Prototype

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S9 (Prototype)

Interesting: an anomaly within the Stargate means that when Carter tries to travel to a particular planet she just arrives right back at Earth, SGC. Interesting: SG-1 find a way around it and take a trip to the planet. Even more interesting: Daniel discovers a Ring Transporter leading to some underground cave/lab… Less interesting: there's a human in stasis with Ancient DNA in him. Even less interesting: they take him back to the SGC for study. And finally, a touch even less interesting: before long he's revealed to be 'Son of Anubis.' It started out well, it's a very 'SG-1' episode with a unique puzzle that hadn't been experienced before, and a trip to a planet to solve the mystery, but then it becomes one of those very 'SG-1' episodes that isn't as good as the ones where they go to a planet and creep around in dark caves: it's the one where they have a guest character and have to learn his secret, then he escapes and puts the base in danger. The typical SGC money-saver episode. Not that they don't have their place in the series, it's just that I'd much rather take a leafy green adventure on an alien planet with the whole team along, than a wander round the ugly concrete SGC.

It's also hard to understand why they would introduce more clone enemies when a couple of episodes ago we found Baal had cloned himself. I could believe they were going to let this Anubis 'offspring' with his genetic memories intact become a third prong on the current enemies of Earth with which the SGC would have to deal, even though it was a bit much to have him running around on top of Baal(s), and the Priors of the Ori. So in one sense it was good that he was killed off (surprisingly gory for the series - multiple bullet holes drooling blood as he totters backwards), but that also seems to negate the need for the episode. If it was just a reminder that they can still do old-fashioned one-offs instead of constant serialised storytelling, that's fine, and perhaps he will come to have greater importance in the defence of Earth as they examine the remains, but it did make this particular episode appear redundant, and if he does become a magic rabbit out of a hat which they can use later in the season it's not very good plotting. But I enjoyed the references to the series' weighty backstory with Anubis, Nierte, the Tok'Ra, etc, thrown in for good measure.

What it doesn't do is explore the most intriguing idea of the episode in favour of the tried and tested base under attack we've seen countless times. They didn't even keep the suspense going that this Khalek was going to be an innocent lab specimen or the embodiment of evil. I would much rather they examined the issue of a 'gate not sending the user to the correct address than a debate about killing Hitler's clone. I was surprised by how cavalier this issue was dealt with, as it's really Woolsey on one side (Robert Picardo back to add some guest star weight), advocating for him to be kept alive and studied, while Daniel suggests he shouldn't be allowed to live. Granted, he killed a number of soldiers, and this is America where corporal punishment is an accepted part of the penal system, but to not even have the debate about whether it's justifiable for the state to murder an enemy in captivity? I was also interested to note something Daniel said about good and evil when they're discussing why it appears you don't need to be moral to become ascended as it once seemed. He says something about the 'cosmic balance' and perhaps they need to be balanced even in the ascended world, which suggests he thinks evil is something to be accepted as a natural part of life that 'balances out' good and coexists with it in some yin-yang expression. I can believe that some of the characters might have that belief, but none of them bat an eyelid, it's taken as fact! I just found it strange when you consider how they've fought against evil that they would be so casual about the concept of evil being something that 'coexists with' or 'balances out' good.

It's possible I misread what he was saying and he was only suggesting that that was the way the ascended might look on it, or whomever is in charge of allowing ascendees to ascend (if they can get away with having an 'ascendometer' I can make up words, too!). The only other issue of note was the background of the SGC's problems of credibility in the eyes of the committee Woolsey represents. It's only touched on, but he intimates that opposing his point of view is like saying they don't need the support of the committee, when they clearly are, if not on borrowed time, then still having to prove themselves still relevant. His argument about Khalek being a potential mine of information that could provide ways of defeating the Priors' powers is understandable, but didn't end well. I almost thought he could have taken the whole episode as more evidence that the SGC wasn't up to the task since it was in their custody that Khalek escaped and was ultimately killed, but at least he learnt something and progressed his character a little in that he was as good as asking forgiveness for his rash approach from Daniel, and there was a little seeing of eye to eye. As usual with 'SG-1' it was a little lightweight in terms of such character or drama moments, but I appreciated the attempt to build on a recurring character.

The effects were pretty good, with Khalek becoming a Sith Lord and stalking through the corridors like Darth Vader, or stopping bullets in midair with his mental power like Neo in 'The Matrix' - funny to think this was only made six years after that film and now so much more time has passed. I just don't find it that compelling when some super-powerful enemy roams the base, especially when the soldiers keep firing their weapons in the vain hope that maybe one bullet will actually get through his defences. Surely they'd have more zats or staff weapons on hand, some energy-based device instead of rapid-fire rifles and other things that have proved to be ineffective. It was one of those that had a good deal of promise from the opening, but meandered too much and never went anywhere, nor used the main cast sufficiently enough for it to be entertaining just seeing them together. And that's all we really watch the series for, isn't it?

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