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?

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