Stargate SG-1 "Ends" and Mercifully So...

If anyone wanted to know why Stargate SG-1 was starting to slip in the ratings, you just had to watch the fan-picked episodes just before said "finale" to see why.

Whereas the earlier episodes were 1 part scifi, 1 part humor, and 1 part action (with a dash of emotion at times), ever since the end of season 7, the show has lagged. First they can't seem to come up with any new ideas, then they diverted resources to the sleep-inducing Stargate Atlantis, and finally, lost a couple of the main characters, and replaced them with refugees from the long-dead Farscape.

For example, the #1 fan-voted episode, Window of Opportunity had all 3. O'Neill and Teal'C get stuck in a time loop (the scifi). They have to figure out how to get out of said time loop, but in the process realize they can screw around, a la Groundhog day (the humor). They finally figure stuff out after months of reliving the same day, confront the guy causing all the problems, find out wtf is going on, and have a moment where some things are said that make ya a tiny bit verklempt (the emotion). It works.

Or, there's my all time favorite, the Season 7 where Earth is about to finally get wiped out, the sh*t is going down, and the cavalry (led by Gen. Hammond in one big muthafrakkin' ship) saves the day so Col. O'Neill can unleash a huge can of Ancient whoopass, located under the ice of the Antarctic.

The series finale, by comparison, had every bad element of every bad, lame, craptacular Star Trek: Voyager episode ever, combined with the fact that at the end, one didn't care anymore about these characters. One just wanted it to be over. When the montage sequence accompanied by dino rock came on, I was waiting for the needle to be put in this one.

Oh well. For 7 seasons, SG-1 kicked ass on the dying Star Trek franchise and was endlessly entertaining, and for that, I'm glad! Just don't tell the kids at GateWorld I said any of this and I won't have to unpack my flame-retardant blogging suit.