Fallout (Stargate SG-1)

"Fallout"
Stargate SG-1 episode
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 14
Directed by	Martin Wood
Written by	Corin Nemec
Teleplay by	Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
Featured music	Joel Goldsmith
Cinematography by	Jim Menard
Editing by	Eric Hill
Original air date	January 13, 2004 (2004-01-13)
Guest appearances
Corin Nemec as Jonas Quinn Emily Holmes as Kianna Cyr Gillian Barber as First Minister Dreylock Patricia Drake as Lucia Tarthus Julian Christopher as Vin Eremal Bill Nikolai as Vern Alberts
Episode chronology
← Previous "Grace" Next → "Chimera"
List of episodes

"Fallout" is the 14th episode from the seventh season of military science fiction adventure television show Stargate SG-1 and is the 146th overall. It was first broadcast on January 13, 2004, on Sky One in the United Kingdom. The story was created by Corin Nemec, with Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie writing the teleplay. It was directed by Martin Wood.

In the episode, Jonas Quinn (Corin Nemec) arrives at Stargate Command seeking the help of SG-1 to prevent the destruction of his home planet of Langara. Quinn explains that Kelownan scientists believe an underground vein of the mineral Naquadah is transforming into the much more powerful and unstable Naquadria.

The episode marks the final onscreen appearance of Jonas Quinn who was first introduced in the season five episode "Meridian", before being made a series regular during the shows sixth season.

Plot

Jonas Quinn (Corin Nemec) arrives at Stargate Command seeking the help of his former SG-1 teammates in saving his home planet of Langara. He tells SG-1 and General Hammond (Don S. Davis) that scientists on his world discovered that naquadria, the super-powerful alien mineral found on Langara, is not in fact native to the planet. The mineral was in fact created by a Goa'uld, who found a way to slowly transform the planets naquadah into the much more powerful naquadria, in a process Jonas' people have now discovered is still ongoing and threatens to bring the destruction of the planet should the transformation continue.

Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) goes to Kelowna on Langara where she's presented with Jonas' research. Jonas also introduces her to his assistant Kianna Cyr (Emily Holmes). In the meantime the representatives of the three major powers of Langara arrive on Earth, where they are presented with the fact that although the centre of the catastrophe will lie in Kelowna, the whole planet will then be uninhabitable. They are then presented with the fact that it was an earlier test of a naqahdriah bomb by the Kelownans which caused the chain reaction that is in fact causing the reaction within the planet. This causes much outrage from the representatives until Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) loses his patience.

In Kelowna, Sam finds a way to solve the problem by causing a much greater explosion near the naqahdriah and Jonas shows her a vehicle which can dig into earth. By using the vehicle and Tok'ra tunnel crystals, Jonas believes they would be able to go deep enough into the planet, so Teal'c (Christopher Judge) goes to the Tok'ra to bring some of them back. While Sam is checking the digger she talks with Jonas about Kianna, who, unknown to them, injects herself with something in the laboratory. Later Sam finds out that the machine uses Goa'uld technology and they find out that Kianna is a Goa'uld. When they confront her she reveals that she works for Ba'al but that she also wants to save the planet.

Because all of their simulations with the digger fail, they decide to take the Goa'uld on board to help make modifications during the digger's operation. In the meantime, the delegates on Earth face the problem that Ba'al may come to the planet because the Goa'uld in Kianna hasn't made contact with him. However, they decide to ignore this problem and instead concentrate on the possible evacuation, however, due to their continued bickering Jack tells them that Earth won't help them.

In the digger the Goa'uld and Sam are able to solve problems as they occur whilst boring down into the planet. However, they finally get stuck and the only way to come close enough to the naqahdriah vein is by using the tunnel crystals to create a tunnel large enough for a single person to get down. Because the tunnel would be filled with toxic gas and heat the Goa'uld decides to go, as her symbiote will sustain her. The Goa'uld is able to plant the bomb, but is seriously weakened and struggles in returning to the vehicle. Back on board, the vehicle races against its fast depleting power reserves, but is just about able to successfully return to the surface. At Stargate Command the parties are informed that the mission was a success. Kianna's Goa'uld dies, but saves the host.

Production

Development and writing

Corin Nemec (top) helped come up with the story. Writers Joseph Mallozzi (bottom left) & Paul Mullie (bottom right) then developed it further and wrote the screenplay.

The episode's story was thought up by actor Corin Nemec who portrays the character Jonas Quinn on the show, with co-producers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie writing the teleplay. Nemec had been a main cast member for the previous season and was encouraged by the shows executive producers Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper that should he have any story ideas he should pitch them. ^[1] Nemec exited the show in the episode "Homecoming", which was the second episode of season seven, however had a three-episode contract. ^[2] Having not previously written for television, the shows writing team provided Nemec with "their beat sheets" and assistance with how best to pitch for the series. ^[1] According to Nemec, he pitched 3-5 different ideas to Cooper, one of which had the working title of "Deep Core". Nemec originally envisioned this story as taking place on Earth, however Cooper felt that it was too similar to another story that was being developed at the time and suggested that Nemec rework his story to take place on Jonas Quinn's homeworld. ^{[3] [1] [2]}

Nemec then worked with Cooper to further refine the story. This involved removing a subplot that would have taken place alongside the main story involving Daniel Jackson "getting caught up in" a coup d'état, as it had become "too big of an episode". ^[1] According to Nemec, he put together the "basics of a story" in the form of "beats and moments" with "no dialogue written" which Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie then "made an episode out of". ^{[2] [4]}

Writer Paul Mullie felt that the Kelownan's having constructed digger that was able to tunnel into the planets core was "a big buy" given the Kelownan's level of technology. Mullie described that there were "sort of steps" which "all came very quickly" during writing and that these helped make the story unfold and make the drill more plausible. According to Mullie "one of the major changes" made to Nemec's story was that the drill would not be journeying to the core of the planet and instead would only tunnel a small number of miles. Introducing the Goa'uld character who inhabits a Kelownan called Kianna Cyr, the writers imagined that "she improved the digger" for the Kelownan's, but felt "it still wasn't good enough to do this quite frankly really incredible thing" so the writers added "an extra alien technology element, which was to use Tok'ra tunnel crystals" to augment the tunnelling process. ^[5]

Originally titled "Turn of Events", the episode also had the working title "Deep Core" at one point during its development. ^{[6] [1]} Nemec later retitled it to be "Pressure Point", a reference to "unstable nature of the planet" both politically and geological, before finally settling on the name "Fallout". ^{[7] [8]} Mullie named the planet Langara, after the Vancouver golf course of the same name. ^[5]

Cast and characters

Corin Nemec makes his final appearance on Stargate as Jonas Quinn. Nemec, who hadn't filmed for the series in a number of months asked Joseph Mallozzi if he could keep his haircut at the time, which unbeknownst to Mallozzi was remarkably similar to the haircut of Jonas' love interest for the episode, played by Emily Holmes. According to Mullie it wasn't until reviewing the first days footage that they realised. ^{[5] [9] [10] [11] [12]} Emily Holmes was cast as Kianna Cyr, a Kelownan research assistant to Jonas Quinn, who is secretly a Goa'uld working for Ba'al. When writing Kianna, Mullie considered how the Goa'uld characters could sometimes be two dimensional and therefore wanted to create a more layered character "who wasn't a System Lord, wasn't a big villain" and "who wasn't clear cut evil". It was written that Kianna would have "loyalties to a System Lord but wasn't necessarily going to follow through on them" as they "may or may not have developed a relationship". ^[5] Gillian Barber returns as First Minister Dreylock, making her final appearance on the show, whilst Bill Nikolai's character Vern Alberts makes his final appearance, although Nikolai continued working on the show as Richard Dean Anderson's photo double. ^[13] Patricia Drake and Julian Christopher play the characters of Lucia Tarthus and Vin Eremal, whilst director Martin Wood and Dan Shea make uncredited cameos as technician and Siler. ^[5]

Design

In the episode, the Kelownan's have constructed a boring machine in order to tunnel into the planet and reach a vein of naquadah. As a cost saving measure, the shows production originally planned for the interior set of the drill to be a redress of the Sebrus space ship set from the episode "Space Race", however production designer Bridget McGuire ultimately opted to rebuild the set almost entirely. ^{[4] [14] [5]} The Sebrus set had originally been built on a gimble, but due to the issues this caused during filming it was decided the new set should constructed on the studio floor. ^{[5] [14]} McGuire designed the drill to be a "relatively small set" with a "low ceiling" and lots of "pipes and gadgets". Like the Sebrus set, only one room was built, which would be dressed as the main control bridge, then would be converted become the engine room set. ^[5] Writer Paul Mullie wanted the drill to look like "what the future would look like as pictured by someone in the 30's". ^[5] As the show had previously established the technology level and aesthetics of Jonas' people in previous episodes, McQuire's team sought to continue these design ques in creating the drill set. ^[15] Art director Peter Bodarus described the look as "1940's industrial" and took design ques from World War II submarines with Bodarus imagining "the ship would be driven much like an old-fashioned tank with two brake levers". ^[16] As a cost saving measure, chairs from the Prometheus set were repainted and used on the drill set. ^[14]

There were extensive conversations during writing and preproduction about how best to depict the drill digging into the planet. ^[5] Writer Paul Mullie noted that "we were a bit concerned when we started to think about the concept and realised 'we're never going to see what's happening outside the ship" and that the action was only "going to play on their faces", worrying that the episode might feel "too claustrophobic". ^[5] Consideration was given to having visual effects shots illustrate the digging process, such as having a computer generated shot as though a camera were mounted to the hull of the drill, however director Martin Wood noted the questions of "what's lighting this" and "what are you going to see" dissuaded them from using visual effects. ^[5] In order to give some visual representation to where the drill was, Bridget McQuire's team introduced electronic display screens to the drill. ^[16]

Filming

The episode was directed by Martin Wood. Filming took place in June 2003. ^{[17] [18]} As with many episodes, Wood tried to find new ways of shooting scenes in the Stargate Command briefing room. Wood separated the briefing room table and began the sequence by bringing the camera up from in the middle of the two halves. The table was then pushed together as the camera pulls back, revealing the full table. ^{[19] [5]} According to Wood, Corin Nemec had not had time to prepare the first day filming in the Stargate Command briefing room and therefore had his script sides positioned out of view of the camera during filming. ^[5] For the scenes where the drill was in motion, an image shaker was used on the camera to help give the impression of movement, furthermore a device was fitted to the exterior of the set to make the set ceiling move. Due to the noise this generated, dialog had to be re-recorded during post-production. ^[5] Production created Tok'ra tunnels from styrofoam. The tunnel set was designed to be much smaller than previous depictions, which Wood was ultimately unsatisfied with during filming. The director had hoped to only use shots looking downward, into the tunnel and cut everything else, however the episode length made this impossible. ^[5] The shows visual effects building was used as the exterior of Kelowna. ^[5]

Visual effects artist Neill Blomkamp of Vancouver based effects studio The Embassy Visual Effects modelled and lit the drill.

The visual effects shots of the city of Kelowna were revised and reused from the episode "Homecoming", with Anubis' mothership removed. ^[5] The digger visual effects model was created by Neill Blomkamp at The Embassy Visual Effects ^{[20] [5]} It was originally scripted that the digger would emerge from the ground in Kelownan desert, which would be depicted through visual effects, however the budget for the episode came in too high and therefore the shot was dropped. ^[5]

Release

Broadcast and ratings

"Fallout" was first broadcast on January 6, 2004, on Sky One in the United Kingdom. ^{[21] [22]} The episode was watched by approximately 760,000 viewers and was the eighth most popular broadcast on Sky One that week. ^[23] It was then shown for the first time in the United States on January 23, 2004, on Sci Fi, earning a Nielsen rating of 1.9, equating to approximately 2.3 million viewers. ^[24] In Canada the episode was first shown on December 9, 2004, on SPACE. ^{[25] [26]} The episode was first syndicated in the United States during the week of January 24, 2005 and achieved a 2.2 household rating, equating to approximately 2.4 million. ^[27]

A deleted scene between Jonas, Carter and Hammond from the episode was posted on the official Sci Fi website on January 24, 2004. ^[28]

Reception

Reviews for the episode were mixed. Jan Vincent-Rudzki for TV Zone awarded the episode 9 out of 10 and called it a "pleasure" to see Jonas again, however felt it was a "pity" that "it is only he and Sam who really spend much time together". ^[29] Jayne Dearsley for SFX awarded the episode 4 out of 5, writing "This isn't a bad little yarn, all told, with some tense moments and a smattering of humour", highlighting the return of Jonas Quinn. Dearsley did however criticize the lack of Teal'c in the episode, and also felt the threat to the planet was poorly executed onscreen, writing "With the whole planet under threat, why ore only three people working on a solution?". ^[30] Paul Spragg for Starburst awarded the episode 2 out of 5 writing "the whole story is people sitting about talking, and it quickly becomes soporific". Continuing his review, the Spragg bemoaned the lack of visual effects showing the actual drilling taking place, arguing that "the panel displays inside don't really bring much tension to the proceedings". Spragg did however call it "lovely to see Corin Nemec on the show again", however felt he should "try harder on the story for his next attempt". ^[31] Reviewing for Stargate fansite Gateworld, Alli Snow positively received the episode, calling it "especially refreshing and fun, a nice mixture of action, intrigue and humor that reminds us what a versatile show Stargate really is". ^[32]

Reviewers also noted similarities to 2003 film The Core , with Dearsley writing "This is remarkably similar to that recent blockbuster although on a much smaller scale, obviously. It's also rather good, in exactly the some kind of twee, campy way", whilst Vincent-Rudzki wrote "although this has a lesser budget it is more exciting". ^[30]

Home media

"Fallout" along with the episodes "Chimera", "Fallout" and "Death Knell" were first released on Region 2 DVD on May 3, 2004, as part of the "Volume 35" standalone disc, before being released as part of the Season 7 boxset on October 19, 2004. ^{[33] [34]} The episode's audio commentary features director Martin Wood, writer and producer Paul Mullie and visual effects supervisor James Tichenor. ^[35] "Fallout" along with the rest of season 7 was first made available digitally in January 2008 through iTunes and Amazon Unbox. ^[36] The episode, along with every other episode of the series, were made available to stream for the first time through Netflix in the USA on August 15, 2010. ^[37] The episode, along with the rest of the series has been upscaled for releases on various streaming platforms and the 2020 Blu-ray release. ^[38]

References

1. Nemec, Corin (17 October 2008). "Unsung Hero". Gateworld (Interview). Interviewed by Darren Sumner and David Read.
2. Nemec, Corin (November 2003). "The Fifth Man". Dreamwatch (Interview). No. 110. Interviewed by Ian Spelling. Titan Magazines. p. 47. ISSN   1356-482X. I'd pitched them five different storylines over the last year. They picked up on one. The storyline was supposed to take place on Earth, but they said, 'if you can make it take place on Quinn's planet, we'd be interested.' I had a great meeting with [executive producer] Robert Cooper and [co-executive producer] Joe Mallozzi and made it work. My exit episode was basically the second part of the [seventh-season opener], but I had a three-episode contract. So I had to do a third episode and they picked up a storyline from me. I think that's freaking awesome. I did the two-parter and then I came back a couple of months later to do the episode I wrote the story for. They did an amazing job with the script, because my storyline was so simple. It was beats and moments, [there was] no dialogue written. It was the basics of a story. Joe [and writing partner Paul Mullie] came in there and made an episode out of it.
3. Nemec, Corin (June 2003). "Return Engagement". TV Zone Stargate SG-1 Season 7 Special (Interview). No. Special 52. Visual Imagination. p. 60. ISSN   0960-8230. Pressure Point was one of three different story lines that I'd pitched. One of them was actually written to take place here on Earth but it was too similar to another story already in the works. So it was suggested I try to rework the story so that it took place on Jonas's homeworld. This was also after it was known that the Daniel Jackson character was coming back. I thought about it, came up with a way for it to work on Jonas's planet and pitched it to Rob Cooper again. After he and I discussed the story I tweaked some things and finally turned in a finished draft. Paul Mullie and Joe Mallozzi then took that and used it to write the actual script, which I was quite please about. I really like those two guys. They picked the right up on who Jonas was and wrote some terrific material for him last season. They did an awesome job on Pressure Point. It's a pretty high-intensity drama that I think gives all the actors some good character moments.
4. Mullie, Paul (June 2003). "Beneath the Surface". TV Zone Stargate SG-1 Season 7 Special. No. Special 52. Visual Imagination. p. 12. ISSN   0960-8230. At the end of Homecoming, our heroes find an ancient Goa'uld crystal with information about naquadria experiments. In Pressure Point we learn that Jonas Quinn and a team of scientists have been analyzing the crystal. They've discovered that the naquadria on their planet could end up destroying it, so SG- 1 is called in to help avert a disaster. Essentially, they have to manipulate a faultline. The plan is to go underground in a ship-like digger machine, plant a bomb and get back out. There's bound to be comparisons made to the film The Core which is unfortunate because the idea existed, I'm sure, before that, or is at least totally separate from the movie. Anyway, our heroes aren't going to 'the core' but only 10 miles into the planet's crust. Shockingly, things don't go as planned and everyone isn't who they appear to be. We're re-using the cockpit set from Space Race. It's a gimbled set so the whole thing can move. We're going to redress its interior and turn it into the interior of the digger. It'll be two sets, the bridge and a sort of engine room. Corin Nemec is receiving a story credit for this episode. He came to us with an idea for a story reintroducing Jonas and his planet, so Joe Mallozzi and I wrote the teleplay from that.
5. Mullie, Paul; Wood, Martin; Tichnor, James (3 May 2004). "Fallout" (DVD commentary). Stargate SG-1 . MGM Home Entertainment.
6. Mallozzi (2023): "Actor Corin Nemec pitched this story and wrote the original outline for an episode that brings back Jonas Quinn and explores his new life on Langara. The original title of the episode was “Turn of Events,” which we couldn’t help but note was a title applicable to every episode we’d ever done. It would have been akin to titling an episode “Off-World Adventure” or “Fourth Act Twist!” It was a lot of fun, although one element in the story didn’t quite pan out – specifically, Jonas Quinn’s love interest, a fellow Langaran named Kianna. On the day the first dailies came in, we were horrified to discover that both actors had unnervingly similar hairstyles that, as a result, made them look like they were related. Which, in turn, made some of the romantic scenes a little … weird?" p. 440
7. Nemec (2005): "It was going to be called 'Pressure Point', because of various reasons, like the unstable nature of the planet, and the fact that the naquadriah was causing a pressure point that was likely going to blow at any moment. Then there was the relationship between the warring factions, a pressure point in itself and of course, there was the mount pressure from the bad guys. However, by the time it came to screen, we'd decided the stories would speak for themselves and went for the name change." p. 41
8. Eramo, Steven (June 2003). "Seventh Heaven". TV Zone Stargate SG-1 Season 7 Special. No. Special 52. Visual Imagination. p. 60. ISSN   0960-8230. Jonas Quinn appears again to SG- 1 to help him save his planet in Pressure Point (aka 'Fall-Out'), written by Paul Mullie and Joe Mallozzi from a story by Corin Nemec.
9. Mallozzi, Joseph (21 February 2021). "053: Joseph Mallozzi Part 5, Writer and Executive Producer, Stargate (Interview)". Youtube (Interview). Interviewed by David Read. Dial the Gate.
10. Mallozzi, Joseph (20 March 2023). "Stargate SG-1 concept art and episodic insights!". josephmallozzi.com.
11. Nemec, Corin (13 November 2011). "Heart of Langara". Gateworld. Interviewed by Chad Colvin.
12. Nemec, Corin (28 September 2005). "Corin Nemec interview". The Scifi World. Interviewed by Gilles Nuytens.
13. Nikolai, Bill (12 August 2003). "213: Bill Nikolai, "Vern Alberts" in Stargate SG-1 (Interview)". Youtube (Interview). Interviewed by David Read. Dial The Gate.
14. McGuire, Bridget (June 2003). "We Know the Drill". TV Zone . No. Special 55. Visual Imagination. p. 36. I really wanted to build a new set. So we made a committee decision to dismantle the Sebrus and start from scratch. The digger ship was a relatively small set, maybe 20' by 20' with a low ceiling and lots of pipes and gadgets. You could put a camera just about anywhere inside you wanted and move it about. Also where the Sebrus was up on a gimble, this set was built on the floor so a camera could be placed on the outside looking in at any angle. Although it was a new set, we used bits and pieces we already had lying around, including the chairs from the Prometheus. which were painted a different colour. Of course, the next episode we shot was Grace , which was set inside the Prometheus, so we had half a day to repaint the chairs and put them back.
15. McQuite, Bridget (February 2004). "Fallout". TV Zone Stargate SG-1 Special 6 (Interview). No. Special 55. Visual Imagination. p. 26. ISSN   0960-8230. Having already visited Jonas Quinn's homeworld in prior episodes, we have sort of an established look for that world and its level of technology. In Fallout, we had to build a boring machine that would take our heroes underground and, naturally, it needed to be Kelownan in design. One of the things we did was include monitors in the ship. Although Jonas's people didn't have them before we figured after having interacted with Earth for two years this is a part of our technology that we'd have given them.
16. Bodnarus, Peter (February 2004). "Fallout". TV Zone Stargate SG-1 Special 6 (Interview). No. Special 55. Visual Imagination. p. 26. ISSN   0960-8230. Monitors always help tell a story. You can use diagrams and then pictures to illustrate where you are. However, if you're underground it's hard to do a matte painting that shows where you are in a planet's core, but a diagram on a video screen or computer monitor would do just that. I love Jonas's planet because it has a kind of 1940s industrial aesthetic to it and as a designer I find this is a great 'raw material' to work with. Our cues when creating the boring machine was the look and feel of a World War II submarine. I imagined the ship would be driven much like an old-fashioned tank with two brake levers, and that's what we did. I got to design a neat hatch that sort of resembles a big flat-head screw. So that was fun for me. I actually saw the ship being constructed and it was built pretty much like a sailboat with spars and ribs. Our construction guys are top-notch and they turned out a finely crafted piece of work. The ship is, of course, made of plywood and paint, but if you stood right next to it you'd swear it was metal. It looks absolutely convincing.
17. Nemec, Corin (June 2003). "Team Player". TV Zone Stargate SG-1 Season 7 Special (Interview). No. Special 52. Visual Imagination. p. 61. ISSN   0960-8230.
18. Anderson, Richard Dean (19 June 2003). "Exclusive Chats - Richard Dean Anderson of Stargate SG-1". scifi.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2003.
19. Wood, Martin (25 July 2003). "When the Magic Happens". rdanderson.com (Interview). Interviewed by Kate Ritter.
20. "The Embassy begins relationship with MGM Television". The Embassy VFX. June 2003. Archived from the original on 10 August 2003. The Embassy recently completed complex "alien army" shots for Stargate SG-1. Utilizing motion capture, cloth dynamics and custom HDR Imagery, The Embassy's Simon van de Laagemaat and Winston Halgason seamlessly integrated hundred of CG aliens attacking from the forest of yet another planet bearing remarkable resemblance to Canada's British Columbia. For another episode entitled "Fallout", The Embassy created the world's largest tunnel digger. The camera sweeps through the digger's gantry revealing an astounding level of detail, modelled and lit by Neill Blomkamp, giving the digger massive scale.
21. "STARGATE SG-1 RATINGS: SEASON SEVEN". Stargate SG-1 Solutions. 24 April 2004.
22. "TV Focus". TV Zone . No. 172. Visual Imagination. January 2004. p. 77. ISSN   0957-3844.
23. "Weekly top 10 programmes on TV sets - Sky 1 - w/e 18 Jan 2004". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board . 12 January 2004.
24. "Ratings for 'Grace' and 'Fallout'". Gateworld. 28 January 2004. Archived from the original on 16 February 2004.
25. "Canada's SPACE will air new SG-1". Gateworld. 17 August 2004. Archived from the original on 13 October 2004. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
26. "Listings for Thursday, December 09, 2004". Spacecast. 9 December 2004. Archived from the original on 9 February 2005.
27. "Ratings: 'Fallout' in syndication". Gateworld. 16 February 2005. Archived from the original on 6 March 2005.
28. "SciFi has posted a deleted scene from last week's all-new episode on the network's official Web site! (RealPlayer is required.)". Gateworld. 24 January 2004. Archived from the original on 14 April 2004.
29. Vincent-Rudzki, Jan (February 2004). "Stargate SG-1 - Season 7 - G14 - Fallout". Reviews. TV Zone . No. 173. Visual Imagination. pp. 67–68. ISSN   0960-8230. What a pleasure it is to see Jonas again, and how easily he fits back into the series. It is a pity, though, that it is only he and Sam who really spend much time together, particularly when Jonas and Daniel worked so well together before. Film parallels inevitably come to mind, and the movie in question is The Core. Yet although this has a lesser budget it is more exciting and involving and could probably make a good little film itself. The down point is the introduction of an atypical Goa'uld who provides a reason for the Deep Underground Excavation Vehicle's existence, but it is the most obvious and plausible path to take. That niggle is soon forgotten as the story moves on and the conclusion of the Goa'uld part of the story is OK. O'Neill is on form this week; particularly when venting his frustration about the petty politics and suspicions of the representatives of Jonas's planet who care less about the destruction of their world than what bargaining power they might have. What seems quite clear now is that the days of SG-1 going 'out there' to explore are over. Visits to a planet are for a specific reason and so the opportunities for surprises are smaller. Now the revelations are regularly what new tricks the Goa'uld are up to, and although, as in real life, things always move on, this change is a shame. 9.
30. Dearsley, Jayne (March 2004). "The Spoiler Zone". SFX . No. 115. Future plc. p. 115. The Core, anyone? This is remarkably similar to that recent blockbuster although on a much smaller scale, obviously. It's also rather good, in exactly the some kind of twee, campy way. First off, there's the premise itself: once you get over the technobabble at the start about naquadah and naquadria (how do new viewers to this show ever figure out what's going on?) the idea is pretty nifty. The bickering members of the planet's ruling continents are clichés, but they give Daniel and O' Neill something to do (O'Neill gets some very funny lines as he reaches the end of his tether, too). Then there's the obvious fact that it's nice to see Jonas again - this time all luvved-up with his colleague, Kianna, who turns out to know a little bit more about the Goa'uld than she should. Funny how Nemec wrote the story for this episode, and then his character gets to snog a laydee... well, you can't blame him for making the most of it. The giant drill ship that bores into the planet is cool (we'd mention the great FX, but we're starting to sound like a stuck record). There are some nice scenes inside as it works its way through the crust, although, as is usually the case, Teal'c says "Indeed" and not much else. There ore a couple of small quibbles, however. With the whole planet under threat, why ore only three people working on a solution? How come the pressure 20 miles under the surface doesn't squash Kianna when she leaves the drill ship? And what is going on with Jonas' hair? This isn't a bad little yarn, all told, with some tense moments and a smattering of humour. We con only hope Jonas pops back to visit again.
31. Spragg, Paul (March 2004). "TV View". Starburst . No. 308. Visual Imagination. p. 78. ISSN   0955-114X. That really is it. The entire episode is set mainly in one of two places: the briefing room at the SGC, where the Kelownans are attempting to negotiate possible alternate locations for them to move to, and the interior of the drill where Carter, Teal'c, Jonas and Kiana - a scientist Jonas has fallen for - are trying to complete the mission. For a show that prides itself on its special effects, it's disappointing that we don't see much of the exterior of the drill; the panel displays inside don't really bring much tension to the proceedings, and the revelation that Kiana is a Goa'uld has surprisingly little mileage. There should be far more made of Jonas's reaction to learning he's been in love with a Goa'uld all this time, and of Kiana's change of heart when she could easily leave the planet to be destroyed. Without some heightened emotional drama, the whole story is people sitting about talking, and it quickly becomes soporific. While the scenes back at the SGC use O'Neill in a fun way, they aren't enough to keep the attention, and despite it being lovely to see Corin Nemec on the show again, he'd be advised to try harder on the story for his next attempt.
32. Snow, Ali (2004). "Fallout Review". Gateworld.
33. Spragg, Paul (May 2004). "May". In the Ships. TV Zone . No. 175. Visual Imagination. p. 10. ISSN   0960-8230.
34. "Season Seven gates to DVD!". Gateworld. 19 October 2004. Archived from the original on 4 February 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
35. Lacey, Gord (3 November 2004). "Stargate SG-1 - Season 7 Box Set Review". TV Shows on DVD. Archived from the original on 6 May 2006.
36. "Stargate expands iTunes, Amazon presence". Gateworld. 11 January 2008. Archived from the original on 15 January 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
37. "Entire Stargate television library now streaming on Netflix". Gateworld. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
38. "Stargate's HD Blu-ray Picture: Better Than The DVDs?". GateWorld. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.

Works cited

• Mallozzi, Joseph (2023). "Fallout". Chevrons Locked: The Unofficial Unauthorized Oral History of Stargate SG-1. By Edward Gross. NacelleBooks. ISBN   978-1737380184.
• Nemec, Corin (2005). "Fallout". Stargate SG-1: The Illustrated Companion: Seasons 7 and 8. By Thomasina Gibson. Titan. ISBN   1840239344.

External links

• "Fallout" at IMDb
• "Fallout". Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. at the official MGM Stargate site.
• "Fallout". Archived from the original on 15 April 2004. at scifi.com
• "Fallout Dialog Continuity Script" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007. (PDF) distributed by MGM
• Fallout at the fansite Gateworld.net