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

Seth

Stargate SG-1 Season 3 Episode 2 - Plot: Jacob Carter/Selmak arrives on Earth to enlist the help of SG-1 in finding a missing System Lord, Seth.


SG-1 uncovers Goa'uld led cult

SG-1, with the aid of the Tok'ra brought down a brainwashing cult outside of Seattle. The cult, led by a System Lord named Seth, had been recruiting local youngsters in to its heavily fortified HQ. The Tok'ra had been conducting a census of System Lords when they realised that one was unaccounted for. They believed that he may never have left Earth. With the help of Daniel Jackson, it was uncovered that the Goa'uld had been leading suicide cults throughout history.

A swift operation saw SG-1 members Colonel O'Neill, Captain Carter and Dr. Jackson allow themselves to be captured to infiltrate the base. Following this, the team were brainwashed, but had safe guarded against this being permanent by carrying devices designed to deliver an electric shock to snap them out of it. Seth was later killed by Captain Carter, who was able to utilise a Goa'uld hand device.

President resolves jurisdictional dispute

The Air Force and the ATF were involved in a jurisdictional dispute over who should lead the operation to bring down the Cult of Seth. ATF mission leader, Agent Hamner had claimed that the cult was a civilian matter. However, the presence of a Goa'uld within the Cult allowed SG-1 to rely on the President to clear the matter up. In the end, SG-1 ran the mission with co-operative support from the ATF

Jacob Carter returns to Earth to resolve family matter

Selmak encouraged a return to earth having become aggrivated by an unresolved matter between Jacob Carter and his estranged son. Jacob and Sam Carter were successfully reunited with Mark, now a father of two children.

The review

This was certainly back to normal after a dissapointing season finale and premiere. It was nice to see Carmen Argenziano return as Jacob Carter, even if the family matter was rather tagged on to the plot.

The idea of a Tok'ra census of System Lords was an interesting one, reinforcing the fact that there is a wider entwork of System Lords than we were initially led to believe. Indeed, Jacob Carter brough a Tok'ra device back with him to display Ra's fmaily tree. This included the likes of Apophis and Hathor, as well as Seth. It stands to reason that there may be other families of Goa'ulds out there that SG-1 will encounter at some point.

In truth, this episode could've worked really well as an episode of The X-Files. I can imagine Mulder and Scully being placed in the position of the ATF quite easily. I guess an X-Files episode would've focused more on Seth's mysterious powers, his huge life span and brain washing abilities. This episode of SG-1 focused instead on the building of a mission to bring the Goa'uld down. After all, the abilities and history of the Goa'uld is no mystery to us.

This isn't the most thrilling of episodes, but it's one of the strongest Earth based ones that we've seen so far. The way that SG-1 had to work under strict confidentiality to prevent the ATF from becoming aware of what was really going on was particularly interesting. It's a decent concept to roll out from time to time, providing it isn't used too often.

7 out of 10

Into The Fire

Stargate SG-1 Season 3 Episode 1 - Plot: The SG-C receives intel from the Tok'ra that helps them locate Sg-1 and launch a mission to rescue them from Hathor.


SG-1 rescued, Hathor defeated

With the help of the Tok'ra, General Hammond successfully returned his flagship team home to Earth after they had spent three weeks missing in action. SG teams 3, 5, 6 and 11 had initially been committed to the rescue, but failed to report back on schedule. A presidential request for further troops was denied, leading the Texan to turn to Teal'c and Master Bra'tac for help.

A co-ordinated effort saw the SG teams off world destroying Hathor's base. Meanwhile, Teal'c and Hammond flew a Death Glider through the StarGate to defeat defences on the ground.

Colonel O'Neill reports back safe and sound, despite Hathor's attempt to turn him in to a host. Of the Goa'uld, he said, 'she's dead'.

Teal'c fails to rally Chulak resistance

Having returned to Chulak, Teal'c appeared dejected at his people's lack of desire to fight the false Gods in the wake of the death of Apophis. The people of Chulak now fear the wrath of Apophis' son, Klorel. Despite an impassioned speech given by Teal'c, few were willing to stand by his side.

Episode review

So I'm trying a new style for the start of the third season. I've been getting a bit caught up in just relaying the story and not really analysing the episode in most of my reviews. So, I thought I'd try and separate the two, with a news report style to discuss the plot, and then a review to follow.

So I've got to be honest, this episode was as much of a mess as the clip show the preceded it. Little that any of the characters did made sense and a lot of things happened that had little point. Taking Jack being taken as a host, only for him to be put in to cryogenic stasis five seconds later. Sure it served a point to allow him to walk up to another of the Goa'uld pretending to be a Goa'uld himself. Problem is, he only kept that up for about two seconds and I can't really understand why the Goa'uld didn't just shoot him on the spot.

Furthermore, Teal'c's return to Chulak could really have been given an episode of its own. I felt that there was a lot to explore there. Instead all that happens is Teal'c finds Bra'tac hurt for some reason and then gives a speech that no one listens to. The people that are willing to stand by his side aren't even seen again, except in a long shot coming through the Gate. By that time, all of the threat has been neutralised!

Anyway, I guess Teal'c is going to return to the SG-C and he, along with the rest of SG-1 can put the incident behind them. I know I will be.

5 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

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

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

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

Spirits

Plot: SG-1 travel to a planet in search of the missing SG-11. There they find a population of Native American descent, who are protected by a group of mysterious spirits.


For a while, this episode is quite good fun. SG-1 are being briefed on SG-11 and their mission to mine a mineral called Trinium from PXY-887. The briefing is interrupted as the Stargate activates and SG-11's IDC is confirmed. Instead of SG-11 though, a Trinium tipped arrow is fired through the gate, the bullet proof glass of the briefing room and in to Jack's arm. This puts him out of commission for the mission, meaning that Sam gets her first shot at commanding a team. 'Cool', as Jack puts it.

There's no sign of SG-11 on the planet, but there is Tonane, who is a great character. He's fun and friendly and just all round pleasant to watch. He teaches SG-1 of the planet, the Trinium, which they call 'the key' and of the spirits. SG-1 manage to convince two of the spirits, one in the form of a crow, Xe'ls and one as a wolf, T'akaya, to free SG-11. SG-1 then try to negotiate for mining rights, eventually agreeing to let Tonane return to Earth with them in order to view Earth's mining methods.

This is where it all starts to unravel. Turns out SG-11 aren't SG-11, but instead the same spirits that took the form of Xe'ls and T'akaya. After Hammond gives an order to mine the Trinium without Tonane's people's permission, they begin trying to take over the base, by making the personnel disappear. this leads to SG-1 running around trying to find them and stop it. This goes on for about twenty minutes and it's all a little tedious. Eventually SG-1 convince the spirits to leave and return their people.

A point of interest is that the leader of SG-11 is Captain Conner, who we first saw in season one in 'The First Commandment'. He's again played by Roger Cross.

So not the best episode, though it is memorable for one great guest character and for Sam Carter's first command. Cool.

6 out of 10

The Tok'ra, Part 2

Plot: Jacob Carter accepts an offer to blend with Selmak, thus saving the life of himself and his new symbiote. Following this and SG-1's unveiling of a mole, the Tok'ra accept Earth's offer of an alliance.


Well this was much better. A really fascinating episode in which we see Jacob and Selmak go through the process of blending. It all starts by Jacob being filled in on the details of the Stargate problem. Obviously a lot to take in, but I guess that's nothing compared to being asked to share your body with another person. Jacob and Selmak go through the getting to know you stage. Selmak needs to be sure that she'll like sharing a life with Jacob, while Jacob needs a little convincing that becoming blended with a Tok'ra is better than death. It's probably a good thing that he didn't ask Jack's opinion on that! Once they both decide that they want to go through with it, they lie down next to each other. Selmak jumps from her last host's mouth in to Jacob's and gets to work on curing his cancer. All of this took up most of the episode, but it was a very engrossing process, well produced and well acted, so good work there.

Meanwhile, the Tok'ra discover that their whereabouts has been leaked to the Goa'uld, who are have sent a couple of Ha'tak vessels to destroy them. Now if it was me, I'd immediately have pointed the finger at SG-1, but the Tok'ra don't and instead, Jack is able to smoke out the spy. All of this and the offer of more possible hosts convinces the Tok'ra that the humans might just make a suitable ally.

I'll admit, I can't remember much of how this all plays out, so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens over the next couple of seasons. In particular, it should be interesting to see how Jacob grows in to his new role as liaison between Earth and the Tok'ra.

8 out of 10

The Tok'ra, Part 1

Plot: Sam has a vision of Jolinar, which leads SG-1 to the Tok'ra in the hope that they might wish to form an alliance against the Goa'uld.


I think the real problem with this is that all of the action of the story is pushed to the 2nd episode. This results in this first part becoming a rather dry introduction to the Tok'ra. Indeed, it seems the writers really feel that it's important to give the audience plenty of time to get their head around the ways in which the Tok'ra are different from the Goa'uld.

Those differences are pretty clear. Where the Goa'uld take hosts by force, the Tok'ra only take willing hosts. On top of this, they form a symbiotic relationship with the host, in which both entities exist within the body. While this is certainly a better way for the symbiotes to exist, it does cause problems for the Tok'ra, as they are often unable to find a new host when an old host dies, meaning that the symbiote dies along with it.

One such symbiote has this problem at the moment, Selmak's host is very close to death and the Tok'ra offer SG-1 the chance to become Selmak's new host. As expected, they all refuse. Sam is particularly upset as she is still struggling with the after effects of her last blending, including strong feelings towards one of the Tok'ra, Martouf. It transpires that Martouf and Jolinar were mates for over 100 years and Sam feels the love for Martouf that Jolinar did. It's not especially exciting, but it is interesting, even if the scene revolving around this was rather drawn out, even to the point where Martouf asks Sam the exact same question three times.

Finally, this episode revives the plot surrounding Sam's father, Jacob, who is now very seriously ill with cancer. SG-3 are sent to extract Sam so she can be with her father, but the Tok'ra are unwilling to let her go. It seems that SG-1 and their knowledge of the Tok'ra's location presents a security risk and they take SG teams 1 and 3 in to custody until such time as they find another world.

We'll see how this is all concluded in the next episode, which, thankfully, is a bit more exciting. :)

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