I can't sleep because of the cold pills I'm taking, so I thought I'd make a couple of posts. Especially since I've been meaning to post several things, but haven't gotten around to it.

I find it odd some days that I'll find out about a show or get interested in it only after it's canceled. In many cases, it's because I didn't even know the show existed (Mission Hill, Undergrads). In other cases, I watched the show when it first came out, but never "followed up" on it (Babylon 5, or my current fetish, Star Trek: Enterpise). Sometimes I just missed the last couple of seasons (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).

For the last few days, I've been watching Season 3 and 4 of Enterpise. I watched the show for the first season, and parts of the second season, but then I got busy and/or forgot about it. I've heard from people over the years that it just wasn't that good, but I love it. I'm sorry it was canceled.

There is one thing that I absolutely despise about the show: the title sequence. I don't know whose bright idea that was, but the song drives me nuts. And I've heard it so many times in the last few days that it's really starting to grate on my nerves. But there I was earlier, watching Patch Adams with Rachel, and at the beginning of the credits was that stupid song. I laughed hysterically and turned the TV off.

The Super Mario Brother's Super Show is showing for free on Yahooligans TV.  I used to love this show when I was a kid. (Still do.  I'm watching it as I type this.)  They also have Inspector Gadget, Legend of Zelda and others.

Shepherd and company have found a planet with technology that rivals their own.  However, this planet places it's criminals in a penal colony near the gate for the Wraith to feed on so that they ignore the main cities.  Apparently this has worked for hundreds of years.

My first thought is "Oh no.  Another Vala episode."  (I'm watching as I write this.)  It seems that SG-1 has traveled to a planet where a Prior has visited.  Vala says the people of this planet trust her. Once again, we'll break for spoilers.

The whole episode seems like it's a message of Technology vs. Divinity.  I may have to watch it again in a day or so to decide if I liked it or not.

On the bright side of everything, it looks like Sam is rejoining the team next episode (according to the preview).

I was watching the first season of Stargate SG-1 today (because I don't feel well enough to do much else).  It reminded me, in a sense, of Star Trek and much older Science Fiction.  Science Fiction has long been used as political satire.  For example, the episode of Star Trek titled "Patterns of Force" is a satire on the Nazi regime.  There are other numerous examples of that.

Stargate SG-1, S01E03, "Emancipation" deals with a Mongol society and their repression of women.  Throughout the series there are numerous episodes that deal with other forms of social injustice in "primitive" societies, much in the way that the original Star Trek did.

It's interesting to note that a lot of this disappears later in the series.  It might be interesting to look into whether this was because the series had a more developed storyarc to deal with or because of writer changes.  Unfortunately, I'm not going to be the one to do it because I don't feel like doing it.

As a side note, it makes me sad that this entry took me about an hour to write because of how I feel.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have this episode.  I had to watch it twice to decide if I liked it or not.  I hate to say it, but I expected the episode to have that tone to it.  It seems like this part of the season has been a bit dull for most of the seasons.  To me, it almost seemed that the whole episode was a justification for Vala to stick around.  According to the executive producer, this was a comedic episode to offset the seriousness of the last three.

I'm a little worried about the Vala character.  It almost feels like she was just brought back to replace Sam.  The new leader of SG-1, Lt. Colonel Mitchell, at least feels more believable.  A lot of the episode seemed to be about those two characters and developing them better, but in contrast with this week's Atlantis, the whole episode seemed really mediocre.

Speaking of romance in sci-fi, I'm going to be very angry if the don't give some closure to the Jack/Sam storyline.  I was thinking about it yesterday, and not that they don't work together directly, there shouldn't be a problem with them getting together, but nothing has been said yet.  I have an over developed sense of curiosity.

After finally peeking at the rest of the season (which I've been trying not to do), I'm not as worried about where it's going.  I'm just said there as a mediocre episode mixed in.  A bit of a let-down.

When I first heard about Atlantis, I was a little worried.  I remembered the last spin-off series that took place even remotely that far away from the original *cough*Voyager*cough* and how much I hated it.  But I've officially changed my mind, and I've even come so far to say that I think I like it better than the original.  In that sense, it reminds me of Deep Space 9.  What's really strange is that I've got Rachel hooked on it too.  She still doesn't like SG-1 that much, but she's seen all but a couple episodes of Atlantis.

This week's episode impressed me, unlike this week's SG-1, but I'll get back to that.  I thought there was a lot of really good character development.  I'm eager to see what becomes of the enigma that is Ronon.  In a sense, he reminds me of Teal'c.  I just hope it doesn't become a parallel story to Teal'c's.  And I don't care what anyone else says, I like to see a little romance in my sci-fi.  As long as it doesn't get too cheesy (like Captain Kirk's escapades).

Ok, so it wasn't a three part episode like I thought, but it's close enough, since the last Episode said "To Be Continued..."

Warning: Potential plot spoilers below.

I've just finished watching the first two episodes of the ninth season of Stargate: SG-1 and second season of Stargate: Atlantis. 

Both of the new seasons look to be pretty interesting (if you enjoy the shows at least).  I won't give any spoilers here, but it's always interesting to see what new twists they're going to put on old myths in SG-1.  I can't wait to see the next episode, which brings me to what's bugging me: three-part episodes.

The first episode of Atlantis this season was part three of "The Siege", where Atlantis is under attack by the Wraith. It was an interesting conclusion. Episodes one and two of SG-1 were the first and second part of "Avalon", which references the Merlin/King Arthur myths. It's really bugging me having to wait a week to see what happens.

This SG-1 season confused me at first, because most of the familiar faces are gone now, or at least moved to the background. Jack and Sam are both gone from Stargate Command now. It remains to be seen if this is where the series is going to "jump the shark". I really hope it isn't, but not many series make it to the ninth season without blowing it.