Stargate: SG-1 Memories: Ethon, Off the Grid, The Scourge

ETHON (915)

This episode marked the last episode of the earth ship Prometheus, and its unfortunately named commander Pendergast. To be honest, I would have felt a lot worse for him had he been named, say, Evans or Fitzgerald or even Pangbourn – but Pendergast? Whenever his name came up in a script, I would always ask where the name came from. Did some fan win a contest that necessitated we use their name in a script? Close! Apparently, Pendergast was the last name of a friend of one of the writers. With Stargate over, I now regret the fact that I didn’t name one of my characters Jelly after my beloved pug.

OFF THE GRID (916)

Look out! That corn is highly addictive! Ah, sweet sweet Kassa. How you’ve been mocked, forced to share ignominious conversation company with the likes of explosive tumors, Zipacna’s silly hat, and Carter infamous “Just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside, doesn’t mean I can’t handle whatever you can handle” line. Granted, it was one of our sillier episodes that saw the team going undercover decked out as extras from the original Road Warrior while, back on Earth, Landry matched wits with the gluttonous goa’uld Nerus (played to pompous perfection by the late Maury Chaykin). At one point during the editing process, Brad objected to the amount of food Nerus had in his cell on the grounds that it was “over the top”. ! In my mind, that ship sailed the second Mitchell uttered the line: “Get all the population jonesing for space corn.”

Speaking of silly – a number of fans complained about the fact that the Lucian Alliance weren’t cool enough, that they were a little too silly to be considered a formidable threat to Stargate Command. Well, to be fair, respect was admittedly an uphill climb considering the concept of the Alliance was introduced by those two lovable, albeit not-quite-so-threatening rubber-faced members Tenat and Jup.

THE SCOURGE (917)

One of the biggest challenges of this episode was the bugs themselves. In the original draft, they buzz along the ground like a giant moving carpet. I limited the cutaways to the swarm figuring that, while expensive, it would not be prohibitively so. The cold reality of the Visual Effects budget hit me like a punch in the face – followed by three swift kicks to the mid-section and the subsequent removal of all the cash in my wallet. We simply couldn’t afford sweeping bug swarms. And so, I came up with the idea of having the bugs travel underground which, while not as visually satisfying, lent them a certain creepiness.

One of my favorite guest stars makes a return in this episode with Robert Picardo reprising his role as the insufferable Richard Woolsey. This, I think, was the first episode I wrote in which I gave the character a little humor – and, as a result, really started to enjoy writing for him. Sure, he was a stuffed shirt, but he also reveals glimpses of vulnerability that make him amusing, even likable up to a point. And Bob, of course, did a terrific job of delivering those subtle and, sometimes, not-so-subtle nuances that – like the point late in the episode where SG-1 and the I.O.A. reps are hurrying away from the bugs, only to have Woolsey speed by them, arms madly pumping.