SG-1's 200th episode originally aired last summer, but I just watched it again and feel motivated to yack about it. It's a stand-alone ep, to the extent that it doesn't progress the current storyline, though it relies heavily on viewers having followed the show through its 9+ seasons. The premise is that a movie is being made based on the fictional television show Wormhole Xtreme, from the season 5 ep of the same name. Our favourite SG team goes through the proposed script, offering criticisms & suggestions, many in the form of brief fantasy scenes. It's packed full of jam with utterly silly nods to scifi classics, as well as a few random works, including Star Trek, Farscape, the Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, even a hilarious marionette sequence a la Team America: World Police. However, the real treat for SG-1 fans is that, more than anything else, it makes fun of itself. There are continual jabs at characters & incidents throughout the series, from Carter's "...just because my reproductive organs are on the inside..." speech, to Michael Shanks' [Daniel Jackson] season-long absence, to numerous funny references to past plotlines. They even give a shout out to the fans. To my delight, it also satisfies the shippers* among us, by giving us a Carter-O'Neill fantasy wedding sequence. *sigh* :)
As funny as so much of it was, it gets me right there [right...there --><--], with a quick monologue at the very end:
"Science fiction is an existential metaphor that allows us to tell stories about the human condition. Isaac Asimov once said individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blind critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all."
For hardcore fans, I also recommend the making-of special, "Inside the 200th Episode." It's extra cheesy, but it has some very good bits.
SG-1 begins its end next Friday, April 13, with the first of the final 10 episodes.
*"shippers" is a term that I think arose on messageboards during the reign of Farscape. It's shorthand for "those who get into the romantic relationships on their scifi shows of preference."
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Hey Bbabyl',
If I may call you that. Just saw the ep "200" you write of here and share your enthusiasm about its being packed full of jam.
Something quite telling occurred, where I get all innerwhelmed at any scene expressing good, loving fun with humor about oneself. Until I felt it with this show I always thought it had something to do with attachments to the characters through familiarity of seasons, but this was only my third ep and it got me anyway. It must been the nostalgic good humor between friends thing rather than the characters themselves. But it also intrigued me to see the rest to understand the characters better as well. Sinning is so much cooler than not spinning, indeed!
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