Zero Hour (Stargate SG-1)
Encyclopedia
"Zero Hour" is the fourth episode from Season 8 of the military science fiction
Military science fiction
Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction in which the principal characters are members of a military service and an armed conflict is taking place, normally in space, or on a planet other than Earth...

 television series Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...

. It was written by producer Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper is a Canadian writer and producer best known for his work in the Stargate franchise. He was formerly an executive producer of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis until both series conclusion and currently holds the same title on the third Stargate series Stargate Universe...

 and directed by Peter Woeste
Peter Woeste
Peter Woeste is a German/Canadian TV director, cinematographer and camera operator. Woeste is best known for his work on Stargate SG-1 as a director and director of photography. Along with Jim Menard, Woeste was one of Stargate SG-1's main cinematographers during its ten year series run, starting...

. Clips of the episode were shown on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...

before Season 8 began, with Late Night graphic designer Pierre Bernard making a cameo appearance in the episode. The first airing of "Zero Hour" on July 30, 2004 on the American Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...

 was viewed by 3 million Americans. The episode received mixed reviews.

"Zero Hour" takes place shortly after the promotion of main character Jack O'Neill
Jack O'Neill
Jonathan J. "Jack" O'Neill is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe, three science fiction shows about military teams exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices...

 from Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 to Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

. With O'Neill being the new leader of Stargate Command
Stargate Command
The Stargate Program is a fictional top-secret program that plays a key role in the Stargate franchise: it surrounds the operations of the Stargate on Earth. The core of the Stargate Program is Stargate Command , based at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station near Colorado Springs, Colorado...

 (SGC), Lt. Col. Samantha Carter
Samantha Carter
Samantha "Sam" Carter is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction Stargate franchise, appearing in television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe. SG-1 and Atlantis are both about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien...

 has assumed O'Neill's old position as leader of the SG-1 unit. The idea to have the episode focus on General O'Neill solving various problems at his new job came from the writers' wondering what the general of the SGC does while his teams are on missions.

Plot

The episode takes place over the course of five days, counting down to an at first unrevealed event named "Zero Hour". Five days to Zero Hour, General O'Neill
Jack O'Neill
Jonathan J. "Jack" O'Neill is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe, three science fiction shows about military teams exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices...

 is introduced to his new administrative aide, Mark Gilmor, who makes a suspicious phone call. Meanwhile, O'Neill's new position as a general is twofold. He needs to decide decorations for an upcoming official visit, and prepare SG-1 for its next offworld trip. A quickly growing alien plant and the arrival of two brawly Amrans, possible trade partners from another world, lead O'Neill to write a letter to General Hammond, his predecessor.

At four days to Zero Hour, the alien plant has grown to cover many areas of the base. After SG-1 go missing on their off-world mission, a Goa'uld
Goa'uld
The Goa'uld are a fictional symbiotic race of ancient astronauts from the American-Canadian military science fiction television franchise Stargate. The Goa'uld are parasites from the planet P3X-888, integrated within a host, most of the time human. The resulting creatures are a powerful race bent...

 named Ba'al contacts Stargate Command
Stargate Command
The Stargate Program is a fictional top-secret program that plays a key role in the Stargate franchise: it surrounds the operations of the Stargate on Earth. The core of the Stargate Program is Stargate Command , based at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station near Colorado Springs, Colorado...

 and suggests an exchange of the captured SG-1 against Camulus, another Goa'uld who requested asylum on Earth several episodes before
New Order (Stargate SG-1)
New Order is the two-part Season 8 premiere of the science-fiction series Stargate SG-1. The episode earned a 2.4 Nielsen rating, a new record high for the show during its run on cable, which has since been tied, but never beaten...

. With the help of Camulus, a potent power source is found and brought back to Stargate Command, only to find it tainted by Camulus (powering it up could result in the destruction of the Solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

). With the SGC suffering from a temporary electricity failure caused by the alien plants, Ba'al's renewed contacting only results in O'Neill's mocking. Exhausted by sleep deprivation two days to Zero Hour, O'Neill finishes his letter to General Hammond to inform him of his resignation.

Although Camulus leaves Earth, Ba'al does not send back SG-1. When all SG teams announce their trust and support for the general, SG-1 dial the Stargate
Stargate (device)
A Stargate is a portal device within the Stargate fictional universe that allows practical, rapid travel between two distant locations. The devices first appear in the 1994 Roland Emmerich film Stargate, and thereafter in the television series Stargate SG-1 and its spin-offs...

 from offworld, revealing that they were never captured by Ba'al but instead were trapped in a secret base. After their safe return, O'Neill attests new SG-1 leader Samantha Carter
Samantha Carter
Samantha "Sam" Carter is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction Stargate franchise, appearing in television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe. SG-1 and Atlantis are both about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien...

's positive leadership skills. It is revealed that the ZPM Camulus was given to supposedly kill Ba'al (which Ba'al would use to destroy Earth) was actually the dead one from Antarctica. Zero Hour makes up the last minutes of the episode. The President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 is about to arrive, and Gilmor announces that his special assignment, initiated by the President's order, will end the next day. Gilmor expresses his respect, and as they leave to greet the President, the camera zooms in on the letter on O'Neill's desk, with the last words, "Never mind".

Production

Despite being fourth in the airing order, "Zero Hour" was filmed as the seventh out of the twenty episodes of Season 8. The limited availability of Richard Dean Anderson
Richard Dean Anderson
Richard Dean Anderson is an American television and film actor, producer and composer. He began his television career in 1976 as Dr. Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series General Hospital, then rose to prominence as the lead actor in the television series MacGyver...

 (Jack O'Neill
Jack O'Neill
Jonathan J. "Jack" O'Neill is a fictional character in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe, three science fiction shows about military teams exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices...

), who only worked 3.5 days out of five working days a week during the eighth season, extended the seven-day filming period to four weeks. With "Zero Hour" being a bottle episode
Bottle episode
The term bottle episode is used in episodic television to refer to episodes which are produced using the least money, and restricted in their scope to use as few, or no, non-regular cast members, effects, and sets as possible...

 to save money, director Peter Woeste
Peter Woeste
Peter Woeste is a German/Canadian TV director, cinematographer and camera operator. Woeste is best known for his work on Stargate SG-1 as a director and director of photography. Along with Jim Menard, Woeste was one of Stargate SG-1's main cinematographers during its ten year series run, starting...

 filmed the majority of the episode on the standing SGC sets at The Bridge Studios
The Bridge Studios
The Bridge Studios is a Canadian film studio in Burnaby, British Columbia. It operates the largest effects stage in North America. Its eight studios, ranging in size from to , are located on a lot at 2400 Boundary Road, in Burnaby....

, Vancouver, Canada. The labs of Dr. Lee and Carter were filmed in the same room of the standing set, and a storage room for filming equipment was remodeled into the office of Gilmor. Second unit
Second unit
In film, the second unit is a team that shoots subsidiary footage for a motion picture. Its work is distinct from that of the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving principal actors...

 director Andy Mikita
Andy Mikita
Andy Mikita is a Canadian television director and producer. He has worked in the TV and film industry for over 20 years. Mikita is best known for his work as a director and producer for Stargate SG-1, and its sister shows Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe.-Career:Andy Mikita began his...

 was responsible for the off-world scenes of the SG teams, filmed in Tynehead Park, one the few undeveloped Vancouver locations that still allows filming. O'Neill in his sleeping quarters was the episode's last filmed scene, shot in two takes to allow Anderson to catch his flight home to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

.

The inspiration for the episode came from the SG-1 writers wondering for years what George Hammond, the SGC leader from seasons one through seven, does while SG-1 is away on missions. Imagined scenarios ranged from the general dealing with minor decisions like bunting and lunch buffet, to averting major emergencies and threats. The episode's working title was "A Day in the Life of General O'Neill", but writer Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper is a Canadian writer and producer best known for his work in the Stargate franchise. He was formerly an executive producer of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis until both series conclusion and currently holds the same title on the third Stargate series Stargate Universe...

 felt "Zero Hour" was more appropriate, referring to the President's visit at the end of the episode. The subplot of the SGC being overrun with plant life originates in a Season 4 idea by writer and producer Brad Wright
Brad Wright
Brad Wright is a Canadian television producer, screenwriter and actor. He is best known as the creator or co-creator of the television series Stargate SG-1 , Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe...

. To not interrupt the shooting process, the set was decorated with various plants and vines overnight. Some plants were plastic, but real plants were used for the torching scenes, sprayed to be flame retardant so as not to burn the whole set. Jim Menard as the director of photography was responsible for the green lighting when the emergency lighting goes off. He achieved depth by using differently-colored lights in the control room and near the gate.

"Zero Hour" features several guest stars. Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 actor David Kaufman
David Kaufman (actor)
David Kaufman is an American voice-over artist and character actor, best known for his roles as the voice of Danny Fenton on Danny Phantom, the voice of Maggie's brother Aldrin on The Buzz on Maggie, and the voice of Marty McFly, Michael J...

 was brought in to play the part of Mark Gilmor, a red herring
Red herring (plot device)
Red herring is an idiomatic expression referring to the rhetorical or literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item of significance...

 to the story. Cliff Simon
Cliff Simon
Cliff Simon is a South African athlete and actor, most famous for his portrayal of Ba'al in Stargate SG-1.-Early life:...

, flown in from L.A. for a day's work, filmed most of his scenes as Ba'al against green-screen in the gateroom for a "hologram feel". Bill Dow
Bill Dow
Bill Dow is an actor, director and writer in theatre, film, and television. He is best known for playing Bill Lee in the Stargate franchise. He also had a recurring roles as Russ Hathaway in the Canadian drama series Da Vinci's Inquest, as Mr. Parkman in Pasadena, and Dr. Charles Burks in The X Files...

 (Dr. Lee) was doing theater work in Vancouver during the filming of this episode, necessitating the producers to schedule around his availability. Gary Jones's character, an SG-1 semi-regular technician who sported the name "Norman Davis" on his uniform for years, received a new name in this episode: "Walter Harriman". After O'Neill had referred to him as "Walter" in the Season 4 episode "2010", the producers could not get clearance for a renaming into "Walter Davis". The new name is based on General Hammond referring to Jones's character as "Airman" (sounding like "Harriman") in the pilot episode, and SG-1 writer Joseph Mallozzi
Joseph Mallozzi
Joseph Mallozzi is a Canadian writer and producer.He is most noted for his contributions to the Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate Universe television series. He joined the Stargate production team at the start of Stargate SG-1s fourth season in 2000...

 explained the resulting incongruity as a married-name issue. One scene in "Zero Hour" features Pierre Bernard, a graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...

 for the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 show Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...

, as technician O'Brien. The SG-1 producers saw Bernard ranting on Late Night about Stargate SG-1 being better without Daniel Jackson (actor Michael Shanks
Michael Shanks
Michael Garrett Shanks is a Canadian actor who achieved fame for his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in the long-running Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.-Early life:...

 was not part of SG-1 during Season 6), and gave him a cameo spot.

Reception

Producer Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper
Robert C. Cooper is a Canadian writer and producer best known for his work in the Stargate franchise. He was formerly an executive producer of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis until both series conclusion and currently holds the same title on the third Stargate series Stargate Universe...

 was satisfied with "Zero Hour", claiming that Richard Dean Anderson "is fantastic in this episode. It's new-yet-classic O'Neill and fans of the character will be forever pleased with this." When "Zero Hour" first aired on the Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...

 on July 30, 2004, it achieved a 2.2 Household rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

, equaling approximately 3 million viewers. Tied with "Icon", this marked the sixth-highest rating for any Season 8 episode of Stargate SG-1.

DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...

 called "Zero Hour" "a playful episode" with a "funny sub-plot involving an alien plant", but recognized the episode's contribution to the overall story arc. TV Zone
TV Zone
TV Zone was a British magazine published every four weeks by Visual Imagination that covered cult television. Initially, it mostly covered science fiction, but branched out to cover other drama and comedy series.-History:...

 considered the plant threat "a nice change" but regretted that it was only a red herring for a later plot revelation. Bringing the plants to the SGC at all was regarded irritating, as the "obvious move [to build a secure lab on an uninhabited planet] doesn't make for such good drama." O'Neill acting as the new leader made "the Goa'uld threat [...] a laugh" and "an amazing change from the events from the series' early days" where O'Neill took this race more seriously. The actual zero hour plot around the "harassed" O'Neill was considered "a nice touch". Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....

, who had shown a clip of Pierre Bernard's scene in his late night show
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...

 before the first airing, congratulated Bernard for doing a good job, and Bernard would be invited back to the Stargate SG-1 set for a scene in the 200th episode
200 (Stargate SG-1)
"200" is the sixth episode of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1s tenth season, and the 200th episode of the series overall...

 of the show.

External links

  • Zero Hour at scifi.com
    Sci Fi Channel (United States)
    Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...

  • Zero Hour at mgm.com
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