Friday Five: Star Trekking …

Visit GateWorld every Friday for a new installment of the Friday Five, a countdown of our favorite episodes, characters, technology and more from 15 years of Stargate history! Use trackbacks to post your own Friday Five for this week’s topic on your blog, or post a comment below to let us know how your picks compare.

This Week: Star Trekking …

In its 12 years on the small screen, Stargate has frequently paid homage to the grand-daddy of science fiction television, Star Trek. The adventures of Kirk and Spock changed the way sci-fi was done in this medium, and left an indelible mark on Western culture. Stargate’s appreciation for Star Trek culminated in SG-1’s Trekish spoof in the show’s 200th episode — which, as funny as it was to see the characters dressed like that, actually doesn’t make our list of Top 5 Trek references …

SG-1 Season Six’s “The Other Guys”

A pair of nerds from Stargate Command’s “lower decks” set off on a mission to rescue SG-1 when the team is captured by the Goa’uld … only to discover that it was all part of a plan to go behind enemy lines. Now, Jay Felger and Simon Coombs (Enterprise‘s Dr. Phlox) are in way over their heads! The Trek references fly in this episode, as Simon talks about “worshiping at the altar of Roddenberry!”

But the funniest Trek reference of the episode: Simon fears that death is immanent when they reach the alien mothership. Felger tries to reassure him, to which an exasperated Simon responds, “We might as well be wearing red shirts!” Touché, disposable guest star. Touché.

SG-1 Season Two’s “1969”

Jack O’Neill and his team are thrown back in time by a fluke accident involving the Stargate’s wormhole, where they are taken into custody by the U.S. military operating secret rocket testing inside Cheyenne Mountain. Jack is interrogated, and rather than give the officer his real name (for fear of affecting the timeline) he tells him his name is “Captain James T. Kirk, of the starship Enterprise.”

The reference is lost on the interrogator, despite the fact that the original Star Trek had by that time just completed its three-year run on NBC. It’s more understandable that he doesn’t catch the “Luke Skywalker” reference, since Star Wars won’t be out for another eight years.

SG-1 Season Six’s “Redemption, Part 1”

With the survival of Earth on the line, Jack and Sam climb into Earth’s first man-made space craft capable of entering hyperspace (theoretically): the X-302. Their mission is to reach Abydos, to use the Stargate to find help against Anubis’s attack on the Earth gate. Jack gets to know the capabilities of the new fighter craft as he and Carter run down the systems checklist:

Carter: “Navigation.”
O’Neill: “Check.”

Carter: “Oxygen, pressure, temperature control.”
O’Neill: “All check.”

Carter: “Inertial dampeners.”
O’Neill: “Cool. … And check.”

Carter: “Engines.”
O’Neill: “All check. … Phasers?”
Carter: “Sorry, sir.”

SG-1 Season Four’s “Tangent”

A recall device that slimy snakehead Apophis installed in his Death Gliders sends Jack and Teal’c hurtling out of Earth’s atmosphere and into deep space with no power. The only way to rescue them is for Daniel and Sam to track down Jacob Carter, a Tok’ra ally (and Sam’s dad, of course) who has a cargo ship close enough to reach them in time. As they rush to the rescue, they talk about how they are going to get their two friends out of the Glider’s cockpit. Daniel tells Jacob that they were hoping he could just … “beam” them out.

Jacob replies with a wry smile, “Beam them out? What am I, Scotty?” Clearly, Daniel doesn’t quite understand the way Goa’uld ring platforms work.

SG-1 Season Six’s “Unnatural Selection”

Earth’s first battlecruiser is almost complete, codenamed Project Prometheus … now stolen by the rogue N.I.D. and launched into space, only to be commandeered by the Asgard for a mission to stop the Replicators. En route to what was once the Asgard’s home planet, Jack and Sam debate what to name Earth’s first, shiny new ship.

Colonel O’Neill informs Carter that the brass didn’t go for the name he suggested for the vessel. Sam replies, “Sir, we can’t call it the Enterprise.”

That’s gold, baby. Gold! And here after his little remark in Season Five’s “Ascension,” we thought Jack wasn’t a sci-fi fan!
Three out of these five were from SG-1 Season Six, apparently a year when the show’s writers had Trek on the brain! We’ve probably forgotten some of the great lines from Stargate‘s past. What other Star Trek references would make your Top 5 list?

NEXT WEEK ON THE FIVE: Best Character Intros. Blog about your top five picks next Friday, and trackback to our post.