SG U: A Theory On The Destiny

[Quantum]

The Destiny is the name of the ship they're on.

I've come up with a personal theory on what the Destiny actually is. The clues are there:

It's on a one way mission away from earth to the nether reaches of the universe.

The Stargate has limited timing to gather supplies. If you miss it, barring extroardinary circumsatances of some sort, you're stuck on the planet.

There is a chair tha kills people by drilling into their head.


So I've been wondering if the Destiny is actually a prison ship of some sort.

The biggest clue for me though is that chair. All it does is just drill a hole into someone's head, which kills them. Now what purpose does such a chair prove?

It could be that there's some sort of missing part they haven't found yet. But when you think of it, if there is no missing part, what other purpose could drilling a hole into someone's head be for?

I am aware of trepanning, (sp?) but the purpose of trepanning was to drill a hole in the skull to let the demons out, not to kill. The ancients had far more advanced medical technology than that. Although that does seem to be lacking on the Destiny as well, or they just gaven't found the medical facilities yet.

In conclusion, I think the Destiny might actually be a prison ship of some sort.

 

[Dire Bare]

There is a chair that kills people by drilling into their head . . . <snip> All it does is just drill a hole into someone's head, which kills them. Now what purpose does such a chair prove?

The chair's purpose is not to drill holes in people's heads. The chair has the same purpose as a device from SG-1 that imparts all of the knowledge of the Ancients into your head, although it is an "older" version of the technology. This is discussed in the episode where the chair first appears.

Problem is, human brains can't handle the information download, so the unlucky person who decides to sit in the chair gets brain-fried.

In the original SG-1 episodes, Col O'Neill gets the download from a more advanced version of "the chair" (although it is mounted on a wall and is very organo-tech creepy looking) and initially gains all the knowledge of the Ancients, but it is slowly killing his brain . . . . until our heroes manage to undo the effects of the device and Jack's brain is saved, and he loses all that great advanced knowledge.

Rush and Young are aware of this, Young feels the chair is too dangerous to experiment with and forbids anyone to sit in it. Rush feels that experimentation is worth it, but isn't going to sit in the chair himself and risk his own big brain. So he manipulates another civilian to sit in the chair, and that poor dude gets brain-fried immediately. I'm pretty sure the chair didn't actually physically drill holes in the dude's head, but I'd have to rewatch the episode . . . .

 

[Wycen]

Interesting idea, refuted only by Rush's analysis of the ship being set on auto-pilot, meant to be commanded by the Ancients at a later date, presumably who could unlock or control the gate dialing and chairs. And we all know how trustworthy Rush is.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Perhaps its an Ancient dentist's intergalactic mobile office, sent out for a deep-universe house-call. The chair is for work, and the humans have been misusing it.

 

[Merkuri]

Nah, sorry, I don't see it as a prison ship. I think it's exactly what Rush thinks it is - an exploration ship set on auto-pilot.

Others have explained the chair (and I agree with them). I think the limited amount of time on each planet is just because the ship has a schedule to keep. It's goal is to keep moving forward, ever forward. It has been programmed to allow the passengers to stop and gather supplies or briefly study a strange planet, but it needs to keep moving in order to go further than anything from our galaxy has gone before.

I believe that once Rush or someone else gains full access to the ship's systems that they will be able to extend the duration of the ship's stops on planets, perhaps indefinitely. They just don't have that control yet. (And its questionable whether Rush will actually want to stop the ship if he gets the ability to do so.)

I said this in another post a long time ago when the show first started, but it almost feels like Destiny is a metaphor for a distant but benevolent god. It doesn't talk with us directly, but it seems to know what we need (air, water, power, antibacterial venom, etc) and it gives us the opportunity to get it but it doesn't tell us what to do. We have to figure it out for ourselves. Destiny meets the crew halfway.

By the way, I guess I missed it, but did the scientist who sat in the chair actually die? I knew he was seriously injured but I thought at the end of that episode he was still alive, then I don't remember hearing about him again.

 

[Quantum]

By the way, I guess I missed it, but did the scientist who sat in the chair actually die?

Yes he did.

Others have explained the chair

Except that the other devices downloaded information into O'neil's head through his eyes, not drill a hole through their head.

And as far as Rush goes, I think he's a liar and can't be trusted. But neither can Colonel Young either.

 

[Merkuri]

Except that the other devices downloaded information into O'neil's head through his eyes, not drill a hole through their head.

Destiny is old, even for Ancient technology. The theory (and a perfectly reasonable one, I think) is that at the time Destiny was created they didn't have any other way to do it aside from drilling holes in your head. Later on they perfected the technique of high data transfer, but the chair on Destiny is a barbaric version of that. I get the picture it was probably not something that was designed to be used often.

It's like the difference between current hypodermic needles and the medicine injector thingies (I don't recall the name) they use on Star Trek. Not actually penetrating the skin is the preferred method, but if you don't have the tech level to do so then you gotta do what needs to be done.

Edit: Random aside... something I just realized would be really cool is to have a graphic somewhere that's a "floor plan" of the Destiny that shows the parts that have been explored. As they discover more of the ship they could update the graphic. That would be really cool to check after each episode.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Destiny is old, even for Ancient technology. The theory (and a perfectly reasonable one, I think) is that at the time Destiny was created they didn't have any other way to do it aside from drilling holes in your head. Later on they perfected the technique of high data transfer, but the chair on Destiny is a barbaric version of that. I get the picture it was probably not something that was designed to be used often.

It's like the difference between current hypodermic needles and the medicine injector thingies (I don't recall the name) they use on Star Trek. Not actually penetrating the skin is the preferred method, but if you don't have the tech level to do so then you gotta do what needs to be done.

Edit: Random aside... something I just realized would be really cool is to have a graphic somewhere that's a "floor plan" of the Destiny that shows the parts that have been explored. As they discover more of the ship they could update the graphic. That would be really cool to check after each episode.

Hypospray's. And we actually have that technology today.

 

[Merkuri]

Hypospray's. And we actually have that technology today.

I didn't know that! I wonder why they're not more common. Probably more expensive than needles.

I hate needles.

 

[Janx]

well the chair is obviously one of those latch onto your head and do something kind of chairs. How many sci-fi shows have one of those machines.

Odds are good this chair is meant for a pilot, to control the ship, probably stuck there.

I also suspect the ship was deliberately sent to, or away from somewhere. Odds are good, there is a payload that will be release when it gets there, or was meant to never be released, but couldn't be destroyed.