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Episodes Disc Two: “Divide And
Conquer”, “Window Of Opportunity”, “Watergate”, “The First Ones”
Episodes Disc Three: “Scorched
Earth”, “Beneath The Surface”, “Point Of No Return”, “Tangent”,
“The Curse”
Episodes Disc Four: “The Serpent’s
Venom”, “Chain Reaction”, “2010”, “Absolute Power”, “The
Light”
Episodes Disc Five:
“Prodigy”, “Entity”, “Double
Jeopardy”, “Exodus”
Stars: Richard
Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Don S. Davis,
Marshall Teague, Teryl Rotherly, and Tobias Mehler
Guest
Stars: Tony Amendola, Colin Cunningham, Samantha Ferris, Gary Jones, Rene
Auberjonois, Marina Sirtis, Anne Marie Loder, J. R. Bourne, Vanessa Angel,
Andrew Jackson, Robin Mossley, Tom McBeath, Erick Avari, Steven Williams, Ronny
Cox, and General Ryan as Himself.
Writers: Jonathan
Glassner, Brad Wright, Katharyn Powers, Robert C. Cooper, David Rich, Tor
Alexander Valenza, Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Peter DeLuise, Heather E. Ash,
Michael Cassult, and James Phillips
Directors: Martin Wood, William Gereghty, Andy Mikitia, Peter F. Woeste, Peter
DeLuise, Alan Lee, Michael Shanks, and David Warry Smith
Executive Producers:
Brad Wright, Michael Greenburg, and
Richard Dean Anderson
Developed For Television By: Brad Wright and
Jonathan Glassner
Extras: “Audio Commentary For Each Episode”, “Secret
Files Of The SGC – Enhanced
Visual Effects Featurette”,
“Secret Files Of The SGC – Alien
Species: Friend & Foe” Featurette”, “Documentary
(Part 1 Of A 3 Part Documentary) Stargate SG-1: Timeline Of The Future –
Legacy Of The Gate”
Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound
Subtitles: English Closed Captions
Packaging: Five Keep Cases Within A Cardboard
Slipcase
Chapter Stops: 5 per episode/110 total
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Home Video Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home
Entertainment
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer: Mark Rivera
When we last saw the brave SG-1 team, Colonel
O’Neil (Richard Dean Anderson), Carter (Amanda Tapping), and Teal’c
(Christopher Judge) were assisting the Asgard with a threat from the insidious
“Replicators,” sentient machines that infest, build, and impersonate
anything in a quest of conquest. Having successfully destroyed the invading ship
before it could reach Earth, the SG-1 team is soon split apart as Carter
accompanies Thor (voiced by Michael Shanks) to the Asgard homeworld to assist in
quelling another replicator threat while on Earth, O’Neil, Teal’c, and Dr.
Jackson (Michael Shanks) race to a sunken Russian submarine, which has becomes
infested by replicators after one of the spider like robots aboard a chunk of
the destroyed ship survives the ocean crash and immediately goes after the first
thing it sees, a lone Russian submarine.
Season 4 of “Stargate: SG-1” is the best
season I have gotten to see on DVD in terms of overall picture and sound quality
as well as extra value features and in terms of the episodes themselves. While
the first three seasons of “Stargate: SG-1” were filmed in 16mm, the fourth
season was the first to be shot on 35mm and the result is an immediate
improvement in the overall picture quality on each DVD coupled with the well
mixed English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack that has an enveloping feel
to it. Each episode is presented in an anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) aspect
ratio and English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired are encoded on to
each disc as an option as well.
This is the first live action sci-fi series box
set to arrive in Region One North America on DVD where every single episode
included features an optional audio commentary track. These commentaries usually
feature the various episode Directors, the Special Effects Supervisor, Writers,
and Director Of Photography for their respective episodes. They are extremely
informative and screen specific and give a great idea of what it takes to
produce a successful sci-fi series like “Stargate: SG-1.” Among the topics
discussed was the fact that Michael Shanks had recently recovered from
appendicitis and so it was written into the series opener to account for his
absence in the third season finale. I also learned he provided the voice of
“Thor” and that season four was the first to be shot on 35mm as noted above.
Now I am wondering since 16mm is shot in a four by three aspect ratio, if that
means the first three seasons of “Stargate: SG-1” were matted for the DVD
release? Despite the presentation of all four seasons being tailored for
widescreen televisions, this could be the first season where the viewer actually
gets to see more than the average syndicated four by three broadcast on
non-cable television. . Much of the fourth season was shot on location too while
certain sets and whatnot from the previous seasons were recycled. The
commentaries were recorded during production of the show’s fifth season so
fans of the series may actually know a bit more about the topics discussed as it
related to the storylines since the series is already halfway through it’s
seventh season on the Sci-Fi Channel and has already been green lighted for an
eighth season on Sci-Fi. When the show completes its eighth season “Stargate:
SG-1” will be the second longest running single sci-fi television series to
air on American television. The longest running single sci-fi series is “The
X-Files.” The first five seasons originally aired without commercial
interruption on the Showtime Network in North America. While Sci-Fi airs all of
the episodes produced so far in their (1.78:1) widescreen aspect ratio, regular
non-cable and non-satellite television only presents the shows in a full-framed
(1.33:1) aspect ratio. However neither pay nor free TV can compare to the
quality of the presentation of these episodes on DVD.
The special effects for season four are on par
with most theatrical features and are explored in the “Enhanced Visual
Effects” featurette (16:10) on disc one. Disc two has an interesting
featurette exploring the various alien species in “Friend Or Foe” (16:59).
Ironically the weakest extra feature is the first of a three part documentary
entitled “Stargate: SG-1: Timeline To The Future – Legacy Of The Gate”
(25:12), which is hosted by Star and Co-Executive Producer Richard Dean Anderson
and Writer and Co-Executive Producer Brad Wright. If this is the first time you
view any of the featurettes in any of the “Stargate: SG-1” DVD box sets or
if season 4 is the first box set you actually buy then this retrospective
documentary produced in 2001 as what appears to be a primer to get viewers
psyched about the fifth season will be quite enlightening however for those who
have seen the featurettes on the previous discs, there is really not much of
anything new presented here that has not already been presented elsewhere on the
four DVD box sets released as a whole in North America so far.
Ironically the best episodes of season four have
little or nothing to do with the overall struggle against the “Goa’uld” and
instead are quite humorous. “Point Of No Return” involves a seemingly
ordinary and unassuming man, who happens to know everything about the SGC
because he might in fact be an alien refugee while “Window Of Opportunity”
is a “Groundhog Day” like episodes where O’Neal and Teal’c are forced to
live over the same day over and over again after an alien artifact left by the
“ancients” on another world creates a space-time distortion. The possibility
of romance between O’Neil and Carter is explored in a three-episode arc
comprised of “Upgrades”, “Crossroads”, and “Divide And Conquer.” The
“Tok’ra” play an important role in the fourth season story arc with the
above-mentioned episodes and the episode “Serpent’s Venom” and the fourth
season cliffhanger “Exodus” being must-see episodes included in this set.
Other noteworthy episodes include “Small
Victories”, “The Other Side”, “Watergate”, “The First Ones”,
“Scorched Earth”, “Chain Reaction”, “2010”, and “Double
Jeopardy.” I suppose it is inevitable that every sci-fi TV series will have an
element or two if not a lot more that will call to mind other sci-fi films and
whatnot and season four is no different with certain episodes calling to mind
“Star Wars”, “Blade Runner”, “Aliens”, and even “Solaris” to
some extent. Noteworthy guest stars
appearing in season four include Rene
Auberjonois (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: The Next
Generation), Erick Avari (Stargate), Steven Williams (The X – Files), Ronny
Cox (Total Recall), and General Ryan plays his own real life persona as one of
the military’s highest ranking officers who answers directly to the President
of the United States.
The
menus on the discs are standard interactive still frames that are easy to
navigate. “Stargate: SG-1: Season Four DVD Box Set” will debut at retailers
on and offline on Tuesday, September 8, 2003 from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home
Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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