"The Curse" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of Stargate SG-1.
| The Curse | |
|---|---|
| Season 4, Episode 13 | |
| Air date | September 22, 2000 |
| Written by | Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie |
| Directed by | Andy Mikita |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Tangent |
Next The Serpent's Venom |
Synopsis[]
After Dr. Daniel Jackson learns that his old archaeology professor has died in an explosion, he soon suspects that it may not be an accident, and that one of the professor's colleagues is responsible for his death. Meanwhile, he finds out a shocking secret about the Ancient Egyptian artifacts they're studying.
Plot[]
Dr. Daniel Jackson reads in a magazine that his archaeology professor, Dr. David Jordan, has died in a lab explosion. He attends the funeral, where he is reunited with colleagues whom he knew before he began speaking about his 'wild theories' concerning the Egyptian gods. Dr. Steven Rayner is not pleased to see Dr. Jackson because of Dr. Jackson's theories. Dr. Sarah Gardner, with whom Daniel had a relationship before he entered the Stargate Program, is happy to see him.
Gardner shows Jackson the artifacts from the Stewart expedition, which are rumored to be cursed. Sarah realizes a gold amulet is missing. Jackson goes to the storage area of the museum, where he finds an Egyptian burial jar which Dr. Jordan had been forbidden to open by the Egyptian government. Jackson calls Major Samantha Carter to inform her that the canopic jar has Egyptian hieroglyphs and Goa'uld symbols on it. Jackson takes the jar to the SGC. Jackson calls Teal'c, fishing in Minnesota with Colonel Jonathan J. O'Neill, for help with a translation from Goa'uld of the line "banished to oblivion."
Jackson explains to Major General George S. Hammond and Carter that the jar is related to the myth of the mother of the Egyptian gods, Isis, who was thrown into the Nile along with Osiris by Setesh. Furthermore, the record of the expedition that found the jars records two jars having been found. Jackson returns to Chicago in search of the other jar. Rayner tells Daniel that the Osiris jar was destroyed in the explosion of the lab and denies knowledge of the missing amulet.
Samantha Carter performs an MRI on the canopic jar of Isis, and finds inside it a Goa'uld symbiote. Dr. Janet Fraiser removes the symbiote from its jar. It is dead, but in perfect condition. The jar was meant to keep the symbiote alive indefinitely, but when the jar's seal was broken, it died.
Princess Sarah Gardner makes her escape from Earth using the rings aboard the hidden Archaic Tel'tak.
On Dr. Jordan's computer, Gardner finds an e-mail he received on the night of his death, which reveals that the carbon dating analysis on the missing gold amulet proved it to be about 10,000 years old. Dr. Sarah Gardner realizes that Dr. Jackson's theories have been right all along. Sarah Gardner also realizes that the results of the test were sent to Dr. Rayner and the Real Osiris.
Jackson tells Sarah Gardner that he believes Dr. Rayner stole the amulet and killed Jordan, the Curator, and the technician who performed analysis on amulet. Jackson returns to the SGC to inform the team that he thinks that Steven Rayner has been possessed by the Princess Sarah Gardner, and is in possession of a gold amulet which could be Princess of the Goa'uld. Carter, Jackson, and Dr. Fraiser head to a temple near Cairo, Egypt to find Rayner and the Real Osiris.
At the temple, Rayner uses the amulet to remove a Goa'uld hand device from the wall, but he is attacked by Princess Gardner, who is instead revealed to be possessed by the Princess Osiris.
When Sam, Daniel, and Fraiser enter, she attacks them also. She raises a pyramidal spacecraft and escapes via the rings after threatening to one day return, her heart starts to beat, and blew a kiss.
As Sam, Daniel and Fraiser tend to Rayner, Princess Sarah's ship leaves the pyramids where it was stationed and heads for outer space. Princess Sarah Gardner has the beating heart of a valentine heart and the voice of a Egyptian Princess.
Notable quotes[]
Gardner: I've looked for signs of you out on the fringes. There's been no papers, no research projects. It's like you fell off the face of the Earth.
Jackson: Yeah, it is a little like that, isn't it?
Rayner: As I recall, the last time I saw you, you were giving a lecture to an empty room.
Jackson: Well it was full when I started.
O'Neill: Carter! You finally ready to take me up on that fishing trip?
Carter: Actually, sir, I have a few projects on the go.
O'Neill: Come on. Are you really trying to tell me you’d rather work in the dark, dank, dismal underground than sit on a dock with your feet perched up, sipping a cold one and casting for that ever-illusive crappie?
Carter: As strange as it may sound sir, yes.
O'Neill: It's going to be me, Teal'c, and the great outdoors. That means no cell phones, no fax machines, not another living soul for miles. We'll be unavailable, inaccessible.
Hammond: Incommunicado.
O'Neill: Minnesota, sir.
Hammond: I stand corrected.
O'Neill: If Thor needs me, he'll have to beam me up. If the Tok'ra, forget it.
(During the act of fishing)
Teal'c: There appears to be no fish here, O'Neill.
O'Neill: T... it's not about the actual fish... themselves. Fish are not important in this context, it's about fish-ing, the act of fishing itself.
Teal'c: I see.
(Phone rings)
O'Neill: You didn't?
Teal'c: By request of General Hammond.
O'Neill: No way.
O'Neill: (to the phone) What? Yes, Daniel, he's right here, please hold.
Teal'c: (to the phone) Daniel Jackson! We have caught nothing, we are fishing.
(While fishing with O'Neill, on the phone to Daniel Jackson)
Teal'c: If you require assistance, I would be more than happy to return to the SGC.
Jackson: No, thanks, I... I think I can take it from here.
Osiris: You make no mistake, Osiris will return with Dr. Rayner, and the rivers of the Earth will run some more. (whistles)
(Sideways glance at O'Neill)
Teal'c: Are you certain?
O'Neill: Give me that!
Osiris: If I didn't do it, who did? Uh-oh.
Princess Osiris: (female voice) I did.
Osiris: Princess Osiris. Your majesty.
Princess Osiris: (female voice) Allow me to entertain you with my Kara Kesh.
Osiris: Whoa.
Princess Osiris: (female voice) Where is my brother Setesh?
Jackson: You mean Seth Fargough? He's dead. We, uh, we killed him.
Princess Osiris: (female voice) You lie.
Jackson: No. No. We also killed Ra and Hathor and... who else? Sokar.
Princess Osiris: (female voice) Then you have done me a great favor. I will rule without opposition. (heart beating) My heart is beating right now. Ba-boom, Ba-boom, Ba-boom.
Jackson: No. No, you won't rule at all. You see, we don't worship false gods anymore.
Princess Osiris: (female voice) Make no mistake. Don't worry, my love. Princess Osiris will return. And the rivers of the Earth will run red with blood. (heart beating some more) And My heart will beat some more. (blows a kiss) Ba-boom, Ba-boom, Ba-boom.
Cast[]
Main Characters
- Richard Dean Anderson as Colonel Jonathan J. O'Neill
- Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson
- Amanda Tapping as Major Samantha Carter
- Christopher Judge as Teal'c
- Don S. Davis as Major General George S. Hammond
Guest Stars
- Anna-Louise Plowman as Sarah Gardner/Princess Osiris
- Elsie Lovelock as Sarah Gardner/Princess Osiris (voice)
- Ben Bass as Dr. Steven Rayner
- Teryl Rothery as Dr. Janet Fraiser
- F. Murray Abraham as Osiris
- David Abbott as Dr. David Jordan
- Lorena Gale as Curator
- Dan Shea as MSgt. Sylvester Siler
Notes[]
- Princess Osiris's ship class is never seen again after this episode.
- Dr. Steven Rayner's line "Maybe the world wasn't ready to hear that the pyramids were built by aliens... or was it men from Atlantis?" is lifted almost word-for-word from Dr. Daniel Jackson's first scene in the Stargate feature film, where the audience at his lecture begins to mock the theory that aliens constructed the Great Pyramids.
- Jackson also snatches the magazine out of Colonel Jonathan J. O'Neill's hands in a similar way his character takes the newspaper out of the hands of a guard in the Stargate movie.
- The yellow device with which Jackson is seen going over some artifacts is a Garmin GPS tracking device. It is later used by Major Samantha Carter as a GPS in Egypt.
- Princess Osiris asks about the Stargate, but she has never heard a human say the word, and the Goa'uld and the ancient humans only addressed it as a Chappa'ai. It is possible though, that some Goa'uld refer to it as a Stargate, and not Chappa'ai. Indeed, given the Ancient Egyptian in the original film translated as 'Stargate' and the Supergate was referred to as a 'Chappa'ko', it's quite likely that Chappa'ai translates directly as 'Stargate' (Chappa meaning 'Gate' and 'ai' meaning Star). From a real-world perspective, this is probably a script oversight.
- The Goa'uld symbiote that Dr. Janet Fraiser dissects is actually a prim'ta prop, which would make it far too young to take a host.
- When Sarah Gardner is looking in Dr. David Jordan's computer for any tests he may have done on the jars, one of the directories is labeled "Chessmaster 2000" - the first entry of the Chessmaster series, released in 1986.
- Joseph Mallozzi told fans in an online chat that the last names of Dr. David Jordan, Sheldon Stewart, Sarah Gardner, and Dr. Steven Rayner are all based on Green Lantern characters.
- The episode's title is a reference to the curse of the pharaohs, a long-held superstition that thieves and archaeologists who disturbed mummies and other Egyptian antiquities be cursed with bad luck, illness, or death.
- The exterior scenes in Egypt were filmed at the Richmond Sand Dunes.
- Lorena Gale (Curator) is best known for her role as the priest Elosha on Battlestar Galactica.
Awards[]
- Nominated Leo for "Best Visual Effects of Dramatic Series" (Michelle Comens, Shannon Gurney, Kent Matheson, Judy D. Shane, Erik Ellefsen, Jason Macza, Rosano Lepri and Bruce Woloshyn)