Stargate SG -1 Series Three Part One
Stargate SG -1 Series Three Part One – Starring Michael Shanks, Claudia Black, Cliff Simon, John Schwab, Andrew Collins, Stephen Hogan, Susan Franklyn, Alex Mallinson, Paul Hyu, Andrew Whipp, Regina Reagan, Anna Tolputt, John Banks & Written by James Swallow, Sally Malcolm, Steve Lyons – 3xCD / Download (Big Finish Productions www.bigfinish.com)
There are, if I’m absolutely honest, very few television series that have ended that I miss. By the time the final episode rolls around, it’s usually time for the series to come to a close, to bow out gracefully and with dignity, leaving the fans with their memories and DVD box sets to remember it by. Stargate SG-1 was, and is a definite exception and is most definitely one of the few, as even though it counted ten seasons, when it ended I thought it still had enough gas in its tank to last at least two, maybe three, and even though the release of the two follow on films (‘The Ark Of Truth’ and ‘Continuum’) was cause for celebration, I was still gutted (yes, you read that right, I said gutted) when the series was brought to a close and production finally ceased. So, when the new Stargate audio drama’s arrived, if I told you I was excited, I’d be understating how I really felt, but for the sake of convenience and propriety, let’s go with excited. It’ll make everything a lot easier. Right, so let’s cut to the chase, Stargate SG-1 Series Three (Again, you read that correctly, series three. It’s the third audio series and some weird anomaly designed to double back in a time warp, although I’m more worried by the fact that I missed the first two series. How the heck did that happen?) Part One – Part Two is set to follow in August, is comprised of three linked stories, ‘Half Life’, ‘An Eye For An Eye’ and ‘Infiltration’, all of which pit Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black) and Stargate Command (Mitchell and Teal’c are absent due to being on an off world secret mission which will hopefully see the light of day in another series) against Ba’al (Cliff Simon), the Goa’uld System Lord determined to gain some measure of revenge on the humans who usurped his power base and finally defeated his species. Series Three feels like it could have been written for the TV show, as Ba’al’s plan to defeat his foes, the infiltration of any and all areas of the SGC with clones of important personnel that he’s created, all of which are programmed to cause maximum destruction when triggered by voice and word command, is a damn near perfect SG-1 storyline. The plan sows mistrust as no-one knows who they can depend on as almost anyone could a clone under Goa’uld command, which allows paranoia and confusion to reign throughout the story-line, which in turn allows each of the characters to thrive, and as the arc progresses through it’s three separate parts, the twists and turns mount up, with a particularly delicious one appearing toward the end that you’ll never see coming. Well, I didn’t, so I’m assuming that you won’t. The interaction between characters is superb, the will-they-won’t-they dynamic that Shanks and Black created in series ten is a strong as it ever was and Simon’s Ba’al is still one of the best black hearted bastards in all of fictional creation, the stories are great, and Stargate SG-1 is back with a bang. All is right with the world once more. Or at least it would be if I didn’t have to wait two months for Part Two, but hey. What’s sixty something days? I can wait. Yes sir, I can wait. I really can. Sixty days and counting… Tim Mass Movement
