S10: Critique & Contemplation

[VSS]

Thank you! I was trying to figure out a way to say this.

suse

You're welcome! It's just that I have a science background and never could figure out why some sci-tech stuff would bore me to tears and some I liked, until I figured out I have to care about the tech, just like I have to care about the characters. Otherwise I lose interest.

Although I did build a lightsaber(re) at Star Wars Weekend at Disney World, once.

[suse]

You're welcome! It's just that I have a science background and never could figure out why some sci-tech stuff would bore me to tears and some I liked, until I figured out I have to care about the tech, just like I have to care about the characters. Otherwise I lose interest.

Although I did build a lightsaber(re) at Star Wars Weekend at Disney World, once.

Geek!

That's cool, young Jedi!

<ahem>On topic:

The science stuff is important. I'm willing to accept almost anything (Operation Suck (Mighty Maid!) on Spaceballs, for example) but it needs to make sense within the universe as written. Sure, small things will sometimes not jibe, but that's the nature of tv. And then we have S9.

suse

[suse]

If they reexamined it again, we would have to endure another speech from Jacob Carter about "power vacuums." (Except he's dead.)

<<iz sad>> How can there me no Jacob smilie!

It was definitely time for something new. Another problem is that it wasn't an actual war - one side was essentially fighting itself, and the other side was trying to sustain the other side fighting itself.

Looked like a slave revolt to me. I ithnk it would ahve been fun to see more of the Lucien Alliance. And there were plenty of minor Goa'uld out there to keep thinks interesting. especially as I beet there were plenty of Jaffa not ready to believe - even in the face of evidence - that their maters were not gods.

I thought the Ori were very original in some respects. Unlike the Goa'uld, they had large amounts of "actual power" and used it in ways that were biblical in proportion. They didn't care about their own deaths; they just used them to further the cause. It made them seem much more unstoppable than the Goa'uld, and much more dangerous because they were all one unified body.

Of couse, if you give the enemy "actual power" that was "biblical in proportion" and are showing mere humans fighting against it you will eventually need a deus ex machina (or two ) to defeat said enemy.

You don't need to be fascinated by the technology to get bored looking at the same things over and over again. You can only take so much of the bronzed egyptian look. I think the pseudo-medieval Ori was a step in the right direction in terms of how the series felt and looked.

That was just season 1, as you said.

What was being pointed out was there was much more than Egyptian stuff used in *just* S1. And even more later.

That medieval village was used ad nauseum on both Sg-1 and SGA. You can only use so many vines/other stuff to cover the basic "sameness".

suse

[suse]

I can always PM you seasons 4-8, but it's time you backed up your claim that the locations in seasons 9-10 were better. Or, you know, answer my previous questions.


And anyway, although I never thought of SG-1 having been shot only in the forests, I haven't realised they had so many totally diverse locations.

And now I really have to get back to studying. What does it say about me that I'm listing SG-1 locations instead of doing homework and preparing for my exam?

I don't remember different locations in S9/S10. I'd be interested in knwing what they were though.

IIRC, they used money from SGA and SG-1 to build that elaborate village set and needed to get all they could out of it. I'd say they did.
suse

[Vladius]

Fine then. Here you go:
Season 2

Ha’tak
Nasya
Air Force Hospital
Hadante – underground prison
Garden
Mine
Moon-like planet
City on Abydos
Washington
Colorado Springs/abandoned advanced city off-world
Desert (The Tok’ra, Matterof Time, Serpent’s song)
Tok’ra tunnels
Indian village
Madrona – idyllic before sudden climate changes
The room with Head Sucker/Othalla
Ma’chello’s planet (draped room with lots of strange machines)
Planet with weird white plants
Rocky desert
Interior of the Pyramid

Season 3

Thor’s ship
Padded room in Mental Hospital
Sealed chamber with dead bodies inside
Archeological dig off-world
School in Colorado Springs
Cargo ship
Military camp
Abydos
Another fairly advanced city (Past and Present)
Netu (hell)
Transformed SGC
Tollana homeworld
Togar’s laboratory
Rogue NID homebase off-world
Bedrosia (rocky mountains)
Buddist temple on Kheb
Mayan Pyramid with Crystal Skull inside

Plus as usual “normal” SGC, Jack’s house, Daniel’s apartment and forests

I can always PM you seasons 4-8, but it's time you backed up your claim that the locations in seasons 9-10 were better. Or, you know, answer my previous questions.



Yeah, but in some instances it's fun to show someone that the show in the first 8 seasons wasn't so monotonous as they think

And anyway, although I never thought of SG-1 having been shot only in the forests, I haven't realised they had so many totally diverse locations.

And now I really have to get back to studying. What does it say about me that I'm listing SG-1 locations instead of doing homework and preparing for my exam?

I didn't say they were better, I just said they were refreshing. The Supergate was awesome in all instances, and I also liked some of the more alpine locations they went to. The Ori ships were well designed in their aesthetics, and the Priors were creepy and cool at the same time. That execution device they used to kill Vala was also really cool. (Not just because it killed Vala. ) The treasury room in Avalon and the climate switching device in "the Quest" were awesome as well.

There's only so many times I can use "awesome," "cool," and "also," so I'll stop before I look more stupid.

[Vladius]

I agree, when the tech tied in with reality- like when it was ours, or a piece of alien tech that we inevitably did not know how to use- it was worth watching. Otherwise, it's all made-up. You can make up anything- and they did in later years, especially in SGA. What really bugged me was when they made up artificial rules for artificial tech, and then "broke" them. Like ZPMs being powerful and rare, then becoming very common. Or explaining away entropic cascade in Ripple Effect when it was critical in Point of View. If they wanted to invent tech, they needed to stick with their own in-universe rules and scientific principles.

Anyway, unless one has invented a complex, consistent fantasy universe (like Star Wars) s the main use of science and tech in scifi is to provide a commentary on our society and ourselves. That's what I missed about the earlier seasons- the tech became reduced to nothing more than cool toys. I really loved eps like Revisions, Memento and Endgame. Blowing up stuff gets old. The magic weapon of the week gets old. Thinking about the impact of tech on humanity never gets old, because that happens in one way or another every day.

Edit: I also wanted to add that Stargate didn't have the money to do tech spectacularly well, either. They could not be a Star Wars. That alone would be reason enough to stick with the tech-as-social-commentary theme, I think.

The ZPMs were rare at first because there were no ancients around to build them. After a while, there's only so many times you can do a "hunting for power source" episode.
Once the Replicators showed up there were tons of them, because they were almost literally ancients in every way. Even then, they weren't abundant because the reps kept getting destroyed.

Also, you might not be the target demographic.

[Mandysg1]

Boy I'm away for a bit, because RL takes over and wow *blinks eyes*

a little offering to those who have posted



There have been too many well thought out posts explaining why s9 and 10 really didn't work for some of us for me to repeat

So virtual green for all you

[Vladius]

Boy I'm away for a bit, because RL takes over and wow *blinks eyes*

a little offering to those who have posted



There have been too many well thought out posts explaining why s9 and 10 really didn't work for some of us for me to repeat

So virtual green for all you

Why the some of us?

I'm outnumbered in my opinion at least 5 to 1. It's not as if you guys are all glorious crusaders who have made me see the light.

[Mandysg1]

Why the some of us?

I'm outnumbered in my opinion at least 5 to 1. It's not as if you guys are all glorious crusaders who have made me see the light.

It's the why s9 and 10 didn't work for some us...apparantly it worked for you

[Killdeer]

That medieval village was used ad nauseum on both Sg-1 and SGA. You can only use so many vines/other stuff to cover the basic "sameness".

suse

Haha...yes. I so agree. I might possibly have cheered when I heard that set had been demolished.

[Melora]

"Ignore" is my friend.

You are most wise. Scrolling is also quite helpful.

Why the some of us?

I'm outnumbered in my opinion at least 5 to 1. It's not as if you guys are all glorious crusaders who have made me see the light.

I think the ratio is a little higher than that.

Seriously, I think everyone here gets that we are not going to change your mind. But conversely, do you honestly think you are going to change the mind of anyone in here?

And if none of us are going to change our minds, what's the purpose in continuing the argument?

[dipsofjazz]

Why the some of us?

I'm outnumbered in my opinion at least 5 to 1. It's not as if you guys are all glorious crusaders who have made me see the light.

We're not here to make anyone 'see the light'. This thread is the place for those of us that didn't like many aspects of seasons 9 and 10 to come and discuss why.

[Vladius]

No, what I'm saying is that she wants to hand all of you "virtual green" for bravely defending against one person who is in the minority.

[suse]

I didn't say they were better, I just said they were refreshing. The Supergate was awesome in all instances, and I also liked some of the more alpine locations they went to. The Ori ships were well designed in their aesthetics, and the Priors were creepy and cool at the same time. That execution device they used to kill Vala was also really cool. (Not just because it killed Vala. ) The treasury room in Avalon and the climate switching device in "the Quest" were awesome as well.

I found the ships to be giant toilet bowls that had bubbles of...something swirled in the center.

The Priors were creepsy, I'll give you that. Interchangable though. The next ones up the chain - the Doci - were wearing toilet seats coming up from their shoulders. Gotta give it to TPTB though, though found a motif they liked and stuck with it!

The treasure room in Avalon looked like something out of Indiana Jones. And whatwith the Arthurian references (wrong time period, btw) I kept looking for a Knight of Ni.

Yeah, the superstargate was a nice piece of work, the alpine locations were just more B.C. though.

The execution device was , I agree.

ETA: Most of my issues were story related (i.e. the writing). I had no issues with special effects and only a few with most of the other areas. Some of the costuming was... , specifically Vala and Adria - who somehow got mommie's fashion sense without being raised by her. Nature vs nurture has some merit. And there were a few times (Momento Mori comes most strongly to mind) when the editting was more than a bit shoddy. And the stunts in that ep were over the top.

suse

[Ashizuri]

I found the ships to be giant toilet bowls that had bubbles of...something swirled in the center.

The Priors were creepsy, I'll give you that. Interchangable though. The next ones up the chain - the Doci - were wearing toilet seats coming up from their shoulders. Gotta give it to TPTB though, though found a motif they liked and stuck with it!

The treasure room in Avalon looked like something out of Indiana Jones. And whatwith the Arthurian references (wrong time period, btw) I kept looking for a Knight of Ni.
Yeah, the superstargate was a nice piece of work, the alpine locations were just more B.C. though.

The execution device was , I agree.

ETA: Most of my issues were story related (i.e. the writing). I had no issues with special effects and only a few with most of the other areas. Some of the costuming was... , specifically Vala and Adria - who somehow got mommie's fashion sense without being raised by her. Nature vs nurture has some merit. And there were a few times (Momento Mori comes most strongly to mind) when the editting was more than a bit shoddy. And the stunts in that ep were over the top.

suse

And then Mitchell could have saved the day by cutting down a tree...with a herring!

I often wondered why Adria, who was the head honcho of an evil, galactic religion than was all about prayer, and worship, and purity chose to dress like a skank.

And I think she was handing out virtual green to other people for thinking the same way she does and debating it with you so she doesn't have to. I mean, why would she want to green you when she disagrees with most of what you say?

I have nothing of substance to add to this discussion.