Stargate SG-1: Sight Unseen

“Be extremely happy that he did not ask.”

• Release Date: 11th December 2002
• Season 6
• Episode 13
• Director: Peter F. Woeste
• Writers: Ron Wilkerson, Damian Kindler

SG-1 return from a mission, there wasn’t much left of the Ancient outpost they were studying, however, Carter has brought back an unknown device that is emitting an unknown and seemingly harmless form of energy (you’d think that by now they’d have an offworld research base for screening objects). Jonas spots a large insect and throws Jack out of the way, but it flies into the wall. Hammond orders a search of the base.

After an extensive search, nothing is found. The doubt lies upon Jonas (and not the strange device they bought back), with it being related to a side effect from his naquadria research or just stress. With the base on lockdown, Jack decides to head off fishing while Carter studies the Ancient artifact. Jonas checks in on her, offering to translate the text when he sees another bug crawling around. He figures there is something wrong with him, as Carter can’t see.

Jonas is given a clean bill of health, both physically and mentally (he’s not showing any other symptoms that go alongside hallucinations), yet he’s still being put on inactive duty until they figure it out. He suggests researching the device more, but it’s being shipped off to Area 51 as Carter hasn’t found a link between the device and Jonas. This is just strange as Carter hasn’t found out anything to rule it out, either, so literally the only thing is that Jonas was near the device both times he saw something.

Jonas talks to Teal’c about being stuck on the base with nothing to do, and the subject of fishing comes up – Jonas laments about being the only one not invited but Teal’c says he’s lucky as fishing is not fun. Jonas then notices Teal’c staring at something – one of the strange giant bugs. Which means Teal’c can also see it.

We cut to Jack filing up his truck at a petrol station, and approached by a very talkative owner, Vernon. Jack then sees another giant bug, he gets a gun out and tells Vernon to get down. He thinks it is a robbery so Jack reassures him. Jack takes a shot, but ends up only getting Vernon’s precious sign. Jack contacts Hammond and subtly tells him that he’s just seen something – and Hammond knows what he’s talking about as they’re all over Stargate Command.

Jonas and Carter study the device some more and realise that it mentions another dimension, which might explain why they appear to be harmless yet pass through solid matter. Carter apologies for not believing him (although they actually checked out everything this time, they just ignored the strange device). They report to Hammond that the device is something that allows people to see these creatures. The concern is that if the general public starts to see them, it will cause panic. Hammond wants the device turned off, and gets them to remove the power crystal.

The sightings appear to have stopped, and Jonas and Carter discuss the benefits of the machine, with how the bugs seem to be aware of matter in our dimension (explaining how they can walk on tables) yet pass though it when they want. Teal’c thinks it should be returned. As Jonas and Carter hush about how great the machine could be, they hear screaming – it seems the bugs are still here.

They try returning the device to the planet, but once it’s returned and the wormhole is shut off, bugs can still be seen in Stargate Command, so it’s brought back as it’s the only answer. Jonas suggests that the field might be attracting the creatures and not causing the visions, and it’s decided that it’s done by an electrical charge from touching the device, which can then be passed to others. Hammond orders a quarantine of the nearby town.

We cut to Vernon as his lunch is disturbed by one of the creatures, and we see military vehicles arrive in Colorado Springs. Jack looks for Vernon, but he’s decided to make a run for it. Jonas and Carter decide that the only thing they can do is randomly rearrange the crystals and hope one reverses the effects. They call Hammond when there’s only a few combinations left.

Jonas touches the device and waits for a bug to appear (they must have done this with every single combination) and when one does, he can’t see it – and when he touches Carter, she can no longer see it. It seems they now have a “vaccine” and just need to touch people to distribute it. They just need to outpace the initial charge being spread – but Vernon is still on the loose (and manages to get a ride to an airport) Dr Fraiser suggests that they could use a placebo as a cure for the chemical spill story they used.

As Jack hunts for Vernon, he gets Sam and Jonas to use the computer to look up all his information to help track him down. There isn’t much to go on as he withdrew a load of cash, so they speak to his grandma. She claims that he was experimented on by the military when he was in Vietnam. Sam uses this to lie to her (Jonas seems worried by how easily she does it) and they find out how has a friend he would likely go and see. They figure out Vernon is at an airport.

Vernon is about to board a flight as the planes are cancelled. Jack and a team march through, yet seem to be careful to not touch anyone, even though it would make far more sense to gently move everyone out their way to help the spread of the cure. Vernon sneaks into a hanger and Jack follows him. Jack talks to Vernon and, as he isn’t buying the cover story, tells them that the bugs are aliens but he needs to keep it secret. He eventually agrees and Jack cures him, with the episode ending on an Alf joke.

This episode is a bit of a mess. It feels like a season 1 episode, where nobody knew what they were doing and Stargate Command was still small. Ignoring the device is just odd and then the episode just carries on after the main “threat” has been resolved (there are much more interesting episodes we needed to see the aftermath of). The plot only works because of everyone acting a bit dumb.