Topic: Stargate: SG1 Season 7.

[6pairsofshoes]

And he's back.  Naked as a Jaybird.  Daniel Jackson.  Fallen, trying to find the lost city of the ancients with super cool weapons turns out to be a bust.  Anubis is trying to be the big guy.  DJ messes with him, determining he's (DJ) really an ancient, although his promise to wipe Anubis out seems to have been thwarted by super duper wavy white light nu-age Numi or whoever she is.

Homecoming in which after big heavy duty battles, the Jonas Quinn character comes up with excuse to get off the show as a regular so DJ can have his job back.  The cast says goodbye.  In the meantime, Jonas and DJ are on Anubis ship and Anubis is being his usual crank fest self, making efforts to bomb the Jonas home planet with the naquada he's absconded with.  Everyone is an bottom, but at the end, everyone agrees that Jonas is a good guy who now has a promising career as a diplomatic negotiator.  Hooray!

[6pairsofshoes]

Fragile balance.  O'Neill is cloned into a 15 year old version of himself and it's hilarious.  The Asgard rogue who is responsible screwed up the clone, but all is fixed in the end.  The younger actor's ability to replicate O'Neill's phrasing, demeanor and vocabulary is really spot on.

Orpheus:  Briac, Teal'c and his mini me are on a planet mining camp as slaves to a guy who really likes to bleach his hair so he can really come across as a total richard.  Teal'c and Briac are running out of the nifty synthetic drug that replaces their symbiote.  More father/son bonding and the SG1 team helps free the camp.  DJ is sort of "I realized that belonging here was more important than hanging out on the astral plane."  Ta da.

[6pairsofshoes]

Revisions:  Interesting plot about a dome that shelters inhabitants from toxic exterior atmosphere.  The power source has been failing but the computer controls the population and the memories and behaviors of the inhabitants through a link worn on the temple/forehead.  Our heroes show up and slowly figure out what's going on and save the town from certain extinction.  Good job.

Lifeboat:  Daniel Jackson obtains the personalities of a bunch o' cryogenically frozen people in a ship SG1 explored.  Two words:  overactors' theatre.

[6pairsofshoes]

Enemy Mine:  DJ acts as diplomat with hostile group of Umas who took offense at the humans messing with their sacred ground.  Finally, after deaths on both sides, they come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

Space Race:  Amusing take on capitalism and the apparatus of sports announcements/endorsements, commercials, etc. via a space race with aliens.  The sports coverage was pretty funny.  The whole thing was sort of camp and goofy.  Especially the sièges à gran confort in the lobby of Tektron, designed in the 1920's by Le Corbusier.  Who knew that modernism was so popular that aliens chose it for their corporate interiors.

[8ullfrog]

I like the joke about not remembering when the meeting was, and then he calls Jack "Jim". Just a tiny little note, but it's great.

They brought a lot of guns out in this one? next one? my notes on this disc suck. Jack does the thing where he lets people explain themselves rather than bark orders, it makes him an effective leader.

I have something about Jaffa here, somehow I missed the fact before, but every time Teal'c suits up in his Jaffa uniform, he's essentially dressed as an SS officer. We got some of that in season 1 when he was put on trial, but this one brought that memory back.

This time the plan involves evacuating civilians, I guess they learned that lesson from Abydos.
Don Davis said he liked this one because he doesn't have to do the classic monosyllabic responses "CLOSE THE IRIS, OPEN THE IRIS, YOU HAVE A GO".

Jonas gets the boot. They did him dirty

Fragile Balance

 was hilarious, and you're right, the kid got the mannerisms spot on. Shame they never did anything with the character ever again, it seems like a very stupid waste. At least send him to Atlantis and let his rank carry, they're used to weird poo out there. He's got almost 40 years of field experience, and a proven track record of kicking alien ass, the only thing he doesn't have is physical conditioning, but he also doesn't have O'Neill's bad knees.

Hell, they pulled him from the F-302 briefing, and he managed to do it anyway. The room was full of professionals and they got over being snotty after two jokes. Once again, Effective Leadership.

They managed to make the Thor puppet look angry! That's progress, originally the puppet couldn't even walk!

Orpheus

Disc was messed up, I watched it on streaming. I don't like this episode. They just wanted to use those kicky guys.

Revisions

This one was super creepy, and they filmed it in an abandoned theme park. Tons of shows used it, the last being the Black and White episode of Supernatural. It's bulldozed now.

It was also super tragic, and the people on the planet don't even know who the hell they actually are, for all we know the internet devices changed them up on whims.

Funny thing is I thought this plot was recycled from the outer limits series, and it turns out they even used the same props.

Lifeboat: The scenes on the ship were super interesting, the episode was not.

Space Race -

Possibly one of the funniest episodes of the series, I loved it. Even the little infographic they use for SG-1 is funny. Huge Jonas, Tiny Daniel.  Tealc actually acts like a brat and gets away with it.

Modernism showed up a lot on planets in the Delta Quadrant on Voyager to make them look somewhat alien, I wonder if that was what they were aiming for.

[6pairsofshoes]

Avenger 2.0:  comic nerds from MIT who are obsessed with SG1 manage, by introducing a virus into one stargate, to shut down all of them, thenceforth rendering them useless as a transportation device.  Nerdy guy is obsessed with Carter despite the clear interest of his own lab assistant.  It gets fixed.  Big surprise.  Kind of lame.

Birthright:  Hot blonde leader of amazon type genetically altered and symbiote needing group of wild women takes up with Teal'c.  The SG1 guys have to convince these stubborn ladies to forego symbioted and try the nifty new drug that Teal'c has come to depend on.  There is resistance.  Another kind of lame episode in which I could swear I've seen a couple of the actresses on other shows.  All gets worked out and the Earthlings give drugs and food, etc. to the amazonian women and they all kicked ass happily ever after.

[6pairsofshoes]

Evolution:  Anubis (aka "Tarface") has co-opted a technology to make some kind of super soldier out of symbiote hybrid... They look like snot turned into the Terminator.  Goopy slimy guys who can't be beat.    They make Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a wimp.  DJ goes to the Yucatan and digs into some pyramid to find an object that glows and turns regular guerillas into cruel nutjobs who can't be killed.  They kidnap DJ and sidekick for ransom.  O'Neill and former CIA guy save the day.  Anubis manages to get thousands of identical creepy soldiers together.  Not a good situation.  It's not resolved but left hanging.  Incidentally, why doesn't Anubis have a jackal head like he's supposed to.

Grace:  the name of the episode and the odd little girl who shows up when the Prometheus gets stuck in a gas cloud after fleeing from the alien craft who attacks.  Carter gets to listen to a bunch of the SG1 guys who engage in nifty psychobabble delving into why she's stuck, why she's unhappy, how she deserves a man, blah blah, etc.  She gets to have a pretend kiss with O'Neill, more Barbara Cartland manipulation.  She engages in enough navel gazing until she realized that the aliens captured her crew as they were also stuck in the cloud.  We have a distinct Wizard of Oz thing going on here... Auntie Em, Auntie Em!  I don't think we're in Kansas any more...This, despite the fact that the aliens' attack is why she went into the cloud in the first place.
 So how could they chase her into it when they were already trapped in it?  Logic is also on holiday here. 

Not to worry.  Bubbles save the day.  Girl blows them, Carter gets to remember some basic physics about surface tension and comes up with the answer.  The aliens give the crew back and she takes a break.  All is well and everyone is saved.  O'Neill shows up and says that the others are planning to give her some cake.  He's about as uptight as it gets.  30 minutes of this, "when are we going to be relieved of this claptrap" stuff.  Not the best writing in the world.

[8ullfrog]

Come on, Avenger was a reprise of other guys, and is fun in that it isn't a typical episode. We get a bit more goof, even from a baddie than we usually do. It's also a plan that would TOTALLY pass military guidelines. "We re-key the stargate network, and lock everyone else out? Sounds good!" Then reality intrudes.

I agree that Chloe was a bit gratuitous, but we've had more annoying one off characters, and sadly, have more to suffer through.

One thing I found interesting is that Felger and Baal are both aiming at the same weak point. Felger has the benefit of one lifetime of education, and has clearly spent quite a lot of time being ridiculed.

Baal has genetic memory and is a god.

I'd say Felger's weakness is that he thinks too big, he's aiming for plasma weaponry, and SG-1 is still using Intar's like they picked them up at a garage sale. He needs to realize he isn't Tony Stark, and this episode gives him that wakeup call.

the insides of the DHD look lame as poo. I liked the crystal systems in Goauld vessels, I can buy their cowpoo, but the DHD looks like a decorative fountain with Ring Pops pasted in.

Once again, comedy episode goes real deal serious with the bombing run. Avenger was a success... sadly it was a success for Baal.

Birthright:

Jolene Blalock is very pretty, but this was poo. I liked Daniel's heart to heart with the teenager, but the Haktyl were written as if they were a joke, when this would be serious as golly. Plus, we've seen Jaffa wear essentially Jedi robes while traveling, the booby uniform has seriously outlived it's usefulness. Like I could TOTALLY see... who was it, creepy bald one, Moloc, totally making his female Jaffa wear booby uniforms, but once they are a resistance movement, why are they still dressed like xena rejects?

One thing I do like, a member of the Haktyl is a member of the Jaffa council... later. I don't mean to get into spoilers, but it's the only time the Haktyl are relevant.
God I hate Ryac.

Evolution:

 This episode is ridiculous and I love it. Enrico Colantoni is criminally wasted. Dude takes ZOMBIES in stride, and gets the mission done. At the very least, he deserves his own SG team. The drama between him and O'Neill is fantastic. The zombie box is... lame as golly. I've seen better in fanfic. No seriously, they replace the zombie box with El Dorado and make it an ancient city ship. That's right, they mock the entire premise of Stargate: Atlantis by putting one on earth, underwater. The show could have done so much better. The Kull warriors are extremely creepy, they did a good job there.

Grace:

Amanda Tapping says this episode got the best ratings out of the entire series. I thought it was poo, and EXTREMELY insulting to her character (Carter)

golly that episode.

[6pairsofshoes]

Re:  Grace.  I agree with you that the episode was about as anti feminist as they get.  Here's a genius engineer injured in the line of duty and being laid out for us to examine.  This is like some kind of whack Freudian session where we learn she's unhappy and unfulfilled because she has not yet given birth to a male child, therefore explaining penis envy.  Christ on a crutch.  If only she had a penis, she could escape this kind of ridiculous scrutiny.  Can you imagine any of the male characters being subjected to this kind of nonsense?

The idea that this drew especially high ratings makes me gag.  Your comments about the Haktyl costumes are also spot on in this vein.  Science fiction shows have a long way to go.  At least the Expanse has managed to escape this kind of thing so far.

[6pairsofshoes]

Glad to hear it.  Didn't mean to conjure you up via my fit of pique.  Happy to have your input on this series if you have any.

[6pairsofshoes]

It's marginally better than Earth: Final Conflict.  The only person who might be able to explain how I got through that is a psychoanalyst.  After Season 1, it sucked, and I watched the entire run.

This isn't as bad, although the last two were only a tiny bit better than Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Fallout:  Jonas comes from a planet of assholes.  One that's about to blow up.  A Goua'ld who is keen on Jonas (who reciprocated her feelings before he knew she was a Goua'ld) manages to save the planet from blowing up.  This saves SG1 from having to locate the Bores to another inhabited planet that will be then victimized by having to put up with their endless infernal squabbling.

Chimera:  The real Chimera is the hideously bad makeup job they do on Carter to make her seem normal and feminine.  She looks like a bad drag queen when they're done with it.  She's inexplicably drawn to a dull cop, who also seems to be suspicious of her enough to call FBI to get nothing about her.  Sarah, the Goua'ld infested chick with the curly 80's hairdo, like the nice girl from Carrie, comes back to mine DJ's mind in an effort to find the lost planet.  She puts a disc on DJ's head while he's asleep and gives him translation tasks.  He wakes thinking he's had weird dreams, but Teal'c is wise to this.  After a shootout they manage to capture the Sarah/Goual'd character and remove the symbiote, spurring a tearful forgiving reunion between DJ and his former assistant.

And, yes, Chris, the description you gave of the characters is apt.  I tend to sympathize with "aw gee, I was enjoying retirement" O'Neill, who tends to escape to go fishing every chance he gets.  Who wouldn't?  His snark is entirely understandable.  The General just seems like a guy who lucked into a role that is minimal while guaranteeing a paycheck.  "You have a go."  Who talks like that?  really.  I've never been in the military, but are you serious?

[8ullfrog]

Uh yeah, they do talk like that. There are other super annoying phrases, and even gestures! Wheels up, for instance, when they impatiently demand to leave something.

In the game ARMA II, it often took 10 minutes to program the bless'ed radios we were carrying. No neat little shoulder Motorola's like in the show. Even moving around was bless'ed tedious. You'd radio command to go 4 squares on the map, then wait for permission. Fairly humorless lot too. Real soldiers are more fun than the cosplaying retards in video games. I had a roommate who did Airsoft, they are some insufferable douchebags.

Make an L outwards and up with your elbow, extend index and middle finger as if making a salute, and rotate hand in circle. (Means the same thing as wheels up)

It's like a two year old repeatedly saying "Let's go".

I was going to describe a command dilemma with potatoes, but that's actually an S8 spoiler. Multiple S8 spoilers actually. See you back for S8 episode 3 on that one.

c, the series plots are as dreary as you describe, but the characters are not Barbie dolls. When they demanded more lines to emote to, one of the series running directors told them no, and to fill the space nonverbally.

So people wordlessly interact. It's great, gives the world a lived in feeling a lot of shows fake. You get a feeling that these people have real, rather than superficial connections.

As to the episodes, poo, let me consult notepad.


FALLOUT:

Production gripe: Producers were very unhappy that the guest stars both had the same haircut, and yeah, it's super weird.

And yes, the Kelownans suck. Jonas should have stayed on earth. Sad note: we never see him again.

CHIMERA

Carter goes low cut, which is... different from how we've seen her in the past? Pete is funny, but there are some serious line crosses in this episode.

They once again waste Osiris/Sarah, she was a way better baddy than that turd anubis. There were some behind the scenes things that showed she had a great sense of humor about it all, I have no idea why they decided to ax her here, even if sarah lives.

They tried to get Ben Browder to play Pete the cop, he turned the role down. Good move, Browder!

Teal'c is a horrible therapist to Daniel in this episode.

TEAL'C: With all of your past experiences, Daniel Jackson, I do not know how you have slept well before now.

JACKSON: Thank you, Teal'c. This session has been disturbing on many levels.

I think c would actually like the "little grey aliens" The asgard have a dry wit, do not hesitate to kill things that annoy them, and are endlessly confused by humans.

I bless'ed despised the King Arthur poo, but I'll add to that when/if we do an S8 thread. I'm still stalled right in the middle there.

also, the farscape stuff comes up in S8 as well.

I think it's interesting c enjoyed S1, it's weak. It really could just be a season of Outer Limits, which was the producers prior show, hence a lot of overlap in guest stars, and sadly, they occasionally lifted plot and filed the serial numbers off.

[6pairsofshoes]

8ully, I did find it comical that the Goual'd woman and Jonas looked so much alike, including the haircut.  And the odd cleavage in the following episode seemed so uncharacteristic of Carter.  Holy Wonderbra, Batman!

I'm not sure if I should feel amusement or despair at the news that people really do talk like the General IRL.  Gak.  It makes Picard's "Make it so" a bit more palatable.

[8ullfrog]

To be fair to the general, he's issuing orders. The team is readied at the gate, and he gives the order to go.

[6pairsofshoes]

I can sympathize with the actor, in that he has a limited number of lines and they tend to be highly repetitive.