Heroes Part 2

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S7 (Heroes Part 2)

I remembered it was Janet. You're misdirected into thinking it's Jack that was the victim, the person of importance who died on a mission to support another SG team. It was well done, without being intrusive and annoying (like Bregman in Part 1), it didn't shove the death in your face, but neither did it allow the details to be declassified - you felt, as Bregman did, barred from the conversation. Dr. Fraiser's death was as powerful as Dr. Jackson's, and the quality of the whole episode's writing, added to the poignancy and raw emotion, makes this the best episode of the season so far, even the best for a while. A true classic, it has everything you could want from the series: strong character moments, an outsider perspective that turns from negative to positive, and excellently shot, visceral battle sequences. We've seen these gun battles with encroaching Goa'uld forces many a time, and so often they're the methodical blast here, blast there, rattle of gunfire, and repeat. Here it was like a real slice of battle, fully immersive as we get tracked shots of soldiers pulling back, enemies all over the place, snatched conversations and the fateful last words of Janet over the radio. I think what got me about her demise was that it was so unexpected - as I said, I recalled that in the episode where O'Neill gets shot and appears to be the casualty, it turned out to be her, but I wasn't expecting that episode till at least the end of the season or beginning of next. It wasn't until he was actually staff-blasted that I realised this was it. No more Dr. Fraiser.

I can't say she was ever one of my favourite characters, but she was one of the most developed of the recurring faces. Her caring attitude and reassuring demeanour, as well as her courage under pressure and outrage at the damage done by anyone that hurt those she was, or made herself, responsible for, made me very sympathetic to her. I felt that in recent seasons she'd played an increasingly smaller role, and I don't know whether that was the actress busy with other projects, or just the writers unable to find a place for her in many stories. Her main storyline was that of adopting the alien girl, Cassandra, which again was instrumental in showing her caring personality, but this was pretty much written out, so I wonder if she simply wanted to leave, or whether they saw they weren't making the most of her, and decided to do it in a shocking and different way by giving her an exit via a surprise death almost in the middle of the season. Whatever the reason, I'm glad they did it in such a stirring way: the Doctor on an alien world, saving a man's life, cut down in a second's madness - Airman Wells blamed himself, perhaps Daniel felt the same way a little, in his own mind, and no doubt each person felt partially responsible, but if anyone's to blame it's the soldier that said he was going to cover them! If he'd done his job he'd have either taken the blast himself or given fair warning…

Of course these things can't be resolved, it was just a wrong place, wrong time scenario, but for Janet that was her rightful place, patching up the wounded, saving lives even at the risk of her own. It's a rare example of the Goa'uld actually being given teeth - usually you don't feel any great threat from them. Sure, a minor soldier might get offed with no consequences, but Goa'uld get mown down all the time in response, and usually their fizzing blasts cut up more scenery than flesh as their theatrical leaders bark orders or snarl pointless threats. The upshot is, the Goa'uld aren't scary as a bad guy (one reason why they recently introduced Anubis' Kull Warriors), so it's a tribute to the direction and writing that their sheer facelessness creates the menace in this battle. The fact that they used their brains for a change and ambushed the SG forces worked in their favour in creating a credible opposition force, and I find myself wishing that the series could be this powerful on a regular basis!

The battle scenes, short as they were, remained only one part of the puzzle. For whatever reason, everything went right with this one, and that's a rare thing. Even though I couldn't remember what this part of the two-parter was about, I guessed that Bregman was eventually going to see these 'heroes' in their true light, but really, it was not seeing that turned him around. It was the terrifically raw responses he got in the aftermath of the 'big event' that softened him a little. When he first started he was the diva, demanding this and that, standing on the authority given to him by the President, and pretty much deliberately rubbing everyone up the wrong way in order to get some fire going, to make his documentary interesting. This wasn't the best approach to take, but it was in character for what little we see of him. Part 2 sees him at his best, and shows why this frustrating little man was selected to create a film on the most top secret project in the American military, in the first place. He's sensitive to the mood, but he doesn't back down from doing his job. He takes a new tack, and that is to explain himself. He tells that affecting little story about the reporter who inadvertently captured a soldier's death on his camera and refused to show anyone for twenty-five years, but eventually realised that what he saw wasn't of horrific death, but of a man saving his life. It's this that finally builds bridges during a most harrowing personal time for the SG team, as well as his passion for journalism that comes out when he's refused access to any details of the fallout.

When an episode can turn a preening, manipulative, nosy ignoramus into a sensitive, sympathetic character, you know the writing has achieved something great. The performance Saul Rubinek gives also deserves the plaudits it's due, because even though he's still sort of making a nuisance of himself throughout, this time he's doing it from a stand of principle, not a jobs-worth showing up to get under people's skin. As he says, he doesn't care what people think of him, but he sees his job as the same as theirs: protecting the people. They do it with guns, he does it with journalism, but the freedom to know the information that is out there, he feels must be allowed, and even though he knows that ultimately his film is destined to be viewed by the few, it doesn't stop him from wanting to create the truest picture he can. And so we come to a parallel plot which introduces Robert Picardo as Woolsey, chairman of the Intelligence Oversight Committee from the NID, who opens an investigation into the deaths and injuries from the botched mission. Most people will know him as the Emergency Medical Hologram, known simply as The Doctor, on 'Voyager,' and he joins the ever-growing list of out of work Trek actors to appear on the series. I don't remember anything about the character, but he seems to be a man trying to do a job, rather than someone like Kinsey, always out for his own gain, or Part 1 Bregman - he seems more professional and wants the answers he's been ordered to get.

He comes up against a brick wall, the SG personnel having had plenty of recent practice at blocking questions! If only he'd come before Bregman, things might have been different… No idea what lies in store for Woolsey, but I know he becomes a recurring character. I don't know if my more neutral reaction to his prying interviews was a result of the character portrayal, or a latent regard for Picardo's role in 'Voyager,' but only time will tell! Speaking of interviews, the episode ends perfectly, with the documentary complete and a seal of approval from General Hammond, possibly the man that despised Bregman the most. That those two could find common ground is uplifting and makes you want Emmett Bregman to return again, though I doubt he would, as his arc was complete: he started as an anti-'gater, and ended on the SG side, creating what you know must have been a moving tribute to the heroes of the Stargate programme. Except the film couldn't have been completely complete, because we end, ironically, with O'Neill finally agreeing to sit down and be interviewed. Were they going to cut his comments in? It's surely not that simple, editing a delicate balance, as we saw in the scene where Bregman and his associate were working on the interview cuts. Even that early you could see his position changing not wanting to seem like he was backing Carter into a corner. His journalistic instinct for the truth remained, but he'd begun to see the real people behind this organisation, and having had a moment to bond with Dr. Fraiser, that was the final nail in the coffin, if you will, of his negative perceptions.

If I was going to complain about anything I would say the response to the wishy-washy semi-cliffhanger of Part 1 was also a bit weak and wishy-washy, and the episode might have worked better as a feature-length rather than being cut in two, with no sense of exclamation that you'd usually expect from a teaser. But, as with everything else, the episode soon works at optimal efficiency, taking us dramatically into battle, deliberately contrasting the slow, unexciting opening, as it was designed to do - so even the 'mistake' was really a deliberate tonal shift. The story was just so well put together, that I was on the same wavelength all the way. There was a point as Sam works on what to say at Janet's memorial service where it felt appropriate to see Teal'c, and that's just when he walks in, so the story seemed intuitively to know what the audience wanted. It was also wonderful to see the characters cut to their truthful cores, not being soldier, soldier and keeping themselves hidden, even Jack able to embrace Sam in their shared grief. I can't say enough about the directing, too, with some great work in this regard, whether it be the now-common cutting between subjects during Woolsey's interviews, in order to make an undramatic scene more attractive, to the shock reveal of Janet's death on the tape recording, to Jackson in the dark corner of the Infirmary, reflecting on his own death. It all worked, and while the series could survive the loss of a recurring character, her sendoff was as good as it gets.

****

Murder on Voodoo Island, Part 2

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S3 (Murder on Voodoo Island, Part 2)

On paper this would appear to be an exciting prospect for an episode: S&H decide to spring the captive millionaire from the lair of his enemies, Starsky fights Hutch to the death, and there's a car chase round the island with S&H driving them off a ramp into the sea! But what gets written on paper and what actually manifests on screen are two separate entities. The glue that would hold or break apart these story ideas, is motivation, and that is severely lacking or, to give them the benefit of the doubt, isn't very evident on screen. Undeniably, there are some twists that turn things on their head (Thorne's 'nurse,' Charlotte Connery, being revealed as the mastermind behind everything; and Thorne turning out to be the lost Father of Janice Regan wearing a bald cap!), but aside from Connery's desire to get into Thorne's millions by seeming to marry him and then having him die (she's called Thorne's widow by one of her associates at one point), we don't come to understand why her 'Bond girls' (Easy, Silky and Pussycat), do what they do, or, for that matter, how and why Papa Theodore is involved. Are they all doing it for a share in the money? Is it something else? And what was the whole deal with Johnny Doors, who finally gets to be part of things, only for us to find that side of the story was a blind so that we would have someone to suspect, and then they can reveal Connery's role in proceedings?

The tonal problem of Part 1, which dithered between horror and comedy isn't so much of a problem, but that's because both tones are much weaker. While things are less silly (not altogether, but certainly less jokey), and less funny, the vacuum isn't filled with a greater sense of terror at the power and danger of Theodore. He remains a laughable (and cartoon bad guy laughing), figure who continues to throw fairy dust in people's faces (Doors), and appear in grinning closeups in hallucinatory guise, or having a whale of a time playing with dolls and spouting mumbo jumbo. You never get a sense of a brilliant mind or someone of great evil pulling the strings as he's merely a cartoon and, it turns out, almost a pawn of Connery's, certainly an assistant to her rather than the big bad behind it all. And if the dark villain isn't an engaging or powerful presence, his works of magic are even harder to reconcile with the usually more real world setting of the series. The big question left from Part 1 is why Theodore left S&H lying in the surf on the beach, and didn't kill them. Do we take it to mean he had no way to kill them because he hadn't yet created voodoo dolls of them, perhaps waiting for mail order parts to arrive?! He's in league with common criminals so you'd think that if he was serious about offing them he'd just shoot them, or drown them (unless leaving them at the water's edge was a casual attempt at doing so!). Instead they're free to continue to be a thorn in the side just so we can continue to have the threat of Theodore killing them hovering over the story. Except now he had his chance and didn't take it, he loses any power he had in the narrative.

It seems they want to preserve Papa Theodore's mystique and the desire for a brooding atmosphere to hang over the episode, but they failed, even more than in Part 1, while also setting up the ludicrous premise that Starsky would ever be able to be mind-controlled into attacking his partner, to kill him. At least the scene wasn't badly shot, and while the stunt guys earned their pay with the cliff-top tussle, the cuts between them and the real S&H were well done. I just couldn't get past the fact that Starsky's great friendship with Hutch could ever be broken by the use of magic. Having him try to kill his partner is a good concept, but not through the motivation that is presented on screen. There wasn't even a strong impression in the build up, though they had ample time for it as Starsky is right behind Hutch as they clamber over rocks and make it up the cliff face. There's a slight feeling that we're supposed to be concerned, but Starsky never looks out of character until they reach the very top, and if they'd had him shake his head or zoomed in on his confused face to show that his mind was on the verge of breaking, it would at least have given us something to grip onto. If it had been that he was under the influence of Papa's drugs and ended up swaying at the top of the cliff, Hutch realising he was in danger of falling and rushing to help him, and then Starsky was so disoriented that he thought it was Theodore and fought him off, which plunged them over the edge, it would have been a more believable sequence of events. As it is, it adds to the episode making very little sense in the context of the series.

Even stranger, at the end, in Godfrey's office (suspiciously similar to Captain Dobey's, down to the exact same layout!), Hutch expresses disbelief in voodoo, while Starsky's still worried by it. This after he's been made to writhe on the floor, his partner's gone crazy and attacked him, and they've witnessed that Theodore has somehow enthralled Thorne so he can be commanded to obey. It's silly to see voodoo used as a power in the series, but even Hutch must have become a believer after all that happened to him! That's one of the reasons it would have made sense for S&H to play along at the end of the first episode - if their rolling around was all an act to keep from getting killed it would have made some sense, but as it stands, people really were under the influence. The one exception I could cite would be Johnny Doors whose own wild fear throws him into a panic and excites him into losing all good sense and running across a busy road. All because he heard a flute playing! His only purpose was to act as a decoy for viewers who assumed his mob connections were the answer, when in fact he was a friend of Thorne. The same for Chief of Police Godfrey, who initially seemed as sinister as anyone, but becomes an ally, though not the most useful one - apart from jollying along with a motorised dinghy, he doesn't do much. To cap it all, the episode ends with what is supposed to be an amusing aside: Starsky breaks the news to Hutch that Theodore disappeared and escaped prison, and it sort of ends with a 'so there you go.' If they were setting it up for a sequel they couldn't have left it any looser.

There never was a sequel, however, and that was for the best as Theodore wasn't much of a character, he was just there to emphasise the horror aspects of the story, which were pretty weak in this part. Neither episode had a strong feeling either way when it comes to the positive or negative portrayal of life in S&H's world, mainly because, like their other two-part episodes, it was all location work and nothing to do with the city they patrol. They really had no business being involved and if it does one thing, it sets the limbo bar for the season so low that you'd think it would be easy to raise it when we get back to what passes as the normality of city life. Unfortunately, I don't think the series could limbo that low and get out the other side still standing (to continue the analogy). The story just smacked of wanting to do something big and get off on a holiday location to open the season, and this time it didn't work. It was too far off the beaten track for the pair to really work well, and they didn't come out of it looking good, what with the botched marketplace snatch, tedious treading water to use up time with not a lot happening, and even their undercover S.L.O.B. act as Knight and Day, only an aside this time for the benefit of Jerry and Phil. Dobey doesn't even appear, and for all the promise of meeting more of Huggy's family members, he's barely in it, showing up at the market and piloting the dinghy at the end.

The car chase almost saves the episode's dignity, as it is pretty fast and fun with the desperation you expect, and multiple vehicles speeding after them when they're only armed with one gun and a wheelchair (Janice losing her grip on the other as she flailed around, uselessly), and you get the familiar style of the pair flying by the seat of their trousers and having to react, all the while getting sarcastic or bantering with each other. A little taste of what the series is all about, but that's about the only taste of it. It made me laugh when, at the beginning of the chase, Hutch bundles Thorne (actually Bert Regan), into the back of a car driven by Starsky, who then speeds off, and Hutch runs across the grass to leap into the back as Starsk passes the bend - hilariously, it seemed to be just for the sake of it! If only it had had a roof, he'd have ended up with his legs in the air as his partner drove away, as happened many times before! For some reason the chase made me think of the one at the end of 'Mission: Impossible 2,' perhaps because they were both on an island setting, dashing round coastal roads. The end of it was typical: they run out of road and just keep going, up a ramp and straight into the sea, something I believe was parodied in the awful film revival!

After the opening montage, there were no opening credits unlike Part 1, and neither episode ever showed the episode's title, which they tended to do on two-parters. Papa Theodore was known as the Haitian Blood Drinker, and they keep talking of 'the mainland,' so it seems that's one confusion cleared up, the location must be Haiti. The scene in the market with Starsky selling hats and necklaces (and spouting 'hats for the sun, necklaces for fun, buy one, get one free-ee'), was quite amusing, if only for the fact that the baddies must be blind not to be able to spot S&H standing out from the other people, especially as Starsky was calling so much attention to himself. It would have made more sense for them to be watching from a secure location and have Huggy doing that as the man on the ground, but the real reason I mention it is because this is one of the clips that would be used in the opening credits. There's also a swimming pool, though no one falls in, it's just part of the joke on either Jerry or Phil (I can't remember which), as he thinks he, his mate and one of the girls are to go skinny-dipping, but in fact the others are clothed when they all drop their towels. An incongruous leftover from Part 1 where that might have made more sense, but I suppose all the scenes around the Playboy Hotel were to remind us of the Bond girls' presence, ready for the reveal of their part in the conspiracy. The old trick of having a good guy talk to someone on the phone, relay important and secret information, then when they ring off, the camera pulls back to reveal their ally isn't alone after all, was used to good effect, although Connery as the baddie was odd.

At least certain characters get to do something this time, such as bodyguard Baron (fooled by the Big Green Voodoo Bird's behind you, trick), so he wasn't that great of a bodyguard after all. Was he always Thorne's bodyguard, or a plant by Connery? If he had been, then he failed his man, as Thorne died months ago, though it's unclear if he died of natural causes or thanks to Connery, Theodore and the gang. I would assume Baron was part of the gang, rather than being fooled into thinking Thorne was still alive. Joan Collins as Janice gets a little more to do, too, though she proves a bit useless, and again, might have been in Part 1 purely as an unknown quantity so we don't know whether she's for or against Thorne's aggressors. Philippe never turned out to be much of a role, and neither did anyone else's, but one thing's for sure: the credits for this episode were a complete mess. You couldn't tell who was in it and who wasn't (certain characters, like Meghan or the Taxi Driver, were very definitely only in Part 1), as the end credits were the same as Part 1, and since there were no opening titles for guest starring roles, the main players weren't even credited. It's as if they designed it to be a single, feature-length episode, which would mean you'd only need one set of credits, but as far as I know that's not how they presented it, unless it had a second life as a TV film? I think this problem existed in other two-parters, and maybe it was the convention of the time, but it's strange to me.

The episode is light on the traditions of the series, with only a few references: 'Rodan Meets Godzilla' is cited as the inflight film for S&H's return journey, but whether this is a genuine film, I don't know; Johnny Doors admits he's no Albert Schweitzer, who was a German missionary who won the Nobel Peace Prize; and Starsky actually mentions James Bond this time, giving greater credence to my suggestion that this whole thing was a Bond homage, or at least, was heavily inspired by some of the Roger Moore entries in the series (as the current Bond of the time) - he asks if this isn't the time when Bond usually fires his rocket launchers, as they flee their pursuers in the car chase. I'm looking forward to getting back to the more recognisable aspects of the series with the succeeding episodes. They may be a little more boring, but at least there are more tropes and connections to spot. I can't say that these two episodes were boring, but they were just too outlandish and messy. They weren't well put together and left loose ends and lacked motivation, and S&H didn't get a chance to really get back into character very much. The rescue of 'Thorne' was getting towards that, as was the ensuing chase, but it was too little, too late, and now that they've allowed magic as a potent force into their world it's difficult to take the series as realistically as before (as far as you can realistically take a series about two cops that often go undercover in a bright red car!), but that's Season 3 for you…

*

Heroes

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S7 (Heroes)

I found this to be a particularly odd episode. Not so much in the idea of a documentary being made within the episode (that was also done on other series', such as 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Voyager'), but more the way it was mixed into the story. It's pretty much the main thrust of the episode, with the secondary plot being the exploration of city ruins discovered on an alien world. So regular as clockwork, in some ways. I just had the impression that this was going to be a clips episode, for some reason, and I think it was the tone, with all the questions being asked for the documentary and interviews being scheduled - you can bet that if this were made in the first four or five seasons it would have been an excuse to show clips from previous episodes. In other words a budget-saver. Who's to say this wasn't a budget-saver in its own right as, rather than getting to the point (if there was one), it meanders around, in a not unamusing way, then simply ends, without the usual sense of cliffhanging you would normally expect from the series. There's the threat of imminent attack from Goa'uld forces, but it's not so much the SGC under threat as the location they were so interested in. It conspired to make me wonder if perhaps it had originally been planned as a single episode, and they liked the concept enough, and saw an opportunity to amortise the budget across two parts. It's just that doing that makes it feel very much a bottle show that isn't really going anywhere, as humorous as Mr. Bregman's interactions with personnel are.

Bregman is played to perfection by Saul Rubinek, whom I know best as the incorrigible collector, Kivas Fajo in 'TNG' episode 'The Most Toys' - here he's playing, while not an evil character, certainly a similarly irritating type, who flutters around in his own little sarcasms and attempts at getting his job done: to make a documentary on the Stargate Programme, which, although it will never be seen until the declassification of the operation, will nevertheless provide a unique, historical perspective on what went on. When you look at it like that it makes perfect sense that you would want to document such a momentous time in human history (and alien history!), for future generations. What wouldn't historians give today for such contemporary evidence of other top secret operations of the past that have since become known to the general public? The trouble is, you get the impression, from his mannerisms and behaviour, that he's hardly the most charming of people, and that he'd like his work to be seen by as many people as possible. It's here that my qualms about the number of people who know about the SGC and its work come to the fore, because it sometimes seems as if far too many know for such a groundbreaking and seminal project as exploring strange new worlds or final frontiers.

Some have learned to take it as simply a day job, seen in SG-13's casual conversation as they routinely explore another planet. This little chat as they stroll along, seemed slightly incongruent with the episode, in that they wouldn't usually give over so much time to guest characters (at least, I don't think we've ever seen 13 before), except and unless it was for such a concept as getting to know the people behind the 'gate. Say, for a documentary… But in this case the film crew is nowhere to be seen, and this scene almost feels like it was originally written as part of that personal touch for the doc, but perhaps was relocated to the off-world mission? The other thing it feels like is treading water because this is a two-parter and we need padding! Not that it wasn't a nice little scene, and I particularly appreciated the in-jokes of them guessing what they're going to find, with one soldier saying ancient ruins, another suggesting trees… because that's what always happens, and the makers of the series know that, and we know that, so why not have a little laugh about it when you've been making a series for seven years? It's the same with the recurring characters, with several getting to explain their jobs tentatively on camera: we have Siler (played by the Stunt Coordinator, as always), getting to do a stunt for the doc, Teal'c blasting him against a wall. And that leads to us seeing him lying injured in the background of the Infirmary during the interview with Dr. Fraiser!

Walter, the 'gate technician gets to explain his role, and when Bregman asks if that's all he does, he enthusiastically gets behind it, just as the real actor would, no doubt, even though (if you listen to the commentaries), you know he was more than just a background actor and could have done a lot more. But it's funny, because it's the series almost peeling back the fourth wall, except still within that world. So it's fun to see these people, and how they react differently to the exposure, or how the film crew is teased by certain people (like Daniel creating false jeopardy as he races to pick up an internal lab report that's being faxed through - ironically, you can imagine he really would be that excited to run for it!), and the running joke (literally for Jack), of O'Neill avoiding his interview. Even Senator Kinsey gets in on the action, showing his 'cuddly' side, standing shoulder to shoulder with O'Neill, expressing support and approval for the SGC… His usual slimy tricks. But you can understand why the base wouldn't want their everyday, top secret activities to be recorded, I doubt most people would want their workplace invaded in this manner. The SGC have even more reason to be wary of film crews after the Prometheus incident when a fake crew got aboard to hijack the ship (which is briefly referred to), not to mention the filming of 'Wormhole X-Treme!'

It's not a bad episode, it's fairly funny, it's a good idea, with a mix of actual documentary POV, and normal filming, and most of all it isn't a clips show, which we can all be grateful for. I just wonder if it was worthy of being a two-parter. I don't remember what happens next, but I can imagine Bregman will come to see the value of these people and what they do, and they'll all be friends at the end of it, but whether it deserved being expanded I'm not so sure. Keeping things tight was never the series' strongest suit. I don't know if it would have worked better as a feature-length single episode (as I thought it was going to be at first from reading the back of the DVD - it has 'Heroes Parts 1 & 2' as the title, but is actually divided into separate episodes on the disc), but hopefully Part 2 will be able to run with the concept after having an entire episode of build-up. Could it be something related to the Ancients' lost city, with 'Atlantis' on the horizon and mention of the ruins being of the Ancients?

**

Murder On Voodoo Island

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S3 (Murder On Voodoo Island)

It's been a couple of years since I last reviewed a season of this series, mainly because it was not so easy to drum up the enthusiasm to get through Season 3, which I've always considered the weakest of the four, especially after Season 2, the greatest. This opening two-parter does little to dispel my lasting impressions of a failed third season. I can see what they were trying to do: after the success they'd had with big, bold two-part episodes, especially the way they kicked off Season 2 with 'The Las Vegas Strangler,' I imagine they were hoping to do the same again. The two-parters so far had concentrated on taking the duo out of their familiar surroundings and placing them in a new environment. Whether that was for the audience's benefit, a sort of TV film within the series with the emphasis on, and budget for, extensive location work, or whether it was to keep the actors sweet and wanting to come back to work, I don't know. Perhaps a bit of both? I may be placing too much power in the laps of the two stars, as although I'm sure they could have got other work, a definite season of TV must have been strong incentive to continue in their roles. And clearly the series wouldn't have worked without either Dave Starsky or Ken Hutchinson, though it would be interesting to imagine what might have been if one had left - a new partner might have been introduced (as happened with the third season of 'Due South'), or Huggy or Dobey might have been elevated to equal status in story exposure. Whatever would have been, I'm glad to be able to welcome back all four of the cast in this episode, the fourth two-parter in the series.

Huggy and Dobey often get sidelined (full stop!), in the location episodes, so you're used to them barely being in a two-parter, if at all, but this time Huggy's been sent over to their destination in advance: Playboy Island (I wasn't quite clear on where this was supposed to be, but presumably in the Americas somewhere as it's full of Americans, as well as the natives). Captain Dobey (sporting a goatee!), interrupts the pair's holiday plans, using Meghan to entice them up to a hotel suite. It was an odd thing to do, but apparently it's for their own safety… They lost me there, I didn't catch why they might be in danger, since they weren't even on the case at that point, but it's nothing compared to the odd (not to mention inappropriate), use by Walter Healey, the man on the case, to get them to sign on: he shows slides of some of the bikini girls of the island before getting to the real meat of the story. Very seventies in its attitudes, of course, but Healey seemed like quite a straitlaced type, too! The story is that William Mackenzie Thorne, considered to be the richest man in the world, may be under the influence of something bad, his associates and friends being killed off, and Johnny Doors, the West Coast Godfather, spotted hanging out at his mansion. It's up to S&H to find out what's going on and potentially rescue Thorne if he's under duress. A simple setup in order to get the cops off on their adventure.

The thing is, it's all very Season 2 in style, with the pair barely being serious for more than an odd minute as they playact undercover roles as Fred Knight (Starsky), and Ed Day (Hutch), good old boys from a waste firm, going to the island for a S.L.O.B. convention, partners in grime. It's that level of humour. That works when the episode is comedic, but the story is heavily held in the thrall of voodoo magic and an evil witch doctor, so the light tone doesn't suit. They've yet to fully succeed with the sub-genre they chose to sprinkle through the first two seasons, 'Bloodbath' perhaps being the one to come closest to chilling horror. The outlandish presentation of Papa Theodore and other natives, while supposed to up the creep factor, merely makes him appear clown-like with over-the-top laughter and dramatic showmanship. I suppose voodoo was in vogue in the seventies, with films like James Bond's 'Live and Let Die' (1973), giving this episode a solid base to imitate in the sincerest form of flattery - in other words they nicked a lot out of the Bond films such as that and 'The Man With The Golden Gun' (1974)! The witch doctor, the dwarf henchman (Philippe), the weirdness… But they didn't do a good job of marrying comedy and horror, so there's never a feeling of jeopardy. My only memories of this episode, never having seen it on TV, and only watching it once on DVD previously (which shows how much I liked it), was of the voodoo man making S&H writhe around on the floor, a foreign location, and a pasty-faced old man in a wheelchair, like Marlon Brando in 'The Island of Doctor Moreau.'

What always stuck in my head, was the thought that S&H were playing along with Theodore's game in order to fool his guards into thinking they were in his power so that they didn't get killed then and there by the machete-wielding thugs, but then finding out that actually they were genuinely under the spell of voodoo magic as they writhed around on the floor. It's just not very believable in such a down-to-earth series - yes, we'd had horror stories, but they always showed that the more supernatural elements were generally nothing more than charlatans or people with mental problems, so it felt like it was crossing a line to say that S&H were indeed beaten by 'bad magic.' It makes them look lesser heroes and gives credence to Papa Theodore's prancings where the story didn't. We're supposed to be afraid of this dangerous man, but he just makes his enemies look foolish, like blowing dust in their eyes and playing a flute could control their minds and bodies. You could say that the dust was some kind of poison or drug that initiated hallucinogens and made a person have muscle spasms, but even so S&H didn't come out of the episode looking very bright for the failed intervention.

To add to the disconnect in tone, there are other oddities, such as the aforementioned recruitment slide show, or S&H dressing up in black face in order to get into a party at the mansion with Huggy. At least Hug is a useful part of the episode, acting as their guide and liaison, thanks to having family all over the island ("In cahoots with my roots"), though we only meet one, Aunt Minnie, something of a witch doctor herself. She's not a lot of help, except for giving them the name of Papa Theodore and warning them he's dangerous. There's also the impression of just how James Bond this episode is - it could almost be a tribute. You have the setting, the villain, very much in the Baron Samedi role, the dwarf, even the silly name Bond girls (Silky, who works at the mansion; Pussycat, doorman for the hotel; and Easy, who also works at the hotel). Granted, the surplus of characters, and especially the trademark wacky ones is something the series often did. This time in the category we have Jerry Perry and Phil Hill, convention attendees and characters who just seem to be there for the sake of wackiness. Healey's a serious character, as is the slightly sinister Sterling Amadeus Godfrey, Chief of Police, who knows S&H's true identities as police officers. Most people we're just introduced to and as the cast is so large we don't really get to know anyone. Joan Collins, the Special Guest Star as Janice, the photographer of the Playboy Hotel, is hardly in it, mainly there to liaise with Healey before he dies by falling off a cliff, and watching the antics of S&H. Maybe she'll be more in evidence in part two, as she was certainly underused.

Some characters were played by actors returning to the series, though in new roles. Most obvious is Paul Picerni (whom I've always assumed was the brother of Charles, the guy who doubles for Starsky, though I didn't notice any stunts in this episode, so maybe the doubles had some time off?), a villain in the 'Murder At Sea' two-parter. I thought they were bringing back the gangster from those episodes, but no, Johnny Doors was definitely not Patsy Cairo. Many actors had more than one role in the course of the series (as was probably the case for many TV shows in those days), and there were two others in this episode: Anitra Ford was Silky, and had played Molly in Season 1's 'Pariah,' and Easy was played by Dana House who'd been credited as 'Girl' in Season 2's 'Gillian.' In terms of the regular tropes of the series there were fewer, as the series was out of step with its usual rhythm on purpose for an away shoot, which can seem a little jarring at the very start of a season when you want to get back to the series you know, not jump off into other climes right away. The Torino is only seen at the beginning, parked up outside the Jungle Club, the notorious location from Season 1's 'The Bounty Hunter,' full of exotic dancing which was in the opening credits. This doesn't seem like the same place as S&H are sitting at a bar, so the external view may have been stock footage, the sign quite small.

The confusing of their names is almost obligatory when they're undercover, and yes Godfrey confuses them ("He's Mr. Day, and I'm Mr. Knight"), and although there was no pool into which to dive dramatically, there was a river and they were forced to wade through it, a tentative link, I know. As if to make up for the lack of other knowing references there were a ton from pop culture, with the horror genre suitably represented by mentions of Vincent Price, the famous genre actor, Count Dracula, and Frankenstein (commonly confused with the man who made the monster, so to be specific he should always be called Frankenstein's monster, really). Music is represented by country singer and actor John Denver, whom Starsky mentions, and he, Hutch and Huggy sing Earth Kitt's 'Somebody Bad Stole The Wedding Bell,' before starting off the limbo. The incidental music was unmemorable with no firm theme to stay with me as sometimes happened last season, not even the usual discordant jangling they tended towards for horror-themed episodes much in evidence. It's really only towards the end that full-on horror is brought in, with faces leering into the camera and bodies writhing puppet-like in an ecstasy of evil, the mood having attempted a steady rise in foreboding atmosphere, but failing because S&H rarely seem to take it seriously, although that's one running joke that appears again: Starsky's superstitions come out in force in the face of the briefing. He also expresses dislike of the great outdoors against Hutch's more positive attitude, then turns the tables in front of Meghan, making it seem Hutch was the stay-at-home one!

They also set the tone with references to Big Foot and flying saucers, as well as Starsky claiming to spend more time in the woods than Grizzly Adams. I could also count Fort Knox, too, as that's almost an urban myth in its own right for security. You'd think if Thorne was the richest man in the world he'd have security as good as Fort Knox, as was claimed, but his grounds border on a golf course open to tourists, and all it takes is a short wade across a river to breach the mansion's perimeter! At least his nurse seemed genuine, though with a name like Charlotte Connery I have to wonder if my Bond tribute idea was a genuine attempt, and not my imagination. The only other thing that's left to mention (aside from the typically longer episode, running at about fifty minutes), was the third time in as many seasons that they changed the theme music and opening titles. I don't know why they felt they had to - Season 1 I could understand, as that was a bit ropy, so perhaps they decided the Season 2 music was too jolly or silly, because they go for something which is almost a mix between the two styles. Of course we'd seen it before in last season's 'The Set-Up Part Two,' though I still don't know if this was a genuine choice from the time, or a mixup on the DVD, though that seems unlikely as presumably the episodes exist in their entirety and were shot straight onto the disk without any cleaning up or sorting out. Odd.

I don't expect my views on the weaknesses of the third season to change with this watch through, but hopefully I can get a bit of perspective on the series as a whole, and how it all fits in the grand scheme of things, but even so, there are episodes I look forward to seeing again and writing my thoughts on, such as 'Manchild On The Streets,' 'The Heavyweight,' 'The Trap,' 'Foxy Lady' and 'Partners,' to name a few. Put another way, I'd rather have this season than for the series to have been cancelled at the end of Season 2, because then we'd never have got Season 4 when the zaniness was turned up to full!

**

Death Knell

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S7 (Death Knell)

A little depressing, this episode spells the end, you might even say the 'death knell,' of the alliance between Earth, the Tok'ra and the Jaffa, and on the very day they finally created a weapon, the only weapon in the galaxy apparently, that can kill Anubis' Kull Warriors. Not the most ideal time to call a halt to cooperation, you'd think, but the Jaffa are fed up with the Tok'ra's devious ways, and don't want to be under human orders either. They want to do it for themselves. Which is fair enough, except that they're presumably not going to be on the mailing list for this super weapon, the only one in the galaxy to… you get the idea. Very little is really made of this landmark technological development, but then the episode itself rather shows it to be slightly redundant: all you have to do is fire a missile at a warrior and blast him to smithereens. Okay, it didn't work out perfectly (a bigger yield needed, perhaps?), but if kinetic energy is the answer why not send out your troops with rocket launchers and set up plastique all over the place which can be set to go off whenever a base perimeter is breached by the unstoppable enemy? I don't have an answer for that, and neither, it would seem, did the writers!

It's not that this isn't entirely uninteresting, and a story you're curious to see unfold, but the whole episode feels like anticipation with very little payoff. Carter gets rescued from being hunted by the single warrior who's after her, but who doubted that for a second, there being very little actual jeopardy - how can a story about someone being on the run in the forest be anything more than was portrayed here? Just check out 'First Blood' for that answer! The episode could have been all about Carter's desperate struggle for survival, having to outwit a superior force with stone knives and bearskins, but instead there's false jeopardy (we're supposed to think the warrior is approaching Carter as she reclines against a tree, only for it to be revealed it's an already-dead soldier, and Sam's fine), and a predictably foolish opponent who walks right into the Major's non-mobile weapons platform cobbled together from a downed UAV. The missile didn't do the job exactly, but it did slow the thing down, and as I say, a more destructive charge might have done the job. At least O'Neill got to be her hero and, along with Teal'c, save her from the creature (thanks to her own ingenuity in creating the weapon in the first place, of course). Not that she seemed particularly happy, but drinking out of rivers and getting shot at, not to mention an irritable Father, will do that to you.

The other side of the story is a welcome vehicle for General Hammond to spread his careful and considered diplomatic skills over troubled waters, even if it ultimately ends in failure. The representatives of the Tok'ra and Jaffa factions come across as pretty stupid and arrogant for putting their own irritations ahead of the simple logic of being stronger together, not helped that Jacob's now on the outside of the council as they don't trust him, considering him sympathetic to the humans, as a human host. It wasn't the best time for underhand deviousness to win the day: Anubis continues to smash through the System Lords, the latest to be knocked off his perch is 'Olokun,' who the Tok'ra had been spying on. They have good reason, but so do the Jaffa who claim the defeated Goa'uld should have been offered the chance to join their cause. So it ends with everyone unhappy with everyone else, and that would only make Anubis happy. The Alpha site and it's striking cooperation between the three allied races crumbles and the trust issues force everyone apart, which doesn't leave things in a good place. It doesn't begin in a particularly good place either, so for optimism it really isn't the most enjoyable watch! At least the action isn't badly played, with the warrior's blasts ripping through doors or taking down small trees, and the idea of the Stargate scything a hole in the ground when it opens a wormhole as it's lying face down, was a good one, but it did make me wonder what would happen to the 'gate: wouldn't the force push it up and make it roll away, or don't physics apply to these things?

**

Chimera

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S7 (Chimera)

This is the series doing romance. 'Stargate' was never geared towards doing romance, and I had the feeling with this episode that they'd listened to some focus groups. 'We want to see more of the characters' private lives, we want to see their lives outside of work, at home, chilling out. We want to see them interact with outsiders.' Maybe this never happened and there were no focus groups, but that's the impression I got, that they were trying to do some things they had a perception the audience wanted. And perhaps some viewers did? The problem is, with half the episode, nothing really happens. As it happens I do like to see a bit of their lives, and you can point out parallels between the two plots, with Daniel having dreams of when he first met Sarah Gardner (who eventually became Osiris), and we, the audience, meeting Pete Shanahan, Carter's new boyfriend - yes, they got me, I bought into the fact that this guy, a complete stranger, was just bugging her, and didn't realise they had any prior connection until it became obvious. Either it was a well written and performed scene, or I'm not very perceptive, but it was a good introduction, and the awkward scene in the lift as O'Neill pries into Sam's private life was a great and natural follow up. Her humming of the 'SG-1' theme tune was weird, a bit like when they used the original 'Battlestar Galactica' theme in the pilot of the 2003 reimagining - at least in that case it was part of a documentary or show that suited the inclusion, this was purely breaking the fourth wall. But when you get to seven seasons of a TV show I guess it's okay to have a little fun.

Pete has the quirky nature (for example, taking Carter to an old people's ballroom dance), that a bland person like Carter could mix with. I don't mean she's not an interesting character, but she does tend to be focused on her work (like that big, imagined telescope she supposedly looks through all day - shouldn't she be working at night if that was her cover story?), even to single-mindedness, which may have been why a personification of her Father suggested she might not be happy in the recent dream experience she went through in 'Grace.' Jack's quite a quirky type, too, so perhaps they decided to write someone in who was of a similar style. Shanahan is a cop, so he knows about dedication to duty, putting your life on the line, etc, so it was obvious he was going to have to be initiated into her lifestyle sooner or later. I just didn't expect it to be in the same episode we first met him! Actually, his curiosity, stretching to contacts in the FBI (so maybe he's more than just a cop?), began to make things interesting. At first I suspected conspiracy, but his conversation with his mate on the phone was so open and nothing was played in a sinister way that you have to assume he just wants to know what Sam does and isn't there to infiltrate the SGC through her.

Someone that does aim to do some serious infiltration, and succeeds, is the evil Osiris, back to cause Daniel sleeplessness by beaming into his house in the middle of the night and inflicting some kind of mind probe on him to get him to dream the location of the lost city of The Ancients that may be lurking in his subconscious (presumably further setup for the coming spinoff series, 'Atlantis'). It was good to see their first meeting, even if it was only as a dream and we can't be sure how close to the reality of the situation it was since even when awake Daniel recalls that things weren't quite right. Still, it made a change to see Anna Louise Plowman playing the character before Osiris took over, and origins are always fascinating to me. Trouble is, we know Sarah's evil, even if she isn't supposed to be, because we've seen Osiris so much and associate that face with bad news. I couldn't help but see her smile in a sinister light, and her movement as spider-like. Not very complimentary, I know. It's not the most original idea to have an alien appear in someone's sleeping quarters or bedroom at night in order to do something to their mind or body, but it got Daniel to the point where he could almost present the coordinates of the lost city, and in a believable way. I couldn't remember them ever stating previously, definitively, that Oma wiped his mind of the experiences he had while ascended, but they do that here, and you can believe he would have all this untapped information in his mind ready to come out any time the writers need it to, which adds another level to the character.

The sting to capture Osiris was what made the episode worth watching, even if you can't help but think of Pete as a rather stupid fellow. He's either a cop with connections, or an FBI man, and yet he's happy to blunder into what is clearly a delicate operation in a neighbourhood. Did they teach him nothing at police school? Okay, so it's because he cares, but interfering in an active operation with no real reason to do so except curiosity makes him look rather foolish. Well, love is blind they say… I would have expected Carter to bawl him out, angrily questioning why he would pop up like that (she could have shot him!), and perhaps covering her own guilt at not being able to tell him, but she's quite calm. And so, because he witnessed a Goa'uld in action he's allowed to know everything? We have to assume the SGC, and perhaps even Carter herself, were diligent in checking out his background, just as he attempted to do with her, but even so, to infiltrate the SGC, one of the toppest secretest government facilities on Earth, all he has to do is follow Carter, get caught in a firefight, and boom, all the doors are opened! While I'm nitpicking, I'd also question the difference between a bullet and a dart in the context of a Goa'uld personal shield. Pete's bullets can't penetrate it, but the team's darts do? Has this ever been explained, is it sensitive to metal, or what? And wouldn't a van exploding in the middle of a suburban street get some of the neighbours out? It was also a long shot for the team to work out the origins of Daniel's sleep patterns. Teal'c cocks an ear, suggests his dreams could be Goa'uld controlled and everyone agrees! Time is of the essence, but after carefully constructing a believable reason why and how these events would happen they just jumped to conclusions too quickly.

It might have been better if we hadn't known Osiris was behind it from the start. They obviously made it clear so they could end on a mini-cliffhanger and show her leering face just before the opening credits so we could get excited about the character returning, but I suspect anyone who cared would have known before the episode aired, and if you tuned in just to see the opening it wouldn't particularly make you commit to watch the episode. But if it had been an uncertain reality, a bit like Carter's in 'Grace,' or Teal'c's alternate world last season, it would have had an air of mystery and suspense. Maybe they felt they'd used that plot style too often (doesn't usually stop them!), but I'd have preferred some ambiguity. The same with Pete and his motives. I didn't expect to see him as an all-round good guy, despite his research into Carter's background, which could have been played creepy. It could be they wanted us to warm to the guy since it would be easy to find him an irritating outsider encroaching on one of our main characters, especially with O'Neill waiting in the wings. I remember not particularly liking the guy when I originally saw the episode, and I felt neutral this time as I couldn't remember him being in it for long. Mind you, I think I only saw as far as the end of the Season 8, so there's plenty of time yet, but anyone who used to watch 'Starsky & Hutch' can't be all bad! He's just taken his first step into a larger world, inaugurated into the bizarre realities of the 'Stargate' universe. Let's hope he's not simply there as soap relief for Sam. Oh, and Teal'c's not going to keep that physique if he carries on with the doughnuts - he doesn't have a symbiont any more to counteract the effects sugar can have on a healthy body. Perhaps the greatest threat to Earth isn't alien after all?

**