Jonathan Glassner Movies

Fox's Standoff was one of several series from the 2006-2007 TV season that were built around hostage situations. The protagonists were a pair of FBI agents working out of the "Crisis Negotiation Unit," Emily Lehman (Rosemarie DeWitt) and Matt Flannery (Ron Livingston). Experts at defusing tense hostage crises, Emily and Matt were less successful coping with their personal problems, most of which stemmed from the fact that they were sleeping together, which Matt tactlessly revealed to one and all while he was on the job! Since this sort of cohabitation was strictly against department policy, the two agents had to wrestle with their passions even while endeavoring to talk various captors out of killing their captives...and the results were often as amusing as they were suspenseful. Also in the cast were Gina Torres as Emily and Matt's boss Cheryl Carrera, who favored direct action over negotiation; Michael Cudlitz as gonzo sniper-force leader Frank Rogers; Raquel Alessi as intelligence analyst Lia Mathers; and Jose Pablo Cantillo as FBI agent Duff Gonzalez. The weekly, hour-long Standoff debuted September 5, 2006, as a lead-in for the popular Fox medical drama House. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first season of The Invisible Man begins as lifelong criminal and chiseler Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca), facing life imprisonment courtesy of the "three strikes you're out" law, agrees to be paroled in the custody of his scientist brother Kevin (David Burke), who is conducting secret invisibility experiments on behalf of a shadowy (and perennially underfunded) government agency called--well, The Agency. No sooner has Kevin planted a quicksilver-filled "invisibility gland" in Darien's neck than terrorists burst in and murder the hapless scientist. As a result, Darien is left with the awkward gland permanently grafted to his person, enabling him to disappear from view whenever he becomes terribly frightened (which is often!). Unfortunately, Darien now faces the likelihood of succumbing to "Quicksilver Madness" unless he is regular injected with a temporary antidote by gorgeous government scientist Claire Keeply, aka The Keeper (Shannon Kenny). Thus, Darien is in no position to refuse an offer from The Agency's head man The Official (Eddie Jones) to use his invisibility on behalf of the United States' counterespionage activities--if he had refused, the antidote doses would have been immediately cut off (and of course there would have been no series). In the course of Season One, reluctant spy Darien is teamed with slovenly, neurotic veteran agent Bobby Howes (Paul Ben-Victor) and is regularly menaced by the sinister Chrysalis organization, whose minions include terrorists Arnaud DeThiel (Joel Bissonette) and Jarod Stark (Spencer Garrett). Darien also faces the danger of sudden exposure whenever a severe change in temperature renders him visible at the most inopportune moments. Season highlights included the poignant episode "Ralph", in which Darien pretends to be the imaginary friend of a little girl traumatized by witness an assassination; "Impetus", wherein Darien's troubles are doubled when he contacts a disease that causes rapid aging; "Liberty and Larceny", guest-starring Priscilla Barnes as Darien's criminal mentor Liz, who hopes to use his invisibility to her advantage; and "Ghost of a Chance" in which Darien poses as a ghost in order to persuade a South American prime minister to vote against a dangerous weapons system--only to face extermination at the hands of a real ghost! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a trade agreement with the Tollans falls through, O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) is motivated to steal some valuable Tollan technology. Forced to leave the Stargate program in disgrace, O'Neill finds himself amenable to a tempting job opportunity proposed by shifty offworld commander Col. Harry Maybourne (Tom McBeath). It turns out that there is more to this situation than meets the eye--but who exactly are the hero and the villain of the piece? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Resolving the cliffhanger ending established at the end of season two, season three of Stargate SG-1 finds evil Goa'uld queen Hathor (Suanne Braun) still trying to win SG-1 teammates Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), and Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) over to her side -- while the team's Jaffan ally Teal'c (Christopher Judge). In the midst of this tense situation comes some good news; Carter's father Jacob (Carmen Argenziano) -- saved from the brink of death when his body became host for Selmak, a leader of the Goa'uld resistance movement Tok'ra -- has now joined his daughter and her comrades in the ongoing battle to protect Earth from hostile aliens who've penetrated the many Stargate portals throughout the galaxy. In later episodes, a killer parasite plunges Jackson into madness and threatens the sanity of the other team members, which may force General Hammond (Don S. Davis) to kill them all "for the greater good"; Hammond himself later becomes a liability to the Stargate Project thanks to a race of "morphing" aliens; the Quantum Mirror, a device introduced during the series' first season, once again causes profound personality changes in the protagonists when they pass into an alternate-reality Earth; and in a plot right out of a WWII spy picture, O'Neill and his crew come face to face with young alien warriors who've been trained to impersonate Stargate personnel for the purposes of infiltration and ultimate domination. Also, Jackson must make a crucial decision about his future after Teal'c is forced to kill Jackson's alien wife Sha're (Vaitaire Bandera). A "necessary" bit of thievery results in O'Neill's resignation in disgrace from the Stargate program -- and into the greedy clutches of con artist supreme Col. Maybourne (Tom McBeath). And in the two-part "Jolinar's Memories," the fate of the crew as they attempt to infiltrate the (literally) Hellish prison moon Sokar is in the hands -- and the mind -- of Samantha Carter. Likewise offered as a two-parter is the season's cliffhanger finale, in which the Earth is once again threatened with invasion -- this time by metallic Replicator bugs. In order to save mankind, O'Neill and the team may be forced into an act of mass suicide! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Quantum Mirror, introduced in the first-season Stargate SG-1 installment "There But for the Grace of God", is brought into play in this episode. The mirror leads to an alternate-reality Earth, in which deceased Stargate Command officer Major Kawalsky (Jay Avocone) still lives and SG-1's Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) is a Major. When the "other" Earth faces invasion from Goa'uld, SG-1 races to the rescue. But because of the peculiarities which separate the two worlds, only one of the Samantha Carters has a chance for survival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During the rescue of a group of Abydonian captives, Teal'c (Christopher Judge) has a showdown with the Goa'uld Amaunet--who is housed in the body of Sha're (Valitare Bandera), the Jaffa wife of Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks). Unable to console himself to the fact that Teal'c is forced to kill Sha're to destroy Amaunet, Jackson resigns from the SGC. It requires several psychic messages from his late wife to make Jackson reconsider his rashness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This opening episode of Stargate SG-1's second season resolves the "cliffhanger" established at the end of Season One. As the earth gears up for an attack from the parasitic Goa'ulds, the SG-1 team, led by Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), is still trapped on the Goa'uld war vessel commandeered by Klorel (Alexis Cruz), son of the megalomanic enemy leader Apophis (Peter Williams). The fact that Klorel inhabits the body of Skaara, onetime close friend of O'Neill, makes his villainy all the more intolerable. Realizing that there is no hope for escape, the SG-1 crew prepares to blow up the Goa'uld ship with themselves aboard, rather than allow it to descend upon earth. At a crucial moment, a brief ray of hope is provided by the presence of Bra'tac (Tony Amendola), the mentor of SG-1's Jaffa member Teal'c (Christopher Judge). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The SG-1 team arrives on planet P7J989, where they are immediately plunged into a virtual-reality trap. Over and over again, the team is forced to relive (and attempt to revise) the worst moments of their lives. Controlling this phenomenon is The Keeper (Dwight Schultz), who insists that the V-R exercises have been designed for the amusement of those living in a metallic chamber to protect them from their planet's pollution. But The Keeper is lying like a rug--as the team soon discovers to their horror. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, the Tok'ra, a Goa'uld resistence movement, turns down the opportunity to allign with Stargate Command. Meanwhile, Jacob Carter (Carmen Agenziano), cancer-ridden father of SG-1 team member Amanda Carter (Amanda Tapping), is on the verge of death. Things brighten up when the Tok'ra agrees to fight alongside SG-1 provided that Jacob agree to serve as the host body for Tok'ra warrior Selmak, who is likewise at death's door. Though the two entities don't get along, Jacob and Selmak realize that each one's survival depends upon the other. The plot take a sinister turn when a spy betrays the Tok'ra to the Goa'uld. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the earth's atmosphere facing destruction, NASA scientist Miles Davidow (C. Thomas Howell) manages to find a method of survival by merging his own DNA with a mysterious life form on the planet Venus. At first, the Venusian influence bestows remarkable recuperative powers on Davidow's body. Eventually, however, the terrible side effects of the "treatment" threatens the life of every person whom Davidow truly cares about. "The Joining" first aired on April 17, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Imprisoned in a sarcophagus for thousands of years, Goa'uld queen Hathor (Susanne Braun)is accidentally released. Disguised as a homeless woman, Hathor makes her way to Stargate Command, seducing the men with drugs and sex in her efforts to generate scores of Goa'uld larvae--all part of a master plan to take over the world. The only Stargate functionaries impervious to Hathor's "charms" are the women, led by Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), and the Jaffa Teal'c (Christopher Judge). It falls to this tiny but intrepid group to thwart Hathor and save Mankind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of Stargate SG-1's opening episode, Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and his SG-1 team have located scientist Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), discoverer of the ancient Stargate technology enabling Earth to contact other solar systems. Jackson, who has proof that other Stargates exist throughout the galaxy, has for the last year been living on the planet Abydos with his alien wife, Sha're (Vaitare Bandera), and her brother, Skaara (Alexis Cruz). Sha're is kidnapped by the evil Egyptian god Apophis (Peter Williams), who hopes to use the Stargates to take over the universe with the help of the Goa'ulds, parasitic snake creatures who need humans as host bodies. Newly relocated to the planet Chulak, Apophis rules the populace with Sha're (her body taken over by Goa'ulds) as his queen. Though they cannot rescue Sha're, the SG-1 team hope to save themselves and Skaara, so that they can continue thwarting Apophis throughout the universe. In this pursuit, they find an unexpected ally in the form of Teal'c (Christopher Judge), a Jaffa soldier in Apophis' army who carries a larval Goa'uld in his own belly. Originally telecast as a two-hour episode, "Children of the Gods" has since been divided into two hour-long installments for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Called back to active duty by Gen. George Hammond (Don S. Davis), Col. Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) emerges from the retirement he'd imposed on himself after vanquishing Ra, despotic leader of the hideous Goa'uld race, in the "alternate universe" planet Abydos. Word has reached Hammond, head of the top-secret Stargate project, that O'Neill's former associate Dr. David Jackson (Michael Shanks), who'd discovered that the universe is festooned with Stargate "portals" enabling alien civilizations to pass from one plane of reality to another and back again, and who'd evidently perished during the battle with Ra, may still be alive. Blasting off from Stargate Command's headquarters in the Air Force's Cheyenne Mountain Complex, where the Earth's Stargate is located and carefully guarded, O'Neill and his Stargate 1 team, including scientist Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) manage to cross over into Abydos and rescue Jackson from Ra's vicious successor Apophis (Peter Williams). Armed with a map drawn up by Jackson, the SG-1 personnel dedicate themselves to journeying to as many Stargates in the galaxy as possible, the better to protect a variety of alien races from hostile invasion. And thus begins the first season of the enormously popular cable sci-fi series Stargate SG-1. Before long, O'Neill et al. have taken on a new ally, Jaffa soldier Teal'c (Christopher Judge), who refuses to fall in line with his people and blindly accept the Goa'uld as gods. Though Teal'c seems to be trustworthy, the rest of the crew cannot forget that he, like all Jaffan males, carries a larval Goa'uld in his stomach. The SG-1's intergalactic perambulations brings the team in contact with the Shavadi warriors on the planet Simarka; with planet P3X797, where a strict caste system is determined by who lives on the "dark" and "light" side of the plane; and with Samantha Carter's former lover (played by William Russ), who rules Kurtzlike as a god on a faraway planet. In one startling episode the entire crew is actually killed by the predatory Apophis, only to be brought back to life by the invisible Fenri race. Elsewhere, O'Neill undergoes an accelerated aging process on the planet Argos; the crew uncovers disturbing evidence of Stargate activation as far back as 1945 -- but they may never live to tell about it; SG-1 takes the first of many trips to the Planet Cimmeria, ruled by Holographic Norse deities; Teal'c tries to save his son Rya'c (Neil Denis) from being inseminated with a Goa'uld larva; Samantha bonds with a little girl who may have to be killed before she can destroy all humankind, and later Sam and O'Neill are marooned on a frozen planet where she is forced to assume command; and Dr. Jackson is whisked into an alternate reality where all the familiar characters undergo radical changes of personality. Season one ends as all subsequent seasons will, with a cliffhanger that will remain unresolved until the beginning of the next season. In this case, Jackson must alert the team of his foreknowledge that Earth is due for an attack by the Goa'uld -- just as the Stargate Project's funding is slashed to the bone by an anti-military politician. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide