The Sentinel

This article is about the episode. For the device, see Sentinel.

The Sentinel
Production
Series	Stargate SG-1
Episode	5.20
Production #	520
Original air date	May 3, 2002
Written by	Ron Wilkerson
Directed by	Peter DeLuise
More Information
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Transcript
Credits
Chronology
Preceded by	"Menace"
Followed by	"Meridian"

Template:SG1-5

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Episode

Transcript

"The Sentinel" is the twentieth episode of the fifth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis

The Goa'uld System Lord, Svarog, is planning on taking back Latona to his control. The only way to stop him is the Sentinel, a piece of technology capable of defeating him. Unfortunately, rogue NID agents once tampered with the device, and SG-1 get to be the ones responsible to make it operational again.

Previously on Stargate SG-1

When a rogue element of the NID led by Colonel Harold Maybourne begins to steal advanced technology from other races, Colonel Jack O'Neill goes undercover and arrests several members.

Plot

The episode begins as Major General George S. Hammond attempts to contact SG-9 on Latona, who are eleven hours late reporting in. SG-9 was attempting to re-establish diplomatic ties with the Latonans, creators of an advanced defensive weapon named the "Sentinel", which was developed over three hundred years ago by their ancestors, to defend the planet. Contact is established with Lieutenant Carl Grogan, a member of SG-9, who reports that SG-9 was attacked by Jaffa and that he is cut off from the Stargate, but is then attacked by a Jaffa patrol and cuts out.

Hammond briefs SG-1, explaining that two years previously an NID team attempted to analyze the Sentinel, to create copies to defend Earth, but were refused access to the weapon by the Latonans. Immediately after the NID team returned from their mission, they were captured, imprisoned, and placed on death row for stealing technology from Earth's allies. Colonel Jack O'Neill volunteers to visit them, as a consensus is reached that the NID team lied and gained access to the Sentinel against the Latonans' wishes and that they somehow damaged the device in the process. O'Neill speaks with Colonel Sean Grieves, who reveals that they disassembled and reassembled the Sentinel in an attempt to understand it. O'Neill asks Grieves to tell him how to fix the Sentinel, but Grieves insists that he and Lt. Kershaw, the other member of the NID team, go with them and have their death sentences commuted to life.

SG-1, SG-3 and the two convicts travel to the planet and find Grogan, the only remaining member of SG-9. SG-9 was attacked by the Goa'uld, indicating the Sentinel is inoperative. Major Samantha Carter, Teal'c, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Grieves and Kershaw trek to the Sentinel to repair it while O'Neill and Grogan set out for the city to offer the Latonans a chance to escape.

Carter's team locate the Sentinel and attempt to disable the force field protecting it, an action which took forty-eight hours the first time, according to Kershaw. Teal'c and Carter fight off a Jaffa patrol while Daniel, Grieves and Kershaw attempt to deactivate the force field. Meanwhile, O'Neill and Grogan attempt to persuade Marul, the leader of the Latonans, to save his people and evacuate the population through the Stargate. Jack is unable to convince him, as Marul insists that as long as the candle in his chambers burns, the Sentinel and its caretaker are protecting them. A Goa'uld Ha'tak begins bombarding the city and Jack tries one last time to convince Marul, but is ambushed by Jaffa and captured.

Daniel succeeds in deactivating the force field as a battalion of Jaffa approach, and it is reactivated in just time to protect the group from the Jaffa, but Kershaw is shot in the back with a staff blast as she activates the force field. Grieves attempts to repair the Sentinel while the Jaffa try to shut down the force field, but he cannot find anything wrong. Daniel then translates a small portion of text on the Sentinel, reading 'Life Force', 'Life Energy', and 'Two as one'. Eventually Grieves admits, at Kershaw's behest, that he shot and killed a Latonan man claiming to be the Caretaker, then Kershaw rigged a dead man's switch that the Caretaker was wearing, so that it was not set off when the Caretaker died.

The Jaffa bring Jack and Grogan to the Sentinel and demand that Carter's team lower the force field. Jack orders Carter to destroy the weapon, but Grieves tells the Jaffa he will deactivate the force field from inside. Jack repeats his order and Carter attempts to communicate to him that she can tell Grieves knows how to fix it. Grieves realizes what they are doing incorrectly, and grabs hold of the Sentinel, making "Two as one". The Sentinel releases a beam of bright light and the Jaffa disappear, as does Grieves; the Sentinel is powered by the life force of a single person, which was the Caretaker's ultimate role. When the beam has passed, Carter realizes Kershaw has died from her staff wounds. Teal'c suggests they ask the Latonans for permission to study the Sentinel further, but Jack merely replies that he thinks he knows what they'll say.

Notable Quotes

O'Neill: The rat bastard.
Jackson: I thought he came across as very nice.
O'Neill: The voice behind the camera.

Carter: Well, according to his report, the Latonans never granted Grieves' team access to the sentinel device... before they were recalled and arrested.
Jackson: You don't think it's possible for an NID operative to lie?
Teal'c: I believe it is, Daniel Jackson.
Jackson: Right...

Grieves: I'll say this again. I don't like the thought of going into this unarmed.
O'Neill: And.. I don't care.
Kershaw: I feel better just knowing there's an archaeologist watching our backs.
Jackson: (Holding up a combat knife) Yeah, which end do the bullets go in again?
Grieves: I'll be happy to show you.
O'Neill: Our mission objective is to fix whatever you screwed up. If you get any ideas other than that, I'll shoot you. Understood?

Jackson: Just out of curiosity, how many years did you promise to take off their sentence if they managed to fix this?
O'Neill: Actually they'll get a few more years out of this.
Jackson: More?
O'Neill: They were on Death Row.

Carter: So how did you manage to find the Sentinel if the Latonans didn't want to show it to you?
Kershaw: Maybe we're good?
O'Neill: Bribed the locals, eh?
Grieves: I see you've done your homework.

Teal'c: The Sentinel was indeed a device with great power. It would be wise to ask the Latonans to study it further.
O'Neill: Oh, I think I know what they'd say.

Notes

• Shots of Colonel Sean Grieves and Lt. Kershaw were edited into the "Previously on Stargate SG-1" sequence to replace those of Major Dean Newman and Lt. Claire Tobias from "Shades of Grey".
• Lt. Carl Grogan appears in this episode, he appeared previously in "Proving Ground" as a young United States Air Force officer receiving special training to join the Stargate Program along with three other recent Air Force Academy graduates. In the episode, every time his squad entered combat, he was shot, injured, or stunned. Since he is the only surviving member of his SG team in this episode, either the other members of the diplomatic-corps SG team were unlucky, poorly trained, or Grogan has learned much since then. However, Grogan survived after his team was gone at least partially due to passing out and being passed by and he did get knocked out again.
• Teal'c wasn't removed with the other Jaffa. However this could be because Teal'c was inside the forcefield and so inside the weapon or that Grieves rigged the Sentinel to spare Teal'c.
• CMSgt. Walter Harriman's nametag still says "Norman Davis" in this episode, despite his first name being established as Walter in the episode "2010".
• Christina Cox (Lt. Kershaw) previously played T'akaya in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Spirits". She would later go on to play Major Anne Teldy in the Stargate Atlantis Season 5 episode, "Whispers".
• Shawn Reis (Svarog's Jaffa commander) previously played Apophis' Jaffa commander in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Point of View" and a Jaffa in the episode "Upgrades".

Goofs

• When Major General George S. Hammond attempts to contact SG-9 on Latona, Lt. Carl Grogan responds "General, sir, this is Sergeant Grogan..." despite his being established as a lieutenant in "Proving Ground". Once SG-1 makes contact with Grogan on Latona, O'Neill calls him "lieutenant."
• During the episode, Colonel Jack O'Neill and Teal'c refer to Major Carl Warren as Major Lawrence. This is possibly a mistake as the actor who plays Warren is named Colin Lawrence.
• Sean Grieves was still held the rank of "Colonel". When a U.S. service member is sentenced to death by court martial, he or she is automatically stripped of all rank. Therefore his rank should've been "Airman Basic", same with Kershaw.

In other languages

• French: Sentinelle (Sentinel)
• Italian: La Sentinella (The Sentinel)
• Spanish: La Centinela (The Sentinel)
• Czech: Strážce (The Guardian)
• Hungarian: Az őrszem (The Sentinel)
• German: Der Wächter (The Sentinel)

External links

• The Sentinel on IMDb
• Template:SciFi
• The Sentinel on the official MGM website. (backup link)
• The Sentinel on GateWorld. (backup link)
• The Sentinel article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki

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