Best SG-1 seasons

[Nephtys]

I agree with grif. Just watch the pilot, and the first and last DVD of Season 1 (with introducing the Tokra in the first disc, and the earth invasion arc and the clip show to sum up some stuff in the last). From there, 2-5 is the classic bits, going up to season 7 as the core of the show. It's wrapping up in a 'bonus stage' by season 8. 9 and 10 are practically a new program.

[Metahive]

The problem after season 5 (and ESPECIALLY after season 6) was that a lot of earlier stuff was forgotten as if it didn't exist. The Tollans? The Aschen? Even the Tok'ra mostly, all pretty much ignored.

SPOILER ALERT!

The Tollans were all wiped out in Between Two Fires, the Ashens were given a gate address leading to a Black Hole and the Tok'ra suffered a crushing defeat in Last Stand. You may say those were lame ways to punt them off the show, but I have to disagree that the writers simply forgot about them. The Tok'ra also did show up with some regularity after that nonetheless, until the Ori arc were they all but disappeared.

[Marcus Aurelius]

SPOILER ALERT!

The Tollans were all wiped out in Between Two Fires, the Ashens were given a gate address leading to a Black Hole and the Tok'ra suffered a crushing defeat in Last Stand. You may say those were lame ways to punt them off the show, but I have to disagree that the writers simply forgot about them. The Tok'ra also did show up with some regularity after that nonetheless, until the Ori arc were they all but disappeared.

The Tok'ra were handled okay for the most of the series, but I really hated the way the writers made the Tollan a bunch of idiots who were then wiped out in a single episode. Much more could have been done with them. The Aschen were not that interesting, though, since they were a bit too much standard bad guys with virtually no redeeming qualities. After their modus operandi for conquest was revealed, there was relatively little else that could have been done with them, and because they were always just secondary baddies in any case, forgetting them after that was fairly natural.

[Metahive]

[...]but I really hated the way the writers made the Tollan a bunch of idiots who were then wiped out in a single episode.

Customary SPOILER ALERT!

They were already written as terminally stupid before that, consider "Pretense" were they are totally oblivious to the Goa'uld sabotaging their vaunted ion cannons. They then go on to express their gratitude by...selling out Earth to save their own necks. I found it a good thing they all went the way of the Dodo, too bad they didn't take the Ob-Nox-ious with them.

Much more could have been done with them.

For this they'd have to remove that grating superiority complex first. Yes, they have an awesome tech base, but it seems this didn't come in tandem with any sort of basic common sense so they really should have stopped acting as if they were grant old wise mentors everyone on Earth has to look up to.

The Asgard, despite having an even better tech base NOT acting this way was why I was really fond of them.

And then the writers made them commit collective suicide and none of the main characters expressed any sort of grief about it.

The Aschen were not that interesting, though, since they were a bit too much standard bad guys with virtually no redeeming qualities.

Add to that they were written personality wise as humorless and dull accountant types. Basically the pixies from Fairy Odd Parents played straight. I take a "KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD!" any time over that.

[Freefall]

I always figured the writers wound up viewing the Tollan as a bad idea in the first place, but instead of consigning them to the quiet oblivion of retconopia (which seems to be what happened to the Nox), instead gave them something of a send off while hyping up Anubis at the same time.

Well, that's my take anyway. Maybe I'm projecting my own bias a bit, but seriously, how many races do we need who can claim, "oh yeah, we could totally curbstomp the Goa'uld if we felt like it, but we won't because we're all conceited pacifists; that's why we're also an endangered species that no one's ever heard of, despite being so totally advanced and superior."

It just seems so silly and cliche. It would be like if we discovered some isolated island nation out in the Pacific, and they were like, "oh sure, we've got cold fusion, teleporters, FTL travel, and laser canons. What, you guys don't? Geez, the United States is really primitive, huh?"

Of course, I guess there are a lot of nutballs out there who basically feel that's what the deal with Atlantis is (the "actual" Atlantis, not the Stargate version).

I don't know how cheap you can find the season DVDs now, but a while back when I was getting into it, I felt that purchasing the important S1 episodes off iTunes (or whatever) was actually cheaper, since there really aren't that many that are really worth watching. Off the top of my head, the first 3 episodes to kind of establish the setting and characters, and Torment of Tantalus gives us the first hint of the Ancients and their alliance, and that the Goa'uld didn't actually build the gates (and it is a pretty good episode in general, I feel), and the finale, of course. Otherwise, I dunno. The one withe Carter & O'Neil trapped in an ice cave establishes the 2nd gate and a bit about how the dialing process works, and is also a pretty good episode, but I don't know if you really need it. Neither the Tollan nor the Nox are as important (or interesting) as you'd think they would be.

I also forget which season it shows up in, but the entire Harcissus sub-plot is pretty dispensable. Didn't even make a lot of sense in the first place, and then didn't even amount to anything in the end.

[JME2]

The Aschen were not that interesting, though, since they were a bit too much standard bad guys with virtually no redeeming qualities. After their modus operandi for conquest was revealed, there was relatively little else that could have been done with them, and because they were always just secondary baddies in any case, forgetting them after that was fairly natural.

Spoiler

Fair enough. Anyway, Joe Mallozzi said they had plans to do one more installment in the Aschen storyline in Season 10, but it never came to pass.

[mr friendly guy]

re who basically feel that's what the deal with Atlantis is (the "actual" Atlantis, not the Stargate version).

I don't know how cheap you can find the season DVDs now, but a while back when I was getting into it, I felt that purchasing the important S1 episodes off iTunes (or whatever) was actually cheaper, since there really aren't that many that are really worth watching..

I plan to have a look today. But they were selling for $25 AUD but with 20% discount for the next few days.

[mr friendly guy]

Well I remembered wrongly, the Star gate seasons are being sold at about $30 AUD each with 20% discount, so around $24 each. Since most people had a range from seasons 2-7, I purchased seasons 5-7 for starters. I wanted to get season 10 since its the final season, but apparently it was all sold out.

Thanks for all the input. If anyone else disagrees and says season <x> is good also, I will keep an eye out for that as well.

[JME2]

If you end up getting the whole series, don't forget the films The Ark of Truth and Continuum. Your mileage will vary on thir quality, but the films wrap up the two major loose ends left danging at the end of the show.

[Revy]

If you end up getting the whole series, don't forget the films The Ark of Truth and Continuum. Your mileage will vary on thir quality, but the films wrap up the two major loose ends left danging at the end of the show.

In the worst possible way. Ark of Truth was the most blatent example of Deus Ex Machina in a show already guilty of abusing Deus Ex, and Continuum borrowed Voyager's big red reset button and hit it with a hammer. The films *suck*. If you really want to know what happens, read a synopsis online. Just don't watch them.

[JME2]

If you end up getting the whole series, don't forget the films The Ark of Truth and Continuum. Your mileage will vary on thir quality, but the films wrap up the two major loose ends left danging at the end of the show.

In the worst possible way. Ark of Truth was the most blatent example of Deus Ex Machina in a show already guilty of abusing Deus Ex, and Continuum borrowed Voyager's big red reset button and hit it with a hammer. The films *suck*. If you really want to know what happens, read a synopsis online. Just don't watch them.

Hence why I said your mileage will vary. For example, I hate TAOT, but love Continuum.

[Crazedwraith]

Continuum, undeniably hits a big honking reset button at the end; but then its a time travel story. In fact the whole tale is just a reset to pre-orii adventure time. Nevertheless I found it pretty fun, for all its flaws. Still I don't think it ever gets better than its long opening shot through the SGC.

[JME2]

Continuum, undeniably hits a big honking reset button at the end; but then its a time travel story. In fact the whole tale is just a reset to pre-orii adventure time. Nevertheless I found it pretty fun, for all its flaws. Still I don't think it ever gets better than its long opening shot through the SGC.

Reset button aside, I like it more than TAOT because...
Spoiler

... I feel it was a nice epilogue to the Goa'uld arc and a good send-off for SG-1. With Ba'al's execution, the SGC's long-term goal will finally have been achieved -- and then Ba'al destroys a decade of sacrifice and work in an instant. In doing so, we get to revisit old friends and foes, from Hammond and Hayes to Cronus and Apophis, one last time and showing again the difference SG-1 has made for both the planet and the Milky Way. I love it.

And I love that shot too; a nice spiritual sequel to the tracking shot from the SGA pilot.

[Darth Nostril]

Well possessing as I do the complete ten season dvd boxset plus Ark of Truth & Continuum I'd say seasons 2-7 are worth getting, as others have said watch the recommended season 1 episodes, season 8 finale is a must (it really should have ended there)
Season 9 & 10 are for completionists only, they could have been their own seperate show, Stargate TNG perhaps.
Although if you liked Baal the it's worth watching the episodes about him plus Continuum to finish off the story arc.

[Themightytom]

Spoiler

The series has several conceivable "end points" actually. SG-1 while containing many arcs, did not actually have the weakness shows like Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5 or SG:U have. it could have ended effectively WITH loose ends. The idea that SG:1 is still out there fighting crime and solving mysteries is just as appealing as the idea that we tied up every possible loose end.

My opinion is this is EXACTLY what they should avhe done with Atlantis, knowing that they didn't have the time to conclude it properly, just bring things to a point where there is the hope off conclusion, and revisit the universe if you get the chance. I HOPE thats what they intend with SG:U. I don't want to watch a made for TV movie where the Destiny suddenly makes it to the end of the universe, is enlightened and everybody goes home.

I REALLY don't want to see a voyager esque conclusion where everything in the first half of the show takes place in the future and all has been solved. That was horrible bullshit and I was barely hanging on through the rest of the episode. it's not the end of the world if you don't kill off all the bad guys and reset the universe you have been playing in back to "Everything's ok and people are happy".

Your best best for watching SG:1 successfully is to concentrate on the characters and the universe they exist in, and not the drama inducing arcs that get progressively more and more dire as the series unfolds. ESPECIALLY if you move onwards into Atlantis, because you cannot watch that series start to finish if your expecting a resolution to the setting.

Below are suggestions for end points within the series, but I wouldn't click on it if you don't want some major plot points spoiled. If you ARE buying into the arc format, this is gonna kill a lot of the magic.
Spoiler

Season 7 "Homecoming" ends with a sense that SG-1 has secured its greatest victory, and leads a coalition of the willing, Tok'Ra, Free jaffa, and even some developing worlds like kelowna that can create a balance of power between the remaining Goa'uld, and the human population. Earth is relatively secure but not every t has been crossed and not ever i is dotted.

Season 8's New order part II, SG-1 is reunited, and victorious. The threat of the ancient weapons platform, and the upgraded Asgard tech ensure that Earth has a place in a galaxy that includes a very diminished Goa'uld facing again the alliance off the Tok'Ra, the Jaffa and now the Asgard.

Moebius Part II is essentially what Stargate Continuom was, only... done better, without the clutter of Cameron mitchell and Vaala being shoehorned into the classic feel of the series. This is a return to classic SG-1, who, after having achieved victory over the Goa'uld in terms of crushing them as a superpower, and exterminating tthe replicators once and for all have remade the galaxy without sanitizing it of all interest.

Stargate Ark of Truth: Ties up the lose ends and the clusterfuck literally traceable back to Cameron Mitchell, who in deciding to get the band back together for his own personal edification, precipitated a string of events that lead to the ori discovering the Milky Way was full of life, ensured the fall of the free Jaffa nation and the rise of the Lucian alliance, and incidentally fucked up the status quo in the ori galaxy for better or for worse. This is more a conclusion of SG-1 The Next Generation which spanned Seasons 9 and ten. I was among the voices that objected to ending SG-1 at season eight, and rebooting into a series called Stargate Command, but now dammit, i can see how that would have been far preferable. They could have covered broad scale events more effectively without the time spent needing to introduce, establish and develop new characters to revitalize the old.

incidentally once you start the series and have seen a good portion, there a couple of mini arcs I would recommend skipping around in.
A particular back to back favorite is watch "
The other guys" in season 6
"Avenger 2.0" in season.

or the Marty episodes
Point Of No Return
Wormhole X treme
200

Our Timeline is the Best timeline saga

Children of the gods
Thor's Hammer
There but for the grace of God
Within the Serpents Grasp
The Serpent's Lair
Thor's Hammer
Point Of View
Moebius I and II

Avalaon I and II
Ripple Effect
Camelot
The Pegasus Project
Arthur's Mantle
The road not taken
Stargate Continuom

The Ancients/Ascension
The Torment of Tantalus
The Fifth Race
Solitudes
Maternal Instinct
Absolute Power
Ascension
Meridian
Frozen
Abyss
Lost City I and II

The Prometheus
Prometheus
Momento
Grace
Lost City II
Prometheus Unbound
Ethon

[Chris OFarrell]

Stargate had several ending points thanks to MGM/SiFi constantly saying 'this will be the last season', then saying 'oh no, lets go for more!'

The first was Season 6 and Full Circle, they didn't go back to Abydos, the first planet Earth went to off-world for no reason. They were then planning the feature film or even TV movie to deal with the tablet and search for the Lost City, then start Atlantis.

But SiFi then extended season 7.

So they essentially then took the movie idea as the basis for a season, searching the Galaxy for the Lost City in a race against Anubis, who would in turn steadily become a bigger and bigger threat, and at the end of season 7, they would have their movie and lead into Atlantis.

Then SiFi extended season 8.

So they took the movie plot AGAIN (Lost City 1/2) and made it into an extended episode (it seriously works much better if you want the cut as a single episode really) with a lesser budget but said 'no, this is going to be the starting point of 'Atlantis', right here and we'll the run the shows in parallel'. I'm not entirely sure when the idea of having the series set in another Galaxy came in, but it was at least partially to keep the shows separate when running in parallel. But at this point, the writers sort of decided that this was getting stupid, and were told that this was surely going to be , for real, the last season of SG1, especially as RDA himself dropped to a recurring character role and Don Davis to Guest Star role.

So they went to work with a will, and wrote a season that would tie up everything, very very nicely in my second favorite 2 parter, 'Reckoning', even if Mobius was then rather weak.

Still, they carefully tied up most of their loose ends and the major plot points.

Goa'uld dynasty? Defeated.
Anubis? Defeated.
Jaffa? Free.
Replicators? Dead.
Asgard? Saved.
Earth? Kicking ass and on top.

Rumor even has it that they were going to in fact have a real disclosure happen at the end, leading into the new series, 'Stargate Command'.

And then...they get told that 'Stargate Command' is no more, they want two more seasons of SG1.

And here the writing staff fell down, they had the chance to reinvent a new plot, new bad guys, new themes which could have included a disclosed Stargate program and Earth starting to really take its steps into the Galaxy, and miss-stepping more then once thanks to politics.

Instead, we got the Ori and a big reset button.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Goa'uld dynasty? Defeated.
Anubis? Defeated.
Jaffa? Free.
Replicators? Dead.
Asgard? Saved.
Earth? Kicking ass and on top.

This is the part I loved in SG-1... From a barely spacefaring planet divided to nation states to a power with galactic significance in eight years, still divided to nation states. You just can't make that shit up... Oh wait, somebody actually did make it up

[Big Orange]

The US Air Force in the 1990s and 2000s successfully reverse engineering alien technology and helping to topple ancient galactic empires is daft, but I find Doctor Who Earth just as if not more far fetched, what with the hundreds of alien invasions not really affecting our culture and UNIT having had a flying aircraft carrier, etc.

[Nephtys]

The US Air Force in the 1990s and 2000s successfully reverse engineering alien technology and helping to topple ancient galactic empires is daft, but I find Doctor Who Earth just as if not more far fetched, what with the hundreds of alien invasions not really affecting our culture and UNIT having had a flying aircraft carrier, etc.

Well, it took like 5 years to 'reverse engineer' some parts of alien technology to make a fighter plane that while being incredibly beyond anything Earth previously had, kinda sucked against the opposition until more gear went in to fix it.

The rest of that really wasn't reverse engineering. It was 'friendly hyper-ultra-advanced aliens give Earth advanced technology, computers, fabrication equipment and such, which lets humans beat up not quite as advanced antagonists'

[Eternal_Freedom]

Stargate had several ending points thanks to MGM/SiFi constantly saying 'this will be the last season', then saying 'oh no, lets go for more!'

The first was Season 6 and Full Circle, they didn't go back to Abydos, the first planet Earth went to off-world for no reason. They were then planning the feature film or even TV movie to deal with the tablet and search for the Lost City, then start Atlantis.

I would have said (just from watching episodes mind you) the first ending point was Season 5's Revelations. Asgard find way to avoid all dying from disease, SG-1 goes home for the night, but with that little bit at the end suggesting Daniel is still around somewhere.

Sure, there were loose ends, but if they had stopped there it wouldn't have been so bad.

But then again I'm interpreting "ending point" from watching the episodes as "season doesn't end on a cliffhanger"