|
Post by Kestrel on Jul 9, 2022 2:55:52 GMT
Ahahaha I knew if I just kept scrolling I'd find a Stargate thread -- and here it is! I just started watching SG-1. I like it a lot so far! Well, maybe not a lot, but I am enjoying myself. It's a good show to have on when I can't quite focus on anything too closely, which is nice. I knew going into it that the premise was pretty damned problematic (I know, I know, I just don't wanna get too into it rn) and wow, those aspects really have not aged well... but it's just so earnest about things it's hard for me to really find fault. Like I don't get the sense that there was ever any deliberate thought being put behind the use of some of these tropes... more like a kid playing in a sandbox and just grabbing anything and everything that seems fun or interesting. It's a kind of... childish enthusiasm that I generally don't detect from more recent SF media. I love it. Also: really impressed that they abandoned the central premise of the show by the 3rd episode. That's gotta be a record. But what really strikes me about SG-1 is the presentation. I generally thought of this show as a contemporary of Star Trek Voyager or Farscape, so I was expecting pretty middling production values. And while not everything has aged well, I've generally been pretty damned impressed by the variety of sets, shooting locations, costumes, vfx shots and the massive numbers of extras they use for certain scenes. Just from the premise I expected, basically, a discount Star Trek, using the Stargate as a mechanism to avoid expensive starship sets or space vfx shots. But nope! They had money, evidently. Lots of it! Not sure how far I'll keep watching, as this seems to be a MASSIVE franchise, but... I'm settling down for the long-haul. Also: there's one last very small thing I noticed and have to comment on, but I have to put it behind spoiler tags and warn you not to read it unless you're prepared for the very real possibility that you will never be able to watch a modern blockbuster film or vfx-heavy Tv show the same way again. {Spoiler} So there's thing thing I've noticed and never been able to stop noticing about modern VFX scenes with "exotic" lighting -- think energy orbs, portals, the like. Basically the CGI will animate the light moving and swirling and generally looking really cool. But the live action sequences? They'll use static lighting. The color will match the CGI, but there won't be any movement. This keeps happening even in really big-budget films. It's crazy! I guess it's because the directors have no idea what the CGI lighting is gonna be when they film it?
But, yeah, so SG-1 with only a fraction of those blockbuster budgets and technology several decades behind managed to light the actors with moving lighting. It never exactly matches the CGI animation, but it tries, and I am so thankful! Every time I see the water-like rippling light of O'Neill's face as he stares at the Stargate portal, I do a little cheer.
|
|
|
Post by Digi on Jul 9, 2022 3:34:38 GMT
Glad you're enjoying it! It's a really fun franchise, I've been a huge fan for a long time.
|
|
|
Post by Kestrel on Jul 16, 2022 15:03:22 GMT
The more I watch it, the more I like it. And apparently the humans get spaceships later, which is just icing on the cake. I was gonna order a Glider and Daedalus through Eaglemoss, but they wound up going bankrupt right before I could. Oh no! Well, so much for that idea.
|
|
|
Post by Digi on Jul 16, 2022 16:20:14 GMT
The more I watch it, the more I like it. And apparently the humans get spaceships later, which is just icing on the cake. I was gonna order a Glider and Daedalus through Eaglemoss, but they wound up going bankrupt right before I could. Oh no! Well, so much for that idea. Oh, dang I had no idea! Crap that's annoying, I'd planned on buying a bunch of Trek ships from them sooner or later. I guess not now! Where are you at in SG-1? Thinking about doing spinoffs too, or too early to have given that much thought?
|
|
|
Post by Kestrel on Jul 17, 2022 8:21:22 GMT
I just watched Wormhole X-Treme! (Fun story but the best part was definitely the "behind the scenes" bit at the end). I do wanna watch the rest, eventually (a bit confused on where the movies fit in) but it'll be a while before I get to that point. I'm currently watching SG-1 on Netflix, and they don't have anything else, so.....
Re: Eaglemoss, yeah, it really came out of nowhere. And there's nothing even close to an "official" explanation for what happened or what will happen, but from what I've seen (random folks speculating, mostly, one person on Reddit claiming to be an employee, but speaking in broken English) EM had a bunch of debts that were snowballing on account of the pandemic, were looking for investors, and had some deals fall through at the last minute. Potentially the company could still be saved and return in some form or another, but for now it's kaputt.
Which really sucks for my dream of them getting the Babylon 5 ships.... (Have I mentioned my hyperfixation on starships lately?)
It's really odd that they were expanding so much (new collections, licenses, etc.) if they were having money problems. Like I can't imagine the BSG or Stargate collections were drawing in even half as much money as the Star Trek and Doctor Who stuff. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your POV) it doesn't look like they ever got around to actually distributing the SG-1 Daedalus model, which means I don't have to beat myself up too badly about not being able to get one.
|
|
|
Post by Digi on Jul 17, 2022 10:13:30 GMT
I just watched Wormhole X-Treme! (Fun story but the best part was definitely the "behind the scenes" bit at the end). I do wanna watch the rest, eventually (a bit confused on where the movies fit in) but it'll be a while before I get to that point. I'm currently watching SG-1 on Netflix, and they don't have anything else, so..... Re: Eaglemoss, yeah, it really came out of nowhere. And there's nothing even close to an "official" explanation for what happened or what will happen, but from what I've seen (random folks speculating, mostly, one person on Reddit claiming to be an employee, but speaking in broken English) EM had a bunch of debts that were snowballing on account of the pandemic, were looking for investors, and had some deals fall through at the last minute. Potentially the company could still be saved and return in some form or another, but for now it's kaputt. Which really sucks for my dream of them getting the Babylon 5 ships.... (Have I mentioned my hyperfixation on starships lately?) It's really odd that they were expanding so much (new collections, licenses, etc.) if they were having money problems. Like I can't imagine the BSG or Stargate collections were drawing in even half as much money as the Star Trek and Doctor Who stuff. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your POV) it doesn't look like they ever got around to actually distributing the SG-1 Daedalus model, which means I don't have to beat myself up too badly about not being able to get one. Short, SG-1 only answer: Stargate (1994 film with Kurt Russell & James Spader) SG-1 Ark of Truth Continuum Long answer: {Spoiler} - Stargate (1994 film)
- SG-1 seasons 1-7 uninterrupted
- SG-1 season 8 / Atlantis season 1 (aired and set concurrently. S8 premiere "New Order" must come before the Atlantis pilot "Rising," and the 2-part S8 finale "Moebius" must come before the Atlantis finale "The Siege", but otherwise doesn't matter what order you alternate the shows in, or don't)
- SG-1 S9 / Atlantis S2 (again concurrent & significantly standalone, except for: finish off Atlantis's 3 part "The Siege", SG-1 901-903 are set before Atlantis 202 "The Intruder". Everything else, doesn't matter what order you alternate the shows in, or don't)
- SG-1 S10 up to episode 1019 "Dominion" / Atlantis S3 up to episode 319 "Vengeance" (doesn't really matter what order you alternate the shows in, or don't)
- SG-1 1020 "Unending" (series finale)
- The Ark of Truth (first SG-1 film)
- Atlantis 320 "First Strike"
- Atlantis S4 uninterrupted
- Atlantis 501 & 502
- Continuum (second SG-1 film)
- Atlantis remainder of S5
- Universe S1 & S2
|
|
|
Post by Kestrel on Jul 17, 2022 10:29:45 GMT
Thanks! Is there a lot of crossover with the concurrent seasons of SG-1 and Atlantis, or is it like TNG and DS9 where there's only occasionally some crossover, and the two series are still mostly independent of each other?
|
|
|
Post by mark687 on Jul 17, 2022 11:23:11 GMT
Thanks! Is there a lot of crossover with the concurrent seasons of SG-1 and Atlantis, or is it like TNG and DS9 where there's only occasionally some crossover, and the two series are still mostly independent of each other? SG1 and Alantis both very enjoyable and easy to follow crossover episodes occur within a series in broadcast order so Watch up to the 1st 2 Eps of SG1 Season 8 Before the 1st 2 Eps of Atlantis But basically if you watch both series con-currently in broadcast order watch the SG1 EP 1st every time. Regards mark687
|
|
|
Post by Digi on Jul 17, 2022 15:35:48 GMT
Thanks! Is there a lot of crossover with the concurrent seasons of SG-1 and Atlantis, or is it like TNG and DS9 where there's only occasionally some crossover, and the two series are still mostly independent of each other? Significantly standalone, though they do come together in big ways occasionally. The reason for certain episodes happening before others (in the part I put under the spoiler tag) is that sometimes a thing will happen in one show that directly affects the next show even when there’s no character crossover. Like to pick one example SG-1 S7 ends with one large unresolved plot thread that’s addressed in 801-802, and then the Atlantis pilot (which features SG-1 characters in guest roles) just takes it as read that that issue is already resolved. I keep writing more and then deleting it because I don’t want to spoil anything, ha.
|
|
|
Post by Kestrel on Jul 17, 2022 19:12:26 GMT
lol, no worries there, I'm not really one to care about spoilers. My mentality is that if you can ruin a story by spoiling it, it's was never a good story to begin with.
Anyway, yeah, I look forward to it, messy though it may be. Like I said, the more I watch SG-1, the more I like it. O'Neill is really a great character... a very unique archetype that you very seldom see in any media,,least of all SF. It's not surprising at all that the entire species of the Asgard are essentially O'Neill fanboys. It's not like the rest of the cast is bad or anything, but I really don't think SG-1 would work without O'Neill. His whole approach to everything is just... fun. Like the kind of thing that could easily drop off into the abyss of high camp, but just... doesn't.
|
|
|
Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Jul 20, 2022 8:32:36 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Kestrel on Jul 20, 2022 14:14:36 GMT
Looks like I picked the perfect time to get into it, huh?
Also, oh, hey, that's Claudia Black. Awesome!
|
|
|
Post by mark687 on Jul 20, 2022 14:20:56 GMT
Looks like I picked the perfect time to get into it, huh? Also, oh, hey, that's Claudia Black. Awesome! Stop Reading Spoilers for 1st time viewers! Only Kidding Regards mark687
|
|
|
Post by Kestrel on Jul 27, 2022 3:53:05 GMT
Man, I'm really burning through this show fast. Jonah sure was weird, huh?
Anyway, what do y'all think of the villains? At the time I wasn't too fond of him, but after Anubis' whole discount-Sith Lord schtick, I really miss Apophis. He was fun! And, man, when they did the "dying" make-up for him in that one episode, he looked genuinely scary! Like an actual dried-out corpse. Shame they didn't keep that look instead of Borg-ifying him.
|
|
|
Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Jul 27, 2022 8:17:31 GMT
|
|
|
Post by mark687 on Jul 27, 2022 9:16:06 GMT
Regards mark687
|
|
|
Post by mark687 on Jul 27, 2022 9:30:09 GMT
Man, I'm really burning through this show fast. Jonah sure was weird, huh? Anyway, what do y'all think of the villains? At the time I wasn't too fond of him, but after Anubis' whole discount-Sith Lord schtick, I really miss Apophis. He was fun! And, man, when they did the "dying" make-up for him in that one episode, he looked genuinely scary! Like an actual dried-out corpse. Shame they didn't keep that look instead of Borg-ifying him. Seen Six Seasonsish worth in 10 Days that's impressive. Regards mark687
|
|
|
Post by Kestrel on Jul 27, 2022 20:07:29 GMT
Haha yeah... not a lotta sleep for me lately. Feels like I've just had Netflix running 24/7 all month.
EDIT: though to be fair it's only been 2 seasons in the past 10 days. I'm currently in the first part of S7.
|
|
|
Post by Digi on Jul 27, 2022 20:45:23 GMT
Man, I'm really burning through this show fast. Jonah sure was weird, huh? Anyway, what do y'all think of the villains? At the time I wasn't too fond of him, but after Anubis' whole discount-Sith Lord schtick, I really miss Apophis. He was fun! And, man, when they did the "dying" make-up for him in that one episode, he looked genuinely scary! Like an actual dried-out corpse. Shame they didn't keep that look instead of Borg-ifying him. My first time through I was a little cool on Jonas I'll admit, but I know in hindsight that that's because he was replacing a beloved character who had been around since the original film. I've really come around to liking him a lot, and feeling like he got badly shortchanged. They did do some interesting things with S7-10 Daniel, but I'm not as big a fan of him in that era as I was of him from the movie till S5 (and even S6), and I think it might've been nice for the change to Jonas to have ended up being permanent. Or at least for them to have him spin off as one of the stars of Atlantis as was being floated during the season 6 days. (The production history from season 5 onward, including Atlantis, is just a complete gongshow of changing plans, cast changes, never knowing if/when they were going to be canceled, the story decisions driven by those choices, etc. But I'll hold that till you're finished ). As to villains - the Goa'uld absolutely were a ton of fun, and I'll forever be a little salty that they built up Sokar so much just to toss him aside, but Anubis was something new entirely and exciting in his own right. You're not wrong to chuckle about him being a little Sith-y, but I think they do quite a good job of making him into something big and frightening in a way that Apophis and the System Lords never really achieved. I really enjoy how they threaded him into the series a while before even naming him, this unknown menace that even the Goa'uld are threatened by (and some co-opted into serving) before finally getting an explanation from Jacob partway through season 5. And since you're into season 7 now you're already aware of how real that threat has become, how dangerous he is to everyone...and that there's a bit more to him than just being a regular old snake. There's more to come, too. Still on villains, I've got a special soft spot for the Replicators. To me there's a special kind of terrifying about a non-sentient mechanical creature whose only directive/purpose is to consume everything in its sight in order to replicate more copies of itself...who will go on to consume everything in their sight in order to replicate more copies of themselves (and so on), and it can't be bargained or reasoned with because that's its entire reason for existing. Yeah the conceit of the Asgard being 'too smart' to fight it and needing us 'dumb humans' to help is a big, silly conceit, but it works really well with the tone of the show. And on a conceptual level the idea of the Replicators remains freaking scary.
|
|