User Reviews

This episode really stands out, in a great way -if you're not too concerned about scientific consistency, anyway. I never tried to check whether Sam's theories were sound, but I usually can manage to follow them. Here, I am simply lost, and I tend to think that the script deliberately complicates things so we won't be tempted to look deeper into it. For instance, years ago, "Point of View" established that having two alternates in the same universe would destroy them -and possibly the universe. The risk should be exponentially worse now, but the script shrugs the problem away with a vague "oh, but this time is different".

Nevertheless, I am more than willing to overlook those technicalities because there are so many good things to make up for them. At first it's only an investigation to discover which one of the two SG1 teams is false (easy), and what they are doing at SGC (more tricky). The fun really starts when other SG1 teams start literally pouring in (great idea to have them identified by their gear, by the way). As can be expected, chaos ensues, but once again SGC proves that it can take about anything in stride -which only adds to the fun, if you ask me. So Mitchell gets a great drinking buddy, Carter finally finds (several) someone who understands her scientific rants, Teal'c can hit other Mitchells without risking court-martial... Great use of the comedic potential behind the Multiverse theory, here.

But what makes the episode really special, beyond the sheer craziness it creates, is the reflection on "what might have been". Although we only really follow two alternate teams, whose realities are close to "ours", what they reveal, or hint about, is fascinating and really nostalgic. It is deeply moving to see Janet again and remember how passionate she was about her job. And I squealed in joy when Martouf appeared, even though apparently Sam and him were never meant to be. And by the way, the show once again tantalises us in a really mean way by dropping some juicy tidbits about the personal lives of alternate Sams, while never giving away what "ours" is really up to.

Anyway, the last part, although interesting and well-developed in terms of characterization, is a bit more classic, so I'll just say the plot makes the most out of a situation which, although probably full of factual errors, really offers some good moments.

This episode is really a lot of fun, and it left me with a very simple question in my mind:

What chance do the Ori have when there is a Stargate SG-1 team in every parallel universe!?

Ripple Effect comes highly recommended from me, but for goodness sake, don't think about the science, or any of the plot holes, that the other reviewers have complained about!

I've seen better plots with parallel universes, but it's nicely done. Very good filming with several Carters, Mitchells, Jacksons and Teal'cs and a lot of humor and "what if"s. It certainly was nice (and sad) to see Martouf and especially Dr. Fraiser again. Kvasir as a rather annoying Asgard is fun, too. And of course I liked the hint to the Star Trek Mirror Universe ("You don't have beards, so you're not from the evil twin universe, right?") What is a little strange (but couldn't be done otherwise) is that nobody wonders why they get a team in black uniforms back when they sent out one in green ones. Even stranger is that we're told that a trip through the wormhole takes about 0.3 seconds. Since the camera takes us frequently through the wormhole we "know" it takes longer. In "Prototype" Khale certainly needs much more than 0.6 seconds to the wormhole on P3X- 584 and back, even if we account for a delay because of the "call- forward".

But even if the science in the plot isn't completely understandable or believable (at least for me but I'm no quantum- physicist) and the solution comes a little too quick for my taste after catching the black SG-1-Team, it's a real nice episode to watch.

The last 2 seasons become sillier and sillier. By and large, it is mire about the relationships between SG1 team members, close friends, etc. This is at least the fourth episode with multiple versions of the members of SG1. Enough already. The writers are pitiful.

This episode may cause Entropic Cascade Failure. It didn't happen to any of the parallellelllele SG-1 folks in this episode, because they were too similar. But the Carter who experienced ECF earlier in the series was also from a very similar parallelellellel universe. Who knows? Apparently black uniforms denote trouble makers. The black uniformed SG-1 members are desperate, but not really evil. In fact, black uniform Mitchell gives slightly parallel universe Mitchell some advice. However, for some reason black uniform Teal'c has a dislike for Mitchell. It's only explored as far as Teal'c taking pleasure in roughing up Mitchell.

That's right, the regular universe of SG-1, by this time, was a parallel universe. O'Neill's pond had fish in this universe/reality. In the original SG-1 universe, O'Neill's pond had no fish.

Overall the episode is worthless. It has nothing to do with the main story. Yeah, that's the story in which the Ori invasion is imminent. Sure, this episode mentioned the fight against the Ori in parallel universes, but in the home SG-1 universe nothing happened to further the Ori story.