Wormhole X-Treme! (episode)

"Wormhole X-Treme"! is the twelfth episode of the fifth season, as well as the landmark 100th episode of Stargate SG-1.

Plot
This episode is a continuation of the Season 4 episode "Point of No Return". A spaceship that had been hidden in the outer solar system activates and begins approaching Earth, and its energy signature is matched to that of Martin Lloyd's escape pod suggesting that this is its mother ship. The military tracks down Lloyd and discovers that he has become the creative consultant for a television series whose concept he sold to a Hollywood studio, Wormhole X-Treme!. The parallels between Wormhole X-Treme! and the real SG-1 are uncanny, but the Air Force had decided that while being a breach of secrecy, the show could prevent any future leaks of information about the Stargate program from being taken seriously, i.e. a source of 'plausible deniability'.

O'Neill is given the position of "Air Force technical advisor" to the show, in order to covertly confront Lloyd about both the secrets he has leaked and the approaching spacecraft. He discovers that Lloyd has resumed using memory suppressants and does not consciously remember his previous encounter with them or his own extraterrestrial origin. O'Neill initially suspects Lloyd's associates of drugging him again, but in fact Lloyd started taking them on his own so that he could feel more comfortable with living on Earth.

Lloyd's associates are nevertheless nearby, and also another secret government group, called the NID, wishes to seize the ship's technology for themselves.

The rest of SG-1 is sent over as backup, and Teal'c infiltrates the set, while Daniel and Sam scan Lloyd's house for broadcasts, which leads them to a warehouse used by the NID.

Lloyd had in his possession the remote control device necessary for boarding the empty ship when it arrives, thinking it merely another of the many useless science fiction props of the show, and both parties want to recover it. His associates kidnap Lloyd and O'Neill, injecting Lloyd with a memory-restoring drug. Before they interrogate him, however, Teal'c (recognized as "Murray" by Lloyd) helps O'Neill and Lloyd escape.

O'Neill and Lloyd recover the remote control just as the spacecraft arrives, with Lloyd's associates in close pursuit and the NID on their way. O'Neill gives the remote to Lloyd's associates allowing them to flee Earth, both because he sympathizes with their plight and to deny the ship's technology to the NID. Lloyd decides that he is comfortable with his new life and remains on Earth to continue consulting for Wormhole X-Treme!.

At the end of the episode there is a "Making of Wormhole X-Treme!" featurette with interviews of several of the actors from the fictional show and behind the scene footage.

Notable Quotes
Hammond: Plausible deniability. In the event of a future breach of security, we'll be able to point to this television program. That is, if it stays on the air.

(This is, no doubt, a reference to the fact that the shows producers were always in fear that Stargate SG-1 would be taken off the air at the end of the current season).

Martin Lloyd: Woah, woah, woah ... what is that?

Prop Guy: It's fruit. Scene 23.

Martin Lloyd: Okay, Scene 23 takes place on another planet ... so you think aliens eat apples?

Prop Guy: Why not? They speak English.

Director: The reality of the scene dictates there be dead aliens ... because you just killed them.

Head Writer: We could always go back to the way it was in the script.

Director: No we can't. We've already established that one shot stuns and two shots kills. Nick just shot everybody twice.

Martin Lloyd: So three shots disintegrates them!

Director: Okay, you know what? I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that, because that is quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say.