So, if anyone is paying any attention to "lil old me" and my one man re-watch mission, I am burning through the seasons (hey, when you are "retired" and "disabled" AND its winter in north central PA its not that hard to do)
I have decided it is time for a moment of what some may view as sophistry, but I haven't "prattled on" since talking about BSG or Blood and Chrome, so:
On Don Davis, yes he was quite a "real" character playing actor was he not? I think that a big part of his "pulling off" the general bit is largely due (even without his drama education) to his actually having been an officer (Either a CPT or MAJ in the Army). He knows how real officers conduct themselves; when its 'overplayed' or dramatic for the sake of drama. Look at the other general officers; Gen Bauer, the Gen who comes for the "x301" demo--I don't know those actors backgrounds, but I think it safe to say it is sans military experience. And the General who takes O'Neill's place in SGC cmd-he really overplays it.
Since this is my second time around--and watching from the comfort of my well 'broken in' recliner on my 'big screen' versus where i watched on my PC screen before--it is more relaxing and easier to pay more attention.
I have also chose to watch it from the perspective of Teal'c as the main character/character of most consequence.
I have been doing this from about the middle of S1. Though all of the characters are committed, he is the most consistent. Its not just because his character makes the most ep appearances either. His roleplay and motivation are solid throughout; freedom for himself and family, for the Jaffa of Chulac and then for all Jaffa. For the defeat of the Go'auld and the chance for a peaceful and co-operative galaxy. He is the only main character I can recall having said, several times, that all humans in the galaxy come from the same place and should be one. So, to me on this go around, I am viewing it as Teal'c's story.
As I have said elsewhere on issues like christmas for one; "leave the holy days to the religious (regardless of where they may have been "hijacked" from)", in SG1, I leave the scientific parts to the viewers who are scientists or scientifically inclined. One issue from recent viewing though (S5) in MENACE when they discover the 'android girl' who 'invented' the milky way (all?) replicators as her toys. Why make a robot who has feelings (she gets upset, feels threatened, cries, feels lonely so she made 'toys'), if she had no other purpose why was she made. How can one impart feelings on a robot?
And--yes I am going to say it! With leaving the science to the scientists, I say that along with watching it from the Teal'c perspective-- then, that SG1 can also be seen as having "religious meaning"
Now before you get your g strings in a bunch, let me explain
First and obviously, we see the tearing down of the Go'auld as gods and the conversion of the Jaffa and humans who served/worshiped them. We are told that although some (Teal'c Bratac others) have come to believe that the Go'auld are nothing more then parasite infected humans who use stolen tech to manifest their godly powers, they still believe in a religious aspect and meaning to life. The goal of every devout Jaffa is ascension-a religious experience--a belief and faith in the unseen. A belief that there is a true, higher power and realm of existence for the devoted.
We also see religious themes played out in some of the ancillary worlds/peoples. The Tollan for example. Their pride and overconfidence in their tech leads to their doom; "pride leads to the fall". Also, the story of the Tollan somewhat reminds me of the Tolkien elves-- of the Silmarillion specifically. The Noldor in particular. Their pride and their bargaining with evil; Melkor/Morgoth is akin to the short lived bargain of the Tollan with the Go'auld;Anubis and Tanith. Even the same is that the Noldor's agreement was made by only a small portion of their leadership as the Tollan's deal was made by a minority of theirs. Both peoples suffered in their entirety for the pride and foolishness of their leaders.
Later, false organised religion is again exposed in the Ori who falsely/mistakingly (?) use their religion to represent the path to a higher existence (as our organised religions place themselves in the way of one person's communion with God or their chosen belief). The Ori do a better job at the show then the Go'auld though; the Go'auld had to mainly rule by force and recurrent shows of power/'magic' to maintain their flock. With the Ori; even their priors were convinced that what was in fact a use of tech was instead "religious power".
And of course Teal'c's journey-and O'Neill's (keeping the circumstances of his past in mind)-is a religious one as well. Starting with his one man rebellion against Apothsis and then his role in the rebellion of the Jaffa, is the start of his spiritual road. O'Neill's 'religion' is a journey of self exposure to himself-he moves from blame of himself for Charlie's death (indeed, he is even somewhat suicidal at worst and "devil may care" at best in the SG movie and in Season1) to greater things; saving his team, the Earth and anyone else he can help on the way. His 'sacrament celebration' in a way, is when we see him take great lengths to better the lives of those they encounter-particulary children (of course).
With that, and from what I recall, I believe that seasons 5 and 6 are the best ones even though they give ground for some of the worst of SG1 (when I made my "deal" with Greybrew last year to watch all sg1 and sga if she watched bsg, i had mainly been exposed to the last 3 seasons of sg1 and some of sga. i think because i would occasionally watch some of these eps while waiting for BSG to come on (i think at one time they shared friday nights didn't they?) i came to see sg1 as a goofy show; this i now know to be because of the "Vala experience" and her silliness along with the "merlin stuff" didn't lead to me to take the show seriously. That is partly why I did not originally think SGU was that bad of a show-it initially came off to me as being different and better then a "pipi longstockings" reboot via the Vala character in nearly every ep i caught at the time. Her schoolgirl antics (isn't it sad when older women try to pull off being 20?)) without background and context from all preceding seasons, the antics and campiness of some later season eps frequently made me change the channel. Since my first total re watch though, I saw why so many of you disliked sgu.
Now on with s6