Threads (Stargate SG-1)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Threads
Colour = SGColor
Series = Stargate SG-1
Season = 8
Episode = 18
Airdate = February 8, 2005
Production = 818
Writer = Robert C. Cooper
Director = Andy Mikita
Guests = Carmen Argenziano as Jacob Carter
Tony Amendola as Bra'tac
David DeLuise as Pete Shanahan
Clare Carey as Kerry Johnson
Gary Jones as Walter
Cliff Simon as Ba'al
Isaac Hayes as Tolok
Mel Harris as Oma Desala
George Dzundza as Jim
Rik Kiviaho as Anubis
Episode list = Episode chronology


Prev = Reckoning (Parts 1 & 2)
Next = Moebius (Parts 1 & 2)"Threads" is an episode from Season 8 of the science fiction television series "Stargate SG-1". Amanda Tapping won a Leo Award in the category "Dramatic Series: Best Lead Performance - Female" and Michael Shanks was nominated for a Leo Award in the category "Dramatic Series: Best Lead Performance - Male" for this episode.

Plot

Ba'al is still missing, but the Jaffa have finally won their freedom after millennia of service to the Goa'uld. At the Temple of Dakara, Teal'c and Bra'tac are awarded the title Bloodkin by the new Free Jaffa Nation. This is the highest honour that can be bestowed on a Jaffa. When the Jaffa bow to them in respect, Bra'tac makes them stand and says that no Jaffa shall ever bow before anyone, and never again to a false god.

Now that the Replicators have been destroyed and the Goa'uld are finally defeated, the SGC is a little more peaceful. However, Anubis is still out there, somewhere. Jack O'Neill refuses to accept that Daniel Jackson is dead, believing that Daniel has managed to Ascend once again. Because they know Daniel was on RepliCarter's ship when it was destroyed, there is little chance he is still alive.

As the previous episode showed, Daniel was indeed killed. However, Daniel finds himself in a strange ethereal diner, full of people. Daniel recognizes the waitress who approaches him. It is Oma Desala. He learns that this place is a meeting place for Ascended beings and that his mind cannot comprehend his true location and so manifests something he can understand, a diner.

As Daniel talks to Oma, she explains she has once again given him the choice to Ascend and live, or die. If he Ascends, he must accept that he can never help his friends again because of the Ancients' non-interference rules. If Daniel leaves the diner, he will die. The choice is difficult for Daniel because he knows that the last time he Ascended, he could not resist breaking the rules.

The diner is full of other Ascended Ancients. None of these beings will speak with Daniel because of the rules of the Ascended. One other man seems to be arguing with Oma. Daniel speaks to this man and he replies. The man calls himself Jim. Jim seems to dislike the rules that the other Ascended beings follow. As Daniel converses with Jim, the man reads a newspaper called "The Ascended Times", which details events taking place in the lower plane of existence. One of the stories on the front page reveals that Anubis is tricking the Free Jaffa Nation so that he can take back Dakara. Anubis wishes to capture Dakara, so that he can use the Dakara Superweapon to kill all life in the galaxy. Daniel is enraged that the other Ancients refuse to interfere in this matter, even yelling at them to no avail,

The Free Jaffa Nation's hold on Dakara is weakened as they attack a decoy of Kull Warriors. Despite being warned to destroy the Dakara Superweapon, the Jaffa have kept it intact, allowing Anubis to regain the weapon when he recaptures Dakara.

Meanwhile, Samantha Carter is having a difficult time. Her father, Jacob Carter, and his symbiote, Selmak, die. Shortly after this, she ends her relationship with Pete. Before Jacob died, he said some things to her that cause her to reevaluate her feelings for Pete and also for Jack.

Back in the Ascended Diner, Oma explains she has been punished for helping people, like Daniel, Ascend. There are deep-seated rules in the Ascended universe, that not even she would dare to break. There also seems to be something sinister about Oma's connection with Jim. Finally Daniel realizes that Anubis is half-Ascended, and it was Oma that helped him Ascend. Anubis tricked her into believing that he was not evil. The other Ancients refused to completely de-ascend Anubis as Oma's punishment for breaking the rules, despite the fact that he is still a threat to the galaxy. Daniel then realizes Jim is Anubis - Anubis' chosen manifested form in his half-protrusion into the Ascended realm.

Back on Earth, the gate dials, and they can't stop it. Anubis has dialed every gate in the galaxy and prepares to unleash the superweapon. O'Neill, Teal'c and Carter can do nothing but wait for their fate. O'Neill begins the SGC's autodestruct sequence. It looks like it's the end.

However, back in the Ascended realm, Daniel has persuaded Oma. She must take responsibility for the mistake she made which caused Anubis to be able to unleash so much evil, and she will not allow him to commit this greatest evil now. She stands up to fight Anubis, and all of the other ancients turn in surprise. Anubis laughs, saying that she cannot possibly defeat him, both of them being equally matched. Oma knows this, but also knows that so long as she is fighting him then he'll have to fight back, taking him out of the cosmos and locking him into an eternal ethereal battle with her. The two of them collide and disappear in a flurry of light, locked in eternal combat. Anubis is gone from the universe forever.

Two unexpected events happen at this moment. The Dakara Superweapon shuts down, and the autodestruct at the SGC stops and shuts down, followed by the wormhole closing.

Back in the briefing room, they can't understand what's happened. Anubis just disappeared. Teal'c and Bra'tac tell Sam and Jack that the Kull Warriors the Free Jaffa Nation were fighting suddenly became confused, as if their master were no longer there to tell them what to do. Anubis' forces are destroyed, leaving the team wondering whether it was Daniel's work and thinking he might have ascended again.

At that moment, they hear his voice in the other room. Jack goes to inspect and finds him naked (as before). He gives him a flag to cover himself up. All is right after all.

SG-1 celebrate with a fishing trip to Jack's cottage. Sam says they should have done it years ago as the episode ends.

Production

ubsequent Airings

The episode originally aired as a 63-minute piece, but an edited 45-minute version exists for syndication. When the season was initially released on DVD, the release contained the shortened 45-minute version. Due to complaints, MGM offered a rebate, whereby people could send the DVD with the shortened episode to receive a DVD with the original episode. When the season was re-released in the slimline cases, it contained the full 63-minute episode as did the standard Region 2 version of the Season 8 boxset. Neither version has a commentary featured on any of the Season 8 Box sets. The 45-minute version omits the following:
*The "Previously on Stargate SG-1..." that is present in the 63-minute version.
*The opening scene between Ba'al and the decaying Anubis where he says Ba'al has betrayed him.
*The scene when Daniel first enters the diner, along with Oma explaining where exactly Daniel was and how he got there.
*The entire scene of knighting Bra'tac and Teal'c on Dakara - nothing is mentioned of Jaffa freedom save they have control of the weapon.
*Some bantering between Pete and Sam when they walk down the corridors of the SGC and the bantering between Sam, Pete and Jacob.
*All scenes of Bra'tac and Teal'c on a ship.
*Jack waking up with Kerry in his bed.
*Daniel trying to talk to the other Ancients in the diner.
*The phone call from Pete, the florist scene and driving to the new house.
*Sam waiting in the car outside Jack's house.

Reception

Amanda Tapping won a Leo Award in the category "Dramatic Series: Best Lead Performance - Female" and Michael Shanks was nominated for a Leo Award in the category "Dramatic Series: Best Lead Performance - Male" for this episode. [http://tv.ign.com/articles/726/726165p1.html IGN: 200 Review ] ]

Notes

* George Dzundza is the newest actor to play Anubis. Previous portrayals include:
** David Palffy in "Revelations", "Redemption (Part 1)", "Full Circle", "Fallen", "Homecoming", "Evolution (Part 2)" and "Lost City",
** By Michael Shanks, Gavin Hood, Holly Ferguson, Amanda Tapping and Richard Dean Anderson in "Lockdown."
** By Dean Aylesworth in "Reckoning (Part 1)",
** By Rik Kiviaho in "Reckoning (Part 1)" and this episode.
* Several times, both Sam and Jacob refer to Jacob's near-death in "The Tok'ra", in SG-1's second season, as being four years ago. Either only four years have passed between the second and eighth seasons, or this is an error, and should be six years.
* The diner set used for the Astral Diner is the same set used for Der Waffle Haus throughout the series Dead Like Me.
* Daniel orders waffles at the diner.

The Newspaper

* In the paper that Daniel is reading part of a headline which reads: 'Wraith on the way to Atlantis' can be seen, along with a screenshot of the Atlantis Deep Space Scanner display from the "Stargate Atlantis" episode "The Brotherhood", showing the trio of hive ships that assaulted the city in the "Atlantis" episode "The Siege", which aired arouind the same time as "Threads".
*Other paper headlines include:
**Jackson still undecided
**Astral Diner to be given "infinite" status.
**Yoga NOT the path to enlightenment.
**Ethereal Awareness Seminar to be held in Talnak Quadrant.
**Edge of Universe Discovered.
**Anubis plans to retake Dakara
***Exclusive information on his quest to destroy all life in the Milky Way galaxy
***He's back again and he's badder than ever
**Consciousness superhighway to go through
***Cognitive work slated to begin [after] completion of precognitive testing
***Gondolthian nebula
**Secret plan revealed
***Anubis' dastardly plan to regain Ancient weapon of destruction
**Memoirs Laundry
**Family of Four Drowns in Transcendental Waterfall

References

External links

* [http://stargatesg1.com/SeasonEight 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/s08e18.PDF
title = Screenplay
date = 2004-12-14
accessdate = 2006-10-29
format = PDF
publisher = Distributed by MGM. Prepared by Line 21 Media Services Ltd
* [http://www.scifi.com/stargate/episodes/season8/0817/ Summary] from SciFi. Visited June 4, 2006. Requires Flash.
* [http://carterslab.de/gallery3/insider_threads_ascendedtimes.jpgRe-creation of the Ascended Times newspaper front page] from Carter's Lab. Visited June 1, 2006.