1969 (episode)

"1969" is the twenty first episode of the second season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
A freak accident involving a solar flare and the Stargate causes SG-1 to gate to the Earth in 1969. While trying to figure out a way back, the team is mistaken for Soviet spies and is being transferred to another facility. However, young Lt. George S. Hammond comes to render assistance so that SG-1 can return to their own time.

Plot
A powerful solar flare crossing the path of the Stargate's matter stream causes the SG-1 team to be propelled around the sun and travel back in time 30 years. They arrive in the Embarkation room, which was then a top-secret missile testing facility, and are arrested by guards that think they are Soviet spies because Dr. Daniel Jackson can speak Russian.

While Colonel Jack O'Neill is being interrogated and using comedic answers (i.e. Star Trek and Star Wars references) to obscure their true identities, a young Lieutenant searches through SG-1's possessions and discovers a note stating that he should help them, a note Major General George S. Hammond had given Captain Samantha Carter before they left. While escaping custody with the help of the lieutenant, they discover that he is in fact General Hammond, 30 years younger, who recognized the note as in his own handwriting. He gives them some money to purchase disguises (which O'Neill promises to pay back, with interest), they swear him to secrecy, and hit him with a Zat'nik'tel blast to make it look like he fought them.

The SG-1 team must find a way home—if nothing else, Teal'c will eventually be taken over by his symbiote unless he can return to the present—but it seems apparent they are doomed to be stuck in the past. However, Carter sees that the note includes two dates and times, and grasps that the dates actually describe two upcoming solar flares on the opposite side of Sol. This information was identified from research on alternative applications for the gate she was ordered to work on by General Hammond. To use these flares as an effective means of getting back to the future, they must find the Stargate.

After a bold hitchhiking maneuver by Teal'c, SG-1 is able to travel across the country with a couple, Michael Clark and Jennifer Clark, who are heading to  in their bus. Late in their trip, the couple reveals that Michael has been drafted, and they are trying to decide whether or not to flee to Canada. O'Neill begins a response to Michael, but Carter stops him in order to prevent them from influencing the past. Michael is never mentioned again in the series, and his choice is not known. Donning a convincing accent, Daniel learns the location of the Stargate from Catherine Langford. SG-1 manages to activate the gate (stored in an old Washington D.C. armory) and run through while under fire from guards.

However, they arrive in an empty, dark gate room rather than in Stargate Command that they know. An elderly woman walks in, who, it turns out, is Cassandra Fraiser, and she tells them that they stepped into the Stargate a few seconds early and were sent far into the future. Long ago, Sam told her that she must rendezvous with them. She reactivates the gate to return them to their time. The team arrives back in the normal gate room with General Hammond waiting for them. He explains that as a young lieutenant he was ordered to escort 4 trespassers out of Cheyenne Mountain. In Carter's vest pocket he found a note requesting for his assistance. Obviously he followed its instructions. All he had to do was wait for the right time to give Carter the note. He remembered the cut on Carter's hand as he removed the handcuffs. General Hammond also reminds O’Neill of the money he owes him ($539.50, including interest).

Notable Quotes
Soldier: Вы советский шпион? (Are you a Soviet spy?)

Jackson: Нет. (No.)

O'Neill: Daniel!?

Jackson: He just asked if we were Soviet spies, I just... (he suddenly realizes his mistake)

Soldier: (to O'Neill) Come with me.

O'Neill: Sure, you bet. (to Daniel on the way past) Нет!?

Thornbird: I'm Major Robert Thornbird. And you are?

O'Neill: Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.

Thornbird: Your dog tags say otherwise.

O'Neill: They're lying.

Thornbird: Your American accent is very impressive, Mr. Kirk. Before we ship you out and hand you over to wherever it is they take spies such as yourself, I wanted a word. Your little incursion into our training facility is going to leave an embarrassing mark on my record.

O'Neill: Training facility?

Thornbird: You don't think we'd test fire a real missile twenty-eight floors inside a mountain, do you?

O'Neill: Listen, you don't have the exact date—

Thornbird: What was the weapon you used?

O'Neill: Weapon?

Thornbird: Our cameras saw some sort of weapon.

O'Neill: Oh. Well, it's hard to say.

Thornbird: Some sort of state secret?

O'Neill: No, just difficult to pronounce.

O'Neill: Listen, I don't know where we're headed, but they'll probably try to split us up, so we're not gonna have much time to...

Carter: Escape and hopefully live out the rest of our lives without affecting history.

O'Neill: Or...

Carter: I can't think of an "or" at the moment sir.

Jackson: No "or?"

O'Neill: There's an "or."

Jackson: There's an "or?"

Carter: Sir, you can't just will something to happen because you want it to be a certain way.

O'Neill: Captain, where there's a will there's an "or." Way.

O'Neill: Aunty Em! Aunty Em!

Michael: After the concert, me and Jenny, we're even thinking of crossing the border up to Canada.

Teal'c: For what reason?

Michael: You know, man. The war.

 Teal'c' : The war with Canada?

Michael: No.

O'Neill: We came to Earth to hide amongst your people, a long, long time ago.

Jackson: From a galaxy far, far away.

Goofs

 * When the bus approaches Chicago, the  (now called Willis Tower) is shown in the skyline, although its construction did not begin until 1970.
 * Although the bus is surrounded by vintage vehicles on the bridge, oncoming traffic is that of more modern cars.
 * When O'Neill is explaining to Young Hammond their connection, he says, "Now for some reason thirty years ago you decided to help us." Technically, General Hammond helped them thirty years in the future from 1969, not "thirty years ago."

In other languages

 * French: 1969
 * German: 1969
 * Italian: Viaggio nel Tempo (Time Travel)
 * Spanish: 1969
 * Czech: Rok 1969 (Year 1969)
 * Hungarian: 1969