Topic: Stargate SG1 Season 9

[8ullfrog]

Ben Browder plays Cameron Mitchell.

RDA wanted to take some time off from acting. They all had to essentially live around the studio where the show was filmed. It's why you see a lot of recurring faces in Sci-fi TV.

The Ori are ascended beings who draw power through worship, so they set up shop as pretty much actual gods. They can't directly affect the mortal world without having their hands slapped, so they spread their religion through Priors, who are as annoying as the Jehovas witnesses, but will also kill your planet if you don't convert.

The episode where it's half on chulak, half on earth, I gotta admit I did that fast forward thing too. I just never liked the Jaffa. Teal'c and Bratac are cool, but the rest of them are intentionally rude assholes who talk about their military prowess, but always get their asses kicked.

If anything, their prior victories made the Tauri (it's what space people call earthlings) overconfident. They get their asses kicked repeatedly throughout season 9.

[6pairsofshoes]

I usually make an effort to remember the names of actors or characters, but it's hard to stoke up the necessary enthusiasm.

I am aware of the Ori (sounded like Auri) and their weird facial reliefs -- is that some kind of ritual scarification?  I'm sure the makeup people just love working on these guys.  The silly fire backdrop looks like they sent the good CGI artists home and left the interns to work on a quasi-hellish backdrop.  What's up with that anyway.  Do the ascended (ascended to where?  what difference does direction make in an infinite universe anyway) guys need to hang out in hell or something?  It seems like a group of weird extraterrestials whose exact characteristics are not well thought out by the props dept.

And yeah, those Jaffa seem pretty dull.  I guess I'd go hang with the Tauri, as long as I could maybe go fishing with Jack instead of hanging out in a mountain with Beau Bridges.

[8ullfrog]

The standard ascended are those do-nothing chumps in the diner. They have a policy of non-inteference.

The Ori and the ascended got into a fight, and they got kicked way out to another galaxy, while the diner assholes took up shop in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Interestingly enough, the Ori grew themselves a community of humans, so we really are cattle to overlord aliens.

They call their galaxy "The Ori Galaxy" Very creative. I don't think we ever see star charts, we're just told they're super far away.

The scarification is individual, and sort of a show of rank, much like the tattoos of the Jaffa.

There is a DOCI on the planet Celestis, he's kind of the evil pope of the Ori. Not sure on the fire thing. I vaguely think they like it for it's cleansing nature, which is some pretty unfriendly doctrine.

The door knockers are called Priors, and their level of cruelty is directly tied to resistance.

I know it's ancient history at this point, but SG-1 are banned from the in town steakhouse in Colorado Springs. They behaved poorly while under the influence of alien wrist bands.

I don't know if it would really be fun to hang out with Jack, he's kind of an bottom to anyone he doesn't have an established relationship with, he even dumped his clone off at a high school and never checked up on him. Teal'c did not enjoy being a house guest with him, but would obviously put his life on the line to save his friend. So that's interesting.

Meanwhile, if you're in the hospital with brain shrapnel, Mitchell will bring Pizza, Beer, and a playstation! And if it turns out it's terminal, he'll let you live out his space adventures.

I think it was established the the friend with brain shrapnel was up for Mitchell's first job with the SGC, as a space fighter pilot. He's... actually pretty good at that job. Got the MOH for it.

It is frustrating that there are some extremely rich moments in S9, but the Ori just flat out suck.

[6pairsofshoes]

I think my brain melted as I've been watching too much late night tv.

Chumps in diner.  I am getting confused.  Wasn't that on American Gods?  Which diner?  Was there also a diner with "ascended" on SG1?  There's Asgaard and Ancients.  And this "Chariots of the Gods" lite nonsense that mocks serious archaeology that the Jackson character practices.  Beyond that, I've got nothin'

Jack does seem like a guy not quite in touch with his feelings and lacking in empathy, but given a choice between him and Bridges, at least he'd leave you alone to fish in peace.

[8ullfrog]

The Ascended exist on a higher plane. This plane was represented as a Diner in Daniel's perception. When asked about it, he said the diner was where he realized his parents were really dead, despite witnessing their actual deaths.

The Asgard are the naked little gray dudes who show up from time to time. They like getting "dumb" solutions from the humans when energy weapons don't fit the bill. Thor once offered Carter some of their food, which she found repulsive. In thanks for this aid, they supe up Earth's spaceships a bit, making them faster, hit harder, and non-tactical use of transporters is available. (The actual asgard use them to just dematerialize enemies. It's bit horribly permanent, but it would be strange to expect human morals from alien beings.)

Anubis took the form of a fat golly in the diner, it was meant to be surprising, but the fat man had already been antagonistic. I thought it was a better take than the gelatinous mass that had portrayed anubis previously.

Not sure where you got the chariot of the gods thing, that's wider speculative fiction.

[6pairsofshoes]

If I remember correctly, Eric von Daniken asserted that aliens had built the pyramids.  It seems to be the basis underlying many of the various Egyptoid cultural artefacts attributed to the Gou'ald in SG1.  It seemed obvious to me that this book played a major role in the underlying structure of that part of the series' narrative. 

I don't know that I'd call it speculative fiction.  It's speculative.  There's a great number of undereducated people who believe it to be factual.  Daniken certainly believed it.  I got into an argument with a drunken boyfriend of my sister once  (I was taking several archaeology courses at the time).  He was offended because I asked why he felt it necessary to diminish human accomplishments by attributing a perfectly reasonable construction like the Giza pyramids to some unknown extraterrestial race.  Moving large blocks of masonry does not seem to have been beyond human capabilities, so why have little green men be responsible.  People may be stupid, but given the chance, they can do some pretty spectacular things.  He was annoyed that I didn't just say, "oh gee whiz, I didn't know that aliens had built the pyramids.  cool!"

Thanks for the reminder of the diner, as I'd forgotten all about it and Daniel Jackson's experience with Anubis there.  There is a diner in American Gods also, so they bleed together.  I remember the Asgaard well.  I also forgot the food bit.  This show doesn't stick with me that much.  It's like Chinese food.  Or eggs.  I eat eggs and I'm hungry an hour later.

[8ullfrog]

Asgard food looked like the shape pattern blocks kids play with.

I made note of it as it is one of the few things we actually know about the asgard, and that type of stuff fascinates me.

Plus Amanda Tapping did a great job portraying straight up disgust. I feel like her humor was often wasted on SG-1, when Carter needs to be a "YES SIR, NO SIR, IT ISN'T POSSIBLE"

Like the BTS stuff with her and Teryl Rothery (Talk about a name for scifi) was hilarious. Or when she acknowledges that Carter is a bless'ed Black Widow for guest stars.

At least Pete only got dumped.  She never has that petulance that say, Michael Shanks occasionally displays.

With the ancient aliens, aliens built the pyramids stuff, there is always that whiff of racism, that "primitives" couldn't have done it. It's a nasty undercurrent, and my dad would have DESPISED such programs, despite eating up knights templar conspiracies outright.

I mean, SOME of the stuff he dug was legit, but a lot of it reads like poo to me, romanticism? GAH, we're talking about a shitty season of stargate here and you got me thinking for real. No Fair!

[6pairsofshoes]

The Egyptians had a complex theocracy and writing system.  There was nothing primitive about them.  I wish I had more time to devote to the ancient Near East, as Egypt and the neighboring cultures were pretty advanced, both in terms of writing systems, religion, juridical codes, politics, agriculture, related infrastructures, architecture and the other arts.

I quite liked Amanda Tapping's character and think the show is basically impoverished w/o her.  A snarky con artist in a leather bustier is hardly a replacement.  That other actress has her charms but she doesn't have a great deal to work with in terms of material.  So I don't think it's her fault.  The show (in Season 9) has the earmarks of laziness and producers who would rather sit back and cash checks than do the necessary work to insure a reasonable transition with major cast changes.

[8ullfrog]

Tapping wanted Carter to get command of SG-1.

But her being at area 51 was a matter of practicality. Maternity leave. They crack jokes about it later. But she is an active part of S9.

Claudia Black is utterly charming. Vala Mal Doran somewhat less so. Ironically, she got to play the military hard case on another series, Farscape.

That's why it's funny when she says she's sure she never met Mitchell. The two actors previously played lovers on Farscape. It was a bumpy relationship.

They do scale back the bustiers, but for some reason, Vala often has pigtails. It's weird.

[6pairsofshoes]

So Carter is back and they figure out a way to have the increasingly cooperative Vala go out in an ambiguous blaze of glory while defeating the initial attempts of bad contact Ori guys to build mega stargate.  You have to hand it to those guys.  They stand and read while people are setting up nuclear bombs a few feet away.  That's devotion, or they picked up a book and can't put it down.

The next episode has a very funny office fight with people aligned with Baal, Mr. Dry Look, you know the guy who looks like he escaped from a Telemundo Telenovela.  Mr. Baal likes Richmond Virginia.  Is it the southern charm, the grits? Who can say?  Right now people are firing from one cubicle to the next.   It's a metaphor for corporate culture.  I'm sure Sigmund Freud is clicking his heels over this one.  Why does Baal have to adopt a pretentious over the top British accent?    "The consequences will be quite dire."  Bwah ha ha ha !!

Multi Baal isn't a keen fan of US TV either.  "over 600 channels and nothing to watch."  Who hasn't felt that way!

[8ullfrog]

You forgot Baal? you found him charming yet greasy previously.

As to the accent, he's from South Africa, that's his accent. He did live in England though.

Claudia Black (Vala) is Australian.

I don't like, Know this stuff outright, I just google it. I previously thought Cliff Simon was from New Zealand.

[6pairsofshoes]

I did not forget Baal.  I referred to him as Dry Look Baal before because that's what he looks like, a 70's dry look ad model.  He also looks like a telenovela actor.  I don't care where he's from.  I didn't bother to google most of them because I just don't have the motivation.  He is charming and sort of unctuous, but witty.  He's kind of like a refined version of Khan from the Star Trek movie.  I did like the episode where he reappeared, particularly the shootout in the office environment.  That was rich.

It's about all I can do to slog through this sad ghost of a season.  I whipped through Asimov's Foundation and found it interesting, although a bit repetitive.  I wasn't inclined to read the sequels.  I'm sort of at loose ends these days.  Taking one class and doing some taxes.  Otherwise, I cook and weed the garden.  I'm starting The Master of the Day of Judgment by Leo Perutz (in translation), but late at night, it's a bit of an effort and tv is easier.  I was quite enjoying SG1 up to this season.  It's kind of slow and forced, really.  That's kind of sad.

[8ullfrog]

I mostly read shitty fanfic.

SG-1 only got the ten seasons, but they did get two standalone straight to DVD movies. There is one particularly funny episode in season 10, and I don't know if you've seen the episode in s9 with multiple SG-1's yet, but I think that was the highlight of S9.

Your observations are laser focused though. He was both a model AND starred on a soap opera in SA.

[6pairsofshoes]

Mitchell gets kidnapped and gets trained to kick ass in anticipation of ritual where he has to fight the relative of a guy he hurt.  The SG1 took the guy home and healed him.      The Ori reps are still causing trouble.  The gullible Jaffa are sort of into it.  Finally Mitchell gets them to reconsider.

In the meantime, Anubis has been creating a mini me out of the Hitler youth.  Of course, in true duffus fashion, they bring back the dangerous guy to Colorado, and once he's revived, he shows us how evil and dangerous he will become.  The resulting blonde guy smiles but he has no sense of humor.  He gets more and more powerful and the goofs at SG1 back in the Mt. manage to screw things up royally.  He escapes so he can complete getting really powerful and, once again, "ascend" in the infinite universe where there is no real up or down.  Some how they shoot him and manage to put him in his place.   That's due to the fact that Carter is brilliant.  She gets the gate to send him back to SG1.

The Orai, or whatever, decide to continue with their campaign to enslave the entire universe.  What a bunch of humorless dicks.  Why would anybody follow them.  They have such bad skin and those contacts?  It kind of reminds me of what happens to Mafia wives after a few years.  Too much makeup, rich food and booze.  And look what happens, they end up looking like the little proselytizing robed goofs ("Priors," like crimes you committed earlier and that remain on your rap sheet)  that get sent out like Mormons to shake down entire planets for protection money.

Next, there's an Orai based plague infecting various earthlings.  Carter and DJ have to figure out how to stop it along with the physician daughter of General Bridges who inexplicably wears cleavage revealing clothing at work.  Sexist much?

[6pairsofshoes]

I admire your fortitude, putting up with SG-1 without SG-1: but can I just say that I find it a sin and a shame that SG-1 got nearly as many seasons as Firefly got episodes?

One of the problems with immortality is not having enough tv to keep one entertained.  There, of course, are always books.  But you have to give your eyes a break sometimes.  I guess, as a mere mortal, I have to be content with the current offerings.  I'll look into Firefly.  There's plenty of really good shows that only got a single season or even less. 

Keen Eddie
Bonzai
Greg the Bunny
Extreme Elimination Challenge

For some reason, all on Fox.  Go figure.