The Gamekeeper (204)

[mrscopterdoc]

This was an interesting storyline, but the gamekeeper annoyed me. Wish we could have seen Sam's and Teal'c's backstory.

[maneth]

The gamekeeper annoyed me too. Unfortunately Dwight Shultz as the keeper was a bit too similar to his role as the shy, geeky Lt. Barclay on Star Trek (TNG and VOY). I did like it when O'Neill patted "Hammond's" cheek. Cheeky guy!

[Gamma626]

I liked this one surprisingly.

[Tallifer]

Wow. That was complete candy floss!

The Gamekeeper's fake German accent and ridiculous costume added to the fun, but it certainly did not feel like typical Stargate; more like dross from Star Trek: Next Generation.

[HolyAngelQueenSG-1]

Jack and Daniel mad at the gamekeeper had idiot. :daniel mad: :Jack mad:

The gamekeeper disppointed at own people pick up flowers garden. Lol!

[Noxbait]

Ok..I'm right now working my way through SG season 2. I'm finding that things are
getting better with repeated viewing. I found this is one episode that I appreciate even more after watching it a few times over. I love thinking and confusing episodes and this definitely is one of those episodes. And I really Really love seeing Kawalski! Man do i miss him.

It is a clever "alien" idea too...a virtual world for the people to live out in a world that was no longer "good." Just like back in Tin Man, Harlan's people had done basically the same thing...look at Revisions in S7. Many different ways that alien worlds are dealing with similar situations. Interesting. And they think they're helping by allowing people to solve the things in their pasts that they always wanted to change.
A good poignant character study, especially of Daniel and Jack, but a fun adventure all around. I like how Jack quits as soon as he talks to the Keeper and figures out what is going on. I like how Sam tries to figure out what is going on and tries to make Daniel feel better. She's just awesome, always thinking and getting excited when she figures something out. ; ) poor Daniel, it looked like he was going to be sick after the 2nd time the stone fell.

I like how it didn't take very long for either Jack or Daniel to put their feet down and quit. Its cool how Daniel starts to unravel the reasons behind the simulations and start to look at the cultural aspects so to speak, not that he's at all ok with it. he starts to try to solve the problem and wants to help open their eyes when they catch on to what is going on. and of course, he's advocating them go back to free the people after they get back to the "SGC"

Love Jack's answer to Daniel's "did that seem too easy?" "Yes it did. Let's go home." Totally Jack. the man does not mess around for one second.

Anyone else think the DHD was located in an absolutely insanely terrible place??? At the top of the hill...a good jog from the gate? Better hope you are up to a run in an emergency!

"They're actually picking the flowers!" "First the garden, then the entire planet!"

[FrodoFraggins]

6/10

A bit too campy for my tastes. As much as I like Dwight Schultz, he can really go overboard sometimes.

[mathpiglet]

Who stands under a very heavy weight being lowered? It's very sad Daniel's parents died this way, but really, what were they thinking? The workers have hard hats and know better, but nobody thought to tell them to get out of the way?

*sigh*

[Girlbot]

Who stands under a very heavy weight being lowered? It's very sad Daniel's parents died this way, but really, what were they thinking? The workers have hard hats and know better, but nobody thought to tell them to get out of the way?

*sigh*

That was a bit far fetched to believe, especially for seasoned archaeologists

[muziqaz]

Very interesting episode. Advanced race with some machine gone mad(which in general I am not a fan of). We saw one of the missions from Jack's past and saw how Daniels parents died. Fought would have been nice to see something from Teal'c and Sam's past. But oh well.
Now the bad of the episode. Technical details.
Jack's past: driving within 100-200meters of your mission target with some heavy machinery is stupid. So much for a stealth special ops mission, eh? No wonder that mission turned out so bad. This I think was very big logical mistake. Writers should have known better. There are so many other ways to introduce Kawalsky's team to rendezvous(I am sure there is an english word for this) with Jack and Tea... eh, Thomas. They should have brought a tank next time. Anyways.

Daniel's past:
I was generally pissed about this past. He was a grown man, Sam was next to him, I am sure they would have pulled those two stupid parents outside of that stupidly created unsafe environment. Why stand there and shout and ask them to come out? Just get in and pull them out. Who in their right mind stands underneath the several tons of stone?
maybe it is just me, who spent quite some time in UKs building sites talking, but still common sense would dictate that you secure the area and do not let anyone inside that chamber. You can easily coordinate it from outside, and use a measuring tape to make sure that stone is lowered correctly. You can always use ropes and stick to spin the stone horizontally. Man I would loose my job at construction site and take with me banksman's(man who coordinates with crane operator on the ground) job as well by simply standing underneath whatever is being lowered. And here they have a chain which can only hold a bucket full of water to lower down some big a** stone :/
Sorry for the rant, but it is hard to look at those poor people dieing again and again in such a fashion.

But besides that, I wonder if they(SGC) ever contacted those people again to exchange knowledge or culture if there was any, I mean looking at reall people suffer over and over again is a bit creepy.

[poundpuppy29]

interesting episode loved Daniel bye the way loved the back story

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

A mixed episode, full of brilliant stuff and godawful stuff. The scenes with Jack and Teal'c doing the botched mission and Daniel trying to rescue his parents are great. Seeing Kawalsky again is great, and Jack figuring out General Hammond is not real is absolutely brilliant.

But it adds up to nothing in the end. Dwight Schultz overplays the Gamekeeper horribly, the "residents" are completely uninteresting. All we discover in the end is that the Gamekeeper didn't want people picking his flowers. It doesn't end on a good note, and leaves me feeling unsatisfied.

- Michael Shanks plays the scenes with his parents with a certain naivety which I feel he comes to lose as time goes by. I can't imagine him playing those scenes in a similar style nowadays - he might actually do a better job, but there's an innocence about the way he plays it here which works nicely.

- General Hammond running through the corridors really makes me laugh for some reason!

- The actor playing Daniel's dad was also the same guy who played Seth in the next season, wasn't he? The actress for his mother also looked familiar.

- Every time the episode begins and the team approach the dome structure on the planet, all I can think is that they've somehow wound up at Center Parcs

RATING: 7 out of 10

[KayLyne]

This episode is not among my favorites, but I consider it as "okay". As a fan of the old "The A-Team" tv show, the thing that makes this show worthy of rewatching is Dwight Schultz as the Keeper.

I also like that we get Jay Acovone back as Kowalsky, and it's nice to see the history of Daniel's parents too.

There's one scene that always makes me laugh:
The one in the briefing room where Jack figures out that they're still in the "game", and he checks behind Hammond's ears for evidence of a mask.

One thing that did intrigue me:

Spoiler:

It was great to see these 'fantasy' devices revisited in both the Season 8 episode, "Avatar", as well as the Atlantis episode, "Doppleganger". It was great that Sam thought to use them in Atlantis. I wish they'd have done more SG1/Atlantis crossover-type stuff like that.

[Nindif]

I actually really enjoy this ep. It's one of my fav standalone eps despite its 'campiness'. I think it's a nice change of pace with a bit of a lighthearted tone which is benefited by Dwight Shultz upbeat and overplayed performance. It has been a pretty 'heavy' opening 3 episodes to season 2 its nice to have a slight change of pace before we are again plunged back into the ongoing big-bad conflict.

I would have loved to see more of this civilization and to see how they may have assisted SGC against the Goaul'd. I think they would all be exeptionally happy to share info/tech since SG1 literally saved there race from monotony! They probably have a lot of cool stuff to share.

[dtheories]

More *lite* fare following the heavy season opener. Another peaceful exploration seeking defences against the Goa'uld brings them eventual training technology, so all in all, a good haul!

Where there's a garden, there are snakes...it wasn't the Goa'uld that made the planet surface uninhabitable and prompted the Gamekeeper's program, but perhaps that's what saved the planet from Goa'uld habitation...the planet being found unusable for harvesting, yada yada yada.

Anyway, interesting concept of virtual reality, though devastating emotionally. (Poor Danny.) And why are those aliens so familiar? A group of people following blindly, never asking questions of their leaders? hmmmm.