TOUCHSTONE

02.14 Episode 36 (#8910)
Airdate: October 30, 1998

The planet Madrona depends on the Touchstone to control its weather. But when the device is stolen, the inhabitants claim that the SGC is responsible. An elaborate investigation reveals that Colonel Maybourne of the NID is involved in high level orders to reactivate the second Earth stargate, and that top-secret missions through the gate are responsible for the theft. SG-1 is able to recover the device in time to save Madrona from destruction, but the mysterious agenda of the NID and the whereabouts of the agents who escaped through the second gate before it was resealed, remain unknown.

Written by: Sam Egan
Directed by: Brad Turner

Guest Starring: Tom McBeath as Colonel Harry Maybourne, Matthew Walker as Roham, Jerry Wasserman as Whitlow, Tiffany Knight as La Moor, Eric Breker as Major Reynolds, Conan Graham as NID Man

Reference: Area 51, Beta Stargate, La Moor, Madrona, Madronans, MALP, Harry Maybourne, NID, NID Off-World Operation, NID Rogue Operation, Colonel Reynolds, Roham, Stargate, Touchstone, Whitlow, Wormhole Arc

DESTINATIONS & INHABITANTS

NOTES OF INTEREST

• Madrona was terraformed about 900 years ago, probably by another alien race, who also probably created the Touchstone. The Touchstone can control and maintain the weather when the high priest turns a series of calibrated rings which determine meteorological conditions over the entire planet.
• An energy spike can be created deliberately, causing the wormhole to jump to the second Earth gate, and leaving a recognizable energy signature.
• Ever since the beginning of the Stargate program, there have been philosophical skirmishes behind the scenes, politicians pulling the strings outside the jurisdiction of the military.
• The Groom Lake Facility in the Nevada desert at Nellis, known as Area 51, is where all technology brought back through the gate is sent for study, including the notes from "Heliopolis" and the two death gliders. Colonel Maybourne was recently reassigned there.
• The second gate had been sealed, decommissioned, and sent to Area 51. It was moved from Area 51 under classified authorization from outside the military to an unofficial NID landing site in southern Utah, just south of the Black Mountains, about 40km west of Parowan. It was finally returned to Area 51, sealed with a permanent iris, and put under round-the-clock guard under the command of Hammond and the SGC.
• Four NID men escaped through the second gate to an unknown location.

MEMORABLE REMARKS

• Carter wants to get a closer look with some of her specialized... do-hickeys. [O'Neill]
  Do-hickeys? [Hammond]
  I believe that's the technical term, Sir. [O'Neill]
• We came here in peace, and we intend to go in one. Piece. [O'Neill]
• Let me give you a little life lesson about thieves. They're not really in touch with their feminine side. [O'Neill]
• Have you been watching the Weather Channel? [Daniel]
  I'm more of a C-SPAN guy. [O'Neill]
• Son, do you know what color this phone is? [Hammond]
• Case of the left hand not knowing what the right foot is doing, Sir? [O'Neill]
• Colonel, I need some documents hand-delivered to the Groom Lake Facility. [Hammond]
  Are those documents sensitive enough to warrant a three-man team with a Jaffa escort, Sir? [O'Neill]
  Absolutely. [Hammond]
• Is this where you're keeping the little green men? [O'Neill]
  There are no alien life forms at Area 51. [Reynolds]
  Present company excluded, of course. [O'Neill]
• In my culture, I would be well within my rights to dismember you. [Teal'c]
• If you're looking for specific answers, I'd ask that you be a little less cryptic with your questions. [Maybourne]
  Fine. Where's the damn touchstone? [O'Neill]
• I don't know who's giving you orders, Maybourne, but they had better come from where the air is real thin. [O'Neill]
  Is that a threat, Colonel? [Maybourne]
  You tell me the punishment for losing a stargate. [O'Neill]
• Let's just put out an A.P.B. for a huge, honkin', two-story metal ring with 39 little pictures all nicely engraved on it. [O'Neill]
• Here we are, transporting our people across the galaxy to find something we lost in our own back yard. Incredible. [Hammond]
• Strange things happen in high places. People get reassigned, so does property. Artifacts get misplaced. Orders change. Every day's a new day. [Maybourne]

FOR THE RECORD

• Popular Culture References:
  • Star Wars
    • Whoever these Dark Side guys are, they can do some pretty nasty damage.