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Carter and Teal'c fly to the Asgard world of Hala to try
and revive O'Neill. Replicators attack them and Carter is
taken prisoner. Meanwhile, Dr. Weir and Daniel Jackson attempt
to negotiate a treaty with Goa'uld System Lords who wish to
unite against a common enemy. The Goa'uld send a mothership
to Earth demanding that it prove its superior defences. Dr
Weir is deep in negotiations with the Goa'uld while Daniel
and the still unconscious O'Neill are beamed aboard Thor's
ship where Thor tries to access the knowledge of the Ancients...
Season
Eight of Stargate: SG-1 gets off to a flying start
with the double length episode New Order. This episode
also helps to establish the character of Doctor Weir, who
also appeared last season, in order to help migrate fans over
to spin-off show Stargate: Atlantis.
There are several major changes to the show's format. General
Hammond has left the SGC (it's a shame to see the end of Don
S. Davies as a regular cast member - although he will appear
towards the end of this season) and is replaced by O'Neill,
Carter is promoted and Teal'c has hair! It also sets up what
is sure to be an exciting story arc for later in the season.
Daniel Jackson contracts a mysterious illness from a Russian
Colonel assigned to the team. O'Neill is convinced an epidemic
has infected the base and orders a lockdown. When Daniel comes
around he reveals that he was possessed by Anubis who is now
loose on the base. The team must do all they can to track
Anubis down before it is too late...
Lockdown
is a gripping episode which reveals that Anubis didn't actually
die last season. Floating around in spirit form, he is attempting
to leave Earth through the Stargate, without alerting the
Ancients to the fact that he is still very much alive.
There
are some great comedy moments in this episode. I especially
enjoyed Daniel trying to fathom out which one of the SGC shot
him when he was possessed, and O'Neill (who is the culprit)
tries to change the subject as quickly as possible.
Gavin Hood is excellent as Colonel Alexi Vaselov - although
I couldn't work out how, from the infirmary, his character
knew what to do at the right time (sorry, that might sound
a bit vague, but I'm trying not to spoil too much here). Entertaining,
and not as clichéd as it could have been.
O'Neill
finds his plate full when the president visits amid negotiations
with the two warring tribes from the planet Amra. But when
SG-1 is captured by a Goa'uld System Lord and he's forced
to choose between the safety of the team and the fate of an
entire planet O'Neill begins to question his competency...
Zero
Hour is played mainly for laughs, so it will come as no
surprise that it is an O'Neill heavy episode. In the run up
to the President's visit to the SGC, just how many things
can go wrong? Don't ask! For
those who were worried that O'Neill's promotion would mean
the end of Richard Dean Anderson's comedy... this episode
will stop you fretting.
It
was also fantastic to see that Gary Jones's character (Sergeant
Walter Davis) actually get to do a lot more than sit behind
a desk shouting: "Chevron one encoded..."
Extras include part one of The Lowdown: a featurette
detailing the journey from Stargate to Atlantis;
The Director's Series: a behind the scenes look at
the making of future episode Avatar; plus photo and
production galleries.
But
wait! What's this? There are no audio commentaries? More often
than not, the audio commentaries provided a wealth of information
and can be (when director Peter DeLuise and actor Gary Jones
were involved) extremely funny. So, it is terrible to see
that they are being left out of the DVD releases for Season
Eight.
Also
I wish that they would stop running The Director's Series
featurettes on a DVD that doesn't feature that episode. In
the past these have often given away major plot developments.
Overall
though, this is a fantastic start to Season Eight.
Darren
Rea
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