"I think we just carried out our standing orders, sir."
— Col. Jack O'Neill
The team return from a mission with news of an advanced race called the Aschen who are willing to share their technology, and negotiations quickly progress to the state level. However, they soon come to suspect that something sinister may be going on when it emerges that the Aschen homeworld may in fact be the planet warned about in O'Neill's mysterious note from the future.
"2001" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Agri World: The team visits a planet of farmland that supplies the Aschen homeworld, who turned a gas giant in the system into a second sun and mounted the planet's Stargate on a swivel so grain could be dumped through it more easily. It also turns out they depopulated the planet by giving the original inhabitants medicine that caused sterility.
- All for Nothing: The episode's underlying dramatic tension. Since only the audience knows what really happened back during "2010", the tension becomes whether or not Present Day SG-1 will unwittingly ruin the sacrifices of their alternate future counterparts, or if they will realize the truth in time. Thankfully, they do.
- Binary Suns: It's mentioned that the Aschen were able to create a binary star system.
- Cartwright Curse: Ambassador Faxon is the second of Carter's potential love interests to be Killed Offscreen in as many episodes.
- Cut the Safety Rope: A strange inversion occurs where Carter is the one dangling from the ledge with Faxon above her, but cutting the rope actually saves her life rather than his, as she's suspended over an open wormhole to Earth while he is left behind on Volia.
- Didn't Think This Through: Several glaring flaws with the alternate SG-1's Ominous Message from the Future from "2010" emerge during this episode. They were so focused on stopping themselves from ever vising the Aschen homeworld that they didn't consider the possibility that the SGC might still end up encountering the Aschen on another world. Withholding the Aschen's name from the original message also backfires, as it means the SGC has no idea they're actually dealing with the inhabitants of the forbidden P4C-970 until it's nearly too late. Present Day O'Neill naturally lampshades said flaws (with Carter speculating their alternate selves were probably trying to limit the causality violation by keeping things simple).
- Dramatic Irony: As soon as the Aschen are named and introduced, only the audience is initially aware of who exactly they are, what they're after, and that they were the villains of the previous Season's "2010".
- Evil Virtues: The Aschen are quick to assure the Earth delegation that they can be a very patient people, which is certainly true given that their preferred method of genocide can take two hundred years to carry out.
- Exact Words: Daniel chooses to interpret Hammond's order that he should "dig a little deeper" literally, by actually digging underground on Volia to unearth the ruins of their former city.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Faxon stays behind to hold off the Aschen, allowing Carter time to get back to Earth and order the iris closed before they can send a bomb through. In doing so, he also unwittingly redeems his future self (who collaborated with the Aschen before realizing they'd misled him about the full extent of the planetary sterilization).
- Humorless Aliens: O'Neill initially cites this as his reason for not trusting the Aschen, likening them to "a planet of accountants."
- Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress: Carter cuts her rappelling line and falls into the gate on Volia, and emerges from the gate on Earth with enough force to break her arm upon landing.
- It's All About Me: Kinsey genuinely believes that the reason O'Neill is trying to stop the Aschen treaty from going ahead is to prevent him from becoming President, even when SG-1 have evidence to suggest that an alliance with the Aschen is not a good idea.
- Based on his actions throughout this episode, it's implied this happened in the original "2010" timeline too — meaning that Kinsey's political ambitions and manipulations unwittingly doomed all of humanity.
- Long Game: Still the Aschen M.O., proving that the fate of the "2010" Earth was the norm for them.
- Medieval Stasis: The Aschen keep the remaining Volian population in a form of this, having converted their entire world into farmland and using them to carry out agricultural tasks after wiping out the industrial society that used to exist on the planet.
- Not My Driver: When O'Neill attempts to go to the White House he is picked up by one of Kinsey's men, allowing for Kinsey himself to get into the car and lecture him for a bit before sending him back the way he came.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Hammond receives orders from Washington to halt the investigation into the Aschen homeworld for fear it could jeopardize the treaty.
- Oh, Crap!: Molem and Boren do this once they realize that Carter has tricked them into revealing their endgame.
- Planet of Hats: O'Neill describes the Aschen as a planet of accountants to convey their humorlessness.
- Poison Mushroom: SG-1 have this as the ace up their sleeve; a laptop full of Stargate addresses to give to the Aschen as a gesture of goodwill. Once the Aschen's duplicity is revealed, SG-1 has this exchange:Daniel: I just hope we don't regret giving them those gate addresses.O'Neill: I don't think we will. First one being a black hole and all. They get progressively darker after that.
- Ruins of the Modern Age: Daniel and Teal'c find the ruins of an industrialized city beneath the farmland on Volia and realize that their society was much more advanced before they encountered the Aschen.
- Sequel Episode: Or more accurately, prequel episode, to "2010".
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Lampshaded, with the team gently poking fun at Faxon wearing an expensive suit for his first trip though the Stargate to meet with the Aschen.Faxon: They said I didn't have to wear a uniform. I just wanted to make a good impression.
Daniel: You look great. Very sharp.
Faxon: Thank you.
O'Neill: It's the shoes... they're gonna get ruined. It's a farm planet. - Slow-Motion Fall: Carter, into the gate.
- Spanner in the Works:
- The Volian farmer who gives a glowing account of the Aschen, being completely ignorant of what they did to his planet, sees no problem asking Daniel and Teal'c for help with the "iron root" in one of his fields. This ends up completely undoing their plans for Earth.
- As stated previously, the alternate SG-1 from "2010" never anticipated that despite warning themselves not to visit the Aschen homeworld, the SGC might still end up encountering the Aschen themselves on another planet.
- Spell My Name With An S: When Faxon states that history will remember the team for their efforts in securing the treaty, O'Neill tells him that it's "O'Neill, two 'L's." Brought back at the end, when this is also his response to Kinsey threatening a full investigation.
- Sterility Plague: Revealed to be how the Aschen whittled down the Volian population, making it their modus operandi.
- Title by Year: A prequel episode to "2010", and therefore referencing 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- Uncertain Doom: The Aschen are never heard of again after this episode, though given they operate through subterfuge rather than martial force that's not surprising. However, it's mentioned that, due to not trusting them entirely, the list of viable stargate addresses they were given as a sign of good faith started with the black hole planet from "A Matter of Time" at the top of the list, with the addresses "getting progressively worse from there". Dialing to said black hole planet will destroy the Aschen homeworld if they're unable to deal with it, though it's left uncertain if this is what happened to them.
- The Aschen return in the spin-off novel Relativity, set between Kinsey becoming Vice-President and the discovery of the Antarctic outpost that would lead them to Atlantis, where another campaign for revenge on Earth is thwarted by a future version of Jack and his daughter, Jade O'Neill, from a timeline where the Aschens' plan has sterilised 95% of the galaxy.
- The Unmasqued World: The Aschen state that any treaty they make with Earth would have to be with the whole of Earth, which explains why the Stargate program had gone public in the alternate future of "2010".
- You Just Told Me: The team manage to trick the Aschen into revealing their plan this way: Daniel gives Carter a word from the old Volian newspapers that he was unable to translate; when she asks Boren what it means, he casually replies "sterility", not realizing that she now knows the full newspaper headline was "Aschen vaccine causes sterility".
- Wham Line: The episode starts with SG-1 returning triumphantly to Earth, having made contact with an alien race ready and willing to help protect Humanity. All seems well, until General Hammond asks what they call themselves;Carter: The Aschen, sir. They're called the Aschen.
