| Synopsis | Review | Quotes |
First Aired On: October 3, 1997
Written By: Robert C. Cooper
Directed By: Jonathan Glassner
Guest Stars: Elizabeth Hoffman (Catherine Langford), Keene Curtis (Ernest Littlefield)
Synopsis: O'Neill catches Daniel entranced by the television, black and white pictures of people working on the Stargate on the screen. Daniel tells him the Pentagon has unclassified earlier Stargate experiments from 1945. They watch for awhile longer, then are shocked to see the men working on the Stargate actually activate it and a man step through. Scientists in 1945 were able to get the gate going!
Daniel does some more research, then visits Catherine Langford, the woman who introduced Daniel to the Stargate project during the movie, and tells her what they've found, and that the Stargate is in operation again, traveling across the universe, visiting fascinating worlds. Catherine had previously been unaware of this new project and is upset that she wasn't informed.. Also, in a flashback, she tells him that she was once engaged to a scientist named Ernest Littlefield, but he died while working on the experiments. Daniel explains that Ernest was the man who went through the Stargate in 1945 and from the video they were able to acquire the coordinates of the planet he went to. He may still be alive.
Next we see, General Hammond is yelling at Daniel for telling a civilian, Catherine, about the current top-secret program. O'Neill walks in, happy to see Catherine again, and quiets Hammond a bit by calling him a "teddy bear." She is introduced to Teal'c and meets Sam Carter again. Turns out they were old friends. After some debating, Hammond agrees to allow SG-1, plus Catherine, return to the world and see if Ernest is still alive.
They go through the Stargate and find an ancient castle being beat up by a storm outside. The whole place is falling apart. Fortunately, it doesn't take them long to find a very naked Ernest wandering around the castle. He has been alone ever since he got there 50 years ago. He runs off after seeing Catherine and Daniel follows him. Ernest takes him to an amazing room with four different languages on the walls and a cool device in the center of the room. They talk a bit, Ernest puts on some clothes, then turns the device on. Daniel is fascinated by the whole place, but especially the device. Turns out to be a "book," written in the universal language of the elements, kind of like the ancient Egyptian city Heliopolis, which was a storehouse for knowledge.
Meanwhile, the castle is falling apart even more. Carter, Teal'c, and O'Neill discover that the Dial Home Device is smashed. Carter tries to hook it up to the power source on the Stargate, but just when they think they might get it going, the entire DHD falls into the ocean below the castle when the floor collapses. Their next option is to hook the Stargate up to the device Daniel is admiring and dial home manually, but when Teal'c tried to break it open with his staff weapon, nothing happens. For once, O'Neill comes up with a brilliant scientific suggestion...do the "Ben Franklin" thing and harness on of the lightning bolts from the storm raging outside, using that to power the Stargate. Needless to say, they get right at it, hooking up a lightning rod to the Stargate.
However, severely compromising matters is the fact that Daniel doesn't want to leave the castle. He has become obsessed with the knowledge of the universe contained in the device. He has determined that four main races, one of which is the Asgard, met at the castle, which is a type of United Nations. In spite of the threat to his own life in the rapidly dying castle, he wants to stay and translate the device, or at least record as much of the information as he can. In the end, Ernest and O'Neill convince Daniel to abandon his curiosity and return through the Stargate before it disconnects and they're stranded there. He and O'Neill race through a collapsing building, barely making it through the Stargate before it disconnects. Later on, when they try to reactivate the Stargate on the world, they discover that the entire castle has been destroyed. But they did manage to reunite Catherine with her long-lost love, Ernest. Ernest reassures Daniel that if he ever meets the alien races that built the "Heliopolis," he could ask them what it meant.
Review: 10/10
Plot: The first truly excellent episode of Stargate. The plot is intriguing. They were actually able to get the Stargate operating back in 1945! Talk about a shocker--it really makes the viewer wonder what happened during the fifty years since 1945. And they introduced the extremely important concept of the four peaceful races of the universe, which is picked up in the second season episode "The Fifth Race." The Heliopolis concept is wonderful. This is one of the first underlying stories, a "mythology" story, that carries along the entire series. It was well thought out and gives us a lot of introduction to the alien races of the universe.Realism: Well, okay, I admit that the idea that nobody tried to get the Stargate going again after their success in 1945 until the early 1990s is a bit far-fetched...hopefully we'll learn more about this "missing time" during the upcoming seasons. Of course, the idea that right now, when SG-1 comes through, not 20 years ago, is when the castle decides to collapse. Gee, what a coincidence that SG-1 comes and all this bad stuff happens! Sorry, that's not realistic--that's convenient. There's also an oopsie when Daniel talks about the elements, but that's explained under the "physics lesson" section below. However, the bit about Ernest talking to Catherine during his years of isolation is believable, as is Daniel's obsession with the device and Ernest's realization that the device means nothing if he can't live to share the knowledge.
Action: O'Neill and Daniel running while the ceiling collapses on them, DHDs falling through the floor, naked old men...ooops, that's not action, that's just scary. :) There's more suspense in this episode than action, but it definitely grabs your attention.
Angst Level: Angst doesn't play much role in this episode, except for some Ernest/Catherine angst over what should have happened between them in 1945, and Daniel angst when he has to abandon the device, then learns the castle has been destroyed in the storm.
Special Effects: Love the picture of the lightning hitting the castle during the storm. Also love the orange glow of the device and the elements floating around the ceiling. That device is just plain cool. Too bad it's destroyed.
Set and Costumes: The castle is neat--majestic, empty, dying. What a sad vision of what it might have looked like centuries ago. Costumes, though? Please, someone teach Daniel how to dress...his civilian clothes look awful. And please, someone, get Ernest some new clothes! I realize the astronaut suit he went through in is all he had there, but it's painful to watch him walk around in that horribly disintegrating suit!
O'Neill factor: While not an O'Neill episode, there's plenty of him here. He get the usual jokes in at the beginning ("Oh please. The Pentagon has lost entire countries."), and it's great to see him interact with Catherine again. Also the characteristic lack of science knowledge ("atomic...things"). We also learn that Daniel is important to him, in spite of the way he's been treating him in the episodes up to this one, and he's not willing to let Daniel give up his life for knowledge. Nice to see him come up with the creative manner of rescuing the team for once!
Daniel factor: Daniel episode alert! You bet he's the main focus here, and boy do we learn a lot about that boy! It doesn't take much (only a bit of "meaning of life stuff") to get him entranced by knowledge--he loves learning. He's a man who can be blinded to reality when presented with the opportunity to let his brain try and comprehend some challenging stuff...even to the point of stupidity in the face of death. He's also a bit rash in his actions, telling Catherine about the current Stargate project without even consulting O'Neill or Hammond. I personally can't blame Hammond for being ticked at him when he announces that Catherine is going with them to the planet...I can just hear Hammond's mind screaming "Who died and made you God?!" The parallels between Ernest and Daniel are easy to see. Daniel is like Ernest, charging off to do what he wants to do without realizing the consequences of his actions until it's almost too late. Fortunately, he comes to his senses in time due to the pressing of Ernest and O'Neill, instead of learning the hard way what's worth sacrificing. This episode is a fascinating look into Daniel's character.
Carter factor: Carter gets to exercise her knowledge of physics here, having to figure out a way of supplying power to the Stargate without causing it to overload. Without her, chances are SG-1 would never have made it home.
Teal'c factor: Not much Teal'c here. He gets to stand around and look big and mean most of the time. The rest of the time he assists Carter in setting up the Stargate-operating connections. Of course, you gotta love it when he shocks Catherine by "talking," but only when it's appropriate.
Overall Team factor: Great teamwork by Carter, O'Neill, and Teal'c while trying to get the Stargate working, but Daniel is off on his own in this episode, trying to comprehend the universe. Overall, I'd give the episode high team factor, though. They're together the whole time on the planet, and even though Daniel gets a bit crazy with his obsession (okay, so "a bit" is a bit of an understatement :) ), everyone wants him to snap out of it. They want him to return home safely just as much as they want themselves to return home safely.
My Thoughts: It's really great to see Catherine again--excellent continuity. Hard to believe the first time I saw this episode I was bored stiff by it, but unfortunately it was shown before I really got "into" the series somewhere between "Singularity" and "Tin Man." Now I'm embarrassed I was so bored by it the first time through...or maybe it was poorly placed into the timeline of the series. Maybe it should have come a little bit later during first season, when we understood the characters and the basic story better. But we can't do anything about that now. In any case, it really opened up the Stargate storyline and it's an excellent story. Also a great look into Daniel's character. Great writing (excluding a couple little quirks), great acting, great effects. All in all a great episode! A classic!
Related Episodes: Catherine is first introduced in the movie, and General West, who Catherine mentions briefly, was the General in charge of the program during that time. Asgard reference to "Thor's Hammer" (which therefore automatically associates "Thor's Chariot" with it as well). We see Catherine again and hear references to these events in "There But For the Grace of God." Daniel's "meaning of life stuff" discovered at Heliopolis is referred to in "Touchstone." Oh, and lots and lots of references to this planet in "The Fifth Race." Don't be surprised if we see more episodes connected to this one since the storyline introduced here looks to be one that the writers are going to carry through during the remainder of the series.
Daniel Jackson's History/Linguistic/Mythology Lesson: Heliopolis was a town in ancient Egypt known for the knowledge it housed, a "repository" of knowledge, especially in the areas of philosophy and astronomy. People would gather there, such as scholars and community leaders. It was also a central place of worship for Ra. In other news, Othalla (not sure on spelling) is the Norse rune for power and knowledge from past generations, the gathering of clans to share a common interest. We learn a lot more about the meaning of Othalla in "The Fifth Race"...but I won't spoil the connection for those who haven't seen that episode yet. Tantalus was a king in ancient Greek mythology who was banished to Hades. He was forced to stand in water that receded every time he tried to take a drink from it--as Ernest says, he was reaching for something that was out of reach, unending, everlasting temptation.
Sam Carter's Physics Lesson: There are 111 elements on the periodic table today. There were only 90 on the 1945 version of the periodic table. And I'm going to correct Daniel's blatant boo-boo: he said the number of electrons revolving around the nucleus determines the element, but it's actually the number of protons in the nucleus that determines the element. While the number of electrons normally is equal to the number of protons, they (electrons) can vary, creating positive or negative ions depending on whether there are more protons or electrons in the atom. (Neutrons, which fill up the rest of the space in the nucleus, are negative in charge and don't make any difference in the atomic number of the atom.) I guess I did learn something in my college chemistry classes! As for Stargate physics, Carter explains that Naquada absorbs energy directly. The inside wheel of the Stargate will only spin if there's enough energy stored. The extreme blast from the lightning bolt had the potential to short out the gate's mechanism, making it a very risky attempt. How fortunate for them, it worked. :)
Important Stargate Information: THEY GOT THE STARGATE GOING IN 1945!!! Cool. Catherine was the one who figured that you need to use direct current instead of alternating current to power the Stargate. She worked for 40 years after this to get the program going again. They also reiterate that the Goa'uld did not create the Stargate system, and it's inferred that one of the four species represented at Heliopolis is actually the race that did create it. We don't learn who they are until "The Fifth Race," though. For other technical Stargate Information, see the "Physics Lesson" section above.
Alien Species/Background: Not much is revealed about the aliens in this episode, but it does set the story. There are four main races in the universe who gathered at that castle to record their knowledge in the "universal language," the elements. The aliens' number of elements is 146, though, over thirty more than are found on the current periodic table. The Asgard are one of the races, as represented by the Runes on the walls. As for the planet, a storm hits it every year, thus explaining the damage done to the castle.
Important everyday life stuff we learn from Stargate: The pursuit of knowledge means nothing if you can never share it with anyone. In other words, human company (a.k.a. love) is more important than relentlessly searching to unlock the mysteries of the universe. People create fantasies or "imaginary friends" to help them cope with loneliness.
Quotes:
O'Neill, to Daniel who's staring at a TV screen: "You know, we're supposed to be at that physical assessment thing." (Interesting choice of words, seeing as Michael Shanks sounds like he had a cold when this scene was filmed!)
Daniel: "Oh yeah. I'll go, I'll go, just...just, um, let me finish this reel."
O'Neill: "You know, you seem a tad obsessed with this stuff."
Daniel: "This was transfer from film of experiments done on the Gate in 1945. You don't find that the least bit intriguing?
O'Neill: "Oh yeah. Nothing peaks my interest more than repeated failure."
Daniel: "Look at them. They're turning the Gate manually, for God's sake. It's incredible."
O'Neill: "How many hours of this stuff have you looked at?"
Daniel: "There's no conclusion to the file. There's no summaries, no notes. No...reason to explain why they gave up."
O'Neill: "Whole boxes of the material could be missing."
Daniel: "No, the Pentagon said this was everything."
O'Neill: "Oh please. The Pentagon has lost entire countries. Come on. Doctors have two days of tests planned for us. Wonderful tests."
Daniel, seeing the Stargate on the screen activated and someone about to step through: "Ah, Jack..."
O'Neill: "That's impossible."
Daniel: "Obviously not. This doesn't make any sense. Why wouldn't someone have told us? I mean, why would they stop their research if they'd actually managed to turn it on?" The man goes through the Gate.
O'Neill: "Holy cow."Catherine: "When did you become an upstanding member of the military?"
Daniel: "I'm not...exactly."Catherine, to Daniel about Ernest: "He was so young. So full of passion. Like you. You reminded me of him when I first saw you. That's why I knew you'd solve the mysteries of the Gate."
Hammond: "Have you completely lost your mind? Who authorized you to reveal classified information to a civilian?!"
Daniel: "Sir, if you will just let me explain..."
Hammond: "This is a serious breach of protocol. These rules exist for a reason, Doctor. You think you're above them?"
Daniel: "No! No! I..."
O'Neill, walking in and overhearing this: "Catherine!"
Catherine: "Hello, Jack."
O'Neill, hugging her: "It's good to see you again. I trust the General is making you feel right at him?" Hammond is fuming by this point.
Catherine: "So far he actually sounds worse than General West." She laughs
O'Neill: "He's a teddy bear."
Hammond: "Colonel, did you authorize Dr. Jackson to reveal classified information to this civilian?"
O'Neill: "Absolutely not, Sir. In fact, I advised him not to say anything to her. Despite the fact that she used to run the entire program and is responsible for most of our current knowledge about the Gate."
Hammond: "I'm aware of who she is, Colonel."
Daniel: "Catherine, this is Teal'c; Teal'c, this is Catherine."
Catherine: "Daniel has told me all about you." Teal'c shakes her hand and nods his respect like a perfect gentleman.
Hammond: "Colonel, are you aware of the request Dr. Jackson has most currently tabled?"
O'Neill, shaking his hand at Daniel: "You gotta go that one step further, don't ya."
Daniel: "The man who went through the Gate in 1945 was Catherine's fiancé. Now, I have the address of the planet he went to and we can go there."
Catherine: "And I'm coming with you." Teal'c tilts his head in curiosity.
Daniel: "General, we know where Ernest Littlefield went. He could still be alive, a man who had the vision to see the Gate for what it was a half a century before anyone else."
O'Neill: "He sounds like a bona fide American hero, Sir."
Carter, walking in and overhearing: "Sir, there may be another reason to go to this planet."
Catherine: "Samantha!"
Carter, hugging her: "Catherine!"
Hammond: "Captain Carter."
Carter: "Yes, Sir. It seems the planet in question is close to Abydos, so it uses many of the same points in space as locators, which explains why the team in '45 could coincidentally dial in without compensating for planetary shift. But, Sir, the planet in question is not on the cartouche we found on Abydos."
Catherine: "What's the significance of that?"
Carter: "The Goa'ulds haven't charted it. They may not even have been there."
Daniel: "If the Goa'ulds haven't been to this planet and there's obviously a Stargate there, then we would have unquestionable proof that the Goa'uld didn't build the Stargate!"
Teal'c: "The Goa'uld are scavengers. Since they have not traveled to this planet, we may find technologies we can use against them."
Catherine: "You speak!"
Teal'c: "When it is appropriate."
Hammond: "Thank you. Thank all of you for your very thorough analysis of the situation. But I was already convinced by Dr. Jackson's initial argument. Ernest Littlefield could still be alive. And we should try to find him."O'Neill, to Catherine who's about to go through the Gate for the first time: "It's a piece of cake."
Daniel, to Catherine after they come through the Gate: "You ok?"
Catherine: "Huh! That was some piece of cake!"Carter, seeing a very naked Ernest: "Oh my."
O'Neill: "Oh, for crying out loud."
Daniel: "Dr. Littlefield? Ernest? Hello. I'm Daniel Jackson. We just came through the Stargate." Ernest looks at the Stargate. "Yes, that thing. The Star...gate." Ernest pokes him. "We're real." Ernest starts crying and hugs him.
Ernest: "It's about time." He next hugs O'Neill.
Carter, as Ernest comes over to Teal'c to hug him: "Oh boy." She steps away very quickly so she won't be his next hug victim.
O'Neill: "Daniel, do something."
Daniel: "Oh. Dr. Littlefield..." He points to Catherine.
Catherine: "You don't recognize me."
Ernest: "Cath...Catherine? Hmpf." He storms off.
Catherine: "Fifty years. That's all he has to say."
Daniel: "I'll...I'll go see if I can find him."Ernest: "Still here?"
Daniel: "Oh, do you have anything to wear? Clothes?"
Ernest: "Uh, uh, oh. Yeah. Going home?"
Daniel: "Yes, we're taking you home."
Ernest: "So much time. Did no one try again?"
Daniel: "That's...a long story. Are there other people here?" Ernest shakes his head. "No one else lives here? How about nearby?" Ernest still shakes his head. "Are you saying that you've been completely alone here for fifty years?"
Ernest, nodding and handing Daniel a pepper or squash or...something: "Eat."Catherine: "I felt like a schoolgirl. My heart was beating faster than when I came through the Gate." She laughs. "You think you're old and wise!"
Carter: "I don't think the heart ever grows old."Daniel: "We call this the Dial Home Device. Basically, you enter the correct address and..."
O'Neill: "Daniel, why don't we just show him?"O'Neill, asking a typical O'Neill question: "Daniel, does this mean anything?"
O'Neill: "Excuse me. Are you saying that all of these are atomic...things?"
Daniel: "The basic elements are what make up the universe. They are the basic building bl..." He stops himself short in a 'WHOA!!! It makes sense!!!' moment, and gets very excited. "Of course!!! How do you ensure universal communication? You reduce the method of communication to the most basic elements common to everyone and everything that exists in the universe. Jack, this is a true, universal language!"
Ernest: "Turn the page!"
Daniel: "What?"
Ernest, putting his hand on the red device: "Turn the page!"
Daniel, as the molecules shift position: "Are you saying that this is...this is like a book?"
Ernest: "I tried to read it. I tried to understand, but..."
Daniel: "146 elements, letters and symbols. If they're letters, if they're pictographic, this could take a lifetime..."
Ernest: "More."
Daniel: Oh, sorry..."
O'Neill: "Daniel, before your head explodes, can I remind you that we have more important things to deal with right now?"
Daniel: "How can you say that? Don't you know what this could mean?"
O'Neill: "Actually, no."
Daniel: "This could be the key to understanding our existence. Everyone, everything's existence."
Ernest: "A collaboration of the knowledge of these four alien species."
O'Neill: "None of which will mean squat if we don't get out of here."Carter: "Where's Daniel?"
O'Neill: "Oh, Ernest is showing him a new toy."
Carter: "Really? What?"
O'Neill: "Some fancy light show that may be the key to our existence or something like that."Ernest: "Thor was an alien?"
Daniel: "Oh, yeah, that's a...another long story. But a..." he makes some awesome hand motions "...good one."O'Neill: "Alright, basic survival training. We know what we have, what do we need?"
Teal'c: "We have the Stargate. We need the Dial Home Device."
O'Neill: "Thank you, Teal'c."Daniel: "What's up, guys?"
O'Neill: "Step away from the pedestal, Daniel."
Daniel: "What? Why?"
Carter: "The Dial Home Device just fell through the floor into the ocean."
Daniel, suspiciously: "So what're we going to do?"
Carter: "That thing may have a power source in it that we can use to get the Gate working."
Daniel: "Ah...no! You don't understand, this book may contain knowledge of the universe! I mean, this is...meaning of life stuff." (Nice to see this description referred to in "Touchstone" and "The Fifth Race.") "I have to get more of it down on paper before we leave. There has to be something more we can use. What about using energy from Teal'c's staff?"
Carter: "It isn't powerful enough."
Catherine: "Daniel, please. There's not much time. We have to get inside that thing."
O'Neill: "This whole place could join the Dial Home Device at the bottom of the ocean any minute. Please."
Daniel, fuming: "Great. Shoot it." Teal'c shoots it and...nothing happens. "Now what?"
O'Neill: "I'm obviously no scientist, but, ah...couldn't we use that Ben Franklin thing?"Catherine: "Daniel won't come up. He's obsessed with that thing. So much like you used to be."
Ernest: "The torment of Tantalus."
Catherine: "What?"
Ernest: "Tantalus was a king in Greek mythology, banished to Hades, forced to stand in water that receded when he tried to drink."
Catherine: "Everlasting, unending temptation."
Ernest: "He was reaching for something that was, ah, out of reach."
Catherine: "That sounds familiar. Some might say that makes a man great. If we all accepted what was within our grasp..."
Ernest: "Sometimes what we have is more valuable. It takes a great man to recognize that. I didn't. I was a fool."
Catherine: "Ernest, you suffered enough. No sense wasting time in the past. Right?"Ernest: "You have to come, now."
Daniel: "Not yet. Come and get me when you've got the Gate running."
Ernest: "There isn't enough time!"
Daniel: "I have to finish this."
Ernest: "This...it's not worth it!"
Daniel: "This is."
Ernest: "Nothing is!"
Daniel: "Well, our history as a people would be very different if everyone felt that way."
Ernest, grabbing him: "No prize is worth attaining if you can never share it! There would be no point! Believe me. I know."Daniel: "What you did was courageous."
Ernest: "What I did was stupid."
O'Neill: "Come on, boys, we've go to go, now."
Daniel: "I'm staying."
O'Neill: "What?!"
Daniel: "Look, I will be fine down here."
O'Neill: "Daniel, we can come back."
Daniel: "No. What if the castle crumbles around the Gate? This...this could all be lost. If I stay, I could unbury the Gate again."
O'Neill: "What if the Gate falls into the ocean?"
Daniel: "I am willing to take that risk."
O'Neill, grabbing him roughly: "I'm not. Let's go."
Daniel, breaking away: "Jack, please!" O'Neill lets him go, Daniel returns to the device, wrestles with his mind, and finally comes with O'Neill.Catherine, to Ernest about to step through the Gate: "It's a piece of cake."
Ernest: "Not from what I remember."Daniel: "Close one."
O'Neill: "Ya think?"
Carter: "You don't know how close."O'Neill: "Here's the bright side. You're alive."
Daniel, turning to Ernest: "Yes. Thanks to you."
Ernest: "Look at it this way. If you ever run into those aliens who made up the language, you can ask them what it means."
Catherine: "You better let us know this time."
Daniel: "I will. I promise." Ernest hugs him, and Daniel smiles.
O'Neill: "Catherine, hug me."
Thor's Hammer Bloodlines
