Lurker > SovietOmega

What is homestuck? There is surely no such thing. Kids? Stuck at home? Call child protective services. What a creepy idea for a webcomic. </homestuck withdrawal induced amnesia>

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

gotta chat with you about something next time we play accel. ._.

also, not that this will come into play for a long time, but I am thinking that if the next campaign is a thing, i will be some kind of sorcerer. already have some backstory ideas, though it will depend on how this story turns out >_>

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Honestly, I think I would be content with the THP, because as I said, this thing only affects two powers of mine, one of them being an at-will i should never use (Crushing Surge). The other one being decidedly mild healing (Warforged Resolve)

Accel_R8 posted...

inexorable advance, too

Somehow glossed over that one...had a feeling I was missing something.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Also, could I get a DM ruling on the Reparation Apparatus?

Property: When you use a healing power on a construct, that
creature regains an additional 2d6 hit points. When you use
a power to grant temporary hit points to a construct, that
creature gains an additional 2d6 temporary hit points.

The issue is that Warforged have apparently been changed to be 'living constructs' which supposedly completely different from just a construct. Essentially, this would add 2d6 THP to my two powers with the invigorating keyword.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Leaning towards Indomitable Champion (Heroes of the Fallen Lands), though it is more vanilla than Demigod, but +20 hp raises HS value and makes a tank that much harder to kill.

Unyielding Sentinel (D388) is a possibility too. Double saving throw rolling, and a stance that can negate ongoing damage and give immunity to auras. Better from a 'more options' standpoint, but I don't plan to play Xeno long enough to see much of this.

Same deal with Ceaseless Guardian (D387)...has options, but not much I expect to see.

On an unrelated note, there are few items I can think of Xenophanes wanting or needing atm. On the plus side, Xenophanes is now rich >_>;;

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

KanzarisKelshen posted...

From: Sceptilesolar | #400

Sometimes the plot has to take a backseat to convenience, though... My main motivation for wanting the timeskip disappeared, but I would have rather have had the timeskip and accept an implausible justification.

Right, but this went a little past implausible and more into 'we videogames now, take three years before proceeding with the main quest'. If everybody had been explicitly OK with that I would have had less of a problem, but as things were it seemed like nobody was aware of the consequences and I really didn't want to get 'gotcha''d into everybody dying. Remember that, at that point, we had suffered a bunch of gotchas that were still fresh on my mind.

I did not get the sense that there was a ticking clock, or rather, if there were, it would be oriented in such a fashion as to permit a timeskip. That is not to say that the plot has to wait on us forever, but a reasonable amount of leniency can be imposed with enough justification (resource shortages, minion incompetence, monsters, other such unforeseen circumstances that would prevent an otherwise perfect timeframe from happening). It could have been that a prolonged wait might have opened the doors to a unique quest or opportunity that otherwise would not have occurred.

Basically, it is not 'not thinking of the ramifications' as much as it is knowing how ana seems to run things. We routinely have shaved off weeks of travel time (something not many adventurers can claim), but the plot does not feel too much different. Perhaps it would have played out differently, but time feels almost a nonfactor unless the event is grand enough (and no, that is not an invitation to introduce mass timed events Ana >_>)

If a plot is so constrictive that it prevents any meaningful RP, then the plot is probably not very good. Yes, we are heroes and should save the world, but if we have to sacrifice player fun, then why play the game? We aren't here to speedrun the plot, but to experience the plot and the characters in it.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

KanzarisKelshen posted...

From: SovietOmega | #383

Yeah, well, Jimmy doesn't share his toys and Mommy can't seem to afford the latest and greatest so Jimmy becomes the house we all have to meet at. We try to sell bottlecaps and deliver papers, but we just can't earn enough to have what Jimmy does. It isn't so much being childish as pointing out the disparity between players. Ana slips in new artifact without batting an eyelash, for anyone else he responds with 'well I just don't know how to work it in yet'.

Or maybe noone has really presented him with a complete artifact ready for introduction?

Kan is sorta the unofficial artifact maker, and I know I have worked with him to produce things like Vega's dagger and Lloyd's thing.

Ding ding ding ding. You want the artifact, do the homework. I was asked to stat out the BoK and did so. I then wanted to do something less broken and wrote it up. It's more like 'Jimmy made himself a new toy and I don't have one like his', really.

You also have a better grasp of some of the more nuanced rules. Which is why I have consulted you when I have had artifact ideas I want to see manifest in a fair manner. Even when doing so, they seem to take ages to get introduced even when they are considered ready to go. Admittedly, Xeno might have his hammer by now if I didn't have to go through several weeks of absence, but the point remains that it may or many not be a near future thing for me or any other character, while Valerian has never had to wait long if at all.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Yeah, well, Jimmy doesn't share his toys and Mommy can't seem to afford the latest and greatest so Jimmy becomes the house we all have to meet at. We try to sell bottlecaps and deliver papers, but we just can't earn enough to have what Jimmy does. It isn't so much being childish as pointing out the disparity between players. Ana slips in new artifact without batting an eyelash, for anyone else he responds with 'well I just don't know how to work it in yet'.

Or maybe noone has really presented him with a complete artifact ready for introduction?

Kan is sorta the unofficial artifact maker, and I know I have worked with him to produce things like Vega's dagger and Lloyd's thing.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

And yet, it happens for Kan, why not the rest of us?

It does not have to be out of thin air, but any one of a number of reasons. Ancient relics as reward for stopping Ondal for instance. Maybe new ones made by Oa. RP discovery in the coming sessions. Like, I already have a solid idea where Amy's next artifact will come from due to how events have gone for her (A place she has visited on the planes, which would be a decent explanation for the rest of the party too, should they meet up).

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I maintain that either everyone should have an artifact or noone should. Though it does seem like kan is the only one to really have one at any point in time. Like, I had to wait months before Lloyd got his, and when he did he was unable to concordance any use out of it before I started playing Xeno. Here I have the idea for a Xeno artifact, and am going to have to wait months. By the time I get it, it will be almost useless.

Same thing will probably happen should I switch to Amy.

This problem does not seem to happen to Kan, who has had an artifact continuously since...always?

But really, everyone else should have something

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

To sum up the Kanzaris position: "The power of friendship is stupid and One Piece should be ashamed of itself"

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

In terms of raw data, I can acknowledge your clarification of what constitutes sensory data as being not inherently prohibitive from being viewed. It is still unsettling with the implications it can result in though, but the issue becomes where these senses end and memory begin.

I tend to view a memory as able to just consist of one sense. They can contain more, but one is probably enough. Like, if a person is deaf and blind and paralyzed and only able to taste, they can still have memories of how things taste. Each bit of sensation is ultimately unique to that person, and subject to misremembering as the way our brain encodes data can be faulty at times. This is part of why I say that sensory information retrieved from their mind has potential to be false (and if a subject knows they are guilty, they will take steps to ensure this information is false if we run with the notion that mind scans are a common enough thing in this world. Crime generally adapts much quicker than the governing bodies that try to stop it.)

So, if there is a distinct separation from memory and sensory input, and if the need is great enough, I could agree to limited searching. But I question where the line would ultimately be drawn as it is a hair's breadth from sensory input to the complete repository of their thoughts and motives and how they think. We could also get into senseory data depicting a crime, with justifiable motivation not being looked at, but that is neither here nor there.

It still reeks of privacy invading, and if the practice is easy enough, too easily applied to any instance of criminal activity which would, as I suggested, lead to Orwellian dystopias and general unhappiness amongst the populace.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Seeing is indeed not thinking, but imagine you lived in a glass house. Every action you took open to the world to see. It would be a pretty humiliating existence. Sure, the parallels are not exact as there would be more than one viewer here, but with mental probing it is magnified in that any event can be put under scrutiny. Every moment that is seen can be studied. The difference between this and a fingerprint is that one is a much richer and more voluminous collection of data. A print is like a 1kb computer file that says "yup, this is who you think it is". A summation of all of their senses is like every other file, image, video, audio, text. The scale of it sets it apart.

I would argue that it really is not that hard to make your senses lie to you, since some of them literally operate by tricking your brain. You might not have voluntary control, at least not in our world, but you certainly could if we invoke magic. The very means that allow mental probing to be a thing can work to shield a mind or negate the veracity of the information gained.

As for lie detecting spells, as they do not invade the person's mind and have free reign across everything that person has ever experienced, no I am not nearly as opposed to them. I can't say I am a huge fan of overriding a person's free will, but when the stakes are high it is a relatively acceptable option. Certainly when compared to invasive procedures that are not consented to.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Have you even considered that such mental tactics might not be effective, because just as such mental manipulation would be available for the side of 'good', it would be available to the side of 'bad'?

It would not be so hard to arrange things such that a base is entered from a portal and absolutely no indication of where it is is conferred by mental scrying

Or standard memory wipes so that the memory of where the base is is literally deleted and wiped making recovery impossible. Or memory alterations that suggest a different location that is actually a trap. Or the act of mental invasion setting loose a chain of events that kills the person or maybe lashes out at the person attacking the mind.

There are enough scenarios one can envision that would both make the world a much much unpalatable place as well as working against mind reading being a 100% magic godsend.

So why bother.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I am pretty sure that any world that is not in a permanent state of fear and tyranny would oppose such mental invasion lest the populace live in fear of thought police and the most minor of slights landing them punishment. Because that is what you are justifying.

And this world Ana has might not be perfect, but it is not that. Not when there are heroes who can oppose such harsh methods while still getting results.

Even the worst of criminals still have basic human rights, and condoning an eye for an eye does not make you any better than them, though you can claim to be on the side of justice. To deny someone, anyone, a right to an unmolested brain is nigh unthinkable. If they consent to it then sure, search, but a mind is not like a static house that can be searched. It is everything that person is and has been.

As I said, if such a search could be tailored to specifically target only the desired memories and completely block any others, then my objections would be much lessened, but free range mental access is just...criminal.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

KanzarisKelshen posted...

From: Accel_R8 | #352

We did that once and the result was two PCs rolling death saves and dropping into negative HP after about thirty minutes of OOC discussion ruining the scene, and the resulting roleplay "defaulting" to more mind rape.

Which still irks me. The first solution was "mind rape". So drama over the mind rape happens. And then the situation gets brought to the most responsible NPC to deal with.

And she defaults to mind rape.

It wasn't mindrape though. Mindrape involves either spying someone's emotions and thoughts, or straight up rewriting them. Looking for the base's location is checking for sensory input that matches what you need. It's like taking someone's prints - they don't get to refuse that, so why would they get to refuse a sensory scan?

If you could set up a scan in such a way that you can literally pinpoint specifically if there is a memory of a base or not, then it would not be such a big deal. However, failing that, it would involve sifting through a person's life which is naturally considered to be a gross breach of privacy.

Prints stay the same unless you purposefully alter them, but the information they impart is specific and socially recognizable as valid ID. A person's memories are as varied as gains of sand on a beach and more valuable than diamond.

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If you two made your arguments in character I bet that would be worth a lot of rp xp.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I am sure the campaign can survive 16 hours a week rather than the usual 24.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

And with regard to that plan, I pretty much knew from a player perspective that Xeno would take damage, but that there could have been some small % of something nice, it was in character, and I know that unless it was 300+ damage that Xeno would be fine.

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Oh, I have no idea if tiro will do that or not, I'm just saying that as it is his character, he should have the most sway in where he wants the character to go. I have had some pretty clear (and not so clear) ideas of where I wanted Amy and Lloyd and now Xeno to go, and if I have needed DM approval over something, I have made sure to chat him up. Sometimes he thinks an idea I have won't work out, others he likes.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

No, it's our task. Because last time we left things up to Ana, we got the flash teleport mess. This isn't a knock against him, but rather that it's unfair to ask one person to think about how an entire world works. The responsibility should be shared. So yeah, expect me to be critical if something doesn't work. It's my job to make sure it all runs smoothly, just as much the DM's, and yours.

I meant that ana, being the DM, is kinda de facto the person who describes the events and controls the npc's to make events happen for us. I did not mean to suggest 'let's just have ana choose how he wants to resolve the ED thing' but rather an opportunity for tiro to get in contact with ana and go 'hey, i want this to be a thing for my character, i think this might work out if yadda yadda yadda happens, can you make it work?' and if the DM says he can, i will make its way to the story.

I was not depriving player input, rather I was supporting it.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Sure, just ignore a potential solution >_>;;

Still, my point was that it is not hard to think of potential ways things could still be permissible. All it would take to cement something as a thing would be to run it by the DM and get his approval. Sure, we would like it to make sense in the story, and it would be ana's task to make it able to happen. If there is a goal, there will be a path to that goal. Being overly negative about it does not further that.

It could even be that Quentyn will be chosen by Oa to become the new god of brothels in the future, but needs to have this demigod transitory period or something to prove his worth etc and could thus gain that ED and all it would entail.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Quentyn already was a Chosen of Borden and I am pretty sure they like, shook hands or something, a piece of Borden could lie dormant in him.

Besides, if we really want the gods back we just have to convince Oa to allow time travel to woooosh them to the future to what would be our present. The effect would be the same and Ondal could still think he blow'd up the gods.

Nothing is impossible.

(also I am not scep >_>;;)

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

To be fair, this IS still a victory. It is like a raging river that destroyed some villages, but was finally dammed. Sure, there was loss, but there is no more destruction by the river.

As for ED choices, didn't you yourself say that the fluff involving them might as well be ignored?

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

keeping with tradition and arguing that we can not do this because it would not be novel sorta contradict each other.

that said, most of my complaint stems from the xp discrepancy between our actions yielding 15k and 10k. were they switched, i would not mind so much.

but just saying 'ok, the xp was switched' would still be silly and empty. the semigod slaying should yield more than the army and pirate. it should take us close to epic.

i say close because i am kinda starting to agree that a character driven transition to epic via roleplay might be worth looking into. even in a story there is almost always some resolution before the end. we are thrashed a bit after beating the guy, we are not goku who tends to get stronger the longer the fight goes out. only after recovery would we be stronger, and during that time we can find something charactercentric that boosts us over the threshold.

consider our connections. val has crisis band, kirie and vance have wrestling initiates and catgirls, xeno has the other team he is a part of, quentyn has his harem, and brona has...ties to the undead mebbe?

point is, with the end of season analogy i drew, we still technically have that sliver to go until the arc is truly finished and a new chapter can begin.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I remember a time when we did something epic and ana was just like 'welp, you gain a level from this' no questions asked.

this was certainly more epic than that event.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

KanzarisKelshen posted...

From: Accel_R8 | #304

Literally nothing we can do can top this outside of some asspull. So we're not going to become epic heroes after a fated confrontation, no, we're going to gain 5000 XP smacking around cultists.

This ruins a lot of the fun of the game for me. Not making a deal of level 21 and popping it after the biggest of big encounters is akin to turning 18 and pretending it's just like any other old birthday.

But, "Accel is always Wrong", eh?

Nah, we're just sticking to tradition. We're not supposed to level when it matters or we'd have gained XP more slowly in the Twilight.

we did gain xp more slowly in the twilight. we got it by hundreds and if we did things exceptional, thousands. here we are getting it by the bucketful, the argument was that this particular thing deserved a giant bucket but we got a smaller one than the one we got when did something relatively minor on the material plane.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

The party faced its most important challenge yet.

After a long battle they prevailed. Their reward: 5k less xp than what it took to spook an army.

No epic tier for us. But at least the universe is safe. For the moment.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Episode 3: Prisoners

Long and short of it, SG-1 gets thrown on a prison planet with relatively nice prisoners and also cold fusion plants.

It is an episode that pretty much plays various tropes straight and little new knowledge is gained.

Although, iirc this is plague lady they meet here in the jail and she is super bad news unless I am thinking of a different show.

And Daniel almost dies. Lulz.

Very silly how they deny what they saw with their own eyes. The guy just straight up strangled Daniel and we are supposed to believe that they believe Daniel somehow did something other than clearly pass out?

The dude that gained sight by the bad lady's remedy also escapes through the gate with SG-1 and the old lady. We will surely never see him again.

Amazing how she instantly becomes a computer expert...

Destroyer of Worlds...Lenora. Doesn't really have a evil ring to it. Not as bad as something like Fluffy, but still a little soft...

Meh episode though, like a lot of SG-1 episodes, containing some implications down the line.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

considering he edited his sig to say 'psych' i am leaning towards jokey.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Yeah, it had that line again. A callback to when it was mentioned in Bloodlines.

S2 Episode 2: In the Line of Duty

No closure with the SGC being shut down plot...not that it is hard to infer things went well for them after they sorta saved the world, but I suppose it was either that or action opening and the latter probably made for better tv or something...

And now it is Carter's turn to be a goa'uld host?

Things seem noticeably off, both in her mannerisms that the SGC start to notice, and in how she is acting compared to what the audience would expect a goa'uld to act. This is not a normal goa'uld.

And somehow Cassandra can sense goa'uld.

Sam gets captured and the team work on helping separate her from the symbiote.

Apparently there is also some kind of shapeshifter on the loose.

Hello Tok'ra. These are good guy goa'ulds. They are a slippery bunch, but we will see more of these people in future episodes.

The shapeshifting thing is apparently a goa'uld hired assassin out to kill Jolinar, the Tok'ra in Sam. Said Tok'ra might know where Sha're is. By the end of this series my apostrophe key will be worn out.

The assassin is pretty slick, able in infiltrate and kill Carter...but since SG-1 are all spliced with cats they have more lives than you can shake a staff weapon at.

Luckily the Tok'ra gave its life for Same to live etc etc and the baddie was zat'd to death.

Pretty much a by the numbers episode that also happens to introduce some threads for future exploration. a fairly average episode, especially after coming off of the season finale and season opening.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I was being more tongue in cheek anyway like "grrr...cliffhanger, so many seconds I have to wait!" because...whole series is done so there is no actual waiting time and hence no true anger. Though, I really was planning to call it a night. Not that I couldn't wait until tomorrow....I just dun wanna. Got the episode all ready to go and everything. Huzzah instant gratification!

S2 Episode 1: The Serpent's Lair

Previously...on SG-1

Sam: Teal'c, I'm pregnant and...Schrodinger is the father.
Schrodinger: Meow

Jack: Alright Apophis, you got me. But maybe you didn't count on THIS
*Jack pulls out a bomb made out of peanut butter, a transmitter, duct tape, and a bomb*

Thor: I just asked her if she wanted to see my hammer, your honor. It is very big and powerful.

Walter: Chevron seven, locked.

The story continues...

Jack: This is turning out to be a bad day.

Spoken right before getting taken out by a shock grenade. I remember a funny moment a bajillion episodes from now involving them, Bra'tac and O'Neill, or maybe it was Mitchell.

Good to see SGC being the nerve center of this whole shebang. Though lulz at the higher ups not mobilizing everything under the pretense of not wanting to alert the goa'uld.

Oooh...a prototype weapon. This will certainly work. Yup.

Is that Bra'tac in that suit? Sounds a little like him...

Escape should be easy enough too once they blow things up good...as there is a stargate on the thing. Can just dial anywhere, even Earth perhaps.

It is Bra'tac, I expect nothing less than awesomeness.

I like how the guards outside the room should clearly have been able to hear Bra'tac boast his intentions to defy Apophis.

Ahaha...Bra'tac's plan was to buy time with Skaara's revival so the ships of Earth could attack...yeeeeah....yeah.

Bra'tac: Perhaps if the warships of your world attack we will be able...
Sam: (interrupting) Eh, excuse me... did you say 'the ships of our world'?
Bra'tac: Surely you have such vessels?
Daniel: Well, we have a number of...of...
Daniel and Jack: Shuttles.
Bra'tac: These... 'shuttles'... they are a formidable craft?
Jack: Oh yeah... yeah... bad day...

Back on Earth, Alpha site gets set into motion.

Ah, the guards are working with Bra'tec...thank you writers.

Missiles get fired aaaaaaannd...shields.

Meanwhile, on the ship, Two guards shoot a bajillion zat bursts almost continuously with no luck...wow.

Damnit Daniel, you are supposed to dodge those blasts...that kid might as well live in a sarcophagus. (probably will gate out afterwards too)

Ah, here is the moment I was thinking of with the grenades...that...came much sooner than I expected.

O'NEILL: I think what the Captain is asking is, "What now?"
BRA'TAC: Now we die.
O'NEILL: Well, that's a bad plan. Where are the glider bays from here?

SG-1 blow up the ships, Daniel escapes through the gate with a second to spare, and the others are in Death Gliders. Fun times.

Saved by Daniel and everyone meets up in the embarkation room. Presumably because of this action, SGC will remain in operation.

Many part episodes allowing lots of buildup...rarely disappoint and this is no exception. Lovely series of episodes and THIS is the kind of thing stargate does best. And it gets better...

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

<3 tea in almost all its forms (tried pu'erh and I am sure there is a kind I would like, but the kind I had had a fishy taste. I like fish, but tea should not taste like fish). Cliffhangers are a good thing, I agree. They do their job too well sometimes. I wasn't planning to watch another episode tonight, but now I gotta see this thing resolved...

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I will say though, that having people be proven wrong about a core concept of a show is almost always entertaining to watch. There is probably a trope for people who act like Kinsey...

More importantly though, season finale tiem!

Episode 22: Within the Serpent's Grasp

For some reason SG-1 decided that black was more their style this episode. Perhaps a visual cue that they are going rogue. How edgy.

First appearance of the Zat gun. This thing gets a bit overused down the line iirc. They needed something that could stun and not kill that wasn't guns I bet. Like how heroes in fantasy rarely get to use their sword to cut bad guys unless they are in a more mature setting.

Daniel: (staring at a huge floating sphere) Teal'c, What is this?
Teal'c: It is a Goa'uld long range visual communication device. Somewhat like your television, only much further advanced.
Jack: Ya think it gets Showtime?

It had to happen sometime eh?

Good thing this goa'uld ship has such convenient hiding places along the hallways. Architecture. Their one weakness. Also bullets.

An the infamous three shot rule. One shot stuns, two kills, and three disintegrates. That last one I hear gets dropped later on, something about being stupid.

No transparent material can withstand that speed Teal'c? Obviously Teal'c has never heard of transparent aluminum!

So they calculate the ship will take a year to get to earth moving at 10x the speed of light. Also Apophis has a son who is essentially second in command. It is Skarra. Welp.

C4 and a direct assault on Skarra. Classic SG-1.

Getting caught...classic SG-1

Apparently the ship is either faster than thought, or closer than thought because...they are passing by what looks like Saturn. I like how Saturn is always the posterchild of the solar system. Like, maybe Jupiter sometimes, but never the others. Mercury and Venus are past Earth so makes no sense to see them, Mars is too close to Earth, and Uranus and Neptune are a bit too far out and not nearly as recognizable by people. This is partially justified by Saturn truly being a pretty damn awesome sight to behold (and while all the other gas giants have rings, they pale in comparison to Saturn's)

Seriously? Now PISTOLS can take out a snakehead'd Jaffa? The only explanation is that Daniel Jackson has gained more levels than those gate guards who were sitting around playing poker. His guns are probably much higher tier and possibly rare drops. This makes a ton of sense to my gamer mind.

Two ships about to attack earth. End of the season and....To Be Continued. Argh cliffhangers I hate them. Now I gotta wait...a few seconds before I can continue.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

A few other things make little sense from there, like Daniel suddenly having the mirror control thing right after Sam got done blowing it and the Jaffa up. Why the hell did they not just escape to another world, ANY world with this one shot, which would allow Daniel to dial the mirror world from there. And where were the rest of the people on that beta site list? These oddities aside, it was still a very nice episode.

Episode 21: Politics

Daniel: Now I know this is hard for you guys to believe but I swear to you, the entire time you thought I had disappeared on P3R233, I was experiencing an alternate reality
Jack: And you were there, and you were there, and there's no place like home
Daniel: As a matter of fact you were there!
Sam: Daniel it's not that we don't believe you
Daniel: So you do?
Jack: No it's just that... we don't believe you.

Meanwhile, this plot gets interrupted so that Senator Kinsey can unleash the most horrible weapon imaginable on the SGC: The Flashback episode.

Hammond: It costs nearly a billion dollars just to turn the lights on around here.
Jack: How about a bake sale? Yard sale? Garage...?
Hammond: This is what I look like when I'm not laughing, Colonel.
Jack: Car wash?

Kinsey berates them for putting the world at stake with only minor success at bringing back useful things.

DANIEL: Oh, you're right. We'll—We'll-we'll just upload a computer virus into the mothership.

<3 genre savvy people.

</3 mass clips. Especially ones that keep on going and going and going.

And at the end of it, the senator decides he wants the gate program shut down, and Daniel tries out his alternate reality plea, which really does kinda come off as a bit crazy, though equally crazy is not at least being open to it considering all the other crazy things the stargate has enabled.

Aaaand the 'One nation under God" card is played. Welp.

To Be Continued

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Three more episodes. 22 episodes to a season. Later on this will become 20. I remember a time when seasons of things were 26 episodes. Those were the days...

Episode 20: There But for the Grace of God

A world destroyed by the Goa'uld, a symbol Teal'c identifies and tells him that the world is unsafe. Mission over, everyone heads back. Man what a short epis...what are you doing Daniel? No Daniel...go back...leave the mirror alone Daniel...nothing good will come of this...hurry! Before it is....oh...nvm.

That guy never listens to me : (

And now he is stuck in an evil alternate universe (clearly evil, i mean...it is the other one. duh)

And he knows things.

Also the goa'uld are destroying earth. That tends to happen in alternate realities. Deliciously sweet bad ends.

The news was lulz. Anchormandude just happened to exposit what the audience and Daniel needed to hear. As if anyone on this Earth wouldn't know of the situation by now. "Welp, the aliens are still killing everything and have been for days now. It is the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine. Up next is Bob with sports...."

And they blow up Chulak with the coordinates Daniel freely gave.

General O'Neill is kinda a humorless guy here...though considering over a billion peoples are dead on this Earth, it is understandable.

Daniel discovers where the him from this reality is located: Egypt

DANIEL: Uh oh.
[Carter looks up and sees him.]
CARTER: What?
DANIEL: (motioning to the map) I think I'm dead.
CARTER: What?
DANIEL: The me in this reality.

Poor guy, just can't catch a break...that is like the 5th time a Daniel has died.

We learn that the max time a wormhole can be established is around a half hour or so.

And a potential goa'uld homeworld is located. The plot thickens. And here the slow dialing speed is kicking SGA in the butt. If only they knew about the Antarctica gate. Gonna be hard to get to it when there is a mothership above the base though.

Gotta say, if I were in this situation and some dude popped in and got information that could save his world, I proooobably wouldn't use the last chance I had to save some people from my world. They have no guarantee the attack is coming to that Earth, just that...it might? Sorry Daniel, the stirring music is a bit silly and flies in the face of rationality when an infinite number of earths have been invaded and an infinite number survived. And here I am spiraling off into nihilism. If every choice is already played out, what is the point in choosing?

Anyway...they help him.

But since they did the bomb thing, Teal'c stays a bad guy and blasts Jack with some kind of super cannon version of the staff weapon. Whoops.

But he manages to make it through, despite 5 seconds really not being enough time to be faster than the goa'uld, and also despite a solid hit by evil Teal'c.

Bit of a gloom and doom ending too. Perhaps the next two episodes will directly follow up on this. (they will).

Alternate realities tend to be a lot of fun and free up a lot of constraints a show can have about how things should be done while still maintaining a semblance of being true to the characters. Shift events around and the actions O'Neill took to blow up the Jaffa homeworld makes perfect sense. Without the guise of alternate reality, that would have been a decent blow to the enemy, if only a minor one.

On an unrelated note, I can never look at the word Jaffa the same way after discovering Jaffa cakes.

http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/attachment.php?attachmentid=155859&stc=1&d=1317940013

(Jaffa cakes are also delicious <3<3<3)

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Just a few more episodes to go this season....I've been flying through these. Whoops.

Episode 19: Tin Man

The planet sorta gave me some slight portal 2 vibes with the industrial look to the place. As the team looks around...zzzzap.

After the opening theme, they wake up dressed in new clothes and greeted by an old man. They would do well to listen to their elders. Or something. Harlan is his name. So many names to know on this show. Why can't they all be called Bob? It would make it so much easier for me to remember, and I wouldn't have to look spelling up. Tempting...

Suddenly the team are supercomputers.

Good thing Sam still had a transmitter....

Literally supercomputers. Hello RobO'Neill

You see, the others were in on it too. Everyone is a robot. And they thought I was crazy back when Sarah needed an explanation for Charlie! WELL WHO IS THE CRAZY ONE NOW HMMM?

*insert Battlestar Galactica joke about frakking walls here*

Nice way to ensure they return...make them require something on the planet to not be gasping for air and convulsing and other odd things for robots to be doing. Also makes any idea of keeping them for study to a minimum.

Teal'c practices doing the robot while everyone else helps out Harlan with saving the power source that keeps them going.

While Roboneill works on the vents, Roboteal'c attacks. All we need is Bill Nye to give their stats, put a few minutes on the clock, and we'll have ourselves a good ol' fashioned battlebots brawl...

Harlan saves the day by vaporizing Roboteal'c with a gun thing. We find out the real SG-1 bodies are somewhere and that these are not just robots, but clone robots. The dude could make an army of SG-1 people, but that would require far too many stunt doubles >_>;;

They have a little chat amongst themselves and it offers some lulz.

ROBOT JACK: I noticed that. What does that make me? What do you want?
O'NEILL: Well there all debating the meaning of life out there; both Daniels think this is all fascinating. The carters are arguing already. Teal'c feels left out. You and I have go a few things to talk about.

The pacing was a little weird and the climax and resolution was...also weird. By itself this episode feels more like filler than anything, but I know there is a call back somewhere down the line. And robots are always nice, but...considering last episode was a second stargate this one is...considerably less exciting.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Most of the 'bad' things I see coming from that episode are good things dramawise, like the tension between that section of the government that wants alien tech at any cost vs SGC.

Episode 18: Solitudes

Carter and O'Neill sitting in a tree...

...and by tree I mean ice planet. Something about an attack and retreat and the gate overloading back on earth. Daniel and Teal'c made it back though.

Oh...OH...I know what this is. I forgot about this. This is gonna be big. Very big. The biggest. >:3

I definitely did not see this being a season 1 thing....aaaaanyway...

Jack has a broken leg. The team got split heading back to Earth from wherever they were. Two made it to SGC, two made it.....somewhere

What a crappy engineer...doesn't he know you're supposed to always give a little more time than you can actually spare? Star Trek taught me that :3 (it occurs to me they might be lampshading this, much like they will be lampshading their tendency to identify worlds by what is immediately around a stargate :p)

Meanwhile back in Iceland...Sam and Jack have a very lovely and human chat. Good stuff.

Sam: Is this your first broken bone?
Jack: Ah, ah... no... this, this would be... uh... nine, if you count skull fractures.
Sam: How'd you manage that, sir?
Jack: Little parachuting mishap over the borders of Iran and Iraq back in... '80...
Sam: This is going to hurt, sir.
Jack: Ah, I know, I know, I know, I know
Sam: So, what happened?
Jack: I hit the ground, go figure.

a little bit later after the DHD is found.

Sam: What's wrong with your chest?
Jack: I think I cracked a rib too.
Sam: Why didn't you say something?
Jack: I was afraid you'd try to put a splint on it.

ahh probability...

Sam: With all the possible Stargates, a random search could easily take...10 years.
Jack: Not if they look here first.
Sam: Even if all SG teams started searching right now, the mathematical probability of them even...
Jack: Captain!
Sam: I think too much.

Gotta love how many times the dialing computer says they are dialing Abydos...seems to happen almost every episode. Lol recycled footage.

So theoretically, stargates are like extradimensional electromagnets. ****ing stargates how do they work?

Back with Jack and friends: NAP TIEM!

Sam can't get this gate to work for some strange reason and Jack says to go topside and survive on this ice planet.

Sam doesn't listen and does what any good computer technician would do: Reset the device. Everything shakes. Shame she does not think to dial.....any other planet but Earth. They know a few friendly worlds by now...

This prompts Daniel to have an aha moment.

Daniel: (to Teal'c) What happens when you dial your own phone number? (Teal'c looks blank) Wrong person to ask. (to Hammond) What happens when you dial your own phone number?

Surprise! There is a second gate on earth in Antarctica. Yup.

Sam: Its an ice planet. All there is as far as the eye can see. There's no chance. *cue Sam looking defeated*

Sam and Jack get rescued and we learn a bit more about the gate network. Many other oddities to come though.

Great episode, both with characterization and plot and future implications. Certainly a highlight of season 1.

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I dunno if 'like' is the best word to use describing Singularity. I liked it much better before it was planet Dead People and girlbombs. The Carter thing had me groaning mostly and everything else was pretty standard stuff. Hathor was just bad. I would probably rank Bloodlines above Cor-Ai, though both reflect well on Teal'c's character and both are good episodes.

Episode 17: Enigma

Volcanoes erupting on a world...that's rarely good news.

These people seem perhaps more advanced than earth, Daniel suggesting that they might not have had a 'Dark Ages' period. I have heard this kind of view cited every now and then, but I am unsure how truthful it really is. Like, while Europe decided to play at knights and kings, the Arabic world was undergoing a renaissance in science and tech which eventually spread up Italy and the rest of Europe. Feel free to correct me on this though...

Anyway...

Tollan seems to be what they call themselves. Bit of an arrogant lot. You might even say....pompeiious

One of them seems to view Carter as something like an angel. Because all females are love interests of course.

KITTY~

...if I had a nickel for every cat with that name -___-. I remember a time when I appreciated the reference but...it gets old after a while. Makes you want to just put all the cats named that in a box with poison and lob radiation at them...naturally the reference needs to be explained to the audience too.

Apparently these folks are above quantum physics. I bet they don't believe in evolution either, they seem surprised other animals exist >_>;;

They wrestle a bit on the whole "We are superior than you" "C'mon, be reasonable" issue.

And scary people in suits come to take away these people who can walk through walls.

Narim: You are anything but primitive, Samantha. What your mind doesn't know, your heart fills in.
Sam: I don't know what that means, exactly, but it's beautiful.
Narim: Which is exactly what it means.

Translation: "You're stupid, but you have emotions!"

A plan is hatched and Daniel and the leader dude send out a notlaser to the Nox planet by totally not bending space. (amazing how little time he took to orient the machine given the distances involved and one stray nanometer could cause it to miss the Nox planet completely, at least in this primitive's opinion. And you also have the planet rotation and revolution of both Earth and Noxland, the latter could not be known and and and...)

Maybourne is such a cartoon villain...but the Tollan get to stay with the Nox for a bit and Carter's love interest gets to keep the cat. All reasonable people should like cats, so this is quite acceptable.

Good episode and many things will come from it, some good, some bad.

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I would not be able to make it monday anyway.

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Arrrrrrgh, 2/3rds through the season and I KNOW that much awesome will be had there. But I gotta wade through a few more episodes >_<

Episode 16: Cor-Ai

SG-1 pops into a recently deserted area that has some interesting architecture.

Not surprisingly, the locals burst out with something like crossbows.

The main native apparently knows Teal'c and has this to say (paraphrasing) "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

I like how this is almost a callback to the nox episode. The elders said to leave, and O'Neill merrily said it was important to respect their elders. Sadly, Teal'c needs to stay for the plot. Apparently he is actually guilty. Dun dun duuuuun.

So, they could escape but, Jackson and Teal'c are being justice buddies, much to Jack's Chaotic Good shenanigans.

Law and Order IIIIIIIIIIN SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE.

O'Neill and Teal'c have a pretty nice dialogue here. Chain of command, burden of guilt. Good stuff.

The guy of the father that died gets to be judge, jury, and possibly executioner. Despite SG-1 defending him, Teal'c is slated to die by his own weapon. Dun dun duuuuuun

Hopefully Jack and Sam can bring in the cavalry to save the day. Or maybe the Goa'uld will just happen to come by and Teal'c can save the dude in dramatic irony.

Damnit Hammond, be reasonable. Teal'c is people too!

Ah the invincible snakemask'd jaffa return. Bullets...do nothing. But trip them with the gun? Totally super effective. Also knives. Sorta a flaw when most of the people you deal with would only have stabbity weapon tier tech eh?

Guess the goa'uld knew they would be needed for the plot. Awfully convenient, but it mostly works. All in all, not the worst. Teal'c constantly demanding to be kept a prisoner was a little annoying, but it all worked out. So jew see kids, if you are ordered to commit atrocities, it is ok. It is your leader's fault and not your own.

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

IhatethisCPU posted...

...I'm ashamed of myself for thinking this, but... cougars. Or catwomen. >_>'

I could get behind this idea. >:3

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Episode 15: Singularity

So it would seem that Jack knows what an accretion disk is. *cue astonishment from rest of team*

Getting to observe a black hole eclipse...very few things could compare to this. As a wise man once said, Science rules.

...or not? Apparently everyone died. Welp.

After looking around they find a little girl. Is she patient zero? A goa'uld? A patient goa'uld?

Stargate material in her blood and not a goa'uld. Interesting...

And Sam wants to stay because, in her words, this eclipse could "change the course of human history". Overly dramatic much?

One thing I do like so far is that they set up a facility there on the planet. They are getting more used to traveling through the gate and having people stationed at places, even if this would have been a temp thing. Progress.

Teal'c: I still do not understand this black hole.
Jack: Well a black hole is...is really...a big thing. It's uh...basically it's a...massive...hole... ok?
Teal'c: I see...
Jack: Ah, and...what happens is, everything gets sucked in to it. Even light. That's why we can't see it. It...just...gets...sucked in...
Teal'c: Thank you.
Jack: Sure.

But he knows what an accretion disk is at least.

Aaand Cassandra is a bomb. Probably. What else would that thing in her be? *paddles get used* kaboooooooooooom~

...almost. Luckily the pulse returned.

Nice little experiment. Potassium vs Naquadah. kaboooooooooom~

Meanwhile on planet Dead People, O'Neill and Tea'c (apostrophe buddies) discover a goa'uld attack vessel.



Goa'uld: Using our own morality against us since 1997. Crafty buggers they are.

Ooh...another title scene...death glider flying through the gate. Shame the two pilots graduated from stormtrooper academy.

Good thing earth gate is so slow to dial...

So their plan to prevent the bomb from killing everything is to place her deep underground in an abandoned nuke storage place. Let's see how that works out for them...

Sam isn't really liking this as she has bonded to the bomb you see...because that is what women do according to the writers...they become mothers. They are also sex symbols and slaves as seen earlier this season. Yup.

Teal'c in a suit. Teal'c. In a suit. Also Jack and his 'earth rule' about kids having dogs. Everything and everyone looks nice and ha...KABOOOOOOOOM~

Was an alright episode. Shame everyone died like that at the end; man those goa'uld sure know how to make bombs. Could have used more black hole observation, but at least we get to see that there are different flavors of goa'uld.

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Episode 14: Hathor

Some archeologists are poking around Mayan ruins and stumble upon a goa'uld. Because when I think Mayan ruins, I think Egyptian goddesses. o_O

Cool that Daniel gets a shoutout for his crackpot theories.

They capture a woman who knows about the stargate....who calls herself Hathor...which Daniel explains is an egyptian goddess...and their first thought is not 'ZOMG GOA'ULD LOCK HER UPPPPPPPPPP'? o_____O

Frankly, my suspension of disbelief is shattered and I can not take what follows seriously...were they drunk when they made this episode?

Daniel: Hathor was the Egyptian goddess for fertility, inebrity and music.
Jack: Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll?
Daniel: In a manner of speaking.

This was a nice quote though.

She can take over men with powers because...the plot demands it. Seriously these people were drunk.

They are literally surprised she can be a goa'uld, considering the idea most outlandish. Because...drunk writers.

I need a drink.

I should try and say something positive. I...like how the bad guy is less hammy and more subtle in what she does. She is also a redhead and redheads are smexy.

Scenes are dragging on far longer than they should, and smart people are being waaaay to slow to catch on....the same people who encounter alien oddities on a regular basis now. The same people who know she is goa'uld but still do not know the full extent of what goa'uld are capable of so should be a liiiiiiittle more proactive.

Hello netscape navigator...lol 90's internet. Wait...that is a lot of /'s in the address: file.///c/http/www/ancient/external/hathor.html

Another positive thing: "code of life" is a neat term for DNA

Really though...all the men on the base are hers? Really? Looks to me like 90% of her time has been with Daniel and the other two we saw her infect. Sure, she has the commander, but c'mon there has to be hundreds of men at this place. -____-

Shouldn't they...maybe carry tranq guns to..you know...not hurt anyone? Are they tranq guns? They never stated and they look like deadly guns...-__-

Libidinous. Ok plot, sure. Keep on moving...

I like how they keep passing a gun around as if they will actually use it...

Good thing that sarcophagus was destroyed or else Teal'c would have had to have been healed too...

Oh hey, they explained the no tranq thing...but stiiill kinda stupid.

And somehow after the tub Hathor was in burst into flames because....gunfire, she escapes through the stargate somehow and...everyone is instantly freed from her spell. Proximity is the reason given but...these are airborne chemicals and with this explanation she shouldn't be able to affect someone in another room argh...thankfully it is over.

Here is something tvtropes has to say about this episode.

Discontinuity Nod: See also Canon Discontinuity.

The first season episode "Hathor" was widely disliked by fans and, though the Hathor character did reappear, the specific details of the episode were never revisited. In follow-up episodes, whenever the events were discussed one of the characters would comment that they had agreed never to talk about that again.

And that is really all there is to say on the matter.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I hit the character limit on that last writeup. Imma have to tone down the quoting it seems...was gonna throw this in at the end:

I liked this episode more than I thought I would. Sure, nothing especially momentous happened, but it was a good character piece for Daniel and Teal'c. Both find people they care about wrapped up in this goa'uld mess and it shows.

Continuing onward...

Episode 13: Fire and Water

I should keep a Daniel death counter. How many times is it now?

This shock feels a bit unnatural. This isn't the first time people have been killed on the show, though I suppose being a main character some reaction would be warranted...

Doctor lady agrees with me.

Also Daniel is alive....and forced to translate something for some crazy alien. I like how they make a dramatic to do about the alien telling Daniel that he will cooperate OR DIE. Just...lulz considering the first part of this episode.

Apparently there was some Babylon influence that may or may not have ties with the uprising that tossed the goa'uld from earth.

Anyway, the super alien science is defeated by earth hypnosis and we get exposition on what happened before Daniel didn't die.

They go back and everything works out without conflict. It is nice to see that every now and then.

An ok episode, but nothing too special.

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Pretty sure they were legit but never seen for some reason or another and were heavily speculated about by fans and it got to the point where it was like a gag. Or maybe I am misremembering things. One surefire way to find out, taking things one episode at a time...

And yeah. that scene from 200 is like...the only thing I remember from it >_>

Torment was certainly a good episode and I loved Daniel's struggle. The scene with the elements is one of the few I remembered from the early seasons as it was quite memorable. Like, if I were to rate the episode overall I would give it something like 8/10

Anywho...more door to the heavens tiem.

Episode 12: Bloodlines

Experimentation with a drug that will replace having a goa'uld in Teal'c. You know how medicine is. All those studies that need to be done and all that FDA approval. Why, it could be YEARS before they stumble upon something that works...

Also Teal'c is a family man. Indeed.

So the plot is shaping up to be "Teal'c's son is about to become a Jaffa and the gang must head back to Chulak to stop the mean goa'uld and maybe capture some larvae for SCIENCE! and stuff." Ehh...guess it works alright. A bit overly serious, but I suppose it is hard for it not to be. Might even be the seed for future Jaffa revolting down the line.

I could nitpick that a Chulak day and Earth day are almost certainly not synchronous so Teal'c would have a devil of a time knowing exactly when this ritual would occur buuuuuut....

Nice little plan they have. I see they had Daniel sneeze there at the gate as the camera panned out. I hear his allergy thing was downplayed more and more, so it is nice seeing these little details present.

Enter the Bra'tac. Pretty spry for an old guy. We will be seeing a good deal more of him. I never knew his name was spelt like that until looking it up. I always had it in my head as Bray'tac or something that was a bit less like woman's undergarments.

Jack: Well, we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.
Bra'tac: No. The bridge is too well guarded.
Jack: No, actually there, I was using a cliché that...

Nonearthlings not grasping our idioms is always worth a chuckle :D

Bra'tac: Teal'c tells me your world is without gods. Difficult to imagine.
Jack: Well it's not without gods. A lot of people believe there's a God. Not everyone believes in the same God, the same way but...let's just say nobody believes in anyone with glowing eyes and a snake in his head.
Bra'tac: Then you serve no one?
Jack: I serve the SGC under a General Hammond. Bra'tac: So this Hammond is...?
Jack: Just a man. A very good...very bald man. From Texas.

With a series like this it would be far too easy to clutter up every post with quotes...it pretty much has just the right amount of humor blended with seriousness. Sure, every now and then the proportions get a bit inverted, but those extreme cases are just icing on a cake. Now I want cake >_<

Oh huh...Teal'c's (apostrophes and alien names, ****ing with possessive apostrophes since Tolkien) wife is Alison Blake and Eliza Maza from Eureka and Gargoyles respectively.

Sam: Daniel, what are you thinking?
Daniel: Just that every single one of these infant Goa'ulds will one day take a human life, and all I have to do is...
Sam: If we kill them when they're as vulnerable as they are right now, we'd be not better than the Goa'uld. Lets go.
(turns and shoots the infant Goa'uld)

Man, this episode is turning out to be pretty quotable, or maybe I am just realizing how easy it is to c/p some quotes I like :3

The way the two branches of the story happen to work out is...contrived, but highly believably. Not every show can do that.

Did I mention Bra'tac is awesome?

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Episode 11: The Torment of Tantalus

Ye Olde Stargate Program. Interesting. Manual turning...oh how far we have come.

So Ernest goes to heaven...sounds like some kind of silly comedy movie. Poor old lady who gave Daniel the pendant in the movie...lost her love and now will have to search for upwards of 30 minutes to find him. Amazing how many problems can be solved in that span of time...

I like how it is both stated but not overly so that the reason they are encountering goa'uld so much is because the only planets they can currently dial are ones goa'uld have been to, due to the Abydos coordinates they gained. Once they gain other sources the show can open up more and introduce less goa'uld centric worlds, but for now....pretty much luck.

So they go through and instantly find the geezer who has been so long removed from civilization that he forgot what clothes were. Ew.

50 years alone...you would have to be crazy not to go insane from being isolated that long >_>

Ok, so hallucinating Catherine. Perfectly understandable.

And the Dial Home Device is borked. Welp. At least they can spend the rest of their years in a neat castle! Assuming it will defy O'Neill's expectations.

So Daniel thinks the atoms are language. Like a carpenter thinking every problem can be solved with a hammer. What a small world he lives in.

Anyway, four races. I saw nordic runes for the Asgard and what looks like evil writing for the goa'uld. The other two who knows what they could be (Nox and Furlings >_>)

Sam and Teal'c try to macguyver the gate into working, but alas, the DHD decided to sleep with the fishes. IF ONLY THERE WAS SOMETHING ELSE IN THE CASTLE THAT HAD A LOT OF POWER AND VAGUELY LOOKED LIKE A DHD.

Sadly they can not use it because Daniel wants to understand the meaning of everything. Maybe in a few years kiddo....>_>

Plan B: Lightning

Daniel in the meantime, doesn't care about getting home at all. Character consistent and I kinda agree with him. Though I kinda also agree that said knowledge is useless if it can not be communicated. If I were in his shoes, I would be obsessive about it too though.

Oh hey, scene from the opening credits. Shocking.

I like how they did not show the manual dialing and just...wormhole.

Not a bad episode either. Sure the only enemy here was time, but what they found was still neat. An ancient gathering place for the races. Why this would be a castle on a cliff with dangerous storms once a year...who knows.

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

With a lot of these episodes I can certainly feel the dialogue between the cast and the bonds starting to form etc, but being devoid of much backstory to refer too, the plots in most of these are necessarily weaker than what will come. I can definitely see where Stargate will find itself in a season or two, but for now it is a collection of episodes with us humans just flailing around and seeing what happens. This episode should be a nice plot related one as I know who Thor will be...

Episode 10: Thor's Hammer

I remember Thor, he was a cool character. Om nom Asgard. Don't think they are actually seen in this episode though...

Oh right, they don't know who actually built the stargates yet. Wow. That makes sense...man being in season 1 sucks.

I mean...erm...d'ohohoho that crazy Jackson. Of course aliens visited Earth in the past, everyone knows that! But DOUBLE aliens? Lock this guy up! (Spoilers: We were also the aliens...sorta, whaaaat a twiiiiiizt)

I gotta say though, Jackson's presentation leaves something to be desired. "So there was this God Thor, right? He protected humanity by using something called...Thor's Hammer -_________-

Nevermind that there are a bajillion gods many of whom have self named weapons, Teal'c has some confirming exposition. Kawoooooosh~

So, viking world. Shame "Daniel, you're on" has no meaning now that everyone speaks Common. Poor chap, half his character neutered because of narrative convenience.

Maybe it is a little overdone, but I like this lady's speech. Yay fantasy scifi <3

Nice chat with a former goa'uld too. This place is full of surprises :D

Oooh...being influenced by the host and leading the goa'uld that took her over to Thor's Hammer. Niiice.

Unas...I vaguely remember this guy. I am pretty sure there are some later plot points down the line, but they escape me atm. Outside sources tell me he is voiced by Darth Vader. Huh.

Poor Unas, bullets hurt him. Shame there is an unwritten rule about not aiming for the head because lol hero (this is probably a trope). The thing revives and decides to be a little more diplomatic...turns out bullets still hurt.

Man that is damn convenient thunder that happens every time Kendra needs to make a decision....maybe Thor has the hots for her and is stalking her from above and aiding her with her choices. "Should I have a bologna sandwich or a salad for lunch?" *rumble* "Thor asks that I make a salad and...no...that is not how a carrot is used Thor...gosh"

The big bad monster is defeated and Daniel has to put aside his feelings for his wife to save Teal'c. Because as we all know, the staff weapon could not possibly cut through the rock from the outside and leave the hammer intact. Nope. Certainly wouldn't make a circular hole either.

But yes, very nice episode that does good by furthering the mythos of the series some and it is always nice to find allies who are antigoa'uld.

--
There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Episode 9: Brief Candle

Greeeeeeeeeeeece iiiiiiiin spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Mongles, Minoans, Egyptians...truly the Greeks could not be far behind.

Hello Chekhov's Birthmark.

Is that...a flower pizza? If I know my video games right, that should not only restore health but also let you shoot fireballs...

Or maybe just drugs you and makes you open to the power of suggestion.

Cue the next day when the birthmark is revealed on a boy that is suspiciously not a baby. As it turns out, these people only live for 100 days. Welp.

And now Jack will become old and die unless SG-1 can find a cure! Will our brave hero who still has many seasons ahead of him perish so soon?

Yes, and he will be replaced by his robot double duh. That actually becomes a thing down the line iirc. Damn replicators. But I get ahead of myself...

You know, this virus pretty much makes them antivampires. Can only be in daylight, decidedly not immortal, and no need to hunt. Huh.

Though it also makes one question, why 60-100ish years? What fun would it be if this same plot were taken to the other extreme and an alien were to visit earth and declare that the natural human lifespan actually should have been 500 centuries. That would be fun. True immortality would blow, but living for millennia? Awesomeness.

Poor cranky old man Jack, he barely has time to think these kinds of thoughts!

I like this O'Neill, and I like how the apple comment they made about this place being a paradise is apt. They really are destroying it with knowledge...

I remember I loved the concept of this episode. Resolved a bit quickly, but the underlying themes it provokes makes this episode well worth it. We'll probably never see these people again, even if they seemed to have something like replicators in them >_>;;

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

That was another line I quite liked Mauron. Really, the whole cast is full of good lines and I would pretty much have to post the scripts to get them all o_o

Huh, this is episode 13 in dvd order. lol. I am pretty sure I remember somewhere along the line being spoiled by dvd order but I suppose for a season 1 thing, it isn't so critical yet as these episodes stand alone for the most part.

Episode 8: The Nox

One of the five races. The Goa'uld fear them. We pretty much never see them again. This is what I remember going into this episode.

So the gov't dude doesn't like that the stargate hasn't been able to wrestle advanced tech from primitive worlds despite encountering things that with study could already yield impressive things. Good thing they will be encountering a super advanced race that will gladly sha...bah who am I kidding. Like any serious knowledge will be gained here, this is season 1!

Spoilers: The stargate eventually will bring back super duper awesome tech

Running through my head: "Where did he go? That Invisibo!" <3 you Freakazoid

Naturally, out of everyone they could meet, they stumble upon Apophis. Small world. This makes enough sense I guess as Teal'c is specifically guiding them and he worked for the dude. *shrugs*

And Sg-1 is defeated. Man, they did not last long, here is hoping SG-2 is more durable...

Oh, well then. Totally a surprise they lived. Really.

Maybe I should pretend to be stumped that these people seem to be primitives but are actually super advanced...

Ah well, the morality play is half over anyway. Man that not killing commandment sure did not last long.

US VS THEM WE ARE RIGHT AND THEY ARE WRONG GRRRRRRRR. -___- I probably would not complain if aliens visited earth and decided to blow it up.

Oh yeah...first time seeing that shield thing that Apophis has too. Because they can't make it THAT easy to capture a system lord...

Yadda yadda more invisibo fun and SG-1 acting concerned for the Nox's safety and the show gears up for the final act.

Which ends with gumdrops and snowflakes and the stargate to be buried also flying island. SG-1's first glimpse at an advance race that demonstrates that humanity is not the only technological fish in the pond (a welcome break from cavepeople and other tech challenged civs.).

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out