Shooting the bad guy...

[Warped9]

When I watched Continuum a couple of weeks ago I was struck by something simple yet profound. In the end Mitchell takes out Bal with a single shot to the head. Perfect.

Now how often over the years in SG1 and SGA have we seen our heroes trying to take out a bad guy with rounds of ammunition when a simple shot or two to the head would end it right then and there? Okay, it comes across as more deliberate and perhaps less family friendly viewing, but it makes more sense.

Now I know hitting someone in the head, especially if they're a moving target, isn't the easiest thing to do. But c'mon, there have been enough times when they've had a clear shot. Get them in the head and the likelihood of them being resurrected to menace you another day goes way down.

 

[PsychoPere]

I'm very amused you brought this up. I too recently watched Continuum and had that same thought. After Mitchell shot Ba'al, I paused the movie for a few moments when the camera focused on Ba'al on the deck with the single bullet hole in his head. "About damn time!" I said to myself at that point. Seriously, you'd think these highly-trained Air Force personnel would've thought about a simple one-shot to the head a long time ago.

There are only two reasons I can think of to support why they haven't tried simple take-outs more often in the past. 1) Gou'ald personal shields, like the one Apophis had; maybe they've always assumed more of the System Lords carried personal shields on a routine basis, making a one-shot unlikely. 2) In some cases, SG-1 was too concerned with the plight of the host.

The real reason, of course, is because it'd be less interesting story telling if all the System Lords they came across were killed that quickly. Ba'al especially deserved a more painful death; but I suppose at least one Ba'al got what he deserved!

 

[Warped9]

^^ Yeah, I also thought, "About freakin' time!" when I first saw the scene.

Also I've often enough seen them shooting rounds into someone already down to ensure they're dead--Shepperd has done it to enough Wraith. Why waste the ammo when one or two rounds to the head will do it?

 

[David cgc]

Well, in the case of the Wraith, that might not guarantee anything. Though the headshot to the Queen in "Rising" seemed to do the job...

 

[Brent]

That gets me in a lot of shows, for example super heroes who wear masks or have parts of their face showing, like batman, or wear body armor, why not just shoot him in the face!

On to Stargate, yeah, a headshot would end the story pretty quick, and apparently they like to drag out the story lines, I would imagine a lot of times it might be hard to get a clear shot to their head, but certainly there have been missed opportunities

 

[Warped9]

Yeah, it's a nitpick because I like the shows. But a quick dispatch can be rewarding. One of my favourites is when O'Neill dumped Hathor into the cryovat or whatever it was. Or when bullets are bouncing off a Ga'ould's personal shield so O'neill throws a knife through the guy's hand. Cool.

 

[PsychoPere]

On to Stargate, yeah, a headshot would end the story pretty quick, and apparently they like to drag out the story lines [...]

Case in point: the aforementioned Ba'al. How long did that whole clone storyline play out? It felt like a looong time... Probably worth it just to watch Cliff Simon, though.

 

[Harvey]

That gets me in a lot of shows, for example super heroes who wear masks or have parts of their face showing, like batman, or wear body armor, why not just shoot him in the face!

Robocop is probably one of the worst offenders there. Enemies unload on him, yet he never has much more than a scratch on his face. Ridiculous.

 

[Kirby]

When you're stuck on an alien planet with extremely limited resources, it's stupid to fire off hundreds of rounds at just a couple of guys. However, multiple rounds does = kewl!

 

[stj]

Sarcophagus.

 

[Warped9]

If you hit the guy in the head, destroying his brain, and likely killing the symbiote in the process then I doubt even a sarcophagus is going to bring them back.

 

[David cgc]

Ooh, now wouldn't that be funny? Part of the egyptian mummification process was the removal of the brain (regarded as a superfluous organ which was unnecessary in the afterlife) through the nose. Maybe in SG-1, that could be a tradition started either by the goa'uld or by the humans after Ra was driven from Earth as a way of ensuring that dead gods stayed dead.

 

[Warped9]

Not to stray too far off topic, but the essential idea of Stargate is building on the idea of Erich von Däniken's Chariots Of The Gods. It's amusing that Stargate makes it seem more credible than Daniken could.

 

[broberfett]

If you hit the guy in the head, destroying his brain, and likely killing the symbiote in the process then I doubt even a sarcophagus is going to bring them back.

Symbiote tendrils or filaments wrap around the spinal cord and brain stem. They talked about it in the second episode of Sg-1 when they tried to remove it from Kowalski or whatever his name was. Usually the Gould would stay dead unless he had a sarcophogus. That would go for most lethal injuries. Ba'al had nobody to bring him back when Cameron shot him though.

 

[Brent]

That gets me in a lot of shows, for example super heroes who wear masks or have parts of their face showing, like batman, or wear body armor, why not just shoot him in the face!

Robocop is probably one of the worst offenders there. Enemies unload on him, yet he never has much more than a scratch on his face. Ridiculous.

YAS

If you hit the guy in the head, destroying his brain, and likely killing the symbiote in the process then I doubt even a sarcophagus is going to bring them back.

Symbiote tendrils or filaments wrap around the spinal cord and brain stem. They talked about it in the second episode of Sg-1 when they tried to remove it from Kowalski or whatever his name was. Usually the Gould would stay dead unless he had a sarcophogus. That would go for most lethal injuries. Ba'al had nobody to bring him back when Cameron shot him though.

Just chop their heads off, problem solved

 

[stj]

Not to stray too far off topic, but the essential idea of Stargate is building on the idea of Erich von Däniken's Chariots Of The Gods. It's amusing that Stargate makes it seem more credible than Daniken could.

My reaction is that nothing makes Daeniken and Stargate's premises plausible. Given the absurdity of the setup, it is necessary that any Stargate series keep a light touch, which means basically a comedy. That's why Atlantis, which had pretensions to taking things more seriously, was less attractive. Universe, which is dead serious, is impossible to take seriously. Taking this premise seriously is a prescription for fail. Even the controversial SG-1 2.0 (aka Browdergate) didn't take its Daenikenite premises seriously. That's why it insisted on Origin being so ostentatiously mean as to burn people alive.

There is a sense in which the series is more plausible than the movie. For instance, in the movie, Ra is the only alien. If this is true, where does he go in his pyramidal spaceship? He wasn't home when Russell and Spader showed up, after all.