“All humans seem strange to me.”
- Release Date: 9th November 2002
- Season 1
- Episode 9
- Director: Will Meugniot
- Writers: Katherine Lawrence
The team arrive on a paradise planet (it’s a good job that none of the random planets they visit are deadly) and it seems perfect, although Draga detects a strange presence. They find a lovely spot next to a waterfall to set up camp, but Harrison isn’t happy with stopping so soon, so he sets off to scout some more.
He investigates a flashing light and finds a cat lady, whom he finds irresistible. He follows her through the woods, but loses her when she turns into a tree – she’s the same species of shapeshifter that framed Bonner in the first episode. Harrison sports a temple-like structure that looks a lot like a Tlak’kahn building.
We cut back to the camp as it’s getting dark, with Harrison returning and acting extremely mature. He says he saw a Tlak’kahn building, and that there was a human prisoner, and that it was too dangerous to try to mount a rescue himself. Stacey finds this immediately suspicious, as he’s not acting as much as a buffoon as he should be. They still agree to rescue the prisoner.
They scout the temple and see that the prisoner is Grimes, the scientist that a shapeshifter is posing as at Starfleet Command. Harrison suggests sneaking through the woods, but Bonner decides on a one man rescue. This doesn’t go well, as he gets knocked out by a goo gun. Him and Grimes are taken to a cell where they find the real Harrison.
This temple actually belongs to the shapeshifters, who say that the Tlak’kahn only let them be safe as long as they do what they’re told – and Bonner and his team are wanted by the Tlak’kahn. One of them turns into Bonner and heads to the rest of the team, saying he got away and they’ll go with Harrison’s plan now.
As Harrison and Bonner lead them through the woods, Sydney talks to Seattle, Ec’co and Draga about the possibility of shapeshifters, and if they could copy DNA. As Bonner heads off on his own, Sydney asks Draga to read Harrison’s mind, and to accuse him of being a shapeshifter even if she can’t tell. Draga says he’s a shapeshifter and he runs off (although she says she couldn’t tell).
A fight breaks out, but the Real Bonner and Harrison manage to escape from their cell, with Grimes following them. Stacey ends up encountering two Bonners and asks them about a fall they had when they were 10. The fake Bonner answers factually, but the real one laughs about how her dad lied to her, which makes her realise that he’s the real one. They all escape.
Back at the stargate, Draga can still sense the odd presence. Bonner tells everyone to whisper who they think the shapeshifter is. Once they do, he reveals Grimes to be the shapeshifter – everyone else said they didn’t know, and he was the only one to make an accusation based on nothing. He turns into a large bat and flies away. Bonner says to not chase them – a shapeshifter could take their place again.
This also makes Bonner doubt that the Grimes they saw at Stargate Command is the shapeshifter, as this one was not the real one, so it could be someone else.
