Enemies
Jul16

Season 5, Episode 1: Enemies

by xmoonxhowlerx on July 16th, 2011 at 3:30 am
Posted In: Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Season 5, Stargate SG-1

Original Air Date – 29 June 2001

Following the amazing “Exodus” episode, season five begins with “Enemies”. SG-1 lost Teal’c in the clutches of Apophis. The rest of the team along with Jacob find themselves in an unknown part of the galaxy aboard the mothership they stole from Cronus. They are about to engage in battle against Apophis, but in the last moment a third spacecraft appears, firing at their foe. SG-1 uses this moment to escape, but due to the amount of damage it received earlier it is not operating at the fullest of its abilities. Later, the mothership of Apophis comes after SG-1, but there is no life detected on board. Seeing as though their ship sustained much damage to its control crystals, SG-1 decides to board to Apophis’ ship and steal the crystals. Much to their horror they find a lot of dead Jaffa on board and an activated self-destruct mechanism, all thanks to an infestation of the most feared foe from the past, the Replicator insects, which most likely came from the third spacecraft.

“Enemies” is definitely a superb episode for the opening of a new season. The suspense from the previous episode is radiated onto this one, albeit with a different approach. Where “Exodus” was a pure rush against time and against difficult odds, this episode throws our antagonists into the unknown. Not only are they cast into an unknown part of the galaxy, but the third ship itself posed an enigmatic appearance. The scene where Apophis’ mothership was showed as it floats dead in space with no life aboard was so eerie and with a huge question mark above it. Also, the presence of the Replicator bugs not only meant danger, but it also begged to ask a question, where exactly did the SG-1 fly off too?

But the strangeness of this episode doesn’t stop there! Teal’c is alive, but this time he stands once again as First Prime of Apophis. Woah, didn’t see that one coming! “Enemies” is just full of these twists and extremely unexpected events that I will stop now and not spoil any more of its cool happenings. This is definitely a masterful way to begin season five and hopefully it is a sign of high quality shows in the future.

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Flesh and Blood
Jul15

Season 10, Episode 1: Flesh and Blood

by xmoonxhowlerx on July 15th, 2011 at 8:34 am
Posted In: Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Season ten, Stargate SG-1

Original Air Date – 14 July 2006

There is a recap at the beginning of the episode, concerning some major events from season nine. “Flesh and Blood” begins and we see the Ori ships moving further into the galaxy. Vala is onboard one of the ships and gives birth to a girl, who is immediately taken away by the midwives. The one-eyed Prior enters the room and says that her daughter will lead the Ori to glorious victory over all unbelievers and those who stand in their way. The ships disappears then, entering hyperspace. Meanwhile, Samantha is floating in space around the supergate, desperately trying to get into contact with anyone. Cameron is injured inside his fighter, but manages to hear her. He briefly remembers how he escaped the Korolev seconds before it exploded, with Daniel onboard. Colonel Emerson also makes contact from the extremely damaged Odyssey ship. Teal’c sends a message from a ship which belongs to the Lucian Alliance, but during the message he gets attacked by the members of the Alliance and he goes offline. In the meantime, Vala gets to see her daughter, who is now already four years old.

Wow, this was an excellent beginning of season ten. The mood at the start of “Flesh and Blood” is just superb, the whole fleet scattered and barely alive, a feeling of desperation and uncertainty being quite heavy in the air. Not only is the Odyssey battered, but they receive a threat from the Lucian Alliance which is furious with what transpired. On top of that, they need to save Samantha who is slowly running out of life support from the spacesuit and the Asgard beam isn’t working. The rescue scene is completely amazing, since we get to see the Odyssey in the maximum focus with all the juicy design details. Once that is over, we see some flashback scenes onboard the Korolev and how Daniel managed to survive in the midst of all the chaos and destruction.

On board the Ori ship, it was weird seeing Adria, Vala’s daughter, who was rapidly growing and already possessed vast knowledge of the Ori. She explains to Vala the exact opposite of the truth, that the Ori ascend their followers while the Ancients just use the energy for their own good. Adria tries to influence Vala with her knowledge and it seems that Adria will definitely grow into a powerful entity of the Ori. Toward the end of the episode there is quite a lot of action, especially when the Ori troops reach Chulak. In any case, this is an amazing way to start the new season.

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Avalon part 1
Jul15

Season 9, Episode 1: Avalon part 1

by xmoonxhowlerx on July 15th, 2011 at 7:56 am
Posted In: Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Season 9, Stargate SG-1

Original Air Date – 15 July 2005

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell is looking at the Stargate, while in the computer room Sergeant Walter says that he was one of the fighter pilots in the battle on Antarctica against Anubis. General Hank Landry, Jack’s successor, tells him that he is to lead SG-1, though he also tells him that the original SG-1 is no more. Samantha takes care of SGC’s Research and Development project at Area 51. Jackson has put in for reassignment and Teal’c left the program a month ago. He is somewhat disappointed, but there are no excuses in front of the General. Cameron also goes to talk to Daniel in hopes of talking him into staying, but to no avail. Talks with Samantha and Teal’c are somewhat the same. It all turns around when Vala arrives to Earth bringing a tablet which is presumed to have a location of a treasure of the Ancients, so Cameron thinks that this could be an ace up his sleeve for the rejoining of the original SG-1.

Ouch, this is just not good. After an episode like “Moebius”, Avalon comes like salt on an already grieve wound. So, apparently Jack is gone and Landry took his place…that is a rather irritating character. He is short tempered, humorless and in no way interesting. As for Cameron, I haven’t made up my mind yet whether he is tolerable or not. It is strange when you watch a show for eight whole seasons and grow attached to the main characters, and then suddenly there is someone new in the spotlight. Quite a strange feeling and the viewer will probably need some time to get used to him and have a solid opinion. In any case, he is a somewhat stiff character, thought this may be due to the fact that he is new to the SGC. The thing that is ultimately weird is that Cameron extremely looks like Daniel, as Vala also suggested when she mentions Earth’s gene pool.

All in all, I can’t say that I am happy about “Avalon” and the beginning of the season for that matter, since it seems that gathering strength for watching will be a true ordeal.

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New Order part 1
Jul15

Season 8, Episode 1: New Order part 1

by xmoonxhowlerx on July 15th, 2011 at 7:19 am
Posted In: Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Season 8, Stargate SG-1

Original Air Date – 9 July 2004

A quick recap of previous events opens “New Order” after which the story continues. Dr. Weir, now head of SGC, is currently negotiating disputes over the Ancients’ outpost on Antarctica with other nations which have knowledge of the Stargate. Until the dispute is over, the Stargate is forbidden to be used, much to SG-1’s dismay. They are eager to contact the Asgard to cure Jack, but Dr. Weir refuses. SG-1 is desperate and Samantha somehow manages to soften up Dr. Weir to allow the mission, but Daniel is to stay behind, just Teal’c and Samantha are permitted to go. While the two of them begin the mission, Daniel stays behind to help Dr. Weir deal with the System Lords who are interested in the Ancients’ weapon which destroyed Anubis.

The first thing I want to stress out is the defeat of Anubis. It was a battle and a defeat of epic proportions, but it saddens me that he went down. In any case, despite how big a victory it was, new problems appear for both SG-1 and Earth. SG-1 lost their leader and it seems that they are the only ones who care about the man who almost single handedly saved the entire planet. A spark of hope is Dr. Weir who allows the mission, but it is an extremely hard road in front of Teal’c and Samantha. Luckily they have allies, this time in the form of Thor. It seems that the Replicators are becoming a threat once more and this time the Asgard are determined to destroy them once and for all. The plan to create a black hole in the hopes of it swallowing the entire planet the Replicators are on was pretty awesome. Yet, it seems that the Asgard are real butterfingers, since this plan also backfires.

As far as Earth problems go, the System Lords seem to be interested in a treaty with humans. Three representatives are arriving to Earth for negotiations and of course, the whole ordeal is nothing short of eerie and filled with tension. Despite being in a vulnerable position so to speak, the System Lords are quite arrogant and hostile toward Weir. As it turns out, the viewer is completely fooled by thinking that the Lords got a change of heart, much rather the treaty is needed because Ba’al used the absence of Anubis to take a seat of power. As you can see, quite a lot of things happen at the beginning of season eight and every bit of it is very promising!

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Fallen
Jul15

Season 7, Episode 1: Fallen

by xmoonxhowlerx on July 15th, 2011 at 6:53 am
Posted In: Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Stargate SG-1, Episodes, Season 7, Stargate SG-1

Original Air Date – 13 June 2003

The opening scene of “Fallen” shows us an unknown dark world with thunderstorms in the sky. We see three natives walking by, but they suddenly see a burst of light. They go to the place where they saw it and find Daniel Jackson lying naked on the ground. Back at the SGC, Jonas is in his office, trying to find the location of the Lost City from the tablet. He discovered that it is actually called “City of the Lost”. He thinks that the coordination of the planet is the last on the list of ones which Jack had downloaded from the Ancients memory. They go to the planet and discover Daniel among the locals, but he is actually suffering from the amnesia. Jack tries to come out clean with what happened to Daniel, but he has a tough time accepting what he hears.

This was the perfect episode to follow the world shattering “Full Circle”. The thing making it perfect is that it actually continues the story, but it takes a whole different approach. Where the finale was turbulent and packed with danger, “Fallen” is more of a microcosm type of episode, as it focuses on Daniel. On top of the fact that Daniel was very much missed by yours truly, there is quite a lot of emotional weight on top of his character. He discovers details of his life, but begins with painful memories as he first remembers Sha’re and how much he loves her…and that she is dead. The majority of the time, he seems like he lost all that hope which his character previously had, but somehow we still see flames in his eyes and a wish to fight. This amount of emotional radiation is only for praise, as Michael Shanks really performed in an excellent manner. Also the writers made such a script that they gave space to Daniel to regain his memory both alone and with interaction with others.

Not all in “Fallen” is about Daniel however. Once again we get to see Yu and Anubis, as well as hearing the dread news that Anubis is decimating the other System Lords thanks to the assembled Eye artifacts. The counter attack on Anubis is quite thrilling and has some very cool action scenes. Both this episode and “Full Circle” really managed to create such an explosion in the show that we can only ponder what more epic tales await us…but wait, this one isn’t over yet!

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