Stargate

It might be a minority view, but I loved Jonas Quinn's character! Why? Because he made Teal'c a fully fledged [/edit] character. The both of them interacted so well. Teal'c was part of the main cast since episode one, but he never felt like a real person with their own emotions until season 6.

Christopher Judge is an incredible actor, but until Corin Nemec came along he wasn't allowed to be a whole person with their own agenda. Even small stuff, like not sharing his ice cream in "Prometheus" / "Unnatural Selection", would have been unthinkable before Jonas came along.

I think, retrospectively, telling Jonas to ~~fuck off~~ be with his people when Daniel came back hurt the series in the long run. Corin was a good actor, and Jonas was a good character.

I’m in Season 2 of my rewatch of SG1 and Christopher Judge’s acting gets me every time. Seeing Teal’c with O’Neill’s personality is just so weird and jarring. What’s everyone’s favorite episode when the actor has to be someone different? Either a swap or like when Jack is inhabited by the organisms from the bioluminescent time capsule thing.

Is it, "Shal'kek nem'ron" or is it "Shel kek nem ron"?

Also, has anyone found this phrase in the Goa'uld script? I'd love to get it as a tattoo!

Second level,

One of the main features since the promo footage was environmental opportunities. Click a button on some logging equipment and kill some Jaffa.

This very first instance is bugged. If you click the button, the environmental trap fails to trigger, except from making a noise that the Jaffa investigate. Then your character is locked in position permanently.

I really want to like this game, but these guys have had over a year of delays to get it in a playable state, and one of the difficulty factors is the constant risk of the game being unplayable. Such a shame.

edit: Looks like it might be all environmental opportunities. This is a problem because it looks like some of them are the intended way to progress in the level. This could actually be game breaking.

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like Thunderstruck by AC/DC would be totally fitting as Thor’s ship lowered over Heru’ur’s ship? I’m doing a rewatch and taking notes as I go on their writing choices and this episode just makes me so psyched. What a cool introduction to the level of technology the Asgard possess.

(I feel like I should point out I’m joking and in no way suggesting they should have added AC/DC to the show)

Found of the GOG listing:

"Disclaimer: Stargate: Timekeepers will be released in two parts. Season 1 Part 1 will be available on day one, and Season 1 Part 2 in April 2024. By purchasing this game you'll have access to Season 1 Part 1 immediately and to Season 1 Part 2 after its release in April 2024."

Originally set to be released in late 2022, Timekeepers has fallen victim to many delays. It's last advertised release date was December 12th 2023. When we got close to that date it got delayed to some time in January, but only listed as "coming soon".

I went to check if it was out yet, and I notice it has been marked to be released in parts now. Apparently this was in the December delay announcement, but it is the first time I have realised it's being released in incomplete parts. The second part is set to release in April.

The concerning thing is not so much the multiple parts. This is a semi-common money grab tactic, where the developer can pull money while drip feeding the game out, with no obligation to actually finish the game (this happened with Stargate Unleashed: Only two episodes were ever released, and episode two only made it to iOS before it was cancelled). In this instance the second part is a free update. The reason this concerns me more is that it is clearly a delaying tactic so they can complete an unfinished game at the same time as taking money for the game. They've had so many delays that I think they are running out of money and are yet to have a finished product they are able to sell.

In the Gateworld article (https://www.gateworld.net/news/2023/12/stargate-timekeepers-launch-delayed/) author Darren says "The bug in question prevents players from progressing through the later stages of the game [...] The publisher opted to fix the bug now, rather than release the game and have players unable to progress beyond a certain point until the patch is released."

So already with the plan to publish the first half of the game to buy time to finish the second half of the game, the developers find a bug that makes it clear the first half of the game wasn't ready to be released anyway. Gateworld suggesting that the Dev chose an option to fix a game breaking bug before release, rather than release a game that can't be completed, is being a bit too generous. If your game has a game breaking bug, it shouldn't be released, period.

Stargate SG-1 began in 1997. It is 2024 and we have yet to see any of the many video games actually make it to fans in a finished state (or maybe one depending on how you count Resistance). The video game curse of Stargate continues.

For those keeping score:
Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, cancelled 2005, First person shooter based on the event of the show
Stargate Worlds, cancelled 2010, MMO, Set in the early seasons of the show and exploring the Furlings
Stargate Resistance, released 2010 but servers shut down by 2011, Arena Deathmatch style 3rd person shooter
Stargate Unleashed, 2013 cancelled after 2 episodes, Mobile phone adventure game, Only the first episode available on both Android and iOS.
Stargate Network, a well received fan game that looked better than all of the above, Ceased and Desisted by MGM when Timekeepers was announced.

If anyone has any first hand experience regarding Resistance, let me know. I don't really understand what happened with that one, whether it could be considered a successful release or not.

Stargate Timekeepers is a real time tactics game in the style of the old windows game Commandos. After (a continuing) release delay, they have released a demo of the first level. I will avoid story spoilers (not that there's much to spoil from the demo) and let you know my thoughts about the gameplay and potential of the full game.

First and foremost, I was a die hard fan of the original Commandos. I played the first 3 main games, including expansions, and also played a lot of fan made levels. During the evolution of Commandos, there were certain skills that were extremely overpowered, so the level design became sometimes insanely difficult. What you might call "save scumming" was the intended method of beating the levels.

Stargate Timekeepers is fairly shameless in ripping off Commandos. Many of the skills are a 1:1 equivalent and clearly meant to play used in the exact same way despite being inappropriate for the context of Stargate.

The demo is the first level of the game. As described in the promo material, it takes place at the battle of Antarctica from season 7 of SG-1. From the title there is the implication of time travel as part of the overall story.

Before I talk about the gameplay of Timekeepers, I first need to describe how Commandos worked. You had a team of Commando characters, each with specialised skills, that you had to coordinate around the level, defeating Nazi soldiers, blowing up German assets, freeing comrades, etc. Because your commandos were typically sneaking in to an enemy base, you had to perform these missions as a strict stealth operation. Raising alarms would cause more patrols (which were impossible to kill without raising additional alarms), or sometimes fail the mission.

The Commandos skills were unique to each character. For example, the Green Beret could punch a Nazi unconscious in one hit and carry dead bodies, while the Spy could dress up in German uniforms and distract Nazi soldiers but did not have the ability to punch or carry bodies. The expansion pack of Commandos added the rock throw, which made it trivial for the Green Beret to distract, then walk up behind a soldier to punch.

Now, Timekeepers. (Some of this will only make sense if you've play Commandos)
You get two generic SGC airmen. Straight away, I feel there's issues with these character builds. Between them, they have many of the Commandos equivalent skills and they are stacked all on these two characters. The Male airman is a combination of the Green Beret and the Sniper. While the Female airman is like the Driver but with nothing to drive. You can't go in guns blazing because anything that shoots bullets has limited uses, around 4 or 5, and they will often raise the alarm.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that in order to have the Green Beret skill of camouflage (where he can dig himself underneath snowy ground), they've given the Green Sniper a personal cloak. At no point did the SGC have access to this tech, and certainly not during season 7. In the game it's not even acknowledged how game changing this tech would be.

Another thing I thought was odd, from a level design point of view:
There are Kull supersoldiers in the game. These act as a type of enemy that cannot be beaten with the regular means of punching, P90, sniper, etc. I would have thought this type of enemy would be introduced in a later level and the means to defeat them would be introduced later still. Instead it appears that they are not only introduced immediately, but you get an infinite Kull disruptor on both characters.

The first level of Commandos was very simple. You had three characters in a small level divided by a stream. The Diver (not Driver) could cross the stream, but being unable to punch enemies meant you had to work towards getting the Green Beret and the Spy across. Before you could do that you needed to get the inflatable raft, and in order to do that you needed to get a German uniform for the Spy. There were only a few enemies to deal with in each section, and the methods to take them down were obvious and only mildly tricky.

The first level of Timekeepers seems like it's aimed at people who have already gotten good at games like Commandos, and are familiar with the staple strategies you learn over the course of that game. In my opinion, that's poor game design.

What I do like about it, is the new synchronize feature. I'm not sure if this was used in other games like Shadow Tactics (another Commandos clone), but it is a great gameplay mechanic that I wish was in all games like this. You can pause time, give out the commands to the characters and then choose whether they all execute immediately or if they are executed in a staggered start so that they all complete at the same time. This gives a whole new layer of control over tricky manoeuvres.

At the end of the demo you are given the release date of December 12th. Obviously that has come and gone. Late January is the current release date, but we will see if that gets delayed once again. From memory the first release date they gave was late 2022.

Overall I could enjoy the game, but I do have concerns about poor game design. If the first level feels like mid-game, how are the rest of the levels going to go? I get the feeling that each level is going just be a different puzzle to complete rather than an increase in strategical difficulty. The skills should have been spread better, and introduced slower. In the Demo you don't really have to go out of your way to use the characters to their strengths. There's only a few moments where you specifically need to use the Sniper, Whistle, Blinding-shot, or the Cloak (which are bizarrely all on the same character); you can use either character to go around punching people out.

At any rate, I'm going to purchase it when it's release on GOG because I did enjoy it, for lack of any other SG game. I just worry that players who are new to the genre will not have a good time.

O’Neill: “Teal’c, what is that?” Teal’c: “It is a Gua’uld long range visual communication device, somewhat like your television, only much more advanced.” O’Neill: “Huh. Think it gets Showtime?”

(SG-1 was originally on Showtime before moving to what was then the Sci Fi Channel.)

I must have forgotten about this one. 😀 I can’t actually recall others beyond the whole Wormhole X-Treme thing.

Anyone know what the music video is for when Teal’c is flipping through the channels?

Going for a really difficult one now,

I will provide a clue to get you going.
If you can manage, submit your answers with the spoiler tag.
Details available here: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/users/02-media.html

I will grade the winner after at least a few days.

Clue:
What is this address? What's the seventh symbol? Why might it be a big enough deal to show a close up of it? Remember, this is guess the episode, not guess the movie...

A serpent guard, a Horus guard, and a Setesh guard meet on a neutral planet.

It is a tense moment. The serpent guard's eyes glow. The Horus guard's beak glistens. The Setesh guard's nose drips.

Last round came up bust. Making it a little easier this time.

I will provide a clue to get you going. If you can manage, submit your answers with the spoiler tag. Details available here: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/users/02-media.html

I will grade the winner after at least a few days, running tally will be included.

Clue: This is the second appearance of this guest character.

Winner: https://lemmy.world/u/slazer2au
Stargate SG-1 S09E15 Ethon
Jarrod Kane seeks help from SG-1 after his people are contacted by the Ori. This is the one where his government builds a weapons satellite with designs from the Ori. This satellite goes on to destroy the Prometheus BC-303. The name of this episode comes from Greek mythology: Ethon is the name of the eagle sent down to eat the liver of Prometheus each day.

Current Tally:
https://lemmy.world/u/slazer2au = 3
https://lemmy.world/u/Ermiar = 1
https://lemmy.world/u/[email protected] = 1
https://lemmy.world/u/[email protected] = 1
No Winner = 1

From the old Stargate Trading Card game.

There was an online version of this that had it's servers shutdown around 2009, I believe. Shame, I would've liked to play it.

It's been over five years since the last one, so it seems about time to do another one.

I want to be as thorough as possible. But I don't want to do 357 separate threads. Or rather, I don't want to post once per day for 357 separate days.

So I could post groups of threads at once, one thread per episode/movie, which would work fine for search engines. But it is spammy.

The other extreme would be one thread per season. I'm not sure if the character limit is going to allow for it, and breaking it up into multiple posts within the thread would be less clean.

Or I could do one thread per roughly 7 episodes. That seems to be an okay grouping, in terms of having multi-part stories in the same thread. Will occasionally cross seasons, though.

As for content, last time I felt like I was being overly negative, because it's easier to comment on what I don't like. So I want to have some regular sections, and I'm open to suggestions.

First dealing with the negative, and trying be constructive about it:

Why this episode doesn't work (optional).

How this episode could've worked, imagining what could've been happening off-screen.

And how it could've been done differently (changing the existing scenes).

Then more neutral:

Stats, like death count for characters, or maybe resurrection count, because not everyone has that.

What's new in this episode, like first contact with a species/civilization, a world, a tech, gaining an ally/enemy (or a Major players appearance count, accompanied by a stat for significant one-offs), defeating an enemy (although maybe not, since that could be a spoiler for who's coming back). Could have stats for lost worlds, ships, etc.

Then positive, or highlights: A fun scene, an interesting idea, new potential, good acting (although generally I don't comment on performances).

I also want to build on my own theories. Such as what an apparently abandoned world could be used for, how low-key allies could be more involved, how new tech could be used (instead of only being used to solve a new problem, and then forgotten about), or how vulnerabilities could've been exploited. Adding up across the series, each of the series, over time. If that isn't too complicated. Ultimately, with each new path taken, the story could branch into its own alternate reality.

Maybe separate that out to supplemental threads.

And finally or maybe put this at the top, plot summary, general commentary.

If I go with the 7 episodes a thread option, I guess an apt thread title would be; "2023 rewatch 2/52, Stargate SG-1 Season 1 E01-E07". And something like "2023 Stargate rewatch Supplement A, Alliance of the Four Great Races".

Increasing difficulty

I will provide a clue to get you going.
If you can manage, submit your answers with the spoiler tag.
Details available here: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/users/02-media.html

I will grade the winner after at least a few days.

Clue:
Actor Mike Dopud has appeared in all three major Stargate shows. You should be able to guess which one this is. When did this character collaborate with our heroes to resolve a conflict?

Winner: No one!
Stargate Universe S02E13 Alliances
I think I've left it long enough. This was when there was a Lucien Alliance attack on the Pentagon. Camille and Greer were body swapped with two personnel at the location and Varro, a Lucien defector, prepares to give instructions for disarming a Lucian Alliance bomb. They only have a few seconds to get the message across because the only way to communicate is during an Ancient stones glitch caused by cycling the FTL drive.

Current Tally:
https://lemmy.world/u/slazer2au = 2
https://lemmy.world/u/Ermiar = 1
https://lemmy.world/u/[email protected] = 1
https://lemmy.world/u/[email protected] = 1
No Winner = 1

Fifth guess the episode.

I will provide a clue to get you going. If you can manage, submit your answers with the spoiler tag. Details available here: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/users/02-media.html

I will grade the winner after at least a few days.

Clue: Zelenka isn't happy about the braids and facepaint. Who might have done this to him, and why is Rodney so happy about it?

Winner: https://lemmy.world/u/slazer2au
SGA S02RE13 Critical Mass
Rodney, head of science, has assigned Zelenka to investigate the defence system on the planet from Childhood's End (SGA S01E06). McKay has an aversion to children and takes pleasure in subjecting Zelenka to the affection of the denizens of M7G-677.

Scientists Have Found a Way to 'Tattoo' Living Cells With Gold

Click here for article

Okay, Lets ramp it up. You guys are pretty dialled into Stargate, so lets make it more obscure.

I will provide a clue to get you going.
If you can manage, submit your answers with the spoiler tag. Details available here: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/users/02-media.html

I will grade the winner after at least a few days.

Clue:
If you don't remember this moment, look at the background location. This filming location was only used for one faction, and has been used in many Canadian sci-fi TV shows.

Winner:
https://lemmy.world/u/[email protected]
SG-1 S05E09 Between Two Fires
Filmed at SFU, a location used in other popular sci-fi including Battlestar Galactica. This is just up a walking path from the wooden sculptures seen in the episode Upgrades, which is right next to the restaurant in the same episode where they order 4 steaks each.

Time to get a little more difficult. If you're not sure feel free to ask for clues.

Winner: https://lemmy.world/u/[email protected]