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"Tangent" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis[]

Teal'c and Colonel Jack O'Neill test a Death Glider they acquired from Apophis in the past. However, the Glider has a life of its own, when a Recall device installed by Apophis sends the ship back to Chulak, which will take several hundred years at their current speed, and they only have a few days of oxygen.

Plot[]

Teal'c is test-flying the X-301 Interceptor, an experimental United States Air Force fighter assembled from parts of two of Apophis' Death Gliders (recovered after Apophis' attack on Earth) and human tech. It can achieve escape velocity with virtually no G-forces for the pilots, and even Carter doesn't fully understand how it works. Lt. General Maurice Vidrine is impressed (though not as much by O'Neill's sense of humor.)

The next test is aerial combat, with the SGC serving as Mission Control Center. Colonel Jack O'Neill joins Teal'c in the X-301, but they overshoot the attack run, heading directly out into space. "We are no longer in control of the vehicle. I repeat, we have lost control and cannot eject. Please advise."

Once they're moving at a million miles an hour through space, propulsion shuts down. Apophis' recorded voice states that he installed booby traps (aka Recall devices) in his gliders, so none of his betrayers would be able to use his craft, and they would return to his homeworld... after a very long time.

Affected by the time lag it takes for radio signals to reach the X-301, Major Samantha Carter and Major Paul Davis at the SGC - with O'Neill and Teal'c on the glider - collaborate on a plan to slingshot them around Jupiter: The rocket motors of the AIM 120A air-to-air missiles, never fired during the weapons test, are still under their control. Unfortunately, the missiles don't have enough thrust and one breaks away from its mounting, hits the glider causing some damage, forcing O'Neill and Teal'c to reduce life support to freezing temperatures and very low oxygen levels.

Dr. Daniel Jackson contacted allies capable of spaceflight. Anise of the Tok'ra throws him a secret bone by saying she will not risk exposing a covert operative on a Goa'uld-occupied world, even though a Tel'tak is within a day or so of Earth. Carter pinpoints the world, she and Daniel 'gate there and are picked up by Transportation rings. Fortunately, it is the Tok'ra operative, Jacob Carter, who quickly reigns in his temper (he was preparing to destroy part of the planet) once he realizes his friends' lives are at stake. The ship will reach the X-301 in roughly 24 hours.

With 12 hours of air remaining, Teal'c decides to go into an extremely deep state of kelno'reem, slowing his heart rate, reducing his oxygen consumption. O'Neill asks who he'll talk to. Teal'c renders O'Neill speechless with his depth of feeling and friendship.

Jacob pushes the cargo ship beyond maximum safe velocity, resulting in the hyperspace engines crashing within spitting distance of two Ha'taks. Daniel stalls them by saying he's the Great and Powerful Oz in Goa'uld. They launch gliders in response, but Jacob and Carter repair the engines and the ship is able to re-enter hyperspace.

Upon arrival, Teal'c and O'Neill are asleep, near death. Jacob nudges the X-301 with the cargo ship, waking O'Neill into an amusing but dangerous daze from oxygen deprivation. Fortunately, he understands enough to wake Teal'c up by throwing a pen at him. Obeying Carter's instructions, they saturate their lungs with the remaining oxygen, open the glider's canopy, exhale and push away. Five meters from the glider, Jacob rings them aboard. Though they fall over to the floor, they're both alive.

A while later, the SGC receives the message from Sam and the control room erupts with joy at the news that the rescue has been a success.

Appearances[]

Appearances for Tangent

Locations

Events

Items

Vehicles

Sentient Species

Languages

Organizations

Mentioned

Notable quotes[]

Hammond: While we're waiting I have someone who'd like to meet your team.
Davis: Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, allow me to introduce to you: Lieutenant General Vidrine.
Vidrine: Colonel.
O'Neill: General.
Vidrine: Major.
Carter: General.
Vidrine: Doctor.
Jackson: General.

Vidrine: Light that candle boys.
(walking toward the X-301)
Teal'c: Does General Vidrine wish us to perform some sort of candle burning ritual?
O'Neill: Yes... that's it... exactly.

(Directly after the X-301 had entered space)
O'Neill: Uh, Teal'c, on our six, is that what I think it is?
Teal'c: If you think it is Earth; yes.
O'Neill: It's shrinking.
Teal'c: Its size remains constant, rather it is we who are moving away at extreme velocity.

(A sound comes from the instruments)
Teal'c: These instruments indicate drive shutdown. We're no longer accelerating.
O'Neill: That's good.
Teal'c: I will attempt to restart.
(Suddenly a voice is heard from the machine)
Voice: Shol'va! To all those who turn against their god, know this—for your insolence you will die in the cold of space. What is rightfully mine will now return to me.
O'Neill: Was that who I think it was? And did he just say what I think he said?
Teal'c: If you think it was Apophis, and that he said that the gliders from which this craft was constructed contained a device designed to return this glider to his homeworld, then yes.
O'Neill: He also mentioned something about dying.
Teal'c: In the cold of space.
O'Neill: Right...
(Brief pause)
O'Neill: Well, the old boy hasn't lost his touch.

Jacob: So how do you intend to get them out of the glider once we get there? I mean, there's no chance it'll fit into the cargo bay.
Jackson: Well, we were kinda hoping that you could... um, like... beam them out or...
Jacob(laughs) Beam them out? What am I? Scotty?

(A Jaffa aboard one of the Ha'taks contacts Jacob's ship)
Jaffa: Kree tal shal mak, Heru'ur!!
Jackson: Mak tal shree, lok tak mekta satak Oz!! (the radio repeats him in a Goa'uld voice)
Jaffa: Mak tal Oz!?
Jackson: Mak tal Oz kree!! (the radio repeats him in a Goa'uld voice)
Jaffa: Kal tak shree tal ma nak!!
Jacob: All right, we're almost finished, Sam's just finishing.
Jackson: Uh, that's good, cuz I don't think they bought my act.
Jacob: Why, who'd you say you were?
Jackson: The, uh... Great and Powerful Oz.
Jacob: (eye roll, sigh)

O'Neill: Jacob, is that you?
Jacob: Yes, it is, Jack. Now do what we tell you.
O'Neill: Do you know your ship's bigger than ours?

Cast[]

Main Characters

Guest Stars

Notes[]

  • At the end of the episode, Teal'c and O'Neill are briefly exposed to vacuum without space suits. This is survivable as long as they are re-compressed quickly. However, they are seen keeping their eyes open which would not be advisable in a vacuum. [1]
  • The AIM 120A air-to-air missiles the X-301 has are equipped with shield frequency modulators which theoretically should enable the missiles to pass through Goa'uld shields. However, this is never brought up again in the series.
  • O'Neill's line "Cheyenne, we have a problem" is a reference to Apollo 13. The general structure of the episode, and the celebration at the SGC at the end, also reference the 1995 film.
  • O'Neill refers to not wanting to freeze to death again, in reference to "Solitudes."
  • During the flight to rescue O'Neill and Teal'c, Jacob says how by comparison to the Gou'ald and Tok'ra, Humans don't understand how the technology works. This is interesting as the last time Jacob was seen in the two parter, Jolinar's Memories and The Devil You Know, it was SG-1 who revealed that Cargo Ships could have a cloaking device installed in them.

Goofs[]

  • According to Air Force regulations, Lt. General Maurice Vidrine's mustache would not be allowed. To be within regulation, it would have to end at the corner of his mouth.
  • Teal'c remarks that the X-301 Interceptor will take several hundred years to reach Apophis' homeworld as it is traveling at sublight speeds. If the ship is indeed traveling at a slow (in interstellar terms) 1,000,000 mph the trip to even the nearest star (Proxima Centauri) would take about 2,700 years. Also, traveling at 1,000,000 mph, the trip to Jupiter itself would have taken the X-301 over two weeks at the two planets' closest approach (or some 3 weeks at mean distance, about a month at maximum distance). However, the craft only stopped accelerating once its drive shut down some time later than when its speed was reported to Control at 10^6 mph. Furthermore, though it takes only a short time to reach Jupiter, they seem to linger at that planet for ten or more hours, yet there is no explanation for them decelerating. They should have shot past Jupiter far too fast to be caught in its gravity.
  • When Colonel Jack O'Neill and Teal'c are ringed aboard the scout ship, the door between compartments is closed, but in the next shot from the front of the ship, the door is opened. It should be opened the whole time since Dr. Daniel Jackson didn't close the door behind him.
  • After the unsuccessful burn of the rockets to change the trajectory of the X-301, the reflection of Teal'c in the window faces the same direction as Teal'c himself.
  • The X-301 is stated to have been equipped with AIM-120A AMRAAMs, a missile that by this date had been out of production for nearly a decade. In fact, at this time the AIM-120C AMRAAM was the latest version in use by the USAF, having begun production four years earlier in 1996. It would not make sense for a bleeding edge, human-alien hybrid spacecraft to not utilize the latest weapons technology (especially given their situation at the time). Furthermore, since the AMRAAM is a missile designed purely for atmospheric combat (relying on wings for directional control and being built with non-space rated hardware) it makes little sense for a combat spacecraft like the X-301 to even be armed with any in the first place.

Awards[]

Other languages[]

  • French: Perdus dans L’Espace (Lost in Space)
  • Italian: Perduti nello Spazio (Lost in Space)
  • Spanish: Tangentes (Tangents)
  • Czech: Zkušební Let (The Experimental Flight)
  • Hungarian: Röppálya (Trajectory)
  • German: Rettung im All (Rescue in Space)

Links and navigation[]

Smallwikipedialogo This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Tangent (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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