“OK, everyone who thinks this is absolutely an insane idea raise your hands.”
- Release Date: 13th June 2003
- Season 7
- Episode 1
- Director: Martin Wood
- Writers: Robert C. Cooper
We start off on a random planet, with some villagers talking to each other about stories they’ve already heard before. There’s a flash of light and a naked man appears, utterly baffling them. We get a close up of the man and it’s Daniel Jackson – but when they ask who he is, he has no idea.
We cut to Stargate Commend, with Jonas excitedly running through the corridors saying that he’s found it, referring to the lost city. He bursts into Hammond’s office, who is listening to Carter inform him of Tok’ra intelligence of Anubis wrecking the System Lords, to let them know. He says that it’s not the lost city, but the city of the lost. Other texts talk about an amazing place called Vis Uban, but it was under construction when the plague that wiped them out started. He talks about when Jack downloaded the Ancient repository of knowledge into the SGC computer and says there must have been an order – and with Vis Uban being the newest, it could be the last address on the list.
SG-1 head to the planet, with Jack concerned about the mention of a plague, and find some ruins with people living there. They introduce themselves (having to explain that Teal’c is an ally) and they say that they are also travellers that have decided to settle here. They’re worried about Earth wanting to lay claim, but Jonas says they just want to investigate the ruins. Jack and the leader exchange metaphors for not trusting others and working together when SG-1’s backup arrives – bringing Daniel with them.
The nomads say that they’ve named him Arrom (which means naked one) and SG-1 realise that he’s lost his memories. Daniel would rather be left alone and heads off into a tent. Jack goes to speak to him, explaining that he’s a friend that sort of died, but has managed to retake human form after his battle with Anubis. Jack does point how they chose to head to this planet just as he arrived there – almost as though he was placed here specifically for them to find.
Jack checks in on how the plans for studying the ruins are going and asks Carter to speak to Daniel. She tells him that he is someone who would go out of his way to help others, and always fight for them when they are being wrong. Daniel is concerned first about not liking who he is and then about not living up to what he used to be. Daniel does ask if there was something between them, but she says they were just really good friends.
As the SG teams discuss the UAV finding extensive ruins, Daniel joins them and announces that he’s decided that he’s going home. They head to Earth, with Hammond weirded out by Daniel not remembering him, and Dr Fraiser finds Daniel in perfect condition, other than needing his glasses. Jack shows him to his room, with some of his personal stuff unpacked there, including a photo of his wife, but Daniel doesn’t remember her.
After Jack leaves, Daniel finds Teal’c and shows the photo to him, saying he remembered that her name is Sha’re. In his excitement he asks where she is before realising that she’s dead and that he loved her a lot. He asked about why this “Oma” person would have forced him to forget but still have some memories. Teal’c said that perhaps she did it to follow the rules, but did it in a way for him to remember later to work around it. He asks to know the full story.
In a briefing, Jonas is explaining how preliminary searches have found no technology when Daniel walks in. Hammond mentions that the meeting is classified, but Daniel says he feels like he needs to be there, which is good enough for Hammond. As Jonas explains that they don’t expect to find anything valuable there, Daniel says the translation is wrong, including his original versions of Ancient translations. It’s not a city of the lost, but a city the Ancients purposefully made lost – or hid. He says he can understand the tablet somehow, but doesn’t know more. So they’re back to not knowing where this city is.
Jonas visits Daniel in his room because he has an idea – Anubis doesn’t know everything about the ancients, or else he’d know about the lost city. He wants to make a fake tablet with slightly altered wording. We have a montage scene with Teal’c going to see Lord Yu, Carter and the Tok’ra studying Anubis’ ship and Daniel and Jonas working with books, with the working out a plan to take out Anubis.
In a briefing, Carter explains the plan (with Jack piping in with his concerns): an F-302 fighter can make a short hyperspace jump to make it though the shiels of Anubis’ mothership, where they can hit an exhaust port to blow up a reactor powering his superweapon. They don’t know where this shaft is – a Tok’ra (I wonder if this was supposed to be the return of Anise) explains that their operatives don’t have much freedom and the computers are in the Ancient language, so Jonas and Daniel will sneak on board with a radioactive isotope that hides them from sensors then send the data to Jack and Carter in the F-302. Then, Lord Yu will bring the System Lords to deal the final blow and take out Anubis.
Jack asks everyone to raise their hands if they think this mission is crazy, and everyone does so (including Carter). Then Hammond says to keep the hands up as he wants volunteers, and everyone agrees to go ahead. After everyone but SG-1 leaves, Jack says that his main issue is that everything relies on a Gou’ld backing them up, which he does not like one bit.
In the locker room, Daniel recognises Jack’s son, and remembers that he accepted the initial Stargate mission because he was suicidal. Jack assures him that things change, and Daniel says that, while he doesn’t remember everything, he remembers enough. On the planet, Carter greets Hammond at the base camp, commenting on how strange it is to see him offworld. Everything seems to be in place and Anubis is on his way.
The Jaffa arrive on the planet but get ambushed, with Jonas and Daniel using the rings to get to Anubis’ ship. Jack and Carter are in the F-302 and Death Gliders approach them, so they start fending them off. On Lord Yu’s ship, Teal’c is with his first prime when Yu orders them to head somewhere across the galaxy, not to Anubis. Teal’c advises the first prime that following this advice will doom his master.
Daniel and Jonas find a computer room, but have Jaffa on their tail so they need to lock themselves in. Daniel is concerned about how long it will take to find the information – but Jonas suggests a search for venting. They find the information and pass it over, with Jack ready to go on the offensive. We cut to Anubis and his first prime talking, with Anubis realising that there’s nothing here for him. He recalls his troops from the planet. Daniel sees that Anubis is targeting the planet with his weapon.
With the Jaffa breaching the door, Daniel and Jonas try getting through an air vent. Daniel makes it, but Jonas is stunned and captured. Jack and Carter make their jump and take out the vent, causing the weapon to explode before it can fire at the planet. Daniel radios and tells them that there’s a little problem, and that Jonas has been captured. We cut to Anubis with Jonas. Jonas is gloating about destroying his weapon, but Anbuis has the mind probe he used on Thor.
It’s a great start to the season, dealing with Daniel’s return in a great way and doesn’t shove Jonas out of the way immediately.
