Catherine Langford

This article is about the Professor's daugther. For her father, see Langford. For other uses, see Langford (disambiguation).

Catherine Langford
Biographical information
Planet of origin	Earth
Birth	1924
Death	2004
Gender
Race	Tau'ri
Species	Human
Information about family
Affair	Ernest Littlefield
Parent	Professor Langford (father deceased)
Other relative	Sabrina Gosling (niece)
Socio-political information
Allegiance	Project Giza
Out of Stargate universe information
Portrayed by	Viveca Lindfors (Stargate) Kelly Vint (young Catherine, Stargate) Elizabeth Hoffman (SG-1) Nancy McClure (aged 21, SG-1) Glynis Davies (SG-1 "1969")
First appearance	Stargate

"Catherine Langford was more than just kind and generous. She had a gift… of an endless, open-minded, child-like curiosity. She saw the world not for what it was, but for what it could be, and she saw potential in people that others failed to recognize. Like her father before her, her contributions to science have changed the world more than most people know. I, for one, have no idea where I would be today if I'd never met her. She changed my life in more ways than I ever could have imagined."

—Daniel Jackson ("Moebius", Part 1)

Catherine Langford was the daugther of Professor Langford. Witness of the discovery of the Stargate in 1928, she resumed from scratch her father's scientific work after 1969 and managed to hire Dr. Daniel Jackson in 1995 who discovered the very purpose of the device. She retired soon after and abruptly died in 2004.

Biography

Catherine Langford was a young girl when her father discovered in 1928 the Stargate in the Giza plateau (Stargate). In 1945, at the age of 21, she was about to engage with Ernest Littlefield, one of his father's associates on the Stargate research. At this moment, she just overheard his father and Littlefield talking about the experiments. As she insisted as Littlefield speaks to her father about their relationship, she also suggested to use direct current instead of alternative current to charge the Stargate. The next day, his father told her that her fiance died in a laboratory explosion. The US Air Force then ordered them not to speak with anybody about the device (SG1: "The Torment of Tantalus", "1969").

In the late sixties, with just her father's notes, Catherine petitioned many adminstrations to start once more the Stargate program. She located in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. In 1982, she started to build a Stargate dialing computer with three super-computers. In 1993, Samanta Carter, an US Air Force theoretical astrophysicist joined the team, studied the technology of the Stargate and improved the dialing computer (SG1: "The Torment of Tantalus", "1969", "Children of the Gods").

Character's evolution

Stargate (1928/1995)

In 1928, the young Catherine is with her father in the Giza archeological digging. When she walks in the middle of the discoverings, she sees a pendant with a symbol and takes it. She's asked to come with her father and sees the erection of a big circular ring-shaped artefact.

In 1995, Langford comes to the Park Plaza Hotel to meet a young misfit archeologist, Daniel Jackson, rejected by his pairs because of his theories on the Great Pyramids. She already has all the files regarding Jackson, and proposes him a job of translation and travel tickets. She insists as this is an opportunity for him to prove his theories.

Some days later, she meets Jackson in the facility's sub-level 28 where is located the Giza coverstone, hidden from everybody since 1928. She sees Jackson retranslating the cartouche and revealing the name of Stargate. Just after, she's surprised to see Colonel Jack O'Neill taking the lead of the Giza project from this moment.

15 days later, following the discovery of Jackson, Catherine introduces Major General West to Jackson. The latter explains then that the symbols found on the cartouche are constellations, and the last, hidden at the bottom of the cartouche, is the point of origin. Then Catherine declares he founds it. After obtaining clearance, Catherine introduces the Stargate to Jackson and leads him to the Stargate control room. She warns West when Jackson discovers the seventh symbol who authorises to launch the dialing sequence. When Jackson is part of the recon team on the established location, she gives him her pendant as it brought her luck since she found it.

After O'Neill's return, the US Air Force makes her retire (SG1: "There But For the Grace of God").

"The Torment of Tantalus" (1997)

After making an astonished discovering, Daniel Jackson meets Catherine at her home. First surprised to see him back on Earth, she's then upset he didn't see her since he came back six months ago with the discovery of the Stargate network. He replies back about the 1945 Stargate experiments. She then learns that a stable wormhole has been established in 1945. She is also stunned to see her fiance, Ernest Littlefield, volunteer to pass through the Stargate, and disappearing. She realizes that her father lied to her when he told him Littlefied died in a lab explosion. Then Daniel shows her the symbols recovered from the archive, which is not Abydos, but a close planet.

Daniel brings her back to Cheyenne Mountain where she meets General Hammond. She's soon after autorized to travel on the planet where Littlefield may still be. For the first time, she travels through the wormhole with SG-1. She find that Littlefield is still alive, much older (as she is too). She discovers with the team a database built by an alliance of four races. They manage to come back to Stargate Command after the location was about to collapse. After these events, Catherine lives at home with Ernest Littlefield (SG1: "There But For the Grace of God").

"1969" (1969)

Trapped in 1969 because of a solar flare, Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter pay a visit to a mid-forties Catherine in order to locate the Stargate so they can come home. She didn't already resume her work on the gate yet, but Daniel thinks they might be the starter.

"Moebius", Part 1 (end 2004)

Catherine dies much to Daniel Jackson's surprise as he was talking to her the previous week. At the funeral, he gives a funeral oration in honor to Catherine. Just after, he meets Sabrina Gosling, Catherine's niece. She gives him the Eye of Ra amulet. Later Daniel receives in the base Catherine's entire collection of artefacts.

Notes

• Catherine claims to be 21 years old in 1945 (SG1: "The Torment of Tantalus"). This places her birth date circa 1924. However, there is an inconsistency with the movie where you see a young Catherine in 1928 who seems to be at least ten years old. According to her statement, she should be around four/five years old in 1928. (Kelly Vint, who plays the young Catherine in the movie, was twelve years old during the photography.)

Behind the scenes

• Catherine's character has been portrayed by five actresses in the franchise:
  • Kelly Vint, who was the young Catherine in the movie,
  • Viveca Lindfors, the "Present Day" Catherine in the movie,
  • Elizabeth Hoffman, the "Present Day" Stargate SG-1 version ("The Torment of Tantalus"). Hoffman will play an alternate version of Catherine Langford in "There But For the Grace of God",
  • Nancy McClure, Catherine in 1945 ("The Torment of Tantalus"),
  • and Glynis Davies, Catherine in 1969 ("1969").

Gallery

• 

  In 1928, the young Catherine is taking a pendant with the symbol of Ra.

• 

  Catherine and her fiance, Ernest Littlefield, in 1945.

• 

  Catherine in 1969.

• 

  Catherine and Daniel Jackson in 1995.

• 

  Catherine is reunited with Ernest Littlefield in 1997.

• 

  Catherine's funeral in 2004.

See also

• Professor Langford, her father
• Ernest Littlefield, her fiance
• Sabrina Gosling, her niece
• An alternate Catherine Langford from an alternate reality (SG1: "There But For the Grace of God")