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
(This was cut and pasted from yesterday’s blog. I was writing it while you posted todays).
I am glad to hear how things are going with SGU (as per your Mark Wilson/About.com interview). I am tired of TV shows (and even movies these days) that focus more on short term story arcs in favour of character development and meaningful dialogue. When every single statement that is made by the characters deals directly with the plot of one particular episode, it makes for bad storytelling. It is to the point now where there is no mystery. We know that when something is said about one of the characters that it for sure has to do with the resolution of that particular episode’s problem. There are a few shows that try to trick us by leading us in one direction (i.e., the information given to the viewer leads them to believe that character “b” is the villain, but in reality it is character “c”), but after a couple episodes this technique no longer works, and it is insulting. Not giving us information during the episode and then all of a sudden revealing all, is more of a deus ex machina narrative, but in the worst kind of way. There are shows now where all there is is a Rodney McKay type character relaying technical jargon to a Samantha Carter type character thereby dragging–not leading, teasing, or goading us–through the story. Yes this is necessary in many instances so that the audience can fill in some pieces to the overall story, but to have almost entire episodes of this type of narrative is sad. Are we that stupid or are the writers just getting lazy (or some third option I have not considered)?
I am also glad to hear that the tone of SGU will be different than that of Battlestar. My goodness! Talk about overdoing it with the fight or flight tone. Even the music on that show gets my hairs to stand up on end.
And, while I did not land the part of Airman Becker, I have decided to work on the show as a background performer so that I can at least be a part of it. I was hoping I’d get the part so that I would get to be a guest blogger here, but alas, I will just have to wait for the next Stargate spin-off to try out for a part.
Have you heard anything about the show Defying Gravity that is being filmed at Bridge?
Definately an interesting concept. I personally didn’t find it too confusing and I think it would’ve made a fantastic episode. Too bad you couldn’t beat the other writers into submission and make it happen, lol. Oh well, I guess I can always pretend this was an adventure SG-1 had. Thanks for this Joe, just another reason why the Stargate franchise rocks.
ok does this have to do with SGU? If not all that could have been for SGA when cater was in charge. I think it was a good outlines for some new episodes. Hey Joe do you know anywhere else we can get signitures for our petitons? and do you think the cast knows about them? Srry just had to ask. Hey do you think a network like ABC,NBC,CBS or even FOX would take chance on a show like SGA? And if so would you write the show for them if they said yeah?
Keep up the good work
oh wow thanks
*Hands out vast quantities of Timeline Aspirin*
*hugs Joe* They just don’t understand you do they Hon? 😀
I think I feel like the fade out at the end, I can see some reason for confusion,lol. I tried reading it with the present, past and future in their respective places, made a little more sense. I like puzzles. I liked seeing how it could have worked out. in all the time lines, and by gosh it is colorful. I don’t have a headache yet, , thanks for the entertaining reading material. 😀
And you said “Moebius” made producers’ heads explode…
I do miss SG1. Maybe my brain is more dense than usual (could it possibly get more dense?), but I had it in my head this was a Season 6 SGA storyline pitch.
Catching up a bit on back blogs. I also add a voice to the Supernatural watchers. Dean cracks me up.
Chelle DeBoer
Left a message for you on yesterday’s blog. Just hoping those in Healesville are ok.
I’m dizzy…..
I thought it was going to be in line with All Good Things… (Startrek TNG)… me of little faith.
I liked the concept a lot – thank you! Esp. the part “someone is fucking with the timeline” if I imagine Carter saying it.
If only there was a device which would allow you to travel back in time and apply the correct color coding to the text. Hmmmm. 🙂
Y,T,and T would have worked well with either SG-1 or SGA I think. This would have been an episode that people would have watch multiple times to savor all the nice little twists and anomolies. I hope that posting this means the concept is forever dead and gone. Surely there is a way to make it fit into SGU, or vice versa. Thank you for sharing this with us. Now, back to work with you. We’re awaiting the final product from your secret project, never mind more tidbits on the progress of SGU.
*gets out time travel aspirin*
Like you said…I’m sure it made sense at the time…
Thanks for sharing, though…it’s always enlightening to see how the creative process works. Kinda glad, though, that time travel device stayed in Area 51. Last time they tried using it, we ended up with fish in Jack’s pond. Who know what might have changed this time….
SBS
Interesting episode,
Wow it’s funny how I always post question too late or on a non mailbag day
Anaways…..
How is life in Canada(and in general) going for you?
i liked it! 😀
i kept expecting, though, that vala pocketing that coin would have some impact.
i miss sg1. i miss sam carter. *sighs with lovely memories*
Wow. That’s enough to make your head explode. I would’ve liked to have seen it on film, though.
Oh Lord that was a bit confusing, but fun to read.
Question: Why don’t the ships (Earth) carry Stargates with them?
Love it! Didn’t find it confusing at all. (OTOH, I was unfazed by The Matrix, too, so who am I to judge?)
Um…I think I got it. Doing a little reading – stop, scroll up – read again and OH, I think I got it a lot but yeah. Awesome concept. It would have been interesting to see how it would come across onscreen.
I was determined to understand it; I did’t want to be the one who found it confusing! And it wasn’t too confusing. I kept up on the first read through, so that’s a good sign, right? Very interesting concept, but I can’t begin to imagine how hard it would be to pull of on TV.
You should totally pitch that episode concept as a movie and naturally improve upon it as to like not give us blog readers the ending we already know lol
Hm… I agree, that is a bit confusing. There’s a lot of questions I could ask here to clear it up, but it’s really a moot point, isn’t it? It looks like there’s just too much story there for a single episode. Maybe it would work as a short novel. I did like the Aschen coming back again, and the ancient Egypt reference. Because really, the fact that there’s a mostly-AU SG-1 back there in the timeline of the main universe should be addressed again at some point.
Oooh, thanks for posting that! It was definitely a bit mindbendy, but I enjoy that.
One thing I think the Stargate ‘verse has always done well in my opinion, is the “alternate universe” concepts. I think this would have made a good episode!
That totally made sense and would have made for an awesome episode. I think it gets a little confusing because you are following 3 teams in 3 stories so you actually have to follow 9 teams. Still it would have been much more comprehendable on the screen.
BTW did u get the motivational poster??
I liked that time-travel episode. There would have been some ripe opportunities for Mitchell/Teal’c comedy there, too. I didn’t think it was confusing.
I didn’t get past the first bit where the device dies three times.
But, on the upside, I can read quicker with the lines of text are further apart. So, that’s a good thing, I suppose.
My roommate has put this bit of foil wrapping on my keyboard to see it move when I type. As of yet, it’s really annoying. And it makes noise. Yet I do nothing to stop it.
Masochist by trade.
Check.
Honest opinion: just on the line between Awesomely Confusing and Too Confusing. My major quibble though, is what happens with Past!SG1 and Future!SG1? The Past version just seems to disappear after they delete the Aschen from the database, and the future versions are jumping ala Scott Bakula? 😉
Of course, I can understand if this was a little confusing, as an outline doesn’t cover the whole story; I’m sure that, if the dialogue were written down as well, it’d make everything much clearer. In that case, this would’ve been a mindblowing (literally) episode! I love time travel stories, the more confusing the better (as long as they stay on THIS side of that line), and this was just whackily out there.
Should we be afraid that you once upon a time understood all of this? Hmmm…I think you may be more of a mad genius than you thought. 😉
How about doing this for your next short story (if there is one)? Change the plot and characters, but keep the alternating timelines. It’ll be great.
Meanwhile, the news coming out of Australia is just horrible. Us here in BC have wildfires too but nothing comparable to this. I wish our Aussie friends all the best of luck with this, and condolences on any loss you have suffered.
Hopefully this goes away soon.
@ das: Oh man, totally with you on the germ thing. I don’t wash my hands constantly either (though I do make sure I do it), but if a piece of food smells funny or looks strange in any way, shape, or form, I ain’t eating it. And, if I do, I’ll be worrying about it for a good few hours afterwards.
That was a beautiful place indeed! Take note: it’s called Glacier Point, and it’s in Yosemite Park, just outside the Valley area, a little drive south of it. Won’t hurt to visit it, ya know? 😉
Noticed the albow and knuckles, eh? Yes, like I said, hanging on for dear life. 😀
Is there supposed to be a date on today’s entry? I wasn’t sure if you were doing a play on words with the date and all…
@ Narelle – Glad you’re okay! I was worried…
I worry about everything. 😛
das
@ pg15 – Oh, I am the same exact way with food! LOLOL!! I am very picky about food – I question everything I eat..’how old is it? Was it washed first? Is it supposed to ooze like that?” Ya know – normal questions. 😀
Part of it is because of my mom and her habit of leaving things in the fridge toooo long. She’ll eat something three weeks old and not get sick, but me?? I won’t eat it if it’s more than 3 or 4 days old. Ever since I was a kid I’d go in the fridge and smell stuff and ask, ‘how long has this been in here?’ My family makes a big joke about me and food…and they LOVE it when they make something with old meat in it, and I eat it… ‘Guess what YOU just ate??! That beef’s been in the freezer for 3 years, and you couldn’t even tell! Hahahahahaha!”
God, I hate them sometimes. 😛
George Carlin used to have a routine about cleaning out the refrigerator – it went something like, “Have you ever found something in the refrigerator, and you couldn’t tell if it was meat…or if it was cake? Maybe it’s meatcake.”
Well, one day back before I was married I was helping mom clean out the fridge, and we found something…it was kinda wedged-shaped…and brownish grey…it looked like fuzzy roast beef, or maybe German chocolate cake…and we looked at each other with these screwed-up faces, and at the same time we both said, “Meatcake?” We still laugh about that one.
So, yeah…I am right there with you about food. I try not to over-purchase food because I know I’ll just throw it away if I don’t ‘trust’ it…OR…I’ll give it to my mom. 😈
das
And Daniel was where for this episode? Doing what? Out having a holiday or holding up the background?
Chev – Hadn’t seen your message from a few days ago. Had a bit of time away from here. All good on our front thanks!
Hopefully with some things from last week out the way I can get going again on my super, secret (sorta) project.
Joe, I match your super, secret project and raise you a super, secret (sorta) project.
Except you already know about it…
Damn! Should’ve folded.
A very interesting concept – the structure reminded more of “Tabula Rasa” in S4 SGA, with the jumps between the past, present and future. That was one of my favourite SGA episodes, and I’m a big time travel story junkie, so I’m sorry that story will never see the screen. I’m glad you shared though! I don’t supposed you would consider sharing other such lost gems in the future? Pretty please?
@ das: OMG, I think I just found my kindred spirit. 😀
What’s the first thing I do when I get packaged food? Look for the expiration date. If I can’t find it, I won’t eat it. If I do find it, and we’re past it (or even just close to it), then I forbid my family to ever buy from that store again. London Drugs, I am LOOKING AT YOU!!!
Any food that made me sick in the past I won’t eat anymore, ever. Heck, I haven’t eaten a banana in years because I remember one of my childhood friends getting ill from eating one. That was like, 14 years ago or something.
And when I receive food that I haven’t seen in a while, what do I ask? HOW OLD IS IT?! Hahaha, yes, totally, I do that. My mom usually gets the brunt of my food questions since she makes the majority of our food, and she just rolls her eyes and lectures me about caring too much about this.
TOO MUCH?! BUT, BUT…DUDE!
Luckily, my mom is a lot nicer than yours 😛 She always makes sure that I eat food that won’t make me sick, so I kind of feel guilty some times when I suspect her cooking (which is, for the most part, AWESOME). Still, like I said waaay back, I’d rather die than vomit. 😀
Oh, and LOL meatcake. 😀
I thought Y,T & T was going to be a Atlantis episode?
Why all the SGC people?
@ Joe, Narelle, Perragrin… and anyone else who might have my e-mail. Don’t open anything from me from some damn thing called ‘Jhoos’. I just got a message from someone saying that it was some auto-send thing that got into their e-mail address book and sent out an invite to everyone. Now, honestly, I don’t remember getting an invite (and I make it a habit of deleting anything I am not familiar with), but just in case I did…and in case it invaded my addy book and went crazy, just delete the damn thing.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
das
This reminds me just how much i truly, massively and completely miss SG1. Time travel episodes are always so much fun, tricky, but incredible all the same. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Hey maybe those puppets from 200 could make a small comeback lol. not a chance, it would never be the same…
cheers!
@Shawna: we got the ZPM. Aside from O’Neill having fish in his pond for reasons unknown, there’s nothing worth fretting over.
I could see keeping the time orientation in mind during commericals could be tricky.
I liked the repeated beat of having to explain these two unkowns to Lee. I guess he wouldn’t be super military and take Carter at her word on whoever they are, but he would have to be either extremely gullible or distracted (unless he randomly refuses to believe the story they fed him every other time, quantum foibles and all that jazz).
I think if you had developed it into a script you could have done some interesting bits with Carter anticipating her own whim: changing a password she always uses, moving equipment she keeps in a certain place…being your own time enemy is very cool.
And I enjoyed seeing the Aschen again (genocide notwithstanding).
How are you enjoying season 3 of Lost, by the way? It starts to pretty Masked Magician Reveals Secrets-y, but there are enough wtf situations to come that keep up the intrigue.
Joe,
Thank you for putting up the info on Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. I wish that episode had seen the light of day.
Did you watch the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show tonight? A French Bulldog named Lola finished second in the Non-Sporting group. She looked a lot like your little one.
Joe,
I forgot to include this link:
http://video.westminsterkennelclub.org/player/?id=1002561
It shows the 40 something French Bulldogs that competed to be the one to compete in the Non-Sporting group.
@ pg15 – I will NOT eat pink, strawberrry flavored cake or Hamburger Helper – EVER AGAIN! 😆
I am terrible about expiration dates – I remember this one commercial for Monk, where he goes through the store collecting all the expired products and takes them to the checkout, and leaves the cart, saying something about the food being outdated. Well, I…I have been known to do that – NOT a whole cartload, but I will take expired products to the manager… 😳
Once, when my brother lied about cleaning out the fridge, my mom made him eat a spoonful of all the food that was to be thrown away to teach him a lesson – she’s EVIL! (Lemme tell ya, if she told me to clean the fridge, I jumped to it!)
Yeah, my family has a weird sense of food humor – they know I don’t like mushrooms (I won’t eat anything that can grow between my toes!), so they hide ‘shrooms in food, and then watch me eat it with these cockeyed grins on their faces…I KNOW they’re up to something…so I’m all like, ‘What? Was there mold growing on this before you cooked it? No? Okay…did it fall on the floor? No? Aw, shoot! It’s got mushrooms in it, doesn’t it??!’ Then they all laugh and say, ‘See? They don’t taste so bad, do they?’
No. They don’t taste bad…but they have the same texture as a raw SLUG! 😡 Blech!
Uh…not that I’ve eaten slugs before, but you get the idea.
So, I just found a bag of wasabi peas in the back of my cabinet…expiration date 2007. Guess what mom gets tomorrow! 😀
das
LOL Vala, was her own thief! I love it! Oh the things we do to ourselves.
The only thing that I didn’t really get was the awareness. Why would the team in the present and in the future be aware of the changes? They have nothing to compare it too. Ok maybe some little changes in the present time frame but with the past changing their present the lived history would only be what they know.
PS @ pg15 – Ya know, my mom is an awesome cook, too…way better than me. I just don’t trust her… :p
das
I love it! Vala stealing the coin is probably one of my favourite moments. It really made me giggle. And I will say that I didn’t find it confusing. But then again, having traveled with a Time Lord for years, these situations have a tendency to seem normal to me. 😆 Thank you for sharing the outline with us. I highly enjoyed it!
@ das: Ohhhh, looks like your mom is gonna get her JUST DESSERTS.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I’m here all night!
I like it. It had to settle in my brain for a minute or two before I got it, but it would’ve made a really good episode. It did feel like a lot was crammed in though, it would definitely have been a fast-paced episode, which is good. I can only imagine that it would’ve been really tiring for the actors though, since it seems like most scenes feature every single SG-1 member. I also loved seeing the Aschen come back, that was a nice touch; they were great villains.
@ pg15 – 😆 Now…if only I had meatcake…
😉
das
(Thanks, Joe, for letting us play, and thanks pg15, for the much-needed laughs! Nite!)
Darn! This kind of alternate-universe-time-travel thing is EXACTLY the plot I groove on. I would have loved to have seen this episode.
Intriguing… the Aschen were a rather nice touch!
Mind you, I would hate to be the one trying to edit this thing though, let alone try to do “The Math”!
It would also have a ‘snicker’ treat to have Patrick Stewart make a cameo — OR, better yet, John deLancie! [probably as the CEO of BT…?]
Interesting script outline. Got no problems following it. But in my misbegotten youth was a fanatic reader of A E Van Vogt’s twisted multi interwoven story threads/time lines novels. The outline looks pretty straight forward to me. Not too sure if you can squeeze the outline down to 44 minutes of air time.
[ducking from the rotten fruit fusillade from rest of the blog’s listees]
Awesome! I understood it all! I absolutely wish this episode had made it past the planning stages. I love how there are three distinctly different teams all acting on the timeline at once… makes it easy to see the effects quickly.
Thanks for posting this!!!!!
‘Night, das!
And while I’m here, 4 questions for our Overlord Joe of Mallozzi:
1. Of the SGU scripts written so far and the notions that are “on the table” (or board), does any of them involve our people visiting alien civilizations?
2. What’s John Scalzi been up to with the show? Has he been in the writers room, spinning stories?
3. Any new permanent writers yet?
4. How many SGU scripts have titles BESIDES the ones you already revealed to us (Air 3-parter, Fire, Water, Earth)?
“{PAST}
…
INT. MITCHELL’S ISLAND DIGS – DAY
…
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.”
That’s where you lost me. If they’re the past versions, they were the ones sent 14 months back, but now they’ve become the present versions?
I’m sure this would all be much easier to follow visually, a la “Ripple Effect”, but once the teams start jumping back and forth I completely lost track of who belonged / came from where.
Joe, thank you so much for posting this! I’ve never had the opportunity to see a proper outline, let alone one that could have been a part of Stargate SG-1.
Mostly I was able to follow the different timelines pretty well, although it did get a bit more confusing once the future team went to the past. As far as messing around with timelines go, this one certainly takes the cake though.
Speaking of cake (yep, there’s the blatant segue), it’s my birthday tomorrow! Any chance of a dedication or a pic of some sort of cake you’ve sampled while out dining?
Cheers,
Amz/Amy
I think it could have been really cool. I lost it a little bit in the second timeline, but read a little slower, then understood. I love the last act and how everything comes together…
I’m going to have to re-read that later today. At 3:00 a.m. my brain has problems holding onto the present. Must….have…sleep.
Well I love the past, today and tomorrow story outline. It would of probably turn out to be one of my favourites episodes.
But I can see why the other writers would not let you write it, for one it felt like a two partner to me, fitting it all in a single 43 minutes episode would of made it feel to crowed, secondly the scale of it sounds big, I mean you had the aschen, Baal, Ori all conquering the planet in single episode, yeah I could see budgetary concerns propping up. I did not fine it all that confusing really and it would of been even easier if seen on screen. Perhaps with a slight rewrite the episode could work on SGU.
Through the editor would have gone insane having to cut this piece together then again we all have to make sacrifices.
I really think us fans are a bit to hard on you, as a writer, you do seems you can come up with excellent ideas. I also like the whole evil children plot you came up with for SGA.
Ok temporal headaches aside I think the concept is excellent but you can’t do a time travel show without RDA, its just not cricket!
Das & PG15 you guys cracked me up this morning especially as I also root through all the food on the shelves at the supermarket to make sure I’m getting as fresh as there is.
Why oh why when people are driving on the wrong side of the road do they get upset when you put them right? Had a little “discussion” on the road this morning with a dick in a mercedes who insisted that his driving wasn’t at fault but mine was. My argument remains at least I was on the side of the road I was supposed to be on! I know I’m not a perfect driver but I will at least admit when I’m wrong but believe me this wasn’t it! I think I’m going to drive in fields from now on otherwise I’m going to have to punch someone!
Hi Mr M!
Ya see….That’s why I love this blog so much!!!! …. I was passing my Stargate DVD Collection, and gave it a whistful glance, just thinking…if only I could get an old fashioned SG1 fix….and then ta-da!! Il Maestro gives!!
Many thanks Mr M. I have printed this off (using colour printer) and will analyse… Thoughts later……
Shirt’n’Tie
reminds me of “day of the tentacle”
I got it! lol
Its cool when you re-read and it suddenly all makes sense. Shame it never got made I think it would have been a great ep.
Thank you for this unexpected gift! It was a pleasure to read it with all its twists and turns.
IMO this episode could have had as much potential cult-status as Moebius, but I also see why it didn’t make the cut. It’s really a lot to digest in 42 minutes, so its pace could have become too fast for the average TV-viewer (I’m not talking of faithful SG fans here!).
And I don’t quite get one aspect of it: Why does the team (and only the team) realize that the timeline is shifting around them? I always understood the timeline thing like this: When you are in one timeline, you stay there. So once you get two different timelines, you get two different teams, and neither of them would realize any change that happened 14 months earlier.
But maybe I’m fundamentally wrong here, being in uncharted waters – I’ve worked as screenwriter for German docu-soaps, but never for high-end science fiction series till date, at least in this reality.
So – could you please explain this for me?
Confusing??? Really? I hadn’t noticed. What the hell did i read, might have to re-read it again. LOL
It’s very interesting on how long and pain-stacking it is when writing for a movie, nevermind for a regular episode. My hat’s off to you and the other writers.
But can i suggest for a potential fourth SG1 movie, to make it more of a team one. Like the old episodes with their interactions with each other.
Thanks as always with a very interesting read.
hhmmm…. I wonder what it says about me that I didn’t find this confusing at all….. wish we could have seen it produced! I love these kinds of time travel episodes, partly because they tend to make my lovely hubby tear his hair out while ranting about the “magic reset button!” that keeps most sci-fi shows from dealing with the consequences of time travel *lol*
Well, I’m just full-blown gonzo confused!!!
I liked the color-coding, & the plot line. But it fades out before there is resolution….and now I’m not going to get ANY work done today because following this is going to be much more fun than actually working.
And you swored. 🙂
Thanks for posting this story.
And Carter realizes – someone has fucked with the timeline yet again.
My feelings exactly, too much headache. BTW IMO The Fandemonium book SG-1 Roswell covered scenarios like this. Too bad you won’t read it, I think you’d like.
I finished the single season series MOONLIGHT and I have to recommend it to all you (romantic) vampire fans. I can see why it was pulling 8-9 mil viewers per. The show was shot and sequenced in the manner of another fave show, Sci-Fi’s Invisible Man, remember that? One of the best ever. It also had the impact of The Dresden Files show, another one too-short. I’m pretty jaded about vampires but I have to admit, pretty good twists on old blood. Too bad it was canceled, there was a lot of story left untold that woulda been pretty original and entertaining had it been done right. And I can’t emphasize enough what a good cast can do for a show. After all, it’s the only thing saving Fringe.
DD
I don’t know what cave I’ve been hiding in but somehow I missed the news that Kim Manners died at the end of January. I’m really sorry to hear that.
For those that don’t know he was a very talented director and producer for The X-Files and Supernatural, among others.
One of my fave XF eps that he directed was Oubliette. A very young Jewel Staite plays a kidnap victim. The only connection to find the girl is with a previous victim who starts exhibiting any trauma the kidnapped girl is experiencing.
Chev
Hi, Joe.
Thank you so much for sharing that proposed SG1 script.
It would have been nice to see the Aschen again, and a time travel story is always a plus (I love the Stargate versions)…
Best wishes!
Joe,
That would have made a great episode! It would be right up there with “Moebius” and my favorite, “Window of Opportunity”. I really like the Aschen angle. And I’d pay good money to actually hear Carter say: “someone is fucking with the timeline”.
Not that that would have aired…Hey, maybe I can talk Amanda into saying it at her next Con…
Hi!
It’s a shame that this story was never shot! It would have been terrific! And it’s not that confusing, its complicated for sure, I read it several time to understood the Aschen part, but I’m sure it would have work with a good director. And it’s only the outline, so…
And it would have been nice to see some old folks like the Aschen. In fact I know some people are wondering if they will be on SGU since the new serie will be aired on 2010. And I would have loved to see Baal again! He is the best Goa’uld ever!
Anyway, maybe you could do something with it for a novel or even a new SG-1 movie, I don’t know. The idea is good, it will be too bad if its never use.
I think that was best read quickly, so as to now get too confused trying to figure out how things would make sense. Sounds like it would have been a great SG-1 episode!
Your outline has made me miss SG-1. 🙁 Maybe I should watch an episode or a movie tonight…
PS re Moonlight- maybe I should mention that the vampire’s resident hacker Logan (actor David Blue) is now SGU’s resident hacker Eli. See, I knew my interest was relevant here. Research.
😉 DD
hello =)
O_O …….je ne sais pas quoi dire today….sympas le texte, mais je ne suis pas sur d’avoir tout compris.
En tout cas je ressent de plus en plus l’envi d’aller à Vancouver, j’espere que cela se fera avant le 12 décembre 2012 car c’est normalement la date de fin du monde lol.
humm..donc une question se pose? Comment voudriez vous mourir?
Moi c’est simple, dans les bras de mon cheri, au studio bridge sous la porte des étoiles XD.
aller Bisou, aplus.
BTW, I loved seeing an example of a working outline.
I agree with another poster that the basic structure could be used for other series. Can I have it? 😉
What I’ve done in making presentations for complicated research is to color code one attribute, then do something else for another, like putting a distinctive border around graphics while the background of a slide is in the color that corresponds to the other attribute. I’d do this from the experiment design stage all the way up to presenting the final results.
So, in one timeline, interior lighting tends to have a blueish hue, another is greenish, and another is like ours. In the past, they could be dealing with a light dimming problem, in the present, things are lighted normally, and, in the future, panel lighting is installed to allow for a future trend toward brighter rooms.
I’ve always had a fondness for the time travel episodes. I suspect this one would have had me sitting on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what was coming next. But I can imagine it might have proved akin to a nightmare in terms of filming – costuming, special effects, and simply trying to remember where you were in the script. And I would have driven myself bonkers trying to figure out if Vala’s taking the coin over and over was supposed to have some secret significance. ; )
Thanks for sharing!
Do you watch the Westminster Dog show? The French Bulldog (#30) competing is named Lola; I realize she is a non-sporting breed, but it seems a bit odd that she is competing with the dalmation..
Ugh, she lost to the standard poodle.
Loved the outline, it would have been fun.
@PG15 and das … I eat outdated food happily, especially canned or dry goods. They don’t actually ever go bad. And I’m a firm believer in floor food strengthening the immune system. Of course if raw meat smells or looks off, then that’s a no go, but really, you travel enough you find yourself facing mystery food. Eat or starve. I have enough trouble with food allergies and sensitivities, I can’t be too picky about simple things like expiration dates. They’re arbitrary anyway, not like there’s nanites in the food with timers set to go off at noon on that day. Or is it midnight? How do you decide?
‘Scuse me, I have to go cook up some “reduced meat” pork chops which have been thawed for a week or so.
Brilliant, brilliant draft. I actually think this would have made a perfect series finale, even better than ‘Unending’. Seriously a fabulous piece of work you have here. It’s a shame that it was never used. Perhaps for a future…movie? 😀 😀 😀
Hey Joe thanks for posting this but if that’s allright with you I’m gonna save it to my hard drive and read it later, at a time I’d usually turn to fanfiction.
You know what’s weird, Joe? I actually followed that! Weird in the sense that Moebius still has me scratching my head, but this…this I got. ::shrug::
Go figure.
I think this would have been a great ep. ‘Course, I’d have looked for more Jack ref’s in there…
Wow sweet outline there Joe, that would have made a damn good episode, I never got lost.
I have a question about the Daedalus, and I can’t seem to find a definitive answer, where the heck is the bridge? Is it in that Tower on top of the ship like an Aircraft carrier? Do you know? lol
Not confusing at all. How I miss SG1. 🙁 This would have made a fantastic ep. Really good idea, Joe!
For me, it was extremely confusing (it might get better if I read it again – and again but there’s still a real great amount to learn for my exams so re-reading has to wait for a while).
But I think it could have been fun to watch, thanks for sharing!
Best wishes to you and everyone posting comments here.(I’m following the blog regularly but due to lack of time mostly fail to read all the comments)
*goes-back-to-looking-at-boring-books-and-learning-their-content-by-heart*
*sigh* how I miss SG1. The story did boggel the mind a bit but I think it would have been alot of fun to watch just so the audience could fit all the pieaces together.
If I needed to place the episode in the season I would guess this episode would have appeared in the period when Daniel had been taken by the Ori in the latter part of season 10? I noticed the Daniel appeared only in ‘flashback’ scenes (for lack of a better word) and wasn’t mentioned as part of the team.
Thanks for sharing the story!
oops. When I posted I meant to say “I hope this DOESN’T mean the concept is dead and gone..” nto that it “means the concept..” Even if the concept pops up in a future secret project, I still like it.Sorry for the goof.
I wish I could watch it. By the way Moebius was one of my favorite episodes. I can watch it over and over again.
On a side note: Re-watched Wormhole Extreme for the umpteenth time today and to quote someone famous?….
“What happened to all the donuts!?”
P.S. Please pick Otherland by Tad Williams for one of your book reading forays. It is an awesome book. (It was in your giant pile of books picture).
Cheers!
That was really cool I’m sure you could put into a movie somewhere with all the minor details.Shame it did not make a
extra long epsode.i did not think it ws confuseing once time travel is mentioned and the parameters are laid out and you do what Cater says it should work out haha.
loking foward to SGU pic’of the sgu gate anywhere ?
Keep up the great work.
Hey Joe! You seem to be crazy-busy these days! Hope you’re taking time to smell to proverbial roses. That being said, I’m having Weird Food Purchase of the Day withdrawals; any chance we’ll see another installment soon?
Please pass the aspirin . . . and run that by me one more time.
Thank you. I think.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow isn’t any more confusing than the other time looping/time travel episodes. I enjoyed it and hope you keep the idea around for use later.
Any aspirin left?
Actually, I didn’t think it was too confusing. Once I got into the middle of Act III it started to make sense. At least I think so. Thanks so much for posting this Joe, I’ve been waiting a long time to see it! I think it would have made a very interesting episode – like a puzzle! It sounds like alot of fun (and I suppose there could have been camera work, lenses, etc to differentiate between timelines). It’s a great idea – and I was so excited when I saw that you put the Aschen in there too!! It’s a shame you couldn’t twist everyone’s ears and convince them to make this episode, it sounds better than Mobeus.
Anyways thanks for sharing, hope everything is coming along well!
~Rich
This is brilliant, there has to be a movie trilogy right there!
But the story would have to be vastly expanded (considering the overall SGF acting staff) – you’ve got a brilliant concept
PoorOldEdgarDerby —
Nothing worth fretting over, no…not from the present’s perspective, anyway. But I do wonder what happened to those trapped in the past. And since we know that that version of Sam and Jack got together… did they have kids? Do they have descendants in the present day? There’s too many questions and possibilities for my mind to just let it lie.
Loved it! I really enjoy the time travel, time dilation, screwing-with-time episodes! (Actually I like the alternate timelines, alternate universe episodes as well). Keep them coming for SGU &/or the movies please!
PS: I thought this idea was for SGA S6? Was it instead for SG1 S10 that was never used?
It’s a cool idea but I have to say it made my head hurt a bit!
Can I just say THANK YOU for thinking of the Aschen? I felt like they would have been back at one point or another. I mean, we gave them the address to a black hole — I think they’d be a wee bit pissed off.
Awesome outline. I am a big fan of the time travel / cause-effect stuff. Makes the head hurt sorting it all out, but hey, I figure it keeps the brain cells working!
Thanks for sharing.
I honestly think that was very interesting. I would’ve liked to have seen that. I’m currently replaying the classic game, Chrono Trigger, and this reminded me so much of it. Plus, the inclusion of Ba’al makes this story of interest to me, too.
I understood all of this, though I’m good at that sort of thing. I would have loved to see this as an episode, and will pretend it actually happened. Maybe this could be done on SG:U with some other time travelling device.
Great Story
probably this would have been a better and for season 10 of Stargate than the last episode, but may this could be a part of a new Stargate movie