List of important Stargate episodes ?

[jwebright]

I have always been a fan of Stargate, and with over 200 episodes and the movies it can take a while to watch them all. As with most television shows of this length, there are single shot episode that tell a story but do not add to the main storyline. I was hoping to obtain or create a list of episodes that stick to or contribute growth to the main story line of Stargate. I haven't seen a list of this type, but if someone has, please fill me in. Otherwise I'm off the watch the whole series and taking notes.
P.S. I don't think those single shot episodes are not worth watching, just that sometimes I wouldn't mind watching the express version of Stargate.

[General Jumper One]

All of the apply to the main story line.

[Adrian_Jackson]

Watch everything. It's not about the destination, it's the journey itself.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Agreed. They all carry bits and pieces of the storyline.

[Pharaoh Atem]

Fifth race

[rushy]

Okay, you want a list, I'll give you the episodes that apply to the storyline. Most episodes in Season 1 do.

Season 1
Stargate the Movie
Children of the Gods
Emancipation
The Broca Divide
The First Commandment
Cold Lazarus
The Nox
Brief Candle
Thor's Hammer
The Torment of Tantalus
Bloodlines
Hathor
Singularity
Cor-ai
Enigma
Solitudes
Tin Man
There but for the Grace of God
Within the Serpent's Grasp

[rushy]

Season 2
The Serpet's Lair
In the Line of Duty
Need
Thor's Chariot
Family
Secrets
The Tok'ra Parts 1 and 2
Touchstone
A Matter of Time
The Fifth Race
Serpent's Song
Holiday
Show and Tell
1969
Out of Mind

[tomaso88]

all episodes are important well not all but 90% of the episodes are in some way mentioned or continuations of other episodes or have something to do with other episodes

[rushy]

all episodes are important well not all but 90% of the episodes are in some way mentioned or continuations of other episodes or have something to do with other episodes

Yeah, well. Most episodes have a connection to future ones. Some are simply exploration(that's what SG-1 is about, at least in Season 1), some are fighting Goa'uld, recurring or episodic villains and some are humor.

[jwebright]

Well if you compare Stargate to Star Trek, the episodes are interconnected a lot closer to the main story than just exploration. I think watching the series once with just the critical storyline episodes would help me understand the story better. After all, it most likely takes 6 months plus for most people to watch the Stargate saga counting the movies and Stargate Atlantis. I wasn't too impressed with Stargate Universe as an addition to the saga, but that is a topic for another forum.

[garhkal]

Of "Rushy's" list, the only ones i don't consider to be linked to the greater storyline are
S1. Emancipation.
S2. Message in a bottle, Bane, 1 false step

And for mine..
S3. Dead man's switch, urgo (though fun to watch anyway), crystal skull
S4. The other side, Benieth the surface,

[Keeper]

The Broca Divide
The First Commandment

i'm sorry but... i do have to ask what these two add to the main storyline?

broca divide - light and dark sides of a planet, with a virus that causes aggression. doesn't seem to be goa'uld related (other than the people were transplanted here by them a long time ago.) unless the carter/oneill shipping is a major plot point, i don't remember much else of vital import.

first commandment... again, aside from the planting of people by the goa'uld, i'm not sure of it's contribution to the main plot. earth guy goes nuts with the sun or something, and prattles on about being a god to some uneducated villagers, and sg1 sorts things out.

don't get me wrong, both are good episodes... but i just don't get their importance, if going by the main story of the season, which is ultimately fighting the goa'uld.

edit - oh yeah, and as garhkal says, emancipation isn't really a major one either. it's not an episode i actually like for some reason, which is why i forgot it - thought it was freeing the noobs from chulak

[Vanek26]

The Broca Divide was referenced a few times, and I think with the Tollan we offered that world as a new home.

Apart from that, not much.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Vanek is right on the referencing of "The Broca Divide". The alliance that Earth, via the SGC, made with the Land of Light from that episode is important in that it does show the Tau'ri actually making true alliances with some of the peoples and cultures they meet on other worlds. And yes, the Land of Light did offer to let the Tollan come and live with them.

The main thing from "One False Step" that applies beyond that episode is the explanation/theory given by Dr. Fraiser for why the SG teams haven't infected the humans (the people in this episode were aliens rather than humans) they meet on other worlds with illnesses. She theorizes that since those humans were originally transported from Earth, most Earth pathogens are already out there among them. (Which makes some sense, but doesn't entirely cover things, since even right here on Earth, bacteria and viruses mutate all the time into new and deadly strains. But hey, at least it shows that the writers were at least trying to give a nod to plausibility in all of this. I can live with that.)

[rushy]

Of "Rushy's" list, the only ones i don't consider to be linked to the greater storyline are
S1. Emancipation.
S2. Message in a bottle, Bane, 1 false step

And for mine..
S3. Dead man's switch, urgo (though fun to watch anyway), crystal skull
S4. The other side, Benieth the surface,

Emancipation doesn't add, yes. I removed that but Message in a Bottle is important cos we have to show there is other technology besides the Goa'uld ones, Bane is important to introduce the threat of the NID and Maybourne. 1 false step, the black hole is used as a major factor in Exodus.