Wraith Defenders Club

[ciannwn]

In DS's one-frame comic, they belch out of their hands.

Well, she's now got an SGA style biobabble explanation for the phenomenon.

[Todd's Pet]

Being instantly drenched in Wraith sounds pretty good to me

I'm with you on the hot and spicy thing, TP. I always imagined Steve to smell like an intoxicating mixture of spice and leather... yum. What a beast. Anywhoo!

Yeah, and they are definitely more reptilian to me. Probably because of my ST background (as you said, TP)... the bug aliens on there are so much more bug-like, whilst the Wraith are just plain sexy. I'm not sure how that argues my point... but "the Wraith are just damned sexy" is a universal truth that should be put out there.

I am sooooo with you there, Addict! Leather and spice... Old SPice!!! Hey! Don;t knock it! I don't care what you say, I like the smell of that stuff!!! LOL

Yeah, I always think they look more reptilian, but they still have monkey DNA, and should be warm-blooded. Plus there are the Queens fun lumps, which nobody has managed to explain away. Are baby Wraith suckled, and are there human wet nurses among the Worshippers if there are too many young?

I always think of them as smelling like herbs, and hot days. I don't know why, but it's prolly to do with the whole hymenoptera thing, and they swarm on hot, summer days, when you have the smell of ozone, melting tar and nettles.

I see where you;re coming from but that kind of has the bug association - long, lazy, summer days, the bugs out flying!

Cos I see them more reptilian they conjure up serpents slithering along the sands of hot, sultry desert nights... the smell of exotic spices wafting from nearby Bedouin tents...

Steve: Babe! Don't tell them ALL our secret fantasy!

[Isolde]

If their hair is anything to go by they smell like hamsters.



1) Iratus bugs take in organic material when feeding because they couldn't absorb human DNA from a mystical life force. As Michael explains in Vengeance -

I allowed the bug to gorge itself, to absorb as much human D.N.A. as possible.

The timing of the feeding was critical -- ensuring that the bug laid its next egg quickly, before the genetic material could filter out of its body.

From 'Conversion'

[Cut to team offworld, facing a cave mouth and putting on their night vision goggles. Dex is kneeling closest to the cave mouth, examining the dirt there.]

BECKETT: It certainly smells like there's somethin' livin' in there.

McKAY: Yeah, ordying.

[Dex brings some very bright orange dirt to his nose.]

McKAY: Oh, wellthat is disgusting!

DEX: They're in there.

McKAY: And you had to pick it up andsmell it to figure that out?

[Dex turns and gives McKay a look.]

DEX: To know it'srecent.

The orange dirt could be due to the bugs filtering organic material out of their bodies. Doing this outside the cave could be a territorial marker. A lot of Iratus bugs in a cave smell awful but, as people have pointed out, nobody on SGA suggested that a lot of Wraith together smell awful.

2) Wraith must take in organic material when they feed too. From 'Poisoning The Well'

BECKETT: Initial tests revealed a significant amount of Hoffan serum in his bloodstream. I'm guessing we'll find similar trace amounts in each of his organs once we analyse those as well.

Hoffan serum couldn't get into Wraith bloodstreams if they just fed on a mystical life force.



Food eating adult Wraith like Shawn must have a semi-functioning digestive system even if it doesn't extract nutrients from the food. Maybe some of them like the Pegasus version of a strong vindaloo. What about normal feeding, though, which is done through the feeding slit? Does this mean Wraith normally fart out of their hands?

Aaaarrrggghhhhh... dammit, all the inconsistencies! *begins to bite at own arm* Why wasn't there a bloody decent editor involved on this show? I think we should hunt JM down, and make him pay for it.

[Todd's Pet]

Wraith must take in organic material when they feed too. From 'Poisoning The Well'

BECKETT: Initial tests revealed a significant amount of Hoffan serum in his bloodstream. I'm guessing we'll find similar trace amounts in each of his organs once we analyse those as well.

Hoffan serum couldn't get into Wraith bloodstreams if they just fed on a mystical life force.

I think TPTB might have been trying to imply that wraith fed a bit like mozzies and fleas, and swap a little blood/lifeforce/enzyme first to sort of soften everything up ready for feeding.

[WraithTech]

Were they ever called "drones" within the show itself? I only remember them being referred to as "warriors".

"Infection" is full of those references in the transcript, including verbally by the Lanteans:

http://www.gateworld.net/atlantis/s5...ipts/517.shtml

I would trust a wraith's wording more though. Can anyone find an instance of the wraith calling them drones? They mostly say "warriors," such as when Michael did in "Misbegotten":

MICHAEL: I don't like to question military men. They're like our own Wraith warriors -- unimaginative, rigid thought patterns. But you, on the other hand, are trained to have an open mind, and you have a strong sense of empathy toward others.

http://www.gateworld.net/atlantis/s3...ipts/302.shtml

[Todd's Pet]

Aaaarrrggghhhhh... dammit, all the inconsistencies! *begins to bite at own arm* Why wasn't there a bloody decent editor involved on this show? I think we should hunt JM down, and make him pay for it.

Yes, but hon, it means WE can be just as airy-fairy!!! Hence in the COH we can feed our gorgeous green guys any which way we can think of without dying in the process

Consistent, serious science? Pfftt! Inconsequential details!!! Just wait till you start on the continuity errors!!! LOL

[ciannwn]

Aaaarrrggghhhhh... dammit, all the inconsistencies! *begins to bite at own arm* Why wasn't there a bloody decent editor involved on this show? I think we should hunt JM down, and make him pay for it.

This isn't necessarily an inconsistency.

Beckett didn't learn anything about Wraith feeding in 'Rising' - all he had was a severed arm to study. In 'Thirty Eight Minutes' which was the 4th episode of Season 1 we have -

TEYLA: It feeds on your strength, like a Wraith.

TEYLA: It healed itself after each attempt to remove it by sapping life from Major Sheppard, just as a Wraith would.

Athosians were hunter gatherers. They probably knew a lot about herbal remedies and how to treat basic wounds but they wouldn't have had Beckett's knowledge, let alone his opportunities, to figure out something about the real feeding process.

Yes, but hon, it means WE can be just as airy-fairy!!! Hence in the COH we can feed our gorgeous green guys any which way we can think of without dying in the process

The technomagic feeding device in the WWA game works on the life force idea and completely ignores the organic aspect of feeding. This is because the WWA Wraith are from an alternate universe to the ones in SGA so their biology can be designed to suit ourselves.

[Isolde]

I've just been reading the transcript for Infection, and realised it refers to Todd in the neuter pronoun? 'It', 'it's' and 'its'. WTF? Is this true of all the transcripts?

[WraithTech]

I've just been reading the transcript for Infection, and realised it refers to Todd in the neuter pronoun? 'It', 'it's' and 'its'. WTF? Is this true of all the transcripts?

Yes.

[ciannwn]

I've just been reading the transcript for Infection, and realised it refers to Todd in the neuter pronoun? 'It', 'it's' and 'its'. WTF? Is this true of all the transcripts?

The person who did the transcripts was a GW volunteer. In one or two transcripts she did use 'he' for Wraith but I can't remember which ones now..

In 'Spoils Of War' the Wraith attending the warrior hatching says

WRAITH: Put him with the others.

Then there's this conversation between the queen and a subordinate

HIVE QUEEN: Where is the commander of the fallen hive?

WRAITH: He is in a holding cell. He completed the recalibration that was required.

Faced males and masked warriors are supposed to be male, then, as far as the actual show is concerned.

[WraithTech]

The person who did the transcripts was a GW volunteer. In one or two transcripts she did use 'he' for Wraith.

Modification: In one or two transcripts it did use 'he' for Wraith.

[ciannwn]

Modification: In one or two transcripts it did use 'he' for Wraith.

[Isolde]

Modification: In one or two transcripts it did use 'he' for Wraith.

[Draco-Stellaris]

Does this mean Wraith normally fart out of their hands?

In DS's one-frame comic, they belch out of their hands.

Well, she's now got an SGA style biobabble explanation for the phenomenon.

Well done!

RE the "it" vs "he" discussion: I've mentioned it a couple of months ago but it doesn't hurt saying it again. I was actually shocked when I found out the Wraith were referred to as "it" rather than "he" or "she", even in the SGA novels it's that way. In most languages it's an outrageous thing to adress a sentient, intelligent creature as "it".

Modification: In one or two transcripts it did use 'he' for Wraith.

[ciannwn]

RE the "it" vs "he" discussion: I've mentioned it a couple of months ago but it doesn't hurt saying it again. I was actually shocked when I found out the Wraith were referred to as "it" rather than "he" or "she", even in the SGA novels it's that way. In most languages it's an outrageous thing to adress a sentient, intelligent creature as "it".

It's sloppiness on the novel writers' part. Even as far back as 'Poisoning The Well' the characters in the show were referring to Steve as he and him. In 'No Mans Land' we have -

McKAY: Oh. Beckett wondered if the females would be immune.

LORNE: Yeah. Something you might have mentioned before she almost killed me, Rodney.

Funnily enough, the GW script transcriber refers to the hive queen as she when describing what everyone is doing. She's also very inconsistent because we have -

MICHAEL: If you prefer to discuss it with her ...

(The Wraith's face falls. Obviously he doesn't much fancy a conversation with his Queen. He addresses the guards.)

and

Michael walks down a corridor into the Hive Queen's chamber. She is sitting on a throne-like chair and talking with another Wraith. As Michael reaches the steps leading up to the throne, she snarls at the Wraith and jerks her head at it to indicate that it should leave. It walks away and she looks down at Michael.