Serpent's Song

Plot: Apophis escapes from the captivity of a rival System Lord, Sokar, to beg for the aid of the Tau'ri. He's badly injured and the Goa'uld begins to die, leading to SG-1 attempting to get as much information out of him as they can. Meanwhile, in a bid to get Apophis back, Sokar begins attacking the Iris.

This is quite a remarkable episode, as it manages to generate a great deal of tension purely through several lengthy scenes of dialogue. With Apophis in custody, there's plenty of chance for everyone to give him the piece of their mind that they've wanted to for nearly two years now.

Jack goes first and makes it clear that he would rather have left him to die. Indeed, it's clear that Jack is annoyed at himself for not shooting Apophis while off world, especially now he's tangled up in the sticky web of prisoner of war's rights.

Daniel has a much more personal stake in the affair. He taunts Apophis by telling him that he knows where his child is. That he was the one that took the child, not Heru'ur. He rather scarily demands that Apophis tell him where Sha're is, or he'll kill him there and then. It's a kind of viciousness that we rarely see from Daniel, but worked really well. The fact that Apophis is eventually given back to Sokar shows that playing the 'I know where your son is' card will likely be a mistake.

Teal'c's up next. He revels in Apophis' impending death, claiming that the day that he dies will become a holy day for the people of Chulak. You can see the hatred in his eyes, a great scene played by Christopher Judge for sure.

Things are complicated by the fact that Sokar tracks down the Tau'ri. He begins bombarding the Iris with subatomic particles, making it get super hot. The temperature in the gate room rises to over 200 degrees fahrenheit after two full 38 minute activations. Sam is eventually able to dial the Earth gate out after developing a faster dialling sequence. I wonder if they just go on to use it by default from that point on. Certainly it's better than the rather sluggish dialling sequence that they had been using. Though no match for a DHD!

The Tok'ra had arrived a little earlier and advise SG-1 to return Aphophis to Sokar. He's already dead by this point, but Martouf explains that Sokar will still be able to revive Apophis and torture him for as long as he desires. Somehow though, I get the sense that Apophis may still have some fight in him yet. I'm sure we'll see more of him some time soon, eager to seek revenge on SG-1 for their offensive action that resulted in him being weak enough for Sokar to defeat him.

As I mentioned, this episode really did manage to maintain a great deal of tension throughout. The dialogue sequences between SG-1 and Apophis are particularly intense and show how good writing can make an action light episode in to a real triumph.

8 out of 10

The Fifth Race

Plot: Jack has the entire knowledge of an entire race downloaded in to his brain. While he starts using over 90% of his brain function, he also loses the ability to comprehend English. His brain is likely to shut down at some point due to the strain and so he begins working on a way to go and get help.


This is one of those truly fascinating episodes where we get the chance to explore that meaning of life stuff. SG-1 had stumbled upon a Repository of the Ancients, which contains the knowledge of their entire race. It knocks Jack out, but once he comes to back at the SG-C he begins sorting it out in his brain. He's not able to communicate or comprehend any of it, but he is able to make practical use of it

There are some real goodies. Jack develops a whole new algorithm for calculating the distance between planets. He adds a whole new stack of gate addresses in to the computer. After that, he develops what is probably a rudimentary ZPM. All of this is with one aim, to allow him to gate to the Asgard home world to find help. Most interestingly, the address to the Asgard homeworld contains an 8th symbol, meaning that it is within another galaxy's gate network. The ZPM that Jack developed helps to provide the additional power required to gate to another galaxy, it's over ten times the normal power requirements. His modifications to the computer also facilitate the dialling of an 8th symbol. All pretty cool.

Jack makes it through to the Asgard home world, where they kindly remove the knowledge from him. There they discuss the four great races and the fact that humanity is on the road to become the fifth one, although they have a long way to go yet. They also confirm that the Ancients built the gate network.

The Asgard do not live in the Milky Way, or the Pegasus galaxy, which was home to the Ancients. It makes me wonder if each of the four races hailed from a different galaxy. The Ancient's from the Pegasus galaxy, the Asgard from the Ida galaxy, the Nox from the Milky Way and the Furlings from some other galaxy. Certainly possible.

Of course, a great mystery surrounds the reason for the Ancients disappearing. We now know that the Wraith played a big part in that.

This is the key episode of season two, the one that answers a lot of questions and poses a lot of new ones. There's a lot more that I could say, but I think this short summary should suffice.

9 out of 10

Harmony

Plot: Rodney and Sheppard are visiting a trading planet, when they are roped in to going on a quest as guards for a young princess who must prove her worth to become queen.

While this episode was tedious at times, it did turn out to be quite a fun filler episode. While journeying to the Temple of Laros, so that Harmony can be bestowed with the power to rule her people, Rodney and Sheppard have to contend with a number of dangers.

The first of those dangers is Harmony herself. She has a bit of a crush on John Sheppard and a bit of an attitude to boot. As you can imagine, this leads to her and Rodney locking horns on a couple of occasions. She's resourceful and brave, however, running off in the night to fix them some dinner, as well as insisting that they continue on their journey, despite the other dangers that they have to contend with.

The second danger is the beast that will supposedly protect the princess as she journeys to the Temple. Neither Rodney nor John or certain that the protection will extend to them, so they're all the more cautious. Especially as it makes a rather ferocious roar.

Finally, they also have to contend with a group of Genii, who have been tasked by one of Harmony's sisters, the jealous Mardola, to prevent Harmony from completing the pilgrimage so that she may take the throne instead. Sheppard's never been one to let a few Genii get in his way though, and dispatches a number of them, first with his rifle and then with a Wraith Stunner.

Eventually, the trio arrive at the Temple of Laros, where they find a piece of Ancient technology. Turns out, the area was once a testing ground for drone technology. The beast that they had feared on their way, was not actually a beast, but a swarm of mini-drones. That swarm, rather conveniently, is programmed not to attack anyone with the ancient gene. That includes the planet's royal blood line, as well as Sheppard and Rodney. Wicked.

After a final showdown with the Genii in which Rodney saves Harmony's life and redeems himself in her eyes, she is able to activate the Ancient device, becoming queen. At her coronation, she thanks the pair for their service, and unveils this awesome picture:


A couple of other things; this episode showed on Sci Fi's new HD service. About time they got round to sorting that out, because I was getting sick of watching it in SD. I think it'll really pay off when BSG returns in a couple of months time. Can't wait for that!

Also, IMDb lists Anna van Hooft as playing the other princess, Flora. Now, I've been watching her play Aura in Flash Gordon all season and am nearly 100% certain that it wasn't her that actually played the character. It was a very small role, so I wonder if she was initially announced to play it, but had to back out at the last minute to be replaced by someone else. It'd certainly tally with the fact that she's been a lot more active in Flash Gordon since its return a couple of weeks ago. Any further information on that would be well appreciated.

So, like a said, a reasonably fun episode, but one that had some tedious moments. Especially those involving the Genii, who I'm fairly sure are the worst recurring race in all of the Stargate universe.

6 out of 10

A Matter of Time

Plot: The SG-C gates to a world that is in close proximity to a black hole. This leads to a team on the planet (SG-10) and the SG-C itself getting trapped in a time dilation field.


This is another of those episodes that explores a grand scientific idea. In this case, it's time dilation. Time dilation is a phenomenon in which an area of space experiences time at a different rate to another area of space. In this case, the planet that is in proximity to the black hole is experiencing time at a vastly slower rate than the SG-C. Soon, this field expands to encompass a large part of the base. In the end, this means that the day that passes for Jack and the rest of the team on base is relative to two weeks that passed in the world outside. Pretty cool.

It all starts with SG-10, who try to gate back from their mission and escape the black hole. The problem is that they're not able to make it through the gate before it shuts down. In actuality, time will have come to a virtual stop within proximity to the black hole. Meaning that it'll take several years for them to get close enough to the gate to walk through it. Having gated back to the planet to try and figure out what's going on, the gate refuses to disengage and, unbeknown to the personnel of the SG-C, the field begins expanding through the gate. It's not long until a team is sent to investigate, having lost contact with the base.

After the gate doesn't disengage automatically after 38 minutes, Sam realises that they're really in trouble. She goes topside to stop a plan to blow up the base, knowing that the gate will probably not be destroyed by it and will instead begin swallowing up the mountain and probably the rest of the planet with it. Instead, she proposes that they direct a blast at the gate, making the connection on the other side jump to another, meaning that they can just disengage it. After some heroics from Jack, it all works out and the world is saved once again.

This episode is notable for a number of other reasons. One of those is that Daniel Jackson is absent for a large part of it, only showing up at the very end. He'd been off on a dig with SG-6. This is one of the first examples of members of SG-1 disappearing off to arbitrary out of plot locations. There's no reason why Daniel couldn't have been in this episode for the most part, so it must have been that Michael Shanks had other commitments to attend to.

We also learn a bit about Jack's past. One of the team sent to investigate the loss of contact with the SG-C is Colonel Frank Cromwell. He and Jack have a little bit of history. It transpires that Cromwell left Jack behind in Iraq, leading to him spending 4 months in an Iraqi prison. Jack has never forgiven Cromwell for this, but he is able to redeem himself by sacrificing his life to save Jack's while they battled immense gravity to set up the bomb in front of the gate.

I think this is a really exciting episode that uses quite a complex idea really well.

8 out of 10

Touchstone

Plot: SG-1 work to recover a weather controlling device (the Touchstone) that has been stolen from another planet. Witnesses claim the thieves were wearing SG-C uniforms, leading to an investigation within the SG-C and related bases.


While this isn't a terrible episode, it isn't particularly thrilling. I'd say that it's an interesting premise that doesn't quite come off right.

After learning of the Touchstone's theft, Sam investigates recent gate activity, finding evidence that the 2nd gate may have been activated. SG-1 travel to Area 51, where the 2nd gate is being kept and where all of the recovered artifacts are sent for study. It was quite an interesting revelation, showing the scale of operation that is generated by the SG teams' trips through the gate. SG-1 are met by Colonel Maybourne, who gladly shows them the Gate in order to prove that he had nothing to do with the disappearance of the device. He's left a bit red faced though, as the gate at Area 51 turns out to be plastic. Jack speculates on the punishment for losing a Stargate. Keel-hauling sounds appropriate to me. ;)

The situation grows more desperate as the planet that is missing its weather controlling device begins being destroyed by adverse weather conditions. The device is also having an effect on Earth, causing flooding across the US.

In the end, SG-1 send a MALP through to the 2nd gate in order to get a GPS reading. It leads them to an off the records base in Southern Utah. They engage in a covert mission to infiltrate the base. They find the Gate, but the men looking after it escape through it to an unknown address. Along with the 2nd Gate, they also recover the Touchstone and return it to the planet. After all these shenanigans, Hammond makes sure that a permanent iris is placed over the Gate and that it is put under his command. Smart move.

I figure there are a couple of themes to discuss here. Firstly, ethics. Hammond mentions that there were two opposing thoughts on the SG-C's mandate when it was being set up. One of those thoughts was that SG-teams should recover technology regardless of the effect that it would have on the indigenous populations. It's clear that this one lost out, but it's interesting to consider how that could ever be justified in the first place, and whether future circumstances could bring a change of opinion about it. Could Earth's 6 billion inhabitants be left to die while a settlement of a few thousand people on an alien world lives with something that could prevent the deaths on Earth?

The other theme is opposing forces within the government and military, each seeking to benefit in different ways from the Stargate. I've discussed this before, but this episode seems to add another level to it. It's not just power players like Maybourne that are causing trouble with their dubious ethics anymore. This episode suggests that civilian organisations may also be involved in attempting to exploit the Gate's resources. Civilian organisations are certainly much less culpable to the ideals of the US government and may be down right evil. I'm sure we'll see how this plays out in future episodes.

I rated this episode a couple of years ago. I think I'll stick with that initial assessment.

6 out of 10

Spirits

Plot: SG-1 travel to a planet in search of the missing SG-11. There they find a population of Native American descent, who are protected by a group of mysterious spirits.


For a while, this episode is quite good fun. SG-1 are being briefed on SG-11 and their mission to mine a mineral called Trinium from PXY-887. The briefing is interrupted as the Stargate activates and SG-11's IDC is confirmed. Instead of SG-11 though, a Trinium tipped arrow is fired through the gate, the bullet proof glass of the briefing room and in to Jack's arm. This puts him out of commission for the mission, meaning that Sam gets her first shot at commanding a team. 'Cool', as Jack puts it.

There's no sign of SG-11 on the planet, but there is Tonane, who is a great character. He's fun and friendly and just all round pleasant to watch. He teaches SG-1 of the planet, the Trinium, which they call 'the key' and of the spirits. SG-1 manage to convince two of the spirits, one in the form of a crow, Xe'ls and one as a wolf, T'akaya, to free SG-11. SG-1 then try to negotiate for mining rights, eventually agreeing to let Tonane return to Earth with them in order to view Earth's mining methods.

This is where it all starts to unravel. Turns out SG-11 aren't SG-11, but instead the same spirits that took the form of Xe'ls and T'akaya. After Hammond gives an order to mine the Trinium without Tonane's people's permission, they begin trying to take over the base, by making the personnel disappear. this leads to SG-1 running around trying to find them and stop it. This goes on for about twenty minutes and it's all a little tedious. Eventually SG-1 convince the spirits to leave and return their people.

A point of interest is that the leader of SG-11 is Captain Conner, who we first saw in season one in 'The First Commandment'. He's again played by Roger Cross.

So not the best episode, though it is memorable for one great guest character and for Sam Carter's first command. Cool.

6 out of 10

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Turk

Plot: Sarah tracks down one of Skynet's creators, as John and Cameron begin school. Meanwhile, the Cromartie Terminator enlists the help of a scientist to create a new skin for him.


Again, another very enjoyable and engrossing hour of television. I think what works so well is that we know what's going to happen, so it's all the more exciting to see the characters work towards preventing it. I think in a lot of ways, it's very similar to what made Heroes such a good watch. The fact that Peter and Hiro can travel to the future means that they can then work towards preventing disaster. It's quite a subtle change in the set up of the plot, but it seems to work really well.

The Skynet creator in question is Andy Goode (Brendan Hines). He interned with Miles Dyson, but left college due to family problems, becoming a cell phone salesman rather than a Cyberdyne employee. Still, he had a strong Computer Science background and began work on a chess AI that he says has since developed moods of its own. Apparently the first signs of sentience, amid a backdrop of narration from Sarah about the scientists that worked on the Manhattan Project. It's clear that Andy has no intention of taking over the world, but it may be too late by the time he realises what he has created. Sarah torches the place. Her scenes with Andy worked well and it was good to see her away from the day to day business of protecting John and doing something that resembled letting her hair down, by going on a couple of dates with Andy.


Cromartie tracks down a scientist that has been working on some form of skin generation. The Terminator delivers him a new formula that will help him complete his work and develop a new skin for Cromartie. While the results were pretty gross, it looks like it worked reasonably well. Cromartie finishes the job by stealing the scientist's eyes and killing him, possibly in that order. Cromartie had been clothed and masked up until the point where he had to get in to the blood bath. It was actually quite frightening to see him stood there as a naked machine and I can only imagine what was going through the scientist's mind. Creepy stuff.

We see a bit more from Agent Ellison in this episode. He's one step behind the Connor's and Cameron, investigating the murder of Enrique and the deaths of the men that had been sent from the future to investigate Skynet. He seems to be juggling more pieces than will fit the puzzle at the moment, but I can't imagine that it'll be long before he's able to figure out what's going on.

Finally, John and Cameron start the new school. A girl commits suicide on the 2nd day after someone had been painting murals in the school that seemed to refer to an affair that she had. They were rather creepy and I'd like to have seen them tie in to some Terminator action, rather than some high school bullying. An interesting plot device though. Cameron gets more and more awesome. She's awkward around the other students, but has something of a sense of humour and Summer Glau plays it really well.

So as I said, enjoyable and engaging again, even if it did lack any particular action. That's not a problem though because these are some strong and interesting characters.

8 out of 10

Quarantine

Plot: New settings for the Atlantis quarantine system wrongly enforce a lock down, leading to several members of the expedition getting trapped in different parts of the city.
With various amounts of partying and dissertation writing this week, I've not had much chance to watch any Stargate this week. Fortunately, I was able to sit down and enjoy a really fun episode of Atlantis this evening.

There are four pairs of characters trapped within the city, each limited in their ability to fix the problem that caused the malfunction. First of all, Rodney gets stuck in the botanics room with Katie. He'd gone there to propose, but was interrupted by the lock down. While there, Rodney becomes increasingly negative as the situation seemingly grows more desperate. Unfortunately, they both decide to hold off on getting engaged for the first time. Rodney believes that he has some character flaws to work out and Katie admits that she's not ready either. Though that admission is a little weak and you can tell that she did really want to get married. Hopefully they'll get it together next season, because I really think that Katie has been a positive part of Rodney's character.

There's more romance as Ronon and Dr. Keller get stuck in medical bay. They start off by discovering a little about each other, Ronon tells her about the siege on Sateda, Keller tells about her lost youth. Turns out she skipped ahead a few grades and was something of a child prodigy. She regrets missing the parties, the dances and the social interaction. Ronon's become a gentler soul over the past 18 months ago and he helps her to realise that she's a lot stronger than she realises. They're about to kiss when the lock down ends and interrupts them. I'd never have imagined them together, but I think it'll work really well. I'm interested in seeing how it all develops over the next few episodes.

Sheppard and Teyla are stuck in a room in the tower together. Sheppard worries that Teyla might go in to labour. Apart from a few baby kicks there was no drama there though. Sheppard opts to break out through a window and climb up the tower to the control room where he meets Major Lorne. Problem is that his breaking the window makes the city think there's been a containment breach and it engages self destruct. They set out to get to the power control room to shut it down.

On the way, they run in to Sam Carter and Zalenka who were stuck together in a turbo lift. Sam was working on opening the doors when Zalenka blew up one of the control crystals. Obviously he was a little embarrassed by his mistake, but soon got the chance to make amends. This happened when someone was required to crawl through a rather slim air duct to get to the control room and shut down the self destruct. He manages it and saves that day.

I think Zalenka's part in this episode was played particularly well. He's a good character, but is always in Rodney's shadow. This time, he was able to step in to the limelight and take all the accolades. Good for him, I say.

I think this episode was a lot of fun. Lots happened without the characters needing to leave Atlantis or get involved in any great action sequences, especially in contrast to the last three or four episodes. Character development of this quality is not often seen in Stargate, but it was refreshing to see such excellence here. Thumbs up from me definitely.

8 out of 10

The Tok'ra, Part 2

Plot: Jacob Carter accepts an offer to blend with Selmak, thus saving the life of himself and his new symbiote. Following this and SG-1's unveiling of a mole, the Tok'ra accept Earth's offer of an alliance.


Well this was much better. A really fascinating episode in which we see Jacob and Selmak go through the process of blending. It all starts by Jacob being filled in on the details of the Stargate problem. Obviously a lot to take in, but I guess that's nothing compared to being asked to share your body with another person. Jacob and Selmak go through the getting to know you stage. Selmak needs to be sure that she'll like sharing a life with Jacob, while Jacob needs a little convincing that becoming blended with a Tok'ra is better than death. It's probably a good thing that he didn't ask Jack's opinion on that! Once they both decide that they want to go through with it, they lie down next to each other. Selmak jumps from her last host's mouth in to Jacob's and gets to work on curing his cancer. All of this took up most of the episode, but it was a very engrossing process, well produced and well acted, so good work there.

Meanwhile, the Tok'ra discover that their whereabouts has been leaked to the Goa'uld, who are have sent a couple of Ha'tak vessels to destroy them. Now if it was me, I'd immediately have pointed the finger at SG-1, but the Tok'ra don't and instead, Jack is able to smoke out the spy. All of this and the offer of more possible hosts convinces the Tok'ra that the humans might just make a suitable ally.

I'll admit, I can't remember much of how this all plays out, so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens over the next couple of seasons. In particular, it should be interesting to see how Jacob grows in to his new role as liaison between Earth and the Tok'ra.

8 out of 10

The Tok'ra, Part 1

Plot: Sam has a vision of Jolinar, which leads SG-1 to the Tok'ra in the hope that they might wish to form an alliance against the Goa'uld.


I think the real problem with this is that all of the action of the story is pushed to the 2nd episode. This results in this first part becoming a rather dry introduction to the Tok'ra. Indeed, it seems the writers really feel that it's important to give the audience plenty of time to get their head around the ways in which the Tok'ra are different from the Goa'uld.

Those differences are pretty clear. Where the Goa'uld take hosts by force, the Tok'ra only take willing hosts. On top of this, they form a symbiotic relationship with the host, in which both entities exist within the body. While this is certainly a better way for the symbiotes to exist, it does cause problems for the Tok'ra, as they are often unable to find a new host when an old host dies, meaning that the symbiote dies along with it.

One such symbiote has this problem at the moment, Selmak's host is very close to death and the Tok'ra offer SG-1 the chance to become Selmak's new host. As expected, they all refuse. Sam is particularly upset as she is still struggling with the after effects of her last blending, including strong feelings towards one of the Tok'ra, Martouf. It transpires that Martouf and Jolinar were mates for over 100 years and Sam feels the love for Martouf that Jolinar did. It's not especially exciting, but it is interesting, even if the scene revolving around this was rather drawn out, even to the point where Martouf asks Sam the exact same question three times.

Finally, this episode revives the plot surrounding Sam's father, Jacob, who is now very seriously ill with cancer. SG-3 are sent to extract Sam so she can be with her father, but the Tok'ra are unwilling to let her go. It seems that SG-1 and their knowledge of the Tok'ra's location presents a security risk and they take SG teams 1 and 3 in to custody until such time as they find another world.

We'll see how this is all concluded in the next episode, which, thankfully, is a bit more exciting. :)

6 out of 10

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Gnothi Seauton

Plot: Sarah enlists the help of an old friend to secure new identities for herself, John and Cameron.


While this second episode of the series isn't quite as thrilling as the first, I still found it to be a thoroughly engrossing hour of television. The plot has quickly become engaging and in that sense, this is probably a better episode than the premiere.

The old friend that Sarah tracks down is Enrique Salceda, the man who taught John how to shoot and gave Sarah some special forces training. He was played by Castulo Guerra in T2 and has done some TV in recent years, including playing Jean Briault in Alias and General Zavala in this season of Prison Break. Taking that in to account, it seems surprising that he couldn't be tempted to reprise the role in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Still, we can probably forgive them that as Tony Amendola, friend of The SG-B, played the role in his stead. That's right, old master Bra'tac was there representing and doing a fine job of it. It was all happy families for a while to, until Sarah found out that Enrique was considered to be a snitch and may have sold them out. Cameron was unwilling to risk him doing that and promptly executed him. She's ruthless when she needs to be, it seems.

We learn quite a lot more about Cameron in this episode. Specifically the fact that she's under the orders of John from the future and won't necessarily do what present day John tells her. John himself has an idiotic five minutes as he leaves the house to go scouring the internet in public, as well as paying a visit to Sarah's former fiancee, Charlie. It's the kind of behaviour that'll lead to him being found. Charlie has gotten married since the trio disappeared from 1999 and I'm delighted by the fact that his wife is played by Sonya Walger, the same actress as plays Desmond's Penny in Lost, which is pretty awesome.

We see some more standard Terminator behaviour from Cameron in this episode. The awkwardness around other people, the mimicking of their actions to try and fit in, it all worked well. One thing that Summer Glau can do well is awkward and distant and I really think she's perfect for this role.

We didn't see much of FBI Agent James Ellison in this episode, except in investigating Enrique's death. I'm sure he'll have his chance to be properly introduced soon. For now, though, there's plenty of things for John, Sarah and Cameron to get straight as they bid to start a new life.

I'm quickly beginning to love this show. This was a very, very strong 2nd episode and next Monday can't come soon enough.

9 out of 10

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Premiere

Plot: Two years after the events of Terminator 2, Sarah (Lena Headey) and John Connor (Thomas Dekker) are on the run once again.

A great premiere, really awesome fun, tense and dramatic throughout. I suppose the great thing about using an existing IP, such as Terminator is that a knowledge of the back story can be assumed. This allows the SCC premiere to skip over laborious introductions. We know that two years ago, a Terminator was sent back to protect John Connor from the T-1000. The T-1000 was on a mission to assassinate Connor, thus preventing him from rising to lead a band of rebels in a war against machines. We know that.

It's made clear that Sarah and John have been on the run for much of the past couple of years, though Sarah has seemingly made some attempt to settle down, accepting a proposal from a man. A frightening dream unsettles her though and she leaves with John to a new town. Sarah's psychosis in regards to the fate of her son is understandable. The man with a purposeful walk should always be feared, as he could be a split second away from pulling a gun on her and her son.

At the new town, John begins school and is befriended by the pretty Cameron Phillips (Summer Glau). She's not quite what she seems though, as when a substitute teacher turns out to be another assassin, she takes a trio of bullets for John. John escaped out the window and is in danger of being executed before Cameron runs the assassin down with a truck. Joyously and emphatically she exclaims 'come with me if you want to live!'. It's a great moment and brings some awesome memories flooding back. This is an IP to respect and respect has definitely been paid here.

The Connors' problems are further compounded by the fact that they're not just facing robots from the future anymore. The FBI are also on their tail, following the destruction of Cyberdyne and the murder of Miles Dyson.

In the end, the assassin forces Cameron to resort to desperate measures to protect her charge and bring down Skynet, which we discover is brought online in 2011, though it's not known who by. Cameron locks herself, John and Sarah in to a bank vault and they quickly begin assembling a weapon split in to parts hidden in a number of different safety deposit boxes. On top of that, Cameron also has a time machine hidden away. As the assassin breaks through the bank vault, Sarah fires the weapon, killing him and Cameron activates the machine, sending them from 1999 to 2007. There, they'll work to discover who is working on Skynet and attempt to destroy it.

Bringing the show in to the present day seems to be a reasonably clever move, especially considering the time line that we've been given. That allows four years before Skynet is due to become active and possibly four seasons worth of episodes, assuming one year of plot per 22 episode season. Of course, Skynet could be found long before then, but for now I think it'll work.

Now, the characters. Lena Headey plays Sarah Connor. She's probably best known for playing Queen Gorgo in last year's 300. She somewhat enchanting to watch and wears the responsibility of protecting the saviour of the world well. It'll be interesting to see how she grows in to the role over the course of the show, especially considering the character's severe paranoia over her son.

Richard T. Jones plays James Ellison, an FBI agent charged with tracking down Sarah and John Connor to bring them to justice for the death of Miles Dyson. He believes Sarah to be an extremely dangerous psychotic. We don't really learn much about him in this episode, but I can see him fulfilling a similar role as Mahone in season two of Prison Break. I could also see Ellison eventually coming round to join the Connors' fight, especially given the evidence that he sees in this episode alone to support Sarah's story.


Summer Glau, well known for playing River Tam in Joss Whedon's Firefly is given the role of John Connor's protector. Cameron Phillips seems to be a later model than Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator and I'm looking forward to seeing what tricks she has up her sleeves. Summer Glau is very cute when she's not playing a crazy person and it was a clever move to cast her. She'll certainly appeal to that male demographic that are a little too young to relate to Lena Headey.


Finally, the star of the show, saviour of the world, John Connor. He's played by Thomas Dekker who starred last year as Zach in Heroes. I'll admit, I was a little cagey about his ability to play the role for the first few scenes that he appeared in, mostly because I was seeing Zach, rather than John Connor. That quickly changes though, He's headstrong, smart and mindful of his importance. But he's also caring and you sense that he's wary of the toll that his continued existence has on those that are trying to protect him.

It was a great start to a show that has blockbuster potential. The Terminator films have always thrived on providing big budget action and big budget thrills. With a TV budget, that might not be possible, but a strong cast of characters have already proven that big action may not always be necessary. Regardless, this is surely going to be an exhilarating ride and one that I'm looking forward to being a part of. Episode 2 airs tonight, more from me tomorrow.

8 out of 10

Spoils of War

Plot: The Atlantis crew manage to track down the Wraith Hiveship that went missing after the attack on the Replicators. Finding the ship leads them to a Wraith cloning facility, where they discover that an army is being readied.

It's fair to say that this episode doesn't quite hit the dramatic heights that last week's did, but it is still a fine concluding part to this trio of episodes dealing with the preparation for and aftermath of the elimination of the Replicators.

Little in Stargate ever happens without a reason and we discover that the Wraith certainly had an ulterior motive for participating in the attack on the Replicators. We find out that the Wraith managed to get away from the Replicator planet with several ZPMs. Todd, the formerly captured Wraith had planned to use them for activating the cloning facility and breeding an army to fight the other Wraith himself. Unfortunately, he was captured and instead, another group of Wraith were using them to breed an army, I assume to fight the humans with. This discovery facilitates some back story on the Wraith/Atlantean war. We learn that the Atlanteans were rather careless in allowing some of their ships to be captured by the Wraith. The Wraith then used the ZPMs to power a cloning facility, increasing their numbers exponentially and effectively turning the tide of the war from that point onward. It is a story that fits in perfectly with what we know so far and really helps to add depth to the Stargate universe. Very well handled indeed.

Sheppard and Teyla have further disagreements about her fitness to join in on off world missions, in regards to her pregnancy. He lets her go along on the mission to the Wraith Hiveship and it's a good job she does. It transpires that Teyla's unborn child is enhancing her telepathic powers, firstly allowing her to activate the Wraith ship and secondly to control the mind of a Wraith Queen. It's a frightful showdown as Teyla battles to keep control of the Queen's mind to free Sheppard, Rodney and Ronon who had been captured, while ensuring that the Queen is not able to touch the mind of her child. Teyla wins out in the end, but only just and quickly realises how easily she could put her child in danger under any number of circumstances.

In the end, the team have little choice but to crash the Hiveship in to the cloning facility. It was one of the coolest special effects I've seen in a long time and helped to cap a decent episode.

There was no word of what Elizabeth Weir is up to at the moment, but I guess it's safe to assume that whatever she's doing, good or bad, it's continuing behind the scenes. I wouldn't expect to find out any further details until the end of this season. For now though, I think we can all sit back and appreciate the conclusion of a very fine three part story.

7 out of 10

Bane

Plot: Teal'c is infected by the deadly venom of a big, ugly bug while on a mission off-world. Back at the SGC, the venom begins altering Teal'c's DNA, a process that will eventually turn him in to a group of the bugs.


Well, I'm not sure that much more could've gone wrong for SG-1 in this episode. First of all, they find themselves on a planet populated entirely by the aforementioned big, ugly bugs. Their venom turns each person they infect in to around ten of the bugs. Sam calculates that if Teal'c turned in to a group of bugs, they'd have been looking at swarms of millions of them within 8 weeks. Not nice.

After the team returns to the SGC, Colonel Maybourne shows up, much to Jack's annoyance. Maybourne is interested in the venom as an application in biological warfare and escorts Teal'c off base. On the way to Area 51, Teal'c goes all Hulk and smashes out of the van, running through the woods and in to an urban area, where he meets a young girl who looks after him. This is the first time that Teal'c has been out in his own on Earth without a hat. It was great to see him field questions about his brand and place of birth.

The young girl, Ally, is played by Colleen Rennison, who returns in a later series as Cassandra. She is the third actress to play that character.

All in all, this isn't a bad episode, but it's one of those that does little to really enhance the ongoing plot and they're always bound to be a little frustrating. However, that's not to say that there weren't any discoveries. In particular, Dr Frasier and Sam Carter figure out how to accurately simulate the environment of Teal'c's pouch for a Goa'uld. This happens after Teal'c removes his Goa'uld before running off in to the woods. His thinking was that it'd make him die, but it actually made the change come about more quickly, as the Goa'uld was the only thing stopping it. The insect DNA had asserted a new immune system for Teal'c.

It's understandable to have an episode like this at this point, especially as the next episode up is the mid-season finale, 'Tok'ra'.

7 out of 10

Secrets

Plot: Daniel and Teal'c return to Abydos so that Daniel can explain to Sha're's father that he has been unable to rescue her. Meanwhile, Sam and Jack go to Washington to be awarded the Air Medal by the President.


With two plots running concurrently in this episode, quite a lot happens. Firstly, Washington. Having literally saved the world by defeating Apophis, Sam and Jack are awarded a medal of honour. It's not all plain sailing at the ceremony though. We're introduced to Sam's father, Jacob, for the first time. Jacob is played by Carmen Argenziano and is a General in the Air Force himself. He begins pressuring Sam into applying for a position at NASA. Ironically, he tries to convince her that whatever she's doing at Cheyenne Mountain can't possibly be better than actually going in to space. The whole thing is a little hammy, but the sentiment is reasonable enough. Later, Jacob reveals that he has Lymphoma, thus laying the foundation for a plot that will be realised in a couple of episodes time with the Tok'ra.

Carmen Argenziano plays a likable character. I always remember seeing him in an anti-war, anti-government, anti-establishment, anti-most things film from the 70s called Punishment Park. In it, people deemed to be 'threats to national security' are offered either an extended jail term, or 3 days in Punishment Park, where they have to cross a length of desert without food or water. As I recall, they also have to deal with trigger happy guards as well. It's an interesting watch and I recommend checking it out.

Jack, meanwhile, is tracked down by a reporter who has been told about the Stargate by a source with knowledge of the programme. Jack obviously denies everything, but the reporter meets with a rather unfortunate accident before he can do any real damage. Jack suspects that Hammond is behind it but can only say to Jack that 'it was an accident'. It's quite a morally ambiguous moment, one of many that SG-1 and Atlantis will challenge viewers with for years to come. Regardless, it's clear that doing away with the reporter was quite necessary to protect the sanctity of the project.

On Abydos, Teal'c and Daniel begin to explain to Sha're's father (played by Erick Avari) that he has been unable to find his daughter. Funnily enough though, she's already there, and pregnant with Apophis' child. Creating a child of two Goa'uld parents is not allowed under system lord law, so Sha're has been hidden away on Abydos. Interestingly, while pregnant the Goa'uld remains dormant, so Sha're's personality is able to re-assert itself, allowing for an emotional reunion between her and Daniel.

She is heavily pregnant and Apophis is expected to return soon. Before he can though, Heru'ur shows up to kidnap the child. This allows Teal'c and Daniel to plan a ruse in which Sha're's Goa'uld is made to believe that the born child was taken by Heru'ur, when in fact it was given to Sha're's father to be hidden away. Clever.

As an extra tidbit, the actress who played Sha're, Vaitiare Bandera was really pregnant at the time with Michael Shanks' child!

The concurrent plots make this quite an interesting episode, though somewhat lacking in action. It does, however, contribute to a plot line that had been somewhat left dangling after the pilot. I think they would have done well to wrap up the Sha're plot up altogether though, as it contributes little to the actual show, other than allowing Daniel to angst a little from time to time, apart from that she's rarely mentioned.

7 out of 10

The Album Club: Jaymay - Autumn Fallin'

I joined Rough Trade's Album Club last month. The premise is simple, they select ten of the best releases each month and then send you one or all of them through the post. All for the princely sum of £12 per album. Admittedly, the price is a little over the odds for a CD, but you do get the benefit of Rough Trade's experience and taste, as well as the excitement and surprise of a mystery album each month.

My first experience of the Album Club was Jaymay's Autumn Fallin', arriving through the door ten days before Christmas. Jaymay is Jamie Seerman, of New York City. In her introduction, she paints a rather romantic picture of herself walking the streets of New York, writing songs of the things she sees. I'd imagine that she wasn't quite doing this with guitar strapped on and her support band behind her, but the thought is definitely pleasantly whimsical. She explains that most of the songs on the album were influenced by the seasons, a bitter winter in particular. The sense of that comes through very strongly. Jaymay's songs exude a cool, morose and even tragic exterior, but have a warm and engaging heart. These songs are of stories told to friends around a warm fire with the harsh winter firmly outside.

Further to this, the sense of Jaymay writing songs as the mood takes her really comes across well. Songs like Hard to Say are over before they've begun, a brief but productive burst of thought leading to a song being recorded. See Green, See Blue and the likes of You'd Rather Run in particular are much more expansive, perhaps hinting at long, evenings spent inside during the dark winter months. Either way, they all combine to create a soothing, but at times powerful album, the perfect accompaniment to an evening in the warm, with friends.

Family

Plot: Teal'c returns with SG-1 to Chulak in order to rescue his son, Rya'c, who has been taken prisoner and brainwashed by Apophis.


I mentioned a couple of episodes ago the curious fact that SG-1 assumed that Apophis was attempting to invade Cimmeria. This episode makes their assumption all the more curious as they seem quite shocked after being told by Bra'tac that Apophis has returned to Chulak alive and well. I hate to pick bones, but it seems there was a little miscommunication in the writing there, as no way should SG-1 have even entertained the possibility that Apophis was alive, let alone able to invade a planet.

Anyway. The first twenty minutes of this episode are rather tragic for Teal'c. First of all, he finds that his wife, Drey'auc, has had their marriage cancelled and is now wed to another man, Fro'tak. He's understandably a little upset at this, though is brought round to the idea that Drey'auc should be allowed to move on in order to ensure a better life for Rya'c. Conveniently, Fro'tak betrays Teal'c and SG-1 and is killed by Jack.

More tragic is that fact that Rya'c has been brainwashed by Apophis and wants nothing to do with Teal'c, even so far as alerting the palace guards to SG-1's presence while they attempt a rescue. SG-1 eventually sneak Rya'c back to Earth, only to find that he's been implanted with a deadly virus within two false teeth. If Rya'c bites down hard enough then he'll release the virus, which Sam expects would wipe out all life on Earth within a week. Maybe Apophis should make use of that a bit more often, though I don't know where he'd get any slaves from if he made that his policy.

As you'd imagine, everything works out nicely in the end. Jack suggests electro-shocking the brainwashing out of Rya'c, but Teal'c thinks a Zat gun would be safer. Turns out he's right and Rya'c returns to normal. Rya'c and Drey'auc then go off to live in the Land of Light. It's good to see that the people of that planet are still willing to help Earth out, even if we rarely see them.

Not the most amazing of episodes and it certainly drags at the beginning, but who doesn't love a happy ending? :)

7 out of 10

True Grit

Plot: A tough, but ageing and drunken US Marshal, Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne). vows to help a young girl - Mattie (Kim Darby) - track down her father's killer, Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey). The pair are joined by La Boeuf (Glen Campbell), a Texas Ranger who also wants to catch Chaney and claim a reward for him.


True Grit quickly proves itself as a fun and enjoyable adventure of a western. John Wayne puts in an Oscar winning performance as Rooster Cogburn, the Marshal known for his ruthlessness in tracking down killers. Cogburn is no great saint himself though, as he admits one of his own crimes of stealing money to Mattie during the film.

Mattie, the head strong young teenager has a real attitude about her and is engaging to watch. In essence, she plays Rooster's conscience, ensuring that he gets back on a right and true path. His admitting of his sins to her is certainly evidence to this. In playing the role of Rooster's conscience, Mattie exerts more control over the trio's adventure than Rooster does himself, even if Rooster doesn't quite realise this. There's certainly a sense of him letting her get her way though. She exudes a sense of friendship to those that seem to wish to treat her decent. Rooster, in the end, laps this friendship up, he'd seemingly become lonely living just with Chen Lee, the shopkeeper, and the General, a ginger tom cat.

In seeking out Chaney, Rooster must also go up against an old foe, Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall). This provides a really exciting final shootout, as Rooster faces off in a horsebound duel against Ned and three of his men. In the end, Rooster bests them, though it's at the cost of his much loved horse, that has seen him through many an adventure up until now.

John Wayne stated that the script for True Grit was the best he ever read, being particularly fond of the scene in which Rooster tells Mattie about his ex-wife while awaiting the arrival of Ned Pepper. He went on to reprise the role in a 1975 sequel, titled Rooster Cogburn.

8 out of 10

Message in a Bottle

Plot: SG-1 return from a planet with a mysterious orb. Back at the SGC it activates, pinning O'Neill to a wall and infecting him and the rest of the base with what appears to be a virus.


Quite an enjoyable episode, that does surprisingly well to build a great deal excitement from what is essentially a gradually heating metal ball. Daniel and Sam had been studying the orb, believing it to be some form of time capsule left by an extinct civilisation. This is one of the first times that we've seen the pair properly engaged in some serious scientific investigation. This type of exploration, investigation and experimentation will become a very regular and much loved fixture in the show from now on.

It transpires that the orb pinned Jack to a wall within the gate room in order to try and communicate. It is not a time capsule, but in fact an dead race itself. It had waited for hundreds of thousands of years for someone to come along and take it to a live world so that it could prosper once again. Fortunately, the SGC knows of a primordial planet that would do the job jut nicely. The orb agrees and releases the SGC and Jack from its grips. Not a moment too soon as the quarantine process was within ten seconds of blowing up the mountain. It's not the first time and it probably won't be the last that that particular close shave happens.

Before the orb releases Jack, it manages to put him through something of an experience. Though it made a clean entry and exit through his shoulder, he was still put through considerable pain, as well as a mean fever caused by the infection. Teal'c, however, really showed his loyalty by never leaving Jack's side. We're able to see that a very strong bond has grown between them and it's fair to say that they probably understand each other the most out of the four, due to them both being archetypal warrior types.

8 out of 10

Thor's Chariot

Plot: SG-1 return to Cimmeria to help the people defend a Goa'uld invasion. While Jack and Teal'c are engaged in protecting the Cimmerians, Jack and Sam journey to Thor's Hall, where they hope the Asgard have left means for the Cimmerians to defend themselves.


We'll start with a great Teal'c quote:

DANIEL - Well I guess we’ll just have to hold up in here a while until things calm down.
TEAL’C - Things will not calm down, Daniel Jackson. They will, in fact, calm up.
O’NEILL - He means things will escalate, of course.

This episode's importance lies in the fact that it is the first appearance of an Asgard in their true form. We're introduced to Thor properly for the first time and will come to know him quite well through the next 8 and a 3/4 seasons. Thor only revealed himself after Daniel and Sam proved their worthiness. In truth, this was a method for allowing the Asgard to ensure that the Cimmerian's had reached a high enough level of sophistication for the Asgard to reveal their true selves to them. The process involved two trials, in which their bravery, selflessness and wisdom were tested. It was a fun watch and it won't be the last time that SG-1 have to go through similar trials to prove their worth to older civilisations.

Thor's Chariot is something of a sequel to Thor's Hammer and we see the consequences of the actions that were taken in that episode of season one. Specifically, the destruction of Thor's Hammer to free Teal'c from the labyrinth. Understandably, Thor is a little unhappy that the Cimmerians were put in danger in this way. Still, he rides in at the last moment in a spectacular ship to save the day from the invading Goa'uld.

That Goa'uld is Heru'ur, who has the rather dubious honour of being the son of both Ra and Hathor. Interestingly, SG-1 first suspected that the invading Goa'uld was Apophis. As I recall though, they should have been under the assumption that Apophis had been killed after they repelled the invasion of Earth at the beginning of the season. No matter though, as the audience at least knew that he'd escaped. I'm interested to see how that plays out when Apophis next returns in the show.

We also find out in this episode a little more about the after effects of Sam's blending with the Tok'ra Jolinar. It turns out that she can control Goa'uld technology, such as a hand device. It's interesting to see this develop as if it's a super power, though I think the writers lose interest with the idea after a while, because I don't remember it playing much of a part in the later seasons. It's akin to the ancient gene that is such a big part of Stargate Atlantis.

This doesn't quite reach the heights of Thor's Hammer, but it's fun and exciting and a fine conclusion to the plot that was started in season 1. SG-1 have now made a powerful ally in the Asgard, even if they still consider the Tau'ri a little too young to be allowed the keys to kingdom just yet.

8 out of 10

Be All My Sins Remember'd

Plot: The Atlantis expedition teams up with the Wraith and Larrin to execute a plan to destroy the Replicators once and for all.


This episode felt huge from the very beginning and it managed to deliver every step of the way. This is one of Stargate's finest moments, with a massive cast and spectacular action, bringing together plots that have been developing since before the beginning of this season.

Where to start? Firstly, the Daedalus and the Apollo arrive from Earth, commanded by Colonels Caldwell and Ellis respectively. Now that McKay has enabled the ability to locate the Replicator ships, the Daedalus and Apollo go about catching and destroying them. Problem is, the Replicators fall back to their homeworld before the Atlantis team have been able to destroy any more than ten of the ships, which is where McKay's plan comes in.

As we all know, weapons previously designed to stop Replicators worked by removing the bonds that held individual nanites together, effectively turning them to dust. The problem with these weapons is that the Replicators have always quickly found ways to counteract them, meaning that they were never much use in an ongoing battle. McKay proposes that they try the opposite. Instead of making the cells fall apart, they make them form stronger bonds, so that they're forced closer together. This will merge all of the Replicator cells in to one super big, super dense mass that can be destroyed.


To make the plan work, it would be necessary to get a few more ships, as the 30 or so Replicator ships would be a bit too much for the 2 Earth ships to handle. Fortunately, the captured Wraith still has contacts that he can use and rustles up 7 more ships. After that, a chance encounter with Larrin allows Sheppard to convince her to get several more ships from her people. All together, this was quite an impressive armada that helped to create one of Stargate's most spectacular space battles. It really was breath-taking. Not just that, but the replicator mass growing and taking over the planet was a unique and stunning sight. A really great vision by the shows creators.

As mentioned, this episode featured a huge cast. The captured Wraith has been a breath of fresh air when it comes to Wraith characters. He continued in this episode as fantastic foil for McKay. They worked well together and we'll hopefully see more of him in the future. Next, it was great to see Caldwell back on Atlantis. His presence isn't quite so necessary now that the intergalactic bridge is up and running, so he's not been on Atlantis quite as much. He always created excellent tension between himself and Dr. Weir and I'd like to see some of that now with Sam Carter. Finally, Larrin made a return and is already proving herself to be one of Atlantis' better recurring guest characters. Her relationship with Sheppard is being handled a little heavy handedly, but it's great to watch and I can't wait to see more of it in future.

What else? Teyla dropped the P-bomb on Sheppard and Ronon, finally explaining that she is carrying a child. Shep was a little pissed off, which I think alludes to the underlying sexual tension that's developed between them over the past few years. Ronon, however, was very caring and understanding. The pair have a strong friendship and the writers have done well to keep it at that, even though it could've easily gone up a level at any stage.

Finally, in the rubble of the Replicator planet, we see a remaining Lantean ship. It isn't quite what I expected, not a surviving Replicator ship. This one is under the command of our own Dr. Elizabeth Weir and she's eager to get started on something, now that the Replicators are out of the way. It was an excellent curveball to end and exceptional episode.

9 out of 10

Need

Plot: A princess falls in love with Daniel and uses the narcotic power of the Goa'uld Sarcophagus to keep him at his side.


The episode kicks off with SG-1 scouting out a planet seamingly rich with Naqahdah. The ruler of the planet had long ago overthrown the Goa'uld that resided there, but continued providing shipments of Naqhadah so as not to arouse suspicion that the Goa'uld was no longer in charge. This was all 700 years ago, as the King had been using the Sarcophagus to extend his life. Daniel discovers that using the Sarcophagus when healthy has a narcotic effect, focusing the mind and stimulating the senses.

This stimulation is at a cost though. Firstly, Daniel falls through on his promise to get close to the King's daughter, the princess that has fallen in love with him, in order to free the rest of his captured team mates. SG-1 had been sentenced to work to death in order to prevent them leaving and spreading word that the former Goa'uld ruler has been overthrown. Secondly, Sam has a Tok'ra inspired vision that tells her that the Sarcophagus, when overused, will destroy a person's soul. This is interesting as it's used to explain why the Goa'uld are so evil, when the Tok'ra (who do not use the Sarcophagus) are not.

All in all, it's not a bad episode, though it doesn't seem to quite fit together. The bulk of the story takes place on the planet, while the climax takes place at the SGC, away from the established guest characters. It makes sense plot wise, but it still seemed to make the building of a relationship between Daniel and the princess rather redundant. The fact that SG-1 seemed to shrug off several days hard labour without much effort was also rather curious.

Still, this episode does well to develop mythology in regards to the Goa'uld and the Sarcophagus.

6 out of 10

The Gamekeeper

Ploy: SG-1 arrive on a beautiful, fertile world and are taken captive by devices that generate simulated environments based on the team's past experiences. SG-1 must find a way out of the environment for themselves and the other captives within it.


I've always liked this episode for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it guest stars Dwight Schultz, who we all know and love as The A-Team's Murdock and Star Trek's Reginald Barclay. Schultz always adds an air of colour and quirkiness to the shows that he appears in. This is no exception. As the somewhat eccentric Gamekeeper, he is guide and imprisoner and attempts to convince SG-1 that they would be better off in the virtual environment. Schultz is the second Star Trek alumni to appear in SG-1.

The other reason for my enjoyment of this episode is the chance that it gives for us to explore pivotal moments in the lives of Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill. Both moments are traumatic and The Gamekeeper grants Jack and Daniel the opportunity to change what happened for the better, even if the task seems very unlikely considering the ever changing variables within each scenario.

Jack's scenario is a black ops mission that resulted in the death of his then commanding officer. Jack was a Captain at the time and is unable to prevent his CO from being gun downed by enemy combatants, even with the help of Teal'c. Most excitingly, Kawalsky was part of that mission, leading to a welcome return for Jay Acavone in the role. Jack explains that of all the missions he went on, this was the one that went the most terribly wrong. It helps to explain a lot about his character, particularly his loyalty to his comrades.

Daniel's scenario is set in the New York Art Museum and revolves around the death of his parents. They die after being crushed by a falling stone exhibit that they are in the middle of constructing. We've heard little of Daniel's family up to this point and it was interesting to see how they fit in to his life. It's suggested that Daniel was quite young when this happened. His youth at the time leads to him being unable to convince his parents to move away from the exhibit, they disregard his protests as childishness. We see a lot of Daniel in his parents, particularly the fact that they wear glasses and an apparent love of ancient history.

The devices that generate the simulated environment return in season 8. They're used by the SGC for training purposes.

Plenty of talking points arise from this episode. It's an intriguing look in to the past of both Jack and Daniel, helping to flesh out the characters in much the same way that several other episodes did in the first season.

7 out of 10