Re-Watch: Season 8 - The Inmates are Running the Asylum

[BkWurm1]

 

Jack gets unfrozen and then chills behind a desk, Sam takes charge of the team, Daniel still doesn't get to go to Atlantis, and Teal'c gets hair!

Here's a place to discuss Season 8.

Edited February 7, 2017 by BkWurm1

[DittyDotDot]

What a great title for this thread @BkWurm1! For some reason I thought it was another season until the inmates started running the asylum, but that's probably because it's when the biggest lunatic of them all entered into the picture. I'm of course speaking of Ben Browder. ;)

Jack is totally the man! Love that. I especially enjoyed Zero Hour with O'Neill getting a feel for his new position and we get a glimpse into what General Hammond went through for all those years. And, you gotta love Walter anticipating Jack's every move. Very cute!

I also surprisingly really enjoyed Avatar. It's never a bad thing to team Teal'c and Daniel up and they did a nice job of grounding the action and concept with the characters.

I'm starting to realize that I haven't seen all of the later seasons. When the show first aired, I watched the first couple seasons fairly regularly, but then my life changed and I lost track of it. When I started watching Atlantis, I remember going back and getting caught up, but I seem to have skipped quite a few episodes. So, these first few episodes of S8 have been a lot of fun for me.

[BkWurm1]

On 2/11/2017 at 11:49 AM, DittyDotDot said:

I'm starting to realize that I haven't seen all of the later seasons. When the show first aired, I watched the first couple seasons fairly regularly, but then my life changed and I lost track of it. When I started watching Atlantis, I remember going back and getting caught up, but I seem to have skipped quite a few episodes. So, these first few episodes of S8 have been a lot of fun for me

I didn't watch most of season six (Just the Daniel episodes) and I was hit or miss even through most of season seven at first so it wasn't until 8 that I was firmly back in the habit of watching every week. Jack's absence was noticed even if I did like him being in charge (well, with Walter's help).  It was also a season where they seemed to have a lot more episodes that focused on one team member.  While the lack of team episodes was disappointing, season eight did produce some of my favorites.  

"Prometheus Unbound"  will never not be fun to watch.  (And yes, I remained a Vala fan to the end).  This was the season were Teal'c got an apartment off base.  That was a great even if I later watched and cringed since I HATED Erica Durance on Smallville.  I loved "Citizen Joe", getting that outsider's look at everything.  It shouldn't have worked as an episode but it did.  The season also really did have some really strong two-parter episodes.  

It's the season that really showed the age of the show but somehow I still have an immense fondness for it.  And when 9 & 10 rolled around with an almost totally different feel, I was perfectly ready to embrace the changes.  

Edited February 12, 2017 by BkWurm1

[marina to]

Avatar! The last great episode of Daniel/Teal'c goodness. 

What I love about season 8 was the emphasis on the relationships the other three have with each other, something that was completely lost once it became the Vala show. I will always hate Prometheus Unbound for subjecting us to her. She's so incredibly abusive to him in this episode and it's played for laughs.

[DittyDotDot]

Awww, I enjoyed Prometheus Unbound--and Vala--it was a fun lighthearted episode where they both get plenty of licks in if you ask me. It's weird because I wasn't looking forward to the episode; I remember not caring for it the first time around because I couldn't figure out when Daniel became such a fighter or when he learned to fly a space ship either. All those missed episodes, I guess? However, Hammond alone, was totally worth the watch not to mention getting to see Walter off base. 

I also unexpectedly loved Citizen Joe and It's Good to Be King, even if that one gave us the stupid time ship. They were both welcome lighthearted and fun episodes in a season that I kinda felt like they started to take themselves a little too seriously at times. 

On 2/12/2017 at 5:14 PM, BkWurm1 said:

The season also really did have some really strong two-parter episodes.  

I didn't care for any of the two parters, but I did embrace The Reckoning for tying up the Goa'uld storyline. New Order was okay, IMO, but these big premieres--where they have a bunch of stuff to tie up from the season before and a bunch of stuff to set up the current season--I tend to find overwhelming with all the stuff to get done. In the end I always feel like nothing really happened.

But, I really disliked Moebius this time around.  Setting aside that time travel episodes rarely work for me, when you have to constantly explain everything to your audience, over and over again, you're probably doing something wrong. Not to mention all the plot contrivances. Ugh. 

On 2/12/2017 at 5:14 PM, BkWurm1 said:

It's the season that really showed the age of the show but somehow I still have an immense fondness for it.  And when 9 & 10 rolled around with an almost totally different feel, I was perfectly ready to embrace the changes.  

One thing about S8 I liked is they came full circle on their own mythology. It felt like it was a natural time to shake things up a bit. 

[BkWurm1]

5 hours ago, marina to said:

 

What I love about season 8 was the emphasis on the relationships the other three have with each other, something that was completely lost once it became the Vala show. I will always hate Prometheus Unbound for subjecting us to her. She's so incredibly abusive to him in this episode and it's played for laughs.

Quote

www, I enjoyed Prometheus Unbound--and Vala--it was a fun lighthearted episode where they both get plenty of licks in if you ask me. 

I agree, they were pretty equally beating each other up by the end.  And he got the extra Zat shot in as well.  

I'll save most of my comments about "the Vala show" for when the rewatch reaches season nine, except to say that I think actually it wasn't the "Vala Show" but the "Daniel Show" and she just happened to be his co star. I ADORED the Daniel Show.  ;)

[marina to]

So my mom was trying to find something to watch this afternoon and we ran across It's Good to Be King. God, I miss this show. Hell, I missed Harry. I forgot about Teal'c being an utter boss and how much fun it is to watch Jack fly. The cool thing about this episode is how it turns everything we knew about Maybourne on its head, although we do get reminded at the end that he's still a scoundrel at heart.

Got so excited when the first prime told us Ares was coming and experienced quite the let down when we didn't get to see him. Of course, researching this I realized I thought he was Ba'al. Yup, it's been too long.

[Idiotboy]

Com'trya! I've been engaged in a solitary Great Rewatch but have bogged down, perhaps hopelessly, in S8. The point where I stalled was right before Prometheus Unbound and that episode (whose title escapes me) where an apparently lobotomized Sam lets Replicarter tinker with the ARG and disaster ensues. The only good moment in that is when Teal'c, having tried to shoot Replicarter and had no effect, tries to whack her with the now-useless ARG -- as if that would do any good. As for P.U,, I had a sixth sense when it aired that Cooper & Wright were greasing the skids for Amanda Tapping and we were all supposed to fall in love with Claudia Black. No dice ... and I continue to hate Vala with the passion of 1,000 burning nuns. It went so far as Cooper tendering a contract offer to CB while Tapping was still waiting for her S9 renewal. The latter let this be known at a convention of her fans in London (GABIT) and the wrath of Hell broke above Bridge Studios. Sam and Vala eventually co-existed but it was never a convincing fit, IMO: one of these things (Vala) was not like the others (Daniel, Teal'c, Sam). If I can ever get up the willpower to finish S8 there's always the promise of Ripple Effect, with its Little Doc and Martouf goodness to keep me going through S9.

[blueray]

I never hated Vala, but she was annoying. I feel like the show didn't really know what to do with her besides the one off in season 8. They could have made an interesting character since she was once taken over by a Go-ald. I guess it would have been there take on Seven-of-Nine as she would have insights to them that they didn't have and could have impersonated one (of course they were mostly defeated at this point in the show). But instead we get an annoying character who doesn't really serve any purpose besides being a mate for Daniel.

[BkWurm1]

On 10/2/2017 at 11:05 PM, Idiotboy said:

I had a sixth sense when it aired that Cooper & Wright were greasing the skids for Amanda Tapping and we were all supposed to fall in love with Claudia Black. No dice ... and I continue to hate Vala with the passion of 1,000 burning nuns. It went so far as Cooper tendering a contract offer to CB while Tapping was still waiting for her S9 renewal. The latter let this be known at a convention of her fans in London (GABIT) and the wrath of Hell broke above Bridge Studios. Sam and Vala eventually co-existed but it was never a convincing fit, IMO: one of these things (Vala) was not like the others (Daniel, Teal'c, Sam).

I can't speak to the behind the scenes stuff but isn't it possible that they offered CB a chance to return because Micheal Shanks and the audience responded so well to her character apart from any use as a negotiation tool?  AT in the end worked out a pretty good contract to the point that when the whole show got canceled, she still had a job so I'm not thinking CB was ever a real threat.   And when she was on the show, it was very clear that she wasn't a replacement for Sam but a completely different kind of character that personally, I thought benefitted the whole show, letting it regain its fresh feeling.  

9 hours ago, blueray said:

I never hated Vala, but she was annoying. I feel like the show didn't really know what to do with her besides the one off in season 8. They could have made an interesting character since she was once taken over by a Go-ald. I guess it would have been there take on Seven-of-Nine as she would have insights to them that they didn't have and could have impersonated one (of course they were mostly defeated at this point in the show). But instead we get an annoying character who doesn't really serve any purpose besides being a mate for Daniel.

I have a completely different take and reaction to the character and I'll take most of that to the season ten thread since it covers that season as well but I will first say that what made me into a solid Vala fan wasn't just how much fun I found Daniel around her but how much his character impacted hers and how much truth I saw in her lies AND for how well Daniel was also able to mix in lies with his truth.  I loved what her character did for his. 

 Prometheus Unbound remains one of my favorite episodes of the series, not just for the Daniel and Vala show which was riveting, but for the spotlight on the General and the other side characters.  It was a very personal episode, it wasn't about big sweeping changes, but showcasing the character and personality of the characters.  Individual growth and just a shake up of expectations. 

[Idiotboy]

To be fair to Claudia Black, she really rocked it as Evil!Vala in Stargate Continuum. Just saying'.

[marina to]

On 10/4/2017 at 1:59 AM, BkWurm1 said:

I have a completely different take and reaction to the character and I'll take most of that to the season ten thread since it covers that season as well but I will first say that what made me into a solid Vala fan wasn't just how much fun I found Daniel around her but how much his character impacted hers and how much truth I saw in her lies AND for how well Daniel was also able to mix in lies with his truth.  I loved what her character did for his. 

And I hated what her character did to his. I didn't enjoy watching him turn into her punching bag - literally in PU's case.

Oh @Idiotboy, so happy you're here to share my Vala hate and Fraiser love. The show really suffered in season 8 from losing the latter. The only good thing about this season was all the Daniel/Sam/Teal'c friendship goodness. Goodness that went to hell when Princess Vala showed up.

And ok, all the Daniel in a suit goodness. *swimming in the shallow end*

Edited October 11, 2017 by marina to

[Guest]

On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 1:59 AM, BkWurm1 said:

I can't speak to the behind the scenes stuff but isn't it possible that they offered CB a chance to return because Micheal Shanks and the audience responded so well to her character apart from any use as a negotiation tool?  AT in the end worked out a pretty good contract to the point that when the whole show got canceled, she still had a job so I'm not thinking CB was ever a real threat.   And when she was on the show, it was very clear that she wasn't a replacement for Sam but a completely different kind of character that personally, I thought benefitted the whole show, letting it regain its fresh feeling.  

Not only that but this was right after Farscape ended with a small and vocal fanbase that went as far to finance TV commercials and get enough media that they got a TV movie made to conclude the series.

Adding another cast member with a built in fanbase probably felt like a no brainer when RDA was starting to get vocal about winding things down, especially the way her first guest episode was received across the board from cast to crew to fans.

[Idiotboy]

Last weekend, I bit the bullet and watched Gemini and P.U., getting the worst of S8 behind me, although it reinforces what long, arid stretches of 'meh' there are in S8, occasionally redeemed by the likes of Zero Hour, Avatar and Moebius. For all the really squirm-inducing low comedy in P.U., at least it has Action!Hammond to commend it. I can't think of a good thing to say about Gemini and am forced to agree with the reviewer who said that it was missing a scene: The one in which Sam leaves her brain in a jar by her bed. Boy, did the writers push Sam under the bus on that one or what? She exceeds her remit from Jack more than once and is even prepared to bring RepliCarter to Earth near the end before the penny (finally) drops. It must have been that episode which gave me the impression that Sam was on the way out as a character. The blame, ultimately, falls on Peter DeLuise, who'd written a number of good Sam-centric episodes up to this point but screwed the pooch big-time on Gemini.

Next up: It's Good to Be King and Citizen Joe. Not a great improvement but, in S8, one learns to be grateful for small morsels of quality.

P.S.: I have identified another reason why S8 is such a slog -- the absences of Teryl Rothery (total) and Don S. Davis (mostly). They were the heart and soul of the SGC and there's a big void where they ought to be. To prove my point, I would point to Ripple Effect in S9 or to any of the ensuing episodes in which Gen. Hammond reappears -- usually because some other actor was busy and DSD was big enough to forgive the slight. I actually teared up when Hammond From Texas appeared in The Road Not Taken in S10. A good scene with Hammond or the Little Doc could do even a routine episode a world of good. (Fraser was sufficiently popular that she was written into episodes where she wasn't integral to the plot -- see Beneath the Surface or Wormhole X-Treme -- as though to say, "Look, fans, it's Janet!") Anyway, SG-1 lost much of its humanity when they were respectively killed and kicked upstairs. I'm actually starting to look forward to S9 because so much of S8 has a going-through-the-motions feel to it. "That's what I feel. What do you think?"

[FormerMod-a1]

3 hours ago, Idiotboy said:

P.S.: I have identified another reason why S8 is such a slog -- the absences of Teryl Rothery (total) and Don S. Davis (mostly). They were the heart and soul of the SGC and there's a big void where they ought to be.

I completely agree.  I liked the new additions, but it was changed too much, to me.  

[BkWurm1]

Quote

the absences of Teryl Rothery (total) and Don S. Davis (mostly). They were the heart and soul of the SGC 

Unpopular opinion, while I never had any issues with Janet or the General I really didn't feel like they added anything special.  For me, they were just there as exposition people.  It wasn't until I got on forums that I even learned Janet's name or realized she'd been in so many episodes.  I was disappointed that she died because the episode built her up, but when she did die, I remember being surprised that the team cared so much since everyone was usually so business like in the SGC.

It was only when they brought the characters back and gave them more character driven stuff that I developed an affection for their characters.  Otherwise I found Davis pretty one note and unremarkable and Janet only had her adoptive daughter to set her apart which was never explored enough.  I felt it wasn't until season 8-10 that they side characters really started to get fleshed out.       

And Landry was soooo much richer of a character.  I wept when he died in Unending but I can't even imagine them writing Hammond in with the team for a similar episode.

Again, I didn't dislike either Janet or Hammond, I just barely noticed when they were there and barely noticed when they left.  I did notice that they needed someone in charge at the SGC.  Elizabeth Weir and Jack both were not great choices, but not because I thought Hammond was so much better, just because Weir was written so much worse and Jack was just in the wrong role.