Stargate SG-1: Lifeboat

“I will not surrender this body, not at any cost! It is mine!”

• Release Date: 18th July 2003
• Season 7
• Episode 6
• Director: Peter DeLuise
• Writers: Brad Wright

We open up on a crashed alien spaceship, it’s long and mostly intact. SG-1 are looking around inside it, there was a beacon but there seems to be nobody walking around the ship. They encounter a corridor and the walls are lined with stasis pods, and everyone seems to be alive. The ship doesn’t seem to have faster than light capabilities, which is why they had to go for this method. They split up to count how many people there are but a flash of light runs through the ship and everyone is knocked out.

Teal’c wakes up, he finds Jack and Sam unconscious, but Daniel is awake, but in pain and seems horrified – he screams as Teal’c calls out to him. We cut to the gate room, and SG-4 are helping Teal’c bring everyone back. Jack and Sam are stable, but Daniel is still scared, and even tries to run back through the stargate (which would mean death) saying he needs to go back. Fraiser heads over to help Daniel, and he asks who she is and where he is.

In an isolation room, Daniel – or whatever he is now – demands to know what is happening, saying he was promised that nothing could go wrong, and points at himself in the mirror saying that the reflection is not him. Fraiser says that everyone else is also in the dark. She offers him painkillers, and he agrees, but notes that she has no idea who he is (in an arrogant “I’m an important person” way). She checks in with Teal’c and Hammond, who are observing. 

The tests show that Daniel is in a coma, but also at least a dozen other signals – somehow, people from the ship are in Daniel’s mind, and they’ve observed a couple of personalities already. Fraiser wants to check in on Jack and Sam, and Hammond suggests that Teal’c gets checked out as well – but he does not want to leave Daniel. The person inside Daniel gets angrier and the medical staff in the room have to restrain him. He tells them that he is Martice, the Sovereign of Talthus.

Jack and Sam seem to be fine, other than enormous headaches, although Jack is concerned when Fraiser doesn’t say that Daniel is fine, but he’s in too much pain to leave his bed. Fraiser returns to the isolation room as Martice is demanding more painkillers. He demands to know what has happened again, and thinks that the SGC did this to him. When she explains that they’re on Earth, he says they were bound for Ardena, and is worried about the other passengers being concerned. Fraiser tries to tell him that some are inside him when he stops mid sentence and asks (in a different manner of speaking) what’s happening.

This seems to be a new personality, one that doesn’t panic as much, recognising he’s in a new body and saying that it’s wrong. He introduces himself as Tryan, an engineer on the ship. The last thing he remembers is entering the sleep chamber, and when he asks about being restrained, Fraiser reveals the other possibilities. Tyran says that the body couldn’t survive that and would lead to insanity, and that there are failsafes to prevent it. Fraiser pleads with him to explain as he’s the first personality to be helpful. He has a horrible thought: the only way the memory can be separated would be if the original body was deceased.

Jack and Sam enter the observation room, with Teal’c explaining that Daniel’s electroencephalogram proved anomalous and that another personality has emerged, this one helpful. Carter wants to look at the ship’s systems for answers, but Jack wants to stick around for Daniel. Hammond approves a mission for Carter, and allows Jack to stay (he’s aware that Daniel helped Jack and Teal’c while ascending). In the isolation room, Tryan is adamant that his body must be dead and that they can’t put their minds back into the memory module as they’re all muddled together. He says he can hear the others and Daniel emerges for a moment.

In a briefing, Fraiser explains that Daniel was only there for a moment and that he seems to be in a coma, like his mind is protecting itself – indicating that his mind isn’t muddled with the others. Teal’c says that Daniel seemed to have just left one of the chambers, so someone must be on the ship to place him in there. Hammond agrees to let Carter and Teal’c take SG-12 to investigate more. 

Back in the observation room, there is a new personality, and Fraiser is very quick to realise that he’s a child. His name is Keenin and he talks about what happened before he was on the ship. We get a short flashback of his dad putting him into stasis and it seems that Talthus, their homeworld, is gone and they knew it was happening before he was born. Three ships were sent out and a lottery was done to pick who would survive – his dad, having built the ship, could pick one person and his mother made him pick Keenin. Keenin also points out that all the sovereigns conveniently won the lottery. Fraiser consoles him when Martice becomes the dominant personality, asking what she is doing and demanding answers.

Carter inspects the ship and power is very low – even waking up one person would cause a catastrophic power failure, but a naquadah generator could do the trick. They then hear a sound and encounter someone from the ship. We’ve seen him in flashbacks: it’s Keenin’s father, Pharrin. He’s acting odd and wants Carter and Teal’c to take on minds, saying that they don’t have time. Teal’c realises that he has multiple minds inside him as well. He says that the minds work together as one, but starts arguing with himself about asking them for permission, but realising they would have said no. 

Carter explains that she can bring back a power unit to revive everyone, as well as going on about the Stargate and how they can take everyone to a new world. They have one request: restore Daniel. Pharrin argues with himself again, saying that they vowed to protect the sovereign, but that the lives of everyone else are more important. Pharrin then looks sad and explains that one of the minds inside Daniel – that he would have to destroy – is his son. 

Fraiser is arguing with Martice when, thankfully, Tryan regains control, and is able to cope with the pain better than the others. Carter returns with Pharrin, who is allowed to speak to Tryan to explain the situation. They crashed language and he found a way to override the systems to preserve minds while shutting down pods to preserve energy. He explains that Stargate Command can save their people if they restore Daniel. Tryan agrees to be sacrificed to save their people, but then Martice takes over.

He demands that there will be no sacrifice, and Pharrin bows to him, and says he can’t disobey, which really pisses off Jack who storms in and tells Pharrin that he’ll rip the sovereign out himself if he carries on grovelling, and that his sovereign is dead. Tyran regains some control as him and Martice argue, with Tyran saying that the people of Talthus will die and the sovereign saying “let them”. Pharrin finally realises what kind of person Martice is and tells him that he will save their people. Keenin takes over as Pharrin explains he will need to be sacrificed as well – but that they will be together. Keenin is okay with this.

We skip over to back on the ship, and Daniel’s readings are back to normal, although they aren’t sure how many minds survived the transfer to Pharrin. Carter has finished with the generator and they’ll be able to wake everyone and relocate them, and Pharrin will be kept in stasis until everyone else can find a way to help him. Daniel wakes up, with a bad headache, and seems to be himself again. 

It’s a great episode, and Micheal Shanks is phenomenal. It’s always great when body swap style episodes are done with pure acting and not dubbing over voices. Shanks swaps between these personalities extremely well and you can even tell them apart from his posture alone. He won an award for this, and it shows. Teryl Rothery was also great in this, showing how astute Dr Fraiser is.