"Holiday" is the eighteenth episode of the second season of Stargate SG-1.
Synopsis[]
SG-1 finds an aged and dying warrior named Ma'chello whose room is filled with technology that can devastate the Goa'uld. Ma'chello's last chance of survival was to switch bodies with Dr. Daniel Jackson by permutation. The rest of the team doesn't notice until Colonel Jack O'Neill and Teal'c also switch bodies. Now they must capture Ma'chello to switch them all back before Jackson (as Ma'chello) dies.
Plot[]
SG-1 comes upon what appears to be in an alien lab with many bizarre devices scattered about in the room. They soon find a PDA-like device with peculiar symbols on it, in no language Dr. Daniel Jackson can recognize. An old man suddenly appears whom Teal'c identifies as Ma'chello, an outlaw highly hunted by the Goa'uld. The old man, after eccentrically conversing with Jackson, tells him to take hold of a device, seemingly having no more effect than a static shock. The old man collapses and is brought through the Stargate to Earth. Soon after, Jackson starts acting strangely. He claims that he was told to go home when he wasn't, walks around asking people to teach him about local customs, and befriends a homeless man named Fred.
Meanwhile, SG-1 is called to the infirmary because the "old man" knows quite a lot about Jackson. They soon realize that Jackson and Ma'chello have switched bodies. However, Jackson (in Ma'chello's body) is very ill, on the verge of death. He slips into a coma, with no apparent outlook from Dr. Janet Fraiser for recovery. Captain Samantha Carter begs him to wake up. He does, saying, "Nice to know you don't just like me for my looks!"
Ma'chello is soon tracked down after treating Fred to a "bounteous feast" of ice cream sundaes in a diner. He uses his credit card to pay, allowing the police to easily locate and arrest him. He is taken straightaway to a cell at Stargate Command and bargains with Carter to keep Jackson's young body. He offers to teach Carter how to decode his "palm-pilot," which contains coded plans for powerful anti-Goa'uld inventions, written in a code Ma'chello invented. Carter quickly declines, but takes him to meet Jackson, who Ma'chello has told Carter to consider as "a casualty of war." Jackson accuses Ma'chello saying that if he really hates the Goa'uld yet would steal another's body, then he's no better than the Goa'uld.
After returning home from Ma'chello's planet to retrieve the device, Teal'c and Colonel Jack O'Neill reveal they have accidentally switched bodies. Yet, trouble soon strikes as Teal'c's body contracts an illness. This mean O'Neill must learn kelno'reem, a deep-state of meditation Jaffa use to heal themselves, in order to make his body whole again. After many fruitless attempts in Carter's lab to switch O'Neill and Teal'c back, Ma'chello divulges the fact that switching is strictly a one-way process; a unique exchange of bodies can only happen once. He offers to translate his work so Earth can use advanced technology to fight the Goa'uld. Nevertheless, Carter soon formulates a plan to play a little "musical chairs" with everyone's bodies, simply rotating their minds through the affected circle of people, instead of trying a direct exchange.
Ma'chello reluctantly agrees and expresses regret that he cannot teach Carter his code. So, O'Neill (in Tealc's body) switches with Ma'chello (in Jackson's body). Then Teal'c (in O'Neill's body) switches with Jackson (in Ma'chello's body). Then Teal'c (in Ma'chello's body) swaps with Ma'chello (in Teal'c's body). Finally, O'Neill (in Jackson's body) swaps with Jackson (in O'Neill's body). Ma'chello, finally returned to his own organic vessel, thanks Jackson "for the holiday," and passes away quietly.
Appearances[]
Notable quotes[]
Jackson: As I've been trying to tell the General and the good doctor here, I am not Ma'chello. I am Daniel Jackson.
O'Neill: Here we go.
Jackson: I realize what I look like. But I'm telling you, that machine somehow switched us.
Fraiser: He, ah, knows a lot about Daniel.
Jackson: Ask me anything. Something only Daniel would know.
Carter: Okay. Who's Cassandra?
Jackson: She's a twelve-year-old girl we found abandoned on P8X-987.
O'Neill: P8X— ?
Carter: 987.
O'Neill: Alright, lucky guess.
Hammond: Where was the Stargate found?
Jackson: At a dig in Giza.
O'Neill: Alright, describe for me the dress your sister wore last week when I took her out.
Jackson: I don't have a sister, Jack, and if I did, I wouldn't let you near her.
Hammond: Okay, let's assume you are Daniel Jackson. Then who the hell did we send home?
Ma'chello: (in Jackson) Why does no one answer me?
Fred: 'Cause you're strange.
Ma'chello: Am I? Tell me how I am strange.
Fred: Man, you can't be just walking up to people you don't know on the street and talking all weird like that, asking for stuff.
Ma'chello: Isn't that what you are doing?
Fred: Well, yeah, but—
Ma'chello: Then you must be strange as well.
Fred: I've been called worse.
Hammond: How did it go, Colonel?
Teal'c: (in O'Neill) It did not go well, General Hammond.
O'Neill: (in Teal'c) Ya think?
(O'Neill's mind is in Teal'c's body and vice versa)
O'Neill: Teal'c? What are you doing?
Teal'c: (Over by a mirror holding a razor) If I am to remain in this body, I must shave my head.
O'Neill: You're making a joke, right?
Teal'c: I am not joking.
O'Neill: Teal'c, you will not shave my head!
Ma'chello: (in Jackson) If it was not for me, you would have been conquered by now.
Fred: By who? Saddam?
Ma'chello: He is not a System Lord I am familiar with.
(Carter enters, followed by Ma'chello. Carter angrily makes him sit in the chair next to Daniel.)
Carter: I believe you two have met.
Jackson: Well, from what I can see, you're looking good.
Ma'chello: (patronizing) What would you like me to say? I am sorry? That I wish I could undo it? I do not.
Jackson: Why?
Ma'chello: Why? Because I earned it. That is why. I earned it because I sacrificed my life for you and your people. The least you could do was compensate me with another.
Jackson: What right do you have to judge the value of my life?
Ma'chello: I have suffered more than anyone should suffer in a lifetime. For fifty years I fought against the Goa'uld. Then I was betrayed by my wife, whom they secretly turned into a host.
Jackson: So was mine. She is still with them.
Ma'chello: At least you still have a planet. And friends. Two billion of my people died rather than surrender me to the Goa'uld.
Jackson: You have made great sacrifices. We owe you gratitude. But still it does not give you the right to take another's life.
Ma'chello: If you had the technology, you would do the same.
Jackson: No, I wouldn't. Because then I would become no better than the Goa'uld.
Ma'chello: (angry) I am not a Goa'uld. I hate the Goa'uld.
Jackson: The Goa'uld use hosts because they think they are better than humans. Because they believe they deserve it. You're a Goa'uld, Ma'chello. I am nothing but a host to you.
Ma'chello: I am not a Goa'uld.
Jackson: My wife is still alive. There is a chance I can still save her. You are stealing that chance.
Ma'chello: Even if you still had this body, you will never find her.
Jackson: (defiant but weak) I will find her. I will find her.
(O'Neill returns to his body)
O'Neill: Yes, Yes! (to Teal'c) Shave my head!?
Ma'chello: Thank you. For my holiday.
Cast[]
Main Characters
- Richard Dean Anderson as
- Michael Shanks as
- Amanda Tapping as Captain Samantha Carter
- Christopher Judge as
- Don S. Davis as Major General George S. Hammond
Guest Stars
- Teryl Rothery as Dr. Janet Fraiser
- Michael Shanks as Ma'chello
- Alvin Sanders as Fred
- Melanie Skehar as Waitress
- Darryl Scheelar as Cop
- T.M. Sandulak as TSgt. Ziplinski (Uncredited)
- Nickolas Baric as SSgt. Shandler (Uncredited)
- ? as SF Guard
Notes[]
- During the conversation between Dr. Daniel Jackson and Ma'chello, Jackson states that "I am Daniel Jackson" while Ma'chello repeats the same sentence as if he really believed he is Daniel Jackson. This is of note, as both Daniel Jackson and Ma'chello are portrayed by Michael Shanks.
- Ma'chello again plays a role in the Season 3 episode "Legacy" (although he does not appear), in which Jackson is infected with an invention created by Ma'chello designed to destroy the Goa'uld inhabiting a host.
- A large amount of backstory for Ma'chello was detailed in the Stargate SG-1 Roleplaying Game rulebook Stargate SG-1: Friends and Foes: Stargate Season Two. This backstory reveals that the Goa'uld System Lord that destroyed his world was Ares. Ares later plays a role in "It's Good to Be King" where then Brigadier General Jack O'Neill kills him in battle.
- This episode marks the first time that the Jaffa meditation Kelno'reem is mentioned by name.
- The plot of the Futurama episode "The Prisoner of Benda", the Farscape episode "Out of Their Minds", the Star Trek episode "Turnabout Intruder" and the Eureka episode "Jack of All Trades" bear some similarities to this episode.
- Christopher Judge and Michael Shanks become the third and fourth actors to play Colonel Jack O'Neill following Kurt Russell and Richard Dean Anderson.
Goofs[]
- In the scene where Dr. Janet Fraiser is checking over Jackson, they look over at Ma'chello, who is lying in bed with an oxygen mask on. When they look back a second time, the mask has been removed.
Awards[]
- Nominated Gemini for "Best Achievement in Make-Up" (Adam Behr, David Dupuis, Jan Newman and Monica Huppert)
Other languages[]
- French: Transferts (Transfers)
- German: Seelenwanderung (Soul Hiking)
- Italian: Inversione di Corpi (Body Switch)
- Spanish: Vacaciones (Holidays)
- Czech: Dovolená (Holidays)
- Hungarian: Szabadnap (Day Off)
- Russian: Выходной (Day Off)
[]
- Holiday at the Internet Movie Database
- Holiday at TV.com
- Holiday on GateWorld. (backup link)
- Holiday article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki
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