The worst episode of Stargate SG-1 saved the series

The author Jonathan Klotz
| Published 1 hour ago

Every television series stumbles a little out of the gate because the cast and crew understand the story they want to tell and how the characters should behave in different situations, and sci-fi greats are no exception. Star Trek: The Next Generation stumbled upon season 1 episode 4 “Code of Honor” and the worst episode ever Stargate SG-1 came early with Season 1's “Emancipation.” As it turns out, both episodes share the same writer, but the latter is directly responsible for building the underrated sci-fi series to greatness.

Emancipation is the worst episode of Stargate SG-1

Labeling any episode as the “worst” usually sparks heated debate among fans, but as far as Stargate SG-1 fanbase is concerned, “Emancipation” really is that bad. The episode opens with the crew coming across a planet where women aren't allowed to show their faces or dress like men, which sounds awful at first, but gets worse as Amanda Tapping's actress Samantha Carter is forced to dress as one of her own women and becomes tribal property. To make matters worse, none of the SG-1 crew protested and actually like the new outfit.

By the time Carter was sold to a local warlord for 300 gold pieces, all the messages “Emancipation” was trying to convey were lost. Buried beneath Carter's objectification is the core of a clever story, namely how the militaristic SG-1 reacts to different cultures since this was, after all, their first mission to another planet through the Stargate. Without a prime directive to guide them, “Emancipation” could have been a great episode to show how the series differs from Star Trekbut instead it became the worst of Stargate SG-1 and made all concerned shake their heads in astonishment and disgust.

It's not just fans who hate it

In later interviews, Amanda Tapping has been kind to the worst Stargate SG-1 episode, politely saying that it just “missed the mark.” At the time, the episode was so poorly received that the producers and writers buckled down and revamped the character of Samantha Carter, transforming her into the smart, capable, multi-faceted character that fans have come to know throughout the rest of the series. If it weren't for “Emancipation,” Carter might have been reduced to the main “hot girl” role common to most shows, finding herself somehow in a different cosplay outfit every other episode.

It's not just the fans who consider “Emancipation” to be the worst episode Stargate SG-1but also writers. In the second half of Season 1, you can tell how the cast is coming to terms with their characters and the odd moments like Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) watching Carter. This misstep had to happen in order for everyone involved to learn how to hit the right notes, it's just ironic how similar Star Trek: The next generation Season 1 meltdown.

A code of honor and emancipation are one and the same

“Code of Honor” includes company company crew dealing with an alien a culture influenced by an ancient culture, in this case Chinese, compared to Stargate A Mongolian woman with a female officer, Tash Yar, believed to be the consort of a local warlord. Both episodes feature a knife fight in which a woman excels and changes the alien civilization forever. The two worst Star Trek: The Next Generation and Stargate SG-1 the episodes end with the acquisition of a local factory that promises to be a medical breakthrough.

Katharyn Powers went to two different ones science fiction shows and wrote the exact same third episode for both, but she ended her streak by writing “Past Prologue” Star Trek: Deep Space Nineseries that introduced the world to Garak, a simple tailor. At least you can somewhat defend her series of worst episodes ever by saying that when they were written, the characters of both The next generation and Stargate SG-1 had not yet been formed, so it was impossible for them to act wildly out of character. And then you can say that the episodes were so bad that it forced the characters to be created very quickly to make sure that nothing embarrassing would ever happen again.

Brought to Best Of Stargate SG-1

If the fans didn't experience the worst Stargate SG-1they would never have been able to enjoy the best episodes of “Heroes” to “Windows of Opportunity” or even “200,” which manages to be one of the best celebrations of a show within a show. “Emancipation” had to happen, and we can't all be as classy as Amanda Tapping, but she was able to move on from Samantha Carter, who lets a strange man explore her every pore before selling her for gold to Samantha Carter. from “Space Race,” which fans saw her need for speed, to “Death Knell,” which sees her in the middle of the action. Every show stumbles, but not every show becomes an all-time genre classic.