Hasnt the "Antichrist Girl" Archetype been done already?

[cbrseadude]

Boy I hope it all doesnt end with that feel good, only a mothers love crap! Id rather make them bow down to the all mighty Ori killing gun. Probably wont happen though.

[Metonic]

because hell have no fury like a woman's scorn...

They want them to be evil, and yet innocent and capable of changing. Children lack the wisdom to truely make up their minds, adults are stubborn to change their ways. Which is why they make them children who rapidly become adults.

EDIT: That and they dont know how many series they have left and it sucks waiting for them to grow up.

[The.Prior.of.The.Ori]

Once you know who is playing her adult form I don't think you'll be complaining


By Spoilers a lot of us know, but I assume you are not one who reads spoilers, so I guess you'll have to wait

i couldnt agree more

[Titania V V]

In the end, it will be something silly, like "Can a mother's love for her child overcome a hatred that threatens to engulf the entire galaxy" or some feel-good sillyness like that.

I sincerely hope they don't go that route. I got the distinct feeling that Vala really didn't have those motherly feelings towards the Ori-spawn after her initial encounter with her. It just didn't feel like a "motherly love" situation, nor that it will ever become one for her. Given Vala's nature, I think it would be uncharacteristic for her to become totally maternal when she was, first, an unwilling participant in the conception, and then never had any real time to bond with the child when she was an infant, but only had a chance to deal with her as the potential destroyer of "unbelievers".

If they continue to play it that way, they can at least get away from the horrid cliche of "devil child saved by mother's love". I'd rather see devil child saved because she can't escape her own humanity.

[The.Prior.of.The.Ori]

I sincerely hope they don't go that route. I got the distinct feeling that Vala really didn't have those motherly feelings towards the Ori-spawn after her initial encounter with her. It just didn't feel like a "motherly love" situation, nor that it will ever become one for her. Given Vala's nature, I think it would be uncharacteristic for her to become totally maternal when she was, first, an unwilling participant in the conception, and then never had any real time to bond with the child when she was an infant, but only had a chance to deal with her as the potential destroyer of "unbelievers".

If they continue to play it that way, they can at least get away from the horrid cliche of "devil child saved by mother's love". I'd rather see devil child saved because she can't escape her own humanity.

i hope they dont also

[Mattathias2.0]

It's been done before frrom Dune

Spoiler:

Alia the daughter of Jessica was born with all the knowledge of the Bene Gesserit (sp). While not rapid aging, she was a fully grown woman in a childs body.

...and looked what happened there... and as it turned out

Spoiler:

she was morally caught between what she was suppose to do. She ended up commiting suicide.

Mattathias

[Mattathias2.0]

One thing I thought of that may be why the birthing process was normal up until she was born is so she could handle the knowledge she's given. Allow her to get as much as she could.

I recall when Orlin decended, and he ended up losing all his memories. But with Adria being born (rather then just decended) she may have a much longer shelf life.

So the birth could serve at least 3 purposes...
1. Getting an Ori over the "border",
2. Being born from an unbeliever without the "neccesary bits" proving the Ori's power,
3. Being born could allow Adria to retain knowledge Orlin couldn't by simply decending.

Mattathias

[LORD MONK]

Sorry folks, but I had a nagging dislike of the little yellow-eyed fast growing girl I saw tonite on SG-1. Adri, Aldrie, Alex, whomever. Then I remembered (at least part of) the reason why . . . I've seen this before. Isabel on the 4400 (she's hot, but I cant stand her!). Some evil girl, concieved under dubious circumstances, holds great power and will be the harbinger of armageddon. Um . . . come again?

Having her grow up fast helps the writers easily get around alot of the growth and bonding issues that an ACTUAL child would provide for a character, but it just seemed . . . so superficial to me. To see Aeryn Sun, err I mean Vala Mal Doran, stalking around and (even sarcastically) talk about how "they grow up so fast" and "break your heart" and this other stuff, just smacked of bad writing. This is a freak of nature who's purpose is to be the Locutus of Borg for the Ori, the bringer of death and destruction to all unbelievers . . . Vala seemed to play the entire situation way way too nonchilant (even for her), and I got *no* feeling of any sort of authentic attachment between mother and child. It just seemed forced.

In all fairness, I get that same feeling of void between Isabel and her father in the 4400, but that relationship has had the benefit of at least 3 episodes to define itself, and I think that the distance is intentional.

Anyhow, I've seen various versions of this "Antichrist Girl" or "Potential Antichirst" archetype, not always featuring all the exact details, but more or less. Rogue and Gene Grey (as a kid) in X-Men were basically the same thing, but sans the super-fast growth. It's not necessarily a bad thing to indulge in a cliche like this, but it just seemed very very poorly done to me.

Anyhow mark my words, I wouldn't be suprised at all if I see this same archetype pop up in the Battlestar Galactica half cylon kid of Boomer, too.

WHAT? Stop compairing Stargate to other shows and say it has already been done. Of Course It Has. It all has been done. Although I don't think it has been done on The Simpsons and that is what we are going for.

It was first done in The Bible. I love that story. What a sad story though. At least there is 1000 yrs of peace on Earth at the end after the seven years of straight hating it. Who is going to be here with me for that.

[Armagaiden]

I sincerely hope they don't go that route. I got the distinct feeling that Vala really didn't have those motherly feelings towards the Ori-spawn after her initial encounter with her. It just didn't feel like a "motherly love" situation, nor that it will ever become one for her. Given Vala's nature, I think it would be uncharacteristic for her to become totally maternal when she was, first, an unwilling participant in the conception, and then never had any real time to bond with the child when she was an infant, but only had a chance to deal with her as the potential destroyer of "unbelievers".

If they continue to play it that way, they can at least get away from the horrid cliche of "devil child saved by mother's love". I'd rather see devil child saved because she can't escape her own humanity.

Considering how she reacted to Daniel saying "I've should've killed her right then and there" or along the lines of that, I don't believe she has a realistic maternal instinct towards the little she-devil. Any other mother would've reacted very negatively towards someone saying they should've off'd your little darling.

Judging by her conversation, she sounds like she'll just "attempt" to win over the child when in reality she has no feelings for her...yet. Perhaps that might develop though over time when the little devil makes more choices to prevent her mothers death just like when her would-be husband ended up shooting her. Or it could perhaps backfire and the child chooses to disown her based on her choices to help the un-believers, and then she'll become REALLY evil.

And on another note to go along with the topic, if you know who plays the "grown up" role, you'll know she also played yet ANOTHER creepy anti-christ (in this case, christ was actually the bad guy in a way if you know how the good guys were smugglers where as the bad guys were the "federation/government" forces) on another show involving fires and flies with calm serenity , which yet agains follows the topic line, a cliche antichirst archetype...

[StarG8fan]

I'd have had very little respect for that little yellow eyed children of the corn girl.....lol.

[Gategal36]

Originally Posted by JMarcusXavier
Sorry folks, but I had a nagging dislike of the little yellow-eyed fast growing girl I saw tonite on SG-1. Adri, Aldrie, Alex, whomever. Then I remembered (at least part of) the reason why . . . I've seen this before. Isabel on the 4400 (she's hot, but I cant stand her!). Some evil girl, concieved under dubious circumstances, holds great power and will be the harbinger of armageddon. Um . . . come again?

Having her grow up fast helps the writers easily get around alot of the growth and bonding issues that an ACTUAL child would provide for a character, but it just seemed . . . so superficial to me. To see Aeryn Sun, err I mean Vala Mal Doran, stalking around and (even sarcastically) talk about how "they grow up so fast" and "break your heart" and this other stuff, just smacked of bad writing. This is a freak of nature who's purpose is to be the Locutus of Borg for the Ori, the bringer of death and destruction to all unbelievers . . . Vala seemed to play the entire situation way way too nonchilant (even for her), and I got *no* feeling of any sort of authentic attachment between mother and child. It just seemed forced.

Though the evil-spawn story has been done before, I would agree with Lord Monk that all stories are essentially the re-telling of another (i.e. Aristotle's notion that the nature of literature is mimetic...or something like that...it's been a long time since my Historical Political Thought class). But I actually think what you may be referring to is the difference between story and plot. So we have the classic tale of a child cursed by blood and circumstance. But how is the story retold? Personally, I think it's been done rather well.

I also think that Vala does care for Adria - to an extent. Sarcasm is almost always matched by its less cogent cousin sentiment, and I think Vala's interactions with Adria are no exception. I'm not talking about Vala displaying stereotypical maternal instincts; that would truly disappoint me as a viewer. But I think even as Adria becomes more dangerous, Vala will still be - albeit subtly - torn between the protection and destruction of her child.

That said, I can't wait for next week!

[The.Prior.of.The.Ori]

I'd have had very little respect for that little yellow eyed children of the corn girl.....lol.

i was thinknig the same thing...... all they are missing for her character is the bleach blonde hair

[FallenAngelII]

Considering this episode was written and under production even before season 9 stopped airing IIRC, Stargate was not ripping off the 4400. Heck, spoilers about Adria were released, what, way, way, waaaaaaaaay back?

This was before we knew Isabelle was evil. All we knew was that Isabelle had grown up somehow.

[Giantevilhead]

Spoiler:

What I can't figure out is why Adria's growing so fast now when Vala's pregnancy seems to have progressed at a normal rate - normal enough to fool Tomin or whatever his name was, anyway.

Probably because the growth of the child is highly dependent upon the mother while inside the womb. Plus the Ori were probably "working on" Adria while she was in the womb.

[The.Prior.of.The.Ori]

couldnt agree more