cast: Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, Christopher Judge, Don S. Davis, Claudia Black, Beau Bridges

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Rated: TV14

reviewed by Charity Bishop
 

I was warned by friends that I might not enjoy this season of SG-1 as much as those previous, but much to my surprise, despite some faults, it turned into one of the series' strongest installments in terms of introducing wonderful new characters and continuing exploration into different worlds.

The latest recruit to SG-1 is Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell (Browder), who came to the base under the assumption that he would be working with the original team. His discovery is that it is all but disbanded leaves him despondent. Jack O'Neill has been promoted into other reaches of the military. Samantha Carter (Tapping) is currently working on projects off-base. Daniel Jackson (Shanks) intends to join the Atlantis Expedition, and Teal'c (Judge) has rejoined his associates among the Jaffa. With the Goa'uld System Lords defeated and only a handful of minor threats remaining, it seems the need for SG-1 is no longer quite as pressing as when an intergalactic war was raging. But when an off-world visitor named Vala (Black) turns up and asks them to help find a lost treasure on earth, well, most of the team cannot help becoming involved one last time in order to clear things up.

Discovering the legends behind Camelot, the sword in the stone, and Merlin were all the work of the ancients, Daniel and Vala accidentally activate a pair of one-way communication devices that find them millions of miles away, in the bodies of two peasants among a primitive group of people devoted to worshipping a new race of gods known as the Ori. They soon discover that not only are the Ori are a brutal and unforgiving race of ascended beings, it is their intention to fill the void left by the Goa'uld and take control of all free worlds. Those who serve them willingly are spared their vindictive wrath but those who choose to resist, such as several of the Jaffa nations, are stricken with deadly diseases and other pestilences. Then too, an alliance of thieves is forming in order to dominate the skies through blackmail and intimidation... something that does not sit well for our gang of explorers when it becomes apparent that Vala is much in need of their help.

Introducing new character is always difficult when a show has been as long-lasting and successful as this one was, but I was surprised how fast I took to Cameron Mitchell, who is as funny as Jack was, but in different ways (Jack does make a couple of guest appearances... and shippers might like to know that it's never said whether or not he is now seeing Sam, but veiled implications hint at them as a couple). He has a lot of enthusiasm and meshes really well with the older members of the team. The dynamic with Teal'c is missing but he's particularly good with Sam and a couple of episodes have some cute humor revolving around them (like when they get stuck in a secondary reality and a shoving match ensues). The new head of the SGC (Bridges) is also great. He's different from General Hammond but in good ways (and yes, Hammond is still around in a couple of episodes). Which brings me to Vala. She has the potential to be tremendously annoying but I loved her, in spite of (or maybe because of?) her many moral faults.

Being "finished" with the Goa'uld is a blessing (but happily, one of their system lords, Ba'al, is still around, and has one particularly fantastic guest appearance in which he has cloned himself half a dozen times... yes, it was awesome) but the Ori bring a new host of problems, namely that some Christians might consider them a rather underhanded jab at religion. There are similarities -- the Ori send out prophets (known as Priors) to evangelize the people using the Book of Origins. We eventually learn that through the six or eight hour prostrations that take place daily, the Ori drain power from their followers (hence their desire to recruit new believers). The Priors perform miracles (which are never long lasting) and whenever a world does not agree to follow their gods, set about striking that world with pestilences or destruction. The followers love to burn unbelievers and one character faces that fate, only to be revived later by a Prior. There is even what amounts to an immaculate conception toward the end of the season. (When Vala asks if that has ever happened before, all the humans look funny at each other but no one mentions Jesus.)

My feelings concerning this are varied. The similarities between the Ori and their followers is a little too close to middle age Catholicism to be denied but I don't know that the purpose behind it is an assault against faith so much as an exploration of a false concept of it. Depending on whether or not such things offend you, it might not resonate well. It really is the only questionable aspect in a decent season. The content is no different from that of former seasons except that with Vala in the mix, there is quite a bit more innuendo and off-the-cuff comments about sexuality. She teases Daniel's teammates with the notion that she slept with him (she didn't) and admits to marrying a man because she couldn't get him to sleep with her otherwise. There were moments when I missed Hammond and Jack, but overall I liked this season in spite of its faults.