1969

Plot: A solar flare leads to SG-1 being sent 30 years back in time. There they enlist the help of a young George Hammond and a young Catherine Langford to find their way back home.


I'd seen this before and wasn't particularly looking forward to it. This was largely because I was under the impression that it was just a filler time travel episode ahead of the season finale. Admittedly I was wrong. It's actually quite a lot of fun and full of some really sweet moments.

Those sweet moments mostly relate to the fact that Hammond knew that this trip through the StarGate would lead to them being sent back to 1969. Thirty years ago he had helped them escape military custody and ensured that the events happened correctly again by sending SG-1 through the gate with a note. The idea of him knowing about this all his life and that he never knew if they ever made it back is quite an interesting one. For all he knew, this was the last time he'd see SG-1 but couldn't risk warning them for risk of damaging the time line.

Having tracked down the Gate, which was in storage in Washington D.C., SG-1 are able to dial back out. Unfortunately, they come under fire from base guards and have to jump through the gate ahead of schedule. This sends them far in to the future where they meet a 70-80 year old Cassandra. She's not able to tell them anything, but is able to send them back to their correct time. She even has one of those cool Nox dialling devices!

While in 1969, SG-1 are aided by a hippy couple in a grotesque love bus. They're sweet if unexceptional and help SG-1 to cross the country in search of Catherine Langford who can point them in the direction of the Gate. It's interesting that she acknowledges the incident that left her partner Ernest stranded on an alien world. Though at this point she believes he is dead.

This is one of those episodes that really adds to the lore of the show, by developing ideas of the possibilities of time travel in the show. It was about this time last season when Daniel travelled to an alternate dimension. This works in a similar vein to explore the possibilities of travel beyond simply going from Gate to Gate. It was lots of fun and a fine penultimate episode of the season.

The finale is up next. :)

8 out of 10

There But For The Grace Of God

Plot: Daniel falls in to an alternate reality where he never joined the Stargate programme and Earth is under a Goa'uld invasion.


So SG-1's multiple excursions in to alternate realities and time-lines starts here. This is probably one of the better ones, as Daniel has to convince the alternate SGC that he is who he says he is. Notably, Jack is a General and is in charge, while Hammond is his right hand man, still under the rank of Colonel. As you can imagine, Jack has little time for Daniel and it's left to Catherine Langford to fight his corner.

What I particularly enjoyed about this episode is that it did bear some relevance to the actual ongoing plot. The fact that the alternate Earth is under attack means that our Earth is probably likely to be under a similar threat. The alternate Earth received a transmission detailing the gate address of the origin on the Goa'uld attack and Daniel is able to take this back with him.

It was also interesting to consider what would have happened if Daniel had never accepted the invitation to work on the Gate. They probably wouldn't have figured out the Gate at the time they did. Daniel wouldn't have spent a year on Abydos, which means he wouldn't have uncovered the Abydos archive of Gate addresses. It also means that the team would never have gone to Chulak in search of Sha're and would never have met Teal'c.

As will become the norm in alternate realities, Sam and Jack have hooked up in the alternate Earth. Infact, they're engaged. Rank always comes between our Jack and Sam, but I always enjoyed the very subtle development of that relationship through ten seasons of SG-1.

Finally, this episode establishes that a stable wormhole between Gates can only be maintained for a maximum of 38 minutes. This'll provide an interesting basis for a number of episodes of SG-1 and Atlantis for years to come.

With the forthcoming Goa'uld invasion, this episode launches the plot in to the final 2 episodes of the season in a tremendous way.

8 out of 10