Sci-Fi Friday (Stargate spoilers)
Aug. 12th, 2005 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuEver since I first discovered the series, I've been a fan of Stargate: SG-1. In part because it was unlike a lot of other tv sci-fi, most of which seems to be cast in the Star Trek mold. Stargate: SG-1 was different, in that it didn't involve spaceships and wasn't set in the future. It told the stories of contemporary Americans, mostly military, exploring the galaxy by means of the sole maguffin they possessed--the stargate itself. Otherwise, they made use of contemporary weapons, tools, tactics and technology. The military we saw was also--to my civilian eye--much more realistic than in many television shows.
Not completely so, of course. They're telling stories, after all, and reality often takes a backseat to drama in television (and most other forms of fiction). But they did a much better than average job of avoiding idiot plots and blatant wrongheadedness; they took security issues seriously. The inevitable self-destruct system found in the SGC actually made military sense in a way that they never did in Star Trek. In Trek, you could blow up your ship in a fit of pique but that always seemed kinda silly to me; in Stargate, the gate was the choke point thru which any hostile aliens had to pass in order to threaten earth--so blowing up the facility and destroying the gate if we lost control of it actually makes sense. (Not so much now, of course, when travel via ship is far more common than it was early in the series, but still...)
Nonetheless, I've come to believe that most television series have a natural lifespan of about three to five years; when they go longer than that, I frequently feel that they've passed their peak. X-Files, Highlander, Buffy and, alas, Stargate: SG-1 all seem to bear this out. That's not to say that they didn't still do some good stuff later on, but I think that three to five seasons is long enough to pretty thoroughly explore the initial premise and characters and begin scratching for something more--often less and less effectively as time goes on.
I've certainly felt that way about Stargate for a couple or three seasons now. They've overthrown the Goa'uld System Lords in the last season, defeated the Replicators* and this season they've introduced a new major menace. The Ori are more "Ascended" creatures, energy critters of immense power. The Ascended we're familiar with from earlier episodes are strong believers in the Do Not Interfere ethic. The Ori want to be worshipped.
In fact, they don't just want to be worshipped. They insist upon it. To do otherwise is evil. And Evil, of course, cannot be tolerated. It must be eliminated, eradicated, expunged. And they've discovered a whole new galaxy (namely ours) ripe for the plundering. The Ori can't interfere directly (the local Ascended won't allow that), but they can send emissaries--missionaries known as Priors--to spread the good news and perform miracles.
I wasn't terribly excited about this new threat at first. But tonight's episode changed my mind.
Our heroes arrive on a world they know was recently visited by a Prior (and where Vala had played the false god card herself for a while for her own purposes). They tried to convince the locals not to believe the Ori and their lying lies. Things looked like they might go either way...and then the locals started falling ill. Our heroes tried various approaches to helping them, and some worked for a time, but the locals continued to fall--and remaine--ill, were growing worse, and began dying.
The Prior returned. The locals were ready to give in and worship, but the Prior was having none of it. Too many unbelievers were still there. Daniel admits defeat--they can't help the sick, but there's no need to let them die on his account. And the Prior heals everyone, including the dead. Then he walks up to Daniel and says, "tell others what you saw here today" and turns away to leave. We see Daniel, Teal'c and Vala standing there looking dismayed, surrounded by groveling villagers.
Fade to black.
Our heroes went toe-to-toe with the bad guys and got their asses kicked. That's something we haven't seen a lot of in a while on this show. It's hard to say that you shouldn't worship gods who can heal the sick and raise the dead. It's even harder when the gods are willing not only to heal the lame and the afflicted, but will lame and afflict you in order to make their benevolent mercies necessary and desirable. Yes, it's a protection racket...but if bowing and scraping will save your life or the lives of your family and friends and fellow villagers, how many will refuse? Even if our heroes are warning them that they'll regret it in the long run?
Not many, that's who. A Goa'uld claiming to be a god is (relatively) easily exposed--killing him or forcing him to flee in defeat puts the lie to his claims quite effectively. But the Ori, or their minions, actually can do what they claim.
Our heroes have their work cut out for them, and no easy solution in sight. Which is as it should be.
*I hated the damn replicators. They were both too big and too small, and they were too powerful an enemy. If they're nanotech, they ought to be much smaller individually, but capable of combining into far more shapes--including shapes that can SHOOT BACK instead of having tos scamper around and try to leap on you. Plus, if even ONE replicator gets away, the entire planet is ultimately hosed. Which means our heroes had to successfully kill each and every single fucking replicator every time at bat. Every single one of the countless little nano-bugs. Which means you know damn well that they're gonna win. When you're fighting the Goa'uld, you could lose the occasional battle without losing the war. With the replicators...not so much. Which makes the Ori/Priors superior to the replicators--again, these are bad guys who can kick our heroes' collective ass some of the time without logically dooming the entire galaxy...as demonstrated in tonights episode.
Not completely so, of course. They're telling stories, after all, and reality often takes a backseat to drama in television (and most other forms of fiction). But they did a much better than average job of avoiding idiot plots and blatant wrongheadedness; they took security issues seriously. The inevitable self-destruct system found in the SGC actually made military sense in a way that they never did in Star Trek. In Trek, you could blow up your ship in a fit of pique but that always seemed kinda silly to me; in Stargate, the gate was the choke point thru which any hostile aliens had to pass in order to threaten earth--so blowing up the facility and destroying the gate if we lost control of it actually makes sense. (Not so much now, of course, when travel via ship is far more common than it was early in the series, but still...)
Nonetheless, I've come to believe that most television series have a natural lifespan of about three to five years; when they go longer than that, I frequently feel that they've passed their peak. X-Files, Highlander, Buffy and, alas, Stargate: SG-1 all seem to bear this out. That's not to say that they didn't still do some good stuff later on, but I think that three to five seasons is long enough to pretty thoroughly explore the initial premise and characters and begin scratching for something more--often less and less effectively as time goes on.
I've certainly felt that way about Stargate for a couple or three seasons now. They've overthrown the Goa'uld System Lords in the last season, defeated the Replicators* and this season they've introduced a new major menace. The Ori are more "Ascended" creatures, energy critters of immense power. The Ascended we're familiar with from earlier episodes are strong believers in the Do Not Interfere ethic. The Ori want to be worshipped.
In fact, they don't just want to be worshipped. They insist upon it. To do otherwise is evil. And Evil, of course, cannot be tolerated. It must be eliminated, eradicated, expunged. And they've discovered a whole new galaxy (namely ours) ripe for the plundering. The Ori can't interfere directly (the local Ascended won't allow that), but they can send emissaries--missionaries known as Priors--to spread the good news and perform miracles.
I wasn't terribly excited about this new threat at first. But tonight's episode changed my mind.
Our heroes arrive on a world they know was recently visited by a Prior (and where Vala had played the false god card herself for a while for her own purposes). They tried to convince the locals not to believe the Ori and their lying lies. Things looked like they might go either way...and then the locals started falling ill. Our heroes tried various approaches to helping them, and some worked for a time, but the locals continued to fall--and remaine--ill, were growing worse, and began dying.
The Prior returned. The locals were ready to give in and worship, but the Prior was having none of it. Too many unbelievers were still there. Daniel admits defeat--they can't help the sick, but there's no need to let them die on his account. And the Prior heals everyone, including the dead. Then he walks up to Daniel and says, "tell others what you saw here today" and turns away to leave. We see Daniel, Teal'c and Vala standing there looking dismayed, surrounded by groveling villagers.
Fade to black.
Our heroes went toe-to-toe with the bad guys and got their asses kicked. That's something we haven't seen a lot of in a while on this show. It's hard to say that you shouldn't worship gods who can heal the sick and raise the dead. It's even harder when the gods are willing not only to heal the lame and the afflicted, but will lame and afflict you in order to make their benevolent mercies necessary and desirable. Yes, it's a protection racket...but if bowing and scraping will save your life or the lives of your family and friends and fellow villagers, how many will refuse? Even if our heroes are warning them that they'll regret it in the long run?
Not many, that's who. A Goa'uld claiming to be a god is (relatively) easily exposed--killing him or forcing him to flee in defeat puts the lie to his claims quite effectively. But the Ori, or their minions, actually can do what they claim.
Our heroes have their work cut out for them, and no easy solution in sight. Which is as it should be.
*I hated the damn replicators. They were both too big and too small, and they were too powerful an enemy. If they're nanotech, they ought to be much smaller individually, but capable of combining into far more shapes--including shapes that can SHOOT BACK instead of having tos scamper around and try to leap on you. Plus, if even ONE replicator gets away, the entire planet is ultimately hosed. Which means our heroes had to successfully kill each and every single fucking replicator every time at bat. Every single one of the countless little nano-bugs. Which means you know damn well that they're gonna win. When you're fighting the Goa'uld, you could lose the occasional battle without losing the war. With the replicators...not so much. Which makes the Ori/Priors superior to the replicators--again, these are bad guys who can kick our heroes' collective ass some of the time without logically dooming the entire galaxy...as demonstrated in tonights episode.
