The Torment of Tantalus (110)

[garhkal]

I mean really what is the purpose of going back. Well at least now, It could of been very valuable in any season, but once the series ending in unending, They have all The knowledge of the Asgaurd. I'm sure that the asgaurd gave them what ever is in the library, for when they used to meet there the ancients were still around, so its been how long now.

So we have the Asgard and Ancients knowledge.. This place held info on the Furlings AND Nox as well..

[Krisz]

'Did you get a gig on the Star Trek??'

Only a brief mention. My notes are from the Vancouver cons he's attended in the last 3 years. I haven't been able to afford to go to any cons in other cities!

[Matt G]

It was another Sunday afternoon...another ep of SG1...and I rewatched this ep for the firsttime since then just a few months back. Still...

1. My reaction at seeing Earnest go through the Gate on the 1945 film reel first time round was similar to Jack's.

2. VHSs...damn that takes me back.

3. Of course I had no idea who Paul McGillion was first time around and didn't remember the face well enough when Atlantis started up, so finding out he was young-Earnest and 'then rewatching this ep...pretty cool.

4. Interesting to think that Sam 'also' had history with Catherine at this point...but it makes sense.

5. Earnest's initial reaction was a bit "huh"...but also makes sense given that he had lost the plot to an extent.

6. Heliopolis, like Cimmeria, came accross as a cool idea that wouldn't be built on(though the further reference to Thor was cool, there didn't seem to be much of an arc at this point).

7. And of course, getting the Gate working again provided enough tension.

Another solid ep.

[shelsfc]

Only a brief mention. My notes are from the Vancouver cons he's attended in the last 3 years. I haven't been able to afford to go to any cons in other cities!

Ya mean he doesn't tell/get asked to tell that story at EVERY con on that side of the water?? Think I've heard it pretty much every time I've seen him It gets slightly longer each time, but it never gets old

I never copped it was the guy who played Ernest when I first saw him in SGA either, it was a bit of a 'holy crap' moment when I saw ToT again and realised it was him

[DigiFluid]

I'm really looking forward to re-watching this one. Got it slotted in for Thursday--a nice birthday treat for myself

[chaddergate]

Good to see the 1940s footage of them opening the stargate. Top 3 episode from the season.

[DigiFluid]

The best of the season, IMO.

[chrono trigger]

it's my second favourite of season one with my fav being solitudes.

[DigiFluid]

Mmm yes, that's also a terrific choice. Tantalus, Solitudes, and Serpent's Lair are probably my top three from the first season.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

As everyone has said, a very strong episode which is worlds apart from the cheesy silliness that has come before. I think most people have already said most of what needs saying here, I'll just point out a few observations I had:

- Why make Catherine and her father American? They were (I believe) German in the movie, I can't think of any good reason not to at least have them put on some kind of accents. Later in the episode '1969', doesn't Daniel converse with young Catherine in German? It doesn't make sense to me, and pulls me out of the episode every time I see it, thinking "why aren't they German?".

- Manually dialling the gate is explained here to a small extent, which I found interesting. The gate needs energy before the inner ring will spin freely, and the footage from 1945 clearly shows the gate being turned and chevrons pushed into locking positions.

- I found it odd that Sam placed the energy module right in front of the gate - do they not get realise that anything in the whoosh will get destroyed? Similarly they have power cables wrapped around the ring, so they would have gotten sliced when the gate activated. I guess by that point there is enough power stored in the gate.

- First mention of crystals being a part of ancient technology, but they still don't name the Stargate's material as naquada.

- A bit of a plot contrivance that the castle/building is destroyed in the hour or so after SG-1 arrive despite surviving storms for a very long time beforehand. Things like that always bug me, sloppy writing.

- Loved Daniel's reaction to the guys wanting to destroy the device: "Uh...... NO?"

- A bit of a shame that Catherine and Ernest aren't revisited down the line

- Nice Jack/Daniel interaction, but Teal'c seemed back to the unsettled performance he was a few episodes ago.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

[Traveler Enroute1]

SG Rewatch episodes: 101 - 105, 106, 107, 109.

Torment of Tantalus

A gem of an episode and the determining one that got me fully addicted to SG-1. Starting off with the period music, the scenes in sepia, then segueing right into Daniel and Jack watching in present day - beautiful lead-in. Right away I knew this was taking the series off the current rails. Then the reveal of the Stargate in full activation 50 years ago - whoa, what the...! Got comfortable again rewatching this one.

This ep impressed me with its writing and direction. The set was wonderfully creeping and groaning with age; on my first viewing I wondered if the ceilings would fall in on them early on. The presence of the ocean booming against the visibly ravaged outside walls was also a portent. Without any alien attackers, the scene exuded a growing menace. Loved it!

Gotta have a lotta love for Keene Curtis, doing an exceptional turn as the stranded explorer. His demeanor convincingly expressed the stoic once again encountering what he thought were hallucinations, the guarded hope and then full realization that SG-1 was real, and a true explorer who still maintained his sense of wonder after all that time.

Ernest was a good foil to Daniel, probably very much like him long ago. He tries to make Daniel see that his blind curiosity could become his downfall, a dead end if one didn't keep things in perspective. Ernest gambled everything to be the man going through the gate, barely acknowledging what he'd be leaving behind. Daniel, of course, is still young enough to tuck that wisdom away while not really heeding it. It takes Ernest's appeals and Jack's physical force to get the obsessed Daniel to the gate, almost too late.

Never forget how riveted I was when Ernest got Jack to activate the 'Book.' How cool was that representation of 4 new and unknown languages, and the 3D animation of the periodic table! At this point some of the explanations start rolling off Daniel's tongue quite fast but eventually I got what he was saying. Four languages from four races - I definitely wanted to know if the team would meet them.

Favorite lines:

Sam: Where's Daniel?
Jack: Oh, Ernest is showing him a new toy.
Sam: Really? What?
Jack: A fancy light show that may be the key to our existence, or something like that.

Other stuff:

• Nudity! Oh, partial.
  
  
• Sneak peek at Paul McGillion - gotta love that!
  
  
• Ernest's first glimpse of Catherine - "Humph." LOL!
  
  
• The cannibalized MALP looked like an exposed car engine.
  
  
• Sharp sense of loss when the SGC couldn't redial Heliopolis again. Good job by Shanks whose character was so awed by the place that he wanted to imitate Ernest's exile to remain.
  
  A powerful episode that showed the wide potential for the series. Humor, danger, angst, the promise of more exploration. And of course a derailed romance back on track after 50 years - what's not to love?
  

Rated 4.5/5

[DigiFluid]

- Why make Catherine and her father American? They were (I believe) German in the movie, I can't think of any good reason not to at least have them put on some kind of accents. Later in the episode '1969', doesn't Daniel converse with young Catherine in German? It doesn't make sense to me, and pulls me out of the episode every time I see it, thinking "why aren't they German?".

I always thought it was reasonably clear that the Langfords were German-American. They're shown speaking German in 1928 in Egypt, but we know the gate made its way to America not long afterward and that her father worked for the US government at least into the mid-40s. Catherine was still living in the States in the 60s, as we learn in 1969, and seemed to be up-to-speed enough on government affairs to know where the gate was being stored. And then she was working for the US government by the 90s, as of the beginning of the original movie.

[QUOTE=LeftHandedGuitarist;12842325]- I found it odd that Sam placed the energy module right in front of the gate - do they not get realise that anything in the whoosh will get destroyed? Similarly they have power cables wrapped around the ring, so they would have gotten sliced when the gate activated. I guess by that point there is enough power stored in the gate.[/quote[
Yeah, I also always found the wrapping the power cables around the gate a little odd, for the exact same reasons. A similar thing happens with the cold fusion shrubs in Prisoners in Season 2. But you're probably right, if it has enough power to unlock the inner ring, then it doesn't really matter if the wormhole slices them off.

- A bit of a shame that Catherine and Ernest aren't revisited down the line

Well they are and they aren't. An alternate Catherine shows up again in There But for the Grace of God and Daniel in his bewilderment says she's supposed to be living happily ever after with Ernest, so there's that. And then we see a younger version of her in 1969, and finally she's mentioned as having just passed away in the first part of Moebius.

[DigiFluid]

Sharp sense of loss when the SGC couldn't redial Heliopolis again

That, right there. I think that one little sentence encapsulates one of the real highlight moments of the first couple years of the show.

[garhkal]

I always wondered why Ernest gave that "Hurrumph" towards the real Catherin.

[DigiFluid]

He hadn't seen her since they were in their 20s, so his imaginary Catherine looked like that. If you had a hot girlfriend and someone tells you that this granny is actually her, how would you react?