Stargate SG-1 - Volume 26 - DVD Review

Purchasing Information

Review

I've been a fan of Stargate and its TV spin-off, Stargate SG-1 for a long time now so when the chance came up to review this and get the jump on the Channel 4 screenings, I had to take it.

Volume 26 is the first from Season 6, which is where Jonas Quinn takes over from the ascended Dr. Daniel Jackson. It shows the first four episodes from this season so here's a brief synopsis of each of these…

Redemption: Part One - The SGC has come under attack from Anubis, who has a device that can use one Stargate to destroy another. With a wormhole dialled in to Earth's Stargate, the SGC cannot contact its off-world allies for help. Carter works furiously to find a solution. Meanwhile Teal'c is of world attending his wife's funeral, his son believes she would not have been killed if Teal'c had not joined the fight against the Goa'uld. Wanting proof that the Goa'uld are not gods and can be stopped, he insists that Teal'c allow him to join him in battle so he can see for himself what the war is all about. They search for the planet Anubis is attacking Earth from and prepare to go into battle against him.

Redemption: Part Two - As Teal'c and his son battle to save Earth, O'Neill pilots the X-3, a newly designed interstellar spacecraft that will carry the Stargate far away from Earth so it can explode harmlessly in deep space. But how will SG-1 operate without the Stargate?

Descent - SG-1 investigates an abandoned Goa'uld mothership orbiting the Earth. While trying to investigate the ship, saboteurs attack and the vessel plummets to Earth and sinks deep into the ocean, with O'Neill and his crew trapped inside… and time running out!

Frozen - The SGC's study of the Antarctic Gate site reveals a woman buried in the ice and is revived, only to find that she carries a disease. Dr. Frasier believes that she may be an Ancient but the woman, named Ayiana, is unable to speak although she can understand. When the team start falling to the disease, Ayiana manages to cure them with a special ability but it drains her each time and limits her ability to cure the others. She heals some the others while they're asleep but puts herself at the point of death before helping a deathly ill Jack. Ayiana dies and the Tok'ra offer a symbiote to help cure the dying Jack. They manage to get his okay and the Tok'ra takes him away.

Review

Stargate SG-1 is a series I'd love to watch again from the beginning. The writers have spun off something of genius from the original movie and now we have a far grander storyline with a wealth of characters and talent that has been nominated for large number of industry awards - it's even won a few.

Richard Dean Anderson (RDA to his co-workers) is excellent as Colonel Jack O'Neill, the cynical and world weary commander of SG-1, and he gets great support from Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge. Don S. Davis gives his usual solid performance as SGC commander, Major General George S. Hammond and the new guy Corin Nemec, as Jonas Quinn, will take a while to settle in with these stalwarts of the series but he's shaping up nicely. As always, RDA gets all the good comic lines.

With four (or three really) episodes using two different writing and directing teams, it can be difficult to review such diversity on the one DVD but here goes. Redemption, as a two parter, is a bit long and the build up is a bit slower than normal but it's a cracking story that benefits from the extra length and is a great chapter continuing the main Earth vs. Goa'uld storyline. Descent is a good episode - a bit of a sideline to the main story but a cracking action tale nevertheless. Frozen - again not important in the grander scheme of things to begin with and probably the weakest of the four episodes, it develops some of the background history and it ends with some new possibilities for Jack.

Presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, the picture is excellent throughout. The same goes for the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound track.

Extras

Audio Commentaries - All four episodes have an accompanying commentary. Redemption: Part One, Redemption: Part Two and Frozen are commented on by director Martin Wood and visual effects producer James Tichenor and Descent is commented on by director and co-producer Peter DeLuise, director of photography Peter Woeste and actor Gary Jones (the bespectacled technician who controls the Stargate).

There are two completely differing styles here. Wood gives a good description of the how and why throughout and Tichenor contributes where he can - usually regarding visual effects. Good stuff and, if you're interested in such things, pretty interesting. On the other hand, DeLuise et al, are much more of a comedy act - not as informative but far more entertaining.

SG-1 Director's Series: Nightwalkers - A behind the scenes look at the making of Season 6, Episode 5. About eight minutes of somewhat disjointed, hand held camera work on the set. Occasionally commented on by Director Peter DeLuise. Eight minutes of random disorder - listen to his commentary on Descent and you'll see that this is just his style of working.

SG-1 Director's Series: Abyss - A behind the scenes look at the making of Season 6, Episode 6. Director Martin Wood does a better job for us punters here, giving good explanations of how some of the scenes were shot. Lasts about 10 minutes.

Season 6 Stills Gallery 2 - Over 50 photos played one by one in just under three and a half minutes. Basically just some boring disc filler.

Volume 27 Episode Preview - Short, 45 second previews of Nightwalkers, Abyss, Shadow Play and The Other Guys, the next set of episodes from Season 6.

WWW - Just a link, introduced by Amanda Tapping, to the fan club site, http://www.stargatefanclub.com/ Would've been nice if it had worked - it just transfers to the main MGM site, which has no information on Season 6. Try the UK site for a better deal here - www.mgmuk.com/stargate-sg1

Overall

A great start to Season 6 with a mixed bag of episodes and some very good commentaries. I'm more in favour of box sets but if you're a fan, don't have Sky and want to keep ahead of Channel 4 then this is well worth checking out. If you want more of this, then check out the review of Volume 27, the next installment from the Season 6.

This page has been read: 4641 times

<< Back to Movies Home

Readers Comments

About Allan Ogg

Born in the mid-fifties in Glasgow of good Scottish stock, I currently manage a small IT systems support team. I got into computers by teaching myself machine code on an old Commodore PET when I worked for Glasgow University. Since then I've programmed them, sold them and now support them. Oh and I had a stint in video games development for a year. I live with a wonderful girl who puts up with all of my many faults and I've got two teenage kids who delight in spending as much of my wealth as they can. I like hill walking, watching movies and motor sports, eating out and reading. Having never seriously grown up, my favourite film types are science fiction, fantasy, animations, action and Asian martial arts. Give me explosions and special effects over deeply meaningful dialogue any day.