"Watergate" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of Stargate SG-1.
Synopsis[]
Stargate Command is unable to activate their Stargate. They soon discover that the Russians have their hands on one, after they recovered one from the wreckage of the crashed Biliskner. Another problem is that their Stargate is somehow still activated indefinitely.
Plot[]
SG-1 is about to go on a mission to scout a planet for a possible new homeworld for the Enkarans but the Stargate won't connect. Stargate Command realizes they can't use the gate because the Russians have recovered the Stargate that was onboard Thor's ship, the Biliskner, when it crashed on Earth from a Replicator attack. The Russian gate is "stuck" on an outgoing wormhole, preventing the American gate from being activated.
At the request of Dr. Svetlana Markov, SG-1 is sent to investigate why this is. SG-1 and Markov fly to the Russian base and enter the facility. During the search, they discover that all base personnel are dead, seemingly from a nerve gas. After failing to turn off the Russian Stargate, it is discovered that the radio signal from the Nuclear powered reconnaissance drone is keeping the gate open and cannot be shut down from this side.
Markov, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Major Samantha Carter go through to the Water planet to turn off the drone, while Colonel Jack O'Neill and Teal'c search the base. They manage to find Colonel Harold Maybourne in a freezer, but when they take him out, he is miraculously revived, and small, watery alien beings come out of him. The water vapor alien then enters Teal'c, and use him to go to the Stargate. O'Neill attempts to stop him, but Teal'c opens the gate, and the aliens come out of Teal'c and go through the Stargate.
Meanwhile, on the other side, it is discovered that the water that has submerged the civilization are actually aliens, the same kind that infected Maybourne. After the beings go through the Stargate to their homeworld, Markov, Jackson and Carter are sent back to Earth, having had their sub crushed and having been captured by the aliens.
The Russian Stargate program is subsequently shut down and Maybourne is arrested. (NB: These two events are not shown in the TV broadcast.)
Appearances[]
Notable quotes[]
Carter: There was a minor seismic event that matches the time in our power log exactly.
O'Neill: (looking at the map) Is that Siberia?
Carter: Yes sir. And there's only one explanation I can think of.
Jackson: The Russians have a Stargate?
Carter: How do you know about the SGC?
Markov: I have read extensive files on all of you.
O'Neill: The question was: how?
Markov: I learned to read English at the age of 6, it's not difficult.
O'Neill: Russian humor...
Co-Pilot: Sir, we have a visual on the runway. It appears to be iced over and there's no response from the control tower.
Markov: We're going to have to jump.
Jackson: Out of the plane?
Markov: I'm going with or without you, Colonel.
O'Neill: I suppose you expect my manly bravado to kick in right about now.
Markov: I've read your file.
O'Neill: No mention of bravado, eh?
(SG-1 is on board an airplane to the Russian base.)
O'Neill: Stu, gear 'em up... for a jump.
(Brief pause)
Teal'c: I do not understand, O'Neill.
O'Neill: It's called a "parachute."
Carter: It slows your descent after you jump out of the plane.
Teal'c: This device seems to be poorly designed to provide such a function.
O'Neill: It opens after you jump. Don't worry about it, I've done it hundreds of times.
Markov: I assume you brought HazMat.
O'Neill: Yeah... we thought somebody should be prepared.
Markov: Is he always like this?
Carter: Actually, this is quite charming.
(The moment before sky jumping)
O'Neill: It's easy, just jump and pull this.
Teal'c: It does not seem wise, O'Neill.
O'Neill: I said it was easy, not wise.
Markov: If we get separated, we'll rendezvous at the base.
(Markov and Carter jump)
Teal'c: This does not seem wise!
(O'Neill pushes Teal'c off the plane)
Markov: It's gone!
O'Neill: If I ask what, and you say it's classfied, I'm gonna shoot you.
Markov: The sub is Swiss.
Jackson: So they occasionally catch fire, but they keep perfect time. (Markov is silent). Sorry. I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much.
Teal'c: Do not humans usually die when they are frozen?
Cast[]
Main Characters
- Richard Dean Anderson as Colonel Jack O'Neill
- Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson
- Amanda Tapping as Major Samantha Carter
- Christopher Judge as Teal'c
- Don S. Davis as Major General George S. Hammond
Guest Stars
- Marina Sirtis as Dr. Svetlana Markov
- Tom McBeath as Colonel Harold Maybourne
- Gary Jones as MSgt. Walter Harriman
- Darryl Scheelar as Co-Pilot
- Martin Wood as Major Wood (Uncredited)
- Peter Kufluk as TSgt. Connor (Uncredited)
- ? as Stu
Notes[]
- Kurt Russell, who played Colonel Jack O'Neill in the original Stargate movie, visited the Stargate Command set during filming of this episode.
- The Russians' possession of a Dial Home Device is used to gain some influence on the SGC up until it is destroyed in the Season 5 episode "48 Hours".
- According to the DVD commentaries, the actual ending of the show where O'Neill proposes that the two races had just exchanged hostages was not the intended ending, which is why the episode appears to end so abruptly.
- Svetlana mentions that there are 47 personnel on the base. This is likely a reference to the frequent use of the number 47 on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- The water tank Svetlana climbs and the machine adjacent to it each have "БPAУН БОЁPH" on a manufacturing plate, which translates as "BROWN BOURNE."
- O'Neill remarks that he has never been in a submarine before, apparently playing into Svetlana's "Russian humor," since both parties know that he was aboard a Russian submarine in Season 4 episode "Small Victories". Another hypothesis is that it was a test for Svetlana to see how much she knew.
- When SG-1 is about to embark on their mission at the beginning of the episode, the conversation which they are having involves the relocation of the Enkarans. The Enkarans and their new home are later shown in "Scorched Earth".
- Dr. Daniel Jackson's interaction with the aquatic lifeforms is reminiscent of the film The Abyss.
- This episode reveals what happened to the Dial Home Device from Egypt. It was found by the Nazis in North Africa and confiscated by the Russians after World War II.
- This episode will mark the last time SG-1 would use the H&K MP5A3 submachine gun. They would switch to the FN P90 Personal Defense Weapon in the next episode "The First Ones".
- This episode takes place approximately two months after the events of "Small Victories", the more than three months during which Earth was trapped in a time loop in "Window of Opportunity" notwithstanding.
- The set used for the Russian Stargate facility is the Port Mann Power Station. It was used for Harlan's factory in the Season 1 episode "Tin Man" and later in the episodes "Beneath the Surface" and "Proving Ground". The scenes at Kuybyshev Airbase were shot at the Boundary Bay Airport.
- Marina Sirtis (Dr. Svetlana Markov) is best known for playing Counselor Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is the fourth Star Trek veteran to appear in the franchise after Armin Shimerman in "The Nox", Dwight Schultz in "The Gamekeeper", and Rene Auberjonois in "The Other Side".
- Darryl Scheelar (Co-Pilot) previously played Cop in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Holiday".
Goofs[]
- Most Russian text seen in this episode contains numerous spelling errors. When Dr. Svetlana Markov turns on the computer on the base, the "words" that appear on its monitor are meaningless sequences of Russian letters.
- At the start of the episode when the Stargate fails to lock in the point of origin, it shows:
instead of . The Alpha Gate () should be the one the Russians have and the SGC gate should be the Beta Gate (). Since SG-1 teleported the Alpha Gate into the Biliskner which crash landed into the ocean allowing the Russians to retrieve it. This is a frequent error in seasons 4 and 5 as there was only one Stargate prop (with the symbol) which had a rotating ring.
- Dr. Svetlana Markov is clad in a "rain" pattern camouflage parka during the parachute jump. While several Warsaw Pact countries (such as Poland, East Germany, and Bulgaria) did issue this pattern, neither the USSR nor the Russian Federation ever did. This one is most likely the "vzor 60 - jehlici" ("pattern 60 - needles" - 60 represents the year 1960, when this uniform was introduced to the service) of Czechoslovak Army. See camopedia.org.
- Major Samantha Carter mentioned "Our depth is constant and pressure should be relative to depth". The Swiss submarine must have very sophisticated equipment on board as a depth gauge is a pressure gauge with a different scale. Ultrasonic or surface level sonar would be an option, but it would not look like a normal depth gauge.
- The common TV radio trope Over and out which Svetlana uses to end her radio conversation, is an example of an oxymoron quite common place in TV. 'Over' is a word used to end your statement and await a response. 'Out' is a word used to terminate all radio contact. Therefore, having them both stated one after the other is contradictory and thus not actually used in radio telecommunications.
- Dr. Daniel Jackson's vest is missing its radio during certain scenes.
- When Jackson is retrieving the ID tags from the bodies, he's shown holding an American-style dog tag with rubber silencers and several fields, instead of the actual Russian-style tags with just the serial number in large letters.
Other languages[]
- French: Eaux troubles (Troubled Waters)
- Italian: Watergate (dubbed in English)
- Spanish: La Puerta Acuática (The Aquatic Gate)
- Czech: Vodní brána (The Water Gate/The Aquatic Gate)
- Hungarian: Víz alatt (Underwater)
- German: Planet des Wassers (Planet of Water/Water Planet)
- Japanese: 水の惑星 Mizu no Wakusei (Planet of Water)
- Note: connotation with Watergate Scandal is lost in translation in all listed language versions except possibly Italian. There, the title is kept untranslated, possibly because the local distributor interpreted the title as primarily an allusion to the Watergate affair (and the word "watergate" is meaningless in Italian as an ordinary noun; the meaning "gate of water" would translate as e.g. La Porta di Acqua or La Porta Acquatica).
[]
- Watergate at the Internet Movie Database
- Watergate on GateWorld. (backup link)
- Watergate article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki
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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Watergate (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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