In the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, Stargate Command (more commonly the SGC, or, rarely, Area 52), is a top-secret military facility located in the Cheyenne Mountain complex in Colorado. It houses the fictional Stargate device, an alien device capable of creating a wormhole that allows instant transportation of people or objects to the position of any of a vast number of complementary devices throughout, and beyond, the Milky Way.
- For more information on this series and its accompanying fictional universe, see Stargate.
The SGC is located one thousand meters beneath the Cheyenne Mountain. This protects it from all forms of attack, including nuclear detonations, and also prevents any diseases caught from escaping into the world (the base may be 'locked down' - anyone that tries to leave in such a situation is shot on sight). However, in an alternate universe (seen via the use of an alien device in the episode "There But For the Grace of God"), it was unable to withstand a large-scale attack.
The SGC also serves as a place for researching alien technology, but larger or longer term research projects are usually handed over to Area 51. On more than one occassion, SGC personnel have had to leave the base to recapture alien technology that has escaped into the outside world. Personnel of the SGC are kept under a secrecy act, and sleep on base. They are allowed to leave the base and lead personal lives as the base permits. Many cover stories have been generated to keep the general populace unaware of the goings on within the SGC.
Plot surrounding the SGC
When the Stargate was found in 1928 in Egypt, none could make it function until the 1990s when brilliant Egyptologist Daniel Jackson was summoned to the SGC, and there discovered that the strange symbols around the Stargate device were actually star-symbols (rather than hieroglyphs), and that the device could 'dial' another Stargate by 'locking' seven (or, much later, up to nine) of its chevrons onto these symbols, somewhat like a combination lock, to activate a wormhole between the dialing Stargate and the Stargate dialed.
Subsequently, Colonel Jack O'Neill and a team of soldiers with Daniel Jackson were sent from the SGC through the Stargate to Abydos, where they encountered the alien race the Goa'uld - held to be responsible for the creation of the Stargate Network, using them to transport slaves throughout the galaxy. Jack's team defeated the Goa'uld on Abydos (Ra) and returned home; now that Earth knew there to be a threat on the other side of the Stargate, the Stargate was to be destroyed.
However, a year later, another Goa'uld (Apophis) made an attack on Earth that caused the Stargate Programme to be reinitiated. The SGC was repopulated with military personnel, and it formed a set of SG teams, the primary being SG-1 (consisting of Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter and Teal'c), whose mission it was, along with the SGC, to use the Stargate to travel to other worlds, there to procure weapons or technology that could help Earth in the fight against the Goa'uld, and to establish allies.
From then on, the SGC has explored thousands of worlds, and been responsible for the creation of many alien/human hybrid devices, such as fighter-jets capable of hyperspace jumps, and powerful new armour.
Much later, a second Stargate was found on Earth, in Antarctica. This Stargate was sealed until Season 4, when it was unsealed after the original Giza gate had been crashed into the Pacific Ocean aboard the Asgard vessel Beliskner. Russia, performing deep-sea research in the area, discovered the Giza gate and began using it in conjunction with the DHD they had captured from Germany after World War II. Eventually, the Antarctic gate was destroyed by a device controlled by Anubis, and the Giza gate was returned to the United States from Russia for rent and an agreement to share plans for the F-302 space fighter-interceptor and BC-303 interstellar battlecruiser.
Defence
Hostile aliens such as the Goa'uld are usually prevented from entering the SGC through the Stargate by effective use of 'the Iris'. This is a device that covers the 'gate' of the Stargate, dissallowing any matter to pass through it. It can be opened for the return of an SG team, but is closed if there is an alien attack.
In the event that either the Iris is permeated, or must be kept open because an SG team is returning under enemy fire, standard procedure is that whenever there is an incoming wormhole, large teams of highly trained soldiers are stationed with their weapons pointed directly at the gate.
Additionally, the Stargate itself is located in a single secure room (The "Embarkation Room"), which may be locked down. This room is overseen from a main command deck (the Control Room) above it. The glass on the front of this command deck is to an extent proofed against enemy fire, though in the event that enemy fire enters the Embarkation Room, the 'blast doors' are closed, which provide an effective barrier.
If the SGC is threatened with invasion, the facility has a self-destruct mechanism which has been activated more than once. It requires at least two high-ranking officers to initiate. Alien takeover of the SGC is referred to as a "foothold" situation. The self-destruct can also be turned off, or in some cases rigged.
The last line of defence for the SGC is an offworld base, called the Alpha Site, a second SGC. It was established as a back-up in case anything were to happen to the SGC. After the first Alpha Site was destroyed, the second was built into a mountain. There also exists a Beta Site as backup for the Alpha Site.
Levels of interest
The SGC extends many levels beneath the ground.
- Level 3 hosts the accounting department, according to Col. O'Neill.
- Level 19 is host to Samantha Carter's lab.
- Level 28 is host to the Embarkation Room, also called the Gateroom, which houses the Stargate and Control Room (command deck). The Gate is dialed from the Control Room using the Dialling Computer.
Politics
Commanders
In chronological order, the leaders of the SGC:
- Major General West (played by Leon Rippy)
- Major General George S. Hammond (1997-2004)
- Major General Bauer (briefly replaced General Hammond in 2000)
- Dr. Elizabeth Weir, the SGC's first civilian commander (2004)
- Brigadier General Jack O'Neill (2004-2005)
- Major General Hank Landry (2005-present)
Directors of Homeworld Security
Homeworld Security is a term used for Earth's defense against extraterrestrial attack. It is most likely a play on the phrase Homeland Security, a neologism referring to domestic governmental actions justified, or allegedly justified, by potential guerrilla attacks or terrorism.
In chronological order:
- Lieutenant General George Hammond, who it appears has been promoted to Secretary of the Air Force.
- Major General Jack O'Neill.
Attempted shutdowns and takeovers
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On many occassions the very existence or control of the SGC has been in threat. Senator Robert Kinsey has often made strong efforts to close down the entire Stargate Programme, (succeeding in the episode "Politics", only for it to be reopened), arguing that the existence of the Stargate is far too great a threat to Earth. Robert Woolsey, an inspector, recommended the closure of the SGC to the President of the United States, arguing that SG-1 were a reckless team that more than once had caused the Earth great threat. Kinsey later on tried various methods of putting himself in power of the SGC, mainly through links with rogue National Intelligence Division leaders, who have tried to sabotage the base on many occassions, once even succeeding in stealing the Stargate itself.
On few occassions, aliens have managed to permeate the Iris. The Tollan possess technology capable of allowing people to pass through matter, but were never considered a threat owing to their friendship with Earth. At least once, the base was compromised by aliens with unforeseen abilities (for instance in the episode "Foothold"). Anubis, a powerful System Lord with access to Ancient technology, has tried to destroy the SGC via various methods, including the detonation of the Stargate itself. All attempts to subsume or destroy the SGC have failed to date.