"Give me another choice."
— Col. Jack O'Neill
SG-1 discovers that the Enkarans, a people they recently helped relocate to a new planet, are being threatened by an alien ship terraforming their planet. It emerges that the aliens — a sulfur-based race called the Gadmeer — thought that the planet would be uninhabited but are unable to stop the terraforming process once it has begun. O'Neill intends to destroy the ship, but Daniel insists that there must be another option and seeks the help of Lotan, an AI created by the Gadmeer for the purpose of communicating with the Enkarans.
"Scorched Earth" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Daniel finally convinces Lotan to halt the terraforming process by pointing out that a civilisation as benevolent as he says the Gadmeer were wouldn't want to come back if it means destroying another race. With that comment as incentive, Lotan is inspired to halt the procedure and help Daniel find another solution.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The Gadmeer's biology is based on sulfur instead of carbon. The atmosphere they breathe contains high levels of sulfur dioxide and is extremely toxic to all other known forms of life. They appear vaguely reptilian, and their music also sounds very strange to human ears.
- Bomb Disposal: Lotan beams the bomb onboard the ship with seconds left until detonation; when Daniel admits that he has no idea how to disarm it, he simply jettisons it harmlessly into the atmosphere.
- Chekhov's Gun: It's mentioned at the beginning of the episode that the team have provided the Enkarans with a naquadah reactor, which O'Neill later tells Carter to convert into a bomb with which to destroy the alien ship.
- Closest Thing We Got: Defied as it's stated that the Gadmeer had very specific environmental requirements, which is why the Enkarans' new world is the only one where the terraforming can take place. Fortunately, Daniel and Lotan are able to check the ship's database and determine that one of the previously-rejected planets was the original Enkaran homeworld, dismissed as it was too large and already had a native population on it.
- Colony Ship: The Gadmeer ship is one, transporting their entire civilization in search of a new homeworld after their old one was conquered.
- Don't Touch That, You Idiot!: O'Neill chides Carter and Daniel for this when they immediately start poking around after the team is first transported up to the ship.O'Neill: Carter?Carter: Sir?O'Neill: Should we really be opening drawers and things?[Cue Daniel opening another drawer.]O'Neill: What did I just say?
- Exact Words: Daniel's justification for going up to the ship to talk with Lotan behind O'Neill's back, knowing full well that O'Neill intend to blow it up:Daniel: Well actually, Jack asked me to give him another choice, so technically I'm... following an order.
- Genocide Dilemma: O'Neill is prepared to destroy the terraforming ship in order to save the Enkarans- though it's implied he isn't exactly happy about it- but Daniel points out that they don't have any more of a right to wipe out an entire civilization than the Gadmeer do.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: Lotan, to an extent. Although he appears to be either unable or unwilling to contradict his programming directly, Daniel encourages him to consider alternatives that his programming wouldn't have taken into account, and he eventually decides to remain with the Enkarans.
- Homeworld Evacuation: The Enkarans initially refuse to do this, as they've already been relocated once and they have very specific requirements that mean it could take months to find another planet suitable for them. Played straight at the end, however, once Daniel and Lotan are able to find their original homeworld in the Gadmeer database.
- Hostile Terraforming: The Gadmeer ship is terraforming the planet to make it inhabitable for sulfur-based lifeforms. This is actually something of a subversion as it wasn't intended to be hostile — the planet was specifically chosen for the fact that it had no intelligent lifeforms before the Enkarans were relocated there — but they can't abandon the terraforming process halfway through since the ship only has enough resources for one planet, so the result ends up being much the same.
- Human Aliens: The Enkarans. Unlike most SG1 examples, they seem to be actual aliens rather than Transplanted Humans, judging by their orange eyes, the fact that they can't adapt to different environments as well as humans can and the fact that their homeworld (from which the ancestors of the group in this episode are stated to have been abducted via spaceship) has no stargate. Presumably the Ancients influenced their evolution, as they did on Earth and in the Pegasus Galaxy.
- Humanity Is Infectious: Lotan was created in the image of the Enkarans and clearly has sympathy with them, though he doesn't seem able to directly contradict his programming.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Part of the problem is an unfortunate matter of timing; the Gadmeer ship found this world before the Enkarans had relocated to it, and by the time the ship arrived the Enkarans were already settling in.
- No Such Thing as Alien Pop Culture: Averted in that Lotan offers Daniel a selection of music of the Gadmeer, though it was intended for the Gadmeer's ears and doesn't sound the same to humans.
- Ominous Floating Spaceship: The terraforming vessel is a textbook example.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: Lotan is a "bio-mechanical representation" of the Enkarans created for the purpose of interacting with them.
- Silicon-Based Life: The Gadmeer are sulfur-based.
- Take a Third Option: Daniel convinces Lotan to do this when faced with either destroying the Gadmeer ship or allowing them to wipe out the Enkarans, and they are able to reach a compromise by halting the terraforming process until the Gadmeer ship can safely relocate the Enkarans to their original homeworld, at which point it will return to finish its task.
- That's an Order!: O'Neill makes it very clear that he is ordering Carter to convert the naquadah reactor into a bomb when she voices her doubts.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: O'Neill dismissed Lotan as "just a robot", but Daniel points out that he was created by a highly advanced alien race and they have no idea what capacity he has for reason and emotion.
- With Due Respect: Carter uses the "no disrespect" variant to make it clear to O'Neill that she is less than happy about his plan.
