No, the Priors and the Ori being 'uber bad guys' should have been shot down immediately. The reason for the Ori being bad guys is retarded; they're gods. That doesn't mean they can't be the series antagonists, but the idea that this was 'rawr! Evil religion!' was what killed it from the start. The Goa'uld had a complex society that explained why they acted the way they did; they're parasites that are designed to inhabit other species and that just formed their culture off the bat.sonofccn wrote:Please forgive me but I'm not sure what you mean by SG-1 seasons 1-5 being "edgy". The show was funny, entertaining, a great hoot but it was a fairly light hearted "adventure town" style show with limited interconitunity, which is nothing wrong, instead of the more brooding or "shocking" style shows which earn the moniker "edgy".Mr. Oragahn wrote:Of course, knowing the fact that Wright and co didn't really like the more edgy style imposed by Showtime
Now as to second guessing the folks who are paid to do this with my lowly and unsupported opinoins well... <rant> I'd have kept the Priors and ditched the peasent folk, Origin's ultimate goal is to convert each believer into a Prior which takes decades to centuries to achieve through mental discipline, and while keeping the whole worshipping the Ori thing have it questionable if the "gods" are really listening or if the Priors are merely keeping the pilot light on because that's all they know. I'd also make them more manipulative b*stards pulling strings to achieve thier ends rather then a retread of saving the galaxy.
I'd also kept the gua'uld as (one of) a weekly threat but degraded them from unstoppable titans to something closer to highwaymen with former systemlords piddling around in a banged up ha'tack or something raiding lower tech planets for basic resources. </rant>
Just my thoughts.
The Ori should have been an imperalist force that actually truly did care about people or humanity in general. The only difference is that they feel that they should, to a degree, interfere with mortals. This would put them in opposition to the Ancients, but we wouldn't need all this bullshit about them having to be nerfed for it to work.
The Priors should have been the leaders of a great and rich society that was blessed with many wonderful technologies and things--that on the face of it was presented as magic and such, but was technology given to the Priors by the Ori. The Priors should be on a mission of assimilating the rag-tag human societies in the Milky Way by making their lives better. What would have made them a threat is if they also decided that the Goa'uld, who have so long abused humans, should be eradicated to the last--and that the Asgard, who were holding many socieities back and did jack shit to help many other species, should be held liable and no longer allowed in a "human" galaxy.
The conflict between the Priors and Earth would have been SGC's desire to remain seperate. This would not only go against what the Priors want--but they'd also note that SGC and many other world nations keep such new technologies and knowledge secret and therefore let the world suffer evils that could be averted through open communication and seek to remedy that.
The Prior warships should have been stronger than Earth ships, but weaker than Goa'uld ships, but also much more numerous. The Asgard, who were already nerfed in the beginning to keep from doing much, would still be stuck on the sidelines. In addition, the Priors should have been more knowledgable about Ancient technology; they understand how to use gates and other such technology much better. In fact, it would have been very interesting if they could have hacked the stargate network in the MW galaxy and effectively cut entire planets out of the loop, presenting a new threat to SGC, who would then be forced to rely on their one or two ships for transport.
While SGA was going, this threat could have been presented later in the series, as the Priors were given a holy crusade by the Ori to eradicate the Wraith as part of a quest of vengence for what they did against the original Atlanteans. The Wraith themselves would be presented as a more...complex culture who have heroes and villians. With each faction having different beliefs and interactions with humans.
For example:
Hive #1: Straight out bad guys and opportunists who believe that humans are no more than cattle and should serve them as such. Very conservative. Were once the power house hive during the ancient war and still remain a rather powerful force, though obviously diminished.
Hive #2: Almost as amoral as the first hive, but with a desire to exceede their biology with the technological. Therefore, they desire to take Atlantis and any remaining ancient technology they can find. This would allow for this hive to serve as a secondary villian towards Atlantis, but also serve as a foil for the first hive, who would want to destroy humans with little to no regard.
Hive #3: The third hive would be similar to the Goa'uld in that they use humans as servants and slaves. They treat humans as a second class and act as gods or ascended beings of greater importance. Human colonies willingly sacrifice themselves for these wraith, in return for food and supplies that the wraith can provide.
And so on.
Thus, later when the Priors come to destroy the danger and cleanse the species, they would face opposition from Atlantis because some hives aren't outright bad people--even if they consider them barbaric or a threat. Hell, some hives might have even discovered ways to feed without it being on humans (but as humans are far more efficient food sources, are weaker and smaller than other hives). The Priors however, don't care even if all the wraith were to repent; they comitted genocide against humans and have been exploiting them or have exploited them. They must be cleansed.
As for SGU--it had a horrible first half of a season. One or two episodes were good, but I lost all interest. I simply did not care for the stupid fucking drama of a few tween-like adults, even if I really liked the actors. The writing was shit and I stopped watching it.