Stargate SG-1 9.9: "Prototype"

Written by Alan McCullough
Directed by Peter DeLuise

In which the team uncovers an Ancient laboratory where genetic experiments were conducted on an apparent prisoner, but when the man is revived, his true identity becomes a threat…


Since this “summer finale” was really just two episodes aired back to back, I thought I’d tackle each hour separately. In fact, I didn’t watch the second hour yet, just to maintain some degree of objectivity in terms of this hour.

I was never particularly taken with Anubis as a villain, largely because he was very impersonal opponent. Apophis was right there, flaws and all, and Ba’al has a distinct personality that is enjoyable to watch. Anubis was more of a concept than a presence, and that detracted from his power as a force of despairing evil. Note how the Ori are all the more disturbing because of the Priors and their personal involvement in the subjugation of worlds.

This episode revisited Anubis as a concept and gave him a personal focus, and for that, I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. This was actually an interesting commentary and expansion on the concepts of “ascension”, which is something that the series needs to address. The treatment of “ascension” has been far too vague and indistinct over the past several seasons, but now that the Ori are around, that concept needs definition.

What this proto-Anubis represents is not unlike a proto-Ori, as the characters openly mention. (Indeed, much of the episode is spent considering how such a being presents the perfect lab rat, objectively speaking.) In this particular instance, this proto-Anubis also had the “benefit” of the genetic memory of a Goa’uld.

Khalek is a particularly good adversary because he gets to build on the relationship between Daniel and Anubis with relatively little difficulty, and since he gets to speak with Daniel a bit more freely (without the cowl), it gets wonderfully tense. We also get to see Daniel in his archetypical role as scholar of all things Ancient, which reminds the audience of where his strengths lie.

A lot of time is spent with the SGC personnel believing they are in control, when Khalek is really toying with them, waiting for the moment when he can determine the response most aligned with his self-interest. It’s a good thing that Daniel and the others took so long to identify the source of his limitations, because if it had been a bit earlier in the story, Khalek would have caught them completely off guard. (As it is, I think that little trick at the end was a little suspicious.)

One interesting aspect of the episode is the prominence of the International Committee, in terms of their leverage and clout. Woolsey is a particularly annoying bureaucrat, and he gets a good look at why the word “threat” has a different scale in the SGC. The whole question of funding the SGC and thereby controlling its activities finally comes back into play here, and quite a few casualties can be laid at the feet of such interlopers.

In many scenes, this felt like the old “SG-1”, especially since Mitchell is mostly in the background, making a few snide comments and playing the heavy when necessary. Much of the episode is spent with the characters in their typical roles. Even Dr. Lam plays a capable enough stand-in for Fraser this time around. While this isn’t the most exciting or stirring episode of the season, it does add a few connections between the old and new aspects of the mythology, and in this case, that’s a good thing.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10