SG-1: Inauguration

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Also Zaat guns are specifically designed to cause extreme pain. A perfect boon for cops who want to ask a suspect a few questions in an abandoned warehouse.

Still, disrupting the status quo should at least be entertained or debated.

One book I found that really had a useful answer to the Reed Richard Is Useless dilemma was Dreadnought by April Daniels, with the concept of hypertech.

[Swiftbow]

Always found it interesting how they managed to occasionally mix politics into Stargate, though I have a feeling sometimes they kind of took a somewhat simplistic approach, with a good side and a stupid side, I feel they could have added a few more players, especially after the old ones were out of the picture.

Also while they try their hardest not to paint any political affiliation to the president(s) in Stargate, if Kinsey is, according to the actor, "evangelical Christian and a member of the Republican Party", then it's clear that Henry Hayes is also Republican, but I get the feeling that he wasn't initially in the GOP and only ran as Republican candidate due to, I don't know, better popularity maybe, since the guy doesn't feel Republican or Democrat.

I don't know which US president was most similar to Hayes, I'm not very versatile in US political history.

Kinsey always struck me as a Democrat. Religious only in the "get me elected" sense. Nearly every time he mentions God it's in a very hypocritical, self-serving way. VERY anti-military. Perhaps your viewpoint of his politics has to do with your own political affiliation.

Hayes, on the other hand, feels like he could be either party, but a throwback to 50+ years ago, when party was somewhat less important than country. Basically: A mostly reasonable man.

I really enjoyed Star Gate SG1, and liked how they mixed in advanced aliens, primitive planets, and covert groups on Earth, along with having to deal with politics. But, that said, I agree with what I recall Chuck saying and echoed by others, that Kinsey was thrown off the slippery slope. As someone who is a Christian and a fan of the genre and the show I found it very annoying that with only two exceptions off the top of my head (the medieval world with the Unas serving as a demon, and an episode in early season 9 where a reference was made to a belief that just because the Ori were powerful it didn't mean there wasn't someone even more powerful than them), the only overtly religious people with a Christian or hypothetically Christian view / Christian-like religion such as the Asgard protect planet which has a star they damaged when forcing a gate connection, are hypocrites or zealots. Kinsey started off as a plausible, reasonable antagonist, who was arguably right, or making decent arguments with what he knew. By the end he was an amoral hypocrite who invoked God to justify his self serving desires, and was the only character to openly refer to God while being obviously willing to do objectively evil things. I really wish there was more science fiction in a modern setting where the religious are given a fair portrayal, with heroes and villains who are religious and intelligent, not just hypocrites using religion as a fig leaf.

Several characters on the base were depicted as such (that is, reasonably religious). Most notably Hammond. Teal'c also was intrigued by the Bible, which they discussed briefly at one point after he read it, which surprised O'Neill.

[TGLS]

Clearly Kinsey/Hayes was a West Wing/House of Cards fusion ticket.

[drewder]

I think they had to keep the politics non-partisan as much as possible because the show actually received a lot of support from the air force and couldn't be seen as an attempt to influence the American political world.

[drewder]

i do like that even though SG1 did clip shows the shows actually had a purpose. In an era before Netflix you couldn't just watch every episode and these episodes served as a chance to remind viewers what has happened the last few years and also as a setup to upcoming events. So many clip shows done at the time were just looked at as a way to save money and the story was thin to non-existent (shades of gray anyone?)

[Ixthos]

[...]

I really enjoyed Star Gate SG1, and liked how they mixed in advanced aliens, primitive planets, and covert groups on Earth, along with having to deal with politics. But, that said, I agree with what I recall Chuck saying and echoed by others, that Kinsey was thrown off the slippery slope. As someone who is a Christian and a fan of the genre and the show I found it very annoying that with only two exceptions off the top of my head (the medieval world with the Unas serving as a demon, and an episode in early season 9 where a reference was made to a belief that just because the Ori were powerful it didn't mean there wasn't someone even more powerful than them), the only overtly religious people with a Christian or hypothetically Christian view / Christian-like religion such as the Asgard protect planet which has a star they damaged when forcing a gate connection, are hypocrites or zealots. Kinsey started off as a plausible, reasonable antagonist, who was arguably right, or making decent arguments with what he knew. By the end he was an amoral hypocrite who invoked God to justify his self serving desires, and was the only character to openly refer to God while being obviously willing to do objectively evil things. I really wish there was more science fiction in a modern setting where the religious are given a fair portrayal, with heroes and villains who are religious and intelligent, not just hypocrites using religion as a fig leaf.

Several characters on the base were depicted as such (that is, reasonably religious). Most notably Hammond. Teal'c also was intrigued by the Bible, which they discussed briefly at one point after he read it, which surprised O'Neill.

I don't remember Hammond being shown to be religious, though I do agree it would be in character for him. The scene with Teal'c mentioning the Bible and not thinking any Goa'uld could pretend to be God because of His love was in the medieval world, and I did laugh at his and Jack's interaction.

Paraphrased:
"Have you not read the Bible, O'Niell?"
"Oh, yeah, a little. Been meaning to finish it. Don't tell me how it ends."



The thing about this episode is also how plausible it is - the change of political leadership is a unique situation that would have an impact, and it makes sense the president would only be informed after taking office, and then having to make a decision based on both what he feels is right and what is necessary to maintain balance.

As Chuck said, the series made very good use of clip shows. If you have to have it, make it interesting and move the story along, or show some new facet of the setting, and how it impacts the season.

[clearspira]

The problem with Stargate is they want a background that resembles the modern day and not some futuristic setting, but they also want fancy tech. So they justify having both with a masquerade.

And Harry Potter, although sub tech with magic.

''We can't reveal ourselves Harry. Everyone will be wanting magical solutions to their problems''.

Yeah. Who would want that shit Hagrid? Except Bertie Botts who maybe, perhaps, might like to expand his bean business from a few thousand customers to eight billion...?

Although lets be honest, the real reason is so the Muggle world can't interject with the massively authoritarian Ministry of Magic.

[Void]

And all I can think of in that scene is the President turning back to Kinsey and saying "gee, they still use these? Where am I gonna find a computer with a floopy drive?

[Jonathan101]

I don't know which US president was most similar to Hayes, I'm not very versatile in US political history.

Actually, he reminds me a bit of George W. Bush, just less prone to gaffes. Which would be appropriate since Bush was President at the time this aired.

Also, between this and "24", William Devane carved out a niche playing a "President for whom things go horribly wrong" on television.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I think they had to keep the politics non-partisan as much as possible because the show actually received a lot of support from the air force

well that would explain a lot