10.11 "The Quest Part 2" Episode Guide
Précis
In the company of two of their enemies, the team's quest takes on bizarre twists and ends with unexpected results as one of the teammembers is left behind.
Guide | Transcript
SciFi.com Official Summary
Having finally overcome all the obstacles protecting the sangraal, SG-1 and Ba'al are automatically beamed away from the underground cavern at the end of their quest, leaving an infuriated Adria behind. Arriving in a new chamber, they are astonished to discover not the mystical weapon they've been hunting, but rather an old man frozen in a stasis pod. The sangraal was actually destroyed long ago. In its place, however, sleeps the one man who can build a second version of the weapon: Merlin himself.
The team unfreezes Merlin. As they wait for him to awaken, they discover that they were not only transported to a different cavern, but also to a different planet. As an automated security procedure left behind by the Ancient Morgan Le Fay, the Stargate will periodically activate and an obelisk nearby will beam Merlin and his visitors through the 'gate to another world. While this makes the team difficult to trace, it also means that they'll be trapped in this loop of Stargates unless Carter and Ba'al can set aside their mutual dislike and cooperate to override the system's programming. Worse, Adria is already on their trail, working her way painstakingly through the Stargate loop. Soon, she and her army will catch up to SG-1.
After talking to Daniel, Merlin consents to build a new sangraal. Using an Ancient mental interface device, he begins to construct the weapon. Unfortunately, his aged body is too weak to complete the time-consuming task. Strangely, he wishes Daniel luck before he collapses, dead.
Guessing that Merlin uploaded his knowledge of the sangraal into the Ancient interface device seconds before his death, Daniel downloads its contents into his own mind. As he'd hoped, he gains many of Merlin's memories, and he sets to work immediately. Beneath his hands, the sangraal takes shape at last — but Daniel also steadily weakens, battling the unnatural disorientation of having another man's mind imprinted on his own.
Vala is deeply apprehensive about Daniel's self-sacrifice. Sympathetically, Mitchell agrees that the most painful part of belonging to SG-1 is not risking one's own life, but rather watching a friend risk his. Indeed, Daniel's danger will soon grow worse, because Adria is about to arrive. It's going to take all of Daniel's new knowledge — and the last of his strength — to save his teammates from her assault.
Cast
- Ben Browder as Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell
- Amanda Tapping as Lt. Col. Samantha Carter
- Christopher Judge as Teal'c
- Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran
- With Beau Bridges as Maj. Gen. Hank Landry
- And Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson
Guest Stars
- Cliff Simon as Ba'al
- Morena Baccarin as Adria
- Matthew Walker as Merlin
- Doug Abrahams as Prior of the Ori
- Steve Archer as Ori Commander
Production
- Written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
- Directed by Andy Mikita
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Production Notes
- "I'd love to get cracking on the big SG-1 mid-season quest two-parter..." — Joseph Mallozzi, Gateworld Blog, January 2, 2006.
- "We've got the 200th episode to work on and Alan's heist episode, and the SG-1 mid-season two-parter that already has the visual effects department salivating." — Joseph Mallozzi, Gateworld Blog, January 19, 2006.
- "There's SG-1's mid-season two-parter The Quest, of which I [Joseph Mallozzi] wrote the first half and Paul [Mullie] is working on Part Two. It's sort of an epic tale along the lines of Dungeons and Dragons. If you ever played that or enjoy fantasy-type stories then this is the one for you." — Joseph Mallozzi, TV Zone 203, June 2006.
- "It's a very cool script. The story is reminiscent of last season's Avalon, in that our heroes are having to solve a number of puzzles in their quest for the Sangraal, which, if you remember, is the weapon that Merlin was supposedly working on to defeat the Ori. Marena Baccarin, who was Inara in Firefly, also returns in this episode as Adria, the daughter of Vala and the leader of the Ori's right-hand guys, the Priors, and their armies. Officially, I don't start prep for the episode until the 10th of May as we're waiting until part two of the script is finished. In the meantime, though, I'm sure we'll be doing some casting. I'm actually going out tomorrow to do location scouting and this morning I was already working on various concepts involving the use of our cave set. We'll be reinventing that set a little bit and creating a neat stalactite/stalagmite type of environment. We're planning to do some adjustments on our standing village set as well, which will include building a partial castle-like façade on one end. As with the cave set, we want to mix things up a bit and make them look slightly different." — Andy Mikita, Director, TV Zone 203, June 2006.
- Concerning the "remarkably controversial" story arc for Daniel: "We're definitely heading there. I would say that our mid-season two-parter ends up with the character in a rather unexpected circumstance. It's a way to justify the two episodes in the summer that I'm taking off, but at the same time it's a great story development idea where Daniel kind of goes over to the other side, for a little bit, and everybody has to deal with the ramifications of that." — Michael Shanks, Starburst #339, Summer 2006.
Further Reading
--DeeKayP 18:16, 12 May 2006 (PDT)