Alternate History and Stargate. Part 6

[David Flin]

Comment on the latest article by @Thande in this series

 

[M_Kresal]

Been waiting for this article, largely because of 2010. An episode that, like There But for the Grace of God back in season one, I owe my becoming a fan of the show in my teens to in a big way. The subtle world building in both, and 2010 especially, always fascinated me and it’s surprised me that no one in the spin-off media ever wanted to flesh the backstory out in the way that Trek novels have with the Mirror Universe.

 

[Thande]

I think I was thinking of the follow-up episode when I wrote that the Aschen reminded me creepily of non-smiling versions of the Thermians from GalaxyQuest in appearance.

 

[RyanF]

Been waiting for this article, largely because of 2010. An episode that, like There But for the Grace of God back in season one, I owe my becoming a fan of the show in my teens to in a big way. The subtle world building in both, and 2010 especially, always fascinated me and it’s surprised me that no one in the spin-off media ever wanted to flesh the backstory out in the way that Trek novels have with the Mirror Universe.

Considering how that has been run into the ground I'm very happy with the brevity of "2010"/"2001" as a standalone duology.

They really compliment each other well. Revisiting "2010" after seeing "2001" makes it all the more chilling because you've seen the destination earth was heading toward.

Both episodes are amongst my favourites of Stargate and really highlight the strength of the titular device as a plot generator. @Thande makes the apropos comparison to The Outer Limits, and you could remove the Stargate elements and it would feel right at home it the 90s iteration of that program. The only difference is that one would have an unimaginably grim ending because that's how that program worked.

Whay The Outer Limits probably would not be able to do is to then do a follow-up pre/sequel that manages to show both the background to the original and provide a glimpse of where that universe is going.

The tactics of the Aschen really stuck with me as a terrifyingly unique form of alien invasion. They're not showing up and blowing up every landmark in sight. They're not hiding in the shadows and replacing prominent figures with pod people. In "2010" we see them out in the open amongst the people they're invading, some locals seem to have done really well out of their new friends, they have a lot of technology that seemingly offers new opportunities and they're happy to share, but something sinister is going on under the surface, only the invaders now control the spread of information and have the ruling classes in their pocket. Come "2001" and we see how the planet winds up: it's an entirely pastoral society, the population has been reduced massively, and technology has actually regressed for the locals widening the gap between them and the invaders, but the locals don't know any of this because all trace of the old society has been (literally) buried.

Whether accidentally or not, with the Aschen Stargate managed to create one of the very few alien invaders that use a similar modus operandi to the European colonial empires in the 19th Century. That's why they're terrifying.

 

[Thande]

Both episodes are amongst my favourites of Stargate and really highlight the strength of the titular device as a plot generator. @Thande makes the apropos comparison to The Outer Limits, and you could remove the Stargate elements and it would feel right at home it the 90s iteration of that program. The only difference is that one would have an unimaginably grim ending because that's how that program worked.

I mean you could argue it's a pretty grim ending from the POV of the characters we follow throughout the episode - their world is unsaveable, and if you go with a multiverse interpretation it's still there - they just managed to save an alternate timeline, and said timeline almost manages to do it again anyway.

On reflection, as said above it's almost surprising that Aschen-dominated Earth never reappeared even in a cameo when they do multiple timelines - but, of course, that's partly because they never did another episode with a scenario like the quantum mirror with lots of timelines, it actually stayed destroyed when Hammond did it. Which, as I said in my article at the time, is refreshing and surprising. There are more episodes with alternate timelines, but they're always explicitly just one new scenario done for that episode.

 

[M_Kresal]

Considering how that has been run into the ground I'm very happy with the brevity of "2010"/"2001" as a standalone duology.

They really compliment each other well. Revisiting "2010" after seeing "2001" makes it all the more chilling because you've seen the destination earth was heading toward.

Both episodes are amongst my favourites of Stargate and really highlight the strength of the titular device as a plot generator. @Thande makes the apropos comparison to The Outer Limits, and you could remove the Stargate elements and it would feel right at home it the 90s iteration of that program. The only difference is that one would have an unimaginably grim ending because that's how that program worked.

Whay The Outer Limits probably would not be able to do is to then do a follow-up pre/sequel that manages to show both the background to the original and provide a glimpse of where that universe is going.

The tactics of the Aschen really stuck with me as a terrifyingly unique form of alien invasion. They're not showing up and blowing up every landmark in sight. They're not hiding in the shadows and replacing prominent figures with pod people. In "2010" we see them out in the open amongst the people they're invading, some locals seem to have done really well out of their new friends, they have a lot of technology that seemingly offers new opportunities and they're happy to share, but something sinister is going on under the surface, only the invaders now control the spread of information and have the ruling classes in their pocket. Come "2001" and we see how the planet winds up: it's an entirely pastoral society, the population has been reduced massively, and technology has actually regressed for the locals widening the gap between them and the invaders, but the locals don't know any of this because all trace of the old society has been (literally) buried.

Whether accidentally or not, with the Aschen Stargate managed to create one of the very few alien invaders that use a similar modus operandi to the European colonial empires in the 19th Century. That's why they're terrifying.

Even seeing it originally in the mid-noughties, it was one of those episodes were there always seemed to be potential for further exploration. In 40-odd minutes, (80-odd, including the sequel episode), there's so much world-building. The idea of someone doing something akin to the Trek novel The Sorrows of Empire, exploring how that timeline got everyone to where 2010 picked up has always been an appealing one to me. If I'd known that the novel range was taking pitches back in 2020, I might have had a go at the idea. though it would likely have been a waste of time as there hasn't been any novels for the franchise published since before the call was put out.

Incidentally, there was apparently a vague plan to bring the Aschen back, as Joseph Mallozzi revealed in 2005 while the series was still being made. It was just one of those ideas that just never quite made it to the screen, as Brad Wright never quite cracked how to do it.

I mean you could argue it's a pretty grim ending from the POV of the characters we follow throughout the episode - their world is unsaveable, and if you go with a multiverse interpretation it's still there - they just managed to save an alternate timeline, and said timeline almost manages to do it again anyway.

On reflection, as said above it's almost surprising that Aschen-dominated Earth never reappeared even in a cameo when they do multiple timelines - but, of course, that's partly because they never did another episode with a scenario like the quantum mirror with lots of timelines, it actually stayed destroyed when Hammond did it. Which, as I said in my article at the time, is refreshing and surprising. There are more episodes with alternate timelines, but they're always explicitly just one new scenario done for that episode.

Having come across it while scrolling through the series' episodes on streaming, Ripple Effect from season 9 would have been the perfect place to revisit it, giving it's an episode entirely about alternative SG-1's and gate travelers all popping up at the SGC. Given how full that episode is of fan service and continuity references, it would have been the perfect point for someone to go "So that's what that note from six years ago was about?!"

(He says with a vague memory of someone on the GateWorld forum saying something similar back in the day, along with people surprised that, given the episode's premise, there wasn't even a vocal cameo from RDA as O'Neill in that one as, again, given the premise his lack of appearance became conspicuous by his absence.)