From Solutions staff writer, Aurora Novarum:
So, the final season of “Stargate: SG-1” has been released on DVD, and it is well worth the purchase price.
Although the cover is conspicuously missing SG-1’s newest team member, Vala and the rest of the cast are of course heavily featured in the episodes themselves. The episodes are shown in the sharp, detailed manner we have come to expect, and the dvds are loaded with entertaining extras.
First of all, one of the most requested fan items has finally made the list of extras: Deleted Scenes. Unfortunately cutting room floor pieces of “200” never made the segment, but several worthy scenes of “Morpheus”, as well as some moments of “Quest Part 1” and “Memento Mori” remained. Sometimes it was clear to see why a scene or portion thereof never made it, but other times the loss is palpable. These gems alone are worth watching the boxset.
Although no “200” missing scenes are visible, there’s plenty of extras for this special anniversary episode. A behind the scenes special with how the puppet scenes were done and interviews of Martin Wood, Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper, and Richard Dean Anderson, who with dry humor expresses the fulfillment of his lifelong dream to emulate Kermit the Frog, are amongst the hilarity of behind the scenes moments. Additionally, there are not one, but two episode commentaries. One by director Martin Wood, giving his usual fantastic balance of story and the filmmaking process. Brad Wright gave his first commentary with his co-executive producer Robert C. Cooper that was, if not the greatest commentary (as Cooper explains, it probably makes “the top 200”), still included some interesting nuggets.
Except for “Bad Guys”, the remaining episodes also include commentaries. In fact, there is a wistful quality in the Season 10 DVD commentaries. There is the usual filmmaking technobabble in the commentaries on “chocolate lenses” and “camera angles”, but the praise for cast and crew comes with a nostalgic quality. There are tidbits about moments from Season Three or Five as well as Season Ten. The cancellation is still a painful backdrop at times when the crew reminisces.
Each disk contains one “Directors Series”, including the finale “Unending”, which was especially poignant. Several clips from that last scene of filming were included, where Beau Bridges (Maj. Gen. Hank Landry) gave a touching speech, Gary Jones (Chief Mstr. Sgt. Walter “Chevron Guy” Harriman) cracked a few jokes, and the rest of the main cast and crew hug while shedding several tears.
Those planning to get the dvd set for the “Ark of Truth” trailer will likely be disappointed. So much of the trailer is S9 clips, I started to wonder if they were just beginning the “previouslies” for the Season Ten premiere “Flesh and Blood” instead. Some of the commentaries let slip small hints of what is to come in Ark of Truth and Continuum, but they may not be much more than those already searching for spoilers already know. The ad for Season 3 of “Stargate Atlantis” was action packed and entertaining.
Other series extras done by Mr. Ivon Bartok include an intriguing review of the Ori, including the designs for the Priors and Ori props, a segment devoted to Gary Jones, and an informative production feature on lighting the Stargate series.
As for navigating the dvds, they are more user friendly than some previous seasons for people to find commentaries, extras, and even more “chapters” for each episode to take you to specific moments. An amusing detail is each menu option has a distinctive Stargate chevron icon to guide the viewer’s choices.
For those who are still on the fence about buying this and/or have not purchased many other seasons of SG-1, a full series pack of all ten seasons including four additional bonus disks is coming out in October, 2007.
For a full list of the dvd features for this and all the SG-1 seasons, check out our DVD Releases page here: North America DVD Content.
To keep up with our ongoing recap segments on the dvd commentaries for all the SG-1 seasons, you can find them on our live journal satellite here: Solutions LJ Companion Site.