Hooray, a comment! Nope, never sorry to get comments!
Yes, I'm sure the choice of four Baals was really to avoid confusion in the audience (and that final scene wouldn't be nearly so hysterical). But, in canon, there has to be a reason as well (at least for people like me who try to deal in reality as little as possible!).
Good point about consistency of face among the subjects. I like that, and I'm sure you're right that it plays into it. But OTOH while we know that the Goa'uld can change hosts, my point is that, barring absolute necessity, they don't. Considering Apophis... yes, he asked for a new one when his host was dying and he was, theoretically, going to take his harsesis host -- BUT after the host was injured by Sokar -- badly enough it apparently took *months* to heal -- or Bynarr as another example, neither took a prettier, better, healthier new host. Even more to the point, tactically-speaking Baal would have been *MUCH* better off hiding and building a power base on Earth if he transferred to a different, unrecognizable host, but he didn't. No, on the other hand, he makes *more* of himself, so that the Tau'ri will have even more copies of himself to recognize if they go out in public. (And yeah, there's a lot of ego going on there, I realize).
The risk aspect just doesn't seem sufficient explanation to me. Like you said, the Tok'ra change hosts regularly, so new ones can't be that hard to do. And they don't care if the host dies, so if they have to choose, obviously they're going to choose themselves. So my theory is that there's something that makes it more difficult for a very old Goa'uld-host pairing to separate, some sort of physical merging that grows over time, making it more difficult for a Goa'uld to leave, without leaving behind parts of itself it might want to keep. "Melding" as you say. ;)
It may even be a side-effect of keeping constant control over the host body. A Tok'ra can leave a lot of the physical functions to the host's brain to manage, but a Goa'uld has to control a lot more and all the time, to make sure the host can't get free.
The use of 'blending' for Tok'ra is interesting, because in a way, it's really not blending at all. The Tok'ra host and symbiote remain separate entities, sharing one body. But I don't necesarily think that's true of the Goa'uld. Yes, the Goa'uld suppress their hosts, but I do wonder whether over time and sarcophagus use they aren't closer to one (nasty) entity. We know what the sarc did to Daniel, and that was without a gleeful Goa'uld in his brain, urging him on to acts of violence and oppression. I imagine there are more than a few Goa'uld hosts who, after a few trips to the sarc, are probably happy to help out. In other words, I don't think all hosts resist the process, and I'm sure some are seduced by the Dark Side so they become willing participants rather than prisoners in their own head. Well, if the Goa'uld lets them, of course.
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Date: 2005-08-28 07:51 pm (UTC)Yes, I'm sure the choice of four Baals was really to avoid confusion in the audience (and that final scene wouldn't be nearly so hysterical). But, in canon, there has to be a reason as well (at least for people like me who try to deal in reality as little as possible!).
Good point about consistency of face among the subjects. I like that, and I'm sure you're right that it plays into it. But OTOH while we know that the Goa'uld can change hosts, my point is that, barring absolute necessity, they don't. Considering Apophis... yes, he asked for a new one when his host was dying and he was, theoretically, going to take his harsesis host -- BUT after the host was injured by Sokar -- badly enough it apparently took *months* to heal -- or Bynarr as another example, neither took a prettier, better, healthier new host. Even more to the point, tactically-speaking Baal would have been *MUCH* better off hiding and building a power base on Earth if he transferred to a different, unrecognizable host, but he didn't. No, on the other hand, he makes *more* of himself, so that the Tau'ri will have even more copies of himself to recognize if they go out in public. (And yeah, there's a lot of ego going on there, I realize).
The risk aspect just doesn't seem sufficient explanation to me. Like you said, the Tok'ra change hosts regularly, so new ones can't be that hard to do. And they don't care if the host dies, so if they have to choose, obviously they're going to choose themselves. So my theory is that there's something that makes it more difficult for a very old Goa'uld-host pairing to separate, some sort of physical merging that grows over time, making it more difficult for a Goa'uld to leave, without leaving behind parts of itself it might want to keep. "Melding" as you say. ;)
It may even be a side-effect of keeping constant control over the host body. A Tok'ra can leave a lot of the physical functions to the host's brain to manage, but a Goa'uld has to control a lot more and all the time, to make sure the host can't get free.
The use of 'blending' for Tok'ra is interesting, because in a way, it's really not blending at all. The Tok'ra host and symbiote remain separate entities, sharing one body. But I don't necesarily think that's true of the Goa'uld. Yes, the Goa'uld suppress their hosts, but I do wonder whether over time and sarcophagus use they aren't closer to one (nasty) entity. We know what the sarc did to Daniel, and that was without a gleeful Goa'uld in his brain, urging him on to acts of violence and oppression. I imagine there are more than a few Goa'uld hosts who, after a few trips to the sarc, are probably happy to help out. In other words, I don't think all hosts resist the process, and I'm sure some are seduced by the Dark Side so they become willing participants rather than prisoners in their own head. Well, if the Goa'uld lets them, of course.
Thanks for commenting, Rosie!