The Changeling

"The Changeling" is the nineteenth episode of the sixth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
Teal'c awakens to find he is a fireman, but is plagued by dreams that he is not who he thinks he is. His dreams involve a Stargate.

Plot
In a hospital, a doctor visits a patient. The patient is Teal'c and the doctor is Apophis. Teal'c (who has no tattoo or symbiote pouch) wakes up and is asked how he is by Jonas Quinn, whom he calls "probie" (which is short for probationary fireman). They talk in colloquial English about Teal'c's stepfather and suddenly Teal'c again wakes up after a kelno'reem. He visits the mess hall, and is talking to Major Samantha Carter when the scene changes to the interior of a fire station. He is talking with the other members of SG-1, who are all members of a fire brigade, about a kidney transplant for Teal'c's stepfather, Bra'tac (whom people call "Brae" in the fireman reality).

The alarm rings and the fire brigade responds to a car collision. There they prepare to help the wounded in one car while Teal'c helps another victim outside the second car (who again looks like Apophis). The first car, leaking gas, catches fire and Teal'c sees Bra'tac alive inside the car as the previously declared dead driver. Against the team's advice, he tries to free Brae, and continues despite Brae's urge to save only himself; moments later, both cars explode. In the canteen at Stargate Command Teal'c is thrown backwards (appearing as if he fainted) and is taken to the infirmary. Dr. Janet Fraiser doesn't know what is happening, so she asks him to stay while she completes a more detailed check-up. Teal'c tries to sleep but wakes up in a hospital bed. He talks with Colonel Jack O'Neill, who is again the chief of the fire brigade, about what has happened. Outside he meets Brae (Bra'tac) and Teal'c's wife Shauna (Shan'auc). Brae says that something is wrong because he has no burns from the accident.

Teal'c is at SGC again. O'Neill and Fraiser talk to Teal'c about his situation and he tells them about his "visions," which they find similar to dreaming. Teal'c is in the hospital again, where he is visited by Dr. Daniel Jackson, the hospital psychologist. They leave the hospital to talk about Brae and the transplant but Teal'c insists he isn't afraid of the operation. Daniel leaves and Teal'c finds himself back at SGC shortly before he and SG-1 leave on a mission through the Stargate. They go through the gate but Teal'c finds himself in a hospital, where he is confronted by Apophis. A nurse calls out to him (he seems lost) and he runs away, only to find himself in the gate room again. He believes that his symbiote is missing and passes out. Teal'c wakes up on another planet full of dead Jaffa, where he and Bra'tac are lying half dead next to each other. Teal'c takes Bra'tac's symbiote and implants it in himself.

Teal'c wakes up "at home" with his wife Shauna and they talk about the kidney transplant he just had and about Teal'c's dreams. His wife convinces him that all is OK. Teal'c says that when he is at the SGC, the fireman life feels like a dream, but when he is in the fireman reality, the SGC seems like a dream. Teal'c tries to tell her that what "where he is is a dream" and that "it can't be real". On the next day Teal'c visits Brae who tells him that his body is rejecting the kidney. Teal'c is shocked and outside the hospital he meets Daniel again. They talk about the operation and especially Teal'c's dreams. Daniel tries to find connections between the two dreams but Teal'c can't say what is real. Daniel says that perhaps both worlds aren't real. The scene shifts again to the gate room, where a badly wounded Teal'c is lying on the ramp and then brought in the infirmary. SG-1 then tells Major General George S. Hammond that a meeting of the rebel Jaffa was an ambush and that Teal'c kept himself and Bra'tac alive for three days by sharing his symbiote between them.

Dr. Fraiser reveals that because they were sharing the symbiote, it is not strong enough to heal either and all three of them are dying. Some time later Jacob Carter arrives and brings a modified version of Tretonin which has been engineered for Jaffa physiology. They then decide to use it because the symbiote is dying.

When Teal'c wakes up later, Daniel appears at his side and they talk about what has happened. Teal'c thanks him but Daniel says it's all because of his strength.

Notable Quotes
Fraiser: Well, whatever happened, you seem fine now. Still, I've never heard of any Jaffa fainting before, let alone you.

Teal'c: I did not faint, Dr. Fraiser.

Carter: Sorry Teal'c, but you did. One minute I was talking to you about the upcoming mission, and the next minute, you were lying flat on your back.

Carter: Maybe you were just bored with what I was saying. Oh. Fine. On that note, I'll say goodnight.

Fraiser: Goodnight Sam.

Carter: Prescribe him some warm milk.

Teal'c: My mind was filled with images. Thoughts of me, yet I was not entirely myself.

Fraiser: Happens to humans all the time.

O'Neill: It's called dreaming, Teal'c.

Jackson: Hi.

Teal'c: Hi.

Jackson: I'm, uh, I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson, I'm one of the resident psychologists here. I heard you might like to talk.

Teal'c: So. Daniel Jackson.

Jackson: Ah, you can just call me Daniel if you like.

Teal'c: You think I'm crazy.

Jackson: No, not yet, we just met.

Teal'c: We haven't met before?

Jackson: Nope, no, I don't think so.

Teal'c: I'm sure we have.

Jackson: Maybe in another life, or something like that, ya know, if you believe in that sort of thing. Some people do. I just came by to talk.

O'Neill: Hey. Let's go. You know how much it costs to keep that thing open?

Jackson: Both can't be real.

Teal'c: No.

Jackson: So you're trying to figure out which of the two lives you seem to be leading is the real one so that you can stay there, or here, or wherever it is you're supposed to be, once and for all.

Jackson: Maybe the answer to that question is something you haven't even considered. Maybe neither one is real.

Teal'c: What?

Jackson: Think about it. If you can't distinguish between them, if the one seems equally as real as the other, maybe you don't belong in either one.

Teal'c: Then what do I do?

Jackson: Hang in there. Just a little while longer.

Teal'c: Hey, you can't leave me here like this!

Jackson: I haven't left your side, Teal'c. And I'm not going to. That's a promise.

O'Neill: Teal'c without Junior... that's a concept.

Goofs

 * In the fire truck when Major Samantha Carter is reaching for the radio to respond to dispatch, the C on the back of her coat is missing. When they reach the accident, in a glimpse of her back as she instructs Ray to stretch out a preconnect, the C has returned.
 * When Dr. Daniel Jackson and "T" are talking at the picnic table outside the hospital after finding out that "Bray" is rejecting the kidney transplant, "T's" hands can be seen changing to a different position in each shot as they go back and forth between him and Jackson without him having moved them. Jackson's hands can also be seen switching between two places between the shots.

In other languages

 * French: La Porte des Rêves (The Dreamgate)
 * Italian: Vite Parallele (Parallel Lives)
 * Spanish: Sustitución (Substitution)
 * Czech: Dvojí Realita (Dual Reality)