So either I'm very good at guessing or this forum is being read by the writers at SGU. Lets go with the first option.
The body swap ethics are well underway, including the colonels playing with his ex-wife. Oh, the court martial when she's knocked up... I liked her confessing it was over when they swapped back. It is possible she's been seeing Telford all along, which might have been even more shocking for the Col. T to wake up doing THAT with her when he's supposed to be someone else. Is your lover loyal or not? Consider the possibilities for betrayal-angst in that situation. It would greatly complicate a court martial and ethics panel, exactly the sort of thing these psychodramas love to play up and provides the "twist" ending this show is starting to be focused on.
While Rush can be taken as a magnificent bastard, he has a good point about fixing up the ship first. That repair guy nearly died, and it could have taken out the ship with a hull breach under FTL. Really, they can't screw around with the forces they're playing with. Routing the power from the sun to the gate is a good idea, but building a ZPM is a better one, particularly since they won't have to be inside a sun when they're trying to dial the gate home. If the shield fails while they're in open space and not racing along in FTL then its not so dire. Limit your factors and simplify the equation. The energy they recharge during sundives is enough to get a ZPM started on recharge. Its a good STABLE idea. Its also long-term. They know plenty of ancient technology from Atlantis and the later seasons of SG1 that could be manufactured on the ship and upgrades made so it works better.
They need a way to manufacture things on the ship and they need to repair every hull breach, then every sensor and every energy conduit. They need raw materials. They need an asteroid, and they need to mine it. As they don't know how to do that, a DEM is required, perhaps mining robots from one of the dead spaces they activate during repairs, thus why it didn't fix the holes itself. They can retcon it pretty easily. Then it's a matter of limiting just what they can do while still providing a good show for the audience.
Niven's bigger than worlds essay was very useful for the mechanics of mining asteroids, particularly in melting them down, using solar mirrors. They've already established that Trinium is found in asteroids, as well as naqueda. Normal asteroids contain iron, nickel, manganese, magnesium, aluminum, gold, iridium, platinum, and lots of other fun elements useful for manufacturing metals and electronics. The other kind of asteroids are loaded with hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, boron, and other light elements necessary for life. Pack them in the dead spaces so they have raw materials on board. And turn on more lights. It would be nice to reveal some delicate wall etchings instead of the usual utilitarian sheet steel covered with grey paint. Or perhaps the passengers will be adding that. They can retcon in a hobbyist using gold for that, once the mining is done. Its not like its THAT useful, particularly if you can always get more at the next asteroid. Maybe that's a longer term issue.
Still, in the short run I was quite amused at Chloe calling Eli a friend while drunk. He really needs to look elsewhere. Even the cougars would be a better choice. She's a divisive wreck and so is he. Bad combo, and he needs to be strong and smart, something which won't happen while Queen C. plays with his emotions so inexpertly. I am also amused that Blondie has been more than "looking" at the colonel. Nicely retconned. So the Col. plays with blondie, is late to the meeting, comes home to his ex, plays with her for a day in another man's body, she gets knocked up, so does blondie (maybe, there's little evidence for them bringing chemical birth control with them when fleeing Icarus, was there?) and the Col. gets double paternity lawsuits. Will he even have command after this? Or will they rewrite the fraternization rules since it's a one-way trip into the universe? And the power demands to dial home keep getting higher all the time. Remember, the FTL is going away from the Milky Way every hour. (Skipper?! Perfesser?!)
And as an aside, Rick D. Anderson may not be "fat" fat. It could be medical, his kidneys or something else unpleasant. He is in his 60's by now. MacGuyver was in the 80's, and Teri Hatcher was his love interest in that show (which tells you how old SHE is). It IS weird to see him 40 pounds heavier than a couple seasons ago. There are times Amanda Tapping showed her age too, but she held onto the cute for 12 years, which is no small feat and must have required a stringent diet and exercise regimen. She's had kids in recent years, too. All the old hands look mildly irritated to be reprising their roles as guest stars. I can scarcely imagine doing the same job for a decade, much less longer. Great way to pay for a good retirement, though.
Also: the ship wasn't the genius this time. It just recharged and went back to cruising off into the ether again. The unrelenting angst still lacks any humor. Maybe that's what the audience wants, a serious scifi show, but SG:1 already established a degree of comedy in episodes, particularly in seasons 9-10, but prior seasons too. I'm still a bit concerned where this is going, but maybe they'll take my suggestions about mining asteroids and repairing the ship damage to heart. That would be interesting, and an opportunity to show some real science. There's precious little of that here.
The body swap ethics are well underway, including the colonels playing with his ex-wife. Oh, the court martial when she's knocked up... I liked her confessing it was over when they swapped back. It is possible she's been seeing Telford all along, which might have been even more shocking for the Col. T to wake up doing THAT with her when he's supposed to be someone else. Is your lover loyal or not? Consider the possibilities for betrayal-angst in that situation. It would greatly complicate a court martial and ethics panel, exactly the sort of thing these psychodramas love to play up and provides the "twist" ending this show is starting to be focused on.
While Rush can be taken as a magnificent bastard, he has a good point about fixing up the ship first. That repair guy nearly died, and it could have taken out the ship with a hull breach under FTL. Really, they can't screw around with the forces they're playing with. Routing the power from the sun to the gate is a good idea, but building a ZPM is a better one, particularly since they won't have to be inside a sun when they're trying to dial the gate home. If the shield fails while they're in open space and not racing along in FTL then its not so dire. Limit your factors and simplify the equation. The energy they recharge during sundives is enough to get a ZPM started on recharge. Its a good STABLE idea. Its also long-term. They know plenty of ancient technology from Atlantis and the later seasons of SG1 that could be manufactured on the ship and upgrades made so it works better.
They need a way to manufacture things on the ship and they need to repair every hull breach, then every sensor and every energy conduit. They need raw materials. They need an asteroid, and they need to mine it. As they don't know how to do that, a DEM is required, perhaps mining robots from one of the dead spaces they activate during repairs, thus why it didn't fix the holes itself. They can retcon it pretty easily. Then it's a matter of limiting just what they can do while still providing a good show for the audience.
Niven's bigger than worlds essay was very useful for the mechanics of mining asteroids, particularly in melting them down, using solar mirrors. They've already established that Trinium is found in asteroids, as well as naqueda. Normal asteroids contain iron, nickel, manganese, magnesium, aluminum, gold, iridium, platinum, and lots of other fun elements useful for manufacturing metals and electronics. The other kind of asteroids are loaded with hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, boron, and other light elements necessary for life. Pack them in the dead spaces so they have raw materials on board. And turn on more lights. It would be nice to reveal some delicate wall etchings instead of the usual utilitarian sheet steel covered with grey paint. Or perhaps the passengers will be adding that. They can retcon in a hobbyist using gold for that, once the mining is done. Its not like its THAT useful, particularly if you can always get more at the next asteroid. Maybe that's a longer term issue.
Still, in the short run I was quite amused at Chloe calling Eli a friend while drunk. He really needs to look elsewhere. Even the cougars would be a better choice. She's a divisive wreck and so is he. Bad combo, and he needs to be strong and smart, something which won't happen while Queen C. plays with his emotions so inexpertly. I am also amused that Blondie has been more than "looking" at the colonel. Nicely retconned. So the Col. plays with blondie, is late to the meeting, comes home to his ex, plays with her for a day in another man's body, she gets knocked up, so does blondie (maybe, there's little evidence for them bringing chemical birth control with them when fleeing Icarus, was there?) and the Col. gets double paternity lawsuits. Will he even have command after this? Or will they rewrite the fraternization rules since it's a one-way trip into the universe? And the power demands to dial home keep getting higher all the time. Remember, the FTL is going away from the Milky Way every hour. (Skipper?! Perfesser?!)
And as an aside, Rick D. Anderson may not be "fat" fat. It could be medical, his kidneys or something else unpleasant. He is in his 60's by now. MacGuyver was in the 80's, and Teri Hatcher was his love interest in that show (which tells you how old SHE is). It IS weird to see him 40 pounds heavier than a couple seasons ago. There are times Amanda Tapping showed her age too, but she held onto the cute for 12 years, which is no small feat and must have required a stringent diet and exercise regimen. She's had kids in recent years, too. All the old hands look mildly irritated to be reprising their roles as guest stars. I can scarcely imagine doing the same job for a decade, much less longer. Great way to pay for a good retirement, though.
Also: the ship wasn't the genius this time. It just recharged and went back to cruising off into the ether again. The unrelenting angst still lacks any humor. Maybe that's what the audience wants, a serious scifi show, but SG:1 already established a degree of comedy in episodes, particularly in seasons 9-10, but prior seasons too. I'm still a bit concerned where this is going, but maybe they'll take my suggestions about mining asteroids and repairing the ship damage to heart. That would be interesting, and an opportunity to show some real science. There's precious little of that here.
