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"Unending" is the tenth
season finale A season finale (British English: series finale; Australian English: season final) is the final episode of a season of a television program. This is often the final episode to be produced for a few months or longer, and, as such, will attempt to ...
and
series finale A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, ...
of the
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...
''
Stargate SG-1 ''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction Adventure fiction, adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate, ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wrig ...
'', and the show's 214th episode overall. Written and directed by Robert C. Cooper, the episode originally premiered in the United Kingdom on
Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
on March 13, 2007, and in the United States on June 22, 2007, on the Sci Fi Channel. The episode attracted approximately 2.2 million viewers on its American broadcast, a ratings success for the Sci Fi Channel. The episode begins with the mass suicide of the Asgard race, who try to preserve their legacy by giving all of their accumulated knowledge and technology to the SG-1 team and the crew of the Earth ship ''Odyssey''. When the ship is attacked by Ori warships, Lieutenant-Colonel Samantha Carter creates a time dilation field. The field was programmed so while only fractions of a second had passed outside of the field, It takes fifty years inside the field until a defense against the Ori weapons can be found.


Plot

The members of
SG-1 ''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is ...
and General Hank Landry (
Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor. He is a three-time Emmy Award, Emmy, two-time Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nomine ...
) are travelling on the Earth ship ''Odyssey'' to the
Asgard In Nordic mythology, Asgard (Old Norse: ''Ásgarðr''; "Garden of the Æsir") is a location associated with the gods. It appears in several Old Norse sagas and mythological texts, including the Eddas, however it has also been suggested to be refe ...
home world, Orilla, when
Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
beams aboard. He reveals that after millennia of genetic manipulation, a disease has brought his race very close to extinction, and SG-1 accepts his offer to upload the sum of all Asgard's knowledge into ''Odyssey'' as a way to preserve the Asgard legacy after their mass suicide. However, Orilla and ''Odyssey'' are soon attacked by Ori warships. Orilla erupts with huge explosions, eventually blowing up completely, bringing about the extinction of the Asgard race. After ''Odyssey'' escapes to the next planet with a Stargate and beams the bulk of its crew down, the Ori fire a final energy beam upon the ship. Lieutenant-Colonel
Samantha Carter Dr. Samantha "Sam" Carter, USAF, is a fictional character in the Canadian–American military science fiction ''Stargate'' franchise. Played by Amanda Tapping, she appears in all three shows in the franchise: ''Stargate SG-1'', ''Stargate Atlant ...
(
Amanda Tapping Amanda Tapping (born 28 August 1965) is a British-Canadian actress and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian–American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1,'' ''Stargate Atlantis,'' an ...
) activates a localized time dilation field that makes time look frozen outside the field to give SG-1 and Landry time to find a defense. During the initial months on board,
Vala Mal Doran Vala Mal Doran is a fictional character in the American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1'' about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by former ''Farscape'' actress Cl ...
(
Claudia Black Claudia Lee Black (born 11 October 1972) is an Australian actress, best known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun in ''Farscape'', Vala Mal Doran in ''Stargate SG-1'' and Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery in the film '' Pitch Black''. She has had promi ...
) repeatedly tries to seduce Daniel Jackson (
Michael Shanks Michael Garrett Shanks (born December 15, 1970) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Daniel Jackson in the long-running military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1'' and as Dr Charles Harris in the Canadian medi ...
). Daniel finally confronts Vala for what he believes to be her insincerity, teasing, and mocking of him. Vala's upset reaction makes Daniel realize the honesty of her feelings, and they share a passionate embrace. As the years pass, each team member attempts to deal with the isolation. General Landry develops a gardening hobby; Carter learns how to play the
cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
; Daniel continues the translation of Asgard information in the database and develops his relationship with Vala; and Cameron Mitchell (
Ben Browder Robert Benedict Browder (born December 11, 1962) is an American actor, writer and film director, known for his roles as John Crichton in '' Farscape'' and Cameron Mitchell in '' Stargate SG-1''. Early life Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Browder ...
) and
Teal'c Teal'c of Chulak is a fictional character in the 1997 military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1''. Portrayed by Christopher Judge, Teal'c is a Jaffa warrior from the planet Chulak. As a Jaffa, Teal'c is a genetically modified h ...
(
Christopher Judge Christopher Judge is an American actor. He is best known for playing Teal'c in the Canadian- American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1'' (1997-2007). He is also the second actor to portray Kratos in the ''God of War'' ...
) exercise and train while Mitchell is growing more frustrated and angry. After many years, General Landry succumbs to old age and dies. After fifty years Carter has devised a way to reverse time within a localized field; however, the ''Odysseys power source (ZPM) is almost completely depleted from maintaining the time dilation field for fifty years. Mitchell hypothesizes that the power of the Ori energy beam could provide the required energy to reverse the time. But to accomplish the operation, one person has to exist outside of the time reversal; this person will remain at their advanced age while everyone else would revert to how they were 50 years prior (thus having no memories of those 50 years). Teal'c, who as a
Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...
has a much longer lifespan than the other team members, volunteers to remain behind and perform the rescue, protected within a separate field. As the group prepares their plan, Vala and Daniel exchange a last embrace, assuring each other of their love. When everything is in place, they deactivate the time dilation field and, after the normal timeline is restored, Teal'c prevents Colonel Carter from activating the time dilation field, with the crystal he carries from the (then future) Carter programmed to both re-activate the hyper-drive and prevent future tracking of Ori ships. ''Odyssey'' leaves before it is destroyed, saving SG-1 and the Asgard legacy. Back at the SGC (Stargate Command), Teal'c refuses to reveal any of the events on the ship, much to Vala's disappointment. As the episode, the season and the series come to a close, SG-1 contemplates Teal'c's joking words of wisdom in the gateroom and says "indeed" all at once. General Landry wishes the team God-speed, and SG-1 steps through the gate on their next mission.


Production

"Unending" is the fiftieth ''Stargate SG-1'' episode written by Robert C. Cooper, and the second episode of the series directed by Cooper. Being the series' tenth-season finale, "Unending" was the fifth season-finale to potentially serve as ''Stargate SG-1'''s last episode, although the writers originally anticipated another renewal of the series and planned to end the season with a
cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious situation, facing a difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction or bef ...
. However, the Sci-Fi Channel announced the series' cancellation in August 2006, approximately one month before "Unending" was written. The network opposed the idea of a cliffhanger leading up to a possible movie, and since the producers never intended "to blow up the SGC and kill everyone", the episode's theme and name were chosen to give "a sense of ending without it being an ending". The option to end the series with a two-parter was considered but rejected, as Cooper felt this would have made the ending less special. The buildup of the Ori arc in Seasons 9 and 10 would eventually get a pay-off in '' Stargate: The Ark of Truth'', a film produced after the end of the show. The cast and crew knew by the end of the episode's filming on October 5, 2006, that more films would be produced. There had been early discussions for
Richard Dean Anderson Richard Dean Anderson (born January 23, 1950) is an American actor. He began his television career in 1976, playing Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series ''General Hospital'', and then rose to prominence as the lead actor in the televis ...
to return as
Jack O'Neill Jonathan J. "Jack" O'Neill is a fictional character in the MGM's military science fiction franchise ''Stargate'', primarily as one of the main characters of the television series ''Stargate SG-1''. Richard Dean Anderson played O'Neill in all th ...
. However, the show was over-budget, and with the series already cancelled the studio wouldn't be willing to cover his salary. Robert C. Cooper intended the episode as "an emotional tribute to the ten seasons that adcome before" and "the last chapter in the book – but not necessarily in the series of books. It was a chance .. using science fiction, to show people one version of what the future might be like for these characters that they've spent so much time with and loved so much." By killing off the Asgard race, Cooper gave the episode an element of tragedy that reflected his feelings at the time. Producer
Brad Wright Brad Wright (born May 2, 1961) is a Canadian television producer and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of the television series ''Stargate SG-1'' (with Jonathan Glassner), ''Stargate Atlantis'' (with Robert C. Cooper) and '' Star ...
wanted all of the characters to get a last shot in the spotlight instead of focusing on only one character. Because of fan vocality about team episodes, Cooper decided to put the characters through several decades of life and see their relationships develop and evolve. The references in "Unending" to the events of season 2's " The Fifth Race", another Cooper-penned episode often named as a fan favorite, were intended, as were the callbacks to season 9's " The Ties That Bind" (the Daniel-Vala argument, see below) and season 10's "
Line In The Sand Line in the sand is an idiom, a metaphorical (sometimes literal) point beyond which no further advance will be accepted or made. Related terms include unilateral boundary setting, red lines and ultimatums to define clear consequences if a lin ...
" (the solution of using the Ori beam). The period aboard the ship was originally significantly less than fifty years, but the actors' last-stage makeup, which Cooper only saw minutes before filming, looked so old that Cooper was forced to increase the number of years in the script. Cooper originally wrote the developing romance between Daniel and Vala in "Unending" by having them have sex without a confrontation. Claudia Black and Michael Shanks protested against this intended story, as Shanks felt that " ere's always been this underlining, keeping alaat arms length because of the fear of getting too close." Cooper rewrote the scene to show Vala's vulnerability to Daniel, and have Daniel share his true feelings of a relationship. The actors decided to play the confrontation scene as genuinely as possible, with both characters being neither completely in-character nor totally out-of-character. The scene was rehearsed a lot and was filmed over the course of six hours. Cooper was nevertheless concerned that Daniel appeared too edgy and mean, although his feelings were motivated by the two years of torment with Vala, and losing his wife nearly ten years before. Daniel's line, "You better not be messing with me", was only said in one take by Michael Shanks. Since Cooper prefers to follow up on such emotional scenes with a laugh, the immediate next scene shows Vala coming out of Daniel's room, where she encounters a disbelieving Mitchell jogging by. In Cooper's mind, Daniel held a crying Vala in another scene because she had gotten pregnant and had lost the baby. To contrast the obvious relationship between Daniel and Vala, Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge subtly played their scenes as if their characters also had a romantic relationship. To give the ''Odyssey'' an unnatural ghostship feeling of solitude, many wide angle shots and VisFX matte extension were used with no additional music. Robert C. Cooper often listened to the CCR song "
Have You Ever Seen the Rain? "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" is a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, written by John Fogerty and released as a single in 1971 from the album ''Pendulum'' (1970). The song charted highest in Canada, reaching number one on th ...
" during the making of the episode and decided to play it over the first montage, showing the passage of time. The tone of the second montage was set with a
cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
. ''Stargate'' composer
Joel Goldsmith Joel King Goldsmith (November 19, 1957 – April 29, 2012) was an American composer of film, television, and video game music. Biography Joel Goldsmith was born on November 19, 1957, in Los Angeles, California, the third of four children o ...
later accompanied the hand movements of the hired cellist with different music during post-production. A third montage was filmed but not included in the final cut of the episode since the last table scene already supplied the needed sentiment. Each time period included the same shots to help the audience focus on the differences that characters have gone through. The last scene at Stargate Command was the last filmed ''Stargate SG-1'' scene, shot at two o'clock in the morning, for which every member of the crew came back.


Reception

The broadcast of "Unending" on the British channel
Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
on March 13, 2007, pulled in around 518,000 viewers, making ''Stargate SG-1'' the third most-watched program for Sky One during that week. "Unending" attracted approximately 2.2 million viewers on its first American broadcast on the Sci Fi Channel on June 22, 2007, the best performance for ''SG-1'' since the September 22, 2006 mid-season finale. Writer and producer Joseph Mallozzi acknowledged that some fans were unhappy with the end of the Asgard, the absence of Jack O’Neill and Daniel and Vala getting together. Reviewers were generally satisfied with the conclusion, and some like Bill Keveney of the ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' felt the episode does not stray far from "the series formula – a mix of sci-fi adventure, relationships and humor". Jason Van Horn of
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
enjoyed the humor, "the amount of heart and pure emotion running rampant this episode", which he thought served as a symbol for the entire show that will stay in the public mind through re-runs and DVDs. Two scenes that stood out for him as "powerful", "heart-wrenching" and "the icing on the cake", were Mitchell's breakdown and Vala's seduction of Daniel signaling "the beginning of a very long lasting and loving relationship". Vala's emotional response to Daniel was interpreted as an example of her character growth, while another reviewer felt the "Vala/Daniel argument asa tad overwrought lthoughthe motivation is clear". The emotional death of Landry appealed to several reviewers, as did the resolution via Teal'c's heroic sacrifice. The "clever, ground-breaking", "fitting" and "hugely satisfying" episode reminded hdtvuk.tv's Ian Calcutt of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'''s finale " All Good Things...", while
TV Squad Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles, and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could b ...
's Richard Keller noted strong similarities to a two-part episode of '' Star Trek: Voyager'' named "
Year of Hell "Year of Hell" is a two-part episode from the fourth season of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager'' which aired on UPN in November 1997. It aired in two parts, on November 5 and November 12, 1997. Part I was di ...
". He was "extremely sad to see he seriesgo", but could not overlook the mediocrity, predictability and lack of originality of the series finale. ''
TV Zone ''TV Zone'' was a British magazine that was published every four weeks by Visual Imagination that covered cult television. Initially, it mostly covered science fiction, but branched out to cover other drama and comedy series. History ''TV Zone ...
'''s Anthony Brown, who considered the episode "curious ylow-key", regretted the planned direct-to-DVD films, as "the whole thing inevitably loses its punch as the reset button's pressed .. rather than providing the genuine emotion of an actual ending".. Maureen Ryan of ''
The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN tel ...
'' thought that the episode went out on "a strange note" with a disappointing last "string of banal clichés" dialogue exchange, although the cast and the established goodwill of their characters could partly make up for it. Mary McNamara of Multichannel News lauded Cooper's direction, lighting, costuming, the "haunting" music and sound, the production values and special effects. She acknowledged the ''SG-1'' finale as a "true ensemble/team piece" with "a poignant and satisfying conclusion", and despite not making it into the top ten of series finales, the episode was "very good" and "respects and rewards the ten year commitment viewers have made to the series". David Bianculli from the ''
New York Daily Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' gave the episode two and a half out of five and saying the franchise stopped "Without warning" thanks to this episode.


References


External links


Unending
at mgm.com *
Unending
at syfy.com
Stargate SG-1 Farewell
at
GateWorld The ''Stargate'' fandom is the community of fans of the military science fiction film ''Stargate (film), Stargate'' and its Spinoff (media), spinoff Television series, television and web series including ''Stargate SG-1'' (SG1), ''Stargate Infini ...
{{good article 2000s American television series finales 2000s Canadian television series finales 2007 American television episodes Stargate SG-1 episodes