Ancient Communication Stones

[Kaziarl]

This might have already been brought up, and if so I apologize.

When these stones were used in SG1, it was capable of translating the speech of the locals at the other end into a language the user could understand. (Jackson and Vala in the Ori galaxy.)

When used in SGU, they didn't seem to have that ability. (The Blueberry Aliens)

Any ideas of why that is? I suppose they could only do that with the various human aliens, and the blueberry minds were just too weird. But I was curious if this was explained and I missed it, or if anyone else had any thoughts.

 

[The Wormhole]

Various aspect of how the stones work have changed since Avalon. Most obvious example is that in Avalon, the people Daniel and Vala swapped with didn't take control of their bodies. Mind you, this was dropped when Atlantis did the episode about Dr. Keller stone swapping with that alien con artist.

The real world explanatiion is that SGU doesn't want to show aliens speaking English for fear that it's not "harsh reality." Although if you were looking for an in show explanation for the language thing, maybe it's because in Avalon they were using an actual Ancient Communication Terminal which does magically translate any and all languages, meanwhile on SGU they're using their own human made communications device which and translations were overlooked in its design.

 

[Kaziarl]

Thats a good explanation too. Either on purpose or simply because they don't know how to make it work yet.

And who knows, maybe the terminal from Avalon could do a full body swap, but for whatever reason that feature wasn't activated.

Although i'm surprised they never did a male/female swap. That could have been funny.

 

[BlobVanDam]

Although if you were looking for an in show explanation for the language thing, maybe it's because in Avalon they were using an actual Ancient Communication Terminal which does magically translate any and all languages, meanwhile on SGU they're using their own human made communications device which and translations were overlooked in its design.

Yep, I'd say this. The stones don't do all that much on their own other than link to another stone. Most of the long distance ability and anything such as translating would most likely have been part of the actual device they put the stones on. Considering how much smaller the Earth made equivalent is compared to the Ancients' version, and how much more advanced the Ancients were, it makes sense that the version we see on SGU is a much simpler device.

 

[AJ86]

Various aspect of how the stones work have changed since Avalon. Most obvious example is that in Avalon, the people Daniel and Vala swapped with didn't take control of their bodies. Mind you, this was dropped when Atlantis did the episode about Dr. Keller stone swapping with that alien con artist.

Wasn't that something to do with their stones not in their terminal, or something like that?

 

[David cgc]

Although i'm surprised they never did a male/female swap. That could have been funny.

Vala jumped into Daniel at the end of Season 9, though that was before they were doing full-on swaps. I feel like there's been a male/female swap at some point in Universe, too.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^SGU has not done a gender swap yet.

Various aspect of how the stones work have changed since Avalon. Most obvious example is that in Avalon, the people Daniel and Vala swapped with didn't take control of their bodies. Mind you, this was dropped when Atlantis did the episode about Dr. Keller stone swapping with that alien con artist.

Wasn't that something to do with their stones not in their terminal, or something like that?

My memory of Avalon is rather vague, but I remember all other times the stones were used in SG-1 and Atlantis, the stones were plugged into a device on both ends.

I know for a fact that in Crusade when Vala swapped with Daniel, Vala had her stone plugged into the terminal, and in the Milky Way a stone was connected to a prototype device Carter worked on. And although Vala was controllng Daniel's body, we saw no indication he was inside hers.

 

[Kaziarl]

Although i'm surprised they never did a male/female swap. That could have been funny.

Vala jumped into Daniel at the end of Season 9, though that was before they were doing full-on swaps. I feel like there's been a male/female swap at some point in Universe, too.

Thats right, my bad. My memory failed me for a minute. I remember that one now.

 

[Bob Morton]

It'd be funny if they had a cat on the Destiny. Then when McKay visits they could swap him into the cat body, which he's probably allergic to.

 

[The Wormhole]

It'd be funny if they had a cat on the Destiny. Then when McKay visits they could swap him into the cat body, which he's probably allergic to.

I doubt he's allergic since McKay had a pet cat, we see him giving it to one of his neighbours before he leaves in Rising. Also, in Home, the neighbour's attitude towards McKay is what clues him into this being a fake scenario. He says "how do you go from 'you're a pig but your cat is cute' to 'I've missed you so much'?" thereby making it clear he did indeed own the cat.

 

[Bob Morton]

Oh yeah, I remember that episode now. That was the one where he flopped down on the couch and found the bag o' chips in the cushions, right? It'd still be funny though...

 

[SG-17]

^^SGU has not done a gender swap yet.

Various aspect of how the stones work have changed since Avalon. Most obvious example is that in Avalon, the people Daniel and Vala swapped with didn't take control of their bodies. Mind you, this was dropped when Atlantis did the episode about Dr. Keller stone swapping with that alien con artist.

Wasn't that something to do with their stones not in their terminal, or something like that?

My memory of Avalon is rather vague, but I remember all other times the stones were used in SG-1 and Atlantis, the stones were plugged into a device on both ends.

I know for a fact that in Crusade when Vala swapped with Daniel, Vala had her stone plugged into the terminal, and in the Milky Way a stone was connected to a prototype device Carter worked on. And although Vala was controllng Daniel's body, we saw no indication he was inside hers.

When a person uses a stone their leave an imprint on it (which can be cleared). In order for there to be a two way swap the stones on both ends must be placed in the hub device.
A one-way connection can still happen if a person leaves their imprint on the stones but they don't place them on the device.
This is what happened in Avalon, when Vala took control of Daniel, and when the Blue took control of Lt. James.

There have been some inconsistencies, but overall it has remained the same.