I get the impression that this was a "standard" exploration story of SG-1 that got shoehorned into the Ori story arc. Not a bad story, but nothing outstanding. I'm hoping that they'll skip over the second of the three possible planets that Merlin could have left the weapon, and skip straight to finding it, thus avoiding that particular cliche.
-The Ori have won over six worlds since last week, including two Jaffa strongholds. This makes it at least seven conquered worlds including Chulak; I guess the toiletships aren't sticking around for long, and leaving a garrison to watch over the new subject worlds while the fleet moves on.
-On that note, the Ori have not yet sent more ships. The supergate is still there, but our heroes can't use it to dial the Ori galaxy - a Jaffa ship is monitoring it. Undeafeatable as they are so far, does it still make sense to start an attack with only four ships and an occupational force that is only in the thousands? Are they sending more Ori forces through the local stargate once the toiletships have taken care of any problematic defences?
-Adira is leading the assault. We'll see her, in her full ex-Companion glory, in a few episodes. In the meantime, the Ori have NOT yet made a play for Earth; Teal'c thinks that the Ancient defence platform in Antarctica is making them stay away, at least for now.
-The Pentagon doesn't think that it's worth it for Vala to join the SGC, given her past, and despite her knowledge of the Ori (AND her having given birth to their leader). Still, Daniel convinces them on the notion that they did the same for Teal'c ten years ago; Landry grudgingly agrees and signs her up for an entertaining psych evaluation.
-The planet this week is yet another re-use of the massive medieval set they've been using for a year and a half now on both shows. This time, they've given it a decidedly Slient Hill look.
-The guest sacrifice this time are NOT members of an SG-team - they have the standard SGC base patch where you'd normally see an SG team patch. They were pulled of an offworld innoculation assignment (against the Ori plague, presumably) and have been up for over 24 hours by the time they got there, thus setting them up to be first affected by the melatonin parasite.
-There's a cliche lie detector schtick that's run against Vala. For the record, needles on those things are wavering ALL the time, and it's only the patterns that indicate lies or not. And hey, don't they have that Tok'Ra device from a few years ago?
-I can't help but feel that the ending is a bit of a cop out, but at the same time it's exactly what should have happened. The beauty of the Stargate format is that no matter how many light years you are away from Earth, help and support can be literally minutes away through the gate. The hazmat team was doubtless sent by Landry when SG-1 didn't check in, knowing that the offworld team was affected by the parasite, and an isolation setup would of course have been put together Earthside.
-What bugs me is that all this stuff happens principally offscreen, and we come back AFTER all this happens and everyone's back to normal, joking about it like it in the "remember that time..?" format. We all KNOW the stuff happens, but we don't see a lick of it. SG-1 is known to write like this. Normally it doesn't bug me as much, but generally we leave off when the offscreen stuff starts and it's up to the viewer to fill in the gaps.
-Anyway, they throw in a quick Atlantis reference, and the gang (or most of them) is off merrily to the Pegasus galaxy to bug Weir, Shep, and thei friends until they can't take it anymore.
Mark
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Was anyone else totally NOT surprised that Woolsey's little "proposal" to Vala turned out to be part of the test? I also, by extension, predicted that she'd turn the tables at the end by suggesting he made sexual advances towards her. As predictable as that was to me, it was no less hilarious because of it. Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I didn't see it coming. Seemed like something the IOA would try to pull. Not sure about Woolsey, though, I'm still not entirely sure what he's going to do at any given time.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
It's probably worthwhile to note that Bob Picardo is a big SG-1 fan before he he did hid first episode - he apparently got into it while doing SF cons in Europe, where SG-1 is huge. Anyway, he likes the show and the writers like him, which translates into many guest appearances with significant things to do.
Mark
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Anyone else catch the Blade Runner gag during vala's psyche test? The bit about the turtle on it's back in the desert is from the VOIT/COMP test.
Aside from that, it's a filler episode straight out of X-Files- the shots with the Hazmat team that's exactly like the X-Files episode with the swarms of glowy bugs in the forest.
The big disapointment this episode is the utter lack of a search of LeFey's hidden cavern- I mean, it's not like the secret caves had that hidden entrance to protect The Secret of the Immuneized Lizzard.
SGA was also really weak this week...leading up to the big crossover thing, I guess, but still.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Did anyone else think the CGI lizard had a scaling problem? I thought it was about six inches long, right up until Teal'c caught it, and it was, like, Gila-monster-sized.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Jason: That's a VERY good point. This episode seemed to focus way too much on the formula of the crisis and reaction, and not much else. It was like the search was just an excuse or something. They could've gone back in their hazmat suits to take a more thorough look around...
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