THE CHANGELING

06.19 Episode 129 (#P667)
Airdate: February 28, 2003

Teal'c awakens from a nightmare and faces himself in the mirror. However, the face in the mirror has no tattoo, and belongs to a firefighter named T who serves on a fire and rescue squad with Chief O'Neill, Captain Carter, and Jonas Quinn. T is preparing to donate a kidney to his stepfather, Brae, and his friends believe his nightmares could be a sign of his anxiety. However, when T imagines that he sees Brae's face on an accident victim, and he is injured during the rescue, the concern grows, and the surgery is postponed, as O'Neill recommends that T speak to his friend, Dr. Daniel Jackson, the resident psychologist.

Teal'c awakens in the SGC infirmary and reports that he has been unable to complete his kelno'reem and has been experiencing very realistic but disturbing dreams of another life as a firefighter. Teal'c and T continue to slip in and out of each other's nightmares, but when Teal'c finds himself wounded on a battlefield littered with hundreds of dead Jaffa, and removing a symbiote from Bra'tac to place in his own pouch, T awakens and confides that he can no longer distinguish which reality is the dream. Dr. Jackson suggests that perhaps neither is real, and as T ponders his words, Dr. Jackson promises, "I haven't left your side, Teal'c."

Suddenly Teal'c is back in the gateroom. He and Bra'tac have been rescued by SG-1, and both are badly injured following an ambush of the Rebel Jaffa. By sharing his symbiote with Bra'tac, Teal'c had kept them both alive for three days until help could arrive, but now the symbiote is beyond the ability to heal. Jacob arrives bringing a refined version of tretonin, the Pangaran drug with the restorative powers of a symbiote. The experimental drug is administered to both Teal'c and Bra'tac, saving their lives and ending the nightmares, but Daniel appears once more to Teal'c to assure him that everything is going to be fine.

Written by: Christopher Judge
Directed by: Martin Wood

Guest Starring: Tony Amendola as Bra'tac/Brae, Carmen Argenziano as Jacob Carter, Musetta Vander as Shauna, Peter Williams as Apophis, Special Guest Appearance by Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson, Teryl Rothery as Dr. Fraiser, John Ulmer as Fire Fighter, Gianna Patton as Nurse, Gary Jones as Radio Dispatcher

Reference: Ambush of Kresh'taa, Apophis, Ascension, Brae, Bra'tac, Captain Carter, Jacob Carter, Coquitlam, Fireman, Daniel Jackson, Dr. Jackson, Jaffa, Junior, Kelno'reem, Nurse, Chief O'Neill, Patient, Probie, Rebel Jaffa, Shauna, T, Teal'c, Tok'ra, Tretonin, Major Wood

DESTINATIONS & INHABITANTS

NOTES OF INTEREST

• Teal'c left for a meeting of rebel Jaffa leaders. It was an ambush and over one hundred rebel Jaffa were found dead. Every single one had had his symbiote removed except Teal'c, who used his own symbiote to keep both himself and Bra'tac alive for three days.
• Chief Jack O'Neill, Captain Samantha Carter, "Probie" Jonas Quinn, and "T" are all members of the Coquitlam Fire and Rescue Department.
• Dr. Daniel Jackson is the resident psychologist at the hospital.
• As created by the Pangarans, tretonin was designed to take the place of a human immune system. It has since been refined by the Tok'ra specifically for Jaffa physiology in the hope of finding an end to the Jaffa dependence on symbiotes. Teal'c and Bra'tac will now rely on regular doses of tretonin to replace their symbiotes.

MEMORABLE REMARKS

• I would prefer not to consume bovine lactose at any temperature. [Teal'c]
• Brae, you old fart, are you still alive? [Chief O'Neill]
  Chief, you sorry excuse for a human being. [Brae]
• There's putting your life on the line, and there's being stupid. Guess which one you picked? [Brae]
• Oooh, I love when that happens... [O'Neill]
• You think I'm crazy? [T]
  No, not yet, we just met. [Dr. Jackson]
• Teal'c without Junior... That's a concept. [O'Neill]

FOR THE RECORD

• O'Neill calls Teal'c "T": 3 [as "T" in his dream]
• Cameo by Martin Wood: Fireman at the fire truck
• Cameo by Allan, Amanda Tapping's husband: First fireman down the pole
• Cameo by Gianna, Christopher Judge's girlfriend: Nurse
• Cameo by Siler: Fireman opening the garage door
• Injuries:
  • Teal'c: wounded in an ambush, lived for three days by sharing a symbiote