48 Hours

"48 Hours" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
After escaping the Goa'uld, and killing Tanith, the Stargate shuts down just as Teal'c is still in the wormhole. Their efforts to halt the Stargate program are threatened, when Colonel Frank Simmons of the NID gives them a 48 hour deadline to save him, or the Stargate program will continue, and Teal'c will die.

Plot
While visiting a planet the Goa'uld had been scouting in order to set up a base, SG-1 makes it into the Stargate under heavy fire. Before entering the gate, Teal'c takes an opportunity to shoot down Tanith's Al'kesh using the Death Glider cannon. Unfortunately, moments after he crosses the event horizon, the Al'kesh crashes into the gate, interrupting the outgoing wormhole and disconnecting the Earth Stargate before Teal'c is reintegrated.

The SGC prepares to redial the planet in an attempt to contact Teal'c, but Major Samantha Carter has them abort the sequence when a residual energy signature within the gate produces an unknown error. She quickly hypothesizes that Teal'c is in fact stored inside the gate's energy pattern buffer - and will be erased if an incoming or outgoing wormhole is established. To prevent this, the Iris is moved back several micrometres, providing the same effect as burying the gate. They also conclude that, to rescue Teal'c, they must establish an event horizon, without establishing a wormhole.

Dr. Daniel Jackson, along with Major Paul Davis, are sent to Russia in order to negotiate for temporary use of their Stargate to allow eight SG teams to return to Earth, and later for the Dial Home Device, needed to rescue Teal'c. However, for their help the Russians demand access to all technology retrieved by SGC. Meanwhile, Colonel Frank Simmons arrives at the SGC with Dr. Rodney McKay and delivers a deadline of 48 hours before Stargate Command must resume normal operations. Carter is assigned to work with McKay, who is very arrogant and tells her that she made many mistakes in developing her computer-Stargate interface; he also believes that Teal'c can't be rescued, even if they manage to reintegrate him.

As negotiations with the Russians continue to go poorly and McKay and Carter have difficulty working together, Simmons approaches Major General George S. Hammond and offers to hand over the knowledge required to save Teal'c, for a price - a Goa'uld Kara kesh. Hammond however refuses, but knows that the only reason they could want a hand device is if they had a Goa'uld.

Colonel Jack O'Neill, in the meantime, searches for alternate options to rescue Teal'c. During his search he runs into Harold Maybourne, whom he soon enlists in an attempt to obtain the intelligence Simmons has access to. They eventually succeed by infiltrating an NID "safehouse" where they find the Goa'uld, controlling Adrian Conrad. He refuses to help them, but reveals that Simmons was a better negotiator. This prompts Jack to seek the surveillance videos, which indeed show Simmons interrogating the Goa'uld prisoner; also recorded was the Goa'uld describing how to rescue Teal'c.

Daniel manages to convince the Russians to loan them the DHD - a requirement for the rescue - by offering them Naquadah generator technology. McKay protests the plan, arguing that it's a Goa'uld plot to destroy the SGC, but is ignored and furthermore sent to Russia as part of the deal, which doesn't make him happy. MSgt. Sylvester Siler and Carter manage to make the necessary modifications to the DHD, by removing the main control crystal, in order to create an event horizon without a wormhole, thereby "tricking" the Stargate into reintegrating Teal'c, who stumbles through the Stargate with no perception that something had gone wrong. However, the DHD unexpectedly explodes moments later. Teal'c steps off the ramp and states that he has had his revenge - Tanith is dead.

Notable Quotes
Carter: The error we're receiving from the Gate seems to indicate that there is still an energy pattern stored in the memory buffer.

Jackson: Teal'c.

Carter: If the Al'kesh crashed into the DHD on the other planet, it would have cut off power to the outgoing Gate. The wormhole would have been severed prematurely. Now if that happened before our Gate was able to reconvert Teal'c's energy signature back into matter...

Hammond: Teal'c is in our Stargate.

Carter: His energy signature, yes. Stored in the memory.

Jackson: Well let's get him out.

Carter: Right now I'm not sure how. That's not the worst problem.

Jackson: There's worse?

(O'Neill finds Maybourne near his car)

Maybourne: Hi, Jack.

O'Neill: (runs towards him) You rat bastard!

Maybourne: (takes cover) Hey, hey, take it easy!

O'Neill: I'm so gonna kick your ass!

Maybourne: There's people watching.

O'Neill: I don't care!!

Maybourne: It wasn't me. I didn't shoot you, Jack.

O'Neill: I trusted you!

Maybourne: Come on, would I come back here like this if I'd done it?

O'Neill: You might!

(After O'Neill's disbelief in his offer of assistance)

Maybourne: If you need me, I'm checked into the Accent Inn under the name Cassidy.

O'Neill: David, or Shaun?

Maybourne: (gives him a look) Butch.

Carter: (on the phone to Daniel) Is there any chance you can get the Russians to give us their DHD?

Chekov: (in other room) This is impossible at the moment.

Jackson: Not without giving back Alaska.

McKay: I wish I didn't find you so attractive. I always had a weakness for dumb blondes.

Carter: Go suck a lemon.

O'Neill: Hey. You sure you want to be in there for this.

Siler: Not really, sir.

O'Neill: I wasn't talking to you!

Teal'c: I had my revenge.

Goofs

 * When Harold Maybourne shows Colonel Jack O'Neill the NID flight data, the page lists the first flight as landing in "MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, NORTH DAKODA". 'Dakoda' is an obvious misspelling of Dakota. It is correct on the second flight though.

Character

 * Dr. Rodney McKay

Death

 * Tanith

In other languages

 * French: 48 Heures (48 Hours)
 * Italian: 48 Ore (48 Hours)
 * Spanish: 48 Horas (48 Hours)
 * Czech: 48 hodin (48 Hours)