Stargate SG-1 An episode that Christopher Judge wanted to become comical

“Stargate SG-1” had several great episodes before it was canceled after season 10. However, some episodes started out as completely different ideas, only to take new forms during the writing process. A prime example is a two-part episode of the classic The Lost City that was originally intended as a feature film. Elsewhere, Season 8's “Victims” was envisioned as a sitcom called “My Big Fat Jaffa Wedding,” but later took on a darker tone.

“Victims” is about Rjak of Chulak (Neil Dennis)'s attempt to marry Karina (Mercedes de la Zerda), which does not go well with their families and causes some discord. This was said by Christopher Judge, who played Teal'c and wrote the episode GateWorld that he realized it couldn't be a comedy because the story explores ideas like war, tyranny, and Moloch's (Royston Innes) enslavement of the Jaffa people:

(As) I started writing it, it didn't turn out as funny as I thought it would because there were serious issues that needed to be addressed as far as their freedom, the cause, the entire Jaffa movement—and as far as the entire Jaffa freedom movement, and how Hak'tyl doesn't always see eye to eye with the larger movement. And they will go about their liberation in a different way.”

While The writers of “Stargate SG-1” sometimes pushed comedy ideas to the limitthey had good reasons to resist making “Victims” a laugh-out-loud caper. The good news, though, is that Judge learned from the experience.

Although Christopher Judge's original plan for “Victims” never came to fruition, he realizes that's just the nature of television writing. During the aforementioned interview, he revealed that the episode had to fit into the bigger picture of the series, and the Jaffa freedom storyline didn't really lend itself to comedy. However, Judge found an empathetic ear in series producer Robert Cooper, who understood that the ideas were becoming more serious than they were originally intended:

“I said, 'I don't know.' It's not funny. And he said, “You know, a lot of times it starts out as a lighter episode in our minds, but when there's issues that you have to deal with because of the plot that's going on, a lot of times it doesn't end the way you envisioned because you have some issues to deal with.”

Despite the failure of his original idea, it sounds like Judge took a lot of creative liberties with the series. In addition, experience and wisdom are allowed Judge to offer some sound advice to the creators of a potential “Stargate: SG-1” reboot. along the line. If this project ever comes to fruition, he hopes the writers will make the show their own and not be beholden to what came before.