“The Nox” ( 1 x 13 )

Well, despite my flamboyantly weird prediction I made in my “Fire and Water” review, I doubt this will have anything to do with Harry Potter or the spell, “Nox!” But nonetheless, I will press on with this most non-Harry-Potter-like sci-fi series.

Come on, no TV series is perfect.

But I can make the prediction that this will have to do with either light or darkness. The word actually means “night” in Latin and is also the name of the Roman goddess of night. With that in mind, let’s see where this takes us.

At the base, the Secretary of State has joined General Hammond behind the controls and watches, entranced, as the Stargate opens. He’s thoroughly impressed. However, he also says he’s not happy (nor is the administration) with how the program is run. The SG-1 crew of course becomes very defensive, insisting they are explorers and not pillagers. It’s a bit of a turnaround from when O’Neill seemed solely occupied with going to these worlds in order to learn how to defeat the Goa’uld. The Secretary echoes this notion, asking, “If the Goa’uld [came here right now], what would we use to fight them off?”

And then Teal’c speaks!

Gosh, I love it when he does that. Just existing is cool. He makes living cool.

Anyways.

Again intuitively recognizing that they need to get on the good side of the big wigs, he tells of a creature capable of invisibility that even the Goa’uld have not attained. (Cloaking device? Or something like that?) Teal’c knows about it because he was once ordered to go capture one. The price of his failure was two men. Obviously, this is pretty serious stuff.

O’Neill steps out of the Stargate and meets with the rest of the crew. They wander around for a couple minutes, look for this creature, and O’Neill says they should just head back but—

The Stargate’s gone!

Teal’c and Jackson team up to look, and Carter and O’Neill do the same. The latter two spot something hovering in the air, making distortions, but it leaves quickly. And then we see… uh-oh. A Goa’uld and some Jaffa.

It turns out that he’s actually Apophis (him again?) and they start to formulate a plan to capture him. (Funny how easily they get distracted from the original mission. Since when is the original mission ever completed, anyways?)

They ambush the Jaffa and it… doesn’t go quite as planned. Jackson, Carter, and O’Neill are all hit directly by Apophis’ staff/spear weapon, and it seems they might be dead. Apophis and Teal’c face off, the latter ready to “die free” (yeah! live free or die hard! oh wait, wrong franchise) but then Teal’c disappears… and so does the rest of SG-1!

They reappear relatively unharmed – no, completely unharmed – in a dark space. Perhaps a cave, since everyone in this series just looooves their caves. They all think they were killed, but apparently not. Their weapons are gone, but they are approached by two individuals. They beckon them forward after the crew asks where Teal’c is.

Oh my gosh! One of the aliens is Quark! Hi Quark! I know you’re just in a human disguise but I see you there!! You can’t hide from me under this veil of a generous, compassionate, human-looking alien! I CAN SEE YOUR LOBES AND THEY DON’T LIE!

(Oh, yeah, and I know it’s him because I spotted Armin Shimerman’s name in the opening credits.)

Anyways, a child leads Teal’c back to them. He introduces himself as Nafrayu. Like most kids on this show he’s really adorable. They share a nice simple meal and it turns out that they do speak English, but Quark (I mean, the alien which is certainly not a Ferengi, wink wink nudge nudge) says it took time to learn their language. (Quick learners!) He can take them to the ‘Gate. These aliens took their weapons – they seem to be very non-violent, but they’re also very secretive. Not-Quark won’t even tell them who they are nor how they saved them. They seem kind but xenophobic to an extent.

Oh, and they also saved a Jaffa.

And his name’s not Teal’c.

It’s Shak’l, and apparently Teal’c does know of him.

This could get awkward, fast.

This race is known as “Nox”. The invisible things are known to them as “Fenri”. Quark the Nox with better teeth insists they will be fine, even if Shak’l informs the Goa’uld of where they are. They have no defense system…

…Unless it’s the Fenri. I think they’re working with the Fenri, who are obviously very good at evading capture, and perhaps are the ones who saved SG-1.

SG-1 plans on taking Shak’l back with them since they can’t just leave him with the Nox, and thus making the innocent race a target.

The scene flashes back as it’s done a couple times to Apophis and his henchmen… er, Jaffa. I think it’s really a shame. Apophis is hot but the overly deep voice ruins everything. Otherwise he’d be like sex on legs dressed in that really cool gold armour and the like. But the voice…? Ugh! Can’t stand it. I cringe a little every time I hear him speak. But maybe that was the whole point.

Teal’c speaks to Shak’l, who it turns out served under Teal’c at one point in time. Teal’c tries to convince him to join SG-1 and turn his back on the false gods in the Goa’uld, saying that, “The time of Apophis will soon end.” He’s once again trying to recruit people into his revolution. (Oh, Teal’c. So noble, yet so futile.)

Carter and O’Neill are busy making bows and arrows. O’Neill finally encounters a Fenri in plain sight for the first time, but it flies off before he can fire at it. It looks rather like a large, thin insect.

Quark-Nox (I mean, Anteaus) leads Jackson around and concludes that he is 432 years old.

He then reappears in front of O’Neill, and we find out this startling fact:

It’s not the Fenri who can disappear, but the Nox. O’Neill’s fear, now, is that the Goa’uld will enslave the Nox. But Ohper won’t hear them out.

In the hut, Shak’l… stabs Teal’c! Oh my God! Teal’c! And then he stabs one of the Nox women!

Teal’c’s going to be fine. But they insist they must find Shak’l. It is also revealed here that the Nox can heal people in some way, by placing their hands over them. Shak’l sees this and… it’s exploitation time.

Nafrayu has followed Teal’c and O’Neill,  but they tell him to run off. They find Shak’l and he tells another Jaffa of the Nox’s powers. What’s more, Nafrayu has gone missing.

He’s found Apophis and another Jaffa, and I have a feeling this could go very badly. It does. SG-1 finds him lying on the ground, hopefully going to be all right. The Nox refuse to accept their assistance in defense, despite that they will be vulnerable, and SG-1 goes off, ready to confront the Goa’uld and Jaffa with bows and arrows, since their guns won’t work against Apophis’ energy shield.

The whole crew goes totally beast on the Jaffa and seem to have the upper hand. That is, they were, until O’Neill faced off against Apophis, and he…

…vanishes.

Dangit! He must’ve somehow taken Nafrayu’s ability! God I hate that guy. It’s like taking really awesome candy from a child. Like a Snickers or a whole bag of M&Ms.

They go back to where the Stargate should be and find Anteauc and Nafrayu, both fine. When the former asks why they wish to fight, Teal’c responds with, “It is our way that the strong protect the weak.” (Guy’s fitting in just fine with the American ideal.) Anteauc waves his hand and shows them a sort of city or castle in the sky. He leaves them with this wisdom:

“Perhaps you will one day find that your way is not the only way.”

In other words, they’ll be fine.

Final thoughts… Another pretty good episode. I loved seeing Armin Shimerman in a different sort of role than I’m used to seeing him in. Of course it’s a completely different franchise and he’s “just an actor” but it was a good show of his versatility. He’ll always be “Quark” to me, but no matter. He turned out to be pretty darn awesome, and I liked how in the end it turned out that the Nox were right and the SG-1 team wrong. I thought it was the best encounter, thus far, with another species. Certainly the most interesting from a societal standpoint. I look forward to more like this episode!

PREDICTION FOR NEXT EPISODE, “Hathor”

The crew tries to consider using less violence in their travels.

Jackson: I say we leave our guns and just take bows and arrows.

O’Neill: Shut up, Jackson.

Carter: Hey, that’s my line!

O’Neill: What could possibly make you think that would be a good idea?

Jackson: Well, the Nox lived really well without any weaponry at all.

Teal’c: In O’Neill’s defense, you must consider that the Nox also have many defense mechanisms we do not.

O’Neill: Exactly.

Jackson: So, what? We just go in and shoot up the place like we always do?

Carter: That’s a bit of an exaggeration!

O’Neill: We only shoot if they shoot, Daniel.

Jackson: Still reminds me of Rambo too much.

Teal’c: ‘In town, you’re the law. Out here, it’s me.’

O’Neill: God damnit, where is he coming up with all these movies!?

Jackson: (Whistles idly)