System 13

I finally got around to watching another episode of Stargate SG-1. It was the episode titled Thor’s Hammer. The episode I’d watched before this one was Fire and Water – an episode that is actually 3 ahead of Thor’s Hammer. I’m not quite sure how I managed that. Oh well.

Oh, and before I go any further… there will be spoilers in this post! So if you’ve not seen this episode and don’t want any of it ruined, turn back now (or browse more of my blog, whatever works for you). If, however, you’ve seen it (or don’t care if it’s spoiled)…

Step through the gate.

A friend of mine (Joshua J. Slone in the comments here at System 13) sent me a snippet from an interview with Don Davis, the fellow who plays General Hammdon on Stargate SG-1. Here’s the snippet:

GW: Don, are you a fan of science fiction?

DD: I am now. I wasn’t always. I never really liked science fiction in film and television because when I was your age it was all cardboard and very crude, and it wasn’t realistic. And I could read someone like Asimov and envision all of these wonderful things. Or Wells, or whoever, and then I would see it on TV or in a film and — no. In fact, my son, when he was about four years old, I guess — or five years old — “Star Wars” came out. And he had to see “Star Wars.” He really had to make me lots of promises in order for me to get me to take him to it. And I came out of that movie a Star Wars nut.

GW: Really?!

DD: Oh, yeah! Then with the Star Trek, — not the original Star Trek. Again, it was silly — the crudity of the thing. Even though the actors, a lot of them now, are friends of mine. But I don’t like crudity. I’m a painter and a sculptor. I spent twenty years teaching people how to be artists and craftsmen. And then to see something, especially on film, that looks like a retarded two-year old created it in their back yard, is not entertaining to me.

The rest of the interview is here.
I never would have pegged him as a painter / sculptor.

Note: Removed the image from the snippet. I’d copied and pasted it from gateworld.net, and had accidentally been stealing their bandwidth. I doubt I’d put ‘em out of business or anything, but it’s the principle.
Technorati Tags: stargate_sg1, stargate-sg1, science_fiction

Last night while exercising, I watched the next episode of the first season of Stargate SG-1, ‘The Nox.’ I really enjoyed it. I found the race of people that the SG crew came into contact with, the Nox, pretty interesting.

The Nox were portrayed as very mystical, very ‘woodsy’ people. They reminded me a lot of fairies minus the wings, actually. They could do magic-like things, including a ritual that could bring people back from the dead. Furthermore, they could make themselves, or other things, disappear from sight. Like I said – fairy-like stuff.

It was actually their ability to make things invisible that led the SG crew there, as well as Apophys (one of the primary ‘bad guys’ in the Stargate show). There was a large flying creature on the planet that many believed could cloak itself. It had been hunted by many different peoples who wanted the ability to become invisible, but it always vanished. It was the Nox who were making the creature invisible, to protect it.

To make a long story short, Apophys and Co. actually killed O’Neill, Carter, and Daniel. The Nox bring them back to life. Because the Nox appear so weak militaristically and technologically, the SG-1 crew are concerned that Apophys will find them and kill them.

The Nox simply keep repeating, “You will go. We will take you to your doorway and you will go.” This in turn leads to the SG-1 crew repeating, “We can’t, we put you in danger, Apophys will kill all of you. We have to fight them and protect you.”

Near the end of the episode, right before SG-1 returns to earth, one of the Nox (Anteaus) says he wants to show them something. He then waves his hand through the air, and a gigantic ship appears in the sky.

Before disappearing for the last time, he says:

Fear not. Maybe one day you will learn, that your way is not the only way.

Awesome quote, awesome episode. That quote made me genuinely smile.

Edit: Speaking of the Nox, here’s a music video made out of the Nox episode. The song is pretty fitting for them (or at least for the appearance they give to outsiders).

Technorati Tags: sg1, stargate_sg1, scifi, science_fiction, sf

As mentioned previously, I’m in the midst of watching the first season of Stargate SG-1. Thus far, I’m quite impressed.

A few days ago while exercising on my elliptical, I watched episode six, Cold Lazarus. It was the second episode in which at least one of the characters had to act rather differently than they do normally. In Cold Lazarus, a crystal-like creature duplicates O’Neill.

I was really impressed how well Richard Dean Anderson pulled off this duplicate creature’s character. While it was obviously still Richard Dean Anderson, it didn’t really look like O’Neill at all. Very nice usage of facial expressions to differentiate the real O’Neill from the fake.

When I first started watching SG-1, I was a bit concerned. There were a couple of initial episodes that were pretty crappy (see my previous post about the Mongol episode…) But, by episode 6, it seems to be pulling out of crappiness and into ‘pretty damn cool’-ness.

Technorati Tags: stargate, stargate_sg1, sg1