The Fourth Horseman, Part 1

Template:SG1-9

This episode is part 1 of 2; it is followed by "The Fourth Horseman, Part 2".

Episode

"The Fourth Horseman, Part 1" is the tenth episode of the ninth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis

SG-6 returns to Earth from investigating a planet visited by a Prior, they inadvertently cause a plague that soon spreads beyond Stargate Command to the unsuspecting public. Orlin returns in the form of a child and tells the Tau'ri the truth about the Ori.

Previously on Stargate SG-1

The Priors attack several worlds including the Jaffa planets Kallana and Sartorus. Major General Henry Landry urges Gerak to continue to work together. The ascended Ancient Orlin follows Major Samantha Carter to Earth and falls in love with her.

Plot

Colonel Barnes and Lt. Fischer return from an undercover mission on P2X-885 that has fallen to the Ori.

Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter proposes creating a machine that will emit a field that will cancel out the powers of a Prior. She and Dr. Bill Lee begin to work on the machine.

Gerak is visited by a Prior on Dakara. He tells him that he has read in the Book of Origin, and he becomes convinced that the Ori are the gods they've been searching for. He sets out to make all Jaffa bow to the Ori as gods. Gerak then presents his beliefs to the Jaffa High Council and several of them are interested. Teal'c and Bra'tac discuss this after the meeting and they decide to oppose Gerak's vision. However after some time the council agrees to legislate Origin.

Fisher returns to Earth as a carrier of the Prior Plague, which appears to be both airborne and persistent. When he listens to a speech of Lt. General George S. Hammond at an Air Force base he is taken captive and brought back to Stargate Command. At the base he reveals that he was 'blessed' by a Prior during a Prostration, who seemingly was aware that he was from Earth. Also because he is the carrier of the plague he isn't sick. However the plague begins to spread wildly throughout the country, until the President Henry Hayes is forced to put the entire nation under quarantine.

While Carter is still working on the device, a young boy suddenly appears. It's Orlin, an Ancient who returned to make some startling revelations about the Ori and their true intentions. He reveals that the Ori won't give the secret of Ascension to their followers. Instead they suck the life force from them which gives them more power. Not wanting the Ori to gain control of the Milky Way Galaxy, he descended yet again to help Carter find a cure.

Orlin then starts to work on a cure but during a lunch (where he also reveals that he still has feelings for Carter) it becomes clear that he starts to lose what is left from his ancient knowledge. However he finds out that that they will need the blood of the Prior who infected patient zero. Capturing him may be more difficult than anything SG-1 has ever done before. However the weapon Carter and Lee were working on is finally completed and thus Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Dr. Daniel Jackson lead a team to capture the Prior.

On Dakara a Prior visits Gerak and tells him to go to Chulak to convert the population to Origin and he agrees to do so. However in the end he can't bring himself to follow the order. The Prior is angry and thus takes him to Celestis to meet the Doci. There, he is turned into a Prior of the Ori and returns more powerful than ever.

TO BE CONTINUED...

References

Alterans; Ancients; Antaris; Anubis; Area 51; Ascendometer; Ascension; Basketball; Book of Origin; Lt. Brooks Celestis; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Chicago; Chulak; City of Celestis; Coffee; Cold fusion; Colorado; Colorado Springs; Credit card; Dakara; Dark Pariah; Denver; DNA; Flames of Enlightenment; Florida; Free Jaffa Nation; Gerak's Ha'tak; Goa'uld; Hazmat suit; President Henry Hayes; Influenza; IWN news network; Jaffa High Council; Kansas; Kallana; Khalek; Krantu; New Mexico; New York City; Ori; Ori plague outbreak on Earth; Origin; Others; P2X-885; P8X-412; P9G-844; Peterson Air Force Base; Prior; Prior disruptor; Prior staff; PRIOR2 virus; Airman Ryan; Salt Lake City; San Diego; SG-6; Sodan; Stargate Command infirmary; St. Francis Medical Center; Utah; Waffle; White House

Notable Quotes

Landry: Colonel Carter! I've read your proposal.
Carter: And?
Landry: And, I'm not exactly sure what an aneurysm feels like, but I suspect I'm pretty close.

Lee: A couple of days?
Carter: Well, we'll just have to roll up our sleeves and burn some midnight oil if we have to.
Lee: "Midnight oil". Why didn't you just tell them we'd come up with a viable means of creating cold fusion while you're at it.
Carter: Sure, if you've got something.

Orlin: You're so close.
Carter: I know.
Orlin: Hello Sam. It's good to see you again. I've missed you.
Carter: Who are you?
Orlin: I had no choice but to take this form. It's me, Orlin.

Jackson: I'm sorry, aren't you breaking some major cosmic rules here? I mean, why did the Others let you go without wiping your memory clean?
Orlin: Honestly, I don't really know. I guess enough of them felt it was necessary for someone to step out of line and warn you.
Landry: I'm assuming you're talking about the Ori. We're already aware of the threat they pose.
Orlin: Believe me, you don't know everything. A long time ago, the Ori and the Alterans were one society—human—on an evolutionary path to ascension, but a philosophical division grew. The Ori grew more and more fervent in their religious belief. The Alterans... for lack of a better way of putting it... believed in science. The Ori tried to wipe them out.
Jackson: So instead of going to war, the Alterans built a ship, left their galaxy and came here. We know that both the Alterans and the Ori eventually ascended, and that the Ori passed on a religion called Origin to the next evolution of humans they created.
Orlin: Yes, but the central promise of the religion, everything Origin's followers devote themselves to, is a lie.

Landry: We're hoping that as long as you're here, you may be able to help us.
Orlin: I no longer possess the power to simply cure this plague as I could have as an ascended being. However, with the knowledge I still retain, I believe I can synthesize a cure using your medical technology.
Carter: You built a stargate in my basement with spare parts from a toaster.
Orlin: Actually, this'll be a little harder than that.

Carter: How's it going?
Orlin: Basically, I know what I need to make. I just don't have any of the right materials or tools.
Carter: This is the best we have. I can get you a toaster if you need it.
Orlin: Not unless you're hungry for toast.
Carter: Waffle iron?

Notes

Stargate Wiki has 29 images related to The Fourth Horseman, Part 1.

Christopher Judge (Teal'c) reads the "Previously on Stargate: SG-1" section.
Earth scientists have studied Khalek enough to devise a weapon to use against the Priors, who are evolutionarily advanced human beings. The device, developed by Dr. Bill Lee and Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, is a frequency generator that emits an omni-directional ultrasonic field in fluctuating frequencies. In theory it prevents the Prior from accessing the highly advanced part of his brain that gives him extraordinary abilities. Lee also hopes it will interfere with a Prior's connection to his staff. It has multiple frequency ranges, in case one does not work. It has not yet been tested.
Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter tells General Landry that the anti-prior device is almost ready similarly how Dr. Jay Felger tells that the Avenger was ready in Avenger 2.0. The fact is, both of them was far from ready, only the concept existed.
Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell's time on the Sodan homeworld ("Babylon") lasted two weeks.
The episode title refers to the Fourth of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Death), who brings sickness and death over the world, as described in the Bible (Revelation 6).
The appearance of the Doci seems to be repeat footage from the episode "Origin" spliced into the episode.
Thomas Milburn Jr. (Hazmat Officer) previously played Jaffa in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Enemies".
Ty Olsson (Colonel Barnes) previously played Jaffa in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Point of View".
SG-1 and General Landry discuss the events of "Prototype", Bra'tac and Gerak discuss those of "Beachhead", Dr. Lam refers to those of "The Powers That Be" and General Landry refers to those of "Ascension".
This episode is Don S. Davis's 150th episode.
The song that Dr. Lee is listening to, as Carter comes in, is called "Infinity" and was composed by Ronn L Chick, Dennis Winslow and Robert J Walsh.
The restaurant where Lt. Fischer infected the the manager and the waitress is Elements Cafe, located at 3855 Henning Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada. This is exactly across the street from Bridge Studios, where SG-1 and Atlantis were both filmed.

In other languages

German (DVD/TV): Der Apokalyptische Reiter, Teil 1 (Horseman of the Apocalypse, Part 1) / Die Rückkehr Von Orlin, Teil 1 (The Return of Orlin, Part 1)
Portuguese: O Quarto Cavaleiro, Parte 1 (The Fourth Horseman)
French: Le Quatrième Cavalier De l'Apocalypse - 1^ère partie (The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse)
Italian: Virus Mortale (Parte 1) (Lethal Virus)
Spanish: El Cuarto Jinete (Parte 1) (The Fourth Horseman)
Czech: Čtvrtý jezdec apokalypsy (část 1.) (The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse)
Hungarian: A negyedik lovas I. (The Fourth Horseman I.)

External links

Template:SciFi
The Fourth Horseman, Part 1 on the official MGM website. (backup link)
The Fourth Horseman, Part 1 on GateWorld. (backup link)
The Fourth Horseman, Part 1 article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at The Fourth Horseman. 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.