The Torment of Tantalus (110)

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Trig, when the show first started, they introduced a lot of things that were never revisited on the air. Asking why implies TPTB had a coherent plan for the series, which they didn't. It also assumes (if we're going to treat this as if it really happened) that everything they did ended up on the air.

Maybe they did go back. Maybe the castle was gone, or the meaning of like thing ran out of power or maybe they retrieved it and it turned out to only have very basic information.

Seaboe

[GusF]

The castle being gone seems like the safest bet to me.

[Pharaoh Hamenthotep]

Well, the castle was seemingly destroyed during the storm so the "meaning of life" stuff device was probably an unsalvageable wreck at the bottom of the ocean.

There's no way to know it was "meaning of life" stuff though.. Just because it was written by four powerful races doesn't mean it was important. Humans (in the real world) have advanced technology and knowledge, and yet look at Facebook and Twitter...

The castle was a meeting place, the "meaning of life" stuff was most likely notes from the meetings they held. Things they discussed, treaties they put in place.. things that would have no meaning thousands of years later once those races have moved on/become extinct.

[ngewakl]

Finally back to my rewatch. College sucks. Anyway, this was a good episode. Funny thing, I just watched this episode after returning from my Chemistry class. Earnest says there are 146 elements. Since we now know of 118 elements, that means we have 28 elements more before we achieve a level of chemistry knowledge on par with the 4 great races. In other words, we are 28 elements shy of greatness!

[GusF]

There's no way to know it was "meaning of life" stuff though..

Is there any way to know that it isn't? Daniel may have been assuming when he deemed it the "meaning of life" stuff but it seemed like a valid assumption to me.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Daniel may have been assuming when he deemed it the "meaning of life" stuff but it seemed like a valid assumption to me.

It may have been a valid assumption when it was made, early on in the Stargate program; however, by the time the Prometheus came along, our knowledge about the Ancients and other races had increased. There's a good chance that what would've been "meaning of life" stuff when we first found it was no more than a Rosetta stone attached to an encyclopedia five years down the line.

Seaboe

[whiteravenone]

Finally back to my rewatch. College sucks. Anyway, this was a good episode. Funny thing, I just watched this episode after returning from my Chemistry class. Earnest says there are 146 elements. Since we now know of 118 elements, that means we have 28 elements more before we achieve a level of chemistry knowledge on par with the 4 great races. In other words, we are 28 elements shy of greatness!

You're assuming that the makers of Stargate SG-1 know that there are 146 and only 146 elements in the universe. I'll be happy if they discover #147 in your lifetime. lol

Great episode. No real action but I'd love to read the Asgard writing on the wall. The last and largest rune was Othala, which means inherited property or possessions, what is truly important to one, group order, group prosperity, land of birth, spiritual heritage, experience and fundamental values, aid in spiritual and physical journeys, source of safety, increase and abundance.

This indicates that it is a repository for knowledge, meant for future generations. Either that or the Asgard who signed it was named Othala.

[garhkal]

Who's to say it was the ancients who found those other elements.. For all we know it could have been the asgard or furlings.

[Falcon Horus]

Young Paul McGillion, the first man to walk through the gate in 1945... which brings me to the following issue of sorts. We learn later on that the gate remains open for 38 minutes if there's matter keeping it open, which the line attached the Ernest is, and yet the gate closes and cuts him off the moment he walked in (and out the other side). Either 38 minutes passed, or this is somewhat of a plothole. Now, my vote is on the first seeing as how they dialed manually so I reckon they kept the gate open for too long, cutting Ernest off.

When exactly did Carter and Catherine meet? That didn't happen on screen... kinda weird moment.

Anyway onto Ernest Littlefield, all alone and very naked... Carter's "Oh boy!" is hilarious.

Heliopolis holds the answer to life, the universe and everything (not the supercomputer build on Magrathea). Five races of which one we'll never actually meet. Still peeved about that one, after all this time. Daniel being all excited, and Carter playing MacGyver again. Jack at least remembered Ben Franklin. First time they dial the gate manually... many more of those yet to come.

[whiteravenone]

Young Paul McGillion, the first man to walk through the gate in 1945... which brings me to the following issue of sorts. We learn later on that the gate remains open for 38 minutes if there's matter keeping it open, which the line attached the Ernest is, and yet the gate closes and cuts him off the moment he walked in (and out the other side). Either 38 minutes passed, or this is somewhat of a plothole. Now, my vote is on the first seeing as how they dialed manually so I reckon they kept the gate open for too long, cutting Ernest off.

When exactly did Carter and Catherine meet? That didn't happen on screen... kinda weird moment.

Anyway onto Ernest Littlefield, all alone and very naked... Carter's "Oh boy!" is hilarious.

Heliopolis holds the answer to life, the universe and everything (not the supercomputer build on Magrathea). Five races of which one we'll never actually meet. Still peeved about that one, after all this time. Daniel being all excited, and Carter playing MacGyver again. Jack at least remembered Ben Franklin. First time they dial the gate manually... many more of those yet to come.

Let me clarify a plot point for you. The gate stays open a maximum of 38 minutes if there's matter blocking it. However, if the gate loses power, the wormhole will cut off and presumably destroy any matter that did not get through. We actually discussed this a bit in my thread Ernest Littlefield and the Inconsistency. Nothing was determined for sure, but we figured it could just be a lack of the writers' ability to remember things well. lol

Another point was made that those ancient scuba suits were extremely difficult and time-consuming to put on. 38 minutes could easily have passed. I actually submitted that he should have been killed since the line connecting to the suit is technically part of the unit.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

You're both assuming that the film we saw was uncut and that the camera was not turned off while nothing was happening.

Seaboe

[SF_and_Coffee]

When exactly did Carter and Catherine meet? That didn't happen on screen... kinda weird moment.

Given it's canon that Carter had been involved in research on the Stargate prior to the first Abydos mission (the one in the initial Emmerich/Devlin film), I'd say it's pretty likely that the two of them met during that time. So yes, off-screen, but it makes all kinds of sense when you think about it.

[Falcon Horus]

You're both assuming that the film we saw was uncut and that the camera was not turned off while nothing was happening.

Mmm... good point... makes sense.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Season 1, Disk 3, 5 episodes of which this one is the best (IMO, of course). Three things I note just about every time I watch it. First, Michael Shanks had a cold when they filmed the initial boardroom scene. Second, Jack didn't answer General Hammond's question (and, unlike in later seasons, General Hammond didn't seem to notice). Third, we get the first hint of Jack's obsessive refusal to leave people behind in bad situations.

I'm also impressed by the way they never show Young Catherine and Young Ernest standing next to each other, so that you can't compare relative heights between the two pairs of actors.

I personally would've been happier if Carter hadn't also been a close friend of Catherine's, but that's a minor point (I just think it would've been nice if there had been someone other than Teal'c that she didn't know well).

Seaboe

[garhkal]

But when would cathrine have gotten to know carter?