The Scourge

The SG-1 is assigned to protect four diplomats from the International Oversight Advisory formed by Richard Woolsey (from USA), Shen Xiaoyi (from China), Jean LaPierre (from France) and Russel Chapman (from United Kingdom) in a tour to Gamma site. They meet first the scientist Dr. Myers, who is researching the alien bug R-75 that was developed by the Priors as a plague to destroy the crop of planets. Dr. Myers decides to give a piece of his meatloaf to the insects and soon they multiply and escape from the lab, eating human flesh. The Stargate is shut down for security reason and the SG-1 and the bureaucrats are forced to flee to a cave to seek-out protection. Soon the SG-1 finds that the base is lost and they have to find means to save the diplomats and themselves before the destruction of the planet.

"The Scourge" is a great episode of "Stargate SG-1", despite the annoying diplomats - mostly the French one. The plot really recalls those old sci-fi / horror movies and is very enjoyable. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "The Scourge"

You'll love this rehash of several classic horror film stories!

When I first saw the opening scenes, I wondered if the episode was supposed to be some sort of satire or comedy.

I was wrong. The acting and writing really were that bad.

The show starts with the team walking down a hallway as they provide us with a hurried summary of events associated with the Ori. They sound as though they're reading from a teleprompter that's running too fast.

Shanks practically stutters as he flies through lines like "Be damn sure they're thinking up ways to keep spreading fear and destruction throughout this galaxy." Ugh. Sounded like an intro to a b-movie serial from the 40's.

Then, as the team heads up the ramp, Browder says "All right, let's move out. These ancient ruins aren't going to explore themselves." What the hell happened? Mallozzi and Mullie have much better writing credits than this for the various Stargate series. Is Girotti that bad at directing, or did the whole team just fall flat on its face for some reason? The only things I can imagine is that they all partied the night before, or they received news that they were out the door soon.

Either way, if they keep churning out this sort of brain-dead dialog and sloppy acting, this show is done for no matter what the studio's agenda is.

While an interesting concept, the new characters were annoying and not worth all the trouble to save them. Effects and CGI worked well, storyline was mostly filler.

Remember the 1954 film, "Them!"? How about the 1958 flick, "The Blob"?

Combine some old-school, B-rate horror flicks with a science fiction/action series, and "The Scourge" is what you get. This would have been a lot more fun if it had aired around Halloween.

Trust me--this is not an episode you want to watch late at night.

The creepiness of carnivorous bugs, along with the darkness of the screenplay make this an episode you want to watch with the lights on or when the sun is still high in the sky.

The directing could have been better, and some of the clichés thrown about in the script can produce an eye roll or three. But it's still a decent yarn. It's totally believable that the Ori--who already engineered a virus designed to destroy mankind--could also engineer a meat-eating insect.

"We" did it in "Them," after all, right?