Template:SG1-5
Wormhole X-Treme! is the twelfth episode of the fifth season, as well as the landmark 100th episode of Stargate SG-1.
Plot
This episode is a continuation of the Season 4 episode "Point of No Return". A spaceship that had been hidden in the outer solar system activates and begins approaching Earth, and its energy signature is matched to that of Martin Lloyd's escape pod suggesting that this is its mother ship. The military tracks down Lloyd and discovers that he has become the creative consultant for a television series whose concept he sold to a Hollywood studio, Wormhole X-Treme!. The parallels between Wormhole X-Treme! and the real SG-1 are uncanny, but the Air Force had decided that while being a breach of secrecy, the show could prevent any future leaks of information about the Stargate program from being taken seriously, i.e. a source of 'plausible deniability'.
O'Neill is given the position of "Air Force technical advisor" to the show, in order to covertly confront Lloyd about both the secrets he has leaked and the approaching spacecraft. He discovers that Lloyd has resumed using memory suppressants and does not consciously remember his previous encounter with them or his own extraterrestrial origin. O'Neill initially suspects Lloyd's associates of drugging him again, but in fact Lloyd started taking them on his own so that he could feel more comfortable with living on Earth.
Lloyd's associates are nevertheless nearby, and also another secret government group, called the NID, wishes to seize the ship's technology for themselves.
The rest of SG-1 is sent over as backup, and Teal'c infiltrates the set, while Daniel and Sam scan Lloyd's house for broadcasts, which leads them to a warehouse used by the NID.
Lloyd had in his possession the remote control device necessary for boarding the empty ship when it arrives, thinking it merely another of the many useless science fiction props of the show, and both parties want to recover it. His associates kidnap Lloyd and O'Neill, injecting Lloyd with a memory-restoring drug. Before they interrogate him, however, Teal'c (recognized as "Murray" by Lloyd) helps O'Neill and Lloyd escape.
O'Neill and Lloyd recover the remote control just as the spacecraft arrives, with Lloyd's associates in close pursuit and the NID on their way. O'Neill gives the remote to Lloyd's associates allowing them to flee Earth, both because he sympathizes with their plight and to deny the ship's technology to the NID. Lloyd decides that he is comfortable with his new life and remains on Earth to continue consulting for Wormhole X-Treme!.
At the end of the episode there is a "Making of Wormhole X-Treme!" featurette with interviews of several of the actors from the fictional show and behind the scene footage.
References
Notes
- The title also refers to a campy fictional science fiction series named Wormhole X-Treme! a show-within-a-show that is portrayed in the episode. This was the 100th episode of Stargate SG-1, and as such was produced as a "special" episode laden with large numbers of in-jokes and cameo appearances.
- The director of a Wormhole X-Treme! episode, played by Peter DeLuise, was the director of this Stargate SG-1 episode.
- A Wormhole X-Treme! writer is played by Robert C. Cooper, a Stargate SG-1 writer and executive producer.
- Further cameos include Joseph Mallozzi (who co-wrote this episode), producer N. John Smith, and Stargate SG-1 writer Ron Wilkerson as Wormhole X-Treme! crew members; Stargate SG-1 property master David Sinclair as the Wormhole X-Treme! assistant director; make-up artist Jan Newman as a make-up artist; director Andy Mikita and producer John Lenic as the characters being beaten by Col. Danning; Stargate SG-1 director Martin Wood as an NID agent; and several more.[1]
- The two executives who commented on how unrealistic Lloyd's spacecraft looked are played by Stargate SG-1 executive producer Michael Greenburg and executive producer/co-creator Brad Wright.
- Marks the first appearance of NID Agent Malcolm Barret played by Peter Flemming who becomes a recurring character throughout the series.
- At one point, Yolanda Reese remarks to Lloyd and the Director about a scene where she is supposed to be "out of phase." She wonders why she doesn't pass through the floor if she's out of phase with normal matter. This may be a reference to several episodes in Star Trek, notably "The Next Phase".
- Near the end of the episode, Tanner and his men beam themselves aboard their space ship in a manner that is identical to the original series of Star Trek.
- During the beam up scene, Teal'c (Murray) is wearing a patterned shirt that was the same shade of green as the green screen used during the scene. It appears as if Teal'c has holes going through his body.
- The Season 8 episode "Citizen Joe" revealed that Wormhole X-Treme! only ran for one episode before being cancelled.
- The original Wormhole X-treme Dr. Levant uniform was released by MGM and sold by MiamiSciFi.com.
- In the Season 10 episode "200", Martin Lloyd is writing a Wormhole X-Treme! TV film. This episode states that the Wormhole X-Treme! series ran for three episodes prior to cancellation, but performed strongly on DVD. Brad Wright, co-creator of Stargate SG-1 has said that "200", the 200th episode of SG-1, is "A little kiss to Serenity and Firefly, which was possibly one of the best cancelled series in history." Firefly was canceled before its first season run was even complete, but sold so well on DVD that it spawned a film, entitled Serenity, which begins where the series ended.[2]
References
- ↑ List of major and minor cameos on rdanderson.com
- ↑ Wright on Target. GateWorld.net (July 14, 2006). Retrieved on July 17, 2006.
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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Wormhole X-Treme!. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with SGCommand, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |