I'll start by saying I do love the show. Been catching up on it with Netflix for a couple of weeks now. One thing about it and some other modern sci-fi shows bugs me though:

We have faster than light travel, but we still carry around M-16s? I guess I'm just too much of and old school sci-fi buff because I still prefer energy weapons? Anyone else feel this way?

I don't find it odd for a sci-fi show to have some tech that doesn't exist like FTL drives/light speed travel while having tech that does exist like assault rifles that fire bullets. After all, Battlestar Galactica did that and it did it very convincingly. It's all part of the trend of making sci-fi more grounded and recognizable and gritty. SG:U definitely followed BSG's example in that respect.

Well, Stargate takes place in current times so Earths weapons what we have in reality. SG1 had various episodes dealing with the Allies of Earth (especially the Asgard and Tollan) not willing to share advanced weapons technology, but they had less problems sharing tech such as hyperdrive and beaming technology. Before the final episode of SG1, the battleships of Earth only had projectile weapons as well.



Jaz

It's easier to act with guns firing blanks than plastic that is silent.

Besides, with the USAF spending all that money on those ships like the X-302 and X-303, how much do they have for making energy weapons for troops? After all, we have lots better guns than the M-4 and M-16 right now, but that's what most carry because the better ones cost so much.

Also, as mentioned on the show, the enemies they faced were generally used to fighting against energy weapons and so our guns were often more effective vs their defenses.

Besides, a guy holding a ray gun is far less awesome to watch than O'Neil doing a standing 360 firing a SAW!



The Jedi Master

I'm not sure about SG:U but in SG1 they were using alien made energy weapons frequently. Those taser-like guns ("Seth-guns"?) that paralyze on the first hit, kill with the second and disintegrate the body on the third iirc

Also in SG1 I remember one episode where Carter was showing off an energy gun "Made on Earth(TM)" to the public. Don't think I saw it ever again.


Using projectile weapons on a space ship is dangerous though: one little hole in the outer skin of the craft ...

That's why the PPG's in Babylon 5 used highly compressed and heated gas instead of projectiles!

I SGU they have conventional weapons on the ship because they weren't really prepared to go to it, if there's an armory on the ship they haven't found it yet but they don't/shouldn't have an endless supply of ammo. When they do run out they'll have to resort to fists and clubs, the ship itself however does have energy weapons, it's Ancients technology.

the ship was launched unmanned, there is a lot of stuff missing from the ship, Food stores, weapons etc etc.

the ship was designed to get somewhere, then be gated to, not gated to early and lived on for a million years or lived one from launch day.

there's no weapons, the ship auto-replenishes power and auto repairs (usually), im not going too much into it since not everyone is up to date.

I know what happens in the finale already, and I also no the general plot for the direct to dvd movie.

Actually, the Destiny does have weapons (unless you were talking small arms). Episode 1 of Season 1.5. Just watched it two nights ago. I won't go into detail either so as not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it.

I was talking About Personnel Armaments.

The Ship itself has

The ship is designed to be automated and defensive. So if the ship comes under attack unmanned, it puts full power to the shields to hold off the attacks and intruders until it jumps to FTL again.

BTW, The Asguard

I know Was a fun episode.

Jaz

Stargate Extinction was supposed to be Atlantis + Asgaurd + A Seedership and some new enemy / plot curve.

Wow, sounds like it would've been great! Maybe one day they'll get around to making it, we deserve a proper end to SGA.

Jaz