Wraith evolution

[Dr Weir]

Normal Wraith - Steve or Bob

Grunt http://www.stargatecaps.com/sga/s2/2...gate11717.html

Oh I see, I think that's a mask the wraith warriors wear.

[Qasim]

Oh I thought they were a different kind of wraith lol

[Xanderic]

You mean it might not make compelete sense? If it doesn't then

Spoiler:

more will probably be explained in the ep conversion.

lol I said it up there ^^^

[Ouroboros]

Apparently according to the new spoilers that were just posted.

Spoiler:

The Wraith are made when humans get a dose of the bug DNA somehow. The bug DNA then essentially turns a normal human into a Wraith. Apparently Beckett even finds a way to reverse the effects and turn Wraith back into humans!

[Qasim]

Actually it says [Michael episode but from the gift]

Spoiler:

the Wraith evolved from the bug, which fed on humans and gradually incorporated human DNA into its own

That is the answer to this question

More Spoilers for Michael http://www.gateworld.net/news/2005/0...niatlant.shtml

[Ouroboros]

Spoiler:

the Wraith evolved from the bug, which fed on humans and gradually incorporated human DNA into its own That is the answer to this question

That's ridiculous though. You can tell from just looking at them that they're way more human than they are bug.

Spoiler:

The sentence right before the on you quoted says Beckett finds a way to reverse the transformation by removing the bug aspects and what you end up with after that is an intact functioning human which requires a complete human genetic code not a bit of material that was absorbed by a bug, the whole deal.

In the sentance after they talk about how the human guy's shocked that being a Wraith is looked at as a disease that can be cured. This obviously points to the fact that he was somehow "contaminated" and that once the contamination was removed he became human again. If he was just a bug with some human DNA traits he'd have turned into a bug not a human right. You couldn't make a functioning human out of some scraps of genetic material a bug had absorbed over the years. Even if you account for all the mangling of genetic science that's going to go on in this episode. It's just plain impossible to build a complete puzzle when more than half the pieces are outright missing.

Then there's also the seeming fact that it says he was a former SGA Lieutenant and I don't think any of us remember seeing any giant bugs waiting to absorb human DNA on the initial expedition team.

Seriously if they go with the idea that the Wraith are more bug than human that's just being uneccesarily stupid for it's own sake since there's no good plot reason why it can't just be the opposite sensible way. If they were more bug than human, bugs that absorbed some human DNA, they'd well... look like giant bugs ala the end of the fly or the movie Mimic. Instead they look like blue people and it's even possible to turn them back into normal people just by giving them shots to supress their creepy crawly side. So obviously they're pretty much human right. Anyone can certainly conclude that much just from looking at one.

I'm holding off final judgement here until I actually see how the whole thing gets described in the actual episode. The spoilers could just be worded incorrectly or be otherwise misleading from the actual intent of the episode. I'm certainly hoping this is the case.

I've got to say if the Wraith really were giant mimic style bugs though they'd be infinitely more frightening than they are now, especially to SG:A's SFX bean counters.

[Qasim]

Just because they look more human doesnt mean anything and I am going to listen to the shows explanation

[Dr Weir]

Just because they look more human doesnt mean anything and I am going to listen to the shows explanation

It does. The route of evolution goes by the 1 with the least steps and wraith evolving from humans with bug DNA takes less steps than them evolving from bugs with human DNA.

[Qasim]

What if there was a mutation which accelarated the process?

[Dr Weir]

What if there was a mutation which accelarated the process?

Mutations tend to happen in all species at a constant rate which can be used to trance how old a species is before it evolved from a different one. It would take lots of mutations for a bug to be more like a human (like adding eyes, ears, hair, lose that long tail it had, get a complex brain etc) but with a human it'll take less mutations as alot of the traits were already there, just stuff like how it feeds, look of eyes etc are changed. Anyway from the spoilers I've been reading

Spoiler:

conversion and Michael show that the wraith probably did evolve from humans with bug DNA added to them.

As for a mutation that accelerates evolution is some way, a mutation affects 1 specific trait as one mutation affects just 1 gene which leads to one mutated product of it (the protein which leads to what we can see, the phenotype).

[Qasim]

OK then so why do the spoilers say

Spoiler:

the Wraith evolved from the bug, which fed on humans and gradually incorporated human DNA into its own

http://www.gateworld.net/news/2005/0...niatlant.shtml

[Dr Weir]

OK then so why do the spoilers say

Spoiler:

the Wraith evolved from the bug, which fed on humans and gradually incorporated human DNA into its own

http://www.gateworld.net/news/2005/0...niatlant.shtml

I don't know, maybe the only info on where the wraith came from is from the ep the gift at the mo, have to see in later eps.

Spoiler:

Just in conversion it really looks like Sheppard to becoming more like a wraith. Maybe there's another explanation.

[Ouroboros]

The best explanation right now is probably just that whoever wrote the spoiler worded it badly or accidently misinterpreted something about the episode.