A question on Ancient Aesthetics

[Exthalion]

Okay, having just watched SGA "Hide and Seek" again I was reminded of a problem with the depiction of the Ancients. In the episode the containment device for the darkness creature appears similar to Go'uld technology. It had the same dark coloration and engraved curves. The buttons even looked like scarabs.

Atlantis by contrast has a much more angular/geometric design. Most of the Ancient equipment in Pegasus shares this.

Now, the stuff in Pegasus is more recent then most of the stuff in the Milky way. We know this because Atlantis is of a similar design and Atlantis left the MW after the gate network was complete.

I am willing to accept that the San Grall was more advanced, being made as it was with ascended knowledge. This would also explain the Repository of Knowledge if they were built after the return from Atlantis.

However why does the Intergalactic Communication device look like those two items if it existed before the split with the Ori?

Also, why does the containment device from "Hide and Seek" and the Stargate destroyer that Anubis used look similar to each other?

(I understand why Go'uld tech would like like whatever Ancient Tech they found, but that doesn't explain the three distinct [four with Destiny] types of Ancient tech appearances.)

Edit: Even if these just represents styles of Ancient design, why do they seem to switch between them so often?
Edit 2: In Bold

[Alx]

Okay, having just watched SGA "Hide and Seek" again I was reminded of a problem with the depiction of the Ancients. In the episode the containment device for the darkness creature appears similar to Go'uld technology. It had the same dark coloration and engraved curves. The buttons even looked like scarabs.

Atlantis by contrast has a much more angular/geometric design. Most of the Ancient equipment in Pegasus shares this.

Now, the stuff in Pegasus is more recent then most of the stuff in the Milky way. We know this because Atlantis is of a similar design and Atlantis left the MW after the gate network was complete.

I am willing to accept that the San Grall was more advanced, being made as it was with ascended knowledge. This would also explain the Repository of Knowledge if they were built after the return from Atlantis.

However why does the Intergalactic Communication device look like those two items if it existed before the split with the Ori?

Also, why does the containment device from "Hide and Seek" and the Stargate destroyer that Anubis used look different from either?

(I understand why Go'uld tech would like like whatever Ancient Tech they found, but that doesn't explain the three distinct [four with Destiny] types of Ancient tech appearances.)

Edit: Even if these just represents styles of Ancient design, why do they seem to switch between them so often?

Keep in mind the Alterans were a several million year old race and as such they would be bound to go through diffrent styles of their tech same as we here on earth have done in our short history and
i would say the repository wasnt built after their return to MW but before they left mw and went to PG so to me it makes sence for it to be of an older design!

Also, why does the containment device from "Hide and Seek" and the Stargate destroyer that Anubis used look different from either?

? what do the two have to do with eachother?

Now, the stuff in Pegasus is more recent then most of the stuff in the Milky way. We know this because Atlantis is of a similar design and Atlantis left the MW after the gate network was complete

no atlantis left because the MW was being ravaged by a plague...

I am willing to accept that the San Grall was more advanced, being made as it was with ascended knowledge. This would also explain the Repository of Knowledge if they were built after the return from Atlantis.

How would this "explain" the repository?

(I understand why Go'uld tech would like like whatever Ancient Tech they found, but that doesn't explain the three distinct [four with Destiny] types of Ancient tech appearances.)

ok... plz explain what the Goa'uld have to do with Ancient/Alteran designs?

Edit: Even if these just represents styles of Ancient design, why do they seem to switch between them so often?

why build somthing "New" and stylish when there are plenty of old Ancient tech that works just aswell and has stood the test of time...

A side note to this is most people assume that the Ancients when in the mw before the plague was a Unified race but what if it wasnt and there were diffrent factions ie scientific military etc and these "styles" of their tech comes from the small diffrences btw these Ancients/Alteran factions then the plague came around and wiped most of em out so the few healthy survivors now unified due to drasticly reduced numbers went off to pegasus to try and save their species...

[the-alguroan]

its like an artist style during eras they change different things based on what they look like. for destiny we have to take into account that destiny was made way longer ago then atlantis also with a different purpose in mind. destiny made to follow the orginal stargate seeder and find different forms of life was meant to last while atlantis was the crowning jewel which was supost to be visually stunning so they choose the most accepted by time. look at the dakara genesis device its made of stone and concied (btw why is it conceld?) its made of stone, and has little refence to the ancients expect the control panel which btw seems complicated for no reason what ever

[Alx]

its like an artist style during eras they change different things based on what they look like. for destiny we have to take into account that destiny was made way longer ago then atlantis also with a different purpose in mind. destiny made to follow the orginal stargate seeder and find different forms of life was meant to last while atlantis was the crowning jewel which was supost to be visually stunning so they choose the most accepted by time. look at the dakara genesis device its made of stone and concied (btw why is it conceld?) its made of stone, and has little refence to the ancients expect the control panel which btw seems complicated for no reason what ever

that allways bugged the hell out of me i mean come on "the most advanced race to ever inhabit the stars" and their keybords are huge stone thing of a jigs..... Epic fail!

[Quadhelix]

Okay, having just watched SGA "Hide and Seek" again I was reminded of a problem with the depiction of the Ancients. In the episode the containment device for the darkness creature appears similar to Go'uld technology. It had the same dark coloration and engraved curves. The buttons even looked like scarabs.

I should probably note that it was reused from the prop of another Ancient device, I think from "Sight Unseen."

I am willing to accept that the San Grall was more advanced, being made as it was with ascended knowledge.This would also explain the Repository of Knowledge if they were built after the return from Atlantis.

However why does the Intergalactic Communication device look like those two items if it existed before the split with the Ori?

The Long-Range Communication Device is almost identical to Repository. However, it looks nothing like the Sangraal, other than being vaguely dome shaped.

This would imply that the Repositories are technology that the Ancients developed either before or not long after their departure from the Ori Galaxy.

Atlantis, on the other hand, was made tens of millions of years after the Ancients' departure from their home galaxy.

[Lantean General]

Alteran Aesthetics is a long and complicated story, but I'll have a go at cutting out the rubbish...

In the beginning you had the organic design inspired type technology, this period is charactorised by lack of right angles, flowing shapes and dark colours such as black, grey, gun metal etc. This type of aesthetic was popular during the latter parts of the Alteran loging in the Ori Home Galaxy and the earlier parts of their Domain in the Milky Way Galaxy. Examples of this type of technology include the ship that brought the Alterans to this galaxy, the Ark of Truth and the Destiny (although that also shows signs towards progression into the Lantean style of design.)

After this we see more stone inspired pieces, that is to say that while the devices appeared to be made of stone they were incredibly advanced pieces of technology. Examples of this include the Dakara Device, the Milky Way Stargates, the Time-Loop device and the ruins on Dakara and Vis Uban. It should be noted that this style of aesthetic was seen in more architectural type situations.

This period is seen in mainly the technology of the latter part of the Alterans Domain in the Milky Way Galaxy. This coexisted for a time with the Lantean type architecture which we can see from the ruins on Proclarush Taonas.

In the Pegasus Galaxy we see that the Lanteans had abandoned the stone aesthetic for a digital based design...Architecture and design appears to be based on geometry while the inside colours seem to be based on greens, browns, turqoise etc. Even the Aurora Class Warship, which abandones what many see as aethetics follows this example. Examples of this type of design can be seen in Atlantis, the Tarranis Hangar, the Pegasus stargates, the Asuran Pistols and Project Arcturus.

When the Lanteans became the Ancients and returned to the Milky Way all three design idea's became popular. Their could be several reasons for this such as that some believed that they were going through a renaissance or maybe some of them prefered to use one idea over the other...Merlin is a example of this...He used the stone design for his consoles in the milky way galaxy, the organic design for his repository type buildy thing and the Sangraal appears to be based on Lantean design ideas. This off course makes dating most Alteran technology quite hard as it could come from any of up to three periods!

In my honest opinion off course.

[lordofseas]

Maybe it was inventor's inspiration, or maybe they were trying to reserve metals. Who knows?

[Serenity000]

Maybe they thought it looked cool. They liked how it looked and made it.

[thekillman]

there are several forms of ancient aesthetics.

-earthly form. these are those large stone button things. like at Dakara.
(Ca. 50million years ago)

-Black Alien. the Repository, the Sangraal, long range communicator.
(more than 50 million years ago. seems to be the ancient's version of classics, so it is re-used several times, in later periods)


-Futuristic silver. atlantis is made this way.
("several million years ago". atlantis was made in that era and is futuristic. seeing it's interior and the similarities of the interior with Aurora's, atlantis was probably built in a transition period).

-Earthly Human. the aurora's seem to follow this.
(similar to the "earth" form, only with a more human touch. IE, steampunk-ish. late ancient, "several million years ago" to ten thousand years ago).


the Destiny has a style of it's own, which is "steampunk". Aurora-class ships have a similar look, but with earth-like colours.

this reveals that the ancients were like humans: sometimes a new futuristic look is made, sometimes we mix older forms with newer.

i personally think the Dark Alien looks by far the best. the black with blue crystals is just awesome

[Exthalion]

So, where does the Go'uld like tech such as the containment chamber and stargate destroyer fit in?

[the-alguroan]

how does the ancient satillate weapon fit in , i mean its very different than most ancient things

[Serenity000]

how does the ancient satillate weapon fit in , i mean its very different than most ancient things

The ancient satellite was very angular in its design, and is pretty similar to Atlantis through not as pretty because they going for the whole 'destroy a wraith hive ship' then the 'look how cool we are' though destroying a hive is pretty cool.

[thekillman]

the sattelite fits with the "futuristic" look. it did look futuristic IMO.


mmm. the Gate Destroyer i believe fits into Dark Alien and the device.... i dont know, i'll browse for pictures