What I'd Love to see. More Space Battles.

[Pogo01]

Could always stay true to the Stargate storyline while having longer space battle scenes. I mean in most episodes of Atlantis and in season 10 of SG-1 the Stargate was rarely ever shown and what little space battles that were aired lasted only minutes. I'm not saying Stargate should stop centering around the actual stargate and stargate travel but.. space battles would be very interesting to see. Especially since it would also widen our understanding on how much Earth has evolved and grown from 10 years of gathering alien technology and such.

[SG-18]

I like the mega-cool spacebattles. But I like the stargate more. If you can tie them both into a movie that has a great plot and all the characters from the SG franchise then I think you got a good third (Maybe final SG-1 movie).

[Lantien84]

I'm all for more epic space battles as long as they are good ones( galactica style). Usually Stargate ship battles consist of ships standing still throwing blobs of plasma at each other. Almost never do you see any ships doing evasive maneuvers until the Shields are about to fail. All these advanced races never use missiles or CIWS( drones don't count), which is just plane stupid, they can make ships with plasma weapons, shields, hyperdrives, but no missiles? Come on, they are a pivotal cornerstone of military hardware( they can be fitted with many types of ordinance, they can track targets beyond visual range, etc). You never see ship captains devise and use any daring or cunning tactics. And never have we seen a ship battle comprised of full battle groups( carriers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, assault ships etc). The closest battle formation we have seen is the combined allied ships in the battle of Asuras, with the hives acting as warships/carriers, the 304s taking the role of a destroyer with uber weapons, and the traveler ships taking the part of a corvette/assault ship. Does anybody think it odd that the asuran assault ships and the wraith cruisers went missing during the battle?

[Lantien84]

Don't even get me started on how earth has only one class of starship. It boggles my mind that the producers can spent time and money on a huge capital ship and fighters for "The Daedalus Variations", which mind you was only used once, and earth couldn't get another type of ship? Not even anything fancy, a transport ship? Something a bit smaller than a 304? A space scooter? Oy. When the 304s were introduced I didn't think they would be the only type of large ships earth would produce. Realistically no Navy/ Space Fleet would ever rely on only one type of ship, just look at the real world militaries; many types of purpose built ships carrying out many different and important roles.

[stargateolympus]

Don't even get me started on how earth has only one class of starship. It boggles my mind that the producers can spent time and money on a huge capital ship and fighters for "The Daedalus Variations", which mind you was only used once, and earth couldn't get another type of ship? Not even anything fancy, a transport ship? Something a bit smaller than a 304? A space scooter? Oy. When the 304s were introduced I didn't think they would be the only type of large ships earth would produce. Realistically no Navy/ Space Fleet would ever rely on only one type of ship, just look at the real world militaries; many types of purpose built ships carrying out many different and important roles.

That's true, but look at the Air Force, or any of the military jets now in use. We used to use fighters, interceptors, and attackers. Now everything being made is a multi-role jet. One that can do multiple roles without having to change anything. The 304s are Air Force and with limited supplies and man power it would only make sense that the ships should be jack of all trade type ships. Right now Earth can not support a giant fleet of carriers, frigates, battleships, corvettes, any of that because we don't have the resources to build them. Later on we might see those type of fleets, but with the way our technology is going as a whole we might not. Even if we do I'd say it'd be after the Stargate is revealed and the general population knows. Then we can more more resources to building those classes of ships and we'd have a vast amount of man power to pool from.

[Flyboy]

*shrugs* The ships bore me. If I wanted ships I'd watch Star Trek Enterprise. Afterall, that Enterprise seems pretty similar to a 304 to me... what with the lack of swishy holodecks and the like.

The only ship I ever cared for in the Gateverse was good old Prometheus - because it was so damn useless. Which was fantastic. I agree with bareassedmunkey about the fact that the show is meant to be about real people in real life situations, but when Battlestar galactica, a show not even about Earth begins to seem LESS futuristic than Stargate... then that's a problem. Imo. And ships caused that.

[Sealurk]

Don't even get me started on how earth has only one class of starship. It boggles my mind that the producers can spent time and money on a huge capital ship and fighters for "The Daedalus Variations", which mind you was only used once, and earth couldn't get another type of ship? Not even anything fancy, a transport ship? Something a bit smaller than a 304? A space scooter? Oy. When the 304s were introduced I didn't think they would be the only type of large ships earth would produce. Realistically no Navy/ Space Fleet would ever rely on only one type of ship, just look at the real world militaries; many types of purpose built ships carrying out many different and important roles.

Except there are good explanations for why there is only a single type of capital ship and a single type of fighter for Earth, besides the production standpoint of constantly being able to use the same stock shots and sets rather than having to make new ones for new ships.

These vehicles are manufactured in secret, using resources procured off-world at probably not inconsiderable difficulty and expense - there was likely only time to produce a single multi-role variant of either, so this is why the 304 is a carrier, a transport, a reconnaissance vehicle and a battleship. Only when the fleet is of reasonable size or its been made public will different designs start showing up.

But yes, the space battles, while visually impressive, are completely free of tactics. I read an article on realistic space warfare that said that bizarre as it might sound to some science fiction fans, Star Trek has the most accurate space battles yet, in terms of huge cruisers swinging around each other, with very few fighter sized craft.

As regards the original post, a few more space battles would be a nice visual draw if they were a really integral part of the plot and were executed well, but I do think ships in general are slightly overused in Stargate. I would never want them to be removed entirely, because as other posters have said, that would quickly lead to a stale series, but the series is called Stargate for a reason.

[Acolyte Of Bli'l'ab]

Personally im sick of ship-battles, I want to see more ground-combat en-masse ala Epic 40,000/LOTR ect...can do that quite well these days in TV format and with a bigger budget it shouldnt be a problem for Universe - plus CGI is getting cheaper all the time. Each to their own though.

[Bareassedmunky]

Battlestar galactica, a show not even about Earth begins to seem LESS futuristic than Stargate... then that's a problem. Imo. And ships caused that.

Ships didn't cause that - the asgard core and atlantis caused that. Asgard weapons made the ships too powerful and every problem in atlantis was fixed by rodney coming up with an amazing technical solution based on his understanding of science which is a thousand years more advanced than contempary science.

These might be the reasons why you liked the "good old Prometheus" more than the newer ships - the sight of missiles being fired looked much less futuristic.

[Flyboy]

Ships didn't cause that - the asgard core and atlantis caused that. Asgard weapons made the ships too powerful and every problem in atlantis was fixed by rodney coming up with an amazing technical solution based on his understanding of science which is a thousand years more advanced than contempary science.

These might be the reasons why you liked the "good old Prometheus" more than the newer ships - the sight of missiles being fired looked much less futuristic.

You are quite correct (and have thus earnt yourself a green).

I liked Prommie because she was so basic. Not only did she actually look... somewhat realistic when we first saw her rising out of the underground facility in the desert in 'Prometheus', but because she looks so like she was really made on Earth, when I see the USAF lettering on the side, I believe it. But additionally, as you said, the fact that our armaments were limited to missiles, and she was largely incapable of winning a battle was quite a charm. The fact that she took months to traverse the galaxy was also rather good, because it meant that the show was still about the Stargate, and despite the new adventures ships could bring, Prommie wasn't a fix all solution.

Whilst I think the Daedalus class ships look great, they are imo, more suited to Atlantis shall we say, than SG1. I think TPTB backed themselves into a hole when the Daedalus arrived in the Siege Pt 3, considering at this point SG1 was supposed to be over and thus SGA could have gone wild with advancements of all kind. I've never tried to make SGA into SG1, and so advanced ships and space battles never bothered me. But because SG1 continued, and now continues in movies, and thus all SGA advancements are present in SG1, I am somewhat vexed. Because the reasons that I would have enjoyed SGA, are making my enjoyment of SG1 less so.

So in short, yes you're right. The ships themselves do not make Stargate automatically futuristic, at least, they didn't have to, but getting all that Asgard tech really changed things.

[Lantien84]

Does any one think that the Stargate program not going public at the end of " The Lost City" hurt, crippled, or ruined the believability of Atlantis and the following seasons of SG-1? Given the scale of the Stargate program; the sgc, off world bases, Atlantis, building ships in secret, all the people from around the world involved, and of course massive space battles above the earth(Anubis's freaking huge fleet) it just seems completely dumb and un-believable they could pull that off. Especially given the enormous threats to the planet like oh gee I don't know..... the Gould empire with hundreds of hataks, millions of troops and all sorts of nasty things up their sleeves. Lets see what else...... oooh! The Wraith, you know the race that defeated the ancients, that fun loving bunch that would love nothing more than to turn earth into a giant buffet. After five years earth only has five ships and extremely limited resources regarding planetary defense. Worst of all our heroes have only make it as far as they have only because the writers write the villains as complete idiots, constantly use magic ancient or Asgard weapons that seem to be pulled out of thin air and when they realize the main characters have become too powerful they create some new uber enemy or conveniently forget or water down these magic plot devices.

[Merlin1701]

*shrugs* The ships bore me. If I wanted ships I'd watch Star Trek Enterprise. Afterall, that Enterprise seems pretty similar to a 304 to me... what with the lack of swishy holodecks and the like.

The only ship I ever cared for in the Gateverse was good old Prometheus - because it was so damn useless. Which was fantastic. I agree with bareassedmunkey about the fact that the show is meant to be about real people in real life situations, but when Battlestar galactica, a show not even about Earth begins to seem LESS futuristic than Stargate... then that's a problem. Imo. And ships caused that.

So true, I enjoy the visual candy that is a good space battle/ ship battle but it’s the back story surrounding the battle that makes it work. The lost city is my point entirely; the ships were not “uber” they fitted in perfectly. Just for that brief moment when the Goa’uld fleet of gliders and alkesh are bearing down on the team the cavalry arrives.

…but Flying Officer Bennett which Prometheus do you prefer the first model or the model seen in Ethon?

[Flyboy]

So true, I enjoy the visual candy that is a good space battle/ ship battle but it’s the back story surrounding the battle that makes it work. The lost city is my point entirely; the ships were not “uber” they fitted in perfectly. Just for that brief moment when the Goa’uld fleet of gliders and alkesh are bearing down on the team the cavalry arrives.

…but Flying Officer Bennett which Prometheus do you prefer the first model or the model seen in Ethon?

I'm afraid I don't recall much of Ethon. How was good Prommie different?

[Sealurk]

Prometheus from "Prometheus":

http://www.gateworld.net/gallery/dis...um=130&pos=607

Prometheus from "Ethon":

http://www.gateworld.net/gallery/dis...um=197&pos=151

I can't see much difference, but I'd say the Ethon shot is a model with updated textures to bring it more in line with the 304s.

EDIT: The Ethon Prommie looks a bit chunkier and meaner, with more distinct armour plating and surface detail, again possibly to bring it more in line with the 304 (not entirely sure why, given what happens...).

[Flyboy]

Prometheus from "Prometheus":

http://www.gateworld.net/gallery/dis...um=130&pos=607

Prometheus from "Ethon":

http://www.gateworld.net/gallery/dis...um=197&pos=151

I can't see much difference, but I'd say the Ethon shot is a model with updated textures to bring it more in line with the 304s.

EDIT: The Ethon Prommie looks a bit chunkier and meaner, with more distinct armour plating and surface detail, again possibly to bring it more in line with the 304 (not entirely sure why, given what happens...).

In that case - I most definitely prefer the S6 version.