Avalon (Stargate SG-1)

Plot overview

Lieutenant Cameron Mitchell, recovering from injuries, is offered any job by Jack O'Neill and chooses to join SG-1. Upon arriving at Stargate Command, he finds the team disbanded, a new general in charge, and himself tasked with selecting a new SG-1. General Hank Landry, a friend of George Hammond and O'Neill, oversees the base. Mitchell begins reviewing candidates but is unsatisfied.

Teal'c is on Dakara, capital of the Free Jaffa Nation, after the fall of the Goa'uld Empire. Samantha Carter works at Area 51 on research and development. Daniel Jackson is scheduled to travel to Atlantis aboard the Daedalus. An unscheduled off-world activation brings Vala Mal Doran to the SGC, claiming to possess something valuable.

She seeks Daniel and presents a tablet written in Ancient, which leads to hidden Ancient treasures. She cuffs herself to Daniel, causing him to miss his Atlantis trip. Daniel translates the tablet and identifies the author as Myrddin, an Ancient who fled Atlantis after the Wraith war, whom Daniel equates with Merlin. Research suggests the treasure lies beneath Glastonbury Tor in England.

Traveling there on the Prometheus, the team transports into a cavern where a hologram of Merlin states only the true will access the Ancients' treasures. A sword in a stone is present, but Mitchell cannot remove it.

The group splits: Daniel and Vala take a right passage, Mitchell and Teal'c take a left. Both find rooms that light up, then lock shut. Ceilings begin lowering, and each pair must solve puzzles to avoid being crushed.

Production

"Avalon (Part 2)" marks the first time an episode of Stargate SG-1 centers on just two of the original cast members: Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge. Richard Dean Anderson departed the main lineup after Season 8 to be with his young daughter in Los Angeles. Amanda Tapping appears in the credits but only shows up once in a video conference and one other scene, as she was in the final stages of pregnancy; guest star Claudia Black filled her usual role.

Ben Browder and Beau Bridges join the main cast in this episode as Cameron Mitchell and Hank Landry. With this installment, Christopher Judge overtakes Amanda Tapping in total episode appearances, becoming the actor with the most appearances on Stargate SG-1. Tapping would later reclaim the lead when she joined the cast of Stargate Atlantis. For its original broadcast, SCI FI Channel trimmed the opening sequence to ten seconds, displaying only the logo and a "Created by" credit while main cast credits ran during the teaser.

Fans strongly disliked this change. On Sky One in Ireland and the United Kingdom, the shortened opening was used only for Part 1; Part 2 restored a full-length title sequence that included new cast credits. The full sequence also returned when "Avalon" aired in US syndication. Matthew Walker guest-stars as a hologram of Merlin, having previously played a different Ancient named Moros in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Before I Sleep."

The Season Ten episode "The Pegasus Project" reveals they are the same character. Walker also portrayed King Roham in the Season Two episode "Touchstone."

Reception

A TV Zone review by Stephen Graves found Mitchell's introduction entertaining enough to distract from what was considered "a little too reminiscent of the production team's own efforts to turn around the season eight finale." The renewed encounter between former Farscape cast members Ben Browder and Claudia Black was deemed "oddly ... underplayed," though Black's "sparky, sarky characterization of Vala" was embraced during Amanda Tapping's absence. The review noted strong similarities between the last ten minutes of Part 1 and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and described the set of Part 2's beginning as a "god-awful Merrie Olde England pastiche straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Plotting and technobabble were cited as detrimental facets of Part 2.