Tin Man

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S1 (Tin Man)

Like most good sci-fi this one makes you think. What would it be like to live forever in incorruptible form (sounds like Heaven). The downsides of this particular situation for the characters was being forced to live in an underground station that's falling apart, and spending those interminable lifetimes constantly fixing the place and being annoyed by the ever-jolly Harlan. I'm not sure Jack could spend eleven days with that guy, forget eleven thousand years!

The other downside is should they not succeed in the repairs they could die at any moment. Sounds a lot like Hell to me. It makes you think beyond the episode too - these 'robot' copies, all being well, will outlive the people they were created from by many, many times. When O'Neill and the others have long since died, the counterparts will still be soldiering on and that must occur to them. They will also be completely cut off from all outsiders, being underground, and having buried the Stargate, so the five of them will probably be the only other faces they'll see for eternity, which is hard to imagine in itself.

It's difficult to see that their life will be fulfilling, unless you consider that unless they were there their coming into being would never have happened, no matter how much they think they remember of their former 'lives'. Harlan has managed to stay quite chipper despite being alone for thousands of years so perhaps there's hope for them yet, but it would be fascinating to revisit them in the distant future to see what they've changed into in the narrow cage they survive in. I reckon Daniel would cope best, learning all there is to learn, and Carter would be taken up with keeping Jack from going off into the irradiated planet's surface. No doubt Teal'c would take on that challenge too...

Part of the shock of the episode is when Jack carves open his own arm with a scalpel, leaving you wondering what other gruesome body horror could be coming at any moment. The fight and other examples of their new capabilities make for great viewing, as does having doubles talking to each other - always a good thing. At first you can't help noticing the abandoned water plant or whatever it is (like the engine room in the new 'Star Trek' film), but you soon accept it for what they say it is, and unlike Jack I found Harlan a funny little man, rather than an annoyance. The first time I saw it I guessed what had happened (a similar story was made in the original 'Star Trek' back in the 60s), but it proves the good old storylines are the best!

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