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"Beachhead" is the sixth episode of the ninth season of Stargate SG-1.
Synopsis
The Ori plan to use Kallana, a Jaffa stronghold, to stage an invasion of the Milky Way. SG-1, with the help of Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, send the Prometheus to stop it but all is not what seems...
Previously on Stargate SG-1
Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell asks Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter to rejoin SG-1 but she declines but promises to help if the world needs saving. Vala Mal Doran uses Kor mak bracelets to link herself with Dr. Daniel Jackson. A Prior visits Stargate Command and sets himself on fire.
Plot
On Kallana, a group of Jaffa meet a Prior who wants to know about them joining the Ori and bowing to the teachings of Origin. The Jaffa refuse and attempt to attack, only for the Prior to strike them down and engulf the planet in a mysterious blue force field.
In the Stargate Operations room, the Stargate activities with Major General Henry Landry learning that the message is in Goa'uld.
At the SGC, Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Teal'c of Chulak, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran are all playing a game of basketball when Landry arrives in, asking about the minor Goa'uld, Nerus.
Nerus arriving at the SGC.
Vala warns them anyway, but Landry decides to risk inviting Nerus to Stargate Command.
A while later, after going through the security checks, Nerus arrives at the SGC and greets them. He explains that a mysterious force field has appeared on the planet Kallana. The field surrounds Kallana's Stargate and periodically increases in size. The Stargate hasn't shut down for two days, which violates all known laws of physics but worst of all, there's a Prior of the Ori on the scene. The team is forced to agree with Nerus's frightening conclusion: The Ori must be establishing a beachhead from which to launch their invasion of the Milky Way galaxy.
Carter in Landry's office.
In Landry's office, he's talking to General Jack O'Neill when Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter arrives in, stating that she's reporting for duty.
After dialing the planet has failed, Landry and SG-1 revise their plan: they're going to take the Prometheus to Kallana and use one of the military's latest superweapon, the Mark IX "Gatebuster" Naquadria-enhanced Nuclear warhead. Vala is also accompanying them due to the fact that her life is still connected to Daniel's yet in the presence of the full SG-1 team, even she can tell that she's just a fifth wheel.
Prometheus approaching Kallana.
They eventually arrive at Kallana with Colonel Lionel Pendergast, the Prometheus's commanding officer ordering that a subspace message be sent to Stargate Command: they've arrived at the enemy beachhead.
Mitchell, Daniel, Teal'c, and Vala manage to transport down to the planet's surface with the Mark IX. They try to negotiate with the Prior, threatening to use the Mark IX in 30 "earth minutes", but even the threat of imminent nuclear vaporization doesn't budge him.
The fleet over Kallana
Suddenly, a bombardment of energy weapons rains down from above.
Gerak, the leader of the Free Jaffa Nation, has learned of the Ori incursion and demands to take matters into his own hands. At the same time, the force field expands again. Out of options, Mitchell arms the bomb and transports his team back to Prometheus.
Humans and Jaffa alike brace for impact as the Mark IX detonates below. As the shockwave dissipates, they are stunned to discover that the force field has only gotten bigger. Soon it will engulf the entire planet, and they have no idea what will happen next. Gerak resolves to continue his bombardment of the surface, threatening to target the Prometheus once he has dispatched the Ori if the Tau'ri do not join him in his attack.
Mitchell gives the order to attack. Before long, Carter notes that their attacks are only making the force field bigger: The force field is using their attacks to power and increase itself, and as Nerus, who reveals he has been working with the Ori all along, informs Landry, the Ori would have been unable to get this far without Earth's Mark IX. The Tau'ri plan has backfired.
Once the force field has engulfed the entire planet, a number of small, rectangular projectiles eject from the Stargate, destroying two of Gerak's ships while also striking the Prometheus.
Meanwhile, the force field begins to collapse the entire planet into a micro-singularity. Gerak retreats as the projectiles come together, forming a colossal ring in planetary orbit.
The Prometheus approaching the half-finished Supergate.
SG-1 gapes in awe as the first Supergate forms before their eyes. The Supergate, between 300 and 400 meters in radius, powered by a black hole, is large enough to allow an Ori armada to enter the Milky Way galaxy.
Carter notices that the pieces of the Supergate are becoming interconnected by a common energy signature. Vala, who deduces that Gerak has left behind a cloaked Tel'tak to spy on them, uses the Transportation rings to board the ship, then uses a zat'nik'tel to subdue the single Jaffa aboard. She then moves the ship into the path and position of the last piece of the Supergate, disrupting its energy signature. When the planet finally collapses and the micro-singularity forms, the shockwave destroys the Tel'tak and disperses the now-inert pieces of the Supergate. The Ori beachhead is then destroyed, much to the joy of the Prometheus crew, with Sam astonished that Vala's plan worked.
Back at the SGC, Nerus is sent to a prison underground in Area 51 until he comes up with a plan to fight the Ori. Nerus asks, "What would possibly compel me to do that?" Landry answers, "Hunger."
Vala vanishes after the explosion, which puts Daniel in danger, but SG-1 soon realizes that the effect of the bracelets have begun to wear off. Carter notices that a matter stream left the cargo ship before it exploded. Vala may still be alive somewhere in the Ori galaxy. Daniel breathes a sigh of relief, saying, "Well, we wanted to send them a message."
References
Alteran Home Galaxy; Anubis; Area 51; Ascension; Asgard transporter; Ba'al; Basketball; Battle of Kallana; Black hole; The Blues Brothers; Book of Origin; Cheese; Chicken; France; Free Jaffa Nation; Gerak's Ha'tak; Gerak's Tel'tak; Goa'uld; Goa'uld language; Grapes; Ha'tak; Handcuffs; President Henry Hayes; Hologram; Jaffa High Council; Kallana; Kor mak bracelet; Mark IX; Matter stream; Naquadria; Nuclear warhead; Major General Jack O'Neill; Ori; Origin; P4C-452; Prior; Prior staff; Prometheus; Railgun; Replicators; SG-3; Space suit; Supergate; System Lords; Tel'tak; Trakeel; Transportation rings; Wine; Zat'nik'tel; Zero Point Module
Notable Quotes
Vala: You boys aren't gonna let people from two different planets beat you at your own silly game are you?
Jackson: This silly game isn't over yet.
Mitchell: That's my wingman.
Vala: You need a new wingman.
Jackson: I'm gonna kick your ass.
Vala: Promises promises.
Mitchell: Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell. Leader of SG-1.
Nerus: But you’re not...
Mitchell: No.
Nerus: Will he be here?
Mitchell: Nope.
Nerus: (to Vala) And you're not even Colonel Carter, are you? This isn't at all the way I imagined it.
Mitchell: Oh boy, and here I was trying to have a nuke-free career.
Jackson: Vala, this is a military vessel.
Vala: I know darling, I've stolen it before.
Jackson: Just try to be...
Vala: My charming self?
Jackson: Just a little less talk, a little more shut the hell up.
Vala: My god, it's enormous!
(Jackson gives her a disapproving look)
Vala: Not everything I say is innuendo.
Carter: A matter stream left the cargo ship just before it exploded. There's at least a slight chance that it was pulled into the singularity.
Jackson: So you're saying she could be alive somewhere in the Ori galaxy?
Carter: It's possible.
Jackson: Well. We wanted to send them a message.
Notes
- Amanda Tapping (Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter) returns in this episode after a five episode absence due to her being on maternity leave, although she appeared in "Avalon, Part 1" in video, and has appeared in the opening credits throughout the five episodes.
- In this episode and the next, "Ex Deus Machina", Amanda Tapping is shown wearing an oversized uniform in an attempt to hide her remaining baby weight, but at times it is still visible.
- This episode marks the end of Vala Mal Doran's six episode arc in early Season Nine, although she will appear again in later episodes and join the regular cast in Season 10.
- In an early scene, SG-1 are playing basketball when Major General Henry Landry interrupts them for a briefing. Landry then proceeds to demonstrate his own basketball skills. Beau Bridges originally intended to be a professional basketball player. He played for UCLA and the University of Hawaii before deciding that his lack of height was hampering his career. Nevertheless, he seems to have lost none of his skills and a small basketball net is visible in Landry's office.
- Vala refers to the events of "Prometheus Unbound" and Nerus refers to those of "Avenger 2.0", "Reckoning, Part 2" and "Threads".
- This marks the first meeting of Sam and Vala.
- Ian Butcher (Prior) played an Observer in the television show Fringe. Observers are beings that share several physical similarities with Priors, including their baldness, pale skin, and missing eyebrows.
- This episode establishes, or at least strongly implies, that the Goa'uld do not modify their food supply in any way, as Nerus was amazed by seedless fruit that he ate, saying it was impossible.
Goofs
- When explaining the situation on Kallana, Nerus pronounces "Jaffa" with a "Y" sound (i.e., "Yaffa") as if it had a Spanish pronunciation.
- When the Supergate components approach the Prometheus, Colonel Lionel Pendergast orders emergency thrust, yet in the following special effects shots the thrusters are inactive and the ship is not moving.
- This could be explained by the Prometheus moving backwards away from the threat, and thus the forward thrusters remain inactive.
- Even if the rings were able to transport Vala to the Ori home galaxy which is discovered in the episode "Crusade" those rings would have to have been on a planet that was near the black hole. Any such black hole would have consumed the planet in question. The only way this could have happened would be that a ship was on the other side and Vala was transported onto that instead.
- It would stand to reason that an entire fleet of Ori ships was awaiting the activation of the supergate on the other side. She could have easily ringed on board one of those ships.
- After the pieces of the Supergate begin to come through the gate, Gerak contacts Prometheus asking why they ceased firing. The entire sequence has been flipped horizontally, as the screen text before and after this conversation is completely backwards.
Awards
Nominations
- Nominated Gemini for "Best Visual Effects" (Mark Savela, Vinay Mehta, Brendon Morfitt, Anuj Patil, James Rorick, Craig Van Den Biggelaar, Karen Watson and Kyle Winkelman)
First appearance
Character
In other languages
- French: Le Piège (The Trap)
- Italian: La Trappola (The Trap)
- Spanish: Cabeza De Playa (Beachhead)
- Czech: Předsunutá základna (Forward base)
- Hungarian: Területfoglalók (Area Reservations)
- German (DVD/TV): Das Schutzschild (The Shield) / Der Brückenkopf (The Beachhead)
External links
- Template:SciFi
- Beachhead on the official MGM website. (backup link)
- Beachhead on GateWorld. (backup link)
- Beachhead article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki
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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Beachhead (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. |