"Cheyenne, we have a problem."
— Col. Jack O'Neill
A test flight of a new spacecraft adapted from Goa'uld death gliders goes badly wrong when it turns out the originals were fitted with a recall device meant to return to Apophis's homeworld in the event of sabotage, sending O'Neill and Teal'c hurtling into deep space. As they drift further from Earth, Carter and Daniel seek assistance from Jacob to rescue them before they run out of oxygen.
"Tangent" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Almost Out of Oxygen: The glider was supposed to have enough oxygen to last several days, but that gets reduced to about twelve hours after some of their systems are damaged by one of the missiles disengaging and striking the cabin.
- And Mission Control Rejoiced: At the very end of the episode, after Carter relays the message that both O'Neill and Teal'c have made it onto the scout ship alive and well.
- Best Served Cold: The recall device is an automated version of this. Assuming it gets triggered, the likely scenario is that the victim will run out of supplies and die well before the glider ever reaches civilization, since it has no hyperdrive and is being directed to fly back to its planet of origin.
- Character Name Alias: When their ship gets stranded in Goa'uld-occupied space, Jacob tells Daniel to stall an approaching mothership by pretending to be a fellow Goa'uld as he and Carter get the hyperspeed drive back online, resulting in this:Daniel: I don't think they bought my act.
Jacob: Why, who'd you say you were?
Daniel: The, uh... Great and Powerful Oz. - Cold Equation: Subverted; Teal'c recognizes that the oxygen supply will last longer if there's only one of them to use it up, but instead of killing himself he simply places himself in a deep state of kel'no'reem, slowing his vitals to leave more oxygen for O'Neill. He also suggests O'Neill try and fall asleep to reduce his own oxygen consumption.
- Continuity Nod:
- The glider was reverse-engineered from the two Death Gliders that the team used to escape Apophis's mothership in "The Serpent's Lair".
- O'Neill mentions that he's "already done the whole freezing to death thing."
- Could Say It, But...: It's implied that this is what Anise was trying to do in telling Daniel that the Tok'ra had a scout ship close to Earth and that the operative on board was "important to both of them."
- Cultural Posturing: When Sam and Daniel object to humans being called "technologically infantile" in comparison to the Tok'ra and Goa'uld, Jacob tells them "the Tok'ra were flying around in ships like these when most of the people on Earth thought it was flat."
- Didn't Think This Through: Sam and Daniel were so focused on getting to a Tok'ra ally and their ship that they didn't exactly think through how said Tok'ra could try and rescue Jack and Teal'c from an adrift Glider.
- Doctor, Doctor, Doctor: When the team is introduced to General Vidrine at the beginning of the episode.Vidrine: Colonel.
O'Neill: General.
Vidrine: Major.
Carter: General.
Vidrine: Doctor.
Daniel: General. - Flashy Teleportation: Referenced when Daniel asks why Jacob can't just beam the others out of the glider.Jacob: Beam them out? What am I, Scotty?
- Flawed Prototype: The glider is Earth's first attempt at creating their own space-worthy craft on par with that of the Goa'uld, and it sends O'Neill and Teal'c hurtling into the depths of space.
- Hope Spot: O'Neill and Carter are optimistic that burning the glider's missiles could produce enough thrust to slingshot around Jupiter, but it turns out that the missiles simply don't have enough burn, and it actually makes the situation worse as one of them disengages and hits the glider, damaging it further.
- How Dare You Die on Me!: Carter does a variation on this when the scout ship makes it to the glider Just in Time only for them to realize that O'Neill and Teal'c are both unconscious and unresponsive.Carter: Dammit, Colonel, we haven't come all this way to take you home in a box, now wake up!
- Hyperspeed Escape: Jacob pulls one of these when they come under attack by a Goa'uld mothership.
- Intoxication Ensues: Oxygen deprivation has made O'Neill a little loopy by the time Jacob shows up with his scout ship, and it takes a bit of effort to get him to focus enough to wake Teal'c.
- It Has Been an Honor: Said by Teal'c to O'Neill, just before he puts himself into kel'no'reem.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Jacob is pretty harsh in his criticism of trying to reverse-engineer a Death Glider, but he's right that the Air Force is way out of their depth with the technologies involved. Sure, the Goa'uld stole their technology, too, but that was millenia ago and they took the time to understand it first.
- Noodle Incident: Daniel mentions "losing his temper" with Anise in an offscreen confrontation when he went to seek help from the Tok'ra.
- No Sense of Humor: O'Neill's trademark levity falls completely flat on General Vidrine.
- Oh, Crap!: O'Neill and Teal'c get a big one when they hear the recording of Apophis's voice, telling them that the glider is being recalled to his home planet.
- Space Friction: Averted; the glider maintains constant velocity after the thrusters are lost.
- Space Is Cold: O'Neill complains about the cold after they turn the heaters off to conserve energy, comparing it to the time he was stranded in Antarctica. The recording from Apophis also mentions "dying in the cold of space".
- Spaceship Slingshot Stunt: O'Neill and Teal'c attempt to perform one of these around Jupiter in order to point the glider back in the direction of Earth. It doesn't work because the missiles don't have enough thrust to counteract the glider's acceleration.
- Stock Footage: Footage from "Need" is reused for the background plate of the planet where Jacob is hiding out. Also, the exterior shots during the encounter between the Goa'uld cargo ship and the Goa'uld motherships are mostly spliced together footage from various episodes.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Downplayed, but implied by Jacob's priceless reaction to Daniel using 'The Great and Powerful Oz' as his Goa'uld alias.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: O'Neill and Teal'c have to deliberately blow the canopy on the glider and shove themselves out, as the ring transporter is only big enough to grab them if they're in close proximity and not inside the much larger glider.
- True Companions: Teal'c tells O'Neill that he considers them brothers while they're drifting in space.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Before they've had a chance to explain what the stakes are, Jacob spends a good minute chewing out Carter and Daniel for blowing his cover and almost getting themselves killed in the process. Made funnier for the fact that he sounds for all the world like an exasperated parent yelling at his kids.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Jacob's aforementioned reaction to 'The Great and Powerful Oz'. He looks absolutely defeated and resigned by Daniel's admission.
- Even though we can't see it on-screen, imagining what Selmak's internal reaction to this was just makes it even funnier.
- You Are Not Ready: Jacob chastises his daughter for thinking that she could reverse-engineer advanced alien technology. When she accuses him of being a hypocrite, since the Goa'uld and Tok'ra are guilty of the same, he points out that he is "uniquely qualified" to appreciate just how far out of their depth they really are.Jacob: There's nothing wrong with being young, but you've gotta learn to take small steps. You can't just slap a US Air Force sticker on the side of a Death Glider and call it yours.
