Fair Game (303)

[FrodoFraggins]

9/10

Thor and three system lords in the same room with O'Neill = great stuff

Thor revealing that their home system is fighting an even worse enemy was cool

Nitpicks:

When the gate alarms sounds, the producer/editor spliced in a previously used shot of soldiers running toward the gate room with rifles. This is after they showed that every weapon had been removed from the base.

Thor - cheap rubber puppet with terrible lip syncing. They should have just made them speak telepathically, it wouldn't look as bad. I find his lifeless rubber arms/bidy to be distracting to the story. CGI Thor, as he stood up to walk to O'Neill was sadly worse.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Nice and intriguing, more enjoyable upon this rewatch than I remembered it being. There's a part of me dislikes the new revelations we are shown about Goa'uld society here, I think it weakens their position as a threat quite considerably. Before this point I had never imagined the Goa'ulds getting together for a sitdown and working out treaties, and they come across as very childish.

I love that Carter gets promoted to Major, and I had completely forgotten that Teal'c has a history with Cronus. Jack's interactions with Thor are quite fun, but Thor himself isn't the lovable Asgard we all know by this point. This episode has a beautifully atmospheric look to it with very nice use of shadows throughout, and it's also quite claustraphobic (which works).

- The Stargate puddle has a lovely blue to it, looking quite different to previously.

- The introduction of Yu, Niirti and Cronus. I think Yu is one of the most interesting Goa'uld characters on the show, he always came across as having a different attitude and point of view to many of the other system lords.

- Jack is right to be confused when he accidentally insults everybody at the first negotiation, there is no real explanation for anything that he did wrong!

- The fact that the Reetou continue to get mentioned really suggests that the writers/producers did intend to revisit them in the show.

- A brave attempt with the completely CG shot of Thor, but it's not good. It doesn't even remotely resemble the puppet.

RATING: 7.5 out of 10

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

I've never cared that much for this episode (the same is true of all politically based episodes). On the other hand, I did enjoy the ending.

Seaboe

[Krisz]

This episode turned out to be one that I enjoyed more on this rewatch than I remembered. I'd completely forgotten about the beginning of the episode with Sam's promotion.

It's an amazing thing that the Goa'uld have reached the level of power they have in the galaxy and survive given how petty they are, squabbling like children.

Love the idea that the Asgard are bluffing about the extent of their influence in the galaxy, how 'human' that moment with Jack was when Thor said as much, realising that Jack had figured it out. This is where the seeds for the trust and friendship between them were sown. definitely a moment I'd completely forgotten about in this episode.

Bluffing the Goa'uld becomes a Tau'ri pastime too from this point!

[Jae'a]

My LiveJournal post
Some funny bits with Jack in this ep.

[mathpiglet]

Did anyone else notice that, they said the asgard demanded that there would be no weapons... then we have the scene where they make Teal'c hand over his staff... the next scene is 10 or so airmen running through the halls, preparing for the goa'ulds arrival with guns in their hands.

Absolutely. Very glaring.

SNIP - Jack is right to be confused when he accidentally insults everybody at the first negotiation, there is no real explanation for anything that he did wrong!

I found this difficult to take. Was Jack badly briefed? Did he not read the rules beforehand? Surely in negotiations as serious as this, Jack should have been completely aware of what was required. IMO, it made him look like an idiot. I can understand trying to lighten the mood a little with his off-hand comments, but at his rank in this situation, I found his dialog straining to be funny.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Pretty good episode. We are introduced to 3 Goa'ulds, one of whom was mentioned in season 1.

I realized that all 3 of these will eventually be killed off during an episode from an even-numbered season (4, 6, 8), which occurred during the back half of said season.

Tomorrow, Daniel goes crazy.

[Matt G]

5pm and another ep of SG1...(later had this ep on VHS!)

1. Congratulations Major Carter!

2. Jack makes his speech and...woah! My first sight of grey-Thor as well as his.

3. There are enough definitions of "insult" around and Thor was clearly expecting something like this to happen.

4. I'm not sure I honestly expected to ever see the "enemy of the Asgard" - I initially just assumed it was a plot device.

5. Pulling a fast one on the snakeheads!

Interesting ep!

[jelgate]

Its a fact that the Asgard make a good episode.

This episode is a plot starter. It develops along the Goa'uld threat and why they don't just assemble a whole fleet of ships after us. I like seeing how the Goa'uld are scared of the Asgard and answers the question why they don't just decimate the Goa'uld.

I like how it presents the plot arc of what will be the Replicators and still making the Goa'uld scum for us.A little bit on the talking side as we engage in diplomacy and it was pretty obvious what was up to when Cronus was attacked as Teal'c would never cause harm to his friends and Yu is uninterested in the Tauri. All in all a good episode.

[dtheories]

Was Jack badly briefed? Did he not read the rules beforehand? Surely in negotiations as serious as this, Jack should have been completely aware of what was required.

I had trouble with that as well, though the outburst certainly was consistent with O'Neill's personality. He did try to warn them he might not be the right negotiator for this job.

It was fairly classic O'Neill throughout the episode, though; standing by Teal'c after learning of his reason for 'disliking' Kronus, "Hello Yu!" and his expressing complete disbelief that Earth should give up not only the 'gate but it's destiny to develop technologies and not become slaves to the Goa'uld.

The chilling realization that killing Hathor had shined a spotlight on Earth should have been cause enough for the government to resist the Protected Planet's Treaty as written, not cower in fear. I was surprised by that turn. Wasn't surprised that Carter would get recognized and not Daniel, however. The military vs. civilian thing is highlighted as well.

[fems]

The chilling realization that killing Hathor had shined a spotlight on Earth should have been cause enough for the government to resist the Protected Planet's Treaty as written, not cower in fear.

I really had to agree with Jack here... Hathor had been stuck in a sarcophagus for centuries and only got back into the galaxy about a year and a half ago. How could the System Lords possibly think she was a powerful enough Goa'uld to start looking at Earth as a formidable enemy? Not to mention that Hathor's Jaffa had been stolen from other Goa'uld! I wouldn't be surprised if she'd stolen Jaffa from the SL themselves and planned to overthrow them. If anything, Hathor had been basically out of the loop of the galactic happenings and would presumably lay low until she had amassed enough of an army and knowledge of the state of affairs of the galaxy, so how come the SL knew about her in the first place? Let alone be pissed about the Tau'ri killing her off. They really should be thanking them.

[Matt G]

Wasn't surprised that Carter would get recognized and not Daniel, however. The military vs. civilian thing is highlighted as well.

What do you mean by Daniel not getting recognised? I'm not sure how a civilian can be recognised for this sort of stuff whereas a miliary promotion can be explained in various ways.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

What do you mean by Daniel not getting recognised? I'm not sure how a civilian can be recognised for this sort of stuff...

Maybe he got a bonus.

(not trying to get into a discussion of whether civilian employees of the military can even get bonuses).

Seaboe

[Starscape91]

I liked this episode we learned more about the System Lords and the Asgard.

[SaraBahama]

Jack the negotiator...not.

I watch this ep and wonder how he ever finds himself swimming with the Washington sharks after Season 8. He's a man that likes to speak plainly and detests kissing up.

I enjoy the beginning of what turns out to be a beautiful friendship with the Asgard.

Sam getting to use the hand device again -to heal Cronus was very cool. I would have liked to have seen more of this as the show progressed.

Nice history on Teal'c's character and good friendship support from Daniel when Teal'c confides in him.