Avalon (Stargate SG-1)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Avalon (Parts 1 & 2)
Colour = SGColor
Series = Stargate SG-1
Season = 9
Episode = 1 & 2
Airdate = July 15, 2005 (Part 1) & July 22, 2005 (Part 2)
Production = 901, 902
Writer = Robert C. Cooper
Director = Andy Mikita
Guests = Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran
Richard Dean Anderson as General Jack O'Neill (Part One)
Obi Ndefo as Rak'nor
Gary Jones as Sergeant Walter Harriman
Bill Dow as Dr. Lee
Lexa Doig as Dr. Carolyn Lam
Matthew Walker as Merlin
April Amber Telek as Sallis
Steven Park as Harrid
Paul Moniz De Sá as Fannis
Penelope Corrin as Dr. Lindsey
Greg Anderson as Administrator
Silya Wiggins as Therapist
Mark Houghton as Prior #1


Episode list = Episode chronology
Prev = Moebius (Parts 1 & 2)
Next = Origin"Avalon" (Parts 1 and 2 of 3) are the Season 9 premiere episodes of the science fiction television series "Stargate SG-1".They marked the beginning of a "new" "Stargate SG-1" that continued after the total closure and possible ending of the previous season. Despite seeing the departure of Richard Dean Anderson's Jack O'Neill, it sees the introduction of Ben Browder as Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Beau Bridges as Major General Hank Landry, and Lexa Doig as Dr. Carolyn Lam. They also bring in Claudia Black's character Vala Mal Doran as a recurring character, later to become a regular in Season 10, and introduce entire new storylines including further information about the Ancients, their links to Arthurian legends, and their origins.

Plot

Part 1

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell is at Stargate Command staring at the Stargate for the first time. He piloted one of the F-302's in the defence of Earth against the attack fleet of Anubis at the climax of season 7 ("Lost City"). After his heroic efforts and recovery from injury, Jack O'Neill offered him any job he liked, and he wished to join SG-1. However, when he arrives at the base, he finds that SG-1 has been disbanded, a new general is in control, and he is set to pick and lead the new team.

The new general is Gen. Hank Landry, a friend of both George Hammond and Jack O'Neill. Under his order, Mitchell begins the selection process for new members of SG-1, but can't stomach any of the terrible candidates. He wanted to work with the best, and he's determined to get SG-1 back together.

Teal'c is off on the planet Dakara, which has been established as the capital of the newly founded Free Jaffa Nation, the aftermath of the fall of the Goa'uld at the end of Season 8. Samantha Carter has been moved to Area 51, where she is aiding the research. Jack O'Neill has been promoted out of the SGC (hence the new general), and Daniel Jackson is set to take a ride on board the "Daedalus", the newest Earth interstellar battlecruiser, to Atlantis, the now-found City of the Ancients ("SG-A: "Rising").

An unscheduled offworld activation admits to the SGC a character not seen since Season 8 - Vala Mal Doran - claiming to have something they want. They let her in and she immediately seeks out her "friend" Daniel to pester. She's got a tablet written in Ancient that leads to a trove of hidden Ancient treasures, and she needs Daniel to translate it. However, as soon as they are close together, she throws a pair of cuffs onto both his and her wrists. These are kor mak bracelets (Teal'c explains, on his return), which link the two of them together such that they cannot be greatly separated without feeling pain and eventually death. Thus Vala ensures that Daniel does what she says.

This, of course, causes Daniel to miss his trip on the "Daedalus" to Atlantis, meaning that he won't make his much-desired trip there. Meanwhile however, he translates the tablet and who wrote it: an Ancient fleeing Atlantis after the war with the Wraith, named Myrddin, who Daniel says is Merlin, the wizard associated with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. After further research, Daniel concludes that the treasure is located beneath Glastonbury Tor in England.

Arriving at the place on the "Prometheus", they ring inside a hidden cavern where a hologram of Merlin tells them that only the true will gain access to the treasures of the Ancients. There is a sword in a stone, but Mitchell is unable to remove it. They decide to explore further; Daniel and Vala take a right passageway, and Mitchell and Teal'c take a left.

Both parties find rooms which light up upon entry. In both rooms, the parties encounter puzzles, and the doors lock shut automatically. Just when they think it can't get any worse, the ceiling begins to lower to crush them, and they must solve the puzzles in time before they are crushed.

Part 2

Daniel solves their puzzle, a logic/Ancient Proverb hybrid. He and Vala correctly assume that Mitchell and Teal'c are facing a similar test. They arrive in time for Daniel to translate one word of the Ancient text on the other puzzle, and Mitchell barely manages to rearrange the 8 blocks (corresponding to the numbers 1 through 8) in correct order.

They return to the main anteroom, where Mitchell is now able to remove the sword from the stone. However, as soon as he does so, a knight, fully armored, appears, and Mitchell is forced to fight. Teal'c attempts to shoot it with his P-90, but it turns out to be a hologram. Hologram or not, ignoring it appears not to be an option, because while a blow across the back does not actually leave a cut on Mitchell, it "hurt [s] like hell." In fact, Mitchell is the only one able to wield the sword - to everyone else it is just a hologram. After taking a number of blows, Mitchell manages to impale the knight, and the hologram disappears.

Nothing happens after he defeats the knight, so Daniel hypothesizes that perhaps only Colonel Mitchell has gained the right to actually continue the quest. The others leave by means of the rings, and as soon as they do, the room begins to shake. Mitchell does not interpret this as a good sign, and rings up to the Prometheus himself. Daniel immediately divines that Vala is the cause of the problem, and asks her what she has taken. She has, in fact, taken the coin which was the "treasure" spoken about in the riddle that Daniel solved.

Mitchell rings back down with the coin, and replaces the coin before the caverns collapse. On a hunch, he replaces the sword into the stone, and upon doing so, a massive amount of treasure appears in the cavern.

Among the treasures, which the SGC sends a team to catalogue, Daniel finds a book which reveals more about the Ancients than was previously known. Apparently, the Ancients (originally called Alterans) actually originally came from another galaxy to the Milky Way. Daniel extrapolates from this that there may actually be Alterans living in some other galaxy in the present day - that perhaps not all Ancients ascended after they returned to the Milky Way from the Pegasus galaxy to flee the Wraith. It could mean that some non-ascended Ancients can share knowledge with them freely. General Landry has no problem with Daniel's theory, but wants hard evidence and/or a plan of action. Daniel has hopes that one strange device found along with the treasure may be a method of intergalactic communication.

Dr. Lee has managed to figure out more about the device - it appears that in conjunction with the Ancient stones (which appeared in "Citizen Joe"), the device actually allows the user to see through the eyes of someone else. Daniel lays claim to one of the stones, on the grounds that he has already missed his chance to go Atlantis because of the treasure hunt, and Vala takes the other spot, on the somewhat feeble grounds that the "separation" might be enough to activate the bracelets they are wearing. They insert the stones next to each other on the device, and it emits a brief blue light, causing them both to collapse.

They appear together in the same room, though Daniel appears as a skinnier man, and Vala appears as a somewhat shorter, blond-haired woman. They appear to be themselves in mind, but certainly not in body. Daniel further discovers that they are husband and wife. The general atmosphere of the house, coupled with their mode of dress seems very different from what either of them expected Ancient culture to be.

Daniel and Vala (Harrid and Sallis) are apparently expected to attend something called "prostration," which they duly attend. They find that it is some sort of religious daily worship, a worship of gods called "the Ori". However, while at prostration, someone their inhabited bodies apparently know tells them it is necessary for them to meet by the "portico of light at the hour of bly."

Daniel and Vala arrive back at "home" after what was apparently six hours of "prostration". Upstairs in the house, Vala discovers a hollowed out "Book of Origin" (the sacred text of the religion of Origin), which actually contains Ancient communication stones.

Later, the friend who Daniel and Vala were supposed to meet shows up at their house, and Daniel reveals the truth of who they are to him. Fannis explains that they are actually part of a secret group of heretics, and that since Daniel and Vala cannot seem to return to Earth, they must pose as Harrid and Salis so that the group is not discovered. Vala leaves to go to some meeting with an acquaintance of hers - apparently the wife of some type of priest.

Back on Dakara, the site of the new government which is to govern all the newly free Jaffa, Gerak has established the government as a High Council, made up of representatives based on military strength, which Teal'c strongly opposes. Having won this political battle, Gerak is instated as the new leader of the Free Jaffa Nation, much to Teal'c's dismay.

Outside Harrid and Sallis's house, a crowd gathers around some sort of altar in the middle of the street. Daniel goes outside to find out what is happening, and Vala is brought to the altar. Daniel tries to explain, but he is restrained as is forced to watch as some sort of burning liquid is poured into channels which guide the liquid across the altar to where Vala is chained. Vala reveals to Daniel that she did not recite some type of blessing, which caused the priest's wife to accuse her of heresy.

While Vala is ignited by the burning liquid, on Earth, her body goes into cardiac arrest. Dr. Lee cannot remove the stones, and Daniel's attempts at explaining the circumstances to the priest go unheeded. Vala is burned to a crisp. On Earth, Dr. Lam pronounces her dead.

As Daniel holds Vala's charred body, a man in robes, holding an ornate staff, approaches the altar. The staff begins to glow, and Daniel watches in amazement as he brings Vala back to life. Daniel thanks him, but he responds, "Thank the Ori". He then tells them to follow him out of the square, and they follow.

Behind the scenes

"Avalon (Part 2)" is the first episode of the series to feature only two members of the original cast: Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) and Christopher Judge (Teal'c). Richard Dean Anderson had left the main cast after Season 8 due to the personal wish to spend more time with his young daughter in Los Angeles. [cite web |url=http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=35782 |title="SG-1's" Anderson Like Old Times |date=April 28, 2006 |publisher=SCI FI Wire |accessdate=2007-07-19] Despite being listed in the cast credits, Amanda Tapping as Samantha Carter only appears once in a video conference, as she was in the last stages of pregancy at that time. Her empty spot was filled by guest star Claudia Black. Ben Browder and Beau Bridges join the main cast in this episode, as Cameron Mitchell and Hank Landry, respectively. With "Avalon (Part 2)", Christopher Judge (Teal'c) passed Amanda Tapping in the number of episode appearances and is the cast member with the most appearances on "Stargate SG-1".

"Avalon" marked the first "Stargate SG-1" episode where SCI FI Channel chose to cut the opening sequences to 10-seconds for the original broadcast, rather than the usual 60-seconds (this was paralleled to "Stargate Atlantis"). The sequence only displayed the "Stargate SG-1" logo and a "Created by" credit, main cast credits were displayed during the teaser. Fans had been very negative about this move. [cite web |url=http://www.gateworld.net/news/2005/09/sci_fi_to_reinstate_full-length_.shtml |title=SCI FI to reinstate full-length openings |date=September 1, 2005 |publisher=gateworld.net |accessdate=2007-07-20] On Sky One in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland however, the short opening sequence was only used for Part 1 but not Part 2, where a full length title sequence was restored, incorporating new cast credits. The full length title sequence was also used again when "Avalon" aired in US Syndication.

Matthew Walker guest-starred as the hologram of Merlin, and previously portrayed another Ancient named Moros in the "Stargate Atlantis" episode "Before I Sleep". In the Season Ten episode "The Pegasus Project", it will be revealed that they are indeed the same person. Walker also played King Roham in the Season Two episode "Touchstone".

Reception

A review in "TV Guide Special #67" says that Mitchell's introduction in this two-part episode was entertaining enough to distract what was deemed "a little too reminiscent of the production team's own efforts to turn around the Season Eight finale". It perceived the renewed encounter between former "Farscape" cast members Ben Browder and Claudia Black to be "oddly ... underplayed", but generally embraces Black's "sparky, sarky characterization of Vala" during Amanda Tapping's absence. The review notes the strong similarities of the last ten minutes of "Avalon" (Part 1) to "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", and the set of the beginning of Part 2 as a "god-awful Merrie Olde England pastiche straight out of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"." Plotting and technobabble were mentioned as other detrimental facets of Part 2. [Citation | last=Graves
first=Stephen | author-link= | title=Reviews - TV Zone's reviews of the first part of the season | newspaper=TV Zone | volume= | issue=Special #67 | pages=20-21 | year= | date=December 2005 | url=]

References

External links

* [http://stargatesg1.com/SeasonNine Official "Stargate SG-1" site] . MGM. Visited June 8, 2006. Most of site requires Flash.
* cite web
url = http://media.dave.tv/sites/stargatesg1/screenplays/s09e01.PDF
title = Screenplay of Part 1
date = 2005-06-06
accessdate = 2006-10-29
format = PDF
publisher = Distributed by MGM. Prepared by Line 21 Media Services Ltd
* cite web
url = http://media.dave.tv/sites/stargatesg1/screenplays/s09e02.PDF
title = Screenplay of Part 2
date = 2005-07-07
accessdate = 2006-10-29
format = PDF
publisher = Distributed by MGM. Prepared by Line 21 Media Services Ltd
* [http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s9/901.shtml Summary of Part I] from GateWorld. Visited May 3, 2006.
* [http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s9/902.shtml Summary of Part II] from GateWorld. Visited May 3, 2006.
* [http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s9/reviews/901.shtml Review of Part I] from GateWorld. Reviewed by Lex. Visited May 13, 2006.
* [http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s9/reviews/902.shtml Review of Part II] from GateWorld. Reviewed by Lex. Visited May 13, 2006.
* [http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s9/making/901.shtml In the Making of Part I] from GateWorld. Joseph Mallozzi. Visited May 13, 2006.
* [http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s9/making/902.shtml In the Making of Part II] from GateWorld. Joseph Mallozzi. Visited May 13, 2006.