Freaky Planet Of The Week VS. Get Rid Of The Baddie

[Osiris-RA]

I'm wondering as we slip into a depressing 9th season which I'm seriously planning on skipping - what did you all like most about SG1? Did you like the freaky planet of the week thing where we went places and got into weird situations or do you like the thing of hunting for a bad guy who's out for galactic domination for as long as they can wring out episodes to involve the baddie?

I personally like an even mixture of the two.

[Wandering Tamer]

I like weekly adventures then a season which always involves a set baddie. I mean, even though in the beginning there was the lurking threat of the Go'auld, it wasn't necessarily them in every episode. This recent stuff is sorta cool but a bit soapoperatic.

[couchpotatergater]

I too like a balance between the two. Some of the Freaky Planet eps were dire ie: Emancipation, but I do enjoy them on the whole. One False Step comes to mind, with those strange little people - freaky!!
I think the FP eps often contain more petty bickering (generally between Jack & Daniel, but alas, no more ), whereas the Baddies eps are a bit more serious (there are, of course exceptions..). I get bored with the same baddie - particularly Anubis. I never took to him because of the hood I preferred it when the baddie was the Goa'uld collectively & we'd stumble across a different one every so often.

[Qasim]

I personally like an even mixture of the two.

[thorshammer]

I like the "Get Rid Of The Baddie On The Freaky Palnet Of The Week" episodes.

[Lexx]

An even balance. Usually I abhor stand-alone episodes that have no effect on series continuity, but with Stargate I like them. And I like the continuity heavy eps. I don't know, whatever it was they did during seasons 2,3, and 4 is what I like the most about Stargate.

[aAnubiSs]

I hate stand-alones. While they might be good they don't really do anything for the story, alas alot of wasted potential. Babylon 5 is by many considered the best sci-fi show ever made. B5 had all eps based on a story which lasted 5 years. They had stand alones where the main story was a small B or C-story in the episodes. Many of these stand alone stories were also revisited in one form or another later on, and therefore even the main story in the stand alone episodes had another small continuing story.

[knocknashee]

A mix of the both works for me...though I think there is a danger with a huge arc that it drags too much and people get bored...

Proof that extended arcs don't always work is offered in the form of Star Trek. TNG went on for 7 seasons with no huge plot arc - just small stories that were on occasion revisited in a later episode. DS9 was the first Trek to have an extended arc, which worked well, but there were plenty of subplots to take your attention away from the larger view. Voyger had this continuing huge plot...and that was the point where Trek nose-dived...and Enterprise, well, the less said the better to be honest...

[6thMonolith]

A mix of the both works for me...though I think there is a danger with a huge arc that it drags too much and people get bored...

Proof that extended arcs don't always work is offered in the form of Star Trek. TNG went on for 7 seasons with no huge plot arc - just small stories that were on occasion revisited in a later episode. DS9 was the first Trek to have an extended arc, which worked well, but there were plenty of subplots to take your attention away from the larger view. Voyger had this continuing huge plot...and that was the point where Trek nose-dived...and Enterprise, well, the less said the better to be honest...

Too true. I like episods in an ark, that dont end in "to be continued...", and the next episode starts with "Previously on Stargate...". I just think that those are great.

[Freyrs]

I find that continuing storylines are a lot better than a random planet every week. Now random planets do have their place, especially when they effect the current storyline (Learning Curve, Thor's Chariot). But episodes soley about exploring world and never returning are pointless.

[jckfan55]

I like a mix of exploring and continuing arcs. I understand that after all this time SG1 is needed more for big missions than simply mapping out new worlds, but I do love seeing the team working off world together. And I'm not a fan of too many episodes set on ships. The Gate is the unique thing about this show.

[Osiris-RA]

I agree totally about the ships. I was kind of like "whaa??" when they got the Promethus up there.

[Daz]

I like a nice mixture.

Sometimes, the stand-alones are pointless or boring, but then I love most of them. Continuing story is a nescessity, and I think it works well, but every week the same bad guy or whatever can drag, so we need the stand alones.

Meh.

[The Maneuver]

A mix of the two generally works. One thing that I like about Stargate is that sometimes they'll do a standalone with little to do with the major continuing story, and then later on down the track they'll do a show which links them. For example,

Spoiler:

the Osiris storyline: "The Curse" could have easily been a standalone that is never revisited, but instead they brought him/her back in "Summit", which was a major System Lords/Tok'Ra/Anubis episode.