Moebius, Part 2

Moebius, Part 2
Production
Series	Stargate SG-1
Episode	8.20
Production #	820
Original air date	February 22, 2005
Story by	Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Brad Wright, & Robert C. Cooper
Written by	Robert C. Cooper
Directed by	Peter DeLuise
More Information
Gallery
Transcript
Credits
Chronology
Preceded by	"Moebius, Part 1"
Followed by	"Avalon, Part 1"

Template:SG1-8

This episode is part 2 of 2; it is preceded by "Moebius, Part 1".

Gallery

Episode

Transcript

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

Synopsis

After finding a second Stargate in Antarctica, the alternate SG-1 team head to Chulak to get Teal'c who is the First Prime of Apophis on their end. During the escape process, Jack, Sam and Teal'c flee to Ancient Egypt and meet Daniel Jackson who is a member of the original SG-1. Now, the four must work together to repair the timeline that the original SG-1 accidentally altered.

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 in the hope of using it to open a wormhole to the Pegasus Galaxy and also defend Earth. When the Jumper is found by Jaffa, SG-1 is forced to remain in the past, causing the timeline to be altered. As such, an alternate timeline where the Stargate was never found and as such where the Stargate Program and Stargate Command never existed is created. To help their alternate selves, 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.

File:Vlcsnap-2013-12-07-20h08m17s192.png

Alternate Rodney McKay with Alternate George S. Hammond.

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. Daniel Jackson is taken to Apophis for interrogation. Teal'c defects to their cause after viewing himself on the video talking about freedom for all Jaffa and helps them escape, but Daniel Jackson is infected by a Goa'uld and shot by Teal'c. The Goa'uld Jackson kills a soldier and shoots Teal'c in the left arm before he is finally killed by Kawalsky and O'Neill.

Teal'c tells them that Jackson's infection means Apophis already knows everything Jackson knew, including the location of their ship. He will undoubtedly plan an invasion of Earth. The team are ambushed by Jaffa. 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. Carter and O'Neill agree the only way to stop Apophis from invading Earth is to fix the timeline in the past.

The alternate team makes contact with the locals, who recognize "them" from the original team's visit 5 years before. As Carter becomes increasingly concerned about causality, the locals bring them to a tent with one introducing them to Dr. Daniel Jackson, the only survivor from the original SG-1. Jackson is confused to see them, but realizes the timeline must have been altered. He reveals that 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 executed when it failed. 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 originally buried, allowing the original timeline to evolve as it was supposed to.

Jaffa attack the camp, and Jackson and alternate SG-1 hide in a secret weapon room. They discuss strategy for stealing the gate. Jackson explains about the ship's cloaking device. A surprised O'Neill begs to know why the hell Daniel didn't leave that detail (the cloaking device) on the tape before. Daniel just nonchalantly replies that he thought he had. The Jaffa leave without finding them. Carter and O'Neill go to test the cloak to see if it still works, as the ship had been hit when they came through. Carter works on repairs and O'Neill begins flirting with her, but she surprises him with a rejection and tells him she's actually attracted to Jackson instead. O'Neill is totally incredulous finding it hard to believe, but begrudgingly accepts it. He goes outside to keep watch and spots a Jaffa patrol approaching. Fortunately Carter gets the cloak to work just in time, at the very last minute. However, it soon fails again, and the patrol attacks the Jumper. Carter is afraid that if the patrol penetrates the shield, the Jumper might explode. Due to the danger she kisses O'Neill, much to his surprise, then says she lied about being attracted to Jackson, she just wanted to go slow and get to know him a little better first. An ecstatic O'Neill returns her kiss ardently. Just then, Teal'c and Jackson bring the armed villagers and rescue the Jumper.

The rebellion ultimately succeeds. 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 Jackson 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".

References

Alternate Earth in Ancient Egypt; Alternate Earth's Skirmish on Chulak; Ancient Technology Activation gene; Ancient time machine; Antarctica; Camcorder; Cheops class warship; Chulak; Cloak; Airman Donner; Egypt; First Prime; Fishing; Giza; Goa'uld; Great Pyramids; Ha'tak; Inertial dampener; Mesopotamia; O'Neill's cabin; Peru; Ra; Rya'c; Salatis; Shock grenade; Sierra Leone; The Simpsons; SG-1 stranded in Ancient Egypt; Sphinx; Staff weapon; Time Jumper; Time travel; Tretonin; Uganda; Zat'nik'tel; Zero Point Module

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.

Notes

• The plot of them going to Chulak is similar to that of Children of the Gods where SG-1 travels to Chulak, gets captured, are freed by Teal'c, fight their way out and one of the expedition members is infected with a Goa'uld.
• This is the last episode to feature Richard Dean Anderson as a main cast member.
• This is the only episode of Stargate SG-1 showing a Puddle Jumper going through the Stargate.
• This episode marks the final appearance of Peter Williams (Apophis) on the series. However, he would later appear in Stargate: Continuum.
• This episode marks the final appearance of Jay Acovone (Major Charles Kawalsky).
• The Zero Point Module that is retrieved allows Stargate Command to contact the Atlantis expedition and render assistance via the gate in "The Siege, Part 2".
• The dialogue when Dr. Rodney McKay refers to the Time Jumper as 'Gateship One' is almost identical to the dialogue of the same incident in the first episode of Stargate: Atlantis ("Rising") where Lt. Aiden Ford attempts to apply the same name to the Jumpers, but is overruled by Major John Sheppard, resulting in them being renamed Puddle Jumpers.
• When Colonel Jack O'Neill asks Dr. Daniel Jackson if he knew the address to get back to Earth, this references how in the 1994 Stargate film Dr. Daniel Jackson did not know the address and had to learn it. Here Daniel learned it from the videotape.
• When Dr. Samantha Carter tells O'Neill that she is attracted to Daniel, O'Neill seems to imply that he thinks Daniel may be gay.
• According to the DVD commentary, O'Neill's "close enough" line at the end of the episode is a reference to "Treehouse of Horror V", an episode of The Simpsons where Homer time travels and unintentionally makes numerous changes to history; upon returning to a timeline where his family have snake tongues but everything else is otherwise normal, he says "eh, close enough". This is one of several references to The Simpsons on Stargate SG-1, all centered around O'Neill. Another example from this episode is the name of Jack's boat, "Homer". Incidentally, in the brief shot of Jack's boat showing the name, the font used is the same font used extensively in The Simpsons.
• Apophis has a goatee and Major Paul Davis has a mustache, both references to the Star Trek mirror universe. A version of Apophis from an alternate reality likewise had a goatee in "Point of View".
• Since "Moebius" was supposed to be the Stargate SG-1 season 8 finale, many actors reprised their roles from past episodes: Don S. Davis as George S. Hammond, Peter Williams as Apophis, Robert Wisden as Major Bert Samuels, Colin Cunningham as Major Paul Davis and Jay Acovone as Major Charles Kawalsky.
• Certain signature elements of the musical score to "Moebius" had not been heard since the premiere, "Children of the Gods", musically suggesting that while "Children of the Gods" constituted a beginning to Stargate SG-1, "Moebius" constituted an ending of sorts. Joel Goldsmith shares credit for the "Moebius" score with David Arnold, who composed the original theatrical music for the germinal Stargate movie. Arnold's credit for the episodic music was in addition to his regular credit for the original Stargate themes.
• In scenes featuring the Puddle Jumper, this episode also includes hints of Joel Goldsmith's themes from Stargate: Atlantis.
• Within the alternate timeline featured within the episode there are numerous differences from the original Stargate timeline, the roots traced to Ra taking the Giza Stargate with him when he fled the Earth in 2995 B.C.. Differences from the original timeline include:
  • O'Neill is a charter boat captain, never rejoining the Air Force after his original resignation.
  • O'Neill speaks in a Minnesotan accent. O'Neill's accent disappears when he rejoins the Air Force, so it's possible it was an affectation as a charter boat operator.
  • Daniel makes a living teaching English as a second language, having lost all standing within the archaeological community.
  • Carter never joined the Air Force and works as a civilian aerospace engineer.
  • Carter is seen practicing the "reproductive organs" speech (first heard in "Children of the Gods") in front of a mirror, but does not have the nerve to actually say it to anyone.
  • Carter is wearing glasses.
  • Robert Kinsey is President of the United States, while Henry Hayes is Secretary of the Interior.
  • George S. Hammond is only a Brigadier General (1 star), not a Lt. General (3 star).
  • Cheyenne Mountain does not house Stargate Command. It instead houses the USAF Advanced Research Institute, which can be briefly seen on the shoulder patch of one of the guards, is in charge of the program.
  • Dr. Rodney McKay does not have a citrus allergy, saying lemon chicken is his favorite food. However, he was never actually shown eating the lemon chicken.
  • Major Paul Davis has a mustache.
  • Kawalsky is in the US Marines and not the Air Force.
• Entropic Cascade Failure doesn't manifest itself because each of the travelers in time is represented in a single copy: alternate Daniel was killed before the jump in time and O'Neill, Teal'c and Carter from original SG-1 were executed before the alternate team's arrival to Ancient Egypt. However, this may simply be an assumption that entropic cascade failure doesn't occur when time travel is involved, even though the process itself changes the reality.
• It should be assumed that returning to the original timeline implies finding the Time Jumper at the same place as in the episode "It's Good to Be King". In order for this to happen, alternate SG-1, along with Daniel from original SG-1, had to transport it there.
• Rob Fournier (Airman Mansfield) previously played Special Forces Commander in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Ascension".
• The story of this episode was picked up in "Stargate SG-1: Moebius Squared" where SG-1 was forced to use Ba'al's solar observation outpost to travel to 2942 BC (three years after the rebellion) to stop three rogue Tok'ra from changing the timeline. It is shown that in the aftermath, O'Neill and Carter had a daughter, Daniel changed his name to Daniel and Teal'c's symbiote matures and becomes Egeria, forcing the alternate team to unbury the Stargate and procure a new one from Abydos. After stopping an attempt by Ra to reconquer Earth, alternate Teal'c leaves with Egeria as her new First Prime as her host is his lover.

• This is Don S. Davis's (George S. Hammond) 150th episode.
• 2005 "Get in the Gate" sweepstakes winner, Nathan Flaminio, appears in this episode as well as in Stargate Atlantis episode "The Siege, Part 1"

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. The word Ha'tak may simply mean "warship" (or battleship, cruiser, etc), rather than being a specific class designation.
• 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 Daniel.
• It could be argued that the entire two-part episode is one big time paradox. The Stargate series usually makes a very strict distinction between time travel and travel between alternate realities. It is often established that when one is traveling in time, one is doing so on a single timeline, within a single reality (1969 being a good example). As such, time travel does not create different 'branches' or realities when changes occur (the alternate timeline is only shown for the sake of the episode), instead it changes the entire timeline (both past and present). Because of this a paradox occurs when the ZPM is recovered in Giza. Because SG-1 recovered the ZPM, they no longer had to travel back in time to recover it, resulting in the ZPM not being recovered and SG-1 going back in time to get it. And so the loop goes round and round.
• When Carter fires the gun at the enemy from the puddle jumper, no gunshot is heard, but a special effect instead.
• When Daniel starts dialing the Antarctic gate, the Earth point of origin symbol is seen (the pyramid), likely due to footage reuse. The proper symbol should be of the beta gate (circle with a line under it).

Awards

Wins

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

In other languages

• French: Retour vers le Futur (2^ème 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))

External links

• Template:SciFi
• Moebius, Part 2 on the official MGM website. (backup link)
• Moebius, Part 2 on GateWorld. (backup link)
• Moebius, Part 2 on Wikipedia
• Moebius, Part 2 article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Moebius (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.