Wraith Defenders Club

[dasNdanger]

YIKES! Those look enormous! I sure couldn't get them into my little pierced ears.

It didn't take me long to stretch my holes - I think I went right from normal pierced ears (about 18g) to 14 or 12g...then 10, then 8. Wasn't hard at all. However, now that I am here, I have no desire to go back to the regular earrings because these are SO comfortable! (Plus, I have long hair and you don't see my earrings anyway - I just wear them for my own enjoyment. With the larger holes you do have to clean them daily, but otherwise I keep my earrings in 24/7, and don't even know they are there, they are that comfortable.)

Looking at those earrings and the label on the first one gave me a thought (which I'm fairly certain all of the rest of you have had before): I wonder if Wraith have other piercings?

I wrote a drabble about that before...

http://forum.gateworld.net/showpost....postcount=3193



das

[Starry Waters]

It didn't take me long to stretch my holes - I think I went right from normal pierced ears (about 18g) to 14 or 12g...then 10, then 8. Wasn't hard at all. However, now that I am here, I have no desire to go back to the regular earrings because these are SO comfortable! (Plus, I have long hair and you don't see my earrings anyway - I just wear them for my own enjoyment. With the larger holes you do have to clean them daily, but otherwise I keep my earrings in 24/7, and don't even know they are there, they are that comfortable.)




I wrote a drabble about that before...

http://forum.gateworld.net/showpost....postcount=3193



das

ROTFLMAO!! I can't stop laughing. I got to stop; I'm at work here. ROTFLMAO!!!

That's great. I love it.

Loved all the info (and picts) on the earrings. I would never have realized what they were using otherwise.

[Starry Waters]

I had to get a much larger pic so I could really see the earring. LOL (Tells you something about my eyes.) It does look just like the earring pic you posted das.

Spoiler:

[MyFavoriteWraith]

Oh, I love that pic! I remember watching the episode on my DVR and rewinding and pausing over this part because I couldn't believe how much taller he looked than Jennifer. *gulp! thunk*

mfw

[MCH]

Boudica would be beautiful!! She would need to dye her hair red though and wear a torque. I painted a picture of Boudica a few years ago, when I was interested in painting strong historical female figures. Apparently there is a statue of her in Piccadilly Square (I haven't lived/been to London in almost...fifteen years. I lived there when I was eighteen). She's in a chariot with her two daughters behind her. Can someone who knows this statue clarify this. I can't remember much, it's been so.

WK -- great idea!!!

On the Embankment in London at one end of a bridge which is beside the Houses of Parliament. Saw it in the summer when visiting London.

MCH

[Laura Dove]

I don't know, I find the wraith incredibly complex and fascinating, much like I would a psychopath, but I don't love their culture of violence. I find their culture abhorrent, but I pity them. In fact to me, they all seem so incredibly vulnerable and pitiful--strange eh?

While I don't like their culture either, I can understand them. By nature, they must torture and kill sentient beings to survive, which means that A. they can't afford to pity their food and B. they must defend themselves against the revenge of said sentient beings. As long as wraith feed on humans, and as long as the memory of cullings remains fresh among human populations, wraith can't know peace with mankind. They must be strong to the point of ruthlessness, because if they aren't, they will be wiped out. Humans (and Ancients 10,000 years ago) can, and try to, defend themselves by eradicating wraith. As a consequence, wraith don't really have a choice, they must crush any hope among their food supply or risk their own future. Indeed, it shapes a society. I don't envy them at all.

About the infirmary scene with Keller in "First Contact", I noticed a little thing I love:

Spoiler:

After she asks Todd if he really wants the treatment to work, he throws a look at the room door before replying to ensure the marine is outside and doesn't hear. He admits his doubts, his weakness, to Keller but doesn't want other humans to witness his vulnerability.

Regarding the difference of behaviour between old and young wraith, I don't think it's directly related to their age, but to their experiences instead. Young wraith are more polished, more superficial because they have always lived in peace and comfort. You observe the same thing among humans on Earth. Younger wraith are also more arrogant because only ever knowing a world dominated by their kind. They have never got any other perspective -- although, thinking about it, things have evolved a lot for the last 5 years. Wraith no longer feel in control, they are no longer assured of their dominance, and it shows.

On the other hand, older wraith remember the war against Ancients, and that it wasn't that easy to win. The survivors are warriors; those who weren't either were killed or did become warriors. When you survive an all-out war, you stop caring much for social conventions and such.

Then you have Greg in "The Defiant One", who had spent 10,000 years trapped on a desert planet. Ten millenniums! He was probably selfish enough to feed on his own crew to begin with, but even if you exclude the time he passed in hibernation, there's no way he could be sane after so much time far away from his kind, or any kind of company for that matter.

As for Todd, he was tortured for "many years", abandoned by his kind, starved to the brink of death, mostly alone. He had lost the will to fight and only kept living out of the force of habit. Then Sheppard came and gave him the opportunity to be in control of his own fate again. Todd doesn't fear death, because he knows by experience that some fates are worse than death, and that a short but fulfilling life is much preferable to an endless nothingness. If we assume he played a key role during the war against Ancients, he always was resourceful and strong-willed, but now, on top of that, he's free of the prejudices he might ever have had. His many years of suffering and unexpected freedom have ripped him of any superficiality. He's still able to behave politely, but now, he usually directly goes to the core of things.

Actually, the only wraith whose behaviour truly felt different, not simply explainable by mere variations in personality or by an uncommon experience, and who really appeared more primitive, was the king in "Sateda". Not only was he bald unlike most other wraith, but he wore rags despite being in power in his hive, and the... sounds he made sounded also much different. Todd growls, grunts and purrs a lot, but it always simply sounds as if he's just not trying to pretend. He has become so strong inside he doesn't feel the need to appear in control outside, so he doesn't hide his emotions. Todd's growls do not sound fundamentally different from Ronon's. But the "Sateda" king, on the other hand, made a very different noise when growling, closer to the noise the iratus bugs make when hit by salty water. For these differences in his look and sound, I tend to believe he was closer to the iratus bugs than any other wraith we've ever met.

Well, when you get right down to it, 'where the' makes a LOT more sense, both in the context of the show, and in what we now know about Todd and his knowledge of stargates, dating back 10,000 years ago.
So...I guess we can blame Flanigan for getting the line wrong.

"Where the" also makes more sense with Todd reply: "It was many years ago..." I think it's just that Sheppard is old, tired and weak, and so his words are blurred.

To end on a funny note, have you ever seen a wraith on "Guitar Hero"? It's supposed to be Todd, but it doesn't look remotely like him.

[leksa]

Why would English subtitles be available for an English DVD? (One thing I've noticed, and there are a great number of laughable moments in Canadian film, is that American documentaries will have English subtitles on an English documentary. For instance, if someone is speaking with a slight accent, but he/she is speaking English, there will be subtitles. In Canada, people speak Franglais or French with Hair on it, as we say, [or some sort of bush English] but there are NO English subtitles on English documentaries--there are barely any on French documentaries. I can always tell the difference between an American and Canadian documentary--Can. will have no subtitles, Am. almost always will--interesting eh?)

Anyway, subtitles, like packaging are shipped out. Much like translation on packaging is "farmed out". I don't think this has to do with the product itself. It is clear that Shepard says "You don't know what a Stargate is" this is clear and I don't even have a very good version of the episode . I think the larger issue is, why did he say it: was it a slip--was it intentional? If it was intentional, was there a story arch involved? Did the writers collaborate? Etcetera.


WK

As someone who is not native English speaker, I always welcome subtitles. My native language is sort of insignificant (unless I buy dvd in the country I'm from there is no subtitles nor translation into my native language). So I relay heavily on the english subtitles. I still have problems with any kind of accents, it takes me time to get used to the new one. And if I watch tv without subtitles I often miss parts of the dialogs simply because I cannot pick up all the worlds. So the answer why US shows have english subtitles might be simply so that they can sell their DVD's abroad. When I buy DVD, I look are there subtitles on it. And loads and loads Europeans and Asians I know do the same.

[leksa]

This is such great story stuff. I love it!!

WK

Fell free to use it.

[leksa]

It didn't take me long to stretch my holes - I think I went right from normal pierced ears (about 18g) to 14 or 12g...then 10, then 8. Wasn't hard at all. However, now that I am here, I have no desire to go back to the regular earrings because these are SO comfortable! (Plus, I have long hair and you don't see my earrings anyway - I just wear them for my own enjoyment. With the larger holes you do have to clean them daily, but otherwise I keep my earrings in 24/7, and don't even know they are there, they are that comfortable.)




I wrote a drabble about that before...

http://forum.gateworld.net/showpost....postcount=3193



das

This is excellent! Thanks for pointing it out.

[leksa]

While I don't like their culture either, I can understand them. By nature, they must torture and kill sentient beings to survive, which means that A. they can't afford to pity their food and B. they must defend themselves against the revenge of said sentient beings. As long as wraith feed on humans, and as long as the memory of cullings remains fresh among human populations, wraith can't know peace with mankind. They must be strong to the point of ruthlessness, because if they aren't, they will be wiped out. Humans (and Ancients 10,000 years ago) can, and try to, defend themselves by eradicating wraith. As a consequence, wraith don't really have a choice, they must crush any hope among their food supply or risk their own future. Indeed, it shapes a society. I don't envy them at all.

About the infirmary scene with Keller in "First Contact", I noticed a little thing I love:

Spoiler:

After she asks Todd if he really wants the treatment to work, he throws a look at the room door before replying to ensure the marine is outside and doesn't hear. He admits his doubts, his weakness, to Keller but doesn't want other humans to witness his vulnerability.

Regarding the difference of behaviour between old and young wraith, I don't think it's directly related to their age, but to their experiences instead. Young wraith are more polished, more superficial because they have always lived in peace and comfort. You observe the same thing among humans on Earth. Younger wraith are also more arrogant because only ever knowing a world dominated by their kind. They have never got any other perspective -- although, thinking about it, things have evolved a lot for the last 5 years. Wraith no longer feel in control, they are no longer assured of their dominance, and it shows.

On the other hand, older wraith remember the war against Ancients, and that it wasn't that easy to win. The survivors are warriors; those who weren't either were killed or did become warriors. When you survive an all-out war, you stop caring much for social conventions and such.

Then you have Greg in "The Defiant One", who had spent 10,000 years trapped on a desert planet. Ten millenniums! He was probably selfish enough to feed on his own crew to begin with, but even if you exclude the time he passed in hibernation, there's no way he could be sane after so much time far away from his kind, or any kind of company for that matter.

As for Todd, he was tortured for "many years", abandoned by his kind, starved to the brink of death, mostly alone. He had lost the will to fight and only kept living out of the force of habit. Then Sheppard came and gave him the opportunity to be in control of his own fate again. Todd doesn't fear death, because he knows by experience that some fates are worse than death, and that a short but fulfilling life is much preferable to an endless nothingness. If we assume he played a key role during the war against Ancients, he always was resourceful and strong-willed, but now, on top of that, he's free of the prejudices he might ever have had. His many years of suffering and unexpected freedom have ripped him of any superficiality. He's still able to behave politely, but now, he usually directly goes to the core of things.

Actually, the only wraith whose behaviour truly felt different, not simply explainable by mere variations in personality or by an uncommon experience, and who really appeared more primitive, was the king in "Sateda". Not only was he bald unlike most other wraith, but he wore rags despite being in power in his hive, and the... sounds he made sounded also much different. Todd growls, grunts and purrs a lot, but it always simply sounds as if he's just not trying to pretend. He has become so strong inside he doesn't feel the need to appear in control outside, so he doesn't hide his emotions. Todd's growls do not sound fundamentally different from Ronon's. But the "Sateda" king, on the other hand, made a very different noise when growling, closer to the noise the iratus bugs make when hit by salty water. For these differences in his look and sound, I tend to believe he was closer to the iratus bugs than any other wraith we've ever met.



"Where the" also makes more sense with Todd reply: "It was many years ago..." I think it's just that Sheppard is old, tired and weak, and so his words are blurred.

To end on a funny note, have you ever seen a wraith on "Guitar Hero"? It's supposed to be Todd, but it doesn't look remotely like him.

Lovely explanation. It makes so much sense. Thank you for giving it.

[Laura Dove]

Lovely explanation. It makes so much sense. Thank you for giving it.

Thank you. It's only my personal interpretation, of course. We all agree that we give much more thoughts to the wraith than the actual show writers ever did. *sigh*

[GoSpikey]

Not yet another one...

[MyFavoriteWraith]

As someone who is not native English speaker, I always welcome subtitles. My native language is sort of insignificant (unless I buy dvd in the country I'm from there is no subtitles nor translation into my native language). So I relay heavily on the english subtitles. I still have problems with any kind of accents, it takes me time to get used to the new one. And if I watch tv without subtitles I often miss parts of the dialogs simply because I cannot pick up all the worlds. So the answer why US shows have english subtitles might be simply so that they can sell their DVD's abroad. When I buy DVD, I look are there subtitles on it. And loads and loads Europeans and Asians I know do the same.

As a former rocker chick who's been to too many loud concerts and still listens to her music too loud, I *welcome* English subtitles! lol I rent a lot of British movies and comedy sketch stuff - seriously, I would not get half the jokes without the subs. My television doesn't have closed captioning, but I wish it did. Sometimes some stations, like CW & Fox, the sound is so low and fuzzy, I can't hear anything and give up. So, yay for English subtitles!

mfw

[Starry Waters]

The Seer
That's when I first noticed it anyway, it can be glimpsed in other eps. It's interesting in that it doesn't join at the bottom. Like it has a front piece and a back piece that join together inside his wonderful earlobe....(making me very hungry here )

Watch the part where they meet up at the ruins and Sheppard uncloaks the hidden jumpers...a gust of wind blows Todd's hair back....pause and watch in slow motion...and pause again and drool....sorry um...yeah...don't worry...on my way to the gutter...it's bedtime so I think I'll sleep there tonight

That's not the gutter; that's paradise! (Okay, now I've spent all day feeling lustful over that picture!! LOL)

[MyFavoriteWraith]

That's not the gutter; that's paradise! (Okay, now I've spent all day feeling lustful over that picture!! LOL)

Yes, he is quite scrumptious in The Seer. Why don't they film him outside more? It's not like they *are* vampires! As we've firmly established.

Oh, ugh, vampire OT:

Spoiler:

I made the mistake of going to see Twilight. I finished reading the second half of the book the other night and decided to give the movie a try. W-O-W. It was excruciating. For the first half, it was like an after school special ("Today on ABCs After School Special: Obsessive Love and Stalker Teenagers - how to avoid them"). The second half felt much more like a movie, like they got more money for location shooting and special effects suddenly and the pace picked up tremendously. And thank god, otherwise I was going to fall asleep! The only good thing was all the lovely footage of Portland, Oregon and the surrounding area they shot in. I literally almost started crying. (I used to live in Seattle and I miss the Pacific Northwest horribly.) To me it was worth the $6 (matinee) just to see that. But as far as entertainment, I don't even think I would have enjoyed this movie when I *was* a teenager. My fave movie for the longest time was "The Lost Boys" and that still outclasses this one by far! So anyway, my recommendation is rent it if you want to see it at all.

mfw