A blonde lieutenant and his sergeant from the section who captured SG-1 examine their gear; none of them recognise any of it and their orders are to forget its existence. Alone, the lieutenant finds General Hammund's handwritten note in Carter's vest, which is addressed GEORGE. The lieutenant opens the note, which reads HELP THEM before listing two different times and dates.

Captive in the barracks, Carter theorises SG-1 have travelled backwards in time to the late 1960s. Jackson is quick to realise that replicating such a feat would allow thorough insights into long-lost civilisations such as Babylon, and Teal'c adds they could remove horrific events from history. Carter, however, warns that by altering history in any way SG-1 risks disrupting their present and destroying everything there, including themselves. For now, they must focus on 'damage control' by not disrupting the current timeline any more than necessary.
Colonel O'Neil is taken before the base's commanding officer, Major Thornburg, who thinks the group are Soviet spies. Posing as Captain James T Kirk of the Enterprise, O'Neil succeeds in not revealing any information to Thornburg but does not learn any himself. When Major Thornburg attempts to scare O'Neil into giving up information with the threat of a long prison term, O'Neil admits his true identity to be Luke Skywalker.

SG-1 are transported by van to New Mexico (presumably to the Groom Lake facility) where they plot their course of action: at the very least, they must destroy their equipment and live without altering Earth's history any more than they already have. O'Neil demands a plan to return them to 1999, but Carter isn't certain they can. Teal'c warns that his symbiot will eventually mature, and so the team must find some way of returning home.
A tyre blow-out causes an unscheduled stop, with only the blonde lieutenant to guard SG-1. The lieutenant, whom Carter recognises to be a younger General Hammond, admits he sabotaged the truck when he found a note written in his own handwriting. When O'Neil describes that Lieutenant Hammond has watched the recent moon landing after his father suffered a heart attack, Hammund frees the two, noting Carter's injured hand.
Using a Zat gun Hammond has smuggled out, SG-1 knock out the other guards and hijack the truck transporting their equipment, taking only the Zat gun and their Iris code transmitters before dissolving their weapons and the security tapes of their presence. O'Neil takes a handful of cash from Hammond (promising repayment with interest) and the General's note, then injures the lieutenant with the Zat gun to cover his treachery and save him from court-martial.

As SG-1 try to pick up a ride, Jackson suggests the group pose as foreigners to reach New York City and Catherine Langford (Stargate the movie, The Torment of Tantalus) in an effort to find the current location of the Stargate. The two dates on General Hammond's note are surely some way of helping the group home, so if they can learn the Stargate's present location they have a good chance of finding some way of returning.
SG-1 hail a mini-van driven by hippie Michael and his girlfriend, who are heading to New York for a concert and offer to help the team there. En route, SG-1 are able to find 'contemporary' civilian clothing, Teal'c's appearance covered by a bandanna and wig.

Around a campfire in Massachusetts, Captain Carter realises that during their transit to P2X-555, they came too close to a solar flare. The extra energy caused the wormhole to 'slingshot' them around the Sun and back to Earth. For a moment the group was in both time frames simultaneously, explaining why the Gateroom appeared to vanish. Because flares take several minutes to be detected on Earth, there was no way of preventing the time slip. The two dates General Hammond quoted, Carter continues, are dates of solar flares SG-1 can ride on in order to return home. Michael and his girlfriend overhear the group talking, but SG-1 cover by explaining they came to Earth "a long time ago from a galaxy far, far away" to escape "the establishment" and must now return home. The two are convinced of the need for secrecy and agree to help SG-1.

Arriving in New York, O'Neil and Teal'c are dropped off at an observatory to check Carter's solar flare theory while Jackson (disguised as the German son of a former partner of Catherine Langford's father) and Carter gather information from Catherine Langford. Catherine explains that since the accident involving Ernest Littlefield (The Torment of Tantalus), the Stargate has been moved to an old armoury in Washington DC, where USAF denies its very existence. With this information O'Neil and Teal'c are collected and confirm a solar flare has occurred at the precise moment of General Hammond's first quoted time.

While the group continue to Washington, Michael and his girlfriend express their wish to accompany SG-1 to their 'home planet' as Michael has been conscripted for the Vietnam War. SG-1 must reluctantly refuse, proceeding to the Stargate's armoury alone.
Knocking out the guards, SG-1 run power couplings from the nearby trucks to power the Stargate and manually dial P2X-555. Although Carter has stressed the importance of going through the Stargate at the exact second of the scheduled solar flare, more guards appear and the group are forced to go through a number of seconds too early. SG-1 arrive in a deserted Gateroom where they are met by an elderly woman, whom Carter recognises as Cassandra (Singularity, In the Line of Duty). Cassie explains that the group entered the Stargate seconds too early, which flung them into the future. When Cassie was old enough, Sam explained the adventure to her in a self-fulfilling prophecy so the group could return to their present. Although Cassie and SG-1 wish to stay and talk, the timing must be right. Cassie, using a wrist-mounted dialling device, opens the Stargate and the group return home.
Arriving in the present, SG-1 are met by General Hammond, who explains that when he was a young lieutenant he arrested four intruders to Cheyenne Mountain, but in the vest pocket of one he found a note with his name on it. Hammond has been waiting for the time-travel incident since meeting SG-1, with the cut on Carter's hand being his sign to give Carter the note.
"By the way Colonel," Hammond adds, "With interest you now owe me $539.50."

This episode doesn't sound that good in summary, but it really is a beauty to watch. There's a whole heap of laughable lines there, and seeing Teal'c with hair makes you thankful he's shaved it all off (though I do like that topknot number in There But for the Grace of God).

This episode is basically a series of humour spoofs. Well worth watching.

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