1. #1

    Question Mass Effect - Stargate similarities, coincidental?

    Let's see:

    Colonel Sheppard - Commander Shepard (both lead teams of close friends)
    Teyla - Tali (they are both aliens)
    Ronon Dex - Urdnot Wrex (they are both aliens and they share some personality traits)
    Aiden - Kaiden (both are from earth and they both leave their leaders for some reason)

    Stargates - Mass Relays (easy to notice similarities)
    Replicators - Reapers (Both are intelligent, self-replicating machines that wish to destroy life and both are destroyed by energy wave that was transfered by ancient devices throughout the whole galaxy (relays/stargates); you can even watch both scenes to see even more similarities)

    What do you think?

  2. #2
    Stargate had multiple spinoffs.
    Mass effect only had 1 ending.

    I dont see the similarities

  3. #3
    Deleted
    I think this is what one would point out as an example of a thinly stretched comparison :P

  4. #4
    You need to read more science fiction if you think the components of either Stargate or Mass Effect are at all original.

    It's the whole that should be examined, not tiny insignificant details that are barely comparable like you have.

  5. #5
    Deleted
    You're trying really hard to associate two things which aren't similar really, "They're both aliens" is a really general statement, Teal'C was an alien. How bout this, the Borg are similar to the Reapers, both are hell bent on the destruction of organic life, they both have an almost limitless army and have methods of transportation other races do not, Picard leads a group of close friends, Star Trek is Mass Effect lulz

  6. #6
    Deleted
    If only people responded like this every time someone claimed 'x is clone of y'.

  7. #7
    Merely a Setback Adam Jensen's Avatar
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    I dunno.

    Geth = Cylons? Maybe ME is more BSG? I think ME "borrows" from a lot of other SciFis. Besides, Commander Shepard was named after Alan Shepard and not any Stargate character.
    Putin khuliyo

  8. #8
    These are all just fundamental parts of science fiction concepts that have been around since the dawn of sci-fi. Since the computer was invented, even before then, some people have always worried about technology reaching the point where it controls us, rather than we it.

    The fastest way to travel between any two given points has always been considered the worm-hole or equivalent. Regardless of what it's called, or the exact mechanics, a hole in space that instantly takes you from one place to another is the peak of space travel.

    Having an alien/foreign/native ally is almost always a part of sci-fi, fantasy or even just adventure at large, when it comes to dealing with other civilizations. It gives the other side's perspective for the reader/viewer/player.

  9. #9
    Merely a Setback Adam Jensen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shinzai View Post
    These are all just fundamental parts of science fiction concepts that have been around since the dawn of sci-fi. Since the computer was invented, even before then, some people have always worried about technology reaching the point where it controls us, rather than we it.

    The fastest way to travel between any two given points has always been considered the worm-hole or equivalent. Regardless of what it's called, or the exact mechanics, a hole in space that instantly takes you from one place to another is the peak of space travel.

    Having an alien/foreign/native ally is almost always a part of sci-fi, fantasy or even just adventure at large, when it comes to dealing with other civilizations. It gives the other side's perspective for the reader/viewer/player.
    And I'm not entirely sure that a Mass Relay is a wormhole. The way I understood it, it was an extremely powerful mass accelerator, thus making them different than Stargates.
    Putin khuliyo

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Jensen View Post
    And I'm not entirely sure that a Mass Relay is a wormhole. The way I understood it, it was an extremely powerful mass accelerator, thus making them different than Stargates.
    Well the stargates are still little more than portals, which are older than Jesus as far as fiction goes.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Jensen View Post
    And I'm not entirely sure that a Mass Relay is a wormhole. The way I understood it, it was an extremely powerful mass accelerator, thus making them different than Stargates.
    Mass Effect relays reduce the mass of a volume of space time to ZERO allowing for ftl. Mass and velocity have a relationship in special relativity. The faster you go the more massive you become until you get to the speed of light where your mass becomes infinite and the energy necessary to push you also becomes infinite. By controlling the mass ( resistance to acelleration) in any given volume of space and time you also make it possible to achieve ftl travel.

    Worhomles or einstein-rosen bridges are holes in space in time that connect two points together.

    ---------- Post added 2013-03-08 at 09:10 AM ----------

    As for similarities between the two it really just is small things. Science fiction for a long time was like jazz music. Writers would sorta riff off one and other and be influenced by one and other. I like mass effect and I like stargate but I wouldn't call them terrible original. Certainly some of the things they do are, I like the variety of species if mass effect for example and I like the juxtaposition of things like short lived Salarian with hyper metabolisms against Long lived matriarchal Asari.

    Having said that if you read Phillip K Dick your head would probably explode.

  12. #12
    Deleted
    Aliens has aliens in it.

    Coincidence?

  13. #13
    This topic has made me want to re-read the Lensmen series...

  14. #14
    Let's say that they did draw heavy inspiration from Stargate. So what? I'm no fanboy, I don't care where you get your inspiration from; I only care about a good game.
    "In order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance." Paradox of tolerance

  15. #15
    If anything I'd say that Babylon 5 had infinitely more influence on Mass Effect. That and the Lensmen series, as unholytestament mentioned.

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