Watergate

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S4 (Watergate)

Mayborn turns up in his least anticipated appearance so far, in a freezer in the middle of a Siberian base! That was the surprise of the episode, but annoyingly we don't find out what he was doing there and why he was part of the Russian Stargate test! Nor do we find out how Russian/American relations were after this incident and there's very little closure all round because of the abrupt ending. It is quite a good story however, with plenty of ideas and pretty good production values - impressions of a parachute jump (though we aren't shown them actually falling through the air, which was probably too much to expect of a TV budget a decade ago), a Russian base in Siberia, and most dramatically, a fully underwater sequence on an alien world.

Marina Sirtis joins Rene Auberjonois in crossing over from one universe with 'Star' in the title, to another, and does a fine job of a Russian accent, looking severe with her hair tied back, like in Season 1 of 'TNG'. The character doesn't really have much depth to her, her main function being to explain the plot, and these scenes (mainly early on), do drag the story down. We don't find out a great deal about the Russian's knowledge of the Stargate programme, except that they've known about it for a while, and have files on all the main participants, so there could potentially be a lot of material to mine, and presumably we'll find out Mayborn's connection soon.

Intelligent water is a good way to make a lifeform dangerous and the reveal was unexpected. I felt the idea of an 'abandoned' Siberian base with people going round controlled by this water could have been a much superior action show with all kinds of terror in the dark. Instead it's played as a mystery, in a very cerebral way (suitable for a guest actor from 'TNG'), which is, nonetheless, entertaining thanks to the usual ironic remarks and the main characters doing their usual stuff. The strength of the episode is in its great effects, showing a mini-submarine entering the Stargate and moving into a submerged location on the other side. The lighting in the sub was especially attractive, though the base was far too bright - it should have been dingy and worryingly shadowy. The water and steam effects of the creature were also strong, and the fact that they were on a mission on another part of Earth made it special for that alone. Add the Russian intrigue and some fairly claustrophobic moments and it was a good episode, though not wholly strong.

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