Children of the Gods (101)

[SG1Member]

I just watched the recut pilot, which I think is a slight improvement over the original (my pardon to the purists!) It just seemed like the original had too much poorly shot footage and useless dialogue. The recut just seems to make to plot move more smoothly.

But whichever version, CotG sometimes seems to raise more questions than it answers:
How many worlds did Apophis raid to find hosts?
Who were the other Goa'uld choosing hosts?
When did they find time to put the iris on the Stargate?
How can Chu'lak be so cold if it has two suns?

I know any show is going to take time finding it's footing when starts out, and they may not have worked everything out from the get go, but CotG always leaves me scratching my head.

[hedwig]

agreed. the whole Kawalsky thing is weird and out of place. I'm trying to remember when they got the things that prevented the entire compound from shaking-I'm pretty sure it was in the first season. the ep. just seems awkward and out of place after watching the characters grow.

HAPPY STARGATE REWATCH!

Yes. It was in the first season, since in "Solitudes" Daniel makes a comment about how the compound used to shake.

[SF_and_Coffee]

The temperature of a planet isn't due to how many suns it has, but rather to how far away from them the planet orbits, what kind of temperature the suns themselves have, etc. Also, planets aren't uniformly the same climate over their entire surfaces; think about Earth and how we not only have seasons, but also have a wide variety of climates from arctic to tropical. Chulak undoubtedly has seasons and multiple climates as well.

Science fiction has an unfortunate tendency to gloss this over, and many viewers and readers never really think about it, but if you have an analytical and/or scientific mind, it just makes sense that other planets capable of sustaining human life in a natural (as opposed to artificial) environment must by their very nature have a variety of climates and most likely will have seasons as well.

[jelgate]

Like basically everything? To me the movie is not canon as even their names and ranks change.

Its not up to fans to dictate canon. Given the amount of references COTG makes to the orginal movie it has to be canon nevermind the whole trip to Abydos.

[yamiinsane]

I liked the story for this but my favorite part was when Jack yelled to Teal'c that he could save these people and Teal'c believing him.

[fems]

I don't know which box set you're talking about, but I bought my second complete set earlier this year and it has the original CotG. In fact I think it would defeat the purpose of the re-release (MGM can make more money off SG1 with little investment) to include the re-cut rather than selling it seperately.

Gah, just noticed I used the wrong symbol but obviously that should have been <2009. Anyway, I've mentioned my box set here, fourth post on the page.

I can't give you an answer as to why they put the re-cut version in it opposed to the original pilot. It's supposed to be a complete box set so perhaps they feel the re-cut version is better than the pilot or just think that it sounds better to say ten seasons plus three movies instead of ten seasons (and original pilot) plus two movies? I wish I knew why and I wish I could get the original pilot here, but it's just not possible.

[Matt G]

It's been a while since I watched the film with a close eye to insignia, etc. I'll have to do that again one of these days.


Well, a couple of points there. For one thing, it isn't known for sure whether Jack named his son "Charlie" because of Kawalsky or for some other reason. But as for Kawalsky claiming to not know that Jack even had a son, I consider that to simply be a mistake on the part of the writers that wasn't caught during production. Kawalsky being with Jack in 1982 makes loads of sense, whereas the line in COTG does not, so I choose to reject the erroneous line and consider Jack and Kawalsky to have a history going back at least to 1982. Problem solved.

Trying to make Kawalsky's history fit together is not easy. My instincts say to go with this:

1. Jack and Kawalsky served together in 1982.

2. Over a decade later they then serve together during the first SG mission and really bond on that trip. Doesn't neccersarilly mean Jack had to mention his kid though.

Will see how many holes there are in that theory after I get as far as "The Gamekeeper" which I haven't watched for a while!

[fems]

Oh yes, about Jack naming his kid after Kawalsky yet him not knowing of the kid's existence is why they cut that particular scene from the original pilot in the re-cut.

[shelsfc]

The temperature of a planet isn't due to how many suns it has, but rather to how far away from them the planet orbits, what kind of temperature the suns themselves have, etc. Also, planets aren't uniformly the same climate over their entire surfaces; think about Earth and how we not only have seasons, but also have a wide variety of climates from arctic to tropical. Chulak undoubtedly has seasons and multiple climates as well.

Science fiction has an unfortunate tendency to gloss this over, and many viewers and readers never really think about it, but if you have an analytical and/or scientific mind, it just makes sense that other planets capable of sustaining human life in a natural (as opposed to artificial) environment must by their very nature have a variety of climates and most likely will have seasons as well.

SG1 sort of touches on that in Solitudes

Spoiler:

Sam reaches the surface, sees ice for miles and assumes 'it's an ice planet'. Then of course we find out that it's Earth... it's not really addressed after that, but at least they're aware they're doing it!

[SF_and_Coffee]

Trying to make Kawalsky's history fit together is not easy. My instincts say to go with this:

1. Jack and Kawalsky served together in 1982.
2. Over a decade later they then serve together during the first SG mission and really bond on that trip. Doesn't neccersarilly mean Jack had to mention his kid though.

Will see how many holes there are in that theory after I get as far as "The Gamekeeper" which I haven't watched for a while!

From the interactions and closeness displayed between Jack and Kawalsky in COTG (for example, the infirmary scene where Jack is trying to reassure Kawalksy before his surgery), I'd say it's almost impossible that they hadn't had any contact between the mid-Eighties (when Jack's son would have been born) and 1997. They just act way too close to have only had that brief bit of contact during the fist Abydos mission but otherwise been out of touch both from the early Eighties until 1996 and again from the Abydos mission until a year later. Therefore, the best course of action really is to just ignore the "I didn't even know you had a son" line as a mistake. Trust me, it'll make your head hurt less!

[LGreen90]

Finally started the rewatch and just finished Children of the Gods. Great pilot to kick off a series.

[muziqaz]

From the interactions and closeness displayed between Jack and Kawalsky in COTG (for example, the infirmary scene where Jack is trying to reassure Kawalksy before his surgery), I'd say it's almost impossible that they hadn't had any contact between the mid-Eighties (when Jack's son would have been born) and 1997. They just act way too close to have only had that brief bit of contact during the fist Abydos mission but otherwise been out of touch both from the early Eighties until 1996 and again from the Abydos mission until a year later. Therefore, the best course of action really is to just ignore the "I didn't even know you had a son" line as a mistake. Trust me, it'll make your head hurt less!

Or, jack and Kawalsky had one or two close call missions where they stuck together to survive and complete the mission thus having this complete respect to each other. I think sometimes you don't need 20 years of working together to get really close.
So after those missions they were reassigned to different teams or missions and only met again in Abydos mission.

[fems]

But then how would Jack know that it's about time Kawalsky had a command? If they only worked together in 1982, the first mission and second mission to Abydos? And not only know, but recommend it to General Hammond for the formation of the new teams? I doubt he had time to go through Kawalsky's service record since they came back...

[SF_and_Coffee]

But then how would Jack know that it's about time Kawalsky had a command? If they only worked together in 1982, the first mission and second mission to Abydos? And not only know, but recommend it to General Hammond for the formation of the new teams? I doubt he had time to go through Kawalsky's service record since they came back...

Exactly. It really does make more sense that they have a long service history together. Just one or two close call missions wouldn't make them as close as they were portrayed, and when you add that to what Fems just said, I really think it's a strong indicator that they have a history. It takes far more mental contortions to find reasons for the "I didn't even know you had a son" to make sense than it does to just dismiss it as a mistake... and SG-1 had all kinds of little goofs here and there that didn't make sense, all throughout the series.

[LordAric94]

You know... This is the only episode as far as I can remember with the Glider that has the Rings on board....