Classics: SG1 2:21 - 1969

Overall Rating: 7.7

Fantastically funny script meets sci-fi whimsy - the one major flaw is the celebration of hippie culture, but I'm letting that largely slide thanks to having enjoyed the episode so much on other levels.

Plot Synopsis:

Carter is puzzled when General Hammond mysteriously passes her a note that he wants to make sure they get before they leave on a routine mission. They appear to return directly to the gate room for a brief moment, but everything suddenly changes. Above their heads is a huge missile and a test launch sequence has been initiated! In a panic, Teal'c fires a zat blast at the missile and the countdown stops. When they are then surrounded by Air Force officers and interrogated, it becomes clear that they're no longer in Kansas (Toto) - or to be more precise...no longer in present day Kansas. Cheyanne Mountain's commanding officer thinks they're Russian agents (Daniel doesn't help when he answers a Russian question IN RUSSIAN!) and they're thrown in the clink. Before he escorts them to a secure facility, Hammond discovers their note in their personal affects - it says "Help them." Followed by a pair of dates and times. He opts to rescue them from their prison transport van and loan them some money so they can get out of dodge and try to find a way home.

Carter mentally deduces what has caused their journey back in time (they now know they've arrived on Earth in 1969) - the wormhole must have passed through a solar flare and looped back to Earth in a slightly different temporal phase. Looking again at the note they received from Hammond, they find a pair of dates and times, which Carter believes to be recorded solar flare events capable of getting them home. They must now hitchhike their way to New York to confer with Catherine Langford about the location of the stargate. They catch a ride with a young hippie couple in a classic 1969 flower van and on their way east, they discuss their plans- only to be overheard by the hippies. They make up an elaborate story to cover the truth - they claim to be aliens who have become stranded on Earth and are just looking to go home, and the young couple buys it completely. Later in their cross-country journey, we learn that this particular couple is headed to Woodstock (yes...that Woodstock) for one last celebration before Michael (the husband in this arrangement) must decide whether to flee to Canada to avoid fighting or accept being drafted and head to Vietnam. The couple even makes an impassioned plea to join SG1 on their home planet (obviously this is impossible and breaking this news to the couple appears to be rather painful to the team).

Daniel affects a German persona and gets gate intel from Catherine Langford. Here, they learn that the gate is in the National Archives in Washington DC. Before heading south, they stop at an astronomical observatory where Jack confirms that the first date is indeed a solar flare. They have about a day to get to DC, find the gate, and dial out in time to catch the second solar flare if they ever want to get back to their own time. They hurry down to the nation's capital in time (though armed guards catch them in the act and they have to leave a bit early to avoid being shot). When they arrive in the gate room, it looks abandoned. A very old Cassandra arrives to inform them that they missed their window slightly and ended up well into the future. She helps them get back where they belong and they report the whole incident to Hammond - who now insists that with interest, the money he loaned them is now worth hundreds of dollars that he wants back. :)

Writing: 9.0

Now this...is a script with lots of memorable dialogue to take home. Nice to get back on the right track after a few weak episodes in a row. This one sparkles with good humor, lively (if a bit traditional) characters, and an interesting temporal mobius (any good sci-fi fan should enjoy temporal paradoxes that resolve as well as this one does. :) ). The hippie hero-worship is standard issue in any starry-eyed Hollywood writer's playbook, so we'll let it slide since it wasn't over the top obnoxious and they didn't beat us over the head with the evils of war and the untouchable virtue of free-spirited draft-dodgers. Of course, I'm more apt to be lenient anyway, since I think the Vietnam War was a horribly-run and largely unnecessary conflict (started by DEMOCRATS and ended by REPUBLICANS! :) ), so I don't tend to get too animated over the counter-culture stuff you see these days. Sometimes you just have to enjoy what's in front of you and not over-analyze. This episode was FUN...and that's what ultimately matters to me.

Acting: 8.0

Alex Zahara and Amber Rothwell played their hippie parts a bit too "stock"-ish. I think they watched one too many spoofs on hair bands and protest concerts on TV and had a rather uninspired and "one-size-fits-all-hippies" interpretation for us. On the other hand, the regular cast - from Hammond on down - all did very well with this one. I especially enjoyed Daniel affecting a really horrible German-American accent when he went to Catherine Langford's home to discuss the stargate, Teal'c continuing to be Teal'c despite the unusual circumstances (his reactions to the hippies in particular were priceless), and Jack outwitting the not-particularly-bright interrogator at Cheyanne Mountain - complete with dry sarcasm and amused facial expressions every time he cracked a joke he knew no one was going to get. LOL

Message: 6.0

This is pure fluff...there's really not a message here. The par score reflects a balance between my usual disdain for the whole idea of pacifism and my particular tolerance for pacifism amongst people who really aren't cut out for fighting (this is why the draft is a very bad idea if it is not absolutely essential to supporting a strong military - calling people to fight who are not psychologically prepared to do so is a good way to get people killed...and not just the ones who can't cut it, but their brothers in arms as well). As one article writer once put it...there are pink-collared Americans (who live in security and freedom and have no concept of how harsh the real world outside these protected borders really is - who have the freedom to have high ideals) and there are gray-collared Americans (hard-nosed realists who see the threats America - or even their local community - faces and have the psychological make-up to step up and do the ugly things that need to be done to protect the rest of us). The pink-collared folks should only be asked to fight as a last resort. Speaking as a pink-collared scientist...if you put a P-90 in my hand and told me to go kill terrorists in Afghanistan, I'd wind up dead at the first opportunity and my fellow soldiers might get taken out with me because a unit is only as strong as its' weakest member. I'm not fooling myself into thinking I'm capable of being a soldier. I tend to get annoyed when conscientious objectors are blanket-labeled by some in this country as cowards. People tend to know intuitively whether they are cut out for the military...the ones who aren't probably did us all a favor by avoiding it altogether.

Highlights:

JACK: What is she doing? (staring up at Carter who is busily hacking away at the dialing computer)
DANIEL: She'll be done soon. She said something about the calculations being sensitive this time of year.
JACK: This time of year? What difference does it make?
DANIEL: Well she said something about solar...well it was...OK to be honest with you, I wasn't paying attention really.
JACK: Oh really? Carter!
CARTER: Just a minute, sir. I'm almost ready.
JACK: What are you doing?!
CARTER: This time of year, the direct line of site between P2X-255 and Earth takes us within 70,000 miles of the sun. I have to adjust our stellar drift calculations to adjust for the sun's gravitation.
JACK: We know that! Let's go!! (LOL!!)

GUARD: (in perfect Russian) Are you Soviet spies?
DANIEL: Nyet? (LOL!!)
JACK: Daniel!
DANIEL: He just asked if we were Soviet spies, I thought...(realizes his mistake and looks sheepish...LOL!!)

SERGEANT: Name?
JACK: Captain James T. Kirk or the starship Enterprise. (*snerk*)
SERGEANT: Your American accent is very impressive, Mr. Kirk. Before we ship you off to...wherever it is that takes spies such as yourself, I wanted a word. Your little incursion into our training facility is going to leave a rather embarrassing mark on my service record.
JACK: Training facility?
SERGEANT: You don't think we'd test fire a real missile 28 floors underground did you?
JACK: Listen you don't have the exact date...do you?
SERGEANT: What was the weapon you fired?
JACK: Weapon?
SERGEANT: Our cameras saw you using some kind of weapon.
JACK: Oh...it's hard to say.
SERGEANT: Some kind of state secret?
JACK: No, it's just...hard to pronounce. (LOL!)
SERGEANT: Mister, our government doesn't take kindly to Soviet spies in our top secret military installations...and neither do I.
JACK: Bob...can I call you Bob?
SERGEANT: Kirk, you can talk to me...or you can talk to the CIA.
JACK: Alright. I'll be honest with you. My name's not Kirk. It's Skywalker. Luke Skywalker. (ROTFL!)

JACK: Captain! Where there's a will, there's an or. (beat) Way. (heh)

TEAL'C: (watching Carter try to flag down a ride, hitchhiker style) This method appears to be ineffective. (he jumps out onto the road and walks in front of an oncoming van)
JACK: Teal'c! (The van stops) What the hell are you thinking?
TEAL'C: That is effective O'Neill. (LOL!)
(and later)
MICHAEL: (to Teal'c) Come on - ride up front with me, brother. It's cool! (Teal'c eyes him suspiciously - it's a great reaction take) I'm Michael.
TEAL'C: I am not at liberty to reveal my identity.
MICHAEL: Far out! (LOL!)

JENNIFER: So what'd you do?
DANIEL: We didn't...do...anything.
JACK: We've got a little problem with...the establishment. (heh!)
JENNIFER: I so relate to that.
CARTER: So if you could take us as far as New York...
JENNIFER: I really like your hair...(she seems to be a bit high...heh)

MICHAEL: So uh...your thing...the thing...what's it symbolize? Peace? Love?
TEAL'C: Slavery. To false gods.
MICHAEL: Right on! So...it's made of...
TEAL'C: Do not discuss it further.
MICHAEL: I dig...it's cool. So did you just go AWAL? (Teal'c stares back confused) Hey man...it's totally cool. I understand. After the concert, me and Jennifer are even thinking about crossing the border up to Canada.
TEAL'C: For what reason?
MICHAEL: You know, man. The war.
TEAL'C: The war with Canada? (LOL!)

MICHAEL: Who are you people?
JACK: Come on...have something to eat.
MICHAEL: Traveling between Earth and where? What's that about?
CARTER: When I said that, I was only imagining...
MICHAEL: Oh I don't think so, ma'am. What's going on?
JENNIFER: You said you were in trouble with the establishment.
JACK: (thinking quickly) We are. Just...not the establishment of this planet. (affecting his most authoritative sounding tone of voice) We came to Earth to hide among your people...a long...long time ago.
CARTER: From a galaxy far far away. (LOL)