ORBzine - 1999.08 Television Review

[Season 4, Episode 1] Small Victories
Shown 13th November 2001 [Monday]
Shown 3rd April 2002 [Wednesday]

We get a flashback to the previous episode, where Earth [and Thor's starship] were attacked by a species of spider-robots called the Replicators. The Earth was saved, but Thor's ship and the original Stargate were destroyed in the process.

SG-1 return from an unknown planet where they were trapped for a week. Carter's hair looks a bit longer and ruffled, while Teel'c now has some blonde chin-fluff.

Somehow, some Replicators survive destruction. They board a Russian submarine and attack a couple of tech-nerds [they may be in Russian naval uniforms, but they have regulation thick-rimmed nerd glasses]. O'Neill and Teel'c lead a team into the Sub [which is now in port], wearing Aliens -style helmet-cameras.

Meanwhile, the Asgard themselves are under attack by the Replicators. Carter goes to join them and advise them - their level of technology is too high, so they need someone dumber. Their anti-Replicator warship is named The O'Neill ...

[Season 4, Episode 2] The Other Side
Shown 4th April 2002 [Thursday]

The SGC is contacted by a society ruled by Rene Auberjonais [ Star Trek: DS9 ]. His world is torn by civil war, the surface is a toxic wasteland, but he wants nuclear weapons. Worse, O'Neill and Hammond are willing to trade the nukes to them. Yes, there is no Prime Directive!

[Season 4, Episode 3] Upgrades
Shown 14th November 2001 [Wednesday]
Shown 5th April 2002 [Friday]

The Tok'Ra send across one of their top scientists, Vanessa Angel . She issues SG-1 with newly-discovered alien artefacts that can boost the physical abilities of Ghoul-less humans

Hammond doesn't trust the Tok'Ra scientist, and Doc Frasier doesn't like what the implants do to the team. Their improved senses also mean that they have impaired judgement and are over-eager for combat.

The Tok'Ra have a secret agenda. Apophis is constructing a new warship, and the enhanced SG-1 are intended to destroy it before it becomes operational.

[Season 4, Episode 4]
Shown 15th November 2001 [Thursday]
Shown 8th April 2002 [Monday]

A Jaffa priestess [ Musetta Vander ] arrives at the SGC, clad in a cleavage-boosting dress. She claims that her Ghoul parasite has decided to join the Tok'Ra. However unlikely this sounds, Teel'c believes her because he had a relationship with her when he was younger.

The Tok'Ra arrive, in the form of Vanessa Angel . Yes, you've guessed it, that gives the episode TWO great sets of cleavage.

Ms Vander's parasite is presented with a new host - Peter Wingfield [ Highlander ].

[Season 4, Episode 5] Divide And Conquer
Shown 16th November 2001 [Friday]
Shown 9th April 2002 [Tuesday]

An SGC team meets with a Tok'Ra delegation for a treaty signing. The Tok'Ra include a High Councillor and Vanessa Angel . For some reason Sarah Douglas and Carter's father are nowhere in sight.

One of the SGC team tries to assassinate the Tok'Ra. He was brainwashed by the Ghouls, and other SG members are also under suspicion. Ms Angel runs SG-1 through a lie-detector, but Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter fail it. Apparently something happened when they were trapped together on Apophis' new warship in the episode Upgrades.

[Season 4, Episode 6] Window Of Opportunity
Shown 10th April 2002 [Wednesday]

The team visit a desolate planet, where a non-Terran archaeologist is working on a device constructed by the Gate-Builders. O'Neill and Teel'c end up in a time loop, living the same day over and over again. It takes more than half the episode for them to work out [thanks to Daniel] that they can do whatever they want without fear of consequences.

[Season 4, Episode 7] Watergate
Shown 19th November 2001 [Monday]
Shown 11th April 2002 [Thursday]

The SGC's stargate won't work. The reason is that the Russians have a Stargate of their own, salvaged from the seabed where Thor's ship crashed. Worse, something has gone wrong - the Stargate has jammed open and all communications with the base has been lost. The Russians call in SG-1, the world experts in Stargate disasters.

SG-1 team up with the Russians' physics expert, Dr Markov [ Marina Sirtis ], and parachute into the Siberian base. The Russians had discovered a waterworld, where the water itself spontaneously gave off heat. It seems the water somehow contaminated the Russian scientists.

Markov, Carter and Daniel take a Russian mini-sub through the gate in an effort to switch it off from the other side. Meanwhile, O'Neill and Teel'c explore the Russian base ... and discover who gave the Russians so much inside info about the SGC!

[Season 4, Episode 8] The First Ones
Shown 20th November 2001 [Tuesday]
Shown 12th April 2002 [Friday]

Daniel and SG-11 are performing an archaeological dig on the original Ghoul homeworld. They are attacked by an Unas, and Daniel is dragged off by the creature. Daniel's replacement, Rothman, returns through the Stargate to summon help.

SG-1 and Rothman arm themselves with P90s [for some reason they forsake their usual MP5s] and follow the beast's tracks. SG-11 have disappeared, and the lakes are teeming with Ghouls!

The episode was directed by Peter Deluise.

[Season 4, Episode 9] Scorched Earth
Shown 21st November 2001 [Wednesday]
Shown 15th April 2002 [Monday]

SG-1 are settling in with a group of peaceful pre-industrial farmer types, the Innkerrans, after transporting them from a doomed world. However, they discover that the new world they have settled on is being un-terraformed by a 2-mile-wide ship of sulphur-breathing aliens. The ship will reach the Stargate in less than 26 hours.

The Innkerrans may look human, but they apparently came from a different homeworld and their sensitivity to UV radiation means they need to live on a planet with a thick ozone layer. Therefore they cannot relocate to a random planet. However, once the de-terraforming process has started it cannot be halted.

SG-1 have to choose between letting their Innkerran friends be destroyed, or destroying the ship and the advanced pacifist alien culture aboard it. O'Neill has Carter build a naquita bomb, while Daniel tries to find a diplomatic solution.

[Season 4, Episode 10] Beneath The Surface
Shown 22nd November 2001 [Thursday]
Shown 16th April 2002 [Tuesday]

SG-1 wake up in a dormitory, and spend their day performing manual labour in a power plant. Trapped underground, they believe that they are natives of a dome city on a ice world. Only Teel'c can remember who they really are, but he is dragged off for treatment.

O'Neill and Carter are a couple, while Daniel is shacked up with an African-Alien chick. O'Neill remembers a bald man who sits down and wears a short-sleeved shirt. I think he's called Homer ...

This is a nice update on Metropolis . The manual labourers are in fact supplying power to an idyllic city above. This is the ultimate in Social Class segregation. The rulers could easily automate the entire system, but the only way to ensure they have paradise is to keep the workers out of the picture. And speaking of workers, one of them is played by Bruce Campbell! The director is Peter Deluise.

[Season 4, Episode 11] Point of No Return
Shown 23rd November 2001 [Friday]
Shown 17th April 2002 [Wednesday]

SGC is phoned by a paranoid conspiracy theorist [Willie Gough] who knows about the Stargate and requests a meeting with Colonel O'Neill.

Jack attends the meeting, while the rest of SG-1 keep surveillance on him. However, someone else is keeping them under tabs. Teelc's symbiote shows up under thermal scan, which begs the question - why breach security by allowing him out of the base?

This episode was sequelled in the 100th episode [Season 5, Episode 12].

[Season 4, Episode 12] Tangent
Shown 26th November 2001 [Monday]
Shown 18th April 2002 [Thursday]

Teel'c and O'Neill test-fly the USAF's new space-superiority fighter. However, it uses components from a Ghoul Death-glider. Apophis had a safety device installed that automatically flies the ship to his nearest world - at sublight speed. Yes, they will be there in 300 years time, but they only have enough oxygen for a few hours.

Carter and Daniel try to get help from the Tok'Ra. Carter's father guest-stars.

[Season 4, Episode 13] The Serpent's Venom
Shown 27th November 2001 [Tuesday]
Shown 19th April 2002 [Friday]

Teel'c attempts to stir up rebellion among the Jaffa. However, he is captured and tortured by an insane Ghoul who plans to hand him over to Apophis.

Carter's father pops up and asks for help sabotaging Apophis' meeting. SG-1 have to help him re-wire an alien space-mine.

This episode was written by Peter DeLuise.

[Season 4, Episode 14] The Curse
Shown 28th November 2001 [Wednesday]
Shown 22nd April 2002 [Monday]

Daniel's old Archaeology professor dies in a lab explosion. He gets leave to attend the funeral, and discovers some Ghoul ancient artefacts among the professor's stuff.

O'Neill wants to go fishing with Carter. She stands him up, so he goes with Teel'c instead.

Daniel, Carter and Dr Frasier track down a rogue Ghoul - in Egypt.

[Season 4, Episode 15] Chain Reaction
Shown 29th November 2001 [Thursday]
Shown 23rd April 2002 [Tuesday]

General Hammond resigns from the SGC, and his replacement makes a mess of things. Daniel is given a desk job. Teel'c is transferred to SG-3 and sent on a high-risk mission to capture a supply of Naquita. Carter is ordered to build a Naquita-enhanced Nuke, but when it is used the Stargate jams open. Yes, some people didn't learn from the Black Hole episode.

O'Neill investigates, and discovers that the NID is up to no good. He teams up with Maitland, who's been convicted of Treason for his part in the NID's operation to help the Ruskies and is now on Death Row. They trace the NID interference back to the evil Senator [Ronny Cox - Total Recall ].

[Season 4, Episode 16] 2010
Shown 30th November 2001 [Friday]
Shown 24th April 2002 [Wednesday]

Yes, this episode takes place ten years in the future. SG-1 made contact with a powerful civilisation who helped defeat the Ghouls. Ronny Cox [ Total Recall ] is now the President, and Earth is part of the off-worlders' alliance.

Samantha Carter [who still has short hair for some reason] has retired from the military and married the USA's Ambassador to off-world. They have tried unsuccessfully for years to conceive a child. Carter discovers that the off-worlders are responsible, and she uncovers their terrible plot. Only her SG-1 team-mates can help.

O'Neill, the only one who was sceptical about the off-worlders, lives in a cabin beside the fishing lake.

[Season 4, Episode 17]
Shown 3rd December 2001 [Monday]
Shown 25th April 2002 [Thursday]

The team finally rescue Apophis' child. He has been speed-grown and raised in such a way that he spurts cryptic philosophy at any opportunity.

Daniel tries to talk the boy into handing over the secrets of the Ghoul. However, Daniel is just as vulnerable to corruption as he was when he used the sarcophagus. He becomes an evil dictator whom SG-1 try to subvert.

[Season 4, Episode 18] The Light
Shown 4th December 2001 [Tuesday]
Shown 26th April 2002 [Friday]

A member of SG-5, fresh back from a world Daniel Jackson is exploring, commits suicide. SG-1 go to the world, carring P90s for some reason, and discover that Daniel has become addicted to a strange light source. Well, they don't notice that the light display has dry ice.

A teenage boy is living on the planet.

We get to see Daniel's apartment, somewhere in the big city rather than anywhere near the remote Military base.

[Season 4, Episode 19] Prodigy
Shown 5th December 2001 [Wednesday]
Shown 29th April 2002 [Monday]

O'Neill and Teel'c are exploring a planet with a trio of stereotypical scientists - bald 4-eyed nerds with pacifist tendencies. They discover a species of tinkerbells that can pass through solid matter.

Carter attends a lecture at the USAF University, and discovers that Cadet Jennifer Haley is a Physics genius.

General Ryan, RL head of the USAF and the Pentagon Joint Chiefs of Staff, has a cameo appearance as himself. Daniel Jackson doesn't appear in the episode, apparently off-world with SG-11. The Episode's director was Peter DeLuise.

[Season 4, Episode 20] The Entity
Shown 6th December 2001 [Thursday]
Shown 30th April 2002 [Tuesday]

The SGC is taken over by an electromagnetic energy surge that is ... alive. First it takes over the central computer, then it takes over Sam Carter ...

[Season 4, Episode 21] Double Jeopardy
Shown 7th December 2001 [Friday]
Shown 1st May 2002 [Wednesday]

SG-1 arrive on a planet they haven't visited before, and are captured by the locals. The locals tell them that SG-1 arrived previously, and led a rebellion against the Ghoul in residence. However, Kronos [Teel'c's arch-enemy] is now in charge.

Kronos holds SG-1 prisoner on his mothership. However, the other SG-1 tries to rescue them ...

[Season 4, Episode 22] Exodus
Shown 10th December 2001 [Monday]
Shown 2nd May 2002 [Thursday]

The Tok'Ra have to evacuate their world. SG-1, aboard their newly-captured mothership, turn up to help.

The evil Tanith [Peter Wingfield - Highlander ] is arrested, but escapes. Teel'c swears vengeance on the traitor. Meanwhile, Major and General Carter decide to blow up the system's star.

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