Originally posted by astrogeologist
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Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation
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Hey, I'm just gonna jump in here with a fic rec... its not really a SamFic, but its a very well written TeamFic
First Light by Charli Booker and Gallagater.
It's a look into SG-1's minds from Dr Mackenzie's (among others) POV, I found it interesting to read
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Here's another of the Season 9 Sam storylines that I think would be cool (for when she's not playing in the Cartercopter):
Sam experiments with Goa'uld tech, using her legacy from Jolinar. Maybe using a hand-device in the field to save the team from an otherwise outgunned situation... maybe using the healing device to save someone's life... and then she passes out from the draining effects of the device (she doesn't know how to control it... and she opens herself to it too much to get it to work)....
And then Jolinar's legacy gets Sam when they are exploring a new planet... maybe Sam gets sick - and none of the rest of the team is affected - because the naquadah and protein marker make her susceptible to a virus or some such. Or maybe they are in a region of space that causes the naquadah in her bloodstream to 'get energized'... or makes it react differently on a molecular level with the other components of her bloodstream or...
So, to summarize - something dealing with Jolinar's legacy would be cool - both the talents and powers that it gives Sam (and how she struggles to use and/or control them) as well as something where Jolinar's legacy puts Sam at great risk.
What I don't want to see in Season 9: Anything that can be worded along the lines of that horrible one-sentence summary for Gemini (Carter's emotions put the earth at risk <gag!>)
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Originally posted by sg-1fanintnI'm so glad that Comcast.net had the Cartercopter on as a news item last week! You guys have really "flown off" with it, especially SamFan31. I'm glad I found something that created so much fun for us all!
(I have saved all the pictures SamFan31 made of the Cartercopter, for posterity!)
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i would love to see a fic where jolinar's left overs aren't just a 'get out of plot issues free card' and be something 'real'
such as, there's fic where sam's in trouble because they sensed the naqahdah and thought she was bad. the powers that be spoiler:Spoiler:kinda like the vala story that's coming up, the one that's a retread of cor-ai
or one that i did where something on the planet made sam sick because it'd been genetically engineered to attack goaulds, and didn't know the difference between a tok'ra host and a goauld host
i would love to see sam face some sort of issues because of jolinar, and triple bonus points if they FINALLY dealt with her feelings about the whole thing.
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Originally posted by astrogeologistHere's another of the Season 9 Sam storylines that I think would be cool (for when she's not playing in the Cartercopter):
Sam experiments with Goa'uld tech, using her legacy from Jolinar. Maybe using a hand-device in the field to save the team from an otherwise outgunned situation... maybe using the healing device to save someone's life... and then she passes out from the draining effects of the device (she doesn't know how to control it... and she opens herself to it too much to get it to work)....
And then Jolinar's legacy gets Sam when they are exploring a new planet... maybe Sam gets sick - and none of the rest of the team is affected - because the naquadah and protein marker make her susceptible to a virus or some such. Or maybe they are in a region of space that causes the naquadah in her bloodstream to 'get energized'... or makes it react differently on a molecular level with the other components of her bloodstream or...
Just something that I've been pondering for some time now.
KatLast edited by ForeverSg1; 02 May 2005, 07:12 PM.
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my understanding is (and bear inmind that tptb tend to change this stuff to suit their current plot needs at any given time) that the naqahdah is something that was in jolinar. it's what allowed her to control the neat toys. and when jols was absorbed into sam's system that naqahdah was absorbed as well
the protein marker came also from jols absorbing into sam. it was a chemical change created by the symbiote decaying (which is something else they've ignored, how did sam deal with several ounces of alien creature decaying into her system without some huge infection or septic shock?)
now since kanan left jack's body, he has no protein marker, he's never absorbed a symbiote. he MIGHT have a little naqahdah from cells that kanan sloughed off, but apparantly not much
teal'c has nothing that we know of. no symbiote has ever been absorbed into his system and he and junior never really shared a body, junior was more of a parasite than a symbiote
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Originally posted by CarterslaveI'm glad that Astrogeologist brought up Red Sky, which makes an instructive contrast to Gemini. In the former, Sam took a shortcut—as we are all wont to do, from time to time—and had to deal with the unintended consequences. But she then arrived at a potential solution (the ending is ambiguous as to whether it worked or not). But the initial mistake & its attempted solution were products of her brilliance.
In Gemini, in order for the plot to work, Carter had to be dumbassified (as did Jack & Teal'c). RepliCarter shows up with a far-fetched sob story & Sam accepts it for reasons that boil down to "woman's intuition." She's making emotion-based decisions & O'Neill should have stepped in & overruled her. (The first time I saw Gemini, my suspicion was that Sam was taking a dive in order to justify supplanting her with Mitchell in S9. We'll see.)
By chance, I saw 48 Hours a few days ago.
The actions of Carter, Teal’c, and Jack would appear “dumbassified” (and that is a great word, Carterslave!) if the assumption is that replicators are evil (and I don’t necessarily mean that in a philosophical or moral sense, but in the sense that their main goal is to replicate themselves with no consideration of anything else), capable of doing nothing but evil (again, in the sense that they can do nothing but destroy), and have no hope for redemption (thereby making Replicarter's story "far-fetched"). If that is the basic assumption, then yes, obviously they never should have trusted Replicarter, and they should have blown her away at the first opportunity.
I’m not going to say that this interpretation is wrong, because I can see how a legitimate argument could be made for it. It’s a fairly safe assumption that Replicarter was up to no good, and the safest option available to them, obviously, was to destroy her without question. In a realistic risk/benefit assessment, the risks of trusting her (even a little) could arguably have outweighed the potential benefits.
However, I think there is an equally valid argument that the safe route was not necessarily the most ethically or philosophically correct route, or at least not at the point when Replicarter initially contacted them. Let’s assume for a moment that Carter, Teal’c, and Jack did not have access to spoilers telling them that Carter’s emotions will put the entire Earth in danger. There is one key element that I feel justifies their actions:
They don’t know for certain that the humanoid replicators like Fifth are capable of nothing but evil and have no hope for redemption. I did not find her story to be entirely far-fetched, and here is why:
Fifth was flawed. And that flaw made him more human than the others. That was made very clear in Unnatural Selection. At the end of Unnatural Selection, Jack forced Carter to use Fifth’s humanity against him. Emphasis on Fifth’s humanity and his emotional responses were reinforced in New Order when they showed his rage at being betrayed (as well as his love for Carter, twisted though it was). For all SG-1 knew at the beginning of Gemini, that flaw, that element of humanity, had been passed on to Replicarter. I don’t think it’s a huge leap in logic to allow for the possibility that Fifth created Replicarter in his own flawed image. Given that Replicarter also claimed to have been given Carter’s memories and emotions, I believe it even strengthened the argument that here was a replicator that could have been even more “human” (or “flawed”) than Fifth.
So, we have a question about the best course of action to take when presented by Replicarter. Do you take the safe route, and destroy? Or do you take the dangerous route, based on potentialities? (Or a slightly different route, with someone other than Carter assigned to the mission, but still trying to get info out of Replicarter.) The latter options both have some risk associated with them, but they allow for the possibility that Replicarter is flawed... and therefore maybe she has human emotions...that perhaps she is telling the truth; perhaps she can help them in battle against Fifth and the other replicators; perhaps she can be trusted, and perhaps she can be redeemed….
Yes, there are a lot of perhapses there. But I freely admit to being a potentiality kind of person. I’m a dreamer, an idealist, and I believe in the possibility of redemption. In my opinion, what Jack ordered Sam to do in Unnatural Selection was ethically wrong. Safe, yes. Smart, maybe. But I don’t believe that smart and safe always equate to “right” in the grand scheme of good vs. evil. My naïve, innocent, optimistic view of the universe is that we should give people a chance to prove themselves, even when there is risk involved.
Teal’c was their enemy in the beginning (trusted on nothing more than "O'Neill's intuition"... and why should that be any more valid than "women's intuition," I wonder... ) and there was risk in trusting him, too, and yet he proved himself a valuable ally. If given a chance, perhaps Fifth would have been, as well. If given a chance, perhaps Replicarter could have been too. That's the chance they gave her. So, it turned out that Fifth learned his lesson of betrayal a little too well, and Jack's mistake in ordering Carter to betray him came back and bit them... Sometimes you take a chance and it backfires. But that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't the "right" thing to do.
My Grandma Carter (yes, I have Carter blood in me!) had a wonderful saying: Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Blowing away Replicarter without giving her a chance would have been safe (and risk free). But I still maintain that it also would have been ethically questionable given that they had no idea where she stood on the sliding replicator scale of human-like flaws. They did not know if Replicarter was good or evil. Her creator was flawed; she could have been flawed, too. She could have been a tremendous help to them.
The problem with “shoot first, ask questions later” is that you don’t actually get to ask questions after you’ve killed or destroyed someone. And it’s not a good way to make friends. One could just as legitimately argue that destroying Replicarter right off the bat would have been a terrible waste of an opportunity for interrogation and an expression of extreme paranoia. I am very thankful that SG-1 does not usually operate under the “shoot first” philosophy. Where would be the fun in blowing up every alien they encounter?
So, I still argue that Carter’s compassion is not a bad thing; and I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree about whether taking risks based on compassion and potentialities is dumb. Maybe they could have done some things better, but to me this was a much more interesting story, and I don't think it necessary dumbassified anyone. I think it might all boil down to an issue of realism vs. idealism, and I have tried to present the side of idealism here. But if Carter was a dumbass in this episode, then I’m a dumbass, too. But I guess I could have worse role models.
Wow, and after reading this back over, I see it turned into a mini-novel, and I have no idea if any of it makes any sense. But I guess we're all allowed a few long rants, right? No intention to sound mean or depressing... It's all just an interesting philosophical debate on my part.
My LJ
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Originally posted by astrogeologistOK, here's another of my ideas for a Season 9 (or 10) Sam-story that I'd like to see: Sam is hurt and close to death... Ascended Daniel comes to talk to her while she hovers between life and death. But Daniel's not Ascended anymore you say? Ah, but there's my cool twist -- it's AU Ascended Danile that comes to visit our Sam! He could even be on the screen with our Daniel... they could exchange a few words... maybe about hair or some such... You see AU Ascended Daniel never went against the rules of the Ascended - he never took on Anubis and then got 'descended'. Or even better, AU Ascended Daniel only makes himself visible to Sam, so our Daniel thinks she's delirious when she talks to and replies to someone that he can't hear or see. Our Sam would explain to AU Daniel why our Daniel is descended... and attempt to explain to our Daniel that she's talking to an AU Ascended Daniel... and he would be skeptical and still think that she's probably delirious... which she could be... but there's still AU Ascended Daniel there... Or is she hallucinating as she did on the Prometheus? Oooo, they could leave that episode with so many unanswered questions about what was real and what wasn't!
My LJ
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Originally posted by Strix variaI think the divergence of opinion about Gemini stems from a fundamentally different interpretation of the nature of replicators (and perhaps humanity, as well…given natural tendencies towards realism or idealism).
(snippage)
Wow, and after reading this back over, I see it turned into a mini-novel, and I have no idea if any of it makes any sense. But I guess we're all allowed a few long rants, right? No intention to sound mean or depressing... It's all just an interesting philosophical debate on my part.
concerning realism vrs idealism, i'm in the middle. i just didn't see what she did or didn't do in this ep as a big deal really, but i do understand what others are saying. i guess i just never dug too deep, or wanted to, even after reading everyone's thoughts. my pet peeves were chimera's ending for sam, and fragile balance for jack. (maybe those were enough of a blow that i have brain damage now )
sallysally
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Originally posted by Skydiver
... I would love to see sam face some sort of issues because of jolinar, and triple bonus points if they FINALLY dealt with her feelings about the whole thing.
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Wow I gotta tell ya...I am really disappointed right now...
I just got the DVD boxset for Season 3 and was horrified to find NO audio commentaries. Are there none available for Seasons 1-3?
I really wanted to hear the one for Foothold...one of my very favorite Sam eps.
What a bummer.
...You're ALWAYS Welcome in Samanda: Amanda's Community of New Fans and Old Friends...
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Originally posted by Strix variaI think the divergence of opinion about Gemini stems from a fundamentally different interpretation of the nature of replicators (and perhaps humanity, as well…given natural tendencies towards realism or idealism).
The actions of Carter, Teal’c, and Jack would appear “dumbassified” (and that is a great word, Carterslave!) if the assumption is that replicators are evil (and I don’t necessarily mean that in a philosophical or moral sense, but in the sense that their main goal is to replicate themselves with no consideration of anything else), capable of doing nothing but evil (again, in the sense that they can do nothing but destroy), and have no hope for redemption (thereby making Replicarter's story "far-fetched"). If that is the basic assumption, then yes, obviously they never should have trusted Replicarter, and they should have blown her away at the first opportunity.
I’m not going to say that this interpretation is wrong, because I can see how a legitimate argument could be made for it. It’s a fairly safe assumption that Replicarter was up to no good, and the safest option available to them, obviously, was to destroy her without question. In a realistic risk/benefit assessment, the risks of trusting her (even a little) could arguably have outweighed the potential benefits.
However, I think there is an equally valid argument that the safe route was not necessarily the most ethically or philosophically correct route, or at least not at the point when Replicarter initially contacted them. Let’s assume for a moment that Carter, Teal’c, and Jack did not have access to spoilers telling them that Carter’s emotions will put the entire Earth in danger. There is one key element that I feel justifies their actions:
They don’t know for certain that the humanoid replicators like Fifth are capable of nothing but evil and have no hope for redemption. I did not find her story to be entirely far-fetched, and here is why:
Fifth was flawed. And that flaw made him more human than the others. That was made very clear in Unnatural Selection. At the end of Unnatural Selection, Jack forced Carter to use Fifth’s humanity against him. Emphasis on Fifth’s humanity and his emotional responses were reinforced in New Order when they showed his rage at being betrayed (as well as his love for Carter, twisted though it was). For all SG-1 knew at the beginning of Gemini, that flaw, that element of humanity, had been passed on to Replicarter. I don’t think it’s a huge leap in logic to allow for the possibility that Fifth created Replicarter in his own flawed image. Given that Replicarter also claimed to have been given Carter’s memories and emotions, I believe it even strengthened the argument that here was a replicator that could have been even more “human” (or “flawed”) than Fifth.
So, we have a question about the best course of action to take when presented by Replicarter. Do you take the safe route, and destroy? Or do you take the dangerous route, based on potentialities? (Or a slightly different route, with someone other than Carter assigned to the mission, but still trying to get info out of Replicarter.) The latter options both have some risk associated with them, but they allow for the possibility that Replicarter is flawed... and therefore maybe she has human emotions...that perhaps she is telling the truth; perhaps she can help them in battle against Fifth and the other replicators; perhaps she can be trusted, and perhaps she can be redeemed….
Yes, there are a lot of perhapses there. But I freely admit to being a potentiality kind of person. I’m a dreamer, an idealist, and I believe in the possibility of redemption. In my opinion, what Jack ordered Sam to do in Unnatural Selection was ethically wrong. Safe, yes. Smart, maybe. But I don’t believe that smart and safe always equate to “right” in the grand scheme of good vs. evil. My naïve, innocent, optimistic view of the universe is that we should give people a chance to prove themselves, even when there is risk involved.
Teal’c was their enemy in the beginning (trusted on nothing more than "O'Neill's intuition"... and why should that be any more valid than "women's intuition," I wonder... ) and there was risk in trusting him, too, and yet he proved himself a valuable ally. If given a chance, perhaps Fifth would have been, as well. If given a chance, perhaps Replicarter could have been too. That's the chance they gave her. So, it turned out that Fifth learned his lesson of betrayal a little too well, and Jack's mistake in ordering Carter to betray him came back and bit them... Sometimes you take a chance and it backfires. But that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't the "right" thing to do.
My Grandma Carter (yes, I have Carter blood in me!) had a wonderful saying: Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Blowing away Replicarter without giving her a chance would have been safe (and risk free). But I still maintain that it also would have been ethically questionable given that they had no idea where she stood on the sliding replicator scale of human-like flaws. They did not know if Replicarter was good or evil. Her creator was flawed; she could have been flawed, too. She could have been a tremendous help to them.
The problem with “shoot first, ask questions later” is that you don’t actually get to ask questions after you’ve killed or destroyed someone. And it’s not a good way to make friends. One could just as legitimately argue that destroying Replicarter right off the bat would have been a terrible waste of an opportunity for interrogation and an expression of extreme paranoia. I am very thankful that SG-1 does not usually operate under the “shoot first” philosophy. Where would be the fun in blowing up every alien they encounter?
So, I still argue that Carter’s compassion is not a bad thing; and I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree about whether taking risks based on compassion and potentialities is dumb. Maybe they could have done some things better, but to me this was a much more interesting story, and I don't think it necessary dumbassified anyone. I think it might all boil down to an issue of realism vs. idealism, and I have tried to present the side of idealism here. But if Carter was a dumbass in this episode, then I’m a dumbass, too. But I guess I could have worse role models.
Wow, and after reading this back over, I see it turned into a mini-novel, and I have no idea if any of it makes any sense. But I guess we're all allowed a few long rants, right? No intention to sound mean or depressing... It's all just an interesting philosophical debate on my part.
This was a very well-stated argument based on the fact that, yes, when Replicarter first appeared, no one could determine her intentions. Was she to be trusted as friend or despised as foe? And how much of Fifth was replicated in her? His fatal flaw was his own human trust and compassion (remember when he carried SG1 back to their ship so they could rest more comfortably?) Of course, as Sam says at end of Gemini, he then learned the newer, darker human behaviors from SG1: he learned how to betray because he was betrayed. Anger and revenge soon followed.
There is a moralistic view which says that no one deliberately chooses evil - even criminals, in their own minds, are choosing something they perceive as good. RepliCarter reminds Daniel in a later episode that her creation seems like destruction to him. And she chides Sam for wasting "the greatness in you". Her means to an end (self preservation of her species) is not seen as reprehensible. She will do anything she has to do in order to survive. Deceit and murder are tools to gaining her goals.
By being vulnerable and trusting, Sam became more human. And by being manipulative and deceitful, RepliCarter became less. When she killed her maker and despised him, she was actually killing the part of her that could have been redeemed. In many ways, it was already hidden in Fifth because of his own hurt and need for revenge. But there did seem to be an original kernel of humanity in Fifth which could have been refined or redeemed.
Why not err on the side of goodness? I'm with you too ... Carter followed her idealistic, moral side rather than the practical, realistic model. But she was being true to herself when she did this. Her intentions were pure, even though RepliCarter's were not. So I can respect her for that and be more compassionate and forgiving. She took the higher road and she paid the price. Fifth's fatal flaw was his trusting nature; was that Sam's too?
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Originally posted by ÜberSG-1FanWow I gotta tell ya...I am really disappointed right now...
I just got the DVD boxset for Season 3 and was horrified to find NO audio commentaries. Are there none available for Seasons 1-3?
I really wanted to hear the one for Foothold...one of my very favorite Sam eps.
What a bummer.
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Originally posted by Strix variaThe actions of Carter, Teal’c, and Jack would appear “dumbassified” ... if the assumption is that replicators are evil (and I don’t necessarily mean that in a philosophical or moral sense, but in the sense that their main goal is to replicate themselves with no consideration of anything else)
Originally posted by Strix variaAt the end of Unnatural Selection, Jack forced Carter to use Fifth’s humanity against him.
Originally posted by Strix variaSo, we have a question about the best course of action to take when presented by Replicarter. Do you take the safe route, and destroy? Or do you take the dangerous route, based on potentialities?
Originally posted by Strix variaperhaps she can be trusted, and perhaps she can be redeemed….
Originally posted by Strix variaBut I don’t believe that smart and safe always equate to “right” in the grand scheme of good vs. evil.
Originally posted by Strix variaTeal’c was their enemy in the beginning (trusted on nothing more than "O'Neill's intuition"... and why should that be any more valid than "women's intuition," I wonder...)
The moment that O'Neill saw that Carter wasn't thinking straight, he should have pulled the plug on the operation & told Teal'c to blow RepliCarter away. (But perhaps Jack's thinking was clouded by some tender emotions of his own; the writing seemed to suggest at least as much.)
Originally posted by Strix variaBlowing away Replicarter without giving her a chance would have been safe (and risk free). But I still maintain that it also would have been ethically questionable given that they had no idea where she stood on the sliding replicator scale of human-like flaws.
Originally posted by Strix variaThe problem with “shoot first, ask questions later” is that you don’t actually get to ask questions after you’ve killed or destroyed someone. And it’s not a good way to make friends. ... Where would be the fun in blowing up every alien they encounter?
Originally posted by Strix variaSo, I still argue that Carter’s compassion is not a bad thing; and I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree about whether taking risks based on compassion and potentialities is dumb.
Anyway Strix, I hope you've stuck with me this far b/c the only real problem I have with your exegesis is that it evinces far more thought about the plot of Gemini than the actual script does. You tangle a number of fascinating philosophical & metaphysical quandaries that PdL's teleplay won't touch with a 10-foot staff weapon.
Being an able fan fiction writer, you're experienced with providing an alternate narrative & ironing out inconsistencies. What you've done here, IMO, is outline the Gemini that should have been rather than the lesser Gemini that we actually got. It's like a Gemini 'fixit.'
And for that you are to be warmly congratulated. (ChopinGal's follow-up made a raft of astute points, too, but I've overdone the snippage already & belabored my points far too much. Kudos to two such insightful viewers, however.)
Finally (!) regarding the Hallucinating Carter idea, I've sort of had enough of Ascended Daniel for the time being. If Carter is going to be hovering between this world & the Great Beyond, I'd rather see her interact with someone meaningful (but dead) from her past ... Martouf, Jacob, etc. Maybe Janet could show up, look at Sam with those big, chocolate-brown eyes & say the three magic words Strix and I are dying to hear.
Jr. Member, Gateworld Curmudgeon Club
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