“It took us fifteen years and three supercomputers to ‘MacGyver’ a system for the Gate on Earth.”
- Release Date: 27th July 1997
- Season 1
- Episode 1-2
- Director: Jonathan Glassner & Brad Wright
- Writers: Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin
Onto the proper Stargate SG-1 series, and it feels so much more familiar with Michael Shanks and Richard Dean Anderson, not to mention the introduction of Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge as Carter and Teal’c. All the sound effects sound much more comfortable and there’s a lovely sense of being home, it’s wonderful how going back to a TV show you haven’t seen for a while can make you film.
Like the film, this first episode (or first two episodes) lets itself take things slowly. A new Goa’uld dials the Earth Stargate (which is essentially in storage), kills some soldiers and kidnaps a female soldier. He’s accompanied by his Jaffa soldiers, who are genetically engineered to serve as soldiers and incubators for the parasites. There’s a slight issue here in that they don’t address how they dialled back home, but you’d expect a few gaffes early on.
After this, Jack O’Neill is recalled similar to the film, but this time he’s gazing up at the stars, and even advises the Air Force officer telling him to transfer to NASA, as all future action is there (oh, how wrong he was). I like how this mirrors the film with a much more optimistic Jack, a contrast to how he almost killed himself.
At Stargate Command in Cheyenne Mountain, the new General, Hammond, tries to dig information out of Jack and his men but, as they don’t budge, he decides to send a stronger nuke to Abydos, as the first clearly failed. When Jack finally reveals the truth of destroying Ra’s spaceship instead and that Daniel Jackson is alive, he still goes ahead with the plan to kill thousands of innocent people to protect earth, before deciding they need more information first – first by verifying that Daniel Jackson is on the other end and then sending a team through.
Accompanying Jack and his old team is Captain Carter, who is both a soldier and a scientist who specialises in how the Stargate works (as opposed to understanding the ancient languages involved). Kawalsky doubts and mocks her for being female, while Jack clarifies that his issue with her has to do with being a scientist, right after one of the worst lines in the show. It’s a shame Carter’s introduction is so embarrassing as she’s a brilliant character.
Upon releasing Abydos they reunited with friendly faces in the form of Jackson, his wife Sha’Re and Skaara (who is played by the same actor as the film) and introduced to a Dial Home Decide (DHD), the original device for dialing the gate. All the gates have the same symbols, with these changes and additions being done so every episode doesn’t have to involve figuring out the way home
After this, Jackson shows them a chamber he found. It contains addresses to hundreds of different Stargates, and Carter realises that they have to account for stellar drift to make them work (Abydos is the closest planet to Earth). She later creates a computer program that can calculate working addresses at the rate of two or three a month. As they work this out, Abydos gets attacked and Sha’re and Skaara get taken.
Back on Earth, Hammond announces the formation of nine teams, with Jack leading SG-1, with Carter and Jackson joining him. After they discover the location of the attackers, they head over to the wooded planet and get directions to the town of Chulak, with Jackson deciding to talk to the locals to get help.
Meanwhile, the Gou’ald Apophis offers the bodies of women to his wife, who is in the belly of a Jaffa, trying to pick a new host. We see the soldier kidnapped at the start get rejected and killed (and never mentioned again) before Sha’Re gets brought forth. In an attempt to gather interest and ratings, she’s completely naked and there’s quite a bit of nudity.
While the production reasoning behind it isn’t exactly good, I think it does a good job at making the taking over of a host seem truly degrading, and makes you hate the Gou’ald for doing it in this manner. While this is happening, you can see how uncomfortable Teal’c is about it all. When SG-1 reach the town, they encounter Apophis and She’Re, who attacks Daniel
Waking up in a large cell with the rest of the team, they figure out that this is a new Gou’ald and not Ra. Apophis enters in order to choose a host for his children, and Skaara is picked. The Jaffa are then ordered to kill everyone else. Seeing Teal’c discomfort, Jack asks for help and says he can save the people. In a defining moment, Teal’c turns on his men and helps them escape.
After an entertaining fight, the refugees make it though the Stargate along with the two SG teams, but not before Kowalski falls and gets taken over by a Gou-ald from a downed Jaffa (all of them carry a parasite). As they make it through, the Iris is closed (a protective layer that goes over the wormhole) and the Jaffa chasing them splatter against it – a grim fate.
Other than a few niggles (like Sam Carter’s introduction), this is a really great pilot episode. The characters, universe and technology are all introduced really well, and it bridges the film into what the show would be really well. I also really like that characters such as the Stargate technician Walter Harriman were there from the very start – I’m a big fan of long running background characters. It’s a very impressive start to the show.
