Accepting that there are one or two bumps across the season, the standard though remains steadfastly high for the bulk of the episodes here. You’ll find no spoilers here, short of to say that some of Stargate SG-1’s long-running narratives are developed satisfyingly well.

What’s also pleasing is that there’s a nice cocktail going on here. A gentle, welcome sprinkling of laugh-out loud moments compete with a good mystery or two, and some terrific action. Granted, sometimes you feel you’ve seen bits before, and it’s a shame that the series ends on arguably some of its weaker episodes. But this is countered nonetheless by some terrific individual programmes, with plenty you’ll find yourself rewinding back to once you’ve reach the end.

What’s most pleasing though is that for a mature show of any genre, it’s tricky to keep producing good quality TV. In the sci-fi genre in particular, there’s a veritable graveyard of shows that never made it this far. Thus, to see Stargate SG-1 is such confident form is much to its credit. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
Season Eight of this long-running cult favourite sees the return of the highly-popular SG-1 team, which travels the universe through an intricate maze of stargates. Based on the groundbreaking film by Roland Emmerich (INDEPENDENCE DAY, GODZILLA), the show went on to garner a dedicated following of its own, airing on the Sci-Fi Channel for nearly a decade. Richard Dean Anderson (MACGYVER) stars as Jack O'Neill, the intrepid, wisecracking leader of the team, which includes Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), Lt. Col. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), and alien warrior Teal'c (Christopher Judge). They operate from the Air Force's Stargate Base deep within the Rocky Mountains, while their missions take them into uncharted realms, navigating across galaxies through the time-space portals known as stargates. The SG-1's original enemies, the snake-like and despotic Goa'uld, use the portals to try to take over the universe, and they are joined by the Replicators as the SG-1's main enemies. The SG-1 forms alliances and friendships throughout the universe, while battling their enemies and dealing with the bureaucratic forces on home base.