The Stargate SG-1 Reunion Fans Missed
Stargate SG-1 has maintained a devoted following since the series went off the air, and it’s always a delight to see the cast reunite in different shows and movies. Such was the case with Amanda Tapping’s SyFy series, Sanctuary, about “Abnormals,” beings that have been a part of human lore, legends, and mythology but need protecting from the world, when Michael Shanks, her long-time SG-1 co-star, appeared in Season 2. The two shared the screen again, made sure to include a few nods to their time together, and in the DVD commentary, Tapping delightfully never stops praising her old friend.
The Shanks-Tapping Reunion
“Penance,” Season 2 Episode 9, is another “Case of the week” episode of Sanctuary, with Shanks playing Jimmy, an Abnormal forced into a life of smuggling by dangerous criminals. Jimmy and Helen Magnus, Tapping’s older-than-she-looks scientist, are old friends, but in a nod to Tapping’s appearance on Stargate SG-1, Jimmy greets her with “I love the hair,” since Amanda Carter was a short-haired blonde and Helen has long, brunette hair. The two admitted it was an in-joke they managed to get into the episode, specifically as a nod to the fans of SG-1.
Jimmy, as an Abnormal, also has the strange mutation of a stomach pouch, which makes him a talented smuggler, but it also makes him resemble the abdominal pouch of Stargate SG-1’s Jaffa. Though the Jaffa housed a Gou’ald larva in their pouch, Jimmy tends to carry bombs in his. The Sanctuary ends in the only way it could since one of the decrees in the writer’s room must have been “Helen can never get a win,” after Jimmy sacrifices himself.
Sanctuary’s Perfect Stargate Joke
The reunion of Shanks and Carter isn’t the only cross-over between Stargate SG-1 and Sanctuary, which also included Christopher Heyerdahl as part of the main cast as both Join Druitt and “Big Guy” (never confirmed to be Big Foot, but he’s Big Foot). Heyerdahl played Pallan, the man kept imprisoned inside a dome before, of course, Samantha Carter severs his connection to the AI manipulating him. Clearly, someone thought the two had great chemistry, as the second time they worked together, playing supernatural Exes provides for some of the best parts of the first three seasons.
A more subtle but perfectly aimed joke in Sanctuary’s third season took direct aim at the biggest difference between Amanda Tapping’s two characters: the accent. In the Season 3 episode, “Bank Job,” Helena Magnus has to stage a bank robbery, and in doing so, changes to an American accent, which prompts a teller to comment, “I knew that British accent was fake!” The teller is played by Gary Jones, better known as Stargate SG-1’s Norman Harriman, a slick reference to how the British Tapping used an American accent to play Carter.
Like almost every other pair of sci-fi shows, Stargate SG-1 and Sanctuary had plenty of recognizable faces cross over between both shows, partly as references, but also because both shows were filmed in Vancouver. That’s why there are also a lot of Supernatural performers popping up, and it seems like Heyerdahl, in particular, has been on almost every series ever filmed in Canada. None are quite as good as getting Dr. Jackson and Dr. Carter back on screen together, even for a few minutes; and if you can, track down the Sanctuary DVD commentaries, which are not only fascinating given the unique way that the show was made, but because Amanda Tapping’s enthusiasm for science fiction is contagious.
Sanctuary is streaming on Pluto.
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