Wait a minute they all are, or should be highly motivated special forces or scientist on a top secret program. The "just a cook's" mentality just don't make sense. even cooks on a submarine are submariners and qualify for their dolphins. They might not have been prepared for a gate mission themselves but they should NOT be "duplicitous or crazy"
Not only that, but nearly everyone on planet Earth knows about submarines and the Navy in general. The Stargate program, on the other hand, is a top secret, highly guarded agency. I totally didn't buy the "I'm just a cook" and none of these people should be anything but the best of the best. Period. No way anyone can legitimately argue any different.
OK.
Greer should be nowhere near the Stargate Program;
That I agree with. I can't even imagine why there was a "brig" on an alien planet. If he did something so wrong as to be thrown in the brig, he should have been taken back through the Stargate immediately.
It had apparently just happened and the Stargate was occupied by Rush's experiments. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's why Eli had to take a ship to the planet. And why would they spend however many millions of dollars it costs to ferry a minor offender home to Earth (all he did was punch Telford) on a ship when they can just lock him in a brig? Incidentally, that's why they have brigs. Everywhere. So they don't have to waste time, manpower and money transporting offenders home. Imagine if they did that every time someone committed a crime in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Not necessarily. Just because they worked at Icarus Base didn't automatically mean they were trained and ready to go on this mission.
That would be like saying anyone that worked at Stargate Command could easily go from being a nobody technician to becoming a part of a SG unit.
The people at Stargate Command were still on Earth.
Yeah, sitting at the mouth of a Stargate that's Earth's last line of defense against invaders. A stargate that had been invaded and attacked several times before. A stargate so vulnerable that they had mounted, automatic weapons pointed at it most of the time. Yet almost none of the techs, scientists or doctors there seemed to be "rated" (to use a phrase that's been tossed around a little too much) to deal with the various alien incursions.
Stargate Command was far more important (and just as top secret) than an off-world research facility, but it was populated by a mix of Rambos who could scale a wall with their teeth and Einsteins who'd probably strain to peel a banana.
They were at a research base, hardly intended to be dangerous. By your logic, Felger and Coombes should have been trained and ready for off world combat in The Other Guys. This episode (and elsewhere) establishes that there are many people who work for the SGC for their niche expertise, but are not even close to being suited for perilous SG-1 or Destiny style missions. This is hardly something new to SGU.
Just because it wasn't intended to be dangerous doesn't mean they shouldn't have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the pressures of being on another planet - or on a ship out in space.
Big difference - HUGE difference - between being on a planet (which is what they were trained to do) and being on a deteriorating ship halfway across the universe with no way to get home (which is what almost none of the ones who made it to Destiny were trained to do).
It's the difference between Neil Armstrong standing on the moon knowing a return module was waiting to ferry him back to Earth, and Neil Armstrong in an out of control Apollo capsule that's careening straight out of the solar system. Even with his training, I doubt he'd know what to do about that; and if Buzz Aldrin were a woman, Armstrong and his colleague would think about getting it on before they died (and when they saw Pluto passing behind them, they'd probably go ahead and do it, just to feel something other than fear).
And I gather some people here would say they were acting like pathetic adolescents.
And, Felger and Coombes didn't crawl under a rock and cry. They stepped up and took control of the situation the best they could. That doesn't seem to be happening in SG:U.
I agree that we haven't seen too many people step up, but we've seen the key players do it: Young, who just wanted to quit, did his job despite his grave injuries. The pompous senator saved the ship. The other scientists took initiative, disregarded orders and gated to another planet to see if it was habitable, and made it back without screwing anything up. Eli ignored his jealousy and together with Rush devised a way to save Chloe's new boyfriend with that slingshot maneuver. Greer hasn't decked anyone, he's been designing weapons, and he's generally been useful. The medic made tough decisions and risked her life to save the ship when she was thrust into command a couple episodes ago.
They HAVE stepped up and taken as much control as possible.
