It was really good, and made me want to go back and watch all the episodes clipped, and then watch the ep again.

Yeah, that was a great ep.

I don't believe in oversight, so much. Well, in theory. But I don't care about the public's right to know about missions whose end is (clearly, to me) best served by secrecy. And the whole "Sure, they saved the world but ignored orders" dances around the point of OF COURSE they saved the world. It's their show. It's what they do.

Here's the thing about that. I agree, but then I saw the following ep where Daniel returns from the dead with no memory of who he is, and they let him go on a mission. Not just any mission, but a mission where he has to sneak around on a Goa'uld mother ship. WTF?!?

Not just any mission, but a mission where he has to sneak around on a Goa'uld mother ship. WTF?!?

Yeah. that was wacked.

I also -- I just found the whole thing really odd. Like, here's this person you worked with & lived with for five or six years, and you cared deeply about him, and then he died, and maybe you saw him as a spirit being or something, but he was for all ordinary purposes dead. You grieved for him, and mourned, and maybe went on, but there was always this hole where he used to be.

So you bump into him one day, and you don't flip out? You don't even sniffle a little, or throw yourself into his arms?

The lack of affect about Daniel's return disturbed me deeply. Compare to the Jossverse, where Buffy's return was a huge deal, both narratively and emotionally.

It was weird.

Well, they had just worked very closely with his ascended self on a mission. So, that could affect the reaction somewhat.

Yeah, but dude, they weren't even surprised. I still think it was deeply bizarre.

Well, I don't think he was dead to the rest of SG-1 like Buffy was dead to the rest of the Scoobs. I mean, if Buffy had periodically popped in for spectral visits, all glowy and clad in earth tones, her friends probably wouldn't even have considered the possibility of her being hellbound and in need of resurrection.

Unless you consider earth tones hell, which Buffy very well may.

edit: I start too many sentences with "Well..."

Not just any mission, but a mission where he has to sneak around on a Goa'uld mother ship. WTF?!?

Yeah, that was fucked up. But it's that weird space where everything they do is right, because it's essentially episodic heroic TV. So the arguments for oversight are going to be weak almost by definition.

That's what I dislike about the politics episodes. Of course they were insubordinate. They're Heroes. It has to be that way. Plus, the arguments just seem so manufactured. "Hammond allowed emotion to sway him in waiting for SG-1 before closing the iris." Um, weren't you just complaining about him losing one 'very valuable' team member?

ITA, Emily. The thing is, the Stargate program is deeply risky (one could totally argue from S1 Kinsey's camp that they should never have opened the gate in the first place), and realistically speaking, everybody should have died a flaming agonizing death by now but for the grace of God, or more accurately, the crazy-ass luck of the heroes necessary to maintain an episodic action-adventure TV. You suspend your disbelief and go along the ride because the stories are fun and the characters are engaging.

However, to be able to deal with the political ramifications of the program believably, you need something more than a power-mad one-note villain and an attitude that says, "they're heroes. They save the world. So, there were lots of near misses, so what?", which is usually what we get at the end of these Kinsey-centric clip shows. I find them facile and unsatisfying, although I did like this one better than most because I liked the prez.

(one could totally argue from S1 Kinsey's camp that they should never have opened the gate in the first place),

Oh, absolutely! It just that it's just a whiny point now -- the gate is open, so unless you're going to suggest going back in time and keeping the gate from opening, Vice President, I suggest you come up with a better reason to take control away from the people who have, against all reasonable odds, not let the world be taken over by any of the races that have shown interest.

Yeah, but dude, they weren't even surprised. I still think it was deeply bizarre.

Yes. Well, that's Stargate for you. Characterization and emotional fallout are not really their strong points; they much prefer blowing stuff up.

In all honesty, coming out of Buffy and Angel and Farscape I find that kind of... relaxing. I mean, yeah, unrealistic, but it's a heck of a lot less emotionally exhausting for me. (Of course, I'll never describe Stargate as a brilliant show, either, despite how much I love it, so that's your tradeoff.)

ETA: Which isn't to say they haven't surprised me from time to time. There's a nice character arc for Daniel, for instance, particularly in S5 and through to the beginning of S7. I'm not entirely convinced they did that on purpose, though.