'The Hunt' (216) General Discussion

[Gatefan1976]

Oh, laughable. I guess those writers didn't care for real issues in the Stargate franchise in genreal when they had human characters travelling safely in large metal vehicles that fly at warp speeds throughout the galaxy (not realistic at all and ikely very deadly to boot) . Or how about space battles with loud explosions and ships catching on fire. I, mean, if we're going to pick at unrealistic circumstances in sci fi TV and Stargate in particular we would be at it all week. SGU has tried to bring a more realistic approach to the Staragate franchise, but that does not mean it cannot fall back on some of the same escapisms from logic that almost all TV series are guilty of. What was TPTB of SGU supposed to do. Order all of its actors to lose considerable weight?

No, you are missing the entire point IMHO. Warp drives (or in this case FTL), sundives, a ship that has existed for anywhere between hundreds of thousands of years to tens of millions of years, A gate that can transport you across millions of lightyears in instants, etc, etc, these are all conceits of the show you accept because thats what the show uses to tell its story. What pulls people out of that acceptance is the "little things". Why does the Hydro-dome have tree's and a park bench? Why does TJ now have access to 40-50 glass vials to hold her "medicinals"? Who bothered to pack all the bedding for the expedition? Where does the neverending supply of makeup come from?
I mean, they aren't "big things" to be sure, but I want to know how and why they got this stuff because if you want realism, everything that can make sense, should make sense.

[Airlock]

No, you are missing the entire point IMHO. Warp drives (or in this case FTL), sundives, a ship that has existed for anywhere between hundreds of thousands of years to tens of millions of years, A gate that can transport you across millions of lightyears in instants, etc, etc, these are all conceits of the show you accept because thats what the show uses to tell its story. What pulls people out of that acceptance is the "little things". Why does the Hydro-dome have tree's and a park bench? Why does TJ now have access to 40-50 glass vials to hold her "medicinals"? Who bothered to pack all the bedding for the expedition? Where does the neverending supply of makeup come from?
I mean, they aren't "big things" to be sure, but I want to know how and why they got this stuff because if you want realism, everything that can make sense, should make sense.

agreed. those "little things" have bothered me since day 1. They all wear the same clothes every day, yet they are always fresh and never soiled. Everyone maintains their grooming -- hair, makeup, clean laundry, (all their underwear alone would be disgusting by now ), all the men stay shaven, and it's utter bull that Col. Young or anyone else went to grab their electric shaver as Icarus base was being attacked. They would all be clearly and visibly suffering from malnutrition if not already dead as a result. The list can go on, but maybe all these things are obvious. For me these observations detract from the credibility of the storytelling, which aims for greater realism and a principle focus on "consequence."

I've learned to just accept it as the unfortunate byproduct of writing for television, because in all likelihood if they went for total accuracy (aside from the obvious theoretical science as the main premise) than they would all be long dead and we wouldn't really have a show. But in my opinion, the writers could do a better job of paying attention to those "little things" and not simply leaving it up to magic as a fair explanation. That would score soooo many points with this humble viewer.

[FixTheGate]

Now its finally beginning to have that familiar taste of Stargate, just a shame that it needed to be cooked for so long to get there. I actually enjoyed this and it was also nice to see Mckay again in the previous ep.

Now it tastes good but there is just so little left to enjoy

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

I don't think anyone is using make up, just the stuff they have to wear for the cameras and lighting. And the bedding was already there when they got there.

[themyst]

The food issue has disturbed me. Eli and a few others, well, I think they'd be looking a bit trimmer if they were really on such tight rations. Not that there's anything wrong with them as it is ... but it just doesn't make the story as credible. Another thing I've been wondering about is their never ending supply of ammo. I'd like to think these were details that were overlooked, but I don't think so. They're obvious enough, I think maybe they just didn't bother with these details on purpose for some reason. Too difficult to achieve the gaunt look maybe? I don't know.

[jelgate]

The food issue has disturbed me. Eli and a few others, well, I think they'd be looking a bit trimmer if they were really on such tight rations. Not that there's anything wrong with them as it is ... but it just doesn't make the story as credible. Another thing I've been wondering about is their never ending supply of ammo. I'd like to think these were details that were overlooked, but I don't think so. They're obvious enough, I think maybe they just didn't bother with these details on purpose for some reason. Too difficult to achieve the gaunt look maybe? I don't know.

The only way to do that would be to have the actors be put on extreme diets which could be dangerous to some of the actors. Sometimes realism takes a back seat to the welfare of the cast and crew. As for ammo they really haven't fired their guns that often and they probably got a lot from the Incursion episodes

[themyst]

Very good - but then I wonder why they didn't write in more food-finding-gathering scenes so perhaps we would know that they had ample food for the time being but could still be kept on edge by constantly worrying about re-stocking food supplies as they stopped by different planets.

I know there were some food gathering scenes, but most of the time you had them sitting around in the mess hall picking and poking disinterestedly at tiny portions of who knows what - and then just eating enough for temporary sustenance.

[g.o.d]

in a past I always hated a typical Sg episodes. Hunting and shooting something in Vancouver forest. But this episode was excellent. Shame there werent TJ's flashbacks

[traylormatt]

Very good - but then I wonder why they didn't write in more food-finding-gathering scenes so perhaps we would know that they had ample food for the time being but could still be kept on edge by constantly worrying about re-stocking food supplies as they stopped by different planets.

I know there were some food gathering scenes, but most of the time you had them sitting around in the mess hall picking and poking disinterestedly at tiny portions of who knows what - and then just eating enough for temporary sustenance.

Look at the garden they have been growing. They have been living a vegetarian lifestyle, not eating no food at all. I am a vegetarian and I can assure you I could do with losing a few lbs. I am more amazed at the militray keeping their physiques more so than Eli keeping fat. Your body will hold onto that fat for a long time, it will burn through the muscle straight away unless youre getting a lot of protein.

They explained them getting seeds, slowly finding new plants to eat during the first season. What do you get from those new plants? seeds. They don't need to keep finding new stuff as they clearly are growing their own stuff to live from and are not sufficiant on that for the time being. Only thing they like is some more meat etc which they get when they can. They don't need to explain them hunting for food or else it'll just get boring

"lets go pick some berries...pick pick pick" "oh wait what are we doing, we have lots of seeds on the ship already from last time. doiy. Lets get back to the ship" end of episode. woooohoooo.

They may want to get some stuff every now and again to freshen things up regarding taste, but other than that they have what they need and they're growing it.

[Rylor]

The only way to do that would be to have the actors be put on extreme diets which could be dangerous to some of the actors. Sometimes realism takes a back seat to the welfare of the cast and crew. As for ammo they really haven't fired their guns that often and they probably got a lot from the Incursion episodes

And don't forget "Twin Destinies". They doubled their food, ammo and medical supply, in addition to other things.

[traylormatt]

agreed. those "little things" have bothered me since day 1. They all wear the same clothes every day, yet they are always fresh and never soiled. Everyone maintains their grooming -- hair, makeup, clean laundry, (all their underwear alone would be disgusting by now ), all the men stay shaven, and it's utter bull that Col. Young or anyone else went to grab their electric shaver as Icarus base was being attacked. They would all be clearly and visibly suffering from malnutrition if not already dead as a result. The list can go on, but maybe all these things are obvious. For me these observations detract from the credibility of the storytelling, which aims for greater realism and a principle focus on "consequence."

I've learned to just accept it as the unfortunate byproduct of writing for television, because in all likelihood if they went for total accuracy (aside from the obvious theoretical science as the main premise) than they would all be long dead and we wouldn't really have a show. But in my opinion, the writers could do a better job of paying attention to those "little things" and not simply leaving it up to magic as a fair explanation. That would score soooo many points with this humble viewer.

Well they showed a shower, I think it is safe to presume that the ancients instaled a washing machine. Unless they were planning on taking a never ending supply of clean clothes.

They maintain their hair by cutting it. They will have scissors, snip sinp done. One of the people on board will be able to give an ok hair cut. Yes its a little hard to believe they brought a razor on board but atleast we saw it to understand why they aren't all beardy and we have seen them shaving their heads etc. We just saw them throwing through anything and everything, to believe one of the containers may have had some of those supplies in isnt that far fetched. They have tried to explain how they all look that way so really they have done what they need to.

They how shower facilities, it is safe to assume cloth washing facilities as it was a ship designed for long hauls, we have seen clothing being ruined and fixed by crew members (young's sock). We have to believe that they didnt stop and say "oh lets gra the razor" but simply it happened to be in one of the boxes (which is believeable, they could accidentally grabbed the box full of stationary for all we know), They did address the food issue. Original food taken being replenished with food now grown on the ship therefor no malnutrition.

[themyst]

I guess I was thinking that growing your food takes quite a bit of time, at least it does for me. There would have been months of meager meals in between waiting for the garden to grow. But I suppose it doesn't hurt to have a little imagination.

[Skiznot]

What's all this talk about Chloe not being insensitive? The girl might as well been giggling the entire time she was talking to the poor guy. She's the queen (princess?) of manipulating guys and her systematic breakdown of Eli was textbook in it's execution.

She practically led Volker to the wolves. If she could tell he was falling for Park, then how could she NOT have known Greer and Park have been bumping uglies for months? And lets be honest here, does anyone...ANYONE... think that Volker could get a woman away from Greer? Hell, if she was single he'd still be a longshot competing against the low frequency shaking of a loose wall panel.

Rush, while cruel, was at least trying to warn the guy off. Chloe on the other hand, decided she needed some entertainment.

Sounds like a lot of projecting. Greer and Park were not common knowledge on the ship. He only recently told Lt. Scott because Greer is a class act and keeps private things private. And since Park was a bed hopper early on, perhaps nobody knew she was serious about anyone. Thinking that Chloe was pushing Volker to go for it out of some sick cruelty is just nonsense. I understand if you don't like the character but it looks like there's some inventing intents and motivations that just aren't there. Of course figuring out intent can be part of the speculation I just don't see any evidence of that. Sounds more like she doesn't fit one of the handy archetypes of what a sci-fi character can be; she doesn't fit into the Geek culture clique so she must be evil.

[Airlock]

The food issue has disturbed me. Eli and a few others, well, I think they'd be looking a bit trimmer if they were really on such tight rations. Not that there's anything wrong with them as it is ... but it just doesn't make the story as credible. Another thing I've been wondering about is their never ending supply of ammo. I'd like to think these were details that were overlooked, but I don't think so. They're obvious enough, I think maybe they just didn't bother with these details on purpose for some reason. Too difficult to achieve the gaunt look maybe? I don't know.

Classic case of infinite ammo. To be fair, they haven't expended a terribly overwhelming amount of ammo and they did "restock" in Twin Destinies, but they would have needed to bring cases and cases of ammo aboard initially. I own and shoot guns and trust me, the weight adds up so fast. Ammo is really heavy. At the rate they're going through it, they would have had to lug many creates of military surplus ammo onto the Destiny to be in comfortable supply.

And don't even get me started on the infinite magazine. Stargate is among the most guilty of TV shows to abuse magazine capacity to the point that it's just funny. They don't use FNP90s in SGU like in SG-1 and SGA. All the military assault rifles in the show are M4 carbines + a few HKs. They're all select fire and have magazines that hold 30 rounds of 5.56x45mm NATO (or .223). They're usually firing in full-auto instead of semi-auto, which in real life would burn through those 30rnds in just a few seconds. But on tv they just lay down endless spray fire and every once in a while we'll see a magazine reload (if the director deems it relevant to show). SGU is still better about it than SG-1 and SGA.

But yeah, it's as if they have more guns and ammo than they do people. Sign me up!!

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

In fairness they first introduced the Greer Park thing in a kinosode.
http://stargate.mgm.com/view/character/171/index.html