Getting tired of a certain cliche that the writers seem to like to fall back on.

[Browncoat1984]

Don't get me wrong, I thought First Contact was yet another brilliant episode in a long line of great episodes this season (minus perhaps Whispers), but there was something that caused me to practically groan out loud.

The new aliens come equipped with self destruct.

This makes three out of four Atlantis super-villains (Wraith, Deadalus aliens, and now these guys) that come with some form of self-destruct mechanism with their suites. Am I the only one whose starting to get annoyed with the writers' obsession of using self-destructing bad-guys at the most inconvenient moment, when there's about to be a big reveal or something similar? I think it would have been cool if maybe these new bag guys actually CARED about their soldiers, and maybe would attempt to retrieve the soldier, dead or alive. You know, kind of in the same way that we've established the "no man left behind" motto for the SGC...they won't leave a guy behind, no matter the circumstances.

Why must every alien super-bad guy we encounter HAVE to blow itself up? Yes, explosions are cool...and it can be fun to see an "oh, crap!" moment as our characters realize they have to get the hell out of there or they'll all be blown up....but its starting to get old, at least for me.

[unluckynumber11]

I'm sorry? who was the fourth super villian? this isn't one of the bad cliches that aren't good (like over-the-top villians) this is one of those resonable ones. they obviousy want to keep some secrecy on who they are and/or they don't want there stuff falling into the wrong hands, it's not silly, it's practical

[kali1]

Don't get me wrong, I thought First Contact was yet another brilliant episode in a long line of great episodes this season (minus perhaps Whispers), but there was something that caused me to practically groan out loud.

The new aliens come equipped with self destruct.

This makes three out of four Atlantis super-villains (Wraith, Deadalus aliens, and now these guys) that come with some form of self-destruct mechanism with their suites. Am I the only one whose starting to get annoyed with the writers' obsession of using self-destructing bad-guys at the most inconvenient moment, when there's about to be a big reveal or something similar? I think it would have been cool if maybe these new bag guys actually CARED about their soldiers, and maybe would attempt to retrieve the soldier, dead or alive. You know, kind of in the same way that we've established the "no man left behind" motto for the SGC...they won't leave a guy behind, no matter the circumstances.

Why must every alien super-bad guy we encounter HAVE to blow itself up? Yes, explosions are cool...and it can be fun to see an "oh, crap!" moment as our characters realize they have to get the hell out of there or they'll all be blown up....but its starting to get old, at least for me.

Well.....
The writers MO (my opinion of course) has been about re-hashing old episodes or episodes from other sci-fi shows.....so of course they would fall back on the self destruct thingie.

it's tiresome.....yeah....I totally understand and hear ya.

[Jack_Bauer]

Well.....
The writers MO (my opinion of course) has been about re-hashing old episodes or episodes from other sci-fi shows.....so of course they would fall back on the self destruct thingie.

it's tiresome.....yeah....I totally understand and hear ya.

yeah, what they said ^^

[Browncoat1984]

The fourth supervillain would be the Replicators. Yeah, they were re-used from SG-1, but they were kind super, weren't they?

[Pharaoh Atem]

"starts a save Martin Gero campaign"

[Infinatus]

The fourth supervillain would be the Replicators. Yeah, they were re-used from SG-1, but they were kind super, weren't they?

They seemed less formidable than the MW replicators. Especially in BAMSR.

[Ripple in Space]

It's like carrying cyanide pills only better because not only do you ensure secrecy, but can also deal collateral damage when doing it. Didn't Lantesh die in a similar manner?

[Muh_tuttles]

However it makes sense that aliens would have self destructs rather than let themselves fall in the hands of someone else to let them find out weaknesses and things. I mean, how many times has Atlantis been put on auto self destruct rather than let secrets fall into the hands of enemies?

It may be a cliche and, like you, it REALLY irritates me, but it makes sense at least.

[Actionhank]

Explosions make great trailers, ok? Simple Fact. More explosions, better trailer. Better trailer, more viewers...

[Browncoat1984]

Explosions make great trailers, ok? Simple Fact. More explosions, better trailer. Better trailer, more viewers...

Ha ha! And yes, I understand the reasoning behind it...yet at the same time, it WOULD be nice to see something different, like I said. I think it'd be cool to see an alien race that would try to rescue its captured/dead instead of letting them die. I think these guys from First Contact could have easily done that with their technology. It would have been more exciting, IMHO, to see them send in a second group, have them launch another attack on Atlantis as our team is studying the alien - they look up "oh ****, there's more guys!" and the guys take the body and get out.

I guess it would have been more expensive, though, and something else that might've been cool in the episode would have been sacrificed, but its still a neat thought.

[Xaeden]

To be honest, I don't see how this is any different than introducing races with stun weapons. They all have both stun and self destruct capabilities for similar, but different reasons. With the "self destruct" - The Wraith have them to prevent capture, the Daedalus Variations race didn't appear to have it at all, (it just activated a grenade which isn't all that different than what some Humans would've done in that situation) and this recent one seemed to have it only as a way of preventing their technology from falling into enemy hands. Thus, it was designed to automatically activate when someone was cutting into the suit (with how powerful they are, the being within would almost have to be dead for it to get to that point) and the Wraith have ones that have to be manually activated. For all we know, they might do everything they can to rescue one who is still alive, but they can't be expending resources on just recovering a suit with a dead body in it so this works out better for them. Plus, based on who the spoilers say they are...

Spoiler:

I don't think it's even possible for them to die. They probably just downloaded a copy of that one's concousness into a new body when they returned to base.

[JackHarkness_Hot]

Let's not forget, not all aliens share the human philosophy of going back and not leaving one behind.

[Vn70072]

Yes, it's sometimes folly however much we may want to, to apply human logic to the actions of alien life-forms. Also, unfortunately, the usual villains in many forms of fiction tend to hold their kin with as much contempt as their enemies. Perhaps it's meant to underscore their evilness, but I appreciate seeing alternatives used.