Post by Ahryantah on Aug 1, 2005 19:12:57 GMT -5
Review of the Stargate SG-1 episode "Origin," first airing on the SciFi Channel on July 29th, 2005.
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Let’s say you’re a writer for Stargate SG-1. What happens when the Goa’uld are no longer a big enough challenge? Well, introduce the Replicators! And after the Replicators are dispatched with, what then? How about Anubis, who is a Goa’uld, but half-ascended and with freaky powers! And if Anubis isn’t enough, how about we throw all three of the above together with a machine that can destroy all life in the galaxy? Hmm. SG-1 got out of that mess, too?
What to do now? I know! Evil Ancients! They’re like Anubis, only worse, and even their followers have freaky powers!
Really, now. At this rate SG-1 will be fighting God by season ten. Question: Was Jesus a Goa’uld or an Asgard? Or am I not allowed to ask that? Maybe he was an Ancient. An evil Ancient? Let's hope not.
That said, this was a terrific ending to a three-part episode. This part was a little slow-moving (well, the whole trilogy was a little slow-moving), but its quality lay in the sheer creepiness of the situation.
Plot recap: Last week, after saving Vala, the stranger instructed her and Daniel to follow him. This week, he takes them to the City of the Gods in the middle of a shallow lake (and that set was pretty, but obviously fake). Still, the city freaks me out. Anything ending with “of the Gods” on this show is something to be concerned about.
The stranger, who turns out to be a Prior (priest?) of the Ori, leads Daniel and Vala to a room and leaves them there. Daniel finds a book, and he and Vala discuss enlightenment while she lounges on a table and eats an apple. Religious symbolism much, Stargate writers? As subtlety has never been their strong point, I can forgive and even like this scene.
Meanwhile, at the SGC, Gerak, the new leader of the Jaffa nation, shows up to see what the SGC is all about. Landry and Gerak tiptoe around each other for awhile, trading aphorisms, but Gerak wins with his “I shot him” comment, because really, there’s no good comeback to that.
Back at the City of the Gods, Daniel demands the Prior take him to see the Doci (head priest?). The Prior does so, and Daniel and the Doci have a little chat. The Doci eventually takes Daniel to an incredibly fake-looking wall of fire and is possessed by an Ori (his eyes glow!). The Ori tells Daniel that everyone must come to their path of enlightenment or be killed. Daniel, as is his wont, argues his moral position in the face of certain death. This turns out to be a great scene despite the fake fire.
Unfortunately, the Ori, who have had no knowledge of our galaxy up to this point because our Ancients have shielded it, now know all about it, thanks to Daniel. Oops. So Daniel is kind of responsible for unleashing a nasty enemy on an entire galaxy. He and Sheppard need to start a club or something.
Sheppard: I awoke a race of life-sucking space vampires and set them loose on an unsuspecting galaxy1
Daniel: I alerted a group of evil and fanatical ascended beings with freaky powers to the existence of my galaxy, where every intelligent lifeform will be forced into six hours of prostration a day or be burned alive as nonbelievers!
Sheppard: Really? Wow, you can be club president.
Meanwhile, a Prior shows up on some desert planet in our galaxy that I first thought was Abydos until I remembered that Abydos got blown up. So it’s another random desert planet. It also happens to be one an SG team is visiting, and they tell the SGC about the freaky guy with the weird eyes who came through the gate claiming to be some kind of priest. Landry sends Mitchell to check it out. Once there, Mitchell promptly morphs into someone who grew up south of the Mason-Dixon Line and tells stories ‘bout his Bible-thumpin’ grammaw. The Prior is totally not impressed, but accompanies Mitchell back to the SGC.
At the SGC Landry gets himself, Teal’c, Gerak, and Prior Dude all into the same briefing, which was his first mistake. As the Prior tells his message, Gerak and Landry are skeptical, but Gerak also mistrusts the Taur’I, which I think is going to spell trouble for the SGC somewhere down the line.
Back on Planet Ren Faire Daniel and Vala have been taken back to their host bodies’ house. After some gratuitous shots of Daniel and Vala walking in front of a mirror just to remind us that they’re actually in other people’s bodies, they get visited by the friend from last week, who leads them to another communication device. Daniel thinks putting stones into this one will transfer them back to their own bodies. It works for only a few seconds, but long enough for Daniel to tell Dr. Lam what’s going on.
Then come the burning times. Daniel and Vala are yanked back into their borrowed bodies, and a Prior takes them to be burned as nonbelievers. Again. Back at the SGC Dr. Lam tells Mitchell and Landry what’s up, and they try to detain Prior Dude, who promptly sets himself on fire and vanishes. Landry starts really, really wishing he hadn’t taken Jack up on his offer to lead the SGC.
But Daniel and Vala are still about to be burned to death, and their real bodies are feeling the effects. Having had enough, Mitchell and Teal’c grab the communication device and tell Walter to dial the gate. They destroy the device in the kawoosh, and this works to bring Daniel and Vala back, leaving the two people they inhabited to die in the fire. Man, that’s a crappy way to suddenly come back into your own body.
But Daniel and Vala are saved, and Vala removes the Goa’uld bracelets (sans treasure, apparently). Then Jack randomly shows up and takes Daniel out to eat. Then he goes flying with Mitchell. Kind of random, but probably meant to be a good-bye for the character, as this is probably the last time we’ll see him. So it was nice, but Jack still seemed sad. The (finally) end.
Other observations:
- When did Mitchell become Southern?
- Landry = kind of generic general in this one. Teal’c also had little more to do but sit and glower at Gerak. Dr. Lam thus far is a talking head, and that’s pretty much it. Question: Can Lexa Doig actually act, or is she just reciting lines? I can’t tell.
- It’s so good they’re acknowledging the power vacuum left behind by the Goa’uld, and the problems associated with it. The Ori came at just the right time. It’s going to be easy to convince a lot of people in to the galaxy to believe in them.
- On second thought, are the Ori actually the bad guys, or is it the Priors? Because it seemed the Ancients could at least keep the Ori away, but as the Priors are still mortal, they’re the ones the Ancients won’t stop.
- Those two people at the end totally got burnt. That completely sucks. I know I’ve already said it, but it bears repeating.
- That kawoosh solves all kind of problems, doesn’t it? Also, Mitchell was far too excited about his plan working. Dude, switch to decaf. You haven’t even saved the world once yet.
- Daniel’s scared? We’re all screwed.
- You so know Teal’c keeps track of how many times they’ve saved the world. I’ll bet he has a list with tally marks.
I give this episode a 10 out of 10.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let’s say you’re a writer for Stargate SG-1. What happens when the Goa’uld are no longer a big enough challenge? Well, introduce the Replicators! And after the Replicators are dispatched with, what then? How about Anubis, who is a Goa’uld, but half-ascended and with freaky powers! And if Anubis isn’t enough, how about we throw all three of the above together with a machine that can destroy all life in the galaxy? Hmm. SG-1 got out of that mess, too?
What to do now? I know! Evil Ancients! They’re like Anubis, only worse, and even their followers have freaky powers!
Really, now. At this rate SG-1 will be fighting God by season ten. Question: Was Jesus a Goa’uld or an Asgard? Or am I not allowed to ask that? Maybe he was an Ancient. An evil Ancient? Let's hope not.
That said, this was a terrific ending to a three-part episode. This part was a little slow-moving (well, the whole trilogy was a little slow-moving), but its quality lay in the sheer creepiness of the situation.
Plot recap: Last week, after saving Vala, the stranger instructed her and Daniel to follow him. This week, he takes them to the City of the Gods in the middle of a shallow lake (and that set was pretty, but obviously fake). Still, the city freaks me out. Anything ending with “of the Gods” on this show is something to be concerned about.
The stranger, who turns out to be a Prior (priest?) of the Ori, leads Daniel and Vala to a room and leaves them there. Daniel finds a book, and he and Vala discuss enlightenment while she lounges on a table and eats an apple. Religious symbolism much, Stargate writers? As subtlety has never been their strong point, I can forgive and even like this scene.
Meanwhile, at the SGC, Gerak, the new leader of the Jaffa nation, shows up to see what the SGC is all about. Landry and Gerak tiptoe around each other for awhile, trading aphorisms, but Gerak wins with his “I shot him” comment, because really, there’s no good comeback to that.
Back at the City of the Gods, Daniel demands the Prior take him to see the Doci (head priest?). The Prior does so, and Daniel and the Doci have a little chat. The Doci eventually takes Daniel to an incredibly fake-looking wall of fire and is possessed by an Ori (his eyes glow!). The Ori tells Daniel that everyone must come to their path of enlightenment or be killed. Daniel, as is his wont, argues his moral position in the face of certain death. This turns out to be a great scene despite the fake fire.
Unfortunately, the Ori, who have had no knowledge of our galaxy up to this point because our Ancients have shielded it, now know all about it, thanks to Daniel. Oops. So Daniel is kind of responsible for unleashing a nasty enemy on an entire galaxy. He and Sheppard need to start a club or something.
Sheppard: I awoke a race of life-sucking space vampires and set them loose on an unsuspecting galaxy1
Daniel: I alerted a group of evil and fanatical ascended beings with freaky powers to the existence of my galaxy, where every intelligent lifeform will be forced into six hours of prostration a day or be burned alive as nonbelievers!
Sheppard: Really? Wow, you can be club president.
Meanwhile, a Prior shows up on some desert planet in our galaxy that I first thought was Abydos until I remembered that Abydos got blown up. So it’s another random desert planet. It also happens to be one an SG team is visiting, and they tell the SGC about the freaky guy with the weird eyes who came through the gate claiming to be some kind of priest. Landry sends Mitchell to check it out. Once there, Mitchell promptly morphs into someone who grew up south of the Mason-Dixon Line and tells stories ‘bout his Bible-thumpin’ grammaw. The Prior is totally not impressed, but accompanies Mitchell back to the SGC.
At the SGC Landry gets himself, Teal’c, Gerak, and Prior Dude all into the same briefing, which was his first mistake. As the Prior tells his message, Gerak and Landry are skeptical, but Gerak also mistrusts the Taur’I, which I think is going to spell trouble for the SGC somewhere down the line.
Back on Planet Ren Faire Daniel and Vala have been taken back to their host bodies’ house. After some gratuitous shots of Daniel and Vala walking in front of a mirror just to remind us that they’re actually in other people’s bodies, they get visited by the friend from last week, who leads them to another communication device. Daniel thinks putting stones into this one will transfer them back to their own bodies. It works for only a few seconds, but long enough for Daniel to tell Dr. Lam what’s going on.
Then come the burning times. Daniel and Vala are yanked back into their borrowed bodies, and a Prior takes them to be burned as nonbelievers. Again. Back at the SGC Dr. Lam tells Mitchell and Landry what’s up, and they try to detain Prior Dude, who promptly sets himself on fire and vanishes. Landry starts really, really wishing he hadn’t taken Jack up on his offer to lead the SGC.
But Daniel and Vala are still about to be burned to death, and their real bodies are feeling the effects. Having had enough, Mitchell and Teal’c grab the communication device and tell Walter to dial the gate. They destroy the device in the kawoosh, and this works to bring Daniel and Vala back, leaving the two people they inhabited to die in the fire. Man, that’s a crappy way to suddenly come back into your own body.
But Daniel and Vala are saved, and Vala removes the Goa’uld bracelets (sans treasure, apparently). Then Jack randomly shows up and takes Daniel out to eat. Then he goes flying with Mitchell. Kind of random, but probably meant to be a good-bye for the character, as this is probably the last time we’ll see him. So it was nice, but Jack still seemed sad. The (finally) end.
Other observations:
- When did Mitchell become Southern?
- Landry = kind of generic general in this one. Teal’c also had little more to do but sit and glower at Gerak. Dr. Lam thus far is a talking head, and that’s pretty much it. Question: Can Lexa Doig actually act, or is she just reciting lines? I can’t tell.
- It’s so good they’re acknowledging the power vacuum left behind by the Goa’uld, and the problems associated with it. The Ori came at just the right time. It’s going to be easy to convince a lot of people in to the galaxy to believe in them.
- On second thought, are the Ori actually the bad guys, or is it the Priors? Because it seemed the Ancients could at least keep the Ori away, but as the Priors are still mortal, they’re the ones the Ancients won’t stop.
- Those two people at the end totally got burnt. That completely sucks. I know I’ve already said it, but it bears repeating.
- That kawoosh solves all kind of problems, doesn’t it? Also, Mitchell was far too excited about his plan working. Dude, switch to decaf. You haven’t even saved the world once yet.
- Daniel’s scared? We’re all screwed.
- You so know Teal’c keeps track of how many times they’ve saved the world. I’ll bet he has a list with tally marks.
I give this episode a 10 out of 10.
