Welcome to day seven of Villain Week! Today's topic is:
Villain Week Wrap Up! (Stargate Style)
______________________________
I've been trying to think of a good way to end Villain Week, something that will let it go out with a bang and not a whimper. So far this week we've seen a list of my favorite literary villains, investigated the role of the state as a villain in dystopian literature, took a somewhat satirical look at the role of villains in film and TV, decided who were the greatest animated villains of all time, listened to some rockin' villain tunes, and explored three real life baddies. In the end, I couldn't really think of anything that I hadn't already done.
It didn't escape my notice, however, that the last day of Villain Week falls on the day before the final episode of Stargate Universe, the last remaining television show in what I believe to be one of the finest franchises in science fiction. There are those of you who've never watched Stargate and, therefore, won't really care, but for me this is a sad day. It's very rare for me to find a television show that I enjoy, let alone three of them. This is the end of an era (until the inevitable reboot twenty years down the road) and I've decided to utilize Villain Week as a way to pay my respects.
So, thank you for bearing with me this week and for all of your encouraging comments. I'm glad to know that people actually enjoyed Villain Week. Without any further ado, here are my favorite villains from the Stargate universe.
______________________________
Show: Stargate SG-1
Character: Ba'al
Ba'al is, as far as I know, Stargate SG-1's longest running villain. Beginning in season five, Ba'al continued to torment and torture SG-1 right up until the very end, including one of the franchise's SG-1 films. Ba'al is my absolute favorite villain from all three Stargate shows because he's just so darn good at being evil and yet lovable at the same time. He's sadistic, intelligent, conniving, murderous, and a very convincing liar.
One of my favorite Ba'al moments has to be when he is forced to work with SG-1 in season ten. Watching him and Sam Carter work together is one of those surreal moments that only good sci-fi can provide. He's an evil Goa'uld who just spent five seasons trying to kill them and now here he is helping them...for his own benefit of course.
Character: Replicator Sam
A humanoid Replicator created by Fifth (who was completely obsessed with Sam), Replicator Sam was devoid of all compassion, humanity, and, really, feeling of any sort. I mean, what were you expecting? She's a machine for crying out loud. Not only did she fit right in with the other Replicators, she surpassed them in evilness and in her desire to take over the known universe. Under her control, the Replicators became an even bigger threat, snatching up planets and technology left and right. She even tried to kill Daniel Jackson (although, anyone who has watched the show will know that that's a) not hard to do and b) no indication that he won't come back in the future). She was only on the show for a relatively short amount of time but she caused a lot of mayhem while she was there.
Show: Stargate Atlantis
Character: Todd the Wraith
While the Wraith don't actually have names, Colonel Sheppard decided to call this one Todd. As with any Wraith, Todd's existence depends upon sucking the life out of humans. Literally. Todd was first introduced to us when Sheppard was taken prisoner by the Genii (more about them later). Both he and Todd were being held in cages by the nefarious race and ended up working together to try to escape, despite the fact that they wanted to kill each other. Todd and the Atlantis expedition met each other on several occasions, each time working with each other for some sort of common goal...a goal that usually ended up benefiting the Wraith more than the humans. While not as evil and villainous as some of the other Wraith, Todd was still looking out for himself more than for the good of others and, until he agreed to be used as a lab rat for a retrovirus that allowed him to survive without feeding off of humans, he still killed people in order to live to see another day.
Character: Acastus Kolya
The Genii, one of the races of people descended from the Ancients in the Pegasus Galaxy, appear at first to be peaceful, quaint, and technologically deficient. We find out early on, however, that they are actually putting on a front in order to protect themselves from the wrath of the Wraith. They are, in actuality, more highly advanced and sinister than they seem. The Atlantis mission quickly gets on their bad side and the Genii send forces to take over Atlantis. Those forces are led by this guy.
Commander Kolya is cold, calculating, determined, and not above gratuitous violence. He'd shoot you as soon as look at you once you become his enemy. Throughout the first season, Kolya is a constant threat to the people of Atlantis. He even becomes a threat to his own government when he begins to plot a coup. He isn't successful and he is eventually killed but up until that point he keeps the members of the Atlantis mission, especially John Sheppard, on their toes.
Show: Stargate Universe
Character: Dr. Nicholas Rush
I'm including Dr. Rush in this list because, even though he's not technically a villain, he tends to be the main opposition force on the show. Stargate Universe is much different from the other two shows in the franchise because the conflict is mostly between the crew members on Destiny and not between humans and some sort of strange alien race.
So, what puts Rush on this list? He's a selfish man who is more concerned with himself than with others. Instead of dialing a different planet while the Icarus base is under attack, he dials the nine-chevron address in order to prove that it can be done, thereby stranding dozens of people on the other side of the universe in a spaceship they really have no business being on. He's a Machiavellian kind of guy who constantly puts the ship and its people in danger in order to achieve some sort of goal as well as to ensure that he retains some sort of power over his circumstances. He and Colonel Young go head-to-head all the time over who's really in charge and he even keeps the fact that he can control the ship to himself until it best benefits him. Over time he has undergone changes that have softened his personality somewhat, but in the first season and the beginning of the second season it was fun to watch and see what subtly undermining thing he would do next.
_________________________________
That's it, folks! Villain Week has officially come to an end. I've already read three books and have started on a fourth, all of which will be reviewed in the coming days. It's back to solidly bookish posts from now on but I sincerely hope that you've enjoyed Villain Week as much as I enjoyed writing it.
-Gabe
No comments:
Post a Comment