Okay, unlike most people, when I first heard that Vala was coming back onto the show for the five episode arc I thought, cool, that'll be interesting, she's a character we only saw once before and they're going to develop her some more. Plus I felt it would add a little more story to the Prometheus Bound episode of Season Seven when she first appeared. During the five episode arc her character remained relativly the same as it was during her first appearance on the show in Season Seven. She was the sexy vixen thief with a bit of a crush on Daniel. She was loaded with the sexual innuendo jokes and her hair and make-up made her look like a woman in charge of her life and in power of everything around her.
Now don't misunderstand me, I'm not against character development, I love it, I think it's what kept SG-1 alive all these years. I enjoyed finding out she was once a Goa'uld, and that she made deals with the Lucien Alliance. It gave her character a little more depth. I mean, SG-1 got so good at telling character development that just changes in their hairstyle showed great development. O'Neill got older, Teal'c well, he got hair and a beard at one point, Daniel became slightly less geek-ish when he cut his hair, and somewhat less 70s when he got rid of those sideburns.
However when she returned at the start of season ten her character completed changed! I was really psyched to hear that Vala was coming back to be a regular, she was a unique character to the show and worked well in those five episodes at the start of season five. Plus I thought it'd be interesting to see Browder and Black back together as regulars.
I hated to be honest what they did to her character, I mean, I know she's been gone and she's been pregnant and stuff but that should maybe just soften her character up a little on the inside, make her a little more considerate of other peoples feelings. What I really didn't like is that they seemed to turn her into this little school-girl looking character. The double pony-tail, and the constant following Daniel around. Now this occasionally works for humour and I know they had to distance her from Claudia's character in Farscape but I mean come on, they changed her character completely!
When it got further into the season I got a little used to it, but in the early episodes like The Pegasus Project, I felt it kinda disrupted the dynamic of the team. Later on in episodes like "The Quest" and "Counterstrike", we saw a more serious part of Vala and I was glad to see that, it provided a lot of relief for a character who lately had mostly just been well... comic relief.
But my question still remains, where did all the sexy, hard-hitting, cool girl stuf go and when did it get replaced by the little school girl, following Daniel like a little lamb routine? I mean don't get me wrong, I love Claudia Black, I think she's a fantastic actress and probably one of the best SG-1 has ever had on the show, the fact her character has changed so drastically and she can still pull it off is a testament to that. But I personally blame the writers for this not Claudia.
I loved Vala and felt she was such a cool character at first, then this change happened and I feel that this new Vala doesn't quite mix with the team as well as the old Vala did. I mean yeah the writers needed her to soften up for the love story between her and Daniel but still, she could still have been the same character and her love for Daniel would have been even better I think because it would have shown her to be about more than just sexual feelings for him. It would have been one of those cracked armour type stories rather than the school-girl crush we're kinda currently seeing.
I'd love to see the Old Vala come back a little more personally in the TV Movies.
What do you guys think of this?
Now don't misunderstand me, I'm not against character development, I love it, I think it's what kept SG-1 alive all these years. I enjoyed finding out she was once a Goa'uld, and that she made deals with the Lucien Alliance. It gave her character a little more depth. I mean, SG-1 got so good at telling character development that just changes in their hairstyle showed great development. O'Neill got older, Teal'c well, he got hair and a beard at one point, Daniel became slightly less geek-ish when he cut his hair, and somewhat less 70s when he got rid of those sideburns.
However when she returned at the start of season ten her character completed changed! I was really psyched to hear that Vala was coming back to be a regular, she was a unique character to the show and worked well in those five episodes at the start of season five. Plus I thought it'd be interesting to see Browder and Black back together as regulars.
I hated to be honest what they did to her character, I mean, I know she's been gone and she's been pregnant and stuff but that should maybe just soften her character up a little on the inside, make her a little more considerate of other peoples feelings. What I really didn't like is that they seemed to turn her into this little school-girl looking character. The double pony-tail, and the constant following Daniel around. Now this occasionally works for humour and I know they had to distance her from Claudia's character in Farscape but I mean come on, they changed her character completely!
When it got further into the season I got a little used to it, but in the early episodes like The Pegasus Project, I felt it kinda disrupted the dynamic of the team. Later on in episodes like "The Quest" and "Counterstrike", we saw a more serious part of Vala and I was glad to see that, it provided a lot of relief for a character who lately had mostly just been well... comic relief.
But my question still remains, where did all the sexy, hard-hitting, cool girl stuf go and when did it get replaced by the little school girl, following Daniel like a little lamb routine? I mean don't get me wrong, I love Claudia Black, I think she's a fantastic actress and probably one of the best SG-1 has ever had on the show, the fact her character has changed so drastically and she can still pull it off is a testament to that. But I personally blame the writers for this not Claudia.
I loved Vala and felt she was such a cool character at first, then this change happened and I feel that this new Vala doesn't quite mix with the team as well as the old Vala did. I mean yeah the writers needed her to soften up for the love story between her and Daniel but still, she could still have been the same character and her love for Daniel would have been even better I think because it would have shown her to be about more than just sexual feelings for him. It would have been one of those cracked armour type stories rather than the school-girl crush we're kinda currently seeing.
I'd love to see the Old Vala come back a little more personally in the TV Movies.
What do you guys think of this?
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