Unending

[1] The episode begins with the mass suicide of the Asgard race, who try to preserve their legacy by giving all of their accumulated knowledge and technology to the SG-1 team and the crew of the Earth ship Odyssey.

The members of SG-1 and General Hank Landry (Beau Bridges) are travelling on the Earth ship Odyssey to the Asgard home world, Orilla, when Thor beams aboard.

During the initial months on board, Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black) repeatedly tries to seduce Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks).

[4] The buildup of the Ori arc in Seasons 9 and 10 would eventually get a pay-off in Stargate: The Ark of Truth, a film produced after the end of the show.

[9] Because of fan vocality about team episodes, Cooper decided to put the characters through several decades of life[8] and see their relationships develop and evolve.

[12] To give the Odyssey an unnatural ghostship feeling of solitude, many wide angle shots and VisFX matte extension were used with no additional music.

[13] "Unending" attracted approximately 2.2 million viewers on its first American broadcast on the Sci Fi Channel on June 22, 2007, the best performance for SG-1 since the September 22, 2006 mid-season finale.

[1] Writer and producer Joseph Mallozzi acknowledged that some fans were unhappy with the end of the Asgard, the absence of Jack O’Neill and Daniel and Vala getting together.

[14] Reviewers were generally satisfied with the conclusion, and some like Bill Keveney of the USA Today felt the episode does not stray far from "the series formula – a mix of sci-fi adventure, relationships and humor".

[15] Jason Van Horn of IGN enjoyed the humor, "the amount of heart and pure emotion running rampant this episode", which he thought served as a symbol for the entire show that will stay in the public mind through re-runs and DVDs.

Two scenes that stood out for him as "powerful", "heart-wrenching" and "the icing on the cake", were Mitchell's breakdown and Vala's seduction of Daniel signaling "the beginning of a very long lasting and loving relationship".

[16] Vala's emotional response to Daniel was interpreted as an example of her character growth,[17] while another reviewer felt the "Vala/Daniel argument [was] a tad overwrought [although] the motivation is clear".

[17] TV Zone's Anthony Brown, who considered the episode "curious[ly] low-key", regretted the planned direct-to-DVD films, as "the whole thing inevitably loses its punch as the reset button's pressed [...], rather than providing the genuine emotion of an actual ending".

[18] Maureen Ryan of The Chicago Tribune thought that the episode went out on "a strange note" with a disappointing last "string of banal clichés" dialogue exchange, although the cast and the established goodwill of their characters could partly make up for it.

[20] Mary McNamara of Multichannel News lauded Cooper's direction, lighting, costuming, the "haunting" music and sound, the production values and special effects.