Stargate S.G - 1: Season 4 (Vol. 16) [DVD] [1998]

"Beneath the Surface" is my favourite, following on from the previous volume's "Divide and Conquer." Even though the team's memories have been altered, not even that can prevent Carter and O'Neill from expressing feelings for each other, without the restrictions of the Air Force regulations. Even if you're not a fan of the pairing, you have to be heartless not to feel something for them.

"Point of No Return" is another great episode, with some excellent scenes between Richard Dean Anderson (O'Neill) and guest star Willie Carson, who plays the conspiracy nut Martin. There are some classic scenes here, including Teal'c trying to blend in while out on Earth, and 'the baddies' trying to outsmart Daniel and Carter.

"Scorched Earth" and "Tangent" are both visually stunning episodes, and are also well worth a look.

'SCORCHED EARTH' is a simple enough idea - The SGC have helped some refugees set up home on an empty planet but then up pops an enormous spaceship, carrying an entire civilisation, intent on stripping the planet of all vegetation so that they can live there. The two cultures cannot survive together, the refugees won't move, the caretaker on the ship won't stop and (moral) choices need to be made. This show highlights the gulf between the military and 'normal' people - between O'Neill (who sees the situation in terms of attack and defense) and Daniel (who wants to see everbody live happily ever after). As ever, Stargate doesn't shy away from showing its characters in conflict and it's always great to see them struggle with situations like these; sometimes in amongst all the wisecracking it is easy to forget that O'Neill is, first and foremost, a hardened soldier who will put duty over friendship when required. An excellent episode.

'BENEATH THE SURFACE' sees our heroes working in another world in a power station. They don't know who they really are (they have different names and false memories) and they don't know each other. Over the course of the episode they slowly begin to suspect that not everything is as it seems. This is an amusing episode with plenty to keep you interested. 'Shippers will be pleased to see some O'Neill/Carter UST and non-'shippers will be pleased to note that there is no lip-locking or breaking of military rules involved.

'POINT OF NO RETURN' is a piece of hockum revolving around a man who claims to be an alien and has in-depth knowlege of the Stargate Programme. It's good to see the team in 'the real world' for a change - Teal'c is always amusing off-base - but for me, the episode wasn't as good as some of the other reviewers here thought. Perhaps I just have no sense of humour but I found it tiresome after a while. I think this is the weakest episode of the four.

'TANGENT' on the other hand is excellent. O'Neill and Teal'c are test flying one of Apophis' old gliders when it all goes horribly wrong and they find themselves hurtling off into space with no manoevering ability and not much air. Watching Carter and co try to get them back is quite tense viewing as is watching Teal'c and O'Neill in the glider as things get more and more hopeless. There are amusing moments, of course - Daniel pretending to be the Gou'ald 'Oz' continues the in-joke and gave me the giggles - and there are touching moments - Teal'c, convinced they are dying, telling O'Neill what he means to him. Of course, we know that O'Neill will live to wisecrack another day but that doesn't detract from the overall tension of the episode. Excellent stuff.

The extras are good - commentaries for every episode plus a featurette and trailers.