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Wormhole X-Treme!

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"Wormhole X-Treme!"
Stargate SG-1 episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 12
Directed byPeter DeLuise
Written byBrad Wright, Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
Production code512
Original air dateSeptember 8, 2001 (2001-09-08)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"Proving Ground"
Stargate SG-1 (season 5)
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"Wormhole X-Treme!" is an episode from Season 5 of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. The title also refers to a camp fictional science fiction series named Wormhole X-Treme!, a show-within-a-show that is portrayed in the episode. This was the 100th episode of Stargate SG-1, and as such was produced as a "special" episode laden with large numbers of in-jokes, cameo appearances, and heavy use of metafictional elements for comedic effect.

Plot

This episode is a continuation of the Season 4 episode "Point of No Return". A spaceship that had been hidden in the outer solar system activates and begins approaching Earth, and its energy signature is matched to that of Martin Lloyd's escape pod suggesting that this is its mother ship. The military tracks down Lloyd (played by Willie Garson) and discovers that he has become the creative consultant for a television series whose concept he sold to a Hollywood studio, Wormhole X-Treme!. The parallels between Wormhole X-Treme! and the real SGC are clear. The Air Force had decided that while being a breach of secrecy, the show could prevent any future leaks of information about the Stargate program from being taken seriously.

Jack O'Neill is given the position of the Air Force technical advisor to the show in order to covertly confront Lloyd about both the secrets he has leaked and the approaching spacecraft. He discovers that Lloyd has resumed using memory suppressants and does not consciously remember his previous encounter with them or his own extraterrestrial origin. O'Neill initially suspects Lloyd's associates of drugging him again, but in fact Lloyd started taking them on his own so that he could feel more comfortable with living on Earth.

Lloyd's associates are indeed nearby, however, as well as another secret government group called the NID that wishes to seize the ship's technology for themselves. Lloyd has in his possession the remote control device necessary for boarding the empty ship when it arrives, thinking it merely another of the many functionless science fiction props used on the show, and both parties want to recover it. His associates kidnap O'Neill and Lloyd, injecting Lloyd with a memory-restoring drug. Before they interrogate him, however, O'Neill and Lloyd escape.

O'Neill and Lloyd recover the remote control just as the spacecraft arrives, with the NID and Lloyd's associates in close pursuit. O'Neill gives the remote to Lloyd's associates allowing them to flee Earth, both because he sympathizes with their plight and to deny the ship's technology to the NID. Lloyd decides that he is comfortable with his new life and remains on Earth to continue consulting for Wormhole X-Treme!.

At the end of the episode there is a "Making of Wormhole X-Treme!" featurette with interviews of several of the actors from the fictional show. Wormhole X-Treme is mentioned again in the season 8 episode "Citizen Joe", which reveals that the fictional show ran for one episode before being cancelled, though Mitchell later claims it ran for three episodes. Martin Lloyd returns in the milestone episode "200" in season 10, trying to write a TV film based on the fictional show. The latter episode stated that Wormhole X-Treme ran for ten seasons prior to cancellation.

Production

"Wormhole X-Treme" features many cameos by the crew of Stargate SG-1. The director of this episode, Peter DeLuise, also played the director of Wormhole X-Treme!. Writer and executive producer Robert C. Cooper played a Wormhole X-Treme! writer. Further cameos include Joseph Mallozzi (who co-wrote this episode), producer N. John Smith, and Stargate SG-1 writer Ron Wilkerson as Wormhole X-Treme! crew members; Stargate SG-1 property master David Sinclair as the Wormhole X-Treme! assistant director; make-up artist Jan Newman as a make-up artist; director Andy Mikita and producer John Lenic as the characters being beaten by Col. Danning; Stargate SG-1 director Martin Wood as an NID agent; and several more.[1] The two executives who commented on the unrealistic look of Lloyd's spacecraft are played by Stargate SG-1 executive producer Michael Greenburg and executive producer/co-creator Brad Wright.

Within the fictional show Wormhole X-Treme!, the four primary characters of SG-1 each had a representative character within the show-within-a-show. The characters, actors, and their counterpoints are:

[2]

Actor Stargate SG-1 character (name of fictional actor) Wormhole X-Treme! character Stargate SG-1 analogue
Michael DeLuise Nick Marlowe Colonel Danning Jack O'Neill
Jill Teed Yolanda Reese Major Stacy Monroe Samantha Carter
Christian Bocher Raymond Gunne Dr. Levant Daniel Jackson
Herbert Duncanson Douglas Anders Grell the robot Teal'c

Release

The episode first aired on September 8, 2001 on Showtime in the United States.[3] The episode was first syndicated in the week of February 24, 2003 where it received a 2.4 Nielsen rating.[4] In the United Kingdom the episode was first shown on November 21, 2001 on Sky 1.[5]

Jan Vincent-Rudzki for TV Zone awarded the episode 10 out of 10, writing "This is witty, well-written, well-directed, with some great in-jokes". Vincent-Rudzki applauded the episode for being "semi-ridiculous and yet still quite dramatic episode", with a "nice story" for non-fans of the show to enjoy.[6] Reviewing for IGN, Daniel Solis called it a "Great, great episode", praising the "side-splittingly accurate" "caricatures" of SG-1.[7]

Brian Ford Sullivan for The Futon Critic placed the episode 50th in his "The 50 Best Episodes of 2001" list, calling it "a grand celebration of how good this underappreciated series can be" going on to applaud the episode for delivering "some of the series' best laughs to date".[8] Keith R.A. DeCandido for Tor.com described "Wormhole X-Treme" as "a hilarious hundredth episode that celebrates by making fun of itself", applauding the return of Willie Garson's Martin Lloyd.[9] Reflecting on the episode in 2019, Helen Ashcroft for Screen Rant believed the episode was "one of the most polarizing episodes in the entire show", claiming that "While many hate it, there must be others who agree that it is a light-hearted fun diversion".[10]

In September 2001, The Hollywood Reporter included a 18 page feature on Stargate SG-1 reaching it's 100th episode. The feature included cast and crew interviews, as well as congratulatory messages from around the entertainment industry.[11]

References

  1. ^ List of major and minor cameos on
  2. ^ DeLuise, Michael (11 July 2011). "Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Michael DeLuise (Stargate SG-1)". scifiandtvtalk (Interview). Interviewed by Steve Eramo.
  3. ^ "Stargate celebrates 100th episode". Gateworld. 7 September 2001. Archived from the original on 19 June 2002.
  4. ^ "RATINGS: Syndication Week of February 24". Gateworld. 13 March 2003. Archived from the original on 25 June 2003.
  5. ^ "TV Focus". TV Zone. No. 145. Visual Imagination. December 2001. p. 13. ISSN 0957-3844.
  6. ^ Vincent-Rudzki, Jan (December 2001). "Reviews - Television - Stargate SG-1". TV Zone. No. 145. Visual Imagination. p. 73. ISSN 0957-3844.
  7. ^ Solis, Daniel (17 September 2001). "Stargate SG-1, Wormhole X-Treme!". IGN. Archived from the original on 31 August 2002.
  8. ^ Ford Sullivan, Brian (1 January 2002). "The 50 Best Episodes of 2001 - #50-41". The Futon Critic. While easy to dismiss as a parody of itself, the 100th episode of "Stargate SG-1" was a grand celebration of how good this underappreciated series can be. In the same way "Galaxy Quest" was an homage to "Star Trek" this episode looked at the (at times) inherently hokey nature of the show and delivered some of the series' best laughs to date.
  9. ^ R.A. DeCandido, Keith (1 May 2015). "The Stargate Rewatch: SG-1 Season Five". Tor.com.
  10. ^ Ashcroft, Helen (23 July 2019). "The 5 Best Episodes Of Stargate SG-1 (& 5 Worst)". Screen Rant.
  11. ^ "Stargate SG-1 100th Episode". rdanderson.com. The Hollywood Reporter. 4 September 2001.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Wormhole X-Treme! (Stargate SG-1).
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