t the end of last season's exciting cliffhanger, "Exodus," the SG-1 team was left in a tough situation. In a plan to wipe out Apophis' (Peter Williams) fleet, the team blew up a sun. Unfortunately, before they could make their escape, Teal'c (Judge) was captured. Using a stolen Goa'uld ship, the team escaped the explosion, only to find that the hyperdrive mysteriously sent them across the universe 4 million light-years from home. As if that weren't bad enough, Apophis' ship suddenly appeared to face them.
"Enemies" kicks off season five and picks up where the cliffhanger left off. Colonel Jack O'Neill (Anderson), Dr. Samantha Carter (Tapping), Daniel Jackson (Shanks) and Tok're Jacob Carter (Carmen Argenziano) are trapped with their Goa'uld ship virtually dead in space. An angry Apophis promises to destroy them. Just as he's about to fire on the defenseless ship, an unknown alien ship comes out of nowhere and fires on Apophis' ship.
The SG-1 team and Jacob manage to get away and are able to hide while they make repairs. Unfortunately, their ship has suffered serious damage and the hyperdrive crystals have been destroyed. They have no way to replace them. Even worse, if they could fix the hyperdrive, it would still take them 125 years to get home.
As they emerge from hiding they discover Apophis' ship, but with no signs of life. The alien ship is gone. The team has no choice but to board the ship, to try to either use it to get home or take its hyperdrive crystals. However, enemies await them aboard the ship and the team discovers that being 4 million light-years from home may be the least of its troubles.
A new season hits the stars running
Stargate SG-1 has a tradition of season-ending cliffhangers where characters are left in impossible situations, and action-packed season openers which resolve things in a nice, tidy way. Last season's cliffhanger, "Exodus," and the season opener, "Enemies," follow that tradition. In fact, the action is so extreme, the characters rarely have time to breathe.
Stargate is a good, solid science-fiction show, and "Enemies" is an excellent example of both its strengths and its weaknesses. When it's at its best, the series takes its characters to extremes and explores scientific concepts in a way few other science-fiction shows manage. At its worse, Stargate winds up its plots too easily and uses action to try and hide the fact. "Enemies" certainly takes its characters to extremes (and across the universe), only to solve their dilemma much, much too easily.
Stargate has the ability to mix action with the depth of the situation very effectively. However, "Enemies" should have been made into a two-parter, so the different elements that were introduced could have been dealt with in a more compelling manner. Instead, the team straps on the machine guns and spends a lot of time shooting and running down hallways. When the real issues are glossed over in favor of action, it makes the show exciting at the moment, but leaves the viewer with an empty feeling at the end.
Led by Anderson, the cast continues to do an excellent job with both the action and the more personal moments. Additionally, the production values are well done, with the exception that the Stargate universe in general seems underpopulated. Regardless, the quibbles are relatively small considering that Stargate continues to do a superior job at exploring its universe, and "Enemies" takes us beyond our galaxy to bring forth what may end up being a new direction for the series' fifth season.
