Best Season of "Stargate SG-1"...

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-09-02 07:34pm

It is peculiar that an average sci-fi adventure movie from way, way back in 1994 was successfully adapted into a overly long running, inexorably formulaic, yet surprisingly watchable and likable TV series. But at what point in it's decade long existence was Stargate SG-1 at it's very best? In my mind the high point of this show was towards the end of the slightly patchy Season One, up until around Season Four to Five (I've got Season Three and Four on DVD this week).

After that, I gradually lost interest in SG-1 - but I was lucky enough to catch "Lost City" and did not mind Season Eight (even though much of the charm, wit and originality of the first four or five seasons was gone by then, despite the improved production values and bigger space battles).

But what was the best all round series of SG-1?

DrMckay · Post by **DrMckay** » 2007-09-02 07:48pm

Season 2, past the awkward try-to-do-too-much-in-one-season-itis, they still didn't take themselves too seriously, and yet still had good and compelling stories.

IE; 1969 for funny,

Secrets and Family for serious...

Introducing the Tok'ra, and more about the Asgard,

Season 2 is SG-1, at its slightly campy best.

Also,

1969-Tealc's wig and O'neill (2 l's) borrowing $$$ from past Hammond...

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2007-09-02 10:08pm

I would have to say season 2 or 3. Truly the golden age of the show. I liked season 8, and even a few parts of 9 and 10, but the early seasons were the best, I think. That and Sam's season 3 cut is the hottest. Episodes like "Jolinar's Memories" really sealed the deal for me.

Chris OFarrell · Post by **Chris OFarrell** » 2007-09-02 10:54pm

Seasons 3 and 8 are my high points of the show IMO.

Season 3 because it really was still Earth stepping WAY WAY out into the deep end and surviving by the skin of its teeth with technology and powers so far above them it wasn't funny.

Season 8 was the payoff of all the work in the previous seasons, the defeat of the Goa'uld, Liberation of the Jaffa, defeat of the Replicators e.t.c.

DogsOfWar · Post by **DogsOfWar** » 2007-09-02 11:00pm

Brother-Captain Gaius wrote:I would have to say season 2 or 3. Truly the golden age of the show. I liked season 8, and even a few parts of 9 and 10, but the early seasons were the best, I think...

I agree, especially since in the later seasons they started getting into long story arcs (which IMO aren't as good as individual episodes/stories). And Stargate just wasn't the same without O'Neill in the last 3 seasons.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-09-04 07:42am

DogsOfWar wrote: I agree, especially since in the later seasons they started getting into long story arcs (which IMO aren't as good as individual episodes/stories). And Stargate just wasn't the same without O'Neill in the last 3 seasons.

There was a continuious story arch almost from right from the start, but luckily it was mostly non intrusive and you could miss many episodes or even whole seasons, but still go right back into it (like I did with Season Eight after my interest started slipping in Season Six).

Mlenk · Post by **Mlenk** » 2007-09-04 01:53pm

I can't name the exact season but I loved SG-1 the most when there was still an air of mystery and danger in each episode as they stepped through the gate and when the Goa'uld were still the mysterious, big bad guys that SGC didn't really know all too much about.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-09-04 07:12pm

Mlenk wrote:I can't name the exact season but I loved SG-1 the most when there was still an air of mystery and danger in each episode as they stepped through the gate and when the Goa'uld were still the mysterious, big bad guys that SGC didn't really know all too much about.

That would approximately be in the first five seasons of SG-1, years ago now. I wonder why I stopped watching sometime around Seasons Six and Seven, even though Anubis was a mildly interesting Big Bad (having gone through Season Three, on hindsight, I really think they should've kept Sokar instead).

Even though the movie was relatively well received in 1994 and fandom around Stargate SG-1 was pretty content as late as Season Eight, I wonder how high the ratings actually were (I heard the ratings worldwide were 17 million).

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2007-09-04 08:23pm

Agreed on Sokar. Anubis was crap.

Though of course as we all know Baal is the real ultimate Goa'uld.

Post by **Steve** » 2007-09-05 01:37am

Brother-Captain Gaius wrote:Agreed on Sokar. Anubis was crap.

Though of course as we all know Baal is the real ultimate Goa'uld.

Anubis was simply overdone. Sokar on steroids, with that extra touch of "OMG he's half-Ascended!!1!!!!!1!!!". Sokar was menacing without being cheesy. Apophis was an ambitious God-King bending and breaking his own people's rules to get more power, but I think that they built him up a bit too much (but thankfully offed him before it got too crazy). Nirrti was chilling, the Goa'uld Dr. Mengele, but they didn't give her enough screen time really (just a mention in Season 1 that bore fruit in Season 5, with appearances in Seasons 3, 5, and 6). Heru'er didn't get enough screen time, though he certainly seemed nasty from what he did get. Chronos had style, Yu had a great sense of regal grandeur to him (though he of course suffered after going senile by Seasons 7 and

, and Ba'al was the silver-tongued charming Goa'uld.... explaining why he's the last to be going to the hangman's noose.

And then, of course, there was Osiris. Poor Sarah.... not only was she subjected to being a host of a Goa'uld, but it had to be a male Goa'uld who dressed her like a male would.....

Post by **Steve** » 2007-09-05 01:40am

Oh, forgot one qualification for Anubis...

I loved his persona in "Threads", when he appeared as "Jim" and was played by George Dzundza (First season Law & Order's Det. Mike Greevey, among other characters over the years). Dzundza is an excellent actor and he did that role perfectly. When he outed himself at the end to Daniel... that scene played just right to my opinion.

Post by **Steve** » 2007-09-05 01:46am

*grumbles about lack of editting permission*

As for the thread topic.... I'd say SG-1 was best from the time it began hitting stride in Season 2 all the way to Season 7. When they unveield Anubis as half-Ascended, it was both cool but yet a bit annoying, as if they were trying to do more to "upgrade" him in threat compared to prior big bads like Sokar and Apophis. Season 7 managed to get along well enough, though "Death Knell" was such a disappointment given how it basically rendered null the prior 6th Season episode "Allegiance", and they laid the seeds for their decline, IMHO, with "Lost City" and the decision to remove Hammond.... which was further complicated by "New Order" and the unveiling of O'Neill as the new CO of the SGC. That, to me, really hurt the show, because now they had to twist and turn to find good reasons for O'Neill to be off-world and it hurt the dynamic of the show a bit.

And that brings me to "Moebius".... by all rights, "Threads" should have been the finale to the season and perhaps the series. Instead we get the crazy time travel episode.

Then they brought out Season 9 with O'Neill completely gone, a brand new big bad threat... but I can't say much more because I've never seen it or Season 10.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2007-09-05 02:07am

Steve wrote:Season 7 managed to get along well enough, though "Death Knell" was such a disappointment given how it basically rendered null the prior 6th Season episode "Allegiance"

My gripe with "Death Knell" was that I felt like they'd promised me some badly-wounded Carter fighting for survival behind enemy lines... instead it's just another story about how lolz-uber Kull Warriors are and more Tok'ra/Jaffa drama.

and they laid the seeds for their decline, IMHO, with "Lost City" and the decision to remove Hammond.... which was further complicated by "New Order" and the unveiling of O'Neill as the new CO of the SGC. That, to me, really hurt the show, because now they had to twist and turn to find good reasons for O'Neill to be off-world and it hurt the dynamic of the show a bit.

I actually liked this but I thought a lot of the execution throughout Season 8 was pretty poor. From what I understand, Don Davis was having a lot of health issues and needed to retire, and I thought it was nice to see O'Neill take Hammond's place. "Zero Hour" was pretty amusing.

My beef with Season 8 though is that again I was promised Carter, this time with her in command of SG-1, but they never deliver. As you said, they just found ways to shoehorn O'Neill into the limelight for what few off-world missions they had.

And that brings me to "Moebius".... by all rights, "Threads" should have been the finale to the season and perhaps the series. Instead we get the crazy time travel episode.

Agreed. "Threads" (the extended version with extra Sam/Pete scenes especially) was an excellent end to the season that got marred by "Moebius", which is unfortunate as the latter was an interesting two-parter in and of itself, but it just completely ruined all the closure from "Threads".

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-09-05 10:06am

I could very vaguely recall Ba'al from Season Five and the less watched Season Six, but I can remember him much more clearly from the still relatively recent Season Eight and I undestand why this anti-hero Goa'uld has gained something of a cult following. I also quite liked the late Emperor Yu as well, he too seemed relatively sane and reasonable for a Goa'uld warlord. And while Zokar was mistakenly done away with far too early in the game, did anybody else love his final "NOoooooooaaaaARGHHH!!!" howl?

And with rare exceptions of Goa'uld renegades like the Tok'Ra, I wonder why Goa'uld ended up as almost intrinsically “evil” in the first place even though their choice of human hosts, their restrictive genetic memory and wide use of the immortality pods played a factor in the corrupting of their base personalities, where they are heavily inclined to aggressive, dominating and sociopathic behaviour. In "The First Ones" even wild Goa'uld with no contact with civilization are very dangerous and the human hosts they took acted in a violent manner as well (but those Goa'uld could be classed as feral rather than intentionally malicious like Goa'uld System Lords).

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-09-05 11:49am

Big Orange wrote: And with rare exceptions of Goa'uld renegades like the Tok'Ra, I wonder why Goa'uld ended up as almost intrinsically “evil” in the first place even though their choice of human hosts, their restrictive genetic memory and wide use of the immortality pods played a factor in the corrupting of their base personalities, where they are heavily inclined to aggressive, dominating and sociopathic behaviour. In "The First Ones" even wild Goa'uld with no contact with civilization are very dangerous and the human hosts they took acted in a violent manner as well (but those Goa'uld could be classed as feral rather than intentionally malicious like Goa'uld System Lords).

A race of extremely intelligent parasites tends to not lend very well to being anything but "bad guys". The human host choice was more due to utilitarianism than anything else. The bodies are useful enough for most tasks, and simple enough to repair or reconstruct with relative ease as needed.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2007-09-05 04:07pm

My favorites were probably 2-5. if I had to pick one I'd say season two. I have a question for those that saw the end of the series. Wtf happened? I saw where Carter froze them, and they figured out how to kill the Ori ship, but then it just ended. And I always wondered if I missed an episode, or if the series was supposed to end with "the battle continues" or what exactly was going on.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-09-05 05:29pm

Block wrote:My favorites were probably 2-5. if I had to pick one I'd say season two. I have a question for those that saw the end of the series. Wtf happened? I saw where Carter froze them, and they figured out how to kill the Ori ship, but then it just ended. And I always wondered if I missed an episode, or if the series was supposed to end with "the battle continues" or what exactly was going on.

It was pretty much supposed to end like that since the series didn't get renewed for another season. Which is lame, since "Threads" in Season 8 would have been a perfect way to finish it off.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2007-09-05 05:34pm

General Zod wrote:
Block wrote:My favorites were probably 2-5. if I had to pick one I'd say season two. I have a question for those that saw the end of the series. Wtf happened? I saw where Carter froze them, and they figured out how to kill the Ori ship, but then it just ended. And I always wondered if I missed an episode, or if the series was supposed to end with "the battle continues" or what exactly was going on.
It was pretty much supposed to end like that since the series didn't get renewed for another season. Which is lame, since "Threads" in Season 8 would have been a perfect way to finish it off.

That was such a lame ending to a series then, there seemed to be a ton of unfinished storylines.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2007-09-06 02:30am

Block wrote:That was such a lame ending to a series then, there seemed to be a ton of unfinished storylines.

S10 "Unending" is merely the end of the televised series, not SG-1. The Ark of the Truth (Spring '08) will finish up the Ori storyline, and Continuum (Fall) will be a one-off SG-1 adventure.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2007-09-06 02:32am

Ghetto edit: Argh, that's The Ark of Truth, and '08.

DesertFly · Post by **DesertFly** » 2007-09-06 03:47am

I felt that season 7 was the best. It starts out with the return of Jackson, has a couple of kick-ass episodes fighting Anubis, and a bunch more good ones, ending with Lost City, which was one of the best two parters SG-1 has had. In between were some of my favorite episodes of the series. Gems like Fragile Balance, Space Race, Avenger 2.0, Evolution, Heroes, and Resurrection are all high on my list.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2007-09-06 10:16am

General Zod wrote: A race of extremely intelligent parasites tends to not lend very well to being anything but "bad guys".

The Tok'Ra are supposedly "good" Goa'uld , but going through Season Three and Four, they're not above blowing up two planatoids full of hapless humans and Jaffa to get at the Goa'uld warlords. But there is no explanation why they evolved to be parasites of humanoids to begin with (although it could've been they took over landbased Unas people to be more successful predators by using another creature as a big meat protective case and protein storage).

The human host choice was more due to utilitarianism than anything else. The bodies are useful enough for most tasks, and simple enough to repair or reconstruct with relative ease as needed.

My theory is that Goa'uld became more sociopathic and predatory by taking humans who were ruthless, narcissistic leaders to begin with and those negative human traits got imprinted on Goa'uld genetic memory, conditioning almost the whole race to be asshatted overlords by default.