Touchstone (episode)

Touchstone is the fourteenth episode of the second season of Stargate SG-1.

Plot
SG-1 returns to the planet Madrona, where they intended to study a device (with some of Carter's 'doohickeys') on the planet called a Touchstone, a device that controls the planet's weather. However, upon returning to the planet, SG-1 is accused by the natives of stealing the Touchstone, who claim that men dressed in Stargate Command uniforms stole the device. Without the Touchstone, Medrona's weather is spinning violently out of control.

The team quickly reports back to Stargate Command and General Hammond of the accusation. After checking the base computer's mainframe, Samantha Carter discovers that the Earth's second Stargate is being used -- but not by Stargate Command. Carter explains that the gate is being used at the precise moment the S.G.C.'s gate is used to prevent detection.

After unsuccessful attempts to contact the president, Hammond begins to believe someone is controlling the president's schedule. Daniel also has suspicions -- after noticing unusual weather on Earth, he realizes the cause must be the Touchstone. Carter has also learned more about the situation. She confirms the location of the second Stargate -- Nevada. Hammond then reveals that Harry Maybourne has been transferred to Area 51, located in Nevada.

SG-1 then leaves for Area 51 to confront Maybourne. While there, the team learns that the second gate, supposedly under 24-hour guard, has been replaced with a replica. In an attempt to track the second gate, Daniel and O'Neill return to Medrona to overpower the gate and send a M.A.L.P. through. With the M.A.L.P., Stargate Command is able to find that the second gate is located somewhere in southern Utah. Calling in a favor, Hammond learns that a C-5 Galaxy cargo aircraft has just been requested to pick something up from a particular airfield in southern Utah. The C-5 is among the only aircraft large enough to move a Stargate.

The team is sent to the airfield, where they find the second gate. They recover the Touchstone, but four men jump through the gate before the team is able to learn their destination. SG-1 returns the Touchstone to Medrona, where the people faced a deadly winter storm. Thanks to the return of the device, weather is restored. The second Stargate is once again moved, this time to the S.G.C., where a permanent iris is installed on the gate to ensure it is never used again and will be constantly watched by soldiers under Hammond's command.

Quotes
While explaining the Touchstone

Carter: The high priest turns a series of calibrated rings, which seem to determine the meteorological conditions over the entire planet's surface.

Hammond: Do we have any idea on what makes it tick?

O'Neill: That's why we'd like to go back, Sir. Carter wants to get a closer look with some of her specialized...doohickeys.

Hammond: "Doohickeys"?

O'Neill: I believe that's the technical term, Sir.

Background notes

 * Roham is played by Matthew Walker, who will later go on to portray Moros.
 * The NID operation to steal alien technology is revisited in numerous following episodes, culminating in Shades of Grey.

Goofs

 * Although Reynolds is a Marine, his uniform in this episode is that of the USAF. Though, it could also be that he is wearing his blue USMC dress uniform without the jacket instead of the green - throughout the episode, he isn't wearing a jacket at all.
 * Teal'c says in this episode that SG-2 was on a mission "galaxies away" from Madrona. Later episodes establish that, with few exceptions, all the planets visited in Stargate SG-1 are located in the Milky Way and Teal'c doesn't seem to be one to use hyperbole.