SG1 Avalon Part One review
Jul. 30th, 2005 02:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tenayaI know this is a couple of weeks late, but I've been a gadabout lately. Cons to do, friends to visit. That sort of thing.
Avalon Part one was written by Robert C. Cooper and directed by Andy Mikita.
It's been a while since I've felt Stargate: SG-1 has been about either the Stargate or SG-1. SG-1 is a team, not a series of disconnected stories about Sam's quest for finding fulfillment in her life by marrying, or the writers killing Daniel--again, or only giving Teal'c significant lines if it's a Jaffa storyline or squeezing Jack into a few minutes of screen time.
But this episode has it right from the first frame when you see the Stargate impressively looming, filling the shot. A new character, Cameron Mitchell, walks up to the gate and with a slight shake in his hand, touches it with obvious reverence. Thank god! Someone has noticed that big round thing and is pretty impressed by it. The gate is shown as a character and given a relationship with this new guy. As a viewer, I've missed the Stargate and if Mitchell is impressed with the gate, I'm already prone to like him. His first line is, "It's bigger than I thought it'd be." Perfect! Instead of a Mr. Cool who has met the object of his fascination and found it to lacking, this man is willing to admit the Stargate is even more than he imagined.
There are a series of flashbacks peppered through the first half of the program that give us Mitchell's back story and show him defending SG-1 from attack as they work to gain entrance to an important installation in Antarctica that was the season ender from Series 7. He is shown to be brave, professional and cool under pressure. He is gravely injured in the fight while many of his squadron are killed. There is a clever montage of shots taken from the perspective of a hospital bed, and the fade between each shot is of the opening and closing of an eye. We are giving the impression his injuries were severe and his recovery long. SG-1 comes by to give their regards. Daniel is dressed in a leather jacket from the episode Icon as he tells Mitchell he is in his debt. Carter, in her dress blues, is chirpy as she informs him that he has been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (it might just be me, but considering Mitchell is still laid out and the action he earned the medal for also killed a number of his squadron, I thought her big grinning smile inappropriate.) O'Neill also comes by and offers encouragement in the form of granting him whatever posting he desires. But I've gotten ahead of myself here.
In the next scene, we see Mitchell meeting the new SGC commander, General Landry. In a somewhat uncomfortable scene, Landry gives the exposition that Mitchell has an unblemished record, then bluntly asks Mitchell to confess his faults. After Mitchell admits to being impatient, Landry says all pilots are type A, but not to worry, he'll be watching him and will find his flaws. Landry states some disappointment that the SGC is staffed by efficient people and he has no one to shout at, as he likes doing that. I'm hopeful this is a case of introducing a character at the extreme of their behavior, because this gives the impression that Landry would rather busy himself by ferreting out minor faults of the 'best that Earth has to offer' rather than focusing on the big picture of facilitating his command to achieve their goals. Hopefully, when he is faced with an outside threat, he will cease this goal of needing to find faults in his staff.
Mitchell is told he will be leading SG-1 and he needs to pick his team as all the original team members have scattered to the four winds. With a nice zoom in shot, we feel Mitchell's confusion and disappointment at a visceral level; we know this assignment has been the gold ring he has worked so hard to achieve. Determined to put together the team he sought to join, he approaches each of them. Daniel is just as determined to go to Atlantis. Teal'c, while deep in the complexities of Jaffa politics, is astutely aware of what Mitchell is asking, but only offers to give him names of suitable Jaffa.
Carter, who is already on a first name basis with Mitchell, is just as stubborn about not leaving her current assignment at Area 51. Mitchell confides his personal doubts that he might make a mistake and she wouldn't be there to save the world (which unfortunately hits my other irritation with Carter-how everybody loves her and her breezy way of saving the world. Oh well, nothing new there.) Mitchell offers to buy her breakfast when she returns from her flight. Deeply disappointed, Mitchell turns to the gate technician and says, "Well, Walter, it doesn't look like we're getting the band back together." Yes, SG-1 was the Fab Four of gate travel.
The next scene is between General Landry and General O'Neill as they share a beer and a game of chess. This scene on the surface serves to let us know that Jack has faith in Landry's abilities and cares about how Mitchell is fitting in. Of interest is that Jack is aware when Landry claims as his own a paraphrased quote of General McArthur and with a steady gaze, Jack makes him confess to the pilferage. Jack also beats him in chess. Unfortunately for me, this didn't do much to instill confidence in Landry. He's a game player but he's no Jack O'Neill for getting the job finished. I don't know if these doubts were what the writers wanted to give the viewer, but if it is, it will be good to see a bit of dramatic tension caused from a character with flaws in such a high area of authority. Hammond was the steadfast father figure; Landry looks to be a very different character. Of interest is that Jack says he came back to sign for his house, car and motorcycle; I'm given to understand that he is not necessarily selling them, but signing the papers to have the items moved to where he is now stationed. You can't move a house just it's contents, but perhaps he is renting it out? (I adore that house!)
Next is another clever and humorous montage of scenes where Mitchell is interviewing prospective team members. Each person seems to be capable in his or her area of expertise, but it's cringe-worthy at the idea that they might go off-world as the flagship team of the SGC.
Luckily, before we go too far down that path, we are saved by an intriguing plot complication sashaying into the gate room in the form of Vala. Other characters have been introduced with the empty ballyhoo of adding freshness to the show, but with Vala, she is literally a fresh spring breeze that totally energizes the show. She's cheeky and tosses off scandalous lines just for the enjoyment of watching the reactions. Dressed provocatively, she uses the distraction it causes to her advantage. She is a totally female and revels in that power. Vala, chaos is your middle name. "Where's my Daniel?" she asks with the air of a queen.
Daniel, who has had a previous encounter with her and knows her to be deceptive and distracting, is all pissy irritation as he keeps his eye on the ball and refuses to play her game until Landry orders him to. Vala has brought a coded Ancient tablet that points to treasure somewhere on Earth and needs Daniel's knowledge to find it. In order to ensure that she isn't cheated out of her fair share, she wraps a Goa'uld bracelet around Daniel's wrist and its mate onto her arm. As they soon find out, if the wearers of the bracelets are separated, both will die. There's a lovely little scene where returning character, Dr. Lee attempts to cut the bracelet off, fails and offers the rather extreme option of cutting off Daniel's hand since there has been advancement in limb reattachment. (Hopefully, now that the writers are through trying to end the series every year, they will start collecting continuing characters, alien races and other ongoing details that will furnish the SG universe in riches.)
Daniel collapses and wakes up in the infirmary to find both Teal'c and Mitchell by his bedside. Call me a sentimentalist, but I enjoy the idea that the main characters actually care about one another and any scene that shows that gets top marks in my book. When Daniel discovers that Vala is the only one who can take the bracelet off and she won't until the treasure is found, he angrily throws what's handy at her-a pillow. Teal'c is quite surprised by the outburst. Mitchell tells Daniel that his ride to Atlantis has left two hours before and puts forth the idea that finding the Ancient's treasure is an alternative worth doing. It's either that or marry Vala. Vala adds to Mitchell's subtle, reasonable argument by piping up, "Yeah! Let's make babies." It's a humorous line, but it is also the quickest way to convince Daniel to put his lost opportunity behind him and focus on deciphering the tablet. She knows Daniel's buttons and plays him expertly.
Mitchell is enjoying the fact that he has actually gotten most of SG-1 together again and tries to sell the thrill of the hunt to Teal'c to get him to stay on. As if on cue, Daniel excitedly tells of his theory of the tablet. The Ancient's treasure is in Merlin's Cave, aka Avalon, located under Glastonbury Torr. Mitchell is jubilant; this is exactly the type of magic he knew was possible when SG-1 had the right members on board. He points at Daniel as if he's just thrown a successful pass into the end zone.
The next scene is where Daniel quickly imparts a lot of information in a briefing. Landry rushes him, seemingly not wanted to know the details, just the bottom line of what the mission will be. He okays the use of the Prometheus to search for the entrance to Avalon.
On board the Prometheus, there are some cute Daniel/Vala moments. And because you have to watch carefully for your Teal'c content--because the poor man has no dialogue in this scene-I love watching him watching Daniel. He hears Vala state this is where she beat Daniel up and he frowns in concern, quickly looking away when Daniel turns towards him. Later, Mitchell says, "Ladies first" to Vala, and she tells Daniel, "Well then, after you." Daniel does not respond verbally to her jibe but does walk out of the room first and Teal'c stares after him with increasing perplexity. Immediately after they transport down, Vala tosses off that she "hasn't been this disappointed since Daniel and I had sex." Teal'c can't help but swing his flashlight over to check Daniel's expression. Is he concerned by the past physical and current verbal abuse Vala is giving Daniel, or does he think she is flirting with Daniel and is perplexed as to why Daniel is not responding to her advances? It's a curious reaction and definitely grounds for a missing scene story. I would venture to say Daniel feels no need to refute her outrageous statements as his teammates know him to be an honest man and Vala is obviously a compulsive liar.
The group find the fabled sword in the stone, trigger a hologram Merlin ala Thor from Thor's Hammer, and are given a quest to prove their wealth of knowledge and truth of spirit. They split up, and find puzzles. When they work the puzzles wrong (and there are some lovely character interaction moments as they try to reason out the puzzles) both groups are trapped in rooms that have their ceilings lowering down upon them with potentially fatal results. I saw this cliff hanging ending in a room with around 1500 people at Comic Con and the groan of disappointment was both loud and long. It was a very Indiana Jones moment, both fun and exciting. How long has it been since we could say that?
In closing, I love that this story was about the characters, about seeking knowledge and adventures. I love that there was humor and snappy dialogue. It was exciting and fun and had many moments that took me by surprise. It's a fantastic start to the season. I look forward to more of Ben Browder and Claudia Black.
I'd also like to mention I love the purple SciFi promos. I like the ones where the characters turn to look at each other. It's dramatic, it's dynamic...and it's kinda slashy though, if you know what I mean! All that eye contact and knowing smiles; makes me excited just to see them.
Avalon Part one was written by Robert C. Cooper and directed by Andy Mikita.
It's been a while since I've felt Stargate: SG-1 has been about either the Stargate or SG-1. SG-1 is a team, not a series of disconnected stories about Sam's quest for finding fulfillment in her life by marrying, or the writers killing Daniel--again, or only giving Teal'c significant lines if it's a Jaffa storyline or squeezing Jack into a few minutes of screen time.
But this episode has it right from the first frame when you see the Stargate impressively looming, filling the shot. A new character, Cameron Mitchell, walks up to the gate and with a slight shake in his hand, touches it with obvious reverence. Thank god! Someone has noticed that big round thing and is pretty impressed by it. The gate is shown as a character and given a relationship with this new guy. As a viewer, I've missed the Stargate and if Mitchell is impressed with the gate, I'm already prone to like him. His first line is, "It's bigger than I thought it'd be." Perfect! Instead of a Mr. Cool who has met the object of his fascination and found it to lacking, this man is willing to admit the Stargate is even more than he imagined.
There are a series of flashbacks peppered through the first half of the program that give us Mitchell's back story and show him defending SG-1 from attack as they work to gain entrance to an important installation in Antarctica that was the season ender from Series 7. He is shown to be brave, professional and cool under pressure. He is gravely injured in the fight while many of his squadron are killed. There is a clever montage of shots taken from the perspective of a hospital bed, and the fade between each shot is of the opening and closing of an eye. We are giving the impression his injuries were severe and his recovery long. SG-1 comes by to give their regards. Daniel is dressed in a leather jacket from the episode Icon as he tells Mitchell he is in his debt. Carter, in her dress blues, is chirpy as she informs him that he has been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (it might just be me, but considering Mitchell is still laid out and the action he earned the medal for also killed a number of his squadron, I thought her big grinning smile inappropriate.) O'Neill also comes by and offers encouragement in the form of granting him whatever posting he desires. But I've gotten ahead of myself here.
In the next scene, we see Mitchell meeting the new SGC commander, General Landry. In a somewhat uncomfortable scene, Landry gives the exposition that Mitchell has an unblemished record, then bluntly asks Mitchell to confess his faults. After Mitchell admits to being impatient, Landry says all pilots are type A, but not to worry, he'll be watching him and will find his flaws. Landry states some disappointment that the SGC is staffed by efficient people and he has no one to shout at, as he likes doing that. I'm hopeful this is a case of introducing a character at the extreme of their behavior, because this gives the impression that Landry would rather busy himself by ferreting out minor faults of the 'best that Earth has to offer' rather than focusing on the big picture of facilitating his command to achieve their goals. Hopefully, when he is faced with an outside threat, he will cease this goal of needing to find faults in his staff.
Mitchell is told he will be leading SG-1 and he needs to pick his team as all the original team members have scattered to the four winds. With a nice zoom in shot, we feel Mitchell's confusion and disappointment at a visceral level; we know this assignment has been the gold ring he has worked so hard to achieve. Determined to put together the team he sought to join, he approaches each of them. Daniel is just as determined to go to Atlantis. Teal'c, while deep in the complexities of Jaffa politics, is astutely aware of what Mitchell is asking, but only offers to give him names of suitable Jaffa.
Carter, who is already on a first name basis with Mitchell, is just as stubborn about not leaving her current assignment at Area 51. Mitchell confides his personal doubts that he might make a mistake and she wouldn't be there to save the world (which unfortunately hits my other irritation with Carter-how everybody loves her and her breezy way of saving the world. Oh well, nothing new there.) Mitchell offers to buy her breakfast when she returns from her flight. Deeply disappointed, Mitchell turns to the gate technician and says, "Well, Walter, it doesn't look like we're getting the band back together." Yes, SG-1 was the Fab Four of gate travel.
The next scene is between General Landry and General O'Neill as they share a beer and a game of chess. This scene on the surface serves to let us know that Jack has faith in Landry's abilities and cares about how Mitchell is fitting in. Of interest is that Jack is aware when Landry claims as his own a paraphrased quote of General McArthur and with a steady gaze, Jack makes him confess to the pilferage. Jack also beats him in chess. Unfortunately for me, this didn't do much to instill confidence in Landry. He's a game player but he's no Jack O'Neill for getting the job finished. I don't know if these doubts were what the writers wanted to give the viewer, but if it is, it will be good to see a bit of dramatic tension caused from a character with flaws in such a high area of authority. Hammond was the steadfast father figure; Landry looks to be a very different character. Of interest is that Jack says he came back to sign for his house, car and motorcycle; I'm given to understand that he is not necessarily selling them, but signing the papers to have the items moved to where he is now stationed. You can't move a house just it's contents, but perhaps he is renting it out? (I adore that house!)
Next is another clever and humorous montage of scenes where Mitchell is interviewing prospective team members. Each person seems to be capable in his or her area of expertise, but it's cringe-worthy at the idea that they might go off-world as the flagship team of the SGC.
Luckily, before we go too far down that path, we are saved by an intriguing plot complication sashaying into the gate room in the form of Vala. Other characters have been introduced with the empty ballyhoo of adding freshness to the show, but with Vala, she is literally a fresh spring breeze that totally energizes the show. She's cheeky and tosses off scandalous lines just for the enjoyment of watching the reactions. Dressed provocatively, she uses the distraction it causes to her advantage. She is a totally female and revels in that power. Vala, chaos is your middle name. "Where's my Daniel?" she asks with the air of a queen.
Daniel, who has had a previous encounter with her and knows her to be deceptive and distracting, is all pissy irritation as he keeps his eye on the ball and refuses to play her game until Landry orders him to. Vala has brought a coded Ancient tablet that points to treasure somewhere on Earth and needs Daniel's knowledge to find it. In order to ensure that she isn't cheated out of her fair share, she wraps a Goa'uld bracelet around Daniel's wrist and its mate onto her arm. As they soon find out, if the wearers of the bracelets are separated, both will die. There's a lovely little scene where returning character, Dr. Lee attempts to cut the bracelet off, fails and offers the rather extreme option of cutting off Daniel's hand since there has been advancement in limb reattachment. (Hopefully, now that the writers are through trying to end the series every year, they will start collecting continuing characters, alien races and other ongoing details that will furnish the SG universe in riches.)
Daniel collapses and wakes up in the infirmary to find both Teal'c and Mitchell by his bedside. Call me a sentimentalist, but I enjoy the idea that the main characters actually care about one another and any scene that shows that gets top marks in my book. When Daniel discovers that Vala is the only one who can take the bracelet off and she won't until the treasure is found, he angrily throws what's handy at her-a pillow. Teal'c is quite surprised by the outburst. Mitchell tells Daniel that his ride to Atlantis has left two hours before and puts forth the idea that finding the Ancient's treasure is an alternative worth doing. It's either that or marry Vala. Vala adds to Mitchell's subtle, reasonable argument by piping up, "Yeah! Let's make babies." It's a humorous line, but it is also the quickest way to convince Daniel to put his lost opportunity behind him and focus on deciphering the tablet. She knows Daniel's buttons and plays him expertly.
Mitchell is enjoying the fact that he has actually gotten most of SG-1 together again and tries to sell the thrill of the hunt to Teal'c to get him to stay on. As if on cue, Daniel excitedly tells of his theory of the tablet. The Ancient's treasure is in Merlin's Cave, aka Avalon, located under Glastonbury Torr. Mitchell is jubilant; this is exactly the type of magic he knew was possible when SG-1 had the right members on board. He points at Daniel as if he's just thrown a successful pass into the end zone.
The next scene is where Daniel quickly imparts a lot of information in a briefing. Landry rushes him, seemingly not wanted to know the details, just the bottom line of what the mission will be. He okays the use of the Prometheus to search for the entrance to Avalon.
On board the Prometheus, there are some cute Daniel/Vala moments. And because you have to watch carefully for your Teal'c content--because the poor man has no dialogue in this scene-I love watching him watching Daniel. He hears Vala state this is where she beat Daniel up and he frowns in concern, quickly looking away when Daniel turns towards him. Later, Mitchell says, "Ladies first" to Vala, and she tells Daniel, "Well then, after you." Daniel does not respond verbally to her jibe but does walk out of the room first and Teal'c stares after him with increasing perplexity. Immediately after they transport down, Vala tosses off that she "hasn't been this disappointed since Daniel and I had sex." Teal'c can't help but swing his flashlight over to check Daniel's expression. Is he concerned by the past physical and current verbal abuse Vala is giving Daniel, or does he think she is flirting with Daniel and is perplexed as to why Daniel is not responding to her advances? It's a curious reaction and definitely grounds for a missing scene story. I would venture to say Daniel feels no need to refute her outrageous statements as his teammates know him to be an honest man and Vala is obviously a compulsive liar.
The group find the fabled sword in the stone, trigger a hologram Merlin ala Thor from Thor's Hammer, and are given a quest to prove their wealth of knowledge and truth of spirit. They split up, and find puzzles. When they work the puzzles wrong (and there are some lovely character interaction moments as they try to reason out the puzzles) both groups are trapped in rooms that have their ceilings lowering down upon them with potentially fatal results. I saw this cliff hanging ending in a room with around 1500 people at Comic Con and the groan of disappointment was both loud and long. It was a very Indiana Jones moment, both fun and exciting. How long has it been since we could say that?
In closing, I love that this story was about the characters, about seeking knowledge and adventures. I love that there was humor and snappy dialogue. It was exciting and fun and had many moments that took me by surprise. It's a fantastic start to the season. I look forward to more of Ben Browder and Claudia Black.
I'd also like to mention I love the purple SciFi promos. I like the ones where the characters turn to look at each other. It's dramatic, it's dynamic...and it's kinda slashy though, if you know what I mean! All that eye contact and knowing smiles; makes me excited just to see them.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Couldn't agree more
Date: 2005-07-30 09:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-31 12:52 am (UTC)In any case, we'll always have Vala. *g*