cast: Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, Christopher Judge, Don S. Davis, Corin Nemec

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Rated: not rated (content warrants a PG)

reviewed by Charity Bishop
 

The highly successful Stargate Program has been up and running for a number of years. The system's A-team is SG-1, who has recently lost one of its members and now is one man short. Pressure from above is for Colonel Jack O'Neill (Anderson) to find an immediate replacement or risk a Russian appointment, since the foreign government has become rather frustrated at the American monopoly of the Stargate. His decision is delayed when a high-frequency energy burst comes spiraling through the gate and connects them to another world. In the past, no one has been able to hold the wormhole open for more than 36 minutes, but the time limit comes and goes and with the Gate heating up, it is only a matter of days before it generates enough energy to wipe out Earth in a massive internal explosion.

The base's top minds are all on the problem, including Major Samantha Carter (Tapping) but her rivalry with resident wise guy Rodney McKay (David Hewlett) threatens what time they have left. With the Gate in constant use, they cannot contact their off-world allies for assistance, which means Teal'c (Judge), attending the funeral of his beloved wife, cannot return. Nevertheless, word of their difficulties spirals through the stars and he sets out along with his son and mentor Bra'tac to find the source of the weapon and destroy it. In the meantime, Stargate Command's resident alien-in-refuge, Jonas Quinn (Nemec), comes up with a potential solution that might win him a coveted spot on SG-1.

Season six carries a different tone than previous installments due to the prolonged absence of Daniel Jackson and the introduction of a temporary replacement in the form of Jonas Quinn. I expected there to be some difficulty in the transition since I had built up a fondness for one character, but was surprised how rapidly Jonas's quirks endeared him to me. His enthusiasm about being a member of the team, about exploring new worlds, about reading ancient languages, even about being trapped on a death glider, is infectious and brings a nice balance to the dry sarcasm of Jack and the techno speak of Sam. Daniel is not entirely gone, as he does make a half dozen appearances over the course of the season, but he is not the same Daniel we grew to know and love. This Daniel is rather above it all and worthless. (Still, it's nice to see him make an attempt in the finale to be useful.)

There are some exceptionally entertaining and/or fun episodes this time around, but more importantly, we learn the identity of a secret adversary that has been tormenting them for quite some time. The usual villains do turn up along with a few new ones, and there are precarious escapes and new discoveries in each installment. I was a bit sorry that they seem to have written out all affection between Jack and Sam that made earlier seasons so much fun, but the team has a nice dynamic together. And it is fairly family-friendly, too. As in previous installments, there is a lot of combat violence: explosions, fire power, automatic weapon shoot-outs. Members of the team are shot, knocked unconscious, and occasionally tortured. (Jack has one episode in which he is killed several times in different ways by an adversary in the hope of gaining information.) Native costumes reveal varying amounts of cleavage. There is mild language scattered throughout.

One or two episodes seemed rather bland in the grand scheme of things, but this season is otherwise very solid. The absence of Daniel was not as jarring as I anticipated and there were some nice hints toward the future spin-off, Stargate Atlantis, through various translated text and characters. It also has a reasonably peaceful season finale rather than the customary cliffhanger, which for someone waiting for later seasons through the public library system, is a blessing.