Title: Stargate: SG-1: Seventh Season
Premiere: “Fallen” & “Homecoming”
Stars: Richard Dean Anderson, Michael
Shanks, Christopher Judge, Don S. Davis, Corin Nemic, and David Paiffy
Developed For Television By: Brad
Wright and Jonathan Glassner
Executive Producers: Robert C. Cooper,
Brad Wright, Michael Greenburg, and Richard Dean Anderson
Running Time: 86 minutes without
commercials
Media: Sci-Fi Channel Original Series
Seventh Season Premiere (NTSC VHS Screener)
World Premiere Friday, June 13, 2003,
at 9pm (ET/PT)
Network: The Sci-Fi Channel (Check your
local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: Unavailable At Time Of
Writing This Review
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
When season six closed with the finale
episode “Full Circle,” Anubis (David Paiffy), a despot Goa’uld conqueror
of mysterious origins faced the ascended Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) in a
gambit where Jackson crossed the line from which he was allowed and subsequently
caused the destruction of the planet Abydos. Now Anubis has been rapidly been
destroying the remaining Goa’uld system lords while searching for an
inexhaustible source of power that in conjunction with a jewel known as the
“Eye” could give him total dominion over all.
On a distant world Dr. Jackson awakens
nude with no memory of who he is, where he is, and why he is there. Back on
Earth, Jonas (Corin Nemic) alerts the SG-1 team that he may have found the
“lost city” of the ancients. It is there where the power Anubis is looking
for could be located. Upon arriving at the Stargate coordinates, Colonel
O’Neil (Richard Dean Anderson), Carter, (Amanda Tapping), and Teal’c
(Christopher Judge) discover a race of nomadic humans who discovered Jackson
before they arrived and subsequently return him back to Earth. It is not long
before the memories and talents Dr. Jackson had before his ascension occurred at
the end of the fifth season begin to come back to him. While not entirely his
regular self, Jackson does offer insights that could be crucial in the gambit
the SG-1 team has entered into based on intelligence from their allies “The
Tok’ra.”
In an uneasy alliance between the
remaining Goa’uld system lords to lure Anubis into a trap, things go wrong and
soon Jonas finds himself the unwitting harbinger of doom for his people when
Anubis uses him to find his home world of Kelowna, where a powerful, but
unstable energy source could turn the scales even more into his favor.
The seventh season premiere of
“Stargate: SG-1” does not disappoint with references to various episodes in
past seasons such as the second season episode “The Fifth Race” and yet
newcomers to the series can follow the storyline without having to know what the
references mean thus giving the two episodes resonance for the fans and keeping
it fresh for new viewers too. Much of what “Stargate: SG-1” has become has
developed from the second season with the introduction of races like “The
Tok’ra” introduced in a two-part second season episode of the same name
while Anubis was first introduced at least in presence in the second season
episode “Serpent’s Song.”
The complete first and second seasons
of “Stargate: SG-1” are now available in DVD box sets or in individual
volumes from Metro Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment and viewers can still catch
reruns of the previous seasons on “Sci-Fi” as well as broadcast syndicated
television. If that were not enough, right before the two hour seventh season
premiere, Sci-Fi will air a special entitled “Stargate: SG-1: The Lowdown”
hosted by Michael Shanks, Christopher Judge, and Amanda Tapping to bring viewers
up to speed right before the seventh season premiere on Friday, June 13, 2003,
at 8pm (ET/PT). Then on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 MGM will release the complete
third season of “Stargate: SG-1” to DVD followed by the complete fourth
season on Tuesday, September 2, 2003. Artisan
Home Entertainment distributes the feature film that inspired the series with
their recent DVD release of “Stargate: Ultimate Edition” available at
retailers on and offline along with the two first season sets and the option to
preorder and purchase the next two sets. So there are plenty of chances and ways
to catch up with this acclaimed series for both brand new viewers and for series
fans to discover again.
Both “Fallen” and “Homecoming”
feature plenty of action that includes exciting space battles and plenty of
intrigue. The effects are quite good for a network TV series as well. My only
two caveats with these two episodes was that certain elements moved a little too
quickly and there was some blatant restaging of events reminiscent to the sort
of action one might expect to see in the final battle sequences from “The
Phantom Menace” or “Return Of The Jedi.” One scene reminded me a bit of
“Independence Day” too. The final resolutions are wrapped up a bit too
quickly for my taste as well. Due in part because of the reality of network
television, which limits program time for advertisements, but I still think a
three-part episode might have given the show’s writers more room to adequately
resolve what we don’t see at least enough so that the story moves smoother and
the resolution a bit less contrived. I suppose the threads will be picked up in
later episodes this season.
It is great to see Michael Shanks back
though and while Corin Nemic will no longer appear as a series regular, he will
reprise his character’s role for another episode later in the seventh season.
Further details regarding the seventh season of “Stargate SG-1” can be found
in the new August 2003 issue of “Sci-Fi” magazine, which is available on
newsstands now and on page 80 of that issue to be exact and of course at the
official website located at www.scifi.com.
The two hour, two-part seventh season
premiere of “Stargate: SG-1”
episodes entitled “Fallen” and “Homecoming” will debut on the Sci-Fi
Channel on Friday, June 13, 2003, at 9pm (ET/PT) with an encore showing of both
episodes at 11pm (ET/PT). Look for my review of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home
Entertainment’s “Stargate: SG-1: Season 3 DVD Box Set” to posted online
here at GENRE ONLINE.NET early next week. The “Gate” is now officially open,
don’t miss this summer’s exciting new “SG-1” adventures on Sci-Fi.
© Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Read The Review Of The Sixth Season Premiere
Read The DVD Review Of "Stargate: Ultimate Edition"
Read The Review Of "Stargate: SG-1: Season One DVD Box Set"
Read The Review Of "Stargate: SG-1: Season Two DVD Box Set"
Read The Review Of "Stargate: SG-1: Season Three DVD Box Set"