Moebius, Part 1

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

Synopsis
Dr. Daniel Jackson hears that Catherine Langford has passed away. He is then given her entire collection, where he discovers a location of a Zero Point Module to contact Atlantis. The catch is, they have to travel back in time to Ancient Egypt to get it. However, their efforts alters the timeline, where Daniel Jackson is a teacher, Samantha Carter is a secretary, and Jack O'Neill has retired.

Plot
Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter reveals the existence of the Daedalus: a new Earth-built battlecruiser which is capable of reaching the Pegasus Galaxy and is larger and more advanced than the Prometheus.

Later, Dr. Daniel Jackson 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 decides to live out the rest of their lives in the past, knowing that the rebellion that overthrew Ra will eventually happen. However, an alternate timeline is created in which the Stargate was never discovered and everything SG-1 have done for the last eight years never happened.

In this timeline, Dr. Daniel Jackson is teaching English as a second language, Dr. Samantha Carter spends her time double-checking other scientists' 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 Daniel 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.

An expedition team is sent to find the Giza Stargate, but find nothing. Instead, they discover that the original Daniel left a tablet where the gate should have been, inscribed with an obscure dialect of Ancient Egyptian that only Daniel 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 Daniel 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.

In the meantime, Daniel and Carter meet the alternate version of Dr. Rodney McKay who 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.

Later, a team is assembled to go through the Stargate to recruit Teal'c under the instruction of the Daniel and Carter on the tape. Daniel and Carter are not going to be on this team.

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 episode 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.
 * 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.

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))