Stargate SG-1 1x20-1x22

[oyceter]

Oh yeah... mass spoilers for the final three eps of Stargate season 1 below.

Yay! Just finished Stargate S1. And damnit, they ended it on a cliffhanger! I miss the relatively tied together endings of the Jossverse.

And guh. The entire three episode ending arc reminded me of the Wish from Buffy S3 gone insane! I loved the alternate reality world, where everything was life or death. And of course, like the Wish, how everyone died tragically. I loved alter-Sam too, with the long hair and the suit. She was still cool. A lot of Politics (the parts that weren't episode recaps) reminded me of X-Files, of the paranoia, of the idea that this small group of people knew the truth. And of course the overwhelming force of the government. The funny thing is, I'd probably agree with the Senator's politics as generally I don't quite understand or really like military spending. But he was a real weasel. Oh. And Jack's reaction to Daniel's explanation of the alternaverse was awesome.. "Wait. Engaged?!" I love Jack-snark.

And the team in the spaceship... guh. Can't quite believe Jack just killed Skaara. Didn't feel quite as real or as stunning as Home, probably because they hadn't been building the Jack/Skaara dynamic for a season and a half.

I also had many strange meta thoughts about Politics as a meta critique of the show and of the contradictions in the show so far -- how they always escape the Goa'uld, but the Goa'uld are still a huge threat. How they really haven't accomplished all that much in the end. Then I told my brain to shut up and enjoy the show. Although sitting through all the recaps was very boring, esp. considering I've seen them all this past week!

Need season 2. NOW.

Grrrr.

Comments

[rahael.livejournal.com]

I really like Stargate, though I've only caught it off and on because C4 shows them at a funny time. However, when I move in with my flatmate (any day now!), I'll be able to catch up, as she is a massive Stargate fan and has the DVDs! So I'll be able to comment more in future to Stargate-y posts.

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[oyceter]

Oooo fun! I need roommates like that ;).

[thewildmole.livejournal.com]

Oh, please. Go meta. Discussion is a Good Thing :).

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[oyceter]

I didn't quite get into them, but a great deal of it was sparked by the fact that if I weren't watching a TV show, I probably would have agreed with the senator shutting down SGC. Although he was still an ass about it. And the first time I watched a few episodes of Stargate, I was a little disappointed -- everything felt just a little too clear to me. Teal'c was basically accepted without question, Jack and General Hammond in general are always right (even when they disagree!), things like that.

And then, here in Politics comes the guy who goes through and critiques everything that SGC does from a practical viewpoint, almost as though it's someone from the outside on a more metaphorical level commenting on the scifi-ness and fantastical aspects of the show in general. All the close escapes the team has had are all well and good for drama, but for a real-life program, they really suck. That, and the way Hammond and SG-1 almost always used to ignore what the unpopular guy from the Pentagon used to suggest in the first several episodes. I mean, obviously getting rid of Teal'c or having people study him wasn't a happy thought, but it was quite practical. And here was the senator doing the exact same thing, going the practical route, exposing all the faults and the flaws of this program and the flagship team. It was definitely on the harsh side and quite biased, but it was an interesting counterpoint to the show. And I thought it would be even more interesting if the creative team in charge put that there, as though they were saying, it's a fun TV show, but look what happens when the real world comes in. Our beloved heroes start looking like warmongering delusional maniacs.

I'm pretty sure I'm thinking waaaay too much and the senator was a bad, bad man and obviously SG-1 and Daniel in particular are dead on.

[thewildmole.livejournal.com]

Actually, I kind of agree with you.

Senator Kinsey, in the early episodes was much more of an opponent for the SGC. Even though we, as the viewer, know who is "right", watching the sparring back and forth was interesting - at least for me. Someone like Kinsey, who is convinced of his POV and has that edge of religiosity to it, is far, far more convincing to me than his characterization in later years when it somehow became this personal vendetta thing. He became much more cartoonish, much more the Wile E. Coyote and the Obvious Bad Guy. Here, he's perfectly reasonable and that's one of the things I really liked about having him around. Because, honestly, there was truth in Kinsey's view. The way something is written down in a report doesn't necessarily mean that's the way it went down.

The first and second seasons, especially, were the seasons the cast and writers were finding their sea legs. Shanks is still doing a pretty good Spader imitation through most of S2 as well. As they start digging into the mythos and burgeoning canon (as well as the backgrounds of the characters) things become more complex and gray around the edges. They're less afraid to be more ambiguous. And that's another thing I like about the Stargate universe - that there are consequences and SG-1 screws up just as much as they might set things right.

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[oyceter]

Oh wow, Kinsey sticks around. It is rather sad that he gets more cartoonish, because I felt they weren't all too subtle about playing him here. He had lots of good points, but I felt many of them got lost in his over the top bad guyness. Because the bureaucratic bad guys at least did bring up things that SG-1 and the SGC should have probably thought about.

I could really tell they were finding things out as they went, especially watching the variation between SG-1 is dead wrong (Nox) and SG-1 is dead right (finale) episodes. And the dramatic shift of Sam's characterization. But hey, I'm still fond of the first season. And I can already kind of see how complex the canon will get -- I loved how they brought back people from the Nox and the Broca Divide in the episode with the people from the volcanic world (and Schroedinger's Cat!). I'm desperately looking forward to what comes next ^_^.

I admit, I'm still kind of confused as to the Daniel love. I don't quite get him like I get Sam or like him as much as Jack or Teal'c. Not sure why... hopefully will improve later.