Stargate SG-1 Minicaps / Season 3, Eps. 5-8

The Stargate SG-1 Season Two Minicaps only used that extra Gate once, and it was for business purposes only.

The bounty on the Stargate SG-1 Season Three Minicaps is not that high. Barely worth the effort to hunt it down.

Stewart here…

SG-1 has been busy. They killed Hathor, negotiated the safety of Earth from other System Lords, and managed to kill an ancient Goa’uld on Earth. Not too bad, considering how much time laid out they’ve been clocking in the meantime. Let’s see what they do with this round of minicaps…

“Learning Curve”

An exchange program between a technologically advanced society and the SGC reveals a disturbing truth. The children of the planet learn everything, and then upload that info to the rest of that society, rendering them almost infant-like. O’Neill becomes attached to one super-smart girl, and goes against orders to teach a valuable lesson to her. Also: fun with crayons!

“Eh, kinda looks like me, or MacGyver. Hard to tell.”

–In a case of unexpected results, O’Neill’s day trip with Merrin inadvertently gets the idea to the adults to start re-educating the other Urrone kids left brain-drained by the Ovarium procedure. So, things work out, I guess.

–Considering the events of the previous episode, its easy to see everyone at the SGC getting a bit touchy when hearing about nanites.

–Am I the only one who saw that Naquadah reactor and thought, “is that a mini-Borg shoe box?”

–So now the Aztecs got shafted by the Goa’uld and their future kin ended up on Orban.

–Between Kalan’s self portrait and that kid’s painting of O’Neill, its an episode full of odd portraits.

“Point of View”

Remember that alternate reality Daniel tripped into because of that mirror at the end of season one? Well, another alternate reality version of Carter and Kawalski go through that mirror from an Earth conquered by Apophis. In order to get that Carter to safety (its a pesky temporal problem), the team launches a mission into that occupied reality to get help through that Stargate. Easier said than done with Apophis’ forces all over that reality’s SGC.

O’Neill’s wet dream come true, or worst nightmare, depending on the circumstances.

–An interesting thing happens this episode that season one’s parallel reality trip never got into: that two of the same person from different realities can’t exist in one reality for long.

–And we get another reality where O’Neill and Carter hooked up (and where that O’Neill has met a nasty end) which makes parallel reality Carter’s fawning and kissing our O’Neill kinda awkward for our Carter. It does also leads to the hilarious moment where O’Neill has to stop the two Carters from drifting into technobabble.

–Great moment where our Teal’c kills that reality’s Teal’c seconds after declining the offer to betray Apophis. Clearly no love for parallel reality Teal’cs for our favorite Jaffa.

–So, we get another quick save from the Asgard in that parallel reality, and apparently resurrection technology based on how quick they revive that reality’s Hammond.

–“Oh come on, you gotta love those guys!” Yeah, O’Neill, its hard not to like the Asgard.

“Deadman Switch”

On a survey mission, the team gets captured by bounty hunter Aris Boch, and learn that they do have a price on their heads. However, Boch will let them go if he helps them locate and capture a Goa’uld called Kel’tar. Then things get complicated when Kel’tar is revealed to be a high-ranking Tok’ra, and SG-1 realizes turning him over to System Lord Sokar would be disastrous. It’s a fun episode that keeps the twists coming to the last minute.

“Stay still! This helmet doesn’t help my vision much!”

–It’s Flash Gordon himself, Sam Jones, as the crafty but ultimately good guy bounty hunter Aris Boch.

–So, Boch’s people are addicted to narcotics that can kill them if not taken, kinda like the Jem’Hadar from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

—Mikta translated is not “neck”. The things you learn.

–“And? But? So? Therefore?”

–Upon hearing of Carter’s promotion, Boch’s response: “Oh, well. How very important. I’ll inform the galaxy.”

“Demons”

SG-1 runs into a planet with a society descended from Christianity (more the Dark Ages Christianity than anything else, and almost immediately things get awkward. They save a woman from being sacrificed to a “demon”, and the scared townspeople are threatened by said “demon” (surprise, a Unas under Sokar’s command) to deliver more souls to be “sacrificed”. Too bad for SG-1 that the townspeople think they’ll do just fine to fill that quota. So it’s religious hysteria mixed with a nearly unkillable nemesis this episode.

“OK, that was mean saying you look fugly! I’M SORRY!”

–Teal’c survives his supposedly fatal drowning because his larvae is used to oxygenating fluids.

–So we get the satisfaction of killing that weasely Canon after he gets possessed by that Goa’uld in that dying Unas.

–The big thing about the “sacrifices” is their true fate to be hosts for other Goa’uld. Kind of creepy factory way to get more hosts.

–Teal’c has read the Bible, which puts him ahead of O’Neill in that department.

–O’Neill’s knowledge of the Bible: “Actually I’m listening to it on tape. Don’t tell me how it ends.”

NEXT TIME: Things get odd when SG-1 lands in the middle of a fight between an SG team and a Jaffa army in “Rules of Engagement”, a tragic confrontation with Sha’re shakes Daniel to the core in “Forever In A Day”, a planet suffers from a major case of amnesia in “Past and Present”, and the team tries to rescue Carter’s dad from a deadly moon in “Jolinar’s Memories”.