A Hundred Days

"A Hundred Days" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
On Edora, SG-1 convinces the peaceful natives that every one hundred and fifty years the annual fire rain of meteors will have a devastating impact on the planet. However during the evacuation process, an asteroid supposedly destroys the gate, leaving Colonel Jack O'Neill and a few Edorans stranded. Meanwhile, the rest of the team on Earth spends a hundred days trying to reach them again.

Plot
SG-1 visits the planet Edora to negotiate a trade deal for Naquadah. The team views an annual meteor shower. During the "show" it becomes evident that the meteors are large enough to pose a serious threat to the planet. Laira, the leader of a local village, notes that the shower has been building in strength for several years.

SG-1 returns to Stargate Command to discuss the situation. Major Samantha Carter determines the annual shower is due to the planet passing through its system's asteroid belt, and that every 150 years it passes through a denser section. Because of this the planet is periodically bombarded with meteors that destroy the planet's surface and wipe out almost the entire population.

This time around, however, SG-1 is able to evacuate the Edorans back to Earth with the intention of transferring them back to Edora following the shower. Unfortunately, during the final evacuation, Colonel Jack O'Neill and several dozen Edorans become trapped on the planet when a meteor hits the Stargate. The Edorans who escaped to Earth are forced to stay there until an alternate home can be found for them.

On Earth, Stargate Command discovers that the Stargate on Edora has survived, though it is buried underground with a layer of rock covering the event horizon much as the Iris covers the Earth Stargate. Carter, however, develops a plan to free the Stargate.

Carter's plan is a spin-off of the method used by Sokar to attack SGC's iris, by using a particle accelerator. Although the iris prevents any sort of object traveling through the Stargate, Sokar bombarded the iris with which heated it up to near destruction. Using the same basic idea, Carter plans to melt the rock surrounding the Stargate, then reinitialize the wormhole and create a pocket large enough for one person to enter when the wormhole activates. This plan, however, will take many months to complete in order to build the particle beam, though it is faster than having the Tollan get a ship to the planet which would have taken almost a year.

Back on Edora, however, all is not lost though much of the village is destroyed. Over the following months O'Neill helps the survivors rebuild their homes and replant their crops. O'Neill falls in love with Laira. After spending weeks attempting to dig out the Stargate he begins to settle into the fact that he may be trapped here forever. After three months have passed, O'Neill has become an integral part of the new community.

At the same time, however, Carter has finished her particle beam and is implementing her plan to save O'Neill. After completing the "excavation" process a MALP is sent through the gate, but is destroyed, to everyone's disappointment. However, while reviewing the that survived, it becomes apparent the gate is lying flat "on its back", and the MALP simply fell back into the wormhole after arriving intact. Carter and Teal'c develop a plan to deal with this problem.

Once the gate connection has been established, Teal'c shoots a through the gate, which lodges itself into the rock above the buried gate. Attaching himself to the trailing rope, he pulls himself through the wormhole, ending up suspended in the cavern above the gate. The wormhole is left active while he digs, allowing him to stay in contact with Stargate Command. The wormhole cannot be kept active indefinitely however, and the wormhole cannot be re-activated with Teal'c in the cavern, as the expanding surface will kill him while the gate is being established. Adding to the problems is the fact that Teal'c has a limited supply of air, supplemented by a small oxygen bottle which will last only a few hours.

Just prior to the Stargate disengaging, Laira happens to turn on O'Neill's radio and overhears the conversation. She mentions this to O'Neill. O'Neill tracks to Teal'c's location and begins to dig, eventually pulling Teal'c free. Once they dig out the Stargate, O'Neill has to make the painful choice of whether to remain on Edora with the woman he loves, or return home to his old life. Ultimately he chooses to return home and the Edorans trapped on Earth can, too, return to their home. Carter winces upon seeing that her boss is in love.

Notable Quotes
Carter: I'll make some more observations tonight sir.

Jackson: I'm going to, uh, check the geological record in the morning.

O'Neill: I'll... make a wish.

O'Neill: Good morning campers! Who's going on Daniel's little geology field trip?

(studying the striations of the cave walls)

Jackson: You see, these layers are different. They represent naquadah dust thrown out by impact events.

Garan: Cool. (everyone looks at him confusedly) Uh, J-Jack says that.

Jackson: Yes, he does.

Paynan: Don't you see what they are doing? They want us gone so they can claim our land for themselves!!

Jackson: That's not true.

Paynan: If you go with them, you will never see your land again!!

O'Neill: For cryin' out loud... there's always one like you in a crowd.

O'Neill: All right, folks, train's leavin', let's move!! (Villagers look at him curiously)

Fraiser: You working through the night again?

Carter: Yeah. A lot of work to do.

Fraiser: Look Sam, there's no doubt you are going to solve this, but you have to accept the fact that it's going to take time.

Carter: Yeah, well if I think that way it could take months.

Fraiser: Daniel says the Tollan could have a ship in the vicinity of Edora sometime early next year.

Carter: He shouldn't have to wait that long.

Fraiser: You miss him.

Carter: Yeah.

Fraiser: Is this a problem?

Carter: No. No, of course not.

Fraiser: Okay.

Laira: Paynan has invited you to evening supper.

O'Neill: Why? He doesn't even like me.

Laira: He is very grateful for all the help you've given him in rebuilding his home.

O'Neill: I just hammered a few nails. Well, actually I made the nails first, and then I hammered them.

Goofs

 * Firing a harpoon through the Stargate to allow Teal'c to arrive safely in the excavated cavern contravenes an established rule of gate travel. Objects traveling through a Stargate are stored in its buffer until they pass beyond the event horizon in their entirety, then they are transmitted through the wormhole to the destination. The cable attached to the harpoon would prevent this from happening until Teal'c entered the gate. However, since objects maintain momentum, as soon as Teal'c entered the gate the harpoon would have fired out and secured the rope.
 * The meteorite that struck the ground to cause the sizable compacted layers in the cave must have thrown out a lot of the dust to cause such a thickness. That amount of dust would have clogged up the pond and covered the land in and around the village by a good thickness. However the pond and ground are clear. This could be that future years will have worse events and the thickness in the geological column would build up over a few years.
 * After the refugees who have decided not to stay on Edora finish evacuating through the gate, Dr. Daniel Jackson returns to Earth and leaves Major Samantha Carter and Teal'c on the planet. When the members of the SGC are shown waiting for them to come through the gate, however, Daniel can be seen helping evacuees who apparently arrived after him.
 * The unstable vortex generated by an opening Stargate does not actually follow the same shape as the cavern dug out of the ground when horizontal.

Nominations

 * Nominated Leo for "Best Screenwriter of a Dramatic Series" (Brad Wright and V.C. James)

Planet

 * Edora

In other languages

 * French: La Pluie de Feu (The Fire Rain)
 * Italian: Cento Giorni (A Hundred Days)
 * Spanish: Cien días (A Hundred Days)
 * Czech: Sto dní (A Hundred Days)
 * Hungarian: Száz nap (Hundred Days)