Stargate SG-1 is one of the greatest science fiction TV shows of all time.
Running for ten seasons, the series starred Richard Dean Anderson as Colonel Jack O’Neill
– leader of a team of military officers, civilians, and aliens that explored the galaxy
through an ancient portal known as the Stargate.
There are 214 episodes of SG-1.
So which ones are the very best?
This won’t be a typical Top 10 list.
Instead, here we’re going to run down the best single episode of each season, as voted
on by fans.
Stargate SG-1 mixed action and adventure, drama and comedy.
After the show wrapped up its broadcast run in 2007 GateWorld spent almost a year conducting
a series of fan polls – favorite episodes, character moments, alien races, etc.
Thousands of Stargate fans from all over the world voted on their number one favorite episode
for each individual season.
Here are the winners!
SEASON ONE.
Over the course of 22 episodes, starting in 1997, the SG-1 team quickly discovered that
the planet Earth is part of a much larger community of species in the Milky Way Galaxy.
There are races young and old – some humans whose ancestors were abducted from Earth by
the Goa’uld thousands of years ago, and other non-human species who have walked among
the stars for countless eons.
In “The Torment of Tantalus” the team visits the planet nicknamed “Heliopolis.”
This wasn’t a Goa’uld world, and no human settlement lives there.
Its solitary resident was Ernest Littlefield, who came through the Stargate from Earth when
researchers accidentally managed to activate it in 1945.
Nobody knew how to get Ernest home, and the D.H.D. on Heliopolis was damaged beyond repair.
While Samantha Carter tries to jury-rig a way to dial the gate, Ernest shows Daniel
Jackson and Catherine Langford his great discovery.
The great hall was once the meeting place of four great races – a sort of
"United Nations” of the stars.
To communicate with one another they crafted a common vocabulary, based on the natural
elements of the Periodic Table – a truly “universal language.”
Ancient races, advanced in their technology but long since gone ... “The Torment of
Tantalus” showed the team, and us as the audience, just how big the galaxy really is.
SEASON TWO.
Viewers learned even more about the four great races in “The Fifth Race,”
voted the best of Season Two.
Here the team finds a piece of alien technology that downloads the library of the Ancients
into Colonel O’Neill’s mind.
It’s a massive amount of knowledge, and as it slowly unspools Jack loses the ability
to speak or otherwise communicate.
He inputs dozens of new gate addresses into the base computer, and MacGyvers a new power
source that allows him to dial the Stargate to another galaxy.
His life on the line, Jack goes through the gate alone.
He finds himself on the distant planet of Othalla, in the galaxy of Ida.
The planet is a colony of Asgard, who remove the Ancient library from Jack’s head and save his life.
The encounter is a high-water mark for the young show’s growing mythology.
The Asgard tell Jack of the four races – the Asgard, the Nox, the Furlings, and the Ancients,
the builders of the Stargates.
And while the humans from Earth still have much to prove,
the Asgard believe they have “great potential.”
SEASON THREE.
In the third season of SG-1 Apophis is back from the dead, the search for Sha’re and
Skaara comes to an end, and the team learns that the Asgard are facing an enemy worse
than the Goa’uld in their home galaxy.
Daniel also meets his very first ascended being, Oma Desala.
Fans voted “Nemesis” as the best episode of a great season.
In the season finale the team comes face-to-face with the Asgard’s big enemy.
Thor’s ship shows up in Earth’s orbit and Jack is beamed aboard without warning.
There a critically wounded Thor tells him of the Replicators, technological bugs who
have taken over his ship and are consuming it for its resources.
SG-1 has to stop the creatures from landing the ship and infesting Earth – gaining a
foothold that could threaten the entire galaxy.
SEASON FOUR.
This season the alliance with the Tok’ra moved forward, as Apophis made a new grab for power.
We met an intelligent Unas, Chaka, and discovered
that the Russians had their own secret Stargate program.
There were also new faces behind the scenes.
Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie joined the writer’s room, and it’s their episode
– the time-loopy “Window of Opportunity” – that viewers picked as the best of the year.
This episode is a real classic.
After an encounter with an Ancient device and a grieving scientist named Malakai, Jack
O’Neill and Teal’c find themselves reliving the same day over … and over … and over again.
First they try to learn enough to break free; then they just give up and have a bit of fun
– knowing that they can do whatever they want with no consequences.
But when they do return to the Ancient planet and find a way to stop the loops, one of Stargate’s
funniest episodes suddenly becomes desperately poignant, as Jack confronts Malakai with the
reality of loss, and the need to let go.
SEASON FIVE.
In the fifth season of Stargate SG-1 a powerful new threat emerged.
First only hinted at in whispers, by the end of the season we knew his name … and saw
his oil-slicked face.
Anubis was believed to have died a millennia ago,
banished by the System Lords because his acts were unspeakable.
This season we also met another ascended being, Orlin, and witnessed the downfall of key allies,
like the Tollan.
With SG-1’s five-year run on Showtime coming to an end, actor Michael Shanks opted not
to return for Season Six.
The task for the writers was how to write him off, giving the character Daniel Jackson
a fitting and emotional send-off – but one that left the door open for his possible return.
The result was “Meridian,” the fan-favorite episode of Season Five.
After a naquadria experiment on the planet Langara goes terribly wrong Daniel is exposed
to a lethal dose of radiation.
As he slowly wastes away in the S.G.C.
Infirmary his friends take turns saying goodbye – while Daniel has a close encounter with
Oma Desala.
She eventually helps him to ascend to a higher plane.
It’s a new start for the character, whose journey has always been about sacrificing
himself for the good of others.
SEASON SIX.
Stargate’s move to the SCI FI Channel brought more changes, including a new member of the team:
Corin Nemec joined the show as Jonas Quinn.
The new year brought Earth’s first interstellar vessels (the X-302 and Prometheus), as well
as the discovery of tretonin – a drug that could help the Jaffa free themselves from
Goa’uld enslavement.
Anubis’s power also continued to grow, leading to the destruction of another of Earth’s allies.
But the best episode of the season is a quiet little character study that puts Jack O’Neill
in a prison cell with the ascended Daniel Jackson.
“Abyss” sees Jack captured by Baal, who tortures him to death – only to revive him
in a sarcophagus and torture him again, and again, and again.
Jack finally asks Daniel to end it, to make sure he doesn’t come back the next time.
Meanwhile SG-1 discovers the Colonel’s whereabouts, and provide a tiny window of hope for his escape.
“Abyss” is proof that Stargate is so much more than a popcorn adventure show.
It is capable of profound drama, deploying the best of science fiction ideas in a story
that explores themes of humanity, friendship, and hope.
SEASON SEVEN.
Daniel returned to his mortal form after a year as an ascended being, ready to continue
his own fight against Anubis – who was growing in power after bringing the other System Lords to heel.
SG-1 encountered the Hak’tyl, a tribe of rebel Jaffa women, and Anubis moved to replace
his Jaffa armies with nearly unstoppable super-soldiers.
All of this led to one of the high points of the 10-year series.
Fans voted a clear winner as the best episode of the year:
The seventh season finale, “Lost City, Part 2.”
Anubis’s direct assault on Earth finally arrives, as a newly inaugurated U.S. President
tries to cope with the global crisis.
Elizabeth Weir is now in charge at Stargate Command, while SG-1 races across the galaxy
to find an Ancient power source.
With the discovery of the Ancient weapons platform beneath the ice of Antarctica, Anubis’
forces are destroyed – but the cost may be the life of Jack O’Neill.
SEASON EIGHT.
In the eighth season of the show the System Lords scrambled for power following Anubis’
downfall, and Baal emerged victorious.
But he was far from the biggest threat to the galaxy.
Now the Replicators were coming, led by the love-scorned Fifth and his Replicator duplicate
of Samantha Carter.
Meanwhile Jack O’Neill took command of the S.G.C., leaving the newly promoted Colonel
Carter to lead SG-1’s off-world missions.
Eight years of Stargate SG-1 came to an epic, three-part climax, as the Replicators and
the Goa’uld battled it out, a super-weapon was discovered on the planet Dakara, and Daniel
once again gave his life to save others.
The best episode of the bunch is “Threads,” which tied up all the loose … well, threads
… after the two-parter “Reckoning.”
In this episode Sam breaks off her engagement with Pete (because she still loves Jack);
Jacob Carter dies a hero’s death; Anubis tries to use the Dakara weapon against all
of humanity; and Daniel tangles with Oma and the ascended beings in a diner on the higher plane.
Ultimately it’s Oma herself who must make a personal sacrifice, making up for her own
role in Anubis’ ascendence by engaging him in cosmic battle for all eternity.
And in the end, the team goes fishing.
Job well done.
SEASON NINE.
SG-1 turned another corner in its ninth year, with new cast members and a brand new storyline.
Though Baal and other Goa’uld are still kicking around,
now the System Lords’ stranglehold over the galaxy is over.
The new threat is from the Ori, powerful ascended beings from another galaxy, who send their
emissaries to preach the religion of Origin and demand worship.
The “Day of Reckoning” is coming.
Once again, fans picked the epic, action-packed season finale as their favorite episode of the season.
“Camelot” is loaded with character moments, Arthurian mythology, and one of the biggest
space battles in the series as the Ori fleet finally invades the Milky Way Galaxy by means
of the Supergate.
While looking for a weapon Merlin devised to use against the Ori, SG-1 comes across
the legendary village of Camelot on another world.
There they scour Merlin’s library for a lead,
while Colonel Mitchell fights a holographic Black Knight.
When the Odyssey comes calling it’s all hands on deck, as an alliance of Earth, Jaffa,
Asgard, and even Lucian Alliance vessels unite to repel the Ori attack.
But their combined forces prove no match for the advanced warships.
The battle is a rout.
The Ori … have arrived.
SEASON TEN.
The final season of Stargate SG-1 advances the Ori storyline.
Now, instead of waging a war of ideas with Priors and prophets, Earth and its allies
are in a shooting war with the Ori armies – now led by Vala Mal Doran’s daughter, Adria.
The victories are few and far between, and in the end Adria herself ascends to become
an even more powerful adversary.
Voted the best of the final season: “The Pegasus Project.”
It’s an epic crossover event, as SG-1 visits the lost city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy.
With help from Elizabeth Weir, Rodney McKay, and John Sheppard, the team hopes to dial
a Stargate in to the Ori Supergate in the Milky Way – to prevent the enemy from sending
any more ships through.
The gambit is a success, as the Odyssey uses the destruction of a Wraith hive ship to initiate
the wormhole … also destroying an Ori warship on the other side.
Meanwhile, back in Atlantis’ VR room, Daniel and Vala attempt to learn more about the three
planets where Merlin might have hidden his weapon.
The answers come surprisingly easy from the city’s projection of a long-dead Lantean.
Daniel quickly realizes that she is, in fact, not a hologram but an ascended being –
Morgan Le Fay – who is trying to help them stop the Ori.
As we would see in the movie Stargate: The Ark of Truth, it wouldn’t be the last time ...
So what do you think of the list?
Visit us at GateWorld.net to review the season-by-season episode guide,
and leave a comment below with your picks!
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