Brief Candle

"Brief Candle" is the ninth episode of the first season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
On a visit to Argos, SG-1 discover that a Goa'uld, Pelops, engineered the Argosian race to live for only 100 days. Colonel Jack O'Neill is inadvertently infected with the nanites that cause their rapid aging and grows older by the day, while the team try to stop the process before it is too late.

Plot
SG-1 arrive at a beautiful planet, Argos, and immediately Dr. Daniel Jackson has to deliver a baby for one of its inhabitants. Successful, they thank him immensely and name the child Dan-el.

Daniel observes that the culture worships an ancient Greek hero, Pelops, as a god. This suggests that the myths surrounding the man originated from him being a Goa'uld (and therefore able to inspire and possibly force worship from the aforementioned culture). Pelops must have transferred these people to Argos a long time ago for his own purposes, but he is no longer here except in statue form.

The Argosians treat SG-1 very well and one woman, Kynthia, takes a strong liking to Colonel Jack O'Neill; they have lots of close contact. That night, however, all of the Argosians, as well as Jack, suddenly fall asleep at exactly the same time. Captain Samantha Carter supposes that there is something in the Argosian diet that has caused this (considering Jack ate some Argosian food that was "only for him" and was the only team member to pass out with the rest of the Argosians). The next day, all of them wake up at exactly the same moment, and this is apparently a normal thing.

Soon, they meet the young newborn Dan'el again, except he somehow is already a toddler. A little investigation reveals that Argosians live for only 100 days, and the normal human life-span is squashed into that time-limit: they grow old extremely quickly, but savor "all that Pelops has given to them".

Returning to Stargate Command, Carter and Dr. Janet Fraiser identify Nanites in Jack and the Argosian's blood which is responsible for making them grow old at this fast rate. Pelops was experimenting on the Argosians: he wanted to see what the Goa'uld host (i.e. the human) would eventually become, hence he sped up the evolutionary process. For unknown reasons he left before his work could be completed.

Ultimately, SG-1 cannot work out how to cure Jack, who now looks about 80 years old, and he's not allowed to return home in case he infects others.

Stuck on Argos, Jack walks and talks with Kynthia, and they walk beyond Pelops' boundary of the village. Then at night, they don't fall asleep. Jack realizes that there must be a transmitter of some kind in the village that is responsible for the functioning of the Nanites.

The transmitter is discovered in the statue of Pelops, and with the return of SG-1 the Nanites are stopped. The Argosians will now live full human life spans and can go to sleep when they please. Carter also realizes that the Nanites only imitated the effects of age, and so now that they are deactivated in Jack, his own immune system will return him to his original age.

Notable Quotes
O'Neill: I've learned so much from you. I'll treasure every day of my life because of you.

Kynthia: For thousands of days?

O'Neill: I sure hope so.

Kynthia: That is almost forever.

O'Neill: Almost.

O'Neill: Don't worry. Aside from a little prostate problem we won't go into, it's not so bad.

O'Neill: Um, do things feel a little... off here?

Jackson: Are you crazy? It's a paradise!

O'Neill: Yeah, sure, have an apple, what could happen?

Goofs

 * Despite the regulation set by Stargate Comand that MALPs are sent through the Stargate to all unexplored planets, no MALP is seen until much later in the episode, in order to communicate with a rapidly aging Jack.
 * The Stargate is only active for a fraction of a second before shutting down. However, SG-1 is shown to have completely come through, all side by side, while it has been established that it takes a few moments for a Stargate to dematerialize something, send it through the wormhole, and rematerialize it. It has also been established that protocols within the Stargate prevent it from shutting down while there is matter within the wormhole, or its buffer unless its power is cut from both ends.

In other languages

 * French: Les Désignés (The Designated)
 * Italian: Alterazione Biologica (Biological Change)
 * Spanish: Los Elegidos (The Chosen)
 * Czech: Jepičí život (Ephemeral Life)
 * German: Die Auferstehung (The Resurrection)