Cliched creatures

[Shan Bruce Lee]

When you find a spider that looks like that on Earth you can whine all you like. I've never seen one.

To me it just looked like an alien spider-looking thing on a planet with conditions a lot like Earth.

[EllieVee]

Actually, most of the spiders in my garage are exactly like that ...

[Pharaoh Atem]

Why are there always giant spiders?

cause someone dressing up in a monster suit is so 1960
s

[vszulc]

My problem wasn't so much the spider, than the whole setup to it.
A spider like creature living in catacombs? Sure I'll buy that. Or I would, if there were any other signs of life besides that one. If we're to believe that evolution created a creature like that, where's the rest of the animal life? (what on earth does it live off?)

And of course it happens on a planet, where the Destiny only stops for six hours, and of course Greer shot off half a clip of ammo, instead of shooting with a short 3 burst like the military is trained to. The whole thing just seemed like a cheap set up and unimaginative episode-filler to me.

And unfortunately, we didn't hear a word on what made the place interesting in the first place: The ruins and the aliens who build them.

[EllieVee]

My problem wasn't so much the spider, than the whole setup to it.
A spider like creature living in catacombs? Sure I'll buy that. Or I would, if there were any other signs of life besides that one. If we're to believe that evolution created a creature like that, where's the rest of the animal life? (what on earth does it live off?)

Consider that given how cobwebby it was, there are likely to be insects of some sort. Birds. Reptiles. The possibilities are as infinite as your imagination allows. A far more interesting question for me is what would live on it.

And of course it happens on a planet, where the Destiny only stops for six hours, and of course Greer shot off half a clip of ammo, instead of shooting with a short 3 burst like the military is trained to. The whole thing just seemed like a cheap set up and unimaginative episode-filler to me.

Perhaps you didn't see the ending where it was clearly a set-up for the following episode.

And unfortunately, we didn't hear a word on what made the place interesting in the first place: The ruins and the aliens who build them.

I know! Brilliant!

[SBN]

The alternative could always be highly imaginative creatures that have zero probability of ever existing? The vast majority of creatures both great and small shown in both SciFi and Horror films tend to be unrealistic enough that it is only in one's imagination they could ever exist.

I tend to believe however there are certain laws governing how, where, why it exists. Earth is a pretty good place to study how life evolves, in fact right now it is the only known place we can study. There are over 1.5 million species on earth, vast majority (90% I believe) are insects. There is a reason for that, just like there is a reason the cockroaches will inherit the earth after we nuke it. So seeing an insect like creature on a foreign planet does not surprise me, in fact odds are given what we know now, this is the probability of what we would find first.

Sure it could have been a flying purple dragon with 3 heads, but really this is Science Fiction after all. Like the creatures in the Alien movies, while they are quite scary good fun, they are also an impracticality that will never exist outside of a few films.

[vszulc]

Spoiler:

The vast majority of creatures both great and small shown in both SciFi and Horror films tend to be unrealistic enough that it is only in one's imagination they could ever exist.

Well that's your opinion, and you obviously don't know that much about evolutionary biology.
There is no set of rules that govern how life would develop, and the circumstances that have affected life on our planet, meteor showers, ice ages, mass extinctions are unique events that ensure that if life would develop anywhere else, it would most likely be drastically different from what we see on earth.

Bipedal motion for example, is widespread on earth for example, but there's no reason why creatures with 3 or 6 or 8 limbs wouldn't become dominant on another planet. The sky really is the limit here, along with the imagination of the writers, and while I agree with you that there's no reason to go overboard, a giant spider is just as lazy as you can get.

I know! Brilliant!

Stuff like this is probably the reason for SGU's failing ratings. Instead of giving viewers what they want (Scifi and action, though there's no reason why that can't be served with a healthy serving of characterisation and an ensemble cast), all the sci-fi and action elements in SGU apparently only exist to lead up to more halfassed, averagely executed character-drama.

[EllieVee]

Stuff like this is probably the reason for SGU's failing ratings. Instead of giving viewers what they want (Scifi and action, though there's no reason why that can't be served with a healthy serving of characterisation and an ensemble cast), all the sci-fi and action elements in SGU apparently only exist to lead up to more halfassed, averagely executed character-drama.

Just so you know, I was being ironic ...

[vszulc]

I know... I was just going off on a tangent, cause it really ****es me off that this show has so much potential, and then proceeds to completely waste it, every time it has a chance for a little actual scifi or action

[EllieVee]

I know... I was just going off on a tangent, cause it really ****es me off that this show has so much potential, and then proceeds to completely waste it, every time it has a chance for a little actual scifi or action

Well, if you're going to do that I suggest you don't quote people.

Besides, your rant is nonsense. You don't know what people want; you can only say what you want. If you want superficial action adventure then this isn't the show for you.

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

My problem wasn't so much the spider, than the whole setup to it.
A spider like creature living in catacombs? Sure I'll buy that. Or I would, if there were any other signs of life besides that one. If we're to believe that evolution created a creature like that, where's the rest of the animal life? (what on earth does it live off?)

And of course it happens on a planet, where the Destiny only stops for six hours, and of course Greer shot off half a clip of ammo, instead of shooting with a short 3 burst like the military is trained to. The whole thing just seemed like a cheap set up and unimaginative episode-filler to me.

Must the whole episode be a nature documentary to satisfy your nitpicking? It's an earth like planet, I'm sure there's plenty of wildlife, but if you happened to take a walk through the wild, even on good old earth, you aren't going to be mobbed by animals. Prey will try and stay out of your way, what your more likely to see, just like in SGU are the predators.

And actually Greer fired several bursts. The G36 has no burst selector, you can't pull the trigger and let out 3 round bursts, it goes safe, semi auto, full auto, so getting neat 3 round bursts isn't going to happen. Greer fires several 3 to 5 round bursts in short succession with the weapon on fully auto, relying on his own judgment and in a panicked situation they aren't going to be perfect bursts of fire of the same length. And it's magazine not clip (sorry military nitpickiness kicking in here).

[prion]

Did it beat up anyone? Some bloke in Australia went for a run and got beaten up by a kangaroo a couple of months ago.

Oh please, a kangaroo? (said with mock acerbicity or whatever) . Some guy in NZ got beaten up by a WOMBAt! A cute cuddly wombat! Aiee, the world has gone mad!

But, back to George (@marksavela wonders about my naming his critters), our poor dear departed arachnid, who was merely defending his home from the noisy ill-considerate human intruders. The thing that the folks trapped down there shoudl taken into consideration is that a spider that size is usually eating something it's own size or considerably bigger. THAT's what I'd worry about. but in reality, it's usually the teensy black widow that bites you on the butt (yes, many people are bitten there) that's the more poisonous ones.

[MattSilver 3k]

I know... I was just going off on a tangent, cause it really ****es me off that this show has so much potential, and then proceeds to completely waste it, every time it has a chance for a little actual scifi or action

Warning: Viewers Opinions May Differ.

I'm thinking that you're just hoping SGU becomes something it isn't...

[Spimman]

I thought the spider thingy was kinda cool, although I'll admit some differences (even slight ones) would go a long way in impressing me even more.

[fmbchris]

The spider kinda reminds me of the ones from Steven King's "The Mist", they had jaws and white teeth just like the one in this episode. I wonder if anyone else made the connection?