Episode of the Week: ‘Redemption’

Tragedy reunites Teal’c with his son, who blames him for the death of his mother. O’Neill and Carter launch a risky plan with untested technology when Earth comes under attack by the Goa’uld Anubis … who has turned the Stargate into a doomsday bomb.

Season Six of Stargate SG-1 started a new era for the show: a major cast change (Corin Nemec joins the team as Jonas Quinn), a new network, Earth’s first ship (the X-302), and increasing hints that Anubis had some inside connection to the Ancients.

“Redemption” Facts:

• Young actor Neil Denis returns in this episode as Rya’c, Teal’c’s son. He’s grown up quite a lot: we hadn’t seen Rya’c since Season Two (“Family”). Now a young man, we’d see more of him in the years ahead.
• Also not seen since Season Two: Tobias Mehler, who plays Lt. Simmons — that Stargate control room operator who used to be a frequent supporting player and who once had a crush on Samantha Carter.
• This episode also sees the grand return of Rodney McKay (David Hewlett), who had only been in one other episode. Here he goes from “jerk” to “OK, maybe he’s a likeable jerk” … paving the way for his status as a series regular on Stargate Atlantis.
• The role of Teal’c’s Jaffa friend, Shaq’rel, was originally offered to actor Keith Hamilton Cobb, best known to sci-fi fans as Tyr Anasazi on Andromeda. He turned down the part, which went instead to Aleks Paunovic, who would also go on to play Ronon’s Satedan friend Rakai (“Reunion”). (The same role was allegedly written for a certain NBA star who was said to be interested in appearing on Stargate, but that never materialized.)
• “Redemption, Part 1” was the first original episode of Stargate SG-1 to air on the SCI FI Channel. Thus it was to be many fans’ very first introduction to the series.
• Along with the sixth season (which was expected to be the show’s last) SCI FI also picked up the rights to air repeats of the past seasons. These drew terrific ratings (more than 1 million viewers daily) and helped to raise the channel to Top 10 cable status.

“Redemption” on GateWorld:

• Episode Guide: Part 1 – Part 2
• Episode Reviews: Part 1 – Part 2
• Photo Galleries: Part 1 – Part 2
• Screencap Galleries: Part 1 – Part 2
• Discussion Threads: Part 1 – Part 2
• Season Two Podcast
• Video Interview with Corin Nemec (2008)
• Interview with David Hewlett (2004)
• Interview with Neil Denis (2006)

Download “Redemption” now from Amazon (Part 1 – Part 2) or iTunes!

Rewatch “Redemption” this week! Then post your comments below, or head over to the “Redemption” discussion threads and see what people were saying back in the day. What are your favorite moments?

Each week we’re highlighting a favorite episode from Stargate’s 17 seasons. Watch the episode with us this week and join in the fun!