Three loud cheers for Ben Browder and Claudia Black.

With the first half of its ninth season winding down, the news from "Stargate SG-1" is both good and bad. That the positive certainly outweighs the negative has much to do with the addition of these two fine actors to the cast.

Adding to past departures of series stalwarts Don S. Davis (Gen. Hammond) and Teryl Rothery (Dr. Fraser), the exit of star Richard Dean Anderson this year perhaps presented the dependable "Stargate" with its most challenging season to date. Series producers faced the test of adapting to the changes, yet maintaining the same quality look and feel" to the series that has made it one of the consistently great science fiction shows of all time.

In other words, would the show's powers-that-be able to keep "Stargate" from "jumping the shark?"

Thanks to the skilled use of the former "Farscape" stars, "Stargate" seems to have avoided the ignominious fate that befalls so many aging series.

Let's start with the good news.

The expansion of Black's Vala as a recurring character (she originated the role last year as a guest star), and the introduction of Browder's Col. Cameron Mitchell has been done in a way that adds to, rather than detracts, from both the established "Stargate" franchise and its seasoned players.

Credit for that goes to the show's writers, producers, and the actors themselves.

If they were lesser talents, Browder and Black could easily think, "This is our show now. It's all about us."

Instead, they've integrated themselves into the overall ensemble, and through playing off the other actors, they've gotten chances to shine.

In fact, Mitchell's initial storyline of re-assembling the SG-1 team--"putting the band back together"--smartly let the new guy pay homage to our old heroes.

Also, with so much chemistry built between Browder and Black on "Farscape," it would have been easy to let the two of them pick up where they left off on "Stargate."

However, thankfully, Browder's Mitchell and Black's Vala, aren't clones of their respective John Crichton and Aeryn Sun "Farscape" personae.

In the role of Mitchell, Browder has filled the wise-ass void left by Anderson and his Jack O'Neill character. But it has been the free-spirited, bouncy Vala, particularly, which has been a far cry from the intense Aeryn Sun. In the process, Black has added new energy and a new dimension to "Stargate SG-1" this year.

If anything, Vala cries out to become a permanent member of the SG-1 team, and hopefully the producers will hire Black on as a regular next year.

I also have to disagree with fans who think Browder and his character have been underused in any way this season. It was up to him to put SG-1 back together, and he's led the off-world missions. No, he's not the star, but he's certainly been among equals within the ensemble, and he's been a joy to watch.

Now, the bad news. Despite its successes, the ninth season hasn't been without mistakes.

Yes, the Ori are religious zealots. We get that. But episode after episode has left us with just more preaching. Enough. More than enough. When "Stargate" began in its first season, it dropped us right into the middle of the fight against the Go'uld and let us along for the ride.

By contrast, the introduction of the Ori as the new villains has been painfully slow and ponderous. I'm still waiting for the real fun to start again.

The Daniel Jackson fans are sure to have been ecstatic with his role this year, but where is our favorite Jaffa?

Christopher Judge and Teal'c are sorely missed, and the writers and producers need to get him into more of the action. We need to see him raise his eyebrow more than just now and again.

A former entertainment journalist, Scott Nance is a member of the USS Chesapeake, an independent science-fiction and Star Trek club in the Washington, D.C., area. He is a columnist for Airlock Alpha, and can be reached at scottnance@airlockalpha.com.