Re-watch: Stargate The Movie, CotG and Season 1 - We Found the Ring in the Sand

[theredhead77]

Stargate the motion picture was released 20 years ago. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Where did the time go?

Let's get this party started.

 

 

(someone can fix my title if it's not formatted correctly)

[Lisin]

I vividly remember seeing the movie in the theater hence I am now feeling very old. 

[Idiotboy]

Long before I started watching The Show, the movie had me in thrall. It has one of my favorite concepts in science fiction (and the best means of space travel, period), fantastic design, a wonderfully romantic title theme -- where you'd expect something martial -- an indescribably strange performance by Jaye Davidson (especially when he seems to be vamping Daniel), all those Spaderisms ... What's not to like? Besides, I always wanted to be in a movie where people said lines like, "Chevron Seven is locked and holding." It goes on my short list of favorite high-adventure titles.

[anstar]

I vividly remember seeing the movie in the theater hence I am now feeling very old.

Me too (on both counts!).  I didn't want to go see it because I thought it was going to be like Star Wars and I was never a big fan.  I was talked into going and ended up being the only one in the group who enjoyed it.  I was so disappointed in my friends. How could you not love it?!?  I love all things ancient Egypt and this movie took the whole mythology and turned it on its ear.  

[Guest]

I felt very dumb many years later when someone pointed out how easy it should have been for the military, without Daniel, to randomly find the seventh symbol in the movie because that never occurred to me.

I though Russell and Spader set up SG-1 Jack and Daniel's future relationship on SG-1 very well so I was always grateful for that.  They did mine the movie a lot for season one.  When I rewatch, I guess that is what I'll look for.  How much did season 1 revisit?

Edited April 2, 2014 by ParadoxLost

[stillshimpy]

I am the person who does not care for the original  movie, but weirdly watched the series from the first episode back in the day.  So I rewatched Children of the Gods the other day -- the version with poor stripped -Sha're , but not the re-edit they did a few years ago.  It's that whole, "can't unsee" thing.  I think the re-edited movie for the series would be good for people just starting the series for the first time, but I saw the original on Showtime and again, the "Unseeing is impossible" thing comes into play. 

I'm always struck by a few things whenever I do rewatch:  Oh my God, poor Amanda Tapping and that infamous reproductive organ line.  It lives in infamy for a reason, but I always thought the "don't worry, I played with dolls" line was so, so much worse and actually ages much worse than the primarily goofy "Oh yeah, sure.  Strong women randomly reference their uterus vs. a guys penis to make a point, I'm sure I'd do that.  Ya-huh, 'course.  I need a drink."  way.  It's so bad it's just laughable.   But the snarling, "Don't worry, I played with dolls" thing is actually pretty insulting and dates the show.  

Teal'c rocked though, even with his excessive eye makeup.  Also, this was the Goa'uld at their camptastic best, even if the phallic-symbol-detecting-device dropped dead from exhaustion after that implantation scene (poor Sha're...poor us for having to watch that happen to Sha're)

Edited: Man, I must have suffered from auto-correct -- or a failing brain -- I corrected the "really movie" wording.  Sorry to annoy who would naturally think I took up day drinking from that.  ETA: What?  Yeah, there's some kind of autocorrect thing here at play, "annoy" was supposed to be anyone.  Either that or I've had a stealth stroke. 

Edited April 2, 2014 by stillshimpy

[HouseofBeck]

Last month I inexplicably got the urge to rewatch "Children of the Gods"--and now I found this thread, so I'm geekily glad. I did not rewatch the original movie, though I'll always remember thinking of Jaye Davidson as wonderfully, seductively androgynous when I first saw it.

I never have looked up why they changed Shauri to Sha're; I loved how the original name sounded, more melodious to my ear.

I just found myself wanting to hear Teal'c saying, "I have nowhere to go," (even though I've secretly thought he emphasized the wrong word) and see all the little hints he gave throughout that he was not, actually, cool with what was going on, and see him and Jack interact. From there we've gotten hooked all over again, and try to restrict ourselves to just one ep a night so we don't run out too soon.

[anstar]

I never have looked up why they changed Shauri to Sha're; I loved how the original name sounded, more melodious to my ear.

I too preferred the movie pronunciation.  For some reason I'm remembering that someone...Shanks, maybe (?) couldn't pronounce it properly. It kept coming out Sha're, so they bowed to it. 

In my mind, she is still Shauri and the Sha're pronunciation is like the Goa'uld.  It should be three syllables, but most of the cast made it one. "Goold".

[stillshimpy]

I personally thought it was because one of the first things they did was turn Sha're into a Goa'uld ...hence "share".  Daniel's wife, but also a different character, but I may be wrong on that. 

[solotrek]

I personally thought it was because one of the first things they did was turn Sha're into a Goa'uld ...hence "share".  Daniel's wife, but also a different character, but I may be wrong on that.

Maybe it's a nickname? So formal name Shauri but nickname Sha're? But they changed Jack's son's name (Taylor--> Charlie) and added an "L" to O'Neill, so I'd just cop it to unexplainable show vs movie changes.

[HouseofBeck]

In my mind, she is still Shauri and the Sha're pronunciation is like the Goa'uld.  It should be three syllables, but most of the cast made it one. "Goold".

I immediately heard General Hammond saying "Goold" like he never quite figures out what they are.

[anstar]

I love Hammond.  (RIP Don S. Davis).  He was a little gruff at the beginning of the pilot, but when he kind of slyly said, "Unless you have anything to add", when the bomb was on the ramp and headed to Abydos, based on the information in Jack's report and the fact that a glowy eyed alien came to call.  Logical conclusion: the first bomb wasn't strong enough.  Likely conclusion: Jack lied in his report. 

Kawalsky naming the planet after himself when they went after Ska'ara and Sha're made me love him too.  Another fine day on Planet Kawalsky, which was apparently 'Hell freezes over' personified.  Except for every time they returned to Chu'lak (is that where the apostrophe goes? It's been too long!), it must have been summer because nobody ever complained about it again.

[Idiotboy]

 

I love Hammond.  (RIP Don S. Davis).  He was a little gruff at the beginning of the pilot

Late in life, he blamed that on pilot director Mario Azzopardi, "a man of very limited imagination" who insisted that Hammond be a 'by the book' general. Davis, a former Army officer, said that by-the-book officers were the ones most apt to get you killed.

[HouseofBeck]

Late in life, he blamed that on pilot director Mario Azzopardi, "a man of very limited imagination" who insisted that Hammond be a 'by the book' general. Davis, a former Army officer, said that by-the-book officers were the ones most apt to get you killed.

That is fabulous. I hadn't known that little tidbit.

[theredhead77]

I am not a huge fan of the movie. I hated how Daniel was treated and perhaps it's my general ambivalence towards Kurt Russell and James Spader but I just didn't find it to be enjoyable. Had I not been forced by friends to watch it then immediately watch CotG I may have never gotten in to the series.

I was hooked after CotG, hoakey reproductive lines and all. I immediately took to RDA as Jack and Shanks as Daniel and was excited to see a woman who looked like a woman playing the lead female.

I'm looking forward to re-watching season 1. 

Some favorites:

The Enemy Within, The Nox and Singularity.

[mstaken]

Right there with you, theredhead77. (Since we'll be spending a lot of time together here, may we call you 'red' for short?!) The original movie feels like a fifth rate Indiana Jones to me, and, like you, I couldn't connect with the characters. 

The Enemy Within, The Nox and Singularity.

 

I like all of these a lot. Nox is the one with Daniel and Sam finding themselves in some sort of barn, right?! I've only seen the series once and am in desperate need of a refresher. 

[random chance]

And along those lines please feel free to call me whatever shorter name you want - RC, Chance, Random, something else ... it doesn't matter, so long as I can tell you're talking to me.

I saw the episode 1969 before I ever saw CoTG and I only watched the movie a few months ago because it was streaming on Netflix, so it was 1969 that got me in the door (or through the gate, ha) and I honestly don't think I would have ever watched another episode if my first one was either the movie or CoTG.  Which would have been my loss, but I've never been keen on sci-fi where it's all just people shooting at each other. 

My favorite S1 episode was Singularity, with runners-up being Brief Candle and Thor's Hammer.  I have never been all that enchanted by the Nox, maybe because their smug know-it-all attitude reminds me too much of a really irksome family member. 

[stillshimpy]

I like all of these a lot. Nox is the one with Daniel and Sam finding themselves in some sort of barn, right?! I've only seen the series once and am in desperate need of a refresher.

I don't think I would describe it quite like that.  A bunch of the team is killed and brought back to life by seemingly simplistic and almost childlike aliens...who turn out to be one of the advanced races.  

Also, their hair is made up of moss and vines. 

[Joe]

And one of them is played by Armin Shimerman, AKA Quark from DS9 and Snyder from Buffy.

[random chance]

I never knew that, thanks for mentioning it!

[anstar]

There are some great moments in some less than stellar episodes,  I'm not wild about The Broca Divide as a whole, but there are lots of little things I love about it. SG3 being there to protect the backsides of SG1 and Daniel stating it was more his front side he was worried about. Teal'c calmly telling General Hammond that he would "prefer not to hurt this man", while subduing the afflicted airman in the briefing room.  And of course, this was the first episode where they misplace Daniel. Poor Teal'c was very upset about it.  Fast forward a few seasons and they barely react when Daniel goes missing. They know he'll be back. Oh, and  Daniel getting himself all worked up trying to make his point about the importance of studying the cultures they encounter and not realizing for a second that Hammond was telling him he'd already won the argument.

I have never been all that enchanted by the Nox, maybe because their smug know-it-all attitude reminds me too much of a really irksome family member.

When it comes to "smug, know it all attitudes" I don't think anyone can beat the Tollan.  Boy, that was one race of people (except Narim) that I couldn't stand. Should have left them at the foot of that erupting  volcano.

[random chance]

I agree on the Tollan, but for me the difference was, the characters weren't enchanted with them either. Somehow that made their smugness less irritating.

[theredhead77]

I always felt The Nox was a bit of commentary on American politics."The very young do  not always do as they are told".

Even though Season one was predominately dark episodes Singularity hammered home how dark this show could go. The whole series was always pretty dark and I never understood the not your daddy's Stargate  SG:U was being pimped out with. A bomb in a child, a rapey G'ould, memory wipes, Teal'c holding Kalalsky's head so the gate could basically scalp and kill him, it goes on and on. In season 1! 

[stillshimpy]

The Broca Divide actually has one thing that cracks me up in it: It's about the only time that they tried to have Daniel make the argument an actual anthropologist might make, but apparently they must have had some kind of "Well that's freaking problematic as hell, are you sure that Jackson would argue in favor of 'early man had sex by rape'?!? What do you mean, 'yes', I'm sure?  Anthropologists are all about not disrupting a culture?"  

Basically they seemed to realize all Daniel would ever do would be to stick up for the right of these cultures to be appalling and that might not sit well with the audience when he was supposed to be the Conscience Keeper of the team.  

Later seasons feature Daniel all in favor of moving entire planets lock, stock, barrel and loom whenever anything goes wrong: Goa'uld invading you? Come with us through the 'gate! Ozone layer gone?  Come with us, here's a new place for you to worship your...ah crap, look a terraforming spaceship in the sky...time to pack up and gooooooo again.  Some more."  but this was one of the few times they tried to whip out that "Yeah, he'd actually try to not interfere much with these folks..." stuff in all it's "ew, that's sort of repugnant" glory.  

Also, the virus that gives people amusing facial hair that then retracts almost immediately....after they take what amounts to a Benadryl is a real howler.  

On the subject of the Nox and their smugness:  Oh hell yeah, they were smug and annoying and more than a little bit twee.  Plus, that soundtrack made me want to commit acts of violence upon my remote control to turn it down.  We get it.  They're peaceful and wonderful.  No need to go all heavenly-choir-and-blissed-out-birds on our collective eardrums to prove the point.  

Also, any "advanced race" that tends to view anyone not as "advanced" with such overt disdain is ...let's just say...less advanced than they believe themselves to be.  Condescending goobers, the lot of them. 

The Tollan is case in point for this but that's partially because of Hot-for-Sam guy being attracted to her near-ability to grasp advanced concepts.  She's a woman, dude, not a pupil.  Also, slightly disturbing that that so clearly turns you on.  Here's hoping you aren't a teacher on Tollan." 

The Tollan and Nox episodes point out one of the flaws of science-fiction writing though:  Apparently whenever we imagine a more advanced race?  We think they're kind of jackasses and condescending jerks.  So they never seem advanced, just tiring and irksome. 

[KirkB]

As much as I liked them, the Asgard weren't exactly enlightened benefactors of mankind either. Even Thor, who was personal friends with O'Neill, was constantly pointing out how dimwitted and childlike humans were. When they needed help with the Replicators because their high tech methods kept making things worse they came and got Sam, arguably the smartest person on Earth, because they were incapable of thinking dumb enough to fix the problem.

Edited April 15, 2014 by KirkB

[random chance]

I never thought about it before, but that is so true. Advanced races are condescending jerks and when humans prevail it's because they're not too smart for their own good. In fact, that was the entire premise of Eureka. (Except they were all humans in Eureka.)

Edited April 15, 2014 by random chance

[theredhead77]

I think if we encountered an advanced race we'd (humans) would think they are condescending jerks since we (humans) already tend to think we are the smartest beings around.

The Tollan and their condescending ways didn't bother me much. They were consistent about not sharing technology with "lesser" races and it wasn't just humans they withheld from. Humans weren't the smartest people in many of the galaxies or universes SG teams traveled to and it was pretty frelling presumptious of us (humans) to assume that all races would just be open to giving us technology we may not understand or treat with respect; even if it meant death.

[random chance]

I think if we encountered an advanced race we'd (humans) would think they are condescending jerks since we (humans) already tend to think we are the smartest beings around.

But humans wrote the supersmart condescending aliens, so on some level we must believe that we're the dumbest species in the universe. Dumb, but with better manners.

[stillshimpy]

Or we equate intelligence and advancement with pronounced arrogance rather than, oh say, evolving into something more compassionate and kinder.  

The Nox really were the best shot at trying to communicate that, but they sort of blew it with the "You seem to genuinely care what happens to us, why is that?"  stuff.  Because they were baffled that less advanced races could care about others.  I get that we were less advanced, but it's not like they were encountering single-celled organisms. "I had no idea you could feel for others not like yourself! Astounding." 

The advanced races spent a lot of time just being ass-ignorant of any emotional concepts too.  "Well, what can I expect from you primitives, you" "The very young are...really very tiresome to us..."  

I just think that if I met a time-traveler from hundreds of years ago, I'd try to have patience with what they might know.  "Washing your hands frequently will help prevent the spread of disease.  Water now is treated so that it won't make you sick to drink it."  rather than "People from your time were disgustingly dirty and didn't know any better.  Ugh.  Here, use this soap."  

Maybe not, but even if you aren't trying to teach someone something (share technology) empathy still exists. I manage to speak to my dog kindly, even when she's doing something that seems goofy ("The thunder isn't after you, it's okay, you can come out from underneath the bed") and those sort of examples can go on and on.  So the "advanced" races usually acted as if "You don't have any feelings that are worth recognizing, or respecting, because you are less advanced, so I will tell you how stupid and primitive I find you, because you are too unsophisticated to have your natural feelings of offense matter to me on any emotional spectrum".  

The problem is we're writing these advanced races and yet they always seem to come off like throwbacks to an imperialistic time, rather than being truly advanced, so they come off as being socially regressed. 
 

Edited April 16, 2014 by stillshimpy

[anstar]

Dumb, but with better manners.

I think that's what put me off most about the Tollan.  Rude! Looking down their noses at the Broca Divide people with the funny hats who were offering them a safe place to go.

The Nox were frustrating (to me) but I kind of understood where they were coming from.  From their point of view, we attacked Apophis, apparently without provocation.  Without context, it made us look like the aggressors, people not to be trusted.  They disliked violence (hiding was better) and we appeared to believe that fighting was better.  While SG1 desperately tried to protect people they saw as helpless, the Nox didn't understand why we didn't simply take them at their word that they were fine and leave. A big communication gap there.

 

A bomb in a child

The ending of Singularity really disappointed me.  Sam's anguish as she ascended in the elevator, leaving Cassandra behind, and then returning so she wouldn't be alone was powerful.  Then she told Jack she just "knew" Cassie wasn't going to explode...making her willingness to stay less selfless, and her meltdown in the elevator a little silly. 

[shapeshifter]

Advanced races are condescending jerks and when humans prevail it's because they're not too smart for their own good.

Which episode had Sam and Thor spaceshipwrecked in the middle of a battle with the replicators for universe domination, and the two of them realized that Thor was too smart to figure out a solution, they needed Carter's inferior (heh) smarts to undermine the enemy?

I never thought about it before, but that was kind of a meta episode for all the preceding episodes in which the humans outsmart the more technologically advanced ETs.

The problem is we're writing these advanced races and yet they always seem to come off like throwbacks to an imperialistic time, rather than being truly advanced, so they come off as being socially regressed.

The Asgard too? I think they're just justifiably arrogant.

Back to the early Stargate: I appreciated how much Michael Shanks and RDA preserved the best of the characterizations James Spader and Kurt Russell created. And Teal'c always seemed like he stepped right out of the movie. Are we sure he wasn't in it? LOL.

Edited April 16, 2014 by shapeshifter

[random chance]

Or we equate intelligence and advancement with pronounced arrogance rather than, oh say, evolving into something more compassionate and kinder.

I think we do that as well, and I wonder why that is. Wish-fulfillment maybe?  A desire to be so good at something that people just had to put up with your crap and bad manners?

   

The ending of Singularity really disappointed me.  Sam's anguish as she ascended in the elevator, leaving Cassandra behind, and then returning so she wouldn't be alone was powerful.  Then she told Jack she just "knew" Cassie wasn't going to explode...making her willingness to stay less selfless, and her meltdown in the elevator a little silly.

(I apologize that I didn't put your name in the quote, but I accidentally backspaced twice now and the system ate the quote, so I give up.)

Anyway. That's the exact same gripe I had with it. I love the episode in general but I wish they hadn't tacked on that "I had a feeling" ending. In my head, I pretend she's lying so that she doesn't look suicidal.

 

The Asgard too? I think they're just justifiably arrogant.

Sure, until they cloned themselves right out of existence!

Edited April 16, 2014 by random chance

[theredhead77]

But humans wrote the supersmart condescending aliens, so on some level we must believe that we're the dumbest species in the universe. Dumb, but with better manners.

Perhaps, or maybe the writers know something we don't (or more likely I can't phrase my thoughts correctly)

 

The ending of Singularity really disappointed me.  Sam's anguish as she ascended in the elevator, leaving Cassandra behind, and then returning so she wouldn't be alone was powerful.  Then she told Jack she just "knew" Cassie wasn't going to explode...making her willingness to stay less selfless, and her meltdown in the elevator a little silly. 

I think she said it to make Jack feel better and make her actions seem less reckless. Singularity was before we met the Tok'ra, before Jolinar. Sam just "knowing" was a gut feeling which probably wouldn't have been looked upon as a reason to justify such reckless behavior and "more importantly" defying orders (I believe).

[KirkB]

It probably would've worked a little better if instead of "I just knew" Sam had said something like "I suddenly realized." As in, she didn't just have this weird, almost psychic intuition, but rather had worked it out intellectually.

[stillshimpy]

You know, the Asgard never bothered me as much as the Tollan or Nox did, but that's partially because they rendered them almost genderless, emotionless.  They weren't quite robotic, but they were close.  I was just thinking about the Tollan and Nox, plus several other of the alien races encountered throughout the run of the series. 

The Asgard and the reptilian race from Scorched Earth seemed okay. Sure, we didn't actually meet the reptilian race, but they seemed to be doing their best to function with other races in their own weird, removed way. They figured out a way to solve their problem, sent forth their technology and a way to rebuild their culture and society.  They actually tried to make sure they wouldn't be harming anyone else and the only way they went wrong, was in not anticipating that there was a slim possibility that some other race would try to move onto the abandoned planet they found suitable for terraforming in between their technology scanning it and starting the process.  

Hell, they even left an ambassador program of sorts to try and act as a diplomat and shaped it in the image of the race they encountered to better facilitate that diplomacy.  

In the end, the problems were solved because we finally figured out a different question to ask other than "Can you stop and go somewhere else?" and instead became, "Wait, can you stop for a while and tell us what your second runner-up planet was so maybe these people could go there?" 

Seriously, the Aschen, the Nox, the Tollan, several other worlds and the Asgard and I think the most advanced race the team ever encountered might actually have been the reptilian folks we never actually met, with the bad sounding music and need for an atmosphere toxic to humans and humanoids.  

Of course, Jack was fully prepared to blow them the hell up....so.....well.  Yeah.   But we didn't! That's important! 

Edited April 16, 2014 by stillshimpy

[Idiotboy]

 

Sam's anguish as she ascended in the elevator, leaving Cassandra behind, and then returning so she wouldn't be alone was powerful.  Then she told Jack she just "knew" Cassie wasn't going to explode...making her willingness to stay less selfless, and her meltdown in the elevator a little silly.

I've always fanwanked that silly explanation out of existence -- and I think Amanda Tapping's performance undermines it, too. You really get the sense that Sam would rather die than leave Cassandra to perish. This was one of the episodes where Sam started coming into her own as a character of depth, IMO.

[stillshimpy]

I've always fanwanked that silly explanation out of existence -- and I think Amanda Tapping's performance undermines it, too. You really get the sense that Sam would rather die than leave Cassandra to perish. This was one of the episodes where Sam started coming into her own as a character of depth, IMO.

It certainly succeeded more than something like The First Commandment did at fleshing out Sam's character a bit on the interpersonal side. that's for sure.  Normally I'd take some exception to fleshing out a woman's character by exploring a maternal instinct, but it never really felt that way with Cassandra.  I really think most of Sam's characterization in Singularity wasn't dependent upon gender roles for definition, if that makes sense.  It's not "Oh look, Sam has a maternal instinct, jeez, how trite."  

It's kind of more about exploring what made her want to join the Air Force, and the emotional world she has outside of being a super scientist.  

I also didn't buy the "I just knew" as "Sam knew all along that Cassandra wasn't going to blow up."  I thought what we saw, which was Sam choosing to go back because she couldn't leave Cassandra down there to die alone (although, I couldn't quite figure out why they didn't sedate her, instead of leaving her down there and terrified)  was just that.  Sam was an airman, basically, not people prone to saving their own hides while others die in terror.  

Then I felt like she told Jack that so that he wouldn't psych hold her for being willing to blow up.  As for the show, I think that was also the deal.  They didn't want to explain the "Well, she was willing to die, thought she was likely going to die, but that isn't even close to being suicidal."  So it's like they wanted to develop Sam's character, but trying to explain that impulse to go back would have taken an entire other episode.   

Today I put Tin Man back on in the background.  I really enjoyed that one for a surprising story.  The first time I saw it, I didn't have any idea they'd all been copied into robots, but were alive and well in another room.  It has the goofiness of "Com'try'a" and how insane poor Harlan was after 11k years.  Fun story. Heavier concepts, but with humor.  Really, I think one of the more successful stories of the first season.  

Plus, the way they revisited it years later was actually surprising as hell.  That's also something the show did reasonably well.  When they did a follow-up episode, they often managed to pull off a complete surprise.  Still not quite as amazing as the follow-up to Prisoners when it turns out Keera is actually Lenaya: The Destroyer of Worlds (I know that episode isn't all that popular, but I still think that was an amazing story twist and reveal). 

Edited April 18, 2014 by stillshimpy

[random chance]

Normally I'd take some exception to fleshing out a woman's character by exploring a maternal instinct, but it never really felt that way with Cassandra.

 

It didn't feel that way to me either, it was more like fleshing out her character by exploring her humanity.  Also, Jack bonded with plenty of children and I think in many ways he related to them better.

[theredhead77]

I thought what we saw, which was Sam choosing to go back because she couldn't leave Cassandra down there to die alone (although, I couldn't quite figure out why they didn't sedate her, instead of leaving her down there and terrified)

 

I thought  she was sedated and woke up on the ride down the elevator. I distinctly recall Sam saying "Oh God, she's awake".

[P2C2E]

I've been rewatching/watching for the first time Season 1. Some of the episodes are definitely familiar, like Children of the Gods/The Enemy Within/The Nox/The Torment of Tantalus. Others, though, I don't think I've ever seen. I've only watched through The Torment of Tantalus so far, so I'm a little behind on the rewatch but I'll catch up. 

 

I didn't find the Nox all that annoying, although I understand how they can be seen that way. I think it's because I agree with a lot of what they say. I can see it being a little smug, but at the same time they are reacting from their POV and culture. They live in a culture that values pacifism and isolationism. One where they attempt to keep to themselves and expect others to do so. Most of the cultures they've encountered have been there to pillage or destroy. I can see where they'd have trouble understanding the interest the SG-1 Team has in protecting them. At the same time, they are clearly compassionate about other people/races. They didn't have to heal anyone, but they chose to. They chose to heal everyone, including those who wished them harm. It's definitely an interesting philosophy they live by and one I like.

 

I think the biggest thing I took away from Brief Candle is that Kintia is a beautiful name and I think I covet it. 

[John Potts]

Torment of Tantalus is probably a favourite because it was a character you could really believe in: the hermit who genuinely believes he has gone insane, which is pretty understandable after having spent 40(?) years alone. And he didn't spend those years feeling sorry for himself, he tried to take notes with the limited materials he had available. It's a shame we didn't (that I'm aware of, anyway) revisit his re-integration with humanity (like they did with Cassie, on occasion).

 

As for the arrogance of the Tollan/Nox/Asgard - the only one that really annoyed me were the Tollan. They seemed to be like a modern man transported to the 19th Century and speaking down to Humphrey Davy - sure, he'd be amazed at what we could do, but I'm pretty sure he'd be making theories about how computers worked (probably wrong ones, but theories nonetheless). The Tollan's attitude seemed to be "Bunch of dumb apes, you'd never understand". The Asgard and the Nox were that much more advanced and so they seemed more reasonable (the leader of the Nox could point to the fact that "The young don't always do what they're told" and the Asgard's first interaction with SG-1 was them breaking their security device). That and the fact they were at least prepared to consider what we (humanity) had to say rather than just dismiss it.

[stillshimpy]

One of the good things about Season One is that it has a really useful clip show, in terms of rewatches.  There are enough pure stinkers in the first season, that it's nice to have that clip show to present the good parts of each.  Politics is a weird one, because it only really views well as part of a rewatch, where you've skipped the vast majority of the actual season and just get the highlights.  

 

So this was the first time I was ever really grooving on Politics as an episode in and of itself.  Also, since the last time I saw the episode, I've since watched all the Trek series for the first time and finally understand why there is a such a fondness for Ronnie Cox and why people have historically liked him.  I have spent most of my Stargate life just being -- at best --indifferent to the actor and actively disliking Kinsey (more than I'm clearly meant to on that).  

 

Weird instance of a guest-star casting that actually works best, I think, when held in contrast to the better known roles the actor played.  It's only then that I really got a sense of how much actual character crafting and deliberate choice was going into Kinsey.  Fun to discover something new about the character after all this time, 

 

Torment of Tantalus is probably my favorite episode from the first season.  It's the first time everyone is displaying the team dynamic that actually made the show endure for me.  Sam is that version of exceptionally intelligent , but also a little bit socially awkward.  Sure, it's funny when she freaks out at the sight of a naked, old Earnest and displays almost zero (and that's being generous) sensitivity to this poor, stranded man.  

 

We did see Earnest at least one more time, JohnPotts, but sadly the actor actually had Alzheimer's and has long since died of it, but that's part of why they really couldn't revisit Earnest in the same way they did Cassie.  I don't think they felt as comfortable recasting the part, and I appreciated that.  

 

Okay, well, I'm going to be onto season two for my workout.  I still and will always love There But For The Grace of God.  It did crack me up that they gave Teal'c a villain ponytail.  Plus it started to touch upon something I've really appreciated throughout the run of the series: That the only hope things ever really had was when they were all part of SG1.   Katherine Langford wasn't a Daniel substitute.  Scientist Sam was great, but we need Air Force Sam and everything literally blows the hell up if Jack O'Neill doesn't spark Teal'c to action. 

 

One of my favorite scenes for TBFTGOF  is when Alt!Teal'c tells Alt!Jack that he has just received world that his home planet of Chulak was destroyed (because Jack sent a bomb through as soon as he could) and therefore, he has nothing for which to fight.  

 

It took the "I have nowhere to go" from Children of the gods and changed the context of what that might end up meaning in Teal'c's world.  After Chulak was gone, he had nowhere to go and no reason to care enough to try any longer.  Plus, Jack  -- who had earned his trust and faith , just by being Jack in Children of the gods

had also destroyed his chance that Teal'c would ever have trust or faith in him...just by being Jack (the lesser more "blow 'em up and let the gods sort 'em out" variety). 

[Idiotboy]

 

I think the biggest thing I took away from Brief Candle is that Kintia is a beautiful name and I think I covet it.

So high is the Cheese Factor in Brief Candle that it was a strong threat to make my Ten Worst but the campy fun of Kinthia and Senile!Jack provides some redemption. From the shallow end of the pool, it has a wonderful shot where Sam is seating and still is as tall as Janet. This is the first episode where you see Sam/Janet chemistry, for those who ship that way.

 

Apparently the first cut of Brief Candle ran long (ironic, that), very much so. I think you can sense some major rewriting toward the end in order to cover a lot of dramatic turf in a relatively few minutes.

[Sonny]

Season one is much better than I feared after all these years. I'm up to The Nox and had to cringe only a few times.

Oh, how I missed the team. It's like meeting old friends.

[solotrek]

Finally doing a season 1 rewatch for some reason. The season holds up pretty well.  Michael Shanks and Richard Dean Anderson found the voices of their characters fast and early, like episode 1.  MS might have been channeling James Spader a bit, or a lot really, but quickly makes him more endearing. I love what RDA did with Jack and I think there's a reason that 10 year old me was in love with him. In fact on rewatch, I'm in love with him again and my husband has the ultimate man crush on him. O'Neill-isms (and Teal'c-isms) are a frequent occurrence in this house.

 

I can also say that I'm at a point in life where I completely understand why O'Neill cuts Daniel and Carter off during their techno/anthro babble scenes.  It's not because he's dumb or doesn't want to know, it's that the situation is often so that he doesn't need to know the minute details. When a simple yes or no or one word answer is replaced with any sort of lecture - it can get annoying or as pointless as not going into detail - and in their line of work - it's dangerous. We were with our attending with a patient and he asked us about the medication to use for a patient. In that setting, one of my fellow students went on a whole explanation down to the biochemical pathways and got cut off and cut down very quickly. The attending isn't dumb, it's just not what was asked and not what was needed. Give the name of the medications and if asked later or during rounds, give the details. I feel like Daniel and Carter - Daniel a lot more early on and Carter throughout the entire series - would go into full lecturing mode as opposed to just answer the question mode. It works in an academic setting where they're more comfortable - but it's not really what they need in the field.

 

It's been awhile watching S1 again and the first time since I watched a bunch of convention panels. So seeing this season knowing fun facts is pretty cool. IE RDA adlibbed most his lines, he went through the script with a thumb rule so he wouldn't say or learn lines longer than his thumb.  Brad Wright was often furious at him so when BW was on set, he's say the written lines and as soon as BW left, RDA would do his own thing. It worked very well IMO, thanks for the Jack we know and love RDA! Pays to be an executive producer. This was havoc for most guest stars who came on set not knowing RDAs tendency to drop entire lines or add entire lines.  Many a cue was missed. Chris Judge is hungover for the most part, hence the napping scene in S2. He also hates the voice and the Teal'c frown that he decided to go with for the first season.  DSD hated stick in the mud/up the ass Hammond and wanted that rectified ASAP. AT fought hard to make them write Carter as a person and not a "woman" because the writing staff of men could not write for females. Women are just people...we're not that hard to understand.

 

So Joel Goldsmith isn't listed as the music composer of the show yet in the credits of the first few episodes I'm writing about here, there are a few other guys that are listed. Weird.

 

• 101 Children of the Gods - There are a ton of plot holes in here when dealing with the rest of the show like how Apophis dialed back out from Earth, how exactly Klorrel is Apophis' son (when thinking about how Goa'uld come from Queens or Hathor which also is weird but whatever), why are they just dialing random gates grabbing a random female and then just peacing out, and just a few other Goa'uld/Jaffa things. Then there's also the question of what was Hammond in charge of? Just sitting and watching over people guarding a ring that no one ever used? What was the purpose of the SGC since the Abydos mission? The guards in the opening mention that they're shipping people out everyday, but did they have a few people stationed there just to watch over the gate in case it opened again? They didn't think it went anywhere, they were sure Jack detonated the bomb, why have people there?
  
  The stick up Hammond's butt could not be more firmly stuck in there.  There's a glimmer of the Hammond we grow to love, but wow.  DSD was right when he talked about how the director messed that up. I'm glad he was able to get more input on the character. It's weird to see that he'd have someone like Samuels as his executive officer.  But makes sense since he was basically a pencil pusher commanding basically nothing, Samuels would be  a good fit.  Who was his EO during the 7 years he was in charge of the SGC?  Harriman?
  
  The introduction of O'Neill is good.  RDA found the voice of Jack really quickly. So Jack's only 45 here but is retired, what exactly does he do? Unless he's a trust fund baby, he must have some sort of job.  One of those private military contractors? Security? Or is he going to school taking astronomy courses?
  
  I like Ferreti and Kawalski a lot. Jack's banter with Kawalski is great and Kawalski is made out to be a really fun character. The introduction to Carter is as cringe-worthy as I remember. In fact, Femme-Sam is in full swing this entire episode and the next few episodes. Realistically it makes sense, there is sexism in the military, a lot has come out in recent years about casual sexism and rape in the military. It would make sense that Carter here is up for no BS and ready to arm-wrestle to make her point. To be fair, Ferretti and Kawalski are being gigantic dicks. And O'Neill wasn't really accepting either. But her lines were just not something a real woman (or person) would say and poor ATaps (I heard someone call her  this at a convention panel and just thought it was hilarious, as did RDA and MS) delivery was just trying too hard to make it work. On the flip side, I can see the men's POV.  We know that Jack for sure and Kawalski based on The Gamekeeper were USAF Special Forces.  The type of field and combat training that they have is pretty intensely insane compared to people who don't go that route/people who are usually in a more academic/research setting. So even if Carter were a guy, I think there still would have been tension. Add the fact that, IIRC, women in the US military don't get sent to the frontlines, I can kind of see their POV. They didn't have to be such dicks about it though. Though it did seem that RDA was playing it as Jack getting more amused as the conversation went on and AT playing it to belabor her point.  As my husband said while watching it, "wow, it's like love at first sight".
  
  MS is fantastic as Daniel and it's great to see Alexis Cruz back as Skaa'ra. Having Daniel call Carter "Doctor Captain" or "Captain Doctor" is kind of hilarious. Amazon Prime cut out the scene where Daniel goes to Jack's house. I found a site to watch the scene elsewhere, it's a good scene. Glad they built that friendship early on.
  
  They did a good job foreshadowing Teal'c rebelling against Apophis. You can see he clearly doesn't agree with what Apophis asks of him.
  
  I'm tired of writing this entire essay about COTG. So my point is, really fun pilot. They set up the rest of the show really well by saying the gate can go other places.  Oh yeah, Lt. Connor first shows up here. Never noticed him here before.
   
• 102 The Enemy Within - I have to say, they did too good a job introducing Kawalski, I really like his character and his banter with Jack was always great. However, it is a good choice in making someone so likeable and fun and make him not only into the enemy, but kill him off.  Doctor Werner went from Chief Surgeon to background character and then gone.  I guess that's what happens when you kill Colonel O'Neill's friend. 
  
  So was there still a part of the symbiote in Kawalski that just wasn't in any way shape or form visible to them? Surely a MRI would have shown that something was still there.
  
  Poor Amanda Tapping actually got a concussion from being thrown in that elevator. 
  
  One of my favorite set ups this episode was them showing Jack's unfailing loyalty to Teal'c. You get Jack's loyalty and god damn, you get it. Also one of my favorite Hammond lines to Colonel Kennedy, "Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."
  
  I think this is where the manta of "something of the host must survive" comes into play. I thought this was a great followup to CotG and a solid episode in itself.
   
• 103 Emancipation - I can't say this episode had my undivided attention. Or any attention. In fact, I can't believe I spent time watching any of it. I think aside from being amused by the guys' reaction to Carter in the dress, I was bored or cringing.  After two solid episodes, what a clunker.
   
• 104 The Broca Divide - Doctor Frasier! I didn't realize that Makepeace was introduced so early on. Makes Shades of Grey that much sadder in that regard. One thing I finally caught this time around was the incredible eyebrow hair they grew when they became cavemen. I had to pause and laugh for awhile. My husband couldn't get over the weird noise O'Neill was making as a caveman, so he had to try to imitate that for awhile. Not throwing him out of the room is a sign of true love folks.  It was a good episode to show how easy it is to bring back some horrible disease from off-world. 
  
  But if you think about it, what's going to happen to that society now that all the "dark side" people are back? Surely some people lost their spouses to the disease and then moved on. Now that their former loved one is back, what happens? Since they probably remember what happened, all the rape and other going ons during the time must make things hella awkward.
  
  The best moment of the episode? Right after O'Neill recovers the next shot is of Hammond straightening his tie in the control room.
  
  Not a bad episode actually despite what my memory of it going in was. 
   
• 105 The First Commandment - The episode could have been better cast. I like William Russ, any child of the 90's has to love him as Cory and Eric's dad from Boy Meets World. The problem is, the actor is the same age as RDA. Carter must have a thing for older guys. Also, the guy is around the same age as O'Neill (maybe playing him a few years younger) - but he's still just a Captain? Isn't that a red flag? It's always nice to have back story for characters, but ultra feminist Carter having this ultra controlling fiance is kind of weird. Maybe he's the reason she couldn't be on the first mission thru the gate. I wonder what Jacob thought of the guy. Then again, Pete got a background check on her and then stalked her for awhile - he was also not the most normal or stable of guys. Clearly this just shows us the seeds of Carter's horrible taste in Earth men not named O'Neill.
  
  I was intrigued by Carter not being able to shoot Jonas. It made me realize that, despite logging flight hours during Desert Storm, I don't think Carter would have ever been in a situation where she had to straight up shoot someone and point blank at that. I liked O'Neill's speech at the end to her, but it's interesting to just compare this with how proficient at killing both she and Daniel became.
  
  Other things from this episode - Teal'c's friendly smile is so Teal'c and mildly terrifying. Do they ever set up a security perimeter like that in any other episode? It was pretty useless, if anything even got that close, by the time you react to the alarm the intruder would be right on top of you. Who was Hanson's second in command? We never heard his name, and no one even spoke to him like he was a member of the SGC even after captured.
  
  I think I like this episode more than most despite my issues with the casting.
   
• 106 Cold Lazarus - "Your world is a strange place."  I'm amused that Teal'c suddenly decided that it was that day that he would want to see beyond the mountain or watch TV. Was he just cleared to be able to do that? Did they just give him a TV? I'm baffled by that. He's been on Earth for months at this point according to Carter. I mentioned Carter's type previously, but O'Neill has a type too.  Could that have gotten someone who looked a little less like Carter? I liked the revelation that they aren't all necessarily buddy buddy after work.  Carter's acceptance that O'Neill could have a wife and kid and not know about it after months of working with him was interesting. Also another plot hole, in Seth we find out that Carter has no relationship with her brother and his family. Here she mentions sort of having one.
  
  Sara and her dad handled alien-Jack a lot better than I would have under the circumstances. Then again, I guess it takes something to not only be a military wife, but a wife of Spec-Ops officer. Also, I find it sad that Sara saw a clone of her ex-husband, a clone of her dead son, weird electrical storm coming from said clones, and mention of the word Stargate repeatedly, but probably got no clearance or any info of what happened. Whereas later on Pete basically got full disclosure for being kind of a stalkery creep. I may or may not have a dislike for Pete.
  
  With the later revelation of Jack being a POW and his militant "no man left behind" - I can see why he was incredibly irked after coming back. The episode from his POV would have been kind of funny. He would have woken up next to a pile of crystals, radioed everyone, been incredibly worried after no response, walked around for awhile and then went WTF and gated back thinking they literally just left him behind without even looking for him. And then upon returning home, getting locked up.
  
  The look on Jack's face with Charlie was kind of touching. But I kind of didn't like the kid because they kept playing the scene of him running around with  a backtrack of kid laughter. I hate the sound of children laughing. I mean, I said this to my husband and he gave me a look of "WTF is wrong with you woman", but I find it annoying to hear backtrack laughing children and some weird hazy sequence being shown repeatedly. It's kind of hokey to me.
  
  I'm glad we touched on this topic so early and moved on from it. I don't think it truly gave the character closure like they keep saying in interviews, because he's not really the kind of guy that seems to be able to move on from things at all.  But it was sort of an elephant in the room and they did a good job of saying that it did exist and they want him to move past it. To be able to have sex with an alien woman and age rapidly two episodes later.

[kassygreene]

O'Neill could have retired by 45, even without his tragedies.  This is 1995 or 1996 (1997?), and he was a full bird-colonel at the start of the first movie.  Usual time for promotion to colonel is around 20 years of service, but with his implied special forces history he was plausibly promoted early.  First retirement was after the death of his son, and he was called up from that (and from the verge of suicide) for the first Stargate mission.  Also, he has at least two service ribbons from Vietnam, the Vietnam Campaign Medal Ribbon, and the Vietnam Service Ribbon (thank you wikipedia).  For US military personnel, April 30 1975 was the last day for that assignment.  

 

So he has at least 20 years in the Air Force, which means he could retire with a full pension, and was free to go work in other gummint jobs as a "double dipper".  Or, since his son was dead, his wife divorced him, and he really didn't have expensive hobbies, he could have lived comfortably in his cabin, fishing in The Lake With No Fish. 

 

The conversation with Samuels on the roof of his house at the beginning of CotG has always left me with the impression that he's on watch, waiting for the goa'uld, which is why he didn't retire to his cabin (too remote).

 

Or it could be that having found that incredibly cool house, he put off moving until the Air Force forced him to transfer to the Pentagon.

 

(Seriously, I wanted to retire to that house.)

[theredhead77]

First I want to say to maculae awesome post. I read it, loved it and hope you spend time to share more. I'd really love to read your thoughts on Shades of Grey (when you get there).

 

kassygreene I still want to retire to that house. 

[solotrek]

• 107 The Nox – The very young do not always as they’re told.
First Star Trek main cast member guest actor of the show - Armin Shimmerman.  Also known as Quark from DS9. First deaths of the series for all of them. What's really stood out to me this rewatch of S1 is just how early on over arching plot points of the show were set up. The episode starts with the Secretary of Defense bitching about the cost-benefit of the SGC. The administration wants more technology and weapons technology. It's interesting to see how early they set this all up - you can see why the NID became weapons obsessed technology stealing people. And TBH, it seems like there were probably people within the administration (beyond Kinsey) involved with the NID and the use of the second stargate (more on that in S2). It makes sense because later on Maybourne mentions that the NID is a legit government organization with a lot of important people involved. This also makes the Kinsey introduction less surprising later on this season - and his involvement with the NID less surprising. Another thing set up here is the idea of more developed aliens not willing to deal with Earth's naivete. At least they weren't as douchey about it as the Tollan.  Another thing I've noticed is just how often they were the dress uniforms in S1.  I guess they want to remind the audience that this is an Air
Force show.
 

I love the introduction of the Nox.  They look so simple, weak, and primitive. It's almost understandable how SG1 kept thinking that they'd need help when the Nox repeatedly told them and assured them that they knew what they were doing. But it was still kind of arrogant since the Nox did bring SG1 back to life and the reveal at the end pretty much showcased how much Earth has to learn. Their character design is well done. Nafrayu the kid is just adorable. I think my favorite part of this episode was when they were healing the kid and you can hear SG1 battling Apophis’ crew in the background. The look on Armin Shimmerman’s face cracked me up, it was very “God these guys don’t listen”.
 

One thing that doesn’t make sense. The Nox and later the Tollan are very insular races. Why would they have been affected by the rogue NID teams? Those teams clearly couldn’t have stolen shit from them directly.  Why would they have even cared that they were stealing from other people? The only “lesser” species they dealt with were Earth, so unlike the Asgard who kept getting their stuff stolen from protected planets or the Tok’ra they weren’t really affected at all. How would they even have known?
 

It's clearly raining in Vancouver during this episode and they're all carrying on like troopers. I think this is the one where RDA climbs on top of something and bitches to MGM about Vancouver weather for awhile on camera. You'd think he'd be used to this filming Macgyver there for so long.
 

Carter mentions that they've been to 19 worlds already. I find that...unbelievable. There's 9 or 10 SG teams at this point, the SGC has been operational for months according to Carter in Cold Lazurus. Unless she's just talking about SG1 in general I guess otherwise I can totally understand why the administration is wondering what the program is doing.  Amanda Tapping has really sketchy line delivery this episode. I can't point out my exact problems with it but I feel like she's just reading lines.
 

We're still at a point where Teal'c is used as the main person giving information on what's found off-world/ Goa'uld thinking/weapons/technology.He's mentioned that they'd be able to find the invisible/missing Stargate with a Goa'uld homing device. I don't recall them ever finding or mention of this ever again. Just like how he at one point mentioned that the Goa'uld terra form planets. They moved from that to just the Goa'uld go to planets similar to Earth.  Actually, it's interesting to see just how much Teal'c says early on.  Later on when he no longer has info dump like this, he says very little. No wonder Chris Judge was always hung over and thinking of leaving by the end of S2.
 

We're also still at a point in this show where Daniel is just annoying to me. I think it's an UO here, but I really dislike early Daniel. He puts the team at risk a lot. say what you want about Simmons (S5), but he was pretty accurate in saying that Daniel always had dubious reasons for being part of the team. Right now his need to save Sha’re overrides everything.
 

Another we’re still at a point of – mentioning that Jack was part of special forces – and it’s always Carter who does it. Still I don’t think making and shooting bows and arrows was or is ever part of special forces training. With the aim and proficiency he has with that thing I’m going to assume that it has something to do with growing up in Minnesota.  I’ll add his knife throwing in Secrets (S2) to that too. I can hit the bullseye pretty frequently with arrows, but knife throwing is fucking hard. Also, Jack is still smart – he’s the one who figured out how the shield worked.

A weird thing - why is Apophis here? He was on the missions to pick up hosts, he's on this mission here - later on the System Lords tend to just sit around and let their Jaffa do shit and bring stuff to them. My husband always thought Apophis was the most incompetent enemy of all of Stargate. However, Peter Williams does do a good job. Another weird thing, why is only one of Apophis’ Jaffa in the care of the Nox? All of them were killed.
 

A fine episode, not the best of the season but far from the worst. It's interesting that the Nox only show up 2 more times physically, but they have such a presence throughout.

 

108 Brief Candle - Unto every man the creator gives one hundred blissful days. It is a sin not to celebrate each and every one.
This episode ran 15 minutes long and they had to cut it, maybe that’s why this episode didn’t really work for me. RDA actually put the blame on Jonathan Glassner in an interview for this episode not working back when he didn’t give a shit who he was torpedoing. Or maybe it was when they had their falling out. 

This is the first time someone on SG1 basically gets date raped. Sadly, not the last this season. Introduction of nanites and of course Carter worked on nanotech at the Pentagon. Of course. The field of sciences which Carter studied is vast like Daniel and his archeology/anthropology/linguistics. Now Daniel is a midwife and helped deliver a baby with no tools. My Ob-Gyn attending would be amazed and horrified. Why not dial the SGC and you know, call for a medical team?
 

The only good thing about this episode, a brief amount of nearly naked Richard Dean Anderson. I was such a weird little kid because I definitely was crushing hard on him when I should have been ogling the Backstreet Boys…Anyways Jack is only 40 according to this episode. So either it takes place in 1992 or they decided to age O’Neill later on. His ID says his birthday is October 20, 1952 in Fragile Balance (S7). Maybe Jack was rounding down from 45.  Since he graduated from the USAFA in 1972, there's no way he could be born in 1957.

He’s also writing a Dear Sara letter, so I wonder what their relationship was like after Cold Lazurus. He insinuates he still loves her. She comes up again in Solitudes as well. I always found it was weird that he randomly put a picture of his family up in Lost City (S7). It was never up in that location beforehand – I checked in Shades of Grey (S3). I clearly know way too much about Jack’s house.
 

I think it’s hilarious that Teal’c could read the writing and just didn’t tell Daniel because he didn’t ask. It’s quite the opposite of Carter and Daniel who talk, a lot. I guess Teal’c teaches Daniel how to read this dialect of Goa’uld while Daniel teaches Teal’c how to read and write English. Someone had to have because he writes reports and I don’t think in Goa’uld (Zero Hour S8).

 

A decent character episode I guess for O'Neill, but all in all probably needed the 15 minutes they cut. Probably on the lower end of the spectrum for season 1.

Edited August 30, 2014 by maculae

[stillshimpy]

Another thing I've noticed is just how often they were the dress uniforms in S1.  I guess they want to remind the audience that this is an Air Force show.

 

I think the show was really proud of the association with the real Air Force for quite some time.  Richard Dean Anderson even spoke at the Air Force Academy on several occasions, but they finally quit having him do those gigs when he repeatedly went on about wanting to leave the show, was asked by the powers that be at the show to cut it out...and then did it again at the Air Force Academy.   I love RDA, he's wonderful on a lot of levels, but I'm sure one of them isn't whoever had the nigh on impossible job of trying to wrangle the guy into submission.  

 

 

This episode ran 15 minutes long and they had to cut it, maybe that’s why this episode didn’t really work for me. RDA actually put the blame on Jonathan Glassner in an interview for this episode not working back when he didn’t give a shit who he was torpedoing. Or maybe it was when they had their falling out.

 

Heh, yeah, I've always felt a little sorry for Glassner in that equation.  RDA has so much natural charisma and he seems like such a genuinely good guy, but he did not miss his calling the diplomatic corps, that's for sure.  Glassner tends to get forgotten, which is a pity because he was really seemingly pretty flexible and open to suggestion, unlike Wright, Cooper and Mallozzi,   I think RDA blamed Glassner for what a flop Brief Candle was because RDA really objected to the idea of Jack essentially "Kirking" (boffing a new babe at nearly every planetary stop).   So I think RDA's falling out with Glassner was later in the history of the show, and when it came to Brief Candle RDA just really didn't want Jack to devolve into some Scifi-trope of a the playboy male leader.  

As almost-per-usual with nearly every troubling "So, okay, that is definitely sex-without-real-consent, also known as rape, show, what the hell?" episode or episodes with really strange, screwed up gender politics , it was written by Kathyrn Powers (the woman who also wrote Emancipation).  It's one of the weirder things about SG1 and the absolutely earned criticisms about how early Sam was written:  a lot of that stuff was written by Kathyrn Powers.  It wasn't solely that the boys club of SG1' writer's room just tanked writing Amanda Tapping.  They tried to rectify the situation by hiring a fairly experienced woman (with scifi also) script writer to solve the problem.  Unfortunately she was responsible for a truly awful S:TNG (with a remarkably similar plot to Emancipation, in which Tasha Yar says "Of course I'm attracted to him that's beside the point" about a man who has abducted her and plans to have sex with her...so yeah, Powers wasn't exactly well schooled in what Girl Power was and she'd also written for Charlie's Angels, another early attempt at female empowerment that is pretty cringe-worthy now). 

I think that comes under the heading of "Oops."  

 

But the answer might also lie in the very troubling episode Hathor where the sexual harassment and outright rape in the workplace runs wild and free....and the script writer was Glassner.  Glassner seemed pretty open to suggestion, but his impulses were pretty freaking archaic and cliche ridden, which might be why RDA was just so freaking over the guy.

Edited August 31, 2014 by stillshimpy

[solotrek]

I think RDA blamed Glassner for what a flop Brief Candle was because RDA really objected to the idea of Jack essentially "Kirking" (boffing a new babe at nearly every planetary stop).   So I think RDA's falling out with Glassner was later in the history of the show, and when it came to Brief Candle RDA just really didn't want Jack to devolve into some Scifi-trope of a the playboy male leader.

 

The only interviews I read regarding Brief Candle took place after the falling out already happened. I suppose his initial issues with the "Kirking" and cut 15 minutes plus the falling out is the reason he just took that bus added a tank to it and ran Glassner over repeatedly. I think Glassner, Wright, and later Mallozzi and Cooper were incredibly lucky to have Michael Greenburg be the on-set/line producer.  Better have RDAs friend/producing partner deal with him on-set than have to deal with him themselves.

 

"So, okay, that is definitely sex-without-real-consent, also known as rape, show, what the hell?"

 

I mean making it be the guys getting raped doesn't make it right - it's pretty weird that they'd think viewers wouldn't be equally freaked out about it. I'm kind of glad they just glossed over it because I don't think anyone was on the writing level to be able to actually deal with it.

 

Richard Dean Anderson even spoke at the Air Force Academy on several occasions, but they finally quit having him do those gigs when he repeatedly went on about wanting to leave the show, was asked by the powers that be at the show to cut it out...and then did it again at the Air Force Academy.   I love RDA, he's wonderful on a lot of levels, but I'm sure one of them isn't whoever had the nigh on impossible job of trying to wrangle the guy into submission.

 

I went through the rdanderson interview database and by the year around S5, RDA is talking about peacing out. And then every interview from then on has a mention of how he wants to leave. I can just imagine TPTB at Showtime, MGM, and later Scifi just face palming each and every time.