Fallen

"Fallen" is the premiere episode of the seventh season of Stargate SG-1, and the 133rd episode overall.

Synopsis
Jonas Quinn's search for the "Lost City" leads SG-1 to Vis Uban, where they find Daniel Jackson, who seemed to have de-ascended, and has no memories of his past life whatsoever. Meanwhile, Anubis is now using his superweapon to thwart his enemies, and is also made aware of Vis Uban. Quinn and Jackson must sneak onboard his mothership to disable the weapon, while Carter and O'Neill use their F-302.

Plot
On an alien planet with a mass of Ancient ruins, four humans are wandering the ruins. The older man, Shamda tells the younger three a tale he has already spoken to them not too long ago. Their conversation is interrupted by a nearby bright flash. As they investigate, they see a naked man lying on the ground. The men approach, and ask who it is. The man is revealed to be Daniel Jackson, who doesn't know who he is.

In Stargate Command, Jonas Quinn is trying to translate the Ancient tablet SG-1 found on Abydos, when he is struck with an epiphany, and decides to run to Major Carter about his progress, finding her in General Hammond's office. On the way, he bumps into Teal'c and Siler. He enters the elevator, and tells the other man in it that "it's not the lost city". When he arrives at Hammond's office, he interrupts Carter's briefing Hammond about Anubis wiping out various other System Lords. He tells them that what they're searching is a mistranslation; it is actually the "city of the lost". When Carter pushes him for a gate address, Jonas points out that since Jack O'Neill downloaded several new gate addresses since his mind was altered by the Repository of Knowledge, the address of Vis Uban may very well be the last one on the list. Hammond finds the lead solid, and orders a MALP to be sent.

Some time later, SG-1, along with SG-3 and SG-5 arrive on the planet, which is the same one Jackson was found on. They find a mass of ruins and start searching. There they find a group of villagers, who tell them that they migrated to this planet. Meanwhile, outside the ruins, a hooded man, who turns out to be Jackson, comes across another SG team, and the SG team decide to escort him to SG-1. The team is clearly in shock when they see Jackson again, who tells them that he does not remember anything, even his old team. The locals name him "Arrom", meaning "naked one".

As Jackson enters his tent, O'Neill visits him and attempts to jog his memory about who he is, explaining that he once ascended, and must have de-ascended somehow after he wasn't able to use his powers to defeat Anubis. However Daniel still does not remember anything, and wishes to be left alone. O'Neill exits the tent, where Carter soon joins in. Jackson seems less defensive when Carter enters, who again attempts to jog his memory on who he is. She tells him that he was one of the most caring, passionate people she ever knew, and he would give his own life to save someone he doesn't even know, and would be torn apart if his help didn't make a difference. Carter tries to get him to come back, though he merely says he'll think about. Before she leaves, Jackson wonders if there was something between them, to which Carter replies that they are just good friends.

Meanwhile, since the ruins of Vis Uban are quite extensive, they recommend using a UAV to examine the ruins further. They decide to return to Earth. When Teal'c wonders what is to be of Jackson. Jackson himself interrupts by telling them that he will come with them. The team reunites after a year and returns to Earth. Dr. Janet Fraiser examines Jackson, where she gives him a clean bill of health, with one minor exception: his glasses would make a real difference.

He is then taken to his old quarters, which is still much like he left it, even though Jackson still has no recollection of anything: even the picture of a woman next to his bed is unfamiliar to him. O'Neill lets him figure it out for himself. He falls asleep, but wakes up again soon, and brings the picture with him to Teal'c, who is attempting to Kelno'reem, but is unable to do so since he took Tretonin. Jackson explains that the picture is of Sha're, and that he remembered by himself after dreaming about her. However, he is devastated by the fact that she died, and wonders why Oma Desala made him forget while still allowing him to be able to partially remember. Teal'c explains that Jackson once said that there are rules you had to obey when being ascended, and that Oma may have erased his memories by laws of the Others, but wished that they would one day return. Jackson then wants Teal'c to explain to him about Anubis.

The next morning all but Jackson are in a briefing room, where Jonas reports that after a preliminary scan of Vis Uban, they weren't able to find any powerful weapons or technologies to defeat Anubis. Jackson enters the room, despite the fact that the meeting is classified, and Hammond allows him to stay even if the reason is merely a feeling Daniel has. After a while, Jackson tells them that the translations were wrong, and Vis Uban is in fact not the lost city. He explains that it isn't the "city of the lost", the Ancients made the city lost to anyone else, and has been removed from any written history, making the lost city impossible to find; they are now back in square one, and Anubis is still wiping out several System Lords.

Later, Jonas visits Jackson in his quarters, and devises a plan that since Anubis is only half-ascended, so he still doesn't know everything about the Ancients, and if Jonas mistranslated the tablet, then Anubis most likely will too. This gives the team an idea to cripple Anubis, by planting a modified tablet for him to find. Their plan would be to send him to Vis Uban for him to search the area. While Anubis will verify if it is the lost city, his ship's super-weapon might be vulnerable to an F-302 attack. The Tok'ra has an operative in Anubis' ranks and provided the team with a basic blueprint of the ship, but a key information is missing. Jonas and Jackson will sneak into Anubis' mothership, after being given a radioactive Tok'ra isotope, which would render them undetectable to Anubis' sensors for eight hours. This would give the two time to find the location of where Carter and O'Neill will have to target so they can destroy Anubis' superweapon. However, this won't destroy the ship, only its primary weapon, while the shields and secondary weapons will remain active; so Teal'c would use Yu's help, since he's the most co-operative System Lord for the Tau'ri to send his fleet to wipe out Anubis once and for all. O'Neill points out that this is "the wackiest plan we've ever come up with".

With their plan ready, the Tau'ri decides to set up a temporary base on Vis Uban and set up a runway for the F-302. Teal'c comes to Yu, where he agrees at the opportunity to defeat Anubis. Hammond and Walter Harriman join in on the base, and it seems Anubis is heading straight for Vis Uban. Carter and O'Neill take off with the F-302 and fly it into space, while Anubis' mothership exits hyperspace and arrives over the planet.

Jonas and Daniel find a Ring transporter platform, where some of Anubis' troops arrive. The two Jaffa guards are stunned, and Jonas and Daniel ring aboard the ship. Meanwhile, Yu changes his mind about ambushing Anubis at Vis Uban and orders Oshu, his First Prime, to send the fleet to Chodawwa, which is across the galaxy. Teal'c tells Oshu to disobey the order, but since Yu is his master, he sends Teal'c to a cell instead, even though he warns that if Anubis is not destroyed, both Oshu and his master will be doomed.

After Jonas and Jackson arrive at a section where they can access the plan of the ship, they lock it down from Anubis' Jaffa, while Carter and O'Neill fly the F-302 towards the ship, encountering a squadron of four Death gliders zeroing in on their position. Destroying half of it and eluding the rest prompts Anubis to send another squadron, so Carter works on opening the planned short-lived hyperspace window to allow the F-302 to pass inside Anubis' shields. Herak detects a Human base on the planet, but Anubis is not interested in targeting it; instead, he seems to be activate his weapon to destroy the Stargate. As the weapon powers up, Jackson and Jonas eventually manage to acquire the target co-ordinates to give to Carter, while the F-302 eludes Anubis' secondary weapons. While the team below gets word that the Stargate is targeted by Anubis, they start evacuating.

Meanwhile, Jonas and Jackson have to exit the room another way, since the door is being forced open by Jaffa. They find a vent and attempt to make their way through. Jackson makes it, while Jonas has to hold off the Jaffa, but is shot with a Zat'nik'tel and is captured, while Jackson closes the vent in order to not get spotted as well. In the F-302, O'Neill targets the co-ordinates and fires two missiles, which overloads the superweapon and destroys it, shaking the ship violently and angering Anubis.

The F-302 exits Anubis' ship and the occupants make contact with Jackson, who congratulates them, but then gives them the bad news of not being able to meet them. Meanwhile, Anubis enters the room where Jonas is restrained, who gloats to him that his advantage over the other System Lords is gone, and that he will not tell Anubis anything; Anubis calmly replies that he will, showing Jonas his mind probe.

To be continued...

Notable quotes
Jonas enters Hammond's office after translating a tablet concerning the "Lost City"

Jonas: I got it!

Carter: Hopefully it's not contagious.

Native: (pointing to Teal'c) He is Jaffa.

O'Neill: No, but he plays one on TV.

Shamda: No one can be a friend if you know not whether to trust them.

O'Neill: Don't judge a book by its cover.

Shamda: Enemies' promises were made to be broken.

O'Neill: And yet, honesty is the best policy.

Shamda: He that has too many friends has none.

O'Neill: Ah, but... (clearly running out of ideas on what to say) birds of a feather.

Explaining the whereabouts of the "Lost City" in the SGC briefing room

Jackson: Jonas translated lacun to mean "of the lost".

Jonas: Yeah, but that's how we found...

Jackson: The wrong place.

Jonas: The translations in your notes...

Jackson: Also wrong, if these are the ones you mean. I was way off.

Jonas: Well, how do you know that?

Jackson: I don't know. I just, I know what the tablet says.

O'Neill: How?

Jackson: I don't know. I just looked at it and understood it.

Carter: Wait a minute. Are you saying the Ancients actually lost one of their own cities?

Jackson: No, no, they didn't lose it. They made it lost. To other people that might try to find it. I'm guessing that they camouflaged it and removed all reference to it from the written history.

O'Neill: So, the Lost City, is still lost?

Jackson: Look, all I know is that the city you are currently searching is not it.

Carter: SO then where is the Lost City?

Jackson: Didn't I just say "all I know"?

O'Neill: Everyone turn away. I want no witnesses.

After Carter finishes discussing on how to disable Anubis' ship

O'Neill: All I'm saying is, just for the record: this is the wackiest plan we've ever come up with.

Carter: Wackier than strapping an active Stargate to the bottom of the X-302?

O'Neill: Oh, yeah.

Carter: Wackier than—than blowing up a sun?

O'Neill: Yep!

Carter: [To Jonas and Daniel] He's probably right.

Preparing to take off the F-302 to disable Anubis' weapon

Harriman: Airstrike, this is command base. You are a go for takeoff.

O'Neill: Yeah, I thought we were going with Red Leader on this one.

Background notes

 * The people who found Daniel referred to him as "Arrom" which means "naked" in Hebrew.
 * The X-302 has been moved from the Prototype status and named as F-302, with the 'F' standing for "Fighter."
 * The scenes of the F-302 destroying the power core and the planning of the mission at SGC are a humorous homage to episodes four and six of Star Wars, A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, complete with similar visuals and terminology. There is also a Star Wars reference in the dialogue as they prepare to launch the F-302: "Airstrike, this is command base, you are go for takeoff", O'Neill: "Yeah, I thought we were going with Red Leader on this one" (Red Leader was the callsign of Luke Skywalker's X-wing squadron leader in the Battle of Yavin), and when Carter congratulates O'Neill on his great shot, just like Han Solo did with Luke Skywalker in Episode 4. The inside of Anubis' mothership shows a power core that is similar to the one from the second Death Star. The exhaust port on the outside of the ship is also a reference to Episode 4 in which Luke Skywalker had to fire proton torpedoes into a shaft leading to the first first Death Star 's power core, which ended up destroying the whole station, however, this was not the case here.
 * O'Neill indicates the firing of missiles with the NATO brevity code "Fox Four". However, this would be used for firing the internal gun. The correct code for an active radar-guided missile, such as the AIM-120 AMRAAM, is "Fox Three".
 * After O'Neill declares their plan to destroy Anubis' mothership the "wackiest plan we've ever come up with", Carter points out the time they strapped an active Stargate to the X-302 (in "Redemption, Part 2") and the time they blew up a sun (in "Exodus"). However, Carter admits to Jonas and Daniel that O'Neill is probably right.
 * When Daniel first talks with Carter he mistakenly calls O'Neill "Jim" instead of Jack. In the late 8th season episode Threads, Anubis goes by the name of "Jim" in the diner. It seems likely that this is also a nod towards the film Star Trek: The Search for Spock where, having been 'brought back to life' after his death on the Genesis planet, Spock slowly remembers Kirk's name: Jim. The parallel between this episode in particular seems very strong.
 * The first time the SG teams arrive on the planet, one of the SG team members is holding a Barrett M82A3.

Production

 * At the start of the episode, Jonas collides with Sgt. Siler in the corridors on the way to the control room, you can see Siler talking with a man in a lab coat, the man is Martin Wood.
 * Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson) rejoins the cast, and Corin Nemec (Jonas Quinn) is now billed as a "Guest Star."
 * George Touliatos previously played Pyrus, Shyla's father, in "Need."
 * The scenes with the Goa'uld motherships flying in hyperspace are actually stock footage from the Season 2 episode "The Serpent's Lair."