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The First Commandment (Stargate SG-1)

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"The First Commandment (Stargate SG-1)"

"The First Commandment" is an episode of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.

Plot

The episode opens with two members of SG-9 running while being pursued by natives wielding spears and wearing imposing domed masks. One member of SG-9 is captured and shot by a soldier with a gun, and then set on fire. SG-1 is sent to the planet P3X-513 after SG-9 is declared MIA. Shortly after their arrival Daniel Jackson is attacked by the frightened Lieutenant Connor - the surviving officer from the earlier chase and witness to the murder of his team-mate, Franks.

After setting up camp, Connor explains Captain Jonas Hanson, SG-9's leader, has convinced the planet's primitive inhabitants he is a god; and now has them working to build a temple. All who oppose him are tied up in the sunlight to be slowly burned to death by the planet's high ultraviolet radiation levels. Originally Jonas simply played along with the natives' belief that he was a god; but after he disappeared for two days Jonas came to actually believe himself to be a god. With the assistance of a fellow soldier, Baker, Jonas killed the remainder of the team. Captain Samantha Carter, having previously been engaged to Jonas, tells Daniel that Hanson is a man who always needs control.

During the night, Connor is captured and tied in the sun to die. While Colonel Jack O'Neill investigates, Sam helps a young boy who is being beaten by Baker and is also captured. When she is brought before Hanson she realizes he has become a megalomanic unwaveringly convinced that he is in the right bringing the local inhabitants out of their cave-dwelling squalor. Jack, Daniel and Teal'c corner Jamala (the slave Sam rescued) according to whom Hanson has found a device that, when activated, will "turn the sky orange" - this is surmised to be an ultra-violet radiation shielding mechanism left behind by the Goa'uld. By making his people build a temple, Hanson buys himself time to work out the activation of the device. He plans to activate it upon completion of the temple as a divine reward to his people. Hanson admits to Samantha his inability to activate the device and forces her to decipher the mechanism. Sam tries to force him at gunpoint to surrender; but finds herself incapable of shooting him.

The rest of SG-1 is informed of Hanson's plan by Jamala. Teal'c is aware of this particular form of technology and determines a second device must lie on the other side of the valley, a repeater of sorts necessary to bounce the shielding back and forth thereby stabilizing the field. Daniel and Teal'c search the forest and find the second device sealed in an underground chamber. Jack, in disguise, attempts to rescue Connor from his stake in the middle of the valley quarry. Wearing Jamala's clothing, he unties Connor but is captured by Baker and escorted to Hanson's cave. Hanson threatens Jack's life in front of Sam and she activates the device; producing a pillar of orange light which strikes the ceiling of the cave but does nothing more.

Hanson decides to execute both Jack and Connor by sending them back to Earth through the Stargate without sending the IDC signal to deactivate the iris. Hanson gathers the natives in front of the 'circle of the gods' which he has had laid on the ground so the wormhole opens vertically. Hanson tells his people he is sending the demons back to hell. Daniel tells the natives that Hanson is not a god, that he does not wield magic, and that he merely uses machines. To prove Daniel's point Jamala uses Tealc's staff weapon to shoot Baker. Hanson tells them he can make the sky orange and turns on the device but the pillar of orange light that erupts from the cave does nothing. Daniel tells the people there are two devices and that anybody can use them. Jamala fires the staff weapon into the air, Teal'c sees the shot and activates the second unit. The shield forms in the sky, and the people of the planet come to understand that Hanson is an impostor who has been working them to death. They fall upon Hanson, and in the ensuing fight Jack, Connor, and Sam free themselves and the natives toss Hanson through the gate before anybody can send the IDC signal.

As SG-1 and Connor ready to leave P3X-513, Sam is brooding over her inability to end Hanson's reign when she had the chance. Jack assures her "killing a man is no badge of honour" and doing so would only bring her closer to becoming what Hanson was. Jack points out the Sixth Commandment as opposed to Hanson's distortion of the First - No Murder.

Production notes

This was the first episode of Stargate SG-1 written by Robert C. Cooper, who would later become an executive producer and co-created the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis.

Title reference

The title refers to the Ten Commandments, the first of which may be summarised as "Do not worship false gods".

Series continuity

This episode is the origin of many of the strong themes throughout the entire run of SG-1; what it is to be a god, to deserve worship and reverence, and what it is to be a false god.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to The First Commandment (Stargate SG-1).
  • "Official Stargate SG-1 site". MGM. Retrieved 2006-06-08. Most of site requires Flash.
  • "Screenplay" (PDF). Distributed by MGM. Prepared by Casablanca Continuity. Retrieved 2006-10-18. Also see Google's cache.
  • "Summary". SciFi. Retrieved 2006-06-05.
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