Unnatural Selection (612)

[Dramaqueen]

Korben is right in that the command was just a "come to me where I am" command.

I think she was telling the truth in Menace about loosing control.

The replicators are programmed to replicate at all costs, so as they continue to replicate some will get farther and farther away from her. If just one got out of range she'd no longer be able to control what it does or where it goes, and it would stick to it's original programming: "replicate at all costs". And at some point she was turned off, so any replicators that she was still in control of would eventually start to do their own thing too.

I'm not completely convinced she'd lost total control at the SGC but that one replicator that Carter and Hammond were looking at did act on it's own, so she was either lossing control or she was ordering it to attack either way she had to be stopped and I think Jack did the right thing.

Well first, thanks for helping me to clear up the mess in my head ...but I'm still wondering how the command for the Replicators to come forth in her programming can work if she's lost control over them and, if Reese knew about the command and that it still worked, I mean she would, wouldn't she?

[sgeureka]

...but I'm still wondering how the command for the Replicators to come forth in her programming can work if she's lost control over them and, if Reese knew about the command and that it still worked, I mean she would, wouldn't she?

I always saw Reese as controlling the Replicators with her will, and since the human will is in connection with feelings and other irrational things of the mind...

I think Reese just paniced, got indecisive and hence lost control. Now if she is dead (her emotions are shut off) and the Asgards can somehow interconnect with the "all-Replicators-come-here"-routine, then there shouldn't be a problem.

[Mr Prophet]

Reese got herself shut-down, didn't she? Moreover though, some of the Reps might have got out of range, but the Asgard boosted the signal 'throughout the known universe'.

[infopackrat]

I think there are actually two possibilities: One, Jack shooting her probably caused a lot of flux and shorts, so the only retrieveable command remaining was "come to me." Two, as the replicators replicated, their programming evolved farther and farther from Reese until the only command they still recognized was the recall signal.

[Mio]

I think there are actually two possibilities: One, Jack shooting her probably caused a lot of flux and shorts, so the only retrieveable command remaining was "come to me." Two, as the replicators replicated, their programming evolved farther and farther from Reese until the only command they still recognized was the recall signal.

I believe from the way Thor worded it:

"The android, Reese, that you discovered and provided to us for study retained a single core command in her base programming which we believed all Replicators would still follow."

The second one is what he meant.... They hadn't evolved past the 'come to me' command.

[bcmilco]

Reese got herself shut-down, didn't she? Moreover though, some of the Reps might have got out of range, but the Asgard boosted the signal 'throughout the known universe'.

Jack shot Reese and then removed the battery from her neck.

Otherwise I agree, once the replicators were out of range there was nothing that Reese could do to stop them, she didn't have a powerful enough broadcast system to reach the replicators over any great distance, espceially not interstellar.

So until she can communicate with the replicators she has effectively lost control of them.

The Asgard implied that they connected her to something that would broadcast her "come to me" command to all the replicators, and that that is what made it possible for the Asgard to do what they did in Unnatural Selection.

[Roatbaum]

Jack was willing to leave Fifth because he refuses to see anything mechanical as having a right to life. His robot double had to die before he could accept that maybe it had been alive and he never had the slightest interest in reasoning with Reese.

As is my right, I have to disagree. Jack does what he has to do for the 'good' of the country he has chosen to protect. He knows the replicators are dangerous, he knew it would be dangerous for his robot double to be on the loose, (he didn't kill any of them) and Reece was flawed, therefore dangerous. He zatted Sam once too, because his job is to protect. Of course its all a matter of perception, this is how I perceive it, you perceive it in another way.

[Mr Prophet]

Jack shot Reese and then removed the battery from her neck.

I meant the first time. Why was she shut down when they found her?

[bcmilco]

I meant the first time. Why was she shut down when they found her?

Ah!

Didn't she say something about her "father" telling her to go to sleep? Maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

Edited to add:

REESE: My father knew there was danger. He told me to go to sleep. He said he would wake me when the danger went away.

Snagged this from the transcripts. Now this assumes she's telling the truth.

[Jill_Ion]

Both the Reese episode and Unnatural Selection made me think about what it is to be alive or sentient. The end of Unnatural Selection still bugs me. I wonder if Jack traded one problem for another? Yes, he solved the issue of the potential danger of taking an Advanced Replicator out of the time bubble in the short term, but in the long term, this very "human" Rep. has now experienced betrayal, which could completely mess him up and turn what appeared to be a "good" Rep into a "bad" Rep. Maybe cuz they expect the time bubble to last for thousands of years, Jack figures the issue will be solved long after everyone is dust?

Still, it bugs me that Sam had to lie to Fifth, even if it was the best thing (in the short term) for SG-1. It's like when Jack killed Reese. It may have been the right thing to do, but it didn't sit well with me. Guess that's why he's the colonel and I'm the viewer, eh?

I guess I'm an optimist and try to believe people (or machines) when they say things. Not that I want myself or the troops defending our planet to be gullible, but I think in both situations Jack was a little quick on the trigger. I'm not saying he was out of character, though, just making a decision I may not have made in the same situation.

As for why the Advanced Reps looked like humans, well, the obvious reason is for FX savings and getting some cool actors on the show. And they explained it by saying they wanted to look like their creator, Reese. (Problem though, with none of them being black, but I'm sure they weren't concerned about Earth's race relations.) But I sometimes see the "to be advanced we have to be like humans" concept rather arrogant. Kinda like Data from Star Trek:TNG always wanting to be "human." Yeah, being human is pretty neat most of the time, but I sure don't think we're the endall and beall of the Universe. Especially considering all of the neat creatures we've "met" through SG-1, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.

Take care!

[aAnubiSs]

I would have liked the Replicators to stay non-human. There's something to like about an ememy that doesn't care about feelings, moral... and sex ~~

[Selmak]

Didn't they become human to replicate that girl.

[ShadowMaat]

I've always said that if the A.I. Wars ever started, I'd be siding with the machines.

I, too, have issues with Jack's decision to abandon Fifth and while I understand all the rationalizations that have been spouted about why he did it and how he had "no choice" but to leave him behind, I'm never going to be entirely convinced and it still doesn't change the fact that it bothers me.

I felt the same way about Reese, too. She was trying to help when Jack barged in and "killed" her. I suppose that situation was a little more ambiguous due to communication, but I still didn't like it overmuch.

Someone said that they felt Jack was unsympathetic to android life- that even his own robo-self had to be dying before Jack would grudgingly admit that robo-SG-1 was just as alive/real as their human counterparts. I agree with that assessment. Jack's definition of "alive" seems to be narrowed specifically to creatures of flesh and blood. It's another reason that his character has fallen out of favor in my eyes.

Vague spoilers for S8 New Order
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Of course, Jack's actions set things up nicely for a fantastic potential story arc in New Order, but at the time Unnatural Selection was written, TPTB didn't know if there'd be another season. If S7 had been the end, then Fifth and the others would have been forever trapped by the time dilation device. It seems like an awfully harsh end for a very "human" character, regardless of what his brethren were like.

I shall be curious to see how (or even if) this storyline gets developed...

[Selmak]

First kinda looks like jack to me... in a weird way.

[Selmak]

The replicators actually become evil... before they were just bugs replicating

[Liv]

I just have to point out that that look on Teal'c:s face when Jack tries to eat from his food canister (is it ice-cream?) is about the funniest thing ever. I could not stop laughing. It´s a good thing I wasn´t eating anything at that particular moment cause I might have choked on it. Priceless.

[SeaBee]

I just have to point out that that look on Teal'c:s face when Jack tries to eat from his food canister (is it ice-cream?) is about the funniest thing ever. I could not stop laughing. It´s a good thing I wasn´t eating anything at that particular moment cause I might have choked on it. Priceless.

Oh yes, I have to agree. I always have trouble listening to the speech on this scene, because I always end up watching the slapstick like byplay between Jack and Teal'c.

[Madeleine]

This episode really was good. It was the best ep all season not to feature firemen or wonky gravity.

It almost seemed like two different episodes. The initial stuff was light in every way and the later stuff was dark, and oddly the stuff on the enclosed ship felt very open compared to the claustrophobic feel as soon as they reached the planet's surface.

I liked the stuff on the ship. Especially the scene that Teal'c just OWNED despite not having a line

I was apprehensive once I realised that there were human replicators. I loathed the whole idea of the Borg Queen and the execution thereof, it made the whole concept of the Borg mean a lot less than when they were all equal and equally automaton-like in their soulless hives. I was very surprised to find myself liking the humanoid Reps after a few short minutes. I think it helped that Reese's story in Menace was such a good one, and that the Lego bugs did have a vaguely sensible reason for building themselves some people. I wonder how much of Reese's father and neighbours is in First and co. There certainly was plenty of Reese in Fifth, which was great. He's a jolly good actor. The moment when he realised he was betrayed was surprisingly heart-rending considering he was an OC of only 30 mins standing.

Sam was on-form, doing her best Lots Of Science And Minimal Technobabble stuff. (I like my SF to have S in it, but if the S is to be as unscientific as Stargate's is (no insult intended) then I like it to make sense in short English words, cos anything else is a sign of Lack Of Imagination causing the writer to rustle up a quick Deus Ex Machina.) The Asgard slowed time, the Lego sped it up, and Sam's going to slow it down again, hurrah.

And it's always nice when a favourite episode gets a follow up, but that's for another thread...

[Lord Zedd]

yeah it was indeed a good episode lots a replicators! and we saw the prometheus again and Thor allways a pleasure when the Asgard pay us a visit

[LMichelle]

Okay, now I understand about Fifth.

Good episode. I liked that it was left open-ended.