Solutions Blog

The experienced and highly decorated Colonel Dimitri Karpov has arrived from Russia to join the Stargate programme, for which he’s volunteered. He has a meeting with General O’Neill about his assignment and naturally requests leadership of SG-1. Jack isn’t interested in hearing what Karpov wants, least of all his desire to grab the job everyone on base wants, and dismisses him quickly.
Daniel, Teal’c and Carter are in Carter’s lab when Jack joins them and mentions his encounter with Karpov. Daniel reminds Jack that they haven’t really fulfilled the promises they made to the Russians in the past, a reference to the events of 48 Hours and the deal Daniel brokered, perhaps. They also discuss leaving SG-1 a three-man team. Carter mentions there is nothing in the regulations saying it needs to be a four-man team and Jack is relieved at one less decision to make. Just like that, the decision is made. SG-1 is a three-man team.

Karpov is alone in his quarters, quite unwell, and we see lesions on his arms. Daniel then goes to visit Karpov to welcome him and smooth things over after the Russian’s run-in with Jack. He asks him not to take it personally and tries to explain Jack to him and also the fact that as Jack is newly appointed to command of the SGC, this is not a good time to pressure him.   Then Karpov collapses dramatically and Daniel tries to catch him. Karpov’s condition is quite serious according to new character Dr. Smith, apparently some form of contagion which results in Jack puttingthe base on lockdown and ordering all off-world teams to go to the Alpha Site.

Spoilers are quite confusing for this episode as there are references both to Daniel seemingly being infected with Karpov’s illness *and* being shot and losing a lot of blood.

Meanwhile, Karpov is not responding well to Smith’s treatment and his prognosis is poor. Karpov is in isolation, worried for Daniel and apologising to Teal’c for Daniel’s condition. It’s through this conversation that we learn Karpov has lost some of his memories and is also experiencing strange flashbacks and dreams.

Daniel himself bears no ill-will over what has happened to him and shares a touching scene with Karpov in which he urges the Russian to keep on hoping when the man would’ve given up, asking Daniel to get a letter to his sister.

In reference to his illness/injury,although Daniel is about to be discharged from the Infirmary, he’s using a cane and also has Teal’c as his wheelchair chauffeur.
 
There are indications that a Goa’uld is jumping hosts within the SGC, starting out in Karpov, then perhaps moving on to Daniel and from him to another host. Daniel too experiences a flashback and realises something is seriously amiss. Spoilers are far from complete but it appears SG-1 take action against the threat of a possible Goa’uld infestation, including Daniel. The action picks up when the Stargate is remotely activated and Carter tries to override it.

Jack O’Neill takes command of the SGC in his first few days as general and is faced by every catastrophe imaginable. Top of his list is a looming state visit by President Henry Hayes…

General O’Neill has gained an administrative aide as well as a command, in the form of Gilmor, a former Marine who served in the Gulf. Gilmor was recruited by the CIA but has been in a desk job because of an injury sustained during an operation. S/he [we don’t know Gilmor’s gender yet] was assigned to O’Neill by the departing General Hammond and has a little difficulty adjusting to O’Neill being…O’Neill.

Aside from incarcerated aliens, menu choices and bunting crises, O’Neill – and Gilmor – have to deal with a missing SG-1, who are seemingly hostages of Ba’al, and a highly unorthodox prisoner exchange.

Is Gilmor who s/he seems?
Can O’Neill take any more?

Writer and Co-Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi disclosed to fans on the Japanese Bboard to which he sometimes posts that “New Order”, the two-parter season 8 opener, will deal with the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu. The Japanese founding myths are collected in a volume known as the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, 712). The stories tell of the formation of the Japanese islands and the founding of human society. One of the most important stories in this set of tales is the story of the Sun Goddess who is still the most important deity in Japan and the ancestor of the Imperial family. Her grandson was dispatched to pacify Japan and his great-grandson became the first emperor, Jimmu, one of the numerous mythological emperors. The centre of worship for Amaterasu Omikami is Ise Shrine, the main shrine of the imperial family. Amaterasu Omikami has been worshipped by successive Emperors as the ancestral kami of the Imperial Family and the tutelary deity of the Japanese people.

You can find more information on this goddess at
http://www.uwec.edu/philrel/shimbutsudo/amaterasu.html
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dheb/Tirane/Am/amaterasu.htm
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~bmori/syll/351EAWomen/Amaterasu.html
http://ias.berkeley.edu/orias/hero/yamato/characters_yamato.html

At the Creation Convention this weekend in Pasadena, actor Michael Shanks was asked if there would be more Jack/Daniel banter moments and replied that the opening of Season 8 was heavy on it and very funny.

In the UK scifi magazine Dreamwatch, writers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie reveal the following tidbits: O’Neill is thawed out but still retains the knowledge of the Ancients, the Asgard are contacted for help but are in the middle of some kind of problem of their own [when are they not?] and while Jack is promoted to General, Carter is promoted to Lt. Colonel.

GATEWORLD reports:

The first details on the 2-hour season premiere of Stargate SG-1 have arrived! “New Order” will see the return of deadly enemies from SG-1’s past, and will set the stage for sending the show in some new directions in the year to come.

“Baal has stepped into Anubis’ power vacuum, taking over his powerbase of super-soldiers,” co-executive producer Joseph Mallozzi told GateWorld. “He’s kicking butt, and the System Lords are reeling and they go to us for help, because we have a common enemy. We’ll see Yu and we’ll see a couple of new System Lords: Camulus and Amaterasu. Yu has fallen on hard times, and his First Prime does a lot of the speaking for him.

“So these three representatives come to convince us to help them take down Baal. But, of course, we have problems of our own — the biggest being that we can’t use the weapon. We’ve used up all the energy (or most of it), and O’Neill is the only one who can use it.”

“The System Lords noticed that we wiped out Anubis’ fleet in five minutes or less,” co-executive producer Paul Mullie said, “and the other System Lords are interested in how we managed to do that. That’s one issue that has to be dealt with.” But the arrival of the System Lords and the threat of Baal is just one side of the story.

SG-1 goes in search of their long-absent allies, the Asgard, in the hope that they can save Colonel O’Neill’s life from the knowledge of the Ancients that has taken over his mind (“Lost City”). What they discover is that the highly-evolved Replicators — left in a time-dilation prison in Season Six’s “Unnatural Selection” — have escaped. And the Asgard are about to launch yet another plan to try and stop them.

Patrick Currie guest stars in the episode as the Replicator “Fifth,” who took a liking to Major Carter in “Unnatural Selection,” only to be betrayed by her. Actress Amanda Tapping (“Samantha Carter”) endured gruelling torture scenes for this episode.

“Fifth realized we had betrayed him, and he was literally reaching for that device when they got ‘frozen’ — or just really slowed down — in time,” Mullie said. “And the Asgard figured out that it was only going to take them, in real time, a couple of years to reach that device and turn it off. For O’Neill’s sake we go seek out the Asgard, and we happen along just when their new plan for dealing with the Replicators is about to fail miserably.”

The premiere will also see Jack O’Neill replace Dr. Elizabeth Weir as commander of the S.G.C. O’Neill will be promoted to the rank of brigadier general, leaving Carter in command of the SG-1 field unit.

http://www.gateworld.net/news/episodeupdate.html