Frozen

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S6 (Frozen)

"Just how long do you think she'll survive?" asks General Hammond of the mysterious female found in the ice. "As long as the story needed her to, and not a moment longer," I could have replied. You just knew she was going to be satisfactorily disposed of, because that's how it often works, though this story didn't always do exactly what I would have guessed in that she doesn't die making a big sacrifice and upsetting Jonas, who'd formed a kind of friendship with her. I was also surprised to see the two scientists who go off alone into the snow actually survive, even if it was thanks to Ayiana. Just where did that name come from? One moment they're saying they can't get her name out of her, then another scene they're calling her Ayiana - did I miss something, or did they just arbitrarily opt for that particular name? I'm afraid this was one of the dud episodes the series does here and there, with very little to interest for the length of an episode. The most intriguing development doesn't happen until right at the very end, leaving the episode feeling very unresolved.

This is more of a serialised series than some sci-fi, but the episode on its own didn't live up to the good idea of O'Neill needing to have a Goa'uld take up residence inside him! Technically it's a Tok'ra, but it's all the same to Jack. It does seem to be a contradiction in what we know of the Tok'ra from previous seasons. I'm sure we had this argument with Carter's Dad when he needed to be cured of cancer. I don't remember him getting the option of having a nice, handy cure then being shot of the thing! They can always justify it by saying that different times mean less or more symbiotes are available, or the added incentive of debriefing the creature of it's 'vital' intelligence from the previous host, but the Tok'ra happy for the symbiote to commit suicide just to satisfy O'Neill's wish to have it out of him? That doesn't sound like them at all! You can see that the moral and ethical side of the story and the true interest was injected far too late. The whole episode should have been about this (and no doubt the next one will be), instead of long scenes of this woman we don't know, who's supposed to be so mysterious and a rare find.

The question of whether she should sacrifice her health to heal each of the mission crew wasn't much spoken of, when it seemed to be the core of the story, they almost take it for granted, as if the writers are taking it for granted since the cast are going to survive. Instead, the talk is all about mythology, and how she may be an Ancient, one of the race that built the Stargates, and the fact she also seems to be human, making it seem that the Ancients were an… ancient form of humanity. Interesting idea to suggest humans might not have originated on Earth (in the context of a sci-fi story, not in real life!), but again, these are subjects barely touched upon. The writers prefer to give us Jonas making friends, which is a fair angle to take, as they needed to keep making him sympathetic to the viewers, but there was no reason to care about this girl. Aside from all the dullness I can see some good in the episode: the sets, for one thing, sold the idea of being on an Antarctic base, and it was a different opening to arrive at the 'Fortress of Solitude' when we're so used to seeing desert or forest environments.

The scientists weren't distinctive enough, and actually, the scene where one of them watches over Ayiana as she sleeps, came across as creepy rather than a heartwarming display of gratitude for saving his life, so much so that I was expecting a twist that curing people somehow turned them into psychos or something! The thawing of Ayiana was achieved well (like in the 'Cadfael' episode, 'The Virgin in The Ice'), although they didn't need to rush since she'd been encased in ice for millennia! The half-exposed face was very effective in convincing us of a humanoid completely frozen - I reckon she got the role for being so good at staring unblinkingly into the distance, but she did make a mistake when they rolled her onto the gurney: moving her head when no one had touched it while still supposed to be completely unconscious. Speaking of which, what happened to O'Neill being in a coma, so they'd have to make the decision to give him a symbiote themselves. It would have been much more dramatic for Carter to choose to keep him alive, and then for him to start ranting and raving about it (when we eventually get to see him well again), eventually realising it was Carter, she not being able to let him die.

Where the episode fell down was in its static location and that O'Neill and Teal'c pretty much stand around redundantly for the duration, with only the rescue of one of the scientists by snowmobile to give them anything to do. This is much more of Dr. Fraiser's show, with good support from Carter, but most of their talk is technical (though they did mention Cassandra), and the thing about coming down with a virus that's slowly killing everyone on the base is an overused device and didn't project the urgency of such a situation or a new take on the idea. I would have preferred something else that was expected, but would have provided a bit more physical danger, and that was for Ayiana to turn out to be someone that wants to attack, or was a weapon, or something other than a mime who mainly looks troubled and self-sacrificially cures as many people as possible.

There was very little laughter to be had, too, O'Neill forgetting to tape 'The Simpsons' the only funny line, and I wanted to assure him that it would be fine - in a few years he could get all the episodes on DVD. That did make me ponder though: 'The Simpsons' to O'Neill is like this series to those that are watching it, so there's some kind of psychology or subtext going on there, if nothing else, in the episode. Finding out that Dial Home Devices have only a finite level of power was a little nugget of new information to take from the episode, and I recognised the actor who played Thoran as a guy that went on to be a psychiatrist in 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.' Other than that, this was easily missable, so I hope the 'sequel' lives up to its promise of a 'joined' (or whatever they call it), Colonel O'Neill. Even that isn't enough to what my appetite for more 'gate adventures after this drab instalment.

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