Details on SG-1‘s ‘The Scourge’ revealed

The first complete details on the upcoming Stargate SG-1 episode “The Scourge” have arrived at GateWorld! Written by Joseph Mallozzi, the episode will air late in the show’s ninth season.

Beware of spoilers in the report below!

SG-1 suits up to lead representatives from the I.O.A. — the new international body with which the United States has elected to share the governing of the Stargate program and the technology it procures — to the Gamma Site, an off-world base for scientific research. The dignitaries include Jean LaPierre (French representative), Shen Xiaoyi (Chinese representative), and Russell Chapman (British representative).

Also joining them is Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo), an American official who is now affiliated with the I.O.A.

In addition to the military contingent led by base commander Colonel Mason, the Gamma Site is staffed by some 40 scientists, who at any given time are working on around 30 different scientific projects. Mason leads the dignitaries and SG-1 through a “science fair” to show off several of the more interesting studies being conducted.

One scientist is Dr. Myers, an entomologist who, along with his assistant Dr. Pullman, is studying a group of insects that have devestated numerous off-world crops. The bugs reproduce extremely quickly and are nocturnal, and use echolocation — a chirping sound — to detect potential threats. They normally have a very short life-span, but Myers has determined that depriving them of food will make them live much longer.

Dr. Myers has labelled the bugs “R75,” and notes that they are of particular significance because they have only shown up on planets recently visited by the Ori Priors.

Mitchell soon grows restless, but Daniel assures him of the importance of this mission. Stargate Command desperately needs the support of the I.O.A. — especially China, which is apparently on the fence. Three years ago China, Great Britain, and France joined Russia and the United States in signing the Gate Alliance Treaty (“Disclosure”), which promised that in exchange for the U.S. military’s continued operation of the program they would share all off-world technology procured through the gate. But the U.S. apparently hasn’t kept up its end of the agreement, instead interpretting the agreement as referring to all non-military technology.

Shen, the Chinese representative, is certainly the most uncertain of the group. Daniel later finds her in the Gamma Site mess hall, taking notes on what she has learned to date. He tries to convince her that the U.S. military will never give up control of the Stargate program, but she seems set on trying.

Myers soon makes a discovery: the bugs he has kept deprived of food won’t eat a leaf — but they will eat a piece of meatloaf from the mess hall. They have adapted to become carnivorous.

Myers and Pullman later return to the lab to find that the little food he gave the bugs caused them to multiply to the point of bursting through the containment chamber. They enact the lab’s extreme measures protocol to destroy the creatures — but when they reenter the room, a lone survivor bites Dr. Myers on the arm. He squishes it dead.

Disappointed with their restricted access to the military base but ready to go home, the foreign delegates head toward the Gate Room. The gate dials Earth, but then a sickly Myers stumbles into the room and falls down unconscious.

Colonel Mason orders the base under lockdown, but Woolsey and the others demand to be allowed to return home. There is nothing wrong with them — and even the sick man, Myers, is being sent through the gate to Earth for proper medical care. Mason won’t relent.

But before the medics can get Myers’s medical chamber through the gate, he goes into convulsions and dies on the ramp. A swarm of insects spill out of his mouth and overflow the chamber, bursting out onto the floor and scattering everywhere. On the run from the R75 insects, SG-1 must protect the dignitaries from the carnivorous scourge — and retake the Gate Room.

Guest characters include Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo), Colonel Mason (Gamma Site base commander), Dr. Myers (entomologist), Dr. Pullman (Myers’s assistant), Jean LaPierre (French representative), Shen Xiaoyi (Chinese representative), Russell Chapman (British representative), Dr. Sharma (botanist), and two SFs.

“The Scourge” is expected to air in February or March on The SCI FI Channel in the U.S. Learn more in GateWorld’s Season Nine episode guide!