Stargate SG-1 Minicaps / Season 5, Eps. 21-22 and Season Five Highlights

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

The Stargate SG-1 Season Five Minicaps is just going to try and pretend that one character’s demise is going to last. Spoilers: it doesn’t.

Stewart here…

In the fight for the galaxy this season, Anubis is an old/new player that has shifted power dramatically. With most of SG-1’s allies either gone or on the fences, you’d think things wouldn’t get worse. Well, they do. And that’s after the team itself takes a heartbreaking loss…

“Meridian”

While negotiating with an advanced civilization, Daniel is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. With not long to live, the rest of the team try to find out the mysterious circumstances of Daniel’s death sentence and try to cure it by any means necessary. Meanwhile, Daniel hangs in limbo as he’s offered a chance to Ascend like the Ancients. Bring tissues for this one, folks.

Great thing about Ascending? No need to worry about corpses.

–So there are stories as to why Daniel was “killed off”/Ascended, but whatever happened, it wasn’t permanent, because you will see him again (albeit not in a regular capacity) in season six.

–Jonas Quinn, the defecting scientist who blows the lid on what really happened to Daniel, will pop up again regularly next season.

–So what happened to Jonas’ people, even though he stole some of that Naquadria stuff and his government is still making a giant bomb with that stuff? Next season, everyone…

–When Teal’c loses it saying goodbye to Daniel, I felt the same way.

–O’Neill on Daniel: “Because despite the fact that you’ve been a terrific pain in the ass for the last five years I may have…might have grown to admire you a little, I think.”

“Revelations”

With little time to grieve over the loss of one of their own, SG-1 gets sent on an important rescue mission for an Asgard scientist in this season finale. But add to that, Thor is captured by Anubis and Osiris, and the team (as it is) must also save him before Anubis learns the Asgard’s secrets. Of course, sneaking in and getting out of the ship Thor is being held has its own problems. As a season ender, its one of the more packed ones, as it sets up a next season that at the time, wasn’t completely assured (more on that in the notes below). And hey, we don’t go out on a big cliffhanger this time!

WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUR FACE?

–This was the last episode to be produced and shown on Showtime (hence, the lack of cliffhanger and the quick resolution of this episode), before it was picked up for the remainder of its run on Sci-Fi (or Syfy).

–This episode was actually shot before “Meridian”, which posed a challenge for the actors because they had to act like a major event like Daniel leaving just happened before it actually did.

–So is Ascended Daniel still around helping them? Maybe.

–Anubis, based on his black puddle face under that hood and cloak, isn’t entirely humanoid. What he is will be something made clear as the series rolls on.

–Another significant reveal is the Asgard are clones, and are starting to degrade with every new iteration. And meanwhile, Thor’s experience being interrogated by Anubis has left him in a coma, and Anubis has learned a bit from the Asgard, so we’re talking “bigger than Apophis” problems for next season.

–Teal’c: “Our chances of escape are negligible.”
O’Neill: “Oh, I don’t know. All we’ve got to do is bust out of here, take out every Jaffa between here and the pel’tak, commandeer the ship, and fly on home.”
Teal’c: “I stand corrected.”

“Where are the female humans at?”

And that’s it for the season five minicaps of Stargate SG-1, but before we leave, here’s some highlights of the season:

–BEST EPISODES: “Enemies”, “Wormhole X-Treme!”, “Summit/Last Stand”, “Meridian”

–WORST EPISODES: “Ascension”, “The Sentinel”

–THINGS WE LEARNED THIS SEASON: Curing Goa’uld brainwashing is never easy, don’t rely on your allies for everything, and be wary of bigger enemies on the horizon. Also, just because you’ve Ascended doesn’t mean you’re dead.

–SAMANTHA CARTER BOYFRIEND COUNTER: Her Tollan buddy? Probably dead. Her invisible friend from “Ascension”? Dead. That symbiote in Martouk? Dead. It’s been a banner year here.

–TEAL’C’S ‘INDEED’ COUNTER: Not high, but resting comfortably in the 8 out of 10 range.

–PREDICTIONS FOR SEASON SIX: Daniel’s coming back in the season premiere, right? It’s not like they’re going to replace him with someone else, yeah?

–SEASON FIVE ANALYSIS: Season five of Stargate SG-1 was a season of endings. It marked the death of longtime foe Apophis, the end of allies the Tollans, and sadly, the death/Ascension of Dr. Daniel Jackson. Also, it was end of the show’s run on premium cable outlet Showtime, reflected in the cliffhanger-less season finale. The series obviously would go on for another five seasons, but it would be at another cable network more suited to them.

And season five does set up a lot of stuff for the potential next season or two. There’s still the threat of the mysterious Anubis, and the extinction of the Asgard to contend with by season’s end. But the team is now a member short for season six, and that slot is about to be filled by a face from this season (from this very round of Minicaps, in fact). And the team may end up getting help from their Ascended friend in the fight against Anubis…

RIP Daniel Jackson (until about season six, but really season seven).

NEXT TIME: We start season six of the Stargate SG-1 Minicaps as Teal’c reunites with his son in the midst of tragedy and the rest of the team has to stop the Stargate from being turned into a massive bomb in the two part “Redemption”, the team tries to escape a submerged Goa’uld ship in “Descent”, and a unfrozen alien may be an unknowing threat in “Frozen”.