Touchstone (214)

[mrscopterdoc]

Ah the touchstone. A nice idea for an episode which made me hate Maybourne even more.

I agree.

[StargateWatcher]

It was a good show but I´ve grown really tired at how they always show the black ops NID as being evil and wrong. Can´t they once do a show where these guys do something right, something that really helps Earth? After all they are patriots who simply believe strongly in doing what it takes to keep Earth save, a view that I can really understand and agree with for the most part.

it's happened once when Maybourne helped prevent the Foothold Aaliens from infiltrating the SGC

[StargateWatcher]

Last time I checked, that's the deal. I used 'National Intelligence Department' in a fanfic ine time but that counts for cack canon wse.

thought it was National Insitute for Defense, no?

[hlndncr]

There are some great things about this episode and some not so great things. In the previous ep (Spirits) RDA was written around because of the birth of his daughter. In this one MS was awaiting the birth of his child and he does seem a little checked out at times.

What I don't like about this ep is the Medronans. ("Does he have the Touchstone?" "Where's the Touchstone?" "Give us back the Touchstone?") Ugh! the dialog was so bad and the culture they (barely) portrayed didn't live up to the cool concept of a teraformed (by who?) world with hyper advanced weather control.

Things I did like: Hammond. After his oh so out of character stint in Spirits we get this tantalizing view of Hammond as a power broker and backroom dealer. I really wish we could have seen more of that throughout the series instead of just - I'll call the President (who may or may not be available according to plot requirements).

Introduction of Reynolds. Love him. He doesn't seem like an important character here, but then he joins the SGC in S5 Ascession and begins to rise through the ranks. His scientific curiosity and respect for SG1 make him the perfect man to run our go-to backup team.

Maybourne. At first he seemed like just a cookie cutter bureacratic NID bad guy. But now we see that he's got some mysterious connections and a hidden agenda. It makes his character more interesting and let the writers take him down the wonderful road that is to come.

[maneth]

Interesting episode, and Maybourne is possibly my favorite SG-1 villain. Certainly so far. The Medronans were definitely cheesy, though. Only good thing about them IMO, it wasn't a medieval village this time.

[Jayq]

Only thing that bothered me about this episode is how the NID guys returned to the second gate when they stole the touch stone, shouldn't the gate have called up the primary one? After all sg1 only got the malp to return to the secondary one by overloading the primary one which they control...

Also where did the locals get all the heavy duty winter cloths when the blizzard came? You live with perfect weather like that you don't exactly have cloths like that on hand right?

[Noxbait]

when you're freezing, you're freezing...I'm betting that whatever livestock the Medronans found themselves with the short end of the stick...or butchers knife as the case might be... : )

[FrodoFraggins]

8.5/10

Pretty good episode, but I think SGC should have had the planet with the touchstone bury the gate. All it takes is one rogue SG team to go back there while on a mission elsewhere.

[Dave2]

Did I miss a hint anywhere in the episode as to WHO made the plastic stargate and WHERE the guards unloading the Antarctic stargate gated to when they jumped through the gate lying on the floor? Ezcellent episode by the way. Most episodes are good. The only one I would classify as "lousy" so far in the first two seasons was the one involving "The Keeper" and "the Residents."

[Dave2]

Is it possible that the NID workers and their secret operation was working with someone from another planet?

Did I miss a hint anywhere in the episode as to WHO made the plastic stargate and WHERE the guards unloading the Antarctic stargate gated to when they jumped through the gate lying on the floor? Ezcellent episode by the way. Most episodes are good. The only one I would classify as "lousy" so far in the first two seasons was the one involving "The Keeper" and "the Residents."

[liminoid]

Another great episode!

I didn't get why they had to go back to that planet to go to the second gate, any planet would of done I would of thought.

I was hoping someone noticed this. Here are my humble thoughts:

1) This was purely a budget move. Going back to the planet already featured in the episode would save the cost of a new set for a planet and hiring new actors. By the way, was that the Hybrid from BSG as the daughter of the old man who seemed to be running the planet?

2) Quite possibly, in addition to budget considerations, it can be explained away as caution on the part of SG-1 not wanting to spread information of the current crisis further out than necessary. By returning to the same planet, they bypass this risk since everyone there presumably already knows about the situation.

[SG3Marine]

The first episode where the NID shows its true colors. Love it!

[ekolint48]

It was hinted that rogue faction within the NID that did not like the approach the SGC, basically not taking whatever they wanted from planets regardless of indigenous people or diplomatic fall out, was responsible for the second gates operations and therefore the substitute gate being placed there to conceal their actions. Col. Maybourne was hinted to be in cahoots with those responsible as the missing gate and unsanctioned activities seemed to arise about the time of his arrival at area 51.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

This is one of my favourite SG-1 episodes, and I think possibly my favourite episode of season 2. It goes off in a completely unexpected direction and is full of intrigue, twists and revelations. It sets up new plot threads which will continue as the series goes on and makes numerous references to previous episodes. I love it.

It would be easy to lose interest as the episode starts, especially as we are introduced to the natives of Madrona. What a horrible bunch - I guess the show's budget didn't stretch far enough to make them interesting, look good or (and I feel bad for saying this) hire good actors. The guy playing the old man (who appears to be an old Thomas Jane who must have time-travelled back from the future) is just ridiculously bad. Is he supposed to be blind? He doesn't sell it very well.

And the way he delivers his lines is terrible. I just don't understand whatever he is doing. Granted, it's probably hard to take the acting work seriously when you are made to wear a costume like he is, which appears to have been bought from a local party shop (or put together by a school kid).

But let's put all that aside, because it takes up so little of the episode. Everything else here is great. The investigation into who took the Touchstone is utterly engrossing, and the revelation that the second gate is being used and there may be a secret SG team out there literally blew my mind when I first watched this as a teenager. We even get to visit Area 51. This was the point where I fell completely in love with this show (although I was pretty much there already).

- General Hammond gets the best line of the episode - "do you know what colour this phone is?!"

- As others in this thread, I was confused as to why they needed to return to Madrona when they sent the MALP, it seems to me they could have gone from anywhere.

- When SG-1 arrive at Area 51 the scene is shot with the actors in silhouette. I can see what the director intended here, but it just doesn't work, and makes me feel more like something is wrong with my TV.

- I'm trying to figure out what Maybourne does in this episode. He appears genuinely shocked that the gate is made of plastic, but then changes his tune (after a strangely forced moment which appears to be made for an ad break). We do find out later that he is part of the rogue operation in season 3, if I recall.

- Stargates activating while laid on their side always look awesome. Even cooler, the gate bursts through the crate it was contained in. What if it had been packed upside-down?!

- I had completely forgotten SG-1 brought back two death gliders from the start of the season. They'll be put to good use.

RATING: 9 out of 10

[Lieutenant Sparrow]

Not one of my favourites. Found it to be quite boring actually.

The only thing I liked was seeing the death glider being worked on.