Moebius, Part 1

"Moebius, Part 1" is the nineteenth episode of the eighth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
Following Catherine Langford's death, Daniel inherits her collection and soon discovers a Zero Point Module which, if they can get their hands on it, they can use to contact Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. With that knowledge in mind, SG-1 use the Time Jumper to travel to Ancient Egypt but in the process of attempting to acquire the ZPM, they end up unwittingly creating a new reality where, as a result of the Stargate Program never existing, everyone is leading alternate lives.

Plot
In her lab, Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter reveals to her teammates, Teal'c and Dr. Daniel Jackson the existence of the Daedalus: a new Earth-built battlecruiser which is capable of reaching the Pegasus Galaxy and is also larger and much more advanced than the Prometheus.

While there, Daniel receives a phone call and learns of Catherine Langford's death and, after her funeral, receives Catherine's collection of documents and artifacts relating to the Stargate program.

From one book in the collection, Daniel learns of the former location of a Zero Point Module in Ancient Egypt. Jackson and Carter persuade Brigadier General Jack O'Neill to use the time travel capabilities of the Puddle Jumper they found to travel back and take the ZPM, assuming that Ra never knew of its purpose, although Ra took it with him, thinking it was nothing more than a simple, functionless, religious artifact.

Once they arrive in 3000 B.C., they join in an offering to Ra and witness his brutal murder of an Egyptian making the offering. Teal'c disguises himself as a Horus Guard and retrieves the ZPM from Ra's treasury. However, Ra's Jaffa discover the cloaked Jumper after a sandstorm covers it in sand.

Unwilling to upset the future by fighting the Jaffa to get the Jumper back, SG-1 give up and head off, presumably back to the camp where they decides to live out the rest of their lives in the past, knowing that the rebellion that overthrew Ra will eventually happen. However, as a result of their actions, an alternate timeline is created, one in which the Stargate was never discovered and everything SG-1 have done for the last eight years never happened and as such, the characters are all leading different lives.

In this timeline, Dr. Daniel Jackson is teaching English as a second language, Dr. Samantha Carter, having never joined the military spends her time double-checking other scientists's work at the Department of Aerospace Research, Jack O'Neill is retired from the military and Teal'c is still the First Prime of Apophis. Daniel and Carter are contacted by the Air Force and brought to Cheyenne Mountain.

O'Neill, now living in Canada, (O'Neill speaks with a Canadian accent and Canadian flags are on the boats surrounding his at the marina and on shore) is contacted by Major Paul Davis and asked to return to the United States Air Force, but he declines, and departs in his boat, Homer.

At Cheyenne Mountain, Brigadier General George S. Hammond informs Carter and Jackson that archaeologists found a video camera in a vacuum-sealed canopic jar at a dig in Giza. The video contains a recording of the made by the original SG-1, explaining who they are and what they were doing, as well as a number of events and situations that are true in their timeline, such as recent political events, Presidents and personal details. Their plan is that if things have changed in the future, then SG-1's alternate selves will travel back in time and restore the timeline to its proper path. The details are slightly different (in the alternate timeline, Kinsey is President while Henry Hayes is Secretary of the Interior), but the camera technology is also slightly different, and the Air Force are investigating. They also found the ZPM.

An expedition team is sent to find the Giza Stargate, but find nothing. Instead, they discover that the original Daniel Jackson left a tablet where the gate should have been, inscribed with an obscure dialect of Ancient Egyptian that only Jackson can read. It reveals that the original SG-1 instigated a successful rebellion against the Ra of 3000 BC. However, this caused him to leave Earth with the Stargate but they do find the Puddle Jumper, and Jackson and Carter figure out how to find the Beta Gate in Antarctica ("the land of the cold to the south") with the Stargate being brought back.

Alternate timeline Carter and Jackson are told they cannot join the expedition to the Beta Gate. Feeling left out, they go to meet with O'Neill, hoping that he can convince Hammond to let them be more involved. He now operates a fishing boat, and charges them $150 to sit on the boat and talk. However, he is not interested and they return without him.

Back in Colorado, Hammond takes them to meet the alternate version of Dr. Rodney McKay who is the lead scientist on the project concerning the Time Jumper that the original SG-1 used.

Major Davis also reveals that the Jumper was found buried near the dig where the tape and the ZPM were located.

McKay instantly takes a liking to Carter, wasting no time in inviting her off for lunch where the main course is Lemon chicken, McKay's favorite much to Sam's own dismay.

Carter escapes from McKay's unwanted attentions and she later informs Jackson that she's found a way to discover the second Stargate. Her theory eventually pays off and the Stargate is uncovered and brought back to Stargate Command.

The two later meet with General Hammond who thanks them for their help before stating that they are not going to be on the team or the mission to recruit Teal'c because they don't have the necessary qualifications or essential training.

Exasperated, they can only watch as the newly discovered Stargate is lowered into the Gateroom.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Notable Quotes
Sabrina: You know, my aunt used to talk about you all the time. It's funny - I always used to picture some Indiana Jones type with a bullwhip and a pistol chasing bad guys through some ancient temple!

Daniel: Yeah, well, I generally leave the whip at home, so...

Sabrina: Right, well, me too.

(Daniel looks confused)

Jackson: Holy.......buckets. This looks like her entire collection.

O'Neill: I prefer stamps.

Jackson: We have a time machine. We can go back and get the ZPM.

O'Neill: She wouldn't let me go back and watch the Cubs win the World Series.

Dr. Carter: Just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside, doesn't— God, that's horrible! Who would ever say that?

Dr. Jackson: What's this?

Hammond: Non-disclosure agreement. What we're about to discuss has been classified top secret by the United States government.

Dr. Jackson: What if we don't want to sign it?

Hammond: Well then you're free to leave.

(Carter hurriedly signs it.)

Dr. Carter: What do you think they're gonna do? Ask us to join an elite team of intergalactic space heroes? Look at us. I think the only reason that they showed us the tape is because we're on it.

Dr. Jackson: Exactly.

Dr. Carter: Oh.

Goofs

 * When the original SG-1 leaves the Puddle Jumper at Giza to have a look around, tire tracks can be seen in the sand.
 * At the end of episode when the Beta Gate is being lowered into position. The shot from behind the gate clearly shows that the back of the gate looks the same as the front while other episodes show that the front and back are different.
 * Daniel gets Catherine's Eye of Ra medallion here, however, in "Full Circle," he had the medallion while Ascended and said that Catherine had given it to him. This discrepancy is never addressed. (Obviously he never "had it with him" as only the flesh and blood ascends not any physical items. As you can see by the fact his clothes change he's obviously able to choose what he has with him while ascended.)
 * In the schematic of the Daedalus Carter displays, it looks more like the BC-303 class of ships such as the Prometheus rather than the DSC-304 class such as the Daedalus.
 * When Teal'c retrieves the ZPM from Ra's treasure room at Giza, it is glowing. In other episodes featuring ZPMs, including the one from Proclarush Taonas, those stolen from the Asurans in the Pegasus Galaxy, and the one powering the Electromagnetic field generator in Childhood's End, a ZPM that's not in use does not glow, and appears identical to a depleted ZPM.
 * Colonel Carter refers to the Ancient time ship as a "puddle jumper" but no mention had been made that the events of this episode occurred after the events of "Letters from Pegasus" and no other mention is made of the Atlantis expedition. While "Moebius" aired nearly a month after that episode, Carter mentions that Deadalus is still under construction and that, combined with the travel time required to get to Pegasus without a ZPM, places "Moebius" before "Letters from Pegasus" and Carter should not have known the term "puddle jumper."

Character

 * Katep

Death

 * Catherine Langford

In other languages

 * French: Retour vers le Futur (1ère partie) (Back to the Future (part 1))
 * Italian: Moebius (Parte 1) (Moebius (part 1))
 * Spanish: Moebius (Parte 1) (Moebius (part 1))
 * Czech: Moebius (část 1.) (Moebius (part 1))
 * German: Moebius, Teil 1 (Moebius, Part 1)
 * Hungarian: Moebius (1. rész) (Moebius (1. rész))