SG1: Seth

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

I'm no expert on ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology, but some of the choices they made with their villains were a little odd. If you start with Ra, then I guess it makes some sense to follow it up with Apophis/Apep. But then there's other well-known mythological figures who show up kind of randomly, and they end up being portrayed as less than impressive (Heru'ur sucked; Isis didn't even make it out of the jar). Set/Setesh/Seth is maybe the most egregious example of that. He's a character with strong mythological connections to Ra, Apophis, Osiris, Isis, and Horus/Heru'ur. Heck, he's Anubis' dad.

Instead of making use of all that background he shows up in a one-off and is unceremoniously killed. Interesting the heroes are finally introduced to the system lords immediately following this episode, which is a concept that I wish had shown up sooner.

Otherwise, I don't think the episode is too bad. Teal'c's joke is pretty great, but otherwise it's a bit forgettable.

[Ghilz]

Yeah, for a franchise who has villains impersonating famous gods, Stargate was awful at mythology. This episode isn't better when Daniel traces Seth's steps through history and mentions how he must've been Typhon coz it's also a made up creature. Well by that Standard, Seth must've been a lot of faiths at the same time coz made up critters aren't that rare. Typhon was a monster with 100 snake heads (Among other snake-related things).

[ORCACommander]

That would have made an interesting subplot if they revealed he’d been behind various technological revolutions throughout history, influencing/guiding things to advance humanity for his own ends. Could even have tied it into his banishment background by having him take advantage of Earth having ‘dropped off the map’ to be able to advance Earth tech to the point where they’d be a viable threat to the Goa’ould without the Goa’ould noticing, at which point he’d step out of the shadows to take over. The death cults could then be spun into his way of keeping his ego stroked while he bided his time.

You mean, Set would actually have to be called Kane?

For the Technology of Peace!

[Durandal_1707]

Yeah, for a franchise who has villains impersonating famous gods, Stargate was awful at mythology. This episode isn't better when Daniel traces Seth's steps through history and mentions how he must've been Typhon coz it's also a made up creature. Well by that Standard, Seth must've been a lot of faiths at the same time coz made up critters aren't that rare. Typhon was a monster with 100 snake heads (Among other snake-related things).

Yeah, but SG-1 never really pretended to be serious, hard sci-fi. It was silly supercheese, it knew it, it embraced it. And really, that was half the fun of it.

The only thing that really annoyed me in that department is that we never got a Goa'uld named Yahweh. But then the Ori kind of made up for that, so.

[Madner Kami]

That would have made an interesting subplot if they revealed he’d been behind various technological revolutions throughout history, influencing/guiding things to advance humanity for his own ends. Could even have tied it into his banishment background by having him take advantage of Earth having ‘dropped off the map’ to be able to advance Earth tech to the point where they’d be a viable threat to the Goa’ould without the Goa’ould noticing, at which point he’d step out of the shadows to take over. The death cults could then be spun into his way of keeping his ego stroked while he bided his time.

You mean, Set would actually have to be called Kane?

For the Technology of Peace!

"Rise my people. I have returned, never to leave your side again. SGC sought to destroy me, but they have only made me stronger. Today, we march forward into our future. A stronger people. A divined people, enhanced for the Naquadah world. The time has come, to claim this world as our own! The time has come, to destroy SGC! One vision. One purpose! Peace through power!"

Kane would've made a fantastic System Lord. I wonder how much of an influence the popcultural impact of C&C's primary villain had on the StarGate-series and vice-versa. This all sometimes seems like a giant hodgepodge of cross-pollination.

[Dînadan]

The only thing that really annoyed me in that department is that we never got a Goa'uld named Yahweh. But then the Ori kind of made up for that, so.

I think that’s probably because they’d have pissed off so many Christians if they’d had the Abrahamic god show up in a villainous role that the execs would nix any such plans (would probably have also pissed off Jews and Muslims as well, but I have a feeling that it’d have been the Christians the execs were really concerned with).

That’s probably why in that one episode there was an unas pretending to be Satan (or one of his devils, don’t recall which; might have been Sokar that was pretending to be Satan); Satan is already an embodiment of evil, so having him as a villain is fair game and no one the execs care about would object to such a portrayal.

[Madner Kami]

I pretty much agree with this. Don't forget, that SGC was made during a time where there was a resurgence in christian power in the US. But if you look at the subtext, it's all over the series. Just have a look at the old testament's Jaweh. Wrathful, vengeful god, that doesn't allow other gods besides him, demands to be worshipped and lets fires and diseases punish all those who do not do his bidding? If that's not a Goa'Uld, then what is?
Same for Jesus. Hm, which species is known to ressurect the dead? Yeah, exactly. His human host might have been at the brink of death, close enough to pass for dead by normal human being's standard, lay him down for three days and he miraculously was alive again, left the cave, never to be seen again. Yeah, he switched his host because either it wasn't viable anymore or he just needed a change of face. Hey, who knows, he might have come back a few centuries later with a grudge, enveloping the middle east in a holy war, leading to the downfall of his supposed former followers (Byzantine Empire), while at the same time accepting those of his former followers who pay tribute. Same for a young Jesus, that was said to be of an adult mind. Too bad that there's no precedence of Goa'Uld taking human children or teenagers as hosts... oh wait...

[Dînadan]

Same for Jesus. Hm, which species is known to ressurect the dead? Yeah, exactly. His human host might have been at the brink of death, close enough to pass for dead by normal human being's standard, lay him down for three days and he miraculously was alive again, left the cave, never to be seen again.

Doesn’t even have to be nearly dead; remember sarcophagi can raise the actual dead, so he could have actually died, and his tomb contained a disguised sarcophagus.

Although considering the portrayal of Jesus as being kinder than the OT God, you could possibly have had Yahweh be a Goa’ould and Jesus be a Tok’ra.

[Madner Kami]

Although considering the portrayal of Jesus as being kinder than the OT God

Is he?



Also, Jesus famously once cursed a fig tree for not having fruits while it wasn't fruit season, causing the fig tree to die (Matthew 21:18-21 or Mark 11:13-14). Seems petty? Seems like something a Goa'Uld would do to me. Also there's this quote of him:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." (Matthew 10:34-35)

True, he may not have drowned the world in a giant flood or destroyed entire cities, but it's not like we never had any Goa'Uld that didn't have access to the full array of their technology and making do with what they had available. I think this very thread is about one

You know what's really funny and what I alluded to earlier? Jesus vanishes from the record after his death and the belief in him takes a while to truely take root. The believes are being debated and discussed about for great length after his death and, if you are into bible studies you know that, got basically perverted and twisted. Now we have this historical incident where about 300 years after Jesus "died", there's this new religious figure appearing in Medina, that basically teaches yet again a new version of Judaism with a slight Christian twist, who then proceeds to conquer the arabian peninsula, while his heirs manage to conquer the Sassanid Empire in a swift war and who then proceed to wage a Holy War, a Jihad, against the Byzantine Empire (basically THE christian empire) and who constantly rail against the perversion of the "True Belief" in the one and only God. This basically writes itself, doesn't it?

[Dînadan]

True, but to be fair the Tok’ra could still be dicks sometimes, so one could still be the ‘nicer’ alternative and still be an ass sometimes, especially if those dickish antics were inciting ‘rebellion’ against the established authorities. And if he was a Goa’ould that defected to the Tok’ra rather than born from the Tok’ra Queen, he’d probably be constantly fighting his unborn nature to be ‘good’ rather than evil. And considering sarcophagi are established as making you evil (hence why the Tok’ra abstaine from using them), the crusifiction and resurrection via sarcophagus hidden in the tomb could have been a ploy by Yahweh to turn him back to the dark side (although admitantly it’d be odd for a Goa’ould to do that rather than torture or just leave him dead).

And being a defector rather than born a Tok’ra would allow for a play on the Trinity being one god but three; Goa’uld genetic memory would mean the Jesus symbiont would have all memories/knowledge of the Yahweh symbiont when born so metaphorically would ‘be’ him at birth. No idea where the Holy Ghost would fit in though; don’t know if it’d be a queen, another offspring, a sibling symbiont to Yahweh or even his progenitor.


As for your point about Jesus vanishing and sometime later a similar figure emerging; I’m not an expert but I believe there were various figures that were similar that appeared before Jesus that some scholars think were either the inspiration for or were hijacked by Jesus (the main one I’ve heard of is Mithras), so that is another angle that could be worked in, with Jesus and the guy you mention merely being two in a long line of personas he’d adopted.