Stargate - Wormhole X-treme!
Mar. 2nd, 2004 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravenOr, the only Stargate episode title to have an exclamation mark at the end. I was going to get some work tonight, but I had to watch that episode. I've seen it a couple of times before, but I still get all fannish whenever it's mentioned. It is, of course, absolutely unwatchable unless you're a fan, but for good reason. As I always say, I love the way the show never takes itself seriously, and this is just that idea taken to its natural conclusion. For reference, this is the hundreth episode of Stargate, and features SG1 being faced with a television show, Wormhole X-treme, that seems to be very very familiar...
Of course, they had to somehow make it a serious episode, and I think that all things considered, this was the best way they could have done it. Martin Lloyd was an established character and so were Tanner and co., and Agent Barrett actually appears in several more episodes following this one. So that's all good. I would have preferred for it to have been a completely silly episode with no serious plotline, but there isn't really a way to do that while keeping the characters in-character, and the plotline was at least a fading-into-background one.
That is, the background of the rampant silliness, of course. The opening scenes are the best - SG1 watching the opening credits for Wormhole X-treme, and their facial expressions upon facing their counterparts. And the counterparts were brilliant, playing off the clichés with aplomb.
Being myself and a fangirl, I actually made a list of all the places where they make a meta-type reference. The first one is about the aliens ("They all speak English!"), and then comes the zat guns. "First shot stuns, second shot kills." "Third shot disintegrates?" suggests Marty, and is rewarded by: "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say."
The marketing thing - "Shows with X in the title do better" - and my personal favourite, the bit of dialogue about being out-of-phase. She can go through walls and doors, and stuff, so: "Why don't I fall through the floor?" I now want to watch Crystal Skull again, just so I can shout that at the television.
The end bit's the best, of course. "Behind the scenes with Wormhole X-treme!" I particularly liked the Daniel-parody-guy being taught exactly how to fall down when people are throwing rocks at you (puts Need into a whole difference light, doesn't it?) and the following piece of dialogue:
"I'm Christian Bocher. Portraying the character of Raymond Gunne who portrays the character of Dr Levant which is based on the character Daniel Jackson portrayed by the actor Michael Shanks originally portrayed by the actor James Spader. In the feature film. Are you okay?"
...yeah, I really liked this one. How'd you guess?
Of course, they had to somehow make it a serious episode, and I think that all things considered, this was the best way they could have done it. Martin Lloyd was an established character and so were Tanner and co., and Agent Barrett actually appears in several more episodes following this one. So that's all good. I would have preferred for it to have been a completely silly episode with no serious plotline, but there isn't really a way to do that while keeping the characters in-character, and the plotline was at least a fading-into-background one.
That is, the background of the rampant silliness, of course. The opening scenes are the best - SG1 watching the opening credits for Wormhole X-treme, and their facial expressions upon facing their counterparts. And the counterparts were brilliant, playing off the clichés with aplomb.
Being myself and a fangirl, I actually made a list of all the places where they make a meta-type reference. The first one is about the aliens ("They all speak English!"), and then comes the zat guns. "First shot stuns, second shot kills." "Third shot disintegrates?" suggests Marty, and is rewarded by: "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say."
The marketing thing - "Shows with X in the title do better" - and my personal favourite, the bit of dialogue about being out-of-phase. She can go through walls and doors, and stuff, so: "Why don't I fall through the floor?" I now want to watch Crystal Skull again, just so I can shout that at the television.
The end bit's the best, of course. "Behind the scenes with Wormhole X-treme!" I particularly liked the Daniel-parody-guy being taught exactly how to fall down when people are throwing rocks at you (puts Need into a whole difference light, doesn't it?) and the following piece of dialogue:
"I'm Christian Bocher. Portraying the character of Raymond Gunne who portrays the character of Dr Levant which is based on the character Daniel Jackson portrayed by the actor Michael Shanks originally portrayed by the actor James Spader. In the feature film. Are you okay?"
...yeah, I really liked this one. How'd you guess?
