DVD Stargate SG-1 Season 3, Vol. 1

Episode 1, "Into the Fire" (Written by Brad Wright, Aired June 25, 1999) finds things getting worse for SG-1 as Hathor decides Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) should be the host. Meanwhile there two ongoing efforts to rescue SG-1. The first is on Earth with General Hammond (Don S. Davis) and Colonel Makepeace (Steve Makaj, while the other is on Chulak, where Teal'c (Christopher Judge) has joined forces with Bra'tac (Tony Amendola). Obviously the idea is to get the show back to "normal" by the end of this season premier episode, and while this was an interesting cliffhanger, it pales in comparison to what we had a season earlier. Solid but not specatular. Four Stargates.

Episode 2, "Seth" (Written by Jonathan Glassner, Aired July 2, 1999) has Jacob Carter (Carmen Argenziano), Sam's father and Earth's liaison to the Tok'ra, visiting SGC to report that the Goa'uld Seth (Robert Duncan) has been hiding out on Earth ever since the Stargate was buried in Egypt several thousands years back. Apparently Seth has managed to keep on being worshipped as a god having formed the Cult of Seth. Meanwhile, Jacob has some unresolved issues with his son. The idea of a Gao'uld doing a cult is a good one, but over thousand of years he has never tried to go global? I do not think so, Jack. 4 Stargates.

Episode 3, "Fair Game" (Written by Robert C. Cooper, Aired July 9, 1999) starts off with Carter (Amanda Tapping) finally being promoted to Major and O'Neill being whisked away in mid-sentence by the Asgard. It seems the Gao'uld thinks that killing Hathor makes Earth a threat, so the System Lords want to pay a visit. However, the Asgard want to mediate a non-aggression treaty between the humans and the System Lords to that Earth is one of the planets protected by the Asgard (and you thought intergalatic treaties were confusing in the "Star Trek" universe). The negotiations are compounded by the fact that apparently some System Lords are more trustworthy than others. I am not sure what the point is in trying to suggest the Gao'uld are not the bad guys of the series, so this one comes with a grain of salt. 4 Stargates.

Episode 4, "Legacy" (Written by Tor Alexander Valenza, Aired July 16, 2003) is where Daniel (Michael Shanks) goes insane and SG-1 has to deal with Ma'chello's anti-Goa'uld technology. Of course, Daniel is not really insane and there is a tangible threat to Earth behind what is happening. This is the best episode in Volume 1, mainly on the basis of Shanks' performance and the way in which the truth slowly emerges. We know he cannot really be insane, but figuring out what is really going on is difficult. 5 Stargates.

Although she is not the focus of any of these episodes, Sam Carter is showing some interesting abilities off of the Goa'uld protein marker left by Jolinar of Malkshur. These are all solid episodes but none of them qualify as "Stargate SG-1" classics and the best of Season 3 is yet to come.