Through the gate redux.
I know it's never good to judge a series on its opening couple of episodes, mainly because they very rarely tend to be the best the show has to offer - but sometimes it's difficult to not judge... I mean, it's human nature innit? And in that sense I'm a bit disappointed that my attempt to re-evaluate Stargate SG-1 (blame the Atlantis cancellation) has just only affirmed exactly why I've never really got into the series beforehand in the first place. What irks me about the series is that its mythology, imagery and ideas are pretty much completely awesome: Ancient Egypt! Great big impressive-looking portals to other worlds! Disgusting, intelligent parasites! Laser staffs! But... and it's a big "but", the characters let it down.
Not one character grabs me - from O'Neill's endless quipping in exchange of proper dialogue, to Daniel's oddly boring stereotypical nerdy scientist, to Sam Carter's oddly boring genius at everything who is a Woman, to Teal'c's emotionless plank of wood with a nice voice. I don't think, "YES! I definitely want to spend another hour in their company!", because so far I don't, really. And more irksome still, there's something oddly intangible about them - they're like khaki-clad ghosts, flickering across the screen, almost failing to register at all. Compare this to the start of Atlantis with its treble-punch of Sheppard, McKay and Beckett and I'm disappointed. Worse still, the second episode The Enemy Within does absolutely nothing with Carter and Jackson - considering that they're half the fucking team and it's the second fucking episode, this is pretty inexcusable.
Looking at the two episodes, namely the double-length pilot Children of the Gods and the aforementioned The Enemy Within, they're generally quite serviceable in a way that isn't actually remotely GREAT. Children has a good stab at following on from the movie and goes in an admirably quite dark direction with the established characters from it. I remember catching bits of it when it first went out on Channel 4 and being completely mortified at what happened to Skara. On the other hand there's a lot of talking, it takes ages to get started and it when it does it ultimately turns into a relatively dull extended action sequence in a British Columbia forest. And there's that sudden bit of total full-frontal female nudity, where it practically turns into Starfellate SG-Cum. Considering how harmless the rest of the episode was, it's almost like the equivalent of splicing scenes from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre into LazyTown. Actually, that's a pretty bad description given how terrifying LazyTown is.
But I'm not giving up just yet. I can see that these characters have potential, I mean they have to considering the series ran for 10 seasons on the back of them - there's got to be something there. And indeed there are some nuggets of storyline I want to see explored, like Jackson's Goa'uld-possessed wife. And Hammond is actually really interesting (I probably should've mentioned that earlier). And I can't help but be entranced by the bloody mythology of it all - it's the Ancient Egyptian mythology fan within me or something. Or maybe it's the disgusting parasite fan, I have no idea. I'd love some reassurance that the series is worth sticking with, to be honest. A bit of motivation does wonders!
In other news, I watched the pilot movie of the live action Witchblade series and was completely blown away. I had absolutely zero expectations going in, but as soon as it started with U2's 'Mysterious Ways', beautifully-shot, wintry NYC and lots of nifty shots of gargoyles and statues I just knew it was going to be good and I wasn't disappointed. It's an appealing mix of action, fantasy (You know that "mythology" word I keep banging on about? Tons of that here!) and cop show with a strong female lead backed by a really intriguing cast of characters and the titular Witchblade itself, which is ridiculously cool. Great, creative action sequences round off a near-perfect package. Hopefully after saying all that the series itself won't let me down, but for now I'm heartily recommending it. SG-1 feels rather lacking in comparison.
Not one character grabs me - from O'Neill's endless quipping in exchange of proper dialogue, to Daniel's oddly boring stereotypical nerdy scientist, to Sam Carter's oddly boring genius at everything who is a Woman, to Teal'c's emotionless plank of wood with a nice voice. I don't think, "YES! I definitely want to spend another hour in their company!", because so far I don't, really. And more irksome still, there's something oddly intangible about them - they're like khaki-clad ghosts, flickering across the screen, almost failing to register at all. Compare this to the start of Atlantis with its treble-punch of Sheppard, McKay and Beckett and I'm disappointed. Worse still, the second episode The Enemy Within does absolutely nothing with Carter and Jackson - considering that they're half the fucking team and it's the second fucking episode, this is pretty inexcusable.
Looking at the two episodes, namely the double-length pilot Children of the Gods and the aforementioned The Enemy Within, they're generally quite serviceable in a way that isn't actually remotely GREAT. Children has a good stab at following on from the movie and goes in an admirably quite dark direction with the established characters from it. I remember catching bits of it when it first went out on Channel 4 and being completely mortified at what happened to Skara. On the other hand there's a lot of talking, it takes ages to get started and it when it does it ultimately turns into a relatively dull extended action sequence in a British Columbia forest. And there's that sudden bit of total full-frontal female nudity, where it practically turns into Starfellate SG-Cum. Considering how harmless the rest of the episode was, it's almost like the equivalent of splicing scenes from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre into LazyTown. Actually, that's a pretty bad description given how terrifying LazyTown is.
But I'm not giving up just yet. I can see that these characters have potential, I mean they have to considering the series ran for 10 seasons on the back of them - there's got to be something there. And indeed there are some nuggets of storyline I want to see explored, like Jackson's Goa'uld-possessed wife. And Hammond is actually really interesting (I probably should've mentioned that earlier). And I can't help but be entranced by the bloody mythology of it all - it's the Ancient Egyptian mythology fan within me or something. Or maybe it's the disgusting parasite fan, I have no idea. I'd love some reassurance that the series is worth sticking with, to be honest. A bit of motivation does wonders!
In other news, I watched the pilot movie of the live action Witchblade series and was completely blown away. I had absolutely zero expectations going in, but as soon as it started with U2's 'Mysterious Ways', beautifully-shot, wintry NYC and lots of nifty shots of gargoyles and statues I just knew it was going to be good and I wasn't disappointed. It's an appealing mix of action, fantasy (You know that "mythology" word I keep banging on about? Tons of that here!) and cop show with a strong female lead backed by a really intriguing cast of characters and the titular Witchblade itself, which is ridiculously cool. Great, creative action sequences round off a near-perfect package. Hopefully after saying all that the series itself won't let me down, but for now I'm heartily recommending it. SG-1 feels rather lacking in comparison.