I think one of the most brilliant parts about Stargate was that within the Stargate universe. There was a TV show called “wormhole extreme.” Which was used as a cover story by the Air Force. If anyone got too close to the truth, and started talking about it, the Air Force could simply point at wormhole, extreme and claim the person didn’t know the difference between television and reality. That is absolutely hilarious and plausible. And a few years later on the unrelated TV show, “white collar,” one of the characters who was known to be a paranoid. Conspiracy theory nut started yelling at a government official, “ "Our government has endorsed a cornucopia of questionable programs: The Stargate program, MK Ultra, the Space Shuttle..."
To be fair to the production team running Stargate, they originally did intend to have the SGC go public at the end of season 7. But then the series was unexpectedly renewed, the plan for a spin-off titled Stargate Command got axed, and they couldn't make the 'going public' storyline work within the main series.
I was always glad they didn’t do that. The covert aspect of the Stargate franchise is really one of its strongest points, and definitely the most unique. And you can squint and pretend it’s our own world if you like doing that sort of thing. But the moment you reveal the program is the moment that it becomes an alternate world, that shifts further and further from our own, and it becomes more of a generic space opera. in my book, if you have something unique, that makes you different from every other big dumb science-fiction show out there, you hold onto it.
The only thing more depressing than this is the unmade sequel to "The Live" where the world found out about the blue skull guys and just shrugged it off and went back to watching Sally Jessie Raphael. I think it's coming out later this year though...so to speak.
I feel like another movie that could be brought up in a discussion like this is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In my opinion it’s one of the better MCU movies precisely because of how it confronts the idea of the difficulty in fighting a more clandestine, bureaucratic form of tyranny and world conquest that isn’t as obvious about its true intentions as the Nazis and HYDRA of yesteryear that Steve Rogers is used to. While the HYDRA fought in that film still has essentially the same goals as their demonic-looking Red Skull-led WW2 predecessors, they hide behind the legitimacy of an organization like SHIELD and the supposed good intentions of Project Insight and the new Helicarrier fleet. The fact that the “Big Good” organization of the MCU turns out to be a huge front for Nazi-adjacent supervillains understandably affects Steve Rogers’ character arc for the rest of his time in the series, and it also questions whether or not “patriotism” can be considered a legitimate form of love for one’s country and its people…or simply another ideological tool of control by a totalizing State.
I've been working on a Captain America one that deals with those points, among a few others. It's a sprawling mess at the moment, but hopefully I can shape it into something more concise.
Hurts ripping off the bandage, but you can't keep it there forever lest it become fetid. If they told us, we'd get with the program or we'd burn the earth in defiance. Love your content.
I have to admit that I never thought of Stargate in these terms. Having been trained as an Air Force officer, the idea that secrets must be kept in the interest of national security fits pretty well, and the notion that humanity must be kept in the dark about aliens constantly trying to attack the planet is a common enough trope. Another example I can think of off the top of my head is the Men in Black franchise, which might make an interesting topic on its own considering how the movies turned them from the shady malevolent force of urban legend into a secret benevolent agency. Though in the context that this idea is usually used in, I tend to take it as a conceit to the idea that the story could somehow actually be taking place in the real world as part of its premise. They don't set SG-1 in 199X, or in 2077, it's supposed to be taking place in the here and now, so *of course* everything depicted in the show has to be kept secret. It's kind of lame, but I honestly don't think about it much. Still liked the show until it basically fell into self-parody.
My old man and I recently started rewatching SG-1 again the other week and I had been thinking about making some videos on Stargate lore and Philosophy, I think this was the kick up the butt I needed. Wonderful video once again Feral 🤙
SG1: We can't reveal the truth because people couldn't handle it. Real World: Footage of actual UFOs from Air Force flight cameras. People, "Oh, What are you REALLY up to?"
I loved the first 8 or so seasons of SG-1. I did not like the Replicator stuff, the Ori, the changing up the team, or the Atlantis offshoot. It was just not the same. They should have ended it earlier. But now for the heavier things. My sleep schedule has been all over the place, so I apologize beforehand if my writing is incomprehensible. This may be my Medievalism speaking, but the fundamental difference between Stargate and They Live, is that SG-1 are actually putting their lives on the line while lying to us. Compared to They Live, where the Elites are simply lying for their own profit and benefit. Still a lie, but the why matters. I believe the best form of organizing society was Christian Medieval Feudalism. Where the top to the bottom operated within a social contract of cooperation. The Baron owns the land. The peasant works and is allowed to live on the land. The Baron fights to protect that land and the peasants. They ate the same food, drank the same water, suffered through the same disasters, and they all worked together, and they had a personal face-to-face relationship. If the Baron ran a shoddy barony, then his standing among his peers would suffer, giving him a personal and even a selfish reason to make his barony the best it could be for his peasants. Here, the landlord is not just some fat-cat owning sleazy apartment complexes for his own wealth and profits. Instead, the Baron is personally leading soldiers into battle, putting his life on the line to defend his land and his people. And with this, you fuse society together from top to bottom. But the moment we started using firearms, and it became too dangerous for the landlords to personally fight, the social contract evaporated. To me, this covers the two different realities covering these two different realms of 'Oligarchy'. ------ To requote from "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State". "I write 'they' because it seems childish not to recognize that actual government is and always must be oligarchical. Our effective masters must be more than one and fewer than all. But the oligarchs begin to regard us in a new way." ------- There is a sort of "Stargate scene" in the movie "Lone Survivor". Where the team of American Special Forces are in the mountains hunting for a really bad bad-guy, and then come across a group of sheep herders. And now, as they are without any radio connection, this team has to make a significant decision. Do they kill the sheep herders? Which will protect the mission, and will protect American lives. But, if it is discovered, then they may all face long prison sentences, and would cause major international problems across the region. Or do they let them go? This is what they do, and a lot of American soldiers die because of this decision. Sort of makes you wonder. How many times have random individuals made seemingly small decisions, yet those small decisions impacted the lives of thousands, if not for entire nations. ----- Perhaps it is the Puritan in me. But I am not that negative towards military government. I see all forms of government as bodies of physical force and power. Especially the Executive position. When the Executive speaks or goes around the world doing diplomacy, he is doing so with the full might of his nation's military behind him. So, I would rather just be honest about it. Put him in uniform instead of a suit. Make him the position of Lord Protector, not President. Make him elected, not from some cabal of an electoral college or an appointee by private parties or hidden cliques, but by the top brass of the military, and I would be a happy boy. it seems to me, just as it did to C.S. Lewis. That we are to be ruled. And if we are to be ruled, I would rather be ruled by someone who has seen and felt the impact of the decisions made by the office he now holds. Over being ruled by TV celebrities and life-long suits and entrenched bureaucrats. ------ Back to Stargate, to try and keep a cohesive focus and to bring it all back. Who else, if not the United States Air Force, should be in charge of the Stargate? The UN? Now that makes me shudder. And even if we gave it to the UN, that singular gate still has to be placed somewhere, and so where should it be placed? And now we start getting into some heavy political realities. As no country that ever had it would ever give it up. There is no way that the United States would ever surrender it. Who would? Who would say no to the global superpower? Put it under NATO? NATO has two heads. One head is the military branch, which is run by the United States and the United States alone. The other is the diplomatic head, which is a puppet branch, used to parade around smiling people to make it seem like this is an international organization made up by equals. So, it would still be run by the United States, but now with more steps and having to include far more people into the mix. That leaves international organizations off the table. And so, we would have to decide how its management would be run for within United States. Should the President run it? They come and go every 4 to 8 years. By the time they are fully informed, they go out the door and they have to do the whole thing over again. Make a separate Department with a Secretary to handle it? Not the worst decision. But that bureaucracy would entrench itself effectively as a secret organization, just like all the other alphabet organizations. Give it to Congress? Good God.... Privatize the gate? ehhh.... Very quickly reality kicks us in the rear. Someone has to run it. Could give it to NASA. But NASA needs to bring the military along for protection. This seems like the hopeful option. The wishful option. Yet it would suffer from the same problem as being run by a Department or Congress. So, out of all the parts of Government and Society. The United States Air Force is probably the best out of anyone to actually run it. The keeping it secret part? "That's not my department." - Wernher von Braun.
Seasons 9-10 were fairly well done I thought, considering they were essentially a soft reboot of a show that mostly concluded but still had a contract for more seasons. As for the Stargate program being run by the Air Force. I'd probably make the same call, assuming dictatorial powers, for the reasons you cite. But I'd also tell the public about it. Partly out of a moral sense of honesty and consent of the governed, but also to maximize the manpower and industrial base for planetary defense. And nothing incites panic like being blindsided by alien invasion. One of these days I'd like to sit down and have an in-depth philosophical discussion about governance, faith, and whatever else comes up in the froth.
@@feralhistorian It's not like the last two seasons were bad... But to me it felt sort of like trying to keep your high school group of friends together after high school. You try to keep it together after that last summer break, but it's over. It's done now. And that's okay. I agree with you on the secrecy part. And it became quite nonsensical the longer the show lasted. Towards the end they even had space warships flying around. Which would require an enormous logistical system to maintain. It's one thing to send a few dozen teams through the gate once in a while. It's quite another to have two massive space warships that you fly up and down from earth and to and fro all over the place. Perhaps the writers thought that keeping the gate a secret was somehow vital to the spirit of the show. I don't know. That if they moved away from it, they would perhaps become more Trek than Gate. And I'd love to have a conversation. Name the time and place.
Firearms didn't kill the Baron; they destroyed the absolute dominance of the professional soldier over the amateur soldier, sure. But the Baron was destroyed by other barons who grouped up forming duchies, the appearance of merchants and others who did work that wasn't tied to the land, and especially the fusion of those two to truly consolidate power into kingdoms. Now your baron doesn't owe his status to the prosperity of his barony (that he may not have all that much control over anyway) but his relationship to his duke or king, and none of the nobility are going to put up with the damn peasants having any say in their rulers because that would put their own right to rule in question. And that last, where the ruling class has both 'solved' the question of who rules (they, and only they, do) and made it unthinkable to step away from power (because doing so is at least death, if not worse) is when the real problems start.
@@boobah5643 My primary place of knowledge lies in the Anglo world. And Medieval England did not have Dukes until the 1337, which was 10 years after the English got their first cannon. And the position of Duke was created by the King downwards, not by Barons upwards. And even so, the position of Duke only adds another step to the Feudal ladder, it does not shake or destroy it. The merchant class was entirely bound to the legal parameters and monopolies granted to them by the King. The merchant class did not rise to prominence until after the Black Death, which ended the Medieval period. The merchants only moved products that came from the land. They were middle-men, nothing more. The true ascendancy of the merchant class in Western Europe did not happen until the discovery of America. Unless you consider stuff like the Hanseatic League, but they formed in 1356, which is 8 years after the Black Death hit England. And the landed wealth remained dominant all the way until the industrial revolution. I am slightly confused by that last part of your first paragraph. Of course kings existed as part of Feudalism. You can't have Feudalism without them. That's what I meant by top to bottom of society. Feudalism was a system that fused every part of society together, from top to bottom. From the working peasant to his Baron, and from the Baron to his peasants. From the Baron to his King, and from the King to his Barons. I am sorry, but your first paragraph simply does not make sense. And for the second paragraph. Many, not most, but many peasants in England had the right to choose their own Baron to work for. In Normandy, Serfdom ended shortly after the death of William the Conqueror. The "Divine Right Of Kings" did not come around until much later, around the 1500s. By then, Feudalism was already long gone. It would be a grave mistake to mix together pieces here and there that are hundreds of years apart, and also perhaps hundreds of miles apart as well. On your last paragraph. I wouldn't say anything has been solved. But the reality is that there has always been an Oligarchy, and there always will be one. In every society throughout history this has been the case. No matter where you go. No matter the place, the climate, the location, the geography, or the time. I am not talking about some phantom ever-lasting Illuminati-clique of lizard people. I am talking about the nature of mankind. The nature of governance. The realities of surviving, prospering, and being able to be more than mere beasts of the wilderness. And even if we did take to the hills in small hunter-gather groups, our little wandering tribes would immediately develop their own little Oligarchies within them. Even if the entire current day Oligarchy on earth was to be beamed away by the Asgardians tomorrow, the first thing that would happen is that we would fill that void with a new one. Perhaps a better one. Perhaps a worse one. But we would certainly have one.
This also pokes at a major spoiler that is revealed in the start of the Metro Exodus video game. I'll be vague; Was it right to accidentally destroy the device that kick-starts the story? I was always kind of shaken because of the consequences that potentially were on the way but you're right in the fact that eventually the blindfold has to come off.
Now I'm curious about what other truths have been hidden from me...what if Whiskey and donuts DO taste good together...? *Grabs Woodford Reserve bottle and heads to Krispy Kreme*
This is my pitch for a new stargate show. It would be called Stargate: Nexus. It would take place 15 or 16 years after Universe (or how ever long its been since Universe. Stargate Command has made things safe politicly and militarily that when factions within the NID push to declassify the Stargate Program they can no longer argue against it. A new Stargate Command is set up on the Gamma Site aka Nexus. Nexus is meant to be the heart of a newer more refined gate network. The show is about a new stargate team (officially named Stargate Nexus 1 or SGN1 but more often just called N1), as they go to different worlds shutting down gates on uninhabited or hostile worlds. They are trying to make gate travel more predictable and more controllable, gates won't just let you go anywhere. The actions of N1 will cause conflict as they encounter hostile and allied forces that use the gateways for travel and commerce. who see issue with Earth forces dictated how the gates are to be used. Corporates earth companies will try to use the gate and new religions will come in contact with earth changing it forever. Things will come to ahead when an outside gate network from another galaxy comes in contact with the Milky Way. Nonhuman alien's will appear with their on agendas. Dealing with it all will be Nexus. Nexus is meant to function similar to a air port or train station with several gates working within the main facility and around the planet. (Joseph "Joe" Link) Former NID operative who was one of the leading causes in making the Stargate Program public. He would be the leader of Nexus's Stargate Command. He's young and jovial and often accompanies N1 on missions much to the dismay of N1's leader. He championed to get the job as base leader so he could travel though the gate network when ever he wanted. He has a budding attraction and often teases the leader of N1. (Amanda "Mads" Wulf) Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Wulf is a reserved no nonsense Leader of Nexus 1. She is formally a member of SG1 mentored under Cameron Mitchell before being reassigned to Nexus. On the job she is consummate professional, well versed in versus military strategies and tactics from the Goulds, Jaffa, Ori, and Tokra (having once been a host). She often butts heads with the leader of the SGN who forces his way onto missions, but admires his adventurous sprit and has a mutual attraction for him though she tries not to let it affect her command. (Gilgamesh "Mesh") An ancient Gould who forgoed the use of sarcophagus, seeing that it altered the others. Gilgamesh sought other forms of immortality his quest being canonized in earth legend. While in the legend he failed to find immortality, in truth he found it in the form of a robotic body that houses his symbiont form. He is found and woken by N1 who at first see him as a threat but soon realizes that like Joe, Gilgamesh too seeks adventure. He goes into long sleep so not to go mad from boredom, and decides he wishes to join N1 as a member. While Gilgamesh is not a sadist like other Gould he is still somewhat arrogant and often belittles members of his team (Lilin) A hiveless Wrath Queen. Lil escaped through the Pegasus gate to get away from her rivals. She seeks asylum, eventually joining N1. She takes a modified version of the medicine used in Stargate: Atlantis to stave of her vampiric feeding, but during times of need she will feed of members of the team to gain a boost in strength. Lilin is both regal and deadly, often serving as the team's and Nexus diplomate alongside Joe. She eventually begins a romance with the teams medic and for a time becomes human to sire a child with him. (Maxwell Creed) Former member of SG2, creed is a solid solider and man. When working he is professional all though less so then his commanding officer Wulf. He is often paired with Joe as a bodyguard which causes them to gain a friendship. Gilgamesh considers him to be the most honorable members of the team. He eventually falls in love with Liln who had often joked about feeding on him. They sire a half human-half Wraith child who becomes under threat by both human and wraith forces from the Pegasus galaxy. (Puck) He is a higher life form, an entity that predates the Ancients and did not ascend but was born in the higher plain. He and his people are called the Fay. They have no hard rules about dealing with mortals because they often don't like going into the mortal plain. Being as old as they are the ascended ancients can't do much to stop them if they wanted. Puck himself is curious about the mortal world. He has met Shakespeare helping him write "A midsummers night dream" and was nuisance to Merlin. It is revealed that his interest in the mortal world is due to his friend. Before the Ancients were advanced and were still simple cave dwellers, Puck's friend and king of the Fay Oberon had a child with a human. It is discovered that Oberon is a major causes for the "Ancient Gene." (Oberon) He is one of the major antagonist of the show. His goal is to wipe out humanity to that he can return to the higher realm, often referred to as Avalon by the humans. He was sealed long ago by the Ancients. He had a child with a human woman and stayed to watch his children grow for centuries watching as they grew from cave men to a mighty star faring empire. When he grew bored of the mortal world and decided to leave he discovered that he was trapped in the mortal plain. Due to his nature his essence was spread out through humanity and leaving was like tearing himself in half. He began to kill the ancients and they locked him away. Later to be rediscovered by N1 Well if you got this far tell me what you think.
Overall it sounds closer to the tone of SG1 and Atlantis than SGU was, which I think is a good thing. The team should probably a bit smaller just to avoid cluttered stories. Even SG1 had a little trouble with figuring out what they wanted to do with Carter from a character standpoint. The idea of alien cultures (and even other human ones) clashing with Earth and its allies over their taking control of the Gate network has a lot of potential. I can see someone moving Gates around for their own convenience, causing some conflicts and Nexus command trying to impose order through their new bureaucracy that no one else recognizes and legitimate. And the Oberon and Gilgamesh angles have a lot of potential in Stargate. I'd be a little nervous about writing in a Wraith team member feeding on any of the others, even consensually. There's some interesting story possibilities there but it could get dark and creepy and real fast.
Problem is, if SG were made public, they'd die the committee death. To combat unusual threats, you need a fast-reacting force not bound by groupthink and red tape. That's why there's stuff like SF as opposed to the army - more flexible, doing stuff that needs to be done (or sometimes, shouldn't've been done, but that's the risk you have to take), which nobody else can. It's the fight or flight kind of thing - sometimes you'd wish it wouldn't kick in, like at an exam; when you're in a dark alley, you'll be glad it's there.
I would love to see your take on Animorphs sometime. Its about kids who get reruited into being guerilla fighters in an intergalactic war, who can fight as gorillas (and other animals) thanks to alien technology. One of the constant themes is things not being what they seem, and having to think critically to decide what the right and wrong thing are. The biggest example is that the antagonist are alien slugs (Yeerks) who can take over brains and the protagonists are blue scorpion centaurs (Andolites) that can turn into any animal they touch. So literally anyone could be anyone... But then, as the series progresses you find out the Yeerks literally have no senses without host bodies, and some just want some kinda symbiosis; meanwhile the Andolites who seem very benevolent are a very soft empirical power that insist no one out paces them technologically.
I can understand not telling the truth in Stargate, they didn't want to cause world wide panic and waste time dealing with that instead of the xeno threats. But in They Live? The movie shows politicians/elites are working with the aliens against their fellow humans. That's more messed up, heck, Evil I'd say. Both are great sci fi entertainment. I'm still pissed that Stargate Atlantis didn't get a proper conclusion unlike SG1. Hate when that happens to a show I like.
I didn't expect this video. One of my favorite shows and favorite film being analyzed by you, together. Out of curiosity, have you ever watched Farscape?
@@feralhistorian I'm in the same boat. I've been trying to find the time to watch Farscape for about two and a half years now. Right when I'm about to do so, something always seems to come up.
Stargate SG-1 is my security blankie against everything that is current television SF. If the reboot goes ahead I'll likely ignore the attempt. I've yet to watch Stargate Catherine and possibly never will, in spite of owning the movie cut. I'm not at all sure the original magic can be recaptured. I've never been tempted to touch this type of story myself, in spite of enjoying them when they're well executed. I have a novel in progress based on what happens when everything goes wrong after contact with a more advanced race and the current world order collapses. Its in the first draft (as in awful) stage, so still in need of a lot more work, and I'm having to re-edit my previous novel at the same time, so things on the writing front are somewhat difficult.
SG-1 has a very special place in my heart. On one summer break during my high-school years, when I went to bed, I would go to sleep with the TV on. And then, at 4 in the morning, I would wake up to the Stargate SG-1 theme. I could sleep through anything, but the moment the Stargate theme started, my brain woke me up. I would watch the two episodes they aired. And then I would go back to sleep.
@@Hugebull I was doing my Degree and Ph.D when the series was on initially, so I only caught up with it when it was up to season four, though I was aware of it and desperate to watch it. When I finally did during my Ph.D I got no research work for weeks while I caught up and it was amazing. To this day Window of Opportunity, the episode I saw a bit of first and drove me to buy every season on DVD remains my favourite episode.
@@careypridgeon There are two episodes that really stand out. There is the one where we see an Asgardian ship for the first time. The way its thundering down from the sky, and completely wipes out the Goa'uld there, while the SG team just stands there in absolute awe. The other one, is when they come across a planet that is in the middle of a cold war going hot. And we later find out that they suffered a nuclear apocalypse.
I too am skeptical of a reboot. I'll give it a chance, but with tempered expectations. On a different, when you're satisfied with a draft of your book and looking for beta readers, let me know.
You should check out the Pournelle and Niven books about the CoDominium. The USSR and USA unite the world and prevent a nuclear holocaust, and also spread out among the stars.
I read the first book in that series way back when it was new. Oddly I remember details but not the broad story strokes. I should give it another look.
@@zedfan4598 I've only read a few of the _WarWorld_ compilations and the Motie stories, but I'd gotten the impression that the rise of the Saurons _was_ the war that destroyed the CoDominium.
@@boobah5643 The CoDominium destroyed itself along with most of the Earth. Sauron had declared independence a few years before, but it was just one rebellious planet among many.
To this day I consider The Road Not Taken one of my favorite SG-1 episodes. Not just because if featured the most glorious Amanda Tapping's cleavage in entire show's run.
It helps if you think of Stargate as being a spy show. I mean it is not one, but in many ways it has some overlap. spy shows are, by the very nature, covert. They function for the benefit (at least theoretically) the people in the US, or the UK, or whoever is making the show. So if a spy show is acceptable on a moral level, then the only thing that would make Stargate immoral would be a matter of scale. Evidently we’re OK if James Bond is running around shooting people, but we’re not OK if there’s 50 commando teams running around fighting proxy wars on other planets. I’m being a little facetious, but the scale thing really is a problem. Nobody seems to mind Doctor Who running around doing all kinds of things for the good of the planet of the week, functioning, under no authority except his own, But there are legitimate concerns about a secret organization of interplanetary commando teams. So the question is where is the line? I mean in Stargate, we do see plenty of situations that actually justify their use in universe reasoning. we can take it on Faith that the people in their world really would freak out riot kill each other, dogs and cats living together and the world kind of stuff. And the Stargate is answerable to civilian authorities. The president is aware of what they are doing, they are funded under a black budget that is voted on by Congress, They operate under the uniform code of military justice. Is it paternalistic? Probably. But it is also the most legalistic of all of the paternalistic shows in the science-fiction genre. It does take place within the parameters of what our government allows, if only technically. I’m not bringing this up to defend the franchise (though I do like it), but it is a genuinely interesting question. Although it is outside the scope of the specific discussion, I really like the running in Stargate universe about how the SGC Freed billions of people across the galaxy, but did not give any thought to what the people were supposed to do once they were free, resulting in evidently an awful lot of chaos
@feralhistorian if I may offer a recommendation. There are episodes in SG1 about the Tollan people's. A advanced human civilization SG team encounters an helps. Because of their advanced tech they have alot of pride an arrogance, which leads to their inevitable downfall. It's a classical pride goes before the fall kind of story.
Normally I refrain from "I told you so," but for the Tollan I'd make an exception. They're on the agenda, in relation to Trek's Prime Directive and a few other technological disparity points. More topics than time but we'll get there.
It's always a question of balance. Technocratic paternalism might be bad, especially regarding clandestine and unsavoury acts. But I wouldn't trust a completely transparent, direct democracy either. To quote George Carlin: "Think of the average person. Then consider that half the population is even more stupid".
can i ask would do a video about command and conquer both about the gulf war influence on the game and how the game show media manipulation used by a terrorist organization to sway the public opinion
@feralhistorian At least in the early games, there was little to no "story" in the gameplay itself. Watching compilations of cinematics and cutscenes could get you all of the story and world-building in a fraction of the time. Unless you just _want_ to play the games, which is also valid.
Oh yeah c&c, where ss megachurch supernational cult is clearly plain evil and yet actually appealing solely because the gdi aka the amalgam of modern national governments are so goddamn disappointing in delivering on their promise of united mankind overcoming the world ending crysis that the less fortunate part of the world sees better hope for the future by siding with global techno religious terrorists known for throwing away lives left and right rather than surviving day to day in more and more desperate living conditions while equal among equals enjoy and gatekeep the paradise. They send occasionally some humanitarian help, promises and happy good feelers... and also launch massive, ludicrously expensive military campaigns in your region to eliminate their opposition... supported by mf greenwashed orbital cannon network cause nukes aren't vegan and later by putting military command into space. The gdi wants to see world returned to its previous state, the nod looks into future and sees the unimaginable possibilities for whole mankind, so beyond our current understanding, our morals, ethics or whatever we elevate as peak human achievements that it is worth any sacrifice. In retrospective, gdi never had a real chance of saving the world against something that just wipes out civilizations like its just Tuesday as side effect of interstellar resource extraction by highly developed space race. But even with its numerous flaws, in contrast to Nod, it has the elements that care about us not losing our humanity and turning completely into equivalent of the space bugs that sent the glowing rock in the first place. Both exist in relation to other and some kind of synthesis is needed to progress without getting extinct in one way or another.
Would I put on the shades knowing what they reveal? Hell yes. I'd wear my sunglasses day and night, weapons in hand. Better to live hunted and die on one's feet than to live blind and groveling.
I think one of the most brilliant parts about Stargate was that within the Stargate universe. There was a TV show called “wormhole extreme.” Which was used as a cover story by the Air Force. If anyone got too close to the truth, and started talking about it, the Air Force could simply point at wormhole, extreme and claim the person didn’t know the difference between television and reality. That is absolutely hilarious and plausible. And a few years later on the unrelated TV show, “white collar,” one of the characters who was known to be a paranoid. Conspiracy theory nut started yelling at a government official, “ "Our government has endorsed a cornucopia of questionable programs: The Stargate program, MK Ultra, the Space Shuttle..."
To be fair to the production team running Stargate, they originally did intend to have the SGC go public at the end of season 7. But then the series was unexpectedly renewed, the plan for a spin-off titled Stargate Command got axed, and they couldn't make the 'going public' storyline work within the main series.
If it had gone public do you think it would have become a part of the space force?
I was always glad they didn’t do that. The covert aspect of the Stargate franchise is really one of its strongest points, and definitely the most unique. And you can squint and pretend it’s our own world if you like doing that sort of thing. But the moment you reveal the program is the moment that it becomes an alternate world, that shifts further and further from our own, and it becomes more of a generic space opera. in my book, if you have something unique, that makes you different from every other big dumb science-fiction show out there, you hold onto it.
@@kingdomofvinland8827you think it isn’t a part of the Space Force now?
@@ab5olut3zero95 if it existed I think it would either entirely or atleast partly
The only thing more depressing than this is the unmade sequel to "The Live" where the world found out about the blue skull guys and just shrugged it off and went back to watching Sally Jessie Raphael.
I think it's coming out later this year though...so to speak.
We Slept
I feel like another movie that could be brought up in a discussion like this is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In my opinion it’s one of the better MCU movies precisely because of how it confronts the idea of the difficulty in fighting a more clandestine, bureaucratic form of tyranny and world conquest that isn’t as obvious about its true intentions as the Nazis and HYDRA of yesteryear that Steve Rogers is used to. While the HYDRA fought in that film still has essentially the same goals as their demonic-looking Red Skull-led WW2 predecessors, they hide behind the legitimacy of an organization like SHIELD and the supposed good intentions of Project Insight and the new Helicarrier fleet. The fact that the “Big Good” organization of the MCU turns out to be a huge front for Nazi-adjacent supervillains understandably affects Steve Rogers’ character arc for the rest of his time in the series, and it also questions whether or not “patriotism” can be considered a legitimate form of love for one’s country and its people…or simply another ideological tool of control by a totalizing State.
I've been working on a Captain America one that deals with those points, among a few others. It's a sprawling mess at the moment, but hopefully I can shape it into something more concise.
“You know about the lizard people, right?”
Ngl that line made me chuckle.
Hurts ripping off the bandage, but you can't keep it there forever lest it become fetid.
If they told us, we'd get with the program or we'd burn the earth in defiance.
Love your content.
I have to admit that I never thought of Stargate in these terms. Having been trained as an Air Force officer, the idea that secrets must be kept in the interest of national security fits pretty well, and the notion that humanity must be kept in the dark about aliens constantly trying to attack the planet is a common enough trope. Another example I can think of off the top of my head is the Men in Black franchise, which might make an interesting topic on its own considering how the movies turned them from the shady malevolent force of urban legend into a secret benevolent agency. Though in the context that this idea is usually used in, I tend to take it as a conceit to the idea that the story could somehow actually be taking place in the real world as part of its premise. They don't set SG-1 in 199X, or in 2077, it's supposed to be taking place in the here and now, so *of course* everything depicted in the show has to be kept secret. It's kind of lame, but I honestly don't think about it much. Still liked the show until it basically fell into self-parody.
My old man and I recently started rewatching SG-1 again the other week and I had been thinking about making some videos on Stargate lore and Philosophy, I think this was the kick up the butt I needed. Wonderful video once again Feral 🤙
SG1: We can't reveal the truth because people couldn't handle it.
Real World: Footage of actual UFOs from Air Force flight cameras. People, "Oh, What are you REALLY up to?"
I loved the first 8 or so seasons of SG-1. I did not like the Replicator stuff, the Ori, the changing up the team, or the Atlantis offshoot. It was just not the same. They should have ended it earlier.
But now for the heavier things.
My sleep schedule has been all over the place, so I apologize beforehand if my writing is incomprehensible.
This may be my Medievalism speaking, but the fundamental difference between Stargate and They Live, is that SG-1 are actually putting their lives on the line while lying to us.
Compared to They Live, where the Elites are simply lying for their own profit and benefit.
Still a lie, but the why matters.
I believe the best form of organizing society was Christian Medieval Feudalism. Where the top to the bottom operated within a social contract of cooperation.
The Baron owns the land.
The peasant works and is allowed to live on the land.
The Baron fights to protect that land and the peasants.
They ate the same food, drank the same water, suffered through the same disasters, and they all worked together, and they had a personal face-to-face relationship.
If the Baron ran a shoddy barony, then his standing among his peers would suffer, giving him a personal and even a selfish reason to make his barony the best it could be for his peasants.
Here, the landlord is not just some fat-cat owning sleazy apartment complexes for his own wealth and profits.
Instead, the Baron is personally leading soldiers into battle, putting his life on the line to defend his land and his people.
And with this, you fuse society together from top to bottom.
But the moment we started using firearms, and it became too dangerous for the landlords to personally fight, the social contract evaporated.
To me, this covers the two different realities covering these two different realms of 'Oligarchy'.
------
To requote from "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State".
"I write 'they' because it seems childish not to recognize that actual government is and always must be oligarchical.
Our effective masters must be more than one and fewer than all. But the oligarchs begin to regard us in a new way."
-------
There is a sort of "Stargate scene" in the movie "Lone Survivor".
Where the team of American Special Forces are in the mountains hunting for a really bad bad-guy, and then come across a group of sheep herders.
And now, as they are without any radio connection, this team has to make a significant decision.
Do they kill the sheep herders? Which will protect the mission, and will protect American lives. But, if it is discovered, then they may all face long prison sentences, and would cause major international problems across the region.
Or do they let them go? This is what they do, and a lot of American soldiers die because of this decision.
Sort of makes you wonder.
How many times have random individuals made seemingly small decisions, yet those small decisions impacted the lives of thousands, if not for entire nations.
-----
Perhaps it is the Puritan in me. But I am not that negative towards military government.
I see all forms of government as bodies of physical force and power. Especially the Executive position. When the Executive speaks or goes around the world doing diplomacy, he is doing so with the full might of his nation's military behind him.
So, I would rather just be honest about it. Put him in uniform instead of a suit. Make him the position of Lord Protector, not President.
Make him elected, not from some cabal of an electoral college or an appointee by private parties or hidden cliques, but by the top brass of the military, and I would be a happy boy.
it seems to me, just as it did to C.S. Lewis. That we are to be ruled.
And if we are to be ruled, I would rather be ruled by someone who has seen and felt the impact of the decisions made by the office he now holds.
Over being ruled by TV celebrities and life-long suits and entrenched bureaucrats.
------
Back to Stargate, to try and keep a cohesive focus and to bring it all back.
Who else, if not the United States Air Force, should be in charge of the Stargate?
The UN? Now that makes me shudder.
And even if we gave it to the UN, that singular gate still has to be placed somewhere, and so where should it be placed?
And now we start getting into some heavy political realities. As no country that ever had it would ever give it up. There is no way that the United States would ever surrender it. Who would? Who would say no to the global superpower?
Put it under NATO?
NATO has two heads. One head is the military branch, which is run by the United States and the United States alone.
The other is the diplomatic head, which is a puppet branch, used to parade around smiling people to make it seem like this is an international organization made up by equals.
So, it would still be run by the United States, but now with more steps and having to include far more people into the mix.
That leaves international organizations off the table.
And so, we would have to decide how its management would be run for within United States.
Should the President run it?
They come and go every 4 to 8 years. By the time they are fully informed, they go out the door and they have to do the whole thing over again.
Make a separate Department with a Secretary to handle it?
Not the worst decision. But that bureaucracy would entrench itself effectively as a secret organization, just like all the other alphabet organizations.
Give it to Congress?
Good God....
Privatize the gate?
ehhh....
Very quickly reality kicks us in the rear.
Someone has to run it.
Could give it to NASA. But NASA needs to bring the military along for protection.
This seems like the hopeful option. The wishful option. Yet it would suffer from the same problem as being run by a Department or Congress.
So, out of all the parts of Government and Society.
The United States Air Force is probably the best out of anyone to actually run it.
The keeping it secret part?
"That's not my department."
- Wernher von Braun.
Seasons 9-10 were fairly well done I thought, considering they were essentially a soft reboot of a show that mostly concluded but still had a contract for more seasons.
As for the Stargate program being run by the Air Force. I'd probably make the same call, assuming dictatorial powers, for the reasons you cite. But I'd also tell the public about it. Partly out of a moral sense of honesty and consent of the governed, but also to maximize the manpower and industrial base for planetary defense.
And nothing incites panic like being blindsided by alien invasion.
One of these days I'd like to sit down and have an in-depth philosophical discussion about governance, faith, and whatever else comes up in the froth.
@@feralhistorian It's not like the last two seasons were bad... But to me it felt sort of like trying to keep your high school group of friends together after high school. You try to keep it together after that last summer break, but it's over. It's done now. And that's okay.
I agree with you on the secrecy part. And it became quite nonsensical the longer the show lasted. Towards the end they even had space warships flying around.
Which would require an enormous logistical system to maintain.
It's one thing to send a few dozen teams through the gate once in a while. It's quite another to have two massive space warships that you fly up and down from earth and to and fro all over the place.
Perhaps the writers thought that keeping the gate a secret was somehow vital to the spirit of the show. I don't know.
That if they moved away from it, they would perhaps become more Trek than Gate.
And I'd love to have a conversation. Name the time and place.
Firearms didn't kill the Baron; they destroyed the absolute dominance of the professional soldier over the amateur soldier, sure. But the Baron was destroyed by other barons who grouped up forming duchies, the appearance of merchants and others who did work that wasn't tied to the land, and especially the fusion of those two to truly consolidate power into kingdoms.
Now your baron doesn't owe his status to the prosperity of his barony (that he may not have all that much control over anyway) but his relationship to his duke or king, and none of the nobility are going to put up with the damn peasants having any say in their rulers because that would put their own right to rule in question.
And that last, where the ruling class has both 'solved' the question of who rules (they, and only they, do) and made it unthinkable to step away from power (because doing so is at least death, if not worse) is when the real problems start.
@@boobah5643 My primary place of knowledge lies in the Anglo world. And Medieval England did not have Dukes until the 1337, which was 10 years after the English got their first cannon. And the position of Duke was created by the King downwards, not by Barons upwards.
And even so, the position of Duke only adds another step to the Feudal ladder, it does not shake or destroy it.
The merchant class was entirely bound to the legal parameters and monopolies granted to them by the King.
The merchant class did not rise to prominence until after the Black Death, which ended the Medieval period.
The merchants only moved products that came from the land. They were middle-men, nothing more.
The true ascendancy of the merchant class in Western Europe did not happen until the discovery of America.
Unless you consider stuff like the Hanseatic League, but they formed in 1356, which is 8 years after the Black Death hit England.
And the landed wealth remained dominant all the way until the industrial revolution.
I am slightly confused by that last part of your first paragraph.
Of course kings existed as part of Feudalism. You can't have Feudalism without them.
That's what I meant by top to bottom of society.
Feudalism was a system that fused every part of society together, from top to bottom.
From the working peasant to his Baron, and from the Baron to his peasants.
From the Baron to his King, and from the King to his Barons.
I am sorry, but your first paragraph simply does not make sense.
And for the second paragraph.
Many, not most, but many peasants in England had the right to choose their own Baron to work for.
In Normandy, Serfdom ended shortly after the death of William the Conqueror.
The "Divine Right Of Kings" did not come around until much later, around the 1500s. By then, Feudalism was already long gone.
It would be a grave mistake to mix together pieces here and there that are hundreds of years apart, and also perhaps hundreds of miles apart as well.
On your last paragraph.
I wouldn't say anything has been solved.
But the reality is that there has always been an Oligarchy, and there always will be one.
In every society throughout history this has been the case. No matter where you go. No matter the place, the climate, the location, the geography, or the time.
I am not talking about some phantom ever-lasting Illuminati-clique of lizard people. I am talking about the nature of mankind. The nature of governance. The realities of surviving, prospering, and being able to be more than mere beasts of the wilderness.
And even if we did take to the hills in small hunter-gather groups, our little wandering tribes would immediately develop their own little Oligarchies within them.
Even if the entire current day Oligarchy on earth was to be beamed away by the Asgardians tomorrow, the first thing that would happen is that we would fill that void with a new one.
Perhaps a better one. Perhaps a worse one.
But we would certainly have one.
I loved your video! After finishing I felt an odd compulsion to write this comment.
Dang I’m going to watch more of this channel
Yeah I'm hooked
This also pokes at a major spoiler that is revealed in the start of the Metro Exodus video game.
I'll be vague;
Was it right to accidentally destroy the device that kick-starts the story?
I was always kind of shaken because of the consequences that potentially were on the way but you're right in the fact that eventually the blindfold has to come off.
*LOVE YOU BRO (in a non-parasocial way.) I instantly clicked.*
Now I'm curious about what other truths have been hidden from me...what if Whiskey and donuts DO taste good together...?
*Grabs Woodford Reserve bottle and heads to Krispy Kreme*
My god, what if. What if all those God awful direct to Dvd Steven Seagal films are actually misunderstood masterpieces!? Mind blown. Thanks They Live.
This is my pitch for a new stargate show. It would be called Stargate: Nexus. It would take place 15 or 16 years after Universe (or how ever long its been since Universe. Stargate Command has made things safe politicly and militarily that when factions within the NID push to declassify the Stargate Program they can no longer argue against it.
A new Stargate Command is set up on the Gamma Site aka Nexus. Nexus is meant to be the heart of a newer more refined gate network. The show is about a new stargate team (officially named Stargate Nexus 1 or SGN1 but more often just called N1), as they go to different worlds shutting down gates on uninhabited or hostile worlds. They are trying to make gate travel more predictable and more controllable, gates won't just let you go anywhere.
The actions of N1 will cause conflict as they encounter hostile and allied forces that use the gateways for travel and commerce. who see issue with Earth forces dictated how the gates are to be used. Corporates earth companies will try to use the gate and new religions will come in contact with earth changing it forever.
Things will come to ahead when an outside gate network from another galaxy comes in contact with the Milky Way. Nonhuman alien's will appear with their on agendas.
Dealing with it all will be Nexus. Nexus is meant to function similar to a air port or train station with several gates working within the main facility and around the planet.
(Joseph "Joe" Link)
Former NID operative who was one of the leading causes in making the Stargate Program public. He would be the leader of Nexus's Stargate Command. He's young and jovial and often accompanies N1 on missions much to the dismay of N1's leader. He championed to get the job as base leader so he could travel though the gate network when ever he wanted. He has a budding attraction and often teases the leader of N1.
(Amanda "Mads" Wulf)
Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Wulf is a reserved no nonsense Leader of Nexus 1. She is formally a member of SG1 mentored under Cameron Mitchell before being reassigned to Nexus. On the job she is consummate professional, well versed in versus military strategies and tactics from the Goulds, Jaffa, Ori, and Tokra (having once been a host). She often butts heads with the leader of the SGN who forces his way onto missions, but admires his adventurous sprit and has a mutual attraction for him though she tries not to let it affect her command.
(Gilgamesh "Mesh")
An ancient Gould who forgoed the use of sarcophagus, seeing that it altered the others. Gilgamesh sought other forms of immortality his quest being canonized in earth legend. While in the legend he failed to find immortality, in truth he found it in the form of a robotic body that houses his symbiont form. He is found and woken by N1 who at first see him as a threat but soon realizes that like Joe, Gilgamesh too seeks adventure. He goes into long sleep so not to go mad from boredom, and decides he wishes to join N1 as a member. While Gilgamesh is not a sadist like other Gould he is still somewhat arrogant and often belittles members of his team
(Lilin)
A hiveless Wrath Queen. Lil escaped through the Pegasus gate to get away from her rivals. She seeks asylum, eventually joining N1. She takes a modified version of the medicine used in Stargate: Atlantis to stave of her vampiric feeding, but during times of need she will feed of members of the team to gain a boost in strength. Lilin is both regal and deadly, often serving as the team's and Nexus diplomate alongside Joe. She eventually begins a romance with the teams medic and for a time becomes human to sire a child with him.
(Maxwell Creed)
Former member of SG2, creed is a solid solider and man. When working he is professional all though less so then his commanding officer Wulf. He is often paired with Joe as a bodyguard which causes them to gain a friendship. Gilgamesh considers him to be the most honorable members of the team. He eventually falls in love with Liln who had often joked about feeding on him. They sire a half human-half Wraith child who becomes under threat by both human and wraith forces from the Pegasus galaxy.
(Puck)
He is a higher life form, an entity that predates the Ancients and did not ascend but was born in the higher plain. He and his people are called the Fay. They have no hard rules about dealing with mortals because they often don't like going into the mortal plain. Being as old as they are the ascended ancients can't do much to stop them if they wanted. Puck himself is curious about the mortal world. He has met Shakespeare helping him write "A midsummers night dream" and was nuisance to Merlin. It is revealed that his interest in the mortal world is due to his friend. Before the Ancients were advanced and were still simple cave dwellers, Puck's friend and king of the Fay Oberon had a child with a human. It is discovered that Oberon is a major causes for the "Ancient Gene."
(Oberon)
He is one of the major antagonist of the show. His goal is to wipe out humanity to that he can return to the higher realm, often referred to as Avalon by the humans. He was sealed long ago by the Ancients. He had a child with a human woman and stayed to watch his children grow for centuries watching as they grew from cave men to a mighty star faring empire. When he grew bored of the mortal world and decided to leave he discovered that he was trapped in the mortal plain. Due to his nature his essence was spread out through humanity and leaving was like tearing himself in half. He began to kill the ancients and they locked him away. Later to be rediscovered by N1
Well if you got this far tell me what you think.
Overall it sounds closer to the tone of SG1 and Atlantis than SGU was, which I think is a good thing. The team should probably a bit smaller just to avoid cluttered stories. Even SG1 had a little trouble with figuring out what they wanted to do with Carter from a character standpoint.
The idea of alien cultures (and even other human ones) clashing with Earth and its allies over their taking control of the Gate network has a lot of potential. I can see someone moving Gates around for their own convenience, causing some conflicts and Nexus command trying to impose order through their new bureaucracy that no one else recognizes and legitimate. And the Oberon and Gilgamesh angles have a lot of potential in Stargate.
I'd be a little nervous about writing in a Wraith team member feeding on any of the others, even consensually. There's some interesting story possibilities there but it could get dark and creepy and real fast.
Write it as a fan fiction and give me a link when you do it!!
@@andresgeary4433 I Started working on a pilot script, never tried before. It's interesting I made a video on my channel..
Problem is, if SG were made public, they'd die the committee death. To combat unusual threats, you need a fast-reacting force not bound by groupthink and red tape. That's why there's stuff like SF as opposed to the army - more flexible, doing stuff that needs to be done (or sometimes, shouldn't've been done, but that's the risk you have to take), which nobody else can. It's the fight or flight kind of thing - sometimes you'd wish it wouldn't kick in, like at an exam; when you're in a dark alley, you'll be glad it's there.
I would love to see your take on Animorphs sometime. Its about kids who get reruited into being guerilla fighters in an intergalactic war, who can fight as gorillas (and other animals) thanks to alien technology. One of the constant themes is things not being what they seem, and having to think critically to decide what the right and wrong thing are.
The biggest example is that the antagonist are alien slugs (Yeerks) who can take over brains and the protagonists are blue scorpion centaurs (Andolites) that can turn into any animal they touch. So literally anyone could be anyone...
But then, as the series progresses you find out the Yeerks literally have no senses without host bodies, and some just want some kinda symbiosis; meanwhile the Andolites who seem very benevolent are a very soft empirical power that insist no one out paces them technologically.
I don't recall ever hearing of that one. Have to check it out.
For some reason I feel compelled to like, comment and subscribe.
I can understand not telling the truth in Stargate, they didn't want to cause world wide panic and waste time dealing with that instead of the xeno threats. But in They Live? The movie shows politicians/elites are working with the aliens against their fellow humans. That's more messed up, heck, Evil I'd say. Both are great sci fi entertainment.
I'm still pissed that Stargate Atlantis didn't get a proper conclusion unlike SG1. Hate when that happens to a show I like.
I hate it when that happens as well.
The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions. I'm sure the politicians in they live thought the same the normies couldn't handle the truth
Awesome video. I'm still waiting for a video on "Prayer of the Rollerboys".
But seriously, good (if grim) video man. Stay feral.
In the end we are all assholes in a room. That was the best part of Game of Thrones
I didn't expect this video. One of my favorite shows and favorite film being analyzed by you, together.
Out of curiosity, have you ever watched Farscape?
I've seen an assortment of random Farscape episodes. It's been on my watch-list for quite a while but somehow I never get to it.
@@feralhistorian I'm in the same boat. I've been trying to find the time to watch Farscape for about two and a half years now. Right when I'm about to do so, something always seems to come up.
Stargate SG-1 is my security blankie against everything that is current television SF. If the reboot goes ahead I'll likely ignore the attempt. I've yet to watch Stargate Catherine and possibly never will, in spite of owning the movie cut. I'm not at all sure the original magic can be recaptured.
I've never been tempted to touch this type of story myself, in spite of enjoying them when they're well executed. I have a novel in progress based on what happens when everything goes wrong after contact with a more advanced race and the current world order collapses. Its in the first draft (as in awful) stage, so still in need of a lot more work, and I'm having to re-edit my previous novel at the same time, so things on the writing front are somewhat difficult.
SG-1 has a very special place in my heart.
On one summer break during my high-school years, when I went to bed, I would go to sleep with the TV on. And then, at 4 in the morning, I would wake up to the Stargate SG-1 theme.
I could sleep through anything, but the moment the Stargate theme started, my brain woke me up. I would watch the two episodes they aired. And then I would go back to sleep.
@@Hugebull I was doing my Degree and Ph.D when the series was on initially, so I only caught up with it when it was up to season four, though I was aware of it and desperate to watch it. When I finally did during my Ph.D I got no research work for weeks while I caught up and it was amazing.
To this day Window of Opportunity, the episode I saw a bit of first and drove me to buy every season on DVD remains my favourite episode.
@@careypridgeon There are two episodes that really stand out. There is the one where we see an Asgardian ship for the first time. The way its thundering down from the sky, and completely wipes out the Goa'uld there, while the SG team just stands there in absolute awe.
The other one, is when they come across a planet that is in the middle of a cold war going hot. And we later find out that they suffered a nuclear apocalypse.
I too am skeptical of a reboot. I'll give it a chance, but with tempered expectations.
On a different, when you're satisfied with a draft of your book and looking for beta readers, let me know.
You should check out the Pournelle and Niven books about the CoDominium. The USSR and USA unite the world and prevent a nuclear holocaust, and also spread out among the stars.
I read the first book in that series way back when it was new. Oddly I remember details but not the broad story strokes. I should give it another look.
@@feralhistorian I found it compelling, centuries after the CoDominium fell came the Empire of Man and the rise of the Sauron super soldiers.
@@zedfan4598 I've only read a few of the _WarWorld_ compilations and the Motie stories, but I'd gotten the impression that the rise of the Saurons _was_ the war that destroyed the CoDominium.
@@boobah5643 The CoDominium destroyed itself along with most of the Earth. Sauron had declared independence a few years before, but it was just one rebellious planet among many.
To this day I consider The Road Not Taken one of my favorite SG-1 episodes. Not just because if featured the most glorious Amanda Tapping's cleavage in entire show's run.
It helps if you think of Stargate as being a spy show. I mean it is not one, but in many ways it has some overlap. spy shows are, by the very nature, covert. They function for the benefit (at least theoretically) the people in the US, or the UK, or whoever is making the show. So if a spy show is acceptable on a moral level, then the only thing that would make Stargate immoral would be a matter of scale. Evidently we’re OK if James Bond is running around shooting people, but we’re not OK if there’s 50 commando teams running around fighting proxy wars on other planets.
I’m being a little facetious, but the scale thing really is a problem. Nobody seems to mind Doctor Who running around doing all kinds of things for the good of the planet of the week, functioning, under no authority except his own, But there are legitimate concerns about a secret organization of interplanetary commando teams. So the question is where is the line?
I mean in Stargate, we do see plenty of situations that actually justify their use in universe reasoning. we can take it on Faith that the people in their world really would freak out riot kill each other, dogs and cats living together and the world kind of stuff.
And the Stargate is answerable to civilian authorities. The president is aware of what they are doing, they are funded under a black budget that is voted on by Congress, They operate under the uniform code of military justice. Is it paternalistic? Probably. But it is also the most legalistic of all of the paternalistic shows in the science-fiction genre. It does take place within the parameters of what our government allows, if only technically. I’m not bringing this up to defend the franchise (though I do like it), but it is a genuinely interesting question.
Although it is outside the scope of the specific discussion, I really like the running in Stargate universe about how the SGC Freed billions of people across the galaxy, but did not give any thought to what the people were supposed to do once they were free, resulting in evidently an awful lot of chaos
I would put on the glasses every time. Damn the consequences
Interessant
Will you do a video on Goa'uld do you have a topic for them coming up?
There will be more Stargate content, that I can say with confidence. But it's all just notes and musings at the moment.
@feralhistorian thank you for your answer I'm enjoying your content keep on trekking!
@feralhistorian if I may offer a recommendation. There are episodes in SG1 about the Tollan people's. A advanced human civilization SG team encounters an helps.
Because of their advanced tech they have alot of pride an arrogance, which leads to their inevitable downfall. It's a classical pride goes before the fall kind of story.
Normally I refrain from "I told you so," but for the Tollan I'd make an exception.
They're on the agenda, in relation to Trek's Prime Directive and a few other technological disparity points. More topics than time but we'll get there.
Well done brother!! 🤘😁🤙
It's always a question of balance. Technocratic paternalism might be bad, especially regarding clandestine and unsavoury acts. But I wouldn't trust a completely transparent, direct democracy either.
To quote George Carlin: "Think of the average person. Then consider that half the population is even more stupid".
You show me the man and I'll find you the algorithm
I have subscribed
I have liked
I have commented
can i ask would do a video about command and conquer both about the gulf war influence on the game and how the game show media manipulation used by a terrorist organization to sway the public opinion
Command and Conquer has been requested a few times. I need to make some retro gaming time to really get the feel of it.
oh i see good to know@@feralhistorian
@feralhistorian At least in the early games, there was little to no "story" in the gameplay itself. Watching compilations of cinematics and cutscenes could get you all of the story and world-building in a fraction of the time.
Unless you just _want_ to play the games, which is also valid.
Oh yeah c&c, where ss megachurch supernational cult is clearly plain evil and yet actually appealing solely because the gdi aka the amalgam of modern national governments are so goddamn disappointing in delivering on their promise of united mankind overcoming the world ending crysis that the less fortunate part of the world sees better hope for the future by siding with global techno religious terrorists known for throwing away lives left and right rather than surviving day to day in more and more desperate living conditions while equal among equals enjoy and gatekeep the paradise.
They send occasionally some humanitarian help, promises and happy good feelers... and also launch massive, ludicrously expensive military campaigns in your region to eliminate their opposition... supported by mf greenwashed orbital cannon network cause nukes aren't vegan and later by putting military command into space.
The gdi wants to see world returned to its previous state, the nod looks into future and sees the unimaginable possibilities for whole mankind, so beyond our current understanding, our morals, ethics or whatever we elevate as peak human achievements that it is worth any sacrifice.
In retrospective, gdi never had a real chance of saving the world against something that just wipes out civilizations like its just Tuesday as side effect of interstellar resource extraction by highly developed space race. But even with its numerous flaws, in contrast to Nod, it has the elements that care about us not losing our humanity and turning completely into equivalent of the space bugs that sent the glowing rock in the first place.
Both exist in relation to other and some kind of synthesis is needed to progress without getting extinct in one way or another.
Would I put on the shades knowing what they reveal? Hell yes. I'd wear my sunglasses day and night, weapons in hand. Better to live hunted and die on one's feet than to live blind and groveling.