Rules of Engagement

Stargate SG-1 Season 3 Episode 9 - Plot: SG-1 discover an off world camp used by the Goa'uld to train young Jaffa how to be human in order to infiltrate Earth.

The Camp

SG-1 meet Captain Rogers, who believes them to be under the command of Teal'c and part of an inspection team. Captain Rogers and his men were training to fight for Apophis, it's clear that they've been abandoned by their Jaffa masters since Apophis death. Rogers and the trainees refuse to believe that Apophis is dead.

Problems arise as SG-1's real weapons get mixed up with the 'Intar' training weapons, that stun but do not kill. As SG-1 work to find the weapons in the middle of a war game, Rogers is shot by Teal'c's staff weapon.


Gods Cannot Die

Rogers is taken back to Earth for treatment. He refuses to accept that Apophis is dead, until he is shown a video of his death in the SG-C. After this, he helps SG-1 to plan a mission to prevent the trainees engaging in the final test, in which the Intar weapons are replaced with real weapons. The trainees are to battle to the death, with the survivors being taken on as Apophis' personal guard.


Going Home

SG-1 return to the planet with Rogers and use a device to broadcast a large image of Apophis' death to the trainees. They reluctantly accept that their God has in fact passed on and realise that they can return to their homes.

The Review

An interesting concept, reminiscent of those supposed American towns set up in Russia as Communist training camps for a Soviet invasion of the suburbs. I think a bit more could have been made of this, rather than focusing so much on trying to prove to Captain Rogers that Apophis is dead.

This episode was fairly well paced, with transitions between the off-world camp and the SG-C helping to keep things fresh. SG-1 get roped in to a number of battles using the Intar. The Intar itself seemed to shoot a bit like a BB gun, which made me think that some SG-1 themed Airsoft battles could be pretty awesome.

Not much more to say apart from that.

6 out of 10

Point of View

Stargate SG-1 Season 3 Episode 6 - Plot: Alternate reality versions of Samantha Carter and Charles Kawalsky use the Quantum Mirror to travel to this reality in order to find refuge from a Goa'uld attack.

Alternates

The alternates arrive through the Quantum Mirror in to Area 51. There are some key differences. Firstly, Carter never joined the Air Force and is part of the StarGate programme as a Doctor. It seems that she fulfilled Daniel's role in figuring out how to use the Gate. This probably explains how Kawalsky is still alive. If Daniel didn't go on the Abydos mission then he didn't stay for a year and didn't set the events the led to SG-1 travelling to Chulak and meeting Teal'c. Thus, Kawalsky never got infested by a Goa'uld symbiote.

In the alternate reality, Sam and Jack were married. It's once again shown that they could easily be an item, if only they didn't have things like rank in the way. Alternate Jack died fighting the Goa'uld attack, led by Apophis.

Having two Carters in the same reality begins to cause problems, as alternate Carter suffers from entropic cascade. Following this, SG-1 works to plan an assault on the alternate reality's SG-C in order to oust Apophis, his First Prime Teal'c and the rest of the Jaffa by contacting the Asgard.

The Assault

The assault goes well, as Teal'c removes his alternate and takes his place as First Prime. He's able to stop the torture of General Hammond by Apophis and creates sufficient distraction for alternate Sam to go through the Gate to the Asgard homeworld.

Meanwhile, Daniel is captured by the Jaffa midway through using the Quantum Mirror's remote to find the correct reality. Jack and Teal'c surrender to save his life, but they are all in danger of being killed by Apophis, until the Asgard show up at the last minute.

Teal'c and Daniel travel back, as Jack and alternate Sam share a goodbye kiss.

The Review

Ah, the wonder of possibilities. I love these episodes, where we see what could've been and what could be. Much like the Atlantis season 4 finale, which I've just reviewed.

It's always good to see Kawalsky, this is the last time we'll see him until Moebius though. Alternate Sam was interesting. Much the same, but also subtly different. She gives our Sam a very frosty reception due to the fact that she joined the military. Her struggles with Jack's death in her reality are compounded by coming face to face with our Jack. He does well in a very difficult position and I'm sure he managed to help her through the problem.

I thought the set up of the episode worked well. The first half being taken up with the implications of the alternates arriving from their reality, whilst the second half showed the assault on the Goa'uld. Neither part really dragged on longer than it needed to and the development of an action sequence helped to keep it fresh and fun.

8 out of 10

Learning Curve

Stargate SG-1 Season 3 Episode 5 - Plot: A knowledge exchange between the SG-C and the planet Orban leads to a disturbing discovery of the way that the Orbanians learn.

The Exchange

It's made clear that the Orbanians have rapidly advanced technologically during the past few decades. They have a Naqahdah Generator that they are willing to loan to the SG-C for study. Major Carter works with a young girl named Merrin to figure out how the device works and apply the knowledge using Earth technology.
In exchange, Teal'c teaches a young boy named Tomin about the threat posed by the Goa'uld.

Machine Learning

Merrin undergoes a medical upon arriving at the SG-C. From this, Dr. Frasier learns that Merrin's brain is full of nanites. It transpires that the Orbanians acquire knowledge by putting millions of nanites in to the brains of selected children. The nanites create synapses that facilitate rapid and advanced learning. Atfer ten years of learning, the child reaches the age of twelve. At this point they go through a ceremony to remove the nanites, which are then distributed throughout the population. The method allows the knowledge gained by the individual child to be delivered to all of the people of Orban.

Taking Merrin as an example, she has worked for ten years to study and advance the people of Orban's use of Naqahdah. When she goes through the ceremony, the knowledge will be given to the rest of the population, allowing someone else to further her work for another ten years.

There's a catch though, the process of removing the nanites renders the child a vegetable. They are then unable to be re-implanted with nanites or to learn in the normal way. The Orbanians do not seem too concerned by this, but as you can imagine, SG-1 and General Hammond are somewhat apalled.

Fun

Never when to balk at the idea of kidnapping an 11 year old girl, Colonel O'Neill takes Merrin off the base. It seems that he's becoming quite friendly with the staff and students of the elementary school where Cassandra attended. Jack introduces Merrin to the students, who teach her to play and have fun. She's a little apprehensive at first, but learns all about fun and using imagination when she takes an art class with the children.

When she returns to Orban, her knowledge is taken and spread throughout the population. Not just the knowledge of Naqahdah though, also how to have fun. SG-1 returns to see a very different people.

The Review

It's quite a lovely episode. You know from the start that there's something fishy about the way that the children are doing all of the learning from the start of the episode. It was fun to try and figure out exactly what was going on, before it was eventually revealed about 2/3rds of the way through.

Jack's always good with the kids and it was interesting to get an idea of a way that he spends his time off base. Certainly his fondness of Cassandra had made him rather popular amongst the other students.

Seeing it all wrap up nicely in the end put a bit of a smile on my face, even if it was a little hammy. Jack could face a court martial for kidnapping Merrin, but he says it was worth it to teach a little girl to have fun.

I'm pretty sure that the Naqahdah generator that Sam develops with Merrin's help ends up playing a rather large part in coming seasons. It seems to be a rather powerful device, a decent stop gap before the ZPMs are discovered at least.

8 out of 10

Legacy

Stargate SG-1 Season 3 Episode 4 - Plot: A parasite infects Daniel Jackson, leading to him experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations.

Daniel Jackson committed to mental institution

Upon returning from an off-world mission, SG-1 team member, Daniel Jackson began showing symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. These symptoms included hallucinations of a group of dead Goa'uld's found by SG-1 during their last mission.

SGC medical personnel had little choice but to confine Dr Jackson to a mental institution as he became a threat to himself and others.

Gate travel suspended for mental health review

A review by SGC medical personnel led to a conclusion that Dr. Jackson's medical condition was as a result of gate travel over an extended period of time. Following this, General Hammond took the decision to recall all off world teams and initiate a review of the health of all SG-team members.


Reason for death of Linvris discovered

While being held in an air force mental institution, Dr. Jackson came in to contact with fellow SG-1 team member, Teal'c. During this contact, an organism was transfered from Daniel to Teal'c. Teal'c became very ill soon after, while Daniel's condition quickly improved.

An investigation revealed that the organism was actually a weapon designed by Ma'chello, a man encountered by SG-1 during a mission off-world last year. The organism attacks the Goa'uld symbiote, resulting in death of the parasite and of the host. It appears to cause insanity in humans without a host as a side effect.


Goa'uld weapon wreaks havoc at StarGate Command

During research in to the source of the weapon, Major Carter, Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Frasier all become infected by it. O'Neill and Frasier quickly began to succumb to insanity, but Carter was unaffected. The organism soon left her body and she saw a vision of Ma'chello, informing her that the Goa'uld that held her has already been removed.

This led to an assumption that a protein left by dead Goa'uld in a host's body was being used by the weapon to determine who it should attack. Sam Carter worked quickly to inject the protein in to Dr. Frasier, Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c. The three all made a quick recovery.

The review

I enjoyed the link back to Ma'chello. His inventions did seem to have a lot of potential at the time and it was good to see the research in to them being referred back to. It was his page turning device that was being used to deliver the weapon. One of which was in storage at Area 51 and had been found with the Linvris.

The Linvris were also quite interesting. Teal'c describes them as a second tier of Goa'uld that opposes the System Lords. Seemingly with little success, as there were only nine of them. They now pose no threat at all, having been killed by Ma'chello's weapon.

The episode seemed to ebb and flow. Daniel's descent in to insanity was fun to watch. Sam figuring out how to develop a cure for Jack and Dr. Frasier wasn't. Teal'c was pretty much forgotten about until the very end. Poor guy.

This is the third main episode of this series and we've yet to really see SG-1 out and about in the StarGate network. A great deal of the action has taken place on Earth and at the SG-C so far. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is a marked change from the two previous seasons. It's understandable, as if the show was to survive then it would need to show growth of the StarGate programme as a whole, not just of SG-1.

7 out of 10

Fair Game

Stargate SG-1 Season 3 Episode 3 - Plot: The Asgard warn of a major System Lord threat in the wake of Sg-1's defeat of Hathor. He helps to set up a peace summit with three of the System Lords to guarantee Earth's protection.

SGC negotiates peace treaty with Goa'uld

Having been warned by Thor of a threat posed to Earth, the SGC successfully managed to negotiate a treaty to place Earth under the Protected Planets Treaty. Negotiations had hit the rocks after it appeared that SG-1 team member, Teal'c, had attacked one of the congregation, Cronus. Sg-1 eventually uncovered a plot hatched by a 2nd member, Nirti, to sabotage the negotiations by making it appear as if Teal'c had attacked Cronus. She had utilised a technology designed to fight the Re'tu, an alien race that appears invisible to human eyes.

Having learned of Nirti's treachery, Cronus and Yu agreed to allow Earth entry in to the Protected Planets Treaty.

Protected Planets Treaty

The Protected Planets Treaty is held amongst the Goa'uld System Lords in conjunction with the Asgard to ensure that a member planet cannot be attacked by any of the System Lords. Those that break the treaty face the wrath of the Asgard. The treaty ensures that no member planet can advance beyond a technological point where they would become a threat to the Goa'uld.


An Asgard bluff

The Asgard, Thor, revealed that the treaty was in fact a bluff on the part of the Asgard. Thor claimed that their forces are stretched perilously then by an ongoing battle in their own galaxy with a force much worse than the Goa'uld.

Thor claimed that if the Goa'uld called the bluff then there is little that they could do to actually defend any of the treaty's member planets. The ruse is upheld by the Goa'uld's belief that the Asgard pose a threat far beyond their technological capability.

Teal'c reveals reason for becoming First Prime of Apophis

In a conversation with Daniel Jackson, Teal'c revealed his history with the System Lord Cronus and how that resulted in him becoming Apophis' First Prime. His father was First Prime of Cronus and was eventually killed after failing to complete a mission that Teal'c described as impossible. Following this, Teal'c and his Mother fled to Chulak where he vowed to become First Prime of Cronus' most hated enemy, Apophis.


Samantha Carter promoted

A delighted Major General George Hammond rewarded Samantha Carter with a promotion for her enacting duties far beyond her remit as Captain. For her part in defending Earth and defeating two System Lords, she was promoted to Major.

The review

I think it's fair to say that this episode's importance and notability probably outweighs it's quality. A lot happens. From Sam getting her promotion, to Teal'c telling of a fatherless childhood and, of course, the summit.

Nirti, Yu and Cronus are a pretty frightening trio. All three seem to have a formidable Earth based past, spread across the Greek, Hindu and Chinese cultures. Yu is most receptive to Earth entering the treaty. apparently he conducts most of his business away from this area of space anyway. Cronus appears to be a big mean bear, and we've already heard of Nirti's evil side, having destroyed Cassandra's planet in season one.

All of this makes for quite a charged episode and it seems at one point that Earth might have to give up the StarGates to secure their safety. Fortunately, Nirti's treachery puts paid to that.

On top of that, Thor speaks of a threat more potent that the Goa'uld. Perhaps we might meet them at some point this season. ;)

7 out of 10

Out of Mind

Plot: Jack, Sam and Daniel are awoken in the SG-C 80 years in to the future. They're told that they were placed in stasis by an unknown alien race and that the rest of SG-1 are dead.


Well this was a miserably poor excuse for a clip show. Turns out that the trio were captured by Hathor, who is quietly amassing her forces for an attack on the other System Lords. She was trying to find out information about the strength of the other System Lords bytaking memories from SG-1's activities of the past couple of years. It was all pretty weak.

Teal'c did not appear to have been captured by Hathor and woke up in the SG-C in 1999. He wants to go and find SG-1 who have been missing for three weeks, but is told by Hammond that they've already exhuasted all avenues in the search. Teal'c opts to leave for Chulak. I hope that it was actually a trick by Hathor to get Teal'c out of the way, because I can't imagine that Hammond would really give up on SG-1 so easily, especially if there was even the faintest hope of finding them alive. It also seemed that Teal'c gave up on them, though maybe he wanted to leave the SG-C to resume the search on his own. Either way, I hope it does prove to be a trick, because it's pretty out of character for both Teal'c and Hammond to have acted in the way they did.

The episode ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, with Hathor presenting a mature symbiote to be placed in to either Jack, Sam or Daniel, in order to help her learn more details of the System Lords' activities.

4 out of 10

Show and Tell

Plot: The SG-C is informed of a possible threat by a mysterious boy, Charlie. He tells of a race called the Re'tu, that are out of phase with humans, making them invisible. A Re'tu terrorist group intends to attack Earth in a bid to wipe out potential hosts for the Goa'uld.


Not bad at all. The threat of an invisible enemy makes for some reasonably tense scenes when the aforementioned terrorist group sneaks in to the SG-C. This leads to the base going in to lock down and the team scouring it to find the Re'tu rebels, getting involved in several shoot outs along the way.

It all starts when the SG-C personnel are unable to activate the iris during an unscheduled off world activation. Charlie walks through the Gate with a warning about the Re'tu rebels. It transpires that his 'mother' had travelled through the Gate with SG-1 when they brought Tonane back to the SG-C earlier in the season. Since then, she has been observing the humans to identify potential threats. Having deemed them worthy, she uses Charlie to warn of the planned war of attrition, aimed at cutting of the Goa'uld's supply of hosts.

The Re'tu themselves are Starship Troopers-esque bug type creatures and it soon becomes clear that they cloned Charlie with the purpose of using him to warn the SG-C. This accounts for his rapidly deteriorating condition as a result of multiple organ failure. Turns out they hadn't had chance to properly refine the cloning technique.

So how do you see an invisible enemy? Having a Goa'uld symbiote around helps. Teal'c's symbiote is affected by the Re'tu's presence. Teal'c describes it as severe agitation, but it looks more like incapacitating pain. It seems that the Re'tu could be the Goa'uld's Kryptonite. Shame they don't seem interested in forming an alliance. SG-1 call the Tok'ra for help and Selmak turns up with some Re'tu spotting devices with built in Re'tu destroying capability. They come in handy as SG-1 and other base personnel work to eliminate the threat.

In the end, Charlie's 'mother' is killed and he becomes more seriously ill. The only solution for him is to become a Tok'ra host. For this reason, he travels back with Selmak. I'm not sure if we ever see him again. But the possibility is definitely there, especially as he formed a strong relationship with Jack. This goes so far as him taking on the name of Jack's deceased son. He could very much be to Jack what Cassandra is to Sam.

I think the Re'tu as a threat were very interesting and helped to make for a good episode. We're led to believe that there are non-threatening Re'tu out there, though they may have been majorly weakened by Goa'uld attack. It's a shame as they could have made for a very interesting ally in the fight against the System Lords. According to the Stargate Command Wiki, the Re'tu don't appear again, though they are often used as an explanation for mysterious goings on.

7 out of 10

One False Step

Plot: A UAV crashes on an alien planet, leading to SG-1 discovering a mysterious, docile and mute species. The team become concerned when members of the species begin falling ill whilst in SG-1's presence.


Well this was great, really fascinating science fiction. The race that SG-1 encounter are very interesting to watch. They're primitive, appearing to be communal but lacking any form of social interaction. Daniel's attempts at rudimentary communication offer little in the way of results. Things worsen when members of the population collapse with a mysterious illness. Frasier takes one of them back to the SG-C and is unable even then to diagnose, let alone cure the problem. It becomes more serious when members of SG-1 begin suffering symptoms, though they mysteriously disappear upon return to Earth.

It all transpires that the aliens have a symbiotic relationship with a plant organism on the planet. It emits a very low frequency tone that stimulates an organ within their bodies. In return, the aliens sing, causing the plant to grow and bloom. The crashed UAV damaged the planet, causing the tone to change, making the aliens ill. This is why the alien that returned to the SG-C did not get better, and why SG-1 did.

The mission puts a little bit of a strain and Daniel and Jack's relationship. One of the symptoms that they experience is agitation, causing them to get involved in a couple of arguments. It goes to show that not everything is as fun and friendly as we might expect. Indeed, imagining the team working and travelling together day in, day out makes me think that there might be the occasional clash of personalities.

This episode also raises a point about the damage that SG-1 could do, simply by visiting an alien world. Any alien species that they come in to contact with could possibly lack the antibodies required to deal with contagions carried by people from Earth. It's not usually a problem, as the populations that they encounter are transplanted Earth-based civilisations. With this species being so different - actual aliens - they may not have been able to cope with contact with other races. It's all very War of the Worlds.

This was a really fascinating watch. The aliens were intriguing and interesting and the whole story was very well written. It was a mystery that didn't fully unfold until the very last frame.

8 out of 10

Holiday

Plot: A dying scientist named Ma'chello uses an invention to switch bodies with Daniel Jackson.


Body switching usually leaves room for a bit of comedy. This episode isn't rip-roaringly hillarious, but it does have its moments, mostly due to Jack and Teal'c accidentally switching bodies upon retrieving the device from Ma'chello's lab. It's fair to say that Christopher Judge plays a better Jack than Richard Dean Anderson does a Teal'c.

The main focus of the story is based around Ma'chello. The dying body of whom is played well by Michael Shanks. In Daniel's body, Ma'chello heads in to town, befriending a homeless man named Fred. He uses one of Daniel's credit cards to treat Fred and a restaurant full of diners to a meal as he attempts to learn about Earth culture. Through what he says at this point, as well as at others during the episode, he developed a number of inventions aimed at protecting Earth by stopping the Goa'uld. For his trouble, his wife was made in to a host and he was severely tortured. He feels that Earth owes him a debt and has taken Daniel's body as payment. He doesn't see through his resentment to see that in doing so, he is no different to the Goa'uld.

Sam works on the device, but Ma'chello reveals that it can only transfer identities one way. This means that she has to arrange a bit of musical chairs to get everyone back in to their proper body. Ma'chello dies, but leaves a number of inventions that, once deciphered, could help in the fight against the Goa'uld. I'm wondering if these play a part in the build up to the season two finale and future battles with the System Lords. Admittedly, I've not seen a big chunk of the next 2 or 3 seasons, so it's becoming quite fun to try and piece everything together.

I did quite enjoy this episode, the body swapping was reasonably light and fun, while Ma'chello's resentment and actions posed some interesting questions and thoughts.

7 out of 10

Serpent's Song

Plot: Apophis escapes from the captivity of a rival System Lord, Sokar, to beg for the aid of the Tau'ri. He's badly injured and the Goa'uld begins to die, leading to SG-1 attempting to get as much information out of him as they can. Meanwhile, in a bid to get Apophis back, Sokar begins attacking the Iris.

This is quite a remarkable episode, as it manages to generate a great deal of tension purely through several lengthy scenes of dialogue. With Apophis in custody, there's plenty of chance for everyone to give him the piece of their mind that they've wanted to for nearly two years now.

Jack goes first and makes it clear that he would rather have left him to die. Indeed, it's clear that Jack is annoyed at himself for not shooting Apophis while off world, especially now he's tangled up in the sticky web of prisoner of war's rights.

Daniel has a much more personal stake in the affair. He taunts Apophis by telling him that he knows where his child is. That he was the one that took the child, not Heru'ur. He rather scarily demands that Apophis tell him where Sha're is, or he'll kill him there and then. It's a kind of viciousness that we rarely see from Daniel, but worked really well. The fact that Apophis is eventually given back to Sokar shows that playing the 'I know where your son is' card will likely be a mistake.

Teal'c's up next. He revels in Apophis' impending death, claiming that the day that he dies will become a holy day for the people of Chulak. You can see the hatred in his eyes, a great scene played by Christopher Judge for sure.

Things are complicated by the fact that Sokar tracks down the Tau'ri. He begins bombarding the Iris with subatomic particles, making it get super hot. The temperature in the gate room rises to over 200 degrees fahrenheit after two full 38 minute activations. Sam is eventually able to dial the Earth gate out after developing a faster dialling sequence. I wonder if they just go on to use it by default from that point on. Certainly it's better than the rather sluggish dialling sequence that they had been using. Though no match for a DHD!

The Tok'ra had arrived a little earlier and advise SG-1 to return Aphophis to Sokar. He's already dead by this point, but Martouf explains that Sokar will still be able to revive Apophis and torture him for as long as he desires. Somehow though, I get the sense that Apophis may still have some fight in him yet. I'm sure we'll see more of him some time soon, eager to seek revenge on SG-1 for their offensive action that resulted in him being weak enough for Sokar to defeat him.

As I mentioned, this episode really did manage to maintain a great deal of tension throughout. The dialogue sequences between SG-1 and Apophis are particularly intense and show how good writing can make an action light episode in to a real triumph.

8 out of 10

The Fifth Race

Plot: Jack has the entire knowledge of an entire race downloaded in to his brain. While he starts using over 90% of his brain function, he also loses the ability to comprehend English. His brain is likely to shut down at some point due to the strain and so he begins working on a way to go and get help.


This is one of those truly fascinating episodes where we get the chance to explore that meaning of life stuff. SG-1 had stumbled upon a Repository of the Ancients, which contains the knowledge of their entire race. It knocks Jack out, but once he comes to back at the SG-C he begins sorting it out in his brain. He's not able to communicate or comprehend any of it, but he is able to make practical use of it

There are some real goodies. Jack develops a whole new algorithm for calculating the distance between planets. He adds a whole new stack of gate addresses in to the computer. After that, he develops what is probably a rudimentary ZPM. All of this is with one aim, to allow him to gate to the Asgard home world to find help. Most interestingly, the address to the Asgard homeworld contains an 8th symbol, meaning that it is within another galaxy's gate network. The ZPM that Jack developed helps to provide the additional power required to gate to another galaxy, it's over ten times the normal power requirements. His modifications to the computer also facilitate the dialling of an 8th symbol. All pretty cool.

Jack makes it through to the Asgard home world, where they kindly remove the knowledge from him. There they discuss the four great races and the fact that humanity is on the road to become the fifth one, although they have a long way to go yet. They also confirm that the Ancients built the gate network.

The Asgard do not live in the Milky Way, or the Pegasus galaxy, which was home to the Ancients. It makes me wonder if each of the four races hailed from a different galaxy. The Ancient's from the Pegasus galaxy, the Asgard from the Ida galaxy, the Nox from the Milky Way and the Furlings from some other galaxy. Certainly possible.

Of course, a great mystery surrounds the reason for the Ancients disappearing. We now know that the Wraith played a big part in that.

This is the key episode of season two, the one that answers a lot of questions and poses a lot of new ones. There's a lot more that I could say, but I think this short summary should suffice.

9 out of 10

A Matter of Time

Plot: The SG-C gates to a world that is in close proximity to a black hole. This leads to a team on the planet (SG-10) and the SG-C itself getting trapped in a time dilation field.


This is another of those episodes that explores a grand scientific idea. In this case, it's time dilation. Time dilation is a phenomenon in which an area of space experiences time at a different rate to another area of space. In this case, the planet that is in proximity to the black hole is experiencing time at a vastly slower rate than the SG-C. Soon, this field expands to encompass a large part of the base. In the end, this means that the day that passes for Jack and the rest of the team on base is relative to two weeks that passed in the world outside. Pretty cool.

It all starts with SG-10, who try to gate back from their mission and escape the black hole. The problem is that they're not able to make it through the gate before it shuts down. In actuality, time will have come to a virtual stop within proximity to the black hole. Meaning that it'll take several years for them to get close enough to the gate to walk through it. Having gated back to the planet to try and figure out what's going on, the gate refuses to disengage and, unbeknown to the personnel of the SG-C, the field begins expanding through the gate. It's not long until a team is sent to investigate, having lost contact with the base.

After the gate doesn't disengage automatically after 38 minutes, Sam realises that they're really in trouble. She goes topside to stop a plan to blow up the base, knowing that the gate will probably not be destroyed by it and will instead begin swallowing up the mountain and probably the rest of the planet with it. Instead, she proposes that they direct a blast at the gate, making the connection on the other side jump to another, meaning that they can just disengage it. After some heroics from Jack, it all works out and the world is saved once again.

This episode is notable for a number of other reasons. One of those is that Daniel Jackson is absent for a large part of it, only showing up at the very end. He'd been off on a dig with SG-6. This is one of the first examples of members of SG-1 disappearing off to arbitrary out of plot locations. There's no reason why Daniel couldn't have been in this episode for the most part, so it must have been that Michael Shanks had other commitments to attend to.

We also learn a bit about Jack's past. One of the team sent to investigate the loss of contact with the SG-C is Colonel Frank Cromwell. He and Jack have a little bit of history. It transpires that Cromwell left Jack behind in Iraq, leading to him spending 4 months in an Iraqi prison. Jack has never forgiven Cromwell for this, but he is able to redeem himself by sacrificing his life to save Jack's while they battled immense gravity to set up the bomb in front of the gate.

I think this is a really exciting episode that uses quite a complex idea really well.

8 out of 10

Bane

Plot: Teal'c is infected by the deadly venom of a big, ugly bug while on a mission off-world. Back at the SGC, the venom begins altering Teal'c's DNA, a process that will eventually turn him in to a group of the bugs.


Well, I'm not sure that much more could've gone wrong for SG-1 in this episode. First of all, they find themselves on a planet populated entirely by the aforementioned big, ugly bugs. Their venom turns each person they infect in to around ten of the bugs. Sam calculates that if Teal'c turned in to a group of bugs, they'd have been looking at swarms of millions of them within 8 weeks. Not nice.

After the team returns to the SGC, Colonel Maybourne shows up, much to Jack's annoyance. Maybourne is interested in the venom as an application in biological warfare and escorts Teal'c off base. On the way to Area 51, Teal'c goes all Hulk and smashes out of the van, running through the woods and in to an urban area, where he meets a young girl who looks after him. This is the first time that Teal'c has been out in his own on Earth without a hat. It was great to see him field questions about his brand and place of birth.

The young girl, Ally, is played by Colleen Rennison, who returns in a later series as Cassandra. She is the third actress to play that character.

All in all, this isn't a bad episode, but it's one of those that does little to really enhance the ongoing plot and they're always bound to be a little frustrating. However, that's not to say that there weren't any discoveries. In particular, Dr Frasier and Sam Carter figure out how to accurately simulate the environment of Teal'c's pouch for a Goa'uld. This happens after Teal'c removes his Goa'uld before running off in to the woods. His thinking was that it'd make him die, but it actually made the change come about more quickly, as the Goa'uld was the only thing stopping it. The insect DNA had asserted a new immune system for Teal'c.

It's understandable to have an episode like this at this point, especially as the next episode up is the mid-season finale, 'Tok'ra'.

7 out of 10

Family

Plot: Teal'c returns with SG-1 to Chulak in order to rescue his son, Rya'c, who has been taken prisoner and brainwashed by Apophis.


I mentioned a couple of episodes ago the curious fact that SG-1 assumed that Apophis was attempting to invade Cimmeria. This episode makes their assumption all the more curious as they seem quite shocked after being told by Bra'tac that Apophis has returned to Chulak alive and well. I hate to pick bones, but it seems there was a little miscommunication in the writing there, as no way should SG-1 have even entertained the possibility that Apophis was alive, let alone able to invade a planet.

Anyway. The first twenty minutes of this episode are rather tragic for Teal'c. First of all, he finds that his wife, Drey'auc, has had their marriage cancelled and is now wed to another man, Fro'tak. He's understandably a little upset at this, though is brought round to the idea that Drey'auc should be allowed to move on in order to ensure a better life for Rya'c. Conveniently, Fro'tak betrays Teal'c and SG-1 and is killed by Jack.

More tragic is that fact that Rya'c has been brainwashed by Apophis and wants nothing to do with Teal'c, even so far as alerting the palace guards to SG-1's presence while they attempt a rescue. SG-1 eventually sneak Rya'c back to Earth, only to find that he's been implanted with a deadly virus within two false teeth. If Rya'c bites down hard enough then he'll release the virus, which Sam expects would wipe out all life on Earth within a week. Maybe Apophis should make use of that a bit more often, though I don't know where he'd get any slaves from if he made that his policy.

As you'd imagine, everything works out nicely in the end. Jack suggests electro-shocking the brainwashing out of Rya'c, but Teal'c thinks a Zat gun would be safer. Turns out he's right and Rya'c returns to normal. Rya'c and Drey'auc then go off to live in the Land of Light. It's good to see that the people of that planet are still willing to help Earth out, even if we rarely see them.

Not the most amazing of episodes and it certainly drags at the beginning, but who doesn't love a happy ending? :)

7 out of 10

Message in a Bottle

Plot: SG-1 return from a planet with a mysterious orb. Back at the SGC it activates, pinning O'Neill to a wall and infecting him and the rest of the base with what appears to be a virus.


Quite an enjoyable episode, that does surprisingly well to build a great deal excitement from what is essentially a gradually heating metal ball. Daniel and Sam had been studying the orb, believing it to be some form of time capsule left by an extinct civilisation. This is one of the first times that we've seen the pair properly engaged in some serious scientific investigation. This type of exploration, investigation and experimentation will become a very regular and much loved fixture in the show from now on.

It transpires that the orb pinned Jack to a wall within the gate room in order to try and communicate. It is not a time capsule, but in fact an dead race itself. It had waited for hundreds of thousands of years for someone to come along and take it to a live world so that it could prosper once again. Fortunately, the SGC knows of a primordial planet that would do the job jut nicely. The orb agrees and releases the SGC and Jack from its grips. Not a moment too soon as the quarantine process was within ten seconds of blowing up the mountain. It's not the first time and it probably won't be the last that that particular close shave happens.

Before the orb releases Jack, it manages to put him through something of an experience. Though it made a clean entry and exit through his shoulder, he was still put through considerable pain, as well as a mean fever caused by the infection. Teal'c, however, really showed his loyalty by never leaving Jack's side. We're able to see that a very strong bond has grown between them and it's fair to say that they probably understand each other the most out of the four, due to them both being archetypal warrior types.

8 out of 10

Need

Plot: A princess falls in love with Daniel and uses the narcotic power of the Goa'uld Sarcophagus to keep him at his side.


The episode kicks off with SG-1 scouting out a planet seamingly rich with Naqahdah. The ruler of the planet had long ago overthrown the Goa'uld that resided there, but continued providing shipments of Naqhadah so as not to arouse suspicion that the Goa'uld was no longer in charge. This was all 700 years ago, as the King had been using the Sarcophagus to extend his life. Daniel discovers that using the Sarcophagus when healthy has a narcotic effect, focusing the mind and stimulating the senses.

This stimulation is at a cost though. Firstly, Daniel falls through on his promise to get close to the King's daughter, the princess that has fallen in love with him, in order to free the rest of his captured team mates. SG-1 had been sentenced to work to death in order to prevent them leaving and spreading word that the former Goa'uld ruler has been overthrown. Secondly, Sam has a Tok'ra inspired vision that tells her that the Sarcophagus, when overused, will destroy a person's soul. This is interesting as it's used to explain why the Goa'uld are so evil, when the Tok'ra (who do not use the Sarcophagus) are not.

All in all, it's not a bad episode, though it doesn't seem to quite fit together. The bulk of the story takes place on the planet, while the climax takes place at the SGC, away from the established guest characters. It makes sense plot wise, but it still seemed to make the building of a relationship between Daniel and the princess rather redundant. The fact that SG-1 seemed to shrug off several days hard labour without much effort was also rather curious.

Still, this episode does well to develop mythology in regards to the Goa'uld and the Sarcophagus.

6 out of 10

The Gamekeeper

Ploy: SG-1 arrive on a beautiful, fertile world and are taken captive by devices that generate simulated environments based on the team's past experiences. SG-1 must find a way out of the environment for themselves and the other captives within it.


I've always liked this episode for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it guest stars Dwight Schultz, who we all know and love as The A-Team's Murdock and Star Trek's Reginald Barclay. Schultz always adds an air of colour and quirkiness to the shows that he appears in. This is no exception. As the somewhat eccentric Gamekeeper, he is guide and imprisoner and attempts to convince SG-1 that they would be better off in the virtual environment. Schultz is the second Star Trek alumni to appear in SG-1.

The other reason for my enjoyment of this episode is the chance that it gives for us to explore pivotal moments in the lives of Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill. Both moments are traumatic and The Gamekeeper grants Jack and Daniel the opportunity to change what happened for the better, even if the task seems very unlikely considering the ever changing variables within each scenario.

Jack's scenario is a black ops mission that resulted in the death of his then commanding officer. Jack was a Captain at the time and is unable to prevent his CO from being gun downed by enemy combatants, even with the help of Teal'c. Most excitingly, Kawalsky was part of that mission, leading to a welcome return for Jay Acavone in the role. Jack explains that of all the missions he went on, this was the one that went the most terribly wrong. It helps to explain a lot about his character, particularly his loyalty to his comrades.

Daniel's scenario is set in the New York Art Museum and revolves around the death of his parents. They die after being crushed by a falling stone exhibit that they are in the middle of constructing. We've heard little of Daniel's family up to this point and it was interesting to see how they fit in to his life. It's suggested that Daniel was quite young when this happened. His youth at the time leads to him being unable to convince his parents to move away from the exhibit, they disregard his protests as childishness. We see a lot of Daniel in his parents, particularly the fact that they wear glasses and an apparent love of ancient history.

The devices that generate the simulated environment return in season 8. They're used by the SGC for training purposes.

Plenty of talking points arise from this episode. It's an intriguing look in to the past of both Jack and Daniel, helping to flesh out the characters in much the same way that several other episodes did in the first season.

7 out of 10

In the Line of Duty

Plot: A Goa'uld escapes a dieing man by infesting Sam Carter. This Goa'uld is not what everyone assumes it be, however.


I'd say that this episode is most notable for really putting a new spin on the idea of the Goa'uld. So far, we've only been introduced to bad ones, but it transpires that there really are two sides to every tale. Sam is infested by Jolinar of Malkshur, who is a member of the Tok'ra. Daniel translates the worse as 'resistance', which helps to give some idea of what they're about. We learn a great deal about them in quite a short period of time, particularly how they live in harmony with their host, even building rewarding relationships. Most importantly, they oppose the idea of posing as Gods to enforce slavery upon people.

We'll see a lot more of that later in this series, as the Tok'ra play a fairly major part in it. They'll be an ally of Earth for years to come.

On top of that, we find that the Goa'uld can choose to leave the host if it wishes. Indeed, Jolinar gave his life to ensure that Sam lived. His life was lost after being found by a Goa'uld hunter. These hunters are the assassins of the Goa'uld world and are called The Ashrak. I'm not convinced that we ever see them again, but it's certainly an interesting concept. I think it ties quite nicely in with the idea of a Wraith Runner. The hunter and the hunted.

We also get the chance to catch up with Cassandra in this episode. She's played by Katie Stuart for the final time. We'll see her later played by different actresses, but she seems to be doing fine living with Janet Frasier, which is awesome.

This episode runs a funny parallel with the first episode of the last season, where Kawalsky was infested with a Goa'uld. This is a vast improvement on that episode for sure and helps to set up the major plot arc for the second season, the Tok'ra.

7 out of 10

Tin Man

Plot: SG-1 arrive on a planet, where the only surviving member of the civilisation transfers their conciousnesses to artificial bodies. As the bodies are powered by an energy source on the planet, they have no choice but to live out their new immortal lives there.


I'm at the risk of repeating what I said in the 'This Mortal Coil' review this week. It's a similar set up. The duplicates think they're the real thing, but then must accept life as a replica, while the originals get to carry on with life. It's an interesting concept, but it's a little bit tired now as there is genuinely only ever one conclusion. The duplicates either die, or get sent to an arbitrary out of plot location. In this case, they get to stay on P3X-989 with Harlan. For the rest of time.

It could be worse. Harlan is a charming and quirky character and the underground station that is the only habitable part of the planet is one of this season's better sets. The problem is that it all felt a bit fruitless and I've figured out why that is. It's because this episode wasn't about our SG-1. The experiences that the characters went through will not contribute to the evolution of the ones that we're to follow for the next 190-odd episodes. If the writers had wanted to, they could never have mentioned the duplicates again. As it happens, they show up in an episode in season 4.

So, this wasn't the best of episodes. I can tell you that it was definitely better than doing university assignments, though. :)

6 out of 10

Singularity

Plot: SG-1 arrive on a planet to observe a black hole during an eclipse. However, they find that SG-7 and the planet's population are all dead, except for a young girl named Cassandra. Cassandra returns to Earth with SG-1, where it is discovered that the entire thing was a trap set by a Goa'uld. Cassandra has a bomb in her chest that will obliterate the SG-C and the surrounding area.


Funnily enough, this is the first episode of SG-1 that I ever saw. It was on Sky One way back when and the image of Sam in the lift with Cassandra has always stuck in my mind. I think I was home ill from school that day and it's a strange coincidence that today, when I watch this episode for the first time since, I'm full of cold.

This episode really ups the ante in terms of drama and action. It's a really grand plot, dealing with some really grand themes. First of all, having SG-1 observe a black hole during an eclipse on an alien planet is some pretty awesome science fiction. What's more awesome is the reminder that our own Jack O'Neill is a bit of an astromonist. He gets a chance to flex his oft quiet scientific curiosity to witness the event. Afterall, he didn't have that telescope on his roof just to look at the neighbours.

Following that, we find Dr. Frasier referring to Naquadah by name for the first time. That's the stuff that the gate is made from and it's damned explosive. The Goa'uld plot to blow up the SG-C is a clever one, and it's cleverely written. Cassandra's potassium levels are artificially lowered by the Goa'uld, so that Frasier will have to inject her with some to re-balance it. This then binds with the Naquadah in her system and makes one hell of a bomb.

Cassandra herself is fun to watch and facilitates a great happy ending. She's off to live with Dr. Frasier, and a new -adorable- puppy, courtesy of Jack. We also get to see Teal'c's awesome hat again and I'm serious that I'll take one of someone's hands if they want. :p


This has been one of the high points of the series so far. A majestically written piece, that's beautifully executed.

9 out of 10