2001 (episode)

2001 is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Stargate SG-1.

Plot
Earth seems to be have found the perfect ally in their fight against the Goa'uld, the Aschen, which SG-1 met while visiting the simple, low-tech pastoral planet of the Volians. To negotiate with the Aschen, SG-1 is accompanied by ambassador Joseph Faxon, whom Carter quickly starts to like. They meet with the Aschen representatives on one of their big harvester ships (which harvests Volian fields and sends the crop through the Stargate). The Aschen not only offer them their advanced technology but also membership in the Aschen Confederation. Their bio-technology is particularly interesting because it would allow earth to create a bio-weapon that could specifically target a single species.

During the episode, after O'Neill's positive introduction to the Aschen, in which they proclaim their willingness to trade, negotiations supported by the President begin. However O'Neill starts to feel uneasy, a feeling strengthened by the fact that the Stargate has to be revealed to the public (because the Aschen only want to negotiate with all of Earth) and also because the Aschen representative mentions that Earth's population growth is unsustainable (suggesting military action to curb it).

At Stargate Command at about the same time, General George Hammond and Carter discover that the Volian homeworld is suspiciously close to a Stargate address that was locked out of the dialing computer when they received a mysterious note that they thought might be from the future SG-1. This note not only was written by O'Neill but also had his blood on it and warned them away from going to the Aschen planet. Hammond determines that the Aschen homeworld is probably one of four near Volia, and decides to send teams to the other three nearby addresses to determine if the Aschen homeworld is this forbidden address. However, the search is stopped by presidential order, because if one of the teams were to arrive in the Aschen homeworld, they might feel their privacy invaded and trust betrayed, thus stopping negotiations.

In the meantime, Daniel and Teal'c start to investigate in response to O'Neill's order to find out more about the Aschen. After questioning a Volian farmer (who has only positive things to say about the Aschen), they find buried beneath the agricultural fields a city of technology and complexity far more advanced than that evinced by the Volians, yet that is only a few hundred years old. In an underground library the two find newspaper articles that reveal disturbing information about the Aschen.

Meanwhile, after learning of the likelihood that the Aschen are not all that they appear to be, O'Neill journeys to Washington to tell the President about his concerns. But Senator Robert Kinsey, one of O'Neill's Earth-based arch rivals, beats him to it, and convinces the President not to listen to O'Neill, and returns him to the SGC, to O'Neill's considerable frustration.

Daniel and Teal'c find the final issue of an old newspaper in the ruins, which they assume must have the last information available before the unknown catastrophe destroyed the civilization. Daniel can translate the newspaper to the extent that he knows that a drug the Aschen gave members of the society in order to cure a plague caused something, but he doesn't know the translation of that one word. Carter tricks the Aschen ambassador Borren into translating it. It means "sterility". Realizing Carter and Faxon have figured out the Aschen intentions, they lock Carter and Faxon in a room on a harvesting ship and dial Earth in order to send a powerful bio-weapon through.

Sam sets up a rope to climb down straight into the (horizontally oriented) Stargate, but as Faxon prepares to join her, Borren walks in and Faxon attacks him. With no time left for him to get away, he tells Carter to leave. She falls into the Stargate and the Iris is quickly shut behind her. Earth is saved, and Sam never learns that the man who gave up his life to save her and Earth is the man who would otherwise have been destined to be her husband. Also they had given the Aschen a list of useless gate address, first one being a black hole.

Flashbacks
see: 2010

Notable Quotes
Faxon: You look pensive.

O'Neill: No, I was just thinking.