Into the Fire

Summary | Analysis | Notes | Characters | Questions | Production

O'Neill, Carter and Jackson must escape Hathor's clutches, while Teal'c tries to raise a Jaffa army on Chulak. General Hammond must take desperate measures to rescue the team.

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OUR RATING -
FAN RATING - 7.15 
EPISODE #301
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: 06.25.1999
SYNDICATION AIR DATE: 10.02.2000
DVD DISC: Season 3, Disc 1
WRITTEN BY: Brad Wright
DIRECTED BY: Martin Wood
GUEST STARS: Tony Amendola (Bra'tac), Suanne Braun (Hathor), Tom Butler (Trofsky), Colin Cunningham (Major Davis), Samantha Ferris (Dr. Raully), Gary Jones (Technician), Steve Makaj (Colonel Makepeace), Kelly Dean Sereda (Lieutenant), Oliver Svensson-Tan (Marine), Alicia Thorgrimsson (Jaffa)
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Captured by the Goa'uld queen Hathor, Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, and Daniel Jackson are imprisoned on her planet in a mock-up of the S.G.C. She had brought them there and tried to convince them that they had been in cryogenic stasis for more than 70 years, but the group foiled her plan and nearly escaped.

Now, Hathor has taken a newly matured Goa'uld from the belly of one of her Jaffa soldiers, and is looking to SG-1 for a new host. She selects the ever-sarcastic Jack O'Neill, but when Jack tries to grab the parasite he is hit with a blast from a zat gun, fired by Raully, one of Hathor's Goa'uld servants. Hathor is furious, but Jack is saved for the moment.

Meanwhile, Colonel Makepeace, leader of SG-3, arrives on Earth and tells General Hammond that they made contact with the Tok'ra (Goa'uld resistance fighters), and found out the location of SG-1. Now missing for more than three weeks, SG-1 has been taken captive by Hathor. But the Tok'ra have an operative on the inside, who risked much to get this information back to Earth. A rescue mission is mounted, consisting of SG-3 and every other available team (SG units 5, 6 and 11).

On his home world of Chulak, Teal'c has returned to raise an army of his own to fight the Goa'uld, and to try and find SG-1. He finds Bra'tac, his friend and former mentor, beaten almost to death in his own home. Bra'tac has been attacked by the last of Apophis's personal guard for his betrayal ("The Serpent's Lair"). The Jaffa fear that because of Apophis's fall, his son Klorel will return to Chulak to claim his inheritance.

On Hathor's planet, O'Neill is laid flat on a table, as the parasite slithers over his body and enters his neck. The leader of SG-1 has become infected with a Goa'uld. Hathor leaves to allow the joining to fully take place, knowing that O'Neill will certainly lose the battle against the symbiote. In her absence, the Tok'ra operative makes herself known: it is Raully, the female Goa'uld scientist who had earlier shot O'Neill with a zat gun to prevent the Goa'uld from entering him.

Now, she will save his life. She tells O'Neill that she is going to put him back into cryo-freeze to kill the symbiote. The Goa'uld will die, she promises, but in the mean time he must fight it.

Makepeace's forces journey through the Stargate to Hathor's planet, and invade the complex. They free Jackson and Carter from the Jaffa guards, and learn of O'Neill's fate. "He's a casualty," Makepeace says, demanding that they leave immediately. The group agrees to leave, but outside find that the Stargate is being heavily guarded by Hathor's people – including staff cannon towers and an impenetrable energy barrier.

As the S.G.C. personnel take cover in underground Tok'ra tunnels, Carter returns to the complex to try and find the shield's generator. The Jaffa enter the tunnels, and soon capture all of the humans.

On Chulak, Teal'c has called for a meeting of the local warriors. He declares that they have been living under the oppression of false gods for too long, and must now rise up against them. A few men remain, but most leave, believing Teal'c to be a traitor and a heretic. One of the remaining men pulls back his hood – it is General Hammond. After promising to send reinforcements through the Stargate, Hammond failed in getting authorization from the president. Now, he needs Teal'c's help to rescue the four SG teams.

O'Neill has been brought out of the cryo chamber, but Hathor has discovered the Tok'ra operative and blasted her with a Goa'uld hand device. As she brings the weapon down on Captain Carter, O'Neill grabs Hathor from behind and throws her into the freezing chamber. With a tip from the fallen Tok'ra, O'Neill and Carter destroy the power generator and flee to the Stargate.

With only minutes to go until Hammond's reinforcements arrive, O'Neill must distract Trofsky and his Jaffa soldiers. O'Neill walks toward them, knowing that Trofsky believes O'Neill to now be a Goa'uld. Jack can't keep the act up long, but it's long enough for the Stargate to begin dialing. A traveler is incoming. It is Teal'c and Hammond, flying a large fighter borrowed from Bra'tac.

The ship eliminates the gun towers, and the Goa'uld forces are overcome by the SG teams. Bra'tac arrives behind his ship, and exercises the remaining authority he has with the Jaffa guards, commanding them to stand down.

ANALYSIS

  • General Hammond discusses three new Stargate teams with Major Davis. This would make a total of no fewer than 17 SG teams, should their formation be approved. It has been one year since SG-10, 11, and 12 were added to the S.G.C. ("In the Line of Duty"). In addition, SG-14 was mentioned in "Show and Tell."
  • Hathor recreated the S.G.C. facility in near exact detail, though she spent only a short amount of time there ("Hathor"). She likely has a photographic memory, possibly a benefit of the Goa'uld symbiote.
  • Hathor's guard is eclectic, including Jaffa from many different Goa'uld (Serpent guard from Apophis and Klorel, Horus guard from Heru'ur, and others). She has obviously spent much of her time over the past year and a half gathering dissidents and defectors from Goa'uld all over the galaxy.

    This fact makes it likely that many of the Jaffa listened to Bra'tac's order to stand down because they were out-manned and out-gunned, and did not even know who Bra'tac was.
  • It is unclear whether Trofsky (the male leader under Hathor) is a Jaffa or a Goa'uld. He speaks to the Tok'ra operative in the Goa'uld language (also spoken by Jaffa, certainly), and commands the Jaffa forces in guarding the Stargate. In the absence of evidence that he is a Goa'uld, it seems reasonable that Trofsky is a Jaffa, probably Hathor's First Prime.
  • Hathor calls the Tok'ra operative "Jaffa." Certainly, Hathor should have been able to sense that the woman had a Goa'uld within her (but perhaps not a mature symbiote). Can Goa'uld tell the difference between one who has been joined with a Goa'uld and a Jaffa, one who carries a larval Goa'uld? Perhaps "Jaffa" is a more general term, along the lines of "servant," and does not necessarily specify that the person could not be a Goa'uld as well.
  • A blast from the Jaffa gun turret uncovered Tok'ra tunnels underground. It's odd that they would be there, since the Tok'ra are not residing on that planet (and they always collapse their tunnels when they leave a world). It is likely that the single Tok'ra operative grew the tunnels for her own use, and intends to collapse them after she leaves.
  • Major Davis seems to be a point of contact between General Hammond and the president and Joint Chiefs. Though not necessarily an official member of the S.G.C., he is either a temporary or permanent liaison.
  • When returning to find the Tok'ra operative, Hathor did not seem to notice that O'Neill had been placed back into cryogenic stasis. Either that, or she did not care enough about the Goa'uld within him to revive O'Neill herself.
  • Hathor managed to acquire at least one Goa'uld mothership. It can be seen briefly after Carter detonates the C4 to destroy the generator.

NOTES

  • Hathor possessed the technology to generate a huge energy barrier, something that SG-1 had never before encountered. It may be technologically similar to the small, personal energy shield employed by Apophis ("The Nox") and Heru'ur ("Thor's Chariot").
  • The cryogenic freezing process can prevent a Goa'uld parasite from joining with its new host, and kill it.
  • Bra'tac hid his ship away about 100 years ago, when he was first prime of Apophis. Few people can fly this type of ship. Flying the large vessel through a Stargate is euphemistically called "threading the needle," and takes great skill.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

  • Teal'cTeal'c - Teal'c took his case – and his beliefs about the true nature of the Goa'uld – straight to his fellow Jaffa on Chulak. Most rejected his call that they join together to fight the Goa'uld, though a few joined his and Bra'tac's cause.

    Along with Bra'tac and General Hammond, Teal'c then helped rescue SG-1 and rejoined the S.G.C.
  • Jack O'NeillJack O'Neill - Captured by Hathor, Jack was forcibly implanted with a Goa'uld symbiote. A Tok'ra operative saved him, keeping the symbiote from fully blending with him, and killing it. Though Jack escaped Goa'uld control, it will no doubt have a significant impact on his character, and on his hatred of the Goa'uld.
  • HathorHathor - Having escaped from Earth a year and a half ago, Hathor has been building her forces by luring Jaffa away from many different System Lords – in a plan to eventually overthrow them all. She used SG-1 to gain knowledge of the political state of the galaxy, then implanted O'Neill with a symbiote.

    Hathor is dead (presumably), having been thrown into a cryogenic freezing chamber by Colonel O'Neill.
  • George HammondGeorge Hammond - When he failed to obtain permission to send a rescue team to free SG-1 from Hathor's clutches, Hammond took it upon himself to journey to Chulak and seek help from the Jaffa. Along with Teal'c and Bra'tac, Hammond entered combat and helped rescue his people.
  • Bra'tacBra'tac - Master Bra'tac is 135 years old. He still has some authority with the Jaffa formerly in service to Apophis, though many condemn him for his actions against Apophis and Klorel ("The Serpent's Lair"), and have even tried to kill him.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

  • When and how did the Tok'ra operative communicate the info about SG-1's captivity and location back to the Tok'ra?
  • How did the Tok'ra know how to find an SG team to relay the information? Why not go immediately to Earth? Was it just a coincidence that they ran across SG-3 immediately after learning of SG-1's fate?
  • From whom did Hathor acquire her mothership?
  • Did the Tok'ra operative survive?
  • Is Hathor truly dead?

PRODUCTION NOTES

  • Bra'tac's ship capable of flying through the Stargate eventually gained the unofficial nickname "needle threader," based on Bra'tac's line of dialogue "Threading the needle is a skill for the young." In production documents, the ship is identified as a "Prototype Death Glider."