Wraith Defenders Club

[Wraith Cake]

We don't know what kind of food they eat as children, it might be very tough food. For instance, in The Rising, the Wraith table is set with what appear to be hard-shelled gourds, and a thick-skinned animal head. It's unlikely that Wraith children eat cereal and toast...but instead may feed on very coarse or tough foods, things with hard or thick shells and skin, thus the need for sharp teeth.

Also, we don't know where in the evolutionary stage the teeth have come in. Are they a new feature for the Wraith? Perhaps before they had teeth, they ONLY sucked life, or life force, out through their hand (perhaps this is what the clones do only - never eating normally). So, if the teeth are relatively new (Todd - who seems older, has smaller teeth than Steve, who seems younger), then - perhaps - the next stage of their evolution is to solely eat through their mouths, and the need to feed on human life force will be a thing of the past.

(Honestly, I think they have the teeth because the makeup dept. thought they looked cool... )

das

Right now I am working--I regularly have to do quite a bit of work at home before I actually go into work. So, I'm reading the forum, thinking and laughing about what people have said and listening to Leather Strip's cover of The Cure's "Lullaby" I agree with you das, I think the teeth were an added "creepy" factor the make-up people added. There could be really good evolutionary reasons for them, such as tearing meat. I wondered about this before when I was watching The Defiant One. That waithie has back molars and you can see them when he screams at the top of his lungs. He does look like he hasn't brushed his teeth in a while. Also, I was thinking 1/what insects eat through their hands? Most eat through a face opening like a mouth and 2/Wraith Repro--they may make pods but I'm sure they have sex, most insects copulate let alone larger mostly mammalian creatures.

wwii

[Sparrow_hawk]

Dang! There was so much excellent discussion yesterday (and today) from everyone. I wanted to reply to some, but didn't have the time, so for now I'll limit myself to the topic of the Wraith ships.

Wraith hive ships seem very organic in nature. ie: the holding cells and stuff.

Are they living ships?

From Allies

ZELENKA: Well, the ships are massive ... (he shoves himself across the floor on his chair to another computer) ... but because of their mainly organic design, they have a number of external weaknesses

They are organic and self-healing which, in a limited sense makes them living. They are not intelligent, but their control systems do interface directly with the pilot's mind, as we saw with Teyla in Spoils of War.

They do, however, require some care and maintenance as mentioned in Allies when McKay was talking to the Wraith scientist aboard the Hiveship:

HIVE SHIP. Rodney is on board, accompanied by Ronon. He runs a scanner over a wall, then turns to the male Wraith scientist.

McKAY: The organic base of a lot of your technology -- it's, uh, it's quite amazing. Very, um, resilient.

WRAITH: Many of the problems we encounter eventually heal themselves, yes, but there are smaller, more complex issues.

McKAY: Ah. Such as the programming code to make your old ships do new things?

WRAITH: Or bypassing inoperable systems, yes. It has been so long since we have fought a real battle. (It looks smug as it walks away.)

McKAY: Yes, well, I imagine I'd forget a lot in ten thousand years too. (He and Ronon follow after the Wraith.)

WRAITH: Before the civil war, there were Keepers who maintained the entire fleet, but they have made their own alliances.

DEX (insincerely): Sorry about that.

WRAITH: Without your help, this damage may have been irreparable.

McKAY: Ah, finally an alien race that appreciates me!

So the Hive ships are somewhat vulnerable if there is no Keeper allied with that Hive to maintain them. That little discussion between McKay and the Scientist raises some interesting questions.

Who are the Keepers? We met a female keeper in the first episode. In addition to maintaining the Hiveships they also take care of the Hive while the rest of the Wraith are hibernating. They seem to be the technicians of the Wraith race. And there aren't enough of them to go around or there would have been one on that Hiveship to do the repairs.

Why aren't there enough Keepers since the civil war began (as a result of Sheppard and crew waking up the Wraith prematurely)? My personal theory is that the post-Wraith-Atlantis-war generation of Wraith has become lazy, arrogant and complacent. Since they have not faced a serious challenge to their power in 10,000 years, they have lost many of their technical and tactical skills because the younger generation (like Steve and the other pretty Wraith) has not had the need to learn and use those skills. The older Keepers have no students to train as replacements; so when one of them is killed, there is no one to take their place.

So I guess the lack of ability to repair their ships is one of the Wraith's vulnerabilities. Also, they are very territorial and don't play well together. So, as I see it, another of their vulnerabilities is their inability to form alliances and work together to solve problems.

Which leads to another question: is Todd now, or was he at some time in the past, a Keeper? I think there are a lot of reasons to think that he was one before he became a commander.

But I'll stop talking for now and let the rest of you express your thoughts (if you don't all have writer's cramp from last night)!

@StarOcean: Duh! That's right, you were one of the people involved in the Lanteans Out-wraithing the Wraith thread discussion. I agree: it was getting pretty negative and is best left alone for now.

Note about teeth: They look cool. They might also be an offensive weapon.

[naamiaiset]

wow, I leave for a little while and come back to all this.

there's a little more about the "living" hive ship question on this topic.
http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=53936

[Wraithworshipper]

LS

@LS:
I was literally falling asleep at the comp trying to download all those brushes and images, so I gave up and ordered her CD of everything! I figure it'll be $10.00 well spent. The small amount just covers her expenses because her stuff is free. That's a really cool thing to do.

Wraithie
It's only 6:23PM, but I've got to go to bed now!

[MCH]

No worries, Wraithie - I posted on his blog AGAIN, and so any minor insanity of yours will certainly be offset by major insanity on my part...
das

Majority or minor insanity???? wraithie or das???? I've never noticed.

By the way I finally got to bed this 12th April Sunday at 5.13am, it was good fun, so tonight I must must get to sleep at a decent hour. Please!!

Going back to Blood Ties SGA Fandemonium Book. The ending is very interesting cos of what happened to Shephard. Also what the Atlantis team do about a certain order.
Like I said earlier das maybe this is where you'll find the conscience for SGA until the SGA writers catch up on the conscience thing.

MCH

[masterling]

@ das- "im to sexy" song--OMG ROFLMAO!!!
Thaks to all for the nice comments about the todd "painting" I did it with artrage. Its a free download. I plan to tackel some others in the next few days.
Boy, I miss a day and look at how much iv got to wade through!!. Great ideas and thoughs.

[GoSpikey]

Now I'm totally confused original pic in where? Sorry had to ask.

LS

*hug*

When I quoted the post with Todd's abilities in it, I also put in a photo of him on 'the catwalk', but the original screencap, instead of a cropped and worked on one...

That's all!

It wasn't meant in bad spirit, so just forget about it!

[Sasusc]

You assume incorrectly.

The Runners can most certainly be fed on. I think they just see it as a waste, because they're soooo defiant, and strong, and mad at the Wraith, that they decide to play with them instead of simply feeding on them.

Joe M confirmed this in his blog (they can be fed upon just fine).

Opps! I just have this very vivid picture of a Wraith trying to feed on Ronon and it doesn't work. At all. Did this happen somewhere or did I read a fic/imagined it myself? Hmm, I might need to go back and rewatch "Runner" and some other Ronon-centric episodes. I swear that image is very vivid and I remember something about it being a defense mechanism.

Hmm... I find it odd that the Wraith wouldn't seek out Ellia's crashed ship in hopes of survivors if females are so very rare. Needing the Queens in order to survive as a species would put severe limitations on their abilities to advance. Perhaps this could be the weakness referred to? Back to my point, if females are so very rare, one would think the Wraith would overrun the planet where Ellia's ship crashed in hopes of her survival. Worst case scenario, they cull the humans there without finding her.

Hmm, maybe they didn't know that Ellia was on the crashed ship. The different Hives don't get along so well together, so maybe the other Wraiths didn't know that this ship had a female child on board.

I am still convinced that the males bring up the kids

lol, I can just imagine that! **grins** Really, the plot bunnies should be given so much to eat.

And towards the Wraith homeworld thing: It would be interesting to see something like that. They can't all live their entire lives aboard the Hive ships. I would think we would see more children about. And I don't think the planet with the Iratus bug is their homeworld. For one thing, I don't serious think that natural evolution of the Iratus bug feeding on humans could create the Wraith. I'm sure the Ancients had a helping hand with it. If there was a homeworld, it might be the place were the young are raised. A war ship, no matter if there is a war going on or not, is not a great place to raise a child--and the Hives might not be "stocked" to feed a child Wraith. Maybe there isn't an "offical" homeworld as territorial as the Wraith can be. They might want to keep them themselves slightly seperate from the different Hives. As I was typing this, a plot bunny was created. Maybe they raid each other for females (if they are as rare as we believe) and this is why Ellia was a the crashed ship, and maybe why no one looked for her.

[naamiaiset]

Opps! I just have this very vivid picture of a Wraith trying to feed on Ronon and it doesn't work. At all. Did this happen somewhere or did I read a fic/imagined it myself? Hmm, I might need to go back and rewatch "Runner" and some other Ronon-centric episodes. I swear that image is very vivid and I remember something about it being a defense mechanism.

it's a scene in 'runner' when ronon is explaining how he became one. spikey's right, runners aren't immune or with any defense so they can't be fed on. once the wraith started to feed on him, he felt the strength ronon had and he was made a runner instead.

[Sasusc]

it's a scene in 'runner' when ronon is explaining how he became one. spikey's right, runners aren't immune or with any defense so they can't be fed on. once the wraith started to feed on him, he felt the strength ronon had and he was made a runner instead.

lol, that explains it. Here I was thinking the Wraith stopped because he couldn't feed not that he sensed Ronon's strength/rebellous nature.

[naamiaiset]

lol, that explains it. Here I was thinking the Wraith stopped because he couldn't feed not that he sensed Ronon's strength/rebellous nature.

well I bet the wraith wish now that he had just been fed on.

[naamiaiset]

question... in 'reunion', two darts fly off from the facility and don't even bother attacking the jumper. what is the point of that? the wraith also says they're ready for when the team arrives, but nothing happens. maybe I'm just being too picky.

[LiquidSky]

LS - I made this up a week or so ago....using the 'I'm Too Sexy' song as a guide...

Todd's Theme




I'm too sexy for my hive, too sexy for my hive...
Hive's going to leave me.

I'm too sexy for my coat, too sexy for my coat...
So sexy it hurts.

And I'm too sexy for Lor-ne, too sexy for Lor-ne...
Teyla and Ronon.

And I'm too sexy for your jumper, too sexy for your jumper...
No way I'm flying with you.

I'm a model, you know what I mean...
And I do my little turn on the catwalk.
Yeah on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah...
I do my little turn on the catwalk.

I'm too sexy for my dart, too sexy for my dart...
So sexy, so smart.

And I'm too sexy for my hair, too sexy for my hair,
Yeah, too sexy to care.

I'm a model, you know what I mean...
And I do my little turn on the catwalk.
Yeah on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah...
I shake my little tush on the catwalk.

I'm too sexy for my queen, too sexy for my queen
Poor lonely, poor lonely queen.

I'm too sexy for my hive, too sexy for my hive...
Hive's going to leave me.

And I'm too sexy for this show.




I think we can ALL agree - Todd is one sexy bug!!!


das

Thanks das for letting me know I didn't go farther back into this thread to see the original post. Today I was quickly prerusing the posts and, came across a multi-post with Todd and catwalk. So, that song started to play in my head.
Then I was inspired to create a picture with Todd and, the words I'm too sexy. I didn't know it was all ready posted. By the way I love what you did with the lyrics

Take Care:
LS

[Wraithworshipper]

Thanks das for letting me know I didn't go farther back into this thread to see the original post. Today I was quickly prerusing the posts and, came across a multi-post with Todd and catwalk. So, that song started to play in my head.
Then I was inspired to create a picture with Todd and, the words I'm too sexy. I didn't know it was all ready posted. By the way I love what you did with the lyrics

Take Care:
LS

That song was just too iconic as a one hit wonder, it's absolutely noooo wonder you thought of it the moment you saw the words "catwalk" and "Todd" in the same sentence. We all did! It's just that das is soooo darn fast at whipping that stuff out before we can finish the first thought.

Wraithie
OOPS! Just realized I said "catwalk", "Todd" and "whipping" in the same paragraph! Looks worriedly at das....

[Coco Pops]

I do the same thing--watch an entire season in one night and don't remember where which characters said what. However, I do know that McKay says this to the wraith scientist in The Siege Part II end of season one

How do you do that? Each episode is like 40ish minutes long. That'd take longer then a night. Is that like skim reading? Sorry to sound a bit dumb LOL

I think the wraith have many weaknesses, just not the same as humans. I have wondered though how did their organic ships come about. The idea of organic ships is old to SciFi. You see the "dog" (or dart) ships in Battle Star Galatic and the Vorgons in Babylon Five

They are Vorlons.... The Vorgons were in The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy. BTW that movie sucked.