Memento

| Analysis | Notes | Questions | Production

Prometheus is forced to land on an alien world, where the local Stargate is the team's only chance of returning home – though the local population believe the gate to be a myth.

RATINGS SCORECARD
OUR RATING -
FAN RATING - 7.66 
NIELSEN - 1.6 
EPISODE #620
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: 03.07.2003
SYNDICATION AIR DATE: 05.03.2004
DVD DISC: Season 6, Disc 5
WRITTEN BY: Damian Kindler
DIRECTED BY: Peter DeLuise
GUEST STARS: Robert Foxworth (Chairman Ashwan), John Novak (Colonel William Ronson), Miguel Fernandes (Commander Kalfas), Ingrid Kavelaars (Major Erin Gant), Alex Diakun (Tarek Solamun), Ray Galletti (Navigator)
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ANALYSIS

  • Though the Earth battle cruiser Prometheus has seen action on a mission before ("Unnatural Selection"), newly-appointed Colonel William Ronson is the ship's first official commanding officer. Ronson is stern and by-the-book, and enjoys keeping his people on their toes with frequent drills.
  • Tagrea is a relatively advanced civilization, with the technology to quickly launch a ballistic missile attack into space. But they had never before met anyone from another world.
  • The planet Tagrea (P3X-744) was listed on the Abydos cartouche, and so very likely a former Goa'uld-occupied world. The Tagreans know the Stargate by the name "Ring of the Gods," probably a term passed down from the era when the Goa'uld ruled there (as on many other worlds, where the Goa'uld are believed to be gods).
  • A few Tagreans, including Tarek Solamun, still follow their ancient god, Horus – the former Goa'uld System Lord Heru'ur, killed just two years ago in a battle with Apophis ("The Serpent's Venom"). They believe that Horus created them, whereas in fact he probably enslaved their ancestors and brought them to Tagrea from Earth. Teal'c suspects that Heru'ur simply abandoned the planet centuries ago when the resources he sought there were depleted.
  • The Prometheus is outfitted with transport rings for easy access in and out of the ship, even without receiving rings to allow transport to the surface of a planet from orbit. The rings are smart enough to safely land passengers on the surface either when landed, or when in flight several meters above the surface.
  • Tagrean history has been largely erased. Their recorded history is limited to the last 300 years. Before that, Ashwan said, there was a great dark age that their people wished to forget – so historians only began recording the record of their society after that. Beyond that, all evidence of their ancient society was destroyed centuries ago.

    Apparently, this "dark age" was the time during which they were enslaved to the Goa'uld, before they were abandoned by Heru'ur. Most Tagreans came to reject Heru'ur as a false god, and buried the Stargate.

NOTES

  • The Prometheus was en route to P7X-009 for its shakedown cruise. (Nothing is known about this planet.)
  • SG-1 has now been to 133 planets in its six years of travel through the Stargate.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

  • Will Ashwan be able to strengthen his position as leader of the Tangrean government?
  • Will Earth and Tagrea be able to forge an alliance? Will they begin going through the Stargate themselves? What might they have to offer us?
  • How will the Prometheus be recovered and brought back to Earth?

PRODUCTION NOTES

  • "The X-303 will be featured in another episode before season's end – but the show won't turn into Star Trek." (GateWorld chat with writer / producer Joseph Mallozzi)
  • "What was this episode about again?" (Writer/producer Joseph Mallozzi, in a post at his blog)