Stargate SG-1: The First Commandment
August 28, 2024 9:33 AM - Season 1, Episode 5 - Subscribe
SG-1 is sent on a mission to find the mysteriously missing SG-9 team. O'Neill then discovers that Carter's former fiancé thinks he's a god and reigns as a brutal tyrant on the planet.
SG-1 is on a mission to retrieve SG-9, who have been declared MIA on Avnil. The team soon discover that leader of SG-9, Captain Jonas Hanson, is posing as the "god" of the planet's inhabitants, who willingly protect him. SG-1 must interfere and stop Jonas before it's too late.
SG-1 is on a mission to retrieve SG-9, who have been declared MIA on Avnil. The team soon discover that leader of SG-9, Captain Jonas Hanson, is posing as the "god" of the planet's inhabitants, who willingly protect him. SG-1 must interfere and stop Jonas before it's too late.
Is this the closest we get to a Heart of Darkness styled SG story? I think it is, but I guess if we stick around with the rewatch, I'll find out one way or the other! (on review, what Carillon said)
It was an odd hook to make Hanson a former fiancé of Carter's and their interactions were kind of odd with regard to things Hanson says to her and what she told everyone else about their relationship. On the flip side, Hanson comes across like a jerk and Carter's "I don't know what I saw in him" makes a lot of sense in that she realized he was a jerk and didn't want to marry him.
I did love Teal'c getting complimented on his drawing though, and enjoyed them having to grapple with the fact that they are coming into these worlds with a lot higher tech level, they still don't have the level of the Goauld.
"Thank you." That was a nice simple moment in the episode.
Adherence to the chain of command is not a hallmark of this team, for what it's worth. Jack's conversation with Carter at the end raises questions on what constitutes murder versus sanctioned killing. Carter will definitely be using her government issued weaponry against jaffa and other enemies down the road, killing them. Is it a self-defense situation? Making her not kill Hanson is fair enough, but at the same time, she's smart enough to shoot him in the leg or otherwise incapacitate him. That part of it didn't make much sense. The other flipside of Jack's conversation, it almost felt as if he spoke with regret for things he had done. I.e., "I'm already down that path, you don't want to join me."
The passage of time from the first episode to this one is a big question. As is, SG-9 had been on the planet for a month I think before things went downhill? And on top of that, there had been enough time to establish and send into the field an additional eight SG teams.
posted by Atreides at 11:45 AM on August 28
It was an odd hook to make Hanson a former fiancé of Carter's and their interactions were kind of odd with regard to things Hanson says to her and what she told everyone else about their relationship. On the flip side, Hanson comes across like a jerk and Carter's "I don't know what I saw in him" makes a lot of sense in that she realized he was a jerk and didn't want to marry him.
I did love Teal'c getting complimented on his drawing though, and enjoyed them having to grapple with the fact that they are coming into these worlds with a lot higher tech level, they still don't have the level of the Goauld.
"Thank you." That was a nice simple moment in the episode.
Adherence to the chain of command is not a hallmark of this team, for what it's worth. Jack's conversation with Carter at the end raises questions on what constitutes murder versus sanctioned killing. Carter will definitely be using her government issued weaponry against jaffa and other enemies down the road, killing them. Is it a self-defense situation? Making her not kill Hanson is fair enough, but at the same time, she's smart enough to shoot him in the leg or otherwise incapacitate him. That part of it didn't make much sense. The other flipside of Jack's conversation, it almost felt as if he spoke with regret for things he had done. I.e., "I'm already down that path, you don't want to join me."
The passage of time from the first episode to this one is a big question. As is, SG-9 had been on the planet for a month I think before things went downhill? And on top of that, there had been enough time to establish and send into the field an additional eight SG teams.
posted by Atreides at 11:45 AM on August 28
I also do really enjoy William Russ in this. Very much a who's that guy oh damn the dad from Boy Meets World. Nice to see him in a different affect here.
posted by Carillon at 2:50 PM on August 28 [1 favorite]
posted by Carillon at 2:50 PM on August 28 [1 favorite]
Interesting note about UV; O'Neill likes his sunglasses and wears them a lot (in other episodes). Jackson puts a pair on. But Carter... doesn't?!
Is it some kind of TV style-guide where Carter isn't allowed to cover her face? Nvmd, there was a split second showing her putting hers on. But then no-one wears theirs again.
I can't convince myself that they're not using those binoculars backwards.
Totally love the prone Stargate working like a pool.
posted by porpoise at 5:02 PM on August 28 [1 favorite]
Is it some kind of TV style-guide where Carter isn't allowed to cover her face? Nvmd, there was a split second showing her putting hers on. But then no-one wears theirs again.
I can't convince myself that they're not using those binoculars backwards.
Totally love the prone Stargate working like a pool.
posted by porpoise at 5:02 PM on August 28 [1 favorite]
I am getting such a TOS vibe off these episodes. This one was a mix of say Patterns of Force (or maybe Bread and Circuses), with a splash of What Are Little Girls Made Of? with Carter as Nurse Chapel and Colonel Kurtz or whoever he was as her Roger Korby.
And of course they're already having to lampshade the fact that every planet they go to looks like British Columbia. And will continue to do so because that's what they've got. There was one desert planet, and everywhere else in the galaxy is temperate oceanic climate with lots of thick forest. They're doing their best. The last episode the planet looked like British Columbia but it was tidally locked with a day and a night side. (And how were all those forests growing on the night side anyway?) And this planet looks like British Columbia but the sun is really hostile to life and there are no birds. Of course those trees the Goa'uld planted all over the galaxy except on Abydos can survive it.
Considered on its own, this wasn't a terrible episode I guess. I agree it would have benefited from more time to build up the show's mythology. I kind of like the way the team is able to completely convert people to their cause wherever they go. Of course Teal'c himself is the ur-example of this, but this time they've got that one guy they catch off by himself, scare him half to death, and by the end he's in their uniform waving a gun around and practically yelling Semper Fi! It's an odd sort of plot-driven superpower, but it somehow kind of feels right for the characters.
posted by Naberius at 5:42 PM on August 28 [1 favorite]
And of course they're already having to lampshade the fact that every planet they go to looks like British Columbia. And will continue to do so because that's what they've got. There was one desert planet, and everywhere else in the galaxy is temperate oceanic climate with lots of thick forest. They're doing their best. The last episode the planet looked like British Columbia but it was tidally locked with a day and a night side. (And how were all those forests growing on the night side anyway?) And this planet looks like British Columbia but the sun is really hostile to life and there are no birds. Of course those trees the Goa'uld planted all over the galaxy except on Abydos can survive it.
Considered on its own, this wasn't a terrible episode I guess. I agree it would have benefited from more time to build up the show's mythology. I kind of like the way the team is able to completely convert people to their cause wherever they go. Of course Teal'c himself is the ur-example of this, but this time they've got that one guy they catch off by himself, scare him half to death, and by the end he's in their uniform waving a gun around and practically yelling Semper Fi! It's an odd sort of plot-driven superpower, but it somehow kind of feels right for the characters.
posted by Naberius at 5:42 PM on August 28 [1 favorite]
Huh. I think this is the worst episode of Season 1, hands down, even more than Emancipation. Quoting bible verses in a little-kid performance mode as an adult conversation?! Yikes. I am quite fond of this show but this episode I find basically unwatchable. The other bits (enslaved work camp in a suspiciously familiar quarry) are I think handled better in both Need (soon) and Orpheus (way way later).
posted by janell at 10:44 PM on August 28 [2 favorites]
posted by janell at 10:44 PM on August 28 [2 favorites]
I do like the horizontal gate tho. You’d think they’d remember that come One Hundred Days.
posted by janell at 10:45 PM on August 28 [3 favorites]
posted by janell at 10:45 PM on August 28 [3 favorites]
Huh. I think this is the worst episode of Season 1, hands down, even more than Emancipation. Quoting bible verses in a little-kid performance mode as an adult conversation?!
In a way, it kind of makes it feel more like an old school TOS episode because of this.
posted by Atreides at 7:16 AM on August 29 [1 favorite]
In a way, it kind of makes it feel more like an old school TOS episode because of this.
posted by Atreides at 7:16 AM on August 29 [1 favorite]
Huh. I think this is the worst episode of Season 1, hands down
I mean Hathor is right around the corner . . .
posted by Carillon at 9:09 AM on August 29 [2 favorites]
I mean Hathor is right around the corner . . .
posted by Carillon at 9:09 AM on August 29 [2 favorites]
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I did love Teal'c getting complimented on his drawing though, and enjoyed them having to grapple with the fact that they are coming into these worlds with a lot higher tech level, they still don't have the level of the Goauld.
posted by Carillon at 11:34 AM on August 28