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Recap / Stargate SG 1 S 9 E 20 Camelot

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"And those who are prideful and refuse to bow down shall be laid low and made into dust."
— The Book of Origin

The team travel to Camelot, the planet whose gate address they found after activating Arthur's Mantle, in search of a weapon created by Merlin to defeat the Ori. A new supergate is discovered, and the Ori invade the Milky Way.


"Camelot" provides examples of the following tropes:

  • All Myths Are True: Discussed:
    Daniel: We have seen that a lot of legends and folklore have a strong basis in fact: Avalon, Atlantis...
    Teal'c: The Easter Bunny.
    Daniel: ...I guess there's a few exceptions.
  • The Alliance: The Tau'ri, the Jaffa and the Asgard (and the Lucian Alliance) all come together to fight the invading Ori forces at the end of the episode.
  • Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Vala going into labor while the Milky Way fleets are obliterated by the Ori.
  • Book Ends: As with the two-part season premiere, this episode is heavily inspired by Aruthurian mythology and features Mitchell fighting a holographic knight in order to gain access to a secret cache of treasure hidden by Merlin.
  • Bookcase Passage: Mitchell finds one in Merlin's library.
  • The Cavalry: Subverted; Teal'c arrives halfway through the fight against the Ori with backup in the form of three Lucian Alliance ha'tak vessels, only for them to get their asses kicked the same as everybody else.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Valencia, the young woman with the impressive fencing skills whom Mitchell befriends at the beginning of the episode, ends up being the one to pull the sword from the stone.
  • Cliffhanger: Possible the biggest one in the series' run; the episode ends with the Ori warships invading the Milky Way and proceeding to kick the crap out of its strongest military powers. The newly-built Russian Korolev is destroyed while Mitchell and Daniel are presumed to still be on board, Carter is left floating helplessly in space after a failed attempt to dial the supergate before the Ori can dial in has her drifting away from the crippled Odyssey, and Vala suddenly goes into labor while watching the whole thing from inside one of the Ori ships.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • The team search for Merlin's weapon.
    • As promised, the Russians now have their own ship, though they don't get to keep it for very long before it's destroyed.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: The Ori warships annihilate the combined forces of the Milky Way with very little effort.
  • Deflector Shields: The Ori mothership's have very powerful ones.
  • Dramatic Space Drifting: Carter ends up doing this after going outside the Odyssey to try and dial the supergate before the Ori can dial in; the magnetic lock on her spacesuit fails due to interference as the gate activates, sending her floating further and further away from the ship.
  • Enemy Mine: Teal'c appeals to the Lucian Alliance for help battling the Ori, pointing out that they pose a threat to the entire galaxy. It seems he eventually succeeds in winning them over, though not before Netan tries to have him killed.
  • Explosions in Space: Lots of them.
  • Give Me a Sword: Valencia pulls the sword from the stone and throws it to Mitchell as he battles the knight.
  • Hologram: Much like the one in Glastonbury, the knight protecting Merlin's library is a hologram, though this one is a lot more aggressive.
  • Holy Grail: It's revealed that Merlin's weapon is the Sangraal, or holy grail.
  • Insistent Terminology: While Daniel was researching how to deactivate the Black Knight, Mitchell fell asleep. Mitchell insists he was "kelno'reeming".
  • Luck-Based Search Technique: The second book Mitchell tugs at in a narrow alcove opens the Bookcase Passage.
  • Magic Is Evil: The villagers in Camelot seem to believe this, describing Merlin as a "dark wizard" and forbidding anybody from setting foot in his library.
  • Merlin Sickness: The original myth regarding Merlin aging backwards in mentioned in passing; Daniel and Carter speculate that it could have something to do with time travel.
  • Mundane Solution: Daniel spends some time trying to disable the black knight hologram by figuring out the correct sequence of panels to press on the Ancient control device, before finally giving up and just shooting out the crystals in frustration.
    Mitchell: Sounds like one of my plans.
  • No-Sell: The Ori mothership's shields stop everything that gets thrown at them.
  • One-Hit KO: A single shot of the Ori mothership's main cannon is not only enough to destroy a ha'tak vessel, the shot keeps going.
  • Only the Chosen May Wield: Valencia states that only the pure of heart can pull the sword from the stone, though unlike the sword at Glastonbury Mitchell is able to use it despite not being the one to pull it free.
  • Quote-to-Quote Combat: After the Ori warships come through the supergate, they send a text-only message to the allied fleet with a quote from the Book of Origin: "And those who are prideful and refuse to bow down shall be laid low and made into dust." Daniel responds with another quote from the same text, "Then did Tileus say to the people of the low plains: 'seek not wickedness amongst your neighbors lest it find purchase in your own house'." Unfortunately, it doesn't convince them to call off the attack.
  • Running Gag: A minor one throughout the episode has Daniel being beamed up every time he tries to explain to the villagers that there's no such thing as magic.
    Daniel: Boy, my timing's off today!
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: After spending the entire episode searching for Merlin's weapon at Camelot, Daniel and Mitchell are told that he took it with him when he left and it could be on any one of three other planets.
  • Shocking Defeat Legacy: Every major power in the galaxy is represented at the supergate, forming a decently sized fleet. 4 Ori motherships effortlessly annihilate them without taking a single casualty, making it perfectly clear to everyone just how powerful they are.
  • Some Kind Of Forcefield: The door to Merlin's library is protected by one that zaps anyone who tries to open it unless they have a special key.
  • The Worf Effect: Just years earlier, Goa'uld ha'tak ships were seen by humans as terrifying and nearly unstoppable. The Asgard O'Neill-class was supposed to be the crowning jewel of their technological achievement. Daedalus-class ships can travel between galaxies and hold their own against the Wraith. Against four Ori motherships? None of them stood a chance. Also counts as The Worf Barrage, as these are three of the most powerful factions in the galaxy, and don't succeed in destroying a single ship.
  • Wham Episode: The Ori successfully invade the Milky Way and immediately prove themselves to be more powerful than anything else seen so far, the fates of several main characters are left in question and Vala goes into labor with the Dark Messiah.

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