Post by Ahryantah on Aug 16, 2004 16:29:15 GMT -5
Review of the Stargate SG-1 episode "Avatar," first airing on the Sci-Fi channel on August 13th, 2004.
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I had to watch this episode four times before I had a real opinion.
Unfortunately, I only saw the second showing on Friday night, and didn't tape it or anything. I also wasn't in the mood to wait several weeks for Sci-Fi to rerun it. So I actually downloaded the episode off the Internet and watched the crappy, blurry version of it three more times. And this is what I have to say about it.
Several people, including me, came up with the oh so original comment: "This must be some extended ad for the video game!' And it's true that the company making the video game also did the CG effects for this latest episode. So in some ways I guess it could be an advertisement. That said, I think it was worth more than just an ad. I wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but the more I watched it the more I liked it. It's not in my top 10, or even top 20, but it's a decent episode. The plot is common to most science fiction television: Teal'c gets trapped in a video game, essentially. If it had been just that I might have been bored with the whole episode (though the game graphics were kind of cool). But there was an addded element where Daniel actually entered the game himself in order to help Teal'c beat it (see, Daniel had the advantage of being able to see things two seconds before they happened; something to do with the processor speed of the VR machine vs. what Daniel's brain perceived).
So Daniel helps Teal'c beat the game so they the both of them can get out of it. This is a good thing, since Teal'c was dying. The VR chair he was in kept administering electric shocks every time he died, resulting in a cumulative effect that would eventually stop his heart. Anyway, there's this really cool shot near the end of the episode where Daniel, Teal'c, and virtual Sam and Jack are in a four-way stand-off because they don't know who the Goa'uld is.
I think the episode got better after Daniel went into the game. It got funnier, too. (Teal'c shoots Daniel no less than three times before Daniel convinces him that he's real). The scenes with the characters standing around watching Teal'c while he's getting killed over and over again were kind of boring, and I found myself wishing we could get back to the action.
I really liked the quote at the end between Teal'c and Jack:
Teal'c: "We have won."
Jack: "That's what we do."
The music was especially good for this episode, too. I normally don't notice it, but this time I did.
7 out of 10.
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I had to watch this episode four times before I had a real opinion.
Unfortunately, I only saw the second showing on Friday night, and didn't tape it or anything. I also wasn't in the mood to wait several weeks for Sci-Fi to rerun it. So I actually downloaded the episode off the Internet and watched the crappy, blurry version of it three more times. And this is what I have to say about it.
Several people, including me, came up with the oh so original comment: "This must be some extended ad for the video game!' And it's true that the company making the video game also did the CG effects for this latest episode. So in some ways I guess it could be an advertisement. That said, I think it was worth more than just an ad. I wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but the more I watched it the more I liked it. It's not in my top 10, or even top 20, but it's a decent episode. The plot is common to most science fiction television: Teal'c gets trapped in a video game, essentially. If it had been just that I might have been bored with the whole episode (though the game graphics were kind of cool). But there was an addded element where Daniel actually entered the game himself in order to help Teal'c beat it (see, Daniel had the advantage of being able to see things two seconds before they happened; something to do with the processor speed of the VR machine vs. what Daniel's brain perceived).
So Daniel helps Teal'c beat the game so they the both of them can get out of it. This is a good thing, since Teal'c was dying. The VR chair he was in kept administering electric shocks every time he died, resulting in a cumulative effect that would eventually stop his heart. Anyway, there's this really cool shot near the end of the episode where Daniel, Teal'c, and virtual Sam and Jack are in a four-way stand-off because they don't know who the Goa'uld is.
I think the episode got better after Daniel went into the game. It got funnier, too. (Teal'c shoots Daniel no less than three times before Daniel convinces him that he's real). The scenes with the characters standing around watching Teal'c while he's getting killed over and over again were kind of boring, and I found myself wishing we could get back to the action.
I really liked the quote at the end between Teal'c and Jack:
Teal'c: "We have won."
Jack: "That's what we do."
The music was especially good for this episode, too. I normally don't notice it, but this time I did.
7 out of 10.
