The Scourge

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S9 (The Scourge)

Reminding me of 'Tremors' or some other low-budget horror film, this was disturbingly creepy from the moment the innocuous weevils burst from their viewing container and spilled out all over the floor. There's something hideous about a teeming mass of small creatures - I remember reading some short story in Secondary School about someone that collected snails until they were covering his whole house, the place dank with their slime, and I've never forgotten it. This episode tapped into that psychological disgust, and though the space bugs weren't all that realistic in their CGI guise, the sensible use of sound and the effects of their close presence only added to their virulent unpleasantness as SG-1 fight to keep a party of representatives from the International Oversight Advisory from being devoured as the redshirts are, not to mention the entire base at the Gamma site. I wish there had been more establishing of the base and its occupants so it was even more shocking to see it ripped apart by its own self-destruct, but even if there isn't enough character time afforded to that end of things, it's still horrifying to see. I could have wished for a few more character-building scenes, like that between Daniel and Shen, especially as she suggests he might get the chance to work for the Stargate program in the future under China, or Woolsey's combative exchanges with short-tempered Colonel Carter, but like all low-budget horrors you're not supposed to be getting the most rounded characters, so it fits the mood. And they do achieve some character early on when we meet the scientists working on these bugs.

I liked a lot about this episode, from the quick reaction to the scientists' discovery of the infestation (likely to be a new attack by the Priors now that their virus is being defeated), in the lab, pressing that emergency quarantine button that seals the door and sucks all the creatures away (a small mistake, feeding the bugs meat-related food, much like Gremlins, turns them into ravening carnivores), to the presence of Woolsey on the tour, and the addition of the Chinese angle as another Shen hints that China isn't going to stand by and put up with the American military's continued dominance of the Stargate. That had a ring of reality to it, as that's the kind of thing that would be happening if such a device were discovered in our modern world. In fact things would be a lot harsher now, but the issue of who owns the 'gate, and America pretty much fobbing off the rest of the world with 'finders keepers, but you can send people over to play in our backyard,' not really cutting it by this point. The reality is that this is an American TV series so of course it would be the US that found and controlled the 'gate, but I wonder what the series might have been if they'd tried something radically different from the start and set it as a US team that has to tread diplomatically as they take part in another superpower nation's coordination of its use? In all likelihood, China or Russia would have kept it all to themselves until some unknown challenge taxed their resources and only then might they have been interested in seeking alliance in exchange for the sharing of resources.

Like coming up against the Replicators. But these bugs were much creepier than those machines ever were, because they're living creatures deliberately engineered to cause maximum threat. Not that that was always apparent in the story, for the idea of echo location didn't appear to be that accurate as how could you echo-locate from underground? Or am I getting confused with sonar? Either way, sometimes the bugs were affected by noise, and other times not, as Mitchell and Teal'c could walk stealthily to avoid them, yet when they make a grand final attack on the science station they don't pay any attention to the barrage of bullets that had previously set them ringing and turned them away. Naturally, SG-1 is successful in keeping the whiny officials alive and the only thing really missing was a scene where they all come off their high horses and meekly thank these soldiers for saving their hides. It was done a lot better in the 'DS9' episode 'The Forsaken,' when Bashir had to do a similar thing and show his professionalism in the face of grumbling, officious diplomats that had to be treated with respect, yet kept alive. It's a bit of a stereotype that these sort of people are privileged and childish, but conflict has to come from somewhere, I suppose!

The good that comes out of it is that Woolsey finds more positives to say about SG-1 and the Stargate program, so that seems to set any budgetary concerns aside, at least for the near future. It's always good to see Robert Picardo again, and I'm sure they put in that whole scene in the 'gate room where he expresses trepidation about travelling via the Stargate as a joke, since most people know him best as The Doctor from 'Voyager,' who was always beaming to places on that series, being disassembled and reassembled on a regular basis in the same sort of process as the 'gate puts you through. Perhaps the lighting was a little flat when it could have done with more darkness to suit the mood, and once they get out into the open air the threat seems much diminished, even though it isn't, as we see by a couple of redshirts being gorged on where they fall. The cave also looked somewhat fabricated, and you could tell it was an elaborate set compared to the outdoor scenes. But it did have that old-style SG-1 feel about it with only the team of four to depend on each other, and with the added burden of civilians to babysit making it more challenging. It's also good that, while connected to the Prior arc, it's a standalone adventure which is wrapped up by the end. And Dr. Lee is as amusing as ever, I wish he'd been in it more. Something should have been said about the entire Gamma site complement that were killed by either the bugs or the self-destruct, but that's par for the course, and it was all but certain that SG-1 were finished, too, in the eyes of the SGC.

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