Stargate Deep Dive - How Did the Goa’uld Get Their Technology?

[@dawall3732]

There was an ancient piece of technology on their home world that looked exactly like the crystal technology they use everywhere. It was the DHD to the gate. Every time in the show they took one of those apart the inside looked exactly like Goa'uld technology. Also the first FTL communication device shown in the show is a large sphere that floats up and then connects to a stargate. It would be reasonable that the core of all of their technology would start out with the ancient technology that was already on their home world. Since that would be the core of their technology, everything else would just be add-on to that or adapted into that technology. So every time they acquired new Technology they would adapt their already existing technology, adding that capability to it. That would also explain why their technology has such longevity. One of them left an older version of a ship buried in sand for about 5,000 years. Then climbed into the pilot seat and flew it away. The only technology shown to last that long without maintenance under harsh conditions in the show is Alteran technology. So my money would be on them basing their technology on the DHD and stargate.

[@jonah3543]

I think it's mostly ancient tech, but not the tech we see from atlantis, rather its most likely based on a cache of tech that is from the same era as the Destiny's technology from SGU. Obviously they improved upon it and did inccorperate technology from other races too but the main theme is very similar. One reason I believe this is most races have energy shields and weapons that usually have there own unique colour. The travelers use red, the asgard use blue and the ancients (Atlantis era) use a white'ish blue. The Goa'uld are normally seen with yellow shields and weapons and when looking at screen shields and weapons fire from the destiny the Asthetic style and colour are VERY similar. Furthermore, we know the reason we dont see a lot of Atlantis area technology in the Milkyway is because at the time Atlantis was the pinicle of technology (so it was probably included technology not normally found anyway else) and when they spread to the Pegasus Galaxy they spread the best of their technology with them which is very clear from the design of the Stargates. In the Milkyway Galaxy there is hardly any ancient technology left and all the gates have a much older look. This means that there was probably a generation of technology closer to the age of the destiny (who gates clearly are older then the milkyways gates but still similar) that was also left throughout the Milkyway. If the Goa'uld where to build most of there technology off this left over generation of Ancient technology then that would explain both why SG1 didnt find more ancient technology lying around (The Goa'uld had already cleared most of it from the galaxy) and why the Goa'uld technology looks so similar to the Destiny era ancient technology.

[@williamdavies8286]

Interesting theory😮

[@jjMcCartan9686]

I like that theory but dude you need to get to grips with your where & were & your there & their .😂😂

[@DeanPickersgill]

You're confusing technology with design. Getting hyperspace engines doesn't mean their ships have to look like the ones they got it from. They simply designed to their own taste and incorporated the acquired tech.

[@Revan41411]

Well said take the sarcophagus it doesn’t resemble a cube, it a box that fit there Egyptian aesthetic

[@John73John]

Ancient technology has changed a lot in appearance over the millions of years. Just compare the look of Destiny with Atlantis. The Milky Way model of stargates are pretty much the only thing surviving from that time period -- we've seen Destiny from way earlier than that, and we've seen the Pegasus-era tech from later on but not much else has survived from the middle period except the gates themselves. The MW model of gates and DHD's (and ring platforms, those are also an Ancient design) do seem to fit in pretty well with the aesthetic of a lot of the Goa'uld ships. So my theory is that the Goa'uld scavenged some older Ancient tech to figure out shields and hyperdrives and so forth. It was stuff that the Ancients considered "junk" because of how outdated it was, which is why the Goa'uld could more easily get their hands on it. A primitive Goa'uld who doesn't have much technology yet is never going to be able to invade and capture a place like Atlantis (fully staffed and powered) to study it. But the Ancients aren't going to put much effort into defending some old outpost with technology that to them is the equivalent of a horse and buggy. Once the Goa'uld had started to figure out these technologies, they made whatever small improvements they could figure out on their own. But future designs still followed their own design aesthetic (pyramid-shaped stuff, dark materials contrasting with gold).

[@DaxVJacobson]

Focusing attention on the episodes where O'Neill had the archive from the Ancients downloaded into his brain, he had intimate knowledge of the Ring transporter on board a cargo ship, he was able to MacGyver A cargo ship to exceed its normal maximum velocity, another episode he opened a staff weapon and poured out the liquid naquadah and created a simple naquadah generator to power boost the gate to the Asgard galaxy to get their help clearing out the archive download to his brain and save him the FIRST time. I'd have to go back and nitpick the other stuff for more, ALSO there was an episode where SG1 had to fight zombies on earth RE Fountain of Youth that was powered by an ancients device that was the cube Daniel speculated was the basis of the sarcophagus technology and its' deleterious effects from prolonged or repeated use (that he experienced in another episode) when a woman kept him as her play thing and kept putting him (Daniel Jackson) into the sarcophagus to manipulate him; weirdly the anubis Kull warriors "super soldiers" on SG-1 were animated by such regenerating radiation by a cube or sarcophagus, I think this was an inconsistency because the technology was already known by the Goa'uld

[@John73John]

Those are some good points. I was thinking about the Telchak device as well (the cube-shaped device Dr. Jackson found that revived people as zombies). To my eye at least, the design of the device (kind of blocky and angular) has more similarity to the control panels and hallways on a Goa'uld ship than it does to anything in Atlantis.

[@DaxVJacobson]

@@John73John I didn't like that episode so I actually didn't watch it very carefully because it felt like a pandering mess, one of the few episodes I've only watched one time

[@thelordofcringe]

​@DaxVJacobson pandering to who? Cartels do cartel things. Black ops guys are not good people even if they have good intentions. And scientists are naive. It attacks everyone lmao.

[@matthall1934]

When RA discovered Earth and took his first human host, he already had a pyramid ship, thus enslaving humanity to build stone pyramids as landing pads. So it stands to reason that it was the Goa'uld who brought, atleast, the Ancient Egyptian culture and aesthetic. The show timeline is a bit fuzzy with how they tie in with other mythologies. Ra brought a Stargate to Earth as the original was in Antarctica. So they've got ships already. They've acquired the Ancients transporter rings and are utilising the gates. The ancients probably left alot of tech lying around, plus possibly encounters with Furlings prior to the asgard maybe. But I'd love to know if the whole pyramid aesthetic was just what the Goa'uld like or if that was completely inherited.

[@anthonyx916]

The Tollan would not have been a source for Goa'uld technology, at least not until Tanith came along in "Between Two Fires". Like numerous other populations, the Tollan are descendants of human slaves transported to other planets by the Goa'uld and subsequently abandoned. They just happen to have had the time and opportunity as a free society to advance technologically much faster than us Tau'ri, probably because they got a "leg-up" from the Goa'uld tech that was abandoned with them. It makes sense that the Goa'uld could have gained much of their technology from the Furlings. One might imagine the Goa'uld learning how to parasitize Unas on their home world while still technologically primitive. A Furling expedition arrives on their world and fall victim to Goa'uld parasitism. The Goa'uld absorb the knowledge of the Furling and become a technological race practically overnight, but for some reason, find Furlings less suitable hosts than the Unas. With their new-found technology, they strike out across the galaxy, scavenging assorted technologies from other races along the way. That's when they find Earth, at which point they ditch their Unas hosts in favor of humans.

[@andrewparkin4036]

I think its possible they scavenged a lot of their tech from lesser races that were technologically advanced, or planets they conquered as part of their domains and then shared tech. The sarcophagus tech was designed by a Goa'uld, Telchak i think.

[@Goatcha_M]

Various sources as well as self development after reverse engineering is the answer. Not all Goa'uld were Lords, some had to bide their time serving others including as scientists. Sarcophagus is Reverse Engineered Ancient Tech, the original device being too powerful and making zombies. Likewise Stargates and Rings are from the Ancients. Atlantis is an example of the Ancients at their peak, but most of their sites in the Milky Way show stone aesthetic. There are various unexplored alien races such as the Hebridans, the enemies from Grace and Threshold and who knows how many others of various levels of development, including the Furlings, who would not have been bipedal koalas, god I hate that episode.

[@keirfarnum6811]

@@Goatcha_M I thought that episode was funny. The one where they infer that the furlings were essentially ewoks? While it obviously was one of those episodes where they didn’t play it straight for once, it was humorous (if you’re talking about the one I’m thinking of).

[@0011peace]

@@keirfarnum6811 the shows spefically says goul'd don't share tech

[@thestanleys3657]

Most of the knowledge the Goa'uld obtained was from their hosts they took. There were some Goa'uld who were inventers, scientists or engineers who did make new/better tech, like Nerus, Nirrti, Thoth, Telchak and Ptah

[@allurbase]

I think naquada is the secret, who ever used it as their main source of power is the source, ancients use ZPM but do they use naquada too?

[@simondj8572]

I think this power source is overestimated, thick in this way on Asgard's spaceship they got quite decent generators which were able to generate enough power to come across galaxies in a matter of hours even with additional ship on a tow but in somehow ZPM's were not capable to put as much energy output at once only if you pair more than one, and if it is depleted there is no way to recharge which for me sounds like a big problem. In my opinion the show got in a wrong direction when they discovered the first database of those five old races, the second missed shot was when they again discovered ancient knowledge base but again they didn't bother to use it potential and so back-and-forth. At the end they got Atlantis spaceship full of wonders and Asgards legacy only to end up the show!😂

[@musicalaviator]

Ancients when leaving some place "Last one out turn off the lights" last one out: "meh. not like anyone's looking"

[@Plasmacore_V]

If I recall, it's the sarcophagus tech that made the goa'uld maniacal.

[@mikecohen7716]

Odd idea: Perhaps the Unas on the Gou'ald homeworld were once a more technically advanced civilization? What we see in the show being some kind of post-apocalyptic remnant.

[@chrixthegreat]

They were making a MMO video game for star gate. It was canceled by it's content was supposed to be cannon. It's main story line was leaked and showed that after then ancient left, the remaining 3 races were looking for another to fill in as the fourth race. The Furlings found the Goa'Uld, which at the time were more culturally like the Tok'Ra, and uplifted them. The tech they were given was older Ancient tech. After the upliftance, a few criminal members of there race used the tech and the element of surprise to stage a coup and killed the Furlings and other Goa'Uld.

[@martykarr7058]

So basically, the Goa'uld were the Borg of the SGU.

[@DrunkenMonk-OG]

Love to see new stargate come back and have the Furlings introduced as a Uber Powerful Enemy easy to say they had some kind of falling out with the Asgard for example and when they discover the asgard ended there race atleast in there original galaxy the Furlings return we have not seen them yet because they are based in the Asgard Galaxy with Tech on or better then Asgard level, been one of the 4 races they had access to the Ancient data bases. more stargate MORE.. no hard reboots!

[@landersrl]

If you think about it, our technology is also crystal based. Radio's use a crystal, microchips silicon wafers using crystals to gate the electrons.

[@AnonymousAnonposter]

One of the cancelled Stargate games was supposed to reveal that the Furlings had a hand in creating the Goa'uld. But other than that I think the Goa'uld just steal technology from other races and make their own designs.

[@williamfarnham5452]

Regardless of the source of the technology one of the reasons for the stagnation of technology is that the Goa'uld don't typically share their advanced tech willingly, you mentioned genetic memory but this is not shared over the whole species but is passed from the queens down to her specific spawn, and as a further form of information control each queen can control what specific information is passed down to her progeny. Take the system lord that created the original Eye of Ra crystal and it's counter parts that Anubis sought, they were created by a Goa'uld as a secret weapon but when he was killed the knowledge of the tech was lost until Anubis learned of it through his partial ascension.

[@runningriot9814]

The kind of niche scifi topics that I'm here for

[@nihilityjoey]

The gou'ald built the majority of their technology, from ships to weapons, they even created new ones as well.

[@blackadder564]

We don't know that the Furlings have 'demised'. The transporter rings are definitely Ancient.

[@alexbarrett3832]

I've always wondered whether the Crystal Skull aliens were the Furlings.

[@chrixthegreat]

The screen writers have said that the furling have never been depicted on screen and that they never plan to do so.

[@alexbarrett3832]

@@chrixthegreat I'm aware, it doesn't stop it being a fun fan theory though.

[@keithtorgersen9664]

Please do a video if you haven't already to help explain Ra's shape-shifting ability. He's a goauld who has a human host but can somehow morph back and forth between human and something like an Asgard.

[@vicolin6126]

Eh, probably because that was an intended feature of Ra for the film. The film universe and the later SG1 are like parallel universes when it comes to the Goa'uld. In the film, they had not yet thought of any expansion to Ra's faction at all, so there are a lot of inconsistencies between it, and SG1. The fact that the Goa'uld are parasitic snakes was invented with SG1, so the Ra in the film seemed to possess his hosts more like Anubis did.

[@richardajoy79]

A Stargate was placed on P3X-888, where the Goau'ld originate so it was either placed there by the Ancients or the planet was visited by someone else & since the Goa'uld took Unas has hosts, could've overpowered the visitors and took their tech... placing a gate there at a later date. Some of the tech the Goa'uld use is similar to races we've seen, old Ancient tech perhaps and maybe Furlings. The original tech could even have come from a race we've never seen before, as the Goa'uld wiped'em out.

[@stevehoover6073]

From what I recall in the TV Series, They acquired (Stole) the technology from the ancients and other species.

[@pmh2390]

I think the Goa'uld got there start by taking ancients as hosts learning all they know that's one reason why ancient tech has a lockout for Goa'uld or people without the ATA gene (yes also for the Wraith). but when the Ancients died out and ascended the Goa'uld's technologies stopped developing because they had no more Ancients to take on as hosts but they then enslaved and ruled the whole Milky Way Because the Asgard, Nox, and Furlings didn't have the resources to fight a galactic war like the Ancients did. The Asgards were the only ones with the resources to fight so they carved out the treaty for the protected planets. But when earth started to explore and gained friendships with the Nox and Asgard the Goa'uld were right there learning more about them starting to develop new technology and once Anubis gained power he started to search for all of the Ancients stuff developing his tech more then any other system lord since he couldn't use his ascended powers. and because of the Goa'ulds ruling the galaxy very few worlds advanced and developed tech they could use so its pretty much old civilization and Ancients stuff that was still laying around. But all the Ancients ruins were of mostly stone construction much like the Goa'uld's pyramids on planets so maybe a link there maybe not

[@backstabba]

Goau'ld writing looks nothing like that of Furlings. Its most likely they found some ancient Ancient outpost and gave it their own twist? An advanced race like Tollans would defend itself. Don't forget about genetic memory. Perhaps Goau'ld children used to be common which would give them very fast science progression.

[@BillMooney-r5c]

Could it be a "Chicken or the Egg" situation? 1. They took the persona of the gods and that is why their technology/society looks that way. OR 2. They came as gods and that is why the persona/appearance of the gods appears as it does. The first would be more in line with for the Asgard. They come across a Celtic/Germanic/Norwegian society and pattern themselves after them. But, with the Go'auld, the second makes more sense. They would have found a simple nomadic society. They would have implanted, due to their arrogance, their society on these people. Who knows with the Ancients.

[@Ceso123]

I think a lot of it could be ancient based. As the ring portals that come out of the ground are of ancient design

[@iana6713]

Would it be that some alien race might have landed on the world where those parasites first spawned, and one of them was taken as a host? As soon as that happened, said creature would have access to the host's memories and knowledge, so being eventually able to operate that technology. Basically, they stole it from its original builders, carried out some improvements, and went out to plunder the galaxy like a plague of locusts.

[@tompearce5418]

After the Ancients essentially became extinct ten thousand years ago the Asgard assumed responsibility for shepherding humanity to become the Fifth Race of the Great Alliance

[@Cyberlisk]

To me it's pretty clear they got the vast majority of their techology from the Ancients. It is known that stargates and ring transporters, two of their most important technologies, are of Ancient design. That many devices don't look like that doesn't contradict it at all. The Ancients were a large and long lasting civilization after all, and most technology we see from them on the shows is Lanthean. Medieval Arabian and Victorian English technology and architecture don't look alike either, yet they are both Human and only a few hundred years apart. The Ancient civilization spanned thousands if not millions of years, and we've seen their technology design has changed - just compare the Destiny to Atlantis. As you said, the Ancients were not very protective about their technology falling into foreign hands, unlike the Nox or Tollans. So the Goa'uld probably gathered Ancient technology from different ages and modified them to their needs. For example, Ancients used biometric device activation, and so did the Goa'uld, but they changed the "key" from having an Ancient gene to just having Naquadah in your blood.

[@thereaver8083]

That episode where they depicted the Furlings as Ewok-like creatures was a joke. No one really knows what they actually looked like or if they are truly extinct. I like to think they took the same path as the Nox and either use their technology to hide themselves or just abandoned the Milky Way and returned to their home galaxy.

[@scitrek]

Yep we know almost nothing about the Furlings. We saw hints of their technology but nothing more

[@UltimatePerfection]

Well, Nirti (or whatever she was called) was quite a gifted mad scientist, though her specialty seemed to be genetics. Perhaps there were more Goa'uld scientists that either were destroyed prior to the movies and the series or weren't mentioned to begin with. I mean, a lot of Goa'uld tech requires either an active or a former host to be used so even if it was acquired and not invented, it was at the very least modified to only work for Goa'uld.

[@jasonluvisi]

Wait.... I don't think they took on the persona of the ancient gods. It's the other way around right?... The ancient gods and myths were based on them and their technology. Their starship designs don't look like the pyramids... the pyramids look like their starship designs.

[@nihilityjoey]

This is accurate. This video is very flimsy. It's like he's suggesting that the gou'ald found all of their ships - with their own language on them. The gou'ald may have found various sources of technology, allowing them to produce their own. But they made all of their own technology, with the exception of a few pieces.

[@CarlosSahajdacny]

*The PIRAMID DESIGN was taken from the world of that gigantic dude, QUETZALCOATL*

[@michaelthomas5433]

Only the mighty earthlings could ever develop slug throwers. Guns, baby!

[@colinleat8309]

I think as others have speculated, that they scavenged from various sources. Side note, why weren't the Tolan considered the 5th Race?

[@John73John]

I think the Tolan didn't develop until after the Great Alliance fell apart. The Nox went into hiding, the Ancients moved to Pegasus, the Furlings disappeared, and the Asgard were the only ones left and were starting to decline in power due to their genetic degradation issue. It was only after that point that the Tolan became technologically advanced, somehow overlooked by the Goa'uld for whatever reason.

[@eddybulk1992]

It is not a society(Earth)that is said to be the fifth race but humans and the tollans are human no matter how "more"advanced they think they are but this is just my opinion greetings from The Netherlands

[@melvinhoward8964]

From a few ancients they took as host

[@mrbojangles8133]

actually the Ancients weren't the only ones in tv and film to not tidy up after themselves. even in Knight Rider FLAG did this quite terribly

[@Thkaal]

Big four aces?

[@nihilityjoey]

Let me ask you then. Did they dig up the sarcophagus? Sis they dig up their ships? The hand device? Are you trying yo say they never made anything??

[@boo453]

Stargate Worlds was going to introduce the concept of "caretaker races". The Goa'uld were supposed to be the Furling caretaker race. Humanity was the caretaker race of the Ancients. We don't really have much else to go on than that, but it does seem a lot of the Goa'uld tech might have been Furlinv

[@ericstrobel2800]

The ring platforms were Ancient, weren’t they?

[@Cyclonus84]

I thought the Goa'uld were created by The Furlings. I heard they were supposed to be their caretaker Race. If so The Goa'uld may have turned on The Furlings and took their tech as their own. And used their knowledge of the Stargates to obtain more tech.

[@scitrek]

Caretakerceace makes sense but never said in canon. I think the furlings theory is a good one though

[@JT-Fuzzinator-B]

For all of those that like to write their own fan fiction I am one of those and in one of my parts of my story I actually go back to when ra first became anything else but an unas. I basically say that he first became a furling absorbed all of that technology and got other goau'ld under him to do the same then he rose to a higher power among the others that's also how he was able to fool an Asgard eventually and get possession of one of them. Even though the movie version of an Asgard supposed anyway doesn't look enough like an Asgard but that's what the theory amongst many is. Instead what if you didn't get to an Asgard body and that's what a furling really looks like which is slightly lizard-like. I hope this gets some fans thinking.

[@LJGrindewald]

I agree about the Asgard. I think it's an earlier body of one between their original Asgard forms and the smaller cloned ones we see in the show. I think over time the form changed and got smaller.

[@JT-Fuzzinator-B]

@@LJGrindewald season 5 of SGU episode 22 reveals what the Asgard used to look like which is why I don't think that they would evolve into what is in the movie maybe it's even another race but just never pictured an Asgard looking like that with a split upper lip. Also when Elizabeth weir was an energy life form transformed from a replicator body she told her friends that you'd be surprised how many advanced life forms there are out in the Galaxy.

[@JT-Fuzzinator-B]

But also thank you for the response Glad I got someone thinking about the subject.

[@edwin.jansen]

Just like they did in 1947. Read Philip Corso’s book.

[@TheCrazyMoparDude68]

They do have great knowledge of some of the ancient technology, like the gate system and the rings, but are clueless when it comes to the drones and some of the other ancient tech like ZPMs. And all of that technology was around at the same time. So if they got it from the ancients, then you would think they would have gotten not just the gate and rings, but the drones and the ZPMs. Instead, their tech is powered by a different source and their weapons are nothing like the drones. Plus none of their personal weapons are like that if the ancients, so it would seem they got that tech from some other race. If the Goa’uld have been around since before the ancients ascended, it would make send that they took some as hosts and learned a lot from them. Remember, the ancient are basically an extremely advanced version of humans that ascended a million years before modern day. So they would have made great hosts. And the Ancients shared their tech with the other races of the four, so that could explain the Goa’uld getting tech that doesn’t appear to be based on Ancient tech. And maybe the drones and ZPMs were developed later in the history of the ancients after they found a way to battle the Goa’uld and not be used as hosts anymore. I would say that they got their tech from multiple sources over millions of years. From the Ancients, the Nox, the Furlings , and other advanced humans that were taken from Earth and developed on their own. And I don’t think the Furlings were cute furry creatures. The word fur is an Earth (English) word and it is highly doubtful that an entire race would be named based on an Earth word that wasn’t even known when the Furlings were around. The real question is why did the Goa’uld copy the pyramids? Or did they just happen to have ships that looked like they did, with the pyramid in the center? It is a pretty unusual design for a space ship. When they first came to Earth, maybe they couldn’t land their mother ships and had to use shuttles or the ring system left by the Ancients. Did they have the Earthlings build the pyramids so they could actually land their mother ships on the surface? Or did the pyramids already exist, along with the whole god structure and mythology, and the Goa’uld simply used it to control the Earthlings? Kinda like the whole chicken and the egg debate.

[@lnk77]

On next clip, WRITE ALL IDEAS ON A PAPER FIRST

[@LJGrindewald]

Yeah, they definitely took technology but when they take over their host, they take that person's knowledge like reading the hosts brain of information and memories. There is some copying of the ancients though. If you look at some of the patterns on the ship interior they're the same patterns you see on the gates. Probably their way of lying that they created them, being false gods and all.

[@philc1972able]

It was invented by script writers

[@thorlof23]

i'm thinking they got there tech furrlings

[@0011peace]

the rings where definately from the acients as bot raes used it expect the got som of thier tech drom the Ashen. The o Ashen seem like the only who would have and use the sacougus tech, WHile not evil the acients b wre araogat. That is how the oginal gould git iff the planet of orgin. And, they stole probably some of it from other races. Sg 1 got tech as much from goul'd as well as the asgard, All the furling episodes wer4 spoofs from idea for or the paraoy wormhole extreme. Other than they were of the Alliance with the othr 3 we know aboutely nothing about them

[@scitrek]

Yes the Goauld and lots of other races just started using the gate network.

[@colinmoore7460]

They stole it! Not so pure or simple, and had their slaves make it look "Egyptian", end of!

[@MrRich2u]

The Goa'uld suffered with the same problem all tyrants do...Plot armor working against them. I mean once SG1 started showing up, you would think they would have guarded the gates. Thats what their minions are for after all.

[@diakritika]

Borg but lazy?

[@edaciousx]

WTF sound warning are you kidding me??? I had my headphones in

[@andrewparkin4036]

I think its possible they scavenged a lot of their tech from lesser races that were technologically advanced, or planets they conquered as part of their domains and then shared tech. The sarcophagus tech was designed by a Goa'uld, Telchak i think.