Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[ChopinGal]

Since we're doing some of our favorite moments/scenes, let me add three more of mine from 2010:

When Sam goes to Jack's cabin to ask him to help them in their plan to return to the past. AT and RDA did a great job in that scene - his being so snarly and angry at her (for not believing his original warning about the Aschen and for marrying Joe) and how she finally realizes he won't help, and she leaves in a huff. I read somewhere that AT wanted to end the scene by Sam walking out on Jack and not the other way around as it had originally been written. And, then, the bedroom scene with Joe when he confesses that he was aware of the Aschen's plans ... that was powerful ... both actors played that scene very well. Of course, the funny scene at the SGC "and we're walking" - her and Daniel's looks were so right on as they followed the tour guide into the Gate (er, "embarkation") room.

[Skydiver]

my ULTIMATE sam scene

Serpents Venom

it's flashing green, green is good
no
bad?
bad
how bad?
very bad
DAD!!!!

the timing was PERFECT and it cracks me up every time. I even have a wav of it on my puter

[NearlyCircular]

Just wanted to say wow, what great posts from everyone the last couple of days! The screen caps and dialogue from Hathor were fantastic, astrog! You're becoming our resident archivist.

tara, if your tv digi box is anything like the old WebTV, I sympathize. I bought one of those for my parents a few years ago, and it was good for basic web surfing and email, but nothing fancy.

I'll have to wait to narrow down my favorite Sam moments until this weekend. RL intrudes. (the problem with giving exams is then having to grade them. Damn.) I'm using this thread as my reward. "You can go to Samanda when you finish grading another page, but not a moment sooner."


Oh, has anyone else read Lex's review of It's Good to Be King?
Review
Quoting, "I saw Sam in charge of an off-world mission and it took considerable effort not to bounce up and down on the sofa in pure glee. There she is on another planet, making the decisions, telling her team what to do and where to go, and generally being in charge. It suits her, it really does."

I think Lex is a Sam fan.

NC

[MajorSam]

my ULTIMATE sam scene

Serpents Venom

it's flashing green, green is good
no
bad?
bad
how bad?
very bad
DAD!!!!

the timing was PERFECT and it cracks me up every time. I even have a wav of it on my puter

beautiful, BEAUTIFUL!! *clap clap clap* I LOVE taht scene, it gets me every time!

Threads spoiler

Spoiler:

I love this ep SOOO much... when Jacob was telling her he's going to die? It was amazing. Amanda did such an incredible job, I was cryiiiing!!! and just how she played all the awkwardness and indecision throughout the whole ep... fantastic. I loved every bit of every Sam scene. amazing....Ooh, bit of trivia, Sam's red cell phone we saw a few times, that's Amanda's cell phone. Well, i'm pretty sure, I can't remember exactly, but yeah, i'm pretty sure!

I love how Amanda randomely brings in her own stuff.... ie) Dress in Chimera, her car in Chimera, how she brings in fan's gifts and such whenever there's a scene in her "house" (the quilt on her bed and stuff) as well as the baby pic of her and her twin brother

[astrogeologist]

Just wanted to say wow, what great posts from everyone the last couple of days! The screen caps and dialogue from Hathor were fantastic, astrog!

Thanks NC!

I'm using this thread as my reward. "You can go to Samanda when you finish grading another page, but not a moment sooner."

Love that... I can hear yourself talking to yourself as an adult to a child who wants to go to the park... "You can go to Samanda when..." LOL!

Oh, has anyone else read Lex's review of It's Good to Be King?
Review
Quoting, "I saw Sam in charge of an off-world mission and it took considerable effort not to bounce up and down on the sofa in pure glee. There she is on another planet, making the decisions, telling her team what to do and where to go, and generally being in charge. It suits her, it really does."

GREAT quote! It's so spectacular to see words like that in one of the official GW reviews! Thanks for citing the quote here (and the link)!
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[astrogeologist]

my ULTIMATE sam scene

Serpents Venom

it's flashing green, green is good
no
bad?
bad
how bad?
very bad
DAD!!!!

the timing was PERFECT and it cracks me up every time. I even have a wav of it on my puter

Hmmmm... off to find the Serpent's Venom DVD... maybe I can get a few cool pics from that scene...?
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[chocdoc]

[QUOTE=astrogeologist]

I think Sam is getting picked on because of the way the writers and directors have taken her character over the past season or so. That's what I like about this thread -- we are emphasizing the strengths and favorable aspects of the character... focussing on the positives. It's my hope that our emphasis on Carter's strengths, her potential for solid leadership, her sharp mind and strength of character, coupled with AT's superb acting talents... it is my hope that these facets trickle back to TPTB... and into the general fan base... so that the Season 9 writers will write Carter as the heroic and admirable character that the broad fan base will embrace.

[QUOTE]

I was just wondering if you and anyone else on this thread think that Carter has not been written as an admirable and heroic character in season seven and season eight. And do you think that the majority of the broad fan base (by these you mean online fan base?) see her character as going down the tubes?

I know we want to focus on positives here, and that is pretty easy to do for Carter , but I think (and I'm probably way off base here) that the majority of the fan base see her character as making mistakes and fallible at times (and sometimes they get mad because they think she does something that is out of character---actually fans are mentioning this same thing with Jack and Daniel), but that does not mean that she is less admirable or heroic. There is a very strong vocal minority that truly have grown to dislike the character, but it seems like a majority of fans seem pretty favorable to Sam and to all the characters.

Are my perceptions way off base here?

Actually, the character that gets the least attention is Teal'c (positive or critical) on any of the threads, which is not good.

[astrogeologist]

my ULTIMATE sam scene

Serpents Venom

it's flashing green, green is good
no
bad?
bad
how bad?
very bad
DAD!!!!

the timing was PERFECT and it cracks me up every time. I even have a wav of it on my puter

Skydiver: Here's what I came up with...
...tried to get pics with the green light reflecting off their faces and the floor.

SAM: 3 to blue. (She turns it 3 times clockwise, and a buzzer sound goes off, and the lights start flashing green.) (To Daniel) Uh, it's flashing green. Green is good?
DANIEL: No.
SAM: Bad?
DANIEL: Bad.
SAM: (Nervously) How bad?
DANIEL: Very, very, bad!
SAM: Dad?! We may need Selmack's help here!

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Skydiver - do you have a link to the audio clip on the net somewhere?
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Photos are screen caps from the episode The Serpent's Venom.
Transcript excerpts are from the Stargate SG-1 Transcript website
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[tara3583]

it won't let you type in [] symbols?

i'm not familiar with a digi-box so i have no idea. can you do the font color like someone suggested? it does have a flaw in that folks can read it if you quote the post, but as long as it's not quoted, it stays white on white

if you cant'....you can't. i'll just really lurk or stay away until i've seen it. That's why i stopped playing in the ship thread. folks were happily speculating with spoilers i don't want to know so i've just stayed away from there for a bit until moebius airs and i can re-join.

it's not the end of the world, and i know a little of what's going on in threads, but there was one major plot specific thing that i didn't know...well until this morning

but eh, water under the bridge

fates willing i'll be seeing it within the next 24 hours.

Hi Denise, my digi-box is what gives me access to digital tv and lets me have access to the internet at the basic level that's all
I'm sorry that my post spoiled Threads for you but i did put in spoiler space with the name of
the episode so i thought that was still ok, has
that changed now? or can i still use spoiler space but with maybe alot more space before i start to post?

[MajorSam]

HAHAH, Astro, in the last pic in that clip line (beautiful line btw) Sam looks CRAZY, hahahaha.

I just had to mention Amanda's nomination in this years Saturn Awards for "Best supporting actress"

I don't see how she wound up being supporting, I mean, if she doesnt' qualify for lead actress, I don't know who would, but still i gotta say CONGRATULATIOOOOOOONS!!!

[astrogeologist]

HAHAH, Astro, in the last pic in that clip line (beautiful line btw) Sam looks CRAZY, hahahaha.

I dithered over using that shot or a few others... but the others were pretty boring... and this one, she's calling 'Dad'... so... it seemed more fun than the ones where she looked calm
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[astrogeologist]

I think Sam is getting picked on because of the way the writers and directors have taken her character over the past season or so. That's what I like about this thread -- we are emphasizing the strengths and favorable aspects of the character... focussing on the positives. It's my hope that our emphasis on Carter's strengths, her potential for solid leadership, her sharp mind and strength of character, coupled with AT's superb acting talents... it is my hope that these facets trickle back to TPTB... and into the general fan base... so that the Season 9 writers will write Carter as the heroic and admirable character that the broad fan base will embrace.

I was just wondering if you and anyone else on this thread think that Carter has not been written as an admirable and heroic character in season seven and season eight. And do you think that the majority of the broad fan base (by these you mean online fan base?) see her character as going down the tubes?

I know we want to focus on positives here, and that is pretty easy to do for Carter , but I think (and I'm probably way off base here) that the majority of the fan base see her character as making mistakes and fallible at times (and sometimes they get mad because they think she does something that is out of character---actually fans are mentioning this same thing with Jack and Daniel), but that does not mean that she is less admirable or heroic. There is a very strong vocal minority that truly have grown to dislike the character, but it seems like a majority of fans seem pretty favorable to Sam and to all the characters.

Are my perceptions way off base here?

Chocdoc, I like the way you stated it awhile back too:

I know what you mean here, but I think there is only a very small part of fandom that is this negative (it is there I know and they can be vicious to Sam and quite vocal!). I think that a majority of fans who criticize Sam's behavior or character at times do this mainly because they really like the character and don't want her to be written in a way that they see untrue to the character. Personally, I'd rather that the Sam character get alot of attention (with praise and constructive criticism) than little attention. Seems like most fans like her but Sam (as the female lead) gets caught between so many factions (ship with Jack to anti-ship with Jack or Pete; the female who can't be too "girly" or too "butch", being too much of a scientist to not being enough of a soldier/leader; being too smart/supersam to be being too stupid; etc). With all the expectations thrust on this one female character, I think she is holding up remarkably well! (Hey, I wonder if my first ever smilie worked?)

When reading the Gemini posts, of those who didn't like it, most I think are not bashing Sam--they are bashing the writers for the characterization of Sam in this episode. I actually liked the potential here for Sam (thanks to the refreshing insight from posters on this thread about Sam's potential character development from this episode).

In the last season or two, the series writers and TPTB have opened up storylines that deal with Sam's struggles for a personal life and her feelings for Jack. I think those are wonderful seeds for storylines - and facets of Carter's character that I wanted to know more about... that said, however, not everyone wants to see *any* of that... some folks tune in for straight-up science fiction and they don't want to see any ship - between any of the characters. So... my thoughts have always been that the personal aspects (and/or ship) needs to be written in as casual comments (like when they are in the commissary) or into the major storyline so that it's a natural byproduct or outcome of the major scifi action and plot... do that, and you have a shot at having the non-shippers buy into the ship. I don't think that Stargate accomplished this over the past season or so, instead, they made the personal storylines into the B-storyline of several episodes. And Carter only gets so much screen time.. in several episodes, almost all of her screentime was used up by soapish types of storylines.

The writers and TPTB have also tried to humanize Carter's character, so that she's not always a 'Mary Sue' (someone who pulls the miraculous answer out of their butt) - and they've even had her make mistakes (e.g., Gemini). And all of that is OK... except that they haven't done an equal amount of such types of actions for the other characters... so Carter's mistakes and vulnerabilities stand out a bit. I'd like to see an episode where O'Neill makes a straight-up mistake (where the mistake is his and his alone, not something he just assumes responsibility for because he was the ranking officer) - and then O'Neill has to struggle with dealing with that - and I think that RDA would love to sink his teeth into that role.

The flip side of all this is that AT has been able to play a wider range of scenes - she's been able to break out of the pressure to continuously play the stereotypical actions and responses of her character. I don't think any of the guys had quite the cool range of roles and scenes over the past couple of seasons. It seems like in so many of the scenes lately, the guys are fairly blank faced and blase (maybe the actors are bored with their roles after 8 years? Or maybe they are just tired from long days of shooting?), whereas AT always seems to be acting for us - and yet she doesn't overact (and that's amazing).

Hmmm... I'm trying to reign myself in on these comments because I don't want to negatives to take over the postings on this thread.
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[deepspace]

Astrogeologist: Absolutely wonderful comments... you brought some great Sam moments out of my memories. You are making my fingers itch to go and get all sorts of screen caps from all sorts of episodes! I can't rep you again yet, so here's some Blue Jello

Thankyou for the blue jello AstroG
And yes, more screen shots. More more more!! Please?

Quoting, "I saw Sam in charge of an off-world mission and it took considerable effort not to bounce up and down on the sofa in pure glee. There she is on another planet, making the decisions, telling her team what to do and where to go, and generally being in charge. It suits her, it really does."
I think Lex is a Sam fan.

She's allowed to bounce on the sofa? *Is jealous*


And on topic, I think they have been writing Sam Carter differently lately, but don't we all, in some way, whether we think so or not, want to see different angles of characters? Out of the seasons I guess I probably like earlier Sam eps better, but I still enjoy all the ones today. And yes she's made some mistakes, but then the others made mistakes every now and then in earlier episodes, didn't they? Maybe to some people it just seems a bigger deal for Sam to make a mistake because she's supposed to be 'perfect' or something equally as silly. Nobody is perfect, and if they are, I haven't met them yet. (Not to say I have met very many people in my life so far).

I watched Citizen Joe tonight, so am a little Stargate-hyped, and couldn't sleep, so, er, guess where I came?

[chocdoc]

In the last season or two, the series writers and TPTB have opened up storylines that deal with Sam's struggles for a personal life and her feelings for Jack. I think those are wonderful seeds for storylines - and facets of Carter's character that I wanted to know more about... that said, however, not everyone wants to see *any* of that... some folks tune in for straight-up science fiction and they don't want to see any ship - between any of the characters. So... my thoughts have always been that the personal aspects (and/or ship) needs to be written in as casual comments (like when they are in the commissary) or into the major storyline so that it's a natural byproduct or outcome of the major scifi action and plot... do that, and you have a shot at having the non-shippers buy into the ship. I don't think that Stargate accomplished this over the past season or so, instead, they made the personal storylines into the B-storyline of several episodes. And Carter only gets so much screen time.. in several episodes, almost all of her screentime was used up by soapish types of storylines.

The writers and TPTB have also tried to humanize Carter's character, so that she's not always a 'Mary Sue' (someone who pulls the miraculous answer out of their butt) - and they've even had her make mistakes (e.g., Gemini). And all of that is OK... except that they haven't done an equal amount of such types of actions for the other characters... so Carter's mistakes and vulnerabilities stand out a bit. I'd like to see an episode where O'Neill makes a straight-up mistake (where the mistake is his and his alone, not something he just assumes responsibility for because he was the ranking officer) - and then O'Neill has to struggle with dealing with that - and I think that RDA would love to sink his teeth into that role.

The flip side of all this is that AT has been able to play a wider range of scenes - she's been able to break out of the pressure to continuously play the stereotypical actions and responses of her character. I don't think any of the guys had quite the cool range of roles and scenes over the past couple of seasons. It seems like in so many of the scenes lately, the guys are fairly blank faced and blase (maybe the actors are bored with their roles after 8 years? Or maybe they are just tired from long days of shooting?), whereas AT always seems to be acting for us - and yet she doesn't overact (and that's amazing).

Hmmm... I'm trying to reign myself in on these comments because I don't want to negatives to take over the postings on this thread.
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Great points, Astrogeologist. This makes alot of sense. Sounds like you are looking for balance for the character---get back to competent kick-butt scientist Carter as the most important part of her character. Your point about showing mistakes by the other characters is a good one too. I think they have all made mistakes, but Carter's lastest in Gemini stands out.

Well, the writers have a great opportunity to write Carter in season nine in a balanced way. Hopefully they will do that. And your right---AT has done such a good job playing Carter in a number of ways (e.g., competent, strong, independent, gentle, vulnerable, smart, funny, etc). She has had the opportunity to make the character three-dimensional.

Thanks for your comments.

[deepspace]

I too like Sam better when in action, or in scientist mode. And a balance would be good from now on, all I was saying was that I didn't mind seeing a different side to her for a season or two.

Gee, I can't believe I didn't find the wonderful world of Astrogeologist's screen cap page earlier. So much fun, so many I haven't seen!!!