Stargate: SG-1 Memories: Lifeboat, Enemy Mine, Space Race

LIFEBOAT (707)

An acting tour-de-force for Michael Shanks who delivers a multitude of terrific performances in an episode that sees him playing several different characters. Guest star James Park’s portrayal of the doomed Pharrin is also incredibly touching and the perfect compliment to Michael’s multi-layered turn. Brad had the idea for this story back in season six but, since he’d constructed the story for Daniel who had since left this mortal coil, he’d shelved it indefinitely. When Michael came back to the show the following year, however, Brad was able to dust it off and put it back in play. It’s one of those self-contained pure SF stories, like Revisions (and the episodes Brad used to produce in his Outer Limits days), that always appealed to me in much the same way that I always preferred the stand-alone horror X-Files episodes over the arc-driven entries.

ENEMY MINE (706)

Writer/Director Peter DeLuise excelled at stories that, like this one, focused on the show’s rich mythology, building upon the races and characters established in previous episodes and developing them in interesting, often surprising, ways.

Enemy Mine was the working title of this episode which, like Watergate before it, went from placeholder title to official title before anyone could do anything about it. FYI, past placeholder titles that didn’t make it to official status include: Teal’c Interrupted, Turn of Events, Dark Gambit, Flowers for McKay, CSI: Atlantis, Ad Infinitum, Remember When, and Beckett Returns.

SPACE RACE (708)

Working on Stargate was a writer’s dream in that it offered a host of wide-ranging opportunities when it came to scripting an episode. The stories could be arc-driven or standalone, Earth-bound or off-world centered, mythological in nature or purely scifi, dramatic or humorous. And, every so often, we occasionally did those departure episodes that stood out all the more in the uniqueness of their narrative or execution. Space Race was one of those episodes and, as a result and to no one’s surprise, was a little divisive went it came to fan opinion. Some fans loved it. Others hated it.