Like many people, I was mesmerized by the movie Stargate when it appeared on big screens around the country back in 1994. It linked many tales and fables, and even a smidgen of history, into a cohesive fiction that makes you stop and think, if even just for a moment.

What if the technology the Egyptians used to build the Great Pyramids was actually taught to them by extraterrestrials? And what if, somewhere buried in the shifting sands of the Eastern Sahara is a doorway to other worlds? What mysteries might we find? What treasures might we discover? What horrors awaits?

Hey! Sounds like a great plot for a TV series, doesn't it? The folks at MGM and Showtime (The premium cable channel) thought so, and they created Stargate SG-1 back in 1997. The show has been on the air for 10 seasons now, moving from Showtime to the SciFi Channel here in the U.S. where it has enjoyed a faithful following of fans.

I never got into Stargate SG-1 for some reason. Perhaps at various times when I could have watched I preferred spending time with the Star Trek franchise; Voyager and Enterprise were my favorite SciFi shows around 2000 - 2001 and I had little time to catch-up on the goings-on in SG-1.

Well, I guess it was my loss because SG-1 is in its final season. Of course there will be reruns aired forever, but there's something about watching episodes that are new.

Even so, whether you are a fan or someone, like me, with a cursory interest in SG-1, you'll likely enjoy Behind The Mythology of Stargate SG-1, one of this week's free download on the iTunes Store.

Behind The Mythology has interviews with the show's stars, producer Robert Cooper, and others and explores the ideology behind the series. It's actually very interesting. It makes me wish there actually was a stargate buried in the Sahara.

Moving on from good fiction to bad reality, another iTunes Store freebie this week is an episode of Shear Genius, a reality show that centers on competing hair stylists.

Umm...why?

Hairstylists? Are they going to create a reality show about manicurists as well?

Don't get me wrong, the jobs that people do can be interesting and all, and I'm not belittling stylists or manicurists -- they do make our world a better place. What bugs me is the length at which the creators of these shows will go to to find an audience.

If you are not a stylist, would you really care about a show based on competing stylists? How about competing fashion designers? Maybe competing corporate executives strikes your fancy.

It's all a load of horse hooey, if you ask me. Yeah, I could be putting on a snobbish air, but my snobbery is of the equal opportunity type; I don't like ANY reality shows.

I did give the free episode, First Cut, a watch (as required by my editor. Curse you Bryan!) and I'm happy to report that if you've watched one reality show, you've seen this one; they are all becoming formalistic. The only difference is that instead of designing clothes for rail-thin models or selling hotdogs on Walls Street, these people are creating hairstyles. At any rate these shows are hardly about the tasks, they're about the people in them, and the more friction there is between the contestants the better. Nothing says good TV watching like a hissy-fit between two prima donnas.

There is one thing I can say that is positive about these shows: The contestants are actually doing something. Be they garbage men, personal trainers, or starving artists, win or lose they have gotten up off the couch and stepped up to the plate for a turn at life, albeit a tightly controlled and highly televised version of life. Still, they've done it or are doing it and that is a good thing.

I say stop watching reality shows and go out and make your own reality. You'll find that it is far more interesting and satisfying because it is all about you and yours. And when you find that you have a few minutes to kill download and watch Shear Genius. Maybe it can give you a few pointers on really living. Maybe not.

Last, but certainly not least, I'd like to direct your attention to another freebie found on the iTunes Store, and other places around the Web; Happy Tree Friends.

Happy Tree Friends

My daughter introduced me to Happy Tree Friends a few years back and I can't say that I'm a huge fan, but I get the humor, and you might too.

Happy Tree Friends, as well as other cartoons with violence as the main theme, may be seen as a problem in our society, but I don't think so. The antics in Happy Tree Friends is so exaggerated that it cannot be interpreted as anything but humor. It may not be appropriate humor for some, however, but it is available, for free, on iTunes and from other places around the Web.

Other freebies at the iTunes Store (with direct links):