Stargate SG-1 Memories: The Fifth Man, Red Sky, Rite of Passage

THE FIFTH MAN (504)

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 beneath 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 through on his way to the gate. I mean, holy crap, does he kill a lot of ’em! Brad felt the sea of corpses put a damper on an otherwise happy ending and did his best to disappear them.

RED SKY (505)

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: 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 (506)

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.