From Knowing it all to knowing very little

[Artemis-Neith]

Some things are realistic and some things are not. Still wonder how a couple of blocks of ice can provide water for the entire ship. There has been a lot of Deus Ex Machina in this show as well. But it goes with Science Fiction type shows. It absolutley does not make it better or worse than the other shows.

That's indeed true!

Besides, I got the impression that SGU is not so bad in the realistic realm, that's one (of many) reasons I like the show.

[jelgate]

Given Rush seems to have a wider knowledge outside the field of just maths, I'd suggest he was recruited for more. And sure, it might have been for recipes or more likely, cryptography, linguistics, physics. Loads of stuff.

To have a degree in what Rush has good math skills are a must.

[magictrick]

I assume Rush was originally brought on to solve the math problem, but as he continued to work with the Stargate program he gained knowledge on other aspects as well, including Ancient tech.

[thekillman]

the couple of blocks of ice didn;t provide sufficient water. Destiny still had a ton. the creatures used it, but once gone the water kept stable. besides destiny has water reclamation, so the few blocks would've provided drink water at least.

[garhkal]

I assume Rush was originally brought on to solve the math problem, but as he continued to work with the Stargate program he gained knowledge on other aspects as well, including Ancient tech.

Well we know from this weeks ep that he worked on other things besides the Icarus project, as confirmed by his potential new squeeze..

[The Swarm]

We also know from the episode "Sabotage" that he worked at SGC, which is a massive plothole since Atlantis is also on Earth, rendering the old Stargate useless thus the futility of maintaining SGC.

[s09119]

We also know from the episode "Sabotage" that he worked at SGC, which is a massive plothole since Atlantis is also on Earth, rendering the old Stargate useless thus the futility of maintaining SGC.

You're operating on the assumption that Atlantis is still there... and that the Air Force would be stupid enough to get rid of their secret underground facility in favor of of glass city sitting wide out in the open. Conducting SG-related operations in San Francisco Bay is not the smartest idea in the world.

[Ben 'Teal'c would WIN!!' Noble]

Em, I am confused about the term deus ex machina does it mean a convenient plot device or something else.

[lordofseas]

We also know from the episode "Sabotage" that he worked at SGC, which is a massive plothole since Atlantis is also on Earth, rendering the old Stargate useless thus the futility of maintaining SGC.

You're assuming Atlantis was on Earth while Rush was on Earth. Rush could have worked on Earth, then get eventually brought to the Alpha Site, before EatG.

[Cory Holmes]

Em, I am confused about the term deus ex machina does it mean a convenient plot device or something else.

It means "god from the machine", literally. In ancient times the Greeks and Romans would be watching a play and the situation would be dire and in-escapable... until one of the gods (lowered onto the stage by cranes and stagehands) would wave their hands and make it all better. It means a far too convienient plot development that makes everything all better in the last five minutes of the show.

[FromOutside]

I wouldn't it all went from knowing everything from knowing nothing because of everybody are just common people with normal intelligence, not super-human like McKay's seemed to be. That is because of Eli and how quick he learned everything. He is practically Rush's second in command in science team and when TJ says in Faith that

Spoiler:

she is about 15th weeks. The crew had stayed in planet about a month, so before Faith the crew had been on Destiny under 3 months. In that time, Eli has learned so much he seems to be one of the bests on the ship even when he didn't know anything about the ancients before the whole mess.

Not a "it takes 5 minutes before the ship can fly" but not a usual slow learning process either. Also he is very young and was an unemployed drop-out, so he can't have that much hard earned knowledge gained from experience.

Destiny isn't a 'try and learn' environment and basically everything ha has had is time and his skill with mathematics. With some things it likely helps but I don't thinks it can make up his quickness. So basically he is pulling out his successes from the same place as McKay did.

Not even the "wrong" people, just normal ones.

More I see, more I think they actually are the wrong people. Normal people can cooperate and work together even when the situation turns dire but Rush, Young and Wry keep messing with each other and turning people under their command after others. They keep making small plots without thinking they need to live with their choices because on the ship they can't walk away. I think most of so called normal people understand this and can work with people from other fields, too. They are like teenagers or children from small town trying to figure out how the life works: if you hit a person, s/he is going to be mad at you and if you need to hang around with s/he, it is not going to be fun!

I must confess, this is what is slowly making me like SGU. Surprisingly many people grown up in bigger places seem to lack this understanding, or they just don't care they anger people and in situation they don't want to, they can't find a way not to. Maybe it is that in a place one can find the most similar people and there is no need to learn to interact with the ones who think very differently, but in a small town one gets very lonely very fast if he doesn't befriend with the ones who think and act differently.

Anyway, the point is that people on Destiny seem not to be just ordinary but wrong because ordinary people can understand how to work with other people who are not from the same field. Some conflicts will likely rise with ordinary people but they are not solved with a conspiracy, a huge rock or a pointy stick stuck on somebody's hearth.

[thekillman]

i wouldn't call it knowing very little. we know a lot. it's just that we are now at realistic levels of knowledge.

also Eli didn't spend ages offworld like samantha carter and rodney mckay. he spent most of his time on the ship, most of his time working on the systems, trying to get control, trying to repair stuff, surrounded by people with knowledge of science and engineering. besides he's quite young, meaning he can learn faster than older people.

[magictrick]

I wouldn't it all went from knowing everything from knowing nothing because of everybody are just common people with normal intelligence, not super-human like McKay's seemed to be. That is because of Eli and how quick he learned everything. He is practically Rush's second in command in science team and when TJ says in Faith

He is a natural genius, as has been established in the story. But even so his knowledge is limited in that he can't come up with a magical solution like McKay and Carter can when any solution seems impossible. Plus he played that Ancient game that was specifically designed so that someone would solve the problem. The game was based on reality so Eli already had some background knowledge from that.

[Ben 'Teal'c would WIN!!' Noble]

It means "god from the machine", literally. In ancient times the Greeks and Romans would be watching a play and the situation would be dire and in-escapable... until one of the gods (lowered onto the stage by cranes and stagehands) would wave their hands and make it all better. It means a far too convienient plot development that makes everything all better in the last five minutes of the show.

Thankyou,

[kymeric]

Actually worse than not knowing how to work stuff, Rush has been wrong about alot of things. The age of the ship (millions not hundreds of thousands) the power (it wasnt dead it was in safe mode for recharging) the shield (it was enough to protect them inside a star when he thought it was 100% gone).

It might be the case of being locked out of the main systems and that he would know everything with full access. Or it could just be millions of years ahead of him.