Nice town, creepy. I must make an effort to appreciate sets like this rather than lament the perpetual alien pine forest. Sure SG-1 do end up in a forest and a cave — somethings are inevitable, like the deaths of the back-up team. As soon as I saw them I could smell the stink of death. They had names but there was no saving them. The ending feels contrived that help arrived just after the last of the sacrificial assistants croaked but in time to save SG-1 as they are on the verge of collapse, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to cure them. Cut to a new scene and Mitchell and Sam tell each other that the problem was solved by someone else. I liked the part where they were put in the containment boxes but it’s not a satisfying way to end the story. It’s more plausible than SG-1 suddenly solving the problem with their final guess seconds before they die, which is overused, and it kept the episode all in modern day science, as there was no way for them to extract and purify the needed compunds in time, but it was anticlimatic. And no one mentioned the dead assistants again. The episode isn’t without its flaws but, ah, where was I, yes, — the town’s nice.

**Yawn** It was an intriguing episode but the characters’ incessant yawning made me want a nap. But I soldiered on. If those fictional characters can do it then so can I. An act of solidarity, if you will. Unusually, I wasn’t put to sleep by Sam’s exposition. It was refreshing to have a quasi-stand alone story using science sans the fiction after the recent story arc set in space. I tolerate technobabble if it makes sense and I like extraordinary adventures that can be solved with modern day science; it gives me hope that I could be on such an adventure and be the hero.

Something that was not modern technology was the analog lie detector used on Vala. Most lie detectors are digital now, but they lack the psychologically intimidating aspect of the needles scraping across the paper. Plus the noise is funny.

SG-1 ultimately accomplished nothing — apart from endangering the cannon fodder — and it was just another find the item quest but I didn’t mind so much when early in the season. It’s more annoying when they decide to find an advanced device in the last episode of the season that solves the entire season’s problems; at this stage it gives the feeling of a long quest that hopefully will be more satisfying when they find it. Hopefully. It’s a wonderful thing, hope. How dull would it be to be a cyberman? No emotions, no high expectations, no disappointment at minor flaw in your favourite show, no flame wars over said flaw, no, oh damnit, I’m thinking about the wrong show — ah right, er — getting back on track, I’ll just chuck some punctuation in here as a segue to something relevant — : — okey dokey nice plot, I like the village and Vala’s stuff but weak ending. Insufficiently conclusive. Not like this review. Did you see that sentence before last. A good way to wrap things up if ever I saw one. Those Stargate writers could learn things from me. Yep, that sentence was definitely a good place to stop. Yep, should’ve stopped then.

This entry was posted by the illustrious Andy Cocker on Friday, August 4th, 2006. 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.