Why would the aliens do this? - Something that puzzles me.

[erotavlas]

This sounds really plausible, and deceptive, however.
Then why return a perfect condition shuttle to us?

That is what really puzzles me about this, other then the writers wanting a shuttle back, but why brand new?

they brought everyone else back in new condition why not the shuttle too? I think the shuttle was too damaged in order to support the crew through whatever transportation brought them back to Destiny. Plus if the thrusters were not working either they would not have been able to to dock. Restoring the shuttle was the only way to get them back to the Destiny aside from transporting them directly onto the ship which may not have been possible anyway depending what they are using for transportation.

[megablue]

I don't communicate with ants. When I was young I have watched them. I have poked at them. I have watched as they struggled to get out of water. Sometimes I have helped them. Sometimes I have killed them. Sometimes I have just stepped on them. Not on purpose, but not trying to avoid them either.

But I have never sent any message to any ant.

If these beings are so far ahead of us as is implied, then they simply don't care about us. Maybe one or more of them was having a really good eon, was in a good mood, and took 2 seconds out of its existence to help one of the bugs running around its planet. Maybe it's now watching the bugs to see what they do next. Maybe it doesn't care anymore and is doing something else.

Yes, you were young. What if the being that "rescued" the left behind wasn't young? What if they are not only technological advanced but also have great wisdom and compassion?

You said you never send a message to ant... it is because you don't know how to.

Perhaps the being is already advanced enough yet they had the same question as well... The message left behind right after the big bang? Perhaps, the being were ancients (or something close to accented being) that sent Destiny. They wanted the mission to be completed and for some reason they cant find out what is the message about.

[skarwolf]

I saw it as a chance to say goodbye until I read JM's blog where he said the aliens didn't know that the people would die again when they sent them back. Was that just his interpretation of it or how its supposed to actually be seen? Either way I think the alien(s) felt bad about what went down on the planet, especially after they saw Caine dying alone in the cold, then at least one of them decided to intervene and do something to try to help the humans.

Reminds me of something that happened when I was a kid in this summer camp. We caught a frog and wanted to show the class. We brought it back to the class but everyone had left for the day. We had an aquarium so we figured put it in there sans water but covered, to show them the next day. We come back and the frog is dried up, dead. We didn't know that would happen to the frog.

Similarly the aliens wouldn't know human physiology/biology and are beyond living/death/having soul biblethumperism etc.

What I don't get it is these so called aliens being so far beyond human comprehension why would they give a crap at all ? Like Jodi Foster was told in Contact, what would these aliens care if we wiped out that ant hill in Africa.

[erotavlas]

Reminds me of something that happened when I was a kid in this summer camp. We caught a frog and wanted to show the class. We brought it back to the class but everyone had left for the day. We had an aquarium so we figured put it in there sans water but covered, to show them the next day. We come back and the frog is dried up, dead. We didn't know that would happen to the frog.

Similarly the aliens wouldn't know human physiology/biology and are beyond living/death/having soul biblethumperism etc.

I think they knew our biology. It probably had more to do with the second law of thermodynamics (entropy) They tried to reverse the entropy of the human bodies back to the state they were in when they first landed on the planet. For some reason it did not hold.

What I don't get it is these so called aliens being so far beyond human comprehension why would they give a crap at all ? Like Jodi Foster was told in Contact, what would these aliens care if we wiped out that ant hill in Africa.

What I don't get is that you're so beyond frog comprehension, why would you give a crap about some frog?

[Skiznot]

Hi, I was on vacation in Planet Arizona. Luckily I had itunes and wifi. I think the aliens fixed the shuttle and tried to fix the people but failed. As if there was cellular memory of what happened and the aliens tried to erase that memory but failed and once the people remembered they reverted back to their damaged state.

[stargatetravler]

I think in the next 10 episodes more of this will be answered. I keep hoping we'll learn more about the aliens that built that planet.

[greenguywithlasereye]

wasnt there an inscription in an alien language found on the obelisk? I forget but if theres an image id love to see it once more. from what i remember it was just fancy design squiggles.

asgard of course had obelisks that transported at short range such as thors hammer - but if this obelisk is a long range transporter it reminds me of the trajector technology in the ST:VOY episode 'prime factors'. whoever made it knows a bit about 'a little intergalactic transport'