| abstract
| - An archaeological dig is taking place in Giza, Egypt in 1928, where Professor Paul Langford discovers an artifact, a large metal ring with symbols all along the edge with nine chevrons, that has been protected by coverstones. His young daughter Catherine acquires an amulet. Present After becoming the laughing stock at one of his seminars, where he proposes unpopular theories about the building of the Egyptian Pyramids, Dr. Daniel Jackson, a radical, young, down-on-his-luck Egyptologist, is confronted by Catherine, now an old woman, about a job decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs for the United States Air Force. Meanwhile, Colonel Jack O'Neill has just been recalled to active service. O'Neill has recently experienced the death of his son, who accidentally killed himself with his father's gun. Consequently, O'Neill has become sullen and morose. Predictably, thrilled at having achieved employment, Jackson travels to Colorado to accept Catherine's proposal. Inside a former nuclear missile silo, he is presented with the coverstones. He finds the translation of the hieroglyphs on the inner tract is wrong and corrects it, discovering the portion translated as "door to heaven" really reads "Stargate." Over the course of the next two weeks, Jackson puzzles over the mysterious seven symbols in the center of the Cartouche. Due to a chance incident, he discovers that these seven symbols are not words to be translated, but star Constellations. When explaining his findings to Major General W. O. West, he states that the cartouche charts a course to a point in deep space with seven symbols—six for the destination and one for the point of origin. West decides to show Jackson the artifact discovered in 1928—the Stargate itself. After Jackson quickly discovers which symbol on the gate is the point of origin, the gate is activated, creating a wormhole between it and another gate "on the other side of the known universe." An initial probe is sent through the gate, revealing the planet on the other side can support human life. The military is planning on sending a reconnaissance team, headed by O'Neill, through the gate, but the symbols of the gate on the other side are different. Jackson volunteers to go along so he can realign the Stargate on the other side, so the team can return to Earth. West okays the mission and Catherine gives Jackson her amulet so he can bring it along as good luck. The team steps through the gate and comes out in an Egyptian temple of the desert planet. However, the team is in for an unpleasant surprise when they discover Jackson doesn't know how to realign the Stargate, lacking the proper order of alignment or the planet's point of origin. Jackson believed another cartouche would be waiting right on the other side with this information, but this was not the case. Most of the men become very angry with Jackson when they discover they may not be able to return home, but unflappable O'Neill seems to accept this fate in stride and begins setting up a Mark III Nuclear warhead near the Abydos Stargate. Meanwhile, Jackson has a run-in with a local beast of burden called a Mastadge and is dragged across the desert. The team splits up with one half, under the command of O'Neill, heading after the hapless archaeologist while the others, commanded by Lt. Louis Ferretti, stay behind at the temple. After catching up with Jackson, O'Neill and the others discover, just over a nearby hill, a group of primitive people mining Naquadah, the same mineral the Stargate is made out of. Upon spotting Catherine's amulet, which has the Eye of Ra on it, the people immediately begin worshiping the travelers, believing they were sent by the god Ra. The people take the team to their primitive walled city, which protects them from a coming sandstorm. O'Neill's team remains at the city overnight while Ferretti's forces are forced to retreat inside the temple due to the storm. Meanwhile, Jackson is unknowingly married to Sha'uri, the daughter of their patriarchal leader Kasuf, while O'Neill befriends Kasuf's son Skaara. In the middle of the night, an alien spacecraft lands on a pyramid behind the temple and several armored guards round up Ferretti and the rest of his team. Sha'uri, meanwhile, leads Jackson to a room filled with writings. He discovers that the people of Abydos are ruled by an alien being posing as the god Ra. Ra, he discovers, has achieved immortal life inside a human body and forces the Abydonians to mine Naquadah for his technology. Lt. Charles Kawalsky finds another cartouche with the return coordinates in the same room. However, the seventh symbol has worn off and is now indecipherable. Convinced they will be trapped on Abydos forever, the team head back to the temple, but O'Neill and Jackson are captured and brought before Ra. Ra presents them with the bomb O'Neill planted and Jackson is horrified to discover what the colonel had been planning. O'Neill attempts to kill Ra, but he is overpowered and Jackson is killed in the struggle. However, Jackson awakens in a Sarcophagus and encounters Ra, who tells him that he plans to send the nuclear bomb back to Earth with a dose of Naquadah, increasing its power 100-fold. Furthermore, Ra tells Jackson to kill his comrades before the Abydonians, validating Ra's position as their god. If Jackson refuses to do this, Ra will kill him, his comrades and, evidently, all the Abydonians. At a large public event, Jackson begins to grudgingly carry out the executions. However, Skaara reveals that he and the other Abydonian children have firearms from the team. At the last moment, Jackson turns his Staff weapon on Ra and fires. The team and the kids retreat into the desert to hide from Ra. Jackson forces O'Neill to reveal his orders involving the bomb and explains Ra's plan to the others. When he finds Skaara sketching a drawing of their successful escape from Ra, Jackson discovers the point of origin for Abydos. The Abydonian youngsters and the team advance towards the temple, but Jackson, O'Neill and Sha'uri are trapped inside. Kawalsky, Ferretti, Skaara and the others are trapped outside, where they are assaulted by two Death Gliders. Inside the temple, O'Neill sets the bomb for seven minutes. When Sha'uri is killed by a guard, Jackson uses the Transportation rings to go aboard Ra's ship and bring her back to life with the sarcophagus. After Jackson and Sha'uri escape off Ra's ship, O'Neill attempts to disarm the bomb, but discovers that it has been rigged. Meanwhile, Kasuf leads the rest of the Abydonians down on Ra's forces and Ra, realizing the Abydonians are rebelling against him, makes his ship lift off. In an act of desperation, O'Neill and Jackson send the indisarmable bomb aboard Ra's ship with the Transportation rings. The bomb goes off, killing Ra and destroying his ship. O'Neill and his men return to Earth, but Jackson chooses to stay behind with Sha'uri. Before O'Neill leaves, Jackson hands him Catherine's amulet and tells him to tell her that it brought him luck. O'Neill agrees and, after bidding farewell, steps through the Stargate.
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