Civilians on Destiny

[jelgate]

I still can't believe Young sent Eli and Chloe to that planet in Human, it was fair enough sending Eli along in Air since he was figuring out some of the tech but sending civilians to an unexplored and unsecured area is questionable, that never would have happened on Jack's watch - he was going nuts at the scientists in 'Prodigy' when they were going into areas they hadn't cleared.

The scenario was completely different. Jack didn't have the shortage of resource problems and lack of time that Young does.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

Yes, also add to that the fact that both Eli and Chloe proved capable-ish on that outing. Jack had the luxury of keeping scientists and soldiers separate. Young doesn't have that luxury.

[GateroomGuard]

The civillians on Destiny have a specific function and they should stick to it. They play a vital role on Destiny, so vital the ship could not go on without them.

1. They provide the Destiny with a feeling that people live on it with their constant walking aimlessly around the ship and talking.
2. They provide the 'Important' people with a supply of people they can pull out for dangerous situations where death is certain.
3. They provide useful threat gages when dealing with first contact with new lifeforms.
4. They provide useful tools for drama with their ability to be taken prisoner and join in mutiny's by other 'important' people.
5. They provide ample test subjets for the Destiny to kill or injure whenever the ship needs to seem dangerous.
6. They allow attacks on the ship to seem dangerous by always standing by a wall that will suddenly have a power surge and burn and electrocute them every time a random object hits Destiny.

That's the civillians jobs and they should stick to it. After all if they don't do it who will?

[Artemis-Neith]

The civillians on Destiny have a specific function and they should stick to it. They play a vital role on Destiny, so vital the ship could not go on without them.

1. They provide the Destiny with a feeling that people live on it with their constant walking aimlessly around the ship and talking.
2. They provide the 'Important' people with a supply of people they can pull out for dangerous situations where death is certain.
3. They provide useful threat gages when dealing with first contact with new lifeforms.
4. They provide useful tools for drama with their ability to be taken prisoner and join in mutiny's by other 'important' people.
5. They provide ample test subjets for the Destiny to kill or injure whenever the ship needs to seem dangerous.
6. They allow attacks on the ship to seem dangerous by always standing by a wall that will suddenly have a power surge and burn and electrocute them every time a random object hits Destiny.

That's the civillians jobs and they should stick to it. After all if they don't do it who will?

The soldiers of course, who else, and some of them asked already for that job!

Cilvilians are those who get lost on some more or less nice planets!

[Trevize]

It makes sense for a lot of the crew to be scientists. Why would regular civilians with no useful skills be on that base in the first place?

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

It makes sense for a lot of the crew to be scientists. Why would regular civilians with no useful skills be on that base in the first place?

this is actually a fairly interesting point

is civilian a matter of degree?
After all, a goodish number of those scientists are working on a military base, and have been for some time. They've also worked at SGC, also military. It doesn't make them soldiers of course but are they purely civilian at that point? I'm not making a claim that they are not, just that it may be more a matter of degree than anything else. In this way of thinking, that would make only Chloe, Wray and conceivably Eli as purely civilian.

Thoughts?

[Trevize]

this is actually a fairly interesting point

is civilian a matter of degree?
After all, a goodish number of those scientists are working on a military base, and have been for some time. They've also worked at SGC, also military. It doesn't make them soldiers of course but are they purely civilian at that point? I'm not making a claim that they are not, just that it may be more a matter of degree than anything else. In this way of thinking, that would make only Chloe, Wray and conceivably Eli as purely civilian.

Thoughts?

Depends how we want to classify civilians. If they're people with no military training whatsoever, then they are civilians. Jackson was trained, and had a LOT of combat experience after the first 8 years in the Stargate program, but he remained a civilian nonetheless. Now some people on Destiny have been around for a while, and have worked for Homeworld Security for a while, but I don't think that changes the fact that they are civilians. The only people who don't classify as civilians are those that are specifically in the military.

The rest, including Wray, Chloe and Eli, and all the scientists, are indeed civilians only. But in that kind of unique situation, I guess the lines get a little blurry, even though in his 10+ years in the program and after seeing more combat than most actual soldiers, Daniel remained a civilian working for the military, like those on Destiny.

[Artemis-Neith]

this is actually a fairly interesting point

is civilian a matter of degree?
After all, a goodish number of those scientists are working on a military base, and have been for some time. They've also worked at SGC, also military. It doesn't make them soldiers of course but are they purely civilian at that point? I'm not making a claim that they are not, just that it may be more a matter of degree than anything else. In this way of thinking, that would make only Chloe, Wray and conceivably Eli as purely civilian.

Thoughts?

Is soldier a matter of degree?

Yes it is. Soldiers are trained to be soldiers, and everyone of them chose on some part of his/her life to be a soldier.

As far as I understand the whole SGC is a military base, and so is every other base out there, like Icarus was. But that don't mean everybody with special skills who work there, has to be a soldier. A few scientists are (Riley?, and of course Carter from SG-1), but most are not. And in the case of Icarus quite a lot of scientists (please, sum up all engineers, and computer specialists also as scientists) made it during the emergency evacuation to Destiny, with the exception of Chloe, her father, Camile, and Eli, who've been the only "pure" civilians, without special scientists degrees.

I don't think that the pure fact that the scientists work for the military make them to something else than civilians. As you pointed out, they're not soldiers, and they will never be. All of them will remain civilians, up to the point someone want to join the military, if that is possible on Destiny.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

I believe that Trevize makes a very good point though, with the specific example of Daniel. Of course, he's not a soldier but he's not exactly purely civilian by that point. Yes, of course he remains so technically, but if we paint with a fuzzier brush, does he take on some military qualities? I think that on Destiny where that line is likely to get fuzzier over time, we might see more of those sorts of things. To cite a Destiny example, I think that Brody may be moving in that direction. Perhaps on earth there could be a nice dividing line between the two but I think the circumstances may be different, due to necessity. I believe we may also see that line fuzzed up a bit with the military taking on more and more science roles?

[Pharaoh Atem]

it's better not to introduce the entire civilian population at once it's makes room for people like 'cain' and others to come in for a few eps

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

it's better not to introduce the entire civilian population at once it's makes room for people like 'cain' and others to come in for a few eps

yep, and you don't have to find ways to add new people or, yikes, aliens, as characters that way

[GateroomGuard]

yep, and you don't have to find ways to add new people or, yikes, aliens, as characters that way

Of course that will bring up some awkward scenarios if they make a new main character out of one of those civillians we've never seen until season 3.
Scott: So your an expert in all things Ancient and you've lived on Destiny with us for the past 3 years. Why is this the first time I've run into you?
NewGuy: I was... In my quarters a really long time.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

Of course that will bring up some awkward scenarios if they make a new main character out of one of those civillians we've never seen until season 3.
Scott: So your an expert in all things Ancient and you've lived on Destiny with us for the past 3 years. Why is this the first time I've run into you?
NewGuy: I was... In my quarters a really long time.

but we do see a lot of these people and I think SGU is keeping the super experty type people down to a minimum

[GateroomGuard]

but we do see a lot of these people and I think SGU is keeping the super experty type people down to a minimum

If they have shown up by now I wouldn't mind but if 3 seasons down the road Dr. Mac Guffin shows up out of the blue and acts like he's been on the ship the whole time I'll raise my eyebrows and shake my head.