Urgo

This is Stargate SG1 For the First Time! From the creators of Babylon 5 For the First Time, Jeff Akin is watching this iconic show for the first time while Brent Allen, who has seen it at least 47 times, is watching for the first time for those sci-fi messages that hold a mirror up to society or show us how to be better human beings.

Urgo - Season 3, Episode 16

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Transcript

[0:00] Music.

[0:15] Welcome to Stargate SG-1 for the first time. Still not a Star Trek podcast.

My name is Jeff Akin and I'm watching Stargate SG-1 for the first time.

And I'm Brent Dallin and I'm also watching Stargate SG-1 for the first time.

Truth is, I've actually seen the show about 47 times and I'm trying to dive into it and find out what are those good sci-fi messages that Stargate is trying to teach us.

You know those lessons that hold up a mirror to society give us hope that things can be better in the future or just show us how to be better human beings to one another and sometimes big old handfuls of all of them all at the same time we'll see if that happens again in the 16th episode of the third season that we're about to watch right now ergo with a u not an e it's not even a real word in fact i think it's going to be somebody's name my prediction said this is going to be a water episode they're going to be like on a boat with a captain ergo guy and i am a very good guesser and let's find out if it's even almost a tiny teeny bit true as you brent tell us a little bit about this episode jeff this is the 16th episode season 3.

[1:23] Ergo original air date january 26 2020 that was on sky one over in england actually here in america it was on january 28th two days later so we're in that kind of vein uh right here this is a peter delouise joint so keep an eye out for that cameo jeff i am going to tell you something about this episode that i usually reserve for the end all right i love this episode oh wow no pressure this this is the scene i have seen this episode the single most amount of times out of any star trek stargate episode i've ever seen really this is number one on my rewatch list every single time you've seen this one 470 times, maybe more it's it i love this episode 100 it's not a water episode.

[2:16] Um i yeah this episode checks all the boxes for me um am i gonna say that it is the single best episode of Stargate in the entire franchise. It might be. Oh my God.

It might be. I love this episode.

Um, I don't know. There's another one too. There's another one that I like a whole lot too. Uh, uh.

[2:39] You guys know the one i have to say i have to say it straight up i'm so giddy to get to this episode the good news is i'm not afraid to tell you i hate it if i hate it i almost want to now like well it's it's it will now well so here's the thing and i did i said this on purpose because now i have set a bar for this episode that you don't usually have going into an episode exactly and this episode's either going to hit that bar or it's not and you're going to let me know one way or the other i i hope this one sucks however this is to our patreon folks who have been a part of an ongoing conversation that has been happening within this show for patreon exclusive this is why jeff and i have recently done what we've done uh so with that jeff uh let's go watch this episode uh if you're joining us for the very first time first of all welcome you're amazing it's great show you go all the way back but listen serious stay for this one because this one's great um the The way this works is Jeff and I are going to go watch this episode right now.

We have not watched this episode prior and then come in with a bunch of notes to discuss it. Nope. We're going to watch it right now.

If you're hanging out with us on YouTube, stick around. You are going to catch the reaction version of this.

And if you want the full unedited version ever to Patreon, where not only do you get the full unedited cut of our reaction, you also get the full unedited cut of the entire video and then you get all the behind the scenes conversations that Jeff and I have as well with entirely different storylines and everything.

[4:04] Exactly. If you're listening to us on a podcasting app, you're about to join us in the future on the other side of the episode where I'm going to share my first time reactions.

Brent's going to share any of the sci-fi messages he found.

Brent, let's dive into one of your favorite episodes, Ergo.

[4:20] Music.

[4:38] All right jeff well we have just seen ergo it's one of my favorite episodes of the whole series, jeff tell me as a first-time watcher does this episode hold up to the billing or where are you on this episode there's a really cool sci-fi thread through this episode that like made it worthy of being in a sci-fi show does that make sense like it was what it was it's you know it's fun and all this stuff but it has really what turned out to be kind of a cool sci-fi thread, through the whole thing that gave it legitimacy but for me this this i almost just want to read my notes in in a sense here so i started off like immediately knew that beach scene was just a picture it was just a painting or something of some kind it was pretty obvious when they showed it the second time and then i was like oh it's an alien abduction episode they have missing time and okay i want i want what happened to them i want to taste and experience things like that here we go ergo oh i kind of hate episodes like this at least this episode knows exactly what it is and then i realize this is the key thing i start realizing this is just a bunch of other episodes of TV that I have thoughts about this is Stargate's uh Voyager someone to watch over me right where I'm just gonna go experience all these things and over and done I mean there was a TNG episode I think that was the same they did that yep.

[6:08] This guy this is really honest so this guy is almost as bad not as bad but almost as bad as bad is that stupid ai computer thing they did in babylon 5 the harlan ellison voice guy yeah oh and here's the thing about that oh you liked that you did i i hated that thing you were wrong no you're wrong objectively i am correct that was stupid it was just dumb you keep saying that word i do i do not think that word means what you think it means but here's where i start to turn a little bit oh i get it they're they're trying to redo the idea they had in the gamekeeper just this time they're doing it well like bro just wants friends you know and and that's what the game key is just trying to find people and to take care of his people dom deluise was great do you do you also because there's there's we've seen this before too you remember this guy come try right exactly same thing yes yeah then i started to like get the episode and a lot of this like what What kept me going through this and that made it better than the Harlan Ellison thing, made it better than I was at Scott Thompson and someone to watch over me was Dom DeLuise.

Like just the experience, the fun that he brought to this role.

[7:21] Knowing his son was directing this and knowing what you shared about how he was ad-libbing basically everything, this was just a good time for him.

Hang out with your kid, do a job, watch your kid do his thing.

Like this will be great. He was having fun and it showed and it really came through in the character.

And I think the other actors, like you said, Chris judge, couldn't keep a straight face through the whole thing. They were having a good time.

That really pulled this one out of the fire for me, but this episode to me.

[7:51] And i don't know if you'll dive into this at all it's not so much a message as it is a theme but this hammered home to me that there's a theme in season three of stargate sg1 and i don't know if it's intentional or not okay but a number of times we've had this exact conversation even just in the last episode what makes you you what qualifies an individual to be an individual last week it was hey the body is extra you got scara you've got Clarell those are the beans in this one you've got two Dom delouises which is exactly one Dom delouise too many for this world by the way that guy is a big is a force of personality especially in the roles he's played but they needed each other to be them so what was them right who is him yeah when he's in their brains you know who is him so i think that this asked some really great sci-fi questions that posed it in a really good way but the road to get there brent it wasn't great i didn't not like this episode i also really didn't like it that much you're awful when tilk when tilk takes that that coffee urn and just downs it like wasn't that hot he goes extremely that was epic absolutely.

[9:10] This has great scenes great moments this isn't this isn't an episode I'll necessarily not watch again right like in fact this is one um you you this is more than a laundry episode for me you would use that to describe a lot of if I'm doing laundry it's on the background it's more than that I don't think I'm ever going to seek this one out this is one that if it's on I'm going to be like oh cool yeah I'm going to watch this one but I think I think there's just a type of god and that type of episode really and it's it's either super brooklyn guy super jewish guy super whatever who's just over the top and ridiculous that episode exists in a lot of different not even sci-fi it's even in a lot of other comedies and dramedies and sitcoms and, I just don't like that episode very much. I don't think I like that archetype is the thing for me.

So I've said a few times, this is the single episode I've seen the most of in Stargate. Yeah.

Right. I set the bar high on purpose. Cause I wanted to see where you went.

Cause I really wanted to know, is it just me or is it the episode?

Does the episode hold its own deal?

Here's I know why I like this episode so much. I know why it's the episode I've seen the most. You wanna know why?

Why? It's a great one-off episode.

Yeah. Totally self-contained.

[10:24] There's a beginning, middle, and end. This episode, you're never going to see Dom DeLuise again in Stargate. You're just not. This is one shot.

He's come try a guy. Just there's your shot.

This episode is lighthearted. It's not that serious.

It does not take itself that serious. But it does as you get to the end.

[10:43] It's got a great set. I said last week that pretense was Stargate's measure of a man.

Yeah, this was more measure of a man than that was.

Does this is what is life artificial life form it's it's self-aware it's conscious it's scared of its own death it wants to preserve itself what is life did we just create life Sam said there's life there it sits you just created a new life it's not an error it's a miracle it's amazing I almost think it's you know one of the things and we talked about this on beam me up and we charted some courses for voyager how voyager a number of times took a tng episode shook it up a little bit did it a little bit differently sometimes better sometimes just as good whatever but it had its measure of a man episode with the doctor right in season seven uh what was it called is that author author i think it was called i forget either way is the doctor a sentient life form can he own his own works you know as he's writing these holo novels he did a really good job and i almost think this is the voyager version so we had measure of a man last week yeah this week we have the voyager version boom boom both done really well slightly different i think this one interrogated the question.

[11:55] Much better than it did last week it just explicitly did it so you know when i'm sitting around and like i've got a little bit of time to kill maybe i'm just going to drift off to sleep i don't need to pay super close attention to an episode i just want to laugh and kind of chuckle have a good time through an episode this is what i'm going to throw and that's the why i've actually seen this episode more so it's not that i do enjoy this episode i truly love this episode is this the The best episode of the series.

[12:24] No, no, there's a lot better episodes of the series. There's a lot more poignant episodes of the series.

There's a lot more, um, well done episodes of the series, but when it just comes to, to sheer enjoyment, like if you can make me laugh, if you can make me happy, you, you said it, the cast, the crew, Peter, his dad were clearly having so much fun making this episode and it came through the screen, you let me have that kind of a fun through an episode and guess what? I'm probably gonna like it.

I think regardless of anything else, I'm probably gonna like it.

You say that really makes a lot of sense to me, cuz I think what I really enjoyed in the episode was the cast, like they just showed up in a different way.

They were having fun. And I think like what I said in the beginning, this episode knows exactly what it is and it's not trying to be any, that's the thing that I, I'm already coming to appreciate about SG one.

It doesn't try to be something it's not i think didn't i tell you this haven't i like stargate is a show that knows exactly what it is it doesn't take itself too seriously but it does take itself seriously it's legit sci-fi it's legit telling a story building a world building a universe all that kind of stuff and it's not afraid to make fun of itself and i think that i think the fact that.

[13:45] Just did that right little sci-fi thread through it that was interesting but knows what it is cast is having fun we saw tilk doing stuff we'll never see you know again what is a lot of fun i think it's just that archetype for me is so over the top and annoying i just i just it's funny it's neat to watch some of it but it's just it was too much that's fair i'm looking forward to one thing though in this we get to update our tracking board we had it for crying out loud in this one we did and it sort of by way of ergo himself but it definitely was a jack for crying out loud wouldn't have been there otherwise got another wizard of oz episode or a reference as well i'm melting i'm melting okay here's the thing so because we're gonna account for crying out loud and he's in daniel or he's in in jack's head are we gonna count a daniel death because we saw him die on screen and he was in daniel's head did we see him die though well we saw wispy out and he said it worked he just came back because of you know sci-fi does that count as a daniel death i don't think so michael shanks did not die on screen that's that's usually that's our litmus test for that right all right so i i i dove in my first time reactions on this one did you find any sci-fi messages in this you know i just talked about it it's the it's the whole idea of measurement what is life where does it have value what can you do i i like what you said you really dove into the.

[15:09] I guess the piece where where daniel says to to trogar or togar he's like i think he's everything that you're not and everything you want to be and you kind of need each other, to become more and to go past what you you guys have gotten so advanced i mean togar's society.

[15:28] Is clearly toll and level type of a society yeah whatever they are is he the only one who exists there maybe maybe not i don't know but they've gotten to that spot where they're not going out and exploring they're letting these other people go do it and they bring it back to them why because Cause that's how it works or it's just him or whatever.

Yeah. Is there a message here? Absolutely.

Is it the thrust of the episode? Is it what everything's about?

Everything points to it. It just does it in a super fun way.

Does it discuss it? Yeah, it does. It weighs it out. Well, is, is he, or isn't he, is he just a machine?

Is he just a device or is he actually alive?

And what do we do? Do we provide an answer for it one way or the other?

Well, we're going to let him live and he's here. he's not there oh he's talking to him so yeah that must mean he's alive there you go and he and he goes off so how strong though that that becomes the the question right how strong is the message the message is there unlike last week where last week was just here's this and here's this and here's this and this big pebble this is one what is life as annoying as it is what is life right.

[16:38] So canon shot to the heart intentionality of the episode brings it back jeff this could have been been a star trek episode you know what this could have been this could have been a lower decks episode okay yeah perhaps even a strange new worlds episode i think this was a tng episode with what they would do stuff like this in tng not as well but they would do it i met and i know i can measure compare it to measurement measure of man was so heavy and well it was well done it was well acted it's probably the first truly great episode of next generation it's not an episode i I want to watch a whole lot. Cause it doesn't make me feel good.

You know, it's not, it's not enjoyable.

I have a crap ton of respect for it. This one, like I said, it's light, it's airy.

I get that same sci-fi message out of it.

So to me, I, I, it checks all the boxes.

I'm hemming and hawing on the Chevrons because I, I don't feel like I can give it seven Chevrons, Jeff.

I agree with that. But I, but it's checking all the boxes of what a sci-fi episode does and, and, and.

[17:44] It goes there. So if you were, let me ask you this, Jeff, if you were rating this episode, where would you rate it? How many Chevrons do you give?

I think that it has great science fiction in it and it has a message, but I don't think that it shows us how we can be better.

I don't think it gives us hope or anything like that. It doesn't show us how to be better humans. It helps define what makes a human.

Right that's a sci-fi question not necessarily a message to me this is i don't know maybe a three chevron episode except for it defines life it actually defines it and like i said the the litmus test that we use is not the only test of what a sci-fi message is i i said this last week.

[18:29] Um the fact that they clearly define life has feelings it's self-aware it's afraid of death it's thinking and acting on its own that that is sentience that has created new life and it's it's worthy of living worthy of protecting even if it's annoying uh jeff i give this one five chevrons really i'm going up on it yeah yeah because it is it is a strong it the message is the back like 10 minutes of the episode yeah it's a it's a it's not just hey they got to the last like two or three minutes and then they wrapped it up they spent a significant chunk of time talking about life i think it's a five chevron episode just couched in a real cushy kitschy way that jeff just doesn't enjoy because he's got a heart that is two sizes too small because i got rid of my ergo part of me here's the message brent you're talking about it and everything we need all of our parts so much of we're just i'm gonna call it out right like yeah i don't want i don't I don't want to make this the conversation because I'm just going to state it and move, but we are in the middle of a mental health pandemic and crisis in this country and probably this world.

And my belief is that a big reason for that is many of us have done what Togar did and we're suppressing parts of ourselves. We're not engaging with parts of ourselves.

[19:53] I've received a tremendous amount of therapy over the last couple of years and some of the most effective kind for me has been what's called internal family systems where you identify different parts of you and you engage with them and you know sort of sort of ways and that's what we need we need all of us dude was happier even if he was a little annoyed by it but dude was more complete when he got ergo with him and brought in all of his parts so even if you're annoyed by your parts scared of your parts intimidated by them you need them there's the the message five chevrons makes sense with that i might have rated this one a little higher than you would jeff but i'm curious and i i've got a feeling you're gonna rank this one a lot lower than i would have but i i don't even know where to i don't know if i should go from the top down from the bottom up, or where however you get to place this one jeff i actually don't have a say in it you just get to do it uh you're gonna place this in our 100 completely accurate definitive ranking of season three of stargate sg1 jeff talk us through it where do you put this one so i definitely have a range for this one and i it's not going to be low like i'll let you know that it's not it's not low i'm not going to bury this it's not number 22 like i said or anything like that it is though.

[21:13] I'm looking at my notes some of the other episodes right now i think i have a guess of where you're gonna put it okay i where do you think i think you're gonna put this as our new number nine, you're wrong oh okay so i'll tell you that was my range i was looking at like seven eight nine at first and i went back for the record for the record uh currently in our list eight is legacy legacy, that's the, the ghost Michele episode and the dead man switch.

That's the, um, flash Gordon, real American hero guy. Yeah.

Uh, uh, flash Gordon is between those two episodes, but you say it's not there.

So where, where are you putting it? I am gonna put this one just above into the fire Brent. This is our new number seven episode.

I don't disagree. Okay. Okay.

Uh, that is gonna do it for ergo. So next time, Jeff, we get another episode that I will tell you a thousand percent is going to be, this is Stargate's version of slide in a Star Trek episode.

Okay. Okay. All right. Name of the episode is a hundred days.

Jeff, what you got? A hundred days. A hundred days.

First thought is day in the life kind of a thing, but that's a very specific amount of time.

A hundred days. days um i was gonna say a person but i've learned to not be too specific all the time someone is they're gonna go off on a mission they're going to inadvertently break a law.

[22:42] It's a jack episode i'll tell you that too oh that makes sense i don't even mind telling you that it's a jack i totally see jack going in and doing something that he shouldn't do not being being aware of it, he basically is going to be, uh, arrested, maybe jailed, maybe stranded for a hundred days. We're going to get a hundred days.

[23:03] Of jack on his own for some he messed up for in some way and not 30.

Like is he sitting in a gel cell and writing a letter back to sarah his wife or somebody take a pip off when he's done apparently it's a hundred days so like the the title gives us that much but throw him in the brig man yeah i think it's gonna be on another planet it's gonna be a cultural thing of some kind oh no no okay okay no he's gonna get lost they're gonna think he's dead hammond is gonna be, we're done he's gone keep going just keep going keep going go ahead and then sam is gonna be like no no he can't and then she's gonna convince daniel the whole time tilk is gonna say well you know these things happen and blah blah blah and then they're basically the episode is gonna be uh one story is in the sgc of the the ham let us go back and find him no we're moving on he's gone and then we're gonna get him in the wastes you know or whatever jeff jeff did we.

[24:03] Not do this with fire and water in season one when daniel's with little fish dude yeah that's that's exactly the story yeah it's good it's a good story you're a good guess for jeff i'm gonna go back and just say it's the one where he gets arrested i would say it's that one so okay all right well we'll see you next time right here on stargate sg1 for the first time hey listen thank you guys so much for joining us we really appreciate you guys you guys are amazing you guys make the show what it is thank you so much for commenting down below that's a big thing those of you guys are hanging out with us on discord jeff and i love getting to talk with you over on discord except jeff doesn't get to talk sg1 with you guys only me oh there's a whole section on discord jeff's not even allowed out into it you're just it's just me you're hanging out with me which let's face it is the prize in and of itself totally yeah uh anyway listen don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcast your channels your entertainment and while you're there please don't forget to leave us a rating and a review and please above all else share the show with somebody that you know who loves stargate or like jeff over there needs to get into it for the very first time So until next time, folks, I'm Brent, that's Jeff. We're going to get out of here.

Hello, Orgo. It's decision time. I need you to make a very important decision right now. Okay. Me or death?

[25:32] Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, or death?

You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you.

[25:45] Music.