Stargate SG-1 Discussion: “The Scourge”

While a group of foreign delegates are touring the Gamma Site, a swarm of alien bugs linked to the Ori escapes containment…and adapt to become carnivorous.

12 replies on “Stargate SG-1 Discussion: “The Scourge””

  1. Conservation of mass.
    I didn’t like that the bugs violated conservation of mass. Eating a bit of meat causes them to reproduce enough to overflow the containment box? Lame.

    They could have done without that bit of magic and still had the bugs be a vicious threat.

    And why no Zats?

    • Re: Conservation of mass.

      I didn’t like that the bugs violated conservation of mass. Eating a bit of meat causes them to reproduce enough to overflow the containment box?

      Don’t forget that these are Ori bugs. They can do what normal bugs cannot because they are much further along the, um, path to ascension..? Hmmm, bugs ascending…. Yes, that would explain the gaps in the fossil record.

  2. Some nits
    OK, when did Teal’c start carrying a P80(90?) instead of a staff weapon? I thought that was a bit odd. And Mitchell had to go with something different?

    The high point for me was the fact that I wasn’t reminded of Crichton when Mitchell was on screen. If this keeps up, it only means good things for next season.

    I am curious as what the Chinese are going to be up to.

    And it’s the first time I’ve seen Tamilyn since B5’s The Gathering.

    • The Chinese Threat

      I am curious as what the Chinese are going to be up to.

      Their representative’s threat/warning seemed pretty clear. I think they’re going to try to take the Stargate. Enough private corporations have access to SGC-acquired technology that, through espionage of some sort, the Chinese should be able to obtain and utilize even some of the restricted military tech; the matter transportation technology would seem to be most applicable if they can find a way to get through whatever countermeasures the SGC have implemented in order to prevent such a theft. They could even have been approached by [a] Baal and get such technology from him. Good fun should be ahead. :)

    • Re: Some nits

      OK, when did Teal’c start carrying a P80(90?) instead of a staff weapon? I thought that was a bit odd. And Mitchell had to go with something different?
      And it’s the first time I’ve seen Tamilyn since B5’s The Gathering.

      Unfortunatly a friend talked me into watching the Joy Luck Club a few years ago. No I wasn’t drunk, but it would have helped.

      As far as weapons… P90’s look frickin’ puny in Judge’s hands! He needs a SAW or an M60, or something. Maybe that cut-down staff weapon we’ve been seeing lately….

      Bugs.. yeah… Loved the movie night thing.
      Does anybody but me think its odd that the Ori’s second weapon is easier to counter than their first?

      • Re: Some nits

        Bugs.. yeah… Loved the movie night thing.
        Does anybody but me think its odd that the Ori’s second weapon is easier to counter than their first?

        I think they are doing biblical themed weapons like the plagues.
        http://biblicalholidays.com/Passover/ten_plagues.htm

        A majority are insects: gnats, locusts, lice.
        Other animal pests: frogs.

        This group may be represented by the bugs.

        Some are diseases: Boils, disease of livestock, maybe death of the first born.
        This group is the plague of the Ori.

        The remainder: hail, darkness, river turned to blood would be environmental plagues. I do not know how the writers will introduce them.

        Other biblical things would be rain of fire as in Sodom and Gomorrah.

        I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head.

      • Re: Some nits

        Does anybody but me think its odd that the Ori’s second weapon is easier to counter than their first?

        I wouldn’t say easier, as the only method they have right now is a nerve toxin that basically kills the bugs, plus every other organism around them, which makes it a non-viable solution unless a planet is uninhabited. Uninhabited planets however, wouldn’t be a target for the Ori.

    • Re: Some nits

      The high point for me was the fact that I wasn’t reminded of Crichton when Mitchell was on screen.

      You weren’t? You probably didn’t happen to stumble on the Farscape episode where they rob the shadow deposetory and the money they steal turns into bugs right before watching it, then! (:

    • Re: Some nits

      OK, when did Teal’c start carrying a P80(90?) instead of a staff weapon? I thought that was a bit odd. And Mitchell had to go with something different?

      Indeed… I actually could’ve sworn I saw him carrying a staff early in the episode, and was quite surprised when it suddenly disappeared. I’ll have to DL a copy to see if I was just imagining it. Certainly the staff weapon or a Zat should’ve been more effective against the bugs.

      • Re: Some nits

        Indeed… I actually could’ve sworn I saw him carrying a staff early in the episode, and was quite surprised when it suddenly disappeared. I’ll have to DL a copy to see if I was just imagining it. Certainly the staff weapon or a Zat should’ve been more effective against the bugs.

        I think the idea is that the noise of the weapons causes the bugs to run due to their using a form of sonar to sense the environment. I was thinking of the movie "Tremors" when they decided on that. Stargate does ten to borrow heavily from other genre movies and shows, but I guess they have to after 9 seasons. Next week they seem to be doing the Star Trek "out of phase, I’m invisible and can walk through stuff" (but for some reason I don’t fall through the floor to the center of the earth) thing again. They already did a show like that with Daniel and his crazy grandfather.

        The zat would be good to stun the initial couple feet of the bugs but the ones behind would just keep coming. The staff weapon does make a big explosion when it strikes so they should have been able to use that.

        Of course, if the point of the gun is to use it as a noise maker, then there is no reason to aim it at the bugs. They could aim it straight up or straight down.

        • Re: Some nits
          Aiming straight up wouldn’t have hit the ground (at least, not quickly enough). Aiming down would have hit their feet. :)

          SP

        • Re: Some nits

          Of course, if the point of the gun is to use it as a noise maker, then there is no reason to aim it at the bugs. They could aim it straight up or straight down.

          Sounds are simply vibrations in the air. When one mass strikes another vibrations often result. When one mass is moving at a high rate of speed relative to the other mass that it strikes you will get ALOT of vibration. When a firearm is fired at a distant target you can often hear the sound of the bullet striking solid objects (my experience: steel plates[target] rocks[backstops for "clay pigeons"] and hard packed soil, amongst other things.) To hear something from several hundred feet away would seem to imply that the sound would be quite intense at close range. Granted the "bullet slap" is not as loud as most gunshots it’s still a big sound event. May as well get as much bang(pun intended) for the buck as possible.

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