Avalon, Part 1

"Avalon, Part 1" is the first episode of the ninth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, a veteran F-302 pilot who participated in the Battle of Antarctica, has been given command of SG-1. His plan is to reunite the old team. However, Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter works in Area 51, Teal'c is now working full time for the Free Jaffa Nation on Dakara, and Dr. Daniel Jackson is going to Atlantis. However, a visit from Vala Mal Doran changes everything.

Plot
Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell is at Stargate Command staring at the Stargate for the first time. He piloted one of the F-302's in the defense of Earth against the attack fleet of Anubis in the Battle of Antarctica. After his heroic efforts and recovery from injury, Major General Jack O'Neill offered him any job he liked, and he wished to join SG-1. However, when he arrives at the base, he finds that SG-1 has been disbanded, a new general is in control, and he is set to pick and lead the new team.

The new general is Major General Henry Landry, a friend of both Lt. General George S. Hammond and O'Neill. Under his order, Mitchell begins the selection process for new members of SG-1, but can't stomach any of the terrible candidates. He wanted to work with the best, and he's determined to get SG-1 back together.

Teal'c is off world on the planet Dakara, which has been established as the capital of the newly founded Free Jaffa Nation, the aftermath of the fall of the Goa'uld. Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter has been moved to Area 51, where she is aiding the research. Jack O'Neill has been promoted out of the SGC (hence the new general), and Dr. Daniel Jackson is set to take a ride on board the Daedalus, the newest Earth intergalactic battlecruiser, to Atlantis, the now-found City of the Ancients.

An unscheduled offworld activation admits to the SGC Vala Mal Doran who claims to have something they want. They let her in and she immediately seeks out her "friend" Daniel to pester. She's got a tablet written in Ancient that leads to a trove of hidden Ancient treasures, and she needs Daniel to translate it. However, as soon as they are close together, she throws a pair of cuffs onto both his and her wrists. These are Kor mak bracelets (Teal'c explains, on his return), which link the two of them together such that they cannot be greatly separated without feeling pain and eventually death. Thus Vala ensures that Daniel does what she says.

This, of course, causes Daniel to miss his trip on the Daedalus to Atlantis, meaning that he won't make his much-desired trip there. Meanwhile however, he translates the tablet and who wrote it: an Ancient fleeing Atlantis after the war with the Wraith, named Myrddin, who Daniel says is Merlin, the wizard associated with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. After further research, Daniel concludes that the treasure is located beneath Glastonbury Tor in England.

Arriving at the place on the Prometheus, they use Transportation rings to get inside a hidden cavern where a hologram of Merlin tells them that only the true will gain access to the treasures of the Ancients. There is a Sword In The Stone, but Mitchell is unable to remove it. They decide to explore further; Daniel and Vala take a right passageway, and Mitchell and Teal'c take a left.

Both parties find rooms which light up upon entry. In both rooms, the parties encounter puzzles, and the doors lock shut automatically. Just when they think it can't get any worse, the ceiling begins to lower to crush them, and they must solve the puzzles in time before they are crushed.

Notable Quotes
Landry: (flipping through papers in his hand) Your service record's impeccable, Mitchell. What's wrong with ya?

Mitchell: Sir?

Landry: Nobody's perfect. Everyone has some sort of character flaw. What's yours?

Mitchell: Sometimes, I can be impatient…sir.

Landry:  Well, all pilots have type-A personalities. I'm talking about your kryptonite.

(Mitchell is silent)

Landry: Don't worry ... I'll figure it out.

Landry: You know, the thing that's hardest to get used to around here is how good everybody is at their job. The fact is, I like yelling at people! Never get the damn chance.

Mitchell: I'll try not to lower the average, Sir.

Landry: Oh, a self-deprecating sense of humor. You think it'll make people like you, despite your outward perfection?

Landry: Well, that's Jack for you. You know, I looked for the key for that desk for a week, before I finally got him to admit--he never had one! The man never opened a drawer the whole time he was here!

(After talking separately to Jackson, Teal'c, and Carter and being turned down to rejoin SG1 by all three)

Mitchell: Well Walter, it doesn't look like we're getting the band back together.

(Landry and O'Neill are drinking beers and playing chess)'''  Landry:''' A general is only as good as the people he commands.

O'Neill: Who said that?

Landry: I just did. (long pause as Landry moves a rook so O'Neill is in check) I mean, Douglas MacArthur may have said something similar.

O'Neill: Didn't he also say, "there's no substitute for winning"? ''(as O'Neill moves a bishop so Landry is in check-mate) '' Landry: Actually, it was "in war, there is no substitute for victory." (Landry knocks over his own king, conceding defeat)

Mitchell: (talking to Jackson) Look the tablet is written in Ancient code, right? I know it's not the lost city of Atlantis we're looking for here, but whatever it is could be worth finding ... or you're just gonna have to marry that chick.

Vala: Yeah! Let's make babies!

Mitchell: (still trying to get SG1 back together) That was fantastic! You talk to Carter yet?

Jackson: Uh, yeah. She can't make it.

Mitchell: What!? This is huge. We could be on the brink of another major discovery of Ancient technology.

Jackson: I'm sure she'll be interested in whatever we find.

Vala: Hrm. Hey, try playing hard to get.

Mitchell: Yeah, look who's talking.

(Upon entering the Prometheus's 'Auxiliary Control Room 2')

Vala: Ahh, now this brings back memories.

Jackson: How's that?

Vala: Isn't this where I beat you up?

Jackson: No.

Vala: No, I'm pretty sure that right there is where I crushed your--

Mitchell: Alright, excuse me kids. (Pushing between the two of them)

Characters

 * Cameron Mitchell
 * Hank Landry
 * Kevin Marks
 * Lindsay

In other languages

 * French: Le Trésor d’Avalon (1ère partie) (The Treasure of Avalon (part 1))
 * Italian: Una Nuova Avventura (A New Adventure)
 * Spanish: Avalon (parte 1) (Avalon (part 1))
 * Czech: Avalon (část 1.) (Avalon (part 1))