But making that an Ascended Rodney really, to me anyway, takes away the sacrifice Rodney made. It was through his sheer willpower and brilliance and self-sacrifice that he was able to set things up to bring John back and give him the intel they would need to - hopefully - thwart Michael's plans. I just think that to make the argument that it *could* be an Ascended version of Rodney instead of his hologram takes away from the pathos because while, yes, John is talking to a "computer" he knows that his friend - all his friends - are all long gone and he is truly alone. Again, even to suggest that this isn't true would seem to make John's predicament less frightening and desperate than it was. If Rodney's plan didn't work, John would be dead along with everyone else and Rodney's sacrifice would have been for nothing. But an Ascended Rodney could still pull some kind of rabbit out of his hat so where's the suspense and tension?

Hee, sorry, but I really just don't like that scenario. ;-)