200 - Review
23/10/2008 05:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rachel500200 is the 6th episode in Season Ten of Stargate SG1 and the landmark 200th episode of the sci-fi show.
Review
Review
In light of the recent cancellation news watching SG1’s 200th episode was a bittersweet experience with the jokes of TV movies and cancellation/renewals of a TV series seeming oddly prophetic even though the reference is to SG1’s past not future. Setting this aside, 200 provides an amusing summary of the show’s history while poking fun at itself and its fans on one hand, and at the television business and sci-fi in general on the other. However, in delivering nicely executed individual set pieces it fails to deliver a cohesive whole with a disappointing ending.
200 is definitely an individual experience; the viewer is either going to love it or hate it depending on their own personal preferences and sense of humour. Having always sat in the camp which would have preferred the milestone episodes to be spectacles that showcase what great stories Stargate SG1 can tell, the news that 200 was to be another comedy piece with reference to the Wormhole X-treme nonsense of the 100th show filled me with trepidation, so I was somewhat surprised to find myself actually enjoying it.
The montage of sketches is well done within its flimsy excuse of giving advice to Martin Lloyd on his Wormhole X-treme movie script. There are a lot of pot shots at the show and its fans packed into the scenes; the convenient use of beaming, the cell phone coverage in the mountain, body-swapping, Mitchell single-handedly saving the planet, not mentioning the departed lead character, the inclusion of a sexy alien female, Sam’s technobabble, the long wait for Sam and Jack to finally get together…the list is endless and as a fan, there was a tremendous amount of satisfaction in identifying and getting the references and hence the joke.
The sketches themselves are well-executed; the attention to detail tremendous, the scenery and costumes fantastic and the cast and crew seem to have had tremendous fun putting them together. Some of them are just plain laugh out loud funny although this is a matter of personal taste; Teal’c as PI and the whole puppet sequence, but especially Don S Davis’s performance as General Hammond, get my vote as the funniest.
On a slightly more serious note, there were two sequences that showcased SG1 as a team; the original team dynamic was shown to perfection in the Invisible!Jack sequence and brought back a wave of nostalgia for the old days while the new team dynamic was equally highlighted in the Punk’d sequence and provided hope for the continuation of the team-feel that they have established this season so well. It was also great to see both versions of the teams united for the power walk through the gate and I admit to a warm, fuzziness when they all disappeared into the blue horizon.
The next reaction however was to look at the time and utter the word ‘huh?’ That moment had such a powerful emotional tug that it was a complete surprise that it wasn’t the end. The last segment of Wormhole X-treme cast and crew interviews was a little jarring; it detracted completely from the warm fuzziness of the ending with the SG1 characters going through the gate and instead created irritation with the Isaac Asimov quote an abrupt serious ending to what was otherwise complete silliness. Further, it made the whole episode, which was already clinging to the thin thread of movie advice to give it some semblance of cohesion by the skin of its teeth, feel incredibly disjointed. It’s a shame because that ending gives the impression that it wasn’t written with entertaining the audience in mind but actually primarily for the cast and crew. As a viewer I feel a little cheated; as a fan it feels a little churlish to moan over the makers of the show using some time on their 200th outing to have a moment of fun just for themselves.
The whole of 200 is not meant to be anything but fun. All is done with tongue firmly in cheek, although some bits with more love than others, and with the knowledge that nothing is to be taken seriously; not the sketches nor the seemingly ‘real’ bit of the team giving Marty feedback. Indeed, the show breaks down the suspension of disbelief at various times; the SG1 theme used as background music in the wedding sequence, the references to trailers, commercials, jumping the shark, the sudden wardrobe change of Walter. With this in mind, perhaps it doesn’t matter that it does feel disjointed and that the ending is a whimper rather than a bang.
The episode does showcase Stargate SG1 – maybe not in the way some including myself would have wanted but it does showcase it. It stands completely outside of the normal Stargate universe for me and viewing it as such allows me to enjoy the silliness and the underlying fondness for the show and its characters inherent throughout. In the end, perhaps the best response is to simply say thank you to cast, crew and all involved for 200 hours (and more) of entertainment.
200 is definitely an individual experience; the viewer is either going to love it or hate it depending on their own personal preferences and sense of humour. Having always sat in the camp which would have preferred the milestone episodes to be spectacles that showcase what great stories Stargate SG1 can tell, the news that 200 was to be another comedy piece with reference to the Wormhole X-treme nonsense of the 100th show filled me with trepidation, so I was somewhat surprised to find myself actually enjoying it.
The montage of sketches is well done within its flimsy excuse of giving advice to Martin Lloyd on his Wormhole X-treme movie script. There are a lot of pot shots at the show and its fans packed into the scenes; the convenient use of beaming, the cell phone coverage in the mountain, body-swapping, Mitchell single-handedly saving the planet, not mentioning the departed lead character, the inclusion of a sexy alien female, Sam’s technobabble, the long wait for Sam and Jack to finally get together…the list is endless and as a fan, there was a tremendous amount of satisfaction in identifying and getting the references and hence the joke.
The sketches themselves are well-executed; the attention to detail tremendous, the scenery and costumes fantastic and the cast and crew seem to have had tremendous fun putting them together. Some of them are just plain laugh out loud funny although this is a matter of personal taste; Teal’c as PI and the whole puppet sequence, but especially Don S Davis’s performance as General Hammond, get my vote as the funniest.
On a slightly more serious note, there were two sequences that showcased SG1 as a team; the original team dynamic was shown to perfection in the Invisible!Jack sequence and brought back a wave of nostalgia for the old days while the new team dynamic was equally highlighted in the Punk’d sequence and provided hope for the continuation of the team-feel that they have established this season so well. It was also great to see both versions of the teams united for the power walk through the gate and I admit to a warm, fuzziness when they all disappeared into the blue horizon.
The next reaction however was to look at the time and utter the word ‘huh?’ That moment had such a powerful emotional tug that it was a complete surprise that it wasn’t the end. The last segment of Wormhole X-treme cast and crew interviews was a little jarring; it detracted completely from the warm fuzziness of the ending with the SG1 characters going through the gate and instead created irritation with the Isaac Asimov quote an abrupt serious ending to what was otherwise complete silliness. Further, it made the whole episode, which was already clinging to the thin thread of movie advice to give it some semblance of cohesion by the skin of its teeth, feel incredibly disjointed. It’s a shame because that ending gives the impression that it wasn’t written with entertaining the audience in mind but actually primarily for the cast and crew. As a viewer I feel a little cheated; as a fan it feels a little churlish to moan over the makers of the show using some time on their 200th outing to have a moment of fun just for themselves.
The whole of 200 is not meant to be anything but fun. All is done with tongue firmly in cheek, although some bits with more love than others, and with the knowledge that nothing is to be taken seriously; not the sketches nor the seemingly ‘real’ bit of the team giving Marty feedback. Indeed, the show breaks down the suspension of disbelief at various times; the SG1 theme used as background music in the wedding sequence, the references to trailers, commercials, jumping the shark, the sudden wardrobe change of Walter. With this in mind, perhaps it doesn’t matter that it does feel disjointed and that the ending is a whimper rather than a bang.
The episode does showcase Stargate SG1 – maybe not in the way some including myself would have wanted but it does showcase it. It stands completely outside of the normal Stargate universe for me and viewing it as such allows me to enjoy the silliness and the underlying fondness for the show and its characters inherent throughout. In the end, perhaps the best response is to simply say thank you to cast, crew and all involved for 200 hours (and more) of entertainment.
