Anyone else sick of the immortal aliens?

[Archaeis]

Does it seem to anyone else that every major alien races the show has, besides humans, are thousand and thousands of years old? Ancients who ascend and live long times already. Goauld who use the sarcophagus. Asgard who clone themselves over hundreds of generations. Wraith who can't die as long as they feed.

Just a bit of a bone i have to pick I guess.

[Bobby]

It doesnt annoy me makes them cooler and better in my opinion.

[Jack_Bauer]

Well not all the Goa'uld were thousands of years old. Klo'rel springs to mind

[Professor D.H.D. Puddlejumper]

Does it seem to anyone else that every major alien races the show has, besides humans, are thousand and thousands of years old? Ancients who ascend and live long times already. Goauld who use the sarcophagus. Asgard who clone themselves over hundreds of generations. Wraith who can't die as long as they feed.

Hmm . . . you seem to be getting a few grey hairs yourself.

[Atlanis]

it does get a little old

[Byza]

Well really the only immoral races were the Ancients and Ori, because they ascended, but the Asgard, Goauld and Wraith can all die pretty easily, well wraith not so easily. Even the Ancients and Ori can die whilst ascended. So no not really boring, or getting sick of it, its just another thing you have to live with in sci-fi. Usually it makes the enemy stronger if their hard to beat.

[cleothemuse]

Not to me. It's a staple of sci-fi and fantasy, actually: humans are shorter-lived creatures than so many other races (Asgard, Ancient, Nox, Wraith, Goa'uld, Jaffa, Vulcans, Klingons, elves, dwarves, halflings...) but humans are generally portrayed as being capable of living fuller lives than the other races, in part because they ARE aware of their shorter lifespans.

Look at it this way: the Tok'ra battled the Goa'uld for five thousand years, and made long-term attack plans that sometimes took centuries to bear fruit. The Tau'ri stumbled onto the scene with inferior technology, but had the Goa'uld whipped in ten years.

I leave you with this snippet from a 'fic I wrote earlier in the year, which presents much of the same from the oh-so-eloquent point-of-view of Teal'c (beware of minor spoilers for "Unending"):

Spoiler:

Teal'c let his lips curve into a smile. Many times since the fall of the Goa'uld, his fellow Jaffa had asked him why he preferred to remain with his Tau'ri friends, rather than return to live among his own race. To most of his brethren, humans were a lesser race, a species suitable only as slaves and hosts for the Goa'uld. It did not matter that the Jaffa themselves no longer served the Goa'uld, as all they could see was how fragile a human body was compared to a Jaffa's, how short a human's lifespan was, and how weak their regard for one another made them.

These traits had been all-but bred out of the Jaffa in the Goa'uld pursuit of the perfect foot soldier. Hardier constitutions made for warriors who could take more damage and still continue to fight. Longer lifespans meant more years of service to their "gods". Closed hearts owed allegiance only to their Goa'uld masters, and little regard was given to one's fellow warriors.

The Tau'ri had shown Teal'c otherwise, had taught him in ways that not even the wise and kind-hearted Bra'tac could comprehend. The so-called weaknesses of humans were, in fact, their strengths. To compensate for their weaker bodies, humans sharpened their minds. They devised clever tactics and built impressive machines to help them accomplish their goals. They practiced battle maneuvers which emphasized precision strikes and avoidance of injury as opposed to the highly-destructive engagements favored by Jaffa.

A human's shorter lifespan was one "flaw" with which Teal'c had the greatest familiarity. As he had watched his friends grow old and infirm, he had lamented the loss of their youth and enthusiasm. With the rest of SG-1 now young again—and unaware of the lives they'd led aboard the Odyssey—Teal'c was better able to appreciate the way they each filled their days with activity and camaraderie. Even when Daniel Jackson and Colonel Carter buried themselves in their respective research projects, their days were fuller than the average day for a Jaffa. The Tau'ri might not live longer than a Jaffa, but they lived more.

But of all their defining traits, there was one which Teal'c held as their greatest: their hearts. Time and time again, he had witnessed his human friends perform impossible feats for the sake of friendship and familial love. Sparing a glance at the colonels doggedly keeping pace alongside him, Teal'c knew that both humans would push themselves beyond their physical limits to recover their missing friends.

[Jack_Bauer]

Look at it this way: the Tok'ra battled the Goa'uld for five thousand years, and made long-term attack plans that sometimes took centuries to bear fruit. The Tau'ri stumbled onto the scene with inferior technology, but had the Goa'uld whipped in ten years.

The Tau'ri did not defeat the Goa'uld, the Replicators did.

[Serebii]

The Tau'ri did not defeat the Goa'uld, the Replicators did.

And the Tau'ri were responsible for the Replicators coming to the Milky Way

[rsanchez]

Let's not forget, the Replicators are immortal as well. For all we know, the plot for the Atlantis movie could revolve around one of those frozen replicators in space being activated by a Traveler's ship.

[aretood2]

And the Replicators were outdone by the Tau'ri.

[pyrodude]

Its sort of logical.

Alot of the science being done now goes into extending our lifespan, why not other species. You dont want to waste the kind of experience and knowledge that comes with time.

Imagine where we would be now if the best and brightest (e.g. Einstein) lived another, say 50 years, let alone hundreds.

[flameling]

The Tau'ri did not defeat the Goa'uld, the Replicators did.

But they did destroy a good amount of system lords before and after the goa'uld's fall from power.

[Jackie]

I agree the immortal aliens is getting too clich'e. everyone has them in just about all science fiction that is mainstream.

I think the immortality aspect is a reflection of our own human desires to overcome death. And science fiction is a canvas that has been long accepted as means to express human curiosity and imagination.

Yep, I agree it's getting rather old, no pun intended. But I also expect it to remain mainstream in science fiction for as long as death is as certain as taxes.

[kymeric]

Metallica said the brightest flame burns quickest.

We should have the Oocampa as enemies, WE ONLY LIVE 9 YRS! FEEL OUR WRATH!