Space Race: That was so much fun!! The planet, the mixed race folk, the sportscasters, the visuals and WOW seeing all the other characters Patrick Currie planed as well as Warwick's brother Eamon. Chaka who we just saw. The Fifth. Fantastic stuff.

Space Race: That was so much fun!! The planet, the mixed race folk, the sportscasters, the visuals and WOW seeing all the other characters Patrick Currie planed as well as Warwick's brother Eamon. Chaka who we just saw. The Fifth. Fantastic stuff.

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Both SG1's "Space Race" and Voyager's "Drive" involve our heroes participating in a race in space. Which episode does it better in your opinion?

I know you're not asking me, but I'll offer input anyway. Neither one is particularly good, IMO. But if I had to choose I'd go with Space Race simply for the news coverage of the race throughout the episode.

I know you're not asking me, but I'll offer input anyway. Neither one is particularly good, IMO. But if I had to choose I'd go with Space Race simply for the news coverage of the race throughout the episode.

I especially enjoyed Space Race because it was such a change from the planets they normally visiit, which range from medieval villages downwards. Even Tollana felt like a very advanced, high-tech medieval village. It had different clothes and different sets that looked advanced, but it lacked that sense of fun and dynamism that we associate with a modern society. It felt almost like a cloistered research campus or corporate headquarters. I imagine the special effects and set design would be a major problem, but visiting planets that resemble Blade Runner, Fifth Element, Total Recall, and such would be a refreshing and eye-popping change.

We're used to seeing our advanced representatives vitsit primitive planets with simple cultures, instead of occassionally having our team of bumpkins from a mid-western Air Force Base gating into what looks like Times Square, Tokyo, or LA in the year 2150, where the storyline is like having four inappropriately dressed tourists from Iowa getting off a plane at LAX and thinking they're going to accomplish something, meet someone important, or get someone in the mayor's office to recognize the importance of relations with the Cedar Rapids' chamber of commerce.

Space Race: That was so much fun!! The planet, the mixed race folk, the sportscasters, the visuals and WOW seeing all the other characters Patrick Currie planed as well as Warwick's brother Eamon. Chaka who we just saw. The Fifth. Fantastic stuff.

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Both SG1's "Space Race" and Voyager's "Drive" involve our heroes participating in a race in space. Which episode does it better in your opinion?

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Oh Space Race for sure. I was thinking of Drive while watching it. Space Race shows us a lot more of the culture competing.

I especially enjoyed Space Race because it was such a change from the planets they normally visiit, which range from medieval villages downwards. Even Tollana felt like a very advanced, high-tech medieval village. It had different clothes and different sets that looked advanced, but it lacked that sense of fun and dynamism that we associate with a modern society. It felt almost like a cloistered research campus or corporate headquarters. I imagine the special effects and set design would be a major problem, but visiting planets that resemble Blade Runner, Fifth Element, Total Recall, and such would be a refreshing and eye-popping change.

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Yes completely agree. The tension between the brothers (and great acting from Currie), references to Warwick's wife whose photo he was pining over when we first met him having remarried and had kids, the simple inclusion of ADVERTISING (I think we didn't get advertising in Trek until Quark!).. it all made for the "fun and dynamism" as you say.

The high tech coldness of Tollana gives it a weird cult vibe LOL. It's such sci fi nonsense that once people are hugely advanced they will want less and less material goods and distractions from important work. A glance round our century compared to 500 years ago should show how silly this is.

We need more Blade Runner cities and Coruscant planets! And yeah, it costs.. that's one thing I always loved about Firefly, the densely colorful and diverse streets and interiors on the high population planets.

Well most of the worlds in the Milky Way are populated by peoples that stem from one small area or culture on Earth. It isn't like Earth where cultures have mixed and mingled for thousands of the years.

I know you're not asking me, but I'll offer input anyway. Neither one is particularly good, IMO. But if I had to choose I'd go with Space Race simply for the news coverage of the race throughout the episode.

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Fun fact, one of the pundits was actually played by Peter Kelamis.

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In his second role on SG-1 (his first was season 6's Smoke and Mirrors).

Well, the series never really went in certain directions that were easily justifiable. Even a small tribe of humans taken from here two or three thousand years ago, given somewhat modern medical care (antibiotics), improved farming methods and crops, and other 20th century niceties, would have a staggeringly high population by now. Starting with just 50 people 3,000 years ago and maintaining a 1% growth rate would give you a potential population of about a quadrillion people, enough to populate a million planets with a billion people each.

By our standards, 3,000 years is a long time!

*** boring math part ***

At this same growth rate (only a tiny bit more than the current US growth rate) the population would take 300 years to increase twenty-fold, so the fifty people would've become a thousand. So 300 years for the first good sized village, 600 years for the first small town, 900 years for the first medium city, 1,200 years for a medium sized state, 1,500 years for a good sized country (150 million), 1,800 years for a planet of 3 billion, 2,100 years for 20 such planets, 2,400 years for 400 such planets, 2700 years for 8,000 such planets, and finally 160,000 such planets. If you assume a 2% growth rate (still moderately low by third-world standards) you get 100 million planets with populations rivaling Earth's, and all from just 50 people snatched up 3,000 years ago.

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The writers probably weren't spending too much time with a quick population growth spreadsheet.

A quick lecture about that in the briefing room could launch a set of story arcs, with vast numbers of humans off in some other galaxy, which they've filled up like tribbles.

Avenger 2.0: I guess it's kind of realistic that Felger starts off as an annoying wanker and finished exactly the same way with no redeem-the-nerd arc anywhere to be seen. Engaging episode nonetheless.

Birthright: Is it a coincidence that Teal'c finally gets some in an episode written by Christopher Judge? I think not!

I'd heard this was a terrible episode but I enjoyed it. Jolene Blalock looking a lot healthier than last I saw her. Neith was a good character, sticking to the old ways and protecting her sisters. Despite O'Neill's hopes this did not turn into the Planet of Snu Snu for anyone but Teal'c.

Evolution Part 2: This was just an unbelievably excellent double episode. I liked how the Nicaragua kidnapping was done by regular rebels and not people with stargate agendas. Horrible that they got tortured I was predicting we'd see a clone army at some point of the Robocop Goa'uld and YES that is what happened. Fantastic! And opening up lots of new development!