Moebius, Part 2

ckmilita"Moebius, Part 2" is the twentieth episode of the eighth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
After discovering a second Stargate in Antarctica, the team is sent to Chulak, to get to Teal'c and go to Egypt for the Zero Point Module. However, in the process the team are captured, and Teal'c is once again the First Prime of Apophis.

Previously on Stargate SG-1
SG-1 uses the Time Jumper to travel back in time to Giza, Egypt and steal a Zero Point Module from Ra. When the Jumper is found by Jaffa, SG-1 is forced to remain in the past causing the timeline to be altered. In an alternate timeline where the Stargate was never found, a video tape of the original team is discovered and the second Stargate in Antarctica is unburied.

Plot
The scientists working on the recovered Puddle Jumper cannot make it work because they don't have the ATA gene. General Hammond is assembling a military team to go through the Stargate and locate Teal'c. Jackson and Carter are still arguing that they should also be allowed to go, but Hammond says they lack the necessary military experience. As they are arguing, Colonel Jack O'Neill arrives to join the team. He has only agreed because Kawalsky asked him to.

As in the previous episode, alternate timeline Carter continues to display a strong tactical intuition. She says the team will be going into enemy territory, outgunned and outmanned--but she has an idea.

She takes O'Neill to the Jumper as Jackson says the video explained that O'Neill has the gene to operate it. Jackson and Carter encourage him to sit in the command chair and he is able to power it on. Hammond agrees to let the team take the ship (which McKay names Gateship One) through the Beta Gate to find Teal'c, and agrees that Dr. Daniel Jackson and Dr. Samantha Carter are to join the team at O'Neill's request. However, Hammond tells them that under no circumstances are they to attempt time travel. Jackson says he has both Gate addresses, to Chulak and back to Earth, and he dials the address on the Jumper console.

As this happens, up in the Control Room, Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay is dismissive, giving it nothing more than a fifty-fifty chance of working although General George Hammond tells him that in the original timeline, it worked for eight years. But once the Stargate finally comes online, everyone is left dumbstruck and amazed while in the Control Room, McKay is equally stunned before stating that he's glad he's not going through the Stargate.

On Chulak, the team is caught by Jaffa loyal to Apophis and imprisoned. Teal'c defects to their cause and helps them escape, but Daniel is infected by a Goa'uld and shot by Teal'c. The Goa'uld Daniel kills a solider and shoots Teal'c in the left arm before he is finally killed by Kawalsky and O'Neill. During the escape, Kawalsky is killed, and O'Neill, Carter, and Teal'c flee in the Puddle Jumper, and are chased by Death Gliders; the Jumper getting damaged in the process.

Unaware of the jumper's cloaking capacity, they believe that only way they can survive is to time-travel. They travel back to 3000 B.C. and use the Stargate to pass from Chulak to Ancient Egypt where the original versions of SG-1 were stranded and where Ra is still alive and ruling.

The original SG-1 attempted the rebellion because O'Neill and Teal'c didn't want to stay under Ra's rule without doing anything about it, and O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c were killed when it failed. Dr. Daniel Jackson, the only survivor, meets with them. He has not yet made the tablet detailing the second successful rebellion attempt because it hasn't happened yet. This means that his current plans with the underground of the local populace are destined to succeed, however, they lead to the Stargate being removed from Earth by Ra. The plan is to instigate the rebellion, thus diverting Ra's attention, and securing the Stargate to where it was original buried, allowing the original timeline to evolve as it was supposed to.

The rebellion ultimately succeeds, but not before Carter and O'Neill consummate their feelings for each other while under fire, uncertain if they will survive. Ra's Jaffa surrender, outnumbered by the local Ancient Egyptian population, who were armed with staff weapons and Zat'nik'tels, looted from a Goa'uld armory by Jackson and his rebels. The alternate SG-1 bury the videotape, along with the Zero Point Module, for the SG-1 of the future to find. The Alternate-SG-1 and Daniel from the original SG-1 (of 3000 BC) live out the rest of their lives in Ancient Egypt.

The original SG-1 of the present day receive the videotape and the ZPM left for them a few weeks before they were to go back in time. As the timeline has been restored, they have no reason to go back in time, and they've gained a ZPM free of charge. The episode ends with SG-1 at O'Neill's cabin, fishing, in a scene identical to the end of "Threads", except there are now fish in Jack's pond.

Realizing they are now living in an alternate timeline in which an Alternate-SG-1 lived out their lives circa 3,000 B.C., Jack O'Neill comments, as to the presence of fish in the pond (having been told there were supposed to be none by the Alternate-O'Neill speaking on the canopic jar videotape), "Close enough".

Notable Quotes
O'Neill: What do I do?

Dr. Carter: Sit down. He sits.

O'Neill: Now what?

Dr. Jackson: You're supposed to have the ability to fly this thing.

Dr. Carter: With your mind!

Hammond: Are you absolutely certain about them, Colonel?

O'Neill: No sir.

Hammond: Good luck. And godspeed.

O'Neill: Safety off, point and shoot. Not at me.

Dr. Carter: I don't really like guns.

O'Neill: Neither do I. How do you feel about explosives?

Dr. Carter: Those I like a little better.

Jackson: Well this can't be a good sign.

O'Neill: Why is that?

Jackson: Where am I?

O'Neill: Ancient Egypt.

Jackson: No, I mean the me from your timeline.

Teal'c: I killed you.

Jackson: Why?

Teal'c: You were a Goa'uld spy.

Jackson: A good reason.

Dr. Carter: It was horrible.

Jackson: Yeah, I'm sure. Why are you here?

O'Neill: Yes. Excellent question.

Carter: Apparently nothing we did affected the timeline.

O'Neill: But we didn't do anything.

Carter: Not yet. Apparently we were going to. Two weeks from now. But now we don't have to.

O'Neill: Excellent. That's it. I like it.

Carter: Didn't that tape say there were no fish in your pond?

O'Neill: Close enough.

Goofs

 * When the alternate SG-1 arrives in the past, Teal'c notes that the Ha'tak vessels have the mark of Ra. However, while there does appear to be a ship landed on the Great Pyramid, there's only one, not multiple ships and it looks more like the Cheops-class warship Ra used in the original movie. However, while he still refers to it as a Ha'tak, he later refers to the ship as singular during conversation.
 * When the original Daniel asks where the alternate Daniel is, Teal'c tells him that he killed his alternate self. However, while Teal'c did shoot the alternate Daniel, it was O'Neill and Kawalsky who actually killed him.

Wins

 * Won Leo for "Dramatic Series: Best Costume Design" (Christine Mooney)

In other languages

 * French: Retour vers le Futur (2ème partie) (Back to the Future (part 2))
 * Italian: Moebius (Parte 2) (Moebius (part 2))
 * Spanish: Moebius (Parte 2) (Moebius (part 2))
 * Czech: Moebius (část 2.) (Moebius (part 2))
 * German: Moebius, Teil 2 (Moebius, Part 2)
 * Hungarian: Moebius (2. rész) (Moebius (part 2))