SG-U: 1.16 - Sabotage

[Dr.Jackson]

With three crewmembers stranded on a planet, Destiny continues in FTL about to cross from their present galaxy into the next one, leaving any hope of rescue behind. But Dr. Rush calculates that even with the ancient ship’s recent attempts to conserve its power, Destiny will still fall short of their next destination and be set adrift.

In an effort to increase the efficiency of the ship’s drive technology, they use the communications stones to bring aboard an expert in the field of hyper drives – Amanda Perry, a brilliant scientist with whom Rush has a past.

Some interesting points brought up in this episode - some that caused some controversy when the nature of Dr Perry's character was revealed in the casting call.

There was a certain amount of selfishness behind Wray's decision to body-swap with Perry, even when she realised the extent of her disability. She wanted to go home to see her lover, not giving much thought to how that would impact each other.
However, from a storytelling point of view, not only did it show the stress and complications, but also love and commitment involved in caring for someone with a severe handicap.

The flip side was explored far less, but there were moments, such as Perry eating the 'tomato'. The first food she'd been able to feed herself in years was an amazing experience for her, and yet something we take for granted. She seemed to adapt rather quickly to the whole thing, most likely due to time constraints, where it could have been delved into far more.

The only thing that really bugged me about this episode, however, was the fact that the stranded trio just happened to be able to gate back to the ship when it dropped out of FTL. Destiny is millions of miles out of the galaxy and the remote lights up. It might have luckily been within range, but none of the characters that could have brought up the question did.
For me this was a quick-fix solution that didn't entirely sit right.

 

[PTeppic]

The only thing that really bugged me about this episode, however, was the fact that the stranded trio just happened to be able to gate back to the ship when it dropped out of FTL. Destiny is millions of miles out of the galaxy and the remote lights up. It might have luckily been within range, but none of the characters that could have brought up the question did.
For me this was a quick-fix solution that didn't entirely sit right.

It certainly seemed a very fast way to resolve it, given they'd spent an entire episode not being rescued. But, it's the same as Dr.Rush being rescued by the aliens. However, we know the gates have a good long range (in Milky Way they can go right across the galaxy); even these chopped-down early models must have quite a range... so it's not unfeasible, albeit could have done with an extra one-liner.

What it actually prompted for me was the much bigger question. Destiny, Icarus. The initial gate in. The Stargate on Destiny can't connect, as we've seen, whilst in FTL. Therefore, does this mean we can assume it's been periodically dropping out of FTL to allow dial-in, ever since it left Earth? I guess, up to a point, we have to assume so... otherwise how did the aliens know about it and get onto the hull...

 

[ctg]

The only thing that really bugged me about this episode, however, was the fact that the stranded trio just happened to be able to gate back to the ship when it dropped out of FTL. Destiny is millions of miles out of the galaxy and the remote lights up. It might have luckily been within range, but none of the characters that could have brought up the question did.

For me this was a quick-fix solution that didn't entirely sit right.

I said in the other thread: "They cannot dial the stargate in FTL, but they can dial when Destiny's driving sublight speeds." And to prove that I was reading io9 this morning and underneath is direct quote:

A lot of people are asking what happened to the plot line when you, Chloe and Scott were all stranded on the ruins planet, people are wondering if we're ever going to find out what happened in between the last episode where you walk back on the ship and the one before it, where you were stranded there again?

Yes and no. There's so much other stuff going on, as I said, that it's hard to focus on that. Not in the time that they're going to want it. It is a true thing that happened, I know because even my Father asked me about this. You can't dial the ship when the ship is in FTL. wSo the fact that it fell out of FTL allowed us to dial. That's just the way it was, we were lucky to have that explosion happen. It was the only thing that really saved us or we would have ended up like Swiss Family Robinson up in the trees somewhere, living on our own. But as far as seeing entire episodes flash back to what happened, I can't speak to.

Also if you watch the episode carefully you hear Eli saying: "on the second night the remote went crazy." But that's not all, because I do believe that they're able to dial Earth, just Doctor Rush don't want them do that as it would destroy (?) Destiny in process.

So there is a logic behind that scene, and I do not believe that the writers did it because they wanted to use it as a cheap trick to get more watchers. In fact, if you've been reading articles then you might have noticed that SG-U numbers has gone down. Then again SG-U isn't BSG and it will never try to be one. Well, at least not yet.

I guess, up to a point, we have to assume so... otherwise how did the aliens know about it and get onto the hull...

Why there is no log-files? Is it because there would be too much of data to store from every contact Destiny has made during its voyage?

What do you guys think happened to the scientist guy?

 

[ScottSF]

Yeah, Millions of miles is nothing in astronomical terms, in fact I they were trillions miles out. These stargates do have limited range compared to the Milky Way ones but they can still travel from one star to several others which are several light years away from each other. 1 light year is just under 10 trillion miles, so if one of these stargates can reach a planet that is 4 to 10 light years away from it then a few days travel outside the galaxy wouldn't represent such a great distance. In fact they traveled several days from the spider planet and were still able to reconnect with Greer so the farthest gate planet out could reach the sabotaged destiny. It makes perfect sense to do it while they just set out across the void than after they arrived at the next Galaxy.

 

[ScottSF]

The Stargate on Destiny can't connect, as we've seen, whilst in FTL. Therefore, does this mean we can assume it's been periodically dropping out of FTL to allow dial-in, ever since it left Earth? I guess, up to a point, we have to assume so... otherwise how did the aliens know about it and get onto the hull...

I think that dialing the 9chevron code from Icarus caused Destiny to drop out of FTL. There would be no reason to have kino remote activated gates make it drop out of FTL because it was built with the idea that once the ancients gated in from the Milky Way they could sit in the chair and control it. At least that's how I see it. In the pilot when they put in the code Destiny dropped out of FTL and turned on the lights a life support.

I haven't a clue what happened to Franklin. I would think that he was converted to code and incorporated into the ship but some seem to think it has to do with ascension because of an episode of SGA where McKay jump starts the process. I wouldn't like that answer unless there was a good reason and explanation.

 

[PTeppic]

I think that dialing the 9chevron code from Icarus caused Destiny to drop out of FTL.

Feasible, but doesn't account for the aliens' knowledge of the ship.

 

[ctg]

Yeah, Millions of miles is nothing in astronomical terms, in fact I they were trillions miles out. These stargates do have limited range compared to the Milky Way ones but they can still travel from one star to several others which are several light years away from each other. 1 light year is just under 10 trillion miles, so if one of these stargates can reach a planet that is 4 to 10 light years away from it then a few days travel outside the galaxy wouldn't represent such a great distance. In fact they traveled several days from the spider planet and were still able to reconnect with Greer so the farthest gate planet out could reach the sabotaged destiny. It makes perfect sense to do it while they just set out across the void than after they arrived at the next Galaxy.

I know that in the PAIN (next episode) they are already in next galaxy, but do you think it would be a good idea to send out a team to travel through the gates ahead, and survey the planets for useful resources?

 

[ScottSF]

Feasible, but doesn't account for the aliens' knowledge of the ship.

The Alien's have been following the ship for much longer than the humans have been in there, they haven't said how long but it could have been anywhere from a decade to generations. Destiny would not let them in because they couldn't unlock the gate and destiny would fight off anybody who didn't have the pass word. The aliens knowledge is still a mystery but it seems if they have been following the ship for so long, they probably probed it with every sensor they had. Whatever they could learn without actually setting foot inside.

 

[ScottSF]

I know that in the PAIN (next episode) they are already in next galaxy, but do you think it would be a good idea to send out a team to travel through the gates ahead, and survey the planets for useful resources?

I'm sure they would like to and yes its a good idea but they still are not in control of the ship so a survey does no good if they can't tell the ship to go there. It seems destiny is already doing some filtering and just stopping at planets that have something useful for it's secondary purpose of keeping the people alive, maybe it's getting back sensor data from the gates. I do hope they get some control over the ship soon. Even if it's in stages like first they can add time to the clock then maybe actually override the clock and stay as long as they want etc.

And 'Pain' was easily the worst filler episode of the whole season. They skipped the void experience all together although some people seem to think the episode took place in the void.

 

[PTeppic]

The Alien's have been following the ship for much longer than the humans have been in there, they haven't said how long but it could have been anywhere from a decade to generations. Destiny would not let them in because they couldn't unlock the gate and destiny would fight off anybody who didn't have the pass word. The aliens knowledge is still a mystery but it seems if they have been following the ship for so long, they probably probed it with every sensor they had. Whatever they could learn without actually setting foot inside.

True, very true. But how far would the aliens follow the Destiny? I ask because of timing/distances. In the home galaxies, the "modern" Stargates can jump pretty much from one edge of a "normal" galaxy (e.g. Milky Way or Pegasus) to another, yet it takes a chain of 34 to bridge the inter-galactic void. Equally, it takes the most super-duper hyperdrive engines in use about three weeks to make the same journey. So, it's a long way between galaxies, a very long way, though this will only take a few weeks/months to cross. But, since the Destiny has been going millennia, how far has Destiny come in even a generation for the aliens. And yet they just keep on following....

 

[Moonbat]

I had the impression that the Aliens wouldn't be able to follow destiny across to the next galaxy, but they could jump out of their galaxy for some distance to track and find Destiny. But then they will need a new enemy for each galalxy and that probably wont happen.

I loved the shots of Destiny floaitng between galaxies with the near one looking huge and the distance one look quite far away. Although are they all going to be spiral galaxies?

I felt the whole, three people just stroll onto the ship thing was a bit easy, I don't like how they keep solving these missing people things in one simple episode, I wanted them to be lost for longer.

I think the scientist ascended from the chair. It would sort of make sense, but why the cold?

 

[ctg]

I think the scientist ascended from the chair. It would sort of make sense, but why the cold?

Well, he went somewhere, possibly heaven. But what I'm asking is that did he just died or did he pass the boundary to another real, like he reach another evolutionary step (the same thing that happened to that race in B5)? Or was the process really so bad that the machine had to consume a person for them to be able to do the command? If so, does it mean that eventually Destiny will be the last 'destiny' for all of them?

 

[PTeppic]

Well, we can surmise that despite being near catatonic, he has some grasp of what can be achieved by direct access to the control chair. That may include which of the ships systems the team, e.g. Dr. Rush, are not even aware of, e.g. in the inaccessible parts of the ship. They could easily include stasis pods. Equally, a race that can build inter-galactic Stargates are quite likely to have built matter transporters.... so, he's chilled himself to prevent further injury as he uses the chair and then beamed himself into a stasis pod?

 

[Moonbat]

chilled himself to prevent further injury as he uses the chair and then beamed himself into a stasis pod?

Interesting notion. there is the possibility, as mentioned earlier, that he has become part of the ship, but that does have some physical issues, like where did his body actualyl go, and his clothes. I suppose the matter transportation is the only answer (that I can think of) that woudl include the removal of his threads.
When people ascend do they leave their clothes and physical bosy behind, or do they ascend fully clothed?

 

[ctg]

Fully clothed of course, lol. Who would want to see him wearing a tactically placed ficus leaf? Statis pods .... hhhmmm ... if they really exist somewhere in the ship, then maybe in next season they will find Ancient's sitting in them.

 

[PTeppic]

When people ascend do they leave their clothes and physical bosy behind, or do they ascend fully clothed?

Every episode I can think of from the Stargate canon has the person Ascending without their clothes, leaving a pile of garments on the floor... however, if they form a physical body (or at least an optically visible one) they assume a clothed form.

 

[Moonbat]

ok, so we can assume that he didn't ascend as there wasn't a pile of clothes on the chair.

That leaves us with several options, and I'm not going to say I've thought of them all.

He was transported somewhere
The Chair ate him (not with a mouth, but consumed him or disintegrated him)
He left the room via another exit

Any other options that I'm not seeing

Ah! he is still there but invisible.

 

[ctg]

Any other options that I'm not seeing

Alien abduction? Or then nobody noticed that he went out from the back-door, and now he's wandering in parts of the ship that are supposedly inaccessible to the other crew members.

Have you ever wondered why they are not using space-suits to access other parts of the ship? Also why is that there is no manuals in Destiny's data-banks?

 

[PTeppic]

Have you ever wondered why they are not using space-suits to access other parts of the ship?

I'm guessing because it's such hard work. When they were orbiting the star in "Faith" they pushed the shields out and explored more of the unexplored areas - presumably they could have done so in suits without moving the shields. And, given they now know for sure there've been aliens around... perhaps don't want to risk it without armed guards.

 

[Moonbat]

I suppose the more left unexplored now leaves more to be explored in later episodes, when the planet plot ideas dry up they can always uncover an alien games room. Zero-G Table tennis anyone?