In Dr. Daniel Jackson's lab, Colonel Jack O'Neill is trying to solve the Crossword Puzzle while he still can. Jackson notices O'Neill is not paying attention to anything he tries to have him read, and snatches the puzzle from him. When Major Samantha Carter walks in, Jackson notices that O'Neill has written "Taonas" on one of the solutions, and on another, he wrote "Proclarush". He also notices that the clue for where O'Neill wrote Taonas is "sphere," while the clue for Proclarush is "label". He believes that sphere means planet, and label means the name of that planet.
In the Mess hall, Jackson reads through a book and discovers that "Proclarush Taonas" translates to "lost in fire". However, there is still no Gate address to Proclarush. O'Neill then provides him with a clue; he rips off Jackson's patch containing the Point of Origin symbol, which O'Neill describes as "At". Jackson begins to understand what O'Neill is trying to say and demonstrates by showing him Canis Minor; O'Neill responds with a "shh", and explains that the sound "shh" is what the symbol reminds him of. Jackson's theory may be confirmed; they don't have to look through the list of addresses to find the planet, the names themselves serve as the addresses. Proc-la-ru-sh Tao-nas At would be the full gate address.
Jackson explains it to Dr. Elizabeth Weir in the Stargate Operations room. However, Carter encounters a problem: they already dialed the planet two years ago, but couldn't establish a lock, possibly because the planet's Stargate was buried. Jackson considers using the Prometheus, but with Anubis on his way to Earth, the ship must stay to defend the planet. Instead, the team plans to Gate to Chulak to see if Teal'c and Bra'tac have recruited any ships yet. Meanwhile, O'Neill is in a store room, packing various equipment including Hazmat suits and a naquadah generator. He cannot explain why he is packing, though the rest of the team thinks that they're on the right track.
On Chulak, Teal'c and Bra'tac are in a tent calling in various Jaffa. One walks in, and introduces himself as Ronan, whose father is known to Bra'tac. He has a Tel'tak at his disposal, but warns them that no matter how brave they are, he has seen Anubis' fleet, and one Tel'tak is no match for a massive fleet. Bra'tac however, tells him that they will use the ship to find something far more powerful than whatever Anubis can throw at them. Ronan agrees and has only one condition: that he join them to find the means to defeat Anubis. Teal'c and Bra'tac accept his offer.
Carter, Jackson and O'Neill are ready to step through the Stargate to Chulak with O'Neill's supplies. Before they set off, Weir tells them a bad joke, though O'Neill says there is still hope for her to become better. A while later, they meet up with Teal'c, Bra'tac and Ronan, and set off in his cargo ship. On the way to Proclarush, Carter and Jackson check up on O'Neill, who admits to feeling "fron-aches". When he hears that even at top speed, the Tel'tak will arrive in two days, O'Neill feels this is too slow, and gets up to work on making the hyperdrive faster.
Meanwhile, three of Anubis' Ha'tak vessels exit hyperspace over Earth's Moon and are slowly making their way to Earth. The ships are detected by the military. In the White House, President Henry Hayes, Vice President Robert Kinsey, Major General George S. Hammond, General Francis Maynard and General John P. Jumper, the Chief of Staff, decide on what action to take. Hammond suggests that only three ships out of dozens have arrived because they are going to goad Earth into revealing their defenses. Hammond suggests holding off the Prometheus, as this could mean that the Tau'ri have successfully bluffed about their defensive power. Hayes decides to remain at DEFCON-3, and make contact with the governments of Canada, China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom to let them know what Earth is facing ahead.
Aboard the Tel'tak, O'Neill has reconfigured the ship's Control crystals; he asks for Carter's Zat'nik'tel, and fires it at the crystals. This action causes the ship's hyperdrive to increase in speed. Carter then tells O'Neill that Hammond authorized her to command the team should O'Neill's brain be overwhelmed by the Ancient knowledge. Given the circumstances, O'Neill immediately tells her to take command and resigns from his post. Carter, having missed an opportunity in Jack's home, attempts to convey her feelings, but O'Neill cuts her short, claiming he already knows what she would say. Later, the Tel'tak arrives at their destination and drops out of hyperspace.
What they see when they arrive is not what they expect. They discover that the planet's sun has turned into a Red giant; one million years ago, the planet was probably much like Earth, but the red giant has caused the planet to be covered in molten rock and lava. They have arrived far too late. However, they notice that O'Neill packed the Hazmat suits, so subconsciously, he knew the planet was dead. Because Carter is now in charge, she orders him to scan the planet's surface to look for any sign of a man-made structure in the area. He - fairly quickly - finds a cavernous dome underground, caused by some sort of shield or force field protecting the area, though it doesn't seem to be big enough to contain a city. They decide to check out the area.
In Anubis' mothership, Anubis' First Prime, Her'ak receives communication from the advance invasion squadrons over Earth; there is no sign that they are being challenged. Anubis orders them to begin and the three Ha'taks launch an attack. Later, in the White House, Maynard informs the President that they contacted the captain of the destroyer USS Spruance, who reported that the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz had been destroyed, along with a cruiser in her battle group, before communications were lost.
Back over Proclarush, the Tel'tak positions itself over the dome. In Hazmat suits, SG-1 is ringed into the outpost. They keep in contact with Ronan and Bra'tac. Carter finds high levels of radiation, and the rings may have compromised the dome's structural integrity. They can't stay too long. The facility is dark, but O'Neill still manages to find a throne-like chair. There, he proceeds to sit down and places his hands on the armrest controls. He erects a forcefield, and takes off his Hazmat hood. Carter reads a stable and breathable atmosphere, so the team also take off their hoods. He then activates a holographic map of the Milky Way which zooms into our solar system, and Earth, as it was 30 million years ago before continental drift. They wonder why O'Neill is showing them this. His reply is "Terra Atlantus", "Terra" meaning Earth, and "Atlantus" referring to Atlantis, the name of the Lost City.
The team comes to the conclusion that the city they have been looking for the past year has been on Earth all along, and they have to travel all the way back. O'Neill, who is now only able to speak very little, tells them there is something they need. He puts his hood back on, as does the team. He activates a panel on the floor, which raises to reveal a glowing power source. Once he removes it, the structure starts to collapse. The team quickly runs to the ring platform and signal Bra'tac to ring them back aboard.
However, as he gets up, Bra'tac is betrayed by Ronan, who stabs him in the symbiote pouch. He reveals himself to be an agent of Anubis, and calls Bra'tac the betrayer of the "one true god". As Bra'tac falls to his knees, he tells Ronan he should have stabbed him in his heart, as he no longer has a symbiote. He still has enough strength to fight back, and during the brief struggle, tells Ronan that he may be younger, but not wiser. Bra'tac manages to kill Ronan and with the last of his strength, he activates the rings, and SG-1 is transported aboard before the structure on the outpost collapses. They tend to Bra'tac and O'Neill stretches out his arms over his wound, and reveals himself to have healing powers. Bra'tac declares that once again, he is in O'Neill's debt. Teal'c then plots a course for Earth.
In the Oval Office, the President and the advisers further discuss what to do, when the power goes out. Anubis unexpectedly appears in front of them. The Secret Service team responds by firing at him, but the bullets merely pass through him, revealing that he is merely a hologram. Hayes talks to the hologram and Anubis demands Earth's surrender. Hayes attempts to bluff Anubis out of attacking by telling him that Earth will give him a good fight; he asks for Anubis' surrender instead. After the hologram leaves, more than 30 additional ships exit hyperspace over Earth. The ships don't attack Earth, but proceed to take out power grids around the World. Kinsey suggests a team go to the Alpha Site as a contingency plan, though in the end, Kinsey is the only one who goes as the rest want to stay and fight. Hammond also wishes to stay, so Hayes offers him another assignment: They decide to launch the Prometheus, and Hammond is to command it.
In hyperspace aboard the Tel'tak, O'Neill works on the ring transporter platform. Teal'c visits O'Neill and wonders if he is making some kind of weapon using the transporter. However, O'Neill doesn't answer because his speech has mostly been overwritten by the Ancient knowledge. When Teal'c is about to say something else, O'Neill stops him knowingly. Teal'c leaves him to continue working.
Kinsey is in the Embarkation room about to head through the Stargate to the Alpha Site. Weir brands him a coward, though he claims he's doing this for the survival of humanity and announces he will be done with her, should she survive. Suddenly, the power goes out, shutting down the Stargate. Weir orders the iris closed using the manual iris control over Kinsey's objections. Seconds later, an active wormhole dials in and a massive explosion rocks the Gate Room, possibly from a naquadah-enhanced weapon. Colonel Stewart Pearson then receives an encoded message from SG-1 that they are not coming through the Stargate, which prompts both Weir and a very reluctant Kinsey to call the President.
On the phone, Weir suggests that the Prometheus be used to buy SG-1 time to get to Atlantis in Antarctica. However, Kinsey refuses to let this happen. After arguing, Hayes tells Kinsey to "Shut the hell up!" He then forces Kinsey to resign, stating that after he read information given to him by Richard Woolsey a few weeks ago, he has enough info to have him shot. After Kinsey leaves in disgust, Hayes allows Weir to continue and agrees with her advice. Meanwhile, Hammond arrives aboard the bridge of the Prometheus and the crew prepares to take off.
Aboard the Tel'tak, Jackson interprets O'Neill's actions. He is modifying the ring transporter's matter stream transmitter to bore a hole through the ice. With Anubis' fleet over Earth, they decide to drop out of hyperspace dangerously close to the planet's surface. They do so, and the ship plummets toward the arctic surface, though fortunately, Teal'c manages to regain control of the ship, and he levels off over a plateau. O'Neill proceeds to use the modified ring transporter and burns a hole through the ice. However, it will take some time and Anubis has detected the ship. He sends a wave of ships to destroy it. Bra'tac detects several Al'kesh and Death Gliders heading their way and also notices more ships coming from the opposite direction, but they aren't Goa'uld.
The other ships are revealed to be F-302 fighter-interceptors, who start attacking the Al'kesh and Gliders. The 302s are followed by the Prometheus, from which Hammond orders the Tel'tak protected at all costs. However, the 302s quickly expended their weaponry, so Hammond orders them to divert to McMurdo Air Force Base. Fortunately, Prometheus buys enough time for SG-1 to ring below the ice. Anubis' mothership establishes a weapons lock on Prometheus and starts firing. With shields rapidly failing, Hammond sets a course and orders the Prometheus to engage Anubis' ship.
SG-1 investigates the "city," which looks similar to Taonas. They find a chamber, which O'Neill describes "dormata", Ancient for "sleep". They then hear a noise and investigate. There, they find Anubis, who tells the team they have failed. However, O'Neill realizes immediately that he is only a hologram, and passes him. He finds a chair like the one on Proclarush and opens a similar panel with a burned out power source. He replaces it with the one previously found. Just then, the rings activate, revealing two Kull warriors. While Carter, Jackson and Teal'c hold them off, O'Neill sits in the chair. While a Kull warrior is killed, two more arrive. The Prometheus nears Anubis' mothership, but shields are down, and the ship won't last much longer. Hammond orders a collision course.
O'Neill activates the chair, where by using his mind, is able to open a hole on the ground. Hundreds, even thousands, of yellow energy projectiles erupt from the floor, wiping out the Kull warriors. They fly to the surface and destroy all the Gliders and Al'kesh in the enemy wing, ignoring Bra'tac and the Tel'tak. They continue on towards Anubis' fleet, leaving the Prometheus untouched. Hammond orders the ship to break off the attack, while the drones go through Anubis' shield with no effort whatsoever. While watching his fleet destroyed, Anubis roars and holds his hand in front of his face as his ship blows apart.
Back in the ice cave, O'Neill, drained to exhaustion, indicates that he needs to go into the chamber he pointed out earlier. The chamber activates, freezing O'Neill into suspended animation as he says, "Aveo ... amacus," Ancient for "good-bye, friends." Carter, nearly in tears, is convinced a way to save him is here, but to Daniel, it is now obvious that this base, like the outpost on the molten planet, is not the Lost City. As Teal'c wonders aloud where Atlantis really is, SG-1 can do nothing but stand and look at O'Neill, frozen in time.
Second of three Series Fauxnales, as well as a Poorly Disguised Pilot for Stargate Atlantis.
"Lost City, Part 2" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ace Pilot: Teal'c manages to pull the ship out of a steep dive just inches from the ice after exiting hyperspace above Antarctica. Ronan also describes himself as a "fine pilot", though this is something of an Informed Ability since he's killed before he has a chance to demonstrate.
- Big "NO!": Anubis gets one out just before his mothership is destroyed.
- Big "SHUT UP!": When Hayes has finally had enough of Kinsey:Hayes: Would you shut the hell up?!
- Bittersweet Ending: The team manages to defeat Anubis, but O'Neill has to be placed in stasis indefinitely until they can find a way to stop the Ancient knowledge from completely overwriting his brain.
- Blatant Lies: The official cover story when Anubis starts taking out Earth's communications is that it's being caused by a "meteor shower". Presumably the destruction of the entire Nimitz carrier battle group was chalked up to the same event.
- Call-Back:
- O'Neill says that he's feeling "a bit ''cruvus''".
- O'Neill healing Bra'tac is similar to Ayiana's healing abilities in "Frozen".
- The Cameo: The then-current Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. Jumper makes an appearance As Himself.
- The Cavalry/Gunship Rescue: Done awesomely, with the Prometheus and a squadron of F-302s showing up to aid the team as they're about to be shredded by Anubis's fleet.Bra'tac: Al'kesh and gliders approach. Many. They will be in firing range in thirty seconds... More ships approaching from the opposite direction.Carter: Sir! We're about to get our ass—Bra'tac: They are not Goa'uld.
- Chekhov's Gun: Several of the Noodle Implements that O'Neill "packs" before the team leaves Earth end up coming in handy later on, most notably the Hazmat suits.
- Continuity Nod:
- The countries that Hayes notifies about Anubis's attack are those that were told about the stargate in "Disclosure". And Canada.
- When the team arrive at the Ancient outpost in Antarctica, Carter states that it looks familiar.
- Likewise, when they arrive in Antarctica, Daniel correctly surmises that the Outpost must be near the coordinates where they found the second Stargate.
- Carter and Teal'c use what appear to be modified versions of the prototype weapon introduced in "Death Knell" on the Kull warriors.
- Cool Chair: The Ancient control chairs.
- Death World: Proclarush Taonas is completely covered in lava flows after the Ancients abandoned it millions of years ago, though their outpost is still protected by a dome.
- Dirty Coward: Kinsey has no thought beyond saving his own ass once it becomes clear that Anubis isn't going anywhere, and almost loses his shit when Weir refuses to re-open the gate and send him through the alpha site, despite Anubis having tried to send a nuke through.Weir: Well, I thought you were a lot of things. A coward wasn't one of them.
Kinsey: I'm a pragmatist, Doctor. - Domed Hometown: It's not exactly a "hometown", but the Ancient outpost on Proclarush Taonas is protected by a domed crust of rock that formed over where there used to be force shield. This ceases to be the case once O'Neill takes the ZPM from the control chair, however.
- Earth All Along: Subverted; the team discovers that there's an Ancient outpost with a superweapon capable of defeating Anubis beneath the ice in Antarctica, but Daniel concludes at the end of the episode that it's too small to be the Lost City.
- Emergency Presidential Address: Discussed when Hayes says that he'll have to come up with a "hell of a speech", though the TV networks go down before it can be broadcast.
- End of an Era: Meta example. This was the final episode of SG-1 to be shot on 35 mm film (which had been the celluloid norm since "Nemesis"). Beginning with the Season Eight premiere, the show switched over to HD Video for the remainder of its run (while Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe would also be shot on video out of the gate). SG-1 wouldn't return to celluloid until the Direct-to-Video movies after the series ended.
- This was also the final Season of SG-1 to have a full 22 episode order. Beginning with Season Eight (and for both Atlantis and Universe), the Sy Fy Channel cut the Season orders down to 20 episodes.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Daniel gets two in quick succession at the beginning of the episode; first of all when he realizes that O'Neill has written the name of the planet they need to go to in his crossword puzzle, and then when he realizes that "Proclarush Taonas" is a gate address.
- Foreshadowing: Atlantis is name-dropped quite a bit, and the discovery of the Antarctic outpost in this episode sets the stage for the spin-off to take place. Even a piece of the music to be used in the opening sequence of the spin-off is played.
- Friendship Moment: O'Neill gets at least one of these with each member of the team as he becomes increasingly compromised by the Ancient download.
- Frontline General: Hammond commands the Prometheus in battle against Anubis's fleet.
- Going Down with the Ship: Hayes refuses to leave when Kinsey tries to get him to evacuate to the alpha site.
- Gutted Like a Fish: Ronan stabs Bra'tac in the gut, expecting it to kill him.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: Hologram!Anubis vs. President Hayes.Anubis: You bring destruction upon yourselves.
Hayes: Never. Going. To Happen
(Anubis disappears)
Hayes: ...Too much? - Harmless Freezing: O'Neill gets frozen in ice at the end of the episode to prevent the Ancient download from taking over his brain until the rest of the team can find a way to reverse it.
- Healing Hands: O'Neill gets healing powers as his transformation continues, allowing him to save Bra'tac when he's fatally wounded.
- How Dare You Die on Me!: Carter to O'Neill, when he's severely weakened after using the control chair to take out Anubis.Carter: Don't you dare leave us now. We won.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Bra'tac defeats Ronan as Ronan doesn't account for the fact that Bra'tac no longer possesses a symbiote, allowing the elder Jaffa to defeat his would-be assassin.
- Interrupted Declaration of Love: Carter is cut off by O'Neill:Carter: Sir, at your house before Daniel and Teal'c showed up, what I was gonna say was…O'Neill: I know.
- Kitchen Sink Included: Discussed by Weir, when cracking a joke about how much O'Neill packed.
- MacGyvering: O'Neill is able to use the knowledge from the Ancient download to rig the ship's engines to go faster and modify the matter stream of the ring transporter to cut through a mile of Antarctic ice. Made even more funny by the fact that O'Neill is played by the same actor that played MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson).
- Macross Missile Massacre: The Ancient control chair in Antarctica sends out thousands of attack drones at O'Neill's command to destroy Anubis's fleet.
- Made of Iron: Bra'tac manages to fight and overpower Ronan and then ring the team back aboard the ship while bleeding out from a gut wound.
- The Mole: Ronan reveals himself to be loyal to Anubis after lending his ship and services to the team.
- My Skull Runneth Over: O'Neill becomes increasingly disconnected from his surroundings as the episode continues and the Ancient knowledge takes over more and more of his brain.
- Noodle Implements: All the random equipment that O'Neill packs for the mission without having any idea why he's going to need any of it.Carter: Sir?O'Neill: I don't know, Carter! Grab a naquadah generator, will ya?
- No-Sell: After years of Goa'uld ships shrugging off the best weapons Earth has to offer the SGC finally gets to turn it around on them. The Prometheus withstands a fleet of Death Gliders and Alkesh then takes dozens of shots from Anubis' super-mothership without slowing down.
- Old-School Dogfight: The battle over Antarctica.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Ronan would later be the name of an unrelated character on Stargate Atlantis.
- Orbital Bombardment: The USS Nimitz and her carrier group are destroyed by a Goa'uld hatak from orbit.
- Pre Mortem Oneliner: Bra'tac manages to get one in before he finishes Ronan off.Bra'tac: You may be younger, but not the wiser. (Stab)'
- Production Foreshadowing: An unintentional example. Part of the melody from the Atlantis main theme (the choral bridge) appears during the final scene in Antarctica. However, according
to the late Joel Goldsmith, it was not intended to musically foreshadow the spinoff. He didn't begin developing the Atlantis theme until after "Lost City". It was the SG-1 music editor Rick Chadock who suggested the idea of incorporating that specific melody into the Atlantis theme and the rest is history. - Resigned in Disgrace: Kinsey's many shady dealings are finally unveiled, allowing the President to force him to resign - with the understanding that he could end up getting executed for treason.
- The Reveal: The Lost City of the Ancients is the Lost City of Atlantis, and it's buried under the ice of Antarctica.
- Scrabble Babble: Jack, or rather the Ancient download partially controlling him, spells out "Proclarush Taonas", the planet an Ancient database is hid on, on a crossword puzzle he was working on in part one. Sam still questions it, because he also answered the clue "celestial body" with "Uma Thurman".
- Secret Test of Character: Weir seems to pass muster with O'Neill when she actually cracks a (self-admittedly bad) joke.Weir: Well, have you got everything you need? I think there's still the sink in the kitchen.O'Neill: Was that a joke?Weir: Perhaps. A bad one.O'Neill: Yes, very bad. But I sense hope for you.
- Ship Tease: O'Neill and Carter have a bit of a moment on the way to Proclarush Taonas.Carter: Sir, at your house before Daniel and Teal'c showed up... what I was gonna say was—O'Neill: I know.
- Standard Female Grab Area: Kinsey briefly prevents Weir from walking away from him by grabbing her arm.
- Strange-Syntax Speaker: O'Neill lampshades this when Daniel realizes he's written the name of the planet in the crossword and briefly loses the ability to form coherent sentences in his excitement.Daniel: Sphere; planet. Label; name.O'Neill: Following! Still! You! Not!
- Taking You with Me: Hammond intends to use the Prometheus to take out Anubis's mothership before O'Neill activates the control chair, setting a collision course after its weapons are exhausted and the shields almost depleted.Hammond: If we go, they go.
- That's an Order!: Carter says this to O'Neill after she takes command of the mission.
- Translator Buddy: Daniel continues to translate for O'Neill as he gradually loses the ability to speak English until he can only communicate in Ancient.
- Who's on First?: This exchange after O'Neill rips the SG-1 patch off Daniel's jacket to indicate Earth's point of origin symbol.O'Neill: "At".Carter: What?O'Neill: "At".Daniel: This?O'Neill: That.Daniel: That is "At"?O'Neill: You can stop... that.
- You Are in Command Now: After the team leaves for Proclarush, Carter tells O'Neill that she has orders to take command of the team if she feels that he's too far gone to make decisions. O'Neill responds by saying that he trusts her and she should just take over now.O'Neill: I'll make it easy for you: I resign. You're in charge.
- You Are Too Late: The team arrive in the Antarctic outpost to find Anubis already there, telling them that they're too late. O'Neill calls his bluff and sticks his hand right through the image, revealing it to be a hologram.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Carter starts calling O'Neill "Jack" when he's on the brink of death after being drained by the control chair.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Hayes' first reaction to seeing Anubis.
