CONTEST THREAD: Win tickets to the 2015 Chicago Creation Convention

[Bagpuss]

Hi everyone!
The Winner's been chosen and confirmed they can accept the Passes.

There seems to have been some confusion amongst some of you as to how to go about checking Private Messages and your profile page.None of you did anything wrong!

Here's how it works: If you're new to the Forum,you have to go through the "Probie" stage,which means your posts have to be cleared by a Moderator,and for a while,you can't access others' Pages or send/reply to private messages because Spammers and other Net-pests abused the Members and Forum so much,they had to be curbed as of 2008.
Sadly as ever the innocent have to suffer temporary inconvenience to keep the site pest-free.

(Take a look at your registration e-mails if you still have them.Some details are given there.A fuller explanation is given by GateWorld's owner here: 'Probie' Status for New Members.If you have questions you can post in there or the other specific Help threads in the Forum Announcements Section,and get a reply from either Staff or Members.)

One of you lovely 'Probies' won this year's Contest.Congratulations from ye Staff!

Thank you all for participating.Hopefully you'll become regulars here and soon be on normal un-delayed posting with full access to everything.

Best wishes to you all,and a big thanks to Chad and Creation!

[Bagpuss]

Hi everyone,and thanks for taking part in the Contest!

Reposting Chad's (aka doublecut's) update in here from the GW Main page article: (LINK)

EDITOR’S NOTE: The deadline has passed to enter and the forum thread has now closed. If you entered, watch your inbox in the forum for the potential message that you have won. Once messaged, the winner has 48 hours to claim their prize. If the winner does not claim the prize during that time, another winner will be selected.

Keep checking your profile page and private messages till we post a final update!

[onestateofdenial]

There are so many awesome, interesting, and great races that it is hard to choose just one! Though, I'd say I'm partial to the Lanteans (aka Ancestors, aka Ancients, aka good half of the Alterans). They built all the stargates that made it possible for our heroes to travel 2 galaxies, many protection devices around the Pegasus galaxy, and Atlantis. While those who we met along the journey tended to be egotistical jerks, that can't speak for all of them. They had the strength of character to leave Earth and the Milky Way to save the human race during an incredible plague, then seeded human life through Pegasus before a few returned to Earth when the war with the Wraith was all but over. They fought long and hard against the Wraith, even when greatly outnumbered. If it wasn't for the Lanteans (and the Alterans they descended from), the entire Stargate program never would've existed and there would not have been the city of Atlantis to explore. Of course, they also created the replicators that wreaked havoc on more than one occasion in both galaxies, but it reminds us that they really are human and make mistakes. Should I have had the opportunity to meet a Lantean, I would first want to punch them in the face when they looked down on me as inferior, but then I would like to hear more about how they came up with the idea and design for the stargates, about their time on Atlantis, and ask one big important question: out of the 4 great races in the Milky Way (Alterans, Nox, Furlings, and Asgard) why were the Alterans the only ones who seeded life throughout numerous planets in the galaxies? Could you imagine what would've happened had the iratus bug used Nox DNA instead of human DNA to evolve, or if the Gou'uld had used the Asgard as hosts?

Much of what the Stargate program depended upon was Lantean/Alteran designed technology. While the heart and soul of the program rested on the capable shoulders of the heroes we came to know and love over so many years, it would not have existed without these interesting characters' advanced knowledge and hard work.

[wiseowl777]

The Furlings because we know so little and they'll always be such a mystery.

[SherryGayl]

Stargate gave us quite a lot of fascinating cultures but I love the Gadmeer from Scorched Earth. A 10,000 year old technologically advanced civilization decides to completely uproot its entire planet, put all lifeforms into some form of stasis, and search the stars for who knows how long for another planet suitable for terraforming rather than fight back against a military power? What's not to love! Something about an advanced race of sulfur-based pacifists who resemble the aliens from Independence Day just give me the warm fuzzies.

[JoeMacIntosh]

My favourite race has to be the Asgard because if it wasn't for their technological advantages on the earth ships like the Daedalus and the Orion, both earth and Atlantis wouldn't be there because they destroyed many wraith ships and blocked incoming ships that saved many people. Also their beaming technology is Amazing!!

[DustoMan]

My favorite episodes involved the Asgard and their advanced technology.

[futuristiclover]

My favorite alien race is the Wraith, without a doubt. I liked that we got to see more than their violent side, I loved Todd for example. The Wraith had to feed on humans - that's how they were wired. They couldn't help themselves, which is why I actually did feel some sympathy for them in that regard. Also, they made amazing villains. The Queen in the pilot was so damn scary.

[KatherineOfAtlantis]

My favorite Stargate alien race, hands down, is the Wraith. Sure they sauntered right over the fine line of just creepy and dove into flat out bloody terrifying with them being space vampires and all, but they have hidden qualities that simply need to be coaxed out (for lack of a better phrase). Undoubtedly the best displays observed of said qualities can be seen in Todd, the problematic rascal of an almost-ally Wraith. The cultures of Pegasus saw the Wraith as nothing more than monsters (for good reason, given their experiences) who simply did not have emotions or feelings as humans do, who saw humans only as a food source, and would strive to keep the "herds" from becoming anything more than just "herds." Upon encountering the Wraith, the residents of Milky Way quickly adopted the Pegasus line of thought as well. Wraith are certainly foreboding creatures with incredible strength, adaptability, intelligence, lethalness and stealth. However, I cannot fault them for those traits as many humans share those same attributes in varying degrees.

Being imprisoned and away from his brethren for so long as well as tortured severely had agony, despair, even helplessness pouring from Todd that, even if only for a short while, he was not defined as just a good guy or bad guy he just was what he was: another tortured soul teetering on the chasm of oblivion. He could have done what was expected from a Wraith and completed his feeding from Sheppard, ignoring the fleeting wisps of hope the man offered him with talk of escaping and a rescue (others had spoken of escape yet he knew they were hopeless). He hesitated the feeding, shocking his captors as it was not "normal" Wraith behavior. He then put his own life into the hands of this human, so desperately wanting to be free from the torture but in the most minute of actions he made it known that he would sacrifice himself so that this stranger could go on unburdened by him, a selfless act in my opinion.

While in the following years Todd was seen reverting to "king of the mountain/destroy any and all in my path" Wraith antics on multiple occasions, his actions at times were in a way not typical Wraith MO. Multiple times he puts his life into the hands of these human beings (even going so far as offering to be held in their custody), at times placing more trust in them and their medicine than he did his own kind, lending more assistance in tasks than he could have, and at one point sincerely asking forgiveness for an act that, while minor in his eyes, he knew would be seen as dishonorable in the eyes of his human colleague. One wonders if any other being had seen a Wraith asking forgiveness from a human prior to that moment in the Pegasus Galaxy.

While the Pegasus natives were stunted in areas such as technology, the Wraith were stunted from being able to develop the ability to peacefully coexist* with human beings because of their physiological need to feed on said humans (*worshippers do not count in my opinion as when it comes to starvation, the Wraith will choose to live, as any being would). Just as humans agree that Wraith have no right whether or not to wipe out entire populations, human beings committing genocide on Wraith would not only be immoral but sanctimonious.

I am asked why Wraith are my favorite, what is it about them that puts them on a slightly higher pedestal than any other alien race and I am left quoting Todd the Wraith himself, "you are more like Wraith than you know"...

In short, despite the Wraith's physical differences (including dietary habits), despite how much humans want absolutely nothing to do with them nor do they desire to have anything in common with Wraith, I see so much in them that reminds me of what makes us, the human race, so beautiful, so admirable, so strange, wonderful, brilliant! Yes, as a species they are barbaric in a sense, but so were humans thousands of years ago (heck there are a number of individuals who still are) and look what we have accomplished. Wraith do have emotions and honor, they have their own culture, even their own art. If a way was found to make human feeding unnecessary (or perhaps make it so humans could be fed on without any of the draining side effects) and the Wraith would stand by our side, well, exploring the universe would become a lot more magnificent.

"There is much about Wraith that you do not know, Sheppard." Aye, there is...I've always wondered what a (willing) Wraith's opinions would be after watching, say, Star Trek.

(I did not originally intend for this to be so...wordy. I forget that when extremely sleep deprived I tend to ramble quite a bit, my apologies!)

[Sam Oneill.]

My favourite race is probably the Argosians. They have such an interesting view of life, obviously since they have such a short time to live. In a way, I think they're everything the human race could have been had it not been busy with ego and wars. They see the things that truly matter in life: living; enjoying; loving. And even though they only live a hundred days, they use those days probably better than we use our hundred years. That's admirable.

[SamJackShipper93]

The Tau'ri are my favorite race in general, but my favorite non-human alien race is the Goa'uld, since they made such pompous villains and great bad guys. They were always so extravagant in their fashion and lifestyles, and it was always fun to see how mythology played into each Goa'uld's character.

[ZRFTS]

The Wraith. Because despite them being created from experimentation, they have a sort of artiness to them. They experiment despite being experiments themselves, they create a culture despite their status against humans and most of all; they are beings of life constantly worthy of life despite having to feed on us.

[Slackjawsix]

The Furlings have always been my favorite. They made such an impact on the galaxy and paved the way for the future along with the ancients. Their contributions to galactic society is immeasurable.

[Ronon&Carter]

My favorite alien race from all of the Stargate shows is definitely the Furlings. The reason for this should be fairly obvious. The Furlings are never seen, except in a bizarre flash from the proposed movie in the 200th episode of SG-1. I always held out hope that we would eventually meet them in the series. But since we never did, I'll just keep hoping for the next movie.

[AlteranX]

While every single alien race paid an integral part to this series, my favorite alien race from SG-1 were the Tollan.

While they were an amazing race, which survived the volcanic devastation their planet was wrought in season one, they were a totally advanced human race. Hell, they even built their own Stargate! They had a hard-line stance for less advanced races in which they labeled them as ‘primitive.’ But they did have the technological superiority. The one episode which featured them that sold me on them is when they hosted the trial of Skarra and what to do with the goa’uld Klorel.

In my opinion, I feel if the demise of Apophis wouldn’t have occurred, and Anubis taking over those reins, the Tollan could have become quite a dominant force in the series should they have applied their superior science and thought about their actions with a strategic mindset. In general, their own arrogance was their unfortunate undoing.