Stargate SG-1 (season 9)

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Stargate SG-1 Season 9

Region 1 DVD cover art
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States, Flag of Canada Canada
Network SCI FI
Original run July 15, 2005 (SCI FI) – March 10, 2006 (SCI FI)
No. of episodes 20
DVD release date Region 1: October 3, 2006
Region 2: March 27, 2006
Region 4: August 16, 2006
Previous season Season 8
Next season Season 10

Season nine of Stargate SG-1, an American-Canadian television series, began airing on July 15, 2005 on SCI FI. The ninth season concluded on March 10, 2006, after 20 episodes on the same channel. The series was originally developed by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, and Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper, Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie served as executive producers. Season nine regular cast members included Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Beau Bridges, and Michael Shanks. Claudia Black appeared a recurring role in eight episodes. The ninth season begins with General Hank Landry (Beau Bridges) having assumed command of Stargate Command, and newcomer Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) trying to regroup the SG-1 team after the events of the eighth season. The season arc centers around the new threat of the Ori, a race who Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) and Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black) unleash in an unknown galaxy, and who are threatening to prepare for a crusade into the Milky Way galaxy to convert the beings to their religion called Origin.

Contents

[edit] Main cast

[edit] Episodes

# # Title SG Wiki Directed by Written by Original airdate
175 901 "Avalon (Part 1)"  SG Wiki Andy Mikita Robert C. Cooper July 15, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell is recruited by the SGC as leader of SG-1 but finds the original SG-1 has disbanded. Trying to find out how to bring them back together, Vala Mal Doran arrives with an artifact which could reveal an ancient treasure, and he finds this his only opportunity to reunite the team.[1] 
176 902 "Avalon (Part 2)"  SG Wiki Andy Mikita Robert C. Cooper July 22, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
After passing all of the tests found in Avalon, the makeshift SG-1 discovers the treasure, along with an Ancient long-range communication device. Hoping to find actual Ancients, Daniel and Vala are given control of the bodies of two people in a distant galaxy. Although... it's not what they expected. 
177 903 "Origin (Part 3)"  SG Wiki Brad Turner Robert C. Cooper July 29, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
When Daniel and Vala follow a mysterious man to find answers to their questions, they discover the Ori. The Ori, like the Ancients, are ascended beings, but pure evil entities that feel the need to be worshipped. Now, that the Ori know of life in another galaxy, they begin to send their missionaries, Priors, through the Stargate. 
178 904 "The Ties That Bind"  SG Wiki Will Waring Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie August 5, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
Hoping to disconnect the Kor'mat (Avalon (Part 1)), Daniel, Teal'c, Mitchell, and Vala try to pry the information out of whoever she stole them from in the first place. When he wants something in return, they discover that his request isn't so easy to complete, and they must go on a series of quests to please his demands. 
179 905 "The Powers That Be"  SG Wiki Will Waring Martin Gero August 12, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
In order to steer a planet away from Origin, SG-1 is tricked by Vala into going to the planet she previously ruled as a Goa'uld. The inhabitants of the planet know nothing of the downfall of the parasites, and they believe that Vala is still their god, until a prior shows up, and attempts to expose her for who she is. 
180 906 "Beachhead"  SG Wiki Brad Turner Brad Wright August 19, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
Samantha Carter returns to the SGC when the Ori seize control of a planet as a foothold in our galaxy. After several attempts to halt the process, they discover that they have been helping the Ori achieve their goal, instead of foiling their efforts. The Ori have been building an enourmous Stargate to allow their ships to get to the milky way, but they are stopped by Valla, who appearently dies in the process. 
181 907 "Ex Deus Machina"  SG Wiki Martin Wood Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie August 26, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
After Ba'al contacts Stargate Command, they learn he has been living on earth for several months as the head of a major corporation. His demands are that he is allowed to live in peace, or he will blow up naqahdah bomb somewhere in America. Yet Gerak is determined to capture him... and takes a less "subtle" route. 
182 908 "Babylon"  SG Wiki Peter DeLuise Damian Kindler September 9, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
Offworld, SG-1 is attacked by a group of legendary Jaffa, but lose Mitchell to them in the process. The rest of the team is forced to retreat, leaving their leader behind. Mitchell is accused of killing one of the Jaffa. As punishment, he must square off against the slain Jaffa's brother, but he could be Mitchell's salvation. 
183 909 "Prototype"  SG Wiki Peter DeLuise Alan McCullough September 16, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
The team finds a man frozen in Ancient stasis offworld, and brings him back to the SGC to find out his story. But when Daniel researches the laboratory where the man was found, he discovers that he was grown by Anubis to be a genetically advanced human. 
184 910 "The Fourth Horseman (Part 1)"  SG Wiki Andy Mikita Damian Kindler September 16, 2005 (Sci Fi Channel)
When a disease breaks out across America, evidence leads it to be the Ori's doing. Preparing to track down a viable cure, an old friend takes on an unfamiliar human form to help out, but it might not be enough when the team's adverse ally joins the Ori. 
185 911 "The Fourth Horseman (Part 2)"  SG Wiki Andy Mikita Damian Kindler January 6, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
While Orlin is working on a cure for the Prior plague, Mitchell and Daniel capture a Prior offworld to further the research of the antidote. Teal'c tries to stop Gerak, now a Prior, from corrupting the entire Jaffa Council towards Origin. 
186 912 "Collateral Damage"  SG Wiki Will Waring Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie January 13, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
The team encounters a civilization that has been allowed to advance due to past Asgard protection. They discover that they have technology capable of manipulating memories, and after Mitchell's first dose, he is accused of murder. Now the rest of the team must ally themselves with local scientists to prove his innocence. 
187 913 "Ripple Effect"  SG Wiki Peter DeLuise Brad Wright, Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie January 20, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
Multiple SG-1s show up at Stargate Command, leading the "real" team to conclude that they have each been inadvertently displaced from different parallel realities. 
188 914 "Stronghold"  SG Wiki Peter DeLuise Alan McCullough January 27, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
Ba'al brainwashes members of the Jaffa High Council to thwart their move toward democracy. Cameron Mitchell faces a tough decision when he learns that an old friend is about to die. 
189 915 "Ethon"  SG Wiki Ken Girotti Damian Kindler, Robert C. Cooper February 3, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
Daniel is imprisoned on a world under the influence of the Ori, and the Prometheus is caught in a firefight when SG-1 tries to rescue him. 
190 916 "Off the Grid"  SG Wiki Peter DeLuise Alan McCullough February 10, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
SG-1 is captured on an alien world after a deal with the Lucian Alliance goes bad ... and the planet's Stargate goes missing. 
191 917 "The Scourge"  SG Wiki Ken Girotti Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie February 17, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
A tour of an off-world research base for a group of foreign diplomats turns dangerous when an insidious insect species gets loose. 
192 918 "Arthur's Mantle"  SG Wiki Peter DeLuise Alan McCullough February 24, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
Mitchell and Carter are shifted to another dimension, making them invisible to everyone at the S.G.C. Teal'c and SG-12 discover that the Sodan have been brutally attacked. 
193 919 "Crusade"  SG Wiki Robert C. Cooper Robert C. Cooper March 3, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
Vala Mal Doran makes contact with Stargate Command from the Ori home galaxy, and tells the story of her life undercover in a village of followers building the Ori's invasion fleet. 
194 920 "Camelot"  SG Wiki Martin Wood Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie March 10, 2006 (Sci Fi Channel)
SG-1 discovers the village of Camelot on an alien world, and must face Merlin's security system when they go in search of an Ancient weapon. And the Ori invasion begins. 

[edit] Production

[edit] Cast

Ben Browder and Beau Bridges joined the main cast in Season 9, as Cameron Mitchell and Hank Landry, respectively. Richard Dean Anderson had left the main cast after Season 8 due to the personal wish to spend more time with his young daughter in Los Angeles.[2] Despite being listed in the cast credits for the whole season, Amanda Tapping as Samantha Carter only appears in short scenes in "Avalon (Part 1)" in the first five episodes as she was in the last stages of pregnancy at that time. Her empty spot was filled by guest star Claudia Black, who would leave in "Beachhead" and return for the last two episodes of Season 9, which involved her real-life pregnancy. Another new recurring actor was Lexa Doig as Carolyn Lam, Landry's daughter and the new doctor at Stargate Command.

[edit] Writing

After writing the end of Season 8 as the third series finale in a row and having a positive creative experience with the first season of Stargate Atlantis, the producers considered to start a new spin-of show called Stargate Command, but the Sci Fi Channel chose to renew the series into a ninth season.[3][4] With the departure of Richard Dean Anderson, the producers then decided to start a new chapter and introduced new elements into the series. A major change was the departure from Egyptian mythology and the Goa'uld that had found its climax in the season 8 episode "Threads", and the introduction of Arthurian mythology.[5] "Avalon" was treated like a pilot film, consisting of originally two episodes, but a long script resulted in the extension of the story into the episode "Origin", in which the Ori as new antagonistic race make their first appearance.[3]

The title of the episode "Ex Deus Machina" is a hyperbaton of "deus ex machina" (literally "God out of a Machine", meaning "God appearing on a crane", a literary device for a kind of turn of events) after he jokingly suggested to his writing partners a plot about Ba'al working undercover as a mechanic on Earth. The title also makes a reference to Ba'al as an ex-deus (a former god).[6]

The episode "Ripple Effect" was overly long and had many scenes edited and cut for time. Writer Joseph Mallozzi later posted script sections of all cut scenes online.[7] Asked what the cryptic remark by Black Mitchell meant when he left through the gate at the end of the episode,[8] Mallozzi answered the meaning of this remark will not be revealed in the series but might come up in the Stargate SG-1 sequels, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum.[9]

"Camelot" was the first Stargate SG-1 season finale since "Revelations" that was not intended to be the SG-1 series finale, and the first one since "Exodus" that was a cliffhanger. The episode was written without the knowledge that Stargate SG-1 would be picked up for a tenth season.

[edit] Filming

The burning of Vala in "Avalon (Part 2)" was a challenging sequence for safety reasons and for still making it believable. Stunt people and incorporate actors stood in for the fire scenes that Claudia Black couldn't film. Locked-off cameras and different "plates" were later combined to so-called VisFX compshots.[5]

The episode "Crusade" was Robert C. Cooper's first time directing on the show. All of Vala's voiceovers in that episode were filmed beforehand so that the director could pick which parts would be voiceover and which parts would be shown.

[edit] Design, special effects and music

Since the environment of Vancouver, Canada, where SG-1 and Atlantis is primarily filmed, is being developed, shooting locations are getting rarer for new offworld stories. The producers countered this with a new reusable village set, with almost 280 feet (85m) in length and 12000 sqfoot (1100 m²) in area the biggest they ever built. It was an interior and exterior practical set on an effects stage. Three weeks passed between initial conception until building began, although portions has already been built the previous year. Two further weeks passed before filming began. The inspiration for the set were medieval villages, Japanese homes, Italian structures and buildings.[5][10]

"The Ties That Bind" marks the first appearance of the Atlantis-style wormhole effect on the actual series, rather than in just the opening credits.

[edit] Reception

The Sci Fi Channel cut the opening sequences of the first ten episodes of the season from sixty to ten seconds for the original broadcast. The sequence only displayed the "Stargate SG-1" logo and a "Created by" credit, main cast credits were displayed during the teaser. Fans had been very negative about this move.[11] British Sky One only aired the first part of "Avalon" with the short opening sequence.

The highest rated Season 9 episode was the season premier two-parter "Avalon" with a household rating of 2.1 each,[12] and held steady between 1.8 and 2.0 until the midseason finale "The Fourth Horseman", which finished with 1.8.[12] The second part of the season oscillated between 1.6 and 1.9 and finished with a household rating of 1.9.[12] The season rating average was 1.8.

A review in TV Guide Special #67 considered Mitchell's introduction in "Avalon" still too reminiscent of the production team's own efforts to turn around the Season Eight finale. Although the review embraced Black's "sparky, sarky characterization of Vala" during Amanda Tapping's absence, the renewed encounter between former Farscape cast members Ben Browder and Claudia Black was "oddly ... underplayed". The review found a strong similarity of the last ten minutes of "Avalon" (Part 1) to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and the set of the beginning of Part 2 as a "god-awful Merrie Olde England pastiche straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Plotting and technobabble were mentioned as other detrimental facets of Part 2.[13]

[edit] DVD releases

DVD Name Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Stargate SG-1 Season 9 October 3, 2006 February 5, 2007 August 16, 2006
Volume 44 (901–904) March 27, 2006
Volume 45 (905–908) April 24, 2006
Volume 46 (909–911) May 22, 2006
Volume 47 (912–914) June 19, 2006
Volume 48 (915–917) July 17, 2006
Volume 49 (918–920) August 14, 2006

[edit] Awards

The ninth season of Stargate SG-1 was nominated for several awards in 2006, but won none. "Origin" was nomininated for a Gemini Award in the category "Best Achievement in Make-Up", while both "Beachhead" and "Camelot" were nominated for "Best Visual Effects". "Camelot" was also nominated for a Gemini for "Best Sound in a Dramatic Series". Director of Photography Jim Menard was nominated for a Leo Award in the category "Best Cinematography in a Dramatic Series". Ben Browder and Claudia Black were nominated for a Saturn Award in the categories "Best Actor on Television" and "Best Supporting Actress on Television", respectively. Stargate SG-1 was also nominated in the Saturn category "Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series", but lost to Battlestar Galactica, then in its second season.[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Avalon (Part 1)". Robert C. Cooper (writers) and Andy Mikita (director). Stargate SG-1. Sci-Fi Channel. No. 1, season 9.
  2. ^ SG-1's Anderson Like Old Times. SCI FI Wire (April 28, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-07-19.
  3. ^ a b Audio Commentary 901
  4. ^ TV Zone Special #64. July 2005.
  5. ^ a b c SG-1: Directors Series - ep 901 & 902 "Avalon" feat. Andy Mikita
  6. ^ GateWorld - Stargate SG-1 'In the Making': "Ex Deus Machina"
  7. ^ GateWorld - Stargate SG-1 'In the Making': "Ripple Effect"
  8. ^ Black Mitchell in "Ripple Effect": "When the time comes, cut the green one."
  9. ^ Thoughts and Tirades, Rants and Ruminations: January 13, 2007
  10. ^ DVD featurette: "It takes a crew to build a village - The building of Stargate's new standing set". Season 9.
  11. ^ SCI FI to reinstate full-length openings. gateworld.net (September 1, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
  12. ^ a b c GateWorld - Stargate SG-1 Season Two: Ratings
  13. ^ Graves, Stephen (December 2005), “Reviews - TV Zone's reviews of the first part of the season”, TV Zone (no. Special #67): 20-21 
  14. ^ "Stargate SG-1" (1997) - Awards

[edit] External links

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