Template:SG1-7 "Grace" is the thirteenth episode of the seventh season of Stargate SG-1.
Synopsis
While on a journey to Earth, the Prometheus makes first contact with an unfriendly ship and is attacked. Whilst retreating to a Interstellar cloud, Major Samantha Carter is knocked unconscious. She later awakens, only to find the ship completely abandoned in the Interstellar cloud, but has several hallucinations of the rest of her team as well as a mysterious young girl named Grace.
Previously on Stargate SG-1
On the maiden voyage of the Prometheus, the Naquadria reactor core overloads in orbit of the planet Tagrea and the ship is stranded.
Plot
The Prometheus is traveling back to Earth with a Hyperspace engine from an Al'kesh. Every couple of hours, the Prometheus has to jump out of hyperspace to cool down the Al'kesh hyperspace engine. The Prometheus stops near a Nebula that Major Samantha Carter thinks doesn't conform to nebulae she has previously studied. When they jump out of hyperspace, the Prometheus is attacked by an unknown vessel. They can't jump into hyperspace because the engines need to cool down. The Prometheus is chased into a gas cloud by the alien ship. Carter is knocked out when she tries to divert power from auxiliary to the hyperspace engine to make a small hyperspace jump into the cloud. When she wakes up, all the other crew members have disappeared. She alone must get herself and the Prometheus to safety. She has visions of a little girl, "Grace," running around the ship, playing with bubbles; and of her friends, who vocalize her worries and theories about her predicament.
As Carter checks the status of the ship she discovers that all the escape pods are gone, and theorizes that an evacuation order was given and she must have been left behind in the confusion. She has several months worth of food and water, and knows that both Star Gate Command and the Prometheus crew should eventually come looking for the ship.
The hallucination of Dr. Daniel Jackson frankly confesses that he is unreal but he is present because there is something she has overlooked. The hallucination of Teal'c warns her that this whole scenario could be a result of the hostile alien species mind-probing, with a view to her inadvertently surrendering information about the Prometheus' engine technology as she attempts repairs.
Back at Stargate Command, both O'Neill and Jackson are concerned because the Prometheus is 18 hours past check in. Jackson is organizing a search of planets near the route Prometheus was supposed to take, but O'Neill feels the crew would have contacted them already if they had reached a planet.
On the ship, Carter has discovered that corrosion is affecting the hull, with an expected inner hull breach in eight hours. This means she must find a solution quickly, but the effects of her head injury are slowing her down. She tries venting some of the ship's atmosphere to move the ship, but has a hallucination of the little girl, Grace, screaming in one of the compartments being vented so she stops the procedure.
Jackson then reappears and tells her that the "nebula" may be a living being, which is why she and the alien ship are stuck inside. He suggests she try finding the little girl and explaining to her that they have peaceful intentions.
Carter passes out briefly. When she comes to, Grace is there, and they begin to talk. Grace tells her to eat and keep her strength up. Grace then disappears and hallucinations of Carter's father and then O'Neill appear.
The hallucinations of Jacob Carter and of Colonel Jack O'Neill serve as a means by which Carter confronts her personal life and her relationships (in particular when talking to 'Jack', her feelings for him). Carter considers resigning from the Air Force so they could have a relationship, but she's not sure of his feelings for her. 'Jack' says he's a simple guy; he doesn't think he's the problem. She realizes that by holding an affection for Jack, who is unobtainable because regulations prevent their relationship, she protects herself from having any real relationship and potentially getting hurt. 'Jack' tells her he will always be there for her, no matter what, and that it's time for her to go save herself.
The real O'Neill and other Star Gate personnel have searched 7 planets with no luck. The Tokra have also been searching with no result. Teal'c and O'Neill talk briefly about Carter, and Teal'c says when O'Neill was missing with Maybourne, Carter was similarly concerned.
After another encounter with Grace, who is playing with bubbles, Carter hits on a solution. She will engage the hyperspace engines with only a fraction of the usual amount of power. This will have the effect of rendering the ship partially intangible. Grace wants to know all the details, then approves of the plan.
Carter contacts the alien ship and offers them the solution to escaping the nebula in exchange for the return of the Prometheus crew and safe passage once they are out of the nebula. After the crew is returned, she creates a hyperspace bubble large enough to encompass both the Prometheus and the alien ship and they are able to exit the nebula safely. The aliens keep their end of the bargain and fly away without harming the Prometheus. Carter collapses and is taken to the infirmary on the Prometheus. When she wakes up, she finds herself in the Stargate Command infirmary, with O'Neill sitting on the bed beside hers. After they talk and O'Neill leaves, Carter hears Grace singing as she falls asleep again.
References
Airlock; Al'kesh; Cake; Debra Carter; Dating; Escape pod; Hyperdrive; Interstellar cloud; Harold Maybourne; Nebula; Jonathan J. O'Neill's Al'kesh; P7X-009; Planet (Grace); Prometheus; Sensor; Stargate Command infirmary; Sublight engine; Tagrea; Tok'ra; Unidentified spaceship; Unknown race (Grace); Yo-yo
Notable Quotes
Ronson: So this thing is different from a nebula how?
Carter: Well that's what makes it so exciting, sir. We don't know exactly.
Ronson: And it just so happens that this formation is in the vicinity of our next cool-down coordinates.
Carter: It'll only be a little bit out of our way, sir. All I ask is two hours tops.
Ronson: If only so I can see the expression on your face firsthand. The words "kid" and "candy store" come to mind.
Carter: I'll maintain my composure, sir.
Jackson: Yep, I'd say you're stuck all right. (Sam ignores the Daniel hallucination) Oh come on, Sam. You've been running the same diagnostic program for four hours now. What makes you think the results are suddenly going to change? Sam? Hello!
Carter: Were you this annoying when you were ascended?
Jackson: I don't know, depends on who you ask. I thought I had a certain je ne sais quoi, timing was so-so.
Carter: Come to give me a pep talk?
O'Neill: That's what friends are for.
Carter: Friends?
O'Neill: Hey. This is you talking here. Might as well be honest.
Carter: What if I quit the air force? Would that change anything or is it just an excuse?
O'Neill: I would never ask you to give up your career.
Carter: Because you don't feel anything for me?
O'Neill: Carter.
Carter: I'd let you go right now if I knew.
O'Neill: That easy?
Carter: I didn't say it would be easy.
O'Neill: Then what's stopping you if you really wanna know?
Carter: I'm trying.
O'Neill: Maybe it's not me that's the problem here. Let's face it, I'm not that complex.
Carter: Me?
O'Neill: Sam. I'm a safe bet.
Carter: As long as I'm thinking about you, setting my sights on what I think is unattainable, there's no chance of being hurt by someone else.
O'Neill: Jacob was right. You deserve more. I will always be there for you, no matter what. Believe me.
Carter: So what now?
O'Neill: Go save your ass.
Carter: One last thing.
Sam imagines them kissing.
Carter: Never mind.
Carter: Thank you, Sir.
O'Neill: For what?
Carter: Nothing.
O'Neill: Think nothing of it. I've got plenty of that.
Notes
- The episode is a follow up to Season 6's "Memento" in which the Prometheus lost its hyperdrive capability and was stranded on Tagrea. It took until this episode to find a way to get the ship back to Earth.
- This episode's plot is similar to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Night Terrors", in which the crew is unable to go into deep sleep, experience hallucinations, and are ultimately rescued from their predicament by interpreting odd visions to discover a scientific solution, and also in that two ships are trapped in a dangerous region of space and need to cooperate to get out.
- This episode's plot is also similar to the Star Trek: Voyager episode "One", in which the Voyager is traveling through a Nebula and Seven of Nine is alone. She experiences hallucinations, due to the Nebula's effect.
- This episode is also similar to the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Doctor's Orders" in which Phlox is the only conscious crew member as everyone else is in an artificial coma because they are inside a nebula that is harmful to the human brain. The nebula also made Phlox hallucinate.
- The Season 2 Stargate: Atlantis episode "Grace Under Pressure" also involves a similar situation (except in a Puddle Jumper under the ocean) with Dr. Rodney McKay stuck inside and Major Samantha Carter is the hallucination. It is likely that the title of the Atlantis episode is a reference to this one (Grace) and to the fact that the Jumper is at the bottom of the ocean (Under Pressure).
- The apparition in the form of Dr. Daniel Jackson hypothesizes that Carter was not hallucinating, rather her visions were the cloud trying to communicate with her. This may also be referenced in "Grace Under Pressure", as McKay's Carter hallucination was fan-theorized to have been caused by a "Lantean whale" (actually a large fish, flagisallus), which were confirmed in a later episode to have telepathic abilities including causing apparitions.
- According to the DVD commentary for "Inauguration", "Grace" received the highest ratings of any television show on the Sci-Fi Channel, including all previous Stargate SG-1 episodes.
- The Prometheus uses the hyperdrive taken from the al'kesh captured by Jack and Teal'c in "Avenger 2.0" to return to Earth.
- Daniel refers to the events of "Memento" while Teal'c refers to those of "Paradise Lost".
- The hallucination of Teal'c refers to Sam as "Samantha," something which the real Teal'c never does.
- This is perhaps the only episode to show the "Unidentified Spaceship" in the series.
Goofs
- When Jack, Teal'c and Daniel return through the Stargate from the primitive society and are 0/7, the Stargate deactivates with no sound effects
Awards
Wins
- Won Leo for "Dramatic Series: Best Lead Performance by a Female" (Amanda Tapping)
In other languages
- French: Le Voyage Intérieur (The Inside Journey)
- Italian: Grace (Grace)
- Spanish: Grace (Grace)
- Czech: Grace (Grace)
- German: Grace (Grace)
- Hungarian: Grace (Grace)
External links
- Template:SciFi
- Grace on the official MGM website. (backup link)
- Grace on GateWorld. (backup link)
- Grace on Wikipedia
- Grace article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki
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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Grace (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. |