Entertainment
Sci-Fi's Best Ever Anniversary Episode Mocks Its Own Series
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Comedy is hard to do right. Miss the mark and the audience is laughing at you, not with you, or even worse, not laughing at all. Stargate SG-1 is one of the rare long-running sci-fi shows that managed to find a balance between the comedic and dramatic.
“Wormhole X-Treme!” celebrated 100 episodes on September 8, 2001, by making fun of the show itself, with the backstage crew getting a chance to be on camera as Stargate Command investigates a new show that’s a little too close to the Stargate Program. It’s a fun, light-hearted celebration of everything that fans loved about the series, and it was crammed with jokes and inside references,s resulting in one of the all-time greatest episodes of any sci-fi series.
Wormhole X-Treme Is Everything Great About Sci-Fi
The actual plot of “Wormhole X-Treme!” centers on the returning Martin Lloyd (played perfectly by the late Willie Garson), a humanoid alien who stayed behind on Earth following the events of Season 4’s “Point of No Return,” and again, he’s lost his memory. Martin is seemingly trying to piece together his missing memories by working as a consultant for the low-budget series Wormhole X-Treme.
Jack O’Neil (Richard Dean Anderson) is sent to the Vancouver studio to investigate what’s going on when a ship appears near Earth bearing the same energy signature as Martin’s species. That’s the loose plot excuse of Stargate SG-1’s 100th episode celebration, which was elevated to greatness by everything else going on.
“Wormhole X-Treme” is a love letter to Stargate SG-1, even if, as the episode reminds fans, there’s a lot that never made sense and plotlines that ended up going nowhere. The best reference is to the phallic Zaknitel sidearm, or “Zat” which functioned as follows: One shot stuns, two shots kill, three shots make it go away. Finally, thanks to the crew of “Wormhole X-Treme” someone gets to say, “that’s stupid.” It was. No one knew how long a victim would be stunned; no one knew the timeframe that “reset” the counter. It was a stupid weapon, and thankfully, someone finally said it.
One of the best meta jokes comes from the studio president providing a note that Wormhole X-Treme needs a sexy female alien. It’s delivered by Hank Cohen, the actual president of MGM Television at the time, and the same person who made that suggestion. Thanks to him, Stargate SG-1 added Anise (played by Vanessa Angel) to the cast, and just as quickly, the Tok’ra archaeologist was removed when the show’s ratings remained unchanged.
The end of the episode featured the cast of Wormhole X-Treme, and includes what may be the best line in the entire franchise, thanks to the many layers it includes: “I’m Christian Bocher. I’m portraying the character of Raymond Gunne, who portrays the character of Dr. Levant, which is based on the character Daniel Jackson, portrayed by the actor Michael Shanks, originally portrayed by the actor James Spader…in the feature film.”
A Major Syndication Milestone
Making it to 100 episodes was a major milestone for shows back in the days of syndication. 100 was the minimum number of episodes required to qualify for syndication, which allowed the studio to make major profits. Stargate SG-1 started on syndication thanks to Showtime, but reaching 100 episodes proved it was a hit series, and no one could have imagined it would keep defying the odds and reach another 100.
“200” brought back Martin Lloyd and featured the crew pitching their ideas for a sci-fi movie, including Vala’s suggestion that sounds suspiciously like Farscape. By then, both Claudia Black and Ben Browder were part of the SG-1 cast, making it another brilliant meta joke and proving that even 200 episodes in, the writing room had more ideas than they knew what to do with.
Stargate SG-1 remains beloved by fans 25 years after “Wormhole X-Treme” first aired. Since then, there have been two well-received spin-offs, tv movies, and a new series in the works from Amazon. Will the new show make it to 100 episodes? No, no it won’t, but if it has even a fraction of the lasting impact of the original run, it will be another sci-fi success.
Entertainment
Microsoft Office 2024 for Mac and PC gets smarter with AI, now 60% off
TL;DR: Microsoft Office 2024 Home & Business for Mac or PC is on sale for $99.97 through March 1 at 11:59 p.m. PT, offering 60% off Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more.
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If your work revolves around documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and email, Microsoft Office 2024 Home & Business brings those core tools together with updated features designed to keep everyday tasks moving efficiently. The lifetime license for Mac or PC is priced at $99.97, representing a 60% discount off the regular price, and ends on March 1 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
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Entertainment
Super Bowl LX performers: Who is singing the anthems
The Super Bowl LX halftime show featuring Bad Bunny and the Super Bowl pre-show featuring Green Day may be taking up all the attention when it comes to Super Bowl performances — and rightfully so! Everyone is looking forward to what the internationally known artists will do or say regarding President Trump and ICE.
However, other musical artists are performing at this year’s Super Bowl as well.
Charlie Puth to sing national anthem
Kicking the show off with the U.S. national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” is the Grammy-nominated singer Charlie Puth. Puth’s debut single, “Marvin Gaye,” featuring Meghan Trainor, was a Billboard chart hit upon its 2015 release. Puth has since had other hits, including “We Don’t Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez),” “Attention,” and “Nothing But Trouble.”
Mashable Top Stories
Brandi Carlile to perform patriotic song
Next up, singing “America the Beautiful” is singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile. Carlile has a whopping 11 Grammys and two Emmy awards. Her biggest hit was 2007’s “The Story,” but she is also known for songs like “Broken Horses” and “The Joke.”
Coco Jones to sing Black national anthem
Grammy Award-winning R&B artist Coco Jones will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has become a Super Bowl staple since 2021, when Alicia Keys performed it at the event. Singer and actress Ledisi performed the song at last year’s game.
Entertainment
How A Star Wars Set Malfunction Caused A Cast Member To Meet Jesus
By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Would you believe that arguably the most recognizable figure in the entire Star Wars franchise once ran into Jesus? This was no Jedi, although it’s admittedly fun to imagine what the Son of God might have had to say to someone else who could come back from the dead as a powerful ghost. No, the Star Wars character in question was R2-D2, and he had an accidental meeting with the divine when a remote control malfunction sent him to the set of Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth tv movie!
A long time ago (1977, to be precise), in a desert far, far away (Tunisia), two very different filmmakers were working on two very different projects. Franco Zeffirelli (best known for his Oscar-nominated Romeo and Juliet) was working on Jesus of Nazareth, which blended the four Gospels of the biblical New Testament into a single TV movie. Meanwhile, fresh off the success of American Graffiti, rebel filmmaker George Lucas was working on Star Wars, a movie that would effectively define his life while reshaping pop culture history as we know it.
Meeting The Maker
Aside from the involvement of James Earl Jones, these projects didn’t have much in common, and Lucas and Zeffirelli generally stayed out of each other’s way despite their sets neighboring one another. That all changed thanks to a scene requiring R2-D2 to be piloted using a remote control. While actor Kenny Baker was often inside the droid for scenes where R2 had to stay relatively still, there were some scenes in which George Lucas simply needed to move the little astromech from Point A to Point B.
In this case, Lucas intended for R2-D2 to exit a scene by rolling out from behind a sand dune. To do this, they intended to use a remote control, but the unit malfunctioned. Therefore, instead of stopping where the filmmakers intended, R2 just kept going until (as if guided by a higher power) he ended up on the set of Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth.
Fortunately, the runaway astromech didn’t cause any damage to the set of the Jesus TV movie, something that we can only assume would be some kind of sin. These days, the whole incident has become a bit of amusing trivia for Star Wars fans to share among themselves. At the time, though, R2 encountering a savior from heaven was just one more reason that filming this sci-fi blockbuster had become a living hell.
When Droids Move In Mysterious Ways
Reportedly, this is one of many incidents in which the droids weren’t doing exactly what the filmmakers needed them to do. On top of that, the droids were powered by exotic batteries that were hard to replace, and those batteries were soon drained in the hot Tunisian sun. Making matters worse, the truck storing R2-D2 and other droids once caught fire, damaging valuable props and costing George Lucas money he couldn’t really afford to spend.
Fortunately, it all worked out: after all these onset issues, Star Wars became one of the most successful films ever made. There are many reasons for this, including its perfect cast, killer effects, and charming story. However, we can’t discount the possibility that the movie’s success is a product of divine intervention; after all, his excursion to meet Jesus proves R2-D2 is a droid with friends in very high places!
Microsoft Office 2024 for Mac and PC gets smarter with AI, now 60% off
Sam Darnold Is 60 Minutes Away From Erasing His Past
