Origin (903)

[ping-pong]

Good job!!

"Origin" gives us the first introduction to the Ori. These are some creepy guys--not just in looks; but also in personas. My only gripe about this is: I can't tell which is the Ori, which is the Doci, and which is the Prior.

Daniel and Vala were good. Daniel contronting the Ori(?) guy about worship being personal choice was pretty good. Vala eating that apple in Daniel's face as he was reading and the look he gave her--*LOL*. Also the prior took Daniel to visit that Ori guy and closed the door on Vala so she wasn't able to tag along.*LOL*

I must agree I was also expecting Gerak to appear with a bang; but I'll be patient. I really beleive he's going to be Tealc's achilles heel for a while.

Even though Teal'c really didn't say much, he had some good moments too. You could see in his facial expression that he doesn't like nor trust Gerak. He showed restraint and self-control during the meeting with Gerak and Landry, although when the other Jaffa made that snide remark about whether or not Teal'c was loyal to his people, Teal'c was about to come across that table!!

Loved it when Teal'c and Mitchell unplugged and grabbed the device all while Dr Lee protested against it. They ran down that long hall way and threw the device in the wormhole saving daniel and Vala just in time. Then Teal'c and Mitchell grabbed each other's arm as if to say "we did it". Great bonding moment between them.

It was great seeing Jack and Daniel together again. But I would have also loved to see a scene with Jack and Teal'c also. These two were warrior 'brothers' who bonded from the very beginning.

[KatG]

I rather enjoyed this one. Vala gets less annoying with each episode, and it was nice to see Daniel doing what he does so well. I found the story engaging and I find the Ori to be rather creepy. I think that they're much more dangerous than either the Gould or the Replicators. The Gould knew they were pretenders, the replicators went by instinct, but the Ori truly believe themselves to be gods. Scary stuff.

[Seshat]

Oh I definitly think they set it up for the Ori to be like Satan and the Ancients to be like Christians. But there are some Christians\catholics\prodestants\lutherans\later day sainters that will find that insulting too. They will beleive it is an attempt to trivilize the religion. After all to Christians Jesus is the Son of God not an ascended anceint. And there are some people who are touchy and who can not deal with fiction that even sorta maybe hints that it could be otherwise even if it is just fiction... Thats all I was saying earlier.

I really think that the only people who will be offended are the ones who are continually looking for something about which to take offense. Lots of those around.

[flynn1959]

Amazing episode, just wonderful like the old Stargate .I can't wait for next week. Daniel and Vala are fantastic together.

We had team , off world action, really great new bad guys, did I mention Daniel?

We as a family are back...last year it was down to just me. Now son ,husband and two daughters have joined me...that's FOUR new fans, people who will buy d.v.d's ,T-shirts, mugs etc.

It's so good to have a show that we can all watch and enjoy.. thank you so much.

Roll on Friday!!!!

[Sela]

The Ori are like the Shadows and the Anceints are like the Vorlons from B5... sort of. I think both the Prophets and the Vorlons interfered more then the "others" would appreciate... The Ancients seem more like the Q... at least the Q from the Star Trek books.

Now that you mention it, the Ori priors reminded me more of Landru followers from the original Star Trek series than anyone else.

[prion]

Calicto's Review[/size]

Episode: Origin [SG-1 903]

Good Performances: Daniel Jackson, Vala, Mitchell, Gerak, Doci
Bad Performances: O'Neill



Disadvantages:
[*]Unnecessary O'Neill cameo. Bad Acting.

Well, I'm too lazy right now so will just swipe your words. Yes, bad acting. When Jack appeared it was jarring and I could swear that RDA just sleptwalk through the dialogue. It honestly looked like he just wanted to do his lines and leave.

[Osiris]

I really think that the only people who will be offended are the ones who are continually looking for something about which to take offense. Lots of those around.

Couldn't agree more.

I agree on the RDA acting... it's like he was forced to do it... was he?

[Quinn Mallory]

This was an awesome episode as we see the various storylines being layed out for this season and beyond.

I think the religious aspect of the story add depth to the show and I know/hope the writers will keep pushing the envelope on this with the relevance to the current world event. I'm also quite interested in seeing how Sam (being the scientist) will react to the Orii.

[Daniel's_twin]

I was looking forward to this poignant episode since I heard about it, and I was not disappointed. The Fire of the Orii was an awsome effect, and the Priors are absolutely creepy (tho their city was beautiful. Looks can be deceiving). The scene where Daniel and Vala are disconnected and the people who they were walking around in experienced their "due punishment" sent shivers up and down my spine for the next five minutes, even after re-watching it. The action was great, and I even enjoyed the political aspect of the New Jaffa Nation.

Agree with the RDA scene. It was nice to see him before we continue with the rest of the season, but he didn't look like he was enjoying it a whole heck of a lot. He looked very tired, especially in the F-302 scene.

I must admit, I was a little afraid about how close they were going to bring the Orii to Christianity, but I think that they drew the line pretty clearly, and continue to promote the dangers of worshipping False gods.

To sum it all up, I enjoyed this episode a whole lot. Enjoyed it more then Atlantis. I give it ****3/4.

[rnwhocares]

Hmmm, I am going to have to watch this again before I can decide what I really thought about it. Off the top of my head I can say I have no problem with the Orii and think this plotline has great potential. However, it does kind of make me nervous for ratings and new viewers, I actually know people that wont watch Hellboy because they think its sacreligious. On the other hand it could pull in a bunch of viewers like the 2nd post indicated.

Overall on first viewing I liked the ep but thought there was just somthing.... missing. And Im not talking about the RDA scenes... what they couldnt get him and MS in the same room at the same time? They should have just left that out as badly as it was done.... Oh well, no good sendoff and no actual confirmation of where he went. Maybe we will get confirmation next ep.

I like Daneil trying to talk some since into the Prior and Doci, very Daniel. I feel kind of bad for him, he knows hes messed up caused a crusade against our galaxy by some big bad evil dudes plus he caused the horrible death of 2 inocent people.

I was impressed with Vala. She faced her second impending death very well. I think Tea'lc would have been proud.

Mitchell didnt have much to do. This ep he had the lines I couldnt understand instead of MS... dont know if he was talking fast or low or what but I couldnt really understand half of what he said.

So Garak is not just an annoying jaffa hes a potential murdering powermonger with his own first prime, thats disturbing. I see much annoying dialogue coming from him.

Tea'lc did he actually speak in this ep? He certainly looked good in it but he like Mitchell didnt seem to have much to do.

Doc was ok as was Landry and Lee. Walter was stellar as always (wheres Siler!!!)

I think the priors are scarier then the Doci. Doci were a bit OTT for me but the priors are just creepy.

I would give this ep a B- on first viewing. Still good but not as good as Avalon 1 and 2 in my opinion, which may change on second viewing.

Siler almost got ran into by Teal'C and Mitchell running to the gate room

[rnwhocares]

You know what noticed, at about halfway through the episode, after Vala and Daniel return to the house, when Vala looks at the mirror, you see the other woman. But when Daniel walks past, you don't see the other guy (he's suppose to be) walking past, you see {Michael} Shanks as Daniel walking past. I see they screwed up.

And one more thing, Origin is best episode of Season 9 thus far.

Hey, I noticed that too. Michael walked by really fast so you wouldn't notice.

[PsychoPenguin]

I'm always hesitant to post my opinion in "SG1" episode threads because, try as I might, I just can't seem to invest in these characters. I'm actually still trying to work out whether or not I'll keep watching now that the three-part season premiere is over. Thus, I'm doing this based on the premise that working out and articulating my opinion of this ep will help me decide. Anyway, let's see what happens.

--In terms of plot: still felt like the pacing of this ep was off, just as in the first two eps. To me, the cuts between the different points of action felt choppy, and the action felt like it really slowed down in places. This made it difficult for me to jump in and be taken along for the ride.

Also, while I'm encouraged by the idea of "Stargate" taking on a meaty issue like religion and religious fanaticism, it felt to me like the themes were (and will continue to be in the future) handled too facilely. ("We just met you. You don't agree with us. We must convert you. Now!...Because we're just *that* fanatical...") To my mind, if you're going to take on something as complex as religion, then you owe it to your audience to make both sides as three dimensional as possible, so that the issue will really mean something. Right now though, the Ori look like your typical two-dimensional bad guys, which kind of nullifies the whole religious issue, and any possibility of addressing it with any real depth, debate, or meaning.

This in turn makes the Ori come off as a bit of a tease as far as I'm concerned. They're "new bad guys," and yet, not really. I especially didn't feel that they justified the line about being scared that Daniel said to Jack. If anything, I thought that Daniel should be yelling for some of Oma's relatives and demanding that they come down and tell him all about these Ori. Immediately. That would have made more sense to me.

--In terms of characters, like I said, I'm just not there with these guys. I'm still sort of disappointed to see CB playing the "immoral bad girl, who's just there to be reformed by the good guy." Also, although I'm always happy to hear a *real* Southern accent in a TV show, BB's Mitchell isn't appealing to me yet, through what I see as no fault of the actor's. Rather, I feel like the writers sort of shoehorned this character's backstory in too soon, forcefeeding us all these reasons *why* we should like this character before we'd had a chance to decide for ourselves. They seem to have forgotten that character traits are best when they're shown rather than told, and because of that, I'm just not warming up to this character the way I would have liked to.

So I can forget having the appeal of the characters make me overlook the plot problems, something I know I've been able to do with other shows in the past.

--In terms of acting, no real complaints here, other than with the cameos at the end. I'm not a real RDA or Jack fan, but geez, even I could tell those things were phoned in. I can only imagine how let down a true fan would be.

--Finally, in terms of realism, Jack's line about being a general and being able to do anything made me laugh. Really, really laugh. Because it's *so* not true!

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Am I still going to continue to watch? I don't know. I'm very intrigued by "Firefly," still interested in "SGA," and "SG1" does fall conveniently inbetween the two.

We'll just have to see.

[joasia]

You know what noticed, at about halfway through the episode, after Vala and Daniel return to the house, when Vala looks at the mirror, you see the other woman. But when Daniel walks past, you don't see the other guy (he's suppose to be) walking past, you see {Michael} Shanks as Daniel walking past. I see they screwed up.

I just checked - it looks like it could be Daniel, but id does not has to be him. We see his back mostly... And we do hear Harrid, not Daniel.

..I wish SG-1 had a policy like Starfleet in Star Trek had after the disastrous first contact with the Klingons...COVERT SURVEILLANCE first!!!! Don't give away your name, identity, planet of origin...

I got the impression that Daniel did not introduce himself neither to the Prior not to the Doci. Which could mean that Ori made some of their servants telepathic. Not a good sign.

Gerak only said the Jaffa seek enlightenment, something we've known since we first met Oma. I highly doubt they'd be willing to submit to such a harsh doctorine after escaping from another.

Gerak looks like a man that will happily embrace anyone who will give him a more power that he already have. I wonder how he would look after the "bleaching" i.e. transformation into a Prior.

I think the writers are connecting the Ori to religious extremism. It's not about a certain type of religion, it's about the extreme branches of all religions that takes things way too far. I mean, the Ori are basically what religious extremism looks like; 6 hours of daily prayer, followed by dinner and heretic burning for entertainment.

For the sake of poor Ori worshippers I do hope that Daniel and Vala had arrived on a local Sunday. If they would do it every day it means that they would have to work at night.

Nice distant "city of the gods" illusion. Splashdown ring transport effect was kinda nice, too!

I liked the "walking on a water" effect. Talking about miracles...

Thank you to everyone who pointed out that that was Julian Sands! I THOUGHT that was him, although his wacky contacts threw me off a bit and I wasn't sure. I was very surprised that he was not promoted as a special guest star (at least I didn't notice a lick of PR about his upcoming appearance) and his name has pull (at least for me, ah yes, Room with a View...sigh...). He is a lovely, lovely man, and an absolute gem of an actor. I couldn't find him listed in the credits at GW OR in the IMBD credits for this ep. I certainly hope we see more of him.

True, I have noticed his name first time in the episode credits. Could be that JS had been a one-time guest while LGJ will be semi regular so he got the attention and PR.

Am I the only one who reacted to the Prior's words "That was a miracle" by almost starting to hum a certain song from the "Fiddler on the Roof"?

And Vala finally has taken the damned brancelets off Daniel and herself...

[acdj31]

I like this ep. I like the scene at the end with RDA and MS. The episode stirred up some questions (which some people have posted) which I hope tptb will answer some.
But one question I have is, how is this war between the Ori and the Ancients going to effect non-humans, like the Asguard. Are the Asguard going to us and the Ancients out?

[IMForeman]

Oh, and how great was it to hear Mitchell quoting Buckaroo Banzai, and actually crediting the reference! That was fantastic. Though, at first, I thought that scene with Mitchell confronting the Prior was a little John Crichtonesque, he did pull it back and away from Crichton. Mitchell isn't completely nuts for one...

-IMF