There But For the Grace of God (119)

[dtheories]

One of my all time favs!
Begins so lighthearted with the filming, Good Morning Campers, door #2, then turns deadly in a heartbeat. The entire ep, and the two that follow ramp up the level of anxiety in a believable manner.
I can't believe an archaeologist would start plucking artifacts out of their environment even if it were from a lab and not the point of origin. That makes me uncomfortable somehow. But the iconic overhead view of the glyphs lighting up on the DHD, the bravery of Hammond and his Bravo Co., Ferretti, even Walter getting into the action to save the SGA contribute to make this an exceptional and tight ep.
Applaud the actors for being able to pretend they don't know Daniel even while he's behaving typical of his character with all the hand flapping and hair flopping. His passion, logic, general lack of fear in the presence of Jack or Teal'c was impressive.
Quite the education in this ep of science (dialing speed, 38 minutes, 'gate addresses translate to numbers), relationships (Jack and Daniel, Jack and Teal'c, Jack and Carter), military (blowing up the base, sending bombs to meet all threats, commands and orders), compassion (consequenses of destroying Chulak, empathy for alt. world populations).
Fantastico!

[Starscape91]

I love alternate reality episodes.

[Lieutenant Sparrow]

One thing that really stands out to me in this ep. Alt reality Teal'cs pony tail lol.

One of my favourites this season. Never get bored watching it.

[Scotaf]

Probably the best episode of the season 1. It was nice to see all the actors playing slightly differently off of each other in this episode. It shows their abilities. I agree with what some others have said I never get tired of this one. I'm kinda of dreading watching the next one...I hate clip shows! here we come "Politics"

[Krisz]

Another top episode of Season 1! I love the alternate reality episodes in Stargate. Always such a great way to explore what can be or could have been!

Just so weird having Hammond as a Colonel, and of course Sam always has long hair in the alternate universe!

[Jae'a]

My LiveJournal post

I wonder if alternate reality Bra'tac is dead too along with Teal'c's family

[Matt G]

Another Sunday afternoon, another ep of SG1, I vaguely remember hearing something before I watched it about this ep being an alternate reality ep. What I got...

1. The first 'slam' was all those guns being pointed at Daniel. That and Colonel Hammond pretty much confirmed this as an AU.

2. Earth being hammered. 'Slam'.

3. Chulak getting nuked. 'slam'.

4. Daniel getting out just before the SGA blows...

5. Jack and Sam engaged...?

Bottom line, this was the point where SG1 went from being a decent way to burn an hour to a top quality show. An absolute rollercoaster. Looking it over once again, yes the SGA came accross as a bit rough around the edges but...you still wanted them to survive.

And the biggest thing about this ep..."we're all in big trouble...they;re coming...". 'Slam'. Up till now, the Goa'uld were going to attack at some point but not any time soon. Now...

[jckfan55]

I'm not always a big fan of alternate universe stories, but this one worked well. It was fun to see Daniel in the alt world as being very peripheral.
Catherine: "...I admit we referenced your work occasionally"
But then how he convinces them that his world can still be saved.

Nice range of Jack from hard nosed military man to being convinced by Daniel.

Carter got a nice hero moment too. The first time I watched it I almost thought she was really surrendering--but that was before I knew Carter better.

[mathpiglet]

Watching this today made me wonder which episode I like better; this one or Torment of Tantalus.

I think it's this one. I love AU stories!

[Nindif]

As good as this episode is (Nice effects, solid plot, well acted, cool technology and great conclusion) I can never help but feel the whole things plays out too conveniently.

Why would Teal'c have allowed Jack to play him a video in the first place? This challenges what we know about the Jaffa being shoot first talk later.

It is very convenient they all agree to simply abandon their own timeline to save anothers. Obviously they are all good people, but it just seems to happen without too much debate.

Still, its a great episode.

[fems]

Why would Teal'c have allowed Jack to play him a video in the first place? This challenges what we know about the Jaffa being shoot first talk later.

I assume that AUTeal'c also has some suspicions about the Goa'uld being gods, just like our Teal'c in Children of the Gods. Besides, AUTeal'c knew that he was winning the battle so why not spare a few seconds to check out the story? He could always kill AUJack later.

[poundpuppy29]

I loved this ep thought it was a great Daniel episode

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

This was always an episode I really enjoyed, but for some reason on this viewing it totally failed to engage me. Maybe it's because I'm in a low mood right now (relationship ending, best friend gone) but I struggled with this. So, here's a few observations:

- I'm sure as time goes on, the MALP sent through to check out each world before the teams go through (noticeably absent in a lot of season 1 episodes) would detect any possible radiation issues.

- Teal'c's ponytail is awesome.

- Gate addresses continue to confuse me a little. In the original movie, figuring out the gate address to get home from Abydos was a big deal, and it had to do with understanding the star constellations and figuring out the point of origin. The point of origin seems to be a symbol which will be unique to each gate (making that part relatively easy if you have some other gates for comparison). As luck would have it, Daniel found the symbols written down. In the show, getting back home from planets appears to be quite simple, and I get the impression that the address for Earth is always the same 6 symbols from every gate, plus the unique point of origin. Is that right? In this episode, how Daniel figured out the gate address from the radio signal makes no sense to me, as he says he needs to figure out their numbering system. I think he assumes that the point of origin is their #1, but that could have been completely wrong as far as he knows. I'm thinking about this too much.

- When Daniel first meets alt-Sam there's a moment of realisation on his face and he mutters to himself, "... of course!". This always implies to me that he's figured out what's going on, but it's not followed up on. Later on when he and Sam discuss the alternate universe theory it seems to take him a little by surprise. So, I wonder what his earlier realisation was, or if it's just a strange editing mistake/left over material that someone missed.

- First mention of the 38 minute rule.

So, although this episode didn't do much for me on this viewing, I can't fail it as a good piece of writing and production. It's fun, it messes around with the rules and sets a lot of big things in motion, and Michael Shanks carries the episode brilliantly.

RATING: 8.5 out of 10

[hlndncr]

I love AU, what ifs . . . .

This is so much fun. And I was really happy to see Catherine back. I wish we would have seen more of her past season 1 (not counting 1969).

So seeing Jack as the general in charge of the SGC is a some great foreshadowing, even if they didn't know it at the time. And General Kerrigan became a news anchor in this AU.

Jack in particular seems different to me. Sam and Daniel still bounce off of each other and seem to get along from the first moment. But Jack seems harder and more abrupt. Obviously, the situation is dire and that makes him harsher than maybe he would be in calmer times, but I also think that he just hasn't had Daniel's softening influence.

And Sam and Jack engaged! I admit that surprised me the first time I watched this ep. There's just no indication until that moment when they bid one another a tender goodbye. It clearly threw Daniel for a loop too.

As for Alt!Teal'c, I think he would have been convinced to help them if Jack hadn't sent the bomb to Chulak and killed his family. When he kills Jack I think some of that was a Jaffa revenge thing. He essentially lets Daniel get away. So I think there was a part of this Teal'c that did want to rebel against the Goa'uld.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Pretty good alternate reality episode. Found it weird that Jack is called a General (foreshadowing almost 6(?) seasons into the future).

Let's see, the our characters in this reality:
-Jack & Sam: Engaged, one's military, one isn't
-Daniel: Dead
-Hammond: Demoted to Colonel
-Teal'c: Still evil

On Monday, SG-1's first clip show and the introduction of Sen. Kinsey.