Customer Reviews

Stargate SG-1 - Season 8 Boxed Set

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

As I said in my review for Season 7 of Stargate: SG-1, I cannot think of any other show in history that has had more false endings than this. The writers were preparing for cancellation during both the sixth and seventh seasons, and the plans with those finales was to leave a cliffhanger to be resolved in an upcoming motion picture. However, the Sci Fi channel kept renewing SG-1, making the movie idea irrelevant. Finally, we get to Season 8. Richard Dean Anderson, who plays central character Jack O'Neill (who gets promoted to General this year) stated that this would be his last season as a regular, a spin-off series, Stargate: Atlantis started up, and the plotlines of the show had already started to be resolved in the previous year. So now the writers were absolutely convinced at the beginning of the year that Season 8 would be the final season. They decided to make this year kind of like a big send-off for the series (very similarly to Buffy the Vampire Slayer's final season). Strangely enough, SG-1 was picked up for a NINTH year, tying it with The X-Files for the longest running American sci-fi show.
The year began with the great two-part episode "New Order". With O'Neill still in stasis after the battle in Antarctica the previous year, Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson) is still in charge of the SGC. Sam Carter (Amanda Tapping), who becomes a Colonel this year, and Teal'c (Christopher Judge) try to contact the Asgard about O'Neill's condition when they encounter an old nemesis they thought was vanquished: the Replicators. Meanwhile, on Earth, Weir and Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) receive a very strange request from the Goa'uld system lords: they want to form an alliance with Earth. Now that Anubis is (supposedly) gone, the System Lord Ba'al (Cliff Simon) has been absorbing Anubis' armies, weapons, ships, and technologies in an attempt to rule the Milky Way galaxy. By the episode's end, Weir has left (on her way to Atlantis), O'Neill is now in charge of the SGC, and the now three-person SG-1 realizes that a big fight will be coming now that the Replicators have returned and the Goa'uld "government" is beginning to crumble.
The next couple episodes are fair; one of them exists only to show O'Neill adjusting to his new rank, one shows Teal'c trying to adjust to life outside the SGC, while the others are standard fare that could have occurred during pretty much any other season. Then we get the episode "Covenant", where a media mogul may have discovered evidence of alien life in our galaxy. Since this was supposed to be the final season, the promos for the episode made it seem as if the Stargate program was going to be revealed to the public (sadly, things didn't go quite as the promos promised, but it was still a good episode, and was left open-ended, so they may do a follow-up in Season 9).
In later episodes, we encounter a human-form Replicator that was constructed in the image of Col. Carter, a new character named Vala (Claudia Black) who caused some trouble for Jackson, and probably the greatest clip show EVER (I must say, the Stargate writers know how to use clip shows effectively). "Citizen Joe" has Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer Simpson, and one of Richard Dean Anderson's heroes) playing Joe Sullivan, a barber in Indiana who, due to an Ancient device, sees flashes of Stargate missions. Throughout the 8 years, he writes them down, forsaking his job and his family. In the process of the episode, inside jokes and cracks at some of the shows less-than-stellar episodes are made (Stargate can make fun of itself like no other), my favorite being about the mysterious Furlings. We know this race exists, but we've never encountered them. When one of Joe's customers asks about them, he responds that he's sure they'll pop up soon.
Everything leads up to the last five episodes, "Reckoning, Parts 1 and 2", the 90-minute "Threads", and the season finale (which was supposed to be the series finale), "Moebius, Parts 1 and 2", which bring the entire franchise full circle by, in a sense, going back to the Stargate movie that started it all. Huge changes are made in these episodes, which are all great, and have a big impact on what can happen in Season 9 (although, as I've said, the writers weren't anticipating going on for another season). Some of the best scenes in the entire series take place in these five episodes, and I must say that the way they ended "Threads" and "Moebius, Part 2" is just great.
While this wasn't the best season of the show (I haven't decided if I should award S4 or S7 with that honor yet), it was definitely one of the best. Even though some of its stand-alone episodes were just fair (a problem that plagued S5, which was the worst year, in my opinion), the episodes dealing with the larger story-lines were just fantastic. Even though I am very happy with S9 so far, this would have made a perfect ending to a great series. I am interested to see what will happen at the end of the series, see as how I believe that "Moebius" is the only way this show could ever end.

As it states across the top that it is the complete eighth season, they have finally added the unedited Threads episode! With no mention of it on the outer box, I wonder if they are downplaying it and don't want to admit the previous blunder.

Anyway, this season was a very solid year for SG-1, and with the exception of the real dud, Avatar, where Teal'c gets stuck in a virtual reality device (oh, my, how many times have we had this storyline beaten to death in the sci-fi world), I enjoyed every episode. We had a healthy dose of humor injected episodes: Affinity, Prometheus Unbound, Zero Hour, and Citizen Joe. We had some team altering dramatics, including yet another death to an SG member. We had the return of old enemies (Anubis) and some new ones (the replicator Carter). And we also got an incredible finish of 5 startling epsidodes to end the season.

I think that the high quality of the scripts and dramatic episodes helped take your mind of the loss of screen time for Richard Dean Anderson. His moments in the series though, were key, and his presence was well known. Even with less lines, he always managed to throw in his dry wit, especially to Baal in the Reckoning two parter.

The series just keeps proving that it's high quality sci-fi, and well worth owning on DVD with the rest of the series. These new slimline cases are nice, but if you already have the chunkier ones, I see no need to buy these again, unless you are after the longer version of Threads in this Season 8 set.

Season Eight of STARATE SG-1 was in many ways one of transition. Richard Dean Anderson was beginning to end his involvement with the show, but having him sorta in-sorta out upset the balance of the SG-1 team and created an absence at the heart of the show. Over the previous seven seasons, the four members of the SG-1 team had developed considerable chemistry and contributed uniquely to balancing the cast. Despite being a colonel, O'Neill excelled at shooting from the hip and injecting verbal anarchy into things. Sam was always great for the scientific take on things, while Daniel brought an equally scholarly but more historical and humane take on things. Teal'c, meanwhile, brought a Stoic, almost Spartan, slant to the show. But with O'Neill spending most of his time on base as the new head of SG-1, the chemistry was off. This was corrected in Season Nine with Ben Browder--who brought many of the same qualities to the show as Richard Dean Anderson--joining the cast. But in Season Eight, things just aren't quite right.

Not that this interfered with the writing. The ongoing saga of the struggle between humans and their allies against the Goa'uld and the Replicators reached new levels, with the good guys pretty achieving close to final victory against each. But for the first time a few of the episodes were a bit flat and uninspired. STARGATE SG-1's greatest virtue has long been the remarkable consistency of its writing and the continuance of the increasingly complex core mythology. It may have lacked the narrative richness of FARSCAPE or the depth of character development of FIREFLY, but it had the great advantage of producing a staggering number of very good episodes. If its peaks weren't as high as FARSCAPE, its valleys weren't nearly as low (as much as I adore FARSCAPE, which I consider the best Sci-fi series ever, it had some real clunker episodes to go along with some masterpieces). But in Season Eight, we saw for the first time some episodes that simply weren't very good. Luckily, Season Nine would see a return to form.

Hints of good things to come came in the episode "Prometheus Unbound," in which the character of Vala Mal Doran was introduced. Claudia Black, who plays Vala and who appeared on FARSCAPE as Aeryn Sun, is introduced in this episode in a way that pays homage to FARSCAPE. Just as John Crichton first thinks Aeryn Sun is a man before she removes the helmet of her solid black suit, so Daniel Jackson thinks she is a man before she removes her helmet. That is where the comparisons between the two characters end. If Aeryn Sun is disciplined, militaristic, self-denying, repressed, and stern, Vala is feisty, unscrupulous, slutty, tricky, and fun loving. It is as if Claudia Black decided she wanted to do her own version of FARSCAPE's Chiana. The episode is not one of the more important episodes in terms of narrative, but in terms of fun, it is hands down the best episode of the season. The chemistry between Daniel and Vala is great, not primarily sexually but interpersonally, as if each possesses in abundance the qualities the other lacks. Vala was easily one of the best guest characters in the first eight seasons of the show. Luckily, it was decided to have Claudia Black revive Vala as a fulltime character starting Season Nine, although that was interrupted by a real life pregnancy. She has, however, returned as an opening credits character in Season Ten. The show's writers have done, however, a very smart thing in keeping Vala more closely linked to Daniel Jackson than Col. Mitchell, played by Ben Browder. Though there have been a couple of subtle jokes passed between Black and Browder (such as Vala looking at him the first time she is in her presence and wondering if they had met before), the two have more or less been left un-paired. (For those who have not seen FARSCAPE, the series in large part revolved around the star-crossed romance between Black's Aeryn Sun and Browder's John Crichton. Their romance is not merely the great TV Sci-fi romance of all time, but makes many fan and critic lists of the all time great TV romances of any genre.) But in all this I anticipate Seasons 9 and 10.

The main plot developments in Season 8 centers on the victories over the enemies of the first eight seasons. In a way, it also largely ends the show as we have known it. I'm almost tempted to called Seasons 1-8 STARGATE SG-1 Part I and Seasons 9-10 STARGATE SG-1 Part II, so many things change. Season 8 is Richard Dean Anderson's last as a full time cast member, the final season in which the Replicators and the Goa'uld function as the major enemies (though Baal manages to survive, it isn't at all clear that the Goa'uld will ever manage to play a major role on the show again), and the beginning of the shift of the show from Egyptian and Norse mythology in the first eight seasons to Arthurian mythology in subsequent ones. After this season the show--called by many FARGATE for the changes in the cast--would focus on the Ori instead of the Goa'uld. There would be one further change in the show. For the first eight seasons, STARGATE told an ongoing narrative, but it did so through what were essentially self-contained episodes. In Season 9 it would become more and more serial in structure, with one episode more or less picking up on what happened the previous week. There is no question that the serial form is superior to the episode form. Network executives detest the serial form because it makes it difficult to attract new viewers. But given the extreme maturity of STARGATE, perhaps the Sci-fi Channel feels that the show is unlikely to attract new viewers and has permitted the transition to a serial in order to retain the viewers it already has.

So, in some ways this season is the ending of the show as we have known it. And a very good run it has been. What has kept the show going has been a willingness to continually grow and change. And I'm confident that it is what will keep the show going for a few more seasons.

This is not a review of Season 8, but a review of this DVD set. I love Stargate SG-1 and own all the previous seasons on DVD. I also loved season 8 and was thrilled to pre-order it and couldn't wait until it arrived. However, I have been very disappointed with this DVD release. Only the short (heavily edited) version of the episode Threads was included and many of the extras that were on the Region 2 disks were not included on the Region 1 (US) version.

The features on the UK DVDs that we did not get on the US DVDs:

* Full (unedited, longer) version of Threads
* Director's Series for Threads
* Michael Shanks: A Convention Experience
* Amanda Tapping: A Convention Experience
* The Last Days of Teal'c featurette
* From Stargate to Atlantis featurette
* Two Secrets Revealed specials
* An interview with Mallozzi & Mullie (writers/producers)
* Director's Series for Moebius
* The Lowdown that aired pre season seven (which had an extra 15 minutes that were only on this DVD -- I think this may have been split into two parts, but I'm not positive)

I don't understand why the same features can't be included on all DVD releases for the same show. I've been waiting for months to see The Last Days of Teal'c and the convention featurettes especially only to be disappointed. I recorded all the episodes myself already so I wouldn't have purchased these DVDs except for the extras.

Edited to add:
TVshowsonDVD.com has reported that MGM plans to replace the disk for Threads with a disk containing the unedited version. That doesn't address the problem of the extras, but it's a start and nice that they responded to fans' dismay so quickly.

I won't go into detail about this season as many other reviewers have written wonderful synopsis of the episodes, but I will say this: a potentially five star season DVD has been reduced to two because it is simply not complete nor up to the quality of the season seven and six sets. 'Threads' is the shorter syndicated version of the episode and there is no commentary on it either.

I'm sorry for giving this such a low rating, but MGM/Sony needs to get their DVD releases together,

Season 8 saw the writing team wrapping up all the story lines of the previous seven years and they did so in a very satisfactory manner. It is my personal opinion that season 8 was the best year of the show and their is no better example of that then "Threads" SG-1's greatest episode which wraps up three important story arcs in an unbelievably satisfactory manner.
Even though the show will continue in another form this is really the end of the series and as a long time stargate fan it was a very satisfying end. I wish all tv shows could end like this.

I pre-oredered season 8 and waited in anticipation. What a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. I feel ripped off. the eposide threads is heavely edited, and alot of the extra's that the region 2 box set has are missing. I feel MGM has mislead Stargate fans. Would never have purchased it if I had known they where going to do this.

I loved the other 7 seasons I purchased.

This is really a great season of Stargate SG-1. While you may hear negative hype about it, do NOT listen to it. The entire season is magnificent. It is true that Richard Dean Anderson's role has been very scaled down and that season 8 is very earth-bound, but neither of these factors affect the over-all plots of the show. The screenwriting in episodes like 'It's Good to Be King' and 'Reckoning Parts 1 and 2' is phenomenal, as are the plots in episodes like 'New Order', 'Lockdown', and 'Full Alert'. The comedy factor that keeps the show so enjoyable is still present, and everything is so fun. Season 8 provides the perfect ending to the almost decade-long Goauld story arc (started in the Stargate movie from 1994) and leaves a nice open ending that is a perfect setup for the show's already terrific 9th season. The back half of the season gives the needed closure for RDA's departure as far as team relations go, and it also has what is in my opinion the best SG-1 episode ever: 'Threads'. I won't spoil it for you, but if you're a casual viewer you should absolutely pick this up ( actually, if you're just coming into the show definitely pick up seasons 1-7 first, they're great too). I think you'll really enjoy it.

the extras are getting worse...

very little behind the scenes stuff, and the commentaries range from horrible to OK. The worst commentary ever, in the history of DVD commentaries, was on New Order, parts 1 and 2.
Andy Mikita and Gary Jones basically sit and goof around, rarely talking about the show, and when they do they're insulting to the cast and crew. Add to that the usage of a four letter word that begins with sh, ends with it, and the commentary is basically useless. I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but a lot of SG-1 fans are young kids and this just isn't appropriate.
Gary Jones should not be used for commentaries ever again. Everything is a joke to this guy, to the point that he's trying to be funny when it's not appropriate. I mean, he may be a nice guy and all, but gimme a break already.

The transfer is decent, but as usual the geniuses at MGM encode these dvds in 29.97 with the 3:2 pulldown PRE-applied (and not in the proper 23.976 format with 3:2 pulldown flags in the encode), which results in interlacing being apparent in many cuts - which just looks unprofessional, and also decreases quality as the bitrate has to account for 6 extra frames every second. Encoding this way also affects the quality of the extra frames, as they're interlaced and can contain visual information from two different scenes, which causes colorization issues.
This is an issue which has plagued these box sets from Season 1 and nobody seems to care.
Call me a perfectionist, but knowing how easy it is to do this correctly, I have a problem with paying $50 when it's done incorrectly.

The season itself was good, aside from Mobeus, which completely ruined not just the season but the future of the entire series.
Loose ends are tied up and the Goa'uld are finally defeated.

Worth renting, not worth buying until the full Threads is included, and Gary Jones permanently banned from making commentaries.

If you didn't get the longer version of Threads episode on your Stargate SG-1 Season 8 DVD, Here is the link to get a replacement dvd which will have the full length Threads episode which was shortened on original DVD.

http://www.checkmyrebate.com/Details.asp?promo=AAN

Otherwise I really liked Season 8, because the DVD for region 1 has a french language dubbed track and also french subtitles.. a fun way to get some emersion in french. The only other Stargate Season with french was Season 1. Not sure why it isn't consistent, most of the other Seasons have no language or subtitle alternatives, just the English track.