Children of the Gods
Summary by Cyber Predator
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Aliens abduct women from various planets, including Earth, using a piece of technology which can open portals between planets.
|Commentary|
|Episode Guide| |Stargate Collection| |Home Page|
Aliens abduct women from various planets, including Earth, using a piece of technology which can open portals between planets.
Two officers are sent to the home of Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neil, a retired Air Force colonel who was the leader on the expedition through the Stargate to Abydos. The officers inform O'Neil that General Hammund, who is now in command of the Stargate project, needs to speak to him. O'Neil agrees and upon arriving at SGC, General Hammund requests to know O'Neil's previous experience with the Stargate.
The Stargate, O'Neil recalls, was recovered in Egypt and was in fact alien technology which could open a portal to the planet Abydos by manipulating wormholes; rips in the time-space continuum. The Stargate was first used by Abydos's tyrannical ruler, Re, when he took humans for slave labour to Abydos. As Ancient Egyptian mythology is distorted tales of Re's rule over Earth before a rebellion buried the Stargate, Egyptologist Daniel Jackson was asked to help re-open the portal to Abydos. This Jackson did, deducing that one must enter six symbols to represent the destination and a seventh symbol to show the point of origin.
O'Neil was ordered to detonate a nuclear weapon if hostile life was found on Abydos, which was the case when Re attempted to destroy Earth, and destroy the Stargate after the team returned to Earth. This he did, O'Neil assures, killing Re in doing so. All military personnel returned to Eath safely, but Daniel Jackson is missing presumed dead on Abydos.
General Hammund tells O'Neil of the attack from visitors through the Stargate and of the abduction of the female officer as he takes him down to the Stargate. Since O'Neil's previous attempt at destroying the Stargate on Abydos apparently failed, SGC will send a second bomb to Abydos; this time powerful enough to destroy not only the Stargate but all life on Abydos. O'Neil strongly advises against such an assault.
After being re-united with former team-mates Kawalsky and Ferretti, O'Neil confesses that he did not complete his orders during the Abydos mission. Though O'Neil did detonate the nuclear bomb and killed Re, the blast was aboard Re's Pyramid Ship and did not cause any damage to the Stargate. Daniel Jackson is still alive on Abydos with his Abydon wife, Shau'ri. General Hammund still wishes to destroy Abydos, but O'Neil asks to attempt to contact Daniel Jackson. O'Neil does so by opening the Stargate and sending a box of tissues through; it soon returns with a written request for more.
O'Neil requests to be re-enstated at SGC, and General Hammund accepts. Later that night, O'Neil and Kawalsky talk in their barracks and the subject turns to the Abydon Skaara, the son of the native chief who first inspired the natives to help O'Neil and his team fight Re. O'Neil confesses that Skaara, who was always saluting O'Neil, reminds him of his own son, Charlie, who accidentally shot himself with O'Neil's weapon.
The next day O'Neil, Kawalsky and Ferretti are summoned by General Hammund; they will soon go through the Stargate to Abydos, find Daniel Jackson and bring him back to Earth. The three will be accompanied by astrophysicist Captain Samantha Carter. At first O'Neil disagrees, but Carter is insistent; as the Air Force's top scientist working on the Stargate she should have gone to Abydos in place of Daniel Jackson and is determined not to miss the opportunity this time. General Hammund warns that unless the group return in 24 hours, the Stargate will be destroyed so that the invaders who came before cannot return.
The group arrive at Abydos, within a temple which is an exact replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Jackson, Shau'ri and Skaara, among others, are waiting for them. Jackson shows O'Neil, Carter and Kawalsky a room he has discovered since living on Abydos; it is filled with symbols which Jackson assumes to be a list of Stargate destinations, showing there are countless planets which also have Stargates. Due to galaxial drift, the theory of the universe continually expanding outward, Carter deduces that many of the Stargate co-ordinates are obsolete and unreachable.
Meanwhile, the serpent-masked aliens who attacked Earth come through Abydos's Stargate, the leader ordering his men to kidnap Shau'ri. A fight breaks out, and when Skaara attempts to save his sister he is also abducted. The invaders use a device in front of the Stargate, later referred to as the Dial-Home Device (DHD), to dial in a set of co-ordinates which an injured Ferretti takes note of.
O'Neil and the others, after seeing what has happened, decide to return to Earth to give Ferretti medical attention and persue the invaders to the Stargate co-ordinates they travelled to. As he leaves, Jackson orders the Abydons to bury their Stargate, setting it up a year later so that Daniel can return. If Jackson does not return at all, the Abydons should bury the Stargate forever.
As the team return SGC explains they have installed a new apparatus onto the Stargate, dubbed the Iris; a retractable triennium plate which covers the portal and prevents matter re-intergrating, killing any who attempt to come through to Earth again.
Daniel Jackson meets General Hammund and asks to join the team who will be persuing the serpent-masked aliens. Hammund at first disagrees, but after Ferretti identifies the destination symbols of the Stargate the aliens travelled to he instead decides to consult the President. That night, O'Neil and Jackson talk to each other and when the subject of Sarah O'Neil, Jack's wife, is raised, O'Neil explains his wife has since left him because of Jack's unwillingness to speak his mind after the death of their son.
The next day, General Hammund informs the group that nine SG teams are being created to explore the planets which have Stargates. O'Neil will be the commanding officer of SG-1, Carter will be one of his team-mates, and Kawalsky will lead SG-2. Jackson will also be a member of SG-1, but though there of his own free will he still comes under military conduct. SG-1 and SG-2 will travel to the planet where the Serpent aliens have gone and will carry with them transmitters which will send codes to signal SGC to open the Stargate's Iris. The Iris will close on inbound travellers unless such a code is received by SGC, to ensure Earth is not invaded.
Arriving on the serpent aliens' planet, SG-2 sets up camp around the Stargate while SG-1 attempt to look for the serpent aliens. Unless SG-1 return in 24 hours, SG-2 should return to Earth without them. SG-1 travel through the seemingly technology-lacking world and soon encounter priests who bow before the team, mistaking them for gods. Jackson, who identifies the local language as the same spoken by the Abydons, Ancient Egyptian, speaks to the priests who takes them to where the other gods are, a city called Chu'lak.
Inside Chu'lak, the Pharaoh who ordered the serpent-masked men to kidnap the women, Apophis, has his wife, Amonette, look over the female officer abducted from Earth as a possible host body. Amonette refuses her and the officer is killed. The next choice is Shau'ri, whom Amonette accepts. A snake-like parasite emerges from Amonette and enters Shau'ri just below her neck.
SG-1 arrives in Chu'lak and is taken to a palace where a large feast is served, where Apophis and Shau'ri are. Jackson, overjoyed at seeing his wife, goes to Shau'ri but is beaten by the guards. Jackson and SG-1 are taken to a dungeon, where one of their cell mates is Skaara. Apophis enters the dungeon with his children, and Skaara explains they are choosing the 'children of the gods'; host bodies for the parasites. Jackson begs to be chosen so he can be with his wife, but is refused and Skaara is chosen. Apophis orders his First Prime, Teal'c, to execute SG-1.
Teal'c explains that he was a witness to both Earth's and Abydos's invasion for a new host for Amonette and also the execution of the female officer, calling the violence excessive. O'Neil begs for Teal'c to help them, saying they can defeat Apophis and stop the violence. "Many men have said such things," Teal'c explains, arming his staff energy blaster. But instead of firing on SG-1, Teal'c fires on his fellow guards. "You are the first who I believe can do it!" Teal'c adds to his previous statement. Teal'c and SG-1 escape to the Stargate.
En route, Teal'c explains that his race, the Jaffa, are used as hosts for the parasites, the Goa'uld, who rule as gods. A small pouch in the Jaffa's abdomen is where the Goa'uld symboite is held. The Goa'uld control the mind of the host, and in return for hosting them the Jaffa receive long life and health. Teal'c warns that Apophis will kill them all as they are now enemies and traitors of the gods.
As Goa'uld Death Gliders are despatched after them, SG-1, SG-2 and Teal'c see Skaara as they approach the Stargate. O'Neil tries to take him with them Skaara opens fire on the group; he is now inhabited by a Goa'uld. Apophis, along with Shau'ri and Skaara and a compliment of Jaffa guards, go through the Stargate without anyone learning their destination. Remaining guards are still firing on the SG teams, so Carter opens the Stargate so they can reach Earth. During the battle to the Stargate, a fallen guard's Goa'uld enters Kawalsky.
Both SG teams and Teal'c reach Earth, and the Iris is shut before their persuers can reach Earth. At debriefing, O'Neil tells General Hammund of how Teal'c saved the group but the General is still untrusting of Teal'c. O'Neil and Jackson both vow to find Shau'ri and Skaara and find a way to extract the Goa'uld they carry.
That night, Kawalsky paces up and down the Stargate ramp, his eyes glowing.
What this episode is all about is how to turn a fully-climaxed movie into a TV series. And again, we can only just imagine what was going through the creators' minds as they.....er....created it. In the original movie, we don't actually know where Re's Pyramid Ship comes from; another planet he rules, or just down from Abydos's orbit. We also don't know too much about Re's race, other than what Daniel Jackson describes when he's in a cave that documents Re's rule. I think the fact that there are more than two Stargates is a plausable one, as it's unlikely that forty-odd symbols would be put on the Stargate when only seven would be necessary. That leaves enough loose ends to open up a whole new can of worms.....or a whole new Stargate of aliens!