Line in the Sand (Stargate SG-1)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Line in the sand” | |
|---|---|
| Stargate SG-1 episode | |
 "Show yourself or this village will be destroyed!" |
|
| Episode no. | Season 10 Episode 12 |
| Guest stars | Eric Breker as Lt. Col Reynolds Greg Anderson as Prior #3 Aaron Craven as Matar Aisha Hinds as Thilana Tim Guinee as Tomin |
| Written by | Alan McCullough |
| Directed by | Peter DeLuise |
| Production no. | 1012 |
| Original airdate | January 16, 2007 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "The Quest (Part 2)" | "The Road Not Taken" |
| Episode chronology | |
"Line in the Sand" is an episode from Season 10 of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
SG-1 (sans Daniel Jackson) return from a test run of a new device using Merlin's technology to shift a person into a hidden dimension (shown in "Arthur's Mantle"). When being debriefed the team learns that planet P9C-882 has recently been visited by a Prior and he is coming back soon. Landry informs the team, Carter in particular, that the device be taken "out of the lab" and used to hide the entire village. Stunned, Carter objects saying she has no way to known if it can hide a village. Landry believes this would be a good way to test the device . Vala overjoyed with the situation agrees to saving the villagers, to which Landry replies "good" and leaves despite Carter's doubts about testing the device on such a scale.
Upon arriving on the planet SG-1 is greeted by the villagers leader Thilana, a strong and principled young leader. She and Matar, her right hand man, are extremely grateful for SG-1's assistance. Carter hooks up three Naqahdah generators for a test run. After a phase shift distortion the village cloaks. In a blinding flash of light witnessed by another SG team guarding the gate the village vanishes. Believing their job done, the other SG team dials home.
Nightfalls and the villagers are celebrating with a feast. Thilana and the villagers thank the team for their good deeds. Unfortunately after a few seconds another phase shift happens decloaking the village. Carter reasons something is wrong with the generators and leaves to solve the problem. Carter tells the team that she built in a fail safe which, when the power is disrupted or increased, causes the generators to shut down. The bad news is that she has rewrite the program to allow a degree of power fluctuation and it will take time to fix.
Daybreaks, and Mitchell checks up on Carter who has been working all night. Teal'c reports in to warn of incoming ships approaching the city. Teal'c sees the ships depositing transportation rings on the surface. He stays to stall the invaders from reaching the city. Matar now has doubts about SG-1's plan and tells Thilana to accept the teaching of the Ori. Thilana is resolute, she and her people were formerly slaves of the Goa'uld, and she will not be enslaved to false gods once again. Mitchell instructs Matar on firing a P-90 PDW, which Mitchell says is like a simple point and pull method. Many other villagers see the demonstration and decide to help.
SG-1 defends the city with a barricade, both sides take casualties. An Ori general tells his men to flank the enemy which Mitchell is able to notice and heads off to intercept them. An Ori guard appears behind Carter who is still frantically working on the devices. She spots the guard and attempts to dodge the staff shot. The blast grazes her and destroys the generators. The Ori guard moves in for the kill, but is shot from behind by Mitchell. The battle outside has taken a turn for the worse as most of the Earth weapons are now out of ammunition and their ten second training did not include lessons in reloading their weapons. The villagers and Vala surrender. Mitchell asks Carter to help him with the generators. Carter who is in a massive amount of pain, asks how many of are the generators are working, Mitchell replies "only one", Carter tells him to bypass the other two and just hook up the one that works and press the macro on the laptop, Carter passes out. An Ori guard outside catches a glimpse of movement in the building and walks forward to investigate. Despite many different items showing up on the Laptop, Mitchell finds the macro and activates it. From the guard's perspective the building vanishes in front of him. He runs back and inquires the captured villagers about the building. Vala responds saying "its an act of the Gods"
A soldier is about to execute Vala, when new Ori general appears and orders that Vala be removed from the group. He then reveals himself to be Tomin, Vala's husband, and orders the rest to be killed; Vala desperately tries to persuade but fails. Carter wakes to Mitchell stitching her wound, in the corner of her eye she sees an Ori guard appear and tells Mitchell to watch out. He does but puts his gun down. Mitchell tells a confused and in pain Carter that the generator is working and they are safe. He injects morphine and continues stitching up her back.
Teal'c in a hooded attire reappears in the village and finds Thilana attending to the wounded. She questions Teal'c about the rest of his team but he was about to ask her the same question. Matar seeing what the Ori have done, asks Thilana to accept the Ori and their teaching. She doesn't, and still believes there is a way to win. Carter awakes in a groggy state, and Mitchell says he's "been thinking, yes I know its a dangerous thing" about placing C4 around the village as a distraction so that he can get Carter out. Carter persists that he can't save her due to her injuries and state, and he can also not leave the device as it would fall into enemy hands.
Vala is joined by Tomin who thinks he can convert her to Origin. He claims to have no feelings for her at all and that it is only the standing orders of the Orici that Vala not be harmed that stop him from burning her himself. In the middle of his reciting the book of Origin, Vala asks where in the book is the murdering of innocent lives preached. Tomin continues and an argument between the two ensues. Vala upon saying "the Ori are not Gods" is slapped and Tomin leaves the room in a rage. Meanwhile Ori guards enter Teal'c's location and begin to question the villagers about the vanishing building, Thilana asks why the Ori are unable to find it. Matar stands up and tells the guards that Teal'c is not of this village and knows what happened. The Ori guards take Teal'c, Matar and Thilana outside to meet the Prior. Tomin returns to Vala and apologies for his behavior, telling her that she will not see him again. Vala however takes the opportunity to continue her conversation and relates the history of the Ancients and Ori Ascending and feeding off their worshipers...and the reason they would never want others to ascend and feed with them. Tomin leaves and asks the prior to reassign him back to command of ground troops on the planet, but is rebuked and then unsure when the Prior incorrectly cites a fable in the book of Origin to justify the annihilation of the village below, twisting the meaning dramatically for his own purposes.
Carter waking up again has a talk with Mitchell about how she has spent "the last 10 years of science to take down and tell people about false gods" yet with her in this condition, she believes her time is up and wonders if there is a God and if she believes in one. Mitchell reaffirms that whatever she believes in, she will survive.
Outside the Prior asks Teal'c about the vanishing building. Teal'c -typically- doesn't respond, and is assaulted by the Priors power till he collapses. Mitchell now sees the Prior walk towards the area where the building vanished, the Prior stops in the same room as Mitchell and Carter are in and attempts to use his power to find them. A blinding light appears from the Priors staff but he can't find them. Mitchell smirks at how the prior is now confused about how his powers are not working. The Prior then threatens to destroy the village if they don't reveal themselves and when they do not answer, the Prior leaves.
Thilana sees the Ori guards fleeing the city and Teal'c awakens. Matar bursts in with a few other villagers and proclaims that Teal'c must be sacrificed so that they can be seen as followers and be spared. Thilana says that any God that wants a sacrifice is not a God" Matar now nervous hears Thilana and hands over his weapon. Meanwhile, Carter informs Mitchell that the original crystals were replaced with Naqahdah generators which had two out of the three disabled. The Ori staff weapons however are powered by a power crystal which of Ori design, is similar enough to Merlin's Ancient based device to be compatible and has enough energy to hide the village for at least a short time. Following Carters instructions he tries to interface the Ori crystal with the Ancient technology, then brings her laptop to Carter who though in great pain, forces herself to try and make the device work.
Tomin goes to the Prior and questions him about proceeding with this course of action as the villagers have pledged their loyalty and will follow the teaching of Origin. He passionately believes that the Ori would never want a village of innocents destroyed and indeed that his oath is to protect such followers of the Ori. It makes no difference to the Prior who dogmatically and blindly defends his actions. Telling him to witness the power of the Ori, he opens fire with the ships weapons and blasts the village from orbit, after which the ship prepares to depart.
Tomin leaves and finds Vala, leading her to the teleportation rings she tells him to come with her, he refuses and tells Vala he still loves her. He teleports her down to the planet. Vala walking through the location of the villages sees nothing but craters. Suddenly around her the village reappears with the villagers safe, she is delighted to see Teal'c and jumps on him. Mitchell informs the team that they are going to head back and get Carter medical attention.
Back at Stargate Command, Carter is recuperating in infirmary and Mitchell appears with a present. Some snacks from an old family recipe. Carter says she is still feeling bad but Mitchell persists. After tasting one she says they are good, but Mitchell seeing her facial expressions inquires "you hate it" and she agrees. Mitchell is glad to see Carter is doing well.
[edit] Continuity errors
- With the vast destructive power of the Ori main cannon, even if the displacement field protected the entire village, including enough soil to keep houses and foundations undamaged, the blasts would still make a sizable crater, which the village would fall into, either immediately, or as it returned to our dimension. Even if this fall did not destroy anything in the village, or even shake the inhabitants, there would be what looks like a geologic fault around the village. It is possible that the Ori didn't use the full power of the battlecruiser's main weapon because they were firing at a simple village as opposed to a shielded ship, requiring less power and casing less unnessasary destruction. The result would be just scourched earth and vaporized buildings and people.
[edit] Notes
- The planet SG-1 visits resembles Earth when shown from outer space.
- Just before Tomin questions Vala for the first time on the Ori ship, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and European Russia are visible.
- Just before the prior and Tomin talk, the Caspian Sea, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Aral Sea, and half of Central Asia can be seen
- When the Ori ship strikes down the village, India's coastline is clearly visible. The village appears to be somewhere in Jiangxi, People's Republic of China. The Korean Peninsula and Taiwan are also visible.
- The primary weapon on the Ori battlecruiser can be activated without the Prior commanding the vessel in the ship's control chair, though in close proximity inside the command center.
- Carter's password is "fishing".
- This is only the fourth episode to not include any characters from the Stargate film. Notably, Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill. The others are Nightwalkers, Insiders, and Uninvited.
- The episode marks the return of Tomin, played by Tim Guinee, and the Ver Ager Administrator turned Prior, played by Greg Anderson.
- When Mitchell brings Carter a cup of coffee he tells her it's decaff, she in response says "D'oh". An obvious reference to Jack O'Niells love for The Simpsons.
