Crystal Skull

This is Stargate SG1 For the First Time! From the creators of Babylon 5 For the First Time, Jeff Akin is watching this iconic show for the first time while Brent Allen, who has seen it at least 47 times, is watching for the first time for those sci-fi messages that hold a mirror up to society or show us how to be better human beings.

Crystal Skull - Season 3, Episode 21

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Transcript

[0:11] Welcome to stargate sg1 for the first time still not a star trek podcast my name is jeff akin and i'm watching stargate sg1 for the first time and i'm brent allen and i'm watching stargate sg1 for the 47th time but for the first time i am looking forward stargate is trying to teach us delivering those good sci-fi messages you know those ones that give us uh hope that things can be better in the future maybe they hold up a mirror to society and show us just how ugly we are or perhaps how about here's how to be good human beings to one another speaking of human beings we're going to get a look inside of one i think in this 21st episode of the third season crystal skull because i think we're going to see a human crystal skull my prediction was that it's going to have some message maybe have some frequencies or something that disrupt things and they got to get to it it'll have some big meaningful message for our sg1 crew do you brent have any meaningful fun messages for us pre-sci-fi messages just episode messages oh i've got a few a nice nice little couple heads up uh yeah 21st episode penultimate episode of the season wow season three season three done gone man so good uh original air date march 8th 2000 on showtime a few days earlier over in england or the uk i should say not just england uh the teleplay teleplay here credit goes to show creator brad wright.

[1:39] However the story credit goes to two guys jared paul poor guy with two first names and michael greenberg now this trio of brad wright.

[1:49] Jared paul michael greenberg have worked together before they brought us the episode message in a bottle jeff you remember that's the one with a little sphere alien device that shot out little rods from all over the place, Cotton O'Neill in the arm.

[2:00] Yeah. Now, Jared Paul, well, let's talk about Michael Greenberg first. You already know about Brad Wright. Michael Greenberg's been around for a while. He's more than just a story guy on a couple of episodes. He's actually been one of the show's producers since children of the gods on every single episode started in season one, being credited as a co-executive producer elevated to just the role of executive producer starting in season two. I'm not really sure why one's better than the other, but there you go. And he's going to maintain that role through the end of season eight. Wow. Now, the reason he gets that credit is because he co-owns a production company with Richard Dean Anderson called Gecko Productions, which if you watch the show, it's one of the nameplates that comes up at the beginning and end of every episode. Okay.

[2:47] Sometimes we cut them off here, but if you're out there watching, if you guys watch this, do you want? It's going to come up every single episode. So that's Michael Greenberg. Now, Jared Paul, on the other hand, not an executive producer, not a director, seems to just be a friend. A friend that hangs around and they've done a few things together however i gotta tell you checking him out on imdb uh he's got tons of small roles through the 90s and the early aughts um even some through the teens here but little little bit roles i don't know if you ever watch the show monk with tony shalhoub he was monk's neighbor okay um on seinfeld he was uh darren Kramer's intern in that one episode. Oh yeah. That Kramer, that's him. Oh, okay. Uh, he was in an episode of Buffy, you know, just, just bunch of stuff. Usually a lot of one-off kinda, kinda thing. So, uh, anyway, that's the trio of how this is written. Uh, Jeff, I will tell you, uh, when we get to that spot, which understandably is going to have to happen after we watch the episode today, there is a rather lengthy God check coming up for this episode. Oh, okay. Like for the God from the episodes.

[3:54] Yeah. Yeah. When we do like our God goddess check, like this, this one will be lengthy and I think it's fun. We're going to dive into it. I think it's going to be a whole lot of fun. So cool. That'd be, that'd be awesome. Well, Jeff, uh, with that being said, then let's waste no more time. Why don't we jump into this episode? What do you say? Let's do it. All right. Well, hey, listen, if you're joining us for the very first time, because, you know, every episode is somebody's first time. Welcome. You're amazing. You're awesome. The way this works is Jeff and I are going to go watch the episode right now. If you're hanging out with us here on YouTube, just stick around. You're going to catch our reaction. We're going to do a full on reaction video to this. If you want the full unedited version of this reaction, head over to our Patreon page at patreon.com slash. Bye nerds. If you're listening to us on a podcasting app, we're about to meet you on the other side. You're going to gate into the future where I'm going to share my first time reactions. Brent is going to share the sci-fi messages he found and a pretty exciting God goddess moment. God goddess check. We're going to get all that here in just a moment as we gaze into a crystal skull. How do you know we're gazing into it? That's just what you do, I guess, with skulls. I haven't really spent a lot of time handling skulls, so I don't know. All right let's watch an episode The Chevron 7 Locked.

[5:18] That's a cool looking spot for a gate right at the exit of the pyramid yeah i know of no goal structure, It's definitely mine. This is a major find. I have to see this. Any signs of life, sir? There is a breathable atmosphere, sir, but no complex life signs. Well, look at these readings, sir. These are leptons. Get out. That means something inside this pyramid is slowing down neutrinos. Normally, neutrinos pass right through ordinary matter, no matter how dense. It's true. I mean, something like 500 million billion just passed through you. No matter how dense. Now, a material that slows neutrinos could change everything we know about physics, the formation of the universe. Wait a minute, Sam. Get closer on that.

[6:03] Enhance? Enhance? It's a human crystal skull! No, that's a crystal skull. How do you know? Because it's exactly like the one found in 1971 in Belize by my grandfather. What you didn't know is he is the grandson of Indiana Jones. I was going to say. It looks a little Jonesian. He claimed that it possessed a certain power. What kind of power? That if one were to look into the eyes of the skull, one would be teleported to see aliens. Aliens. It's a crystal skull Stargate. So he insisted to the entire academic community. I take it his claim didn't go over very well. As you might imagine, no. He tried for years under controlled conditions to make the skull teleport him again to where the aliens lived, but he never could. Doesn't mean he wasn't right. I just really quick want to do an impression of his clinical trials. Okay.

[7:04] For years he did that i recommend limited exposure 10 15 minutes at most yeah my guess is not good time i mean there has to be some radiation suit or hey if you've been listening you'd know that nintendo's passed through everything nintendo's i love how sam's just It's like, hey, he heard part of the word. Like, that's great. That's cool. That's cool looking. Whoever the builders are, they would appear to be a formidable race. You could fit every pyramid on Earth inside this thing and still have room to spare. It's a Dyson pyramid. It's identical to the one Nick discovered in Belize. And you determine if it is a means of transport, as your grandfather believed. Yeah, hold on. Let me stare into its eye sockets. I can't be sure. There's no writings of any kind on the pedestal. It's slowing down these neutrinos. We can change the face of physics. Yeah, that green screen is amazing. It's a green screen over here. And New Jackson. Sir, radiation is spiking. It's at 300%. She can tell that with her Nokia tricorder. No, Daniel's out of here.

[8:21] That might not have been the smartest thing to do Now his body's here and his brain is somewhere else Inside the skull Inside the skull, He seemed to disappear. Oh, they don't see him. Sir, these readings are off the scale now. If we don't leave here soon... Uh-oh. Neil, get out of there! I like how you can tell he's, like, running in place. Oh, yeah. Just run in place, Neil, on the treadmill. I think we got you. You know, it's too bad they don't have, like, caller ID. Yeah. Prior to the gate opening.

[8:55] Good on Jack for being able to fireman's carry her that far. under the with the radiation going on all right so jeff uh you understand and i think correctly something happened to daniel and he's as far as they can tell he's disappeared but we saw his body still there we saw him right there but he's gone are we gonna count this as a daniel death i don't know yet i don't think so gotta wait and see because like if we go back and he gets up well well but our whole thing is supposed to see michael shanks has to die on screen right like like is that the i gotta see what what comes of this like if literally they go to the next scene and he like gets up and he's like hey where'd everybody go where am i he didn't die but if he just kind of stays down i mean we count it maybe at this point he just went down he's getting radiated right now disappearing isn't dying so like if if the body stays down but like soul gets up yeah that's whatever that's like the definition of death okay all right i just just trying to clarify because sometimes it's a little not not not so cut and dry the skull enveloped him in an energy field i fired my zednikatel but it was too late he seemed to disappear what did you not hear me tilk's face looks chubbier than it did last week oh yeah like it's really he's been hitting that craft services table between scenes huh he's been hitting it with the force of a staff weapon.

[10:14] Yes he's he's up he's up and up to tilk it might be but what happened where is everybody, Why are you giving me the silent treatment? Right? Is that the first time it's happened to Daniel? He just ran right through me. Someone ran right through him. Suddenly I have visions of that Roe and Geordi LaForge episode.

[10:38] How is he not falling to the floor? And every other sci-fi show that's done a... What the hell is going on? ...phased out of whatever.

[10:47] Almost identical to the Nicholas Ballard skull in the Smithsonian. There you go, there you go. He doesn't know it was found on P7X377. Actually, the craftsmanship is very impressive. It's probably made in Germany, early 1800s. What I don't understand is what it has to do with Daniel being missing. We believe it to be a teleportation device. Are you serious? Jeff, hold on. That's good, Robert. Be skeptical. We were hoping your archaeological expertise could help provide insight into where he may have been since. That's a great place to pause this. All right, Jeff, 10 points if you can tell me where you know this guy from. Oh, I'm not going to score the points. You have seen him in SG-1 before. This is the screen scratch. It is pretty great. I would like to apologize to the actor. I'm sorry. This is just not the spot to pause the video. Honestly, I don't apologize. This is a real highlight of his skill. Look how he's just like, yeah, this feels good. Dude, his eyes are going like two different directions from the angle right here. He is loving it. When we saw a dude before, was he in makeup? No. No? Yeah. I'm not remembering him. Do you remember the episode when Daniel, it wasn't too long ago, he quit the SGC? Yes. It was after Sha Ray died, right? Yeah, yeah. This was the guy that replaced him briefly on SG1. And everybody was like, really, this guy? Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. And he's a big, big Daniel fan. and he was a student of Daniel's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a skull. How memorable he was. Not that skeptical. So if I'm Daniel, and I know I can... You're gonna get fired.

[12:16] But if I'm Daniel, I know I can stand on the floor, I know I can lean on the table. I'm gonna try writing. Mm. But also sci-fi faith. Yeah.

[12:26] Now he's gotta try to commune with the spiritual in the meditative device. In case I don't ever get the chance to say this, if you hadn't come back for me, I might have been stuck in that place for hours. I hear gratitude. That is the secret weapon that will connect us to the world you're in. Is there someone present? Yes. Yes, it's me. It's Daniel. I'm right here. Say thank you again. I'm right here. The episode is going to culminate with him singing, Donkishin. Oh, Tulk Donkishin. I wonder if they filmed this with them together during those parts or if the two shots were to separate them, because that'd be really weird. They'd be like, I don't hear you right here. Well, yeah, I mean, like, so do they just do it with body doubles while they're shooting each plate? Mm-hmm. Or is it actually the two guys right there? That is exactly what Daniel was doing when he was absorbed by the energy field. That's what I've been trying to tell him. Wait a minute, I'm not hungry or thirsty. Why not? Because I'm dead?

[13:24] What? Did anybody else feel that? What? What if I'm a ghost? Strong emotional expressions. Thank you. I'm dead. Pushes enough that they can kind of start to feel him. Tap into his emotions. I can't believe I'm going to suggest this, but what about Daniel's grandfather? Nick? Well, he claimed that the skull teleported him somewhere. He may be the only person who actually knows where Daniel is. I'm not so sure, Major. I've already taken the liberty of looking him up. Oh, you did. He did. His current address is a psychiatric institution in Oregon. Oh, look at that. Apparently his failure to prove the crystal skull was more than just a curiosity caused a severe mental breakdown from which he's never been able to fully recover. Nick checked himself in. Such a warm and welcome room. Two chairs and nothing. You know who this guy is, Jeff? Hmm. He's... Daniel followed my footsteps. You must be very proud. He made a fool of himself. John the Rubes. Mighty Ducks, man. He stayed in my academic career on this belief that the great pyramids of Egypt were made by aliens. I told him to forget all that nonsense. It wasn't nonsense. I was right. He lost his apartment, his research ground. He hasn't published a paper in two years. He's been busy. Where is he now? In a way, that's what this is all about. We wanted to hear exactly what happened to you back in 71 when you first found the skull.

[14:54] Because we found another skull, identical to the one you found in Belize. Show me. It's classified. I'm a crazy old man. If you don't, then I won't tell you anything. There you go. Nothing to lose. They can get him out of there, right? Totally. It is up to you. Well, I mean, he checked himself in. Can he not check himself out? Anytime he wants. A civilian who spent the last 20 years of his life in a psychiatric institution. That's perfect. No one will believe anything he says. He says anything. Right? Yeah. Colonel, you walk a fine line. Daily. Thank you, sir. Hammond. That's the president, right? It's the red tone. I know you can't hear me, but thank you. Absolutely. Kayla, sweetheart. This is grandpa. Isn't this past your bedtime? You should probably leave, Daniel. I'd love to come to see you and your school play tomorrow night, sweetheart, but can't. Nope. You go, Hammond. You go. You've got other people that can. Yep. A very close friend of mine is lost. Oh. Yes, he's a very close friend. That's kind of okay right there.

[15:54] I hope so too still those little girls need their grandpappy yeah that's a good way to say that though a good friend of mine not just I gotta work exactly I got a stake in this and they need me yeah you have been there haven't you you mean Belize no no no that was the ruins of the temple where I found a skull that's all gone collapsed I am talking about a cavern do you know the location of this cavern Nowhere on this earth. He's been there. It was so enormous. That the light of my torch never reached the bottom. Yes, but how did you get there? I don't know how I got there. A field of energy surrounded me, and suddenly I was simply there. And then they came. They? Giant aliens. They flew around me like specters. Now you know why no one believed. And then they spoke.

[16:51] That's my enemy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And yes, but what does it mean? I was afraid to answer. I just closed my eyes. And suddenly I found myself back again under the temple in Belize. And the ground was shaking as in an earthquake. And I just grabbed a skull and climbed out and everything collapsed. So I would think that it's an enemy of the Gould, the enemy of my enemy. But the Tauri weren't really on the radar at that point in 71. Or were they? I mean, not to the Gould. I mean, the Gould certainly knew who the Tauri were. Well, the Tauri was lost. Yeah. They certainly understood humanity. I mean, so clearly Nick is in a temple that is on Earth, translated him to, translated, teleported him to potentially this place where they actually went, you know, via the Stargate. But, sorry, I'm going the long way around this. Humanity, at least the Tauri humanity, would not have known or understood or began gate travel yet. So yeah, so it's some other thing. And also I'm thinking it's like, he says giants, pyramids are giant, like kilometer high, you know, massive. So that checks out, but I'm just curious what they would see in a human and a towery human and say, oh, you're the enemy of my enemy.

[18:07] Curious about that. I am sorry for not adopting you when your parents die. You were traveling all over the world. It wasn't your fault. I was eight years old. How could it be my fault? I am sorry, allowing my obsession to drive me.

[18:22] Godness, would you forgive me?

[18:26] I've been able to see him all along. You can see me? Jeff. Hmm. Buddy, we have to have a talk. Uh-oh. Look at me. Okay. You're not doing it right. Ah, shoot. You're supposed to have a big reaction when you realize that he can see him. So I didn't react. You just stood there the whole time. You're like, we can see him all along. Yeah, because it was obvious from when he was in the institution. All right, we're going to go back, and you're going to do this the right way. I'll do it the right way. Okay. All right. Yes, Daniel, I can see. What? Why didn't you say something? You're not real, so it doesn't mean anything. No, no, no, no, no, no, Nick, Nick, I'm real. Can you believe it? I'm real. Oh, my God. You're not hallucinating. Is that better? Hallucinations always say that. Not this time, Nick. It's a joke. It's a joke. The skull, the skull. I feel like it was kind of telegraphed the whole time. It's a joke, guys. Relax. We're just messing around, okay?

[19:17] There's no one specific that that's directed to. It's just a joke. Chill. more of a group whoops it's just a joke and not this group by the way it's uh i got him i got a message from mega the other day who's just telling me about some of the responses he gets on really stuff oh yeah he's like you just you react to the wrong stuff or you don't react to the right stuff right and he's like you just people man have like hardcore yeah it's it's been telegraphed the whole way so yeah and i think you know kind of obviously but i will tell you though i do remember my first watch of this i kind of had a suspicion but when he turned over his shoulder and looked at him i do remember going like i knew it i knew it like like i do remember having a little bit more of a visceral response um to that anyway daniel is here.

[20:10] Here jack what i'm saying i'm standing right beside standing right beside he's lost a few pounds jack don't be an ass jack don't be an ass oh what daniel now you're here daniel yes we have to go back to the planet and we have to let the skull finish what it started we must go back to the planet planet not a word sir i swear daniel told me all about the stargate oh we must replace the skull on the pedestal so that the giant aliens will come. Something must have interrupted this process. Like a zack gun. Why didn't you say something soon? I thought I was hearing voices. It wouldn't have been for the first time. I've been living in a sanatorium for 20 years. Forgive me, but why are you the only person who can see him? Perhaps because I went through the same experience. Sometimes that's who you need to really see and understand you. He might be able to see his granddaughter's school play after all. General Hammond, if you let us go now, you may be able to see your granddaughter's place. I was alone in my office when Kayla phoned. That's not creepy. Dr. Jackson, are you absolutely certain you and SG-1 can safely return to the planet? Say yes. Yes. Also, I'm wrong a lot, but we're not going to bring this. Daniel said you should come along to make it work. Wait, I never said that. I'm taking advantage of it. Yes. Yes.

[21:33] Yup. I like his grandfather. So this is what you have been doing these past few years. That's why you haven't published a paper in a few years. Then, behind that, there's another word. Please don't fall, dude. You are old and have the balance of a top. Been sitting in that little metal chair for a long time. That dude has the balance of a top that is not spinning. That particular crystal skull doesn't feel like it has the weight of what an actual crystal skull is. Now we must wait for the giant alien. Alien. That's just a nice bracelet. Can you wait that long? There's a lot of radiation going on. I like how his hair is blowing. Like wind is coming. Oh, it even... That's good. Yeah, Tilt's jacket.

[22:39] That's a lot of trust. You're trusting some old man who just called you an asshole, and suddenly we're supposed to let us be bombarded with radiation. Sam! Uh-oh. Oh, he's gone. Now Tilt's gone. No, they're all gone, except for... It appears that we're at a phase like Daniel.

[23:08] Junior. You're asking me? General Hammond, I was not teleported with the others. Return of Ace immediately. Ah, that's enemy of my enemy because he was able to phase. Now, can they go and, you know, hit the DHD, send the GDO signal, and get through themselves if they have to? Oh, there he is. Oh, my God.

[23:29] It's Jason Ironheart. Hello, what's your name? Let's go with that. Cancer bottle. Oh! A team bonding with Ted. the enemy of my enemy is my friend I know what it's saying why is it saying that it didn't affect Teal why because he's Jafar he's carrying a symbiote the ghoul we are enemies of the ghoul then you are welcome here keep talking, that's Chris Judge's voice oh really we accept your proposition you may remain, me him this is not the first time you have journey here You remember? Yeah, it totally sounds like you. There are others among our people who would gladly return. No, Daniel. Let me. This was my life's work. I've been hoping for another chance at this for 29 years. Please. You just came back into my life. I'll be back again. Look again into the eyes of the skull. All right, well, we'll do that. Nick, take notes. I will. Just try to come get him before he turns into Ernest Littlefield and he's walking around naked. Right.

[24:40] Friends, show long. Everything, I promise. Daniel, I am proud of you. Aw. Goodbye.

[25:01] All right, Jeff, we have just watched Crystal Skull for the first time. You, my friend, get to take us through your first time watch, your first journey, but perhaps not your first journey with Crystal Skulls in general. You seem to be pretty familiar with the name that he threw there at the end. That's a codal and all that sort of stuff. Talk to us about your journey through Crystal Skull. I'm pretty excited. this is one of this is a rare moment in the history of stargate sg1 for the first time like my reaction was kind of close there was a crystal skull i had a message and i said a frequency that was gonna have stuff but it had radiation instead of a frequency but uh and it was pretty disruptive the real disruption came from the zack gun but uh yeah that's like almost 60 percent there you go of this one but yeah i i totally recommend i recognized uh quetzalcoatl the the name i i know here momentarily you'll do the the god breakdown on on his history but i gosh many many years ago actually a little bit before the release of this episode.

[26:08] I was a professional musician. I was in a band and I toured through Mexico quite a bit and spent a good chunk of time in different parts of old Mayan and Aztec bits of the country and got to tour a lot of places. I actually got to like climb on some of the ruins that are no longer, they won't let people climb on anymore because, you know, we're humans and we're sloppy and we ruin things.

[26:34] But we ruin ruins. I kind of do but like it's like Chichen Itza and some of the other pyramids I got to climb up which was pretty cool but learned a lot about Quetzalcoatl and some of the other gods so I'm excited for your.

[26:45] Breakdown and really what a cool just a cool idea so I what was neat in this episode for me was frankly it was the writing yeah in it like this was just a really well constructed episode throughout so Daniel's phased out or whatever and he's following everybody around and he keeps having these almost faux conversations with people like right somebody will say something and he'll respond or he'll say a thing and the way they craft their response it's almost like they're they're talking and then at times they intersect to a point where they're like hey do i feel do you feel that is there somebody here but that was it was neat because i made a note that it was so natural with him and his grandpa just in different points throughout that his grandpa would say something daniel would respond and then his grandpa would respond again but the way they did the cadence and the timing tried to make it feel like it was just coincidence but turns out it wasn't because his grandpa knew all along that that he was there right during the the watch you talked about um there's supposed to be a big reaction at the moment you you knew that his his grandpa that nick could could hear him and yeah that does a that was a big reveal but again And I think because this episode was written as well as it was, I knew it was just a comfort of, oh yeah.

[28:05] Of course, of course he can see him. That makes all of this makes sense. It just fell into place, but I also just love the way it's stacked.

[28:12] Uh, it's stacked the story on top of it. So when Nick, the grandpa's talking about going there, he talks about these giant aliens that showed up and the giant aliens saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[28:26] So that's the question, right? The questions are how did Nick get there? Which was never really answered and that's okay. You don't have to answer all the questions. And what does that mean? The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And so I was trying to piece that together. Well, it's gotta be the gold, but it was in 71. So like humans, Tauri aren't enemies at this point. They're not even aware, but it all came together at the end when Tilk didn't phase out because of Junior in there. So if you can phase, if you can see Quetzalcoatl, then you're not Gould. And what we've learned pretty clearly through all this is if you're not Gould, you're an enemy of the Gould. Not really a lot of allies out there that we've run into at this point, but that's a super fun, super fun episode. I'm not sure what Quetzalcoatl is. I'm sure we might find out again in the future, some sort of a thing. It's a neat mystery. He showed up. I was like, oh, it's Jason Ironheart, which is a big first season Babylon 5 throwback. Mostly terrible episode.

[29:22] But those are fighting words. I get that. So there are a lot of unanswered questions in this one that if this were an episode that took place 10 years prior and came out, awesome. Don't need any of these questions answered. It's just kind of this sci-fi-ish thing with some mythology and interesting and cool. But what we know about Stargate, while it's not serialized, there are pieces that are dropped for reasons or not necessarily for a reason but become a reason later on. And I think this is beautifully set up that, hey, this could literally never come up again. And we just know that Daniel has a long family history of science and discovery and archaeology and these things. and people who are not just a family history of it, but also a family history of people that –.

[30:10] Like excommunicated from their peer groups or whatever. Yeah. From their peers and have society. Yeah. Yeah. They're, they're, they're the weird ones. They're very othered in, uh, everywhere in what they do. Also they're right. Right. Hmm. There might be something to that, right? We other the people who are saying the things that aren't popular, but are actually, actually right. But yeah, so I, I have a feeling like, again, if this never gets touched on again, cool, great story interesting but there's a lot here that can get picked up on again and really interested to see when and if it does enjoyable episode we need to before we get to the god breakdown and the sci-fi messages we need to update our tracking board yeah i say we count the death you think so i do okay i mean the whole thing has been does michael shanks have a death scene or a supposed death scene and you know we i think what we saw was we saw him get knocked out we saw him get knocked backwards and it was supposed to be a question mark but even daniel at one point goes am i dead yeah and so yeah yeah and they were kind of getting ready like that you know that we've seen it before we're gonna go back and we're gonna get him well i don't know if we can go back and get him it's too much radiation he's probably already gone and stuff and so i i think we should count it i like you know it's been a while since we've gotten count one so i'm gonna count one that's gonna bring us up to seven daniel deaths.

[31:31] Seven daniel deaths through three seasons so it's wild there you go i'm curious though when someone dies in aztec culture or mayan culture because that's another thing too quetzalcoatl i don't feel get here but technically it's an aztec god but a lot of the central american mesoamerican uh religions actually by the same name have a quetzalcoatl in there so uh i'm curious why don't you lay some knowledge on us well let's talk about that with our our god goddess check quetzalcoatl i will probably mispronounce that name numerous times uh not through any trying to be rude or anything it's just it's a weird name for my tongue to say uh quetzalcoatl he's one of the main deities of the aztecs um now for people that are uh remotely familiar with the mesoamerican major empires you had the incas which were way down in peru um many many years earlier than you had the mayans which really were prominent um in the hundreds up through about like 900 shortly before 1000 ad although they do date back to about 2000 bc yeah so they go back pretty far but their main empire really was about 280 to 980 and then the aztecs actually really short short time like 1300s to 1500s somewhere around there um really really short actually i don't think it was that long i don't know that it spanned 100 years um anyway all of that being said he really was codified during the the aztecs the final time he is often presented as the god of the.

[33:01] Wind and the sun he is associated with several planets he is the protector of.

[33:06] Merchants crafts knowledge and learning um he is often represented as a feathered serpent and that's very very um.

[33:14] Important to the Quetzalcoatl mythos. He is thought of as the wisest of all men. And he was so important that he was one of the creator deities. And what makes him the most important here is, is in this case, he created mankind.

[33:31] He actually has his roots, as Jeff pointed out just a second ago, as one of the major gods of the Mayans, although it is unknown if he was known as Quetzalcoatl back then, at least as far as I could tell. There may be somebody out there that knows more than I do, but, you know, that's kind of what we always just say. That's who he is. However, he was so popular and so powerful in ancient Mesoamerican culture that after the fall of the Mayans in 900, the cult of the feathered serpent arose and had lots of little pockets all over the place and survived all the way to the time when the Aztecs would take over and they would re-deify him and bring him out of cult status back into major religion status. Uh, given the name, build the temples and all that sort of stuff, uh, straight to him, which is kind of neat. Cause you think about he he's lasted over 1500 years through multiple cultures, right? Yeah. Now, perhaps a part of that is because part of his realm of protectorate, whatever is a God was, he also was the God of the priesthood. So, you know, if, if the priests die off when they go else, they're going to keep their guy going as best they could. Right.

[34:42] I will note this, and they did note in the episode that the one pyramid was over a kilometer high. Yeah. Well, the world's largest pyramid is actually one that is dedicated to Quetzalcoatl. It is larger than the Great Pyramid out in Egypt, Khufu's Great Pyramid, which was a tomb. But out here was actually a temple worship, this pyramid over here in Mesoamerica. I should have looked up to find out exactly how tall it was. i do not believe it was a kilometer tall um i suppose it might have been anyway uh now some of the mythology surrounding quetzalcoatl i found very very interesting jeff and it may sound a bit familiar to you i don't know how much of this you know or you're familiar with but here here are some of the things quetzalcoatl was a creator being existing from ancient times who was also Also known as the wisest of all men. What's a caudal born of a virgin. He is the son of the ultimate creator God. He is the morning star. He is the symbol of the defeater of death and resurrection himself. Well, we'll get to that in just a second showing that.

[35:51] It was his own blood that would bring life to mankind, right? Now, I just want to note, this was not a salvific event. This is not a salvation event. This was just a creative one. But it would be his blood which would provide life to mankind. There was a point at which he was kind of tricked into doing stuff, but he takes on the guilt and shame of humanity. Not substitutionally. It's just like he experiences it and takes on all this guilt and shame. The guilt and sin of mankind he takes on, and he winds up sacrificing himself by setting himself on fire like he's Byron.

[36:29] Sorry, I just... Not as lame. Actual Jesus Messiah, not a Byron one. But he does it for the guilt that he feels, and out of the fire he rises from the ashes like a phoenix. He resurrects himself. Also, he gave us chocolate. Yeah, he did. He gave us chocolate later on when the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez arrived on the shores of Mexico in 1519. The leaders thought him to be Quetzalcoatl reincarnated. However, for those of you who have heard that before, this claim has since been refuted by many historians saying that that was an apocryphal thing that was later added about 50 years after the events themselves that nobody really thought he was Quetzalcoatl. Um, this was just part of their, you know, to the victors who write history and sometimes they fluff it a little bit. Right. So anyway, that's what's called. That's like for a guy who appeared and had, what do you have Jeff? Three minutes of screen time there at the very end. If yeah. And barely spoke. We didn't know anything about him. I just, just a cool, cool God, like who.

[37:37] Like I said, really lasted through multiple eras and multiple times and multiple cultures and, and just had a lot of staying power and, And, you know, a lot of very familiar sounding mythology to me. To, I think, to a lot of people, especially in the Western world. Right, right. Which, this is not the place to have that discussion, but I definitely think it begs a lot of questions about how all that works. Well, a lot of them, honestly, have been answered. Like I said, so in my experience, I have not a lot of experience, but more experience than I think a lot of people maybe in the United States and stuff have. But Quetzalcoatl specifically is known in Mayan culture as Kukulklon, or more specifically as Kukulklon. There's some differences, but the mythology is pretty much the same.

[38:20] One of the really cool things that the Yucatan Mayans did in the ruins at Chichen Itza is there's – they call it the Red Room. I think it's called the Red Room, and then there's Chichen Itza itself. But things line up to the summer and winter solstice with just astronomic precision. That in the room at the solstice, it literally, like the light shines through everything and hits a point on the, it's just mathematically incredible that it happened. But the way that the pyramid, Chitsun Itza, and what's remarkable or to be noted in the Mesoamerican pyramids is they're stepped or steeped or whatever, as opposed to the kind of flat that we see on the Egyptian pyramids. But when the sun comes up, I think it's, yeah, when it comes up on the, it was down on the summer solstice and up on the winter solstice, Kukulklon, the feathered serpent, appears to climb up and down the stairs. Yeah.

[39:13] So he's here and he's with us and then he left... And, and he goes back in the winter and it really is a life and death, uh, allegory of a come down and provide life as the sun and the harvest. And then I want to leave freezes over and everything, everything goes. Um, an interesting thing about the Mayan culture itself, and that ties to some of the mythology around Cucuclan and Quetzalcoatl is they just disappeared. Like with the Aztec, there's Aztec are, you know, they were one of the more recent of, of the, uh, the, the, the tribes and the cultures. Were there and it was the spanish coming to you know the start of the colonization conquest pick your term um there that ended ended their reign but the mayans there's no record they just one day were all mostly gone and there's legend myth in that's still talked about in those areas that they were in touch with aliens essentially or higher beings or something like that and they came and picked them up they were just like okay you reached you reached everything you can accomplish on this planet, now you can come and live with us where we are. Very fascinating stuff. It's cool that, uh, it's cool that they're going there with, uh, with this, especially making Quetzalcoatl different than the Goa-Uld gods that we've seen. I think that's really remarkable.

[40:30] Right. I love that. You know, all that. I like, like there's so much that I like thinned down. Cause you know, you're getting into that, man. I was so fascinated with it. The first time, first time I went there was a tourist, a tourist activity. You know, I went down and we toured the ruins and I was, I was just blown away.

[40:52] Blown away with the whole thing. Mel Gibson did that movie.

[40:56] What was it called? I know what you're talking about. I watched it. It's so good.

[41:00] It was so well done oh my gosh what's the name of that movie either way it's everybody knows you can look it up but it i forget exactly if i forget was aztec or who it was that he showed in that one but it was a really accurate portrayal of just how they saw the gods and just frankly the bloodshed and the stuff apocalypto there it is yeah yeah but i remember i remember when we toured chichen itza and then some of the other mayan other ruins like at tulum and some of the other places but they have like these sports fields that are set up and there's these little like circles that are uh that are uh vertical not like it's like basketball but vertical instead of horse so you got to get it through the hoop instead of down into the hoop and you're like oh so they played ball like actually yeah but they played it with the severed heads of their sacrificial offerings so a very different culture than what we're accustomed to these days excellent god breakdown brent thank you for that you're very welcome more talking from brent on this one i'm excited what sci-fi messages do you have well before before i get there i just want to note you noted uh tilk is getting chubbier uh through his face and stuff and i also just want to point out that and i think these two are are connected like i i think if you put them on a graph they're going to plot together at least for the time being um the chubbier tilk's face gets the faster daniel talks really.

[42:27] Start noticing it okay he's just and and the man must have like full page monologues that he delivers like that like it's crazy all the way through it's so funny and it's hopped up on the donuts yeah yeah and you know what here's the thing um chris judge can kick back on the donuts michael shanks doesn't get smaller scripts he doesn't get less exposition to go through uh Anyway, messages. We're here to talk about messages. That's what I'm here for. That's what I'm watching this for. You know, here's the thing. I'm going to take it through the litmus test. Okay. Did we hold up a mirror to society here? Not really. I mean, you might. Are we talking about hope for things being better in the future? Not really. Are we talking about how to be better human beings? I think we can. I think we can zone in on this particular one.

[43:21] Specifically, just this concept. family is family be good family to each other there is a special bond and we see it in this particular episode a special bond between grandparent and grandchild um and really it is a shame and i know i know lots of our our listeners out there have had familial issues or they've had familiar losses but it it is a shame when this particular relationship can get strained for one reason or another because it it really i know for my own self i i had a phenomenal relationship with all of my own with all my grandparents yeah you know um and i think you just see that and and i can tell there is something special between my kids and their grandparents that is different from my relationship with my kids you know and and like i want that and i want to encourage that because it's it's just different you know um i'm not going to get into the whole thing about forgiveness, but I will tell you, I think Nick had the perfect apology.

[44:25] Yeah to daniel i mean it was textbook all the way and you know if you guys want to go see a bigger discussion on that i invite you to go check out our episode on the very long night of london malari from season five of babylon five jeff and i really dug into it there we dug into it on a few other episodes as well but that one specifically i think we kind of zoned it in encapsulated it well yeah and the the last thing i think that this really shows us is uh children need to hear the words i'm proud of you yeah and it doesn't matter how old they are they also need to hear words like i love you and it doesn't matter how old they are to hear that from your grandparent to hear that from your parent and aunt and uncle an older relative is so important is just so important this was a great relationship that had fractured over something stupid and frankly if daniel hadn't gotten lost on abydos like they would have had contention but daniel would have still gone back to see him so no he kicked me out last time you don't want to see me ever again i was like no he absolutely did you would have gone back to see him like you know it's just a shame he couldn't be told where his grandson was for the last two years and just thought he hated him you know uh so anyway where do we go as far as how do we rate this well that's a hard question it is we're going on a scale of seven chevrons and and the question is is how How strong is the message, right?

[45:51] And we usually throw some sort of thing about it. Was it intentional or was it not? I do think there were certainly some intentional things like let's show what Daniel's relationship is like with his grandfather. And.

[46:02] It's a fractured relationship. It needs some healing, but they're there. Here's how we think parent-grandparent relationship should work. So I do think there was probably some intentionality there. Was it the point of the episode, though? No. Were we able to pick it up from auxiliary pieces to the episode? Yeah. Was it really the thrust of the episode, or was this just really the adventure of the Crystal Skull? Yeah, I think it was just the adventure of the Crystal Skull. Jeff, I'm going to give this one two chevrons. Two chevrons. two chevrons i i don't think it was super strong if you want to stump for more i'm happy to hear it but you know it was there i will give it just to say it was there within the context of the show without being so at you over the head with it i think it was definitely an intention of the writing for it i was thinking three myself if i was doing it but i i think what what what really makes me would make would make me comfortable with that too is you can take all that stuff out of this episode and it makes no impact on the episode itself you can just be like oh yeah my grandpa and i had a strained relationship and now we're here and well here's a question jeff okay let's say you do take all that out how many minutes short is the episode now not a lot one ish yeah like i mean you know so we go there now here's the fortunate thing whether we say two chevrons three chevrons 12 chevrons.

[47:24] Like what really matters is the message, not the number of chevrons. The number of chevrons is just something fun that I'm just sort of assigning to it. But you know what really particular matters? Now, this one counts more than anything else. It's where this episode gets placed on the 100% completely immutable definitive ranking of season three of Stargate SG one, which Jeff, my friend, you are the one who gets to place that there. Now, we're here at the end. We've got a whole list of these stinking freaking episodes. You know what I mean? Like they're all here. So how do we do this? Where do we go? Am I going to read the whole list? I'm going to read all 19 entries that we have so far because we had two of them that were combined. I'm just going to go with the top five.

[48:10] I don't know where it's going to land for you, Jeff, but our current top five, number five is pretense. Four is shades of gray. Three is fair game. Two is forever in a day. And the first number one, the double episode, Joel and our memories and devil, you know, Jeff, where does crystal skull fall into our ranking for season three? This is a good episode. Like I said, and it was the writing that really separated it from a lot of the other episodes on here. This one's going to fall just outside of the top 10 and where i'm looking right now is really ironically is in the neighborhood of legacy right which was another very daniel centric and.

[48:49] Misunderstood you know sort of a sort of a piece i like that one quite a bit it was our last you look at michello and right that we've had so far and all that was good this one i think planted a lot of seeds that could be done picked up moving forward and again just like i don't know had a lot of really cool stuff in it i am going to place this one just above legacy as the new number 12 i i don't i don't fully disagree with that although i do like legacy i think a lot better than what you're putting on here that's brent's personal opinion of it um daniel going crazy is always a fun time to me great episode uh i will tell you this is one of those episodes for me is a great if i just need 45 minutes with stargate and i want to watch something boom this is an episode i throw on yeah a little bit everything right yeah i mean yeah yeah you know um it's fun it it's not super heavy but it's it's not just slapstick comedy either you know i enjoy it ergo yeah i love ergo it's so good so good and i'm almost looking at being like that is that is ergo ergo is the is the criminally low rated one that you have here i'm just you're wrong for that one i'd be i just think of swapping it with legacy moving it to 13. hey jeff come here yeah what's up.

[50:06] Really good internet connection it's a high speed stuff man all right jeff well hey listen that's gonna do it for us this week on crystal skull we're all done here next time jeff we've hit it we are at the end this is the final episode which means two-parter time we're doing a two-parter next time we're gonna combine the end of season three into the beginning of season four jeff can you believe you're this far into the show name of the two episodes closing out season three with an episode called nemesis, And starting season four with an episode called Small Victories. I'll give you a moment to think those through, but give us a prediction. Just pull something out of the air and let us know. What do you think it might be about? Nemesis and Small Victories. The nemesis is Apophis, right? So it's going to be an Apophis-focused thing. Small Victories. Because no matter how many times he dies. He's the Daniel Jackson of Gould dying.

[51:05] Well you know when you have a sarcophagus you can just sort of pretty much do whatever you want kind of helps a bit yeah that's always gonna be a pophist thing but it's not gonna be the uh, end of that story small victories it's kind of you know in fact i think i think it's going to be an apophis thing they will suffer some pretty serious losses no main characters dying or anything like that but maybe part of the shine mountain facilities destroyed or something like that maybe one of the stargates or something like that gets taken out but some big thing but they they have some small victories that they're able to to build from so this is just really going to ramp up that whole thing you're a good guesser jeff sure good guesser all right well we will see if jeff is right right here next time on stargate sg1 for the first time hey listen thanks so much for joining us this week don't forget subscribe wherever you get your podcast wherever you get your YouTube stuff, wherever you get your whatever, however you're consuming this whole thing, please be sure to subscribe, leave us a rating and review wherever you are. Hey, if you want more content from what Jeff and I have going on out here, gosh, Jeff, we have so much going on these days and there are ways you can hang out with Jeff and I like ways that you can connect with us. You can check that out over on our Patreon page at patreon.com slash bad nerds. And the biggest thing you can do for us, if you like what you're seeing here, or even if you don't like what you're seeing here. The best thing you can do for us is share this show with someone who, you know, who does love Stargate or somebody, you know, who loves to laugh at people who think they like Stargate.

[52:35] Whatever the reason is, just share the show. That's all I'm trying to say. Share the show with somebody that, you know, who likes Stargate or somebody who like Jeff over there needs to get in to this series for the first time. So until next time, folks, I'm going to get out of here. My name is Brent. That's Jeff. Hey, Brent. Oh, my gosh. Yes, Jeff. What's up? Oh my gosh me on this. I just, I just want to say, man, like, I'm really proud of you. Hey, grandpa.