So Daniel figures a way out of the cliff hanger, Ben gets lucky and they find an ancient communication device. All of that crap last episode for this? It feels like an extremely convoluted way for them to get to get the communication device. It seems like such a frivolous use of the King Arthur legend. Given the extensive use of Egyptian mythology it surprises me that they would ruin King Arthur so. But I’ll say no more because we’re quickly on to a classic Stargate plot.

They’ve found a thingy. They’re not sure what it does so they poke buttons. Hilarity ensues. More false gods are introduced but these ones, although powerful, are miles and miles away. I imagine it’ll take at least 15 episodes for them to get to our galaxy so nothing to worry about.

Ben is really getting on my nerves. Each team member has their role and specialisation. Ben’s special ability apparently is ‘does not give up’. This could get irritating. His character is too much like his Farscape character for my liking. His heroic action for which he was awarded a medal was just shooting down an Al’kesh. Nothing particularly dramatic. I’m not sure why they all feel so indebted to him. Surely there are other pilots who were more effective in that battle. He sounds very much like a fanboy, fawning over the rest of SG-1. If I were him I would select my own team and train them up. When Daniel started he was nerdy but has become much more effective. Ben could have done that with his own team. (Although I wouldn’t want to watch a show without the current SG-1.)

The scenes involving O’Neill were a huge let down. Given that he’s only got a small number of scenes this episode I was hoping for something more … anything. He didn’t even seem to be trying to act in the scene with Daniel and while the scene with Ben was good for Ben’s character, O’Neill was very remote again.

On the other hand, Vala fits in well. She and Daniel work well together. I was sceptical of the bracelet plot device but I am enjoying her presence. She has a lot more energy than Sam and has a more engaging character. Her death scene was rivoting and a more graphic style for Stargate. I liked the dramatic slow encircling of the altar by the fire. An unusually tense and dramatic moment in Stargate. As she’s not a regular cast member the writers are free to kill her at any time making any danger to her more threatening.

I know other people aren’t keen on the Jaffa arc, but having waited 8 seasons for them to become free, I’m curious as to what will happen to them. Right now we only get to see corridor scenes and Teal’c commenting on how boring things are in politics, so it may take sometime to generate real interest.

The rest of this episode is all fine although I would have liked to have seen more of the actors playing Harrid and Sallis acting like Daniel and Vala and perhaps more of the transition as they regained control of their bodies in time to die. If I sound a little negative it’s because of the weak season opener. These two episodes make for a much positive season start. There’s some plotlines that look to have real potential. There’s a bunch of new characters that all look to have plenty of backstory and friction between them. I hope that the themes of belief and religion are explored further and more time is spent on sets like that of the village and less in corridors.

This entry was posted by the illustrious Andy Cocker on Monday, August 29th, 2005. It concerns such pressing issues as Stargate SG-1, tv. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.