Tonight, the final episode of Stargate SG-1 aired in the U.S. It was a decent enough episode, but not in my view a great finale for the show.
The irony of it all is that from seasons 5 through 8, the creators of the show wrote each season expecting it to be the last, each time receiving a "surprise renewal" (after making what they'd thought was the series finale) to extend the show for another year. And each of those four season finales, as they turned out to be, would have served excellently as a conclusion to the entire show.
This time out, however, there had been more of an expectation that there would indeed be another season after this one. The principle actors had all already signed contracts that would cover it. But this time, the show really did end -- and the creators only found out about it with five episodes in the season left to be written.
And that's what frankly showed in this series finale. It looked hastily cobbled together. Having written four other "series finales" before this, they clearly knew the sorts of emotional touchstones the writing needed to hit upon. But, having written four other "series finales" before this, they'd exhausted all the best ways to do that with any degree of originality. All that remained was to be derivative, or go with "second best" options. They did some of both, cribbing an "alternate reality" tale in the fashion of their eighth season ("series") finale, and stuffing in as many beats of closure as the mere 42 minutes could hold. (Not many.)
While I've never held Stargate in as high esteem as, say, Deep Space Nine or Battlestar Galactica, I think it deserved to go out on a stronger note than this. But then, perhaps that's fitting, since (once again) it's not quite ending. The Atlantis spin-off lives on (with a character from SG-1 hopping over next season), and a pair of direct-to-DVD movies are already being made. Perhaps a better ending is still to be had down the road.
6 comments:
I was super annoyed that they showed the Atlantis coming-next-season commercial in the middle of the SG1 finale. it removed all tension from the episode as I was assured that they would survive (because one of them was moving to Atlantis!)
it also had a "Voyager and the time bomb" ending where they might have been able to send an automated message back without affecting anybody permanently (it was still a cool twist)
and I really thought the Ori story could have gone on way longer than it did. lots of lost potential there...
oh and I need to give a big "yay!" to Kaylee from Firefly as the new doctor on Atlantis! yay! Stargate continues it's legacy of home for the wayward scifi actors!
the mole
Wow, I keep forgetting how far behind Sci-fi is on showing these. I saw the final episode nearly seven months ago...
The first "direct to dvd" (if you can call it that, since it will still air on Sci-fi first), is the actual conclusion to the series, as it wraps up the Ori storyline and explains how the group breaks up.
The second movie is a stand-alone alternate universe movie.
Then of course, since SGA is still going, I'm not really sure you can call Stargate "over", since they will only step-up crossovers with the SG1 cast.
Finally, SG Universe is basically in pre-production for a 2008 start, and although it hasn't been officially picked up yet (nothing has for the 2008 season yet), it is pretty much a solid go at this point. The only saving grace of this show, from my perspective, is that it will NOT share any cast members, nor settings, as the first two shows.
Basically, lots of SG left to go, so I'm not sure how satisfying of an ending they could have made, seeing as how they couldn't do major changes without hurting the other projects.
It would seem Carter is supposed to replace Weir next season on Atlantis, which would be a good thing. Not only is Amanda Tapping easier on the eyes, but her delivery, while not top-notch, is far better than Torri Higginson.
I gotta add that those spoiler-commercials DID add tension to the Atlantis finale, and the fate of Weir. she mentioned stepping down but then got toasted so now it's a bit of curiosity if she survives or is not going to make it.
oh and continuing the Stargate tradition as home for the wayward scifi actors, it even applies to themselves as Carter joins the crew of Atlantis! :)
the mole
I'm not sure I was looking for a major note of finality in the SG-1 conclusion. I actually sort of liked that the *ending* of the show was just "we're off through the gate on another adventure." But the emotional resonance of the episode itself didn't seem to reach as deeply as the finales of previous seasons managed to do. Where those felt like series finales and ended up only being season finales, this in many ways felt like a mere season finale that ended up being a series finale.
Or something.
Yeah, Evan, that was exactly my problem. Plus, when they were trying to be deeply emotional, it didn't work. Daniel's dramatic back and forth with Vala was a bit hollow. General Landry's passing wasn't as saddening as the same fate befalling General Hammond or General O'Neill. Mitchell's breakdown was about the only scene that had any resonance.
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