DVD
Stargate SG-1
Volume 23

Starring: Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping & Christopher Judge
MGM
RRP: £19.99

22963DVD
Certificate: PG
Available now

 


Colonel Jack O'Neill is putting some new recruits through their paces. But one nervous lieutenant's would-be SG Team is suddenly involved in an exercise which could be the making of them - especially as it looks like the SGC has been compromised by alien invaders...

Proving Ground would have played a lot better if it had been a season one or two episode, but to suddenly include this in season five seems a little out of place. This episode is an excuse to set up a new character so that he can be used in a later episode. It uses a much overused plot device so that we are never really sure whether the threat is real, or simply a training exercise. And why don't the cadets swap their training guns for real ones at the first opportunity?

 

After a near-deadly pursuit by gliders and the well aimed destruction of one vessel, the SG-1 Team just manage to leap to safety through the Stargate. However, the craft demolishes the system just as Teal'c jumps through and he becomes lost in the ether...

48 hours throws up some interesting questions about those that run the SGC, but I can't help but wonder why this problem was never dealt with before they started sending people through the Stargate. Surely they had looked into this scenario. Maybourne makes another appearance, which helps to add to the tension and keeps things rolling along at a good pace.

 

A plan is being mooted which could thwart the ambitions of the Goa'uld once and for all. It could involve taking out their entire leadership. A truce has been declared and the Goa'uld are meeting on neutral territory in a place with impenetrable defences. A human is required who can speak fluent Goa'uld and it is Jackson who now faces a crucial mission...

Summit is the first of a two part story which sees Daniel Jackson put his life on the line in order to wipe-out the Goa'uld threat. However the emergence of his old girlfriend (now a Goa'uld) causes him to abort the mission - which seems a little foolish. However his hesitation proves to be beneficial to the cause.

An above average episode which give us a little more insight into the Goa'uld culture and introduces a few new system lords.

 

SG-1 personnel are facing a critical situation. Embattled and under siege, Carter is trapped in a tunnel and only the application of crystals can cause the surrounding cave to dematerialise and give them the path of escape they so desperately need. Meanwhile, the balance of life is threatened by the reappearance of Anubis - the earliest of the system lords...

Last Stand sees the return of the lieutenant from Proving Ground (see I told you he'd be back) run into a spot of trouble which I have the sneaky suspicion may provide a twist in future episodes - this episode seems him about to make the supreme sacrifice, but I get the feeling there is more to this than meets the eye.

There is a particularly impressive CGI effect when the deathglider crash-lands, and all in all this is a action packed episode.

 

Michael Shanks gets to make a video diary on the DVDs extras. Here he is filming on the set of The Tomb, Summit and Last Stand, giving us by far the best video diary to date. Also included on the disc are possibly the worse collection of audio commentaries heard so far. There are no real insights that made them worth listening to and visual effects producer, James Tichenor's constant "Um Humm!" every few seconds soon becomes annoying.

Darren Rea

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