Thought of the Day for TPTB Tunnels  Does anyone else feel claustrophobic watching the show lately? Somehow, the team seems to spend more time running through long, dark, narrow passageways this season than ever before.  Ship corridors (Enemies), ziggurat tunnels (The Tomb), hospital corridors (Desperate Measures), Tok'ra tunnels AND ship corridors (Summit/Last Stand).  Even episodes set on the base seem to have long and lingering shots of people walking or running through the hallways of the SGC. (Rite of Passage, Fifth Man, and especially Proving Ground). I understand we have more tunnels to look forward to in both Revelations and Fail Safe. What happened to the great outdoors?  Trees?  Hell, how about an off-world palace...or even a different office or two?  If I see the team shouting at each other as they move through one more gray cinderblock, crumbling rock or gold-plated wall, I might scream.  Of course, even the episodes that were set on other worlds this season (Red Sky, Beast of Burden) looked like the reused sets of old TV Westerns.  Boring.  Dull.  Familiar.  Other than the "kick-ass explosions" there's been very little that's visually exciting in fifth season. But I really want to know why the fifth season is so full of tunnels.  Is so much money being spent on special effects that there's nothing left for sets?  Or is it just that TPTB are afraid that if the characters spread out into a bigger world, we'll get distracted by the scenery or bored with the lack of action and tune out? I've heard a few theories; the one I believe most is that the writers are trying to make the teenage male audience feel at home by making Stargate more like a visual video game.  But maybe it's Freudian--a not-so-subtle hint that this is the season of the 'rebirth' of the team.  Or it could be that tunnels are easier on the budget. Then again, perhaps it's just a lack of imagination.  After all, if the characters stop and stay in one place, the audience might snap out of the hypnotic effect of those familiar moving walls and running bodies...and listen to what the team is saying.  We might actually realize that they're not making a whole lot of sense.  That they're not the same team we were watching in previous seasons. Tunnels.  Anyone else feeling a need for a great escape? Kelly (c) 2002, Kelly.  All right recognised.  No copyright infringement intended.

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