Touchstone

Plot: SG-1 work to recover a weather controlling device (the Touchstone) that has been stolen from another planet. Witnesses claim the thieves were wearing SG-C uniforms, leading to an investigation within the SG-C and related bases.


While this isn't a terrible episode, it isn't particularly thrilling. I'd say that it's an interesting premise that doesn't quite come off right.

After learning of the Touchstone's theft, Sam investigates recent gate activity, finding evidence that the 2nd gate may have been activated. SG-1 travel to Area 51, where the 2nd gate is being kept and where all of the recovered artifacts are sent for study. It was quite an interesting revelation, showing the scale of operation that is generated by the SG teams' trips through the gate. SG-1 are met by Colonel Maybourne, who gladly shows them the Gate in order to prove that he had nothing to do with the disappearance of the device. He's left a bit red faced though, as the gate at Area 51 turns out to be plastic. Jack speculates on the punishment for losing a Stargate. Keel-hauling sounds appropriate to me. ;)

The situation grows more desperate as the planet that is missing its weather controlling device begins being destroyed by adverse weather conditions. The device is also having an effect on Earth, causing flooding across the US.

In the end, SG-1 send a MALP through to the 2nd gate in order to get a GPS reading. It leads them to an off the records base in Southern Utah. They engage in a covert mission to infiltrate the base. They find the Gate, but the men looking after it escape through it to an unknown address. Along with the 2nd Gate, they also recover the Touchstone and return it to the planet. After all these shenanigans, Hammond makes sure that a permanent iris is placed over the Gate and that it is put under his command. Smart move.

I figure there are a couple of themes to discuss here. Firstly, ethics. Hammond mentions that there were two opposing thoughts on the SG-C's mandate when it was being set up. One of those thoughts was that SG-teams should recover technology regardless of the effect that it would have on the indigenous populations. It's clear that this one lost out, but it's interesting to consider how that could ever be justified in the first place, and whether future circumstances could bring a change of opinion about it. Could Earth's 6 billion inhabitants be left to die while a settlement of a few thousand people on an alien world lives with something that could prevent the deaths on Earth?

The other theme is opposing forces within the government and military, each seeking to benefit in different ways from the Stargate. I've discussed this before, but this episode seems to add another level to it. It's not just power players like Maybourne that are causing trouble with their dubious ethics anymore. This episode suggests that civilian organisations may also be involved in attempting to exploit the Gate's resources. Civilian organisations are certainly much less culpable to the ideals of the US government and may be down right evil. I'm sure we'll see how this plays out in future episodes.

I rated this episode a couple of years ago. I think I'll stick with that initial assessment.

6 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

Enigma

Plot: SG-1 arrives on a planet where a current cataclysmic event has left several people fighting for their lives around the Stargate. SG-1 take them back to the SGC, where it is discovered that they are part of a high developed civilisation, the Tollan. The SGC must fight to prevent the NID from taking them away for study.


Enigma is an intellectually satisfying episode that shows the Stargate programme's first contact with a clearly technologically superior civilisation. It turns out their world had been destroyed after a series of events had played out that started with them sharing their technology with a less advanced neighbouring planet. Understandably, they were a little cagey about sharing with the primitive Earth people. It was stimulating to see SG-1 try to learn as much as they could from the Tollan, all in good faith.

Their leader, Omoc, was played by Tobin Bell, of Saw fame. He's been in several other TV shows in recent years, notably 24 and Alias. I don't think there's even been a character actor that could play a mean, arrogant bastard as well as him. He was in fine form as Omoc, spending most of the episode looking down his nose at the regular cast members.

Also in the group was Narim, who has quite a thing for our Sam Carter. He's a bit more open with them, explaining how Quantum Physics is elementary science and how much he loves her, and his new cat. He's the first of Sam's love interests and we'll see him again as she rampages her way across the galaxy, leaving a man at every port. Narim is played by Garwin Sanford, who appears in a couple of episodes of Atlantis as Dr. Weir's fiancee.

That's not all. We're introduced for the first time to Colonel Maybourne. He's immediately up to his tricks as he seeks to take the Tollan away for study. He's easy to dislike and plays up well to the role that he's been set. Maybourne is a name that's easy to say with disdain, which Jack does so well. The obvious highlight of the episode saw General Hammond pulling rank to put Maybourne in his place, if only briefly.

In the end, the Tollan go through the gate to live with The Nox (remember them?). Lya shows up to escort them to the Nox homeworld, as Maybourne is desperately trying to hold on to them. Fortunately, Lya pulls off some seriously cool shit as she opens a wormhole back to the Nox homeworld without having to manually dial the gate. It's a cool trick that I don't think we see again.

This episode triumphs in reprising a couple of plot lines that were laid carefully at the beginning of the season. The Tollan and Maybourne are a couple of new ones that are added to a nice little pot of plots. SG-1 is really hitting its stride at this point as it quickly rattles towards that first end of season finale.

8 out of 10