• “The Torment of Tantalus”

•             Episode 11

•             Broadcast Date: October 3, 1997

•             Syndication Broadcast Date: November 16, 1998

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Chad’s Summary:

            Jackson and O’Neill are watching film detailing experiments performed on the Stargate in 1945. They are amazed when people, on the film, manage to activate the gate and send one person on an interstellar journey using the gate. Jackson goes to see Catherine Langford (Elizabeth Hoffman) – the woman who recruited him for the very first Abydos mission – to inform her about the events of 1945. Ernest Littlefield (Keene Curtis / Paul McGillion), the man who went through the gate, was presumed dead. He was also Catherine’s fiancé. The planet Ernest gated to has similar coordinates to that of Abydos. The planet is also not on the Abydos cartouche. Therefore, the Goa’uld (with the exception of Ra) does not know that the planet exists. SG-1, with Catherine, goes through the gate to find Ernest. Jackson discovers that the planet was once a place of worship for the Goa’uld Ra. To their horror, the team finds that the Dial Home Device (DHD) has been broken. The team also discovers, with the help of Ernest, a room that has a 146 element periodic table projected onto the ceiling. Jackson calls the find a universal language. The room also has four (4) different alien languages written on the walls. The team must set up a lightening rod, on the roof, in order to supply power to the gate. Ernest, Catherine, and SG-1 go back to Earth. à Plot Outline by Chad C.

Guest Cast:

• Gary Jones as Technician Walter Harriman
• Elizabeth Hoffman as Catherine Langford
• Keene Curtis as Ernest Littlefield
• Duncan Fraser as Professor Langford
• Nancy McClure as Young Catherine Langford
• Paul McGillion as Young Ernest Littlefield
• Sheelah Megill as Martha, the Maid

Recurring Actors & Characters:

• ·        Gary Jones (Walter Harriman) à [Episode 9]

• ·        Elizabeth Hoffman (Catherine Langford) à [Episode 1]

Production Crew:

• Developed for Television: Brad Wright & Jonathan Glassner
• Co—Executive Producer: Michael Greenburg
• Producer: N. John Smith
• Writer: Robert C. Cooper
• Director: Jonathan Glassner
• Executive Producers: Jonathan Glassner & Brad Wright
• Executive Story Consultant: Katharyn Powers
• Executive Story Editor: Robert C. Cooper
• Production Manager: N. John Smith
• First Assistant Director: Bill Mizel
• Second Assistant Director: Matthew J. Blecha
• Music: Kevin Kiner
• Original Stargate Theme: David Arnold
• Director of Photography: Peter Woeste, C.S.C.
• Production Designer: Richard Hudolin
• Editor: Allan Lee
• Art Director: Bridget McGuire
• Costume Designer: Christina McQuarrie
• Make—Up Artist: Jan Newman
• Assistant to the Co—Executive Producer: John G. Lenic

 Actor Tracker:

• Actor Paul McGillion will next appear as Dr. Carson Beckett, in the Stargate Atlantis (2004 to Present) TV series. Stargate Atlantis is a spin – off series to Stargate SG-1.

 Destination:

• The SGC computer designation is P3X—972. The planet name is unknown. However, the planet was the destination of the first Stargate mission back in 1945. On that mission, the lone man sent through the gate, Ernest Littlefield, was stranded on the planet with no way to return to Earth. The planet has many ruins including remnants of a castle perched on a high cliff. The castle, now abandoned, served as the meeting arena for four advanced alien races – the Nox, the Furlings, the Asgard, and the Ancients.

Plot Outline is copyright 2002 by Sci-Fi Corner.

Stargate SG-1 is copyright 1997 -- 2007 by MGM Corporation.