Degrees of Realism

[sg_wonderland]

princessofgeeks  posed an interesting question about where a post-SGC Jack would live in the DC area. A fascinating discussion ensued which gave me a couple of thoughts. One, the SG-1 fandom is not dead since lots of folks offered differing and intelligent opinions. (I like to think of us as a diverse, think-y crowd!)

Which led me to this question: How much realism do you require in your SG-1 world? (I must admit to being one of the folks who, in at least one fic, put Jack in a neighborhood he probably couldn't afford.

What can you hand wave and where does that become the sticking point for you? The Air Force looks the other way for Jack/Daniel? For Jack/Sam? Daniel is finally allowed to publish a little something? Sam gets to change the face of physics?*

*On a purely personal note, I'd love to see Amanda Tapping make a Sam-appearance on The Big Bang Theory. I contend that any theoretical astrophysicist who is an avowed sci-fi fan would have at least one fantasy about himself and TV's goddess of physics. I'm just saying if Howard can do a tubby with Battlestar's Starbuck, then Leonard is bound to have dreams of an encounter with Sam.

Comments

[sulien]

Actually, I can see all three of the guys wanting to encounter Sam Carter. I have to say that I think Sheldon would fantasize Sam adoring him and providing him with data to prove his pet theories rather than being in any sort of romantic situation, though. I don't think Sheldon quite groks the concept of romantic love.

As for Jack, I think he would probably have something fairly minimal in a decent neighborhood of DC and would have hit Thor up for an Asgard transport beaming device to get him to and from his cabin on weekends and holidays. ;) I don't think cost would be much of a problem for jack, since base pay for an O-8 (two star, Lieutenant General) with over 20 years in service in 2005 was $10,700/month and the housing allowance (which is non-taxable) was probably in the neighborhood of at the very least $3,000/month for that paygrade in DC. Yeah, I don't think Jack would have a problem, so long as he didn't try to buy an estate or some ridiculous thing. If you ever need them, military pay tables from in the 1940's to the present can be found at this link.

In regards to the various 'ships, the military would never have allowed personnel to stay in a posting as long as they did in the series, let alone make allowances for romantic partnerships to develop and continue. SG-1 and Atlantis are total fantasies in more than just the speculative fiction category in those regards and I'm willing to hand wave all it takes for my teams. :)

[sulien]

Oh, and we're not even counting special duty pay of various types, which is also non-taxable. Officers make really good money after a few years!

Pardon the edit, but I got the wrong amount for housing allowance, which was actually around $1,300/month, not $3,000. :-p It may actually have been higher though, considering DC is a very expensive area.

And as a continuation of the main topic: As for hand-waving science, I'm okay with suspending my disbelief with a gigantic heavy construction crane, so long as the science is internally consistent within the universe in question. Oddly, I'm a little bit less okay with things like anthropology and mythology. However, I am Death when it comes to them screwing up with various real-life weapons and weapons systems, that bugs the crap out of me.

Sorry, I'm on muscle relaxers so I'm a bit more spastic than usual, which is bad enough to begin with. :-p