Stargate SG-1 Memories: Sight Unseen, Smoke and Mirrors, Paradise Lost

SIGHT UNSEEN (613)

Boy, did I NOT like this episode, this despite actor Jodi Racicot’s brilliant turn as the beleaguered Vernon Sharpe. My note at the script stage was: So what?. I mean, okay, people start glimpsing interdimensional creatures that cause them to “Freak out, man!” but, when it came down to it, those alien centipedes really weren’t much of a threat.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS (614)

See if you can spot Peter Kelamis (SGU’s Adam Brody) in one of his first guest spots on the franchise. Yep, that young little guy who gets clotheslined by Teal’c. That’s him! This episode also marked the return of one of my favorite characters you love to hate: Senator Kinsey played by the terrific Ronny Cox. It was always a pleasure to have him on the show.

The hotel at the beginning of the episode where Kinsey gets shot is actually located right across from The Bridge Studios where the show’s production offices are located. Apparently, back in SG-1’s early days, a new writer joined the staff and was offered accommodations in town. Instead, the writer elected to move into The Accent Inn! I mean, sure, it was convenient in that all you had to do was walk across the street to get to work but, at the time, there was absolutely nothing of interest in the neighborhood outside of the ABC Country Restaurant. Sorry. Strike that. Nothing of interest in the neighborhood.

PARADISE LOST (615)

Robert Cooper’s long-standing distaste for arugula is finally revealed. The mysterious plant Jack and Maybourne eat in order to survive apparently tastes horrible – not unlike arugula. Not only that but, at episode’s end, we realize it’s the cause of the frightening hallucinations that almost get them killed. Rob’s aversion to spicy leaf plants isn’t restricted to arugula alone. Back in the day, we used do our annual trips to Vegas to celebrate our respective birthdays that all used to fall in the same month (Rob, Chris Judge, John G. Lenic, and myself). I remember going to The Cheesecake Factory with him once and, when our two orders of corn tamales arrived, having him look down at the heavily cilantro-topped tamale he’d received and lamenting: “Hey, why do I get to have all the cilantro?” as if to imply I’d been left out because my tamale was relatively cilantro-less. A clever bit of reverse psychology.