Affinity

In the Making

Summary | Analysis | Notes | Production | Transcript | In the Making | Review

Teal'c becomes the chief suspect in a murder investigation after he moves into an apartment off-base. Carter considers her future with Pete.

EPISODE #807
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: 08.20.2004
SYNDICATION AIR DATE: 10.31.2005
DVD DISC: Season 8, Disc 2
WRITTEN BY: Peter DeLuise
DIRECTED BY: Peter DeLuise
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By Joseph Mallozzi
Writer and Executive Producer, Stargate SG-1

We always wanted to do a "fish out of water" story, an episode wholly dedicated to Teal'c and his attempts to fit into Earth society. Unfortunately, this was an episode that should have been done during the show's first season and so, we assumed, the opportunity had passed.

But last November, I pitched out a story that had an amnesiac Teal'c imprisoned on an alien world, accused of a murder he doesn't remember committing. While O'Neill struggles to keep the diplomatic channels, Carter and Daniel are dispatched to the alien planet in an attempt to prove Teal'c's innocence. Along the way, the evidence against Teal'c mounts and, just when Carter and Daniel discover that "all is not as it seems," Teal'c regains his memories -- and, specifically, the memory of the murder he did, in fact, commit. How? Why? And what nasty little secret are the people of this alien world hiding? Well, those are questions for another season (or, barring another season, my very own fanfic story).

However, the aforementioned pitch did get everyone to thinking and gave rise to the basic premise for "Affinity": Teal'c is accused of murder and must go on the run. We figured it was high time Teal'c got his own place and, after some discussion, it was decided that this story would offer us the opportunity to finally do that "fish out of water" episode we had always wanted to do.

Throw in a cutesy-wootsy romantic B-runner involving Carter and Pete, and we were on our way.

  • In the script's first draft, O'Neill is the one who pays Teal'c a visit. But because of Rick's tight schedule, we opted to have Daniel drop by the apartment instead and offer his own D.J.-esque advice.
  • They were the N.I.D., then "rogue elements within the N.I.D.," then "former rogue elements of the N.I.D." Eventually, they became completely disassociated from the N.I.D. and we needed a new name for them. Easier said than done, of course, because it turned out every name we thought of had been used on Alias. Eventually, we came up with the Trust -- and it wasn't until weeks later that we learned it, too, had been used on Alias. In the end, it was either stick with the Trust or go with our back-up: The Former Rogue Elements of the N.I.D. Now Working for Private Interests Bent on Global Domination. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
  • And speaking of naming them: Originally, this episode was intended to air after "Covenant." As a result, Daniel (in the van scene) already knows their new name.
  • One actress originally considered for the role of Krista was Farscape's Claudia Black, who was busy shooting the "Peacekeeper Wars" mini-series in Australia at the time. As it turned out, things worked out perfectly in the end. Erica Durance (soon to join the cast of Smallville as Lois Lane) did a wonderful job as Krista, while Claudia did an equally terrific job in the later "Prometheus Unbound."