Tangent

"Tangent" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
Teal'c and Colonel Jack O'Neill test a Death Glider they acquired from Apophis in the past. However, the Glider has a life of its own, when a Recall device installed by Apophis sends the ship back to Chulak, which will take several hundred years at their current speed, and they only have a few days of oxygen.

Plot
Teal'c is test-flying the X-301, an experimental United States Air Force fighter assembled from parts of two of Apophis' Death Gliders (recovered after Apophis' attack on Earth) and human tech. It can achieve with virtually no s for the pilots, and even Carter doesn't fully understand how it works. Lt. General Maurice Vidrine is impressed (though not as much by O'Neill's sense of humor.)

The next test is aerial combat, with the SGC serving as. Colonel Jack O'Neill joins Teal'c in the X-301, but they overshoot the attack run, heading directly out into space. "We are no longer in control of the vehicle. I repeat, we have lost control and cannot eject. Please advise."

Once they're moving at a million miles an hour through space, propulsion shuts down. Apophis' recorded voice states that he installed booby traps (aka Recall devices) in his gliders, so none of his betrayers would be able to use his craft, and they would return to his homeworld...after a very long time.

Affected by the time lag it takes for radio signals to reach the X-301, Major Samantha Carter and Major Paul Davis at the SGC - with O'Neill and Teal'c on the glider - collaborate on a plan to slingshot them around Jupiter: The rocket motors of the AIM 120A air-to-air missiles, never fired during the weapons test, are still under their control. Unfortunately, the missiles don't have enough thrust and one breaks away from its mounting, hits the glider causing some damage, forcing O'Neill and Teal'c to reduce life support to freezing temperatures and very low oxygen levels.

Dr. Daniel Jackson contacted allies capable of spaceflight. Anise of the Tok'ra throws him a secret bone by saying she will not risk exposing a covert operative on a Goa'uld-occupied world, even though a Tel'tak is within a day or so of Earth. Carter pinpoints the world, she and Daniel 'gate there and are picked up by Transportation rings. Fortunately, it is the Tok'ra operative, Jacob Carter, who quickly reigns in his temper (he was preparing to destroy part of the planet) once he realizes his friends' lives are at stake. The ship will reach the X-301 in roughly 24 hours.

With 12 hours of air remaining, Teal'c decides to go into an extremely deep state of kelno'reem, slowing his heart rate, reducing his oxygen consumption. O'Neill asks who he'll talk to. Teal'c renders O'Neill speechless with his depth of feeling and friendship.

Jacob pushes the cargo ship beyond maximum safe velocity, resulting in the hyperspace engines crashing within spitting distance of two Ha'taks. Daniel stalls them by saying he's the Great and Powerful Oz in Goa'uld. They launch gliders in response, but Jacob and Carter repair the engines and the ship is able to re-enter hyperspace.

Upon arrival, Teal'c and O'Neill are asleep, near death. Jacob nudges the X-301 with the cargo ship, waking O'Neill into an amusing but dangerous daze from. Fortunately, he understands enough to wake Teal'c up by throwing a pen at him. Obeying Carter's instructions, they saturate their lungs with the remaining oxygen, open the glider's canopy, exhale and push away. Five meters from the glider, Jacob rings them aboard. They're both alive.

Notable Quotes
General Vidrine: Light that candle boys.

*walking toward the x-301

Teal'c: Does General Vidrine wish us to perform some sort of candle burning ritual?

O'neill: Yes... thats it... exactly.

''*Directly after the X-301 had entered space '' O'Neill: Uh, Teal'c, on our six, is that what I think it is?

Teal'c: If you think it is Earth; yes.

O'Neill: It's shrinking.

Teal'c: Its size remains constant, rather it is we who are moving away at extreme velocity.=====

Jacob: So how do you intend to get them out of the glider once we get there? I mean there's no chance it'll fit into the cargo bay.

Daniel: Well, we were kinda hoping that you could um like beam them out or...'''  Jacob: '''*laughs* Beam them out? What am I? Scotty?

''*A sound comes from the instruments* '' Teal'c: These instruments indicate drive shutdown. We're no longer accelerating.

O'Neill: That's good.

Teal'c: I will attempt to restart.

*Suddenly a voice is heard from the machine*

Voice: Shol'va! To all those who turn against their god, know this: For your insolence you will die at the cold of space. What is rightfully mine will now return to me.

O'Neill: Was that who I think it was? And did he just say what I think he said?

Teal'c: If you think it was Apophis, and that he said that the gliders from which this craft was constructed contained a device designed to return this glider to his homeworld, then yes.

O'Neill: He also mentioned something about dying.

Teal'c: In the cold of space.

O'Neill: Right...

*Brief pause*

O'Neill: Now the old boy hasn't lost his touch, has he?

O'Neill: Jacob, is that you?

Jacob: Yes, it is, Jack. Now do what we tell you.

O'Neill: Do you know your ship's bigger than ours?

Goofs

 * According to Air Force regulations, General Vidrine's mustache would not be allowed. To be within regulation, it would have to end at the corner of his mouth.
 * Major Carter states the X-301 is carrying two AIM-128 Missiles which General Vidrine refers to as a Slammer missile. The Slammer missile, as it is called by the USAF, is actually an AIM-120 advanced medium range air to air missile or AMRAAM.
 * Teal'c remarks that the X-301 will take several hundred years to reach Apophis' homeworld as it is traveling at sublight speeds. If the ship is indeed traveling at a slow (in interstellar terms) 1,000,000 mi/h the trip to even the nearest star would take about 2700 years. Presumably Apophis' homeworld is far more distant.
 * Also travelling at 1,000,000mph, the trip to Jupiter would have taken the X-301 a fortnight.
 * When O'Neill threw a pencil at Teal'c's helmet, it bounced off his helmet, landing somewhere off screen. This would not be possible in the zero-gravity environment of space.
 * It is however possible (though unlikely) that the Goa'uld Death Glider features artificial gravity - and therefore the retrofitted X-301 as well. Since that would be an original feature of the craft, it could explain why it was still powered at the time - the recall device had overwritten all original Death Glider features.
 * Another explanation for this is the Goa'uld engine - as Carter explained early in the episode, it works not as a traditional engine but as an inertia disabling device. This could explain strange physics in the craft. (Still, this is arguably a hack explanation.)

Character

 * Maurice Vidrine

In other languages

 * French: Perdus dans L’Espace (Lost in Space)
 * Italian: Perduti nello Spazio (Lost in Space)
 * Spanish: Tangentes (Tangents)
 * Czech: Zkušební Let (The Experimental Flight)
 * Hungarian: Röppálya (Trajectory)