The Predator

[thekillman]

Ok.

very awesome predator. loved how the Alpha Male was mostly bald yet the young had much more hair. kinda reminded me of "uninvited" with the "there's more of them."

the design is nice, the 6 legs look cool and the creature behaves nice. quite a big, well, it seems to be an alien sabretooth.

but seriously.

intelligent?

how can a creature that displays no sign of actual intelligence aside from hunting the hunter (and given it's size, that should be a common thing for these creatures),
recognizes intelligent life.


what the frak?

seriously, what were you thinking Joe? next time a lion is about to devour you, hold up a little token and the creature just walks away?


worse, far far worse is this:

if the creature is able to recognize intelligence, why didn't it see the guns, clothing, and the bombs as a sign of intelligence?

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

Ok.

very awesome predator. loved how the Alpha Male was mostly bald yet the young had much more hair. kinda reminded me of "uninvited" with the "there's more of them."

the design is nice, the 6 legs look cool and the creature behaves nice. quite a big, well, it seems to be an alien sabretooth.

but seriously.

intelligent?

how can a creature that displays no sign of actual intelligence aside from hunting the hunter (and given it's size, that should be a common thing for these creatures),
recognizes intelligent life.


what the frak?

seriously, what were you thinking Joe? next time a lion is about to devour you, hold up a little token and the creature just walks away?


worse, far far worse is this:

if the creature is able to recognize intelligence, why didn't it see the guns, clothing, and the bombs as a sign of intelligence?

With one 40 minute episode (and not all of that devoted to the stuff on the planet) there isn't going to be enough time to devote to showing every which way the creatures were intelligent. Just because we didn't see them light a fire though, doesn't mean they can't do it. As far as I could make out they seemed to be at a stone age level, hunting living in caves, recognising fire etc. But at that level and with humans being so alien to them, why would stuff like uniforms and guns register to them?

[carmencatalina]

Why would you assume the big one was a male?

I'm willing to bet good money that was the mom.

[Shokada]

The creature was meant to reflect the theme of one of the aspects of human nature.. It doesn't have to make sense if it's a symbol, look at Almodóvar. Understand that most of the episodes of SGU are like miniature pieces of art, they aren't just there to look cool.

[thekillman]

Why would you assume the big one was a male?

I'm willing to bet good money that was the mom.

because alpha males tend to guard the nest?


or so i believe

Just because we didn't see them light a fire though, doesn't mean they can't do it.

come on. they don't even have opposable thumbs for crying out loud!

besides, fire is easily recognizable. someone like TJ would've noticed ashes, burn marks, etc etc etc. even a healthy stack of firewood would'be been present.

[carmencatalina]

because alpha males tend to guard the nest?

Not really. Very few predators have a male guarding the young/nest - much of the time, the male is a bit of a danger to the young (large cats, insects, some fish), with some males actually feeding/killing on the young on occasion.

It is very rare for male predators to engage in care for the young. Even in the situation of lion prides, where we do have a large family unit, the males give limited protection to the young (they do keep other males away from their females). In wolf packs, there is care by both males and females, but again, it is mostly the females doing care of the young.

[Mr Evil 37]

It's an alien creature. That lives on an alien planet. In an alien galaxy. Billions of light-years away from Earth.

[carmencatalina]

It's an alien creature. That lives on an alien planet. In an alien galaxy. Billions of light-years away from Earth.

True, but the basic rules of biology apply. If you are going to define "male" and "female", then there is one parent who provides the larger amount of resources (even if it is just an egg vs. a sperm) - that's the definition of male and female in biology, male is the parent who provides the smaller gamete (sperm or pollen) and female is the parent who provides the larger gamete (egg or ovule).

It goes from that basic tenant of biology that the female will generally (but of course, not always) provide most of the care for the eggs or young.

Now, if they have a completely different method of reproduction, all bets are off, but then, it wouldn't make any sense to refer to a male vs. female in that case.

[icsteffi]

Just because we didn't see them light a fire though, doesn't mean they can't do it. As far as I could make out they seemed to be at a stone age level, hunting living in caves, recognising fire etc. But at that level and with humans being so alien to them, why would stuff like uniforms and guns register to them?

Thanks for your comment!

I agree that perhaps this other stuff doesn't register to them. But I think that them lighting a fire also seems far-fetched.

I just assumed the whole time that fire was something completely NEW to this creature. It didn't realise the humans were intelligent because it RECOGNIZED the fire. It (SHE) realised they were intelligent because it DIDN'T RECOGNIZE the fire. It was probably a very new thing to the creature. Something more easily recognizable than loud sounds made by guns, which could just be rocks falling or something.

Think about it this way. If I were going to kill something alien to me, but then I saw something TOTALLY NEW...would I still want to kill it? If something really scared me, and I went to smash it, but then it performs some kind of "magic"...would I still be able to kill it?

The awe of the fire set T.J. free. The awe of seeing something obviously important, for the first time.

[Replicator Todd]

To be honest, I didn't like the look of the predator at all. Having dinosaurs is the best choice!

[Ukko]

Now, if they have a completely different method of reproduction, all bets are off, but then, it wouldn't make any sense to refer to a male vs. female in that case.

Makes more sense than calling cars, boats, tools etc as male and female.

But i agree with Mr Evil. Its an alien, we have know way of knowing how it thinks or percieves things or what (if any) gender roles there may be.
For all we know there could already be (or have been) a fairly intelligent species on that world that has mastered fire and the creature is just familiar with them.

Calling things male or female is just what paople do, we do it even with objects.

[Demoniser]

Ok.

but seriously.

intelligent?

how can a creature that displays no sign of actual intelligence aside from hunting the hunter (and given it's size, that should be a common thing for these creatures),
recognizes intelligent life.


what the frak?

seriously, what were you thinking Joe? next time a lion is about to devour you, hold up a little token and the creature just walks away?


worse, far far worse is this:

if the creature is able to recognize intelligence, why didn't it see the guns, clothing, and the bombs as a sign of intelligence?

Aliens.

Ripley: They cut the power.
Hudson: What do you mean, "*They* cut the power"? How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!

---------------------------------------------

I doubt it has any concept of intelligence as in human level intelligence. It's more likely that it recognised T.J's use of fire for warmth and protection on some basic level. They didn't use the fire to attack it, even though they had ample opportunity. It was for preservation, which coincidently is just what the predator was doing by attacking the people on the ground. So perhaps it put two and two together and concluded they weren't a hostile threat.

Some animals might not be able to tell that a gun is a gun, but they do recognise that it can hurt them.

[SGSargon]

The creature had six legs. Maybe it uses the first two limbs as hands.
And if you think that is unlikely for an animal like that to be smart, check out this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P8Nwl7FAJk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03yke...eature=related
Ravens and crows have the largest brain-to-body weight ratio (as well as the rest of the Corvidae family), almost equal to the one of the great apes, slightly under the human, as well as a complex brain.
The European Magpie can recognize itself in the mirror. The Kea parrot is equally as smart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRW4ztbY8Ok
Let's not forget the dolphins.
For something to be intelligent it doesn't have to have hands.

[Lahela]

Fire in the context of the planet is probably only ever caused by lightening strike, and therefore never in a small, neatly stacked arrangement inside a cave. I'm guessing it was the novelty of the situation that made the thing curious, but I still don't see why it would let dinner walk out the door.

And when I saw a glimpse of the younger one my mind went immediately to "Rodents Of Unusual Size" and found it very hard to come back from there for a while.

[thekillman]

Aliens.

Ripley: They cut the power.
Hudson: What do you mean, "*They* cut the power"? How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!

but Xenomorphs arent really animals. they're highly intelligent, but still driven by instincts. which is why they are the ultimate killer and it's why the predators hunt them for sport.