Resurrection (Stargate SG-1)

"Resurrection" is the 19th episode from the seventh season of military science fiction adventure television show Stargate SG-1 and is the 151st overall.

In the episode, Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) and Teal'c (Christopher Judge) of SG-1 are sent to investigate a massacre at a rogue NID facility.

They meet with Malcolm Barrett (Peter Flemming) who tells them that one woman, Anna (Kristen Dalton) was responsible for the slaughter of 32 people.

Barrett believes they were originally recovered by the Germans, and tells SG-1 they are holding another survivor, Dr. Keffler who is the son of a Nazi War Criminal.

Carter and Barrett begin their interrogation of Dr. Keffler (Brad Greenquist), who is reluctant to tell them who Anna is or what the facility was being used for.

Unsuccessful, they head back to Daniel and Teal'c who have been studying the artifacts, one of which is a locked Goa'uld ark, that they are unable to open.

Daniel visits Anna (Kristen Dalton) who is being held in a glass and steel cell which covered in strange and disturbing charcoal drawings.

[2] In trying to find a place to start writing, Shanks looked to what he considered the "original concept" of Stargate, which was tying real world mythologies and mysteries into an SG-1 story.

[5] Upon meeting with the writers and show-runner Robert C. Cooper in early June 2003, Shanks described his idea "ended up getting bandied around the room", and the "details had to be rehashed, redone or fussed with a little bit and adjusted", with certain elements being cut and new ones added.

[8][9] After completing his script, Shanks believed the "heart of the story was still there" but felt as though he had not been "quite able to fully realize" the relationship between his character, Daniel Jackson, and Anna.

[2] Director Amanda Tapping selected Greenquist, who was living and working in Los Angeles, after watching his audition tape.

As with previous episodes, Tapping as director would keep the camera rolling after the end of a scene incase Dow had any ad-libs.

To tie the imagery into the story Art department assistant Teresa Uy researched materials relating to Sekhmet, which Robbins then referred to for many of his drawings, whilst he also produced illustrations of aliens, ships, the Stargate and "strange lands".

[20][17] Additionally, Tapping spent her time between her scenes observing directors Peter DeLuise & Andy Mikita, as well as talking to the show's camera department.

[17][21][22] Tapping worked with art director James Robbins to produce storyboards for select scenes and then put together a comprehensive shot list.

[11] Due to the volume of dialog in the episode, Tapping "felt the show needed movement because there was just so much happening, and so much talky-talky".

[29] "Resurrection" was first broadcast on February 17, 2004, on Sky One in the United Kingdom and was the second most watched program on the channel that week, with approximately 773,000 viewers.

This was down 0.2 from the previous week's episode "Heroes" part 2, though Stargate SG-1 remained the most watched program on Sci Fi.

[37] Jayne Dearsley for SFX felt that despite a strong start, the "talking nature of the script" dragged things down but did however pick back up at the end of the episode, awarding it 3 out of 5.

Spragg noted Tapping's directorial debut and felt that she hadn't been given "anything especially interesting to shoot, stuck as she is with a glass box and a few corridors" calling it a "workmanlike effort with few technical flourishes".

Spragg believed it was "painfully obvious" that Sekhmet was controlling Anna, but did enjoy Brad Greenquist's performance as Keffler, favourably comparing him to Cigarette Smoking Man from The X-Files.

Dearsley commented that the episode "starts off promisingly, throwing the audience right into the action in the aftermath of the massacre" before becoming "a little monotonous", whilst Vincent-Rudzki felt that the episodes back story was more "interesting than what we actually get", which Spragg also echoed, asserting that "everything interesting happens before the audience arrives".

[37][39][38] Of the reviews featured on fansite Gateworld, contributor Lex called the writing "an interesting change in pace from the majority of the season", feeling that there was more dialog than usual and praising the "weaving of previous plotlines into the story".