We've told TPTB that we don't want the product they are trying to sell us.  Here we explain to them why and present some Stargate Solutions.

Write or Wrong? Writing Stargate SG-1

"Stargate is a tough show to write for," continues Glassner. "One of the reasons for this is that we want to give something to all of our leads to do in every episode and occasionally that's a challenge if the plot centres on just one of them." 

Jonathan Glassner, Executive  Producer, Stargate SG-1 Seasons One - Three.

PhoenixE: An open letter to Mr. Joseph Mallozzi continued

Conflict

Conflict: noun.  Disagreement; struggle or fight. Verb: be incompatible.

Red Sky and Between Two Fires

Now - the wormhole.  Again, the explanation she gives for what happens to the sun - and how she plans to fix it is so ridiculous I'm not even going to bother talking about it.  Except to say how much it makes me laugh because it's loaded with almost as many conditional phrases 'as far as I know, somehow, leads me to believe, it's probably because of us' - as Anise's spectacular explanation in D&C of the whole Zaytarg deal. And has just about as much scientific basis.

The whole thing hangs on the wormhole with its plutonium passengers going through the sun, right?  Okay, except for something Siler tells Daniel, in Solitudes after he's confirming Daniel's summation of the way the wormhole works is more or less correct, except for one little detail.

'Except for the fact the whole trip happens outside our dimension.'

And during the course of one of the most embarrassing scenes every filmed in this series, in Matter of Time where Sam talks to Jack like he's five and retarded, smiling condescendingly at his PROFOUND denseness, stopping just short of giving him a cookie and patting him on the head as a reward for working his three brain cells so hard to try and understand English (in case you haven't figured it out I don't think this scene is funny or 'sweet'  - I think it's unforgivable and terribly insulting to Jack and shows us with painful clarity that far from having a thing for him, Sam thinks he's an imbecile and humours him even though she knows he's never going to get this, and from the way he's acting in this scene, she's right) Sam  tries to explain what a wormhole is to our brain dead Colonel in the following fashion:

'Well, the hole isn't really a hole, per se, but an inter-dimensional conduit'.

Also, as of Window of Opportunity the gate also seems to have a 'subspace field'.  Not that I know what the hell subspace is, but it has one.

So, if wormholes go through space and time but in another dimension from ours - which is the way it has been established they work previous to this episode, then even though the wormhole to K'Tau may go through the same SPACE as the K'Tau sun on it's way there, if it's actually doing it in another DIMENSION  - the same way all our alt universe selves can occupy the same space we do at the same time we do just in another dimension so we're not aware of them and they're not aware of us and nothing we do in  our space/dimension affects them in their space/dimension - then how can it do ANYTHING to the K'Tau sun?  Plutonium or no plutonium.  It goes through the space occupied by the K'Tau sun but not the same dimension so it's not really 'there' when it invades the sun's space.  So it can't possibly affect it.

And if what happens in Red Sky is actually possible, let's think about the implications of this for just a minute.  Who know how many planets, suns, and god knows what else wormholes bore through every time someone uses a gate.  If this was really possible the Stargate system is a menace to the galaxy and no one in their right mind would use it because of the damage it could do.  You could be motoring along in your spaceship minding your own business and have a frigging wormhole go through you without so much as a by your leave.  Crap, they're at it again, using that damned gate, kiss another planet good-bye.

And of course the 'inter-dimensional-ness' of the wormhole causes problems with the time travel premise of 1969 and 2010 as well, but there you go.

I know there's only one season left of this show but in the interests of the sanity of those handful of people still watching it (of which I will not be one) could you please all sit down and once and for all figure out exactly how the gate works?  Then write it down somewhere so you don't forget?  Thank you.

Again, it might seem as if I'm being really harsh about all of this, but we're barely out of the teaser and there are already so many things wrong with this episode - do you blame us for sneering and screaming?  Try and see the whole thing through our eyes for just a minute.  Or to put it another way, if this episode was a car, with this many things wrong with it, would you buy it?  Do you blame us if we don't want to buy it either?

Backtracking to the first audience with Freyr and its aftermath.

Oh boy, the urge to smart smacking Jack in earnest starts with this scene and really doesn't go away for the whole rest of the episode. Elrad and Malchus get their message from Freyr, come to the conclusion they're all about to die and they should get ready for it.  Bearing in mind we (and Jack) have yet to hear from Sam what is actually going on, and what if anything can or should or needs to be done - Jack has no business 'getting into it' at this point, as Daniel tries suggest to him.  Several times.

Maybe Jack does know the score about who Freyr really is - and maybe what the Asgard are doing posing as gods isn't right, according to Jack, but that's not his call to make - and certainly not at this point.  SG-1 are visitors. Interlopers.  There on sufferance.  They have no right to presume to judge or attempt to interfere. No business butting into someone else's business especially before they know what's going on.

However the K'Tau got this way, and no matter Jack's personal feelings about it, this is a peaceful, stable, thriving culture.  They believe what they believe, they're quite content to believe it, (in fact, become desperately unhappy and deeply distressed when the persistent strangers keep up with their misguided but well meaning attempts to 'enlighten' them) whether we or Jack agree with their happy 'delusion' or not is not the important issue at this point.  Finding out what is going on is. Jack should have kept his mouth shut, left the K'Tau alone to think whatever they wanted to think and gone straight out to find Sam to get the scoop on the situation.

 When they are on the brink of a potential crisis they as yet have no information about and don't even know what they are dealing with themselves is NOT the time to start pissing the people off - and particularly not the time to alienate a man who has already shown us he's suspicious and adversarial by going all superior presuming to tell him he doesn't know how to do his own job - which is something he takes very seriously.  Then to further compound this arrogance by claiming to be 'miracle workers' and assuring Elrad whatever is wrong, SG-1 can take care of it, no problem.

The 'free will' speech Jack makes to them is extremely condescending, quite rude and besides - I don't recall anyone asking him his opinion.  Like I said - guests.  Onlookers.  Observers.  Jack is not the boss of them.  He shoulda shut his yap until he knew what he was talking about and even then...

All this before Jack himself knows what's going on and if he can in fact make good on his grandiose promise.

Now, if having Jack respond in this unthinking way precipitating this conflict with Malchus (and to a lesser degree with Daniel as well who knows Jack is handling this wrong and is getting ignored, once again) in order to use the conflict generated to reveal something to us about Jack's character (other than the fact he now seems inordinately fond of continually acting like butthead) and have him LEARN something and grow through making the mistakes he does - like maybe he should try shutting up and listening for a chance - maybe he shouldn't be quite so quick to judge everyone else by his standards and try having a little more tolerance.  Maybe he should even, god forbid, try seeing something from another point of view.  The 'walking a mile in someone else's shoes' thing.  And maybe he needs to revise his opinions about belief - then having him tick off Malchus would have made sense.

As it was, all the conflict created in this scene did was lead to more pointless conflict.  More and more of Jack refusing to listen, insisting on handling things his way, honking off Malchus to the point he blows up the rocket after which Jack decides the K'Tau are too stupid to be worth him wasting his time on any longer.  Not once during the course of this episode does he listen, see, respect, or LEARN anything.

Jack learns absolutely nothing from this experience and so unfortunately, neither do we.  Except Jack is a judgmental, narrow-minded, intolerant bastard who won't listen to either the people he is trying to help or the team mate (Daniel) who is also trying to help him do his job. Jack's willingness to be 'there' for the K'Tau is directly conditional upon the everyone doing things his way.

This is the Jack from TOS and SE and he's the brutal, unthinking caricature of his former self which is unfortunately the new 'version' of Jack who has been running amok through most of the fourth and fifth season.  We do NOT like this man.  He is a stranger.  He is no more who Jack really is than the ultra perfect SuperSamcipher currently passing herself off as our major and who is in our face every time we look at the screen in season five - is Sam.

These 'new improved' versions of both Jack and Sam are doing neither character any favours.  In the case of the former they're pissing us off and in the case of the latter, making us thoroughly sick of Sam.  Her popularity with the fans is plummeting and even people who formerly loved her character these days are finding it awfully hard to find anything to like about her.  Maybe the agenda behind making Daniel go away was to try and get us to love her best, but all you've succeeded in doing through this relentless and unremitting promotion of this unbelievably annoying 'perfect' portrayal of Sam is make us wish SHE would go away.  Immediately.

The formula that is SG-1 works because of the balance between all the constituent elements.  Each character has their function, and their place.  Mess with the proportions, shift the emphasis, favour one over the others and give us too much of ANY one thing (and by this I mean I no more would want the show to be all about Jack or all about Daniel any more than I currently want it to be all about Sam) and it all goes to shit.  The name of this show is not 'Samgate', although the way things are going, it's sure looking that way.

Which is why a whole bunch of us are no longer looking.  We didn't sign on for Samgate any more than we signed on for X-Gate and until it gets back to being the original Stargate we'll be looking at our tapes of the first three seasons for what we want because we're sure not getting it on the screen this season.

The initial confrontation with Malchus when Jack contests his 'interpretation' was also a perfect set-up for a further in-depth exploration of the belief system of the K'Tau, and for addressing the whole 'false god' issue and how it actually impacts on the people being 'conned' above and beyond the cursory, barely scratching the surface treatment it's gotten in the past.

This has not been very well dealt with in this series so far, and usually the 'god' influence has been seen as entirely negative and something the people (from our perspective) need to be 'liberated' from but this episode opened a teasing door to a potential for a deeper, more thoughtful examination of the issue, and then threw it away on more 'it's bad for you, you don't need it' chauvinism from Jack.  Extremely disappointing.

The series has never taken a look at what it is really like to have your life and beliefs shaped by being a member of one of these 'false god' societies and we certainly have never heard any in-depth thoughts and opinions about the whole thing, or glimpsed any sort of insight about the experience from the perspective of the one member of the team most uniquely qualified to talk about this and offer a true 'insider's viewpoint.  Teal'c.

Which is not only a shame but quite astonishing when you think about it because 'the Goa'ulds were gods and now they aren't' is at the very heart of who Teal'c is and how he got that way.  Until we got to Threshold the sum total of Teal'c's offered 'wisdom' about what he thinks, feels and believes about anything and everything as a result of his upbringing, conditioning and everything that went into how he came to start questioning his beliefs is summed up in the phrase.  'False god. Dead, false god.'

Pithy, but hardly radically character expanding or illuminating.  Threshold offered some fascinating possibilities, opened up some interesting doors to a wealth of future character exploration that should have been immediately followed up on.

This was an opportunity to do so - not to mention giving Teal'c a chance to make a significant and important contribution to this episode also unfortunately wasted by having Jack be the one who did all the talking, and by devoting screen time which should have been given to a deeper exploration of the moral issues around the nature of the faith of the K'Tau and its consequences for them instead of being squandered on at least two inexplicable 'isn't Sam wonderful' scenes at the SGC completely unnecessary to the furtherance of the plot and adding nothing to the story except upping the annoyance level.

I know because this is one of those episodes I was talking about where it has scenes in it that I fast forward through because they are pointless, they annoy me and I don't miss a damned thing about the story by skipping over them.  And believe me, I do skip them.  Every darned time I watch the episode because I don't have to watch them if I don't want to and I really don't like being annoyed.

So, we have Jack putting his mouth in gear, putting his foot in it and putting Malchus out.  He then decides it MIGHT be a good idea to actually find out what's going on so off they go, in search of Sam.

We find out that she's been bad, she's been dialling planets she shouldn't have been and finessed her way around the 'playing with fire and not realising the consequences of her actions' astrophysicist filter safety feature on the gate that was there for a reason - to stop stupid shit like this from happening and not simply to give her something challenging to do.

I know I said it would be nice to see Sam occasionally make a mistake and prove to us she is human but she tells us after the fact - 'the fact that the gate wouldn't dial here when we first tried leads me to believe that there was some sort of safety protocol built into the gate system designed to prevent exactly this sort of thing.'

In the DHD.  Right?

See my earlier points about why she did she keep trying, add to them why didn't it occur to her to question WHY she was having so much difficulty getting a lock while she was blithely bypassing and hold onto this little bit of information because I'll be referring to it again when Sam decides to go back to the SGC the first time.

Sam 'fesses up the sun is screwed and it's their fault and there is nothing she can do to fix it so off they go to meet the Wizard.  Ah, I mean the Asgard.

They have to check Teal'c at the door of the temple, and unfortunately consequently for most of the rest of the episode.  Which is not only a waste, but a damned shame, considering what he could have brought to this particular story.

I love Daniel's line when Sam turns off the hologram.  'Well, we've either made contact with the Asgard or trapped ourselves deep within a vault of solid rock'.

And how about that Sam - is she ever getting to know her way around alien technology or what?  It's not enough she's the Earth's foremost expert on the Stargate, as of Enemies she's certified on Goa'uld, Tok'ra and Asgard equipment, if she'd managed to get her hands on that ion canon she could hire herself out to the universe at large as an all around specialist and really clean up.  It takes her no time at all to take care of the hologram and next thing we know we've got Freyr on the line.

Once again, guess who does all the talking.  This is actually the only scene in the episode where Jack's 'attitude' feels appropriate and he sounds like himself.  He's a little 'uppity' and irreverent, but it's not too much, he is a little worked up and rightly frustrated at what seems to be completely inexplicable indifference by the hoity toit aliens for their happily being kept in the dark human charges.

I've watched this scene a number of times and I find the information revealed rather interesting.  Again, there's a little 'teaser' of potential in here which is completely wasted, having to do with exactly why the Asgard are continuing to pose as these people's gods when they seem perfectly capable of being brought gradually to the truth of the situation.

Freyr claims it's because they're 'not ready.'  I wondering if it has to do more with the trade-off the Asgard have to agree to in order to keep them safe - the stipulation in the treaty - the point Jack so bristled about when Yu made it in Fair Game, that any humans on a protected planet cannot be allowed to advance technologically to a point where they could become a threat to the Goa'uld.

Not telling them the truth involves a lot more than simply not clueing them in their benefactors are in reality a race of advanced aliens.  If 'miracles' are demystified, and Gods become mortal, if the K'Tau realise what the 'gods' can do, they can do as well, if only they had the same technology...

How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they find out about the big city and all the neat fancy toys out there?  Again, something to think about, and I wish some issues like this had been considered in the episode rather than what we got.

In Jack's favour, I rather liked when he was faced with the knowledge asking for the Asgard's help for the K'Tau meant opening the door for the Earth to be attacked he didn't deem them suddenly expendable and immediately back off with an 'oh, well that's different, never mind, forget we asked.'.  Or consider we were worth more than the K'Tau.  A nice contrast to the self-serving moral cowardice of the Tollan in Between Two Fires.  Very nice.  And I'll look at this in more detail when I get to BTF.  Along the lines of for 'inferior beings', maybe we're not so bad after all.

This scene I liked, even if it should have been followed up on and wasn't.  And I liked Jack in it as well.  Pretty much the only part of the episode I liked him in.  Which really sucks, because  not only do I like Jack, episodes where I'm made to dislike him because of his reprehensible behaviour are hardly a pleasant experience the first time around and one I don't enjoy repeating.

Why are you doing this to Jack?  I mean, no one is as consistently thick headed and rude and unpleasant as Jack has been for so long for the last two years.  I'm at a complete loss not only why you have done this to him but why you keep on doing it.  Making the 'star' of the show so unremittingly unsympathetic, not to mention a liability on most missions he's on because of his attitude.  At times Jack is more of an obstacle to be overcome by his team mates then whatever is the current challenge of the week. Where's the logic in that?  What's up, guys?

Okay, upshot of Jack's conversation with the Asgard - we're on our own.  Now we come to the 'mixing your apples with your....  scene.

Not sure of the logic behind having Daniel doing a Jack impersonation here unless they figured if having an Air Force Colonel doing an 'I'm dumber than dirt' routine every time Sam opens her mouth it would be TWICE as funny if the Air Force Colonel AND the multi-PHd'ed, speaks 23 languages (and by now counting), figured out the gate in two weeks when  all the other experts were stumped after two years and the astrophysicist now leaving them in the dust didn't figure it out at all - archaeologist stood there and looked all glassy-eyed and confused before Sam's brilliance together.  Plus Jack got to take cheap shots at Sam and give Daniel a chance to see how Teal'c feels getting to stand at Jack's side and be used as a prop for his joke of the moment.

Um, excuse me?

Daniel might not be an astrophysicist and but he's certainly no dummy and he's demonstrated COUNTLESS times he has more than a rudimentary grasp of Sam's field (stellar drift in CoTG - suggesting they dial out before Sokhar can dial in to stop his attack in Serpent's Song, his SPECTACULAR piece of deduction that allowed them to locate the Antarctic Gate and save the colonel and the astrophysict's almost frozen solid butts - while she failed to reach the same conclusion he did and continued to stubbornly try and fix a DHD that wasn't broken rather than dialling another address, working out they needed to go back in the sub and get the mother bug in Small Victories and realising they could run through the forcefield on Apophis' fancy new ship before she did in Upgrades.  To name but a few instances.  Never mind constantly thinking rings around her when it comes to connecting the dots.

This could be a very petty point but I'm becoming increasingly pissed off by all this Sam-aggrandising at Daniel's expense. When was the last time she ever TRANSLATED anything?  Eh?  Eh?

Daniel is perfectly capable of following Sam's explanation and having him do a 'I'm so dumb, I didn't follow that' duet with Jack.... Grrr....

Also, Jack's extremely condescending 'go back to the SGC and confuse Hammond' comment - what the hell was that?  If it was meant to be an 'affectionate' comment along the lines of the way Jack USED to good-naturedly tease Daniel with quips like 'you never cease to amaze me with your talents' - a line delivered with obvious affection and fondness and not at all mean - that's not the way what Jack says to Sam comes out.  It was a slam.  Coldly dismissing and rude.  Sam all but slunk away.

I think it's safe to say Jack can dispense with his 'getting in touch with his inner ogre' lessons.  He's so there.

Sam returns to the SGC.  I would like to take a moment and ask - how.

As they have only been on K'Tau for a very short time and therefore the planet and the K'Tau sun and Earth are in the same positions they were in when the team blasted their non regulation wormhole through the K'Tau sun thereby screwing it up, then wouldn't the safety protocols in place in the DHD - which Sam can't futz around with - kick in and prevent a reverse dialling attempt from K'Tau to Earth via that same poor, red shifted sun from connecting with the Earth Gate?

At the very least she'd have to get to Earth via another destination because she SHOULDN'T be able to dial direct.  And she shouldn't return directly either because then we're dealing with god knows how many wormholes shooting through the sun every time she shuttles back and forth and with all that free range plutonium wafting about out there and who can say what all else, haven't they done enough damage as it is?

Moving on to Sam at the SGC.  We get a total of three scene featuring Sam at the SGC eating up close to five minutes of screen time and only one of those scenes could be properly called necessary exposition along with some nice character stuff.  One scene is downright gratuitous and completely pointless, can be cut right out of there and you don't miss nuthin except getting your blood pressure raised and the other one - she could have brought us up to speed on her latest brilliant plan while we were watching the MALP with the 'MCCLARIUM' trundling up the ramp.  We really didn't need yet another lecture complete with another cheesy visual aid and a minute and a half of Jack sitting there looking all pleased with himself because he said something smart.  For a change.

The very first scene where Sam explains her plan to the general for delivering her 'super-heavy' element into the sun via rocket was the only scene at the SGC we really needed.  Her comment about 'not being able to put a price on the K'Tau people was also nice.  Nice to see someone else other than Daniel being allowed to give a damn and trying to make the military do the right thing.

It was appropriate, seeing as Sam's dialling program had caused the problem we got to see her being dedicated, and concerned and committed to rectifying her mistake.  Bravo.  We know the problem is in good hands and we can rest assured everything that can be done is being done by Sam.

And until she got the super-heavy element and was heading it out the gate on the MALP we didn't need to see or hear anything more of what was happening at the SGC.

Now, we can get back to K'Tau and find out the really interesting stuff.  What is happening with the people and how the rest of SG-1 are being affected by what they are learning during the three weeks which elapse.

Oh dear, right off we see things haven't been going so well. Jack and Malchus have been butting heads the whole time.  After his tactful 'inciting a mob' comment they start getting into it about the rocket. After which Malchus utters a veiled threat and stalks off.  Oh joy.

Silly me, I had been hoping to see something along the lines of maybe Daniel and or/Teal'c talking to Elrad, trying to understand his beliefs, getting some sort of 'handle' on how to communicate with him in his terms. Ditto for Malchus.  Hey, if anyone could have turned that guy around it was Daniel, he had a lot of luck getting through to Omac in Enigma.  Daniel can talk to people.  He also is a great listener.  Jack should try and pick up some pointers from him. Soon.  Also, in the course of one of these conversations we could get some insight into what makes these people tick, and why they are so devoutly dedicated to what seems to us to be obstinately stupid blind faith.

I found the K'Tau fascinating and quite charming.  I wanted to find out more about them, and I particularly wanted to find out what TEAL'C thought of them, and hear what he had to say about their faith and what made them the way they are.  That would have been extremely interesting.  We didn't get any of that, though.  What we got instead, was more Sam.

A minute and forty seconds of a scene that was completely unnecessary and seemed to be all about letting us see not only how generous Sam is toward her academic peers, but how highly she is regarded by her fellow physics geniuses.

Who cares?  What does having Sam ring some physics geek's bells about calling his element 'MCCLARIUM' and having him gush all over her have to do with what's going on in this episode?  Why waste all that screen time on a completely pointless mutual admiration Samsmarmfest when we could be finding out interesting stuff about the K'Tau?  Yes, Sam is WONDERFUL.  Everyone thinks so, even other geniuses.  We frigging get it already.  Sheesh.

Can you cut this scene right out and not miss an important piece of information?  Why yes, you can.  I do it all the time.  Hit that fast forward button as soon as I see the long, pointless pan over the piece of equipment in the gateroom  before we get to watch her walk down the ramp. That means the scene is extraneous and should not be there. So, why is it?

There must be some sort of unwritten minimum standard for Sam content per episode - she must be on screen for x amounts of minutes per week, more if we can get away with it, but certainly no less, even if what she is doing while she is on screen is only peripherally related to the rest of the episode.

I remember a flurry of bewildered comments about this scene on list after this ep aired for the first time.  No one could understand what was going on, and who the hell this Professor was and what the hell he was doing there.  A lot of us were wondering if he was a science 'somebody' doing a cameo like General Ryan did in the teaser of Prodigy.  But he wasn't 'somebody' just an actor playing the part of 'somebody'.

Anyway, I'm telling you, whatever you thought this scene was going to achieve and whoever wanted it in there - it didn't make us all fall over ourselves in awe and wonder at Sam. It made us go 'huh?  What the hell is going on, who is this guy - not that we care - and we don't care what they call it, or that bozo the geek obviously thinks Sam is the bees knees (good thing for him he didn't ask her out or he would have been dead before the end of the episode) - let's get back to the guys on the planet and something interesting!'

Ditto for the scene where Sam explains her 'long-shot' backup plan.  By this time I'm getting mighty sick of all the 'splainin' and simulatin' Sam is doing.  Mainly because it's all based on stupid science, each piece stupider than the last and by the time we get to this latest piece of stupid science masquerading as yet another example of Sam's brilliance not only am I pretty much 'Sammed' out, I'm completely maxed out on the stupid science as well.

To give AT her due, she's a real trouper seeing as how she's the one stuck having to say all this foolishness with a straight face but the more Sam talks and spews out this garbage the more ridiculous SHE looks - and it's not her fault.

Please have a little respect for the character you are systematically trashing in the mistaken notion showcasing her and her 'science talents' in episodes that are so riddled with scientific improbabilities and downright impossibilities a high school student couldn't get through it without giggling never mind a woman who is supposed to be a genius astrophysicist.  Also, continuing to constantly feature her in ways that are illogical and gratuitous and do nothing for the story make us DISLIKE her because we know all this Samage is wasting our time.  We don't want the show to come to a screeching halt every time Sam comes on the screen so we all have the proper amount of time to appreciate her and be awed by her. We want to see the damned story.  Even the parts of it with NO Sam in it.  Go figure.

You're pissing us off.  Stop it.  We want STORY.  We don't want SAMSAMSAMSAMSAM and only SAM.  Give it a rest.  Give us a break.  Sam is only one quarter of SG-1.  Put her back on the team in the proper perspective and proportion and let her be the interesting and engaging character she once was, not this superhuman, multi-purpose, all around paragon-y type of Wonder Woman you have unfortunately turned her into.  We are throwing things at the TV and yelling every time she comes on the screen these days.  This is not good.  I'm also quite sure it's not the reaction you were going for when whoever it was had the brilliant idea to give Sam's character an 'upgrade'.

Do us a favour and don't do Sam any more favours, 'kay?

When Sam comes back Jack informs her Daniel and Teal'c are in the village still trying to convince the folks of SG-1's good intentions.  I wouldn't have minded seeing some of that over what we got in the gateroom.

When Sam and Jack get to the village - arriving together which tracks, because they were together when they watched the rocket go up, Sam is the one reporting about what happened.  I wonder how it is she was able to become so informed when Jack wasn't when she was with him the whole time.

The next bit is more of Jack over the top, completely losing it on Malchus and basically only Daniel yelling at him stops him from shooting the dear Brother. I find Jack's fury a little hard to swallow mainly because - as I've already pointed out, his attitude and continual baiting - belittling of Malchus is what's mainly responsible for the triggering of the incident in the first place.

Malchus is a FANATIC.  Very dangerous.  Fanatics are extremely fond of extreme courses of action to make their points when they feel threatened or as if they are not being paid enough attention to.  Not to mention from the looks of things Malchus was hankering to be a martyr and he figured Jack was just the elf for the job.

Daniel finally gets to do something after having spent most of the episode trotting around at Jack's heels.  Oh yes, he's there, right by Jack, we can see that.  He's very nice to look at as well.  Not complaining on that score.  However, it is also nice when he gets to speak and actually contribute something to the episode.

Actually, it is very nice to see all the members of SG-1 standing up to Jack and telling him 'no' after he storms off in a huff, wants to take all his toys, go home and abandon the ungrateful K'Tau to their fate.  The incident is terribly unfortunate, but as Daniel tells Jack the people were only doing what they thought was right.  Whether it's what we think is right or not -

Although it turns out Jack is right as well.  The people don't want their help.  At least, not the kind of 'help' Jack in particular is offering.

The scene where Daniel tries so hard to convince them to resettle is very touching and heartbreaking.  I found myself really feeling for the Katal people, especially watching Elrad get sadder and sadder as his people's right to determine their own destinies by following the dictates of their own consciences is continually attacked and belittled by the strangers.

As Daniel says to Jack 'whether or not God really exists is not as important as whether on not the belief in God really exists.'

This is the point of the whole episode, or, as I said before, should have been. By this time all of SG-1 and Jack in particular should have been examining their attitudes and finally grasping what they are dealing with here comes down to that which cannot be proven or dis-proven but only respected, and allowed to be.

Belief.  No matter what Jack's 'truth' is - the K'Tau response to his attempts to destroy their faith in their god is as fundamental and 'valid' as the way one of us would feel about having our own particular beliefs challenged. The response of a fervent Christian, for example would be just as strenuously rejecting and unaccepting if someone like Jack was to step up and say 'hey folks - got a newsflash for you, I happen to know that guy you've been worshipping for the last two thousand years and think is a God - he's really an alien.  Had lunch with him last week.  Really. I know what I'm talking about.  Trust me. So you can just knock off all this jazz and think for yourselves now.  You're free, isn't that great?  No wait, don't thank me, it was nothing.'

Whatever Jack's personal religious convictions are or if he has any at all, does he really think the Pope, for example, would thank him for trying to convince him the faith he'd given his life over to living and upholding was all based on a lie.  Was in fact - all for nothing?

Somehow, I think not.  Why is he then so surprised if the K'Tau are equally ungrateful for his efforts to 'liberate' them from what gives their life focus and meaning and refuse to listen?  The truth shall set them free?  Making them see reason will make them try and save themselves?

What if they would rather be dead than alive without their faith?  Who are we to say they're wrong for being willing to die for their beliefs?  Seems to me an awful lot of people on our world have been willing to die for their faith over the past two thousand years alone.  The idea of being a martyr for god is right up there with a lot of people.

I really wish this episode had dealt with some of this.  And that Jack had shown some signs of finally 'getting the point'.  I wish I could say the episode ended with me having a feeling Jack had even a smidgen of respect for the courage and integrity of the K'Tau instead of continuing to look down on them for being by his definition - stupid - because they wouldn't listen to him and behave the way he felt they should.

I don't want to talk about the hideously tactless and embarrassing speech Jack makes to the K'Tau as he gives them the straight scoop about Freyr.  I was ready to switch the ep off by the time he got to the 'toothpicks' comment, it was just so bad.  More of Jack's antics was not what this moment needed.  I've never before had occasion to say I've been sick of JACK in an episode, but this one was definitely a first.

If anyone should have tried to appeal to the K'Tau - this is where Teal'c should have been allowed to have his say.  Maybe they wouldn't take his word any more than they would Jack's, but of all of them Teal'c would know best how to talk to them, because he's the only one who knows what it feels like to be where they are.

Jack really should have shut up and made room for Teal'c.  Especially during the 'let me tell you a story about an alien named Freyr' scene.  I'm sorry that didn't happen, and I'm also really sorry for the incredible potential this episode had that just - went up in smoke like the rocket.

Daniel's compassion for the people and his prayer at the end, a small sign of respect for their belief, acknowledgement that at least one member of their group granted them the dignity of their faith.  Damn, he really is a lovely man, you know. I can't believe he's really gone, even though we've been watching him being taken away from us, little by little, for almost two years now.

Funny, all of a sudden I'm feeling more than a bit on the sad side.  Guess it's time I wrapped this episode up.

The ending?  I'm not quite sure what to say about it except after all the sound and fury and wasted opportunities somewhat palliated by that poignant moment of Daniel saying good-bye to then subsequently spoil it by having Daniel dangle the extremely absurd possibility a 'real' divine power responded to the faith of the K'Tau after all...  If that was the point the script was ultimately trying to make, well, um....  I think it would have been better to have him observe maybe they just got lucky and through some quirk of fate the sun somehow fixed itself.  Sam could observe she doesn't understand how that could be possible.  Daniel could agree, based on everything we know and understand what they've just seen isn't possible and yet, there it is.  So maybe we don't know everything or as much as we think we do.  Maybe there's still room for wonder, things left to discover, things we're never going to be able to explain, and this occurrence is one of them.  Leave it to the audience to put whatever interpretation they chose to on the reason for the restoration of the sun.

And yet somehow an ending that fails to be adequate to its promise aptly sums up the episode.  This could have been an extremely powerful and effective script, especially as a character study for all four members of our team.  There was room within this premise to learn something new about all of them watching them learn something powerful about themselves through their interaction with the K'Tau and each other.

Instead, it was an empty exercise in frustration with all of the team milling for the most part ineffectually around Jack while he rampaged through the entire episode like a one man juggernaut of intolerance with a mouth that just wouldn't quit.  Daniel was at his side through most of it but for all his presence was curiously rendered the most ineffective of all.  He tries repeatedly to get Jack to listen, to persuade him towards restraint, but it's as if he's held back on the leash Jack should have used as himself.  He's never allowed to really engage with Jack, to make Jack listen to him, except for the one time when Jack goes so out of control it takes all three of them to make him listen to any of them.

Having Daniel at Jack's side but tying his hands, not letting him go to town on Jack and fulfil his 'true function' on the team of restraining Jack and not letting him get away with crap like this throws both characters out of whack.  Daniel looks completely ineffective and definitely an equal, at times almost as if he's actually afraid to pipe up and say what's on his mind.

A far, far cry from the man in BoB who was so enraged at Burrock after watching him torture his friend and kill an Unas in cold blood only the bars were preventing him from ripping the man apart with his bare hands.

Daniel this ineffective against Jack is completely absurd.  There are several points in that script where Daniel should have boxed Jack's ears and told him to behave and the fact he inexplicably doesn't makes him look weak and Jack look far more powerful, to the point of being abusive.  So much for friendship, equality and respect.

You really HAVE to stop doing this to Jack.  Seriously.

Jack's too busy yelling at everyone to listen to anyone. Unchecked he just acts out all over the screen for most of the episode while Daniel stands in his shadow and for the most part is confined to looking  alternately concerned, embarrassed, perplexed and distressed.  Teal'c likewise is pretty much window dressing, and Sam spends most of the episode commuting between Earth and K'Tau simulating and strategising, with periodic times out for us to be granted the opportunity to worship her at length.  There's no sense of 'team' or family or that all of them are working together.  The interaction feels cold, hostile and really unpleasant.

The K'Tau have promise, but their culture and themselves as a people are not explored.  They remain a backdrop and props to be used in the unfolding of Jack's out of control melodrama but we're not allowed to engage with them any more than we're really allowed to get close to any members of SG-1 than the caricatures of Jack and Sam.

This episode could have been really something, and I'm quite sorry it isn't, but a whole lot of balls got dropped big time, on both the character and premise sides.

Mr Wilkinson has a lot more luck with the characterisation in Between Two Fires, however, although the premise part still needs some work.

When I get return to this again we'll take a look at Between Two Fires but for now, I need to tale a break!

Backatcha in a bit.

PhoenixE

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