Some Wraithy Thoughts

[mescott]

I saw this listing on Etsy for one of the Wraith umbilicals from Midway, and was reminded again how good the prop people were on SGA, especially with the Wraith stuff.  (And, yes, I want the umbilical.  But I digress.)  I did manage to get one of the Wraith daggers, and it’s a lovely example of suggesting many things in a single small item.

Comments

[mescott]

Thanks! I've been doing a lot of thinking about them again as I start back on Ouroboros, because that's a slightly different take on the Wraith. (I can't say a lot more without it being somewhat spoilery - I'm trying to figure out how much of that particular spoiler is likely to be revealed in cover copy before I make a longer post on the topic.) But it really has been fun to speculate, and I'm impressed all over again with the visuals that the production people gave us to work with. Such lovely stuff! :-)

[geonncannon]

This is why you do so well with the Legacy book (I REALLY need to read Book 5... at this point I may be waiting until Book 6 comes out and reading them back to back). You just appreciate the world and story so much that you HAVE to do it justice or else you won't be satisfied. :D

[mescott]

Thank you! I really do love the world - the whole Stargate universe, really. And for a TV show with a not-unlimited budget, the production staff did a lot of small neat things. Years ago, I worked for a theatrical costumer (if you were in a production of Little Shop of Horrors in the 80s and 90s, I probably made the teeth and warts for your Audrey II), and so the consistency behind the Wraith props and costumes (with a couple of exceptions) is very nice to see. And it makes the writing a lot easier!

[mescott]

Awesome shot! It does look very organic, and those do look like teeth. That wouldn't be too hard to grow, I think.

Just out of curiosity, do you know if the pinkish tinge at the base of his nails is deliberate, or the makeup wearing off a bit? It looks really good.

[mescott]

Looking at my own hands, there's definitely a hint of darker color at the nail beds, so, yeah, that makes sense. (And now I want to find my dark green matte finish nail polish, just because. ;-)

And on top of natural physical variation, the Wraith certainly seem to pay attention to fashion! The hair styles alone would be proof of that, never mind the rather fabulous coats.

[donsakers]

I also wonder how much "life" the individual bits of Wraith technology possess themselves. Taking the dagger as an example: does it draw some amount of life force from either (a) its wielder, (b) its victim, (c) both? It would be really cool to have a weapon whose strength/effectiveness varied depending on who was using it (i.e. if the wielder has a strong life force, it would be very powerful). There's also something particularly Wraith-like about the concept of a weapon that drains life force from the victim...perhaps even when it's lodged in the victim or broken off (shades of Frodo and the Morgul-blade

[mescott]

Mm, those are possibilities! I like the idea of having particular tools attuned to their user - though I'm not sure if I were the queen that I'd want to have any weapon on the hive that I myself couldn't use! And you'd have to be careful about weapons/machinery that suddenly refused to cooperate with people it doesn't know - that could be awkward, to say the least!

I'm actually really taken with the notion that the various bits of Wraith technology have a kind of life of their own, though. Certainly we've been working from the presumption that the ships are sort of alive, sort of conscious, like big dogs or horses, and now I wonder if that could be true of some of the smaller bits of equipment. A Wraith computer that actively looked for its owner, tracked it on the hive and in the hive's systems, cables that, if severed, did their best to come back together.... That could be really fun!

tech

[ext_1443929]

Technology has always been a driving force of the show. The mission for SG1 was seek out technology to help win the war(s). In SGA it mostly it seemed to be a race to find ZPMs, but also a search for technology.

Compare that to the current United States Congressional science committee where three of the current Republican sitting members have professed some very anti-science statements, or at least some extremely poorly educated statements.
Such as one gentleman who states the earth is 9000 years old, the universe was created in six days, along with man. I won't bother to go into the ridiculous female reproduction statements, they don't need repeating they were so ignorant.

Think of the comparison, two shows based on finding technology and using fact based evidence to solve problems compared to the real world of deliberately ignoring or corrupting science and knowledge for political gain.

I think its no wonder why so many enjoy the shows. And why we like your books.