Arthur's Mantle (918)

[Schrodinger82]

Daniel could've used morse code after he was already transported to report his findings to Lee. Carter could've used morse code to report any technical findings she made. etc.

[Jonzey]

Daniel could've used morse code after he was already transported to report his findings to Lee. Carter could've used morse code to report any technical findings she made. etc.

Assuming Sam, Daniel and Lee all know Morse code by heart. I still don't see why though. The only thing they needed to do was translate the ancient text- which they cant do with Morse Code. Since the text told them how to get back in phase, there's really no reason for them to report any findings.

[bmicales]

I really didn't like that as Sam and Mitchell were walking down the hallway, they moved out of the way for everyone that walked by. As they were out of phase, they should have just kept walking straight through them. Okay, sure, there's a limited budget and they could only afford to do the fancy effect occasionally. The directors should have just kept the extras from walking by. This way, we get the "walk and talk" exposition, with no distracting breaks in continuity.

Besides the cost, another possible reason is that they (Sam and Mitchell) just don't like people walking through them. I also wondered why Sam and Mitchell dodged people when walking down the hall, then I realized it could have been :

1) force of habit so they don't run into a person
2) from their reactions when others (like Daniel) walked through them, it did trouble them on some level. They wanted to avoid this as much as possible.

So, I did not view this as a distracting break in continuity, but more of avoiding a unpleasant experience.

[bmicales]

Assuming Sam, Daniel and Lee all know Morse code by heart. I still don't see why though. The only thing they needed to do was translate the ancient text- which they cant do with Morse Code. Since the text told them how to get back in phase, there's really no reason for them to report any findings.

They could have told Dr. Lee to "lay off" trying anything else since they were about to try something.

However, on a more practical note: morse code is being phased out by the military. Voice communications is actually more preferred. Very few radio services actually still use Morse Code (Amateur Radio is the only one that still requires it to get a license).

Therefore, I doubt if all three or two of the three actually knew Morse code, beside sending SOS.

[Schrodinger82]

However, on a more practical note: morse code is being phased out by the military. Voice communications is actually more preferred. Very few radio services actually still use Morse Code (Amateur Radio is the only one that still requires it to get a license).

Oh, no doubt. Still, it's not like it would be THAT hard to learn, if you're already the best translator in the galaxy, or if you can reverse engineer a piece of equipment as complicated as a DHD without even having a DHD to work with, or even knowledge that the stargate network even exists.

In the absense of morse, they could have picked ASCII (make this button 1, this button zero), a base 4 alphanumeric, etc.

Therefore, I doubt if all three or two of the three actually knew Morse code, beside sending SOS.

Well, you wouldn't need all three or two, you would just need one (And out of the two there, Sam and Daniel, those are the most likely to know.). I'm sure that Landry or someone else would've been able to say, "Wow, that sounds like morse, does anyone here happen to know it by heart?"

It just strikes me as really odd that that's apparently the best they could come up with.

[bmicales]

Oh, no doubt. Still, it's not like it would be THAT hard to learn, if you're already the best translator in the galaxy, or if you can reverse engineer a piece of equipment as complicated as a DHD without even having a DHD to work with, or even knowledge that the stargate network even exists.

You would be surprise how hard Morse code is to learn (you must learn how to send and receive)! You actually need a musical ear since you are listening for sound patterns rather than counting the dots and dashes. It might be something a translator cound learn easily, but that person must want to, if not it will not happen. And just because you might have a PhD does not mean you can easily learn Morse code. In order to be useful, you must copy at least 80-90% of the message - and in order to do that it will take some time in studying the code.

[JUNIOR]

I'm a little late into this thread, and someone might have already mentioned this, but...

This is a team with some ofthe best military minds on the planet. One of them is one of the best translators in the galaxy. They're communicating on a device where they're forced to use a series of taps on a single dial.

And nobody thinks of using morse code?!

Carter Couldn't read the text that was displayed so it probably would have taken just as long for her to describe what she saw in Morse code and for Daniel to translate the Morse code into Ancient words then translate that into English.

[Schrodinger82]

You would be surprise how hard Morse code is to learn (you must learn how to send and receive)!

Actually, you would only need to learn how to send (say in the event of an emergenncy), since they could hear the other people just fine. Not to mention they could do it slowly and have a cheat sheet in front of them if tit helped.

And just because you might have a PhD does not mean you can easily learn Morse code.

No, but learning the specific skills that Sam and Daniel are familar with are fairly related.

Again, they wouldn't have to use morse. I remember back in HS, when my history teacher was telling us about some of the codes that prisoners would develop in order to communicate. Carter and Daniel should know at more than a high schooler would in this field, and should've come up something better than "yes" and "no."

[DEM]

FWIW, I agree with you, Schrodinger82. IMC or some other Sam-Dan-improvised code would have added a measure of sophistication to both plotting and characterisation.

[Fargater]

Besides the cost, another possible reason is that they (Sam and Mitchell) just don't like people walking through them. I also wondered why Sam and Mitchell dodged people when walking down the hall, then I realized it could have been :

1) force of habit so they don't run into a person
2) from their reactions when others (like Daniel) walked through them, it did trouble them on some level. They wanted to avoid this as much as possible.

So, I did not view this as a distracting break in continuity, but more of avoiding a unpleasant experience.

I agree with this completely. When I saw them dodging people I thought about the budget issue but it was also set up to be a logical thing for them to do because like you said we saw that it was unpleasant for them and it would also be a force of habit issue.

[raknor]

Obviously a bit late to add my thoughts but hey I'm new here!!

Thankfully the series seems to picking up a bit from a slow and somewhat confusing start. I tend to agree with a lot of people's sentiment that it was great to see daniel and sam having some good interaction and also some good team interaction which I think has been sadly missing as of late.

Properly upset some but mitchell is still not really doing it for me, was slightly less annoying and yes i did have a laugh at him and sam hitting each other .... although i did wish that teal'c had caught when he went to hit him ... but that's just me.

Not minding the artherian legend as much as some, but someone on here (sorry can't remembr who or whom!) did make the point that compared to eygptian mythology it does come off as a bit childish.

Most say looking forward to Ori ships etc next episode

[Jonzey]

Actually, you would only need to learn how to send (say in the event of an emergenncy), since they could hear the other people just fine. Not to mention they could do it slowly and have a cheat sheet in front of them if tit helped.



No, but learning the specific skills that Sam and Daniel are familar with are fairly related.

Again, they wouldn't have to use morse. I remember back in HS, when my history teacher was telling us about some of the codes that prisoners would develop in order to communicate. Carter and Daniel should know at more than a high schooler would in this field, and should've come up something better than "yes" and "no."

I still don't understand what you think they needed to communicate by morse code.

[warmbeachbrat]

Actually, you would only need to learn how to send (say in the event of an emergenncy), since they could hear the other people just fine. Not to mention they could do it slowly and have a cheat sheet in front of them if tit helped.

Earlier someone was saying that it was a big plot hole that Teal'c could hear Mitchell on the Sodans' planet. It just struck me reading your post, but wouldn't the same thing be a plot hole with Sam, Cam, and Dan (say that three times fast!) being able to hear everyone else at the SGC?

[Dani347]

I really failt to see how morse code could make the process simpler. I mean, take the word no. (I pulled up a morse code website online). In morse code, wouldn't it be "-. --- " Which seems a lot longer than pointing to a letter and pressing a key.
And, only Daniel would be able to use morse code. And, it seems to me that him using morse code would take longer than pointing to a letter and waiting for a yes or no. The only method that Sam and Mitchell had to communicate was the device. And, like Daniel said, they couldn't go around pushing random buttons. All they could do was press the button they deemed the "yes" or "no" button.

[Dutch_Razor]

So now we have an Ascend-o-blaster