… we jump straight back to Hathor threatening SG1 – did I mention Daniel’s non-floofy haircut? it’s so odd (but the bandana/cap is a much better option) – and the entirety of the SGC is mustered to go get our kids back.
More importantly, Carter gets promoted to Major! Hooray! And then Jack totally steals the award show by being beamed aboard an Asgard ship, what a diva. Still, it gives us Thor, and that the Asgards will negotiate with the System Lords on behalf of the Earthlings. And that negotiation will happen on Earth what could possibly go wrong. And we get ~foreshadowing~ of a “far worse enemy” in the Asgard’s home galaxy.
We see Sam being able to access Goa’uld tech thanks to the aftereffects of Jolinar’s presence, and we get another!alt!Sam, this time coming through the mirror, complete with a picture of her and Jack getting married. Which is honestly all very uncomfortable. (However, alt!Teal’c and alt!Apophis both have little goatees, and I know enough Star Trek that this made me very happy.) Then we get Martouf back again, needing Jolinar’s memories. I just don’t like Martouf, and there’s no good reason for it.
The range of cultures represented continues to expand – Nirrti from the Hindu pantheon (I have thoughts about using a living religion…); Yu from Chinese mythology (?); Aztec deities represented on a planet that seems to be entirely inhabited by very white people and has no connection to anything we know about Aztec culture. A medieval European Christian village! Guess it was only a matter of time before they tried it – but of course an American show couldn’t make Jesus a Goa’uld… and the Canon is an appropriately cartoonishly evil churchman. And then later we visit Sokar’s planet – Hell, basically – and O’Neill makes a comment about it being a “dry heat” – is that an Aliens 2 reference??
Despite the visit to Hell, this season’s most distressing episode is the one where Daniel is thought to have schizophrenia and treated appallingly. Michael Shanks really gets to shine in the episode, and it’s awful.
Furthermore, one part of Daniel’s story – his search for Sha’re – comes to an end, with Sha’re’s death at the hands of Teal’c. Once again Michael Shanks gets a chance to do some particularly poignant acting. And then he discovers that Amaunet & Apophis’ child is the Harcesis – a human born with knowledge of the Goa’uld. Thus begins a new quest – and consequently Daniel meets Oma Dasala, which is also the beginning of his rather epic story arc. (I’m having anticipatory grief.) This really is Daniel’s season.
Importantly, this season has some really fantastic Jack/Daniel interactions.
People I haven’t mentioned much: I really like Dr Janet Fraiser, and I’m so pleased that she appears more in this season – she even gets to go off-world! And he doesn’t appear often, but I also really enjoy Major Davis. Plus: there haven’t been many guest stars, or people who went on to become well-known, but Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol, of Battlestar Galactica) turned up as a Jafar for about 10 seconds in this episode, before dying. (Also the crystal skull, Indiana Jones should be ashamed for stealing it.)
I am realising that parenting is a significant thread running through this show. Apophis wants to make a human child who will become his new host; the Sam/Jacob Carter dynamic; Jack’s dead son (used against him again in this season) and his relationship with Skaara – who is finally freed! – and there’s a strong suggestion that Jack leaves Laira pregnant; Teal’c and Rya’c; the clone son from the Reetou, Merrin and other Urrone children of the Orban (do I remember ever being a little teary from an SG1 episode? No I do not. I think I’m getting old). The man looking for his child in Seth’s cult. Aris Boch lies about having a child to get sympathy; the Jafar practising to be an SG unit are basically children. And, of course, Cassandra. Looking forward, the question of children – relating to parents, how they develop – continues to be massive, especially in the last two seasons.
On a broader level there’s another incredibly significant through-line, too, about SG1 interfering with the way things are done, usually to what is perceived as the benefit of the newly-visited population (not quite always in the short term, but mostly in the long term). Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a show – or rather, it would be a very different show – if there weren’t this overtone of, frankly, colonialism. And of course, they don’t call it colonialism, and the SGC folks don’t want to actually live in those places. But they do want to trade for useful things, and they do feel more comfortable if everyone goes along with their same morality and processes. At least we do occasionally get folks like the Nox – and more obnoxiously, the Tollan – who refuse to give the SGC any tech because they’re too inferior. So that’s some balance.
And the season ends with replicators… (I have so many thoughts about replicators v Goa’uld insofar as enemies go).
You know what else season 3 brings? DVD extras.
Character featurettes:
- Capt (now Major) Carter: apparently it was important to have a beautiful woman! Bah. I did enjoy hearing her reflections on Richard Dean Anderson, and how odd it is to act before a blue screen; her description of Sam as the midpoint between Jack and Daniel is nicely observed.
- Teal’c’s feature is a sweet piece about Chris Judge’s acting career, and his enjoyment of the role.
- General Hammond: got his start as MacGyver’s boss’s double, and now plays O’Neill’s boss! That’s so cool!
- Daniel Jackson: Michael Shanks comes across as adorable. His comment about how the regular cast react when new directors come on board and then freak out at how huge a production it is? Hilarious.
Other bits:
- In the “Producing Stargate” featurette – which I assume was made for the DVD, so maybe a couple years after it aired in 1999? – Brad Wright, co-creator, suggests “at least ten seasons” for the show. Awww.
- Costuming! Interesting to hear Christina McQuarrie talking about how she’s certainly not aiming for any sort of cultural verisimilitude, and that she’s combined elements of various cultures. But she’s often only given seven days to costume an episode, so… that’s a whole thing from tv 25 years ago! They costumed hundreds of people for the pilot, and while other episodes have fewer it’s still a lot.
Stats:
- Sam gets a raw deal for being female: 0 (… does this mean the show is actually treating Sam properly??)
- Someone falls madly in love Sam: 1 (blergh, Narim – get over it)
- Sam reciprocates: 0 (you go girl)
- Jack gets seduced: 1 (well, it was a mutual seduction with Laira)
- Daniel gets seduced: 1 (
at least she’s not evil(hahaha she’s amnesiac Linnea) but it’s literally immediately after Sha’re dies soooo that’s rude) - Sam gets seduced: 0
- Teal’c gets seduced: 0
- The team brings dangerous stuff back to Earth: 2 (once wasn’t SG1’s fault)
- Something timey-wimey happens: 1 (plus one alt-timeline)
- Daniel apparently gets killed: 0 (but also that time Daniel went out of phase; turns out I love shows where actors have to not respond to someone who’s meant to be invisible)
- Jack apparently gets killed: 0 (briefly out of phase)
- Sam apparently gets killed: 0 (briefly out of phase)
- Teal’c apparently gets killed: 1
- Jack gets replaced / becomes an alien avatar: 1.5 (half because the Goa’uld binding didn’t take)
- Sam gets replaced: 0
- Daniel gets replaced: 1
- Teal’c gets replaced: 0
- Everybody else at the SGC gets replaced: 1
- Sam and Jack have A Moment: 2 (sometimes they’re really brief but I see them) (Jack and alt!Sam doesn’t count)
- Maybourne gets thwarted: 1 (serious lack of Maybourne in this season)
- Extra special episodes where it’s not Maybourne’s fault / he actually helps: 0.5 (because there was one episode where he was MEANT to help but instead he was an ARSE and only helped EVENTUALLY; at least he gave Carter the credit)
- Specific human cultures represented:
- Medieval European Christians?!
- Keb is vaguely Buddhist? the flutes, the architecture… the monk’s robes, speaking vaguely in koans… this one also makes me uncomfortable
- Goa’uld encountered:
- Hathor (RIP)
- Seth (distressingly, but appropriately, hot; RIP)
- Chronos
- Yu (we haven’t had many non-vaguely-Western deities, I guess this is a good thing?)
- Nirrti (again) (I had missed she’s meant to be a Hindu goddess… so yeh, another one from a living religion, not cool)
- Amaunet (RIP)
- Bynarr
- Sokar
- Reincarnated!Apophis
- did everyone forget Sokar had a sarcophagus? I had!
- he just won’t die
- I love the way he tells Teal’c “It is I, your god, Apophis” as if Teal’c could have forgotten his name
- Klorel
- Zipacna
