STARGATE SG-1: POW #2 COMMENTARY BY JAMES ANTHONY KUHORIC
The second issue of Stargate SG-1: Prisoner of War will be on sale in a few short days. I just saw the pre-production pages and they are easily twice as good as number one. Renato really hit his stride with this one, the likenesses are dead-on and the action is intense!
This issue takes us deep into the problems presented in book one - Jack is a prisoner of war being tortured by the Goa'uld while the SGC is under lock down because of the mysterious alien device channeling energy into the Stargate. During a briefing we are treated to my favorite part of this book, a recounting of the events from the Stargate movie and pilot episode of Stargate SG-1 - Children of the Gods. This is meant to be our introduction to the Stargate world for new comic fans and a fun treat for the hardcore fans. In addition to establishing the background as a starting point for future comic book series, this feature amalgams the two universes into SG-1 continuity. We get to see Richard Dean Anderson as O'Neill during the first Abydos mission! Hey, Kurt Russell is great and all, but lets face it...he's no Jack O'Neill (at least not by SG-1 standards).
One of the other very interesting features of this issue is watching Sam at work trying to decipher what is happening with the device "Skaara" placed on the gate. If you are like me, you love hearing her wax hypothetical on the sci-babble of each new technology they encounter. Sure you only follow about a third of what she says, but that's part of the fun. With that in mind, we prepared the following little Q&A feature for you that I've tagged "Science with Major Sam"...enjoy.
Captain Samantha Carter on the Goa'uld energy detonator (*as seen in Stargate SG-1: Prisoner of War comic series - set in Season I continuity).
Q: Captain Carter, how was the alien device working and what was its purpose in transferring heat energy into the Stargate?
A: Well, the heat build up in naquadah is very different from most normal metals. If the Stargate were made of say, titanium instead of naquadah, the gate would have reflected the heat across it surface and radiated outward like a frying pan on a stove. Because naquadah is inert until it reaches an unstable level the external heat build up was significantly lessened in this respect. It still gave off heat but nowhere near the level that normal metals would. In fact, most of the heat reflection we were experiencing was coming from the iris. If the energy had been channeled directly into the "bowl" of the iris it would have been like you were standing in front of a huge heat dish cranked up to maximum output. The device was intended to raise the internal naquadah temperature to an unstable level and trigger a massive explosion. With normal metals the transfer of heat would have resulted in a meltdown at high levels, but in the case of naquadah it would have created an explosion that literally could have leveled the mountain complex.
Q: How were you able to countermeasure the heat build up with refrigerant?
A: Well, it wasn't really a countermeasure so much as a slight impediment. By focusing a Freon stream onto the gate we were able to slightly slow the build up with an external measure. I know, Freon is not environmentally safe and is outlawed for use in daily life, but we had a stockpile of it readily available on the base and its use seemed like less of an environmental hazard than the vaporizing of the mountain. I considered using liquid nitrogen but the potential for irreparable damage to the Stargate was too great. I would have considered using...
Q: Yes, thank you Captain. What was the atmosphere like in the room while you tried to disarm the device?
A: It was very turbulent. We had created an artificial atmospheric anomaly, essentially forcing a faster moving cold front to clash with a slower moving warm front in an enclosed environment. An occluded front had developed where the two air masses met and the potential for cyclonic activity was significant. In my opinion we were lucky to avoid a serious meteorological event.
Q: ...
A: It's just my opinion, of course.
That's it for now. The final issue of Stargate SG-1: Prisoner of War will be on sale in 30 - we'll talk again soon and please keep those letters coming! Visit us at avatarpress.net and click on Stargate to keep up with the latest happenings with Jack, Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c!
Best wishes,
James Anthony Kuhoric
PS...if you have a quirky science question you'd like Sam to answer in a future installment of Science with Sam...just drop us a line and prepare to be sci-babbled!
Check out a preview of a few pages from Stargate SG-1: POW #1 and #2, plus several covers from the series, at http://www.sg-1.us.
Stargate SG-1: POW #2 is in stores beginning Wednesday, March 31. Your retailer should also have issue #1 in stock or available to him for reorder. Please ask for them at your local comic book retailer, and while you're there, ask him to be sure to reserve copies of issue #3 and the Stargate SG-1 2004 Convention Special as well. Please support your local retailers, but if you can't get it locally, they are available from our direct sales agent at:
[ posted Wednesday, March 31, 2004 9:33:18 AM | permanent link to this item ]
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