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“Stargate SG-1” is an important show to a lot of people. Even for those who weren’t necessarily fans of the film “Stargate,” the series became a gateway (no pun intended) to a much larger universe and helped the franchise grow beyond what was originally intended. When the “Stargate” movie failed to launch a trilogy as desired, TV became the franchise’s backup plan — one that allowed this particular sci-fi universe to thrive. Even so, all great things must come to an end, and so did “SG-1” after 10 seasons. Fortunately, once the show had been canceled, its writers had a lot of freedom to do as they pleased … so much so that a gag one writer thought for sure would be axed ended up making it to air.
The gag in question happened in the “Stargate SG-1” season 10 episode “Family Ties,” which was one of the very last episodes of the series. In a post on Reddit, series writer Joseph Mallozzi revealed that the show’s writers actually stopped receiving notes from their bosses at the Sci-Fi Channel (as it was known before being rebranded as Syfy) during the final season. So, he tested the limits with this particular episode:
“Shortly, after ‘SG-1’ was cancelled, we stopped receiving network notes. As a gag, I wrote a scene into a script that saw our resident alien, Teal’c, inadvertently attend a reading of the ‘Vagina Monologues.’ I assumed that, when they saw it, they would ask me to remove it…”
Even though the ratings were good, the network let everyone know that “Stargate SG-1” season 10 would be its last. That allowed the series’ creatives to wrap things up without leaving a lot of loose ends to frustrate fans. The show aired its final episode in the summer of 2007, and that was that.
Bringing Stargate SG-1 to a close with little oversight
For those who may not be familiar, “The Vagina Monologues” is an episodic play written in 1996 by Eve Ensler. Though it had somewhat humble beginnings, it eventually became quite popular. It’s a very frank exploration of sexuality and body image, among other things. Teal’c, as a character, a Jaffa warrior from the planet Chulak, is a non-nonsense kind of guy, so setting him down to watch “The Vagina Monologues” was a big fish out of water moment.
The episode in question centers on Vala (Claudia Black), whose father contacts Stargate Command, claiming to have knowledge of a forthcoming attack on Earth. He is then granted sanctuary on the planet, which ultimately leads to trouble. The Teal’c gag was just part of the proceedings, but it wasn’t a core aspect of the plot. Even so, it has become a fan-favorite moment amongst viewers.
As for the larger “Stargate” franchise, that remains on ice at the time of writing. There was talk from Roland Emmerich for years of doing a “Stargate” reboot or remake of some kind, but haven’t heard anything about that in a while. In the meantime, the best option fans have is to revisit what already exists. That said, given Amazon’s purchase of MGM a couple of years ago, “Stargate” feels like the kind of property that could be re-imagined or revived in some way as the company tries to make use of the titles in that library.
“Stargate SG-1” is currently streaming on Prime Video and Pluto TV. Die-hard fans can also grab the complete series on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.
