h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

With all the tricky stuff (viz the re-introduction of Daniel Jackson) done in 'Fallen', 'Homecoming' is free to put in a good hour of action. Whilst a good episode, it's hard to find anything much to say about it. 'Homecoming' flows well, isn't dull, and puts in a generally good effort to prove that season 7 can be a great season.

Richard Dean Anderson, as Colonel O'Neill, seems to be back on form after his slightly disconcerting awkwardness in 'Fallen', and Michael Shanks, as Daniel Jackson, appears to have gained a new edge of cynicism, marking a change from the pre-sixth season Daniel. His ambiguous question to O'Neill at the end of this episode - 'We get paid for this, right?' - leaves a slight niggle in the mind; it's a valid question to be asked, but as the final line of the episode leaves a feeling of materialism that has never been present in the character beforehand.

Anubis manages another gloriously over-the-top performance, his First Prime is as smug and smackable as ever, the Kelownans get a little bit of what's coming to them, and the episode gets a general thumbs up - if only the sudden ruthless despatch of Jonas Quinn didn't leave a bitter taste to the proceedings.

R25968 12:17 17/7/03

bah! jonas quinn wasnt very interesting. i thought that he made a very poor substitute for daniel jackson. im sure that the two werent supposed to be identical, but jonas quinn seemed a bit too innocent.

Not a Jonas fan, then? Ah well, shame. I liked him, I thought he had great energy, almost bouncing everywhere and smiling all the time... good for him, I say But he's gone now, or at least it seems he is.

FraserD

i didnt feel that he fit the personality of the show too well. i dont quite know why, he just seemed out of place.

Oh well, fair enough. I quite liked him, and think it's a shame they just suddenly dropped him. i'd have liked them to develop his storyline a little more, rather than just give him psychic powers for one episode then take them away again - that seemed incredibly pointless. Oh well... They're bad for that on Stargate, throwing away good story opportunities just so they can end the episodes in an everything-back-to-normal way, at least most of the time.

FraserD

well, i suppose if everyone started developing psychic powers the show would begin a rapid decline. it would just be another crappy sci-fi series. i dont know why they insist on having everything back to normal by the end of the show because they get a little corny when theyre rushed. oh, well, cant change it i guess.

I suppose they can't have everyone becoming psychic, no, so Cassandra, likewise , wasn't allowed to keep her special powers when they appeared. It would have been nice though, perhaps, for Jonas to get little flashes of the future every now and then. Or, as a friend of mine suggested, he should have had a big, important flash just before he was 'cured' that we wouldn't find out the meaning of for a while... I dunno, it would just be nice for some development actually to have gone on.

Yeah, the rushing is annoying, especially that episode where Teal'c's son is brainwashed by Apophis, and they suddenly decide, 'oh, the show's got to end in 5 minutes... let's just shoot him with a Zat gun and say he's okay again...'

FraserD

i agree with your friend. it would have to be extremely profound and cryptic to work.

Yeah. I suppose they felt they couldn't have a character regularly having visions of the future incase people started accusing them of ripping off Angel, too.

FraserD

i also think that it would probably take away some from show if you had an idea of what was going to happen. theyre already predictable.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I suppose they've done it before, anyway, in a way, when Daniel predicted the Goa'uld attack on Earth after visiting a parallel universe.

FraserD

The parallel universe and mirror thing really gets to me. Aha! You're online.

Yep... whilst I'm technically online, I'm kinda on the phone right now, so can't really type much right now... Sorry

FraserD

multitasking, a trait rarely found in the male. i just got home so im vegetablizing.

I apologise for not being able to talk and type at the same time, sorry. Part of the problem is that the person on the other end of the phone gets a little fed up listening to the noise of my typing anyway. Oh well. I'm off the phone now, so I can type freely. I take it you don't use MSN Messenger or anything? If you do, I can give you my address for it if you want.

FraserD

absolutely no problem. i use aol. msn tends to make my computer choke and me go insane. that would be lovely, if you have it.

Umm... okay, well, I only have MSN, but for all i know the addresses might work on the different programmes. I'm [email protected] if you want to give it a go.

FraserD

i havent a clue. whats your msn sn? i think i could try and give it a whirl.

Umm... I replied to your e-mail, so I hope that works...

FraserD

tworked.