The Stargate Franchise - A First Timer's Watchthrough

[Romulan_spy]

I have a question that might sound like the most basic Babylon 5 question. Is there a function for each SG team on this series. I know SG-1 is the main group (You wouldn't have a show otherwise) but I hear a lot about SG-9, SG-11 and so on. What about SG-3, through SG-8. I mean for an underground bunker, how big is that staff?

As other have explained, some SG teams are specialized. There are some that specialize in diplomacy/first contact, some that specialize in scientific studies, some that are pure military. SG1 is probably called SG1 because it was the first team that was assembled to go through the stargate for the first time. Also, SG1 is the "Hero Ship" so naturally the series focuses on their adventures. But we do see other teams make appearances throughout the show. You can probably think of the SG teams like starships in Star Trek. They have different functions and they make appearances but SG1 is the Enterprise.

 

[tomalak301]

As other have explained, some SG teams are specialized. There are some that specialize in diplomacy/first contact, some that specialize in scientific studies, some that are pure military. SG1 is probably called SG1 because it was the first team that was assembled to go through the stargate for the first time. Also, SG1 is the "Hero Ship" so naturally the series focuses on their adventures. But we do see other teams make appearances throughout the show. You can probably think of the SG teams like starships in Star Trek. They have different functions and they make appearances but SG1 is the Enterprise.

I was watching the last two episodes (Spirits and Touchstone) and I was thinking about Star Trek and the federation and how the Enterprise was the flagship. SG-2 and SG-5 were even brought up in those episodes but I can see the similarities between the Federation and SG Command. Still, for being such a classified organization, how many SG teams are there. It seems like there are too many.

 

[Farscape One]

There are probably endless amounts of classified projects that go on in real life, with thousands at different levels knowing or being an active or inactive part of it.

One thing to realize is that as the teams go out and find things, they need to be catalogued and studied. Remember the primary mandate of the SGC... find technology that can aid in their fight against the Goa'uld.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Still, for being such a classified organization, how many SG teams are there. It seems like there are too many.

I think there are about a dozen teams. yes, it is rather big military organization. Remember in "Politics", Sen. Kinsey mentions it costs billions of dollars to operate the SGC. And the struggle to keep the SGC hidden from the public is a recurring plot in the future episodes. In some ways, it gets rather unrealistic much later in the series, but I don't want to spoil anything.

Also keep in mind that the SGC has a mandate to seek out new tech to defend Earth against the Goauld. But it won't surprise you that as time passes, the role of the SGC gets bigger and bigger. The SGC essentially becomes Earth's first line of defense against the Goauld and other threats.

 

[Reverend]

The Manhattan Project involved well over a hundred thousand people and went on for half a decade before anyone else knew it even existed. So yeah, it's all very possible given the right measures and motivations...

 

[The Wormhole]

I have a question that might sound like the most basic Babylon 5 question. Is there a function for each SG team on this series. I know SG-1 is the main group (You wouldn't have a show otherwise) but I hear a lot about SG-9, SG-11 and so on. What about SG-3, through SG-8. I mean for an underground bunker, how big is that staff?

At this point in the series there are about ten SG teams, though more get added over the course of the series to the point by the end there are twenty-five. Here's a list of all the SG teams and their specific functions, though I warn you, there are spoilers within.

I am probably very wrong on that assumption, but the way he said "It was an...accident" made me really suspicious, not to mention his demeanor throughout the episode. You're right it probably is out of character, but I've learned watching this show how secretive they all have to be to make sure it never gets out.

If you want to read anything into it, it's possible Hammond may know the truth behind the attack and that it really wasn't an accident, or he has very good suspicions about what happened but I doubt he was actually involved in the matter, beyond him notifying a superior about the reporter who then got the ball rolling.

for being such a classified organization, how many SG teams are there. It seems like there are too many.

Admittedly as the series and the franchise goes on the sheer amount of people involved gets to the point that it really is straining credibility that it all stays a secret somehow.

 

[tomalak301]

The Fifth Race

Watching this episode, I was reminded of everything I love about science fiction/fantasy. We learn about the Gate Builders, we learn about the 4 master races who made an alliance, and the episode ends with hope that Humanity might be the 5th race to join this powerful alliance. That's the type of human condition/discovery and just using the imagination to tell the story I can get behind. That scene with Jack and the Asgardians was incredible, and I don't think I've seen anything like it since Farscape's "A Human Reaction", which this episode actually reminded me of. After two episodes where it felt like a slight drop in quality from Tok'Ra (especially Spirits, which I just found OK), this episode was amazing. It was basically everything I have come to love from this series so far.

 

[Romulan_spy]

The Fifth Race

Watching this episode, I was reminded of everything I love about science fiction. We learn about the Gate Builders, we learn about the 4 master races who made an alliance, and the episode ends with hope that Humanity might be the 5th race to join this powerful alliance. That scene with Jack and the Asgardians was incredible, and I don't think I've seen anything like it since Farscape's "A Human Reaction", which this episode actually reminded me of. After two episodes where it felt like a slight drop in quality from Tok'Ra (especially Spirits, which I just found OK), this episode was amazing. It was basically everything I have come to love from this series so far.

The episode also introduces the key concept of the 8th chevron to connect to a gate in another galaxy which become super important.

I agree with everything you wrote. The Fifth Race is one of the best episode of the entire series. And you are right that the episode has that sense of hope about humanity that we don't see anymore in scifi. The Asgard saying "you've taken the first step into becoming the Fifth Race" is wonderful. But I also love O'Neill's line to Daniel when he comes back, "You know that meaning of life? We're going to be alright." Pure Jack. The audience is left feeling good that humanity will overcome its problems and achieve greatness among the stars. It's a very old school Star Trek message actually.

 

[Romulan_spy]

@tomalak301 The next episode "A Matter of Time" is one of my favorites as well. It uses science and the stargate in a unique way.

 

[tomalak301]

@tomalak301 The next episode "A Matter of Time" is one of my favorites as well. It uses science and the stargate in a unique way.

Maybe I'm not smart scientifically, but I didn't understand that episode at all. So there's this black hole that is impacting the Stargate, causing time to slow down the closer you get to the Stargate, which is why outside is 5 hours later than what it is inside? Then they have a bomb to redirect the black hole to somewhere else so they can easily shut it down? It was an exciting episode, but I'm not entirely sure I got all of it.

 

[tomalak301]

Holiday

I don't really have much to say about this episode (It's your out of body episode) but I really love Richard Dean Anderson as Jack O'Neill. There's almost like a childlike personality he brings to the role that is very fun and enduring. I also liked seeing Judge play someone closer to himself instead of the stoic Teal'c. These out of body episodes typically allow the actors to spread their wings (I still think Farscape did it the best, but that's another topic) and I liked seeing it here. I also loved the final scene between Mochello and Daniel about the value of life and being able to save Sari'e from the Goa'ld.

 

[tomalak301]

Serpent's Song

Nice to get some backstory on Apophis and see the return of Martouf. Also that Sokar guy sounds ominous.

 

[Reverend]

Maybe I'm not smart scientifically, but I didn't understand that episode at all. So there's this black hole that is impacting the Stargate, causing time to slow down the closer you get to the Stargate, which is why outside is 5 hours later than what it is inside? Then they have a bomb to redirect the black hole to somewhere else so they can easily shut it down? It was an exciting episode, but I'm not entirely sure I got all of it.

It's pretty basic Einsteinian physics: gravity is not really a force but the effect of space-time being distorted, which all mass does, no matter how large or small. The more mass, the greater the effect. Even the tiniest speck of dust has a gravitational pull, however tiny; indeed that's how stars and planets form clouds of gas and dust.

Now, black holes have a *lot* of mass (a LOT, a lot)!, enough that not even light can escape the gravity well. Now since time and space are linked and time is relative, gravity alters the relative "flow" of time on a gradient consistent with the curvature of local space-time. So the closer you are to the black hole, the slower local time passes compared to the rest of the universe (you get similar effect if you accelerate to an appreciable percentage of light speed, for basically the same reason) and once you cross the event horizon, time effectively freezes.

By connecting one terminus of a wormhole's event horizon close to the event horizon* of a black hole, the gravitational effect "lensed" through to the other end distorting space time as if the black hole was right there, making time pass slower the closer you get to the stargate, and the effect itself increases the closer the other gate gets to the black hole. Again though, time is relative, so wherever you are time feels like it's passing normally, but everyone else is going slower or fast than normal, depending on whether they're closer or further away from the black hole, respectivly.

* An event horizon is just a way of describing a threshold or point of no return. For a black hole it's the "black" part in the middle since no light can escape beyond that point. For a wormhole it describes the threshold from being "here" to going "there". In Stargate that's the "puddle" effect, but in reality a wormhole would be spherical.​

 

[Romulan_spy]

Maybe I'm not smart scientifically, but I didn't understand that episode at all. So there's this black hole that is impacting the Stargate, causing time to slow down the closer you get to the Stargate, which is why outside is 5 hours later than what it is inside? Then they have a bomb to redirect the black hole to somewhere else so they can easily shut it down? It was an exciting episode, but I'm not entirely sure I got all of it.

It's based on Einstein's theory of relativity which predicts that gravity will produce time dilation effects. Since black holes have extreme gravity, they will produce extreme time dilation where time will pass a lot slower the closer you are to the black hole. Since the stargate connects two points in space-time, those time dilation effects also get transmitted through the gate. That's why the SGC starts feeling the time dilation from the black hole.

I think it is this episode that establishes that a directed blast can make a wormhole jump from one open gate to another gate in close proximity in the gate network. So by detonating the bomb into the open gate, they caused the wormhole to jump to another gate. So the time dilation is still happening, they just passed it on to another gate, hence saving the SGC. But it does make you make wonder what happened to the other gate? Did some poor planet full of people somewhere get swallowed up by the black hole instead of the SGC?

Also that Sokar guy sounds ominous.

He is. There is an excellent 2 parter next season that features Sokar.

 

[Farscape One]

He did basically take on the name of the devil. Pretty dangerous, if you ask me.

If memory serves me, it wasn't another planet's gate it jumped to, but the Antarctica gate that is stored and locked. I think that allowed the wormhole to close, ending the effects.

It's been a long time since I saw that episode, so my memory is fuzzy.

 

[Romulan_spy]

He did basically take on the name of the devil. Pretty dangerous, if you ask me.

If memory serves me, it wasn't another planet's gate it jumped to, but the Antarctica gate that is stored and locked. I think that allowed the wormhole to close, ending the effects.

It's been a long time since I saw that episode, so my memory is fuzzy.

I think you are right. I stand corrected. The jumping effect has to be to a stargate in very close proximity so it would have jumped to the antarctic gate and since it was "buried", the wormhole basically shutdown.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I think one of the reasons SG1 is so popular is because it created an exciting universe that the audience wants to be a part of and "play" in. The world-building and character development was very effective in creating this universe that the audience would be attracted to. I mean, who would not want to be part of an elite military/exploration team that can travel across the galaxy by stepping through an exotic portal, visit strange worlds, encounter new life, some primitive, some advanced, and do battle with aliens pretending to be gods from Earth's mythology? That sounds awesome, especially with friends like O'Neill and his sarcastic humor, the curious and compassionate Daniel, the brave warrior Tealc, the beautiful and intelligent Carter, the wise mentor Bratac, the enigmatic Tokra etc...

 

[Farscape One]

And other character archetypes they encounter down the road...

 

[DonIago]

I think it is this episode that establishes that a directed blast can make a wormhole jump from one open gate to another gate in close proximity in the gate network. So by detonating the bomb into the open gate, they caused the wormhole to jump to another gate. So the time dilation is still happening, they just passed it on to another gate, hence saving the SGC. But it does make you make wonder what happened to the other gate? Did some poor planet full of people somewhere get swallowed up by the black hole instead of the SGC?

Given that "Children of the Gods" established that one of the reasons why Earth was originally able to connect to Abydos despite stellar drift was because Abydos was fairly close to Earth in gate terms, when I read this my first thought was, "Heck of a present for the SGC to send to Abydos..."

 

[Silvercrest]

It wasn't intended to be the Antarctic gate or Abydos, but another world that happened to be in line between Earth and the black hole planet. They named the address of the other world, but I can't remember it.

The reason the Stargate shut down after that was because it would have its attention divided between two destinations and couldn't sustain a wormhole to either one. I read this somewhere; not sure if it was stated in the episode or not.

I've also read speculation that Colonel Cromwell could still be alive. If the wormhole was redirected to another world, he could've been dumped out there instead.

Edit: Also remember that there's no way it could've been the Antarctic gate because it was an outgoing wormhole ... the originating address would be Earth's, and for all intents and purposes the Antarctic gate's address is the same as the SGC's.

I always thought it was a bit of a contrivance that the episode got them to change from an incoming wormhole (the one SG-10 dialed) to an outgoing one that the SGC had a little bit of influence over. It's equally plausible that SG-10's wormhole would've remained open the entire time. That would've been "game over" ... the SGC couldn't have done a thing to save themselves.