#Stargate rewatch

[agent-troi]

Stargate SG-1 Rewatch: Ways Jack Addresses Sam Season 1 Recap

Today @ten-cent-sleuth and I finished season 1 in our Stargate rewatch! For funsies I've decided to keep track of what Jack calls Sam and how often (and also bc I've gotten the impression that he most often calls her by rank in the early seasons before switching almost entirely to "Carter" after realizing he's caught feelings and I wanted to see if I was right lol).

For this I won't be counting alternate universe versions of either of them, and for the android duplicates I've decided to count them until they (and the audience) realize that they are in fact duplicates and not the originals in android bodies.

Total counts for season 1: Sam: 5 Carter: 16 Rank*: 34 Doctor: 3 Samantha: 1

*I'm including instances where he called her "Captain Carter" and not just simply "Captain" bc I feel like the emphasis is more on her rank in those cases.

Elaboration on the "Sam"'s, "Doctor"'s, and "Samantha" below the cut (I'll do one of these recaps after every season, but IIRC there are very few instances after this point where he calls her anything other than Carter or her rank):

The lone instance of "Samantha" comes from Emancipation, during the infamous blue dress scene:

The first time he calls her "Doctor" is during their first meeting in Children of the Gods:

After she tells him off, he reverts mostly to "Captain" and he only calls her "Doctor" twice more, once in The Broca Divide and once in Solitudes, both times in jest and when one of them is not fully lucid:

And we get a grand total of FIVE "Sam"'s this season❤️. The first is in Fire and Water, when Sam and Teal'c arrive at Jack's house for Daniel's wake:

And the next two "Sam"'s are both in Singularity, after Sam decides to go back to stay with Cassie when the bomb Nirrti put inside her is supposed to go off:

And there are two more "Sam"'s in Solitudes, when Jack thinks he's not going to make it:

[autie-j]

I love when Daniel gets frustrated and starts waving his arms around and yelling

[1thesewordsaremyown1]

How had I never noticed the back of his head missing after the stargate shut down before? I mean, I know that's what happened to kill him, but I always thought they didn't show it. (To be fair, it's very subtle.)

RIP Kawalski.

"He was your friend."

"My friend died on the table."

😢

I remember being so shocked they killed what I thought was a major character in only the second episode (my young naive mind, not realising that just because he had a lot of screen time that he wasn't a main).

[stargatesg-1obsessed]

Me and my mum have started SG-1 again!! I'm so excited. We just finished Children of the Gods and are about to watch Enemy Within. (Little edit: we didn’t end up watching enemy within as we for some reason both felt ill. I have a headache and she felt sick, and it was quite late to be fair. So we’re gonna watch it tomorrow. Thought I’d update because I’ll probably put some thoughts out on the episode after watching it)

Forever my comfort show

[ragingduststorm]

seriously, the amount of times Daniel "loses it" is hilarious. I'm in season 3, Sha're just died and I'm like "Daniel is just seeing stuff. AGAIN??" the writers really were like "we can't make the military personnel look crazy and teal'c is the voice of reason so Daniel has to suffer."

[jadelotusflower]

Stargate rewatch: 2x02 - In the Line of Duty

Finally, we get a good Sam-centric episode!

Written by Robert C Cooper and directed by Martin Wood, absolute stalwarts of the show, setting up some pretty foundational lore.

We cold open on this funny little guy, in-media-res as the team is mid-rescue of an unknown populace of indeterminate origin, although based on the costuming and all the red-headed extras, I'm guessing they were going for a Celtic-inspired culture, even if this dude's beard and mustache are giving Edwardian.

Daniel rescues the man we will later find out was held as the host of the Askrak- badly burned, Daniel says to the medic "he's alive but I think he's going to wish he wasn't" - the irony being that after everything that happens, SG1 are going to be the ones who wish he wasn't.

Meanwhile, Sam is performing CPR on the man who was the unknowing host of Jolinar, who jumps into her.

It's a great opening, actually.

Briefing scenes get a lot of grief but this is a particularly good one - we get exposition on the background to the attack, but Daniel is absolutely correct there was a reason the Goa'uld attacked the Nasyans, and Jolinar knows that she was the reason but needs to deflect suspicion. We think the reason Sam is cold to Teal'c is because she's a Goa'uld, and even though we find out later that the Tok'ra are different, they still have a certain superiority and condescension/resentment towards Jaffa so it still makes sense. This tension will be mined effectively in later seasons.

We also see Jolinar doing a pretty good job of emulating Sam, and yet not quite getting it right. It's a great performance by Amanda Tapping playing Sam, Jolinar, and Jolinar pretending to be Sam.

A note on pronouns - in this episode Jolinar is referred to a "he" because they were originally inhabiting a male host and everyone (including Sam) just assumes the symbiote is also male. We find out later that symbiotes (presumably, other than queens) don't really have a gender, but can have a preference as to the gender of their host, and use the corresponding pronouns. It is revealed in a later episode that Jolinar prefers female hosts and is thereafter referred to as "she" so I will use she/her in this post and going forward.

None of this was controversial in the 90's, I don't recall it ever even being discussed in any way other than pertaining to continuity. If the show had come out today social media and youtube would probably be covered in "woke agenda" ragebait. Sometimes a show being a product of it's time can had positive implications as well as negative ones.

There's a nice touch in the scene between Dr Frasier and Sam, the post-mission protocols we never need to see but know must happen offscreen, with Janet checking the back of Sam's neck but of course finding no implantation scar because Jolinar entered through her mouth/back of the throat.

There's some really effective dramatic irony at play here where we know Sam isn't Sam but the characters don't, and yet we don't know that Sam had been taken host by a Tok'ra and not a Goa'uld. Lulling the audience into thinking they know what's going on only to reveal they actually don't can be very effective storytelling.

The Nasyans have been taken to the US Air Force Academy hospital - I suppose it was necessary as they needed medical care the base couldn't provide, but where are the quarantine protocols? What's the security clearance level of this facility?

Janet's assessment of burned man from the cold open hints that something is off as he's still alive after third degree burns to 80% of his body with no signs of infection. We see Sam clock him but it's unclear if she suspects he's host to the Ashrak.

Cassie returns and since she once had a naquadah bomb in her heart, can sense the symbiote in Sam. This is sadly the last time we'll see Katie Stuart as Cassandra, and the character won't reappear at all until season 5 - it's a shame since as Janet's adopted daughter and her closeness to both Jack and Sam she really could have been utilised more.

Jolinar threatens to kills her if she tells anyone, playing into our knowledge of how a Goa'uld would act, but with the benefit of hindsight an indication that while the Tok'ra aren't evil like the Goa'uld, they're not particularly nice either. Doubtless Jolinar never intended to follow through on her threat, but that's hardly the point.

Would she have let off the grenade in the gateroom however? The standoff is ended when the tranquilizer kicks in.

There's a nice Jack and Teal'c scene where Jack is clearly struggling with the situation - he's already lost his surrogate son and best friend to Goa'uld possession, now he's facing losing a member of his team, and we get glimpse of his and Teal'c's relationship as well, where in the same situation Sam might try to comfort him and Daniel might try to get him to talk it out, Teal'c instead gives advice and a harsh but necessary truth: "When you speak to her, do not see your friend."

Meanwhile, Daniel talks with Talia, the wife of Jolinar's previous host. She's played by Judy Norton, who was apparently Mary Ellen on The Waltons, a show I've heard of but never watched.

The facial decoration/tattoos the Nasyans have also kind of resemble a Celtic knot design. Or they could be an extrapolation of Nordic runes.

Daniel is particularly sympathetic because of Sha're, but his personal investment also tends to make him push a bit too far, as we've seen before. It is revealed however that Jolinar was lying dormant for months which is the first clue all is not as it seems.

You might wonder why Jolinar buries the lede on the whole Tok'ra thing, but I think it makes sense - the Tok'ra a secretive by nature and necessity, and Jolinar most of all given her work as an infiltrator and spy, she did not want to reveal her true nature unless she'd tried everything else first.

And try she does - it's unclear whether the glimpse of "Sam" we see is actually Jolinar allowing her to come though or a feint - I lean towards the latter because "Sam's" pleading doesn't seem like how she would act and she calls him "Jack" which she wouldn't do.

Next up is Teal'c - with Jack she tried to barter with Sam's life and the promise she would leave her as a host, with Teal'c she reminds him of the threat the Goa'uld pose and the help she could give them. It's only when that doesn't work she reveals her name and that she is a Tok'ra.

"It seems this Jo-linar is wanted in Gould town." The way RDA delivers dialogue is just chefs kiss.

There's a nice little transition of Daniel's reflection in the briefing room glass, as he points out they don't know what the Ashrak looks like, to the reflection of the Ashrak disguised as a doctor in the Air Force hospital. I see you, Martin Wood, and I appreciate you.

Daniel is deep in his feelings as he goes to see Jolinar but acting very deliberately, not looking at Sam-as-Jolinar and trying to be businesslike by claiming he only came to get a description of the Ashrak - Shanks always brings the subtext to his performance which I appreciate. It's also interesting that Daniel brought Teal'c for support - or maybe Teal'c took it upon himself to be that support for him.

"I will know his face only in the moments before he tortures me to death" is a great line, Tapping does a fantastic job of distinguishing Jolinar's dictation and cadence as different from Sam's.

Daniel tries so hard not to be affected by her (admittedly reasonable) arguments, keeping himself a step removed, until he can't anymore, stepping closer and finally making eye contact to address Sam and say he's sorry. And that's when Jolinar knows to bring out her big guns - she knows where Sha're is.

I think we're meant to believe Jolinar here, and based on what's to come, can assume that she knows Sha're is on Abydos which is what fits the timeline (I know there's a tie-in book that implies otherwise but I haven't read it). It does make me wonder how Jolinar knew where she was - perhaps she was a spy in Apophis and Amaunet's court?

It is interesting the different ways she tries to manipulate the team - with Jack she is borderline disdainful, refusing to answer questions but making promises, to Teal'c she gives orders but does reveal her identity knowing her it would mean more to him, and with Daniel she plays to the personal, dangling what she knows he wants most. Jolinar accurately pinpoints these three men, their relationships to Sam, and the information they'd be most receptive to. It's really well done.

However it's clear that Jolinar does not completely understand human nature or how to best get what she wants from them - if instead of promises and the insistence on blind trust, she had given them some information in good faith, for example told Daniel where Sha're was rather than hold the knowledge hostage, they may have been more willing to treat with her. You give the chocolate bar to get invited to dinner, you know?

But it's worked on Daniel at least, even though he agrees with Jack that Jolinar is playing on his greatest weakness, he points out that they have no other way of saving Sam. Teal'c supports him, although how much this is rational and how much is due to his own compromised emotions when it comes to Sha're is debatable.

LOL, Daniel removing his glasses to make an impassioned point is such as tv production the-glasses-are-reflecting-in-camera thing you just have to go with, since as a glasses wearer myself it’s not a thing that happens irl.

"I will never, never trust a Goa'uld." Heh, this line has some irony going forward.

Security at the SGC is terrible - a failure at the checkpoint doesn't set off a an alarm, really? This very high value prisoner being guarded by two men, and anyone with a keycard can access the cell? Especially when they know the Ashrak is on the loose.

The Askrak kills Jolinar, Teal’c kills the Ashrak, but now Sam has to live with the trauma of the symbiote dying inside her.

This is a great episode, and at least we do see at the end that Sam doesn’t just snap back to normal but struggles deeply with what she went though. Even though Jolinar was a Tok’ra, she still took Sam as a host without consent, trapped and suppressed her mind within itself, and bargained with her friends for her life. It’s Goa’uld coded behaviour! For Jolinar the ends justified the means and perhaps Sam understands that, but it’s still a massive violation, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Sam is forever changed by this experience down to a cellular level.

But you know my favourite thing about this episode? It doesn't revolve around Sam's love life - sadly this will not be the case for most Sam-centric episodes going forward.

[ekaterin1701]

My husband is away this weekend, so I’m planning to continue my Stargate rewatch and get through a couple more episodes. Next episode is Brief Candle, followed by Thor’s Hammer.

[schlumpfdiwumpf]

Watching stargate season 9, the episode with the multiple sgi1s. I love carter working together with herself. They're an excellent team xD

[theiravshade]

[viomoine]

Currently finishing S9 on a Stargate rewatch and i just realized holy cow, Cam is a whole concussion magnet. How is his poor head taking all this?

[autie-j]

Watching Message in a Bottle, I love this episode

[1thesewordsaremyown1]

Daniel lecturing those people (and then the empty room) is giving me Milo Thatch vibes

[8one6]

Stargate SG1 S1E19: Tin Man

Tin Man: Comtrya! This isn't an awful episode but it's one of my least favorite of the season.

So ignore the fact that the show writers hadn't created the idea yet because it's season one, if Harlan has been alone for over 11,000 years (and is likely far older than that) then he's probably not a mind upload of a human but of an Ancient, right? Like, there's no way Harlan's people were brought to that planet by the goa'uld. That timeline doesn't line up.

[ekaterin1701]

I continued my SG1 rewatch today by watching Cor-Ai, which among other things brought us this moment 😒

[jadelotusflower]

Stargate rewatch: 2x05 Need

I'm going to say upfront that I don't really love this episode. But it's lore-important, revealing up the adverse affects of using the sarcophagus.

It's inevitable that in sci-fi shows, particularly long running ones such as Stargate, that the level of advanced technology obtained in-universe becomes a problem for the writing staff. You have to keep your characters in reasonable jeopardy, but you have to play within the established world where there seem to be easy solutions to all their problems. To avoid this, it will often be a case of one step forward two steps back - a new ally will be killed off, a new technology will be taken or our heoroes will be forced to leave it behind, it's all standard tv stuff.

In this case it's the sarcophagus, established in the film as literally able to resurrect the dead, and therefore obtaining one would be a huge win for the SGC, and a big priority. They dealt with this in Hathor by shooting the thing up, but it was inevitable that they'd come across another so there has to be some other reason they can't use it, otherwise anytime someone with in mortal peril the audience would ask 'why don't they use a sarcophagus?'.

The Solution? Sarcophagus use = drugs. Oh, and it makes you evil.

Written by Robert C Cooper (with Damian Kindler as co-story credit, his first of the series) and directed by David Warry-Smith.

SG-1 watch a naquadah delivery ceremony, and we get a stock shot of a pyramid and mine that will be reused many times over the seasons.

They follow a hooded figure into the forest to the edge of a cliff, where Jack articulates that she’s going to jump, but does nothing.

Daniel’s the only one who takes action to stop this suicide attempt, but in doing so gets them all captured.

The would-be jumper is Princess Shyla, her father is Pyrus the God Slayer, who overthrew the Goa'uld and took his place but still forces the populace to mine the naquadah and send through the Stargate.

Sam reveals she can now sense the presence of a Goa'uld, also a vital lore moment.

Daniel apologises for their predicament, and while I get that Daniel needs to rein in the impulsiveness, the insinuation that he should totally have let someone leap to their death is a bit weird.

The Goa'uld who once ruled the planet is never named, and we never see this symbol again as far as I know. There are carvings on the wall behind the sarcophagus, but I don't know enough about the art style or god form to make a refined guess what culture they were aiming at.

"You know, I've seen an awful lot of union violations around here, I should probably speak to your supervisor." Heh, I love it when Jack gets sassy with the Jaffa. This Jaffa however gets sassy back, sarcastically asking about Jack's leg in response to an earlier quip that he couldn't kneel because of his ACL (an inside reference to RDA's knee problems).

SG1 attempt to escape, but Daniel gets smooshed by falling rocks (like father like son). However, since Sam specifically says that he's alive, this doesn't go on the Daniel Death Tally, but he does get treated in the sarcophagus for the third time.

Shyla showing Daniel the trees as a marvel only to realise that he has seen them on other worlds is a nice in-joke that they have and will shoot in this Vancouver forest many, many times.

Shyla also tells Daniel that he's her destiny, and that she was going to jump off the cliff because she feared her promised lover from beyond the sun would never arrive, and lo and behold, he saves her life. Daniel is appropriately disturbed, and under ordinary circumstances this would probably be the point he'd go "sorry, I'm married," but he's in a bit of a precarious position, knowing that Shyla essentially holds the lives of Jack, Sam, and Teal'c in her hand, and puncturing her delusions would end very badly for all of them.

So off Daniel tots to explain the situation, and they're understandably less than pleased he can't spring them yet.

"Surprisingly difficult to kill you, isn't it?" Oh Jack, you don't know the half of it.

I actually don't mind this gown - it's the headpiece that ruins the look. I get what they were going for with the asymmetry but it's still ugly.

Pyrus reveals he's over 700 years old thanks to the sarcophagus, which explains why he's such a jerk. Daniel hasn't yet honed his diplomacy skills, and his lack of tact makes things worse, giving Shyla even more power over the the situation as the intermediary between him and Pyrus. She kisses Daniel and when he pulls away, manipulates him into going back into the sarcophagus.

It's unclear how much Shyla's mind has been altered by the sarcophagus - she hasn't used it to extend her life, and it's clear she's aware of its addictive properties, but is her amorality a consequence of sarcophagus use or is she just a rotten person who would get someone hooked on drugs so they'll be romantically pliable? We never actually see her use it, just encourage others to, and that she was intending to commit suicide does indicate an altered or depressed mental state which could be interpreted either way (either she don't use it regularly and therefore doesn't get the constant euphoria from it, or she does use it and was in that moment feeling withdrawal symptoms that sent her to the cliff rather than back to get another hit).

Days later, Daniel is high on sarc and hair gel, completely oblivious to his friend's distress and proselytizing the benefits, including that he no longer needs his glasses. Given he has a very loose relationship with wearing them anyway, you can see how the others are not impressed.

"No you look, Jack. I have got everything under control, okay? God, you never show me any respect. Your way didn't work. Now I'm handling it." An interesting question is how exactly it affects Daniel - stripping away his inhibitions and sense of morality as his only focus becomes another go in the sarc and the euphoria it brings, and yet there's the sense that there are some real, buried emotions bubbling to the surface. On some level, Daniel does believe that Jack doesn't respect him and resents his brute force approach, but while usually this might only frustrate him, under the influence of the sarc it's focused and weaponised.

Sam's memories of Jolinar indicate the Tok'ra don't use the sarcophagus because it takes ones "Kalesh" i.e. soul, likely derived from the Ancient Egyptian concept of "Ka" being a vital essence or life force.

"The man who would be king." Jack the Sean Connery fan checks out.

Keeping Sam in frame to give Daniel the side-eye as he kisses Shyla goodbye was a great directorial choice.

"We had a nice time sir. Carter picked up some naquadah, Teal'c made some new friends, as always. Daniel got engaged." I generally find the "girl on every planet" fixation by fandom to be off putting, but this is a nice Jack line in context.

Speaking of, Sam is the one that finally points out Daniel already has a wife, and as a fan of Sha're and the Daniel/Sha're relationship this is a hard episode. On the one hand it's clear that it isn't so much Shyla that Daniel can't get out of his head but the sarcophagus, on the other hand the dismissive way he speaks of Sha're is terrible, and so contrary to Daniel's character. At this stage of the show he has two consuming passions: the pursuit of knowledge and finding Sha're, that they both would be wholly replaced with his need for the sarcophagus shows just how much his mind has been altered.

"And even if I find Sha're one day, what are the chances she's ever going to be the same again?" However, like his blowing up at Jack, there's probably a kernel of truth here - deep down in a place Daniel doesn't want to admit or address, he does fear that Sha're is irrevocably lost to him, and that he can never go back to that happy life he had with her. Shanks's delievery of this line is nuanced as well, where he has to force himself to say Sha're's name and it almost seems in that infinitesimal moment he might snap out of it.

But he doesn't, and accuses Sam of never knowing what love is, to which she responds that the Daniel she knows would never say such a thing. I think she's right, and in this case rather than revealing an uninhibited, genuine thought Daniel is instead using a false but targeted cruelty because he can't let himself listen to her reason.

I always find drug rage/withdrawal scenes difficult to watch.

But Jack talks him down, and there is a nice comforting hug. Jack also crucially backs up the recovered Daniel's suggestion that they return to Shyla's planet to try and free the people there from slavery (and get Earth access to the naqudah mine). It's a nice moment when he tells Hammond he wants Daniel back on the team.

Shyla destroys the sarcophagus pretty readily, which indicates to me she can't have been too much in its thrall. Although perhaps it affects people differently, and some are more susceptible to its negative energy than others, because Daniel went off the deep end very quickly from very short term use while Shyla - though manipulative - doesn't show the same heightened behaviour. Although perhaps her negative traits of cunning have been amplified, while Daniel's personality already leans towards the manic. Or, the sarcophagus affects Daniel more because it was used to literally raise him from the dead the first time, and to heal mortal injuries the next two times, and so he got mega doses of the tech, hooking him onto it more effectively.

Shyla does at least show some remorse over what she did, and hopefully goes on to abdicate her throne and allow the people her father subjugated to form a fairer governing system.

I think we can assume the SGC does get access to the naquadah and maintains diplomatic relations with the planet. So...happy ending I guess?

[ekaterin1701]

On to episode 6 of Season 1 of Stargate - The First Commandment.

The episode starts with two SG team members running to the Stargate on an alien world as they’re being chased, then we see that there are two other SG members in the group chasing them, then one of the escaping men is killed by one of these SGC members. A gripping opening sequence!

SG1 are sent in to find out what’s going on. We find out that SG9 have been on the planet for a few weeks, the native population thought they were gods because they came through the Stargate, and Jonas Hanson, the leader has gone crazy and started believing he is god. We also find out that Jonas is Sam’s ex-fiancee.

She has a conversation with Daniel where she comments that Jonas always liked to be in control, and when Daniel asks what she saw in him (tactful, Daniel!), she replies that she has a soft spot for the lunatic fringe and mentions that Jonas’ black ops past obviously affected him, all while Jack is walking right behind them… Jonas later tells Sam that she’s ’the healer of the emotionally wounded’ - ouch.

SG1 find out that Jonas told the natives he could ‘turn the sky orange’ so they wouldn’t have to live in caves (due to high radiation levels from the sun), and Teal’c recognises this description as a Goa’uld force field/ shield. Sam, then Jack, are captured by Jonas, but Teal’c, Daniel, and one of the natives (Jamala), find the other part of the shield generator, which they use to prove that Jonas isn’t a god as he can’t activate the shield by himself. And Jonas is killed by his people, who throw him into the Stargate after he’d dialled earth without sending through a code, meaning the iris is closed.

Sam feels guilty for not shooting Jonas when she had the chance, and Jack tells her that killing a man is no badge of honour. A powerful line.

Further Thoughts

I felt this was much darker in tone than the previous two episodes, because the villain of this episode is an ordinary human.

The planet was abandoned by the Goa’uld, who left the shield technology behind, and the natives live in an abandoned mine - I wonder if this planet was mined for naquadah (not mentioned on the show yet) in the past.

Daniel comments that Abydos was an exception as most of the planets used by the Goa’uld are more like this planet (a forest), and Teal’c comments that the Goa’uld terraformed planets. This explains why they all look like British Colombia 😀

I’ve been trying to find an image of the drawing Teal’c does of the valley (which Jamala compliments), but haven’t had any luck yet!

Edit: This is the first time we see them camping off-world - the tents, the dubious-tasting MREs, setting a perimeter, taking watches. I’ve read so many fanfics with these ‘camping off-world’ moments that’ll seem like cliches, so it’s a little odd to see actually it on the show!