By Jonathan Klotz
| Revealed
Stargate SG-1 turned an early-90s Roland Emmerich movie into the muse for a franchise that’s lasted 30 years and counting. Top-of-the-line additions to the franchise got here with the villainous Goa’uld symbiotes, who can dwell for hundreds of years and totally take pleasure in enslaving others to do their bidding.
The issue is that the Goa’uld additionally use superior vitality weapons, together with the Zat’nik’tel, a handheld “ray gun” with capabilities that make no sense the second you place any thought into them. Michael Shanks, who performed Dr. Daniel Jackson, thinks they’re the dumbest weapons ever made, and through Oz-Comedian Con in 2015, he unleashed a long time of resentment in an incredible tirade explaining why the “Zat Gun” was silly.
The Zat’nik’tel Is The Dumbest Weapon In Sci-Fi
Whereas on stage with Ben Browder (Colonel Cameron Mitchell in Seasons 9-10, and in addition the lead from Farscape) and Cliff Simon (Ba’al the Goa’uld System Lord), Michael Shanks takes an harmless fan’s query about why the SGC staff makes use of P-90s as a sidearm as an alternative of the way more highly effective Zat Gun. Shanks begins off slowly, explaining he refused to ever carry a Zat’nik’tel as a result of “it’s the dumbest weapon ever invented by sci-fi.”
For 5 extra minutes, Shanks goes off on the whole lot flawed with the Zat’nik’tel, from its phallic form to the hardly noticeable bodily firing impact, earlier than zeroing in on the very silly means that the weapon works. The primary shot from a Zat’nik’tel stuns the goal, the second usually kills, and the third causes them to disintegrate. At first, that sounds fairly badass, however as Michael Shanks factors out, it is senseless.
Shanks argues that for those who shoot a lock like O’Neil did, is the lock surprised? Then why did it break open? How lengthy is simply too lengthy between pictures? Are you able to shoot somebody an hour later? Does that stun, or does that rely because the second shot? And after gorgeous them 3 times, shouldn’t they disappear as a result of that’s three pictures?
The Zat’nik’tel is senseless in Stargate SG-1a present the place, once more, the large villains are evil, almost immortal symbiotes. Whereas Shanks is ranting, Ben Browder and Cliff Simon are cackling together with him, having skilled the inconsistent guidelines across the Zat Gun firsthand. Shanks factors out that the third shot that disintegrated was created on the spot as an answer to the pile of our bodies the SGC staff was abandoning whereas infiltrating a spaceship. There was no grand plan; it was an try and fill a plothole with a bigger pothole.
No Sci-Fi Franchise Is Excellent
Each sci-fi franchise has components about it that make no sense, and Stargate isn’t any exception. What’s refreshing is Michael Shanks willingness to have enjoyable with the viewers about precisely why he despises the Zat’nik’tel, and once more, everybody who’s been in a sci-fi franchise can relate. Star Wars gave followers midichlorians, Star Trek’s timeline drives followers loopy, and Battlestar Galactica revealed the id of The 5. None of these are as finally inconsequential because the Zat’nik’tel, which is what makes Shanks exasperated rant so excessive: it’s the equal of Jonathan Frakes speaking about how a phaser works.
Stargate SG-1 followers have recognized for years that the Zat’nik’tel is a really dumb weapon. As a part of its first-anniversary episode, “Wormhole X-Treme,” the crew even received to make enjoyable of the Zat’nik’tel by having it described with a very straight face, adopted by the response, “That’s silly.” It’s, and it’s refreshing when the individuals making the collection acknowledge that, yeah, they tousled when creating this, however a minimum of they will snigger about it.
In comparison with Star Wars and Star TrekStargate doesn’t have the title recognition or the identical form of cultural impression, although all that will change, and we might get an up to date Zat’nik’tel when the brand new Amazon collection debuts in a number of years. Within the meantime, there’s loads of time to binge all 10 seasons of Stargate SG-1 and have interaction within the enjoyable of discussing why each single planet within the galaxy appears to be like like Vancouver.