Stargate SG-1 - Season 5 [DVD]

It now seems clear that year five of Stargate will be remembered as the one where something went awry with Daniel Jackson. Lots of behind-the-scenes rumours fuelled the idea of cast tension, but whatever the problem, his sudden departure from the show was obviously via a hastily contrived scenario. In retrospect, there must have been a problem for some while before the weird penultimate episode ("Meridian"). Michael Shanks looks frequently bored in his rare moments of individual screen time as he infiltrates a Goa'uld meeting and even when making friends with a creature everyone else wants dead. In fact, there's only one point when everyone really seems to be having fun, and that's in the spoof 100th episode "Wormhole X-treme!"

Most shows go through a run-around, skin-of-their-teeth period awaiting renewal and it certainly seems to have affected storylines this year. For example, a next generation of younger SG teams is introduced. Replacements? The most unfortunate aspect of things however was that not a single episode managed to stand alone on its own merits. Every single story was dependent on a part of the greater interwoven warring species threads. Some of the one-off tales were terrific in and of themselves, but it was as if the writers fell into the trap of having to refer to as much backstory as possible, perhaps to ensure loose ends could be easily wrapped up? Ultimately none of this mattered since the show went on for quite a while. --Paul Tonks

The entire fifth season of this spin-off series. In 'Enemies' SG-1 prepare for a big showdown with Apophis on board a ruined ship. In 'Threshold' the team attempt to bring Teal'c from the brink of oblivion. In 'Ascension' Carter is visited by an invisible alien who tells her the secrets of a mysterious device she has been studying. In 'The Fifth Man' O'Neill risks his life to look after a non-existent team member. 'Red Sky' sees the team's arrival on the planet K'Tau cause a solar reaction which endangers the planet's future. In 'Rites of Passage' the onset of puberty has some disturbing consequences for the teenaged Casandra. In 'Beast of Burden' Daniel attempts to free his friend Chaka from slavery. In 'The Tomb' the team are trapped inside an old Goa'uld tomb with a killer alien. In 'Between Two Fires' the team investigate newly-developed Tollan weapons technology. In '2001' Carter helps reveal some ulterior motives when SG-1 enter into negotiations with the Ashen Confederacy. 'Desperate Measures' sees Carter kidnapped and taken to a mysterious medical facility. 'Wormhole X-treme!', the show's 100th epsiode, finds the team's getting involved with network television back on Earth. In 'Proving Ground' O'Neill helps out on a training program, and ends up taking a group of fresh young cadets into an actual combat situation. In '48 Hours' Teal'c becomes trapped inside the Stargate system and the team have only 48 hours to rescue him. In 'Summit' Daniel becomes involved in an act of political subterfuge when a peace conference is held at a space station. In 'Last Stand' the political manouverings on board the space station become ever more complex; meanwhile, the Goa'uld threaten to invade the Tok'ra homeworld. In 'Fail Safe' the Earth is threatened by a giant asteroid. In 'The Warrior' a Jaffa leader tries to form an alliance with Earth against the Goa'uld. In 'Menace' the team encounter a female android whose childlike curiosity masks a menacing secret. In 'Sentinel' SG-1 try to rebuild a planet's sabotaged defences when it comes under attack from the Goa'uld. In 'Meridian' Daniel is exposed to massive levels of radiation during a diplomatic mission to a planet attempting to build weapons of mass destruction. Finally, in 'Revelations' the team attempt to prevent an Asgard scientist from falling into the hands of Anubis.