Beneath The Surface

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S4 (Beneath The Surface)

For once 'Stargate' does something before 'Star Trek', but where 'Star Trek: Voyager' turned the idea of the main characters forgetting who they are and working for an alien workforce into epic two-parter territory, this sticks to one episode, and I think the idea was more suited to that, because where can you take the story? We're just waiting for them to remember things that will make them question this existence they're living, and eventually find a way out. There's nowhere else to really go with such a story.

This was actually one of the episodes I'd already seen, and I didn't think much of it then, and I don't think much of it now. It's okay, it works fine, it looks good - all hot, red, sweaty lighting, smoke and sparks and grimy clothing, rather like the real world in 'The Matrix'. There's a bit of nice music, some nice production values with the administrator's grand office a strong contrast to the dingy depths below, and the CGI set extension of the city was accomplished. But there were problems with the story - why have such thin windows covering the working area? If someone had thrown something hard at them from below, or if something had dropped out of one of the buildings above, they would have shattered as they did when O'Neill shot them. I didn't get the overload sequence either: Teal'c collapses after turning a wheel on a steam pipe, so why didn't someone simply turn the wheel back instead of messing around with an evacuation, leaving it up to Jack and Daniel to smash a lever off and save the day?

'The Simpsons' gag was amusing, and there was plenty of the usual banter, and we even get a little scene between Hammond and Dr. Frasier, which was nice, but there's a strong feeling of a story that isn't going anywhere, or more precisely is extremely obvious about where it's going. I made me question what would happen to the whole society when the workers were removed, surely they would just find more? I have to remind myself that this isn't 'Star Trek' so there's less likely to be moralising and fretting over consequences, but then again, neither is there a great deal of action. Although the Carter/O'Neill thing is touched on it makes the idea seem less appropriate since it wouldn't be good for Jack to be leading a team without impartiality as it could put them all at risk. Not that that really matters as it's not the real military, but it just struck me.

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