“What’s that got to do with filming a plant?!”
- Release Date: 20th January 1999
- Season 2
- Episode 19
- Director: Bill Corcoran
- Writers: Michael Kaplan & John Sanborn
Carter is testing out a new form of remote control UAV, which will allow SGC to check out a much wider section of planets than they were able to previously. However, it loses control and crashes into a strange plant. A strange human-like alien comes into view of the UAV’s camera and they drag it away. Sam says she needs the black box to see what went wrong, which is a six hour hike from the Stargate.
SG-1 get to the UAV and Carter takes a sample of sap from the plant, they head in the direction the UAV was dragged in. They encounter a village of the aliens, who don’t seem to talk at all. There’s something about the aliens that drags the show down quite a bit – the aliens are supposed to be covered in a paint-like dust that hardens into a “second skin”, yet you can see the the spandex suits they’re wearing extremely clearly – from the folds around the chest to the zippers on the back.
As they talk and try to ask for the UAV – which includes Daniel mimicking a plane with his arms while making engine noises – the villagers start collapsing, as though they have an illness. They hike back to the gate and get Dr. Fraiser to come over. She examines them (some of the long six hour hikes seem to get ignored) and determines that SG-1 aren’t showing signs of infection and, if SG-1 are responsible, it’s something that can’t be changed now, so no more quarantine needed. She decides to take one of the aliens back for further testing with better equipment.
Sticking with the aliens, Jack and Daniel start getting antsy with each other and have a wonderful yet pointless argument with each other, with Daniel explaining why mythology is so important, and it all started because Daniel wanted to investigate a plant which seemed to grow and contract. They both realise something is affecting them, so take the long hike back to SGC.
Dr. Fraiser and Dr. Carter investigate the alien, but Dr. Fraiser isn’t sure what treatments are suitable – these aliens have some similarities to humans, but there’s an organ which they can’t identify. When Jack and Daniel get back, they immediately improve, but the alien isn’t. Daniel reviews the footage from the drone and gets worked up again, which gives Sam an idea: this could be caused by a sound just outside of the human hearing range. Teal’c also returns with more news: the plants they’ve been seeing appear to be one singular plant connected beneath the surface.
Analysing the footage, they isolate the plant sound from both after the crash and before the crash. Playing the earlier sound heals the alien they have at SGC. They take equipment back to the village and play the sound to the villagers there, with Carter suggesting they give them some space. Once they recover, they sing to heal the plant – an idea Carter gets because she talks to her plants.
One False Step is often cited as one of the worst episodes of Stargate but I like it. The costumes are a big flaw, sure, but it has a very Star Trek vibe and deals with the consequences of barging around the universe without any thoughts about how you can impact other cultures.
