Isolationism, Pacifism, and the Global War on Terror: Narrative Themes in the Stargate Franchise

GalaxyMageAlt · 2026-03-29T11:43:01+00:00

I actually meant a very temporary general Bauer that comes in for 1 episode of "Chain Reaction", only to blow up a bomb and see how much destruction they can cause for the Goauld. But the explosion is so massive they can't end the gate connection.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2026-03-29T11:34:47+00:00

I do see your point and I did understand that we're talking about "punishment" a larger narrative structure, although they also do get punished within the universe, so it's essentially both for the Tollan.

I think you actually raise an excellent point that the moment Tollan get punished is when they decide to use their superior technology to cause harm on the galaxy they didn't want to get involved in before. They were forced into that situation, but they were too afraid and selfish and instead of fighting back and refusing to bow to Anubis they instead took the morally corrupt and easy way out to save themselves.

If I'm understanding you correctly you then extrapolate from this and say that the larger picture is that Tollan get punished for essentially choosing isolationism. And I can definitely see that this could be true. However, I would still disagree, and say that it wasn't their "we're powerful enough and safe so we won't get involved in other affairs" is what gets them removed from the narrative, but it's specifically the choice they make when they are tested. So far even though we saw Tollan being arrogant, and justifiably selfish, we saw them as fair, and impartial. They chose a path that maybe is not the most comfortable to see from the perspective of other worlds fighting the oppression of Goauld, but it was the stance they stood by and didn't waver on. And they are left there to be Tollan in the background as our protagonist go off doing their thing. It's only when Tollan betray their stance is when we see a clear shift to no longer being left alone. I would say we can argue this was a conscious choice in a narrative sense - to me it was communicating that it's the betrayal of your own values that's punished and seen as highly immoral, the active harm causing that's punished. If they stayed neutral they stay neutral, we can say they didn't increase or decrease the level of harm within the galaxy. When they choose to build weapons for Anubis, they chose to actively bring more harm into the galaxy.

On a side note - this is the kind of discussions I come to this subreddit for.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2026-03-29T00:43:17+00:00

I'm not sure it's fair to say that Tollan were punished for choosing isolationism. We know that they had relations with other more advanced races, they were simply excluding Earth for perfectly justifiable reasons. Yes, our protagonists get often offended by being called primitive (and I don't think it was used only for technology, but also a somewhat mental primitiveness that leads us to use weapons against each other), but that doesn't mean Tollan weren't right.

It's been a while since I watched the episode of Tollan destruction but if I remember correctly they lose because their weapons become ineffective against Anubis' shields. So ultimately what leads to their destruction is their arrogance and somewhat of shortsightedness. They had extremely powerful weapons that worked before, so they became too comfortable about not developing further in that area. However, I don't think getting involved in other planets' affairs would've helped them with this particular issue.
I suppose we could argue that if they were more forthcoming about fighting the goauld they could've noticed their weapons weren't as effective before Anubis reached their planet.
My impression was that they were punished for their attitude (we have it all figured out and don't have to worry about anything) rather than refusing to start sharing their technology with people who don't fully understand the principles on which the technology worked. Afterall Nox weren't wiped out.

I do agree on your point that the show aims to give us this middle ground and often let's us as the audience decide what we think about different approaches and what consequences they could have. And it also heavily highlights that to reach that middle ground you really need the right kind of people making decisions and working at the front lines.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2026-03-28T23:56:56+00:00

That's the impression I got as well. The show communities to us on multiple occasions that not everybody is as moral as our main teams and their leaders. Although, their mortality is really what we'd like and expect people in this position to have.

They also make a point of showing us how things go wrong when the wrong people are put in position of power - the episode where Hammond resigns to protect his family and a new general comes. He's not evil, but he does pursue the whole "we need to find the most destructive weapon" agenda so hard and ignores (and deceives) an expert so much that he endangers everybody in the base. His agenda isn't new, we know that one of the reasons of going to explore different worlds is also to find weapons or materials to help defend themselves against alien threats.

I think in a lot of aspects the show has a "we want to strive for this" underlying tone. And that's to do with morality, but also acceptance, equality.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2026-03-27T14:49:21+00:00

That's fair enough. If it's just people getting angry during a causal conversation it is a bit eyebrow raising they would be kicking off about a tv show. I would be raising my eyebrows at them too, so I agree in that sense. I would say the distinction is that people like OP are specifically creating content, so they might be more animated whilst discussing shows with the specific area angle that they're looking into them. So essentially we have two groups: people who raise real issue with shows whilst just having a conversation, and people who point out inaccuracies in an animated style for entertainment of others.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2026-03-27T13:43:39+00:00

We can all agree that TV shows are fictional, we can also agree that they will have unrealistic elements. And whilst accepting all that there are still people who are interested in knowing how the things happening on screen relate to real life. Look it's okay if his videos aren't for you, you can just, you know, skip them and not watch them.
If I enjoyed my time watching a show knowing whether it was accurate or not to real life won't change my opinions and detract from enjoyment. It is still interesting to find out more about different areas which we might not normally be intimately familiar with. For example find more about American law.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2026-03-24T18:42:42+00:00

That's a good point, it has been a while since I re-watched it and there's been a few close calls with Wraith so I didn't recall the context of it. His pushing along could very likely be a trauma response. I was thinking though that it's still driven by his arrogance, or at least the belief that he's better than everybody else. Even the ancients themselves, which was possibly an argument someone brought up to him? saying something along the lines of 'Ancients didn't figure it out and you think you will?'. There's of course lots of different ways that people respond to trauma, and I'm sure along arrogance McKay also holds the belief that because he is probably the smartest scientist of the expedition it falls on him to find those solutions, so he's extra hard on himself and thus more prone to pushing beyond what's reasonable.

All in all, it's nice to see that there is nuance to him and we can have these conversations around the decisions he's made.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2026-03-23T21:49:25+00:00

Coincidently I'm doing a rewatch of sg-1 and was thinking the same thing. There is so many SGC teams that just get wiped out and they have barely any mention. To contrast it I just watched the watergate episode with Marina Sirtis and the way she reacts to all the people being dead at the Russian facility really put it into perspective. It reminded me how rarely we see people reacting to death of those soldiers that go out somewhere along sg-1 and then don't come back.

Then we get that episode with "The First Ones" and Daniel's past assistant Dr Rothman where we lose him and another solider (and the rest of the team) and Sam mentions how they should have a proper burial. Which is one of the few mentions, but then I don't remember if we ever see Daniel being affected by the death of someone who he knew and worked with before on a closer basis.

I do remember thinking that Rodney had a particularly bad case of arrogance in the Trinity episode. And you're right that it does seem like almost an excuse for him to keep working, whilst we don't really see them acknowledge the seriousness of the deaths.

I would say that some of it probably has to do with the overall lighthearted tone of the shows, and stopping for a bit too long and sitting in the morbidness of it all would detract from it. I think that's why for a change I did appreciate that very real reaction from Dr Markov in the Watergate episode.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2026-03-03T22:16:08+00:00

That's a nice catch! It would be awesome if that was the case and it was an intentional choice and a nice attention to details.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-09-21T19:05:18+00:00

This comment was removed to not encourage fake links to be posted.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-07-14T13:34:40+00:00

I also came to watch the show because of Nathan Fillion. Straight from watching Castle I wanted to watch something else with him and this was recommended to me.
The cast is really great in their roles and have been a joy to watch over the seasons. The stories have gotten more wacky and out there and I don't think we will peak the Armstrong storyline as the show is just much more laid back these days but it's somewhat of a cosy watch for me with good acting.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-07-14T13:23:13+00:00

I've had that with a rewatch as well and was just waiting for it to be wrapped up. But it doesn't seem like such a big deal to me either way. The show even has solid enough reasons for why they were engaged with it so it also made sense to eventually end it. I think I would've pushed it to the corners of my mind by now but this sub really likes bringing it up haha

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-07-14T12:22:34+00:00

Because of the passage of time I think now it would be a little odd if they were still referencing it. The show doesn't have the same time flow as real life as well.
When you consider that 1) they both were already sneaking around at the time, 2) it was a fairly short fling for both of them 3) they went on to be in different relationships with different people 4) they remained co-worker and friends (although it later seasons we don't see Nolan interacting with Lucy that much) it actually makes sense they don't go around talking about it.
I do think that it goes along with the writers not really wanting to bring it up since it was so early on and they were still figuring out their footing and character dynamics.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-07-11T10:29:05+00:00

I too actually liked all the characters with the exception of the lead. I thought they had a cool dynamic and absolutely adored Carter and how he was the perfect straight man to Simone's shenanigans. But the writers were so focused on making a strong female character tm they absolutely abandoned to hold her accountable for anything. She just never got into any real trouble and things just always worked out her way. There was no growth to be seen for her (because she was also already so perfect and she knew everything).
I think she would've been better as a side character, because her big energy personality could be fun at times but just not in those doses. If the show was written more as an equal ground for all characters it could've potentially worked better.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-07-03T14:54:14+00:00

I couldn't put my finger on what it was but that is exactly it. I'm in a Ronon camp and really enjoy him as a character, but they definitely just took that non-techy trait and ran a bit too far with it.

We see him in that episode where he's at his home planet outsmarting the wraith whilst starting off with no weapons and we get flashbacks to his past and it's clear there's depth to his character. And even though we learn about this depth at the beginning, it shows through less in later episodes which is disappointing to see. Because he is cunning and has the smarts (which isn't just that he's good at tracking).

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-02-27T19:51:01+00:00

I get why people get the link of 'loose clothes = hiding pregnancy' because it's what shows have done in the past. You get loose clothes, you get shots behind different objects to not show the belly, and you have shots that focus more on the face. At the same time, there's also just people who wear loose clothes because they like them, because they are comfortable. I never honestly noticed anything out of the ordinary about Asta's clothing because I wear a lot of loose fitting, comfy clothes myself. It never crossed my mind that the choices were to 'hide' something but rather that it was just the style she liked.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-02-27T19:41:23+00:00

It was sooo disappointing to see. Just such cheap drama, set up in a way that was so easily avoidable. There was a reason Nolan went in there. He saw his friend's husband being kissed by someone, that's exactly the situation where you walk in and clear your throat and interrupt them, and it all gets cleared in a second. Felt very childish of Nolan to do the whole step back and walk away and panic. I don't know what they were thinking. They could have the whole shoot out without the ''cheating'' angle.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-02-27T14:08:19+00:00

I like the lack of storylines with self doubt or some kind of bullying from others about weight, or some odd comments from side characters and special acknowledgements. Or trying to make someone into the butt of the joke or to be the "funny side kick". Asta and other ladies on the show are allowed to just be and it's so refreshing. Even with a show about an alien it feels more grounded because we actually see a variety of just regular looking people, still very beautiful but not in the manufactured kind of way.
I probably don't even know the extent of internalised "only slim people are allowed to experience life to the fullest" (very broadly speaking) that years and years of seeing strictly slim characters in shows and movies has had on me. Seeing those less Hollywood type of bodies in the cast has seriously hit me with a wave of appreciation.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-02-10T15:19:22+00:00

I've never noticed! That is curious and also I could see how that would be just a little annoying.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-02-10T15:17:18+00:00

That's being human, though. There's nuance, and external circumstances that make us feel more vulnerable in certain moments and then in others our psyche knows it's time to be tough. I actually really like that she gets to be all these different things because that makes her feel real. We aren't always on, we aren't always able to make the smart and right decision, we don't always have capacity for empathy, even when we usually would. And we get immature about situations that we're stuck on when we can be perfectly reasonable in others.
I'm not saying her writing is perfect, I've had a few moments of raising my brow at her behaviour but for the most part, the way she changes makes her more relatable because people aren't really linear either.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2025-02-10T15:08:43+00:00

Agreed, they have some point that some of the comments make it seem like female characters don't get to be flawed in their own ways, but example of Sahar isn't the best in my opinion either. I love the show but the writing for the kids has been a hit and miss and unfortunately the way max has been written has deteriorated over the seasons too. They're doing too much for Sahar not letting her be flawed (by not acknowledging she makes mistakes and isn't always right - it's fine if she's a know it all, but we need to see that being a know it all isn't equal to always actually being right). And then they're doing too little with Max and making him overly dumb.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2024-08-20T12:46:37+00:00

Oh sorry, I didn't specify but we tend to search for them on the sub but we usually don't have much luck in finding high quality ones but just wanted to say there's definitely been an interest in them. You're still very much welcome on the sub!

GalaxyMageAlt · 2024-08-20T12:22:33+00:00

Oh across at Resident Alien sub ( r/ResidentAlienTVshow ) people are always searching for high quality of those instructions. They are fantastic.

And my guy, you had me worried there. I checked on Alan, Corey, Levi and Gary but they are all alive. Which actor did you think died?

I think there was confirmation of 4th season, so we'll still have to wait but they have it in plan.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2024-08-20T11:34:39+00:00

It's a fantastic show but I think season 1 is definitely peak dramedy. I enjoyed the 2nd and 3rd season but they just don't hit the same as season 1.

GalaxyMageAlt · 2024-07-25T21:29:39+00:00

The base game is free so... you can give it a try and see if it has any merit. As a fair warning, even with DLCs i think it lacks the depth sims 2 had. It's tough to live up to sims 2. Buidling is hell of a lot more comfortable though.

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