I just finished watching season 5 of SG-1

[rodneyscat]

Last year I started watching SG-1 together with my youngest son and my daughter. The first 4 seasons we pretty much raced through. Then with season 5 it started dragging. Frankly, some of the episodes bored us shitless, with 'Red Sky' as an all time low.

With 'Rite of Passage' (I loved seeing Cassandra again, and the combination Janet and Sam is just great) and 'Beast of Burden' (well frankly, it's mostly my youngest who's very fond of the Unas) it seemed to perk up, but then it went down again as far as we were concerned.

But then things really got way better: I understand not everybody likes the 'Wormhole X-treme' slapstick, but I'm afraid we laughed our collective asses off.

We loved 'Proving Ground'! And oh, it was so lovely seeing Courtenay J.Stevens (Keras in SGA 'Childhood's End')! Especially my youngest immediately warmed towards Elliot.

'48 hours' was mostly a highlight because, yay Rodney! Although he's actually hardly in it, and oh god, he really is an asshole, isn't he? *cringes* I'm afraid it'll take the second episode of season 6 for my youngest to forgive him for insulting his beloved Sam. I'm sure the infirmary scene will mollify him though.

'Summit' and 'Last Stand' were great, although it was so sad to have to say goodbye to Elliot. I'm afraid my youngest still has romantic ideas about dying honorably and making Jack proud, so that made it bearable for him.

'Fail safe' was (almost SGA level) silly, but nice, and damned is we didn't let that countdown get to us! Some nails got lost. *rolls eyes*

I loved 'The Warrior' on very many levels, and they managed to keep me guessing for a long time.

We also really enjoyed 'Menace' (very good Daniel vs Jack episode) and 'The Sentinel'.

And then we came to 'Meridian'... Of course I knew what would happen, although I didn't know how. I thought the whole episode was equally brilliant and devastating. It was very clever how they could make it convincing that Daniel was really beyond saving this time. To have him lying there, suffering horribly and still have this way of letting him do dialog in his healthy appearance. The way everybody got to say goodbye to him, each in their own way. The episode was different than I expected it to be. To be honest, I thought it was a very worthy farewell to Daniel, but I guess it's easier for us, since we already know he'll be back (my youngest sort of wants to just skip season 6 and head straight for season 7, but my daughter and I like Jonas Quint a lot, plus Rodney is in the first 2 episodes, so there will be no skipping!)

And then there was 'Revelations', which was a nice enough episode. I'm not a big fan of the Asgards, especially when there are Goald's also, because that's just too many weird voices for my taste.

Of course I couldn't help comparing to SGA, where topics like ascension ('The Tao of Rodney') and an important character dying ('Sunday') came up also. I really wondered now why they never contacted Daniel about what was happening to Rodney! It would have been so obvious. I guess they just couldn't get that crammed into this already loaded episode, or maybe Michael wasn't available for filming or something practical like that, but they should at least have given a good excuse for not contacting him.

The similarities between Daniel's death in 'Meridian' and Carson's death in 'Sunday' are obvious; both die heroically, and in both cases there are people who have grave regrets, which is something we all can relate to I think, either because we've experienced it or because it's something we fear. A big difference as far as I'm concerned is that with Daniel it's clear that he's being missed, that people mourn, each in their own fashion. With Carson I can't get over how there's only the slightest shadow on Elizabeth's face when Carson gets mention in her conversation with the new doc, but that's really it. I'm not even that much of a Carson fan, and it still bums me out!! I can understand Carson fans are really pissed off and they're thrown off SGA.

In the meantime I've also watched episodes 1 and 2 of season 6, and those were a delight. Daniel is still being missed, in a way that resembles real life. Rodney is a delight (I love, love, love the chemistry between Sam and him), and Jonas Quint is adorable. I'm looking forward to the rest of season 6. Any episodes I should particularly look forward to?

Comments

[paceus.livejournal.com]

48 Hours -- oh, yes. My first reaction was, "Oh my god! Rodney is SG-1's Kavanagh!" It was kind of startling. I'm glad I got to know Rodney through fanfic and Rising, otherwise I may not have liked him quite so much!

Also, re: Daniel's ascension and Tao of Rodney: fanfic binds SGA and SG-1 better, frankly. For example in Come Back Later (http://cottontail73.livejournal.com/44966.html#cutid1) by cottontail73 there is interaction between the casts. (It's an AU of Tao of Rodney, but still.) Often when I've compared the show and the fics I've felt that fics use the characters so much better, the dialogue is better, the plots, how to give screen time to all of the characters, etc. (Characters actually mourn Carson, would also be a good example of the differences between the fanfic and canon.) It's a matter of resources, of course, and of different media -- and how lucky are we, to have it both ways, both the fics and the show? I shouldn't be complaining. :) Anyway, I should also mention that I haven't really watched a lot of SG-1 (Rodney episodes, mostly), so I don't know if it's very different from SGA. Your note, "almost SGA level silly," made me curious. SG-1 is a more serious show, then?

[elanorgardner.livejournal.com]

I am in the middle of rewatching all of SG-1 myself. Season 5 at the moment -- Last Stand -- And with every episode, I am thinking "I just love this show." It never gets old. Never. *hugs her DVDs* I am waiting anxiously for S2 of SGA (we just can't catch it on SciFi because of scheduling changes, and I refuse to watch Eps out of order) and S10 of SG1 (same reason). *sigh* S6 - hmmmm - Abyss (obvious reason there), The Changeling (also obvious), Frozen (for the connect to SGA), and Metamorphosis (cause I love seeing Jack get all squishy over Sam's eminent demise).

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Beast of Burden is one of my all-time favorites! I have reams of meta about how that ep epitomizes the way Jack and Daniel have both evolved as a result of working together for so long.... yeah. (Plus, I dig Unas, too. ;-) Two of my other favorites are Ascension (Sean Patrick Flanery as Sam's alien boyfriend -- yum!) and Between Two Fires (great Jack and Daniel, but oh, no! The Tollans!). And I think Wormhole XTreme is pretty damned funny, too. Best is Christian Bocher's riff in the outtake in the end where he metas about being an actor playing an actor playing a character based on a character.

Season six has even more snoozers, but it's well worth it for Abyss and Changeling and Full Circle (yes, the Daniel eps!), and the Rodney eps, as you say. There are also eps that set up important plot points for later, and there are eps that I enjoyed on their own merit, like The Other Guys (another slapstick ep), Cure, Smoke and Mirrors and Paradise Lost.

I really wondered now why they never contacted Daniel about what was happening to Rodney!

Wait, are you spoiled for SG-1 s10? SPOILER:

Well, I think that was during the time Daniel was in the hands of the Ori.


END SPOILER

As for the Daniel and Carson deaths, I think, unfortunately, Carson gets more of the Doctor Fraiser death. If it had been John or Rodney, I think (I hope!) we'd see lasting impact, but losing a doctor rather than a frontline team member gets played differently.

And speaking of lasting impact, have you seen synecdochic's gorgeous vid Talk Show Host (http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/77764.html)? Gorgeous, sad vid about season 6 Jack missing Daniel, and oh, so tired of it all. Since you are about to watch the season, you might want to wait 'til after.

[zikade.livejournal.com]

interesting, to read your opinions. I just recently rewatched Red Sky, and I enjoyed it greatly for some reason. I always enjoy the Unas episodes, because that is one of the very rare time the aliens don't speak the name, and to see Daniel struggle to communicate and hear his snarky remarks is just a hoot.

I rewatched Meridian again too, and cried again. It is really a good episode. You're right with the comparison with "Sunday", it was done very differently.

I liked Season 6 a lot, Jonas Quint is really nice, and there is some hilarious dialogue with Tealc. Also there is a lot of action, and you see spectacular pictures.

I recently caught on the latest SG-1 episode, and was totally caught off-guard when Rodney appeared in "The Road not taken". Ha, ha, he and Sam were really cute together.

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

you are wonderful.

i need to watch s6 again. i kind of blasted through it the first time because of the lack of daniel and was anxious to resume his part in the show.

but of course he appears in s6 abyss, which is the best sg-1 ep of all time in my book, and the season finale, s6 full circle, which is an ep NOT TO BE MISSED.

I liked descent because of paul davis, and Changelings because Judge wrote it and Daniel makes an appearance and it's a CANON AU!!!

go you.

*hugs*