Alien Populations

[CarsonsKitty]

One thing that has confused me about the Stargate worlds is that we rarely see non-human aliens...

I mean there are the Asgard and the Unas, then the Goa'uld of course... but the Jaffa are humans just altered to host the larvae (as seen when Jack briefly becomes one), Kull warriors are artificial, the Riu? (invisible bug creatures) were good

but on the whole it is pretty much humans all over 2 galaxies... is it just assuming that most of the gates are on human planets only?

just puzzles me a little... also the fact that everyone speaks English without Startreks 'Universal Translater' to blame

[Xaeden]

Well, the Ancients picked the Pegasus galaxy because they thought it was unihabited and the Wraith don't tolerate advanced races so if any popped up during their reign, they would've gone after them and either destroyed them or forced them into hiding.

With the Milky Way, there were actually quite a few alien races, but again, the Goa'uld were the dominate race and they were not inclined to let other advanced races live peacefully. So those races that did exist either came into conflict with them or hid in parts of the galaxy that the Goa'uld no longer had any interest in.

Anyway, here's some of the aliens from the Milky Way: A't'trr, (microscopic aliens from season 2) Gadmeer, (planet terraforming aliens from season 4) Grace aliens, (the Prometheus encountered their ship in space - little is known about them) Foothold aliens, (from season 3) the Nox, Ohne, (ancient Babylon aquatic alien who is an enemy of the Goa'uld) Re'tu, Reol, (alien hunted almost to extinction by the Goa'uld, uses a chemical to disguise themselves) Serrakin, (aliens who liberated a Human world and live with them in peace) Salish Spirits (season 2 aliens who pretend to be native american spirits). Then there's the crystal based lifeform that the Goa'uld "attacked," the water based lifeform the Russians got involved with, the crystal skull aliens, and the Furlings who may have lived in the Milky Way at one point.

[Osiristi]

The human population of Milky Way and Pegasus can be explained by the Ancients "seeding life" to both galaxies.

[Alder]

just puzzles me a little... also the fact that everyone speaks English without Startreks 'Universal Translater' to blame

Heh...of course the alternative is taking the first 20 minutes of each episode while some poor translator gradually learns the language.

With subtitles.

I think - someone'll correct me if I've misread it - that this is something that's going to be a bit different in Stargate Universe? There's supposed to be more alien aliens, as it were. I'm curious as to how that'll work.

[Rasunda]

Shouldn't the ancient have made them speak their lanughe`?

[CarsonsKitty]

Shouldn't the ancient have made them speak their lanughe`?

if you look how much English has changed over even 200 years and other languages on earth etc... surely that would have happened on other planets over the 10,000 years since the Ancients defeat?

[Phenom]

It doesn't take long to pick some serious holes in the logic of the use of the English language over such vast distances over such long stretches of time etc etc....

However it is a TV show and some things are done for ease of story telling and this is probably the biggest one. It would bother me more having to read subtitles every episode!!!

In relation to the non-human aliens, its a lot harder for us to relate to and love/hate an insectoid type alien or similar as opposed to a humanoid type (asgard/wraith/goauld etc) who we can relate to in some sort of emotional capacity. Basically we wouldn't care if a million insect aliens got blown up, but we do care if a goauld system lord does because we grow attached to the character for various reasons.

[P-90_177]

Well, the Ancients picked the Pegasus galaxy because they thought it was unihabited and the Wraith don't tolerate advanced races so if any popped up during their reign, they would've gone after them and either destroyed them or forced them into hiding.

With the Milky Way, there were actually quite a few alien races, but again, the Goa'uld were the dominate race and they were not inclined to let other advanced races live peacefully. So those races that did exist either came into conflict with them or hid in parts of the galaxy that the Goa'uld no longer had any interest in.

Anyway, here's some of the aliens from the Milky Way: A't'trr, (microscopic aliens from season 2) Gadmeer, (planet terraforming aliens from season 4) Grace aliens, (the Prometheus encountered their ship in space - little is known about them) Foothold aliens, (from season 3) the Nox, Ohne, (ancient Babylon aquatic alien who is an enemy of the Goa'uld) Re'tu, Reol, (alien hunted almost to extinction by the Goa'uld, uses a chemical to disguise themselves) Serrakin, (aliens who liberated a Human world and live with them in peace) Salish Spirits (season 2 aliens who pretend to be native american spirits). Then there's the crystal based lifeform that the Goa'uld "attacked," the water based lifeform the Russians got involved with, the crystal skull aliens, and the Furlings who may have lived in the Milky Way at one point.

almost all of them. but you forgot about the alien race that daniel encounters in prometheus unbound who we later find out are bounty hunters.

[Alder]

In relation to the non-human aliens, its a lot harder for us to relate to and love/hate an insectoid type alien or similar as opposed to a humanoid type (asgard/wraith/goauld etc) who we can relate to in some sort of emotional capacity. Basically we wouldn't care if a million insect aliens got blown up, but we do care if a goauld system lord does because we grow attached to the character for various reasons.

That there is a very interesting point...
We do tend to get attached, even to the bad guys.

Harder to do when the bad guy is, say, a gigantic slug.

[Alteran of Atlantis]

Well both the resident bad guys of the two galaxies probably drove out or emiminated other alien races if they percieved them as a threat.

[Phenom]

That there is a very interesting point...
We do tend to get attached, even to the bad guys.

Harder to do when the bad guy is, say, a gigantic slug.

Yeah its funny isn't it. You really grow to hate dudes like Apophis and the like over a few seasons..Makes it all the more sweeter when he gets blown up.

[Pharaoh Hamenthotep]

That there is a very interesting point...
We do tend to get attached, even to the bad guys.

Harder to do when the bad guy is, say, a gigantic slug.

It is possible to relate to non-anthropomorphic characters.. although it depends on where they fit into the Uncanny Valley.. a character such as Godzilla (the 1954 version) would be on the far left and be accepted as a man in a suit. He can be emphasised with to a degree but makes no real effort to convince the audience that he is a real living creature. A creature/character on the far right such as Wall-E at times can seem so real and alive that the audience can easily forget that he is a CG creation and in no way exists in reality.

But then there are those that fall into the Valley, the creatures that are almost believable but just a little off (think the human characters in the Final Fantasy film). Creatures that fall between no effort to be believable and the almost real are completely unconvincing and the audience reacts to them as bad effects. Not characters that can be emphasised with or cared about.

And this is partly why Stargate has so few alien characters, the budget and the tight work schedules don't allow for the time needed to create truly alien characters that can be believable. It's not just about creating the shape and animating it, the creature needs to appear to have character, something about it that brings it to life and makes it more than animated polygons. The audience would have a hard time accepting it and might even be put off watching Stargate again.

Prosthetic make-up effects can make 'alien' characters in a way, and they are believable, the audience can relate to them but that is more because of the actor underneath the make-up rather than the make-up itself.

No one would care if a million alien insect characters were killed.. but what if there was only one of them that the audience had been watching over the course of a two or three hour film or 20 weeks of a tv season? I think the audience would care what happened to that character almost as much as if it was human.

[Spimman]

Everyone speaking English is kind of a sci-fi joke in most shows, but it is difficult to do separate languages unless you have established alien races with translators or most people know multiple languages.

Otherwise you have to read subtitles or waste time learning alien languages which is a waste of viewer time.

[Alteran of Atlantis]

Everyone speaking English is kind of a sci-fi joke in most shows, but it is difficult to do separate languages unless you have established alien races with translators or most people know multiple languages.

Otherwise you have to read subtitles or waste time learning alien languages which is a waste of viewer time.

It's much easier to have everyone speak English, though it would be nice if we had some kind of explination. I agree, though, I wouldn't want to sit through hours of translation, that would be boring.

[jenks]

CG is expensive, prosthetics are silly.