We’re kind of scraping the barrel for (1) TV shows available on streaming that (2) interest us in the slightest and (3) we haven’t seen and (4) we can watch with our 13yo kids. We’ve discovered Fringe, which pleasantly hasn’t turned out to be a rehash of X Files, and we’re mixing it around with Stargate SG-1, which comes highly recommended from several directions and obviously ran a bunch of seasons, always a good sign of some value.
Seven or eight eps in on the latter, Lucy, we’re bored. We’re very aware that most shows have a rocky first season and need to find their legs (I’m not sure we’d continue with *Babylon 5 *if we watched it cold; I was lucky enough to discover it in the third season). But SSG1 is already formulaic and looks to be one stupid “planet of an ancient Earth culture” morality play after another. Fa chrissakes, we got two women’s lib episodes back to back already.
Does it get better? Soon? Is there a good point to skip ahead to and not miss much from earlier episodes we could always watch later?
Yes, it does. I have seen every episode and can only remember one that was truly bad. The TV movies are good too. I can’t really say when it got “better,” possibly second season.
Try episode 19 from season 1, Tin Man. There are others from earlier you might like and ones from later that are great (like Upgrades and Window of Opportunity from season 4), but try that one and see if you want to continue.
But whatever you do STOP when you get to the Ori.
Just assume Earth wins (yay us!) and just end it there.
Yes, it gets much much better later, especially in season 3 imo.
Then, if you actually watch it all the way through, you get some really funny, fourth wall winks.
I believe that’s the start of Season 9. But I don’t agree entirely. The Ori stuff is stupid, but the character stuff is still good. And they are still a lot better than Stargate Atlantis’s Wraith.
We’ll give it a shot. Last night’s was the S1 ep where O’Neill gets really old, and it’s left to mumbo-jumbo hand waving and “see you next week” for a cure. Real Lost In Space grade stuff, IMHO, and not something I would expect from a late-90s show.
We’ll skip ahead. I really want to like this show, partly because there’s so much of it. I get frustrated when great shows disappear after a dozen eps or two.
The first season is definitely the weakest. They actually do some fourth wall breaking in the later seasons to make fun of the heavy handed dialog and writing in the first season. As the show progresses it gets better. The Anubis arc in particular contained some pretty decent space opera and high drama. It never achieves greatness, but it’s good watchable sci-fi that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and yet occasionally reaches good old space opera epicness. I’d keep plowing through the early seasons–they do improve–to get more of the backstory on the Goa’uld.
Which is why I’m asking for the good parts version and where it might change from what we’ve seen in the first eight eps. I’d hate to give up for the wrong reasons… as I said at the beginning, we’re really digging into the back of the film closet for stuff to watch.
