Stargate SG-1 Season 1, Volume 2 - Season 1 - Volume 2

Action, Sci-Fi

Director

Martin Wood; Mario Azzopardi

You have to love a TV program whose titles alone manage to evoke the Old and New Testaments ("The First Commandment" and "Cold Lazarus," respectively), Shakespeare ("Brief Candle"), Norse mythology ("Thor's Hammer"), and more--and those are just four of the episodes contained on this, the second disc of Stargate SG-1's first season. Yet, while stories dealing with the nature of fear ("Thor's Hammer"), the value of enjoying life, no matter how short ("Brief Candle"), and other weighty issues certainly offer the potential for pretension, these largely manage to steer clear of it. As usual, the creators have spent their money on special effects rather than a lot of elaborate sets or enormous action pieces; there's also a refreshing emphasis on the stories, with their elements of humor, suspense, drama, and emotional resonance. Each episode has a menu for selecting the different scenes; DVD bonus features are limited to language and subtitle choices, along with a very slight, self-serving cast and crew featurette. --Sam Graham