so all that time devoted to TJ's 'dream' was for nothing

[magictrick]

As far as a charecter arc I'd say look at Starbuck in bsg for an arc this was just a lame few episode Segway. Good drama isn't done over 2 episodes and that's about as long as any arc went. Tj looses baby, Tj finds out young is having delusions, Tj finds out her baby didn't go to planet builder planet. That's not an arc or drama Daniel loosing his wife was a drama arc that took time twists and turns if they just had Daniel dream of sha'ra then find her dead in a later episode that woundnt of been an arc.

Starbuck is angry with someone, Starbuck sleeps with someone, Starbuck pilots spaceship, Starbuck is angry again, Starbuck sleeps with someone else, Starbuck disappears, Starbuck comes back miraculously, Starbuck is humanity's saving grace. If I break it down that way nothing happened either. Even if its built up over four seasons it doesn't necessarily make it good drama.

Now back on topic..I will agree that they didn't develop the TJ character very well. I mean she didn't really go anywhere, and the baby thing was written to have a significant impact on her but it didn't turn out that way.

[Pharaoh Atem]

What was the point?

to make the fans think and open their minds to new possibilities

[Python]

We're supposed to believe that the ship was trying to protect her, as TJ put it, or felt sorry for her, as JM put it.

If the ship has that level of sophistication and understanding of its current crew, we should expect it to have a much higher level of interaction with it. It's tempting to look at it and think that nothing happened (actually I have criticized the series exactly for that) but really some stuff happened that was just meaningless. Something that gives you this nihilistic feeling.

Which sucks. So, the original title of this thread is right. It was "for nothing" in the strict nihilist sense.

You know what the equivalent of the question is?

Someone watching 'The Fifth Race' and going: "There was no point to that episode. So O'Neill goes through some pointless Deus Ex Machina? They told us nothing about who really built the gates..." etc....etc...

Are you kidding? We learned that they spoke a language that has a striking similarity to Latin and assumed to be its root, influencing the creation of the Roman Empire. The episode basically claims that the ancients introduced humanity to the very concept and importance of road-building.

It told us that the gate builders were part of an alliance of four great races and we learned all their names. And we learned that human beings have evolved to a stage where someone like O'neill was able to obtain their knowledge to some extraordinary degree, so that by naming us "the fifth race" we were put on the same level as the gate builders.

There's a strange similarity in this example, though. What was the point in mentioning the Furlings? Zip.

[clone]

The aliens repaired the shuttle and the people. The people were repaired for a limited time so the others could learn their fates and give a proper burial.

TJ's dream was a simulation created by Destiny based on data gathered from her.
Same as Col. Young, Rush and Amanda.

[unscheduled traveller]

Kind of a late comer to this thread.
Was thinking TJ's "dream/belief" that her child went to the planet was probably Destiny's doing to help her along. The planet building aliens helped the settlers return to their own lives as part of a different agenda, that unintentionally conflicted with Destiny's helping TJ through a traumatic moment.
I also think the planet builders were ascended beings, who lived in a less populated part of the universe. Notice the light on the Kino. They had less qualms about helping beings on lower plains of existence probably because there were less of them to influence the higher plains with devotion, however that worked.