the decision making process for Stargate SG-1. So, I don’t know what happened.  For me, the rationale behind Shanks’ departure is moot.

For season 6, I missed Daniel Jackson being on the show all the time. However, upcoming episodes do a nice job of moving on by continuing to nurture, and expand, the realm of Stargate SG-1. Season 6 is another example of how oftentimes, when a television show has a strong ensemble cast, a character can leave without crippling the series.