Stargate SG-1

The Gamekeeper

Season 2, Episode 4, Aired 7/17/98

Episode Summary

SG-1 travel to P7J-989, where they discover a beautiful garden and a dome full of strange metallic chambers, each containing an unconscious person. As the team inspects the chambers, they are trapped and knocked unconscious.

8.2

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Cast & Crew

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Richard Dean Anderson

Colonel/Brigadier General Jonathan J. "Jack" O'Neill (Seasons 1-8)
Don S. Davis

Major General George S. Hammond (Seasons 1-7)
Christopher Judge

Teal'c

Fan Episode Reviews (9)

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FAKE OR REAL?

5.0

"Mediocre"

By THEICEFIRE, Jun 05, 2011 Report Abuse

SG-1 is imprisoned in a virtual reality realm and forced to relive the worst moments of their lives over and over. To talk about the portals of Stargate and now an episode of virtual reality mixed in is so intertwined. They take us to our past so we can think about our lives. They take us into new modes of understanding and being. They're also portals to the afterlife and the afterworld. Of course at another level it's a science fiction story telling problem solved more easily when you have portals. Because you can't travel very easily around the stars at the speed of light! Get a portal that will work.moreless

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0 2
Trapped in memories...

7.0

"Good"

By Parricida, Dec 07, 2010 Report Abuse

It was, not so original and I did not liked it - first it might have looked exciting but on one point, when it was understandable what is going on, it lost all it's beauty. Not that it was very similar to "Tin man" and they did not offered nothing new - quite filler episode.

Only thing I liked was the end - the garden was so beautiful and the Keeper, so worried that everything will be ruined. And the idea of showing some events from the past - and show that whatever they would have done, they would not succeed. But it was not enough to make this episode feel better.moreless

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0 3
SG1 get trapped in a virtual reality. Will the gamekeeper ever let them out? This one was far below my expectations.

4.0

"Poor"

By xxxBEASTxxx, Dec 07, 2010 Report Abuse

Usually I commend the stars of the show for their acting abilities. However, in this episode nothing is worth commending. While in a beautiful garden planet, SG1 come across a greenhouse with stasis chambers. They get trapped inside the chambers and are plugged into a virtual reality network with the local residents. The "gamekeeper" forces them to experience their worst experiences (death/trauma) to provide entertainment to the other residents. They residents themselves entered the stasis chambers after the planet had become inhabitable. It is not until SG1 tells them that their planet has become beautiful that they realize that the gamekeeper had been lying to them for years. Aside from a good story, there was nothing else in this episode that is note-worthy. For the most part the acting is fair, with the exception of Michael Shanks who provides such a poor performance while he re-lives the experience of his parents death. The only scene in the episode that was done terribly was the scene of the death of Jackson's parents. The set, acting, and entire premise of the scene were unconvincing and - even by scifi standards - unrealistic. There is no plot development in this episode, so this is definitely one episode that can be skipped.moreless

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0 4
SG-1 gets trapped in their own memories for the amusement of a civilization in stasis.

10

"Perfect"

By MurrayTheJaffa, Sep 02, 2008 Report Abuse

I loved this episode. It does a good job of fleshing out the past of Daniel and Jack. The concept is not particularly new, but it is executed in an interesting, new way. The episode also had a good amount of action which I always enjoy. Jack's performance was especially compelling, and basically takes command of the episode( as you might expect), and leads the team in uncovering the deception of the Keeper. The Keeper was also a funny character in a strange sort of way. It was a very intriguing episode overall and always managed to keep my interest.moreless

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1 1
SG-1 travel to P7J-989, where they discover a dome full of strange metallic chambers. As SG-1 inspects the chambers, they are trapped and knocked unconscious.

8.4

"Great"

By SGC_Marine, Mar 11, 2008 Report Abuse

Very cool episode. I immediately knew this one was going to be good when Kowalsky appeared! SG-1 is forced to live out the most painful moments of their lives over and over again as their minds are controled by the "Gamekeeper". It was a clever idea and a great way to dig in deeper into O'Neill's and Daniel's past. The way the episode ended was a little cheesy but whatever. A great O'Niell moment here too after they supposedly got back to the SGC and duringh debrief, Hammond orders them to go back:

Jack: General, without meaning, this time, to sound like a smartass, are you cracked?

Classic. Overall, great episode.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- When Teal'c and Jack are living the mission over and over again, two of the other soldiers are carrying M4A1 assault rifles. Jack said that the mission happened in 1982 but M4A1 assault rifles were not made until 1994. Edit
- When Colonel Michaels is looking through his binoculars before the first assault on the house there is a sign behind him reading "Schloss" (German for "castle"). It should read "Schloß" as the mission happened in 1982 before the German spelling reform of 1996 when the spelling was changed from "Schloß" to "Schloss." Edit
- Don S. Davis clearly says "tacknology" instead of "technology" during the fake debriefing. Edit
Notes
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- Gillian Barber, who appears here as one of the Residents, would later play the recurring role of Ambassador/First Minister Dreylock from Jonas' planet Kelowna. Edit
- Both the Tin Man and Gamekeeper's planets are given a designation ending in "989", and both consist of moving the team to some form of virtual living. Edit
- Robert Duncan would later play the title character in the episode "Seth". Edit
Quotes
ADD QUOTES
- Jack: General, without meaning, this time, to sound like a smartass, are you cracked? Edit
- (SG-1 pops out the Gate in the middle of a beautiful garden) Sam: This is beautiful. Jack: Yeah... but where there's a garden, there's snakes. Daniel: And flowers. (sneezes) Way too many flowers. Edit
Allusions
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