Space Race

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S7 (Space Race)

I groaned as soon as I saw the title, because you just know it's going to have all the usual cliches of a, yes, space race: there are going to be the small odds of success, an evil rival, the sabotage from an evil rival, taunts from an evil rival, helping an evil rival and bonding over it, and winning against all odds, not to mention aliens like American sports presenters who act like American sports presenters. Because it's funny. Okay, so they didn't get all the cliches in there, Carter and Warrick didn't actually triumph and win the race, but that didn't matter, and they knew that it wouldn't matter (except to Warrick who was under the mistaken impression it would get his life back together), because the whole point of the episode was a trade between the governments of Earth and Hebridan, so we could get an ion propulsion drive to study. So if they've got better technology than us, why do they need a naqahdah drive? Well, they don't as it happens, it was just Warrick who couldn't afford all the good equipment himself. I was confused over whether he was there under false pretences, as it sounded like it was an official request by his people, but it wasn't, it was his personal wish. He did admit it, and suggested that the team could come along for diplomatic reasons, which might mean they could get some info on the tech they were after, perhaps. It was all a little hazy, clearly pulling the narrative strings purely to get Carter into the seat of a space hotrod, after reminding us of her penchant for motorbikes which almost never comes up, by having her arrive in leather jacket and carrying a bike helmet.

I wouldn't say it lived down to my expectations, because there was something going on that was interesting: the motivation being racism against the native Serrakin by certain of the human descendants, particularly Tynan who worked at Tech Con Group, the company that held the race to find the best ship for a special contract - he was also against the merging of the species. It wasn't until this point that I understood this was the explanation for various other aliens seen in the episode, such as the cohost of the race broadcast, Coyle Boron, who looked alien, but had human hair, which the other Serrakin didn't. Hagen, the leader of Tech Con Group was also of the two races, so that was cleared up. So at least they dealt with the racial aspect of the setup a little, unlike when we first met the Serrakin and Hebridans last season ('Forsaken'). Before then, I was expecting a 'Star Wars' mix of various races joining in, which would chime with the idea that this planet wanted Carter involved to help it win a race, when in fact it was this one planet's race, and most of the racers were human, so it was strange that they should consider it odd for Warrick to be racing with a human, though I suppose there might be some animosity there since she's from the planet the human population originated on, giving them bad reminders of the fact they were slaves to the Goa'uld until the Serrakin freed them.

I couldn't say I remembered that episode with Warrick, but I immediately took to his makeup, and seeing Scott MacDonald's name in the credits, took it to be him, though it later turned out that he was one of the human racers, Jarlath, Warrick's arch-nemesis whom Carter forces him to save. One of the worst things about these kinds of stories is that no matter how many mishaps and sidetracks occur, somehow there's still got to be a chance for our heroes to win the race, when in reality if you were caught up in such things, you'd never catch up enough to even stand a chance. So their plan to catch up with the spurious Muirios was… to catch up with Muirios so they could send a signal to disable him? Right… Okay, they didn't have to catch right up to him to transmit it, but it smacked of the usual bad plotting and false drama of these kinds of situations. And how was it right to cheat so someone else could win because Muirios cheated? The whole story logic was a bit vague, and no wonder, because it was manipulated to try and give us a dramatic race with a twist, what these stories always try to do - sport just doesn't work with drama, its drama is inherent in the act. I was just relieved they didn't have Warrick finish first as that would have been too much to take. They got their happy ending by the winner asking Warrick to join him as copilot in the Tech Con Group prize of the contract with them.

Was there any need for the episode? Carter didn't really do anything special, as nice as it was to have Warrick come back (even though I didn't really remember him, the prosthetics were good), they were forced to try to force a story and squeeze in the other characters which didn't really work: Teal'c, as his usual alias, Murray, and Warrick's brother, Eamon, get into the Tech Con Group's offices and find the plans on the bad guy's computer - and Eamon's suggestion for getting in is for Teal'c to wear a hat. It was supposed to be a quirky, funny episode, seen most prominently by the use of the 'hilarious' adverts by the main host of the race, Ardal Hadraig, who keeps flogging Tech Con Group products to us, the viewers. It was fairly amusing at first, but got annoying quickly. They had exactly the kind of banter 'Star Wars Episode I' featured in its podrace, but at least that was exciting - TV didn't have the budget to do an effects-heavy race through the vacuum of space, which, if you think about it isn't all that exciting anyway: how do you get an idea of speed, of racers moving up and down the pack? Space is big and mostly empty, you may as well go in a straight line and see who's engine is most powerful and can last longest. They tried to vary proceedings by having mini challenges, like fighting off drone attackers, or flying through their sun's corona, but it didn't feel much like a race. The effects of the field of ice asteroids looked good, and the ships didn't look bad, especially when you see the Seberus docked in Warrick's workshop, but to sustain this sort of story it needs to be constant or it ends up being too many scenes of people in cockpits, leaning.

That's why they had to have the subplot of nefarious activity back on the planet, and that was the only reason. I'd love to know how a Stargate was going to be lent to the Serrakin to study, as it's not something you could transport through a Stargate, not unless it was in pieces, and where were they going to get one? Or did they mean they'd take them to a planet that had a Stargate, but O'Neill definitely said they were going to bring them one, in exchange for an ion drive to study? This starts me wondering how they got to the planet in the first place - did Warrick arrive at Earth on his ship and give them a lift. Then again, if the Hebridans are made up of humans once slaves of the Goa'uld, shouldn't they have their own Stargate? It was all a bit bizarre to me. Even the little scene at the beginning where Hammond looks annoyed that Carter wants to do the race, didn't make sense. He knows why Warrick's there, he's already spoken to the guy, so why was he displeased as if he was just then realising Carter wanted to jump at the opportunity? It was her suggestion to actually take part, I get that, her weak excuse being that they often take risks to get new technology, and it probably seemed a frivolous thing to do for no definite reward, Carter getting to see an ion drive in action. The thing is, none of it mattered, and as much as I liked the few scenes between the SG-1 team, there wasn't much to like in general. Even 'Voyager' knocked out a space race episode ('Drive'), and that didn't sit well with me. Ban all future space races in TV series'!

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