I actually liked this episode. It was cute. While the plot was obviously unoriginal, Space Race shows how an episode can rise above a weak or cliched story by the strength of its characters and a dose of humor. I will freely admit to not having liked Sam for quite some time. Three seasons worth to be precise. And the Super!Sam and/or Shippy!Sam of seasons 4-6 have ruined her for all other seasons. Until now.

Sam's back! The Sam I liked in earlier seasons for her 'little-girl wonder' and enthusiasm is back and if she sticks around I might get over the Super!/Shippy!Sam of the last 3 years. As long as the writers don't bring either of those massacres of Sam's character back as well.

Anyway, aside from the intial briefing room scene with Hammond, I found Sam fun to watch. There was something off and odd in her behavior in that scene. She seemed too dismissive of Hammond and Sam's usually, if not always, been a 'good soldier' when dealing with Hammond.

Perhaps it was that she was in her civilian clothes, in which she looked rather nice, and/or the adrenaline of just having ridden her bike, that made her a bit 'hyped'. But it still seemed out of place.

Plus it was a bit reckless for her to offer herself for a *race*, especially without Hammond's prior approval, when it was potentially dangerous and Sam's a resource and asset Hammond can't afford to lose for something frivolous.

But I think that was the point, because it *showed* Sam can be a little reckless for something she thinks is fun, and that's probably part of the fun for her. Hammond's request that she evalute the possible dangers and act accordingly was effective line to address the possible risk and still let Sam 'play'. Good ole' Daddy!Hammond. <g>

I loved the scene between Sam and Daniel. The sibling relationship between the two in early seasons is something I've missed. It, too, is back! The "Gungho" lines were cute, as was Sam's "What's a girl to do?" This was the scene which gave me hope about this episode, because I was likely Sam again.

And it got better! Loved the lines when Sam is given the specs for the ship. "This isn't our language." "It's mine." Daniel looking over her shoulder and then walking away when he realizes, 'yes, it is Sam's language and not one he knows or wants to.' was cute too.

I liked how Jack kept his eyes on Daniel as Daniel wandered around in the background. Afraid Daniel's going to float away in a glowy cloud again?? It gives a strong anchoring to Jack having needed Daniel back, thier friendship, and Jack's protectiveness of it.

Teal'c was great with his weasling out of going with Jack and Daniel. It's nice seeing him used as more than wallpaper, much more. And his exchange with Sam was also very cute. Very comfortable. And even a bit electric. Those two need to have more moments like this together.

Warrick and his brother I thought were very entertaining. Yes, Eamon reminded me too of Niles, but it was about halfway through the episode when I realized that he did. I thought for a Sam episode a little too much attention was given to Warrick and Eamon, but they were good and interesting so it didn't matter too much.

The commentators I have mixed feelings about. I found their segments jarring and out of place. The episode, while not the classic Stargate storyline of exploring new worlds, still had that element so that all the focus on ships and the race wasn't as non-Stargate in 'feel'. However, the commentators ripped the show right out of the realm of Stargate and into something else. Something *not* Stargate, and that was very jarring and even a bit grating. I think it was partly the method of presentation that is at fault, but I don't have any ideas of how it could have been done better.

That said, I did find many of their comments funny. And the implications of their commentary even funnier while at the same time discouraging, even depressing. Here is a world much more technologically advanced than we are, *much* more, and yet they still haven't found a way to escape the glut of advertising. Sad. What hope to *we* have then?

I thought some of the scenes leading up to the race were a bit boring, like the parts-dealer scene, mainly because they were soooo cliche, deliberate parody or not. Although seeing them as parody makes them a little more tolerable.

One of the things that also bugged me about the plot was that the ship wasn't being guarded in some way against tampering, or that they didn't do a final systems check right before the race. A lot can happen in 3 hours, as did.

And I couldn't believe it!! Sam made a *mistake*. Wow! She really *is* human after all! Can we keep this Sam?! Please??

Sam and Warrick do work well together though. Too bad he couldn't have been Sam's new boyfriend. He *is* available. <snicker>

I was very impressed with Warrick's sense of honor. Winning this race was so important to him, maybe his last chance to rebuild his life, and yet he was willing to aid other racers when they were in need. Very commendable.

Yeah, he was resistent to helping Jarlith (or whatever his name was), but that seemed to be after Jarlith was being resistent to being *rescued*. My comment at the time was "How do you rescue someone who doesn't want to be rescued?" Well, obviously Jarlith wasn't really as resistent as he pretended since he gave in rather easily. I suppose imminent death can do that to a person. ;)

Teal'c in the 'bellhop' outfit was rather funny, cute, and somehow very hot. And I liked the return of 'Murray'. Actually I just plain liked Teal'c in this episode. He was allowed to do thing, had lines, was funny, even though his time onscreen was limited like Jack and Daniel. I completely cracked up at Teal'c's look when Eamon calls his boss a moron. He was very amused, as was I.

The Jack and Daniel moments were priceless. Absolutely priceless! If this is how Jack-lite is going to be handled, I am soooo not having any problems with it. Yes, I'd love to see Jack onscreen more, like in the past, but with the contraints on RDA's time I find moments like in this episode a very effective use of that time.

The 'call' to Sam was a fine example. Jack's giddy with getting the 'call' to work. Both he and Daniel seem very cozy doing whatever they're doing while Sam's off having fun. I'm really really wondering what the heck Daniel kept glancing away to look at off camera. Did he and Jack order a alien pizza and he's watching for the delivery guy? I wanna know! <g>

I really loved Jack and Daniel's tag-team scene with the receptionist. Very classic yet with a renewed comfort between them. Jack remembering Eamon's name before Daniel, Jack and Daniel's recognition of the 'Murray' reference, Jack trying to convince the receptionist he and the big boss are old friends even though Daniel has to prompt him on the name (which I can't remember either), Daniel's look at Jack when Jack says to the receptionist to tell boss-guy he's the 'man with the stargate'. Daniel playing with the pool while Jack snoozes in a chair…little moments, but precious and effective just the same. I loved it *all*.

The conflict about racial disparity was a bit cliche, and a bit serious for a fun and funny episode, but I also found it interesting because of it's slight twist. The non-human majority *weren't* the badguys, there wasn't (at least from what was shown) a conspiracy of racial oppression. No full-blown tirade (on the writer's part) on racism. It was just a *dishonest* man blaming others for his 'misfortune'. Simple.

Overall, for character moments this episode was wonderful. For those moments, I'd put it on par with some of my favorites of this season and maybe even other seasons as well. It was also very fun, mostly, but not only, because of those character moments.

As I mentioned earlier, though, I thought the plot was a bit weak, mostly because it was so cliched and unoriginal. However, I must give Damian Kindler credit for not making it completely predictable. I had every expection that Sam and Warrick were going to win the race. They didn't. I'm impressed.

I gave this episode a good. I liked it. I'll watch it again. I've already watched it twice. The plot was so-so, it was a little too *not* Stargate in tone in many parts, but the characters raised it above the story. Enough so, that if there was something between good and great, that's where I'd put it. Sometimes fun can be flawed and still be very fun.

I've read probably about half the comments in this thread so far…and I really LOVE the diversity of opinion I've seen! I like the reasons people gave for hating the episode just as much as the opinions for why people loved it.

So here are my impressions:

1. We did get to see more of Sam. We didn't get to see as much more of her as I would have liked, but what we did see was cool. She's a gearhead—and while we haven't seen her as an "adrenaline junkie" in past episodes, we have seen her totally getting off on tearing apart a new machine and putting it back together again. (Tangent—this woman is an astrophysicist WHY? Maybe they were afraid that giving her an engineering degree was "too Trek" back in S1, but it really is closer to the stuff she does on a regular basis.)

2. As NASCAR fans, my husband and I got a kick out of the sportscasters, especially the "guest" sportscaster who is a former winner of the race himself. The rest of the commentary reminded me of Demolition Man, RoboCop, etc., and I did mostly enjoy it, though I also agree that they didn't have to use it quite as much as they did. The final comment snippet should have been kept; the first one or two, sure; but maybe one or more in the middle could have been trimmed or at least made a bit more informative.

3. Eamon. Hee. I alternated between calling him Niles and grinning at his, um, "gayness" for lack of a better word. He was snippy, pissy, snarky, and thoroughly entertaining. I'm just glad the directors didn't make him sashay…*grin*…although that line about Teal'c needing a hat came close.

4. Did anyone else yelp, "It's the Millenium Falcon!" when they first entered the shipyard where the Seberus was parked? With all the comments about him being desperate to win the race, I half expected somebody to kick something in order to make it work while they were aboard.

5. Bad guy pilot dude—cheesy, over the top, but what the hell, very very fun. Sam could have been given more to say to him than just "shut up", though, especially since they did that twice in the episode and it was funnier the first time.

6. Bad guy corporate dude—um, where did the racism and neo-Nazi attitude fit in with the rest of the show?

7. Slang—did throw me out of the show once or twice, was a little too heavy-handed. Oddly, what caught me was the use of "she" to refer to the ship. That's an old English nautical slang, and even just using "he" instead would have been less jarring to me. There were other moments…I know the writers have complained about having to write other languages, but really, you'd think that coming up with a spare set of slang terms just to denote "not Americans!" wouldn't be that hard.

8. Interactions—Daniel/Sam were priceless and I would have liked to see more of that. Loved the framing scenes, since they did more to establish Sam's character than just about anything else in the episode. Also we got grinning Daniel at the end, which, you know, never hurts. *grin* Sam/Teal'c nearly had me falling off the couch, but I found I had misinterpreted it; at first I thought Sam didn't want him around, and only after I listened to the rest of the conversation did I realize that he was just weasling his way out of a really boring diplomatic meet-n-greet. Frankly, this part felt like fan fic to me—I was waiting to hear from one of them about wanting to avoid watching Jack and Daniel getting all pissy or something. *shrug*

All in all, this is an ep I really want to get back to and re-watch for subtler moments. No, it wasn't perfect, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. My vote sits between "Great" and "Good".

Peace, y'all…

The special effects were great and the writing was terrific. Sam's enthusiasm was a joy to watch and she was once again the character I enjoyed so much back in the days before she became Super!Sam. This is what Sam should have been like all along, so way to go, Damian Kindler!

As much as I miss Jack's presence, I'm really enjoying the opportunity for more interaction among the other characters. I especially enjoyed the little exchange between Teal'c and Sam about Teal'c staying behind to help her.

This episode also contained allusions to our consumer society and our culture. The commentators were funny. I grew up in a family that loves sports (I don't) and the commntary sounded as lame to me as the real stuff I grew up seeing. However, the best parts were the little promos for various products. A hilarious comment on the megacorporations of today.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this episode.

The Shallow End:

Sam was stunning in her leathers. For the first time, I saw the "beautiful woman" who is alluded to in such episodes as "Emancipation" and "Hathor".

Daniel! Dimples! Grinning! Guh!

I vote we change the color of Teal'c uniform to orange and make him wear a bellboy's hat all the time. Holy moly, he looked good. And there was a very nice ass shot, too.

Jack looked all yummy on the video screen.

Odds and Ends:

Poor Sam. Even Hammond is cutting her off these days.

Why was Daniel at the meeting, but not Jack or Teal'c? That seemed odd.

What I missed most throughout Season 6: The little looks that Jack and Daniel throw each other. I'm so happy to see them again.

Loved the ticker running along the bottom of the screen during the commentator segments. I knew CNN had to have stolen that from somewhere. *g*

I enjoyed the glimpse into another alien society. I especially liked the evidence that the humans and the Serrakins were intermarrying. Very interesting.

I'm not sure how exploding is worse than falling into the sun. I'm thinking it's pretty much a toss up.

Eamon was so great. And he got the best line of the episode: "Has it occurred to you that maybe the reason you've been passed over so many times is not because you're human, but because you're a moron." Haha. Bless his pessimistic little heart. He reminds me of me.

Who was Daniel talking to on the phone?

Rating: ** out of *****

"I am in your debt, Major Carter."

"Indeed."

I wanted to like "Space Race," if only to prove that an episode doesn't have to be Daniel-heavy for me to enjoy it. Written by Damien Kindler, it's a sequel to his "Forsaken," which aired last season. Some interesting hints were dropped back then about the type of society Warrick lived in, its racial makeup, and its apparent disdain for, not only criminals, but those charged with transporting the criminals. I would have loved to see further exploration of this from SG-1's viewpoint—but unfortunately that's not the story we got.

Understand, I'm not quibbling about this being a Sam-centric episode. This season, especially, there's room for all of the characters to have their chance to shine. I just wish, for Sam's sake, that it had been something better than this mess.

There's an old saying that "the devil is in the details," and that was never more true than it is here. While the overall plot sounds like a fun romp, it's bogged down with many plot points which don't make sense—at least to someone who's trying to reconcile this episode with the previous one. Here are a few examples of what went through my mind while I was watching:

—Apparently, there has been a relationship slowly evolving between Warrick's planet and Earth. How? It's been established that Hebridan has no Stargate, and the X-303 is apparently still out of commission. That's beside the fact that SG-1 was left behind when Warrick sailed his repaired ship off into the sunset. There was no contact of any kind between the two governments. So how do the Hebridans even know (or care) that we exist?

—For that matter, how did Warrick get to Earth to deliver his invitation, and how did he and SG-1 get back to Hebridan? Would he have used the Seberus, considering Eamon was working on it and it was his only hope for winning the race? If not, what ship was it, and where did it come from?

—Let's talk about the Seberus for a moment. In "Forsaken," Warrick said it was a prison transport, with himself as captain (total crew of eight), and it contained stasis pods for the prisoners. I would have thought he'd be an employee, perhaps of a transport company, but it appears the ship is his. How exactly did that work? Was he an independent contractor to the government, owning his own ship and hiring his own crew? If that's the case, why is he broke now? The ship worked, even before Sam got there, so why couldn't he simply take on a new load of prisoners?

—Language. Jonas said the Hebridan written language (on the side of the ship) resembled ancient Celtic, because it turned out the humans on the planet had originally been brought from Earth by the Goa'uld. Well, the writing on the screen during the race updates certainly didn't seem to match—it looked entirely alien.

—Warrick gives Sam a translated book with ship specifications, which is nice…except we have no idea how he or anyone else got to know our language so well, and how they managed to translate such technical terms quickly and easily.

—If Hebridan prisoners are sent to off-world colonies, that sounds kind of permanent. How did Jarlath manage to get "paroled" and be allowed to participate in the race? Dealing in arms certainly seems like a more punishable offence than anything the prisoners in "Forsaken" could have come up with.

—Jack and Daniel apparently negotiate with the Hebridans offscreen, and offer to set them up with a Stargate in return for some of their technology. That raises the question of where they're getting the gate from, since Anubis destroyed our "spare" gate last season. And even if we did give them one, how are the Hebridans supposed to operate it? The DHD held by the Russians was destroyed in "48 Hours"—and if we had another one, wouldn't we be using it ourselves rather than the computer dialing program?

For me, the above-mentioned problems created a plot hole so large you could drive a starship through it. They weren't the only problems I had, though. The pacing seemed awfully slow, especially for an episode which was supposed to be fun and exciting. I never for one moment worried about whether Sam and Warrick would win the race, since I pretty much knew they wouldn't. Another big turn-off was the commentary/commercials which constantly interrupted what little momentum the story managed to build. Once was cute, twice okay, but after that my patience wore out very quickly. We got the point, folks. No needed to hit us over the head with it.

So, what did I like enough about "Space Race" to end up giving it two stars? The team moments, brief as they were, literally saved this episode from the trash heap. I enjoyed watching the Science Twins talk about "fun," Sam's rescue of Teal'c from a boring tour, Jack's "man with the Stargate" bit, and the "kick butt" scene at the end. Although their time together as a group continues to shrink, the characters appear to be closer than ever. Now if only we'd had a strong, tightly-woven storyline—or a truly lighthearted one such as Urgo—I would have been able to give this episode an honest recommendation.

Bits 'n' Pieces

**I know it's probably because they sponsored the race, but…are there any companies on that planet besides Tech Con Group? And are there any products which aren't manufactured by them?

**Sam just rolled right over Hammond in the Briefing Room, didn't she? He looked a bit stunned, as though he couldn't understand how and when he'd lost control of the conversation. I could have told him—it was the moment someone mentioned a race. <g>

**What exactly did Warrick mean by "I am not above accepting your offer?" Sounds as though he wanted to refuse Sam, and only took her on as a partner because he was desperate, and because she came attached to the naquadah generator.You know, if I were her, I think I'd be insulted enough to tell him to stuff it. I'm betting Hammond would have backed her up on that one.

**Speaking of Warrick, no wonder he's a "perennial also-ran," since he stops to help any of the other contestants who are in trouble. If he was that desperate to win, he shouldn't have stopped for anything. There's being a nice guy, and there's being an idiot. I don't have to tell you which fits in this episode.

**Murray rides again! And this time it was Teal'c's idea. I got such a kick out of that.

**FASHION CORNER: What was with the outfits Teal'c and Eamon were wearing at Tech Con? I swear, with those hats and the jumpsuit design, they looked more like bellboys than anything else.

**You know what's sad? A picture of Warrick's human wife provided a pivotal moment in "Forsaken," and now we hear that she remarried and had kids while he was gone. It seemed as though the memory of her was one of the things that kept Warrick alive, so to have their relationship brushed aside because she doesn't fit into the current story really stinks.

**Was it me, or did Daniel look positively furtive when Sam caught him on the phone? Makes me wonder who the heck he was talking to…or what the heck he was ordering. :-)