Episode of the Week: ‘The Quest’

SG-1 races against Baal in the hunt to find the Sangraal, Merlin’s anti-Ori weapon, and comes up against a series of ancient trials. And when the team finds Merlin himself, they must help him complete the weapon before Adria and her forces can track them down.

“The Quest” Facts:

• Matthew Walker returns as the legendary Merlin, an Ancient who we’d seen previously in the form of holographic recordings — but who is here discovered in the flesh, frozen in stasis for centuries. He previously played the alien leader Roham in the Season Two episode “Touchstone,” and the Atlantis council member Moros in the episode “Before I Sleep.” It was later established that Moros indeed was Merlin, a former resident of Atlantis who went rogue after the Lanteans returned to the Milky Way Galaxy and ascended.
• Ten years into the series and Stargate SG-1 continues to be clever with its use of the Stargate technology. In “The Quest” the team discovers that Merlin has engineered a closed loop of gates that periodically teleport him through an open wormhole from one planet to the next, in order to make it all but impossible for his enemies to track him down.
• In one scene SG-1 comes across a group of travelers frozen inside a small time dilation field, and must navigate a narrow path through it. The scene was especially hard to pull off, according to writer-producer Joseph Mallozzi. The editors faced the maddening challenge of editing around the eye-blinking and subtle movements of the extras.
• Actor Michael Shanks was temporarily written off the series, with Daniel being captured at the end of the mid-season two-parter. The initial idea was to have Daniel’s darker turn play out over the course of several episodes, building to a redemption. It was reduced to just one, “The Shroud” — and it turned out Daniel was faking going to the Ori side, which producers concluded would be more true to the character.

“The Quest” on GateWorld:

• Episode Guide (Part 1 – Part 2)
• Fan Reviews (Part 1 – Part 2)
• Photo Gallery
• Screencap Gallery (Part 1 – Part 2)
• Discussion Thread (Part 1 – Part 2)
• Season Ten Podcast
• Interview with Cliff Simon (2006)
• Interview with Michael Shanks (2007)
• Interview with Amanda Tapping (2006)
• Interview with Claudia Black (2006)
• Interview with Brad Wright (2006)

Download “The Quest” now from Amazon or iTunes!

Rewatch “The Quest” (Parts 1 and 2) this week! Then post your comments below, or head over to the “Quest” discussion threads and see what people were saying back in the day. What are your favorite moments?

Each week this year we’re rewatching Stargate’s great season premieres, finales, and mid-season two-parters. Watch the episode with us this week and join in the fun!