Sight Unseen

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S6 (Sight Unseen)

Never having watched this episode before I bought it, I got it (get this), sight unseen! It's one I'm not entirely sure how to take, because it's not a comedy, but it is bizarre. Beginning as one kind of story it morphs, like an inter-dimensional creepy-crawly, into something else, but with scenes of buzzing fairy-pink flies, bright blue and yellow centipedes and, at its most 'Men In Black,' fat, window-sucking slugs with teeth and huge mouths, it's difficult to take seriously, either. It's not like the story doesn't have any good scenes, because there's O'Neill trying to get Carter to go fishing with him, followed by Jonas feeling left out for being the only one not to be asked, and Teal'c telling him how fortunate he is. Teal'c is not a lover of fishing. There are also character affirming moments such as when Carter reassures Jonas that he is now very much part of the team, making it clear (to the audience as much as him), that he's accepted as the fourth member of SG-1, and isn't just an extra, making up the numbers. It comes about because she and the others initially find it hard to believe in the invisible creatures only Jonas has seen.

Trust isn't really that important to the story, though - one theme that could have been explored was Carter's easy access to Vernon's personal details. When Jonas shows surprise that they would do that, Carter blankly says it's only in emergencies, which was creepier, in a way, because she sees nothing wrong with it! It's a throwaway scene and could have been so much more. The episode ends up being a bit of a messy one, not really going anywhere or doing anything to make it worthwhile. The initial scene between O'Neill and the garage attendant, Vernon Sharpe, is good, mixing some humour with the mystery of these creatures. But Vernon becomes the centre of the story when he goes on the run and it just becomes completely different as if they were making up the story as they went along, instead of having an end goal to aim for. I don't remember an episode being this unfocused for a long time, and added to the slow scenes in places, it doesn't do the episode justice. If the creatures had been scarier and less cartoony (though I will give credit to the CGI, which looks very nice and solid), and it had been about the escalation of paranoia, this could have been a tour de force for Jonas - I can imagine things getting out of hand and him being the one hunted as he goes on the run, but all that happens is that the SGC doesn't immediately believe his story, and then more people are affected, and then they do believe.

Hammond gets a more central role since more of the episode takes place at the base, but this is neither a purely off-base, 'real world' kind of episode, nor an alien on Earth, and not at all a typical 'adventure through the Stargate.' Because of all these points it doesn't succeed in creating any real drama or leading to dramatic situations - the moment the blue centipede exits the alien device and gives Jonas a surprise is the closest we get to any impression of danger or fear, but the truth of the matter is, the aliens prove no threat, being indigenous to Earth, though we usually can't see them because they actually inhabit another dimension… except they can land on some matter… and go through other matter… you can tell this wasn't all that well though out, as much as in the plotting as in the preposterous idea that these things are all around us. Okay, so it's no less preposterous than aliens, Asgard and the Ancients, but somehow, with the way it was presented in such a funny style it doesn't lend gravity to the sci-fi concept. It's fun that O'Neill gets an ALF reference in at the end, and I wondered if the guy on the phone at the airport might have been the same actor from whom Neo steals a phone in 'The Matrix,' though it's very possibly not, and when such trivia is about the only thing worth mentioning, you know you have an episode that failed to make an impact.

**