SG-U – Epilogue - (2x18) - (Discuss – Grade | SPOILERS)

[AJ86]

In what sense? The only similarity I can see is that the signal travels through subspace rather than normal space much like certain ships do for FTL. Saying they're similar is like comparing a radio to a shuttle.

 

[Caliburn24]

Your analogy is correct, but think it through all the way.

If we could send a radio wave faster than light, would we be closer to being able to send a ship faster than light?

Hell yes, it would just be a matter of engineering.

 

[Brent]

Yeah but it seems this civilization didn't become advanced until recently. I mean look at us, only in the last 30-40 years have computers really come about. It could be that it was 1970's level tech in this civilization only 30-40 years ago, and thus just hasn't been enough time to really understand how all that works in a Stargate. They were more advanced than us in some ways, but in others they seemed right on par. They didn't have the database on Destiny or anything with them, so they don't understand how a Stargate works.

 

[Mr Awe]

Contrived! So, basically the planet and the city is totally intact for quite some time. The Destiny shows up and whammo, it's engulfed right away. Just in time so that they don't get the cure for ALS, which we just found that TJ has. The entire thing was the very definition of contrived!

Any positives are the intrinsic positives associated with seeing a colony grow from the a few settlers to a successful, advanced civilization.

Mr Awe

 

[SG-17]

Rush cutting that packing foam and then putting it in the air filter was pretty hilarious. I didn't know that stuff could filter out CO2 LOL

It wasn't packing foam, it was an advanced nanofiber.

 

[Mr Awe]

Heh, if Stargate is good about one thing its about Databases. You've got:.

That's actually a sign of bad writing in my book. That's where the characters get their answers, rather than through their own endeavors! Databases are lazy short cuts in storytelling.

Mr Awe

 

[Caliburn24]

Yeah but it seems this civilization didn't become advanced until recently. I mean look at us, only in the last 30-40 years have computers really come about. It could be that it was 1970's level tech in this civilization only 30-40 years ago, and thus just hasn't been enough time to really understand how all that works in a Stargate. They were more advanced than us in some ways, but in others they seemed right on par. They didn't have the database on Destiny or anything with them, so they don't understand how a Stargate works.

Why do you think their civilization did not become advanced until recently? They had math and science textbooks written by Eli, Kinos and other technological trinkets(Everyone took their Ipods with them) to reverse engineer, and as far as we're told there were no major wars or conflicts to send them back into some sort of dark age. Their technological advancement should have logically progressed as fast as their infrastructure and access to resources allowed, up until our own level at any rate. And they should have reached that level within a century or two given a decent birth rate.

But that just brings up something that was niggling at the back of my mind through both episodes. There should have been much more cultural drift, some changes to language etc. It was touched upon by the silly Rush/Young split and the ancient sayings from Wray's father, but those things just served to emphasize how stagnant their culture must have been that those things were considered significant.

Obviously the writers could only put so much of Novus' culture into the episodes without bogging them down in exposition, but it would have been nice if they gave a few hints to suggest a deeper more vibrant culture.

 

[shadowedgalaxy]

Next time on SGU, a mysterious planet that resembles Earth!!
But all the people are gone!!

 

[Starbreaker]

An unbelievably good episode. The supporting cast was great, they got off that dark ship, and it was emotionally involving.

 

[Samurai8472]

Heh, if Stargate is good about one thing its about Databases. You've got:

1.) The Ancient repository of knowledge head sucker things database.
2.) The Asgard database, that Earth now has.
3.) The database on Atlantis.
4.) The database on Destiny.
5.) The database of a race 2000 years old that was also advanced.

They must love their databases!

Atlantis near the end of season 3 were given a Wraith Database that gave their systems a virus

 

[AJ86]

Your analogy is correct, but think it through all the way.

If we could send a radio wave faster than light, would we be closer to being able to send a ship faster than light?

Hell yes, it would just be a matter of engineering.

I'm not sure it works that way. Isn't one of the differences between subspace/hyperspace that the speed of light is faster there than it is here? I'd have thought it would be a case of just sending the signal normally, and that's just how fast it naturally travels, though I may have just misunderstood the way it's meant to work.

 

[Brent]

Yeah but it seems this civilization didn't become advanced until recently. I mean look at us, only in the last 30-40 years have computers really come about. It could be that it was 1970's level tech in this civilization only 30-40 years ago, and thus just hasn't been enough time to really understand how all that works in a Stargate. They were more advanced than us in some ways, but in others they seemed right on par. They didn't have the database on Destiny or anything with them, so they don't understand how a Stargate works.

Why do you think their civilization did not become advanced until recently? They had math and science textbooks written by Eli, Kinos and other technological trinkets(Everyone took their Ipods with them) to reverse engineer, and as far as we're told there were no major wars or conflicts to send them back into some sort of dark age. Their technological advancement should have logically progressed as fast as their infrastructure and access to resources allowed, up until our own level at any rate. And they should have reached that level within a century or two given a decent birth rate.

But that just brings up something that was niggling at the back of my mind through both episodes. There should have been much more cultural drift, some changes to language etc. It was touched upon by the silly Rush/Young split and the ancient sayings from Wray's father, but those things just served to emphasize how stagnant their culture must have been that those things were considered significant.

Obviously the writers could only put so much of Novus' culture into the episodes without bogging them down in exposition, but it would have been nice if they gave a few hints to suggest a deeper more vibrant culture.

Having the technology on your doorstep, and understanding it are two different things. If someone dropped a current microprocessor off in someone's hand say 200 years ago, they wouldn't be able to figure it out. The tools and knoweledge just don't exist yet. This is similar.

When our team found themselves on this world they had only the tools on their back, as you saw, they built primitive structures. That is all they could do. Sure Eli wrote some text books, and imparted knowledge to his kids probably and whoever else, but you can only transfer so much knowledge. Eli was also a genius, practically learning everything he knows on his own. The people growing up in this society aren't growing up with advanced technology like Eli was, they were growing up in a primitive society. It isn't like they are just going to KNOW stuff that our team did, for all intents and purposes they are going to be less educated.

Just like any civilization, they started off primitive, and evolved technologically. Now once they get to a level where they can actually understand things like how a Kino works, well, it was apparently too late.

Also I take it the kino is probably a cherished item they have, an artifact, something for a museum that they aren't going to take apart to try to bakwards engineer. Same with the Stargate, they use it, but that's about as far as they understand how it works, heh.

 

[bullethead]

Rush cutting that packing foam and then putting it in the air filter was pretty hilarious. I didn't know that stuff could filter out CO2 LOL

It wasn't packing foam, it was an advanced nanofiber.

I know it wasn't foam in the show, but I just found the fact that they used packing foam as a serious prop in a scifi show amusing.

 

[Danny99]

- One thing that has always bugged me about SGU is this opening montage that is old news after a few episodes.
- Really, a Young statue?
- I loved the reaction to the elevator music.
- I’d hate to have to watch my own funeral a la Volker.
- I’d hate for Season 3 to have had this Young-Varro-TJ love triangle thing they seem to be starting.
- I didn’t even realize that was Scott in the scene with Chloe giving birth with that hair.
- This Eli whining to be loved thing really dragged it down. We don’t care that he is the love struck nerd.
- Old man Brody. Priceless.
- I didn’t like that Wray was the last Destiny person. Mainly because I hate her character, but also, she was far from the youngest person on the ship. Sure some of them may have been cut down by disease, accidents, etc., but still.

 

[SG-17]

Yeah but it seems this civilization didn't become advanced until recently. I mean look at us, only in the last 30-40 years have computers really come about. It could be that it was 1970's level tech in this civilization only 30-40 years ago, and thus just hasn't been enough time to really understand how all that works in a Stargate. They were more advanced than us in some ways, but in others they seemed right on par. They didn't have the database on Destiny or anything with them, so they don't understand how a Stargate works.

Why do you think their civilization did not become advanced until recently? They had math and science textbooks written by Eli, Kinos and other technological trinkets(Everyone took their Ipods with them) to reverse engineer, and as far as we're told there were no major wars or conflicts to send them back into some sort of dark age. Their technological advancement should have logically progressed as fast as their infrastructure and access to resources allowed, up until our own level at any rate. And they should have reached that level within a century or two given a decent birth rate.

But that just brings up something that was niggling at the back of my mind through both episodes. There should have been much more cultural drift, some changes to language etc. It was touched upon by the silly Rush/Young split and the ancient sayings from Wray's father, but those things just served to emphasize how stagnant their culture must have been that those things were considered significant.

Obviously the writers could only put so much of Novus' culture into the episodes without bogging them down in exposition, but it would have been nice if they gave a few hints to suggest a deeper more vibrant culture.

Having the technology on your doorstep, and understanding it are two different things. If someone dropped a current microprocessor off in someone's hand say 200 years ago, they wouldn't be able to figure it out. The tools and knoweledge just don't exist yet. This is similar.

When our team found themselves on this world they had only the tools on their back, as you saw, they built primitive structures. That is all they could do. Sure Eli wrote some text books, and imparted knowledge to his kids probably and whoever else, but you can only transfer so much knowledge. Eli was also a genius, practically learning everything he knows on his own. The people growing up in this society aren't growing up with advanced technology like Eli was, they were growing up in a primitive society. It isn't like they are just going to KNOW stuff that our team did, for all intents and purposes they are going to be less educated.

Just like any civilization, they started off primitive, and evolved technologically. Now once they get to a level where they can actually understand things like how a Kino works, well, it was apparently too late.

Also I take it the kino is probably a cherished item they have, an artifact, something for a museum that they aren't going to take apart to try to bakwards engineer. Same with the Stargate, they use it, but that's about as far as they understand how it works, heh.

Well think about this. Most of our technological progress came in the last 500 years with a huge jump in the last 100. Prior to that technology was relatively stagnant and at some points even regressed (like the loss of sanitation systems in cities following the fall of Rome).
These people that landed, most of whom were military personnel or scientists had at least a basic understanding of most of the technology that makes up the foundation of our modern world.

They didn't need to reinvent plumbing, they didn't need to reinvent steam power, they didn't need to reinvent advanced mathematics. The only hindrance to development that I can see is lack of resources, the time it would take to scout for ore deposits and fuel sources and the subsequent time mining and processing them probably took up the bulk of their development.

 

[Brent]

How much of that knowledge our team had departed onto the next generation is unknown though. Not everything they knew would have been handed down. You can only write so much in a book, and it seems the Kino's were used to record their life experiences, not their knowledge. So, while OUR team knew a good deal, the next generation after that was probably much less educated. They didn't have the benefit of an advanced society to learn from.

The resource issue is also a big one. It takes time to mine, and process materials into useable things. Resources, and man power, was their biggest problem for a long time probably like you said.

 

[Slugboy]

But that just brings up something that was niggling at the back of my mind through both episodes. There should have been much more cultural drift, some changes to language etc. It was touched upon by the silly Rush/Young split and the ancient sayings from Wray's father,

One (also rather silly) thing I noticed, based on the display screens in the Novus archive, was that apparently Novan society decided to use the letter "Z" as a plural marker instead of "S" (for example, "UPDATEZ" instead of "UPDATES"). Other than that, it looked like regular English. Considering the evolution of the English language over even the last 600 years, this does strain credulity somewhat (though I'm willing to accept it for the sake of the story).

 

[Slugboy]

Also, what database doesn't allow you to search through it while it's being copied?

More importantly, what file transfer requires human intervention on both ends to continue? The crew was reluctant to leave the planet because they wanted to copy as much of the database as they could. I don't understand why they didn't just tell the planetary computer to continue uploading automatically, and then go back to Destiny, rather than hanging around on the planet watching the status indicator while dodging rocks.

 

[BlobVanDam]

Also, what database doesn't allow you to search through it while it's being copied?

More importantly, what file transfer requires human intervention on both ends to continue? The crew was reluctant to leave the planet because they wanted to copy as much of the database as they could. I don't understand why they didn't just tell the planetary computer to continue uploading automatically, and then go back to Destiny, rather than hanging around on the planet watching the status indicator while dodging rocks.

Yes, that part confused me too. I have no idea why a single file transfer would require any human intervention. Did it have a dead man switch for the power button or something?

 

[PudWacker]

I like the concept that they built this entire civilization from the crew of the destiny. It makes you think about the parallels between how we developed and how they might have developed. And if you think about it they went back 2000 years. So their civilization had plenty of time to develop into something as advanced as ours. A little more even. And the fact that they were basically developing at the same time as us. Facinating.
I really think they could have stretched this story arc out over a half season or so.
Man just think about all the supplies that they had the chance to build. Stuff the Destiny needs...