For their hundredth episode, the creators behind "Stargate SG-1" decided to pull out all the stops, and to make this episode an homage to, well, themselves and their creation -- part regular episode, part celebration, but mostly enough "SG-1" inside jokes for an "Airplane!" movie. You want cameos of some of the writers and other behind-the-scenes folks? Got 'em. You want a story-within-a-story that eventually tears down the fourth wall? Check. You want more self-referential material than in a Donald Trump autobiography? You've come to the right place.
The plot -- such as there is -- brings back Martin Lloyd (Willie Garson), the balding fellow with horn-rimmed glasses from the previous season's "Point of No Return," who somehow knew about the Stargate and claimed to be an alien, and contrived to meet Col. O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and the rest of SG-1. It eventually turned out that Lloyd knew about the Stargate et al. because he actually *was* an alien, one of a group whose race, having been mostly destroyed by the Goa'uld, chose to desert their kind and settle incognito on Earth. Unfortunately, although his fellow aliens tried to erase Martin's memory, he began to recall bits and pieces, leading him eventually to contact Stargate command.
In this sequel, Martin's memory has again been erased, but his subconscious allows him to come up with the premise for a television show designed around, um, a Stargate, with a team composed of a wisecracking leader, a woman with vast scientific knowledge, an archaeologist who's reluctant to use force, and a member of an alien race who's played by an actor who's black . . . just like in the "real" SG-1. This gets the attention of that "real" SG-1 team, and so we're off to the races.
All of this thin reed of a plot is merely an excuse to lard the episode with those inside jokes, cameos, and behind-the-scenes shots, many of which are documented in the "Trivia" section of IMDb. They include several shots of the real-life Bridge Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia where Stargate SG-1 was produced, and which doubled as the setting for this episode. (Despite what someone slipped into the "Trivia" section on this show, however, the actors clearly didn't think this was a real tryout for a real show -- notwithstanding some clowning to the contrary in one of the outtakes from this episode.)
The folderol in this episode includes the presence of a director of the fictional show-within-a-show played by Peter DeLuise (son of the late Dom DeLuise, who once guest starred on the show) who had theretofore done a lot of brief cameo appearances himself, but who now played a major character in this episode, wearing a bright yellow shirt (the better to stand out) as he constantly shouts "BIGGER!" when one of the spectacular special effects apparently isn't enough to satisfy him. And they include both a quick on-screen appearance by Executive Producer Robert C. Cooper (whom Martin tells to "Go write something!") as well as Cooper's name on a book with an amusing title that reflects Cooper's real-life propensity to pile up more scripts than the producers can use.
There's also Peter DeLuise' brother, Michael, giving a hammy performance that -- so Peter claims on the DVD commentary -- was inspired physically by Richard Dean Anderson but in acting style by that former sci-fi star, William Shatner (particularly in the way that Shatner always grabs his leading ladies by the shoulders). There are also appearances by any number of other real-life behind-the-camera folk getting a chance to appear on-screen as the crew of this fictional movie set by (mostly) playing themselves.
"Stargate SG-1" (despite Col. O'Neill's non-stop wisecracking) was often a deadly-serious show, with both occasional characters and even a regular cast member getting killed off now and then. But it didn't always take itself seriously -- witness the delightful Season 4 episode, "Window of Opportunity," in which O'Neill and Teal'c get trapped in a time-loop that only they are aware of, allowing them to cut loose in "Groundhog Day" fashion. And so it was here, using the time-honored technique of setting an episode on a movie set, so that all that the creators had to do was use their own world as the setting for this story, as they piled up the in-jokes and references.
Self-parody, of course, can be a dangerous road -- in the 1960s, for example, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." did so and quickly disappeared from the air, while "Mission:Impossible" avoided it and so managed to stay in production for seven seasons. Science fiction, though, is a more flexible premise, allowing even for the occasional high camp that this episode employed. In the canon of "Stargate SG-1" it's like a whipped dessert after all of the entrees and side dishes of the first 99 shows -- but it's handled here with just the right touch of whimsy, and even though the cast (especially the faux SG-1 actors) clearly had some fun with it, they still managed to stay serious just long enough to get through the story while engaging in a rare change of pace.
The plot -- such as there is -- brings back Martin Lloyd (Willie Garson), the balding fellow with horn-rimmed glasses from the previous season's "Point of No Return," who somehow knew about the Stargate and claimed to be an alien, and contrived to meet Col. O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and the rest of SG-1. It eventually turned out that Lloyd knew about the Stargate et al. because he actually *was* an alien, one of a group whose race, having been mostly destroyed by the Goa'uld, chose to desert their kind and settle incognito on Earth. Unfortunately, although his fellow aliens tried to erase Martin's memory, he began to recall bits and pieces, leading him eventually to contact Stargate command.
In this sequel, Martin's memory has again been erased, but his subconscious allows him to come up with the premise for a television show designed around, um, a Stargate, with a team composed of a wisecracking leader, a woman with vast scientific knowledge, an archaeologist who's reluctant to use force, and a member of an alien race who's played by an actor who's black . . . just like in the "real" SG-1. This gets the attention of that "real" SG-1 team, and so we're off to the races.
All of this thin reed of a plot is merely an excuse to lard the episode with those inside jokes, cameos, and behind-the-scenes shots, many of which are documented in the "Trivia" section of IMDb. They include several shots of the real-life Bridge Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia where Stargate SG-1 was produced, and which doubled as the setting for this episode. (Despite what someone slipped into the "Trivia" section on this show, however, the actors clearly didn't think this was a real tryout for a real show -- notwithstanding some clowning to the contrary in one of the outtakes from this episode.)
The folderol in this episode includes the presence of a director of the fictional show-within-a-show played by Peter DeLuise (son of the late Dom DeLuise, who once guest starred on the show) who had theretofore done a lot of brief cameo appearances himself, but who now played a major character in this episode, wearing a bright yellow shirt (the better to stand out) as he constantly shouts "BIGGER!" when one of the spectacular special effects apparently isn't enough to satisfy him. And they include both a quick on-screen appearance by Executive Producer Robert C. Cooper (whom Martin tells to "Go write something!") as well as Cooper's name on a book with an amusing title that reflects Cooper's real-life propensity to pile up more scripts than the producers can use.
There's also Peter DeLuise' brother, Michael, giving a hammy performance that -- so Peter claims on the DVD commentary -- was inspired physically by Richard Dean Anderson but in acting style by that former sci-fi star, William Shatner (particularly in the way that Shatner always grabs his leading ladies by the shoulders). There are also appearances by any number of other real-life behind-the-camera folk getting a chance to appear on-screen as the crew of this fictional movie set by (mostly) playing themselves.
"Stargate SG-1" (despite Col. O'Neill's non-stop wisecracking) was often a deadly-serious show, with both occasional characters and even a regular cast member getting killed off now and then. But it didn't always take itself seriously -- witness the delightful Season 4 episode, "Window of Opportunity," in which O'Neill and Teal'c get trapped in a time-loop that only they are aware of, allowing them to cut loose in "Groundhog Day" fashion. And so it was here, using the time-honored technique of setting an episode on a movie set, so that all that the creators had to do was use their own world as the setting for this story, as they piled up the in-jokes and references.
Self-parody, of course, can be a dangerous road -- in the 1960s, for example, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." did so and quickly disappeared from the air, while "Mission:Impossible" avoided it and so managed to stay in production for seven seasons. Science fiction, though, is a more flexible premise, allowing even for the occasional high camp that this episode employed. In the canon of "Stargate SG-1" it's like a whipped dessert after all of the entrees and side dishes of the first 99 shows -- but it's handled here with just the right touch of whimsy, and even though the cast (especially the faux SG-1 actors) clearly had some fun with it, they still managed to stay serious just long enough to get through the story while engaging in a rare change of pace.
