STARGATE SG-1: CHILDREN OF THE GODS

PLOT SUMMARY

Five enlisted USAF personnel, four men and a woman, are playing cards around a table in the gate room. Their banter establishes that it's a safe place to pass the time as no officer ever goes there. Suddenly, an incoming wormhole arrives. Evidently they do not fully know what it means, but they arm themselves and one gets on the red phone. The woman advances up the ramp just as a troop of Jaffa come through, followed by what appears to be Ra. A Jaffa grabs the woman and Ra stuns her. The Jaffa open fire with their staff weapons, and the humans fire back. Two Jaffa die and all the humans are killed, but one manages to get a message out through that red phone. The Jaffa start to leave just as reinforcements arrive — along with General Hammond, who clearly sees the Ra figure's glowing eyes.

Jack O'Neill is once again hauled out of retirement. It develops that his final report on the Abidos mission was incomplete. He didn't destroy the stargate there as he was ordered to do. Naturally, General Hammond thinks the hostiles came from there, and he proposes to send another bomb through — a Mark V this time.

But O'Neill speaks of the 5,000 or so people on Abidos and suggests instead a simple but foolproof test: a box of Kleenex for Daniel Jackson's allergies. After several hours the box comes back empty with a note scrawled on it: "Thanks Send more."

So a new mission is authorized, with Kowalski ("Kawalsky") and Ferretti, along with new member Capt. Carter. They first encounter Skara and his friends guarding the stargate. Daniel Jackson appears and tells the guards to lower their guns. The reunions are joyful and the visitors join in the evening meal while a sandstorm keeps them in the pyramid. After it passes, Daniel shows the team a room he discovered after their first mission. It holds what appear to be lists of gate coordinates. Carter videotapes them for further analysis; they will become the key to solving the mystery of why no other symbol permutation she tried worked.

Everyone returns to the meal in the gate room. In the middle of it the Ra lookalike and his Jaffa come through again. They kill many including two members of the SG team, and grab Skaara and Sha're. One team member, Ferretti, though badly wounded, may remember the symbols they used to dial out. The SG teams evacuate to Earth, where Capt. Carter uploads her data into the computers and begins analysis. The big question is whether Ferretti remembers the symbols he saw giving the home address of the hostiles. Eventually he's well enough to talk, and he does remember.

The president authorizes the formation of nine SG teams with O'Neill leading SG-1 and Kowalski (Kawalsky) leading SG-2. They dial up the new gate address and go through to find the stargate on the other end set in a spiral of standing stones: plainly an object of worship. While SG-2 sets up camp, O'Neill, Carter and Jackson reconnoiter. They meet a line of worshipers bound for the stargate. True to his old self, Jackson confronts these. When he tells them he came through the Chappa'ai, they fall to their knees. At O'neill's order, they take the team to their village of Chulak which is decked out for a celebration. Once again they are interrupted — this time by Teal'c, who announces the Goa'uld Apophis. He is with his new queen: Sha're, now host to another Goa'uld. O'Neill, Jackson and Carter wake up in a prison along with a crowd of natives. Skaara is there too. Soon comes the ceremony where the Goa'uld choose new hosts to be the "Children of the Gods." Among those taken is Skaara. Apophis then orders, "Kill the rest."1

A line of Jaffa step forward to carry out the order. But Teal'C, seeing his moment, heeds O'Neill's call and prevents this. He gives O'Neill another staff weapon and O'Neill blasts a hole in the prison wall. Everyone escapes the prison, but now they have to get to and through the stargate to find safety.

Capsule review: A coherent plot with good character development, plenty of action and a bang-up final fight with the forces of Apophis make this a nearly perfect movie.