Everybody Hates Rodney

[Conor]

Did anyone else think that everyone was being a real ***** to Mckay in 'The Pegasus Project'? Sheppard with the lemon, Mitchell was just rude and Carter kept shouting at him! I think he's the best character and he was so funny on the Oddysey when he asked the crew if they wanted anything to eat! That was hilarious!

[Chutzpah]

I've been around people with personalities like Rodney’s (granted they aren't as smart, although many of them like to think they are). These people are usually a tremendous pain in the ass. I don't blame them.

Also, for the sake of entertainment, everything's exacurated

[Ltcolshepjumper]

Did anyone else think that everyone was being a real ***** to Mckay in 'The Pegasus Project'? Sheppard with the lemon, Mitchell was just rude and Carter kept shouting at him! I think he's the best character and he was so funny on the Oddysey when he asked the crew if they wanted anything to eat! That was hilarious!

They took that to the extreme, especially on the Oddyssey. There was really no reason for emmerson and his crew to glare at Mckay. Mitchell was very rude. I don't think it was right, especially when normally on Atlantis, Dr. Weir, Sheppard, or anyone treats him that way, and what Mckay did on Pegasus Project is minor compared to what he does in Atlantis on a regular basis.

[Gwin]

I think that Rodney gives no other choice than to be rude to him, I'm sorry,
Its what I miss with Atlantis, that no one shows him really his boundaries. Okay, Weir yelled at him after he blew up a solar system, but it didn't stop him from annoying the hell out of everyone and acting like "Mr. scientist of the century". And in "Pegasus Project" he acted exactly this way, but he had to work with people who didn't have to work with him every day, so I think that was the reason why especially Mitchell who was in charge didn't hide that he was annoyed of Rodney.
The other thing is, that Mitchell and his team were there for a reason, so especially Mitchell reacted in that way because he didn't want to waste time. And Rodney wasted a lot of time with beliving that SGC didn't do their homework.
That was the second problem, no one likes to be treated like an idiot or someone who didn't think about all possible solutions before making a 3 week flight to another galaxy. Rodney insulted them with treating them like idiots.
So he deserved the reactions.
And I liked the way Mitchell stopped him from finishing this sentence on the "Odyssey".

Don't misunderstand, I don't hate Rodney, but I think it was time that he got a small headwind. I bet his ego will survive that.

[anonymous Ben]

Oh come on. Sam likes McKay, alot i believe. Haven't you ever had that one friend who is pretty abrasive? someone who just likes to rub people and see there reaction, rodney do that all the time. He's a prick alot of times but he doesn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, and thats the same as the agrestion that alot of people direct back at him. Rodney is very condisending, Alot of the time, and when someone is talking down to you its hard to be friendly with them. that being said, rodney is my favorite atlantis character

[MasterPower]

Did anyone else think that everyone was being a real ***** to Mckay in 'The Pegasus Project'? Sheppard with the lemon, Mitchell was just rude and Carter kept shouting at him! I think he's the best character and he was so funny on the Oddysey when he asked the crew if they wanted anything to eat! That was hilarious!

Well who wouldn't yell at Rodney in that episode? He was complaining about everything. That's just who he is. He is still a cool character though.

[ladysarah]

The only thing I took away from this episode, as a fan of Atlantis and someone who has only watched a handful of SG1 episodes (and all those before Mitchell was in the cast)

was:

- that I won't ever watch an episode of SG1 again.
- And that Cameron Mitchell is a dick.

So, if the writers wanted to convert me to SG1, they failed miserably.

ETA: and I wont' say anymore on this subject on this thread.

[Gwin]

Oh come on. Sam likes McKay, alot i believe. Haven't you ever had that one friend who is pretty abrasive? someone who just likes to rub people and see there reaction, rodney do that all the time. He's a prick alot of times but he doesn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, and thats the same as the agrestion that alot of people direct back at him. Rodney is very condisending, Alot of the time, and when someone is talking down to you its hard to be friendly with them. that being said, rodney is my favorite atlantis character

I don't think Sam likes him, her reactions are not that of an annoying friend, but of an annoying colleague. And she has clearly no reason for liking him.
She respects him, yes, but its nothing like Sheppard, ee gets well along with Rodney.
But you can't expect that from people who have nothing or little to do with him and are on an extrem serious mission, that they want to get along with his quirks. As I said before, he acted like they were idiots, and that was clearly not the right time to do that.

Rodney was one of my favourite characters in Season 1 and part sof seaosn 2, but that has changed slightly.

- that I won't ever watch an episode of SG1 again.
- And that Cameron Mitchell is a dick.

And someone who watches only SG-1 could take away that Rodney is an egomaniacal idiot and would never want to watch Atlantis at all costs.

So that would be the one mistake of TPTB in this episode, that they made it in this extreme way and didn't use the middle way.
And that Atlantis fans and especally the ones who like Rodney can see it as an insult to them.

[Egraine]

It's funny schtick. If it came to protecting him with their lives, they wouldn't hesitate. He is annoying in a very funny way and he's saved their a**es many times. I'm sure they would never resort to the citrus.

[ChillinTheMost]

I don't think any other character hates him, they just find him annoying. I love the character of Rodney, but probably one of the reasons I don't find him insufferable is because the others always get him back for the way he acts and he takes it in stride. "Don't shoot me, you know I can't help it" appended into his sentence in a way that shows he knows he won't actually be shot, but that he gets that people get frustrated with him. Probably if I knew someone like this in real life, he would drive me crazy, but an hour or two on television, with all the humor they infuse into the situation, I quite enjoy it.

Even the lemon scene wasn't because they didn't like McKay. It was all about motivation. Mitchell had just finished saying that he heard McK sometimes needed to fear for his life to be motivated to work, and McK, himself, confirmed this. Then Mitchell turns around and shows him the lemon. No way did McK actually think that Mitchell would kill him. Mitchell used the threat of death-by-lemon to say, "We need you this scared. We need you this effective."

Like I said, I like McKay. He's a great character. He makes Atlantis. But most of that greatness comes from the way the others play off of him. Otherwise, he would be insufferable.

[ChillinTheMost]

... So, if the writers wanted to convert me to SG1, they failed miserably.

Not to worry, I sincerely doubt that that was their goal. If you watch Atlantis and not SG-1, the parent show, then I doubt they think they'll get you to watch more than this episode you may have watched to see your favorite characters. I would imagine that they think anyone that watches Atlantis and not SG-1 has already given SG-1 a try and chooses not to watch. I can't imagine they think that having you watch this one episode would allow you to figure out the characters and decide to watch. It could happen, but I sincerely don't think that was the purpose of this episode.

[MB.Eddie]

McKays character needs people to get angry with him, or threat his life as he always says. This brings out the brilliant scientist and the humour...

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

It's funny schtick. If it came to protecting him with their lives, they wouldn't hesitate. He is annoying in a very funny way and he's saved their a**es many times. I'm sure they would never resort to the citrus.

Rodney said himself that he works best under threat of dying. So, why did Rodney feel that his life had been threatened, again?

Seems to me that he took Mitchel seriously, which is utterly ridiculous as I don't believe Mitchel or Sam would have made good on that threat. It's just that the tactic itself was 1) not funny, 2) not in character for Sam or Cam, 3)not funny, 4)lazy-as-heck writing, and 5)not funny.

What I mean by lazy writing is that a real and present danger was already being presented to Rodney in the form of the Wraith attack. That is where Rodney's adrenaline should have kicked in and he'd have come up with the solution. Good writing would not have scrunched the Wraith arrival right at the end of the ep so that Rodney just had the time to stand there like a dope and say, "oh, this is a bad thing." This was the quest star's chance to shine, to give the Atlantis fans a feel-good vibe, but instead the writers went for easy, lame-o, not funny schtick, and, I think, further alienated Atlantis fans.

IMO.

[ChillinTheMost]

Rodney said himself that he works best under threat of dying. So, why did Rodney feel that his life had been threatened, again?

Seems to me that he took Mitchel seriously, which is utterly ridiculous as I don't believe Mitchel or Sam would have made good on that threat. It's just that the tactic itself was 1) not funny, 2) not in character for Sam or Cam, 3)not funny, 4)lazy-as-heck writing, and 5)not funny.

I don't think McKay took Mitchell seriously, in the "he's going to KILL me with that lemon" way. I think what he took seriously was Mitchell's implication that the situation was life-threatening. As life-threatening as a lemon is to him. And that they needed McK to be that scared and they needed him to be that effective.

What I mean by lazy writing is that a real and present danger was already being presented to Rodney in the form of the Wraith attack. That is where Rodney's adrenaline should have kicked in and he'd have come up with the solution. Good writing would not have scrunched the Wraith arrival right at the end of the ep so that Rodney just had the time to stand there like a dope and say, "oh, this is a bad thing." This was the quest star's chance to shine, to give the Atlantis fans a feel-good vibe, but instead the writers went for easy, lame-o, not funny schtick, and, I think, further alienated Atlantis fans.

IMO.

I think the lemon scene emphasized to Rodney how life-threatening things already were. Maybe he's been in danger so much that his tolerance level has risen and Mitchell wanted to point out that, yes, things really are that dire. Be that scared. Be that effective.

[IcyNeko]

I think that there was some amount of expectation from Mitchell about McKay. The fact that they're on a mission-critical assignment and McKay's losing focus all the time (being creepy/slimy around Carter, fixing a sandwich while they're working on the gate, whining) would grate on anyone's nerves.

Other than that.. McKay's done plenty to piss off the SGC. He almost killed Teal'c once (when Teal'c was trapped in teh stargate's matrix).