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S8 SPOILERS: FULL ALERT

Our spoiler sources reveal that episode 14 of Season 8 will be entitled “Full Alert,” written by Paul Mullie and Joseph Mallozzi and directed by Andy Mikita. Details are sketchy, but it appears that relations between the U.S. and Russia are strained, with the Russians believing that the U.S. administration has been compromised. Daniel has traveled to Moscow to meet with a General Kiselev but is instead detained for questioning by a Colonel Chernovshev, who insists on taking a sample of Daniel’s blood. Chernoshev insists that an American assassin was out to kill Kiselev but was captured before he could do so. Daniel is incredulous, but Chernoshev shows him that the assassin is none other than former U.S. Vice President Robert Kinsey, who is most definitely not himself these days.

Meanwhile O’Neill confronts Colonel Checkov at the SGC about what is going on in Moscow, presumably in reference to Daniel’s predicament.

NEW ORDER: A REVIEW

Review of New Order
by Charlotte Miller

Stargate SG-1 is back, and better than ever in the season eight opening two-parter, New Order.

International negotiations have stalled for exploration of the Ancient outpost that was discovered under the ice of Antarctica in the season seven finale, Lost City, while Colonel Jack O’Neill remains frozen and in stasis to preserve his life after the download of Ancient knowledge that threatens to overrun his brain. Dr. Daniel Jackson is forced to remain on Earth due to the value of his translation skills in Ancient while Samantha Carter and Teal’c make an 11th hour bid to reach the Asgard to try to save Colonel O’Neill. Daniel’s knowledge of the Ancient language, learned from Jack after the previous download of Ancient knowledge the colonel suffered in the season two episode, The Fifth Race, will be Jack’s final hope of survival should Carter’s and Teal’c’s mission fail.

Shortly after Carter and Teal’c depart Earth, a message from the Goa’uld arrives at the SGC. The System Lords would like to negotiate use of the Earth’s Ancient weapon in the wake of Anubis’s defeat as Ba’al has seized control of Anubis’s “super soldiers” to threaten the Goa’uld as well as the planets formerly protected under the Asgard’s Protected Planets Treaty. Daniel and Dr. Elizabeth Weir, current head of the SGC, begin negotiations, with Dr. Weir quickly discovering the Goa’uld to be as untrustworthy as Daniel has warned. The System Lords intend to force a test of the Ancient defenses used by Jack in Lost City to protect Earth. Dr. Weir considers removing Colonel O’Neill from stasis in the hope that he can again fire the Ancient weapon, making Daniel only more concerned over the further threat to O’Neill’s life. The delegation of System Lords starts to depart Earth but Daniel stops them, having learned the Goa’uld have already dispatched a ship to test their defenses in an attack on Earth, a ship that is destroyed by Ba’al in route.

Meanwhile, Carter and Teal’c have come out of hyperspace into the gravity well of a black hole created by the Asgard in an attempt to destroy the Replicators. The Asgard supreme commander, Thor, rescues them at the last minute as their ship is destroyed, but the Replicators manage to infest Thor’s ship, the Daniel Jackson, kidnaping Carter in the process before they depart with the intention of infesting the Asgard’s new homeworld. The Asgard fleet is waiting and manages to destroy the Replicator ship at the believed cost of Carter’s life, but the destruction takes place too close to the planet’s atmosphere, allowing a sufficient number of Replicators to rain down on the surface to begin to take over the planet. Now Jack O’Neill and his Ancient knowledge is the only hope for the Asgard as well as Earth, causing Thor and Teal’c to depart at once to retrieve the frozen Jack from Antarctica and Daniel from the SGC.

Thor proposes uploading the colonel’s mind into his ship’s systems in an attempt to preserve the Ancient knowledge taking over Jack’s brain. Daniel resists, wanting the knowledge erased completely as it is the most assured way of saving Jack’s life, but he is overruled by a holographic Jack that the colonel’s mind has created through the ship’s systems. Jack knows the Ancient knowledge could be the only hope for both Earth and the Asgard’s new homeworld. He begins to construct a virtual weapon in the computer’s systems, but is stopped before he can explain use of the device as his body, in stasis, begins to fail. His mind must be immediately restored to preserve his life, leaving Jack with no conscious knowledge of the Ancients, but the weapon he has created does destroy the Replicators infesting the Asgard’s homeworld. Sam Carter is found on the surface of the planet, unhurt, having been released by the human-form replicator, Fifth, who believes himself to be in love with her. The team returns to Earth. Jack is promoted to brigadier general and head of the SGC, and Sam Carter to lieutenant colonel, assuring the viewer that this truly is a “new order” for what is touted to be the final season of the show.

New Order is a remarkable blend of science fiction and human feeling, and a long-waited-for return to the team feeling of the early seasons of the show, a return marked most notably by the undeniable display of the strong friendship that is the cornerstone of Stargate SG-1, that between Jack O’Neill and Daniel Jackson, the core characters of the series since the major movie that launched SG-1. New Order is also marked by stellar performances by all the actors involved, most notably Richard Dean Anderson as Colonel, now Brigadier General, Jack O’Neill, the strong and very human leader who has saved the Earth time and again; Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson, the heart and emotional center of the show; Christopher Judge as Teal’c, the brave warrior whom this reviewer was delighted to see given both lines to speak and hair in this first episode of the season; David DeLuise as the human-form Replicator Fifth’s hallucinatory version of Carter’s love interest, Pete Shannahan; and Amanda Tapping as Major, now Lieutenant Colonel, Samantha Carter, an Air Force officer who suffered trauma in this episode without the need to fall into the arms of her male commanding officer, a notable and welcome improvement from the character’s often puzzling behavior the latter half of last season.

With episodes of the quality of New Order, this reviewer is holding out hope this will not be the last season of SG-1, and at the very least that this level of quality carries over to the new Stargate spinoff series, Atlantis, premiering shortly in the United States.

CARTER GETS PERSONAL IN SG-1

From SciFi Wire, 1 July 2004

Amanda Tapping, who pays Maj. Samantha Carter in SCI FI Channel’s original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming eighth season may complicate her character’s personal life. Carter’s on-again, off-again beau, Denver police Detective Pete Shanahan, played by David DeLuise, will play a larger role in early episodes.

But Tapping said not to expect Carter’s personal life to overshadow her ongoing mission to help save Earth from the Goa’uld. “I don’t want it to become about Carter’s personal life getting in the way of what she does, because the thing that makes me so proud of this character and something that we’ve worked on for eight years is that she’s so professional and so smart and so on top of her game and so competent,” Tapping said in an interview during a break in filming on the show’s Vancouver, B.C., set. “The dynamics between the four of them is so important, and the loyalty to the team and to the program and to exploration and to science. I mean, I don’t want her to become too much the other way. But now I have a life, and I have a boyfriend, and I’m happy. I don’t want it to be about that, you know what I mean? That’s an interesting part of her that, like I said, opens her up. But I don’t want her to become that girl. I’ve also always said that I don’t think that Carter should ever be qualified… by whether or not [she’s] with somebody.”

Tapping added that Carter will continue to be an integral part of SG-1, particularly once Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) finds himself going on fewer “away missions.” “It means that Daniel [Michael Shanks] and Carter and Teal’c [Christopher Judge] go off alone a lot,” she said. “We actually never go off alone: We always have another SG team with us. But we don’t have Rick. So that’s a different dynamic. It’s great fun for Michael and Christopher and [me], because, a) we really enjoy each other, and b) [we] have such fun playing off each other. But it’s different. It is very different. What I find, though, [is that,] because Rick’s days are limited, when he’s here, he’s here. And the scenes between the four of us are so great, because we fall into that old pattern. And they’re funny scenes, and you see how tight these four people are. But it is odd. The first time we go through the gate without him, it’s like missing your arm.” Stargate SG-1 returns with a two-hour season premiere at 9 p.m. ET/PT July 9.

S8 SPOILERS: GOOD TO BE KING

Season 8’s ‘Good to be King’ features the return of fan favorite Harry Maybourne. Circumstances lead Maybourne to play the role of native ruler ‘King Arkhan the First’ while Daniel and Teal’c play his retainers. Maybourne is trying to appease Trelak, First Prime to Lord Ares, who will soon come to reclaim the land Maybourne is pretending to rule over. From a servant, Trelak learns of a prophecy of his forces’ defeat, which peaks his interest but makes Maybourne very uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Carter and O’Neill are on the puddle jumper ship, which is perhaps disabled. O’Neill encourages Carter to finish her work, since Daniel has warned him that trouble is on the way.

S8 UPDATE: PROMETHEUS UNBOUND

Since our original report on Prometheus Unbound there have been changes in the information about the episode.

The character of Vala and Daniel’s interaction with her have changed. Vala is now more dryly humorous and cynical, and uses her looks to try to distract Daniel. Daniel is more knowledgeable about the workings of the Prometheus, even if he doesn’t admit it to her at first. He remains skeptical of her motives and is not fooled by her attempts to manipulate him. There appears to be some great banter between the two.

Vala’s backstory has changed as well. The Tok’ra incited a rebellion on Vala’s planet, against the Goa’uld Gyn’ar. When the rebellion succeeded, Gyn’ar was tortured for days, along with Vala, who was the unwilling host. The Tok’ra removed Gyn’ar from Vala. Soon after, the Tok’ra left and another Goa’uld came on the scene, Camulus. With the capability for space travel, some of Vala’s people escaped in ships, some of those ending up on a nearby inhabitable moon. Camulus’ forces were in turn defeated by Ba’al, who is now scouring the territory looking for survivors. Vala claims her purpose is to rescue the people trapped on the moon and relocate them to a safe, Goa’uld-free planet.

Vala has programmed the Prometheus to travel to her homeworld, and locked Daniel out of the navigation system. As he is arguing with her about it, he sees a ship appear on the radar – an Al’kesh. She is convinced it is an enemy vessel, but Daniel isn’t sure – it could be Hammond and the others.

Meanwhile aboard the diabled Al’kesh, instead of Pendergast there is now Reynolds, presumably the Colonel we have seen before (Col. Reynolds). There appears to be a slim hope of fixing the Al’kesh using some spare parts from the nearby disabled cargo ship. It appears the Prometheus was on a rescue mission when they were duped by Vala.

Venturing into editorial for a moment, the revised information indicates a stronger and more interesting episode, at least in terms of Daniel and Vala’s interaction. We were pleased to see this and are looking forward to the episode very much.

BREADBOX EDITIONS ENJOYED IN GERMANY

Nialla’s Breadbox Edition Parodies are the subject of a great article on a German Stargate web site: Stargate and More Breadbox Article. We don’t claim to read German, but according to the Altavista babelfish translation, the author of the article enjoyed Nialla’s work very much and recommended it to fellow fans, translating some excerpts into German along the way. We congratulate Nialla on her world-wide recognition!