The Broca Divide (original) (raw)

"The Broca Divide" is the fifth episode of the first season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis[]

After visiting P3X-797, SG-1 discovers The Touched, a race of humans infected by a disease that seems to devolve them into animal-like creatures. To make matters worse, SG-1 inadvertently brings the disease back with them, where it rapidly spreads throughout Stargate Command. The only way to cure them is to get a blood sample from the Untouched, who believe the disease to be a curse. Now the SGC must battle to destroy the plague before its personnel are trapped in a primitive-state forever.

Plot[]

SG-1 and SG-3 arriving on P3X-797

After a briefing in which Major General George S. Hammond reveals that the refugees the SGC teams including SG-1 brought back from Chulak, SG-1 and SG-3 head to the planet designated P3X-797.

Upon arrival they find themselves attacked by a group of savage primeval men living in the forest like animals. They scare them off and walk out of the darkness into the light.

Once out of the forest and in the light they find a beautiful civilization that appears to be of Minoan origin, which fascinates Dr. Daniel Jackson immensely. The locals refer to their land as "The Land of Light" and the savages in the forest as "The Touched". Citizens of the Land of Light afflicted with a "curse" devolve into savage beasts and are banished into the dark.

After returning to Earth, Lt. Daniel Johnson begins to act irrationally and attacks Teal'c. Other members of SG-3 soon start displaying the same symptoms as "The Touched". Captain Samantha Carter tries to seduce Colonel Jack O'Neill, but he realizes she has the mysterious disease and takes her to the infirmary. Later, when Daniel expresses concern for Carter, Jack becomes unaccountably jealous, insisting "she's not yours to care about", and assaults Daniel with everyone realizing that Jack has the disease.

As a result, Cheyenne Mountain is placed into lockdown with Stargate Command being cut off from the outside world until a cure can be found.

Very heavily sedated, Jack asks Dr. Janet Fraiser to experiment on him in hopes of finding a cure, but she refuses. Teal'c returns to the planet with Daniel, as they are the only members of the SGC except for Fraiser who haven't come down with the disease.

Teal'c brings back a blood sample of the Untouched for Fraiser to analyze, but Daniel is taken by the Touched.

Fraiser realizes Daniel and she were not infected as a result of their antihistamine allergy medicine, and the "curse" is actually a disease targeting histamine. From analyzing the blood she concludes there must be something in the diet of the people in the Land of Light that acts as an antihistamine; which, if eaten more often will prevent the "curse".

In one of the Isolation Rooms, Fraiser then tells Jack and Teal'c that she has a cure that could help. Jack volunteers to be the test subject with Fraiser giving him the dose.

Jack after being given a possible cure for the disease

As Jack falls asleep, Fraiser tells Teal'c that they have to wait with Teal'c later lying Jack down and placing a blanket over him.

The next morning, Teal'c is interrupted by someone banging on the door of the cell he's been guarding. When he opens the slide, it's shown that Jack has returned to normal, the injection having worked.

After some minor confusion over Jack calling Teal'c "Lucy", Jack is later released and he and Teal'c set off to find Fraiser.

A while later, thanks to Fraiser synthesizing a cure (a large dose of Chlorpheniramine Maleate), the SGC is finally brought out of lockdown with everyone infected being cured and operations returning to normal at last.

In the Embarkation Room, the team receive guns from a soldier while Fraiser explains that by hitting one of the Touched with the darts should be more than enough to starve the disease altogether. She then wishes them good luck before leaving while Jack and Sam debate as to whether Daniel's still alive.

When the Stargate opens a wormhole seconds later, Jack tells Sam, "Let's find out" as the team goes through the Stargate.

Daniel having become one of the Touched

Arriving on P3X-797, the team head to the area where the Touched reside and discover Daniel is still among them but unfortunately as a result of not having his allergy medicine, Daniel is now one of the Touched too.

The team soon use darts loaded with Fraiser's cure for the disease to take down all the Touched with Sam attempting to inject Daniel, only for Daniel to attempt to attack her which is ultimately halted thanks to Jack shooting a dart into Daniel's body which leaves Daniel and the rest of the Touched unconscious.

SG-1 then arrive at the temple in spite of the villagers objecting and explains to the people the "curse" is reversible as well as their lost family members will be returning. When Daniel awakens back to his normal self, he serves as proof to the people who rush into the forest.

SG-1 follows and witnesses a moving moment of reunions as the former Touched, now cured of the "disease" reunite with their loved ones. They give some medication and aid to the Land of Light so that none shall ever be "Touched" again, and, having made new friends, return to Earth through the Stargate.

Appearances[]

Notable quotes[]

(Lt. Johnson attacks Teal'c in the boardroom during a briefing. Teal'c counters, and pins Johnson to the table.)
Teal'c: General Hammond, I would prefer not to hurt this man.

O'Neill: Oh, I got in a little wrestling match with Carter.
Jackson: Why?
O'Neill: I guess she's got whatever Johnson's got. Had to drag her off to the infirmary.
Jackson: What, did she start a fight with you, like Johnson did with Teal'c?
O'Neill: No, she, uh, tried to seduce me.
(pause)
Jackson: Oh. (pause) You poor man...

Jackson: (about the people on the Dark Side) We came in contact with them. Isn't that special.
Fraiser: So, the question is, why haven't you and Mr. Teal'c come down with the symptoms?
Jackson: Uh, Mr. Teal'c... Teal'c's symbiote probably protects him.
Teal'c: That would be likely.
Fraiser: What about you, Dr. Jackson?
Jackson: That beats me. You're the doctor, Doctor. Uh, maybe I have a natural immunity.
Teal'c: Perhaps you will develop symptoms later.
Jackson: Thank you for the moral support.

Teal'c: Colonel O'Neill?
O'Neill: (imitating Desi Arnaz) Lucy, I'm home!
Teal'c: I am not Lucy.
O'Neill: I know that. It's a reference to an old TV... never mind, open the door.
Teal'c: I will summon the doctor.
O'Neill: No, come on. I'm fine. I'm back to being myself. Just open up.
Teal'c: I cannot be certain that you are back to being yourself. You referred to me as "Lucy."

O'Neill: Daniel, you dog! Keep this up, and you'll have a girl on every planet.

Carter: (uncomfortably) About my earlier behavior... I wasn't myself, and...
O'Neill: Oh, Carter, I don't even remember your earlier behavior.
Carter: You don't?
O'Neill: No, I was infected too, remember?
Carter: relieved Right! Good, I'm-I'm glad.
O'Neill: By the way, how's the wound?
Carter: Wound?
O'Neill: I understand you got stabbed in the stomach?
Carter: Oh, yeah, that-that was nothing. With any luck, there won't even be a scar.
O'Neill: Well, good. I was concerned.
Carter: You were?
O'Neill: Sure. (smiles) If it doesn't heal properly, you'll never wear that sweet little tank top number again.
(She stops in her tracks at that, and he keeps on walking.)

Cast[]

Main Characters

• Richard Dean Anderson as Colonel Jack O'Neill
• Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson
• Amanda Tapping as Captain Samantha Carter
• Christopher Judge as Teal'c
• Don S. Davis as Major General George S. Hammond

Guest Stars

• Teryl Rothery as Dr. Janet Fraiser
• Gary Jones as MSgt. Walter Harriman
• Steve Makaj as Colonel Robert Makepeace
• Nicole Oliver as Leedora
• Gerard Plunkett as Councilor Tuplo
• Danny Wattley as Lt. Daniel Johnson
• Roxana Phillip as Melosha
• T.M. Sandulak as TSgt. Ziplinski (Uncredited)
• Randy Thompson as Cured Touched 1 (Uncredited)
• Ken Jones as Cured Touched 2 (Uncredited)
• ? as SG-3 Member
• ? as SG-3 Member
• ? as Leedora's father

Notes[]

• Since there was only one possible gate address from the four symbols, Apophis was known to have dialed on Chulak, and the corresponding planet turned out to be a dead end; this indicates either the planet to which Apophis fled at the end of "Children of the Gods" is not included on the Abydos cartouche, or he immediately dialed another gate upon arrival at the planet, a tactic shown later in the series to be common among the Goa'uld. It's also possible that the planet was one that Captain Samantha Carter's program hadn't extrapolated yet from the cartouche as it would only be able to generate a few addresses a month.
• This episode includes the first appearances of Dr. Janet Fraiser and Colonel Robert Makepeace, as well as the team SG-3 (United States Marine Corps).
• According to the episode "Politics", the events of this episode took place in March.
• After Colonel Jack O'Neill was cured, after knocking on his cell door, Teal'c opens it, and O'Neill says "Lucy, I'm home." a common line on the hit sitcom I Love Lucy.
• The title of the episode refers to the cultural division spoken of by Pierre Paul Broca. Broca's area is a part of the brain used in speech formations.
• The Land of Light would often be used as a safe-haven for refugees later in the series. Its leaders and existence first reoccur in the episode "Enigma", when the Tollan need a planet to stay on. It also appears in "Family" for a place for Drey'auc and Rya'c, the wife and son of Teal'c.
• When given the opportunity to choose Dr. Fraiser's first name, Teryl Rothery chose "Janet" due to her role as "Janet Brevson" in The Outer Limits episode "Trial by Fire". That episode was written by Brad Wright and directed by Jonathan Glassner, who are both writers for Stargate SG-1.
• This is the first of twelve episodes of Stargate SG-1 directed by William Gereghty.

Goofs[]

• Major General George S. Hammond states that there is no video to play back because the planet appears to be extremely dark, and that the MALP lights may have been broken during transit. However, light given off by the event horizon seems to illuminate the immediate vicinity of the gate quite well, as seen when SG-1 first arrives on the planet, and when the gate is active in the Embarkation room in most episodes.
• P3X-797 is implied to have a light and a dark side due to synchronous rotation. However, the terminator between these sides is shown as a sharp edge between full darkness and full day, while on planets with an Earth-like atmosphere the twilight zone should be hundreds of kilometers wide. Furthermore, there would not be a dense forest on the side of the planet that receives no sunlight.
• From 10:10 to 10:24 mark you can follow the crane camera's shadow on the right side of the frame.
• In the scene where Colonel Jack O'Neill prepares to fire an arrow at the Untouched, an injection or possible capsule filled with yellow liquid is visible on his right arm but in the next scene as he gets up to move, it's gone.
• In the scene where O'Neill is in the initial briefing, his epaulets are above his collar. USAF rules would require them to be tucked underneath.
• It is stated that several of the refugees gave them the four symbols, though in fact all of them would have been too far away too see anything as they were all up on the hill. O'Neill was in fact the closest to the DHD at the time.
• Teal'c states that Skaara would be taken to Apophis' homeworld. As First Prime he would likely be the most likely to know the address more than anyone else and been able to tell them if this was the correct place.
• In the widescreen version Teryl Rothery's credit is missing. In the standard broadcast she is billed first.

Other languages[]

• Hungarian: A sötétség határán (The Edge of Darkness)
• Czech: Mezi světlem a tmou (Between Light and Darkness)
• Italian: La Luce della Civiltà (The Light of the Civilization)
• German: Die Seuche (The Epidemic)
• French: La Théorie de Broca (Broca's Theory)
• Polish: Granica (Border)
• Portuguese: A Divisão De Broca (The Broca Divide)
• Spanish: La Vertiente Broca (The Broca Aspect)
• Russian: Раздел по Броку (Razdyel po Broku) (The Broca Divide)
• Finnish: Taantuminen (Regression)

Links and navigation[]

• The Broca Divide at the Internet Movie Database
• The Broca Divide on GateWorld. (backup link)
• The Broca Divide article on Stargate SG-1 Solutions' The StargateWiki