Touchstone (214)

[dtheories]

I like eps that introduce new things like "doohickeys!" The ultimate being a weather controlling device to add a sorta James Bond appeal to the story.
Area 51 and Major Reynolds add to the mix with Maybourne always leaving us wanting more.
Especially enjoy 'Hammond on a Mission' eps where his integrity might be questioned, but he comes through with hidden talents of his own.
My fav line: We came here in peace; we expect to go in one...piece.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

What I liked:

Reynolds (who is a major here, so his advance to colonel isn't that big a deal).
Jack demonstrating once again that he's da*n good at what he does.
Sam demonstrating that she's also da*n good a what she does.
Hammond demonstrating that they didn't make him a general just because of longevity.

What I didn't like:
Everything on Madrona, but particularly the speed with which the weather rectified itself. If that much snow melted that fast, they'd've had floods that would take out anything the blizzard didn't finish off.

Seaboe

[Jae'a]

My LiveJournal post
Personally, I love Teal'c's line to Maybourne: "In my culture, I would be well within my rights to dismember you."

[Krisz]

I like this episode for the introduction of the shady faction from Earth working outside the SGC's purview. Maybourne is always a joy to see, he's just such a lovable rougue! I love his sense of outrage and shock on learning the Stargate was fake, guess he was more pissed off that he was left out of the 'bad guy' loop and someone was doing the shady stuff behind his back. He must have made moves later to get involved, that's how I saw his initial reaction.

I would have thought those pretty boring indigenous people on Medrona would have frozen to death with the clothing and housing they had in the time it took for SG-1 to sort out the weather . It was funny to watch the actors trying to deal with the fake 'snow', trying to say their lines whilst trying not to choke on the paper stuff being blown in their faces, also that SG-1 had nice warm winter gear on! The so called action on the planet was the only thing that let down an otherwise nicely put together episode.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Pretty good episode. Maybourne is back, being evil as usual. And Reynolds makes his first appearance, forgot he was an NID guy before he joined the SGC.

For the record, I'm going based on what the DVD says, so "The Fifth Race" is on Thursday for me.

[hlndncr]

This episode drives me crazy. The writing's bad. The acting is bad (and not just the guest performances; some of the regulars looked like they were phoning it in too). The direction is terrible. Even the effects looked to be of lower quality than I'm used to seeing on Stargate.

Fortunately, there are a few bright spots that save this episode from being a complete failure. All the references to past episodes (Solitudes, Torment of Tantalus, Serpent's Lair, Bane) give some great continuity. The addition of Area 51 and their research and the rogue NID fills out the universe and lays the foundation for future stories. Great performances by DSD and Tom McBeath and new insights into their characters. (Witlow becomes Pres. Hayes' CoS. So we know Hammond can work those political connections.)

Still not one I will rewatch often and if I do I'll fast forward through the scenes on the planet.

[muziqaz]

Was intrigued by the device. Interested who built it, and why they left it like that to some primitive people? Also there was nothing to stop Goa'uld to check out this place and enslave everyone. But if there was something stopping them from checking it out, why those people were so primitive? Lazy? Not seeking knowledge, content with what they already have: everything put for them on the table?

[StargateWatcher]

What I liked:


If that much snow melted that fast, they'd've had floods that would take out anything the blizzard didn't finish off.

Seaboe

you make a great point I missed

[Matt G]

So...spring 2000 returned from holiday in Spain...missed 10 new(for me) episodes that I didn't even bother to tape, instead looking at episode summaries to get some clue as to what had happened in the meantime and then...there we go...back to watching SG1 at 5pm on Sky 1.

1. OK...so someone's nicked this thing called the Touchstone, less than ideal.

2. First time that SG1 really had to deal with "on-world" bad guys and that worked pretty well.

3. Bear in mind first time round I wasn't sure about Maybourne's involvement in "Bane", now I realise that that ep must have been what our favourite Jaffa was referring to.

4. Reynolds was the same guy that went on to lead SG3? He was played by Eric Brekker so he must have been.

5. Hammond is quite a blagger.

Pretty cool ep.

[Starscape91]

This was a good episode it's nice to see Col. Maybourne and finally find out there are rogue factions in the NID. Also first time doohickeys was used by Jack!

[jelgate]

I like this episode it brings a new arc for SG1 besides the fighting Apophis and exploring the random planet of the week. And to me given the NID's greed for alien technology it doesn't take much to see someone get greedy. So I like the investigation of espionage into the US government as we track down the Touchstone. I especially like how it Hammond save the day with his government connections. Its too bad we never saw Winslow again.

[SaraBahama]

I have to agree with the other comments made about the people of Medrona.

Ditto on the recall to previous eps -that created nice continuity (agreed with hlndncr on this one).

BUT...I rather enjoyed the search for the Touchstone on Earth, and the scenes at Area 51 are great. The whole time I was watching the team being shown around the facility, I kept thinking about

Spoiler:

Sam serving there day in and day out after the end of Season 8...leading some of those very teams in similar research.

It created an interesting feeling of foreshadowing.

The confrontation between Maybourne and SG-1 was priceless. I love Teal'c's line:
"In my culture, I would be well within my rights to dismember you." So much more violent than simply saying 'kill'. Harry became the antagonist we love to hate. The statement by Teal'c rattles Maybourne, and the team share surpressed smiles (even Teal'c!).

I love the silent communication of the team as they raid the Utah facility, as well.

[Dimes]

Actually didn't get to watch this episode, will watch it later and get my opinion out there ;D

[Sam-n-Jack-in-<3]

Maybourne...that guy is such a pill. No wonder Jack can't stand him.

This episode was kind of 'meh' for me...

[Scooty12]

Like others have said was a wonderfully important episode when I first saw it as an 11 year old. The whole rogue NID element was wonderfully done in this episode. I do agree about the natives of Madrona, considering the planet was turning into an icicle, the deserved to be wiped out simply because they never put any sensible warm clothes on. Idiots.