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    Questions I Wished The Series Answered

    Now that Stargate SG-1 is ending(or has ended, depending on where you live), there are a few questions I wished the series had answered or at least explored. This thread was spurred on by watching "Mythology" last night and realizing there were a bunch of things I wished the show had tackled. I suppose this is tangentially related to the 9th Chevron thread, so please bear with me if I cover ground already discussed.

    In any case, here are some questions I thought the series could have answered, or at least touched on, instead of perhaps doing some of their "one-shot" episodes. Maybe some of this will be explored in Stargate Universe. Add your own questions and musings.

    1) Delve more into the "Alliance of the Four Great Races". This drum has been beat multiple times, but some more information on the Furlings would have been good--this was a plotline they could have explored in depth. But beyond the obvious Furling bit, there are simply questions about the Alliance that would have made for great story:

    A) How/when did the alliance form? B) Were the races all roughly equally advanced? C) Did the Alliance face any enemies/threats? D) Why didn't the Nox, Asgard and Furlings assist the Ancients in dealing with their plague and/or the Ori(I mean, in the case of the plague, I imagine the uninfected Ancients could have taken refuge with other races)? If anything, the alliance seems barely an alliance at all, since there was little evidence in the series about overlaps/exchange in knowledge, military aid, etc. Did the Alliance collapse due to some political/philosophical disagreements? Etc.

    2) How did the Goa'uld evolve, at least technologically? The basics on the Goa'uld have been covered: The Goa'uld were parasites, jumped into Unas hosts and were scavengers of technology. But which races did the Goa'uld scavenge from? The Ancients to an extent, in the form of the Stargate and the rings(were the rings a development of the Ancients or just the Goa'uld?)--yet, they clearly never actually took an Ancient as a host. But the Goa'uld were originally water-borne parasites--in terms of an evolving intelligence, they probably weren't much more capable than dolphins or whales.

    They moved into Unas who may or may not have been more intelligent and "stole" their knowledge. From there, where did they go? Perhaps they puzzled out how to use the Stargate from trial and error, but moving from the Unas's spear-based technology to the massive starship empire they established would have required a few intermediary steps--other races that were more advanced than the Unas, but less advanced than the Ancients before they came to Earth and began posing as gods. It has been repeatedly stated that the Goa'uld were scavengers, and while the series showed them creating their own original technology or altering existing technology, they would have had to "steal" the intelligence to do so from other hosts along the way. I think a few episodes that focused on dead or dying civilizations that the Goa'uld stole from/evolved from would have been interesting to fill in the gaps between the Unas and their current state.

    (continued in next post)

    #2
    (continued from previous post)

    3) On a similar theme with point 2 is the question about the "inherent evil" of the Goa'uld. It's been said several times that the Goa'uld are irredeemably evil, due to their genetic memory and the sarcophagus. Neither Shifu nor Daniel Jackson are able to hold back the corrupting evil of the Goa'uld. Yet, the Tokra Queen was clearly able to rebel against this--she developed her own philosophy and belief system that was in opposition to Ra and the prevalent Goa'uld culture. Was that because she wasn't using the sarcophagus at all(if so, then how did she live for any real length of time--the use of the sarcophagus has been one of the key reasons the Goa'uld have unnaturally long lives)? It'd have been interesting to see it explained further, the whole bit about the origins of the Tokra and why they weren't doomed to irredeemable evil versus the Goa'uld.

    4) Finally, the whole bit about the origins of the Ori versus the Alterans. The schism is always noted as the Ori turning towards fundamentalist religious beliefs versus the Alterans seeking out reason and science as the cornerstones of their society. If so, what did the Ori believe in/worship? I mean, in the series, it shows that the Ori have set themselves up as god-like figures(which begs the question--where did the "second evolution" of humans come from in their galaxy? In the Milky Way, it seems to be a result of the Alterans reseeding the galaxy after the plague, but how about the humans in the Ori-galaxy? Why would there be "lesser humans" in the Ori-galaxy--did the Ori create them, upon their own Ascension, to worship them?) Still, I am very curious as to what the Ori believed in, religiously, before they began to believe they were gods, themselves. The Alteran society has been somewhat covered, but the Ori society is still very much an enigma.

    A secondary question off of this is that if the Alterans were mostly the scientific/knowledge-based members of society, how did Ori society progress once the Alterans left, but before either group ascended? You'd assume most of the technology rested in the hands of the Alterans, not the Ori. Ascension seems possible through simple physiological evolution, so the Ori would eventually be able to Ascend over time, probably at the same rate as the Alterans and then, once doing so, gain all the same "knowledge" as the Alterans, thereby imparting technological wonders on their worshippers(the Priors and their foot-soldiers), but before that occurred, I'm curious how Ori society advanced or even managed to stay afloat with the departure of the Alterans. It reminds me a little bit of the Dark Ages of Europe after the fall of Rome--the Ori would have lost a lot of scientific knowledge with the departure of the Alterans and be left with only the mysticism of a fundamentalist religious society. One would think a society would fall apart and/or at least de-evolve, technologically.

    Anyway, enough of my questions. Anyone have any thoughts? Or questions of their own?
    Last edited by CityofGlass; 14 April 2007, 01:04 PM.

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      #3
      Well the lack of development of the Furling's front has bee an "in-joke" among tptb, and even the standard fanbase. By Stargate: Multiverse (5th series they'll have in 2020) I'm sure we'll know more than we wanted to about them. It kinda helped the show by keeping a shred of mystery until the end.

      The Great Races weren't equal. While we don't know for sure about the Nox & Furlings, I assume that the Alterans were leaps-and-bounds more advanced than the others. While the other 3 were uber-advanced, the Alterans seem to have reached near the pinnacle of scientific level possible for this plane of existence. We know the Asgard never came close to Lantean tech.

      The Goa'uld stole rings tech, but they probably figured out how to duplicate it.

      It could easily be assumed that the Ori stopped advancing technologically since the split. The Lanteans were far more advanced.
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        #4
        All good points... But I've got some questions as well...

        I don't fully understand the ATA gene and how only a small percentage of humans have it. If we are the 2nd evolution of the Alterans then why don't we all have the gene. The only thing I can think of to explain this is the original evolution of this species re-seeded the MW population after the great plague. From there we know they packed up and went to Pegasus. After the long war with the Wraith they sunk the city and came back to Earth. I guess the second evolution (created from the weapon on Dakara) didn't have the gene but since the Alterans came back here they must have inter-bred with a few of them thus creating a small percentage of earthlings with the gene. Does that sound right to anybody or am I missing something?
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          #5
          Yeah, I know about the Furling-inside-joke bit; I just listed it as a bit I always wish had because it was an easy opening.

          The ring-technology was stolen? I thought so--was it stolen from the Ancients? If so, that is mildly odd, because unless I am mistaken, none of the Alteran outposts have ring technology. Or did I miss that?

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            #6
            Originally posted by Buddhawasanancient View Post
            All good points... But I've got some questions as well...

            I don't fully understand the ATA gene and how only a small percentage of humans have it. If we are the 2nd evolution of the Alterans then why don't we all have the gene. The only thing I can think of to explain this is the original evolution of this species re-seeded the MW population after the great plague. From there we know they packed up and went to Pegasus. After the long war with the Wraith they sunk the city and came back to Earth. I guess the second evolution (created from the weapon on Dakara) didn't have the gene but since the Alterans came back here they must have inter-bred with a few of them thus creating a small percentage of earthlings with the gene. Does that sound right to anybody or am I missing something?
            Actually, it makes sense that only a small percentage of humans have the ATA gene currently; new/variant/flawed genes are the product of mutation and are passed on. It is quite possible that some humans naturally ended up with the ATA gene, while the majority did not, since the ATA gene does not serve a biological/evolutionary purpose thus far(beyond powering Ancient technology). As the ATA gene further evolves and new abilities are gained through it, it may become a dominant gene in human evolution.

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              #7
              the outposts had ring transports. thats how SG-1 found them in "Lost City" they detected the energy signatures of the rings from their cargo ship.

              3: the sarcophagus technology allows the goa-uld to live for thousands of years. even without it the tok'ra live for hundreds of years jumping from host to host as neccessary, it seems the goa-uld are naturally long lived! the sarcophagus causes insanity and the god complex of the goa-uld through frequent use. there was one episode when this started to happen to Daniel, although i forget which episode it was

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                #8
                Originally posted by Pharaoh Hamenthotep View Post
                There was one episode when this started to happen to Daniel, although i forget which episode it was
                The episode is called "Need". Episode #205...
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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Pharaoh Hamenthotep View Post
                  the outposts had ring transports. thats how SG-1 found them in "Lost City" they detected the energy signatures of the rings from their cargo ship.

                  3: the sarcophagus technology allows the goa-uld to live for thousands of years. even without it the tok'ra live for hundreds of years jumping from host to host as neccessary, it seems the goa-uld are naturally long lived! the sarcophagus causes insanity and the god complex of the goa-uld through frequent use. there was one episode when this started to happen to Daniel, although i forget which episode it was
                  Ah, you're right about the ring-technology--now I recall the bit about it from the "Lost City" episode. I guess because I don't see the Puddle Jumpers using them or them used in Atlantis at at all, I never really equated the ring-technology with the Ancients. Ring-technology always struck me as far inferior to the Asgard beaming technology and yet Asgard technology has always been stated as far behind Ancient technology.

                  Actually, that brings up another question: Asgard warships seem to move a lot faster than Ancient ships, unless I am mistaken; they seem to jump between galaxies with incredible speed(much less within galaxy) versus what seems to be implied of the Ancients in terms of their ships(in the episode where SG-1 first encountered the Human-Form Replicators, Thor was able to move his own ship and tug SG-1's ship between galaxies in a matter of hours. On the otherhand, the Alteran Aurora-class battleships don't seem to go much faster than Wraith Warships). The Asgard don't seem to have much use for Stargates and I'd assume this is because they can hop between planets.

                  Just random musings here.

                  And yes, I remember the episode where Daniel started to use the sacrophagus and slowly went mad. I am guessing, then, that the Tokra Queen simply decided not to use the sacrophagus for some reason(or maybe she already figured out what it was doing to her race).

                  Comment


                    #10
                    the asgard ability to travel between galaxies is more of a plot device than technological advancement. it would be boring to watch them travel between galaxies over several episodes. but once you become capable of intergalactic travel i dont think there is much faster you can go!

                    We have yet to see an Alteran Aurora class ship that was fully powered, properly working or controlled by the ancients. so how fast they actually are remains to be seen.

                    ive always thought of the rings as being an early step towards gate technology. although with a much shorter range. the asgard beam technology could easily be more advanced now, they have had 10,000 years to develop it after the ancients became extinct!

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Buddhawasanancient View Post
                      All good points... But I've got some questions as well...

                      I don't fully understand the ATA gene and how only a small percentage of humans have it. If we are the 2nd evolution of the Alterans then why don't we all have the gene. The only thing I can think of to explain this is the original evolution of this species re-seeded the MW population after the great plague. From there we know they packed up and went to Pegasus. After the long war with the Wraith they sunk the city and came back to Earth. I guess the second evolution (created from the weapon on Dakara) didn't have the gene but since the Alterans came back here they must have inter-bred with a few of them thus creating a small percentage of earthlings with the gene. Does that sound right to anybody or am I missing something?
                      Umm also, don't forget that the ancients went back to Earth from Atlantis 10,000 years ago, so it makes sense when they interbreed with the evolution of that time on Earth.......kinda makes sense.
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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Pharaoh Hamenthotep View Post
                        the asgard ability to travel between galaxies is more of a plot device than technological advancement. it would be boring to watch them travel between galaxies over several episodes. but once you become capable of intergalactic travel i dont think there is much faster you can go!

                        We have yet to see an Alteran Aurora class ship that was fully powered, properly working or controlled by the ancients. so how fast they actually are remains to be seen.

                        ive always thought of the rings as being an early step towards gate technology. although with a much shorter range. the asgard beam technology could easily be more advanced now, they have had 10,000 years to develop it after the ancients became extinct!
                        Good points. For instance, an Aurora-class ship was shown going .99999 the speed of light or some such, faster, I think, than anything an Asgard ship has been shown capable of doing(in terms of sub-light engines). So I suspect the Asgard-fly-between-galaxies thing was done for plot reasons rather than to demonstrate Asgard technological superiority.

                        I do still have issue with the ring technology. I can see where it was an early version of the Stargate, etc, but do the Ancients demonstrate any technology that duplicates personal transportation with such ease? I mean, if I recall, for someone on a Puddle Jumper to get to the surface of a planet, they need to land the Puddle Jumper--no ring transports on the Puddle Jumper. While I understand the reasons for this(mostly story), one of the things I always liked about Stargate(versus Star Trek or other sci-fi shows) is a measure of internal consistency. The fact that the Ancients don't seem to have some sort of personal transportation device, beyond the rings which seem to be almost non-existent in most of the Ancient ships/Atlantis, strikes me as odd. Or maybe I am just missing the episodes where such Ancient-tech is demonstrated.

                        While I am asking questions, here is another one: Did they ever explain why the Asurans haven't wiped out the Wraith? If I am not mistaken, that was the original programming for the Asurans and even though the Ancients turned on the Asurans and all but wiped them out, the Asurans subsequently rebuilt and had quite a base before the Atlantis team met up with them. Why, then, haven't the Asurans followed that critical directive to destroy the Wraith?
                        Last edited by CityofGlass; 14 April 2007, 06:03 PM.

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                          #13
                          While I am asking questions, here is another one: Did they ever explain why the Asurans haven't wiped out the Wraith? If I am not mistaken, that was the original programming for the Asurans and even though the Ancients turned on the Asurans and all but wiped them out, the Asurans subsequently rebuilt and had quite a base before the Atlantis team met up with them. Why, then, haven't the Asurans followed that critical directive to destroy the Wraith?[/QUOTE]

                          I think that when they 'rebuilt' themselves after the Ancients destroyed them, that they felt like they no longer had nor wanted to destroy the Wraith. If you recall, they don't like humans anyway, so why stop humanity's arch nemesis (er, one of them), the Wraith?
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                            #14
                            Originally posted by CityofGlass View Post
                            Actually, it makes sense that only a small percentage of humans have the ATA gene currently; new/variant/flawed genes are the product of mutation and are passed on. It is quite possible that some humans naturally ended up with the ATA gene, while the majority did not, since the ATA gene does not serve a biological/evolutionary purpose thus far(beyond powering Ancient technology). As the ATA gene further evolves and new abilities are gained through it, it may become a dominant gene in human evolution.
                            I've always thought that the ATA gene in 2nd generation humans was a result of inter-breeding when the Ancients returned to Earth 10,000 years ago. It also explains why some have a stronger gene than others: they have a greater Ancient heritage. The evolutionary theory doesn't explain why very few non-Tau'ri (or whatever you prefer calling people from Earth) have the gene. If it is evolutionary, why don't other planets have a small group of ATA carriers? Because the Ancients never inter-bred with them.
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                              #15
                              Originally posted by scifi_lemon View Post
                              I've always thought that the ATA gene in 2nd generation humans was a result of inter-breeding when the Ancients returned to Earth 10,000 years ago. It also explains why some have a stronger gene than others: they have a greater Ancient heritage. The evolutionary theory doesn't explain why very few non-Tau'ri (or whatever you prefer calling people from Earth) have the gene. If it is evolutionary, why don't other planets have a small group of ATA carriers? Because the Ancients never inter-bred with them.
                              Has it been established that only Earth-based humans have the ATA gene? I don't think this question has ever come up. Actually, a counter to this argument might be Jonas Quinn--Jonas is clearly "advanced" and may very well possess the ATA gene. His physiology is of great interest to the Gou'ald and he seems capable of things Earth-based humans aren't.

                              To give a counter-example to the idea that the ATA gene is a product of Ancients inter-breading with normal humans, the Asgard, on a few occassions, make mention that Jack is "advanced" and moreover, there are subtle hints that this "advancement" is a new thing, a product within this latest generation of humanity(since prior Asgard research/studies of humans did not turn up this "advancement" in earlier generations of humanity).

                              Finally, I'd argue that if an Alteran bred with a normal human, you wouldn't simply get a human with a few Alteran genes--you'd get a very advanced human(with half of the Alteran genes). You could even argue that the Alteran genes would be "dominant" genes, since the Alteran form is the "final" form for humanity pre-Ascension. Such half-humans/half-Alterans would have massive capacities in terms of intellect, ability, etc and would have sped up humanity's technological and evolutionary progress. There seems to be no indication of this(even within the Stargate universe's version of humanity's evolutionary track).

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