Stargate and the state of the four races

Discussion

The Asgards were the only ones left in the end who cared about the alliance.

You'll find in the linked discussion board a suggestion that the four races represent exploration, warriors, teachers, and builders.  And yet of these the warriors, Asgard, are the only ones with the fire to pass on the knowledge they have gained.  Unfortunately, they also embrace oblivion.

But anyway you look at it, the alliance for the four races failed to persist as its constituent parts turned to isolationism or other forms of abandoning the Milky Way.  The Asgard, alone, defended the freedom of lesser civilizations before finally succumbing to their own demise.

So what do we know about the four partners in the defunct endeavor?

We know that the Ancients fled disease and then their mortal bodies.
The Asgard withered away into less ideal bodies as they forwent
procreation in a bid for immortality.  To the best of our knowledge
the Nox possess mortal immortality as they are shown able to
resurrect one another, but have placed themselves in seclusion
and only seen aiding the Tollan (a society they regard as
equal to their own and therefore avoid contamination).

The Furlings are a giant question mark who are either
extinct or living in deeper seclusion than the Nox.

That the Ancients should need to flee their plague and not receive assistance from the Asgard or Nox (their equals with known technological prowess) suggests to me mutual abandonment all around.
After all, the Asgard could have done with their own assistance, too.  And whatever befell the Furlings if they did perish lies at the feet of their supposed allies as well.

The Asgard appear to be the only ones going to great pains to even make a show of mutual defense when they are severely hampered by what they can do while combating the Replicators.  They at least extend themselves to the defense of others, which either means there was factually nothing the Asgard could have done for the Ancients or else there was a falling out between all of them.

The fact that the Asgard even desire to declare humanity the fifth race colors whether or not the alliance was seen favorably.  The Asgard alone were in a position to declare there being a fifth race.  The Nox were not polled.  The Furlings are an unknown quantity, still.

What does it mean to be a lone fifth member of an organization?

Stargate is careful to have humanity originally stem from Earth and while the representatives of Earth were declared the fifth race, all of humanity is hardly united.

The Lucian Alliance is rising in the Milky Way, but that organization represents a power vacuum that need not be filled.  We can see that some people have a working knowledge of the captured Goa'uld technology so that advanced technology doesn't have to be hoarded like we're in a galactic Mad Max.  The Lucian Alliance can be outpaced by making new technology an industry.

The real barrier to freedom is
the ethno-state the Jaffa Nation.

If the Jaffa can be made to realize their own humanity then the racial lines can be weakened and people can move freely by ship and stargate and need not organize into a large enough collective to form an army.

The state of the four races alliance is that it is hopelessly defunct for reasons that have not been fully revealed to the Stargate audience.  But the title of the alliance passing to humanity revitalizes it into not being so much an alliance, but a thousand-headed bickering factions with long severed ties to Earth that few would even seek to reclaim and those that do would come up against the pathological desire for secrecy by those in control on Earth.

The Asgard passed their banner to a faction which operates in secret.  The fifth race is unlikely to succeed in the light of day by the current state of things, but it will be a hopeless failure if continued to be concealed in the shadows.

I assert the only move from here is to reveal the Stargate program.
Let the Earth people flood across the Milky Way; because they already have.




Footnote: It just occured to me that the Asgard had to study the knowledge of the Ancients received from Jack O'Neill and therefore had even less knowledge of them than I realized.

In Answer To A New Era For Star Wars

https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1180213937285496832 If I understand you correctly, it sounds like you're breaking from the cultural idea that movies are for people to experience adventure in safety.  Some people do treat movies like a substitute for life to the pencil pushers of the world (a really dark outlook).  And I may be guilty of having fallen into this very trap at one time.

However, I spent much of my youth trying to build my ideas of the world based on the stories I knew and spent no less than the last four years questioning all of that.  I want to do fiction (for some reason) but I find it harder to write when I sit down for it because I can't just let the muse in.  I am self-conscious about every previously held underlying assumption and trying to be aware of the assumptions of others that I might account for wildly different perspectives without the goal of pleasing everyone, but the desire to be understood clearly.

At the risk of self-promotion, I made Hindsight MMXX because I believed Disney had presented the materials for another story appropriate to Star Wars that went untold.  I would characterize it that the Disney trilogy has good visuals with a bad story whereas my content is the reverse (including ransom-note-style dialogue, because there were places they didn’t come close enough to where I wanted to go).

Apologists in favor of the Disney trilogy tend to assert that their story is the mature one and that we can’t expect Luke to be the hero we used to see.  

The argument for Luke's transformation goes something like this: people change, there are no heroes, the world is going to wear you down into entropy so get used to it.  And they pre-suppose entropy is the truth whereas Yoda said, "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter."

So the people who presume to impose the truth of the world onto Star Wars are in direct opposition to Star Wars' ethos on what reality is.

I appreciated this poster's reference to the psychological aspect.  Barring spiritual faith, equating the symbolism of the mind with the powers of the Force squares Star Wars with our mundane reality where you and I cannot jump 50 feet in the air under our own power. 

Disney has a very strange relationship to the Force.  The Last Jedi “deconstructs” without accurately defining what came before.  We each have an internal self.  Rey does not explore herself and in the last movie is even afraid to do so.  And she doesn’t learn about herself from others.  In Rise of Skywalker, she stabs Ren, Leia enters her mind and so Rey stops more for Leia’s sake than seeing herself in Ren.

Luke’s revelation both on Dagobah and in taking Vader’s hand is that he and Vader were one and the same.  I challenge anyone who enjoys the Disney trilogy to point to a similarly powerful revelation, which transcends what most people take as the real world in favor of a spiritual reality where even the original Jedi feared to tread, because it is an exacting responsibility.  That was one point of the prequels, that there was a reality revealed by the Force that even the Jedi won’t explore.

So Luke spurred his drive in wanting to save Vader, which he was initiated on the journey by the family connection, but he founded the faith in a more profound reality where it is as though he is saving himself so he strived to save his father at all costs (dramatized in Luke nearly dying and pleading for Vader to save him.)  By that point in the Return of the Jedi, symbolically, it's not about how likely Vader is to save Luke but by Luke's sacrifice he learns the same lesson that Luke did, steps out of the moment and looks between his son and the Emperor and accepts the free choice to not be Vader anymore.  

This is the stuff that most people don’t articulate why Luke’s portrayal betrayed his character so badly, but people say simply this; you don't stake out on the theological view that I am not any more worth saving than Darth freaking Vader and then try to kill your nephew in his sleep.  We're not talking about the same person by that point.

Instead, Luke could be or become too ready to sacrifice himself. 

So my story's answer was to maintain Luke's position in that radical ethos of self-sacrifice which was in large part foreign to the Jedi before Luke.  They had an inkling of it throughout canon, but if we're being honest with ourselves that comes from the authors working backwards from what Luke did and a more accurate view of the Jedi is to kill all Sith combatively wherever you find them before ever thinking about converting them.  This is the unspoken alteration Luke made to the very identity of the Jedi that is betrayed when you go outside George Lucas' movies.

I didn’t think the myth was done, because self-sacrifice can be abused.  So how do you keep it without teaching young girls to believe in the Beauty and the Beast story “I can change him.”  Answer, if there is change to be had it is to realize yourself.  This too can be abused if twisted.

I watch Stefan Molyneux videos.  Not understanding where or why our families go wrong can destroy us.  Luke was trying to save himself and his means was to inform his father he still had a choice.  Symbolically, to restore responsibility to his father already saved Luke from the responsibility of all the actions he didn’t do, but his father did.  In this light, Vader stepping in should not be understood as a literal reconciliation in the family between abused and abuser, but the abused to understand the abuser freely did evil so that you do not overshadow yourself with hiding that fact.  If you act like your life is fated then you don’t have to confront what really happened to you.  But the lesson of Vader is easily taken wrong and so the story is not finished.

The Return of the Jedi plays out that Vader changed, but notice that he did not live.  I know how unlikely family is to change.  But I learn the wrong lesson if I expect to change my family with self-sacrifice.  For good and bad I need to see themselves in me so that I can go forward unencumbered by ignorance.

I therefore conclude that the Last Jedi critiques its misunderstanding of the meaning behind the end of the Return of the Jedi rather than the true lesson that should be taken from it.  

If Luke were to develop a flaw, in my view, it might be to lean too heavily on self-sacrifice and become one with the Force as soon as possible because he got himself killed (instead of hiding out on the island in the Disney version).  And then that could prove mal-adaptive to defending the next generation against the legacy of what he faced.  

But with all that said, yes, I believe Disney wildly missed the mark.  But then I don’t know too many people who articulate what I have said.  There were malicious actors in the making of these movies, but then also a general ignorance regarding the symbols they are in custody over.

True Truce: Trouble On Onderon

NARRATOR:  Search for Ahsoka.  Amidst a daring raid on Dooku's heavily fortified
                         command center the Jedi arrive to learn that Quinlan Vos was inspired
                         by none other than Ahsoka Tano revealing to him Darth Tyrannous'
                         true identity.  Whereabouts unknown, it is vital to the future security
                         of the Republic that the Jedi learn how she came by this information.

Anakin and Obi-Wan leave 

hyperspace in a Jedi shuttle.

OBI-WAN:  Onderon?

ANAKIN:  This place represented strong emotions for my Padawan.
                    I sensed she had a connection with the senator here.

OBI-WAN:  Strange that I did not.  I suppose I felt
                     something, but could not place it.
                     (to himself) Perhaps I thought it was just you.

ANAKIN:  I understand them to be former acuaintances.

OBI-WAN:  Where did they meet?

ANAKIN:  Ahhh, uh... Raxus.

OBI-WAN:  Raxus?  When did the two of you go there?

ANAKIN:  I... didn't take her there.  She went with Senator Amidala.

OBI-WAN:  Why did you not report this incident to the Council?

ANAKIN:  The Jedi aren't exactly short on secrets, master.
                   It was a private attempt at peaceful negotiations.

OBI-WAN:  This was around the same time that the
                     Separatist Bontari was murdered, wasn't it?

ANAKIN:  She was Senator Amidala's friend.  And she had a son
                   who reunited with Ahsoka on Onderon.

OBI-WAN:  Onderon's current senator to the Republic?  Anakin, the Republic
                     could destablize, further, if the Senate learns of this.
                     Senator Bontari's background will put his loyalties in doubt.

ANAKIN:  You were there to see him fight for Onderon.

OBI-WAN:  Which in the first place wasn't in the Republic at the time and
                     in the second any valor he does possess will not shield him from politics.

ANAKIN:  We're not here to tell anyone about his past.
                   We are here to find help in locating Ahsoka.

The shuttle touches down on a landing pad

and the Jedi disembark; coming within

earshot of a boy directing droids

ANAKIN:  Jabo?

JABO:  Wow.  Hey, fancy seeing you guys here.

OBI-WAN:  Greetings, Jabo.  You appear to be getting along well.

JABO:  When you freed Iago I was going to just stay with my servant droids,
              but people started doing better and wanted to buy them off me.
              Times were good.  But then there's not very much to buy on Iago
              when you start getting money.  I've been fixing droids across
              the galaxy and then someone said there were lots of droids
              to be repurposed here now that it's out of Separatist hands.

OBI-WAN:  Congratulations, my young friend.  I see your skills shall
                     carry you very far.  And my untrained eye for droids
                     can see that your technique has improved.

JABO:  People are looking for a better quality out here.  And I can make these droids
             stronger than they were before.  My business took a hit when some people
             tried using them for personal security.  So I only sell them without
             the blasters now.

ANAKIN:  This is very fine welding work.  And you
                    shielded the wiring from electrical overload?

OBI-WAN:  Is that wise?  This vulnerability is in large part how
                     Onderon won these droids.  What if they should
                     become a liability, again?

JABO:  People were afraid of their droids getting struck by lightning.
             So I improved on the manufacturer.  People are very
             happy with my product guarantee.

OBI-WAN:  Well I suppose we'll have to leave you to it then.

JABO:  What brings Jedi to a place like Onderon?

ANAKIN:  The Republic senator is an old friend of ours.

JABO:  Must be pretty cool to be a Jedi.

ANAKIN:  If we weren't needed, don't doubt that I would trade
                   places with you in a second, Jabo.

They walk away

OBI-WAN:  What was that about?

ANAKIN:  I was just expressing my admiration for his ability.

OBI-WAN:  Yes, but it seemed like for a moment you truly envied that little boy.

No answer

OBI-WAN:  Anakin, the Jedi is an immense responsibility, which you will find
                    in any aspect of life that you pursue.  And the Jedi's responsibility
                    falls under the sum of their greater awareness about the galaxy.
                    Too many outside observers mistake it for freedom.

ANAKIN:  But he is free.  He isn't a slave to his repairs and
                   isn't made to keep secrets.  Vos just died for ours.

OBI-WAN:  Jabo is still young.

ANAKIN:  So you think it is inevitable to keep secrets?

OBI-WAN:  I think we have a meeting with the senator.

True Truce: The Quinlan Gambit - part 2

NARRATOR:  Separatists on the brink of defeat.  Sacrificing all but the whole of his task force,

                         Quinlan Vos has stabbed into the heart of Separatist space to strike at Dooku himself.

                         Acting without permission from the Jedi Council, the last of his clone troopers now

                         make contact with Coruscant.

CLONE:  We've had to fall back to Dooku's command center under heavy reinforcements 

                 from the blockades in orbit.  We're all that's left.

OBI-WAN:  Where is Vos?

CLONE:  The general went after Count Dooku.

                 He's gone to ground in the woods.

ANAKIN:  Have you found a kill switch?  The Count must have a way

                   to deactivate the droids in case of a malfunction.

CLONE:  Everything's heavily encrypted.

                We don't have the hardware to crack it.

OBI-WAN:  Might you be able to transmit his commands to us
                    so that we can help you from here?

CLONE:  I don't think you'll be able to do anything for us in time, sir.

                We'll send you the intelligence.  For the Republic, general.

OBI-WAN:  Indeed, for the Republic.  Good luck trooper.  

                     We will speed what help we can muster.

CLONE:  If you do find the kill switch that'll be plenty enough.

The hologram flickers off

YODA:  Without our knowledge, Quinlan Vos did attack 

               at the heart of the Separatists.

ANAKIN:  He's proven that they're vulnerable.

                   If we follow up his attack then the 

                   Separatists will be overwhelmed.

OBI-WAN:  They're hardly vulnerable, Anakin.  Dooku may be on the run in 

                     the wilderness, but there remain three intact blockades over the 

                     planet and whatever stray warships that weren't destroyed 

                     on his approach that by now may be reinforcing the blockades.

                     I'm afraid we don't have the ships to disengage from any conflict

                     to take on such an endeavor.

ANAKIN:  Dooku is the prize.  We can send an even smaller force without ever

                   intending to engage the blockade.  Once the shutdown code goes out

                   the blockade won't matter for much anyways.

OBI-WAN:  That's a sizable condition to wager on.  Even now it could be some time

                     before we are able to crack the Separatist codes.  And any ships that are

                     sent will become stranded as surely as Vos' advanced force has become.

ANAKIN:  Not if we capture Dooku.

YODA:  Prepare a fleet, you should.  But wasted it will be if we cannot cripple the 

               Separatist defenses.  Wait, you should, for commission from the Council.  

               We will examine the options available to us and the losses we 

               have already suffered to this endeavor.

The Council leaves

ANAKIN:  We don't need another fleet.

                   Vos just needs us.

OBI-WAN:  How do you think he got as far as he did?

                     His success in reaching Serenno was paid for

                     in the lives of clones alone.

ANAKIN:  Then we should follow him before that very hole closes.

OBI-WAN:  Who is to say there is one?  The Separatists highly prize Dooku's survival.

                     I think you underestimate what Vos has committed to in order to

                     accomplish this.  Could you leave the 501st or even one of your troopers,

                     say Captain Rex, to die as he has for his men for a single-minded end

                     to the war?  I know you too well, Anakin.  

ANAKIN:  I've left troopers for the sake of the mission.

OBI-WAN:  Not like this.  I believe Vos has knowingly sacrificed 

                     three full cruisers to this cause of his.
                     I feel they were acceptable losses to him.

ANAKIN:  Perhaps it is time we took stronger measures to end the war.

OBI-WAN:  Anakin!

ANAKIN:  We are not supposed to let attachment get in the way of our decisions,

                    as Jedi.  How is what Vos has done any different?

OBI-WAN:  A Jedi cannot help but be changed after what Vos has felt.

                     Personal attachments are too strong for a Jedi.  But the Force 

                     still guides us in what is right.  I feel this is a terrible thing

                     that has happened.

Vos chasing Dooku through the forest

NARRATOR:  The static electricity rises in the surrounding foliage as Dooku's power

                         bleeds out, unrestrained.  He gasps pitifully at the future that lies 

                         before him; a future where he can already see the faint outline

                         of an artificial appendage.  And it dogs his mind that perhaps

                         it would be better to just give into Vos.  He senses the Jedi 

                         close by and summons the strength to topple a tree, which 

                         the Jedi leaps over and lands along the length of the trunk.

VOS:  Here is where it ends.

DOOKU:  This has forever and always been the beginning.  

                  We are so very far from the end, my young Jedi friend.

VOS:  You will not see your plans come to fruition.

DOOKU:  At this point, see them, I may not.  But come to fruition, they shall.

                  Have at the puppet of the Force who most of all the Jedi wants to be

                  without his strings, whereas the likes of Skywalker are too fond of them.

Their lightsabers disappear against each other in a flash of light.

A Republic corvette jumps into the system

and the Jedi scan over the wreckage 

with their eyes.

OBI-WAN:  You appear to be thinking about something.

ANAKIN:  Just that the war could be won here.  Never mind Dooku.

                   Three of our cruisers in exchange for all of theirs might be

                   all we needed to change the balance.

OBI-WAN:  I still sense the hand of the dark side and remain suspicious that this

                     will not amount to a true victory.  But perhaps Dooku may turn out

                     to be all the leverage we need.

ANAKIN:  Then we'll see to it that we succeed in getting him, master.

The corvette approaches the planet under fire

and enters the atmosphere.

The ship touches down in a clearing 

and the Jedi reach the bottom 

of the loading ramp in time

to witness Dooku withdraw

his blade from Vos' side.

Dooku steps away as Obi-Wan cradles Vos.

VOS:  Lord Tyrannous... why didn't you tell us he was lord Tyrannous?

OBI-WAN:  Who told you?

VOS:  Ahhh... I learned the truth from Ahsoka Tano.

Anakin is at this time standing off with Dooku,
but glances back at the mention of Ahsoka
and Dooku disappears into the brush.
Anakin groans and rushes back to Vos.

ANAKIN:  Ahsoka?

Anakin is at this time standing off with Dooku,

but glances back at the mention of Ahsoka

and Dooku disappears into the brush.

Anakin groans and rushes back to Vos.

Vos dies.

OBI-WAN:  Your former Padawan is full of surprises.

ANAKIN:  I don't understand.  The Council didn't tell anyone of our report.

                   Least of all, how could she know?

OBI-WAN:  Clearly, she did.  And it is a mystery that is vital we solve.

                     The only real question is where do we begin?

Dooku's shuttle rises above the trees

and disappears into the sky.

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True Truce: The Quinlan Gambit - part 1

NARRATOR:  Darth Tyrannous revealed.  The Jedi have learned 

                         the origin of their clone army and know that it was 

                         supplied by their hated enemy... Count Dooku.  

                         Quinlan Vos has come before the Council and accepted 

                         a commission of clones for his command.  His inexplicable 

                        willingness to trust the clone worries the Council 

                        regarding his motives.  But the solitary Jedi has

                        already cut a huge swath through the Separatist lines.

Three Republic cruisers drive ahead at flank speed 

in the midst of a gauntlet of Separatist warships that have 

split into two columns to allow the Republic to pass 

between them and receive the full brunt of their broadsides.

CLONE 1:  We're surrounded.

CLONE 2:  They're attempting to 

                    dip below our firing line, sir.

VOS:  Engage the trap.

CLONE 2:  All cruisers, triangle formation.

NARRATOR:  The three cruisers pivot so that each 

                         command bridge tower is facing toward 

                         the center of their formation.  Then the entire 

                         formation rotates in concert at a constant speed.    

                         This leaves their underside facing toward the enemy 

                         while giving the cruiser next to them a firing arc 

                         to attack whomever is hitting them.  All available 

                         fighters fly in tight formation at the front to screen 

                         for enemy fighters.  The cruiser formation forges 

                         ahead without attempting to destroy their adversaries.

CLONE 2:  One minute to the jump point.

VOS:  Send the bombers ahead of us.  

            Soften up the enemy before we arrive.

CLONE 2:  Sir, they'll have to leave our 

                    flak cover and will get cut to pieces!

VOS:  It was not a suggestion.

CLONE 2:  Yes, sir.  All bomber squadrons launch for final target.

NARRATOR:  The cruiser launch bays buzz with activity and soon 

                         the Y-wings scream from the long runways into the 

                         depths of space where a wall of bursts of light are 

                         the only real protection they have.  And dread creeps 

                        into the pilots' minds as they approach this wall 

                        of destruction; not because it will cause their demise.  

                        Their brother gunners are good.  But because they are 

                        soon to venture beyond it to go it alone.  

                        And no clone is any good alone.

CLONE 1:  They're beyond the flak.

CLONE 3:  Enemy fighters responding.

CLONE 2:  Permission to divert the escort to give them some fighter cover.

VOS:  (sigh) Only until they jump.  They must continue to fly cap for the cruisers.

CLONE 2:  Yes... sir.

The Y-wings go to hyperspace.

In the turn of a clock wheel 

the cruisers jump into the system.

VOS:  Report.

CLONE 1:  No sign of the Y-wings.

VOS:  That is to be expected.

CLONE 1:  Sir?

VOS:  What is the enemy disposition?

CLONE 2:  Three Lucrehulks separated at the furthest points of a triangle formation.  Two of them are facing directly at us while the third currently protects the dark side of the planet.  And each Lucrehulk is supported by a dozen frigates and two command ships.

VOS:  Skim the atmosphere to be showing the blockade our underside.  Come under the blockade currently to our right and lock forward weapons on the one to our left.  All dorsal weapons are to begin strikes on the surface.  Launch gunships and fighters to attack the blockade above us and deploy troop transports in tandem with the planet bombing.

CLONE 2:  That... is one bold strategy, general.

VOS:  Get to it.

CLONE 2:  Yes, sir!

Friction heats up the command towers and then

the rest of the cruisers so that they can slide in

under the fire of the first blockade formation

and fire on the second.  The turbolasers set

the surface of the planet ablaze and amidst

this fiery rain the troop ships fall with them.

The clones are rocked by a tremor 

traveling up the spine of the cruiser.

CLONE 1:  Shields are failing!  Where is the general?

CLONE 2:  He boarded one of the landing craft!

NARRATOR:  Vos emerges from his tank in time to be momentarily blinded

                         by a new sun in the atmosphere that then is overshadowed by

                         debris splitting off from the unmistakable wedge design.

CLONE 4:  The crusier.  We have nowhere to fall back to.

VOS:  Have the transport drop ships begin further strikes on Dooku's estate.

CLONE 4:  Sir, we'll not survive this.

VOS:  I am more interested in seeing that Dooku doesn't survive this.

           Are you ready to end the war, trooper?

CLONE 4:  Sir, yes sir!

VOS:  Forward!

Dooku's Chambers

DOOKU:  My lord, the Republic has penetrated all our carefully laid defenses.  

                  How is it that we did not know of this attack?

SIDIOUS:  Your carelessness has revealed your true identity to the Jedi.

                   This attack was not sanctioned through proper channels, but

                   that little matters now.  If the Jedi recover a victory from your

                   demise the public will little care how many clones were lost.

DOOKU:  Am I then to abandon my command center and deny them the justification?

SIDIOUS:  You will confront the rogue Jedi Quinlan Vos.  Just this sort of bold action

                    is not something we can allow to be inspired in the Jedi and still hope

                    to survive.  You will overcome him.  And then you shall take hold of the

                    unique opportunity this presents us.  In the aftermath of your hard-won

                    victory you shall publicly decry the Jedi's wanton loss of life in order

                    to get to you.  You shall declare the clones the victims that they are 

                    at the hands of this Jedi and cast him no different than the rest.

                   Then shall the Jedi all the sooner fall from grace.

DOOKU:  As you wish, master.

NARRATOR:  It is then that Vos comes through the door.

                         The door seals behind him as the clones continue to fight.

DOOKU:  Welcome to Serenno.

NARRATOR:  Dooku presses a button on his desk and 

                         a camera bot flickers to life.

VOS:  Useless clones couldn't hit a target as big as this from orbit.

           I had to come and finish it myself.

DOOKU:  I have come to mark them as valiant members of the Republic.

VOS:  They are all your creation!

DOOKU:  Indeed.  Strange that the Council did not see fit to reveal this 

                  to the senate.  Secrets like this are a massive weakness for the Republic.

VOS:  Jedi died through your machinations.  No more.

DOOKU:  Jedi?  Are these the only deaths you can think of?  

                 What of the clones that carried you here?

VOS:  I merely turned a weapon of your own making back on to you.

DOOKU:  A pity that their deaths shall be remembered so poorly.  For the clones under your

                 command did live.  I feel them, still.  It is far more ethical the use of droids.

VOS:  Neither offer security to citizens.

DOOKU:  That depends on whose citizens you fight for.

                  I fight for the Separatists.

VOS:  For the Republic!

NARRATOR:  Lightsabers clash and both combatants produce a sustained repulse barrier

                         so that it becomes a struggle for either to approach the other for a strike.

                         This is more Vos' doing and Dooku responding in kind, and much more

                         than what the old Sith-spit would rather strain himself with.  Vos is relying

                         on his ability to endure and is a means to exhaust the well-versed dualist.

                         Their blades cross and probe for strikes at one another, but Dooku's

                         defenses remain strong.  Then, Dooku notices a marked drain to his power.

DOOKU:  What sorcery is this?

VOS:  The dark side is not the Force, count.

DOOKU:  Vaapad.  Your tricks will not save you, Vos.

He cuts off Dooku's hand

VOS:  Skywalker will appreciate your contribution.

NARRATOR:  Dooku's shock soon boils in his jaw and up to his eyes into rage.

                         And with one good hand he produces lightning into the body

                         of the overconfident Jedi who had put his lightsaber aside

                         on his belt.  Unmercifully, Dooku electrifies Vos.

Explosion

Clone troopers pour into 

Dooku's command center

Dooku retreats.

CLONE 4:  You almost had him, sir.

VOS:  We can't let him get away.

CLONE 4:  Sir, my men are severely depleted.  And the Republic doesn't even

                   know we need help.  We have to get a message out.

VOS:  I will go after Dooku.  Put a team to work getting a message out to the

           proper channels.  The rest of you start sabotaging the shuttles off this planet

           by any means available to you.

CLONE 4:  Yes, sir.

VOS:  Dooku will not survive this.

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(Asking Too Much) Is Dr. Smith A Redeemable Character

Alright, so I have a big hurdle to vault after Aeolus 14 Umbra and "How much more money are you going to pay me for this excursion."  Behind the scenes the actor Johnathan Harris wanted to be more endearing for job security.  But what can I use that was on screen?

The character was seldom altruistic to his shipmates, but he was that at times.  And the Robinsons are just made out to be saints.  Though they banished Smith at least three times.

We know to distrust what the man says about his youth.  For those who have seen the first season, remember back to when they were fishing and though he claimed that he used to do just this activity all summer long as a kid he is unable to catch any fish (outdone by the other two) and as the Robot says, "suffers the injury of embarrasment."

Similarly, we are given fantastical
tales of his relatives over time.

We do know he has family.  His cousin Jeremiah Smith comes calling plotting to kill Dr. Smith for the rights to an inheritance.  This same cousin culminates the scheme with an alien machine that proves he has connections in the wider universe of Lost In Space.

Dr. Smith also encounters a widely feared doppelganger.  Now why I should list these two incidences together delves into my own idea of what Dr. Smith's life must have been like before hitching his wagon to the Robinson family.

Barring extreme circumstances, Smith remains an incurable coward and without exception returns to that state in order to undercut the malevolence that inducted him into the series.  My purpose is to see if I can draw reasonable conclusions that coincide with the sensibilities of the audience that might explain these two apparently very different characters.

So, I accused Dr. Smith of making his family sound fantastical, but it is always with fondness.  And the only physical evidence we have of any real family is extremely hostile.  And we have the doppelganger who we could interpret as having only a strong resemblance to Dr. Smith, but I would prefer to think otherwise for the reasons that follow.

The society from which the doppelganger, Zeno, is fleeing from possesses space travel while simultaneously setting itself up to look like the stereotypical old west.  They use powder guns as opposed to the laser beams that the series has in abundance.  And the strangest part of the episode to me is how Dr. Smith turns the townspeople against him; by destroying the "Sacred Golden Globe of Bacchus," which one of the people declares standing in the saloon to be sacrilege.  The story forces me to respect that they treat this as a serious matter, even if it's for comedy.

Wiki on Bacchus

I'll take a leap here.  In season one's The Sky Pirate, Alonzo P. Tucker claims to have been abducted by aliens and kept in suspended animation for study (born 1858 and speaking to them in 1997).  Once more, he's not fleeing from the aliens that abducted him; he's been allowed to roam free.

From this precedence I draw the possibility that the episode West of Mars presents us with a colony that hosts an amalgamation of alien abductees, which at least holds some hope of explaining the half hazard western motif combined with a Roman god of debauchery.

Now add to the fact that Dr. Smith was a member of the secret organization, Aeolus, which he suspected had space flight capability (the Derelict), and the fact that Zeno looks like him becomes all the more interesting.  One way the show saved money was to clone the main cast.  So there are some interesting conclusions to draw if Zeno was a clone.

Remember back to when Dr. Smith was lying about his own childhood.  What was that man's childhood like?  Little known family and cut throat at that.  And if Zeno was a clone then we have to explain what he was doing on a colony of abductees (as I think this best explains that community's existence).  The characters of Dr. Smith and Zeno are written to be complete opposites.  It then stands to reason they were nurtured differently.  Indoctrinated, perhaps?

Who's to say Zeno was not also a member of Aeolus?
If there was indoctrination, how early did it start, and for whom?
Dr. Smith does not have to be the original, though, he could be.

Dr. Smith is the go-to character to scream at the sight of the monster of the week.  In the face of Zeno's presence, I propose this fear was cultivated in Dr. Smith by Aeolus, even though he had knowledge of their space program, for the sake of discouraging him from leaving Earth since they had other agents on hand.  I would go further to have him trained to be afraid of aliens specifically, because he was unafraid of the guard he confronted while infiltrating the Jupiter II.

To be a coward does not preclude being evil, but Dr. Smith relates to the Robinsons differently over time.  From the episode The Cave of the Wizards, Dr. Smith frees himself similarly to how Will escaped in Invaders from the Fifth Dimension; he is expelled from the machine that contains him because it will not incorporate his affection for the family.

And we have numerous cases in the series that Dr. Smith proves susceptible to mind control where others do not, which at least underpins my suggestion of brainwashing.

I have left little to be desired in the character.  He is a joy to watch, but unscrupulous and childishly so.  I wouldn't propose the backstory of brainwashing redeems Dr. Smith.  I would, however, assert that like in the Cave of the Wizards he has his moments.  And if this can be adopted as a true explanation for Dr. Smith's repetitive treachery then Dr. Smith at least now has a road to redemption and a future in which he is no one's puppet, including himself.

(Asking Too Much) Are the Tollan Technologically Superior to the Ancients

Both factions debut different verities of matter manipulation.

The Ancients developed rapid travel over great distances.

The Tollan warp matter so that they could pass through.  The warping technology has the benefit of being portable on someone's person, but apparently is too unwieldy to safely be turned on one's self so that no danger comes to them (which would have saved them from the Goa'uld).

Both boast weapons which can destroy a Goa'uld mothership in a single shot and bypass said shields to do so.  They just take a slight different form since apparently the Ancient drone can be reused and doesn't have to explode upon impact; as often depicted wastefully during Atlantis' run.

But the Ancients didn't appear to possess this warping technology, which might have made Wraith ship's thick hides meaningless.  And with a little prompting from the Nox the Tollan were able to fashion their own Stargate.  The Tollan are also shown to have near-instaneous communication, which by the time we know more about the Ancients probably comes down to simply the vague notion of subspace.

True enough, the Tollan never created self-contained city ships, but neither did they seek to go anywhere.  None of the Omeycan-seeded worlds possessed the drive to venture out from their home.

I find that the Tollan are decidedly versatile in their technology and have in their arsenal attributes that the Ancients surely would have wished for (mostly that matter warping technology) but both saw their downfall at the hands of a technologically inferior species.

Were the Tollan superior?  Their designs that correspond to the Ancients (most notably Stargates) are more efficient but also start with someone to copy from and help from the Nox; who for all we know aided in the design improvements of the Stargate.  And the Tollan had to catch a bus to their resettlement with no evidence of ships for even orbital defense.


In the end the Tollan were at least as arrogant as the Ancients, but technologically superior is hard to say.  Personally, I think the Tollan developed to the exact extent they thought would be necessary to suit themselves whereas if nothing else can be said for the Ancients they never stopped exploring new technologies.  Most likely, we have seen what the Tollan can produce whereas the Ancients are a treasure trove of untapped technology waiting to be revealed.

(Asking Too Much) The Alliance of the Four Races: Was It Worth A Damn?

It is unclear to me why this vaunted alliance was allowed to end
when we find evidence that the people who composed it are still living.

The Atlantians leaving the Milky Way appears to be due to a plague.  And yet the Asgard are prominent as a trans-galactic species.  Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that at least these two factions should be able to keep in touch and the Asgard equipped to come to their aid in light of the Wraith threat, but clearly didn't.  Why?

Well part of the answer may come in that the Asgard have been engaged in a prolonged conflict with the Replicators (apparently an original invention of the Ancients) but perhaps independently invented in the Milky Way or Asgard galaxy because Sg1 Replicators are a couple of generations behind Pegasus Replicators who now live in a static society.

One possible theory is that the Asgard's war with the Replicators is as ancient as the Ancient's departure, but I do not think this is the case due to the power creep that is present in Asgard designs.  Generally speaking, they are shown to make more and more powerful weapons in order to overwhelm the Replicator's ability to absorb energy attacks.  I find it hard to believe that this trend would be by any means sustainable for a prolonged period of time.  I can be generous and assume that the Asgard have been resisting the Replicators for a couple of generations.  But then again what is the time span of a generation when the Asgard are constantly trading bodies?

Doesn't Thor replace his body no less than twice in the show,
if even off screen?  That suggests a dramatic turnover rate.

The reason why the timescale of the Asgard Replicator war is worth mentioning is to determine if the Asgard have a vendetta with the Ancients over their invention of the Replicators and if this helped to bring an end to their alliance.  I don't think the timescale makes sense for how virulent the Replicators appear to be.

Was it as simple as diverging paths of development?

The Ancients sought transcending mortal being and the Asgard delved into scientific engineering of the species.  Well then we have the Nox who from the best I can tell only reside over one world, though, accept invitations to others.  Yet they were in an alliance with these two other trans-galactic species.  In Stargate lore the Nox are best explained as semi-ascended beings and so perhaps were the catalyst for the Ancients to realize that there was something to ascension.  But then apart from my being happy to have the Nox in the story, why are they still around if the Ancients succeeded?

Obviously I'm only assuming the Nox got a head start,
but I'm also looking for a cause and effect here.

Then, of course, there are the ever absent Furlings who despite the joke name I would prefer if future Stargate content came out and said their name was an erroneous translation, which would make a lot more sense and add some dignity to these poor people.

What complicates the matter further is that while the meeting place for the four races is dilapidated Thor is happy to put humanity up for consideration as the Fifth race.  This is strong evidence that the alliance is and was favorably viewed by the Asgard, but the upkeep for the institution leaves something to be desired.

(I believe there was also some handwaving about the Asgard's
physiology forbidding ascension, which sounds patently ridiculous)

So in many ways we are left with a people where we began; a body that simply fell out of touch with no apparent rhyme or reason.  The Ancients on-mass ascended, the Furlings apparently went extinct and by extension their allies allowed it to happen; just as the Nox did not intervene to save the Asgard from the Replicators or their ultimate demise.

I real great alliance you got there.
It looks about as effective as the UN.

(Asking Too Much) Co-Existence With The Magog

Rev Bem is the singular example of the exception that proves the rule.  When he encounters his own kind again the Wayist turns ferrel, but ultimately fights for his crew in the end.

His daily living includes eating fish because apparently his digestive system refuses to kick in without the act of killing the food first.  And so we have one of our leading hurdles if Magog were to become daily denizens of polite society.  All food must be fresh.  Given the alternative it's really not that bad of a trade off.

The real problem comes in their manner of procreation.  To my knowledge there is no such thing as a female magog.  They must all lay their eggs in hosts and the young will feed on their host as they eat their way out of the body.  What remains unclear to me is if Magog must lay their eggs in sentient beings.  Of course, that is a non-starter if they truly must.  However, imagine for a moment if Magog could make an incubator out of a cow or some such.

If the forgoing suggestion is biologically possible for the Magog then all that remains is their instinct for the hunt.  Rev Bem exemplifies the possibility that such an instinct can be resisted, but then even he sued to a quest for to become a more evolved Magog and was transfigured.

Whereas the psychological disciplines perport to wrestle with the long old caveman, what do we do with the very present beastly personality represented by the Magog?  I understand the first religious Magog required a priestly host from birth and thus the Way was formed.  Ideally enough, even if the Magog were not about to take up being civilized on mass they at least have Wayism, which was founded by a Magog and therefore has a bit of proof that it in a word: works.

Obviously this entire suggestion is cutting against the grain and the Magog at large are more likely to be more like the 2002 Time Machine Morlock; where without the intellectual cast they will deplete the food supply; in the Magog's case, without the restraint of Andromeda's Abyss puppet master.

I'm merely optimistic that without the Abyss' influence that some Magog might be reached whereas almost none could be free individuals in his presence.

I'm just saying we'd probably have an easier time
living with a reformed Magog than a civilized Nightsider.

(Asking Too Much) Will The Goa'uld Live

The Stargate Sg1 series centers on the demise of the System Lords Goa'uld, but though there are the Tok'ra by series end is it enough for the species of Goa'uld symbiotes to survive?

To start off with, the Goa'uld appear to have a healthy ability to breed.

That fact alone would make me wonder why there are not more command positions for matured symbiotes in the former System Lord hierarchy if it were not for the fact that we witness the System Lords engage in cannibalism.  Seriously, I realize that was intended to depict a special occasion and the Tok'ra only caught wind of the meeting because of the noticeable drop in population, but it goes a long way to explaining why when every symbiote who takes a host is his or her own little king that there aren't more chefs in the kitchen.

And so with the demise of the System Lords there is room for a population explosion.

But wait a minute, their being farmed now for Tretonin.  Teal'C even brags over Apophis that from now on his own kind will be harvested for the Jaffa's benefit.  That seems morally suspect in light of the fact that we have been shown that the larva pouch is reversible with Goa'uld technology and the Jaffa are ultimately human.

Can the Tok'ra stand by while members of their species are harvested to be minced up into a vial?

I'd argue that they have to, but not out of some grand ideal.  More likely now that the System Lords have been definitively overthrown every respectable Goa'uld has to live in fear of being faced with a genocide.  This interpretation gives credence to why the Tok'ra gave so much pomp to removing each and every last Bal's symbiote.  It's a dramatization to signal whose victory it is.  The Tok'ra need to remind everyone who they are so that other denizens of the galaxy don't start turning their eye to the Tok'ra in terms of a final solution to prevent the galaxy from ever becoming so enslaved again.

We're talking about the possibility of a real racial tension here where I don't know if any Goa'uld from this point forward (if they're lucky enough to avoid the Tretonin pools) will be able to live unsegregated in the Milky Way.

Remember, one of the leading theories why the System Lords were so maniacal was due to prolonged use of the sarcophagus.  And from Carter's father we know that symbiotes do have an upper limit on their lifespan.  Therefore, they could theoretically become a species that lives alongside everyone else from this point forward, but there's no reason for the trust to be there to allow that to happen.

And the Tok'ra's precarious position as a Goa'uld faction within the galactic community is a clear example of how this could all end tragically; never mind the supposed comeuppance of enslaving and slaughtering future generations of symbiotes who can just as easily experience guilt over actions they never had a part in by way of their genetic memory.