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Stargate SG-1: Season Six
The sixth season of Stargate Sg-1 was marked
by change to a new network, along with the death/ascension of a
beloved character (Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson, replaced in the
lineup by Corin Nemec) and a new approach to the show as a whole.
Having moved to the Sci-Fi Channel, the Stargate writers made a
subtle but notable move to telling more stories about the overriding
plot elements (the ongoing attempt of the Goa'uld to take over the
universe, for example), more stories based back home at Stargate HQ
and more entertaining one-shot shows than the lengthy, almost soap-ish
plot lines about the characters' interpersonal relations that had
threatened to take hold. Some of this was undoubtedly to please the
execs at their new network, but it was also simply time to shake
things up — this was the show's sixth year on the air, after all,
so trying to keep things fresh was a smart notion. In the season's
two-part opener, "Redemption," Teal'c (Christopher Judge) discovers
that his wife has died and that his son blames him for her fate, while
the team discovers a plot by the show's new Big Bad, Anubis. Among the
more interesting episodes this season include "Abyss," in which
O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) is captured and tortured by a Goa'uld
who repeatedly kills him and revives him in a sarcophagus, with the
ascended-to-a-higher-being Daniel Jackson popping in to try and help
him; "The Other Guys," which lampoons "Star Trek" with the SG-1 team
getting help from some nerdy scientists; "Prometheus," which brought
back John de Lancie as the smarmy Col. Simmons; and "Unnatural
Selection," with those devious Replicators morphing onto humanoids.
The season's excellent finale, "Full Circle" — in which the team
race to keep an artifact called The Eye of Ra out of Anubis' hands
— was originally planned to close out the series and set stage
for a feature film; the decision to come back for a seventh season,
however, changed all that. MGM again does the show justice with
Stargate SG-1: Season Six offering all 22 episodes on five
discs in gorgeous, letterboxed widescreen (1.78:1) transfers with
richly detailed Dolby 2.0 Surround audio. Extras include commentaries
on all 22 episodes, twelve behine-the-scenes featurettes looking at
individual episodes ("Redemption," "Descent," "Frozen," "Night
Walkers," "Abyss," "Shadow Play," "The Other Guys," "Allegiance,"
"Cure," "Prometheus," "Metamorphosis," and "Full Circle"). Five
keep-cases in a paperboard slipcase.
—Dawn Taylor
