Cultures on SG:A
A fellow gatehead and me had this talk and we both arrived at the same conclusion, so I'm curious to hear some more opinions on this...
(note: spoiler for Harmony, season 4 below, in spoiler tags)
We both got the impression that SGA, especially early on, had a big international and multicultural flavor. Not just in terms of the characters themselves (which had varied backgrounds), but also in the storylines. The archetypical episode here to me is 'Poisoning the Well' in season 1, where the 'cure' for wraith feeding results in the death of half the planet's people.
As much as this cure may seem abhorrent to the SGA team, it makes sense to the outsiders, and their viewpoint is believably and consistently explained. And while this episode is great on a purely technical level (directing, acting, setting, etc), the whole drama shines IMO because the two sides' morals are inherently subjective, and their idea of the Right Thing To Do ends up being so different (in spite of identical goals).
A simpler example would be Teyla's little "we mastered fire long ago" dig at Sheppard in the pilot when she lights her torch: the writers seem to be pointing out that these seemingly simple people have their own history and depth, and are very aware of their own culture.
This is in rather strong contrast to the typical SG1 fare, where the (American!) protagonists were (almost) never challenged in their moral superiority, and other cultures — even on Earth, e.g. the Russians — were rarely portrayed as being anything beyond either naive, misguided or malicious.
Now the point I'm trying to get at is that SGA in the later seasons seems to be doing the old SG1 thing again, which I frankly find boring and unimaginative. In 'Harmony' in particular, the stereotypical outsiders are just a foil for getting the main protagonists to spout off some one liners and provide a rather superficial plot.
There's still plenty to like about the show, but I can't help but feel that this was a more mature and realistic aspect of SGA that was lost. It's rather ironic too, seeing as the show is shot in Vancouver, famous for being a big melting pot.
Are we on crack, or does this strike a chord with anyone else?
(note: spoiler for Harmony, season 4 below, in spoiler tags)
We both got the impression that SGA, especially early on, had a big international and multicultural flavor. Not just in terms of the characters themselves (which had varied backgrounds), but also in the storylines. The archetypical episode here to me is 'Poisoning the Well' in season 1, where the 'cure' for wraith feeding results in the death of half the planet's people.
As much as this cure may seem abhorrent to the SGA team, it makes sense to the outsiders, and their viewpoint is believably and consistently explained. And while this episode is great on a purely technical level (directing, acting, setting, etc), the whole drama shines IMO because the two sides' morals are inherently subjective, and their idea of the Right Thing To Do ends up being so different (in spite of identical goals).
A simpler example would be Teyla's little "we mastered fire long ago" dig at Sheppard in the pilot when she lights her torch: the writers seem to be pointing out that these seemingly simple people have their own history and depth, and are very aware of their own culture.
This is in rather strong contrast to the typical SG1 fare, where the (American!) protagonists were (almost) never challenged in their moral superiority, and other cultures — even on Earth, e.g. the Russians — were rarely portrayed as being anything beyond either naive, misguided or malicious.
Now the point I'm trying to get at is that SGA in the later seasons seems to be doing the old SG1 thing again, which I frankly find boring and unimaginative. In 'Harmony' in particular, the stereotypical outsiders are just a foil for getting the main protagonists to spout off some one liners and provide a rather superficial plot.
Spoiler:
There's still plenty to like about the show, but I can't help but feel that this was a more mature and realistic aspect of SGA that was lost. It's rather ironic too, seeing as the show is shot in Vancouver, famous for being a big melting pot.
Are we on crack, or does this strike a chord with anyone else?