Category: Season 09

Daniel solves the riddle contained in his chamber, allowing him to escape with Vala and provide Mitchell the hint that lets him solve his own puzzle. Having passed this test, Mitchell removes the sword from the stone – at which point an energy construct of a knight forms and begins dueling the colonel. Teal’c attempts to come to Mitchell’s aid, but the sword passes through his hands – no one else can wield it. The knight gets the best of Mitchell, but when Teal’c attempts to lift him up in order to evacuate him, Mitchell recalls his rehabilitation and refuses to surrender until his enemy is vanquished. The chamber itself then begins to crumble, until Mitchell returns everything to its rightful place and the treasure of Avalon appears.

In addition to the usual gold and buried loot, the vault includes an old text which suggests that the race that evolved into the Ancients was once called the Alterans, and traveled to Earth from a distant world. The team also finds an Ancient device which appears to work with the communication stones such as those that once linked Jack O’Neill’s consciousness with another man. Daniel theorizes that when used with the new device, the stones might allow someone to contact the original home world of the Ancients’ forebearers. He and Vala place the two stones into the device and quickly fall unconscious. Dr. Lam, the SGC’s new chief doctor, reports to General Landry that the two appear to be in something resembling a dream state. When Landry asks the doctor how she’s adjusting to her new position, she admits that it takes some getting used to – even moreso because it involves serving under Landry.

Teal’c returns to Dakara to find that a Jaffa named Gerak is close to cementing his hold on the High Council. Teal’c’s friend Rak’nor wonders why he continues to risk losing his influence by spending so much time with the humans. Teal’c responds that beyond his understanding that the humans played a major role in helping the Jaffa win their freedom, there is the strategic fact that knowledge of the Ancients proved vital in defeating the Goa’uld and the Replicators and will likely continue to be useful going forward. Whatever the merits of the argument might be, they aren’t enough to stop Gerak’s ascension to leadership.

In another galaxy, Daniel and Vala find that their consciousnesses now inhabit the bodies of a married couple, Harrid and Sallis, on a world whose technology and culture resemble medieval Earth – a far cry from their expectations. Their first instinct is to try to fit in to their surroundings, so they join their fellow villagers during a lengthy worship service to the native’s deities, the Ori. A fellow worshipper named Fannis invites them to a secret meeting in hushed tones – their first sign that their “hosts” are not ordinary villagers. Another comes when Vala finds two communications stones hidden in the bedroom. And yet another comes when Fannis shows up at their door, obviously worried about all their safety. Daniel and Vala explain the truth behind their strange behavior, and in turn Fannis explains that all three of them are members of a secret groups of researchers, looking for clues as to their people’s past and evidence that the sacred texts passed down by the Ori are not completely accurate. Daniel and Vala’s odd behavior has already begun to draw suspicion to them – and when Vala fails to observe the proper rituals, the situation quickly spirals out of control. Daniel must watch as Sallis is sentenced to trial by flames; as her body is consumed, the doctors at SGC are unable to save Vala’s physical body or retrieve her consciousness. But more powerful forces may yet intervene.

written by Robert C. Cooper
directed by Andy Mikita
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Bill Dow (Dr. Lee), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Obi Ndefo (Rak’nor), Stephen Park (Harrid), April Amber Telek (Sallis), Paul Moniz de Sa (Fannis), Greg Anderson (Administrator), Mark Houghton (Prior Or Ori), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Silya Wiggens (Therapist), Brahm Taylor (Villager), Nick Harrison (Knight)

Notes: O’Neill and the SGC discovered the nature of the communications stones in the eighth-season episode Citizen Joe.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Vala’s rescuer reveals himself as a Prior of the Ori, and uses alabaster rings to bring her and Daniel to Celestis, a city in the sky. There Daniel has time to study the Book of Origin and attempt to convine the Prior that they’re explorers and not really in the market for a new belief system. The Prior appears to be more interested in the idea that there are more unbelievers where they came from. Daniel manages to arrange an audience with the Doci, the enahnced human who ranks above the Priors. There he realizes that like the Anicents, the Ori have ascended to a higher level of existance. Unlike the Ancients, they want to guide other races there. Rather forcefully, if necessary. The Ancients had apparently hidden the existence of life in our galaxy from the Ori. But thanks to Daniel and Vala’s visit, the veil has been lifted. And the Ori are determined that all will be rescued from evil and led to enlightenment – or destroyed, lest they corrupt others.

At Stargate Command, General Landry interrupts Mitchell’s vigil over Daniel and Vala to ask him to investigate a report from an Earth anthropologist of an unknown missionary appearing through the Stargate on another planet. Mitchell and Landry discuss their concerns that in the power vacuum left behind by the Goa’uld, unscrupulous individuals might try to take advantage of the situation. Similar concerns motivate Landry to invite Gerak to a conference on Earth. Teal’c agrees to relay the invitation and shares his misgivings about Gerak. The Jaffa asceneded to leadership of his troops after an ally of Bra’tac and Teal’c, who shared their vision of a democratic Jaffa nation, mysteriously disappeared. There is no evidence linking Gerak to the disappearance . . . but Teal’c can not help but wonder.

Mitchell assumes his best down-home manner and introduces himself to the missionary – another Prior. When he mentions Earth, the Prior responds with Daniel’s name, prompting Mitchell to bring the Prior back to SGC at the same time that Landry’s meeting with Gerak is going not altogether smoothly. The Jaffa requests the opportunity to meet and possibly challege this would-be prophet, as they are understandably leery of anyone claiming godhood.

Daniel and Vala are returned to their village, presumably to lead the Ori to other nonbelievers. Reluctant to do so, they must nonetheless try to find another Ancient communication device in order to warn Earth. They resolve to set off alone, but Fannis insits on helping them, despite the risks. They are able to make contact with Stargate Command, but only briefly – then the Prior and the townspeople arrive to recapture them. This time both Harrid and Sallis are sentenced to perish in the flames – and unless Mitchell and Teal’c can find a way to disrupt the connection, Daniel and Vala will share their fate.

written by Robert C. Cooper
directed by Brad Turner
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Richard Dean Anderson (Maj. Gen. Jack O’Neill), Bill Dow (Dr. Lee), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Louis Gossett, Jr. (Gerak); Gardiner Milla (Yat’yir), Mark Houghton (Prior Or Ori), Julian Sands (Doci), Larry Cedar (Prior #2), Paul Moniz De Sa (Fannis), Greg Anderson (Administrator), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Stephen Park (Harrid), April Amber Telek (Sallis), Penelope Corrin (Dr. Lindsay)

Notes: This episode is considered the third part of a three-part episode, along with Avalon Parts 1 and 2.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Daniel sees Vala off from Stargate Command, relieved to be rid of a perpetual distraction. When he collapses soon after, Dr. Lam theorizes that he and Vala are still linked. With Dr. Lee unable to find a way to dissolve the bond, Daniel and Mitchell turn to Arlos Kadavam, the scientist from whom Vala originally stole the bracelets. He theorizes that a massive energy surge might have caused the link to persist even without the bracelets – such as that caused by the Ancient communications device. But he will only help break the link if Vala returns another item he stole – his mother’s necklace.

So begins a sequence of escalating deals. To get the necklace, Vala must return a power coil. To get the power coil, she must return a cargo vessel. To get the cargo vessel might be a bit trickier, as it’s in the hands of the Lucian Alliance, a group of smugglers attempting to make themselves a force to be reckoned with in the post-Goa’uld galaxy. Since Daniel and Vala ruined one deal with them, they’re not very likely to cooperate. In fact, they very much want Vala dead. And Gen. Landry is not inclined to provoke any kind of confrontation.

That is, until Vala sabotages a meeting with the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman that already wasn’t going well. With the Goa’uld and the Replicators no longer a threat, with the need to construct more ships like the Daedalus, and with the international community placing its full emphasis and backing on the civilian-led multinational Atlantis project, Stargate Command faces serious budget cuts and a curtailment of its exploration efforts. Frustrated by Vala’s impolitic comments, Landry permits Mitchell, Daniel, and a visiting Teal’c to try and steal the cargo ship right out from under the Alliance by offering them what they want – Daniel and Vala. It’s a plan just crazy enough to work – but will it get them the information they need?

written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
directed by Will Waring
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Bill Dow (Dr. Lee), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Wallace Shawn (Arlos), Malcolm Scott (Caius), Michael P. Northey (Inago), Geoff Redknap (Jup), Eileen Peddy (Maj. Gibson), Bruce Gray (Sen. Fisher), Morris Chapdelaine (Tenat), Darren Moore (Vosh)

Notes: The prior deal with the Lucian Alliance referred to in this episode is Vala’s attempt to steal the Prometheus in season 8’s Prometheus Unbound.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Dozens of Priors have made contact with worlds across the galaxy, spreading the word of Origin. Vala urges Mitchell to take some kind of stand against the Ori, and has a particular planet in mind – a world where, she claims, the natives trust her. That gets Mitchell’s attention, and he gets Gen. Landry’s approval to bring Vala, Teal’c and Daniel with him to the planet. Once there, Vala impersonates Quetesh, the Goa’uld she once hosted. After the Tok’ra removed Quetesh from her, Vala used this planet as a base – it was sufficiently out of the way that it did not know Quetesh had been defeated, and continued to worship her as a god.

Vala’s real motive in returning to this world was to pick up some treasure she had been hoarding. But the others will not let her continue to dupe the natives – especially with the Ori already making inroads through displays of power and healing. Daniel convinces Vala to admit the truth, hoping that it will encourage skepticism. Instead, the betrayed natives sentence Vala to death. Mitchell is able to convince them to hold a maldoran instead – a judicial proceeding instituted by Vala herself. As Daniel mounts his defense and urges the natives to reject the Ori, a Prior enters the chamber. Daniel recognizes him as the town leader who oversaw Harrid and Sallis’s execution, now elevated by the Ori.

At Stargate Command, Landry and Lam have a tense exchange over lunch; Lam’s relationship with Landry, her father, has been strained for some time. She gets a distraction from her family problems when Mitchell reports that the natives have started to fall ill. Vala attempts to treat them with a Goa’uld healing device, but the villagers are falling faster than she can heal them. Lam brings a medical team to the planet, but is unable to find any way to stop the disease. Daniel and Teal’c note that it is similar to the plague that once afflicted the Ancients, and which the Stargate program encountered in Antarctica a few years ago. That knowledge, however, doesn’t stop villagers from dying, or Mitchell from becoming infected. Daniel and Vala use words and weapons to try and overcome the Prior, but it soon becomes clear that only a mass conversion will stem the tide of death.

written by Martin Gero
directed by Will Waring
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Cam Chai (Azdak), Greg Anderson (Prior), Pablo Coffey (Vachna), Nicola Correia Damude (Play Vala), Matt Johnson (Play Warrior), Chad Hershler (Villager Aide), Michael Coleman (Med Tech)

Notes: The plague that afflicted the Ancients was discovered in season 6’s Frozen.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

The Ori send a Prior to a world inhabited by free Jaffa. When the Jaffa refuse to accept the way of Origin, the Prior erects a force field around himself and the Stargate. A minor Goa’uld named Nerus makes contact with Stargate Command. His observational satellites over the Jaffa world are but one of his technological innovations, and he offers his assistance against the Ori. He provides intelligence that indicates the field is expanding and that somehow, the Ori are keeping the Stargate open indefinitely. Vala warns Gen. Landry not to trust any Goa’uld. But when the Jaffa high council does not respond to his messages, Landry feels Earth must do something to stop the Ori incursion. He sends Mitchell, Jackson and Teal’c to rendezvous with the Prometheus and then make contact with the Ori. Mitchell has orders to use any means necessary to stop the Ori, which includes using the Mark IX, a naquaddah-enhanced nuclear device capable of destroying a Stargate. Landry requests, and is granted, Carter’s assistance on the mission. Vala reluctantly joins as well because although the effects of the Goa’uld bracelets are weakening, she and Daniel still suffer ill effects when separated.

Mitchell delivers the ultimatum to the Prior. While the team is on the planet, Gerak arrives with a fleet of Jaffa ships to bombard the forcefield. Col. Pendergast aboard the Prometheus gets Gerak to stop in order to beam the team back aboard, but Gerak is upset at losing the element of surprise and at the humans’ seeming inactivity. Shortly thereafter, the Mark IX detonates. But the Stargate is not destroyed, and the force field expands more rapidly. Gerak resumes his bombardment and demands that the Prometheus join the assault. Mitchell authorizes the ship to do so, until Carter realizes that the force field is drawing upon the energy involved to fuel its expansion. Furthermore, the planet itself is collapsing. Carter theorizes that the Ori are using a black hole in their galaxy to power the wormhole, and are now forming one in the Milky Way to add power on both ends. Nerus has lured them into providing the Ori the power necessary to establish their beachhead. And now, unless the team can stop them, they will build a giant gate in space, capable of transporting a full-scale invasion fleet from their galaxy to ours.

written by Brad Wright
directed by Brad Turner
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Barclay Hope (Col. Pendergast), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Maury Chaykin (Nerus), Louis Gossett, Jr. (Gerak)

Notes: Nerus claims to have assisted Ba’al, the Jaffa, and the SGC defeat the Replicators in season 8’s Reckoning.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

A Jaffa is killed in a hit and run car accident in Virginia. Teal’c identifies the warrior’s tattoo as from a group of Jaffa loyal to Gerak, and returns to Dakara with Mitchell to investigate. Gerak is warning the council against developing close ties with the Tok’ra when Teal’c enters the chamber, pleading with his fellow Jaffa to build their new nation on a foundation of trust and cooperation. Mitchell tries to echo the point, but Teal’c interrupts; the council is not considered a place for outsiders. After the meeting, Gerak denies any knowledge of the dead Jaffa, but neither Teal’c nor Mitchell believe him. Another member of the council, Ka’lel, provides the important clue – Gerak has sent men to Earth in order to capture Ba’al. By doing so, he would sway even more Jaffa to his side.

Daniel, meanwhile, has discovered a connection between the Jaffa, a missing executive from defense contractor Farrow-Marshall, and the Goa’uld-infiltrated Trust. He meets with the executive’s wife, who tells him that her husband had started displaying strange behavior before he disappeared, and a private investigator she hired to follow him dropped the case after only a few days. Gerak’s troops break into Farrow-Marshall and get into a firefight. Soon after, Ba’al contacts Stargate Command with an offer: if Earth will allow him to live out his life in peace, he will obey Earth laws. But if the SGC or the Jaffa come after him, he will detonate a naquadah bomb hidden somewhere in the United States.

On Dakara, Gerak continues the hunt for Ba’al by torturing the missing executive, who is in fact now a Goa’uld host. Carter, Teal’c and Daniel officially agree to rejoin Mitchell on the SG-1 team, and then immediately split up. Carter and Daniel coordinate with NID Agent Barrett to try and track down Ba’al in order to kill him with the symbiote poison. Teal’c and Mitchell board the Prometheus to search for Gerak’s command ship. They find it, but are unable to convince the Jaffa in command to allow Earth to handle the matter itself. Ba’al, assuming the role of corporate executive, holds a news conference announcing a new acquisition, hoping that the publicity will make it difficult for SGC to simply have him disappear. SGC launches an attack anyway, which fails. So Ba’al tells them they will have to pay the price, and begins the countdown to detonate the bomb.

written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
directed by Martin Wood
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Louis Gossett, Jr. (Gerak), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Cliff Simon (Ba’al), Sonya Salmoaa (Charlotte), Peter Flemming (Agent Barrett), David MacInnis (Agent Cortez), Kendall Cross (Julia Donovan), Barclay Hope (Col. Pendergast), Chilton Crane (Sharon), Gardiner Millar (Yat’yir), Diego Klattenhoff (Team Leader), Simone Bailly (Ka’lel), Martin Chritopher (Lt. Marks), Kevin Blatch (Tobias), Adrian Hein (Runner), Ken Dresen (Alex Jameson)

Notes: The Goa’uld infiltrated the Trust in season 8’s Full Alert. The N.I.D. developed cloning technology for Goa’uld in season 7’s Resurrection. SGC received the symbiote poison, developed by the Tok’ra, in season 5’s Summit.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

When Tok’ra intelligence detects a developing black hole, Sam fears that the Ori might be trying to build another supergate. She takes SG-5 to P3X-584 investigate, but quickly dials back to SGC – the team was sent to a completely different planet. Her investigation reveals that the gate at their destination has been altered to require an access code – travelers who fail to provide the code are shunted to another destination. They are able to crack the code, and SG-1 accompanies SG-5 to 584. Once there, they find rings that transport Mitchell, Daniel and Teal’c into an underground genetics lab, where it looks like a Goa’uld may have been trying to develop an advanced host. Daniel discovers notes written in Ancient, while Mitchell revives a man kept in a stasis chamber.

A medical team brings the revived man, Khalek, to SGC, where he claims to have been an involuntary test subject for some sort of experiment. Daniel translates enough of the notes in the lab to know better. Khalek is a genetically altered clone based partially on Anubis’s pre-ascension DNA. He has superhuman abilities, with a level of brain activity far beyond human norms. He has Anubis’s inherited genetic memory, ensuring that he will seek to conquer as his ancestors did. And he’s growing stronger – soon, perhaps, strong enough to reach ascended status on his own. Daniel argues that Earth can not afford to allow another Anubis to come into being – Khalek must at the very least be returned to stasis. And perhaps, Daniel says, SGC should strongly consider killing him outright.

Before Gen. Landry can make a decision, Richard Woolsey arrives representing the International Oversight Advisory (IOA) committee. The advanced Khalek has similarities to the Priors. Woolsey suggests that SGC study Khalek in hopes of finding a way to neutralize the Priors’ ability. If SGC is incapable of doing so, then the oversight committee will reconsider its funding. Even after Khalek nearly escapes once, Woolsey is determined to proceed. On 584, Sam discovers that Khalek will not be powerful enough to ascend without more treatments in the lab. When Khalek overhears her report, he becomes more determined than ever to escape, no matter how much of SGC stands in his way.

written by Allan McCullough
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Neil Jackson (Khalek), Robert Picardo (Woolsey), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam)

Notes: Members of SG-1 refer to the Goa’uld Nirrti, whose genetic experiments in search of a better host were discovered in season 6’s Metamorphosis.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

The Ori continue to expand their influence in our galaxy. SG-6 returns from an undercover mission to report one world’s conversion, while on Dakara Gerak urges the Jaffa High Council to issue an edict that would force all Jaffa to follow the way of Origin. Carter and Dr. Lee believe that the data they collected on Khalek suggests a way to use ultrasonic frequencies against the Priors, but they still need to find a way to implement it. Carter makes a highly optimistic estimate of the needed time frame, possibly to try and impress Gen. Landry. They may need to bear out that optimism when members of SG-6 become afflicted with the Ori plague SG-1 encountered on another world. A quarantine team manages to isolate the main carrier before he can inadvertently infect the now-retired Gen. Hammond, but the virus still spreads across the country at a high rate of speed.

Carter and Lee are stumped until the arrival of Orlin, an Ancient with whom Carter developed a relationship years earlier. In an effort to retain his memories of ascended life as long as possible, this time Orlin has assumed the body of a young boy, making things slightly awkward. Orlin helps complete the anti-Prior device and begins to work on a cure for the virus. He also reveals the Ori’s true intentions. Ascended beings are able to draw power from the worship of the non-ascended. Origin does not lead its followers to enlightenment or ascension. It merely leads them to fuel the Ori until they meet a meaningless end to their existence.

Teal’c and Bra’tac are unwilling to allow the Jaffa to follow the Ori without a fight. They travel to Chulak in order to develop a resistance that they hope will sway the hearts of the other Jaffa, even if it does not affect the Council. A Prior orders Gerak to destroy the resistance; when Gerak hesitates, he brings Gerak’s consciousness before the Doci in an effort to make his conversion complete.

Orlin needs one more piece of data to complete his cure – a genetic sample from the Prior who created this particular strain of the virus. But they must move fast. Not only is he beginning to lose his memories, the effort to retain them is causing significant brain damage. Mitchell gets intelligence from the Sodan that the Prior they’re looking for is on their world. So Mitchell and Daniel bring a team there, but soon find themselves surrounded. It soon seems that nothing will be able to stand in the way of Origin . . .

written by Damian Kindler
directed by Andy Mikita
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Cameron Bright (Orlin); Don S. Davis (Gen. Hammond); Tony Amendola (Bra’tac); Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman); Bill Dow (Dr. Lee); Panou (Lt. Fisher); Ty Olsson (Col. Barnes); Julian Sands (Doci); Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam); Louis Gossett, Jr. (Gerak)

Notes: Orlin first appeared in season 5’s Ascension, played by Sean Patrick Flannery. The actor was unavailable for this episode, so the writers chose to have Orlin assume the form of a younger human. Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. Jumper was supposed to give the speech in this episode, but became unavailable for filming. Don S. Davis was brought in to reprise the character of General Hammond instead. (Gen. Jumper retired from the Air Force shortly before this episode first aired.) Mitchell first developed contacts with the Sodan in this season’s Babylon. The Ori first unleashed their plague in The Powers That Be.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Teal’c confronts Gerak, now a Prior of the Ori, in the Jaffa council chamber, but their argument settles nothing. When the meeting adjourns, Bra’tac believes that the opposition to the Ori must withdraw to the shadows. Teal’c has other plans. He does not believe that Gerak has yet forgotten his Jaffa nature completely, and intends to force a confrontation on Chulak. He will gather a fleet to oppose any attempts to join the Ori, and dare Gerak and any of his supporters to kill their fellow Jaffa.

The Ori virus spreads to Europe, causing considerable disruption to global political and financial institutions. The leaders of the international consortium now financing the SGC press Landry for answers, while Hammond offers his encouragement. Carter tries to help Orlin work on the cure, but his memories are slipping away despite his best efforts.

Mitchell meets with Haikon to plead for the Sodan’s help, but it turns out to be unnecessary. The Prior had ordered the Sodan to eliminate the population of a planet that refused to worship the Ori – a planet of simple farmers, women and children. The Sodan refused. So unless the anti-Prior device works, they will join Earth as targets of the Ori. They arrange for the Prior to be brought into range of the device, at which point Mitchell attacks him in order to test his powers. They work rather well at first, but Daniel eventually finds the frequency necessary to neutralize them. Mitchell zats the Prior and retrieves the blood sample.

Even with the sample, the CDC is having trouble finding a cure, and Orlin is no longer able to help them. Landry asks him to do one more favor, and brings him to meet with the captive Prior, whom Mitchell and Jackson are trying to convince to turn against the Ori. Orlin remembers the life that the Prior gave up to follow the Ori, and tries to remind him of it. But this simply angers the Prior enough to declare that the Ori are coming to destroy the Ancients; he gathers some of his power and infects Landry with the plague before the others can shoot him.

Above Chulak, the fleets confront one another. Teal’c invites Gerak to a face-to-face meeting on the planet’s surface, where Teal’c intends to convince Gerak to renounce the Ori – or, if he fails, to die as a free Jaffa.

written by Paul Mullie & Joseph Mallozzi
directed by Andy Mikita
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Guest Cast: Cameron Bright (Orlin), Tony Amendola (Bra’tac), Don S. Davis (Gen. George Hammond), Tony Todd (Haikon), Jason George (Jolan), William B. Davis (Prior), Garry Chalk (Col. Chekov), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Louis Gossett, Jr. (Gerak)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Mitchell wakes up in a strange home, with blood on his hands and flashes of violent imagery in his mind. Police enter the home and arrest him for murder.

24 hours earlier, SG-1 visited Galar, an advanced world long protected by the Asgard, to possibly initiate an alliance. The planet’s emissary was eager to demonstrate a technology that its scientist developed from leftover Goa’uld tech – a device that allows memories to be transferred from one person to another, with the recipient experiencing them as if they were his or her own. Mitchell is the recipient of a demonstration, receiving the emissary’s memory of a conversation with Dr. Reya Varrick, the project’s top scientist. The technology holds great promise for military and other types of training, so the military is eager to develop the relationship. SG-1 agrees to go back to the planet to attend a reception. Mitchell and Reya flirt with one another; when she learns that the project is being taken from her control, she angrily leaves the party and invites Mitchell to walk her home. They share a drink, and soon after, Mitchell wakes up with blood on his hands and flashes of violent imagery in his mind.

The rest of SG-1 is shocked the next morning when the emissary informs them of Mitchell’s arrest and confession. They quickly suspect that someone has used the memory device on Mitchell. In the interest of diplomatic relations, the planet’s leaders are willing to release Mitchell and send him back to Earth, but he wants to prove his innocence. That requires the help of the remaining scientists, one of whom – Dr. Marrell – is her ex-husband. They are eager to help – they believe that the military killed Reya to take control of the project, and framed Mitchell because he could be whisked off planet easily. To detect a graft, the scientists need to hook Mitchell back up to the device and have him relive particular vivid memories.

Mitchell remembers seeing his father in the hospital, after an accident claimed both the test pilot’s legs. He remembers watching the launch of the space shuttle with him, a point at which his father professed his intention to walk again. The resultant baseline should be enough to confirm the graft – but it doesn’t. Daniel and Teal’c try to go over the other evidence of the investigation, including the blood sample that indicated Mitchell had been drinking around the time of the murder. Blood tests at the SGC confirm that Mitchell was somehow stunned into unconsciousness, suggesting that he was attacked before the murder. But the emissary seems to be stalling the investigation, withholding some evidence in the name of planetary security.

The scientists have one more tool at their disposal – if Mitchell has a memory of similar content to the murder, a more exact comparison can be made. Mitchell obliges, recalling a mission in which he destroyed a convoy of refugees based on faulty intelligence. The new information establishes Mitchell’s innocence, but he is determined to go one step further and find the true killer, even if no one else – including the murderer – wants to know.

written by Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie
directed by Wil Waring
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Warren Kimmel (Dr. Marell), Benson Simmonds (Dr. Amauro), William Atherton (Emissary), Anna Galvin (Dr. Reya Varrick), Maximillian Uhrin (Young Mitchell), Ian Robison (Mitchell’s Father), Brian Drummond (Security Officer), John Treleaven (Colonel)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Stargate Command readies for an unscheduled incoming wormhole when a sudden unusual energy spike surprises everyone. The IDC confirms that SG-1 is returning early from a mission, and they step out of the stargate in their black off-world uniforms. During their debriefing, they mention several details that strike Landry as anomalous. Before they can resolve the discrepancy, the stargate activates again – and the SGC once again receives SG-1’s IDC, this time on schedule. Landry orders the iris opened, and SG-1 emerges from the wormhole wearing green off-world uniforms.

Genetic tests confirm that both teams are the real SG-1, but the green team’s mission and memories sync up with the history experienced by Landry and the rest of the SGC. The green team interviews the members of the black team to try and figure out what is going on. Landry suspects that Baal’s cloning technology may be at work, but Green Carter argues that an anomaly may have caused the wormhole to jump between parallel realities. When additional SG-1s begin contacting SGC asking to be let home, the hypothesis is pretty much confirmed. Green Carter and Black Carter theorize that a wormhole that interacted with the black hole created by the Ori’s attempt to create a super-gate to the Milky Way may have established the anomaly. Now those alternate realities that are relatively close to Green SG-1’s are being funneled there. Landry orders all gate travel suspended, except for emergencies – which still allows over a dozen alternate SG-1s to reach this reality.

One of those teams, whose members include Martouf and Dr. Fraiser, is searching for a cure for the Ori plague. But even a team of eighteen Samantha Carters can’t figure out a way to reverse the anomaly and return the stranded teams to their own realities, so Landry reluctantly concludes that in the name of protecting this reality, the anomaly must be eliminated even if it strands the other teams. Kvasir of the Asgard offers assistance in devising a plan to do so, but Landry is not the only one who is willing to take whatever steps are necessary to defend the home reality – whichever reality that is.

story by Brad Wright and Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie
teleplay by Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Gary Jones (Chief Sgt. Walter Harriman), Bill Dow (Dr. Lee), Teryl Rothery (Dr Fraiser), J.R. Bourne (Martouf), Dan Shea (Sgt. Siler)

Notes: The Ori created the black hole in this season’s Beachhead and the SGC found a cure for the Ori plague in The Fourth Horseman, Part 2. The Carters referred to the black-hole-created time dilation effect that occurred in season 2’s A Matter of Time and the time travel effect from that season’s 1969. Black Mitchell referred to the Goa’uld plot to trick SG-1 into thinking they had returned to a far-future SGC in season 2’s Out of Mind and to the Atlantis expedition’s experience in the Stargate Atlantis season 1 episode Home. The home-reality’s Dr. Fraiser was killed in season seven’s Heroes, Part 2. The home-reality’s Martouf died in season 4’s Divide and Conquer.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Mitchell takes some time off from Stargate Command to visit his friend and former colleague Major Bryce Ferguson. Four years ago, he got a piece of shrapnel in his head saving Mitchell’s life, and now Mitchell has had him moved to the Air Force hospital associated with the Stargate program in hopes that their advanced technology can heal the aneurysm that threatens his life. Ferguson has accepted his fate, however – he just wants to know about what top-secret projects Mitchell has been involved in. He’s heard rumors of dogfights over Antarctica and other crazy things – things he may have been involved with himself if he hadn’t been injured. But Mitchell can reveal nothing.

On Dakara, Teal’c and Bra’tac attempt to dissolve the high council in order to allow open democratic elections for leadership of the Free Jaffa Nation. But they are surprised when their allies turn against them without warning. When Teal’c attempts to investigate, Ba’al’s forces kidnap him. The Goa’uld wants to keep the council in place so that he can assume leadership of the Jaffa and prepare them for war against the Ori, and he has brainwashed many Jaffa to help him – including members of the council. Teal’c’s own resistance is too strong, so Ba’al is forced to take harsher measures. Bra’tac turns to the SGC for help; Daniel accompanies him back to Chulak and Dakara to investigate while Carter prepares a rescue force.

The hospital is unable to help Ferguson, so Mitchell gets permission to use a modified version of the memory transfer device to let his friend live his experiences of the last four years. The grateful Ferguson urges Mitchell to get back to the SGC and help rescue Teal’c, and not feel guilty about what has happened – Mitchell is in a line of work where he needs to follow his instincts, even if that leads him into trouble. Mitchell joins the rescue team, clearly with a lot of frustration to take out on someone. The only question is whether he’s more dangerous to Ba’al’s forces or to himself.

written by Alan McCullough
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Tony Amendola (Bra’tac), Cliff Simon (Ba’al), Reed Diamond (Major Ferguson), Dakin Matthews (Maz’rai), Simone Bailly (Ka’lel), Yan Feldman (Til’Vak), Veena Sood (Dr. Kelly), Don Thompson (U’kin), Gardiner Millar (Yat’yir), Ken Kirzinger (Jaffa Commander), Erik Breker (SG-3 Leader)

Notes: Mitchell’s prior experience with the memory device was in Collateral Damage. Teal’c was brainwashed by Apophis in season 5’s Enemies. Bra’tac helped him undergo the ritual of Mal’sharran to overcome the brainwashing in the following episode, Threshold. The Antarctic mission that Ferguson has heard about originally occurred in season 7’s Lost City, Part 2, and Mitchell’s part in that mission was shown in this season’s Avalon, Part 1. The exploding building that Ferguson mentions was the result of Ba’al’s activities in this season’s Ex Deus Machina.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Jared Kane of the Rand Protectorate requests permission to travel to Earth via the stargate. Earth has not heard from Rand in months, and Kane explains why – a Prior has visited his world. After the Ori plague killed many, including Jared’s wife, the Prior convinced the people of Rand to follow Origin. The Caladonians had no intention of following Rand’s lead, so the Prior provided Rand with schematics for an orbiting offensive satellite of enormous destructive power. Kane fears that Rand’s increasingly paranoid president will not hesitate to use the now-operational satellite to destroy Caledonia, so he has brought a copy of the early schematics to the SGC to ask for their help. Carter thinks that the Prometheus should be able to destroy the satellite, and Mitchell is ready to do so. Daniel wants to convince Rand to dismantle the satellite themselves, so he contacts their government and receives an invitation to return with Kane for further negotiations. Upon their arrival, however, they are immediately imprisoned as suspected Caladonian spies.

Two days after losing contact with Daniel, the rest of SG-1 arrives at Tegalus in the Prometheus. They attempt to beam Daniel back aboard, but the Rand government has taken his locator beacon. Carter and Mitchell initially hesitate to fire at the satellite, concerned that they are signing Daniel’s death warrant. When the satellite begins to power up, they authorize Col. Pendergast to open fire. But unlike the early blueprints, the satellite has shields – and enough firepower to overpower Prometheus‘s own Asgard shields and tear through the ship. Unable to fight or flee, Pendergast tries to negotiate surrender, but the Rand president refuses to show mercy to Origin’s opponents. Pendergast beams what’s left of his crew to Caladonia before going down with his ship. The Caladonians welcome the survivors, including all of SG-1, but the future looks bleak. Carter finds a flaw in the satellite’s defense system that she believes SG-1 can exploit, but Daniel is determined to make one more attempt to get both sides to break past their paranoia.

story by Robert C. Cooper & Damian Kindler
teleplay by Damian Kindler
directed by Ken Girotti
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Gary Jones (Sgt. Harriman), Matthew Bennett (Jared Kane), Barclay Hope (Col. Pendergast), John Aylward (President Nadal), Ernie Hudson (Pernaux), Martin Christopher (Lt. Marks), Chelah Horsdal (Lt. Womack), Desiree Zurkowski (Chaska), Peter Shinkoda (Caledonian Aide), Sage Brocklebank (Rand Tech)

Notes: Daniel’s previous encounter with Jared Kane occurred in season 8’s Icon. “Ethon” is the name of the bird that tormented Prometheus as punishment for giving fire to humanity.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

An SG team discovers that the Lucian Alliance is supplying a highly addictive variety of corn called kassa to several worlds. SG-1 goes undercover to investiage, but Mitchell’s attempt to pose as a buyer quickly goes awry. Their attempt to escape through the stargate is foiled when the gate and the DHD disappear, apparently beamed offworld by Asgard technology. SG-1 is captured and tortured.

Landry sends the Odyssey, a new Daedalus-class ship, on a shakedown cruise to rescue SG-1 while he heads to Area 51 to seek more information from Nerus. The hungry Goa’uld confirms that he helped Ba’al develop a method of removing stargates from the central network, which would give him the ability to use the captured gates to create a new network under his control. He provides little other useful information, but does confirm a fondness for cupcakes before giving Landry an ultimatum – any further intelligence will come at the cost of his freedom. Landry reluctantly agrees.

Odyssey rescues SG-1 in the nick of time, using new implanted locator chips to identify their positions. They’re not the only ones with hidden tracers, though – Landry has packed one along with Nerus, and infected several of Nerus’s machines with a virus as well. This gives the Odyssey a chance to beam SG-1 over to Ba’al’s ship and retrieve the stargates. Ba’al kills Nerus and manages to regain some amount of control over his ship, blocking SG-1 from beaming out. And when the Lucian Alliance brings ships into the fray, the team will have to find a way to get the gates and themselves off Ba’al’s ship before the Alliance exacts its revenge.

written by Alan McCullough
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Cliff Simon (Ba’al), Maury Chaykin (Nerus), Vince Corazza (Worrel), Eric Breker (Col. Reynolds), Matt Glave (Col. Emerson), Martin Christopher (Lt. Marks), Eric Steinberg (Netan), Peter New (Farmer), Michael Suncyzk (Vi’tak), Gary Jones (Chief Sgt. Harriman), Ahmad Sharmrou (Worrel’s Henchman)

Notes: Nerus was placed in Area 51 after the events of this season’s Beachhead.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer