So Perry ..not McKay or Carter .

[Petra]

she's the person that actually thoroughly studied all the stuff the SG teams bring back. as in, making a living out of it. Mckay and Carter spend the majority of the time offworld, time she dedicated to hyperdrive research. it's possible she was the inventor or one of the creators of the Prometheus' hyperdrive

Actually that was Sam Carter.
You may want to watch Redemption, Prometheus and other episodes dealing with Earth ships' hyperdrives again.

I totally understand why Carter, or McKay for that matter, weren't used. IMO Lahela said it best; each show has its own resident genius(es) and even if another one is brought in, s/he is written in the way so as not to steal spotlight from that show's regulars. Personally, as much as I love Sam, I wouldn't want her to come to Destiny to help out - it's not her show, for one. Besides there are very good in-universe reasons for it: she's in command of Hammond, she's busy, she has other duties and priorities now.

Having said that, however, I object to her not being even mentioned, especially in the light of all her work on hyperdrives on SG-1. That, for me, was a glaring mistake. I already said it on the Episode Discussion thread: SGU's been very successful with blending in with the previous shows' mythology and universe and ignoring Sam in this case pulled me out of the ep for a moment. Seriously, one line like "Well, there's Col Carter obviously, but since she isn't available, I'd recommend..." would solve the problem.

Btw, does somebody know what is McKay's area of expertise? He was introduced as a Gate/wormhole expert in SG-1 but I don't remember if something changed on SGA in that regard.

[Azzers]

The truth is, I have no problem with an SG1 or Atlantis charecter being brought in to the show, provided two things happen. One, the charecter needs to have a harder edge or if he does not, they need to show how that's going to grate on the crew. I think the harder edge might be assumed if we figure that SG1/SGA are a different style of show and therefore the charecter's are presented one way on them. In SGU, we see the darker side. Or, they stay true to the original show's and we get charecters who are joking and complaining their way through problems. Outside of Eli, I'm not sure any of the crew is going to find that amusing. In fact, you may end up with a situation where by the end of the episode, the Destiny crew is trying to find a way to kick them off the ship. Rodney McKay alone is enough to make anyone want to pull the stone. Things are depressing enough without someone telling you "we're probably going to die if I can't fix it " every five seconds.

Second, I think they should be visiting at the request of Earth because there is something they wish to see. As I think we've discussed on this thread, SGA and SG1 charecters tended to be able to "fix everything" in every episode. So I'd steer them away from directly helping the crew fix problems.

Again, two reasons. One, if they do start fixing everything... I think that damages the forward momentum of the Destiny crew story wise. Second, if we show them as more SGU realistic, I'm not sure that doesn't damage the original charecters. I mean, if Sam shows up and she can't fix an ancient ship in one episode, is she just getting old? I don't think it serves the charecters to have have them show up and show just how unrealistic SGA and SG1 were. Can we show them as less emotionally flamboyant? Sure. Just please don't deminish their skills. Their skills and internal drive are the only thing that prevents complete suspension of disbelief on SG1 and SGA.

My only exception to this rule will be this. If you can bring in an SG1/SGA charecter that has a prior history with an existing crew member, bring 'em on. If Daniel has some unfinished business with Rush, I want to see it. If Zelenka and Brody were old friends and there's a problem they'd like to work on together and the story fits, why not? But please, don't give me a guest star who's there to tech the tech. Don't do it.

[Puddle-Jumper]

carter, mckay and zelenka are by far the 3 biggest experts, hands on experts, perry has been in a wheel chair since she was 9...how many hyper drives do you think she has actually done real work with .... its a story! it wouldnt be all that dramatic for mckay or anyone else we know to go in there the basis of the story was a person in a wheel chair gets to walk and help the crew

It doesn't matter how fast she can take a hyperdrive apart and put it back together again, she designs them so its safe to say she knows them inside out and upside down..... it does matter how intelligent she is and how she understands the concepts and the science behind them, and how the technology utilizes them, and her being in a wheelchair most likely means that she would have put everything into academics with little to no distractions.

Rush just wanted to give Perry a chance to walk and stuff

True, but Rush is always looking out for himself, and if he thought for a second that there was someone that would give him a better chance at survival Im sure thats who he would have called...

Ya I was delighted to see that Carter and McKay aren't the only scientists that Earth can rely on... Even the other hyperdrive specialists were people we hadnt heard of before, I think tptb are kinda regretting having McKay the way he was in SGA, solving the most impossible science in ten minutes, Carter wasn't as bad, and her character might even fit in if she were brought aboard Destiny for a cameo...

[Replicator Todd]

I really wish we got to see Mckay or Carter...or even Zelenka or Dr. Lee! But I do like the character that was chosen.

[Kentucky]

I can't see anything short of threats of impending death by citrus convincing McKay to use the stones. He would freak out over the idea of someone else in his body and all the possible complications which could result from using the device.

[g.o.d]

pressing few buttons on a laptop can't solve Destiny's problems. That's why they didn't choose McKay or Carter

[Astrofighter]

and perry did.....oh wait she pressed a couple buttons on a console...

[brian_177]

Aside what people have already said about McKay and Carter being all-around smart people, versus Perry who's a hyperdrive expert, there are other explanations within the story that make perfect sense.

Example: We know that Carter is in command of the Hammond--and for all we know the Hammond is out and about right now... maybe weeks away, maybe days. Maybe McKay is busy doing something on Atlantis of equal importance--maybe they've taken the city out for a quick spin round the galaxy. Whatever the reason(s) behind not bringing in McKay or Carter might be, it was probably for the best--if either of them were there it would be a "yay" moment for fans, but not much more.

Out of curiosity, how many stones do we have capable of making a connection with Earth? Why only bring one scientist?

[SBN]

If people really want to see either Carter or McKay, they have 15 seasons of episodes to watch. But neither has a place on this show, especially McKay. The tone and style just does not fit, it would be akin to having Seinfeld crossover to Law and Order SVU, yeah that would work wonders.

At best any past characters should have very limited cameos, such as they have done so far with O'Neil and Jackson. Say the lines and exist stage left.

[wingsabre]

I'm assuming that McKay is back on Atlantis, and Atlantis is back in Pegasus. If MGM were not in the financial trouble they are in right now, the Atlantis movie would probably have been produced, and I think it was the intention of that movie to take place immediately after Enemy at the Gate. Plus, he's McKay. He may be smart, but not a lot of people will like working with him.

Carter, well she has her own ship, and I would assume that it's far harder to call her back and leave her post.

I got the feeling that it looks like Earth is trying to develop their own FTL type of technology, and maybe she was one of the specialist that were developing it independently from an academic position, with unknown knowledge of the Stargate Program. Either that, or she was tasked to develop an FTL technology before the Asguard gave us the hyper drives.

[Tuvok]

and perry did.....oh wait she pressed a couple buttons on a console...

Yeah that's totally the same !

Except she didn't do it single handed.

And was combined effort of Eli, Rush herself and other scientists working out the math and systems

And took a couple of weeks instead of of a couple of hours tops.

But yeah, totally the same !

[brian_177]

At best any past characters should have very limited cameos, such as they have done so far with O'Neil and Jackson. Say the lines and exist stage left.

Limited cameos or significant intervention, in my opinion. I think (if they could think up legit reason for it) the Hammond coming to Destiny's rescue in some crazy battle after all hope was lost in a two parter would be fine, as a totally random example.

[Captain Obvious]

Remember rush said " she is working on the next generation of hyperdrive technology". The stuff that most likely utilizes asgard and alteran tech in new and complicated ways.

These means destiny's hyperdrives are likely better than anything we currently have if rush is looking for someone versed in essentially experimental technologies.

[Phenom]

Why is it so surprising that Mckay and Carter weren't the first ones called upon. I find it completely plausible that there would be scientists who have devoted years to one single aspect of alien tech, as opposed to Mckay and Carter generally being field scientists who have a good grasp of lots of areas.

[Tuvok]

Why is it so surprising that Mckay and Carter weren't the first ones called upon. I find it completely plausible that there would be scientists who have devoted years to one single aspect of alien tech, as opposed to Mckay and Carter generally being field scientists who have a good grasp of lots of areas.

Well..to be fair they are fan favorites and the main technical genies of the last two shows.

After they blow up a sun , and get unfinished Atlantean tech to work within hours. The fans expect them to fix everything. Which kind of traps the characters as a literal Deus ex Machinca of plot. Thankfully something SGU has avoided. They are brilliant men and womenon board , but they just barely manage to keep things working and not perform mechanical miracles on a weekly basis.