01-03: Emancipation

[Livia Sabina]

EPISODE NUMBER - 103
ORIGINAL U.S. AIR DATE - 08.08.97
WRITTEN BY - Katharyn Powers
DIRECTED BY - Jeff Woolnough
GUEST STARRING - Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Turghan), Jorge Vargas (Abu), Soon-Tek Oh (Moughal), Crystal Lo (Nya), Marilyn Chin (Clanswoman)

An alien civilization is forced to reconsider their views on women when Carter rebels against their social customs.

[Colonel Carter]

This was a great episode. I loved the sceen when the guys walked in to find Sam wearing the blue dress, the look on Jack's face was priceless.

It's interesting to note that none of this episode took place on earth, and Hammond never appeared in this episode.

The only thing that bothered me was the girl they cast to play the chief's daughter, chief or whatever he was called. She looked too American caucasion to be his daughter considering these people were Asians, or suppose to be I thought. I just thought she looked out of place.

[Livia Sabina]

What did you think of the episode as a whole? How would you rate it out of a possible ten stargates?

I love this episode. It was the second I ever saw and it is still one of my favourites. I give it nine out of ten stargates.

What did you like best and least about this ep? Best and worst lines?

I loved the budding interactions between the characters and the way they are still a bit uneasy around each other - Daniel and Teal'c both refer to Sam as 'Doctor Carter' and Sam is still defensive around Jack - but at the same time they are gelling as a team and becoming more comfortable around one another.

The scene where the guys first see Sam in the dress is funny.

Some of my favourite lines

Sam: Daniel, find me an anthropologist that dresses like this and I will eat this headdress.

Jack: So when your back's up against the wall, and there's no tomorrow, just take one day at a time, and remember the bigger they are…et cetera.

Teal'c: What is an 'Oprah'?

Any particular thoughts about the characters, main and supporting?

This is the first Sam-centric episode and I think that the writers did a good job of toning her character down a bit compared to her introduction, yet at the same time not dispensing with the need to prove herself that she had in the early days.

Colonel Carter is right about Nya's colouring. Moughal was well cast, I could see him as somebody who, while respecting his traditions, wanted to move forward and knew that small steps were the way to do it.

This is the first time that we've seen SG-1 in action as a team, what do you think of their interaction?

What struck me about this episode was the amount of mistakes SG-1 made. For example, given that they knew that this group were hostile to women, the sensible course of action would have been for Sam to return to the SGC when they were given the opportunity. Allowing a member the team to be separated in a strange environment was another mistake - as was the fact that nobody checked in on Sam before morning. Sam herself let her guard down enough to be captured and, while encouraging Nya to rebel worked out for the best, she was encouraging her to do something that her society was far from ready for.

I think that in the beginning of 'Emancipation', the team's mentality was 'humans good, Goa'uld bad' and this was the mission/episode that brought home the fact that danger could come from humans too.

Any other observations or comments?

Not at the moment.

[Colonel Carter]

I think my favorite line in this episode was when Teal'c asked what would happen to Sam if they waited until the next day and Moughal told them that her captor would partake in his newest purchase, Jack's line was perfect...

"Oh there's not a chance in hell."

Strong words which shows how strongly he felt for her well-being.