Tin Man

"Tin Man" is the nineteenth episode of the first season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
SG-1 arrive on the seemingly abandoned planet of Altair and are soon knocked out. When they awaken with seemingly no ill-effects, they hastily return to Earth. There, they discover that they've been turned into androids. To ensure their survival, they are forced to return to Altair to work with the last remaining Altairan, Harlan, who maintains the power systems of the underground city, but soon learn Harlan is hiding something.

Plot
SG-1 arrives on P3X-989 and finds themselves in a huge complex and are, moments later, knocked unconscious by a mysterious light. They wake up dressed in new clothing and lacking their equipment, and soon meet a strange character named Harlan who claims that SG-1 are now "better." Harlan takes them through the complex to retrieve their equipment and then prepare to leave, ignoring Harlan's strenuous protests that they must stay.

The team returns to Stargate Command where they are sent to the infirmary and are examined by Dr. Janet Fraiser. When checking Colonel Jack O'Neill for a heartbeat, she hears a mechanical sound. O'Neill uses a scalpel to open his arm and discovers that they are androids. They are confined on Earth until they become to weak to function and convince Major General George S. Hammond to allow their return to P3X-989. Upon arrival, Harlan confesses to making them into androids but is not willing to "transform them back" to their Human form.

Harlan himself is in fact also an android, the last member of an extinct race called the Altairan that was programmed to keep the giant facility on P3X-989 running. After helping Harlan to solve a malfunction in the facility they eventually find out why Harlan refuses to change them back; SG-1 wasn't transformed into robots but have been duplicated from the real SG-1 team, which is restrained and kept prisoner by Harlan. Harlan confesses his plan in which he would eventually release the real SG-1 team so that they would not know of their robot duplicates. He hoped that the robot SG-1 would remain with him and help maintain the facility.

After a small period of confusion between the real and robot SG-1 team, the robot team decides to stay with Harlan and bury the Stargate while the real SG-1 team returns home, despite the hesitancy of the robot Jack O'Neill, who naturally sees himself as human even though he knows he is not.

Notable Quotes
O'Neill: Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Colonel speaking. Welcome to P3X-niner-eight-niner where it's a balmy...room temperature.

Harlan: Ah...Comtrya! Comtrya!

O'Neill: Daniel?

Jackson: I think that's a greeting.

Harlan: Yes, it is.

Jackson: Oh, well, then...Comtrya! We are explorers from a place called Earth. I am Daniel. Hello. (tries to shake hands)

Harlan: Oh, this is your custom, yes? (Simply copies Jackson, and doesn't shake hands) Hello. You are the leader?

Jackson: Oh, no. That will be...

O'Neill: Me! Colonel Jack O'Neill. Kum-bi-yah.

Harlan: Comtrya.

O'Neill: Whatever.

Harlan: Hubald, he was the creator of all this, but he died very early...too early...Many secrets with him, so long ago.

O'Neill: How long, exactly?

Harlan: Uh, exactly? 99,207,000 of your...hours.

O'Neill: (immediately) Well, that's 11,000 years.

Carter: How did you know that?

O'Neill: That's right?

Carter: (calculating) Yeah.

Jackson: Wait, how did you know that?!?

Carter: Probably thought we'd damage him...

O'Neill: Perceptive little runt.

Harlan: All will be well, you will see. And your friend too.

Carter: What? Teal'c?

Jackson: You killed him!

Harlan: He was malfunctioning.

Jackson: How will all be well with him if he is dead?

O'Neill: Harlan, where have you been?

Harlan: Extremely busy.

O'Neill: I can see that. Doing what?

Harlan: Oh, ah, creating your synthetic others. Saving the planet. Busy, busy.

Teal'c: Was not a copy made of me?

Harlan: Oh yes, yes...but I had to disintegrate you.

Teal'c: I see.

Robotic Carter: We are identical, right down to the mole on our...

Carter: Hey! Shut up!

Robotic O'Neill: And don't even think about trying to send a bomb to make sure.

O'Neill: I wasn't!

Robotic O'Neill: Yes you were - I know you!

Goofs

 * When SG-1 first steps through the Stargate, Colonel Jack O'Neill welcomes everyone to "P3X-989", but in the scene after the opening credits, he calls the planet "PX3-989". This name seems to be correct as later in the episode, Major General George S. Hammond calls the planet "PX3-989".
 * After the machine has been shut off in the process of creating the synthetic of Teal'c, and the synthetic O'Neill is looking in at him, Christopher Judge is seen to be breathing.
 * At the end of the episode, when O'Neill tells robot O'Neill to get his cheek looked at, Christopher Judge can be seen momentarily unable to repress a smile.
 * Although the second synthetic Teal'c was aborted prior to completion it can be seen standing behind robot O'Neill as he says farewell to the originals at the gate.

Nominations

 * Nominated Gemini for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role in a Dramatic Series" (Jay Brazeau)

Characters

 * Harlan
 * Jack O'Neill (android)
 * Daniel Jackson (android)
 * Samantha Carter (android)
 * Teal'c (android)

Race

 * Android

In other languages

 * French : Les Doubles Robotiques (The Robotic Copies)
 * German: Übermenschen (Super-Humans)
 * Italian: Trasferimento di Coscienze (Mind Transfer)
 * Spanish: El hombre de hojalata (Tin Man)
 * Czech: Montér (Tin Man)