ijffdrie wrote: ↑Mon Nov 26, 2018 6:04 pm
My definite favorite for the first season. A clever subversion of a science fiction trope, coupled with great character work, coupled with some very interesting lore tidbits.
Speaking of those lore tidbits, there is a very interesting implication in this episode that the antarctic stargate is the reason that there's so many cultures dating from after the rebellion against Ra found throughout the galaxy. I wonder how much time Ra spent being baffled by all these mysterious groups of humans popping up without figuring it out.
However, that does result in kind of a weird unfilled bit of backstory. We know why Ra stopped using the Egyptian stargate. But why did the other goa'uld stop using the antarctic stargate? The vast majority of goa'uld civilizations we see throughout the franchise have their roots in human civilizations that formed millenia after Ra was driven off the planet, who would have had to be taken through the antarctic gate. The medieval villages from Demons are an obvious example, which would place goa'uld visits to earth as late as the middle ages. Going into the expanded universe, the episode backgrounds from the kinda-canon RPG had the goa'uld involved on both sides of the second Mongolian invasion of Japan (the planet from Emancipation having originally been a prison world set up for captured invaders), which took place as late as 1281.
I have a hypothesis. Goa'uld ignore Earth for the most part because of pressing matters dealing with each other, and because it's easier to work with an established powerbase than to create your own. It's only the new ones who go to Earth and rename themselves as such and such deity and snatch some more people.
Consider how many planets are abandoned or wiped out by the Goa'uld due to technological progress, it could just be that controlling such a place isn't worth it while dealing with more major threats (such as Ra, Lord Yu, or other system lords). Nirrti could come back to India for human subjects, going through several neighbor's territory and having to deal with such problems as warring with each subject, since the gate is buried. Or she could just breed her own, as she does, trying to find her version of the perfect host by breeding.
Goa'uld have learned the hard way to avoid the sunk cost fallacy, while also having problems living in a culturally cooperative society. This leads to Goa'uld who are minor going to Earth to establish a new religion or yoinking an existing one, and bringing their followers into a new world as ruler, establishing a power base, until things go wrong. Better to have your own breeding ground of loyal subjects, workers, warriors who will do as you demand, rather than having to spend the time and effort cultivating a land and making it loyal to you from whole cloth.
After all, it's hard to have people do things for you as their god if they're starting to reach Renaissance or Enlightenment levels of thinking.
Why?
Biologically, the Goa'uld are parasitic. This affects their culture and way of thinking to an extent. Even the technology they develop is a hodgepodge aping of Ancient technology. Their route to power is by having hosts, and having these hosts worshiped as gods. Without that, they are, at best, occasionally grabbing random people or animals who veer too close to their spawning pools on a random planet.
So, for those who are new Goa'uld, they HAVE to go to Earth, because there is no choice of creating a domain elsewhere, as the competition is too hard. Look at Seth. He created his own cult on Earth and just hid out because competing in galactic affairs was too hard, and he was considered a joke by everyone else.
But, it doesn't matter, because destroying Earth is an investment in resources that isn't worth it when you're dealing with other System Lords who will destroy your territories and holdings because you committed to destroying a non-threat.
This is probably why there are so many advanced human cultures out there. It's easier for the Goa'uld to pretend they never existed than to commit to a total war against them and opening yourself up to an attack by your neighbors.