“Enigma” is episode seventeen of season one of Stargate SG-1.
SG-1 arrive on a world that seems to be close to being destroyed by serious volcanic activity. They are going to immediately turn back and return to Stargate Command when they discover a number of bodies around the gate – not all of which are dead.
They rescue ten people from the planet and take them back to the SGC with them. These people possess technology that appears to be in advance of anything terrestrial. The leader also seem less than grateful for the rescue.
So far, the stargate teams have not brought back much in the way of advanced technology that will help Earth fight the Goa’uld as and when they arrive, so this technology would be welcome. Those rescued are unwilling to share this technology after a previous experience with sharing technology with a more primitive culture resulted in that world’s destruction and the eventual destruction of their own. More technologically primitive cultures have been destroyed by contact with more advanced ones in the past.
This episode features a guest appearance from Tobin Bell – perhaps better known for playing the killer Jigsaw from the Saw films – as the leader of the people rescued.