You?

Today’s Yes/No…

Fish Head Pie? Yes/No
Thanks (?) to @Hadel for the tip.
Controversial cuisine: Fish head pie and 'devil's dung' https://t.co/JNDPuyRmOA via @CNNTravel

— Joseph Mallozzi 🏴‍☠️ (@BaronDestructo) January 28, 2023

According to Akemi, there’s an Edo period preparation that substitutes the pie for rice.  I suggested she try the recipe some day.  She was…unethusiastic.

Bringing you more from the Stargate vault…

Enemies…

I always found it interesting that, whenever certain fans took issue with a creative decision, they would always blame TPTB (The Powers That Be) as if we were one giant multi-headed monster.  In truth, we’re individual little monsters who have had our share of disagreements over the years on everything from wardrobe decisions to major character arcs.  Season five had seen its share of minor debates, but this episode stands out as the first big blowout.  I don’t even recall exactly what was being disputed; I only remember it had to do with story structure.  That and being really impassioned and, ultimately, very annoyed. In the end, Paul and I handed off the episode to Rob and shifted focus to another script, The Fifth Man – and Enemies turned out to be a terrific episode.  Also, FYI – the working title for this one was Serpent’s Hat.  Don’t ask.

Threshold…

No concept art. 🙁

One of my favorite moments of these early fifth season episodes is the Larry David staredown Bratac gives Teal’c to discern whether he is lying or not (I believe it’s in the previous episode).  That bug-eyed gawk would always leave me chortling.  A great Teal’c episode, though less so for Chris Judge who had to brave the elements on this one.  On the day they headed out to shoot the exterior scenes, they discovered a thick blanket of snow on the ground.  Oops.  It provided what I imagine must have been a somewhat uncomfortable bedding for the shirtless Chris to lie down on.

Ascension…

This was one of those episode’s that hadn’t sold me at the script stage but really came together once we started shooting.  Sean Patrick Flanery was great and had terrific onscreen chemistry with Amanda.  Another perfect example of writer-producer’s remorse: an actor who does such a good job that one regrets killing off his character.

The Fifth Man…

Actor Dion Johnstone assumed a number of very different roles over the course of the franchise’s run.  He drew on his extensive theater background to play the part of Chaka in The First Ones (reprising the role in Beast of Burden), doing a brilliant job of conveying a wide range of emotion through some heavy prosthetic make-up.  In this episode, he plays another alien – of sorts – the mysterious Lieutenant Tyler whose existence no one but SG-1 can recall, and delivers another great performance.  One of the things I remember about this episode was the hell of a time editing had cutting around all the Jaffa bodies O’Neill has to negotiate on his way to the gate.  I mean, holy crap, does he kill a lot of ’em!  Apparently, Brad felt the sea of corpses put a damper on an otherwise happy ending.

Red Sky…

No concept art. 🙁

Ron Wilkerson’s first and best script is a terrific SF tale anchored by one of Richard Dean Anderson’s greatest performances.  It’s a darker side of Jack O’Neill we rarely get to see – angry, intense, and deadly serious.  The episode also offers up a side of Carter we rarely glimpse as well: fallible and wrestling with self-doubt.  Many layers in this one and it all plays out in very counter-Star Trek fashion as the team attempts to force a solution upon the planet’s inhabitants. Tres Anti-Prime Directive, no?

Rite of Passage…

No concept art. 🙁

This one offered us the rare opportunity to give Dr. Fraiser some screen time and touch on one of Carter’s few onscreen non-romantic relationships.  The unfortunately monikered Hanka children were named after then MGM studio exec Hank Cohen (who would make a cameo in this season’s Wormhole Xtreme as, surprisingly enough, a studio exec).

Beast of Burden…

No concept art.  🙁

Dion Johnstone reprises his role as Chaka in this follow-up to season four’s The First Ones.  While Peter DeLuise did the scripting honors on this one, Martin Wood assumed the directing reins.  This one is a bit of a blur but I remember being genuinely surprised by early discussions to offer the role of Burrock to Larry Drake.  His performance as the mentally challenged Benny Stulwicz on L.A. Law had been so damn brilliant and convincing, I’d actually assumed they’d hired a intellectually disabled actor to play the part!