2001 (episode)

"2001" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
SG-1 makes contact with a technologically advanced race known as the Aschen (a race of people SG-1 from an alternate future tried to warn current SG-1 not to make contact with). While they form an alliance, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c find clues about the Aschen past.

Previously on Stargate SG-1
Stargate Command receives a note from an alternate Colonel Jack O'Neill instructing them to not travel to P4C-970 under any circumstances.

Plot
Earth seems to be have found the perfect ally in their fight against the Goa'uld: the Aschen, whom SG-1 met while visiting the simple, low-tech, pastoral planet Volia at P3A-194. To negotiate with the Aschen, SG-1 is accompanied by Ambassador Joseph Faxon, whom Major Samantha Carter quickly starts to like. They meet with the Aschen representatives on one of their big harvester ships (which harvests Volian fields and sends the crop through the Stargate). The Aschen not only offer them their advanced technology but also membership in the Aschen Confederation. In exchange, Earth will share with the Aschen their knowledge of the Stargate network, as the Aschen claim to be ignorant of the network and know only how to access a few gates. Their bio-technology is particularly interesting because it would allow Earth to create a Biogenic weapon that could target specific DNA combinations.

After Colonel Jack O'Neill's positive introduction to the Aschen, in which they proclaim their willingness to trade, negotiations endorsed by the President of the United States begin. However O'Neill starts to feel uneasy, a feeling strengthened by the fact that the Stargate would have to be revealed to the public (because the Aschen only want to negotiate with all the nations of Earth) and also because the Aschen representative mentions that Earth's current population growth is unsustainable (suggesting military action to curb it).

At Stargate Command at about the same time, Major General George S. Hammond and Carter discover that the Aschen home-world may be the location of a Stargate address that was locked out of the dialing computer earlier, when they received a mysterious note that they thought might be from the future SG-1. This note was not only in O'Neill's handwriting but also had his blood on it; it warned them away from going to P4C-970. As Stargate Command has narrowed down the Aschen homeworld to one of four possibilities, Hammond decides to send teams (specifically, SG-3, SG-12, and SG-15) to the other three possible locations to determine if the Aschen world is the forbidden address. However, the search is stopped by presidential order, because if one of the teams were to find the Aschen at one of the other three locations, they might feel their privacy invaded and trust betrayed, thus stopping negotiations.

In the meantime, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c start to investigate Volia in response to O'Neill's order to find out more about the Volians' relationship with the Aschen. After questioning a Volian farmer (who has only positive things to say about the Aschen), they find buried beneath the agricultural fields a city of technology and complexity far more advanced than that evinced by the Volians, yet that is only a few hundred years old. In an underground library the two find newspaper articles that reveal disturbing information about the Aschen.

Meanwhile, after learning of the likelihood that the Aschen are not all that they appear to be, O'Neill journeys to Washington D.C. to tell the President about his concerns. But Senator Robert Kinsey, one of O'Neill's Earth-based arch rivals, beats him to it and convinces the President not to listen to O'Neill, then intercepts O'Neill and makes him return to the SGC, to O'Neill's considerable frustration.

Daniel and Teal'c find the final issue of an old newspaper in the ruins, which they assume must have the last information available before the unknown catastrophe destroyed the civilization. Daniel can translate the newspaper to the extent that he knows that a drug the Aschen gave members of the society (in order to cure a plague) caused something, but he doesn't know the translation of that one word. In a later good-will meeting in which Earth will prove their good faith by sharing a few of the Stargate addresses they know, Carter tricks the Aschen Ambassador Borren into translating the word. It means "sterility". Realizing Carter and Faxon have figured out the Aschen's intentions, they lock Carter and Faxon in a room on a harvesting ship and dial Earth in order to send a powerful bio-weapon through.

Sam sets up a rope to climb down straight into the (horizontally oriented) Stargate, but as Faxon prepares to join her, Borren walks in and Faxon attacks him. With no time left for him to get away, he tells Carter to go on without him. She falls through the Stargate and quickly orders the Iris shut behind her. Earth is saved, and Sam never learns that the man who gave up his life to save her and Earth is the man who would otherwise have been destined to be her husband. It is then revealed that what had been given to the Aschen is a list of useless gate address, the first one being a black hole.

Notable Quotes
O'Neill: Break out the fishing gear, General. Our job here is done.

Hammond: I take it your mission was successful.

Carter: In a word, sir: Yes.

O'Neill: In two words... Yes, sir.

Hammond: Your initial report said the Volians were a simple agrarian society.

O'Neill: That they are.

Jackson: The Volians introduced us to another race. Friends of theirs.

O'Neill: Who, while lacking a sense of humor, make up for it in advanced technology.

Carter: So out of security concerns, the Aschen wish not to reveal the location of their home world until we have an agreement.

O'Neill: They're a little paranoid.

Jackson: It seems appropriate seeing as how they don't have an iris like ours.

Carter: We do know that they've actually created a secondary star in the Volian system by igniting a gas giant, thereby doubling the Volians' growing season.

Faxon: They made a star? How?

Carter: Well, theoretically by increasing the density of a sufficiently massive gas giant until a thermonuclear reaction could take place. In fact Arthur C. Clarke posited that—

O'Neill: Ambassador, you gotta be careful about the use of the word "how" unless you really wanna know.

Faxon: My mistake, Colonel.

(Just after arriving on Volia)

Faxon: It looks just like, uh...

O'Neill: Oh yeah... just when you think you're not in Kansas anymore, turns out ya' are.

Mollem: You look pensive.

O'Neill: No, I was just thinking.

Kinsey: I swear, O'Neill. There's going to be an investigation into this. (he storms out)

O'Neill: Well that'd be fine. O'Neill. Two L's!

Teal'c: Senator Kinsey seems most displeased.

O'Neill: Yeah, that's a cryin' shame isn't it.

Jackson: I just hope we won't regret giving them those gate addresses.

O'Neill: I don't think we will, first one being a black hole and all. They get progressively darker after that.

Goofs

 * The first shot of SG-1 coming through the gate is a re-use from the season 2 episode "Touchstone." The only problem with doing this is that Major Samantha Carter and Colonel Jack O'Neill are carrying H&K MP5A3 submachine guns one moment and FN P90 Personal Defense Weapon's the next. You can also see Dr. Daniel Jackson's longer hair.
 * When Carter cuts the rope and falls into the Stargate she enters feet first but when you see her exit she is head first.

In other languages

 * French: Les Faux Amis (The False Friends)
 * Italian: 2001
 * Spanish: 2001
 * Czech: Rok 2001 (2001)