The Torment of Tantalus

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“The Torment of Tantalus”
Stargate SG-1 episode

Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 10
Guest stars	Elizabeth Hoffman as Catherine Langford Keene Curtis as Dr. Ernest Littlefield Gary Jones as Walter Harriman Duncan Fraser as Professor Langford Paul McGillion as Young Ernest Littlefield
Written by	Robert C. Cooper
Directed by	Jonathan Glassner
Production no.	110
Original airdate	October 3, 1997
Episode chronology
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Episode chronology

"The Torment of Tantalus" is an episode from Season 1 of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. It is often referred to by fans as "the Meaning of Life Stuff episode".

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Daniel Jackson is watching some film footage from 1945 of scientists working on the then newly discovered Stargate, trying to get it to work. Not knowing about the effect of stellar drift on the dialing (later discovered by Samantha Carter), they should not have been able to turn it on. However, the film shows (much to Jackson's astonishment) that they managed to do so. After a man steps thru the gate, the wormhole it created collapses, apparently trapping him on whatever planet he was transported to.

Jackson visits Catherine Langford, the daughter of the man in charge of the program back then. She recognizes that the man who went thru the gate was Ernest Littlefield, who was her fiance. Her father had told her that Littlefield died during an explosion in the lab. Jackson brings her back with him to Stargate Command.

In a briefing, Jackson reveals that he was able to extract the chevrons that the scientists dialed from the old footage. Carter mentions that this address is not on the list found on Abydos, which is direct proof that the Goa'uld are not the builders of the Stargates. General Hammond agrees that SG-1 should go to the planet and attempt to bring Dr. Littlefield home. Catherine insists on joining the mission. SG-1 and Catherine depart.

On the other side of the wormhole, they find themselves in what appears to be something of a castle perched dangerously on outcropping rocks over a stormy sea and under a thunderous sky. Within, they find Dr. Littlefield, emaciated but alive.

Carter then discovers that the DHD is broken and hence they are stuck. While she works on a solution, Catherine has her moments with Ernest - they are cold to each other at first (as they've been through a lot) but warm up to each other later.

Jackson also talks to Ernest, who has kept a journal all these years. He takes them to a special room where a central device, when activated by Jack, projects a light-display into the air.

Spoiler warning: Related plot and/or ending details about Season 2 follow.
The four alien species are later revealed in the episode "The Fifth Race" to be the Four Great Races, the Asgard, the Nox, the Ancients and the Furlings. Except for the last race, SG-1 will later learn much about these great races and will even interact with them.

The light-display turns out to be a representation of atoms and basic elements. On the four walls are four types of writing, and both Jackson and Ernest believe this to be some kind of meeting place for four great alien races of the past. That is when Jackson realises that the atoms are a kind of universal language - to ensure universal comprehension the language has been reduced to basic elements common to all life. There turn out to be many pages of this 'book' and Jackson becomes obsessed with copying it down.

Carter works out that a lightning strike channelled into the gate may supply enough power to allow dialing it manually, enabling them to escape. In the meantime, the storm is becoming rough, and it looks like the castle will collapse. Daniel refuses to leave.

At the last moment, Ernest persuades Daniel to leave. Although the information held in the 'book' may be the source to understanding the very meaning of the existence of humans ("the Meaning of Life Stuff"), it would take more than a lifetime to study it all, as evidenced by Ernest, and there's no joy in knowing it all but having no one to share it with. Due to the obviousness of Ernest's wisdom on this matter, Jackson leaves the 'book' and they escape through the collapsing castle thru the Stargate just before the wormhole destablizes and shuts down.

Later, an attempt is made to open another wormhole to the planet and see if returning is possible. The attempt fails, presumably because the destination gate has been buried. However, Ernest notes that there is still his notes, which are being worked on as they speak. Ernest tells Daniel that one day he might meet the ones who wrote the book and tell him what it means.

[edit] Notes

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Torment of Tantalus (Stargate SG-1)

As of season ten, Ernest Littlefield has not returned to the series.
The title refers to the Greek myth of Tantalus, who could never reach what he kept grasping out for, and who is the origin of the word "tantalise", as Jackson is tantalised by the enormity of the "Meaning of Life Stuff" which he cannot possibly reach.
Co-Creator Brad Wright notes this episode as being one of the first that he could "actually see himself sitting down and watching".^{[citation needed]}
Paul McGillion (Young Ernest Littlefield) would go on to play the recurring and later main character Dr. Carson Beckett in Stargate Atlantis.