Season Five : Complaints and Misgivings

[ShadowMaat]

It'll be interesting to see what happens to Zelenka now. Will TPTB stubbornly pursue the "Zelenka is a creep" line they tried to draw in Trio? Or will they back off and pretend it never happened and complain about fans being all shrill and lemminglike again and imagining things that were never there?

Or, as has already been suggested, they could just kill him off and wash their hands of the whole thing. Saves them the trouble of having to figure out what to do and acts as an "up yours" to fans at the same time.

[marielabbott]

I fear Teyla's baby will be a no-win sitation for me. It's born with super wraith-sensing abilities? Meh. It's some freak experiment of Michael's? Meh. It's stolen and/or killed? Meh. It's perfectly normal and the show turns into SGA: The Baby Years? Yeah, even a talented PTB would have trouble pulling that off, and this PTB ain't that.

I would have rather seen TPTB not bring RL's pregnancy into canon and instead focus on the disappearance of her people. Up the angst and conflict too - so far all we've seen are some mildly harsh words between Shep and Teyla, followed by Teyla agreeing with pretty much everything he's said. Nah, I'd rather see Shep and Carter outright forbid Teyla to take time off from the team to find her people and Teyla say "Screw this then, I'm going off on my own." Maybe even bring Ronon into it - perhaps he'd support her over the Earthers and go with her. I've been wanting a PG vs. Earthers conflict since the teases in Trinity. I doubt TPTB will ever go there - conflict within the team is not their cup of tea.

Yeah, I've been thinking it may have been unwise to bring the pregnancy into canon as well. Since Teyla's been missing totally from the last few eps anyway, I like your idea of having her go off to search for her people. That would explain her absence and give some emotional weight to it. As it is, she's just not there.

Speaking of conflict, I've always wanted to see a civilian vs. military episode. They hardly touched that topic since season 1. Those scenes in Tabula Rasa where the military was hunting down civilians, and rogue Radek was beating up majors with pipes--terrific. Let's see some real conflict between the military and civilian members of the expedition over something.

[Falcon Horus]

Those scenes in Quarentine where the military was hunting down civilians, and rogue Radek was beating up majors with pipes--terrific. Let's see some real conflict between the military and civilian members of the expedition over something.

That would have been Tabula Rasa....

[Reefgirl]

Oh, I completely agree. He's such a likeable character and David Nykl does such an awesome job bringing him to life. I just love his Czech murmuring and you can bet on it I will promptly start laughing when he starts off in Czech. He's hilarious, and serious when it calls for it.

He's very good at what he does is David Nykl and he really has bought Radek to life

It'll be interesting to see what happens to Zelenka now. Will TPTB stubbornly pursue the "Zelenka is a creep" line they tried to draw in Trio? Or will they back off and pretend it never happened and complain about fans being all shrill and lemminglike again and imagining things that were never there?

Or, as has already been suggested, they could just kill him off and wash their hands of the whole thing. Saves them the trouble of having to figure out what to do and acts as an "up yours" to fans at the same time.

But there's always that Big Red Reset button which, when pressed, Keller will find herself trapped with Radek and snog the breath out of him

[marielabbott]

That would have been Tabula Rasa....

Right you are. Though if that had happened in Quarentine, it would've made the ep a bit more, you know, exciting.

[Chrysalis]

If you think the fandom imploded with Weir and Carson were killed off you wait until TPTB announce they're killing off Zelenka I've trapsed around these boards and lurked in some very strange pthreads and I've never found anyone who's had a bad word to say about Zelenka. I've seen posts that go something like "ABC was a total jerk in this ep he deserved everything he got" or "XYZ should never have been bought in in the first place, she can't cope" I've never seen any comments like that about Zelenka anywhere, it's the first time I've seen universal condemnation of the treatment of a character, usually there has been some "HA!! about bloody time too" from someone, but not this time. If TPTB keep up this line with Zelenka it's not going to come back and bite them on the a$$, it's going to chew it up and spit it out

TPTB wouldn't care. JM has said himself, he's not writing what the fans want, he's writing what he wants to see. It's 'his' show, and he's made that abundantly clear.

They make decisions and they stick with them, no matter how unpopular. Weir gone, Keller in, Keller as a regular for crying out loud.

I don't count the Beckett thing, because he wasn't in charge when Paul was sacked. Everything else, though, is down to the current showrunners. They made the wrong decision, IMO, by sacking Torri and bringing in Amanda, and when Amanda left, it took them by surprise. They're now scrambling to cover, panicking, and making even more bad moves.

This show will be lucky not to be cancelled before season five has even aired half its episodes.

[Chrysalis]

Actually, cable shows are given the full current season run and then do not return for the following season when they are cancelled.

I'm not saying they won't screen all of season five. I'm saying that I wouldn't be surprised if during season five they got the 'thanks but no thanks' message about season six.

Nice turnaround on your attitude towards Torri/Weir btw

[Suzotchka]

I also think that there's been too much influx of SG-1 characters. Sam, Teal'c, Daniel.... at least Sam I could understand. I would've preferred they kept Weir. But putting my issue with that aside, Sam is the next logical choice.

Don't get me wrong, I love the occasional crossover episode. Pegasus Project was great. But I don't want to see SG-1 on SGA regularly. The characters on SGA already need more development. Can't we just stick with them? I feel like SG-1 wasn't cancelled it was SGA.

[marielabbott]

I also think that there's been too much influx of SG-1 characters. Sam, Teal'c, Daniel.... at least Sam I could understand. I would've preferred they kept Weir. But putting my issue with that aside, Sam is the next logical choice.

Don't get me wrong, I love the occasional crossover episode. Pegasus Project was great. But I don't want to see SG-1 on SGA regularly. The characters on SGA already need more development. Can't we just stick with them? I feel like SG-1 wasn't cancelled it was SGA.

Yes. Exactly. I'm a SGA-only fan, so I don't even really know these charactes that keep coming in. Not that fans of both series may not have problems with it. But I don't know Daniel, so his appearing isn't going to be a big highlight of the season for me. I'd rather have the spotlight on SGA characters, the ones who don't get a lot of screentime, perhaps.

[Chrysalis]

I also think that there's been too much influx of SG-1 characters. Sam, Teal'c, Daniel.... at least Sam I could understand. I would've preferred they kept Weir. But putting my issue with that aside, Sam is the next logical choice.

Don't get me wrong, I love the occasional crossover episode. Pegasus Project was great. But I don't want to see SG-1 on SGA regularly. The characters on SGA already need more development. Can't we just stick with them? I feel like SG-1 wasn't cancelled it was SGA.

Absolutely. Atlantis was a spin-off until SG1 was cancelled. Now it's a spin-off in name only.

I mean Teal'c. WTH? Why on earth was this character even considered, apart from the fact that TPTB wanted to do a big "Who's better out of Teal'c and Ronon" ep?

[Reefgirl]

TPTB wouldn't care. JM has said himself, he's not writing what the fans want, he's writing what he wants to see. It's 'his' show, and he's made that abundantly clear.

They make decisions and they stick with them, no matter how unpopular. Weir gone, Keller in, Keller as a regular for crying out loud.

I don't count the Beckett thing, because he wasn't in charge when Paul was sacked. Everything else, though, is down to the current showrunners. They made the wrong decision, IMO, by sacking Torri and bringing in Amanda, and when Amanda left, it took them by surprise. They're now scrambling to cover, panicking, and making even more bad moves.

This show will be lucky not to be cancelled before season five has even aired half its episodes.

Sounds like toys are being thrown out of the pram again

[ShadowMaat]

I get the impression that the conversation in Trio wasn't supposed to be any great plot point that they intend to follow through on, just a random throw-away joke that they thought was funny and probably didn't even realise the implications of...

Yeah, TPTB seem to have a history of making distasteful and offensive jokes without realizing their "implications."

[Dr Weir]

Absolutely. Atlantis was a spin-off until SG1 was cancelled. Now it's a spin-off in name only.

I mean Teal'c. WTH? Why on earth was this character even considered, apart from the fact that TPTB wanted to do a big "Who's better out of Teal'c and Ronon" ep?

They must have gotten the idea from one of the numerous “who's better” threads here. Lame. Ronan and Teal'c are two completely different and individual characters and can't be compared.

[Southern Red]

They must have gotten the idea from one of the numerous “who's better” threads here. Lame. Ronan and Teal'c are two completely different and individual characters and can't be compared.

JM confirmed on his blog that they got the idea for the Ronon/Teal'c fight from a thread here and thought it would be a great idea. I'm not against the idea per se, but I am not surprised at their thought process. Something like this which appeals to their target demographic is right up their alley. But for the last 3 years there have been numerous thoughtful posts giving suggestions for how to better incorporate Weir into the mix, and many requests that they do what they supposedly went to Atlantis to do, namely explore the city and learn about the Ancients, yet all those were ignored.

They know how much everybody loves Zalenka. Yet they are now treating him as an object of derision because it suits them.

They know we have been begging for more background on Sheppard since day one. Yet they wait 4 years to tell us he has a brother and a dead rich father.

They know a lot of us hate all the buxom babes. Yet it looks like there are more to come.

I said before that they seem to do the exact opposite of what a lot of dedicated fans want. If they are doing what you want (general you), enjoy it. Because I see a few groups of fans being deliriously happy in S5 and the rest of us having to use the supermarket approach to viewing. Some of course are going to shop else where. But they don't care.

[Dr Weir]

Please do not get me started on Felger and that episode. IMO SG-1 and Atlantis should be serious shows.

I absolutely agree. Excellent point! One thing to have the odd joke like in rl but it's not the fast show or mad tv where absolute anything goes for a laugh! And when stargate gets that bad it's not even funny, just disturbing. If I want comedy I’ll show a comedy show. I watch SGA for sci fi.

Let's not forget Orlin as kid hitting on Sam.

Oh god that episode was absolutely appealing! I forced myself to watch half, and then deleted it. I felt bad for making myself watch that much....