“You’re raising Goa’ulds. When were you going to tell us that?”
- Release Date: 16th August 2002
- Season 6
- Episode 10
- Director: Andy Mikita
- Writers: Damian Kindler
On the planet Pangar, we see a delegation awaiting the arrival of their first face to face encounter with other humans. The leader, Dollen. Is excited while the military commander, Tegar. Dollen says the best team is being sent and wonders what kind of genius negotiator will be leading them – when Jack comes though the Stargate saying “Howdy”.
They sit down in a meeting to discuss what each group can offer each other. The people on Pangar knew the Stargate was a transportation device (due to ruins on the planet), but don’t know how they can work it. Jack says they can teach them once they get to know them better. Dollen also shows what they can offer: a special drug called Tetronin, a drug that can make the immune system perfect.
Jonas and Teal’c head towards the ruins, a woman called Zenna introduces herself and says she’s excited to meet people from Earth (although they explain that they’re both from other planets), as well as noticing that Teal’c is a Jaffa. She explains that they found the Gou’ald ruins a hundred years ago, and takes them to see them.
Jack and Carter are still negotiating, asking for a sample to take home. Dollen wants a gesture of good faith in return, and Jack offers 10 gate addresses to safe worlds. Dollen gives them a list of worlds he wants to visit that were mentioned in the ruins, and they all appear to be Gou’ald homeworlds. Jack advises them about the dangers, but it’s what they want in exchange for the Tetronin.
Zenna shows Teal’c and Jonas the ruins, they belonged to a Gou’ald called Shak’ran, an old System Lord that was defeated by Apophis (and Teal’c proudly mentioned that Apophis was recently defeated). As Zenna shows them round, she whispers that she can’t be overhead, but there’s something they need to know about the Tetronin. She carries on as normal then heads off.
Jonas meets with Zenna in the ruins, but even though he mentions that they’re alone (and Teal’c is standing guard) she refuses to acknowledge her previous conversation, like someone had gotten to her. They head out and go their separate ways, but when Jonas notices Zenna leave her tent, she decides to snoop around.
Jonas and Teal’c decide to investigate where the Tetronin is being made. They sneak in and find a place filled with vats of water – and inside are Gou’ald. They get spotted by security and in the scuffle, Jonas and a guard fall into the water. Jonas escapes unscaved, but the guard is taken over by a Gou’ald, except that he is just unconscious.
Dollen is not happy, accusing SG-1 of berating third openness, with Jack saying they aren’t informed that they were raising Gou’ald. It seems the Gou’ald are an important part of making the Tetronin, which disturbs Jack. When they ask how they have so many Gou’ald symbiotes, Dollen shows them: they have a queen.
They check in on the security guard, who is alive but unresponsive. Dollen says this is normal for their accidents, which doesn’t fit with how SG-1 knows the Gou’ald. Teal’c says that without Jaffa, half of host takeovers failed, but that meant both would die. Carter suggests asking the Tok’ra. As she explains that these are essentially good Gou’ald, Jack rolls his eyes, clearly still not happy with the Tok’ra.
Jonas visits Zenna to apologise. While she’s disappointed that he chose to betray her, she admits that she allowed it to happen on purpose as it was important to get it out in the open. She mentions that the Tetronin is only given to a privileged few, and it can be revoked. She says he can make it up to her by helping her finish translations.
Malek and another Tok’ra, Kelmaa, arrive. They say that a queen can choose to not pass on their genetic knowledge, which results in a blank space. They can potentially remove the Gou’ald, but want to see the queen. When they see her, they’re impressed that these people are using the Gou’ald for their own gain. Jack seems baffled by this as even he thinks this is wrong. The Tok’ra also point out that this queen is dying.
Fraiser contacts SG-1 with her analysis. The drug does what it says, but with one massive caveat: it destroys the natural immune system, similar to the Jaffa. So if you stop taking it, your immune system will be utterly fried. With the captive queen dying, it means the 20% of Pangarans that are in Tetronin will die soon after.
Jack speaks to Dollen, saying that they know they want to hunt for a new queen in the Gou’ald worlds. He explains that, while they discovered the side effects, they were confident they could overcome them in time, so decided to use it. Only they haven’t found any way. Carter suggests getting more help in solving the issue, and the Tok’ra agree to help.
Jonas, Teal’c and Zenna are in the ruins again, where Zenna explains the discovery of the queen was made by her father, which started the whole Tetronin issue, so she feels guilty about him dooming so many people. Jonas notices a section of wall that mentions Ra (also dead). The inscription says that one of the enemies of Ra, Egeria, is imprisoned here. Jonas says she was thought to be dead. There’s one major issue with this revolution: this queen is the original Tok’ra. They speak to the rest and agree that they can’t keep this from the Tok’ra.
They tell the Tok’ra, who are not pleased and demand her release immediately. They’ve also made no progress in an antidote, as the Tetronin should be working better, there’s just a strange gene messing things up. SG-1 informs Dollen, who is very concerned.
Malek visits and, even though they have nothing to offer, asks for Egeria to be released. He says she’s a sentient being and shouldn’t be treated in such a way (he had no issue with this ethical issue earlier). While he’s doing this, Kelmaa sneaks into where the queen is held. An alert is triggered and they find her unconscious. The symbiont is on the floor – Egeria is inside the host now.
As Egeria wakes up, she says that she is dying and will not be able to produce more children. She is, however, immensely proud of what the Tok’ra have become in her absence. She explains that she sabotaged her young in the hopes that the Pangarans would see the issues and abandon their research, but they went ahead with it anyway. She did not intend for any harm, but she can explain how to fix it – saving these people will be her final action.
After she dies, her body is taken by the Tok’ra. Carter tells Dollen that an antidote will be ready soon, and Dollen says that he hopes their people can repair their relationship and work together in the future.
This has some great twists and ethical issues, again showing the arrogance of the Tok’ra. This episode is also very important for later reasons, as they don’t discuss one potential use of Tetronin in this episode – a race whose immune systems are already dead.
SG-1: Prometheus
