Stargate is hands-down my favorite show of all time… It ties with firefly, but firefly usually takes top spot because it’s short and sweet.
Seasons 1-3 are a little rough as with many shows that started out with serialization and all that, but seasons 3.5-6 are great, and seasons 6-10 are some of the best television I’ve ever seen.
They either learned from star trek, or just figured it out themselves that diplomatic and non action episodes can be just as riveting as action-packed explosion fests. Measure of a Man is first to come to mind for star trek. I’ll never skip that episode no matter how bored my wife gets.
The meme potential is endless. And there are so many inside jokes and references use in daily life that nobody else gets.
REALLY!? I mean, I know it’s great but also, every time I re-watch it (I think I’ve done that maybe 2-3 times already) I end up regretting it - and the last time iirc I just abandoned my plan halfway through season 1. I forget now exactly why but I recall that it gets extremely “preachy” near the end - like okay okay in that universe there is no god (except Daniel, obvi:-P), I get it, sheesh, now please move on from that with an actual story to tell. It feels like they were struggling to find a point to continue to base the story on any longer? Atlantis I vaguely recall being better with the whole nanites storyline. And yes, ST-TNG’s Measure of a Man is peak sci-fi - this is the stuff we crave, not “me punch bad-guy b/c… well… reasons I guess”.
These are all very vague recollections so I am not “advocating” for these positions. Actually, the reason I am saying this is b/c I’m starting to actively look for an excuse to re-watch Stargate again - can you give me a reason to btw? I mean for a person that has already watched it so who knows about the memes and such, but to re-watch it yet again (again)?
I’ll try to put it to some more words: maybe SG-1 hits some great high points, but as you mentioned it also has some extremely sludge-fest moments as well? And even as I say this, I realize that I just can’t stomach re-watching it all - but is there a resource that puts together only like the good episodes?
Firefly is no comparison imho - every single episode is hand-crafted gold from the master. Most everything by Joss Whedon is - his horror movie, Doll House, everything. Which reminds me I think haven’t caught up with his moderately newer stuff so that’s maybe what I should do.
And to give some context, since Babylon Five has entered the chat, that show is somehow both great and also boring at the same time. It’s great for someone who has never watched it, and maybe once more to re-watch after a few decades have gone by, but as I currently am struggling through the last season, I do see how very different it is from other TV shows, both then at the time and now. Which makes it both great - for someone who has never watched it or needs a reminder - but also not great, for someone just looking to re-watch riveting TV shows, at the same time.
I hope my reminiscings here are more interesting than annoying:-).
Honestly I don’t watch seasons 1-3 often. I usually start at the end of season 3 or even up to halfway through season 4.
There are a few continuing stories from earlier seasons, especially the introduction of a few friendly species, but I feel like the recaps will give you enough to go on, and if you’re really curious you can read a plot synopsis.
I’m not aware of any sort of unofficial list of must-watch episodes and probably-skips, but a good place to start is the season 3 finale, and go from there.
Replicators (the earlier blockier version of those nanites) infect an Asgard ship (the small Grey aliens) and they come to earth for help. “you came to us because you weren’t dumb enough?” is a paraphrased line.
If you don’t care about spoilers I could go into a little more detail since it’s not quite a multi-part episode, but it does go directly from one to the next in short order.
The first three episodes of s4 are good, IMO. Episode 4 not so much but it does get referenced a lot in later episodes. When my wife and I watched, I gave her a summary of that episode, but she has a shorter attention span. It’s a dialogue-heavy episode that kick starts a vendetta for one character. Good if you like drama.
Thank you for the tips, and the validation that it is not just me but the first few seasons really are a sludge, I’ll stop trying to guilt myself there I suppose:-).
I do remember an episode cliffhanger (or similar) perhaps at the end of a season about the spaceship that crashed and had the little bots on them. After that iirc it got good, but then after several seasons I lost interest again, but for different reasons it seemed (I just don’t recall why exactly, except the preachy thought). All that higher plane of existence I suppose is neat to think about except they treated it like plot magic and never really truly talked about it - probably it was that way on purpose in order to preserve mystery but then it was weird how Daniel came back and overall it came off as laziness even if that was not the actual reason.
More modern shows like The 100 have much better pacing and storylines, even if less of the magic and exploration. I also really enjoyed Farscape as well, which is quite an odd show but somehow works. Babylon Five is almost the opposite, being an odd show that isn’t really done as well, but has REALLY good settings as far as actual story. It’s definitely a grand space opera, just an odd delivery that feels a little as if the actors are doing improv rather than a professional TV program.
The ascension thing comes back and gets more explained, Daniel dies multiple times (3 maybe?) but the last time is part of a multi-episode arc that shows what his ascension experience is like (this time anyway) and it’s more or less understood that he can’t die again and expect to come back, and he might not even be able to ascend again period (though I don’t believe either are expressly stated, just my take)
Farscape is a great show, and some of the characters even have regular roles in late seasons of sg1.
It’s slower paced, it feels a little bit like they were trying to cash in on the “mysterious things happen” and “long continuous story that if you miss one or two episodes you might be completely Lost”, pun intended since it feels like that’s the energy they were going for, from Lost.
Personally, I liked it. It’s slower paced than Atlantis was, less action packed, and heavily focuses on character drama.
And also leaves a massive fucking cliffhanger to end the series, from my understanding. I haven’t finished it because I knew they canceled it without finishing the story.
I love Eureka, but poor decisions were made regarding the sg-1/eureka “rivalry”. Basically the funding and attention left Stargate and went to eureka. They should both have recieved the attention they deserved but that’s a whole other rant lmao
So, while I REALLY enjoyed SG-1 the first time around, what would you say makes the show “worth it” for a re-watch these days? Nostalgia/reminiscing is enough on its own, for a more rare rewatch (like Babylon Five except that one I never watched live - I knew I couldn’t follow if I missed an episode so I just noped out entirely, then caught it later), but you made it sound like more than that. Was it just great for a first-time experience, to see things not normally seen in usual TV fare, or is there value in more?
I haven’t seen Stargate or Quantum Leap, but I’ve seen the others so many times. Futurama, especially, is one show that I’m always in the mood for.
Quantum Leap is just beautiful, and Stargate is fun
I would love to see what a memelord like yourself could do with the fertile ground that is SG1 memes.
We’d love to have you over at chevron7
It’s one of those shows that has been on my list for so long. My wife loves it too. I’ve been meaning to give it a go.
Stargate is hands-down my favorite show of all time… It ties with firefly, but firefly usually takes top spot because it’s short and sweet.
Seasons 1-3 are a little rough as with many shows that started out with serialization and all that, but seasons 3.5-6 are great, and seasons 6-10 are some of the best television I’ve ever seen.
They either learned from star trek, or just figured it out themselves that diplomatic and non action episodes can be just as riveting as action-packed explosion fests. Measure of a Man is first to come to mind for star trek. I’ll never skip that episode no matter how bored my wife gets.
The meme potential is endless. And there are so many inside jokes and references use in daily life that nobody else gets.
Ok, I really need to make time for this show…
REALLY!? I mean, I know it’s great but also, every time I re-watch it (I think I’ve done that maybe 2-3 times already) I end up regretting it - and the last time iirc I just abandoned my plan halfway through season 1. I forget now exactly why but I recall that it gets extremely “preachy” near the end - like okay okay in that universe there is no god (except Daniel, obvi:-P), I get it, sheesh, now please move on from that with an actual story to tell. It feels like they were struggling to find a point to continue to base the story on any longer? Atlantis I vaguely recall being better with the whole nanites storyline. And yes, ST-TNG’s Measure of a Man is peak sci-fi - this is the stuff we crave, not “me punch bad-guy b/c… well… reasons I guess”.
These are all very vague recollections so I am not “advocating” for these positions. Actually, the reason I am saying this is b/c I’m starting to actively look for an excuse to re-watch Stargate again - can you give me a reason to btw? I mean for a person that has already watched it so who knows about the memes and such, but to re-watch it yet again (again)?
I’ll try to put it to some more words: maybe SG-1 hits some great high points, but as you mentioned it also has some extremely sludge-fest moments as well? And even as I say this, I realize that I just can’t stomach re-watching it all - but is there a resource that puts together only like the good episodes?
Firefly is no comparison imho - every single episode is hand-crafted gold from the master. Most everything by Joss Whedon is - his horror movie, Doll House, everything. Which reminds me I think haven’t caught up with his moderately newer stuff so that’s maybe what I should do.
And to give some context, since Babylon Five has entered the chat, that show is somehow both great and also boring at the same time. It’s great for someone who has never watched it, and maybe once more to re-watch after a few decades have gone by, but as I currently am struggling through the last season, I do see how very different it is from other TV shows, both then at the time and now. Which makes it both great - for someone who has never watched it or needs a reminder - but also not great, for someone just looking to re-watch riveting TV shows, at the same time.
I hope my reminiscings here are more interesting than annoying:-).
Honestly I don’t watch seasons 1-3 often. I usually start at the end of season 3 or even up to halfway through season 4.
There are a few continuing stories from earlier seasons, especially the introduction of a few friendly species, but I feel like the recaps will give you enough to go on, and if you’re really curious you can read a plot synopsis.
I’m not aware of any sort of unofficial list of must-watch episodes and probably-skips, but a good place to start is the season 3 finale, and go from there.
Replicators (the earlier blockier version of those nanites) infect an Asgard ship (the small Grey aliens) and they come to earth for help. “you came to us because you weren’t dumb enough?” is a paraphrased line.
If you don’t care about spoilers I could go into a little more detail since it’s not quite a multi-part episode, but it does go directly from one to the next in short order.
The first three episodes of s4 are good, IMO. Episode 4 not so much but it does get referenced a lot in later episodes. When my wife and I watched, I gave her a summary of that episode, but she has a shorter attention span. It’s a dialogue-heavy episode that kick starts a vendetta for one character. Good if you like drama.
Thank you for the tips, and the validation that it is not just me but the first few seasons really are a sludge, I’ll stop trying to guilt myself there I suppose:-).
I do remember an episode cliffhanger (or similar) perhaps at the end of a season about the spaceship that crashed and had the little bots on them. After that iirc it got good, but then after several seasons I lost interest again, but for different reasons it seemed (I just don’t recall why exactly, except the preachy thought). All that higher plane of existence I suppose is neat to think about except they treated it like plot magic and never really truly talked about it - probably it was that way on purpose in order to preserve mystery but then it was weird how Daniel came back and overall it came off as laziness even if that was not the actual reason.
More modern shows like The 100 have much better pacing and storylines, even if less of the magic and exploration. I also really enjoyed Farscape as well, which is quite an odd show but somehow works. Babylon Five is almost the opposite, being an odd show that isn’t really done as well, but has REALLY good settings as far as actual story. It’s definitely a grand space opera, just an odd delivery that feels a little as if the actors are doing improv rather than a professional TV program.
The ascension thing comes back and gets more explained, Daniel dies multiple times (3 maybe?) but the last time is part of a multi-episode arc that shows what his ascension experience is like (this time anyway) and it’s more or less understood that he can’t die again and expect to come back, and he might not even be able to ascend again period (though I don’t believe either are expressly stated, just my take)
Farscape is a great show, and some of the characters even have regular roles in late seasons of sg1.
Did you ever watch any of the ones past Atlantis - like Universe I guess - and if so were they any good at all?
Universe is a very different show.
It’s slower paced, it feels a little bit like they were trying to cash in on the “mysterious things happen” and “long continuous story that if you miss one or two episodes you might be completely Lost”, pun intended since it feels like that’s the energy they were going for, from Lost.
Personally, I liked it. It’s slower paced than Atlantis was, less action packed, and heavily focuses on character drama.
And also leaves a massive fucking cliffhanger to end the series, from my understanding. I haven’t finished it because I knew they canceled it without finishing the story.
I love Eureka, but poor decisions were made regarding the sg-1/eureka “rivalry”. Basically the funding and attention left Stargate and went to eureka. They should both have recieved the attention they deserved but that’s a whole other rant lmao
So, while I REALLY enjoyed SG-1 the first time around, what would you say makes the show “worth it” for a re-watch these days? Nostalgia/reminiscing is enough on its own, for a more rare rewatch (like Babylon Five except that one I never watched live - I knew I couldn’t follow if I missed an episode so I just noped out entirely, then caught it later), but you made it sound like more than that. Was it just great for a first-time experience, to see things not normally seen in usual TV fare, or is there value in more?