Stargate SG-1 (Societies, Part II)
Stargate SG-1 ran for 10 seasons and over 200 episodes, which gave
the writers a lot of different mind, body, and spirit opportunities. In
addition to the main characters and the "uber races"
of aliens, SG-1 has one other another prominent mind, body, and spirit
set. In the war with their primary enemy, the Goa'uld, the humans of
earth ally themselves with the Jaffa and the Tok'ra.
The Jaffa are the enslaved warriors of the Goa'uld, who pretend to be gods in order to exert their power. They are the measure of any particular Goa'uld's military strength. In the pilot episode, Teal'c, a Jaffa serving as the "First Prime" (top ranking Jaffa) of the Goa'uld Apophis, rebels against his false god and starts a movement within the Jaffa to create a free nation. These free Jaffa fight against the Goa'uld to help their brothers and sisters gain the same freedom they enjoy.
The Jaffa are imbued with long life and good health by means of a baby Goa'uld which lives inside their bodies. It is this symbiotic connection that keeps the Jaffa reliant, and therefore enslaved to the Goa'uld. It is only through a new drug discovered by the humans and refined by the Tok'ra that the Jaffa can rid themselves of this reliance on the Goa'uld.
The Tok'ra are the same type of being as the Goa'uld, but they do not have the thirst for power and general disregard for other races that defines the personality of the Goa'uld. Because of their similarities, the Tok'ra fight the Goa'uld by infiltrating their forces and performing acts of subterfuge and sabotage. Their strength is in their stealth and secrecy.
The Tok'ra are much more advanced, technologically, than the humans or the free Jaffa. They have developed tools and weapons in fighting the Goa'uld and other enemies, such as guns that can see and kill invisible beings and a machine that can tell if you lying, even unintentionally. The Tok'ra scientists work repeatedly with Samantha Carter, the show's mind character.
Tok'ra morals are very situation dependent. In one episode, where an alien race is using a Goa'uld queen and her offspring to develop a miracle drug, the Tok'ra have no moral objection to the torture and enslavement of the queen. When they discover the queen is actually the mother of all Tok'ra, their attitudes change and say they can no longer tolerate the treatment of the queen.
"Tau'ri" is the Goa'uld name for the human race and is the name several alien races recognize. The humans of Earth are the primary human race in the series and are the ones used for this analysis.
Humans want to help others. In the pilot episode, Jack O'Neill tries to convince Teal'c to let him help the people who have been imprisoned there by Apophis. When they meet the Nox, SG-1 wants to help protect them from the threat of the Goa'uld, only to find the Nox are very powerful and they, the humans, have a lot to learn. Any time a team is stranded "off-world" or in some kind of danger, the remaining teams try to make some effort to save their comrades. When alien races are making mistakes that could lead to their downfall, the humans try to help prevent those mistakes.
The Tau'ri also have a habit of leaping before they look. They often get into trouble with new technologies and are just as often chastised by more advanced races, especially the Tok'ra, for their cavalier attitudes.
When it comes to morality, though, the humans have a definite view of what's "right" and what's "wrong" that does not waver. They may have individual differences in interpretation, but the basic concepts of what is right or wrong do not change.
The Body Race: Jaffa
The Jaffa are the enslaved warriors of the Goa'uld, who pretend to be gods in order to exert their power. They are the measure of any particular Goa'uld's military strength. In the pilot episode, Teal'c, a Jaffa serving as the "First Prime" (top ranking Jaffa) of the Goa'uld Apophis, rebels against his false god and starts a movement within the Jaffa to create a free nation. These free Jaffa fight against the Goa'uld to help their brothers and sisters gain the same freedom they enjoy.
The Jaffa are imbued with long life and good health by means of a baby Goa'uld which lives inside their bodies. It is this symbiotic connection that keeps the Jaffa reliant, and therefore enslaved to the Goa'uld. It is only through a new drug discovered by the humans and refined by the Tok'ra that the Jaffa can rid themselves of this reliance on the Goa'uld.
The Mind Race: The Tok'ra
The Tok'ra are the same type of being as the Goa'uld, but they do not have the thirst for power and general disregard for other races that defines the personality of the Goa'uld. Because of their similarities, the Tok'ra fight the Goa'uld by infiltrating their forces and performing acts of subterfuge and sabotage. Their strength is in their stealth and secrecy.
The Tok'ra are much more advanced, technologically, than the humans or the free Jaffa. They have developed tools and weapons in fighting the Goa'uld and other enemies, such as guns that can see and kill invisible beings and a machine that can tell if you lying, even unintentionally. The Tok'ra scientists work repeatedly with Samantha Carter, the show's mind character.
Tok'ra morals are very situation dependent. In one episode, where an alien race is using a Goa'uld queen and her offspring to develop a miracle drug, the Tok'ra have no moral objection to the torture and enslavement of the queen. When they discover the queen is actually the mother of all Tok'ra, their attitudes change and say they can no longer tolerate the treatment of the queen.
The Spirit Race: The Tau'ri
"Tau'ri" is the Goa'uld name for the human race and is the name several alien races recognize. The humans of Earth are the primary human race in the series and are the ones used for this analysis.
Humans want to help others. In the pilot episode, Jack O'Neill tries to convince Teal'c to let him help the people who have been imprisoned there by Apophis. When they meet the Nox, SG-1 wants to help protect them from the threat of the Goa'uld, only to find the Nox are very powerful and they, the humans, have a lot to learn. Any time a team is stranded "off-world" or in some kind of danger, the remaining teams try to make some effort to save their comrades. When alien races are making mistakes that could lead to their downfall, the humans try to help prevent those mistakes.
The Tau'ri also have a habit of leaping before they look. They often get into trouble with new technologies and are just as often chastised by more advanced races, especially the Tok'ra, for their cavalier attitudes.
When it comes to morality, though, the humans have a definite view of what's "right" and what's "wrong" that does not waver. They may have individual differences in interpretation, but the basic concepts of what is right or wrong do not change.
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