“Thor’s Chariot” sees SG-1 return to the
planet Cimmeria, the Nordic planet from Season 1’s “Thor’s Hammer”, and it is a
vital keystone in the show’s continuity.
For one, it introduces a new Goa’uld System Lord: Heru-Ur, the son of Ra
and impersonator of the Egyptian god Horus.
Moreover, this marks the debut of Thor, the Asgard God of Thunder and an
important ally of Stargate Command.
Even
though the Asgard are iconic to the Stargate
canon as the famous advanced and sophisticated gray aliens today, this portrayal
of the God of Thunder might come off as a shocking and unexpected when viewed
for the first time. In almost all other
forms of media, Thor is depicted as a strong and powerful masculine figure—a
portrayal that this episode does play up at first before properly introducing
him. As such, Thor’s portrayal as a gray
alien is a subversion of that convention, and puts how one person could be
powerful and wise into a different perspective.
It is a form that is almost akin to Yoda from Star Wars—who knew someone so powerful could be so small?
Given
that SG-1 pretty much tampered with Thor’s Hammer—the only device that was
guarding the planet Cimmeria—during their first visit to Cimmeria last season,
it is nice to see SG-1 get called out by the characters for interfering with
other cultures. Their whole arc in this
episode is taking responsibility for their mistakes and getting motivated to
right what they had wronged before. It
is one thing to make the heroes flawed; it is another to drive them to correct
their flaws and become better people.
Of
course, correcting the mess they indirectly caused won’t be an easy task for
SG-1, as they have to split up for this.
Jack and Teal’c team up with a Viking named Olaf to kick some Jaffa ass. One of the best scenes involves Jack &
Teal’c employing tactical guerilla combat, planting a claymore minefield to
bottleneck the Jaffa into a chokepoint where they can easily gun them down. All in all, it is just a fun blast to watch
onscreen. The other involves Daniel and
Sam helping Gairwyn, returning from “Thor’s Hammer”, through the Hall of Thor’s
Might—the series of trials and tests to get to Thor. All of this serves as buildup to Thor’s
introduction, and the tests themselves reveal quite a bit about Thor’s
character before he is properly introduced.
Plus, the threat of Heru-Ur looming overhead makes every test, and every
delay and obstacle the trio comes across, every bit tenser.
Both
of the arcs boil down to a climax that is resolved with what is quite a literal
deus ex machina. The first appearance of the Asgard mothership demonstrates just how powerful the Asgard are, and it succeeds at introducing
Thor’s true “might”...even if he comes off as a bit overpowered here. Overall, this is a very solid episode that
delivers a thoroughly entertaining story, while also holding its place as a
worthy cornerstone for Stargate SG-1’s
long and complex narrative.
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