Monday 29 June 2015

Monster Monday #9 - The Goa'uld (Stargate)


Sorry I'm late posting today - I was teaching my sister all the things my new Personal Trainer showed me at the weekend and it took us ages :).
Monster Mondays posts may be fiction, film reviews, book reviews or me waxing lyrical about a particular monster. Monsters can be paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy or even simply human. So basically, anything monster goes. I also invite anyone who would like to, to join in with their own post. (See end for details).
The Goa'uld
Goa'uld Symbiote
Today I have chosen an alien race as my monsters. They are called the Goa'uld (go-ah-oold) and they hail from the Stargate universe. They are a highly intelligent, parasitic life
form which use humanoid beings as hosts. Lately (as in the last 5000 years or so) they seem very fond of humans for this purpose.

As my darling sister so rightly pointed out, to spot a Goa'uld you simply need to remember the Steps song "Last Thing on My Mind" ;) :

  • "There was something in your voice" - when a Goa'uld speaks through a human host their voice resonates.
  • "When I looked into your eyes, There was something you weren't telling me" - when a Goa'uld really wants to impress they make the eyes of their host glow.

Hathor
The Goa'uld leaders are called the system lords and they tend to base their personae on ancient earth gods. Some are ancient Egyptian deities and others are Norse or other old religions. When they arrived on earth they transplanted humans to other planets to be slave labour and provide further hosts. They have space ships. but they use Stargates to travel between planets as well, although they did not build the Stargate system, they simply took it over from a race called The Ancients.

When a Goa'uld takes over a host they hijack the nervous system and suppress the personality of the individual they have taken over while having complete access to their memories. They then use a sarcophagus to prolong the life of that individual indefinitely. They appear to only change host when absolutely necessary.

They also convert humans to be Jaffa; their warriors. These humans have no immune system and are reliant on an immature symbiote which lives within a pouch in their torso. The symbiote makes them hardier, but if it is removed they will die unless it is replaced very quickly.

Most Goa'uld are egomaniacs believing completely in their own superiority. Humans and other races are either enemies or tools. The use of sarcophagus technology to prolong their lives also causes increased sociopathic tendencies.

The Goa'uld are great monsters. They are remorseless and completely self-interested. As far as they are concerned humans are cattle. They are technologically superior, but their arrogance always seems to get them into trouble: they never believe they can lose.

Have you seen Stargate (the film or SG-1, Atlantis or Universe)? What do you think of the Goa'uld as baddies? If you could travel through a Stargate to another planet, would you do it?


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9 comments:

  1. Followed Stargate from the movie right through to Stargate Atlantis, and the Goa'uld were great monsters - and reminded me of certain arrogant and egocentric people in positions of power. Maybe that was what the writers were alluding to.

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    1. Could be :) They say absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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  2. I watched Stargate up through the early years of Atlantis, and the Goa'uld were always my favourite villains. Even when they were over the top clichéd, they did it with a pizazz that kept you coming back for more.
    The one religion I don't believe the Goa'uld ever co-opted though was Norse, that was the realm of the Asgard race (another favourite of mine).

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    1. Ah, maybe you're right - it's so long since I've seen it I'm probably mixing up memories :)

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  3. Stargate was such an excellent show, and I loved the Goa'uld as villains. Thanks for bringing those memories back!

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  4. I used to love Stargate, but lost touch with it in the later series and spin-offs. Parasitic aliens make me shudder.

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  5. The use of the Step song to identify a Goa'uld made me laugh. I like the idea of them basing themselves on old deities - the mix of mythology and sci-fi is interesting (I'm reading a book at the moment that combines the two and I like how the combination gives a bit of a different angle)

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  6. Yikes! I'd forgotten about these terrors.... nice memory! I think falling prey to some soul-sucking host is one of my greatest fears. Just to not have control of anything. *shiver* Disturbing!

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