Season Three Commentaries
|Season Two Commentaries|
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|Season Two Commentaries|
|Episode Guide| |Stargate Collection| |Home Page|
Here you can find my commentaries for all of the SG episodes from Season Three. Usually you can find the commentaries right here, but every now and again I'll have to refer you to another file. The commentary will still be written by me and it'll still be a file on my site, but you'll just have to wait while it loads.
Aside from that, this episode is pretty darn good. It may not one you like going back to again and again, but it's still darned fine. After all, any episode which makes reference of Jolinar (sigh...) is a worthwhile one (except The Gamekeeper....grrrr!). It's also good to see the Carter family getting well developed, since so fair it's only the Carters who can be developed since just about everyone else has had all family ties cut off.
This episode is a real gem, especially with the great lot of action sequences.
Just so I can get some Cronos-whumping in, according to Greek mythology Cronos was the father of Zeus. A prophercy stated that Cronos, head of the ruling Titans, would be overthrown at the hands of one of his offspring so he swallowed them as soon as they were born. Zeus's mum, however, tricked Cronos into swallowing a stone rather than the infant. When Zeus grew up, he poisoned Cronos so he coughed the rest of the kiddies up (who were immortals and thus still alive), and then Zeus kicked major Cronos butt with his brothers, Hades and Poseidon (who became the gods of the Dead and the Sea respectively).
But what really sticks in my mind about this episode is the trailer: I just have to tip my hat and raise my glass to whoever pieced together the trailer for this episode. It'll probably be different in other parts of the world, but here's a transcription....
(Most of this is a voice-over, with parts in bold meaning it was also displayed as a text flash card; parts in italics mean it's a sequence from the episode itself and parts that are blue mean it only appeared on a flash card)
This episode is a real heart-warmer, and it's a relief to finally find someone smarter than Major Carter. The scene where Carter tries to piece together the naquida reactor is really funny!! This episode is a worthwhile one to add to your collection.
This episode is a pretty good one, and is a worthwhile addition to any fan's video collection.
The plot not only looks at the past 'wrongs' of Christianity, but also proves as a demonstration of a test of faith that is so associated with Christianity. Me being mostly aethist, I'd have to say it's important to recognise that most of Christianity and the related religions have seen torture and suffering as the main means to recruit believers. (Bite me if you loathe my comments, but look through history and you'll see it's true.)
Worthwhile if only to see what the Unas look like for the very first time.
When Apophis planned his attack on Earth (Within the Serpent's Grasp), he set up some tribes of humans under his control to imitate the US military so they could destroy Earth's government from within. The source of this information came from the captured SG-11, who were tortured into revealing training proceedures and the like. SG-11 didn't reveal all secrets and so were executed.
But the attack failed, and the underlings don't know it and are continuing their training like the invasion's tomorrow. SG-1, using the tape they obtained in Serpent's Song, are finally able to convince the trainees that Apophis is dead and that they are free to return home.
Although the concept is interesting and we pick up on the history of another SG team and Goa'uld military training and technology, it's probably only worth seeing once.
Now a prisoner of System Lord Heruher (who looked to become our main enemy before the introduction of Sokar), Amonette leads the Horus Goa'uld and take Abydos as the prisoner. Along the way, Daniel tries to appeal to his captive wife but Amonette tries to kill him with a Goa'uld hand ribbon device; in order to save Daniel, Teal'c is forced to kill Amonette/Shau'ri.
The episode revolves around Daniel confronting his loss in long, predictable ways, and of the audience learning a little more about Goa'uld technology, and everyone learning more about Goa'uld reproductive science. Finally, however, we learn that the entire experience is Daniel hallucinating as he is slowly killed by the ribbon. When Teal'c really saves Daniel, life goes on.
Mythology-wse: important. Entertainment-wise: the producers can do better, and they know it.
This episode is an ethical dilemma (they seem to breed on this show). The amnesiac people lost their memories due to a falty anti-ageing experiment at the hands of the World Destroyer. Although the rejuvination worked, even our key villian doesn't know their own identity. When SGC finally find a cure to the problem, they must keep our madwoman with her amnesia 'on' to avoid further disaster. The good news is that the forgetful World Destroyer uses her knowledge for good instead of evil. (For now....)
By the way: the actress playing the young World Destroyer is the same one who plays Fox Mulder's sister in The X-Files.
The Devil You Know
However, something in the process means those with Goa'uld genes and proteins are immune to the process (where have we seen this before?). This leaves Teal'c and Major Carter as the only ones able to escape and warn Earth of the problem at hand; 'Foothold' being the military code for when a group of aliens have invaded the SGC and are planning to work their way outwards to the rest of the planet.
This is a pretty good episode, but not quite good enough to be commemorated in your video collection.
Pretense is a much better trial drama than Season One's Cor-Ai; Klorel is captured by the Tollans, who have to decide what to do with him. They ask SG-1 to speak on behalf of Skaara and one of Apophis's former servents as Klorel's attourney. But the Goa'uld are actually planning to wipe out the Tollans, whose high level of technology makes them a threat against the Goa'uld.
Although all emerges well for everyone involved (dare we say including Klorel), this is just another show written so we can see SG-1 rescuing their friends. All well and good, but I still say that solving the grand objectives this far into the series is not a good thing. And the episode isn't that hot, either.
SG-1 negotiate with a primitive people, used by the Goa'uld as hosts, so they can get the naquida on their world. While there, however, they get caught in a meteor shower that buries the Stargate and leaves Colonel O'Neil and a few others stranded (the other natives safely finding refuge at the SGC).
The title refers to two things: most obviously, it's mentioned by the female native whom O'Neil befriends (and, it's strongly implied, does the hot stuff with!), as it's the amount of time that she spent mourning the loss of her husband. It's also the amount of time Jack spends stranded on this world (the show says he's there for over three months, which is at least close to 100 days.
Hang on: weren't there species in Brief Candle that only lived for "a hundred blissful days"? What is it with O'Neil being stranded off-world with something about 100 days being thrown into the equation?
Anyway, in those three months Major Carter builds a nifty little particle accelerator laser (inspired by Sokar's attack in Serpent's Song) to burn part of the rubble that's creating an Iris over the off-world Stargate, allowing Teal'c to get into a small pit and burrow his way to the surface.
Great show for seeing Teal'c get through the off-world Stargate, but not much else.
Shades of Grey sees O'Neil apparently betraying his team and joining the "Dark-Side guys" who steal advanced technology from other cultures for Earth's own gain. However, it's revealed that he is in fact undercover on the part of the Asgard, Tollans and Nox to find the real culprits who've been stealing technology all over the galaxy.
Unfortunately, the ending is less than unpredictable: Colonel Makepeace is the mole inside the SGC who's getting the technology, under the command of Colonel Maybourne. The only thing left as far as the 'evil Earthers stealing advanced technology' issue goes is the fact that not all teams may have been located.
New Ground
|Official Summary|
There is a very terrifying message to be found in this story: religious intolerence is futile, and ignoring the facts in face of proof is futile. There's a message to be found here as far as the wars in the Middle East go, and since it explores this side of human nature the show had a really scary message to be found here.
All of SG-1 are captured, save Teal'c who is blinded after being hit in the face with a bolt from a weapon not unlike a Goa'uld staff. Befriending a native, Teal'c recovers and is able to save his friends. However, SG-1 cannot bring a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The native who helped Teal'c, who sees the truth and obviously wishes to bend towards peace, comes to Earth as a refugee and is given a post as Jackson's new assistant....which is probably good, since there are just so many parallels to be drawn between him and Jackson!!
The first thing that struck me with this episode is how it's all but mandatory for the SGC to learn that Apophis has survived a Goa'uld mothership explosion by Bra'Tac coming to the SGC with his Iris code transmitter. (I finally managed to learn what GDO stands for: garage door opener. I say it's stupid and long prefer Iris code transmitter.)
This episode sees us learning where the Bhuddist faith originated elsewhere in the galaxy. The mysterious alien who has become caretaker of Apophis's and Shau'ri's human child is never named, but could they possibly be a member of the Furling race we first heard about in The Fifth Race?
I think this episode is about learning to let go of loved ones so that they can meet their true potential, but somehow it doesn't quite make it. But the return of Apophis as leader of Sokar's incredibly huge army allows return of Sokar's Jaffa's funky red uniforms.