The Tomb

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S5 (The Tomb)

Stargate was made for creeping around in alien tombs, so this should be a winner, but for certain reasons it didn't work for me as much as when I saw it a decade ago. Maybe it was the overdone cliches (even Daniel commenting on the fact that his Russian co-worker decided to head into a dark tunnel alone, while he stayed in a dark room alone, didn't save it), perhaps it was the Russian-baiting, but primarily it was that there were no real surprises to the story. There's all the one-upmanship and distrust we'd expect between a Russian and an American team, they have secret orders to recover some device or other, and all but one of them ends up biting the dust.

For that matter it wasn't necessary to kill off the Russian team - the guy with the moustache that stupidly stands in the doorway (was he bravely trying to hole the solid rock open?), gets crushed when it would have made more sense for him to keep running, escape the collapse and return to warn the SGC. The Russians were portrayed as cruel, ruthless, and untrustworthy, but also for the most part came across as caricatures rather than being invested with personality. I could say the same about the SG-1 team in this episode. Teal'c just wanders around looking tired, Carter's just there without any real input, leaving O'Neill's prejudice to carry the show, supported by Dr. Jackson, who was in his element and provided the strongest part of the story.

I was drawn in by his ancient tale of a Goa'uld imprisoned by its own priesthood in a sarcophagus with a flesh-eating monster, as punishment for its tyrannical behaviour. It captured the imagination and gave the creature a substance and an origin that was more believable than just some creature that had somehow lived in an empty pyramid (sorry, ziggurat), for centuries. The creature itself looked quite good scuttling up walls, and even retained reality when we see it up close, though by then it had lost its 'sting'. It worked best, however, in the sound department, with the eerie scratching very effective when listened to via headphones.

There felt like the opportunity to do something different with this story, to go into a bit more detail on the Russian side of the programme, maybe create a Russian character we can trust and see again, someone who had formed a bond with the SG team. I didn't feel the female officer was in it enough to develop that, so it became a standard story, and that was after dazzling us with continuity in the first few minutes (I couldn't remember the name of the character Marina Sirtis played in 'Watergate' last season so I assumed that was the 'mutual friend' the Colonel was talking about). It could have been much more complex, and even the get-out clause of the Ring Transporter, still active after all those years, seemed exactly that: a quick way to end the episode.

I have to remind myself that this isn't 'Star Trek' I'm watching and that the depth of characterisation, motivation and cooperation aren't going to be so pronounced. Saying that, I liked the way the Russian Colonel refused to capitulate when he could have allowed O'Neill to die, but I didn't sense an understanding had been reached, and there was no time after that because he was crushed under rubble. It could as easily have been interpreted that the Colonel was doing everything he could to keep the 'eye of whatever it was' rather than caring too much about O'Neill. I noticed inconsistency in Carter's protocol since she gives Jack the information on the Ring Transporter after previously holding back such things because she didn't know if he was a Goa'uld or not. Also, I didn't understand how the one who was taken over survived a grenade at point blank range. Maybe the whole ziggurat blowing wasn't enough to destroy him completely? And finally, I felt Carter took a huge risk by activating the C4 before they had 'Ringed' out. There'd have been egg on their faces if the Ring had malfunctioned - actually there'd have been bits of brick lodged in their faces.

I feel a little harsh not giving this a 3 star review, because it is quite atmospheric in places (and didn't turn out to be the return of Daniel's girlfriend I was expecting), and the alien POV is more alien than ever. It just didn't build the Russian characters up or do anything that was unexpected in their association with SG-1, and regrettably this took something away from the staging. Though the sets were very evocative of a tomb, dust falling down, every grain seeming to catch the light, it was almost too perfect and needed to be darker to complement the reality. You can't beat Russians running around shouting echoing words in their native tongue, though! They addressed the issue of how suspicious it looked that only one foreign soldier returned from the mission quite adequately, O'Neill pointing out that they didn't follow orders, which was something that stood out to me. I'm not sure whether I want to see more Russian collaboration or less now…

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