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stargatefan.com : episodes > season 1 > next episode : the first commandment

This episode begins in the briefing room, with SG-1 and members of SG-3 listening to Hammond telling them that in interviews, ten of the refugees brought back from Chulak were able to identify the last four symbols used by the Goa'uld to escape through the Stargate. Disregarding the last symbol as a point of origin, Carter made a computer model to extrapolate the first three glyphs of the address. (Extrapolating is a means of guessing the unknown by using what is already known about something.) There had been only one set of glyphs on the Abydos cartouche that matched the three known glyphs, so the computer was able to "guess" the other three needed.

Jack: "Let me guess. That's where we're going."
Hammond: "Very good, Colonel."
Jack: "Thank you, Sir. I pride myself on my deductive reasoning skills."
Hammond: "In one hour you will go through the Gate to the planet represented by these symbols. It has been designated P3X-797."
Daniel: "Couldn't we call this planet something that's a little easier to remember?"
Carter: "Ah, it's based on a binary code the computer uses for extrapolation."
Jack: "Which makes it much easier to remember."

Hammond got back to business, telling them they'd sent a MALP probe through the gate a half hour ago. As Hammond was talking, Teal'C was getting suspicious looks from a black guy on the SG-3 team. Hammond told them the planet was life sustainable, and Jack asked for video playback. Unfortunately, they had no video, because it was very dark on the planet. Carter wanted to know what happened to the lights they had on the MALP. Hammond said they thought they were broken during transport through the gate.

Daniel: "This is crazy. We don't know what could be there waiting for us when we come through."
SG-3 leader: "Don't you worry, boys. That's why the SG-3 marines are coming with. You can count on us to watch your backsides."
Daniel: "Actually, it was more my front side I was worrying about."

The gate was on the fourth chevron when Daniel made it to the gate room. Given a pair of thermal night vision goggles (from Jack, explained by Sam) he said they weren't like his regular prescription. Jack wisecracked a question: Why doesn't the MALP have a set of these?

Hammond gives the go ahead. When the Marines start to "take point" (go in first), Jack told them they'd go first, since they were "there to watch their lovely backsides, remember?" They called him a flyboy and let him go ahead. Daniel, thinking Jack was out of his mind to want to go in first, was told that if Skaara and Share were on the other side, the jarheads would open fire as soon as they saw the light of their eyes, if he knew what he meant. Did he want that? Daniel gave him the "No, after you" hand signal; Jack told the Marines to give them a 10-count before following SG-1. Jack felt the surface of the wormhole and stepped through the Stargate, followed by his team members. SG-3 members gave the wormhole a wary look, and started counting down.

SG-1 stepped through the gate into a forest, walked up by the MALP probe and put on their night goggles after hearing a sound. They saw people moving among the trees, and got jumped by a bunch of caveman-looking people wearing fur and clubbing them with sticks. Fortunately, just as one of SG-1 was about to get their head pounded in with a rock, SG-3 came through the gate and shot the guy with the rock. They started shooting into the trees and scared the rest of their attackers away. One of the Marines was "real glad he took point." They had no idea who they'd been attacked by. Jack checked that everyone was OK, they looked at the guy who'd been killed, and moved on (following the ones who'd attacked them?). Further into the woods, they hid themselves and watched the "caveman" group, who were gathered around a fire. Jack asked Daniel who they were; Daniel started talking about all this archaeological Darwinistic stuff. Jack said, "You don't know, do you?" Nope.

Carter noticed that there was a more human-looking female among them, and wondered why she was so different from them. At this point, the cavemen started trying to grab the woman like they were going to rape her; Carter was ready to go in and stop them. Daniel tried to explain that was how prehistoric man had sex; the strongest man among them got to mate (survival of the fittest). It looked like rape to Carter, and she was going to put an end to it. Jack was calling her off when someone started slinging rocks at the cavemen and they ran away.

Jack wanted to find out who'd intervened; he told SG-3 to take the left flank and they surrounded a small group of people dressed in white. Jack checked one of them for Goa'uld entry scars. Finding none, he told them to lower their weapons. When Jack asked if Daniel had any idea who they were, one of the white dressed ones told him they were the untouched, he was high counselor, and a lady told them they were glad to be deemed worthy of a return visit. The group kneeled and bowed to SG-1 and 3, addressing Jack as Lord. Daniel figures they assumed they were gods because only "gods" would use the Stargate. He said maybe they should get used to it. Jack, irritated, told them to get up.

The lady told the high counselor that perhaps they were being tested, and the gods wished them to treat them as if they were mortals. The high counselor courteously told them to let the untouched take them to the "land of light." As they walked away, they stopped to pick up the girl that Sam had been getting ready to rescue. The untouched then took SG-1 to a city on the daylight side of the planet.

The group stepped into a building with a bull head statue at the entrance and decor that looked Minoan, according to Daniel.

Jack: "Love what they've done with the place."
Carter: "I was going to do my living room like this, but it didn't go with my other stuff."

On the other side of the room across from the doorway, there was a platform with two bull heads hanging over it, and between the entrance and the platform was a long, low table. The high counselor welcomed them and told them to sit down.

Sam noticed the girl lying on a pillow on the platform, shaking and making noises like she was in shock. She asked if she'd be okay. The counselor explained that he hoped the girl (his daughter, Melocia) had been rescued in time from the touched, but they'd would be okay, but they'd have to wait and see if she'd been cursed by them. He referred to the Touched by some word (heuksha?) which Teal'C recognized as the name used to describe the gods of the underworld, the evil ones.

The untouched woman said the evil ones had only to touched an unfortunate person among them and they would become possessed-evil, wild and dangerous to those around them. The counselor said they used to be normal people who lived in the land of light until they became changed. They were then banished to the land of the dark. Jack asked them when was the last time the evil gods came around. The lady explained they didn't show themselves; they knew of them only because of their actions. When he asked about the good gods, she said, if SG-1 weren't them, it'd been a generation since they'd been to visit.

Jack excused his team and took them aside for a mini-announcement: Since the Goa'uld hadn't been there for some time, they were leaving...right now!

Jack: "We'll move out in fifteen minutes."
Daniel: "Wait a minute, move out?"
Jack: "Yeah. Back to the Stargate, back to Earth, terra firma, home, you've heard of it?"

Daniel didn't take the news very well. He felt they had an entire culture to explore, especially with the people's apparent relation to the Minoans. Sam was nodding her head in agreement with Daniel. Even though Jack claimed to like cultural stuff as much as they did, he told them that wasn't their assignment and ordered them to get their gear together.

Back at the SGC, Hammond wanted to know if they'd found anything; Jack said no, and Daniel quickly contradicted him, saying they'd found a hell of a lot. Jack said yes, but nothing strategically important. Hammond told them to get cleaned up for debriefing in a half hour.

In debriefing, Daniel argued that they should go back to the planet due to its cultural significance. He and Sam explained that the Touched and Untouched were like a Broca Divide (studying brains and craniums to compare the levels of intelligence among early cultural groups). of an advanced "Bronze Age" culture and a "Pre-Stone Age" one. (At this point, Teal'C noticed the black guy on SG-3 was staring at him like he was one step away from complete insanity, rocking back and forth in his chair. Teal'C was on his guard, and looked slightly alarmed at the man's behavior.) When a bored, yawning Jack asked Hammond if he should start the debriefing now, Daniel was going to cut him off when Hammond told him he'd won his argument-the president agreed with him that they should evaluate the scientific and cultural value of each mission from now on. Sam and Daniel think that's great, Jack was like, "Awww, man!"

All of a sudden, the Marine, Johnson, grabbed Teal'C, threatening to rip his neck in half. Teal'C and the SG-3 commander (?) told Johnson to let him go. He threw a punch at Teal'C, who grabbed his fist before he could hit him and forced him down to the table. Two soldiers grabbed Johnson, who was drooling. Hammond told them to take him to the infirmary, have him restrained and checked out. A little later, Sam and Daniel were discussing Johnson in the gate room when two soldiers in the observation room above started fighting and one threw the other through the glass window. Sam called for a medic for the men, one of whom looked dead.

In the next scene, Carter came up behind Jack, who was changing clothes in the dressing room. She grabbed him and started kissing him like there was no tomorrow. He asked her what she was doing; she kept kissing him. He told her she was out of line; she slammed him to the bench and kissed him again. They rolled to the floor. Jack asked her what had gotten into her, telling her it was time she saw a doctor and he took her there.

In the next scene, Janet and Jack were looking a Johnson in lockup. He'd started looking like a caveman, and was tearing up what few objects there were in the room. Janet told him that she'd called some specialists about their behavior but her hands were tied if they didn't have SGC clearance. All the soldiers were behaving like animals, and it seemed to be catching. The soldier in the room next door to him was bloodying his hands beating up the wall. He asked her if that was what was wrong with Carter. She told him yes, and he should be flattered because primitive women chose sex partners according to who could give them the strongest offspring. Oh yeah, he was honored.

Daniel caught up with Jack, and seeing his ripped shirt, he asked what had happened. Jack told him that Carter was acting nuts.

Daniel: "What, did she start a fight with you like Johnson did with Teal'c?"
Jack: "No, she, uh, tried to seduce me."
Daniel: "Oh...You...poor man."
Jack: It wasn't like that. She was like a wild animal.

Daniel suggested they should go see her and make sure she was OK. Jack grabbed him and started acting suspicious of his motives. He insisted that Daniel to stay away from Samantha. Daniel was like, "Uhh, okay," and suggested that they take a little trip to the infirmary. Jack started punching him and knocked him down. He had to be pulled off Daniel, getting in one last kick on the way out.

While Daniel was in the infirmary getting his blood tested. Janet explained to Hammond that everyone seemed to be infected with a virus that stimulated the primitive parts of the brain that were normally dormant. She'd never seen anything like it on Earth. Daniel said that would explain the touched. Looking at Sam, restrained on a stretcher, Daniel figured that this at least proved that the touched weren't born primitive, they were affected by some contagious disease, which they came into contact with.

Daniel: "We came in contact with them. Isn't that special."
Fraiser: "So, the question is, why haven't you and Mr. Teal'c come down with the symptoms?"
Daniel: "Ah, Mr. Teal'c...Teal'c's symbiote probably protects him."
Teal'c: "That would be likely."
Fraiser: "What about you, Dr. Jackson?"
Daniel: "That beats me. You're the doctor...Doctor. Ah, maybe I have a natural immunity."
Teal'c: "Perhaps you will develop symptoms later."
Daniel: "Thank you for the moral support."

Janet told him the disease appeared highly contagious. Hammond was angry that they could have brought a new plague to Earth; he shut down the mountain, and no one would be allowed in or out until they got a handle on the situation. Hearing weird yells down the hall, Teal'C and Janet ran down the hall to the containment room where Jack had been put. He was beating on the door; they ran in and gave him more sedatives to calm him down. Hammond called the president and told him they were sealing off the mountain, and suggested the president set up a second line of defense to shoot on sight anyone leaving the complex, and burn the bodies.

Janet told Hammond the good news that Daniel and Teal'C had no sign of the organism in their bodies; she said she would need a sample from one of the untouched to see if they could synthesize it for a cure. Hammond told her to teach the SG-1'ers how to draw blood; since they were immune, they'd need to go through the gate to get a blood sample. Daniel was reluctant for the two of them to go on their own, but Teal'C told him they would easily subdue the Touched since loud noises frightened them. On the other side of the gate, they saw Melocia on the ground. Daniel wanted to help her-Teal'C wanted to leave her there since they had a long journey ahead. Daniel still insisted on helping her. He covered her up, and Teal'C started walking off. Daniel had picked up the woman when some of the touched showed up in front of him and Teal'C. Teal'C started firing to scare them off. Daniel turned around and saw the ones behind them. Teal'C suggested he fire his weapon, and when he turned around to check, Daniel was gone and his glasses were on the ground.

At the SGC, a straight-jacketed Hammond was put in the cell with Jack. Janet told him they were running out of space for the infected, and Jack told her to give him another injection. She said he'd already had more than the maximum dosage and it wouldn't be safe to give him more. He started yelling hoarsely that she give him the injection, so she did. He almost passed out, but then he seemed to come more to himself, asking her if it was just a dream. She realized that an overdose of sedative must not affect the primitive side of the brain. He asked her what it was, then told her to experiment on him. She hated to do it, but she agreed.

On P3X797, Teal'C went back to the untouched and told them to help him rescue Daniel. They considered Daniel and his daughter as dead to them since they couldn't do anything for him or their loved ones. Teal'C wanted to know how they could be so "without heart." Since they wouldn't help him, he said he must at least have a sample of their blood. The woman got incensed and left. In a tight voice, the counselor told him he was no longer welcome there and he expected to find him gone when they returned. He left the room.

On his way out, Teal'C looked at the two guards posted on each side of the entrance. He hit one with a gun and knocked the other one out, apologized and took blood from him. Daniel was getting roughed up by one of the "cavemen" on the dark side of the planet. Back at Cheyenne Mountain, Janet was bandaging Carter, who got stabbed by her "roommate." Teal'C gave her the blood sample, and went to tell the colonel he had lost Daniel on P3X797.

Janet burst in and told him the untouched blood sample Teal'C had gotten had very little histamine in it. Since the virus fed on histamine, the touched must have plenty of it in their blood. That was why Janet and Daniel had been immune to the disease because they took enough allergy medication to starve the virus.

They gave Jack a dose first to make sure it worked.

Jack (banging on ISO door): "Teal'c! Doc! Open the door! Teal'c!"
Teal'c (peering through the window): "Colonel O'Neill?"
Jack: "Lucy! I'm home!"
Teal'c (eyebrow raised up): "I am not Lucy."
Jack: "I know that. It was a reference to an old T...never mind. Open the door."
Teal'c: "I will summon the doctor."
Jack: "No, no, come on, I'm fine. I'm back to being myself. Just open up."
Teal'c: "I cannot be certain you are back to being...yourself. You referred to me as...'Lucy.'"
Jack: "Oh, for crying out loud, will you just open the door?"

Then they dosed the rest of the base. Hammond sent SGC members through the gate to rescue Daniel, with enough dart gun doses of antihistamine for him and any of the touched that got in their way. They'd leave the rest of the touched for the untouched to handle. Not sure he was still alive, they went through the gate. When they caught up to Daniel, they noticed his antihistamine had worn off.

Jack: "Daniel, you dog. Keep this up, you'll have a girl on every planet."

Daniel was going to rush Sam, but she shot him with a dart and he passed out.

They then went to see the Touched, and told them they had a cure for the disease. They were ordered to put Daniel in the isolation circle while they heard them out.

Daniel (groaning): Where are we?
Teal'c: We are on the light side of P3X-797
Daniel: I thought we agreed to give it a better name.
Jack (grinning): He's back. He's normal.

When Daniel came to, Teal'C handed him his glasses, and the Untouched asked for an explanation of how they'd saved him. A little later, the Touched that had been tranquilized came to the daylight side of the planet and reunited with their loved ones. Jack said they'd teach him how to take care of the rest.

When he turned away, Carter went up to him to apologize for her behavior. He said he didn't even remember her earlier behavior since he was infected too.

Carter: "Ah, Sir?"
Jack: "Yeah."
Carter: "About my earlier behavior...I wasn't myself."
Jack: "Oh, Carter, I don't even remember your earlier behavior."
Carter: "You don't?"
Jack: "No, I was infected myself. Remember?"
Carter: "Right! Good, I'm glad."
Jack: "By the way. How's the wound?"
Carter: "Wound?"
Jack: "I understand you got stabbed in the stomach or something?"
Carter: "Oh, yeah, it was nothing. With any luck there won't even be a scar."
Jack: "Oh good, I was concerned."
Carter: "You were?"
Jack: "Sure. If it doesn't heal properly you'll never wear that sweet little tank top number again."

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