“I’ve got great confidence in you Carter. Go on to SGC and… confuse Hammond.”
- Release Date: 20th July 2001
- Season 5
- Episode 5
- Director: Martin Wood
- Writers: Ron Wilkerson
SG-1 are thrown out of the Stargate at quite a high speed, similar to what used to happen early on in the show. Carter says it used to be caused by a marginal error in calculating planetary shift, but they solved that a while ago. However, she did have to override a bunch of safety protocols in order to get a lock on this Stargate.
They realise the planet they’re on seems to be one of the ones under the Asgard Protected Planet treaty, and it isn’t long until someone – a leader called Elrad – spots them as he heard the “annulus” being activated. They recognise Teal’c as an enemy of the gods, but Jack says they’re all friends with Thor and they believe it quite quickly. This planet is protected specifically by the god Freyr.
They head into town and meet a naysayer called Brother Malchus. He thinks SG-1 are here to cause trouble, even with Elrad saying that they’re Elves sent by Freyr. As if on cue, the sky turns red and something seems to be up with the sun, with Malchus blaming SG-1 for it. They decide to consult the hall of wisdom.
Jack and Daniel manage to tag along and are met with a pre-recorded hologram of a viking (similar to the holograms of Thor) spouting some very generic advice, which of course convinces everyone that the Ragnarok has been brought upon by SG-1. Jack tries to argue that the people can decide for themselves, and that SG-1 can help. Daniel doesn’t think that they should be interfering with their belief.
Carter uses the MALP to get more detailed sensor readings and it seems like the star is now unstable. She also works out that the wormhole they used to get here went directly through the star, and that a heavy element must have piggybacked along with them. So SG-1 are to blame for this, especially as they ignored the safety protocols built into the Stargate.
They all head to the Hall of Wisdom where Carter adjusts the settings so they can speak to the real Freyr. Jack asks if Thor is available but he’s on a distant part of the galaxy. Freyr recognises Jack (they named a ship after him) and hopes that SG-1 haven’t damaged the planet’s belief system as they think it’s necessary for the people, but Jack assures them they haven’t broken their cover.
Carter asks if it’s possible for a wormhole from the Stargate to pick up a heavy element, and that SG-1 may have inadvertently done so – and bypasses the safeties with their dialling computer. Freyr says the Asgard can not help and that he doesn’t make the decisions. Jack asks to speak to whoever is in charge, so Freyr connects him to the Asgard High Council.
They still say they can’t help, and that it’s SG-1’s mistake. Jack points out that the Asgard could have warned them about some of the dangers of the Stargate system as well as provided a list of protected planets for them to avoid. The head of the Asgard says that those are fair points, but they still can’t help as it would be in violation of the treaty with the Gou’ald, which would then make Earth vulnerable. Any possible solution would be up to SG-1.
Carter has come up with a plan: if they introduce a stable super heavy element to the sun, it should make it balance out. They just need to actually make such an element as well as find a way to get it to the sun. Carter heads back to speak to Hammond, requesting a rocket to deliver the element to the sun.
We cut forward three weeks and the rocket is almost complete. Malchus is appalled by what is happening and thinks the outsiders should all go away. Carter heads over to the planet with the final parts and the super heavy element, but when she gets there, she spots smoke near the rocket – and the entire thing explodes, destroying the rocket and killing two members of SG-6.
Jack storms into the village and attacks Malchus, saying he’s killed two of his men and doomed his entire planet. He pulls out his gun to kill Malchus, but gets talked down. He decides Earth has done enough for these people and heads off, with the rest of SG-1 pleading to not abandon, as it was only the actions of a small handful. Jack decides to give them one more option.
Daniel talks to the people about relocating to a new planet, but they have no desire to do so – if their gods wish for their destruction, then they will accept it. Jack takes a different approach, telling them the truth about the Asgard, but they don’t buy it. Jack says they’ve been given a choice, so now they can leave.
Back at Stargate Command, Carter still doesn’t want to give up. She has a new plan, one which was previously a one in a million but she’s improved the odds to own percent. The plan is to send the heavy element through the Stargate, then turn the Stargate off so the element is dumped in the star. While the end Stargate is required for reintegrating matter, anything in a closed wormhole will be left as their constituent parts, so an element would be fine.
They try the plan out (oddly using an expensive MALP instead of just throwing the box in) and shut down the wormhole. SG-1 head back to the planet to see if it worked. It seems like Carter missed the sun. As they say goodbye, Daniel joins in with a prayer when the sun suddenly turns back to normal. It seems the Asgard tinkered a little, doing so in a way that makes it look like SG-1 were responsible.
I think this is a good episode to show that Carter isn’t infallible, and that they can’t fix everything on their own.
