Stargate SG-1, Season 5

While it's certain to please devoted fans of the series, the five-disc box set of Stargate SG-1's fifth season is definitely not the place to start for newcomers, especially as the first episode ("Enemies") is a continuation of the fourth season's cliffhanger ending. Neophytes are also sure to feel a bit lost in a series where nobody seems to agree on the pronunciation of "Goa'uld," the foremost enemy of SG-1, the team of scientists and soldiers (led by series star Richard Dean Anderson, of MacGyver fame) who explore a multitude of planets via the Stargate, a portal to an intergalactic wormhole (as established in the popular 1994 movie from which this long-running series is derived). This caveat aside, the fifth season was a pivotal one for the show, as it struggled for new ideas, introduced a team of fresh recruits (in the action-packed episode "Proving Ground"), and dealt with the departure of cast-member Michael Shanks, whose character Dr. Daniel Jackson is killed off (or shall we say "ascended"?) in the season's penultimate episode, "Meridian." With a system of warring planets and enough alien races to require a glossary, uninitiated viewers are advised to sample the best of this season's standalone episodes, including "2001," a clever tale of interplanetary harvesting--with grave consequences, and "Wormhole X-treme," a behind-the-scenes spoof show and the season's only purely comedic episode. DVD extras include audio commentaries for every episode (mostly by their directors, writers, and visual effects producers) that may prove enlightening for anyone aspiring to a career in TV production, but the backstage cast-member video diaries, set tours, and tribute featurettes are strictly for fans. Even though they're consistently entertaining and technically impressive, these 22 episodes do not represent SG-1 at its finest, but libraries collecting the series will want to add. Optional elsewhere. (J. Shannon)