Are they the "real" SG1: An analysis (Spoilers for Moebius, Threads and other eps.)
Warning--This post contains spoilers for the SG1 episodes Moebius Parts one and two, Threads, 2010, 1969 and Fragile Balance, and the Atlantis episodes Rising Parts one and two, and Before I Sleep.
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Lately, the boards have seen a lot of activity concerning whether the SG1 at the end of Moebius is the same SG1 we've known for the last eight years. This question arises due to the two massive timeline changes caused by SG1 during this two-part episode. Fans have made reference to the disparity of the final scenes of this episode and the one preceding (Threads), both depicting the same events. In the first, Jack and Sam are fishing and Sam says something along the lines of "There aren't any fish in this pond are there?" Jack says, "No." In the second exchange, a fish jumps out of the water, and Sam asks, "Didn't the tape say there were no fish in this pond?" Jack replies, "Close enough." The conclusion many have drawn--Our SG1 is no more. At the very least, there are two different timelines
I've got news for you, kids. "Our" SG1 has been no more for a long time. More properly, the original timeline has been altered substantially on a number of occasions. Let's see how.
(Note that this analysis by and large is based on the model used by M. Joseph Young (http://www.mjyoung.net/time/index.htm), who runs a website dedicated to examining the inconsistencies of time travel as depicted in movies.. His model of time travel allows for changes in the timeline due to temporal interference. SG1's producers seem to follow a similar vein of thought. I have simplified Young's model somewhat. Were he to analyze the episodes I will, he might well conclude the timeline had been irreparably damaged.)
Episode Title
Effect on Timeline
1969
The original timeline ceases to exist when SG1 travels back in time. If it would have continued, SG1 would have been labeled missing in action, and the SG program may or may not have continued without its best team.
We have in its place a second timeline wherein SG1 is present and alters events in 1969. They interact with Catherine and Lt. Hammond. In this timeline, there is no note from the older Hammond to the younger, so either Hammond does not help them or he does so without seeing the note. It is unclear just how that note is produced. Perhaps the first time Cassandra sends them back they arrive before they left, thus giving Hammond the impetus and opportunity to write this note. Perhaps Carter finds a way to leave a message the future Hammond will recognize. He deciphers it and writes the note. (This is pure speculation.) Suffice it to say this note did get written, and SG1 propels itself forward into the future of this timeline. In the episode, they meet an aged Cassandra. However, there really is no reason for her to be there. Perhaps in this second timeline, she isn't. SG1 explores the base, running into security. At some point they convince the authorities they are who they claim to be. Perhaps they don't. Some or all of them make it back in time to a third timeline, (Carter at least does).
This timeline sets things up for a smooth transition into the fourth. It is arranged for Cassandra to be in the future to meet the SG1 team and send them back home. And Hammond's note is perhaps taken care of here as well. The fourth timeline is the one depicted at the beginning of this episode.
The fouth timeline team carries Hammond's note with them. When they reach 1969, a fifth timeline is created. The team, like the team from the second timeline, propel themselves forward in time to meet an aged Cassandra. She sends them back to a time shortly after they left, creating a sixth timeline. And the adventure continues.
2010
Events have progressed steadily in the sixth timeline until the year 2010. SG1 made contact with an alien race that has made life on earth much better. However, this race is making humanity sterile. Carter discovers this, and reunites SG1 to prevent this from ever happening. They die in the process, but this does not matter since they restart the timeline. They successfully send the note back in time, and SG1 doesn't make contact with this planet (They do a little later, but with vastly different results.)
Thus, we are propelled into a seventh timeline.
Before I Sleep (Atlantis)
In the seventh timeline the Atlantis expedition fails. Everyone dies except for Weir who is propelled back in time to when the Ancients still inhabited the city. This creates an eighth timeline, rebooting everything. The events portrayed in the Atlantis opening occur as depicted. However, when the timeline is rebooted, everything is rebooted. So there is a timeline wherein Weir was sent back to the ancients and SG1 disappeared. And one wherein they did not receive help from Hammond, etc. By the end of the episode, we are in timeline thirteen. Quite an unlucky timeline. We have to change it quick. Fortunately we have...
Moebius
The time machine that was left in Atlantis in the seventh timeline, is taken to earth in timelines eight and beyond. And it is found by SG1, who use it to enter the past, thus creating timeline fourteen. In this timeline, Weir is resting peacefully in Atlantis, waiting for an expedition that will never come. SG1 is stuck back in time and lead a revolt. Ra captures and executes SG1 except for Daniel. Daniel leads a revolt, propelling Ra to leave earth, taking the Stargate with him. Fast-forward to 2005 and the events depicted in Moebius. Nerdy Daniel and Carter are in dead end jobs. Jack is retired. Teal'c is still first prime of Apophis.
Carter, Jack, and Teal'c head back in time to prevent an invasion of earth by Apophis's forces. This creates a fifteenth timeline. SG1 leads a rebellion. Ra leaves earth sans Stargate. Timeline thirteen Daniel and timeline fourteen SG1 live out the rest of their lives in this timeline. Jack and Carter are finally together and it only took a reality-shattering cataclysm to do it. Fast forward to 2005, and the events of the past eight years of SG1 have occurred more or less as we've seen them. Archaeologists find the tape and the ZPM, and SG1 has no need of going back in time.
Of course by the end of this episode, we have to repeat the process of timeline adjustments I mentioned in the Before I Sleep episode analysis. By the time this is all over, we're in timeline twenty.
Now timeline twenty is quite different from timeline thirteen. For one, in timeline twenty only one Jack O'Neill existed (excluding his teenage clone, of course
). In timeline twenty, three have lived and altered the past. Same for Carter and Teal'c. And we've got two Daniels. Call them temporal duplicates if you like.
So, what happened to our SG1? They've been gone since at least the fourth timeline. Hence they perished offscreen near the end of season two between the episodes Show and Tell and 1969.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
Lately, the boards have seen a lot of activity concerning whether the SG1 at the end of Moebius is the same SG1 we've known for the last eight years. This question arises due to the two massive timeline changes caused by SG1 during this two-part episode. Fans have made reference to the disparity of the final scenes of this episode and the one preceding (Threads), both depicting the same events. In the first, Jack and Sam are fishing and Sam says something along the lines of "There aren't any fish in this pond are there?" Jack says, "No." In the second exchange, a fish jumps out of the water, and Sam asks, "Didn't the tape say there were no fish in this pond?" Jack replies, "Close enough." The conclusion many have drawn--Our SG1 is no more. At the very least, there are two different timelines
I've got news for you, kids. "Our" SG1 has been no more for a long time. More properly, the original timeline has been altered substantially on a number of occasions. Let's see how.
(Note that this analysis by and large is based on the model used by M. Joseph Young (http://www.mjyoung.net/time/index.htm), who runs a website dedicated to examining the inconsistencies of time travel as depicted in movies.. His model of time travel allows for changes in the timeline due to temporal interference. SG1's producers seem to follow a similar vein of thought. I have simplified Young's model somewhat. Were he to analyze the episodes I will, he might well conclude the timeline had been irreparably damaged.)
Episode Title
Effect on Timeline
1969
The original timeline ceases to exist when SG1 travels back in time. If it would have continued, SG1 would have been labeled missing in action, and the SG program may or may not have continued without its best team.
We have in its place a second timeline wherein SG1 is present and alters events in 1969. They interact with Catherine and Lt. Hammond. In this timeline, there is no note from the older Hammond to the younger, so either Hammond does not help them or he does so without seeing the note. It is unclear just how that note is produced. Perhaps the first time Cassandra sends them back they arrive before they left, thus giving Hammond the impetus and opportunity to write this note. Perhaps Carter finds a way to leave a message the future Hammond will recognize. He deciphers it and writes the note. (This is pure speculation.) Suffice it to say this note did get written, and SG1 propels itself forward into the future of this timeline. In the episode, they meet an aged Cassandra. However, there really is no reason for her to be there. Perhaps in this second timeline, she isn't. SG1 explores the base, running into security. At some point they convince the authorities they are who they claim to be. Perhaps they don't. Some or all of them make it back in time to a third timeline, (Carter at least does).
This timeline sets things up for a smooth transition into the fourth. It is arranged for Cassandra to be in the future to meet the SG1 team and send them back home. And Hammond's note is perhaps taken care of here as well. The fourth timeline is the one depicted at the beginning of this episode.
The fouth timeline team carries Hammond's note with them. When they reach 1969, a fifth timeline is created. The team, like the team from the second timeline, propel themselves forward in time to meet an aged Cassandra. She sends them back to a time shortly after they left, creating a sixth timeline. And the adventure continues.
2010
Events have progressed steadily in the sixth timeline until the year 2010. SG1 made contact with an alien race that has made life on earth much better. However, this race is making humanity sterile. Carter discovers this, and reunites SG1 to prevent this from ever happening. They die in the process, but this does not matter since they restart the timeline. They successfully send the note back in time, and SG1 doesn't make contact with this planet (They do a little later, but with vastly different results.)
Thus, we are propelled into a seventh timeline.
Before I Sleep (Atlantis)
In the seventh timeline the Atlantis expedition fails. Everyone dies except for Weir who is propelled back in time to when the Ancients still inhabited the city. This creates an eighth timeline, rebooting everything. The events portrayed in the Atlantis opening occur as depicted. However, when the timeline is rebooted, everything is rebooted. So there is a timeline wherein Weir was sent back to the ancients and SG1 disappeared. And one wherein they did not receive help from Hammond, etc. By the end of the episode, we are in timeline thirteen. Quite an unlucky timeline. We have to change it quick. Fortunately we have...
Moebius
The time machine that was left in Atlantis in the seventh timeline, is taken to earth in timelines eight and beyond. And it is found by SG1, who use it to enter the past, thus creating timeline fourteen. In this timeline, Weir is resting peacefully in Atlantis, waiting for an expedition that will never come. SG1 is stuck back in time and lead a revolt. Ra captures and executes SG1 except for Daniel. Daniel leads a revolt, propelling Ra to leave earth, taking the Stargate with him. Fast-forward to 2005 and the events depicted in Moebius. Nerdy Daniel and Carter are in dead end jobs. Jack is retired. Teal'c is still first prime of Apophis.
Carter, Jack, and Teal'c head back in time to prevent an invasion of earth by Apophis's forces. This creates a fifteenth timeline. SG1 leads a rebellion. Ra leaves earth sans Stargate. Timeline thirteen Daniel and timeline fourteen SG1 live out the rest of their lives in this timeline. Jack and Carter are finally together and it only took a reality-shattering cataclysm to do it. Fast forward to 2005, and the events of the past eight years of SG1 have occurred more or less as we've seen them. Archaeologists find the tape and the ZPM, and SG1 has no need of going back in time.
Of course by the end of this episode, we have to repeat the process of timeline adjustments I mentioned in the Before I Sleep episode analysis. By the time this is all over, we're in timeline twenty.
Now timeline twenty is quite different from timeline thirteen. For one, in timeline twenty only one Jack O'Neill existed (excluding his teenage clone, of course
). In timeline twenty, three have lived and altered the past. Same for Carter and Teal'c. And we've got two Daniels. Call them temporal duplicates if you like. So, what happened to our SG1? They've been gone since at least the fourth timeline. Hence they perished offscreen near the end of season two between the episodes Show and Tell and 1969.
As long as you are consistant in which theory you hold too, thats the rub.
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