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"The Ancient Database" -- nonsensical SGA fanon spotlight
Okay, so, the city of Atlantis, being riddled with advanced computers built by the same folk as made stargates and whatnot, has a database. The Ancient database, the people living there call it in the show, to distinguish it from the database they have set up for their own computers. They work on translating it (Elizabeth), they sent as much as they could to the SGC when they thought they were going to be destroyed, and sometimes when they find something in the city -- or of Ancient origin but not in the city -- they see if they can find info in the database on it.
Now, finding information in the database on a specific but unidentified object is generally problematic, because they don't know what to search for, for one thing, and also because figuring out the filing method in the database has posed some difficulty. The Alterans didn't exactly use the Dewey Decimal System.
Planets are a little easier; by the end of the second season they've clearly located a list of planets that have stargates on them, and also orbital 'gates. Much easier to know when to use a puddlejumper and avoid wandering into vacuum that way. We've seen in the show that sometimes the database has notes about various planets, for example if there was an outpost there, if there was some experiment being conducted there, etc. And sometimes, there's nothing. Like in "Doppleganger" --
Now, it makes sense for them to check the database when they're choosing planets to explore (as opposed to conducting trade from contacts made on other worlds, although they probably also check it then) and you can bet they've scoured it for stuff like "ZPM factory".
But here's the thing: any entry in the database is a minimum of ten THOUSAND years old. They are not going to find information about the cultures currently inhabiting any of the planets, because those cultures were not AROUND back then! And yet in fic after fic after fic, I see this illogical bit of fanon.
It's irritating. Like a rash.
Now, finding information in the database on a specific but unidentified object is generally problematic, because they don't know what to search for, for one thing, and also because figuring out the filing method in the database has posed some difficulty. The Alterans didn't exactly use the Dewey Decimal System.
Planets are a little easier; by the end of the second season they've clearly located a list of planets that have stargates on them, and also orbital 'gates. Much easier to know when to use a puddlejumper and avoid wandering into vacuum that way. We've seen in the show that sometimes the database has notes about various planets, for example if there was an outpost there, if there was some experiment being conducted there, etc. And sometimes, there's nothing. Like in "Doppleganger" --
McKAY: Look, do you have any idea how many Gate addresses there are in the Ancient database that have no accompanying description?
SHEPPARD: Forty-two.
McKAY: No, I think it's a little more than that. Look, I don't really remember. That's not the point. Nothing -- no information at all. I say that has to mean something.
SHEPPARD: Maybe it means there's nothing worth writing about on those planets.
Now, it makes sense for them to check the database when they're choosing planets to explore (as opposed to conducting trade from contacts made on other worlds, although they probably also check it then) and you can bet they've scoured it for stuff like "ZPM factory".
But here's the thing: any entry in the database is a minimum of ten THOUSAND years old. They are not going to find information about the cultures currently inhabiting any of the planets, because those cultures were not AROUND back then! And yet in fic after fic after fic, I see this illogical bit of fanon.
It's irritating. Like a rash.
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...wow.
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I should compile a list of just the things which have nothing to do with character interpretation that show up in the fanon. I would call it "THING TO AVOID". Like this, and the thing about ramps, and the thing about marines, etc. *sigh*
(Also, did you see "Carson" in the Star Trek movie? :D Telling Kirk he could not go on one of the shiny new spaceships? :D)
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Bugs me, too. In 10,000 years, weather patterns, rivers, topography can change radically, not to mention - as you say - the people and cultures. Thriving civilizations would have peaked and declined (by culling, if nothing else), very simple civilizations could have grown and developed. Using a 10,000-year-old 'guide' to the region would seem to be an exercise in frustration.
.
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Personally, I think she's lying. Or, she probably believes it, but mostly she wants the "Oracle" to see how her people have been good puppies, since it MAKES NO SENSE.
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Using a tourism guide from two years ago causes problems. But something ten-thousand years old??? Ridiculous!
Here, ten-thousand years ago, we were in the tail-end of a ice age, with glaciers covering North America and people were hunting woolly mammoth with spears. Methinks their CAA guide entry on us would be a bit out of date. ;)
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