STARGATE SG-1: SEASON 4

Now preparing to begin filming its eighth season (and thus make it the longest currently-airing sci-fi series on television), STARGATE SG-1 is one of my favorite genre shows in recent years. The series has developed a strong fanbase and it's easy to see why when you watch any given episode; the shows are smartly written, the special effects are decent for TV, there's rayguns, aliens, automatic weapons, soldiers in combat gear stomping around distant alien planets and you can tell the people who make this series are having fun making it. MGM is slowly releasing each series of the show on DVD and the latest one is the show's fourth season (2000-2001).

If you're not familiar with the premise of SG-1, here it is in a nutshell: the Air Force has in its possession an alien "stargate" which allows for near-instantaneous travel from Earth to distant parts of our galaxy. Broken up into teams (SG-1, SG-2 and so forth), Air Force soldiers and scientists chart where the Stargate goes while also defending our planet from any hostile forces they may encounter such as the Gou'ald, a race of parasitic creatures that need human hosts to survive. Picking up from where the 1993 feature film ended, the show's leads are Richard Dean Anderson (Col. Jack O'Neill), Michael Shanks (civilian and archaeologist Daniel Jackson), Amanda Tapping (Major Samantha Carter, astrophysicist) and Christopher Judge (Teal'c, a former Gou'ald warrior who's switched sides). Each episode's storyline can be watched as a stand-alone tale but there is a definite effort to ensure continuity for fans watching over many seasons. Often a small mention will be made to an event or character that the SG-1 team had encountered in a past episode. While it's not important that you need to know what's happened to the characters in the past three seasons, the attention to characterization and creating an ongoing history is one of the show's strongest assets.

Starting with "Small Victories," which wraps up the introduction of the new mechanical (and evil) alien race known as the Replicators, the 22 episodes of season four are spread out over five discs. Highlights from season four include "Watergate," where we find out the Russians have their own Stargate too; "Window of Opportunity," a GROUNDHOG DAY-like time travel episode which, if done in lesser hands, wouldn't be as funny or entertaining as it is here; "Upgrades," the SG-1 spin on what it would be like to play superhero; and "Exodus" which is the season's climactic showdown with the main Gou'ald villain, Apophis. Those are my favorites but there really isn't a loser in the bunch; again, this is why this series is so well liked. One episode might have the SG-1 team Earthbound and dealing with government conspiracies ("Point of No Return"), the next might be watching the team try and solve the riddle behind an alien device before their time runs out ("The Light"). You never get bored because you never know what mission these guys will be going on next.

Included on three of the discs are featurettes. One is an in-depth look at the creation of SG-1's visual effects such as the Stargate "whoosh!". Another, "Alien Species: Friend & Foe," examines the various good and bad creatures SG-1 has made contact with. Finally, "Timeline to the Future Legacy of the Gate" is the first in a three-part documentary that looks at the evolution of the show and its characters and where they might be headed in future seasons.

Earlier season sets of STARGATE have included character profiles or featurettes, but the real news with season four is the addition of an audio commentary for every single episode. MGM should be commended for taking the initiative and welcoming the various directors, producers, writers and stars to revisit these episodes and talk about their making. The commentaries I've heard range from the filmmakers discussing how a shot was set up and filmed to the crew just sitting back and watching the episode again, so the amount of use you'll get out of them depends on your interest level toward the series. Nevertheless, this is a welcome addition for the Gaters who want as much as they can get about the show. Other companies should take note of this lead and invite the production staff in to comment on all episodes for their TV shows hitting DVD.

If you haven't already found out what STARGATE SG-1 is about, the fourth season set is a good opportunity to start.

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