SG1 Season 9 thoughts
July 31, 2005
As Scorpius in Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars said: “John Chricton is alive.” And he happened to land in a different show.
Having watched all three parts of the Season 9′s opening episode, I can say with some certainty that it really is difficult for some actors to grow past roles that we have known them in. Cameron Mitchell’s characterization is chock full of Chricton moments that it’s hard not to expect a floating animatronic Hynerian popping up at any given moment. Caludia Black does a better job making Vala her own: the sultry, kooky, whorish former Goa’uld treasure hunter is a fresh addition to the show. She has her Aeryn Sun moments, no doubt, but they are not as pronounced as that of Browder’s.
In Farscape, Aeryn Sun was the one who was always serious; Chricton, on the other hand, tried to make light of his new life in the new galaxy full of new aggravations with every episode. He was funny, even in a nervous way. In SG-1, however, Browder’s humorous antics (his swordfight with the Ancient holographic suit of armor reminded me too much of the Farscape episode, Crackers Don’t Matter) do not belong to a Lt. Col., at least not in the frequency and degree which his character showed it. His sass doesn’t belong in the Stargate Program, it belongs in a cereal commercial.
This problem that plagues familiar faces in familiar roles isn’t exclusive to Browder either. SG-1‘s new chief doctor is played by Lexa Doig—Michael Shanks’ wife and better known as The Andromeda Ascendant in Andromeda—and watching her is like watching the Andromeda go about her business, only in a medical function.
In all fairness, it will take time for them to feel snug in their new roles, and I like the show enough to be forgiving of these weaknesses. I just hope things get better over the next few episodes.
I’ve rather enjoyed Browder, but that’s probably because I never really saw any of Farscape. Though I’d imagine I’d probably have problems if Mitchell were played by someone I was more familiar with from the genre (Gary Cole, Nathan Fillion, etc.)… certainly, I can’t get Beau Bridges’ role in Maximum Bob out of my head.
And, plot-wise, I think SG-1 is going in an interesting direction (as opposed to meandering, which is what it’s basically done since Shanks came back in S7 and they jettisoned where they were going with Jonas Quinn).
Plotwise I do like it. How long was Anubis a shadow over them? Three seasons, was it?
More… the first stirrings of Nubie were back in mid-Season 5 (“Summit”), and he didn’t go away permanently [hopefully] until the end of S8 (“Threads”).
Mind you, I’m still confused about the episodes where they reused the optical of Sokar’s home planet and dressed Nubie up as Sokar (and it was even more confusing since the guy who plays Sokar also played Nubie). WTF was that about?