Point of No Return

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S4 (Point of No Return)

I was beginning to watch the series regularly with these episodes and I certainly remembered this episode fondly. Sometimes you can have just as much fun in the confines of our planet Earth as you can gate-ing off to other worlds. This time the aliens have come to us, with the introduction of Martin Lloyd, who is both a jab at extreme fandom ("I have to go through the gate") and conspiracy theories, something some viewers will probably identify with. There's even the slight nudge at the programme itself, something that would be taken to new and extreme levels when Martin made his inevitable comeback.

While this outing isn't as funny as the later appearance, it keeps us guessing about whether this odd character with his paranoid tendencies is a 'nut job' to coin an O'Neill phrase, or truly alien. The gag is, of course, that what he says is true. I wanted to find out more about his fellow soldiers, and why they had decided to hide out permanently on Earth by self-destructing their ship, as well as how they were able to thrive and get their hands on all that technology. 'Murray' also makes his debut, the alter ego of Teal'c with the hat - not sure why he quickly hides his tattoo from the soldier after showing Martin, though. The soldier is part of a team trying to uncover the alien craft, so he must have been part of the Stargate programme.

The story is a little slow, with the only excitement generated by the SG-1 team hightailing it out of a building thinking it's about to explode, diving for cover, then finding Martin was mistaken! It has plenty of funny moments, whether it's Carter and Daniel pleading ignorance of Teal'c's symbiont ("Did you draw that yourself? Is that a duck?"), or Murray and Jack's babysitting of Martin, the series' strength is in its irony and under-acting, mixed with traditional sci-fi, and this is one of the best examples of an Earth-based episode.

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