The First Ones

"The First Ones" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
Dr. Daniel Jackson is captured and taken prisoner by an Unas later to be known as Chaka on P3X-888. While he learns more about the Unas, the rest of SG-1 and other teams plan a rescue operation. However, Teal'c stops them, after he senses that one of the team members are taken host by a Goa'uld.

Plot
After three weeks with SG-11 on P3X-888, Dr. Daniel Jackson is certain that the Goa'uld originated there. The story begins with Daniel boxing a fossilized Goa'uld queen, and making the "significant" discovery that they have no Naquadah in their blood stream.

The Stargate opens on Earth, giving SG-11's IDC. Major General George S. Hammond opens the Iris and only one person comes through. Dr. Robert Rothman announces a member of his team is dead, and Daniel has been taken by what he believes is an Unas. Immediately, Hammond tells Colonel Jack O'Neill he is permitted to go with SG-1 and SG-2, and to take FN P90 Personal Defense Weapons.

SG-1 arrives on the planet, but they cannot make radio contact with SG-11. They eventually make it to the base camp from which the archaeologists were operating, but it is deserted, except for the body of Loder. Minutes later, Major Gil Hawkins is found in a daze, unable to give a coherent account of what has happened. It appears that the rest of SG-11 is probably dead.

As the search for Daniel continues, Daniel is having a hard time keeping pace with his captor, who is allowing him to walk but has tied his wrists, and is pulling him on a sort of leash. Upon finding a stream, Daniel attempts to communicate his desire for water, and the Unas allows him to drink, but only if he scoops the water with his hands. He lets down the leash (which is attached to his wrists), and Daniel sees an opportunity for escape. He wades across the stream, which the Unas is apparently unwilling to enter, but the Unas beats him to the other side somehow. Daniel turns around to go back across, but sees something in the stream swimming towards him.

He manages to get out of the stream before it reaches him, but it leaps out of the water, aiming for Daniel's head. The Unas swipes it out of the air, and rips it in half, revealing it to be a Goa'uld. At this point, relations begin to warm somewhat between them, and though Daniel is still concerned that he may be the Unas's next meal, he is somewhat more cooperative. They finally reach the Unas's cave, where the Unas roasts the dead Goa'uld over a fire, and offers the head to Daniel to eat. After inventing a "toss the Goa'uld head" game, in which Daniel manages to amuse the Unas, Daniel shows him some "real" food, which the Unas eats and enjoys.

Daniel is allowed to explore the cave, and the pictographs on its walls, along with clues like the bony neck protector which the Unas wears indicate to him that the Unas which did not get taken as hosts by the Goa'uld have moved into the caves in order to avoid being taken. However, while exploring the cave, the Unas does something which changes the mood drastically, drawing another pictograph which indicates to Daniel that he has been 'marked for death'.

Meanwhile, the rescue team stops to rest. O'Neill is suspicious of Hawkins's recent behavior/mental lapses, and asks Rothman if he thinks anything is wrong with him. Rothman doesn't think so, but unseen by the rest of the group, Hawkins's eyes flash. The next morning, Teal'c has discovered that the waters are teeming with Goa'uld, and he asks the rest of the team to relinquish their weapons, knowing that any of them could have become a Goa'uld during the night. Since Teal'c, being a Jaffa, is the only one who could not possibly have been taken as a host, O'Neill agrees, and they put down their weapons. Teal'c radios to the two members of SG-2 guarding the Stargate, and tells them to come and pick the rest of the team up. He volunteers to go on alone to retrieve Daniel Jackson. Everyone else is bound hand and foot.

A short while later, we see that Major Hawkins is surreptitiously attempting to break his (relatively weak) bonds. When O'Neill sarcastically asks "Alright, anyone with a snake in their head, raise your hand," Hawkins manages to break the bonds on his wrists, raising his hand in doing so. He picks up a P90, and is about to shoot O'Neill, when Teal'c comes out of the nearby woods and fires multiple shots from his staff weapon into Hawkins. Teal'c cuts everyone's bonds, explaining that he knew if any of them had been taken by a Goa'uld, he would be strong enough to break his bonds. However, as Teal'c cuts Rothman's bonds, he sees that Rothman, too, has blood on his wrists, but before he can react, Rothman knocks him backwards and grabs his staff. He manages to shoot Captain Michael Griff in the shoulder before O'Neill takes him down with his P90. SG-1 continue their quest to find Daniel, while the rest of the group stays behind to bury the dead and then return to the Stargate.

When Daniel wakes up the next morning, his captor is still asleep, and briefly considers bashing in the Unas's skull with a large rock. He cannot bring himself to do it, however, owing to his total uncertainty about what the Unas really intends to do with him. The Unas's hand appears to be bleeding (apparently a gunshot wound from earlier), and Daniel offers to help him with his injury. He removes the bullet, whereupon he attempts to ask for his freedom (see quote below). However, the Unas does not seem agreeable, and takes him further back into the cave. Daniel makes markings on the walls as they go, and SG-1 manage to find the cave and follow the markings.

It turns out that the Unas is taking him to another Unas, who is apparently his senior. The older Unas starts for Daniel, but Daniel's captor intercedes, apparently trying to convince him that Daniel is "Chaka," a word which Daniel has been attempting to figure out for some time now. This stops the Unas, but at this moment, SG-1 arrives. Daniel tells them not to shoot, and they don't, but the elder Unas roars loudly, causing many other Unas to appear from within the caves. The situation begins to look very bad, but Daniel has a flash of insight, and realizes that his captor had captured him in order to fulfill some rite of passage, and that though the intent of the rite of passage was apparently to bring back a captive and kill it, the Unas now desires that Daniel actually be made a member of the clan. The clan does not appear to like the idea, and one of the Unas attempts to kill Daniel. Daniel, however, having learned a couple of words in Unas during his time with his captor, yells what he believes to mean "No, danger!!" The Unas pauses, but charges again, and SG-1 is forced to fire upon him. Though they shoot 15-20 rounds into him, he is still alive, and makes another charge. Daniel's captor, however, stands up to the elder, and ends up dispatching him fairly easily. This victory makes him the alpha male of the clan, at which point he again seems to invite Daniel to join. Daniel declines, but they appear to have parted on friendly terms, with an invitation to Daniel to return someday.

Notable Quotes
Jackson: This is nothing that you need to be worried about. This is a radio. It's so my friends can find me, and shoot you.

O'Neill: Rothman!

Rothman: (sleeping) Nguh... (O'Neill hits him) What!? Colonel?

O'Neill: You notice anything weird about Hawkins?

Rothman: Weird?

O'Neill: Different.

Rothman: Different?

O'Neill: Odd.

Rothman: Odd?

O'Neill: Rothman!

Rothman: I'm still not awake yet Colonel, I'm sorry.

Rothman: No. It's not my thing.

O'Neill: What is?

Rothman: People. I mean, give me a million-year-old fossil and I'll tell you what it had for breakfast but I, I'm not too good at people. They're too recent.

O'Neill: I'm telling you, it's gotta be Hawkins.

Teal'c: Trust in me, O'Neill.

O'Neill: What if I'm not O'Neill?

Teal'c: Then I was not talking to you.

Teal'c: (examining the cave wall) This way.

(O'Neill approaches to see what Teal'c is looking at, and sees that Jackson has written "This Way" with an arrow on the cave wall)

O'Neill: You're good.

Jackson: Look, I know we've got the beginnings of a beautiful friendship here, but I'm not sure your folks are gonna understand.

Goofs

 * Jack refers to Major Michael Patrick Coburn as "Sergeant."

Characters

 * Chaka
 * Major Ben Pierce
 * Captain Michael Griff

Planet

 * P3X-888

Death

 * Dr. Robert Rothman

In other languages

 * French: Primitifs (Primitives)
 * Italian: I Primi (The First Ones)
 * Spanish: Primeros (The First Ones)
 * Czech: První Hostitelé (The First Hosts)
 * Hungarian: Az elsők (The First Ones)