Daily Life on Atlantis (a.k.a. the Atlantis Barber thread)
These are just a couple of questions that have been bugging me for a while, mainly because that in the timespan of more than a year of watching atlantis, we never get to see on how daily life really works on Atlantis in greater detail.
Whereas the SGC on earth is basically a normal military base on earth, which will have no problem sustaining itself with supplies and basic life necessities, the Atlantis is an outpost of non-human design (Ancient, if you will), and may have a very different take on supporting human life on the other side of the galaxy.
Now, within the show, Atlantis has been shown to provide breathable atmosphere for human life and sufficient power generation from the portable naquadah generators as well as any non-ZPM power generation on the city (be it solar, ocean currents, wind, nuclear, anything the ancients came up with to power the place without using ZPMs). However, the show never touches on important aspects such as fresh water supply and food, at least not explicitly. We can assume several cases for food and water supply, since it is very unlikely that the initial supply carried through the gate on the first expedition would sustain enough water for the entire crew for indefinite amount of time, on the assumption that a person needs 1 gallon of water a day, which equals to 36500 gallons of water for one year supply for an expedition team of 100 people, not including Teyla's people. Here are my theories on how they sustain daily life on Atlantis in terms of food and water supply:
a) The ancients need a constant fresh water supply and somewhere in the city there is a fresh water plant that recycles and produces fresh water off the ocean (very doable even with current human technology, I'm certain the ancient design would be very elegant).
b) They shipped tons of water and MRE through the gate during the first expedition, and Daedalus ships fresh water supply on its subsequent visits. This is very realistic, although I am sure Col. Sheperd would be tired of eating MREs all the time. But on the very latest episode there is a scene which involves dining and salads were present, indicating that the Atlantis may have fresh supplies of vegetables from somewhere (Earth or otherwise). I would love to see how the kitchens are set up in Atlantis, be it human portable kitchen/mess hall or a very neatly designed Ancient stove.
c) The atlantis team trade supplies from offworld traders and other civilizations for water and food, which have been done several times during the episode. In fact, they may simply just trade with the Athosians who are agrarian in nature, who are living on the mainland of the planet where Atlantis is located. Assuming similar conditions to earth, it is very likely they have a good supply of fresh water for agriculture and daily life needs.
Now that food and water have been taken care of, I would like to move to another subject: personal hygiene. It is mentioned couple of times by various characters that they are going for a quick shower and what not, but they never show the designs of shower and toilet for personal needs. Are they using earth modified restrooms, or the Ancients have already provided personal "refresher" rooms on their living quarters - very plausible in reality. And a bathroom designed by the Ancients would be a very interesting subject to discuss in a random episode, for example of holographic mirrors, health detectors, and I highly doubt they still use toilet papers in a civilization as advanced as theirs.
Final subject on my thread - barber shop. On SGC, since it is located on earth, finding a good barber on a missile silo is not unheard of, and the personnels can always drive home to get some haircut. But on an outpost like Atlantis, I don't think they can gate home at a whim to get a crew cut. Considering how the Atlantis expedition team have their hairs properly maintained, we can safely assume that one of the personnels of the expedition team has hair styling skills that is being utilized by the the rest of the expedition members. It would probably make an interesting episode and character, too. The Atlantis barber, rooms across from Dr. Beckett.
I hope you guys enjoy my theories on living on Atlantis. I'll think of some other ideas that are being taken for granted by most people.
Whereas the SGC on earth is basically a normal military base on earth, which will have no problem sustaining itself with supplies and basic life necessities, the Atlantis is an outpost of non-human design (Ancient, if you will), and may have a very different take on supporting human life on the other side of the galaxy.
Now, within the show, Atlantis has been shown to provide breathable atmosphere for human life and sufficient power generation from the portable naquadah generators as well as any non-ZPM power generation on the city (be it solar, ocean currents, wind, nuclear, anything the ancients came up with to power the place without using ZPMs). However, the show never touches on important aspects such as fresh water supply and food, at least not explicitly. We can assume several cases for food and water supply, since it is very unlikely that the initial supply carried through the gate on the first expedition would sustain enough water for the entire crew for indefinite amount of time, on the assumption that a person needs 1 gallon of water a day, which equals to 36500 gallons of water for one year supply for an expedition team of 100 people, not including Teyla's people. Here are my theories on how they sustain daily life on Atlantis in terms of food and water supply:
a) The ancients need a constant fresh water supply and somewhere in the city there is a fresh water plant that recycles and produces fresh water off the ocean (very doable even with current human technology, I'm certain the ancient design would be very elegant).
b) They shipped tons of water and MRE through the gate during the first expedition, and Daedalus ships fresh water supply on its subsequent visits. This is very realistic, although I am sure Col. Sheperd would be tired of eating MREs all the time. But on the very latest episode there is a scene which involves dining and salads were present, indicating that the Atlantis may have fresh supplies of vegetables from somewhere (Earth or otherwise). I would love to see how the kitchens are set up in Atlantis, be it human portable kitchen/mess hall or a very neatly designed Ancient stove.
c) The atlantis team trade supplies from offworld traders and other civilizations for water and food, which have been done several times during the episode. In fact, they may simply just trade with the Athosians who are agrarian in nature, who are living on the mainland of the planet where Atlantis is located. Assuming similar conditions to earth, it is very likely they have a good supply of fresh water for agriculture and daily life needs.
Now that food and water have been taken care of, I would like to move to another subject: personal hygiene. It is mentioned couple of times by various characters that they are going for a quick shower and what not, but they never show the designs of shower and toilet for personal needs. Are they using earth modified restrooms, or the Ancients have already provided personal "refresher" rooms on their living quarters - very plausible in reality. And a bathroom designed by the Ancients would be a very interesting subject to discuss in a random episode, for example of holographic mirrors, health detectors, and I highly doubt they still use toilet papers in a civilization as advanced as theirs.
Final subject on my thread - barber shop. On SGC, since it is located on earth, finding a good barber on a missile silo is not unheard of, and the personnels can always drive home to get some haircut. But on an outpost like Atlantis, I don't think they can gate home at a whim to get a crew cut. Considering how the Atlantis expedition team have their hairs properly maintained, we can safely assume that one of the personnels of the expedition team has hair styling skills that is being utilized by the the rest of the expedition members. It would probably make an interesting episode and character, too. The Atlantis barber, rooms across from Dr. Beckett.
I hope you guys enjoy my theories on living on Atlantis. I'll think of some other ideas that are being taken for granted by most people.
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