Replicators

<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The Replicators are self-replicating machines from the series Stargate SG-1. The singular goal of the Replicators is to multiply. They consume advanced technology and raw materials, using them to further increase their numbers and find new resources to consume.

1 Composition and Operation
2 Origin
3 History
4 Human-Form Replicators
5 Replicator Carter
6 Asurans
7 Key Episodes

Composition and Operation

Replicator created by Reese

The Asgard analysis of the Replicators determined that they are what they eat. Whatever materials the Replicators consume is used to make more Replicators. The more advanced the material, the more advanced the Replicators. Each Replicator is composed of individual blocks created by nanotechnology. The molecular cohesion of the blocks is controlled by Kieron pathways.

Each brick is joined together with hundreds of others to form larger units resembling spiders or other insect shapes. The Replicators operate in groups and have been seen to form a significantly larger unit made up of hundreds of bugs. They are capable of strategic and complex thinking and can reform themselves to create any object required including ships.

Replicators typically don't attack unless aggravated or obstructed from completing their task. When attacked, they can spit acid, which is also used to dissolve the materials they consume. Goa'uld energy weapons have proven ineffective at stopping Replicators. Earth projectile weapons such as guns proved very effective, but only as a short-term defensive measure.

Origin

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

Reese

The Replicators were created by the female android Reese as toys. Reese was discovered alone on her home planet in the episode "Menace" and reactivated at the SGC. She appeared to be a young woman but had the mental capacity and emotional instability of a child. Reese was capable of reordering matter on a molecular level and taught her toys to make more of themselves and to defend themselves when attacked. She eventually lost control of them. The simple command to replicate proved the undoing of the civilization that created her. After her "toys" destroyed her civilization, they left the planet.

History

The Replicators eventually made their way to the galaxy of Ida, where they became a threat to the Asgard. The Replicators were responsible for the Asgard's inability to enforce the Protected Planets Treaty. With all their resources devoted to battling the Replicators, they were unable to watch over the Milky Way efficiently. The Asgard's advanced technology proved a veritable feast for the Replicators, and all attempts to defeat them only served to make them more powerful.

In the episode "Nemesis," Thor's ship, The Beliskner, became infested with Replicators and reached Earth orbit. Jack O'Neill was beamed aboard to help Thor prevent Earth from being overtaken. The rest of SG-1 also beamed aboard to help and they successfully managed to destroy the ship and the Replicators by disabling the ship's deceleration drive. The ship burned up on entry into Earth atmosphere.

At least one Replicator survived The Beliskner's destruction, and overtook a Russian submarine in "Small Victories." Made out of the iron of the sub, the new Replicators were far less resilient than those aboard The Beliskner. O'Neill and Teal'c entered the sub to destroy the Replicators, and discovered that new Replicators were made by a much larger Replicator O'Neill nicknamed a "mother bug." They managed to hold off the Replicators for a while but were forced to rely on a missile to destroy the sub. They were rescued at the last minute by Thor.

In the same episode, Samantha Carter was taken by Thor to the Asgard homeworld Halla, where the planet was on the verge of being overrun by Replicators. Thor hoped Carter's less advanced way of thinking would devise a solution to the problem. Carter suggested they offer the Replicators the Asgard's most advanced ship yet, an incomplete vessel designed to fight the Replicators, known as The O'Neill. The Replicators took the bait and were destroyed when The O'Neill self-destructed.

Human-Form Replicators

In the episode "Unnatural Selection", SG-1 was rescued from deep space by Thor and recruited to fight the Replicators again. SG-1 took the Prometheus to the Asgard homeworld, which was completely overrun by Replicators. All the Replicators had been called to the homeworld in the hope of trapping them in a time-dilation field. The plan failed and the planet was consumed. SG-1 was tasked to manually activate the time-dilation device that would form a bubble around the planet and trap the Replicators until a means of eliminating them completely could be found.

On the planet, they discovered what appeared to be humans but were, in fact, Replicators who'd taken human form. These new Replicators, numbered according to the order of their creation, were capable of extracting information directly from the human mind by inserting their hands into a person's head. They also proved impervious to bullets.

The Replicators explained their origin. First was modeled after the android Reese, and then replicated more like himself. Fifth was an attempt to correct the flaw in Reese's programming that caused her instability. The others considered Fifth weak, and reverted to their original programming for the creation of others. Carter deduced that Fifth was what the creators originally intended Reese to be. He was more human in his responses and emotions and appeared capable of compassion.

Carter recruited Fifth to help them escape, promising to take him with them. Jack overruled her decision, and SG-1 escaped, leaving Fifth trapped inside the time-dilation field with the other Replicators. Sam questioned Jack's decision to use Fifth's humanity against him but Jack was certain he made the right decision.

The time-dilation device did not prove to be the long-term solution the Asgard hoped for. In the Season 8 opener "New Order, Part 1," the Replicators inexplicably escaped the time-dilation field, and the Asgard resorted to desperate measures and collapsed Halla's star into a black hole. The Replicators managed to escape this as well, and headed for the Asgard's new home, Othalla. They transported Carter aboard their ship, where Fifth appeared to be the only remaining human-form Replicator. Fifth probed Carter's mind to take his revenge against her for abandoning him.

Carter was rescued by Thor and SG-1 when a new weapon was devised using the Ancient data in Jack O'Neill's mind. The weapon successfully disrupted the Kieron pathways holding the Replicator blocks together, effectively destroying them. The remaining Replicators retreated, and Fifth created a Replicator version of Carter based on the memories he extracted from her mind.

Replicator Carter

Replicator Carter came to the SGC in "Gemini" with news that the Replicators had a means of overcoming the Ancient weapon devised to destroy them. She successfully manipulated Carter into helping her modify the weapon, which proved to be what the Replicators needed to make themselves impervious to the weapon. Replicator Carter destroyed Fifth and took his place as the leader of the Replicators, leaving Carter with the monumental task of coming up with a new method of destroying them.

In "Reckoning, Part 1," Replicator Carter allowed herself to be taken prisoner by the Goa'uld. She killed Yu in what proved to be the beginning of an attack against the Goa'uld. She also sent Replicators to Earth, where they began to overrun the SGC.

Meanwhile, the rebel Jaffa started their first battle against the Goa'uld. Carter and Daniel Jackson accompanied Teal'c and Bra'tac to observe the first attack above Dakara. They were attacked by a Replicator-infested Goa'uld vessel, and Daniel was beamed away by Replicator Carter while the rest transported down to the planet.

Anubis, in league with Baal, had plans of his own to destroy the galaxy and recreate it in his own image using the Ancient Weapon at Dakara. Carter communicated via Teal'c and contacted Baal to gain his help in dialing all the Stargates at once. In cooperation with Carter and Selmak, who were on Dakara, Baal, communicating long distance via hologram, managed to reprogram the Stargates in the hope of using the Dakara weapon to destroy the Replicators.

Replicator Carter invaded Daniel's mind to access the Ancient knowledge buried within from his time as an Ascended being. Hidden in his mind was knowledge of a weapon capable of destroying the Replicators, the weapon at Dakara. She tried to assimilate all the Ancient knowledge but it exceeded the capabilities of the Replicators to store and understand. Daniel, also able to access the knowledge, was able to control and stop the Replicators for a moment. It was enough time for Carter and Jacob Carter/Selmak to engage the Dakara weapon. All the Stargates in the galaxy were activated, and the weapon, modified to disrupt the Replicators, spread a wave of energy throughout the galaxy, destroying the Replicators completely Or so they thought.

Asurans

also see main article Asurans

Oberoth

The Replicators in the Milky Way were not the only nanotechnology life forms. The Ancients invented a variation on the replicators from nanites. They were created to help fight the Wraith but evolved into a higher intelligence eventually taking on human form. When they failed as a weapon, they deleted all record of them from their database and destroyed most of them. The few that survived replicated themselves and built a city bigger than Atlantis but like it in many ways. The Atlantis team discovered them in the episode "Progeny."

Unlike their Milky Way counterparts, the Asurans are not tasked with the singular and destructive goal of self-replication at all costs. Their programming is far more stable than that of Reese which led to the Replicators destructive natures. The Asurans, while programmed to be violent, enjoy a stable society and for the most part, appear far more human. They share the ability to access the human mind with their Milky Way counterparts.

When they learned of the survival of Atlantis, the Asurans set off on a mission to destroy the city. Unlike the Replicators in the Milky Way, some Asurans strive for Ascension in the hope that they can finally be like their creators. This small group of dissidents aided the team in rewriting their base programing, hoping to eliminate their violent tendencies. The team got away taking the Asuran Niam with them after McKay successfully wrote a command into their programming, freezing the Replicators and giving the team enough time to overload the Zero Point Module and escape. The Asurans that remained on their home planet found out what happened and reset Niam's programming, the Asuran who helped them. When Niam attacked the Atlantis team, he was blown out the back of the Puddle Jumper and left floating in space.

The expedition encountered them again after discovering they were building vessels capable of reaching Earth. They successfully wiped out several main ship-building facilities but incurred an attack on Atlantis, forcing the city to move to a new planet. Dr. Rodney McKay finally found the means to their destruction by building and programming his own human-form replicator designed to attract the nanites to their homeworld where they were destroyed by their own mass sinking into the planet which then imploded.

While most Pegasus galaxy replicators appear to have been destroyed, it is unlikely that their destruction was complete. At least one Tau'ri scientist on Earth has successfully created and programmed human-form replicators in their experiments with the technology.