“I have never understood the urge to make up oneself to look different.”
- Release Date: 17th March 2003
- Season 1
- Episode 25
- Director: Will Meugniot
- Writers: Michel Trouillet & Paul Francis
Coming through the stargate, the team spots immediate chaos – a large snake creature is attacking some villagers. Their weapons are barely useful, so they try to distract it until the villagers can flee. Luckily, Harrison accidentally flies into the snake’s head and knocks it out. The villagers cheer and the team are invited to their village, where it is safe.
In the village, everyone seems to be applying markings to themselves, leading to a discussion about how tattoos are bad and wrong (seriously? That’s quite insane). Stacey thinks they’re beautiful, but Bonner and Harrison tease her about being too normal and predictable to get a tattoo (although everything we’ve seen previously suggests otherwise). This spurs her into getting one.
Bonner tries to order her to not get one, saying that we have no idea how safe it is for humans, but Seattle says the aliens are fine (she made this mistake when she got addicted to alien stones, so this makes no sense). She quotes rules which state she’s permitted to have one, so his order is irrelevant. Bonner goes off and discusses it with Draga, saying she’s only doing it to prove a point. Also, I have absolutely no idea what the tattoo-like mark on the side of her head is now.
She gets a small tattoo on her cheek and it seems everyone is anti-tattoo, so they tell her to wash off the paint. She likes it, so she leaves it but, when she wakes up in the morning, the tattoo has grown. The natives explain that the paint is microbes from a plant, but it does not grow on them. If it carries on, it will eventually consume Stacey and the only way to remove it is a special mud 6 days walk away (luckily they have bikes).
Another creature attacks the village (so much for it being safe) so Bonner and Stacey head off while the rest try to fight it off. They get followed by a wasp-like creature and manage to lose it near some lava. The cadets try to lure the monster but the villagers eventually lure it into a cage, although only after most of their homes are destroyed. This creature was also immune to the weapons, but it all serves no purporse.
Bonner and Stacey get to the location of the special mud to find it all dried up and useless. As Bonner tries to dig to find some, the wasp attacks Stacey and actually leaves her alone – it eats all the microbes and she’s completely fine. Stacey is sad for how weak she was for asking for a tattoo, and Bonenr says that he and Harrison did bully her into it. Bonner reveals that when he joined Stargate Command, he got a tattoo and keeps it to remind him to think before acting – you know, because tattoos are bad.
It’s a really bad episode. Most of it is meaningless, doesn’t fit the characters or is just attacking tattoos for absolutely no reason.
