The Russians find a Stargate of their own but fail to use it wisely, forcing the experienced members of SG-1 to lend a hand.

Written by Robert C. Cooper
Directed by Martin Wood

Those Plucky Humans

JACKSON: Could we stop agreeing on how we are going to die and start doing something about it?

CARTER: We are completely stationary, it's like we're stuck in the mud.    More Stories The SPACE.com Guide to Stargate SG-1 Stargate SG-1 - 'Watergate' (spoilers) Stargate SG-1 - 'Window of Opportunity' Stargate SG-1 - 'Divide and Conquer'    Related Links Stargate SG-1 [official] JACKSON: Without the mud.

O'NEILL: It's called a parachute, it slows your descent when you jump out of a plane. TEAL'C: This device seems poorly designed to provide such a function

GUEST STARS

Marina Sirtis -- Dr. Svetlana Markov
Tom McBeath -- General Maybourne

Marina Sirtis most recently appeared on episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and syndicated Earth: Final Conflict.

WHAT HAPPENED

The members of SG-1 discuss their impeding mission: to seek out a planet suitable for resettling a friendly refugee population. When they arrive in the gate chamber, the chevrons are already clicking in and the gate is about to open, but nothing happens -- the seventh symbol does not engage, leaving our heroes with some time to kill.

After long analysis, technicians determine that another active Stargate, located in the Siberian wastes, is preventing them from dialing out. (spoilers)

ANALYSIS

So the Russians have a Stargate -- nice way to start off an episode!

There's a lot of good stuff here, We have the lovely Marina Sirtis (best known as the Next Generation's Counselor Troi) guest-starring as our Russian scientist, a whole bunch of miscellaneous and sundry Russians, returning bad guy General Maybourne and an encounter with sentient water (!).

I thought the revitalized Cold War tension was an interesting, natural extension of SG-1's military roots. The political dimension of Stargate Command's war with the Goa'uld is usually limited to more subtle matters of procedure and chain of command, but the introduction of a competing Russian Stargate program should lead to some complications down the road.

In general, "Watergate" is an example of an episode that flows well when it's on, but leaves the viewer with a lot of unanswered questions when it's over.

I can't wait to see the continuation of this story arc soon.

I'd also like to commend the CGI team yet again, this time for their sublime work on the water planet.

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK

Return to the Goa'uld homeworld in "The First Ones", as the hapless Daniel Jackson gets himself captured by an Unas, one of the snaky parasites' original hosts.