Telford

[DigiFluid]

Okay, who else loved him in this episode?

I thought he was fantastically true to form throughout the first half or so of the episode--a completely acerbic, self-righteous ass. Didn't even deny trying to take advantage of Emily.

And then when he revealed his deception, hot diggity, that was good stuff.

I especially enjoyed his little diatribe on morality; how he went off on Earth's "saving" the galaxy and then leaving everyone to their fates with no semblance of aid/economy/government or anything. This is something I've been saying for years, I'm glad to see it finally mentioned on the show. Even if it is coming from the mouth of a villain, it's great to finally see it acknowledged.

[Pharaoh Atem]

he didn't sing La Bamba

[JustAnotherVoice]

I didn't get his morality spiel. It was overly idealistic, and naive (which explains why he turned).

Honestly, I can't tell if Telford is short-sighted or ignorant. Dealing with the Go'uld was a matter of survival, as was threats dealing with Replicators and the Ori. Earth never intended on destabalising galactic security; they just wanted to get rid of the immediate threats. Yes, it was short sighted and incredibly self serving, but that is how the world works.

Does Earth need to go out and fix everything they screwed up? Ideally, yeah. But if we've learnt anything from politics in the real world, it should be "don't get involved in other people's sh!t until we've sorted our own out." Earth's resources are over stretched as it is, between building new starships for defence, resources going into research, and probably helping to solidify the FJN (buying allies), can Earth really go about fix every backwater with little hopes for a return on investment?

Does Earth have the right to hoard all of the nifty tech that we've found over the years? Ideally, no. But again, Earth still has enemies, and would any sane military leader willingly give tech over to the enemy to use against them?

The naive idealistic lefty in me loves the character arc for Telford, but the cold pragmatist despises that kind of naivety.

[Astrofighter]

I don't think he turned willingly. Remember he is an earth officer, you think he was sat down at a fire by a group of smugglers and mercs and given a sad sad tale about how earth has everything and they have nothing and he should join them? Naaa This is the same group that produced the drug Kassa to enslave whole worlds into being hooked under their control. They have no moral high ground to persuade anyone from the SGC to join them. Also remember Kiva stated they do have mind control devices. That and telford is the only person to have his memories bleed into other people through use of the stones...why only him? Unless he has been brain washed in some odd fashion.

[DigiFluid]

But if we've learnt anything from politics in the real world, it should be "don't get involved in other people's sh!t until we've sorted our own out." Earth's resources are over stretched as it is, between building new starships for defence, resources going into research, and probably helping to solidify the FJN (buying allies), can Earth really go about fix every backwater with little hopes for a return on investment?

Which I think we already did when we took on galactic threats, and destroyed a 10,000-year-old entrenched system of government, economy, and social structure.... Start a fight, finish it, is what I'm getting at. Which we've clearly failed to do.

[Major_Griff]

LDP was incredible in this ep. Especially when he revealed he was the mole. Until then I was thinking he was a Zatarc and had no idea, but at that moment, you could tell he was fully in control of him self just from LDP's facial expression. Awesome.

[EllieVee]

Which I think we already did when we took on galactic threats, and destroyed a 10,000-year-old entrenched system of government, economy, and social structure.... Start a fight, finish it, is what I'm getting at. Which we've clearly failed to do.

*scratches head at the familiarity*

[Astrofighter]

Which I think we already did when we took on galactic threats, and destroyed a 10,000-year-old entrenched system of government, economy, and social structure.... Start a fight, finish it, is what I'm getting at. Which we've clearly failed to do.

Government? What government? The Goa'uld did not trade between each other, they were at war sending humans and jaffa to the slaughter. The planets that were outside the control of the Goa'uld were usually unaware of how to use the stargate and completely self reliant. The only people effected were the humans that were directly under the control of the Goa'uld. The Milky Way galaxy is not like the Pegasus galaxy. People do not trade and travel between the gate network to other worlds. Granted now they do, but when the Goa'uld were in charge the gate was strictly regulated.

[DigiFluid]

Government? What government? The Goa'uld did not trade between each other, they were at war sending humans and jaffa to the slaughter. The planets that were outside the control of the Goa'uld were usually unaware of how to use the stargate and completely self reliant. The only people effected were the humans that were directly under the control of the Goa'uld. The Milky Way galaxy is not like the Pegasus galaxy. People do not trade and travel between the gate network to other worlds. Granted now they do, but when the Goa'uld were in charge the gate was strictly regulated.

Seriously? The Goa'uld were the god emperors, with minor Goa'uld as their lords, Jaffa as their armies and humans as their slaves. It's a feudal government, and one that economically really only operates internally, but it's still a government.

[JustAnotherVoice]

Which I think we already did when we took on galactic threats, and destroyed a 10,000-year-old entrenched system of government, economy, and social structure.... Start a fight, finish it, is what I'm getting at. Which we've clearly failed to do.

Think of America after WWII. That's probably the best analogy. They didn't get involved directly until Pearl. Afterwards, they lent financial aid to the crippled Europe and left a few garrisons dotted around the planet. That is what the SGC is doing, because they know they cannot possibly help everyone who needs it. They're giving support to the remains of their allies, protecting any territory they have a direct stake in, and consolidating what they have.

We first stepped through the gate (in the movie) with curiosity and a doorstop, until Ra's guys started shooting. They brought the fight to us in Children of the Gods. We finished the fight, and we won, then we got back to fixing out own problems.

Space hillbillies take a back seat to the immediate needs of our planet. Admittedly, since the Ori did a clean sweep of the advanced cultures, just about everyone is a space hillbilly, sheer numbers exacerbates the problem. If Telford honestly thinks that Earth can fix the galaxy's problems all by its lonesome, he needs a rubber room.

Earth never expressly went out to change the galaxy, only to stop the System Lords from opening a can of whoop ass. The SGC has lived by its mandate and has never strayed from it: to procure weapons and technology for the defence of planet Earth.

[DigiFluid]

Think of America after WWII. That's probably the best analogy. They didn't get involved directly until Pearl. Afterwards, they lent financial aid to the crippled Europe and left a few garrisons dotted around the planet. That is what the SGC is doing, because they know they cannot possibly help everyone who needs it. They're giving support to the remains of their allies, protecting any territory they have a direct stake in, and consolidating what they have.

In keeping with your WW2 analogy, I direct you to the Marshall Plan: funding and supplying Western European nations to rebuild and provide strong economic allies. The plan was also extended to 'enemy' Eastern nations willing to 'convert' to Western lifestyle.

[JustAnotherVoice]

In keeping with your WW2 analogy, I direct you to the Marshall Plan: funding and supplying Western European nations to rebuild and provide strong economic allies. The plan was also extended to 'enemy' Eastern nations willing to 'convert' to Western lifestyle.

To that, I direct you to my previous statement

(buying allies)

[spinny magee]

Seriously? The Goa'uld were the god emperors, with minor Goa'uld as their lords, Jaffa as their armies and humans as their slaves. It's a Dictatorship .

Fixed that for you

[Astrofighter]

Exactly they were living as slaves are you saying they were better off as slaves and we should have left them that way instead of freeing them and the rest of the galaxy? That living that life was better than the life they have now? Do you really think the system lords cared about the day to day of the humans? How they were fed? No they were self sufficient already. Yes the only down side is now they have to come up with their own system of rule in the wake of that the Lucian Alliance formed and grabbed at power.

[icsteffi]

He's an amazing actor. I wonder how well him and Justin Lewis get on in real life, because their scenes are SO tense!