The Quest Part II - Review
23/10/2008 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rachel500The Quest Part II is the 11th episode in Season Ten of Stargate SG1.
Review
Review
If ever there was an episode where Stargate SG1 got its mo-jo back, it’s this one. The Quest Part 2 is everything Part 1 wasn’t; tightly associated with the mythology, tense and dramatic, exciting with lots of character moments and nods to canon that make the whole thing highly enjoyable. For the first time in a long time, Stargate SG1 ticks all the right boxes and then some to produce an amazingly great episode.
Once the last fantasy element of the dragon is dealt with, the story takes the show back to its sci-fi heart with brilliant results. Here the fantasy elements of Merlin and the Arthurian mythology are directly tied into the storyline giving it a strong foundation. The team finding Merlin was a definite surprise, a real ‘wow’ reveal moment. It was fascinating to hear Merlin greet the team as though they were Knights of the Round Table and even more fascinating who Merlin thought the various members of the team were – for anyone who knows their Arthurian mythology and knows the characters, it provided a moment of ‘ah, of course that’s who Daniel would be!’ just as it was interesting to note who the others were perceived as being.
The tension and drama are mainly provided by the race to build the Sangraal before Adria tracks them down. The scenes of a single-minded Adria determined to find them sandwiched between the scenes of building the Sangraal are excellent. The sharpness of the scenes is helped by the dramatic landscape of the two initial planets the team are transported to; one a desert and the other a cold wasteland. The lighting of the scenes is subtle but lends a creepy atmosphere especially on the second planet where Adria notes she is finding the planets quicker each time. The scenes are kept short but are enough to build the tension effectively and there is a fitting climax in the final act when Adria catches up with the team before the Sangraal can be finished by Daniel.
Michael Shanks seems to truly enjoy getting his teeth into a great storyline for Daniel and excels throughout the episode. Here is a Daniel that is the sum of his nine and a half years of experience with SG1; archaeologist, thinker/problem solver, hero. There are some great Daniel moments; telling Merlin about his Ascension, his confusion when he thinks he is Merlin, with Adria both when he defends his team from her and in the last scene where he is her prisoner and they verbally joust.
Yet Daniel is not the only character to spring three-dimensionally from the screen; both Sam and Teal’c also are drawn as complete characters here. It was fabulous to see Teal’c be the hero and take on the task of felling the dragon and get the laugh-out-loud moments both when suggesting the dragon’s name was Puff and in noting that Ba’al regaining his voice after Merlin’s death was ‘another reason to mourn his passing.’ Even more fabulous than a great Teal’c was a great Sam. Soldier, scientist, advocate of women’s rights – and the moment she hit Ba’al…priceless! Chris Judge and Amanda Tapping seem revitalised by the scenes and act their socks off.
But even the newer characters of Vala and Mitchell are drawn with more depth here than ever before with their conflict over allowing Daniel to risk his life building the Sangraal and using Merlin’s memories. The scene where Mitchell tells a distraught Vala that the hard part of being in a team is watching friends risk their lives was tense, dramatic and powerful with that last line to Vala where Mitchell congratulates her on really being one of them now just heart-stoppingly good. Both Ben Browder and Claudia Black do an excellent job and really sell the scene.
The sense of the team as a team zings across the screen especially with Teal’c stopping Mitchell, their concern for Teal’c with the dragon, the concerns expressed over Daniel, Teal’c teasing Sam, Daniel sacrificing himself for his friends, their worry over his fate back at the SGC…the team feel so well-established in S10 is given a great boost by this episode while never seeming obvious. It is also helped by mention of the past SG1 team leader, Jack O’Neill. He is mentioned often by the team both in regards to the stasis pod and the Ancient repository device. Indeed, the episode makes fabulous use of canon; Daniel’s Ascension and Oma, the events of The Lost City, Ba’al and dialling programmes, Sam’s feminist core, Mitchell’s bullets bounce remark, Vala and Adria, Daniel destroying the Ori soldiers with lightening…it all knits seamlessly for the die-hard fan.
With so much right with this episode, it is a little difficult to say what went wrong. If pressed probably the horrendous special effect of the dragon deserves a mention. It improved slightly once out of the cave and in the field but its size/scale appeared to change in between and it never came across as believable. The special effects used in the final fight scene, in the building of the Sangraal and even the subtle telekinesis more than make up for it though.
The Quest Part 2 is so good that Part 1 with its clichéd fantasy set-up are almost forgiveable. It’s also difficult to see why Adria was necessary in Part 1; Ba’al just about squeaks in as it would be difficult for him to suddenly appear in Part 2 and I wouldn’t have missed the excellent Sam-hitting-him moment for anything but Adria certainly could have just turned up in Part 2 without any major impact to the storyline in Part 1.
Ignoring Part 1, Part 2 moves the overall Ori arc forward very satisfactorily but it deserves the majority of its praise for its well rounded characterisations, great direction, excellent performances and, at its heart, great writing by Mallozzi and Mullie. Kudos to everyone on a stand-out episode – I loved it.
Once the last fantasy element of the dragon is dealt with, the story takes the show back to its sci-fi heart with brilliant results. Here the fantasy elements of Merlin and the Arthurian mythology are directly tied into the storyline giving it a strong foundation. The team finding Merlin was a definite surprise, a real ‘wow’ reveal moment. It was fascinating to hear Merlin greet the team as though they were Knights of the Round Table and even more fascinating who Merlin thought the various members of the team were – for anyone who knows their Arthurian mythology and knows the characters, it provided a moment of ‘ah, of course that’s who Daniel would be!’ just as it was interesting to note who the others were perceived as being.
The tension and drama are mainly provided by the race to build the Sangraal before Adria tracks them down. The scenes of a single-minded Adria determined to find them sandwiched between the scenes of building the Sangraal are excellent. The sharpness of the scenes is helped by the dramatic landscape of the two initial planets the team are transported to; one a desert and the other a cold wasteland. The lighting of the scenes is subtle but lends a creepy atmosphere especially on the second planet where Adria notes she is finding the planets quicker each time. The scenes are kept short but are enough to build the tension effectively and there is a fitting climax in the final act when Adria catches up with the team before the Sangraal can be finished by Daniel.
Michael Shanks seems to truly enjoy getting his teeth into a great storyline for Daniel and excels throughout the episode. Here is a Daniel that is the sum of his nine and a half years of experience with SG1; archaeologist, thinker/problem solver, hero. There are some great Daniel moments; telling Merlin about his Ascension, his confusion when he thinks he is Merlin, with Adria both when he defends his team from her and in the last scene where he is her prisoner and they verbally joust.
Yet Daniel is not the only character to spring three-dimensionally from the screen; both Sam and Teal’c also are drawn as complete characters here. It was fabulous to see Teal’c be the hero and take on the task of felling the dragon and get the laugh-out-loud moments both when suggesting the dragon’s name was Puff and in noting that Ba’al regaining his voice after Merlin’s death was ‘another reason to mourn his passing.’ Even more fabulous than a great Teal’c was a great Sam. Soldier, scientist, advocate of women’s rights – and the moment she hit Ba’al…priceless! Chris Judge and Amanda Tapping seem revitalised by the scenes and act their socks off.
But even the newer characters of Vala and Mitchell are drawn with more depth here than ever before with their conflict over allowing Daniel to risk his life building the Sangraal and using Merlin’s memories. The scene where Mitchell tells a distraught Vala that the hard part of being in a team is watching friends risk their lives was tense, dramatic and powerful with that last line to Vala where Mitchell congratulates her on really being one of them now just heart-stoppingly good. Both Ben Browder and Claudia Black do an excellent job and really sell the scene.
The sense of the team as a team zings across the screen especially with Teal’c stopping Mitchell, their concern for Teal’c with the dragon, the concerns expressed over Daniel, Teal’c teasing Sam, Daniel sacrificing himself for his friends, their worry over his fate back at the SGC…the team feel so well-established in S10 is given a great boost by this episode while never seeming obvious. It is also helped by mention of the past SG1 team leader, Jack O’Neill. He is mentioned often by the team both in regards to the stasis pod and the Ancient repository device. Indeed, the episode makes fabulous use of canon; Daniel’s Ascension and Oma, the events of The Lost City, Ba’al and dialling programmes, Sam’s feminist core, Mitchell’s bullets bounce remark, Vala and Adria, Daniel destroying the Ori soldiers with lightening…it all knits seamlessly for the die-hard fan.
With so much right with this episode, it is a little difficult to say what went wrong. If pressed probably the horrendous special effect of the dragon deserves a mention. It improved slightly once out of the cave and in the field but its size/scale appeared to change in between and it never came across as believable. The special effects used in the final fight scene, in the building of the Sangraal and even the subtle telekinesis more than make up for it though.
The Quest Part 2 is so good that Part 1 with its clichéd fantasy set-up are almost forgiveable. It’s also difficult to see why Adria was necessary in Part 1; Ba’al just about squeaks in as it would be difficult for him to suddenly appear in Part 2 and I wouldn’t have missed the excellent Sam-hitting-him moment for anything but Adria certainly could have just turned up in Part 2 without any major impact to the storyline in Part 1.
Ignoring Part 1, Part 2 moves the overall Ori arc forward very satisfactorily but it deserves the majority of its praise for its well rounded characterisations, great direction, excellent performances and, at its heart, great writing by Mallozzi and Mullie. Kudos to everyone on a stand-out episode – I loved it.
