"Gary L. Nunn" wrote:
I really, really like Stargate SG-1, but it is really starting to annoy me that every alien race that they meet knows English - but they all have alien type writing. I realize that the back story is that all of the humans in the galaxy have common origins because of the Goa'uld, but I think the language would evolve very differently over the thousands of years of isolation.
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Me too. We're getting season 5 in Korea, courtesy of American Forces Network - Korea (AFN-K). I have not been able to find it on any Korean channel.
Anyway, it is my one "gotta see" show every week.
I don't mind the language thing. If they spoke a different language on every planet, the show would be a much tougher watch.
And that is the real reason: If they had to spend several minutes out of every episode having _Daniel_ Jackson translate every word of the alien's speech, it would slow the plot down. Or if the aliens spoke gibberish on camera with subtitles across the bottom, people would rapidly get tired of having to read the (sometimes too small and too little contrast with the scene) subtitles. And then there are the people who try to watch TV while also answering e-mail who listen to the TV but don't want to have to be reading off the TV all the time . . .
I do think the language would evolve over time.
True. Think of it as a version of literary license. (I know it's a stretch calling TV "literary" . . . )
-- Ronn! :)
Almighty Ruler of the all, Whose Power extends to great and small, Who guides the stars with steadfast law, Whose least creation fills with awe, O grant thy mercy and thy grace, To those who venture into space.
(Robert A. Heinlein's added verse to the Navy Hymn)
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