AAR - SG1 - s2e6 - Thor's Chariot

Friendly Composition

• 4 US SOF (SG1)

• ~12 Local Insurgents (Bronze Era)

• 1 Asgardian Bilskirnir-class ship

Enemy Composition

• Heru’ur (Enemy General)

• ~Company of Jaffa

• 3 Goa’uld Pyramid Ships (Incomplete)

SG Template: MilOps (Insurgency) / R&D (Alien Tech).

The episode launches with the SGC finding out that destroying Thor’s Hammer enabled the Gao’uld to invade Cimmeria (pronounced suspiciously too close to Sumeria, wrong culture). So of course they have to go fix their booger.

SG1 exits the gate with a grand lack of aplomb or tactical mindset. Ironically, unlike two episodes later (s2e8 Family, where SG1 dresses to infiltrate and launches knockout gas ahead of themselves. Both were entry into known hostile territory… why the change in SOP?)

Before long they do get ambushed themselves by a small Jaffa patrol. Annoyingly we get “Hollywood grenades” with less of a fireball than standard, but some weird sparks. For the record, neither C4 nor standard hand grenades (M67 “baseballs” or M2 “pineapple”) or even launched 40mm HEDP explode into fireballs. Grenades use Comp B, and C4 is Comp C version 4. You literally can chew on C4 like bubblegum (tastes gross, don’t bother). Regardless, neither explodes like a fireball, but rather concussive force. You’ll see a huge air distortion and dust cloud, but no fuego. The lethality of that type of grenades is based on their casing and its fragmentation. Most small arms explosives are designed to be generally safe for transport by troops, hence the reason they take special detonators (like electrical charges in C4). You can’t shoot C4 and set it off. You theoretically can detonate a grenade with a decent caliber round if it hits the detonating mechanism. (Mythbusters)

Most 'nades go boom like this, unless they are special purpose.

Jack and Teal’c handle the insurgency missions, never engaging more than a squad of Jaffa with hit and run ran ambushes. Small arms and Claymores seem quite effective against the lightly armored Jaffa. At one point they attempt suppressed weapons, seemingly more for the cool factor rather than actual surprise, again Gao’uld personal shields maintain a strong plot armor. Credit to the producers for not making them “thwip thwip” like standard Hollywood silencers. (I’ll save the suppressor and subsonic round discussion for another day.) Teal’c mentions Jaffa sweep tactics which is a nice insight into the enemy’s mindset.

Dan & Sam are off on the Alien Tech/Understanding bit of the episode. We see the real Asguardian Thor and see a bit of Asguard tech: Holograms, FTL comms, Transporters (perhaps used as disintegrators. since I doubt they beamed the up the ship), Asguard FTL (super fast).

SG1 determines that their small insurgency, while moderately effective thus far, is doomed to fail once Gao’uld reinforcements arrive. The team is captured and marched off for possible torture and interrogation. Thor shows up in his battleship (certainly fancier than the 2 goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr/Teeth grinder) and smites everyone. Bit of an easy out, but the insurgency is severely outgunned and faced certain defeat.