Title: Gift of the Gods Author: Sally Malcolm Producer: Big Finish Audio Narrators: Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson and John Schwab as Lt. Hunter Length: 56:33 Timeline: Set in Season 3 before 3x02 Fair Game

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About the Story/Series:
Gift of the Gods is the first of six audio dramas created by Big Finish Audio in 2008 for its first season. The series stands out on two fronts: MGM sanctioned it, which then places the series in canon; and some of our favorite Stargate actors and actresses reprise their roles to read the first person POV stories they tell. These stories are available for purchase at the Big Finish website for both instantaneous download and mail delivery of CDs. The Stargate Audio Dramas are currently in their second season of production. I’ve had a very good experience purchasing from them in the past and had no qualms about purchasing the second season after my experience with the first.

Synopsis:
The publisher lists the following as the synopsis of Gift of the Gods:
Doctor Daniel Jackson wakes up on the floor of his SGC lab, with no memory of what happened or how he got there. With him is Lt. Hunter of SG-12 – the team that should have accompanied SG-1 on their mission to P2K-797. But now, here they are, back on Earth with the members of Stargate Command incapacitated around them. What has happened? Why can no one remember? And why is the Stargate apparently connected to an alternate reality?

Review on the Story:
Note: Contains Spoilers
I find myself unsure whether I actually like the story. The story is the ultimate short apocafic; the earth is not only threatened with complete annihilation, but a whole alternate reality. Much like the fabled box labeled as “The Gift of the Gods”, the story has a little bit of everything for the Stargate fan: fuzzy yet passable science for the non-scientist, angry!natives, mean Jaffa which don’t get the love of the SGC as potential allies, and Daniel dies again. Actually, everyone dies, but that’s beside the point. The story is this: SG-1 plus SG-12 member Lt. Hunter, bring back a golden Naquadah box given to them by the natives of P2K-797. This box turns out to be a weapon that creates an alternate reality, links it to the current reality through the Stargate, and then blow up the alternate reality, causing also the destruction of the entire planet in the current reality. The story is told from Daniel’s perspective, the Daniel from the alternate reality who is doomed to die when his reality is used as a tool to kill the other one. Meanwhile, the alternate reality SG-1 watch as Jaffa flow out of the current reality’s Stargate from their own as they try to figure out what happened. I like the point of view from alternate!reality!Daniel, but as we sympathize with him, we lose the connection to the real, current!reality!Daniel whom we have watched for the past two seasons. Assimilating the alternate!reality!Daniel into canon for me is a little offputting, and hence the main question as to whether I like the story. I also did not connect with Lt. Hunter, the primary secondary character, and for me he took on too strong of a role, taking the place of Jack and Teal’c especially. Jack or Teal’c could have performed the actions Hunter took without affecting the plotline and would have made this much more a team-centered story.

Review on the Performance:
To be frank, the reason I bought the series is because Michael Shanks was reading the first in the series. He does a great job. I was a bit worried he wouldn’t slow down enough for the listeners; by the end of Season 10, Daniel went from a hushed, gentle voice in Season 1 to a much stronger, brusque voice and over the years his speaking tempo jumped considerably. Michael had the voice of Season 10 Daniel, which jarred me while I tried to remember the story took place in Season 3, but overall, Michael’s reading really brought Daniel to life once again.

Michael Shanks portrayed all the voices for any character who spoke with the exception of Lt. Hunter. I couldn’t help but smile every once in a while when he got Rick Anderson’s particular accent perfectly in while reciting Jack, like his classic “Daniel” whine. I admit I got confused for a moment when I heard Michael Shanks reciting lines from Sam Carter, as I suddenly wondered why Daniel would know about Positrons and Gamma Radiation before it clicked that it was Sam talking. The only real critique would be his portrayal of General Hammond, as he generally missed the mark on the subtle Texan twang.

My Recommendation:
If you are a.) a huge fan of Daniel Jackson and/or Michael Shanks, b.) can’t get enough of alternate reality science stories, or c.) love audio dramas in general, this is worth a listen. Jack, Teal’c and Sam fans might find the story wanting. I’d also listen to it at least twice an try not to split your attention with something else – if you do, you’ll miss a crucial element of the story somehow, I guarantee you. At under an hour listen time, you don’t feel burdened by a heavy investment normally attributed to audio dramas and audio books.

A Side Note on Audiobooks and Audio Dramas:
For those of you not familiar with the difference, Gift of the Gods is an audio drama, not an audiobook. Audiobooks are readings by a narrator, usually as a third person perspective and read not only dialogue, but also supportive narration to further the story. Audio dramas generally incorporate actions and the surrounding story into the dialogue, making it more verbose than a written story or a seen screen script, so the entire performance is the interaction of the characters. Because of the increased amount of dialogue, audio dramas are usually in the first person perspectives and can switch quickly between characters. Here, Daniel retells the story of what occurred as he’s recording for his mission report, thus the entire story is actually dialogue.