The Quest, Part 1

The Quest, Part 1
Production
Series	Stargate SG-1
Episode	10.10
Production #	1010
Original air date	September 22, 2006
Written by	Joseph Mallozzi Paul Mullie
Directed by	Andy Mikita
More Information
Gallery
Transcript
Credits
Chronology
Preceded by	"Company of Thieves"
Followed by	"The Quest, Part 2"

Template:SG1-10

This episode is part 1 of 2; it is followed by "The Quest, Part 2".

Gallery

Episode

Transcript

"The Quest, Part 1" is the tenth episode of the tenth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis

SG-1 travels to the planet where they believe the Sangraal is at to defeat the Ori. However, as soon as they arrive, Adria is hot on their trail, by posing as one of the villagers to take the Sangraal away, but before they can get it, they have to pass a series of challenges, and they find Ba'al on the way.

Previously on Stargate SG-1

Vala Mal Doran gives birth to the Orici Adria who matures in a matter of days and becomes the leader of the Ori army in the Milky Way galaxy. Ba'al steals the list of Stargate addresses from Stargate Command in his search for the Sangraal. SG-1's hunt for the Sangraal leads to Atlantis where Dr. Daniel Jackson and Vala encounter the ascended Morgan Le Fay who gives them the gate addresses of Castiana and Sahal.

Plot

The Quest for the Holy Grail continues, as SG-1 hunts for the mythical "Sangraal" -- believed to actually be an Ancient device invented by Merlin, which can kill the ascended Ori. The Ori have launched a bloody crusade to convert our galaxy to forcible worship, and SG-1 hopes that if their "gods" are destroyed the followers will cease their campaign.

Late at night, both Dr. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran stumble on the key to finding the world the Sangraal is hidden on: the gate addresses of the three planets King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table visited combine into a fourth address. Jackson discovered this by noticing how the planets were related to each other in space; Vala suddenly got the idea in a dream.

The team visits a medieval-style village near that world's Stargate, where they meet Osric, a frail old librarian who keeps watch over the entire village's material related to the Sangraal. But they aren't the only ones looking for it: Ba'al is also searching for the device, having passed through three days before.

Osric warns them that many have come to him looking for the Sangraal, and have never returned from their quest. The way is perilous (the woods in which it is said to be located was cursed by Morgan Le Fay), and the legendary prize is guarded by a great dragon. Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter doubts that it's an actual dragon, believing it to be some form of advanced security system. Furthermore, an ancient scroll known as the Parchment of Virtues advises that seekers of the Sangraal must possess five virtues: prudence, charity, kindness, wisdom, and faith.

The team finally has a solid lead on where the Merlin's anti-Ori weapon is, but Osric refuses to show them the map that Morgan left behind, as the last group of travelers -- Ba'al and his minions -- tried to steal it. At that moment Ori soldiers storm the city and declare the planet under Ori rule. With the help of a local Barkeep, the team manages to escape the Ori troops, and convince Osric to lead them to the Sangraal.

While moving closer to the forest, the team is surprised to find dozens of people frozen in time. Carter explains that the people are trapped in a time dilation field and a small corridor of real time leads further into the bubble. Using a special meter and by throwing rocks, the team manages to successfully navigate the maze. As they continue forward, they are greeted with a surprising sight: Ba'al, abandoned by his Jaffa and looking very put-out. The team confronts Ba'al, but fall into a trap. Ba'al reveals that he was lured here by a chest lying on the ground and was trapped for three days inside a powerful shield, and now the team is trapped inside as well. Daniel then realizes that they must follow the five virtues literally. The team used prudence to navigate the time dilation maze, so the obvious answer is to use charity to escape. Each person places an item of value inside the chest and the shield deactivates. The team is about to kill Ba'al, but he informs them that he knows the dragon's true name, which may be an important password or access code, convincing the team to bring him along.

However, as they continue on their journey, Daniel suddenly confronts Osric. After observing him for some time, Daniel suspects Osric to be a spy for the Ori. Osric smiles and reveals himself to be Adria in disguise. She tells the team that all of the events leading up until now were orchestrated by her to make the team lead her straight to the Sangraal, including Vala's dream at the beginning of the episode. She then forces Daniel to help her find the weapon or she will kill the rest of SG-1. Daniel reluctantly agrees. They then enter a cave and find a small boy trapped in a cage. The team uses the virtue of kindness to open the cage, and a secret passage is revealed. They then use the virtue of wisdom to solve a series of riddles as the cave begins to collapse. Finally, the team arrives at a huge wall of fire, and are seemingly stumped on how to continue.

Daniel, however, is convinced that he knows the way through. He uses the final virtue, faith, and walks through the wall of the flames. The flames disappear to reveal the Sangraal. Adria orders Daniel to take it and give it to her, but Daniel realizes that while inside the cavern, Adria cannot use her Ori abilities. He challenges her to take the Sangraal herself, but she refuses. He then attempts to pick it up himself, but it is just a hologram. Suddenly, the door behind the team closes shut and a massive dragon appears, breathing fire and poised to attack the team.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Appearances

Appearances for The Quest, Part 1

Locations Camelot (mentioned) Castiana (mentioned) Colorado Springs, Colorado Stargate Command Daniel Jackson's Lab Vala Mal Doran's quarters Osric's planet Sahal (mentioned) Vagonbrei (mentioned) Events Great Enlightenment Quest for the Sangraal Items Adria's pendant Ba'al's knife Book of Origin Chinese food (mentioned) Energy bar Morgan's puzzles Orici Origin Parchment of Virtues Sangraal (mentioned) Tavern Time dilation Time dilation field Sentient Species Jaffa Ori (mentioned) Prior Tau'ri Languages Ancient language Creatures Dragon Organizations Knights of the Round Table (mentioned) Ori Army Stargate Program SG-1 United States Air Force Mentioned King Arthur Merlin Morgan Le Fay Phaedra

Notable Quotes

Mitchell: Hey Jackson, what are you doing?
Jackson: Oh, just trying to figure out the location of Merlin's weapon so we can find it in time to defeat the Ori, hopefully save our galaxy. You?
Mitchell: We're going for Szechuan. Wanna come?

Barmaid: Are you certain I cannot tempt you with a final meal?
Mitchell: What is it with this town and a no-can-do attitude? Every time we turn around, someone's trying to write us off or scare us away.
Barmaid: I apologize. I should have said, "A final meal before you set off on your journey."
Mitchell: Well, that's better.
Barmaid: Although it need be said that in the many thousands of years that adventurers have been seeking the Sangraal, not one has succeeded.

Mitchell: You should come with us.
Barmaid: My place is here. I'll be fine. (Mitchell hesitates.) I'll blame everything on you.
Mitchell: Good plan.

Carter: We're better pick up the pace if we wanna cut into Baal's lead!

Osric: This is it! The cave entrance. The Sangraal is located within.
Mitchell: It's too bad you won't be coming with us.
Ba'al: I thought I made it clear: you need me.
Mitchell: I wasn't talking to you.
Ba'al: Oh. Well, ah, allow me to get out of your line of fire.

Ba'al: He's tiny. Have him squeeze through the bars.
Teal'c: Assist us or I will squeeze you through these bars.

Adria: Taking your life would be a waste of my time.
Ba'al: Which I suppose would be put to better use complaining.
Carter: Why don't the two of you just get a room!?

Ba'al: Why don't you do something?  You're the Orici, supposedly possessed of siginificant powers. So snuff out the flame and get us on our way.
Adria: My abilities don't work that way.
Ba'al: Ah. Oh. Of course. How does the saying go? "All flash, no photo."
Carter: Actually, it's "All flash, no substance."
Ba'al: I prefer my version.

Notes

• Ba'al does not speak in the signature flanged-bass Symbiote voice at any time during either episode.

• In a deleted scene of the Charity trap, we see Vala Mal Doran swap out the hair dryer that Dr. Daniel Jackson placed in the chest for a hair curler.

• It was stated that Ba'al arrived at the village with a group of Jaffa. It is unknown what happened to these Jaffa as none were seen in the time distortion maze and none were with Ba'al in the charity trap. Some may have gone back to secure the gate, though none were encountered, Ba'al would have had some to act as bodyguards.

• The plot of this episode is similar to that of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit, in that a group of adventurers attempt to find a treasure located in a solitary mountain guarded (supposedly in this case) by a dragon.

• When Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter is scanning the time dilation maze, we see a Warrior of the Sodan trapped among several villagers.

• Jackson refers to the events of "Camelot", Carter refers to those of "Insiders" and Ba'al refers to those of "Reckoning, Part 1" and "Reckoning, Part 2".

• The dagger that Ba'al claims has "great sentimental value" which is then put into the chest as a test of charity looks like the dagger which he used to torture Colonel Jack O'Neill in the season 6 episode "Abyss." Which given the fact he was only stunned in "The Quest, Part 2" indicates he may have been in fact the original.

• Starting with this episode, Adria had brown eyes instead of her original yellow; a fact pointed out by Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell. This is due to the fact that the contacts irritated Morena Baccarin's eyes, so the feature was written out.

• Beau Bridges (Major General Henry Landry) does not appear in this episode or the next. This was to make up for appearances in the Stargate: Atlantis episodes "The Return, Part 1" and "The Return, Part 2".

• Kenton Reid (Ori soldier) previously played Red Jaffa in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Exodus".

• Steve Archer (Ori Commander) previously played Generator-Room Guard in the Stargate: Atlantis episode "The Eye".

Goofs

• When SG-1 walks into the time maze you can see, right before Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter stops the group, a man slowly swinging back and forth between a woman and a tree.

• Despite the fact that in the maze their footsteps should be very clear and easily retraceable, Vala Mal Doran says that she cannot retrace their steps.

• Despite earlier attention being brought to the fact that Adria's eyes were no longer orange, Adria's eyes change between Morena Baccarin's normal eyes and the orange contact lenses seen in "Counterstrike" after she reveals herself up to and including the test of Wisdom. It's most noticeable when they stand near the portcullis as Adria decides to help: Two identical shots a few second apart show her with and without contacts.

• While searching for a way through the wall of flames, Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell presses twice against the supposed 'rock' wall. It visibly bends under his touch.

• The dragon guardian that appears at the end of the episode is in fact a Wyvern. According to the majority of depictions of dragons, particularly those of Celtic origins which those of Arthurian legends are, dragons have four legs in addition to their wings for a total of seven limbs (Including their tails). On the other hand the guardian had two legs and it's wings acted as it's front limbs making it a Wyvern, cousins of dragons according to myth. This is a common mistake in film and television depictions of dragons, most notably in Game of Thrones which also features Wyverns rather than dragons.

In other languages

• French: La Quête du Graal (1^ère partie) (The Quest for the Graal (part 1))
• Italian: La Ricerca (Parte 1) (The Quest (part 1))
• Spanish: La Búsqueda (Parte 1) (The Quest (part 1))
• Czech: Výprava (část 1.) (The Quest (part 1))
• German: Die Suche, Teil 1 (The Search, Part 1)
• Hungarian: A küldetés 1. rész (The Mission Part 1)

External links

• The Quest, Part 1 on GateWorld. (backup link)
• The Quest, Part 1 article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki

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