SG1 Smoke and Mirrors

[name_here]

It's reportedly actually common for shows to deliberately not represent lockpicking correctly, because it's both usually illegal and requires little in the way of tools, so they don't want to be demonstrating it for their viewers. Similar for making explosives and drugs on a lot of shows.

[Koshundheit]

I quite enjoy most of the villains on SG1 and really this episode just confused me for a different reason: despite the fact that the Committee seems to be taken down in this episode... the conspiracy continues and they continually refer to the Committee in later episodes, so how the hell are they still functioning if all their leaders have been arrested?

I also liked the IDEA of them - that they're a bunch of rich white guys who think they know better than the Stargate program on how to deal with the threat of the Goa'uld and all that.

Chuck implied a solution, didn't he? The cooks, janitors, groundskeeper, and chauffeur took over when the original Committee members were arrested. Might explain how they didn't manage to ultimately succeed in their dastardly plans. Alternatively, there could have been someone powerful not present who was really behind the cabal, who kept things going afterward. I'm thinking Dick Cheney.

The rich cabal trying to run things despite their limited knowledge, ignoring the experts who really know what they're doing, did have a nice ring of truth to it. That so often happens in science fiction about ideas. I've seen so many works where the ideas were better than the execution of them. Gives fodder for the imagination that at least lets me come up with a better story in my head, and can give added value to a weak story. It is great when Chuck does that in reviews. The fact that so much of appreciating science fiction is thinking about what one has read or seen has led me to hear "I'm not really into science fiction" as "I'm incurious and don't like to think too much." Not sure if that's harsh or mostly accurate generally, but it is true of some people I know well. Conversely, friends I've made who love to talk about life, the universe, and everything universally have significant interest in science fiction.

[APlotdevice]

Do tell us Chuck, what is the right way to pick a lock?

Well for starters, the pick should be facing the pins. It does you no good to be picking the bottom of the lock.

[TGLS]

Do tell us Chuck, what is the right way to pick a lock?

Lockpicking 101
Step 1: Get a power drill.
Step 2: Place drill in front of lock you wish to pick.
Step 3: Drill through the lock.

[Riedquat]

Do tell us Chuck, what is the right way to pick a lock?

Lockpicking 101
Step 1: Get a power drill.
Step 2: Place drill in front of lock you wish to pick.
Step 3: Drill through the lock.

That would be noisy though. May as well kick the door in

[Fianna]

Kicking doors in is a lot harder than TV characters make it look, though.

[CrypticMirror]

Kicking doors in is a lot harder than TV characters make it look, though.

Especially with modern security doors too. Cops hate them; they are nigh on impossible to break down without a ram of some sort, even then they need a few swings. You hardly ever see that in fiction though, even in modern cop shows the tendency is to show a door that can be kicked open by a single bootheel. There is a reason why most robberies in the real world are due to someone leaving a window open or a door unlocked rather than a door being kicked in.

[Deledrius]

Especially with modern security doors too. Cops hate them; they are nigh on impossible to break down without a ram of some sort, even then they need a few swings.

If that's the case, they really should start demanding that buildings have some kind of back door which only law enforcement has a key for.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Especially with modern security doors too. Cops hate them; they are nigh on impossible to break down without a ram of some sort, even then they need a few swings.

If that's the case, they really should start demanding that buildings have some kind of back door which only law enforcement has a key for.

Considering how many cops are domestic abusers, that seems unwise.

[CrypticMirror]

Especially with modern security doors too. Cops hate them; they are nigh on impossible to break down without a ram of some sort, even then they need a few swings.

If that's the case, they really should start demanding that buildings have some kind of back door which only law enforcement has a key for.

Sarcasm, right? We live in a post Poe's Law era, but this is sarcasm isn't it? The cops have more than power already, I would not be comfortable with any cop having the power to waltz in whenever they felt like. The scope for abuse is just too broad. Not to mention that it would quickly become an avenue for other criminals too.