Children of the Gods


 * Series: Stargate SG-1
 * Episode: 1.01
 * Original air date: 27 July 1997

Children of the Gods is the series primier of Stargate SG-1.

Summary
The episode opens in the abandoned missile silo containing the thought-to-be-useless Stargate where a group of soldiers are playing poker, convinced they are safe from an officer since "nobody ever comes down here but us."

However, the gate is opened and Apophis comes through his First Prime Teal'c and several Jaffa. Apophis kidnaps a female sergeant, the only women in the group, and the Jaffa and remaining soldiers open fire on each other. Several Jaffa and all the soldiers, save the kidnapped sergeant, are killed. When more soldiers rush into the room, George Hammond, commanding officer of the base, orders them to hold their fire when he sees Apophis' eyes glow.

Jack O'Neill is called to Cheyenne Mountain where Hammond questions him about his previous mission through the Stargate. O'Neill claims the nuclear warhead he brought along was detonated, killing everyone on Abydos, including Daniel Jackson, and burying the Stargate in the rubble. Hammond does not beileve him and, when he threatens to send a more powerful warhead through the gate to Abydos to make sure, O'Neill admits the truth. The bomb exploded aboard Ra's spacecraft, killing him, but leaving the Abydonians unharmed.

Hammond is initially unsatisfied with this explanation and plans to send the bomb anyway, but changes his mind and asks O'Neill to suggest an alternative. O'Neill suggets he and his men return to the planet to try and discover where the aliens had come from, but Hammond points out that time has passed and that Abydos may be different now.

Therefore, rather than sending a probe, O'Neill sends a box of kleenex through the gate to Abydos, reasoning that that way Jackson would know it was him and not someone like Hammond. Daniel reponds by sending the box back empty with the words "Please send more" written on it.

Satisfied Abydos is safe, Hammond heads a mission briefing and introduces O'Neill to Samantha Carter, a captain in the United States Air Force and astrophysicist. O'Neill is annoyed by Carter joining him and his men, not because she is a woman, but because she is a scientist. Hammond, however, leaves O'Neill with no choice but to bring her along.

Arriving on Abydos, they meet a content Daniel Jackson living happily among the Abydonians. Daniel shows them a cartouche he discovered after having been on Abydos for a month that reveals there is a vast network of Stargates, not just the two on Earth and Abydos.

Meanwhile, Apophis comes through the Abydos Stargate and kidnaps Sha're and Skaara. O'Neill manages to convince Jackson that the only way they can rescue Sha're and Skaara is if he returns to Earth. Daniel tells the Abydonians to place a coverstone over their Stargate so no more enemies can come through and tells them to remove the barrier in exactly one year and that, if he doesn't return to Abydos on that day, to bury the gate forever.

Back on Earth, Hammond officially forms SG-1, which comprises of O'Neill and Carter. Jackson requests that he also be allowed join the team and Hammond replies that he will consider it. Louis Ferretti, meanwhile, reveals he saw all the gate coordinates Apophis entered when he left Abydos.

Using Ferretti's coordinates, SG-1, which does include Jackson, and SG-2, headed by Charles Kawalsky, gate to the planet Chulak. When Daniel discovers that Sha're has been turned into a Goa'uld, he becomes very upset and behaves rather rashly, resulting in SG-1's capture.

Trapped in a giant prison cell with captives from many different planets, they again find Skaara, but he is chosen as a host for Klorel. Once all the captives who will become hosts are taken, Apophis orders Teal'c to kill all those who remain. All seems lost when O'Neill convinces Teal'c to turn on his master and save the captives.

On their journey back the Stargate, the team faces off with Death gliders and Jaffa, but they eventually make it make to Earth. Hammond is surprised to see Teal'c and to hear O'Neill suggest Teal'c should join SG-1. Hammond says that that decision may not be up to him.

However, though no one yet realizes it, Kawalsky has been taken over by a Goa'uld...

Production

 * Written by: Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright
 * Directed by: Mario Azzopardi

Guest stars

 * Jay Acovone as Charles Kawalsky
 * Brent Stait as Louis Ferretti
 * Gary Jones as Walter Harriman
 * Robert Wisden as Major Samuels
 * Peter Williams as Apophis
 * Vaitiare Bandera as Sha're
 * Alexis Cruz as Skaara
 * Gary Jones as Walter Harriman

Background information, notes, mistakes and unanswered questions

 * As the first episode of the first season of Stargate SG-1, "Children of the Gods" had to make the transition from the movie to the series.
 * Fans have long debated how Apophis dialed out of Earth's Stargate without a DHD. Common theories include:
 * His Jaffa dialed out manually. This seems unlikely, as based on the way the episode was edited, they wouldn't have had enough time. However, it's pointed out there could have been a time lapse.
 * Apophis used a devise similar to the one used by Cassandra in "1969" and by Thor in "Small Victories."
 * His Jaffa somehow reactivated the dialing computer. This is unlikely since the computer was shut down and it would have taken the Jaffa a long time to start it up again, much less figure out how it worked, get in the control room, etc.
 * Apophis used a portable DHD. It was mentioned he possesed them in Ashley McConnell's novel The Price You Pay. However, one is not apparent in the episode.
 * Apophis used his hand device to activate the Stargate to dial the last address that was dialed into it. This happened with Skaara in the P.O.W. comic, though has not been seen since.
 * Considering Earth's Stargate had been unburied for almost seventy years, it's rather convenient that Apophis just happened to dial in Earth one year after the original Abydos mission. O'Neill seems to suggets the attack was made when the Goa'uld determined Earth was a threat, but there was no way they could have known how Ra died or, even if they did, what world those who had killed him had come from. It seems especially unlikely that this information would fall into the hands of Ra's arch enemy Apophis.
 * The episode was novelized by Ashley McConnell in Stargate SG-1.