Tin Man

Plot: SG-1 arrive on a planet, where the only surviving member of the civilisation transfers their conciousnesses to artificial bodies. As the bodies are powered by an energy source on the planet, they have no choice but to live out their new immortal lives there.


I'm at the risk of repeating what I said in the 'This Mortal Coil' review this week. It's a similar set up. The duplicates think they're the real thing, but then must accept life as a replica, while the originals get to carry on with life. It's an interesting concept, but it's a little bit tired now as there is genuinely only ever one conclusion. The duplicates either die, or get sent to an arbitrary out of plot location. In this case, they get to stay on P3X-989 with Harlan. For the rest of time.

It could be worse. Harlan is a charming and quirky character and the underground station that is the only habitable part of the planet is one of this season's better sets. The problem is that it all felt a bit fruitless and I've figured out why that is. It's because this episode wasn't about our SG-1. The experiences that the characters went through will not contribute to the evolution of the ones that we're to follow for the next 190-odd episodes. If the writers had wanted to, they could never have mentioned the duplicates again. As it happens, they show up in an episode in season 4.

So, this wasn't the best of episodes. I can tell you that it was definitely better than doing university assignments, though. :)

6 out of 10