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Warning: Heavy Spoilers and plot details for Season 8 of Stargate SG-1.

With twenty episodes on the five DVD’s, the Stargate: SG-1 season eight box set is much like the other box sets. The special features include “SG-1 Director Series”, “SG-1 Beyond the Gate” Series, Featurettes and Photos, as well as audio commentaries on selected episodes, so really nothing too fancy. I wish it came with more extras, but that’s because I am greedy.

Season eight is the last season where Richard Dean Anderson, or Jack O’neill leads the SG-1 team, and that is the reason I bought it. It helps that it has a few decent episodes during the season including one of my favourites, Citizen Joe.

In season eight, they deal with the replicator threat, as well as Anubis in his half ascended form. We also watch as Daniel Jackson dies again.

Being a big Stargate fan, I would suggest getting every DVD box set, but if you have to skip one, I’d say this is one of the ones you could probably skip. The later seasons of Stargate have not been able to get back that feeling of exploration and struggling against a more advanced enemy, as humans start building their own spaceships able to take on the Goa’uld. Even with the Ori threat which comes into play starting in season nine, it is never the same. Season eight is that transition period, and it felt almost like they expected the show to end at this point.

The character development is limited, other than Teal’c, who changes by leaps and bounds, as he grows in his hair and tries living off base. My friends loved him better as the sexy bald guy, but I can understand why Christopher Judge got sick of shaving his head.

Tidbit:

In the season 8 episode, “Avatar”, Teal’c informs SG-1 that he plays Def Jam Vendetta, alluding to the fact that Chris Judge was a voice actor in that game.

via Wikipedia

Season 8 Episode List:

• New Order (Part 1)
• New Order (Part 2)
• Lockdown
• Zero Hour
• Icon
• Avatar
• Affinity
• Covenant
• Sacrifices
• Endgame
• Gemini
• Prometheus Unbound
• It’s Good to Be King
• Full Alert
• Citizen Joe
• Reckoning (Part 1)
• Reckoning (Part 2)
• Threads
• Moebius (Part 1)
• Moebius (Part 2)

You can pick up the box set at some movie rental stores, as well as most places that sell DVD movies.

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J. Michael Straczynski has announced that the principal photography for Babylon 5: The Lost Tales has been completed, coming in under budget and a full day ahead of schedule. They still need to work out the computer effects and whatnot, but I am starting to get excited about the Babylon 5 universe again.

I am one of those people that ignore Crusade, and Legend of the Rangers, and hope they go back to their roots, and bring us something really compelling. It sounds like J.M.S. has that in mind though, as here are some details:

This first DVD, entitled “Voices in the Dark,” covers the same 72 hour period of time as Sheridan travels on board a Presidential Cruiser en route to Babylon 5 from Minbar for a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Interstellar Alliance. One part of the story follows Sheridan as he picks up an unexpected visitor on the edge of Centauri space, Prince Regent Dius Vintari, and a warning about what will come afterward delivered by the techno-mage, Galen. The other part of the story is set aboard Babylon 5, as Colonel Lochley summons a priest from Earth space to deal with a problem that may have dark supernatural overtones. The two parts of the greater story intersect at certain key plot and thematic points, so that they overlap and complement each other while telling separate, but simultaneous, stories.

Read more about production and whatnot at Babylon5Scripts.com.

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Star Trek: The Animated Series has finally made it to DVD, and for around $50 USD you can buy a copy for yourself. The animated series ran from 1973-75 and features voices of nearly the entire original live-action series including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett.

Including all 22 episodes, the show won a daytime Emmy in 1975 for Outstanding Children’s Series and includes the Peabody award-winning episode, “How Sharper Than A Serpent’s Tooth.”

Bonus Features:

• “Drawn to the Final Frontier: The Making of STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES”
• “What’s the STAR TREK Connection”
• Show History

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Formerly from Star Trek: Enterprise, Dominic Keating, the actor who played Lt. Malcolm Reed on the now cancelled science fiction series has joined the cast of MGM’s Species 4.

The now fourty-four year old actor will play a villain in the movie co-starring Ben Cross, and Helena Mattson. To give you an idea of how “great” this movie is going to be, it is expected to be released direct to DVD sometime next year.

Plot Summary:

Species 4 follows Miranda Hollander, a beautiful and brilliant young university professor who’s horrified when her “uncle”, Tom Hollander, reveals that she is not actually human after all, but an alien hybrid he created in a laboratory

At least he is back working in sci-fi again, and while I did not like Enterprise, I feel that they had a pretty decent crew of actors. Yo Dominic, you can do better than this!

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I miss Babylon 5. It was one of those life changing sci-fi shows that I watched when I was younger. I did not really like Crusade, or Captain Lochley but overall J. Michael Straczynski did a great job creating a universe that was just interesting to watch as it unfolded. I figured after the Legend of the Rangers, an okay movie, that the universe had died.

Recently though, J. Michael has announced something interesting that we can expect to see at some point in time: direct to DVD collection of 20 minute stories called Babylon 5: The Lost Tales.

These stories will expand on the characters that were previously established. The only character he mentioned would not be covered would be G’Kar since he believes no one should ever voice G’Kar except for Andreas Katsulas, who passed away earlier this year.

Warner Bros has greenlit the project and he says production starts this September, hoping for a DVD release in the second quarter of next year.

Also missing from The Lost Tales will be Richard Biggs, who played Dr. Stephen Franklin, as he has also passed away.

I look forward to seeing what JMS does with the opportunity, and I will probably be one of the first to run to the store and pick up the direct to DVD feature. I also hope to see at least one more really great space battle with a Whitestar involved. Those things look sexy and can really move.

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After this season, Stargate: SG-1 the television show is over. Everyone is wondering what will happen to the cast, and there are rumors of another spin-off which I really hope is the case, as well as a chance for a crew member or two to move to Stargate: Atlantis.

The best outcome, and the one that is most likely going to happen as MGM has given a green-light to the projects are two direct to DVD movies with higher budgets than a single television episode. That is what executive producer of the show, Brad Wright, told TV Guide recently:

“They’re not big-budget [films] by any definition, but for us it’s pretty good.. As we’ve proven over the years, just give us little more money and we can make pretty good television, or DVDs.”

The first movie will deal with the climax of the Ori story. Dealing with all the lose ends that the end of season ten will leave. The film will be written and directed by current SG-1 executive producer and show-runner Robert C. Cooper. Currently, the SG-1 cast has not signed up for the movies, but they have been said to be very excited about continuing.

Brad Wright will pen the second film, which will supposedly involve time travel, and maybe even be the stepping stone for another spin-off. I don’t know yet how I feel about that, but I don’t want Atlantis to be the only Stargate series on television.

The studio is targeting the fall of 2007 as the release for both projects, which is great because we won’t have to wait for new Stargate after the series ends in June.

I am having really bad withdrawals right now since Stargate won’t be back on television until March 2007. I hate when they do two part episodes in the middle like this, making me cry myself to sleep as I wait for the next Stargate experience.

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