Countdown - Only Two Episodes of SG-1 Left

Shortly, the second to last episode of SG-1 will air on the SciFi Channel--the ending of an era, and the beginning of a new one. However, there are great hopes with Atlantis being the next generation of StarGate. Tonight we will find out how Ardia survived, and the confrontation occurs between the Orici and StarGate SG-1 as Vala's heart hangs in the balance.

SG-1 Discussion Questions on Forum

For everyone who is going to miss StarGate SG-1 or who wants to muse over possible outcomes of the show, there are discussions going on over at mylot. No spoilers, please. Just click on the links below! ;)

1. Countdown: Only Two Episodes of StarGate SG-1 Left
2. StarGate SG1: Post Your Farewell Messages
3. StarGate SG-1: Who Will Live and Who Will Die?

P.S. : Please forgive any typos there as the forum hoster won't let me edit my discussion posts, or at least I haven't figured out how to do so yet.

Family Ties (StarGate SG-1 Review)

Airdate: 06/08/07

Written by: Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie
Director: Peter DeLuise

In "Family Ties," Jacek, Vala's father played by Fred Willard, special guest star, claims to have heard that Earth is in danger from his source, Robak. The episode sub-plot involves Dr. Caroline Lam, General Landry's daughter. I love the way this episode starts off. It reminds me of a story from the Classic X-Men comic book between Jean Grey and Storm (But, of course the friendship between Ororo and Jean is played down in the movies to a mere co-worker status). And of course the klutz, from Episode 200 fame, has to stumble into something. It's good to see some more character development in SG-1, though SG-1 rarely disappoints.

Of course, from the look on Vala's face, we can tell that there is going to be trouble between the daughter and the father from the start. A flabbergasted Vala tried to get SG-1 and General Landry to not authorize Jacek's meeting regarding Arkad's plot to attack Earth. After Dr. Lam treats Sgt. Klutz, she speaks with her own father, General Landry, who has come to pay her a personal visit. Lexa Doig did a good job acting-better than usual, but of all the StarGate characters, we've spent the least amount of time getting to know her, which is why it's good that she is part of the sub-plot in this episode.

When Daniel asks Vala what she got from her dad, and she said, "some minor food allergies,"--it's hilarious because we immediately recall the "other" skill sets she could have gotten from him. Jacek, of course, wants to tell them everything he knows about the Jaffa attack in exchange for full sanctuary on Earth as only he knows the location of Arkad's planned attack. From a high orbit, SG-1 detects a load of Naquadah on the planet Jacek gave them, thus ensuring the deal. Jacek arrives, though Vala would rather see him in a penal colony, which says a lot. It is surprisingly tender that Jacek spent everyday for three weeks trying to reach Vala. But, until General Landry gives her a little fatherly advice, she isn't interested. Of course, we're thinking pot-kettle. It is interesting to see the changes in Vala's character in a role reversal for her character juxtaposed next to Jacek.

Of course, we should know by her calling Jacek by his first name, that there is turmoil between them. But scamming old ladies during a Bingo game is just atrocious even as Jacek claims to be attempting to change his illegal ways (and we won't even mention Pepitito). Oh, and then there's the "stardust" scam, which was funny as hell, undercutting the $19.95 ads. Fred Willard gives a dazzling performance as Vala's father, and is as funny as a tea party on a turnpike. Teal'c gives Jacek the advice: "Be less annoying," just before Jacek tries to get Vala to go with him to the "Virginia Dialogues," but instead gives the ticket to Teal'c. Of course what happens when aliens try to understand Earth culture is a complete mix-up. Poor Teal'c ends up watching Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues." Poor Teal'c!

Vala has not lost her lock-picking locks--this is good for SG-1. Jacek makes a deal with the renegade Jaffa to buy and sell the Naquadah, and had a Jaffa com-patch in his personal effects. Unfortunately, no one can find the cloaked cargo ship and with one dead Jaffa, SG-1 has to stop them before they detonate the Naquadah. Jacek asking Colonel Carter to dinner is hilarious, as is Carter putting him in his place. Finally, we see some real character development between Dr. Lam, General Landry, and Dr. Lam's mother. Vala telling her dad he's sloppy was a nice touch too; great character development for Vala. I love the way Vala signals SG-1 with the insulting phrase to her father. To be honest, I thought it was bad having Vala on the show initally until I realized what great depths Claudia Black could bring to the show as an actress (Not to mention the fact that I've fallen in love with the character).

Did Jacek really get away with his ultimate scam? Jacek is almost endearing when he gives Vala the necklace, and clicks his tongue, but somehow we know better, but not when it comes to Vala. The ending is perfect. Had no idea that "Jibbaran virility enhancers" were so tasty--Jacek is such a master scammer.

Though we can tell Vala lied to him about the box, it is a good ending except for the Sci-Fi channel voice problems. The talking was out of synch during one of the final conversations and during next week's preview with the Orici, Adria, Vala's daughter. During all the final female parts, the sound being off was the fault of the Sci-Fi Channel. Rather annoying for a perfectly humorous episode.

StarGate SG-1 Preview of Dominion - Only Two Episodes Left!

I can't believe that there are only two episodes of StarGate SG-1 left to watch ever! It's the end of the show we thought would never end, and apparently, the SciFi Channel is in disbelief as well. As a tribute to the series, the SciFi Channel is hosting a Grand Finale Countdown Celebration at SG-1 central: http://www.scifi.com/stargate/. Also available for scrumptous consumption are: Top ten Moments, Character Moments, Cast Farewells, and the Forum for discussions and such. And don't forget to vote for the "Best Episode Ever," while you surf the site.

Watch the preview to the next episode entitled, "Dominion." From the preview on SciFi.com, SG-1 somehow learns that Adria, The Orici, is alive (Yes). Check out the promo video here: http://video.scifi.com/player/?id=117363.

Next Episode of SG Atlantis With Michael

Watch the preview to the next episode entitled, "Vengeance." Apparently, Sheppard's team search for missing civilians leads him to Michael. What has Michael created that is so devastating? Check out the promo video here: http://video.scifi.com/player/?id=116481.

Submersion (SG Atlantis Review)

Airdate: 06/08/07

Writer: Ken Cuperus Director: Brenton Spencer

The Atlantis team docks the puddle jumper at a Atlantean geothermal drilling station(platform), looking for an unlimited power supply from the thermal power. And even after the last five-star episode-one thing hasn't changed: McKay is still a whiner.

By the way, what is "Oh, zing" besides Mckay's favorite new catchphrase?

The team has spent hours together in similar situation to that of the space shuttle crew all cramped up inside. Their mission: to power up the station, and find out why the project was abandoned by the ancients.

Teyla senses a Wraith presence nearby the drilling platform, but it's not on the life signs detector, thus they believe it is the pressure affecting her mind. Dr. Weir and Teyla agree for Teyla to check via establishing a mind-link to the Wraith, but the Wraith ends up being too strong for her, thereby remaining undetected. Got to love the references to "The Abyss." Finally, we get to see Teyla in action, though more in the telepathic sense. The station looses power and the force fields lock down the grid sections. Dickinson and Graydon are red shirts if I've ever seen them. Interesting that Rodney hired the wrong guy after all and that if Dr. Grayson had gone on this mission, then he most certainly would not have survived.

An experienced queen centuries old is their foe. By the way, why didn't the life-signs detector pick the Queen up? The reason the episode gives us is that she was not on board yet, but don't they run the life-signs detector again while she is on board? Theory: the ancient Wraith queen is so powerful that she is able to mask her presence in their minds. ---mask the minds of all who check the life-signs detector with an illusion.

You have to love the occasional science fiction references to Star Trek. In a past episode, John Sheppard is compared to Captain Kirk by McKay for being a lady's man. In this episode, Dickinson threatens to call Dr. McKay, Dr. McCoy, which he should have. One of the micro-morals of this episode is to say what you think because you might not get another chance. And McKay refers to Teyla's gift as "Teyla's spidey sense."

Teyla opened her mind to the Wraith queen. Rachel Luttrell's acting was brilliant and everyone at our Sci-Fi Friday gathering was impressed with how she was able to portray herself as possessed by the Wraith. Others commented that even the way that she walked and spoke was different.

This queen is so powerful that she can control another person's mind-even Colonel Sheppard's. The costuming choice for the Wraith was exquisite and this queen is the most distinctive queen ever as we see her personality through how driven she is; we know how far she will go, and that she will stop at nothing short of her goals. The Atlanteans faced in her a fearsome foe-ruthless.

The Wraith queen tells them that they are, "All about to die." They find that they didn't notice a Wraith cruiser completely buried in silt because it was emitting a low EM field. They theorize that she swam over through the crushing depths, constantly healing herself (I'd hate to see this queen at full power).

And why doesn't she have a name? She led the first wave of hive ships against Atlantis in the great war, and was the Queen of a great alliance. This earmarks her as important, and we should know her name.

The queen fed on her crew, and cyclically woke and slept like a bear in hibernation. Yet after millennia, she is foiled when she gets to the only means of her escape-the jumper- and doesn't possess the gene to fly the Atlantean ship.

Did anybody notice Teyla's eyes going white while she was trying to read the queen's mail?-Neat effect-even if it is reminiscent of Storm. Again, what is this queen's name? Not that they care, but if Teyla's reading her mind, then it shouldn't be that hard to figure out for Teyla, and would have fit nicely in right before the "Queen of a Great Alliance" bit. Was this an alliance of only Wraith factions, or did other races join up with them that we have yet to encounter? After a while, with only "Wraith Queen" to differentiate them, it can be confusing talking about them, and unlike Borg Queens, I am sure that Wraith Queens actually have designations.

Poor Ronon-the guy has to have a high pain-threshold. Ronon sure is gullible in this one, but I don't blame him the first time. But the reason he probably left them together was him hoping that Teyla would kill her.

They lose the control room, and with no time for a rescue jumper, we sure are lucky that these ancients were not all super telekinetically endowed with power, and that some of them needed mechanical devices to explore the depths. If the Wraith vessel blows, Atlantis and the geothermal platform both go out. Teyla basically tells the Wraith Queen, "Bring it on Bitch," in her own unique way.

The wraith cruiser was covered in silk, which is why they didn't see it on the way down. Wraith technology must be superior to maintain an atmosphere for so long. The queen activates the self-destruct sequence on her cruiser, and the Atlantis team must find a way to stop it from creating a chain reaction at the power station and destroying everything that we care about on the Atlantis planet. I won't tell you how it ends, but I will tell you this: this episode is great sci-fi.

Will we see this queen again? It would be nice to have named Queens and Wraith characters that return from time to time--this is what makes Michael such a unique character. Atlantis is in need of more villains currently--villains with names. By developing each Queen or high ranking male Wraith, we get to see the boundaries and the extent of Wraith culture.

For examples of a good Wraith enemy, Atlantis writers can turn to "ST II: The Wrath of Khan," or the traitor-ess in "ST: The Undiscovered Country." The head Replicator was a good enemy for Atlantis as was the past two Genii leaders. Atlantis should really remove the power device from the Wraith cruiser if it really poses such a great threat to the station-seriously-this would make a good future episode.

The Wraith, like the Ori, go back to StarGate having its own mythology to pull from though some could argue that the Wraith are much akin to vampires--it is a rebirth of mythology for a generation without any mythology of its own as Joseph Campbell said in "The Power of Myth."

Submersion (SG Atlantis Preview)

Air Date: 06/08/07

According to SciFi.com, the new episode of StarGate Atlantis is to have a Wraith queen who awakens from a long, deep sleep under the ocean where she has been for ages. Apparently, the Wraith queen tries to destroy Atlantis, and use Teyla as her pawn. This episode looks pretty good from the promotional clip.

StarGate Atlantis Season Two

Only the Second Season is Available now! :(

Can't wait for the Atlantis - Third Season DVD to come out, and the season's not even over yet.

StarGate SG-1 Season 10

The Tenth Season with Ben Browder! :)

Can't Believe there's only going to be one more DVD for this series ever.

Echoes (SG Atlantis Review)

Air Date: 04/20/07

Written by: Carl Binder

Directed by: Will Waring

This episode had great potential, but fell short due to the science behind sci-fi. Flying into the sun was not a popular move with science fiction afficionados at our usual sci-fi Friday gathering. My chemistry major-physics expert lunged at his head in throes of pain at the very notion of being so close to the sun during an extinction level event.

It would have been more plausible if a number of other possibilities had merged: the whales saved the planet; an ascended being saved Atlantis and the whales; or they got two more Z. P. M.'s.

Though it was fun to watch, as I love the series, this episode loses major science points for flying into the sun during a coronal mass ejection. This also begins a trend of Teyla not seeing a lot of action in the latter part of this season. Even though StarTrek IV has been criticized, it has been a fan favorite to enough people to warrant a collector's edition/director's cut. It would have been better even to nod to ST IV by having a sentient whale space fleet block the coronal ejection with a space whale song functioning as a shield.

The sun wasn't the only thing ejecting--in this episode, science was ejected out the window.

Science Fiction is a careful balancing of the implausible with the plausible.

Even though this is not a hardcore piece like something Isaac Asimov would concoct, it should err on the side of treating extinction level events as serious threats--especially considering the time period is Twenty-First Century Earth--even with Atlantean technology.

There were plenty of other ways to resolve this plot without compromising the science. Sure, people could still complain, but not nearly as much as they are complaining now. The science issue in "Echoes" puts this episode at a 1 on a scale of 5. I hate rating systems; if you are dedicated to a show, however, you watch, and to some degree enjoy, all of the episodes. The problem is that now I have to convince my friends that the show is worth another shot.