SG-1 explores a destination where a remote probe recently discovered symbols matching a language that Daniel saw on the walls of the alien Rosetta stone discovered by Ernest Littlefield. But the stargate deposits them in a room with no visible exits. When O’Neill steps across a circle of similar runes on the room’s floor, a device suddenly erupts from one wall. Teal’c looks into it and sees only glowing lights, but when O’Neill peers into it, the device seems to grow until it envelops his head, and after he struggles to escape it, he falls to the ground, catatonic. Back at SGC, he seems to recover quickly, though his speech is increasingly peppered with words that no one can understand, until finally he loses the ability to speak or understand English. Daniel is convinced that O’Neill has somehow absorbed the knowledge of the Ancients, a race who he believes built the stargate network. But as O’Neill continues to lose his grasp of English, finally slipping into an entirely alien dialect (and hell-bent on building an alien device of unknown function), no one can figure out what he’s doing – or if it poses a threat to the SGC and Earth.
written by Robert C. Cooper
directed by David Warry-Smith
music by Joel GoldsmithGuest Cast: Teryl Rothery (Dr. Fraiser), Tobias Mehler (Lt. Simmons), Dan Shea (Sergeant Siler), David Adams (Expert)
Notes: This episode introduces the concept of dailing a gate address with an eighth chevron to reach a location outside the Milky Way galaxy, as well as introducing the zero point module. Though the Asgard’s true form was glimpsed in Thor’s Chariot, this is the first time anyone from the SGC meets them in person; the Asgard’s claim that his race has studied humanity may be an allusion to the Asgard’s resemblance to the “Grays” of UFO lore.
LogBook entry by Earl Green