Time to save 2% of the world

User avatar
Teaos
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 15368
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:00 am
Commendations: The Daystrom Award
Location: Behind you!

Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Teaos »

I'm rewatching Stargate at the moment and am up to season 4.

One thing that strikes me is that every time they help some a 'planet' or a 'civilisation' it is only 1 village or a area of a few miles around the Stargate. Sure the initial human settlements would have most likely been around the Stargate as that is how they were brought there. But you would assume they would have spread out some over the hundreds or thousands of years since.

They treat planets like tiny islands around the gate and not massive planets. They do planetary survays with a few people and a UAV. Any one planet could have alien tech anywhere on it and helpful flow and fauna on any continent.

Only once or twice do they even pay lip service to this let alone act on it.
What does defeat mean to you?

Nothing it will never come. Death before defeat. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. There is no defeat.
User avatar
Tinadrin Chelnor
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 921
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 3:11 am
Location: Pendroca IV

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Tinadrin Chelnor »

The majority of worlds do seem unduly underpopulated, but I think their reasoning is that the Goa'uld were either still "around" or only recently vacated most of these worlds, and they kept Human populations low to be more controllable. Earth had no Goa'uld overlords for 2000 years (?), maybe longer. So they had plenty of time to create a global civilization. There are a few worlds out there that do have large civilizations and are highly developed, but they tend to be the minority.

I have noticed several other discrepancies recently. I have the entire 10 series, and all the films on DVD, and I do love Stargate. But several times throughout the series they mention about a world millions of light-years away on the far side of the galaxy, but as we all know the Milky Way Galaxy is only 100,000 light-years in diameter, and the farthest point from Earth I think is around 70,000 light-years (as Earth is about 30,000 light-years from the galactic centre).

There was something else, but I forget.
"No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand."
User avatar
Jim
Captain
Captain
Posts: 1907
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Pittsburgh
Contact:

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Jim »

Everyone just spoke english after a while as well. The writers just got tired of having to do the language thing too often.
Ugh... do not thump the Book of G'Quan...
User avatar
Teaos
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 15368
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:00 am
Commendations: The Daystrom Award
Location: Behind you!

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Teaos »

Yeah I especially loved it when they spoke english but wrote, Celtic, greek, egyptian...

They did explane a few things, like how they no longer got frozen after coming out of the stargate, they stopped doing it, then like 2 seasons latter Carter makes a passing reference to them alliging the gate so it doesnt happen anymore. Nice touch.
What does defeat mean to you?

Nothing it will never come. Death before defeat. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. There is no defeat.
User avatar
Tinadrin Chelnor
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 921
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 3:11 am
Location: Pendroca IV

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Tinadrin Chelnor »

I have been wondering about that "icy-travel" thing. Must have missed Carter's explanation. Although each time I rerun through a film or series I tend to pick up on something new. At least now I now the answer to that , thanks :)

And yeah, its amazing how many worlds use various written languages, but all managed to learn English prior to an SG teams arrival, haha.
"No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand."
User avatar
Deepcrush
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 18917
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:15 pm
Location: Arnold, Maryland, USA

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Deepcrush »

I remember them joking about the languages once on an interview and they just "Plotted" it out. Each episode would have been several hours long while the translators showed up and tried to figure everything out. So they figured to hell with it, its just tv.
Jinsei wa cho no yume, shi no tsubasa no bitodesu
User avatar
Jim
Captain
Captain
Posts: 1907
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Pittsburgh
Contact:

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Jim »

I think that since the show went so long and had such a huge committed following, the writers were able to address "some" of the concerns. The icing effect explanation was probably a direct result to being asked that question over and over at cons.

One thing the writers and producers joke about is the zat-nikatel (sp?). Originally one shot stunned, two killed and three disintegrated. They did away with the second and third and just pretended like it never happened. In the interviews they just laugh about it and say it was a bad idea to start with. “Move along… nothing to see here…”
Ugh... do not thump the Book of G'Quan...
User avatar
Captain Seafort
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 15548
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:44 pm
Location: Blighty

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Captain Seafort »

Jim wrote:One thing the writers and producers joke about is the zat-nikatel (sp?). Originally one shot stunned, two killed and three disintegrated. They did away with the second and third and just pretended like it never happened.
They did that to the third shot disintegration but kept the second shot killing - that makes sense, unlike the disintegration.
Only two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe: Albert Einstein.
User avatar
Graham Kennedy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 11561
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: Banbury, UK
Contact:

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Didn't they make fun of that in the episode where a TV company is making a series that's basically a low budget version of the "real" Stargate program? I remember somebody says to a producer that they can just solve script a problem by disintegrating something with the gun... "One shot stuns, two kills, and three disintegrates," and the producer just looks at the guy and says "That's stupid."
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
User avatar
Tinadrin Chelnor
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 921
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 3:11 am
Location: Pendroca IV

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Tinadrin Chelnor »

Yep, that is indeed correct. The episode was "Wormhole Extreme".
"No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand."
Lt. Staplic
2 Star Admiral
2 Star Admiral
Posts: 8094
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:25 am
Commendations: Cochrane Medal of Excellence
Location: Somewhere Among the Stars
Contact:

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Lt. Staplic »

That was a great episode. they also make fun of all the out of phase episodes:

Pseudo Carter: "So how do I get through the locked door?"
Director: "Your 180 degrees out of phase with normal matter so you'll just glide right through it."
Pseudo Carder: "Out of phase, so I can't interact with anything?"
Director: "Yup, pretty much"
Pseudo Carter: "Then why don't I just fall through the floor?"
Director: "Uh........we'll get back to you."

As for the people immediately near the gate. I always just assumed that with the more primitive planets the people wouldn't have had the time, motivation, or need to spread out far from the gate. On more populated worlds I feel like they usually do a good job of noting that even their best efforts could only save a fraction of the population.

As for advanced alien tech: again it seems logical to me that the Ancients/Goa'uld would leave all their stuff right there next to the gate. Doesn't make much sense for them to put the gate on one side of the planet and their lab on the other.

Though that is a good point with natural fauna and things native to the planet. Though again that could be explained that with their current needs planets that don't have valuable resources in the immediate vicinity of the gate get put low on the priority list for futher exploration when they have planets that have naquadah mines/natural fauna right there next to the gate for easy retrieval by the SG teams
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
User avatar
McAvoy
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 6225
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:39 am
Location: East Windsor, NJ

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by McAvoy »

Well we are talking about a small organization (manpower wise) trying to explore the galaxy. So they only search what is near the gates as exploring whole planets would take far too long and no garantee of finding anything useful anyway. So I guess, the SGC has orders for the teams to explore within a set distance of the gate before moving on.
"Don't underestimate the power of technobabble: the Federation can win anything with the sheer force of bullshit"
User avatar
Deepcrush
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 18917
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:15 pm
Location: Arnold, Maryland, USA

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Deepcrush »

I wouldn't be surprised if the SGC missed whole civilizations that were simply to far from the gates to be found in the short times they have available on each world.
Jinsei wa cho no yume, shi no tsubasa no bitodesu
User avatar
Jim
Captain
Captain
Posts: 1907
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Pittsburgh
Contact:

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by Jim »

I saw the SG teams as scouts, and scouts only. They often spoke about other teams (science, diplomatic, etc) coming through to the planets that they visited later on. They also developed the URVs and such to extend the original trips reach. But I viewed the SG teams and a "lets take a look and see what we see, assess the situation, then move on to the next gate" kind of thing. They are just the toe in the water... other groups would dive in the deep end later if deemed worth while.
Ugh... do not thump the Book of G'Quan...
User avatar
McAvoy
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 6225
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:39 am
Location: East Windsor, NJ

Re: Time to save 2% of the world

Post by McAvoy »

Yeah there are other teams, more specialized ones. But even with the UAVs flying around it would still take months if not years to look all over the planet and that wouldn't be as detailed.
"Don't underestimate the power of technobabble: the Federation can win anything with the sheer force of bullshit"
Post Reply