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