STARGATE UNIVERSE #10:Justice/Season 1/2009

[Fast Learner]

Aye, but the ship that flew off of Destiny in episode 1 didn't look like ancient tech either, it looked much like the ship we see in this episode. I doubt they're the same ship, though. Just the same people/race.

 

[Mark]

I think the show's explanation is that most matter can't go through both ways, but most forces and energies can. Radiation can go through both ways, as can something like gravity.

However, now that you mention it, I recall very specifically an episode of SG1 where a very low level wave transmitted through the wormhole was used to hold open the gate. I'm not sure why that couldn't be done here as well. Ah well.

That sounds familiar. Perhaps since they weren't thinking that might be necessary, the equipment would not have been at hand, so the point was moot until the moment Young came through, then it was too late to scramble.

 

[Mark]

Aye, but the ship that flew off of Destiny in episode 1 didn't look like ancient tech either, it looked much like the ship we see in this episode. I doubt they're the same ship, though. Just the same people/race.

Do we have any idea how far the Destiny has traveled since that first episode? Would it be right to expect that some other race that had been surveiling the Destiny prior to the arrival of the refugees would have an empire or range that also encompasses where the Destiny now finds itself? I suppose another race might be tracking the Destiny and the ships that are out in front of the Destiny (the ones planting stargates), and thus able to have been to this planet in advance of the Destiny.

 

[Orius]

Rush's final words to Young sealed his sentence, as it were, when he stated it would never end between the 2 of them. Young had a choice- the personnel on the ship needed at least one of them to return from the planet- but like Siamese Fighting Fish, they obviously couldn't co-exist in within the same cramped confines. Rationally & objectively, Young probably wasn't going to choose himself to remain behind.

The biggest question I have was whether or not marooning Rush was premeditated or something he did in the heat of the moment. I'm leaning towards "heat of the moment" for now.

Like the (insightfully) aforementioned Dr. Smith, Rush envisioned himself at the apex of value to everyone on the ship, meaning his desires and needs were paramount. That someone might thwart or delay his wishes- even for perfectly rational reasons- resulted in that person being framed for murder.

There's a word for that type of personality- "sociopath."

That's right Rush sees the others as disposible if need be, and has been cavalier about it before.

And Rush made the mistake of assuming that he was irreplaceable. Things might be tough for them with just the other scientists and Eli trying to figure out the Ancient tech, because Rush was clearly the biggest expert, but that expertise wasn't enough to warrant further mischief from him.

You're dead on about that- assuming the writers are up to snuff, the question of who framed Col. Young should continue to nag the more intelligent or paranoid among the ship's inhabitants, resulting in further tension and dramatic potential.

Especially if Rush does escape his exile (as we all seem to be assuming he must).

I'm thinking that's why Young asked for that copy of the Kino footage at the end, becuase it's proof that Rush was the one who framed him. Then there's the whole lie about the planet that only a few others know about. He knows that if Rush can fix that ship and does, he'll be back, and with a vengeance. So he wants to have evidence on his side that Rush has deliberately lied to the others before so they won't be quick to take his side if he returns and tries to smear Young.

Honestly, I don't see Wray as being so much a middle ground between Young and Rush as she represents a third flawed example. She doesn't share Young's reluctance to take risks or Rush's recklessness, but she has her flaw that may be worse: she refuses to stop and make her decisions. Wray doesn't take command because she wants to, she does because people on Earth are prodding her to do so.

And I don't see Wray as being a middle ground either. I think she proved with this episode that she probably can't lead them as well as Young has under the circumstances.

Also, I am surprised at all the people who think Young was doing the right thing as the commanding officer. Honestly, I don't think his decision to basically try to murder Rush was based on anything but personal hatred and revenge. It was Young the man who tried to kill Rush, not Young the commanding officer. In many ways, the very punches he used made a parallel between his attack on Rush and his attack on Telford.

I don't think it was premeditated though. Just like his attack on Telford, he seems to have done it impulsively out of anger rather than planning it out. This is something that could come back to haunt him, and I think he knows it.

But even as the wrong thing morally, Rush was a problem, and his admission that he would keep on going showed that he was a potential menace to not just Young but everyone else.

It should also be noted that, as a commanding officer, Young has always been fair and has given people the benefit of the doubt. He avoided even the perception of bias and even was quite willing to undergo a trial for his alleged crime. The one exception to that fair nature has always been Rush. He never once gave Rush the benefit of the doubt.

Well, how many people actually do trust Rush? Eli? That's about it, and maybe even he doesn't. Telford doesn't seem to trust him much, and many of the scientists and military personnel on Destiny don't trust him much either. The things he does doesn't make people trust him or like him very much.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Wray.

Wray seems to be overly impulsive in an effort (I think) to appear to be decisive.

And she's beholden to too many people back on Earth...a bit of a puppet.

She could be a problem.

 

[Cergorach]

I think Young did the right thing as a human being, responsible for other human beings in a hostile and alien environment. The whole military/officer thing went out the window when earth officers tried to open a gate to earth, failed and fled (cowardly). I suspect that there will come a time when Young completely throws of the 'shackles' of his earthling overlords ;-)

Rush's wife might be dead or really sick and he's put all his faith in the old Ancient technology to 'save' his wife. It would explain (to me) his wanton disregard for others.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Rush got what he got for being the way he was and then saying he would continue to be that way! Young planed on leaving him as soon as he made up his mind to go to the planet.

Why, go when you already have staff on ground, the keno (sp) can feed them data and time is already running short.

 

[fba827]

I am such a fan of Ming Na (actress playing Wray), I hate seeing her play such a b---h

 

[Fast Learner]

Rush is an idealist. You can see it as self-aggrandizing if you wish, but I don't see it that way. He's the man with a powerful vision, and if he's successful then everyone on the ship will benefit greatly. Yes, he makes highly unethical choices, all in the name of that vision.

Young is the disciplinarian with a strong sense of responsibility. He makes highly conservative choices, all in the name of responsibility.

Wray is a bureaucrat, the middle manager answering to the whims of her superiors while trying to be on good terms with her underlings. She makes bureaucratic decisions, focusing on making the "correct" decisions, without much consideration for their impact.

There is no question that Young's sense of responsibility is essential to the long term survival and success of the people on the ship, but I'll argue that it's just as essential to have someone like Rush aboard, pushing on the boundaries of that responsibility in order to fulfill the vision. I am of the opinion that if the group just played it Young's way, some 95% of them would certainly survive, but likely live out their lives on the ship, never learning how to control it and never getting home. If they just played it Rush's way then something like 90% of them would end up dying and the other 10% would make it home (including Rush).

Their ultimate success depends on having both as leaders, and might well require Wray as the balancing force, keeping either from getting their way too often.

 

[Jack7]

I don't think Young's that kind of guy, though, to execute someone like that. If Rush had been physically threatening someone (gun to the head, about to blow something up), Young could cap him. But to cold-bloodedly execute an unarmed man, just because he's an ass and is saying he's going to continue to do it?

You certainly can't execute a man for being an ass, or you'd have to execute an awful lot of people. Were I in command however, Rush is without a doubt the single biggest danger to the lives of every other crewman on the ship.

Executions like that aren't meant to be Justice, they're meant to be preventive maintenance, so that you never have to employ justice to clean up the innocent lives the man has proven more than willing and cowardly enough to spill.

Don't misunderstand me, I get and agree with your point. I know the show won't execute him, cause it's just a show. And Young is just a character, and so is Rush. No-one is gonna really suffer because of Rush. I'm just saying if he were that type of threat on my ship and to my crew he'd be a dead threat.

And dead threats are always the best kind in real life. Because real life isn't about interestingly difficult and conflicted and ruthlessly treacherous characters and the unending struggles between you, it's about surviving them, so they don't survive you and the ones you're assigned to protect.

Aye, but the ship that flew off of Destiny in episode 1 didn't look like ancient tech either, it looked much like the ship we see in this episode. I doubt they're the same ship, though. Just the same people/race.

This idea has occurred to me as well, from the beginning, as has the idea that parts of Destiny are either currently or temporarily or sporadically inhabited by or occupied by aliens.

Rush's wife might be dead or really sick and he's put all his faith in the old Ancient technology to 'save' his wife. It would explain (to me) his wanton disregard for others.

My basic assumption as well, from the first episode. Whatever his real cause, he appears and seems (at least most of the time) intensely self-absorbed and dangerous. And as a trained commander (a TV one might, but not a real commander) you don't leave dangeorus men alive to your rear. Unless you have a plan.

The biggest question I have was whether or not marooning Rush was premeditated or something he did in the heat of the moment. I'm leaning towards "heat of the moment" for now.

That's an interesting general concept and had occurred to me as well as a possibility. That the whole thing with the frame-up was a frame up because the crew is already aware that they are being observed. That Young and Rush had expected to find the alien ship abandoned at the locale they did. that it was a planting operation. I think it unlikely but it is possible.

If it is a planting operation then it would explain why Young left his and Rush's equipment behind. Why leave behind supplies and equipment you cannot recover when you can just say, "I lost Rush in a rockslide, but I was able to recover some of our equipment." In survival situations like this equipment can sometimes be as important as man-power.

There is also the possibility that this entire marooning episode was staged to throw off the traitor at SG Command who I now assume to most likely be Lou Diamond Phillip's character, though that traitor may also very well be aboard ship. (The actual possibility of either would be remote, but this is a show, and as such an on-going traitor problem is a good plot device. Even if most have viewers have forgotten about the actual implications of that at this point.)

In that case there may be actionable Intel on ship through one of the Kinos. I assume for the moment that the part of the data stream Young told Eli to erase from his hard-drive may involved either such a traitor or may show an alien at work on ship.