"Counterstrike" is the seventh episode of the tenth season of Stargate SG-1.
Synopsis[]
The people of a world that has succumbed to the religion of Origin are all mysteriously wiped out by an unknown force. As SG-1 investigates, they discover that the Dakara superweapon is responsible and use the opportunity to attempt to commandeer an Ori warship from the planet, but discover the Jaffa have ideas of commandeering it for themselves.
Previously on Stargate SG-1[]
The weapon on Dakara is used to destroy the Replicators. Vala Mal Doran gives birth to the Orici Adria who matures in a matter of days and later becomes the leader of the Ori army in the Milky Way galaxy.
Plot[]
On an alien world, Adria — the "Orici" and who is now a young woman in her mid twenties— addresses a gathering of the newest followers of Origin, a village of humans. SG-1, who are on a reconnaissance mission has secreted themselves amongst the crowd, posing as simple villagers. As the speech ends and Adria leaves, a massive radiation burst is emitted from the world's Stargate.
Fortunately the Earth ship Odyssey is in orbit. On board, Major Kevin Marks is keeping an eye on things before he detects the approaching wave front of the radiation and as such, Colonel Paul Emerson, the Odyssey's commander orders SG-1 to be extracted. The team are successfully beamed up just as the wave hits with the beam sweeping over the village.
A while later, a team from the Odyssey return to the planet in hazmat suits and examine the village and discover it untouched except for the complete erasure of all living organic tissue (dead organic tissue, such as clothing, remains). Upon hearing this, Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter and Teal'c realize the only weapon known to them capable of such a feat is the Superweapon on Dakara, built by the Ancients.
SG-1 decides they cannot pass up the opportunity to examine the unmanned and completely accessible Ori warship left intact by the superweapon. Carter locates the bridge of the ship which is very similar in design to Ancient technology and Teal'c and Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell locate the ship's power source and plant C-4 on it. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones with the idea to explore the vessel, a group of Jaffa led by a jaffa named Bo'rel is also aboard. During the confrontation the lights throughout the ship flicker and machinery within it begins to hum with activity. Bo'rel, with a rigid mind set of the superiority of the Jaffa, will do whatever he believes is necessary to fight the Ori threat—and captures Teal'c and Mitchell, telling them that he intends to seize the Ori warship for the Jaffa. Carter requests that the Odyssey beam them out but whatever it was that caused the lights to flicker earlier has raised the ship's shields and the beam out fails. Three Ha'tak vessels then drop out of hyperspace in orbit and Odyssey on Carter's advice leaves to prevent a possible confrontation with Carter having advanced the Odyssey not to chance it as they can't risk losing another ship. Bo'rel and his men attack and successfully zat Mitchell and Teal'c, capturing the two while Bor'el's men search for Vala, Daniel and Carter.
Meanwhile, Bra'tac comes to Earth to meet Major General Henry Landry, informing him of the use of the Superweapon. Together they travel to Dakara and confront Se'tak, the new Jaffa military leader, about his genocidal tactics in the war against the followers of the Ori. But Se'tak stands by his decision to use a powerful Ancient device against their enemy, even though its use violates the Jaffa's agreement with the Tau'ri—and will result in the deaths of millions of innocents on Ori occupied and oppressed worlds. Se'tak hopes that one day they will capture enough Ori ships to make a stand against the enemy, but believes that until then this great cost is acceptable to avoid the even higher cost of defeat.
Meanwhile, Bor’el having heard Mitchell talking to Carter over their radios calls to the rest of SG-1 to surrender or he will harm Teal’c and Mitchell. Before Carter answers Dr. Daniel Jackson does and suggests to him that the humans and Jaffa work together. However Bor'el refuses, declaring that his people will never be dependent on another race again. Daniel continues to try and reason with Bo'rel but he and Vala Mal Doran are at that moment captured by a Jaffa patrol.
Adria, who has apparently survived the attack, reappears and captures Daniel and Vala by killing the Jaffa with her telekinesis. Daniel attempts to stun her using a Zat'nik'tel but she begins to telekinetically choke Daniel demanding that they tell her what happened to her new followers on this planet. Despite her best efforts she cannot force the information from Daniel's mind. Daniel and Vala try to reason with Adria.
With help from Carter who has returned from the bridge, Mitchell and Teal'c escape from the Jaffa and decide to head for the Stargate.
Meanwhile, Adria, increasingly frustrated with the lack of answers responds by reviving a Jaffa warrior she had killed earlier and forces the Jaffa soldier to give up the location of the weapon that wiped out her new followers. With the information having been obtained, Adria then kills the Jaffa soldier again, this time for good by using her telekinesis to break his neck. She then reactivates and operates the Ori warship, without any apparent act except force of will, setting a course for Dakara.
On Dakara, Landry challenges the fact that Se'tak chose a human-populated world to target, and not one of the Jaffa worlds that have capitulated to the Ori invaders. He also points out that the use of the weapon violates the agreement between the humans and Jaffa, but Se'tak, paranoid and mistrustful of the humans' motivations, refuses to listen. Moments later he has both Landry and Bra'tac captured suspecting that as the Jaffa nor the Ori could be in control of the warship that it must have been the Tau’ri who have flown it into orbit and destroyed the three Ha'tak ships.
On the Odyssey, Marks's scans are coming up empty with Marks voicing his fear that they may have lost SG-1. Emerson, on the other hand isn't willing to give up and has a good guess as to where the Ori ship is going before telling Marks to set a course for Dakara.
Adria tells Daniel and Vala, that soon the bulk of the Ori forces will arrive in this galaxy, and if all goes to plan, the Ori will completely control the entire Milky Way galaxy in less than a year. She also wants to keep both Daniel and Vala prisoner. She plans to turn Vala into an icon for the followers of Origin as the mother of the Orici, and states that the Ori have special plans for Daniel, but does not mention what they are.
Carter, Mitchell and Teal’c go to the bridge and find it unmanned, Carter remains to try and override the primary systems. Mitchell and Teal’c encounter Bo'rel and convince him that the vessel is under the control of a common enemy. The ship arrives at Dakara and Mitchell decides to destroy the powercore using the C-4 they planted earlier. Unfortunately Adria has prevented the C-4 from detonating. The Jaffa attack the room she is holding Daniel and Vala prisoner in, but she seals the door.
As this happens, the Odyssey emerges straight from hyperspace in the nick of time and heads for the planet. Emerson contacts SG-1 with Sam telling him that she's working on getting rid of the shield and tells Emerson and his crew to stand ready.
Se'tak orders that the Dakara superweapon be used once again so that it can wipe out all life on board the Ori ship. Landry and Bra'tac attempt to protest but can do little but watch as the superweapon is brought online.
Daniel tells Adria about the Ancients with Adria stating that the Ancients won't interfere because as far as Adria herself is concerned, the Ori have free rein over the entire Milky Way Galaxy.
Carter continues her attempts to deactivate the shielding and succeeds. On Emerson's command, all of SG-1 are beamed off and the Odyssey jumps to hyperspace to avoid the wavefront of the superweapon which the Jaffa have deployed in a last ditch effort against the warship.
The desperate defense set up by the Jaffa succeeds only in killing their own warriors aboard the Ori ship, since Adria is immune to the superweapon. Eager to destroy the only real threat to the Ori, Adria fires the warship's beam weapon directly at the superweapon.
Bra'tac and Landry manage to escape through the Stargate before the superweapon, and the mountain that housed it, is completely annihilated.
Back at the SGC, SG-1 receives word that not only has Dakara been devastated but five more planets have fallen to the Ori, including Tau'ri allies Hebridan and Langara.
With the Dakara superweapon destroyed and the Ori continuing to convert countless planets, Merlin's anti-Ori weapon is now needed more than ever.
Appearances[]
Notable quotes[]
Vala: Can I ask you a question?
Jackson: Just the fact that you have to ask me to ask me makes me think I should say no.
Teal'c: A great Jaffa once said: 'Exalted is the warrior who achieves victory without battle'.
Mitchell: Winning shows strength. Winning without fighting shows true skill.
Teal'c: Hm. You are student of ancient strategies.
Mitchell: No. Landry said it to me. I think he was quoting Sun Tzu. Or... it could've been Dr. Phil.
Landry: Sometimes you make the right decision. Sometimes you make the decision right.
Harriman: Patton.
Landry: That one's Dr. Phil.
Vala: Listen, we're not rejoining the fleet. You're coming with me.
Adria: No. I can't abandon my army.
Vala: It's not your army.
Adria: Of course it is.
Vala: Well as your mother I'm putting my foot down. You're too young to have your own army.
Vala: There's nothing to be gained by second-guessing yourself. You can't remake the past. So look ahead. Or risk being left behind.
Bra'tac: She displays the wisdom of a battle-seasoned warrior.
Jackson: She's a mother. Close enough.
Cast[]
Main Characters
- Ben Browder as Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell
- Amanda Tapping as Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter
- Christopher Judge as Teal'c
- Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran
- Beau Bridges as Major General Henry Landry
- Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson
Guest Stars
- Morena Baccarin as Adria
- Tony Amendola as Bra'tac
- Matthew Glave as Colonel Paul Emerson
- Richard Whiten as Bo'rel
- Gary Jones as CMSgt. Walter Harriman
- David Andrews as Se'tak
- Martin Christopher as Major Kevin Marks
- Peter Nicholas Smyth as Prior
- Shiraine Haas as Lt. Evans
- Sylvesta Stuart as Jaffa
- Aleks Holtz as Jaffa
- Todd Scott as Jaffa (Uncredited)
- Glenn Ennis as Jaffa (Uncredited)
- Efosa Otuomagie as Jaffa (Uncredited)
- Lance Gibson as Jaffa (Uncredited)
- James Michalopoulos as Jaffa (Uncredited)
- Brad Kelly as Jaffa (Uncredited)
- Hugo Steele as Jaffa (Uncredited)
- Peter Kufluk as MSgt. Connor (Uncredited)
- Darren Hird as Odyssey Crewman (Uncredited)
Notes[]
- Initial reports on Gateworld stated that Adria would reveal that the Goa'uld Staff weapons were based on Ancient design and would have commented on how the Goa'uld stole much of their knowledge from the Ancients.
- This episode marks Teal'c's 200th appearance on Stargate SG-1, as he did not appear in "Prometheus Unbound".
- The Temple of Dakara is destroyed in this episode. This destruction of which fractured the Free Jaffa Nation, as they lost their capital city and political leadership.
- Five more worlds have fallen to the Ori, two of which are Hebridan and Langara. Langara was the home planet of Jonas Quinn, though Jonas is not mentioned in this episode. It's later shown that Langara is liberated when the Ori are defeated, but the fate of Hebridan is unknown.
- Adria mentions that she and the Ori will be keeping Dr. Daniel Jackson alive, because they "have plans for him." In later episodes, she attempts to use him to retrieve the Sangraal, and seeks to use him to convert Earth to Origin.
- In the episode "Threads" Bra'tac said that the Free Jaffa Nation had agreed to destroy the weapon on Dakara as it was nearly used by Anubis to wipe out all live in the Milky Way Galaxy. Its' use in this episode means that the Jaffa did not honor their word to destroy the weapon.
- Major General Henry Landry refers to the events of "Reckoning, Part 1" and "Reckoning, Part 2" while Jackson refers to those of "Children of the Gods" and "Forever in a Day".
- Daniel Jackson is seen wearing new glasses for the first time, most notably the rectangular-framed glasses of late, replacing the circle-shaped glasses he has been wearing ever since his appearance in the Stargate SG-1 Season 1 premiere episode, "Children of the Gods". Jackson would continue wearing these glasses through the rest of Stargate SG-1 Season 10 and also in his guest appearances in both Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate Universe as well as Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum.
- Morena Baccarin (Adria) is best known for playing Inara Serra in Firefly and Serenity and Anna on V. She is the third Firefly cast member to guest star on a Stargate series, the first being Adam Baldwin in Stargate SG-1 episode "Heroes, Part 1" and "Heroes, Part 2" and Jewel Staite in the Stargate: Atlantis episode "Instinct" as Ellia and a recurring role as Dr. Jennifer Keller during Season 4 and Season 5 of Stargate: Atlantis.
- Aleks Holtz (Jaffa) previously played a Guard in the Stargate: Atlantis episodes "The Lost Boys" and "The Hive".
Goofs[]
- At 6:58, Lt. Evans reports that the radiation from the weapon "only targeted living tissue", yet in all scenes of the village after the attack several live plants are clearly visible.
- At 18:45, the Jaffa marching sound effect is out of sync with the pace of the Jaffa actors.
- The shot of the temple firing is partially reused stock footage from "Reckoning, Part 2" as the gate is active.
- When firing the Ancient Dakara superweapon the Jaffa depresses one of the panels previously used to calibrate the weapon. However, when the weapon was used to destroy the Replicators in "Reckoning, Part 2" Jacob Carter activated it by pressing a singular button on the left side of the device rather than any panel.
Other languages[]
- French: La Riposte (Counterstrike)
- Italian: Contrattacco (Counterstrike)
- Spanish: Contraataque (Counterstrike)
- Czech: Protiúder (Counterstrike)
- Hungarian: Ellencsapás (Counterstrike)
- German: Adrias Macht (Adria's Power)
- Japanese: 反撃 Hangeki (Counterstrike)
[]
- Counterstrike on GateWorld. (backup link)
- Counterstrike article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Counterstrike (Stargate SG-1). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with SGCommand, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
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