'Common Descent' (217) General Discussion

[Vasilcin]

well Park is asian right ? ;P

And there may be more of them on the ship, i think i remember seeing a little asian guy with glasses on the faith planet... or did he stay ?

[Vasilcin]

totally agreeing with you, seeing how the seed ships has to construct the gates.... maybe naquada isn't native to other galaxies

[MattSilver 3k]

Favourite episode of the season, with Cloverdale, Twin Destinies, Hope and Malice trailing. After The Hunt, it was such a relief to get Rob Cooper's writing, and it really rocked my socks and was just awesome throughout. Everyone had a solid moment, but this was a huge Eli episode - and after the blows he's been getting with Ginn lately, it was awesome to see him take a stance and stick by it the entire time. Wray was too pretty great - feels like three weeks since we've seen her... Which it has, but she was good fun all 'round.

Episode like this is what I love about SGU.

[Commander Zelix]

That was one hour of quality Sci-Fi entertainment. It takes me back to the SG-1 days but with a modern twist to it.

Yep, this episode felt like a modern SG-1 episode (s1 to s6).

[Mr Evil 37]

For them to be there 2,000 years, the planets would have had to have been seeded 2,000+ years ago. So either the seed ships are faster and/or sent out more than just a couple of years before Destiny. And if more than a couple of years, probably not "the resources of an entire generation". But perhaps several generations.

We don't know how much time lapsed between launching the seep ships and launching Destiny. And even if we did, there are many explanations: it would make sense if the seed ships were faster than Destiny; the damage the Destiny has sustained has likely reduced it's speed over millions of years, so assuming the seed ships don't encounter any hostile aliens, the gap between them could easily increase; the seed ship the crew discovered could have been there for hundreds if not thousands of years before the Ursini found it.

And for a 2,000 year old gate, it certainly didn't seem to be overgrown with vegetation. And/or burried in dust/dirt.

You could say that about every single Stargate that has ever appeared in the entire Stargate franchise. But in this case, the Novus expedition who came to the planet likely cleared the gate of vegetation or debris.

[blazingfire]

They detonated C4 to unbury a gate in that episode where Riley died and now it gets destroyed with a single blast?? And where the hell was Varro??


Plotholes aside, I personally think this was one of the better episodes there with Time and Twin Destinies.
The ending was really great.
If they had more episodes like this, maybe the show wouldn't have done so bad in the ratings.

[Demoniser]

They detonated C4 to unbury a gate in that episode where Riley died and now it gets destroyed with a single blast?? And where the hell was Varro??
.

Hell, forget the c4, we've seen gates being hit by meteorites, alkesh, surviving inside a star, surviving the gravitational forces of a black hole, but somehow it survives a tiny drone damaging it.

Indestructible until it's convenient for it to be destructible .

Plot points aside, this was a good episode. SGU has been getting much better over the past season. While there are episodes that i think were pretty much filler, and a waste in the grand scheme of things (Cloverdale, Pathogen) overall it's been far better than the first season.

Looking forward to next week, and the remaining episodes, i'm hoping that the show goes out on a high note.

[Mr Evil 37]

Perhaps a directed energy blast to a single point would do more damage? Not sure. The drones were presumably designed to pierce ship hull, which has to be thick to retain atmosphere and hold out in a skirmish. Plus they are alien technology, so their weapons could be far more powerful than what the Ancients designed the Stargates for.

Another thing to consider is that the gates in the Destiny network are prototypes, so perhaps by the time they got to the Milky Way and Pegasus stage they were built of stronger stuff. Just a thought.

[senilegreen]

I thought the exact same thing. That was a stretch for me. The houses had roofing, and I think I saw glass windows. Everyone was wearing different clothes that were clearly sown, stitched, and tailored. Where did they get all those different fabrics? Eli was wearing a button down shirt that mind as well have been purchased at Sax Fith Avenue. Why would he be wearing that shirt all of a sudden? If they've had the means to make new clothes, don't you think they would have done that already? They've been wearing the same clothes since episode 1.

Yup, all those things.

In the Star Trek universe the replication machines is the gimmick that allows the stories to get around the lack of bodies to make things.

But Stargate Universe has no such out. Again, the problem is the lack of human laborers and practical craft skills, not the theoretical knowledge. How many people are on Destiny? 40 some plus the few LA. That's enough skill to keep from reverting totally to hunter-gatherer mode, but most people will spend most of their days dealing with finding and preparing food, and the remaining will be preoccupied with basic building of infrastructure (common buildings, wells, etc.)

I agree that the story as a whole had its charms, and that it had a bit of that SG-1 feel (stargate dependence, meeting other people, even the humor) but the writers really wrote a story hoping the viewers wouldn't stop and think about it.

[Egle01]

It's hard to watch such an awesome episode and not feel utter sadness that after episode 20 it's really over. Loved "Common Descent" from start to finish.

At first it seemed odd that after 2000 years they had equipment they didn't take with 'em in TD and it seemed to be in perfect condition. After learning they're just expedition team who's stuck, it made more sense.

It was painful to watch TJ seeing the kino recording.

Although I disliked the idea of another forest planet, it makes sense the the expedition team was sent to a habitable planet that's perfect for settlement.

3 - I repeat, THREE - episodes to go.

[traylormatt]

Yup, all those things.

In the Star Trek universe the replication machines is the gimmick that allows the stories to get around the lack of bodies to make things.

But Stargate Universe has no such out. Again, the problem is the lack of human laborers and practical craft skills, not the theoretical knowledge. How many people are on Destiny? 40 some plus the few LA. That's enough skill to keep from reverting totally to hunter-gatherer mode, but most people will spend most of their days dealing with finding and preparing food, and the remaining will be preoccupied with basic building of infrastructure (common buildings, wells, etc.)

I agree that the story as a whole had its charms, and that it had a bit of that SG-1 feel (stargate dependence, meeting other people, even the humor) but the writers really wrote a story hoping the viewers wouldn't stop and think about it.

As has already been established, They all of a basic knowledge of sewing and maintaining clothing. Couple that with Varro and the LA who have shown to be able to survive at a more basic level, living only by eating what they hunt, it is perfectly possible that they know how to make thread to make clothing. We saw them wearing clothing but those could still just be the very few they have made over decades. We have yet to see what the crew on board are capable of when they are given resources and as much time as needed.

Really, you think most of the people would spend most of their time hunting and preparing food? is that what they have been doing on Destiny to stay alive? I am pretty sure they would be able to plant gardens and grow food to a much larger scale then on Destiny. That would allow them to live to the level they have been on board so far and also harvest some for winter months. Then send out a few of the best hunters to gather meat and skin for clothing. And go fishing.

If some of the smartest minds we have ever known coupled with some excellent hunters cant manage to build a small society and slowly turn that into a larger society once they start farming and developing with the knowledge of what not to do to waste time but understand only what needs to be done for efficiency, then I am amazed that we have evolved to have indoor plumbing.

[Pecisk]

I don't want to hear anyone TORRENT SGU, this shows is worth the money!

Even if you can't buy it legally anywhere? And there is no any hope that you ever have any chance to?

[MechaThor]

Really good and interesting epsiode. Lots of great stuff packed into so little time, something SGU always did really well. Loved how it started off with the Drones, then just as you was thinking it would be a run and hide, run and hide style episode, DAM future people from the past.

The action, pace, the story and visuals where all fantastic. My only two issues was, 1. how easily the Stargate was damaged, although I guess it could be explained by saying that the Destiny Gates are not as strong as the MW ones, and i guess they are "budget gates", possibly only designed as a temporary network.
and 2. How quick the "oh no we're stranded...... oh look we're saved". However the way Ellie and Scott used the gate as a single was a awesome concept.

The episode was not as predictable as I first thought aswell, with me constantly exspecting the revelation of "our decedents made the drones", happy I was wrong though.

Fun Episode, looking forward to next week.

[Commander Zelix]

It was painful to watch TJ seeing the kino recording.

It was a great scene and idea, but I think they were all pretty cruel to play that recording in front of TJ. She just lost a child for god-sakes and there must be much more keno footage to watch than watching TJ giving birth. But again, it also shows that she can move on and have another child in the future.

[MattSilver 3k]

It was a great scene and idea, but I think they were all pretty cruel to play that recording in front of TJ. She just lost a child for god-sakes and there must be much more keno footage to watch than watching TJ giving birth. But again, it also shows that she can move on and have another child in the future.

I think, from the reaction, the footage suddenly jumped to her giving birth without them knowing, and by the time Eli had thought to even turn it off, TJ was too far into it and that would've been the truly cruel moment.