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The genius of SG1 was that while it was largely an episodic, planet of the week style format of Star Trek, it still had a really strong story arc. So it works b

The genius of SG1 was that while it was largely an episodic, planet of the week style format of Star Trek, it still had a really strong story arc. So it works both as a show you can dip into randomly but also as something to binge watch. I also really love the comical elements. Back when all other Sci-Fis largely took themselves seriously, SG1 wasn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. But it did itself in a way that didn’t detract the audience away from the seriousness of the plot. There’s even points where it breaks the four wall: like the 200th episode, which is a dig at itself, saying to the audience “we know this show is ridiculous at times but thank you for playing along”. The closest Star Trek got with that was the DS9 episode “Trials and Tribble-ations” (where the cast of the Defiant were sent backward in time to assist Captain Kirk).

steve_taylor 5y ago
> Back when all other Sci-Fis largely took themselves seriously, SG1 wasn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. There’s a MacGuyver reference in the first episode.
lathiat 5y ago
Deep Space Nine did this well too. New Star Trek not so much and I miss each Episode being individually enjoyable.
- laumars 5y ago
  I don’t agree DS9 did that (aside from the aforementioned episode). DS9 was the darkest and most heavily story arc dependent entry of all the 90s (and earlier) Star Trek series. Though Enterprise and onwards do take Star Trek in another direction (as you said too). I think DS9 would be Star Treks best example of a story arc emphasis and gritty character development (Sisko is very much an anti-hero at times. In fact every leading character has a spot light shined on their flaws. And as for the villains; they’re fleshed out and really disturbing at times (like the episode where Gul Dukat and Sisko are stranded on a planet and Dukat tries to convince Sisko that he’s actions during the occupation were justified - that has some really chilling moments). SG1, on the overhand, kept the “evilness” of the bad guys on a much lighter scale. The Orville is a stronger example of a Star Trek-style show that balances all the same elements as SG1. The The Orville is written more as an out and out comedy, perhaps even a parody, with some drama elements rather than a drama with some comedy elements (like SG1 was). I’d mentioned elsewhere about the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) hitting the same comedic tones too.
  - klodolph 5y ago
    I think by "did this well" the parent comment is saying "mixed episodic and arc content well".
    - laumars 5y ago
      I did comment on arc as well, albeit I focused most of post on the comedic style so my points about the arc might have gotten lost. Take the last 3 series of DS9, very few of them can be watched without understanding the context of the wider arc. SG1 went a little this way with the last two series too but the Ori arc was quite a departure from the rest of the show (even to the extent of having different leading staff). The Ori arc does get a little darker (albeit not significantly so), introduces more space battles (now that Earth has spaceships of their own) and really brings the “battle of the gods” plot to the forefront (like DS9s Prophets vs Pah-wraiths) so there’s definitely a lot of crossover between the two franchises there. But I feel the real genius in SG1 was its main arc that preceded the Ori; which is also the significant body of the shows work too.
  - hericium 5y ago
    > SG1, on the overhand, kept the “evilness” of the bad guys on a much lighter scale. "those lying, scheming, no-good-for-nothing, slimy, overdressed stylemongers"
  - furgooswft13 5y ago
    > DS9 was the darkest While this is true in many of the plots and themes explored on the show, especially the Dominion War, it by no means meant the show always took itself super seriously. In fact there is much more humor and general levity on DS9 than TNG which felt more stuffy and righteous. It wasn't outright comedy besides a few episodes (Little Green Men, Our Man Bashir, Take Me Out to the Holosuite, Ferengi episodes), it was natural banter between character pairs (Odo and Quark, Bashir and Garak, Bashir and O'Brien, Worf/Martok/Sisko, Jake and Nog, the entire extended Ferengi family, etc.). Often episodes would be structured with a "serious" A-plot and a more soapy B-plot where most of the shenanigans would take place. It's part of the reason DS9 felt, to me at least, more real and lived-in than TNG. TNG was promoting an ideology, a religion of sorts. Very aristocratic, many sacred cows. You would not expect humor to show up much for such people. DS9 on the other hand showed people living in a less than ideal situation, dealing with a galactic shitstorm that washed up on their shores. One of the ways real people deal with such situations is humor. Granted this was the 90s, since 9/11 TV shows, including Star Trek, became more dark for the sake of being dark. Seemed like Archer was torturing people every other episode at times, and I'm not sure he knew how to smile. And for the epitome of "dark and super srs", look no further than nuBSG, where characters could not even take a dump without Irish bagpipe music being played over it. Yes I miss the 90s. A lot of what I said about DS9 applies to Babylon 5 as well.
glandium 5y ago
Episode 100 was phenomenal too (Wormhole X-Treme)
- marktangotango 5y ago
  I was going to comment on this as well, I could never tell if the "out takes" from that episode with the actor arguing if "Wormhole XTream" was a real series or not, was really real, or scripted! I found that to be sublimely hilarious.
hericium 5y ago
In comparison to SG-1, I consider TNG to be the "monster of the week" format with stories rarely going beyond an episode or a two-parter. Stargate had tiny arcs going for seasons, single episodes having impact on episodes aired in later seasons and had significant amount of tiny details that just "clicked". It wasn't the LOST level of "everything is connected" but it definitely wasn't story of the week beoynd the first season. And in my opinion, both TNG and SG-1 had awful first seasons. I know I should compare SG1 to DS9 or VOY, not TNG, but I prefer TNG over VOY/DS9/ENT so I am comparing my favorite Gate to favorite Trek. > I also really love the comical elements. Back when all other Sci-Fis largely took themselves seriously, SG1 wasn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. If memory serves, the producers have stated on the DVD commentaries that the show was supposed to be even more comical. They had "Wormhole X-Treme"-like (series inside joke) theme recorded for the actual SG-1. Hallowed are the Ori.
- flir 5y ago
  I don't think any show has handled the progression of tech better. They start out as little more than scavengers, barely understanding what they're using, and end up building their own starships. And the progression makes sense every step of the way. And there's none of Trek's "fix this week's problem, then never mention this incredibly overpowered solution again". Also there's never been an American SciFi show that's been so fundamentally athiest. I'm still amazed they got away with that.
  - new_guy 5y ago
    > And there's none of Trek's "fix this week's problem, then never mention this incredibly overpowered solution again". The tech jumped the shark at the start of season 5 with the introduction of Prometheus, but things like the device built in the "Fifth Race" episode, it could open a wormhole to another galaxy, it was used in one more episode "Point of View", then conveniently forgotten about. There's a few examples like that, but overall it was a good show. I wouldn't call it fundamentally atheist either, in fact the entire thing was about religion, especially the last two seasons.
    - 5y ago
medstrom 5y ago
SG1 is also an unusually easy thing to write fanfiction for, especially cross-overs with other universes... because you know, stargate. Not only that, the stargate is top secret, so knock-on effects are limited. The characters fill roles in a kind of nonoverlapping way so they're easy to reproduce faithfully: the dynamic between O'Neill and Teal'c or Daniel Jackson, then there are colorful characters like Rodney McKay, and you can guess what General Hammond would say to any hypothetical situation. My all-time favorite fanfic is one where SG1 ends up on the Sword Coast (Dungeons & Dragons setting) and encounters such bizarre things as flesh golems and translation magic, but it's executed so well. https://m.fanfiction.net/s/5236609/1/Debt-of-Blood https://m.fanfiction.net/s/5236609/1/Debt-of-Blood

steve_taylor 5y ago

> Back when all other Sci-Fis largely took themselves seriously, SG1 wasn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. There’s a MacGuyver reference in the first episode.

lathiat 5y ago

Deep Space Nine did this well too. New Star Trek not so much and I miss each Episode being individually enjoyable.

laumars 5y ago
I don’t agree DS9 did that (aside from the aforementioned episode). DS9 was the darkest and most heavily story arc dependent entry of all the 90s (and earlier) Star Trek series. Though Enterprise and onwards do take Star Trek in another direction (as you said too). I think DS9 would be Star Treks best example of a story arc emphasis and gritty character development (Sisko is very much an anti-hero at times. In fact every leading character has a spot light shined on their flaws. And as for the villains; they’re fleshed out and really disturbing at times (like the episode where Gul Dukat and Sisko are stranded on a planet and Dukat tries to convince Sisko that he’s actions during the occupation were justified - that has some really chilling moments). SG1, on the overhand, kept the “evilness” of the bad guys on a much lighter scale. The Orville is a stronger example of a Star Trek-style show that balances all the same elements as SG1. The The Orville is written more as an out and out comedy, perhaps even a parody, with some drama elements rather than a drama with some comedy elements (like SG1 was). I’d mentioned elsewhere about the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) hitting the same comedic tones too.
- klodolph 5y ago
  I think by "did this well" the parent comment is saying "mixed episodic and arc content well".
  - laumars 5y ago
    I did comment on arc as well, albeit I focused most of post on the comedic style so my points about the arc might have gotten lost. Take the last 3 series of DS9, very few of them can be watched without understanding the context of the wider arc. SG1 went a little this way with the last two series too but the Ori arc was quite a departure from the rest of the show (even to the extent of having different leading staff). The Ori arc does get a little darker (albeit not significantly so), introduces more space battles (now that Earth has spaceships of their own) and really brings the “battle of the gods” plot to the forefront (like DS9s Prophets vs Pah-wraiths) so there’s definitely a lot of crossover between the two franchises there. But I feel the real genius in SG1 was its main arc that preceded the Ori; which is also the significant body of the shows work too.
- hericium 5y ago
  > SG1, on the overhand, kept the “evilness” of the bad guys on a much lighter scale. "those lying, scheming, no-good-for-nothing, slimy, overdressed stylemongers"
- furgooswft13 5y ago
  > DS9 was the darkest While this is true in many of the plots and themes explored on the show, especially the Dominion War, it by no means meant the show always took itself super seriously. In fact there is much more humor and general levity on DS9 than TNG which felt more stuffy and righteous. It wasn't outright comedy besides a few episodes (Little Green Men, Our Man Bashir, Take Me Out to the Holosuite, Ferengi episodes), it was natural banter between character pairs (Odo and Quark, Bashir and Garak, Bashir and O'Brien, Worf/Martok/Sisko, Jake and Nog, the entire extended Ferengi family, etc.). Often episodes would be structured with a "serious" A-plot and a more soapy B-plot where most of the shenanigans would take place. It's part of the reason DS9 felt, to me at least, more real and lived-in than TNG. TNG was promoting an ideology, a religion of sorts. Very aristocratic, many sacred cows. You would not expect humor to show up much for such people. DS9 on the other hand showed people living in a less than ideal situation, dealing with a galactic shitstorm that washed up on their shores. One of the ways real people deal with such situations is humor. Granted this was the 90s, since 9/11 TV shows, including Star Trek, became more dark for the sake of being dark. Seemed like Archer was torturing people every other episode at times, and I'm not sure he knew how to smile. And for the epitome of "dark and super srs", look no further than nuBSG, where characters could not even take a dump without Irish bagpipe music being played over it. Yes I miss the 90s. A lot of what I said about DS9 applies to Babylon 5 as well.

glandium 5y ago

Episode 100 was phenomenal too (Wormhole X-Treme)

marktangotango 5y ago
I was going to comment on this as well, I could never tell if the "out takes" from that episode with the actor arguing if "Wormhole XTream" was a real series or not, was really real, or scripted! I found that to be sublimely hilarious.

hericium 5y ago

In comparison to SG-1, I consider TNG to be the "monster of the week" format with stories rarely going beyond an episode or a two-parter. Stargate had tiny arcs going for seasons, single episodes having impact on episodes aired in later seasons and had significant amount of tiny details that just "clicked". It wasn't the LOST level of "everything is connected" but it definitely wasn't story of the week beoynd the first season. And in my opinion, both TNG and SG-1 had awful first seasons. I know I should compare SG1 to DS9 or VOY, not TNG, but I prefer TNG over VOY/DS9/ENT so I am comparing my favorite Gate to favorite Trek. > I also really love the comical elements. Back when all other Sci-Fis largely took themselves seriously, SG1 wasn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. If memory serves, the producers have stated on the DVD commentaries that the show was supposed to be even more comical. They had "Wormhole X-Treme"-like (series inside joke) theme recorded for the actual SG-1. Hallowed are the Ori.

flir 5y ago
I don't think any show has handled the progression of tech better. They start out as little more than scavengers, barely understanding what they're using, and end up building their own starships. And the progression makes sense every step of the way. And there's none of Trek's "fix this week's problem, then never mention this incredibly overpowered solution again". Also there's never been an American SciFi show that's been so fundamentally athiest. I'm still amazed they got away with that.
- new_guy 5y ago
  > And there's none of Trek's "fix this week's problem, then never mention this incredibly overpowered solution again". The tech jumped the shark at the start of season 5 with the introduction of Prometheus, but things like the device built in the "Fifth Race" episode, it could open a wormhole to another galaxy, it was used in one more episode "Point of View", then conveniently forgotten about. There's a few examples like that, but overall it was a good show. I wouldn't call it fundamentally atheist either, in fact the entire thing was about religion, especially the last two seasons.
  - 5y ago

medstrom 5y ago

SG1 is also an unusually easy thing to write fanfiction for, especially cross-overs with other universes... because you know, stargate. Not only that, the stargate is top secret, so knock-on effects are limited. The characters fill roles in a kind of nonoverlapping way so they're easy to reproduce faithfully: the dynamic between O'Neill and Teal'c or Daniel Jackson, then there are colorful characters like Rodney McKay, and you can guess what General Hammond would say to any hypothetical situation. My all-time favorite fanfic is one where SG1 ends up on the Sword Coast (Dungeons & Dragons setting) and encounters such bizarre things as flesh golems and translation magic, but it's executed so well. https://m.fanfiction.net/s/5236609/1/Debt-of-Blood https://m.fanfiction.net/s/5236609/1/Debt-of-Blood