The Broca Divide (104)

[hedwig]

I had never seen Broca Divide from Season 1 and was a bit amused by the still underdeveloped acting and character portrayal early on. Dr. Fraiser even called Teal'c "Mr. Teal'c."

I also noted how production had to build a story around so few alien characters, Heck, the planet is divided by the Touched and the Untouched, whereby the "evil gods" had infected some of the people with the virus, yet each side seems to have only around a dozen members. And then of course we never see that planet again.

Interesting to watch early missed episodes.

We never "saw" the planet again, but they are referred to in other episodes ("the Land of Light"). And Tuplo (the leader) is brought in briefly in "Enigma" when he offers the Tollans a place to live - only to be extremely rudely rejected by Omoc.

[Dave2]

Well, I guess we'll never know why half the planet was dark or that the Touched had been that way for a generation which would mean that the daughter of the Untouched leader was a baby when she was infected. Then again, how did such neanderthal type people learn how to make clothes. Since the infection happened so rapidly, how did the Untouched manage to get the Touched out of their community so fast when the numbers of violent Touched would have overwhelmed the Untouched, even assuming there were more than a dozen on each side.
I give the episode a C+.

[SF_and_Coffee]

You only skimmed the episode rather than watching it, didn't you? These questions were mostly answered in the episode. The Touched, for instance, would already have HAD clothes when they were exiled.

[Dave2]

They were shown dressed as Neanderthal cavemen not as normal humans.

Come to think of it, I never understood how anthropologists ever figured out that the primitive Neanderthal knew how to produce clothing. IF they were indeed a separate species from the homosapien.

Anyway, since a person becomes a caveman in just a few hours when being infected, how did the Untouched deal with them so quickly? Actually maybe it wasn't so hard since apparently there were only about 10-12 Touched anyway, and the episode did not explain clearly how they became Touched or even WHY their planet's address was used by the Goa'uld from Chulak.

You only skimmed the episode rather than watching it, didn't you? These questions were mostly answered in the episode. The Touched, for instance, would already have HAD clothes when they were exiled.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Oh, for...

For one thing, the people on that planet were all the same species. The disease just affected some of them and turned them into what we saw.

And there were LOTS more than 10 or 12 Touched on the planet. The episode only dealt with a small number of them. Here's an analogy: I'm going to assume you don't actually know 8 billion people. Yet that's how many people currently live on Earth right this minute. Just because you've never seen and will never see most of them doesn't mean they don't exist.

Also, why are you assuming that Neanderthals on Earth weren't intelligent enough to make clothing? They were a separate species of hominin from modern humans, but they were by no means stupid. The idea that they were stupid is a product of the way they've been portrayed in cartoons and television fiction, NOT a product of actual scientific research. They made some pretty impressive stone tools as well, and we have plenty of examples sitting in museums.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Actually, SF, Dave2 said he doesn't understand how the anthropologists determined that the Neanderthals wore clothing, not that they were too stupid to do so.

Seaboe

[SF_and_Coffee]

It's fairly obvious, I should think. We're talking about a creature without fur, which does not hibernate, living in climates that get quite cold in winter. Without some type of clothing, they would have died of hypothermia.

Fortunately, we know they were hunters (stone spearpoints have been found) who would therefore have had access to skins and hides of the animals they killed. We know they scraped those hides (stone scrapers and other tools have been found), and the only conceivable purpose for doing so would be for things like clothing and possibly for shelter (hide tents) and for blankets and whatnot. I believe that bone needles/awls have also been found, which would indicate that hides were sewn together.

[Major_Clanger]

jumping in late to the convo (and pls forgive me for not reading the b/l)

I couldn't remember most of this ep when I rewatched it this morning so it was almost like a nw ep. There were bits of it that annoyed me (did they explain about the permanent darkness - is it because that planet doesn't revolve on its own axis?, why were the guards facing into the chamber and therefore just let Teal'c in when he went in alone to ask for blood samples, why wasn't O'Neill restrained when he had the drip in him?)

But on the whole it was an interesting ep, introducing as it did, the possiblity that one of the SG teams might bring a potentially catastrophic virus back to Earth with them. And then, of course, the possibility that an SG team might take a potentially catastrophic virus to another planet from Earth.

Growing cranial bumps that then disappeared seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding of how evolution works, but it was a pretty solid performance from RDA in this one so I'll forgive the physiological changes

[ngewakl]

Just rewatched this episode and it was good, but I have one gripe about it. How is there a lush jungle in the dark side when there is no sunlight? Anyway, this episode made up for emancipation.

[Vagabond Serpent]

I've watched this episode today like sixth time already and only now something completely ridiculos jumped at me - O'Neill checks stone-throwing humans (who cower before the Terrans by way) if they're Goa'ulds... From what he'd seen before I'd imply that he knows that the snakes prefer quite different technological and tactical approach, and above all people Teal'c should have noticed that as well...

[Jack'sMajorGirl]

I love this episode. I have always wondered where the name came from though. I ran across an article this morning about Paul Broca, a French doctor who discovered a damaged section of a patients brain that kept him from speaking. He could understand, but he couldn't talk. I'm assuming this is where the name of the episode came from. Anyone know?

http://mindhacks.com/2013/01/19/owne...ea-identified/

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Yes, that's where it came from.

Seaboe

[Jolinar_of_Malkshur]

I love this episode. I have always wondered where the name came from though. I ran across an article this morning about Paul Broca, a French doctor who discovered a damaged section of a patients brain that kept him from speaking. He could understand, but he couldn't talk. I'm assuming this is where the name of the episode came from. Anyone know?

http://mindhacks.com/2013/01/19/owne...ea-identified/

They actually mention Paul Broca and his research in the episode

CARTER: The Broca Divide. Pierre Paul Broca was a 19th century anthropologist. He founded modern craniometry to study craniums and brains and to compare the divide in intelligence between early species of mankind.

[Falcon Horus]

I love this episode cause it's the first time we see Janet and I totally love her.

But beyond that this one's definitely one of my favorites. I mean, they go out there and something's bound to bite them in the butt, and this episode shows for the second time in just three episode (counting COTG as one) that stuff can go wrong real fast.

The whole base under lockdown, and characters reverting back to a primal stage. We're doomed!

I'm kind of disappointed they didn't bring more ancient civilizations into the stories, but the Minoan touch was nice nonetheless. I really liked the set.