So during SG-1’s final season, I came up with an outline for a time travel episode. And not your typical time-travel episode either. Building on a notion Paul once pitched out, I built a story on the idea of the team triggering an accident with the time-traveling puddle jumper (last scene in Good To Be King) which ends up landing them in three separate timelines: past, present, and future. As the story progresses, past events influence the present, shaping the future but both the present and future inevitably shape what has come before as well. Anyway, I had a lot of fun ideas of how the different timelines could affect each other and, rather than pitch it out verbally and risk confusing everyone, I decided to spell it all out in a color-coded outline…that ended up confusing everyone. Hell, re-reading the thing today, there are elements that leave me confused. But, trust me – at the time, it all made perfect sense.
And so, today, I present to you a story idea that didn’t make the cut, in all of its detailed, multi-colored glory. If nothing else, consider it a fine example of a working outline. Or, better yet, consider it a fine example of a headache-inducing outline that, in the end, failed to win anyone over. Complex, yes. Confusing, you bet. But colorful like nobody’s business!
YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW
(OUTLINE)
First timeline
Second timeline
Third timeline
TEASE
{PRESENT}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
The team drops in on Carter who is overseeing the analysis of the time device retrieved from the puddle jumper in Good to Be King. She makes some adjustments for a final calibration when, suddenly, the device reacts and the team undergoes a weird morphing effect as –
The device sparks and dies. The laptop hooked up to it reads no data. For all intents and purposes, the device is dead. Landry walks in, alerted by the noise. What happened? Carter isn’t sure. But it looks like she won’t be joining the team for lunch after all.
{PAST}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
The team undergoes a weird morphing effect, that quickly wanes as –
The device sparks and dies. The laptop hooked up to it reads no data. For all intents and purposes, the device is dead. Dr. Lee hurries in, alerted by the noise. What happened? Then, on seeing the team, asks them when they got back. Got back? Well, so far as he knew, Teal’c had left the Stargate program and gone to Dakara, Daniel was being reassigned, and Carter was doing R&D at Area 51. As for Mitchell and Vala – he doesn’t know who they are. Carter covers. Lee leaves. The team realizes – they’ve traveled approximately one year into the past.
{FUTURE}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
The team undergoes a weird morphing effect, that quickly wanes as –
The device sparks and dies. The laptop hooked up to it reads no data. For all intents and purposes, the device is dead. Suddenly – armed guards rush into the lab and get the drop on them, demanding to know who they are. The team tells them. But the guards aren’t buying it. They can’t be SG-1. SG-1 was killed over ten years ago.
ACT I
NOTE: A chyron will clearly delineate the time period of each scene: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE.
{PRESENT}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC- DAY
After lunch. The rest of the team drops in with take-out for Carter who has been working on the now dead device. How’s it coming along? Well, if her findings are correct, the accident theoretically initiated a “quantum tripling effect”, potentially generating three identical versions of themselves. One version was sent 14 months into the past, another version 10 years into the future, while another version remained in their present seemingly unaffected.
{PAST}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
By accessing the base files, Carter figures out that they have actually traveled fourteen months into the past. She has to get the device working so they can jump back to the present before they affect the timeline.
{FUTURE}
INT. OBSERVATION ROOM – SGC – DAY
The team is interrogated by a military officer who is reluctant to believe their story. Although he refuses to answer their questions, it is clear that things have changed around Stargate Command in the ten years they’ve missed.
{PRESENT}
INT. CORRIDOR – SGC – DAY
Mitchell is headed down the corridor when Harriman catches up, hands him a letter addressed to him. A stamp on the front of the letter reads: “HOLD FOR DELIVERY”. Mitchell opens it up and, as he reads, gets a quizzical look.
{PAST}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
As Carter gets to work on the device, Mitchell has to ask: Why NOT screw with history? If they can avoid alerting the Ori to their presence, then wouldn’t that be a good enough argument for doing it? The team debates. If there was ever a good reason to change the timeline, this would be it.
{FUTURE}
INT. OBSERVATION ROOM – SGC – DAY
The team is paid a visit by the leader of the future new world order. None other than Baal.
ACT II
{PRESENT}
INT. LANDRY’S OFFICE – SGC – DAY
Carter fills Landry in on her bizarre findings. She has discovered that the reason the time device “shorted out” was because it had been sabotaged. And given the means by which it was sabotaged, a virus, it had to have been an inside job.
{PAST}
INT. DANIEL’S LAB – SGC – DAY
RE-USE of a scene from Avalon I: Daniel and Vala discuss the tablet she brought –
EXT. CORRIDOR – SGC – DAY
Mitchell and Vala wait until the coast is clear and then duck into –
INT. DANIEL’S LAB – SGC – DAY
Sneak in and steal the tablet. While they are there, Vala spots a familiar jeweled coin. She is amazed by the find. She misplaced this coin over a year ago when she first came to Stargate Command. Mitchell remembers it well as Vala spent weeks accusing everyone, from the cleaning staff to the guards on duty, of having pilfered it. To avoid it inevitably falling into the wrong hands, she furtively pockets the coin.
{FUTURE}
INT. OBSERVATION ROOM – SGC – DAY
Baal explains how, following the events of Quest I and II, he redirected his focus to Earth. Even he was surprised by how quickly the planet fell to him. Carter asks him how he managed it. Baal is vague but does make mention of a company called Byzantium Tech that was instrumental in helping him secure power. The team wants to know what happened to the Ori? But Baal informs them that he has a dinner party to attend. As for them – well, so long as SG-1 is alive, they’ll always be a threat. He bids them a fond farewell as armed guards enter the room…
{PRESENT}
INT. DANIEL’S LAB – SGC – DAY
Teal’c finds Mitchell on Daniel’s computer, doing a little research. Mitchell tells him about the mysterious letter he received, a cryptic tip-off from an unknown source directing him to a company called Byzantium Tech. He has discovered that they are a government sub-contractor that specializes in military software…
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC- DAY
Vala checks in on Carter who is working on the first step toward repairing the time device: a counter-program that will hopefully rid it of the virus.
{PAST}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
Mitchell and Vala return with the tablet. They hesitate and ultimately decide, there’s no turning back. They destroy the tablet, hopefully avoiding the Ori threat, changing the timeline and causing…
{PRESENT}
INT. CORRIDOR – SGC – DAY
The present to morph. One second Carter is walking down the corridor with Vala and, the next, its Carter and Mitchell (in different outfits) suddenly alerted by the base alarm. What the hell? They hurry into –
INT. CONTROL ROOM – SGC- DAY
Where Landry informs them: several enemy ships have been detected entering Earth’s orbit.
{FUTURE}
INT. CORRIDOR – SGC – DAY
The team is escorted out of the observation room and down the corridor to their presumed deaths. Suddenly, everything morphs. The soldiers disappear and the corridors empty except for our team who is aware of the change. What the hell just happened? Carter realizes: someone is fucking with the timeline.
ACT III
{PRESENT}
INT. CONTROL ROOM – SGC – DAY
Landry enters with the bad news. The President has refused to surrender. Earth will go down fighting.
{PAST}
EXT. SOME TROPICAL ISLAND – DAY (MATTE)
Establish.
INT. MITCHELL’S ISLAND DIGS – DAY
The rest of the team has regrouped after having gone their separate ways. It’s been months since they screwed with the timeline and things haven’t gone exactly as they’d hoped. In fact, one could argue they’re worse off. Mysterious biological attacks have wiped out most of Asia and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the planet is destroyed as well. Mitchell: So, what do you suggest? Carter: We try again. How? Mitchell points out that the time device was fried.
But Carter has spent these past months working on it. She discovered that it was sabotaged by a virus that caused the accident and a “quantum tripling effect” which generated three identical versions of themselves. One version was sent 14 months into the past, another version 10 years into the future, while another version remained in their present seemingly unaffected. She managed to create a counter-program that de-bugged the time device of the virus. Unfortunately, the device itself is still damaged and will not allow them to time jump at will, only capable of operating within two narrow parameters: the two points in time already jumped to. In other words, they have a shot at a do-over.
{FUTURE}
INT. VARIOUS CORRIDORS – SGC – DAY
The place is dead, deserted. The team discovers it’s not just the SGC. All life on Earth has been wiped out. Who or what could have done this?
{PRESENT}
INT. SGC – DAY
Carter and Mitchell stand by Landry as they receive a message from the Aschen. This is payback for the events of 2001. North America is targeted by the Aschen’s biological payloads.
INT. CONTROL ROOM – SGC – DAY
The SGC is wiped out.
{PAST}
INT. CORRIDOR – SGC – DAY
The team sneak back onto the base and –
INT. CARTER’S LAB – DAY
Where Carter initiates the device. Morph. Discover – they are back in the same time. Dr. Lee comes in. What happened? Carter covers. Lee leaves. Okay, they’re good.
INT. CORRIDOR – SGC – DAY
They sneak toward the control room. Along the way, Vala passes Daniel’s lab and spots her jeweled coin sitting there. She pockets it and hurries to catch up with the rest of the team.
INT. CONTROL ROOM – DAY
Carter sneaks in and deletes the address to an Aschen-controlled planet from the database, ensuring a future SG team not visit the unexplored world and reawaken the sleeping giant, changing the timeline and causing –
{PRESENT}
INT. VARIOUS CORRIDORS – DAY
Morphs. The dead SGC personnel disappear to be replaced by our team headed to a meeting. Again – what the hell? They walk into –
INT. BRIEFING ROOM – DAY
A Prior is there to accept Earth’s unconditional surrender.
{FUTURE}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
Their surroundings morph yet again. Hidden from view, they watch the new-look SGC personnel pass in the halls. The base has been transformed into a command center for the new Ori army. And Carter realizes – someone has fucked with the timeline yet again.
ACT IV
{FUTURE}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
Carter realizes that the only way to stop the team from the past from screwing with history is to travel back to the past themselves and stop it from happening. She has discovered some research that the Carter from this timeline completed long ago – a counter-program that will de-bug the time device of the virus. It will not fix the device completely but, at the very least, will allow them to make a jump back in time. In other words, they have a shot at a do-over.
Carter initiates the device and they return to –
{PAST}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
Lee comes in. Carter covers. Lee leaves. Again, the timeline is changed, causing –
{PRESENT}
INT. CORRIDOR – SGC – DAY
Morph. One second, Mitchell, Teal’c and Vala are walking down the corridor discussing the fact that Earth has fallen to the Ori and, the next, they’re walking down the corridor, locking and loading. What the hell? They learn that they are headed out to check Byzantium Tech, the government sub-contractor, producer of military software. Things are back on track – and they are completely unaware of the change.
{PAST}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
Okay, now what? Well, now nothing. They simply won’t change anything and allow history to unfold as it should. Only problem is – what about them? Are they to remain stuck in this timeline? Mitchell: “Hey, it could be worse. It’s not like we’re stuck in caveman times or Ancient Egypt.”. But Carter has a solution. They can solve their problem, keep any of this time-jumping from happening, by sabotaging the time device and ensuring it never works in the first place. But in order to do that, they are going to have to get into Area 51…
INT. CORRIDOR – AREA 51 – DAY
The team slips into Area 51 and into –
INT. HANGAR – AREA 51 – DAY (MATTE)
Where the puddle jumper from Good to Be King is being stored.
INT. PUDDLE-JUMPER – DAY
Carter hooks her laptop up to the time device. She has created a virus that will effectively sabotage the time device ensuring it won’t work the next time (14 months in the future) they try to use it. She uploads the virus. Beat. The team exchanges looks. They’re still there. Uh, shouldn’t something have happened? And if not, why not? Carter realizes…Oh, no.
{PRESENT}
INT. SGC – DAY
Carter realizes the person who sabotaged the device was her!
ACT V
{PRESENT}
EXT. BYZANTIUM TECH CORPORATE OFFICES – DAY
Mitchell, Teal’c, and Vala lead an NID raid on the corporate headquarters of Byzatium Tech. A firefight ensues. They take down the bad guys.
{PAST}
INT. CORRIDOR – SGC – DAY
The team sneaks back into the SGC. Hey, where’s Vala? Vala slips back out of Daniel’s lab, pocketing her jeweled coin, and quickly rejoins the team.
{PRESENT}
INT. BRIEFING ROOM – SGC – DAY
Carter gets everyone up to speed on what she learned from the still-ruined time device and the changes to their reality – which seem to have been undone. Vala is only half-listening to it all, still amazed as she is by the discovery of her long lost coin. Mitchell briefs everyone on Byzantium Tech which, it turns out, had connections to the Baal-controlled trust. It’s too early to tell what they were up to, but they put a stop to things before they could get their operation off the ground. It’s a good thing they caught them in time. As for who tipped them off, he guesses they’ll never know…
{PAST}
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
The team is ready for their next jump. Hey, where’s Mitchell?
INT. CORRIDOR – SGC – DAY
Mitchell hands Harriman a letter and a note with specific instructions for the postal service to hold it for delivery. Reveal it is the letter that Mitchell received from that anonymous source. As Mitchell hurries back and –
INT. CARTER’S LAB – SGC – DAY
Joins the team. Hopefully, things will work themselves out. Carter: “Well, who know what the future holds?” Mitchell: “We will in about twelve seconds”. Carter initiates the device and the team heads off the to the future, to find out how things worked out.
FADE OUT
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