The Pegasus Project

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S10 (The Pegasus Project)

They won a great victory, says Teal'c, and he's not wrong! Taking out an Ori ship, the first such impossible-to-destroy vessel to be destroyed, on one end of the Stargate, while also taking out a Wraith ship in the Pegasus galaxy… What a terrific denouement, and the opening and middle bits weren't too shabby, either! It was a significant achievement and comes across so much sweeter for the fact we have both SG-1 and the 'Stargate Atlantis' team working together on what boils down to a mere science experiment when you think about it. But the thrill of success, the joy of the great Carter and McKay brains working together, supported by their respective associates, was an absolute delight and exactly what I was hoping for. In this time now when 'Star Trek' fails to live up to its own history and mission statement, it's amazing to see a 'Stargate' episode that shows them exactly how it should be done in both science and character stakes. I thought I was going to enjoy this episode as soon as I realised they were following up on the clue from the previous episode and heading to Atlantis via the good ship Odyssey under Captain Emerson (got a bit confused at first as I assumed from the episode title it was the Pegasus under Captain Caldwell, before realising this is the Pegasus galaxy, hence the name, and Caldwell's ship was called Daedalus anyway!). And they introduced the city beautifully, showing it off in all its glory so that I almost wished I was watching the next season of that series, except I'd already gone through their Season 2 which corresponds with this season.

I guess it won't quite be the multiple episode, huge team crossover I was imagining, because they have no reason to hang around at Atlantis now they've got the 'gate addresses for the two planets which hold Merlin's anti-Ori ordnance. But although this is likely the extent of the crossover (loved McKay's mentioning to Carter his episode stuck in a Jumper with only a hallucinated version of her to assist him, typically inappropriate!), it was a joyful one at that, and I bathed in the back and forth banter of the various characters: McKay talking too much, as usual, easily manipulated, Carter grudgingly respectful of his brilliance, Mitchell short-fused on the guy, Sheppard being buddies with Mitchell, Vala just looking around like a kid in a toy shop, eagerly awaiting the moment she'll be allowed to grab a load of 'souvenirs,' loot clearly still at the forefront of her mind as the main draw for SG-1's missions… Oh, it was wonderful. I wish there had been a little more reminiscing with Weir about the time she was their boss, but you can't have everything, and I realised how attached I've grown to the 'Atlantis' cast now by how happy I was to see them again. Though there was essentially no physical action in the entire episode it was carried by the characters and by the intelligent, well structured story which has time perils, the uncertainty of whether this experiment will work, and the grave stakes that hang in the balance if it fails.

It was imperative to pre-empt any chance The Ori had of sending more ships through the Supergate, it's bad enough that they're in our galaxy at all, carving a swathe through any planet or fleet they encounter. But they never gambled on our Earth heroes having access to another galaxy entirely and coming up with a plan to dial in to the Supergate, thus preventing it from going to wherever The Ori forces come from. Expert use of the spinoff series and its concepts, while also cleverly tying in some lore from of an old, old episode in which the Stargate got stuck on a black hole and was going to destroy the world. Now that I think back to it I don't remember it as being a particularly good episode, but I love that they're still so much a part of the unfolding lore, and that's one of the things that attracts me about long-running franchises: that they have this burgeoning cache of story points, any of which can be brought up and exploited at any moment, keeping the world connected, building upon what has already been established, reinforcing the canon and the reality of what came before and what can continue. This is one reason Trek has really let the side down in recent years with its failure to understand these concepts under a new group of people taking over, and perhaps if it were new minds continuing the 'Stargate' saga now they'd also change things beyond acceptable limits, but it's a relief and a pleasure to watch something that does the kind of thing I want it to, and does it well.

I could point to 'DS9' as possible inspiration for this whole storyline of an unstoppable new enemy coming through to 'our' area of space, and the characters blocking access so more ships can't come through (it was a minefield to the Wormhole against the Dominion in that series, but the concept is very similar), but if you're going to borrow, do it from the best, isn't that right? For me it was just lovely they were able to integrate the continuing quest so well with Atlantis, even carrying out two plots simultaneously, one with the Supergate, Teal'c at the other end to coordinate and report on the success of the plan, and Daniel going through the Atlantean database in hopes of narrowing down the planets where Merlin's weapon is, Vala tagging along. She proves useful when her simplistic approach works - just ask the hologram, only that's too easy, and unfortunately, for once, Daniel's mind gets someone into trouble. In this case it's the ascended Ancient, Morgan Le Fey, once Merlin's enemy, but later friend according to her. She's posing as a hologram to help out, that's why they got the two planet locations, but because it was too easy it raises Daniel's suspicions and things unravel from there - she admits who she is, but eventually gets pulled back by her fellow Ancients, and after the episode had ended on such a high of mutual success with the Supergate, things return to a more sober state when Daniel realises The Ancients won't be helping them against The Ori.

Vala was wonderful in this episode, so curious and childlike: easily bored, yet wowed by the size and colour of everything, insolent enough to treat The Ancient with little respect, but also alien enough not to understand ordinary, everyday human references like Christmas and breeds of dog. It was charming and a brilliant idea to have these things pass her by so that for once she can be completely taken at face value. I'm surprised Rodney never made attempts to get to know her, but then he was a little occupied in orbit of his sun, Samantha Carter, so he didn't have time for anyone else. I just hope this isn't the end of the two teams' cooperation, I'd love to see Mitchell and Sheppard do some soldier stuff together, Teyla and Teal'c fighting off baddies would be terrific, and maybe Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Lee working on a project together? Not only that, but it makes me eager to get back to 'Atlantis,' almost more than to see the rest of this season, though my interest levels have just taken a hike upwards after the writing, structure and execution of this episode (the black hole was beautiful, too). A simple, but deep story that does everything it needed to do. Well done, team.

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