who is the MAIN hero of SG Atlantis?

[ragez0r]

hi there, kinda new
im just curious
who is the absolute main heroe of Atlantis ? granted shepard was a great tactician and tayla and Ronin were the brass n muscle, but would Atlantis have survived w/out the genius of Dr Rodney Mackay ? the only living Canadian there (1st few seasons anyway) if he is the most important character on this fictional storyline, then why make him such a coward ? in the REAL world the Canadian military are known for their abundant courage, he really paints a poor picture for the Great White North :/

[jelgate]

He is the only person on The Rodney McKay show. Everyone else is background

[hedwig]

hi there, kinda new
im just curious
who is the absolute main heroe of Atlantis ? granted shepard was a great tactician and tayla and Ronin were the brass n muscle, but would Atlantis have survived w/out the genius of Dr Rodney Mackay ? the only living Canadian there (1st few seasons anyway) if he is the most important character on this fictional storyline, then why make him such a coward ? in the REAL world the Canadian military are known for their abundant courage, he really paints a poor picture for the Great White North :/

Rodney is not a member of the Canadian military. He's a civilian scientist from Canada. The Canadian military's reputation is still safe.

[thekillman]

The idea of the SG teams is that everyone's strong in their own way

[Falcon Horus]

And he wasn't the only Canadian in Atlantis.

[sueKay]

And he wasn't the only Canadian in Atlantis.

Yup...we all know Chuck was the real hero of Atlantis

[Lythisrose]

OK, can't stand it....
Sheppard
McKay
Teyla
Ronon

*SpellingisFundamental

[Falcon Horus]

OK, can't stand it....
Sheppard
McKay
Teyla
Ronon

*SpellingisFundamental

I let it slide, it's a newbie. Didn't want to scare them away, but wouldn't have been able to resist much longer.

[Cil]

hi there, kinda new
im just curious
who is the absolute main heroe of Atlantis ? granted shepard was a great tactician and tayla and Ronin were the brass n muscle, but would Atlantis have survived w/out the genius of Dr Rodney Mackay ? the only living Canadian there (1st few seasons anyway) if he is the most important character on this fictional storyline, then why make him such a coward ? in the REAL world the Canadian military are known for their abundant courage, he really paints a poor picture for the Great White North :/

In my opinion the writers saw Sheppard as the main hero.
But I do completely agree, that the expedition wouldn't have survived long without McKay and his role did seem to get bigger and bigger as the show progressed.
For me personally Sheppard and McKay are both the main heroes. McKay does the technical stuff, while Sheppard (with help from Ronon and Teyla) does more of the physical stuff.

About your question, why they made him such a coward: I'm so glad they did! If he was a very good and fearless fighter atop of his genius, I don't think I would like him as much as I do. He would be too perfect. I generally don't like characters without any flaws, they are just boring. So yes, I'm really glad they made him this sarcastic, cowardly genius (with a hear of gold).

[Falcon Horus]

...that the expedition wouldn't have survived long without McKay and his role did seem to get bigger and bigger as the show progressed.

He wouldn't have been able to do half of what he did if he hadn't had his team to back him up.

And while his presence became more prominent, the other disappeared in the background. That was so much fun for the rest of us [/end sarcasm].

[Cil]

He wouldn't have been able to do half of what he did if he hadn't had his team to back him up.

And while his presence became more prominent, the other disappeared in the background. That was so much fun for the rest of us [/end sarcasm].

I know, it definitely needed the team as well. That's what I was saying a little later. He alone certainly wouldn't have survived long.

I was very happy about him getting a bigger role, but I see how that can be frustrating for people who didn't like him much or had other favorite characters.
I know people are always saying the others disappeared more in the background in later seasons. But I personally don't really see it like that. McKay's role definitely got bigger from season 2 onwards. But I think after that it stayed about the same for all characters. After that I don't really see any roles getting bigger or smaller. But that's just my opinion and I certainly don't want to get into fight over this. I'm on a rewatch right now, so maybe I'll see it a bit differently the second time around.

[Falcon Horus]

Unfortunately, you just bumped into the crazy lemming who counted screentime and words... and I can assure you that 3/4 of the characters really did disappear in the background. A very frustrating thing if McKay is so not your favorite character.

[sueKay]

In my opinion the writers saw Sheppard as the main hero.
But I do completely agree, that the expedition wouldn't have survived long without McKay and his role did seem to get bigger and bigger as the show progressed.
For me personally Sheppard and McKay are both the main heroes. McKay does the technical stuff, while Sheppard (with help from Ronon and Teyla) does more of the physical stuff.

About your question, why they made him such a coward: I'm so glad they did! If he was a very good and fearless fighter atop of his genius, I don't think I would like him as much as I do. He would be too perfect. I generally don't like characters without any flaws, they are just boring. So yes, I'm really glad they made him this sarcastic, cowardly genius (with a hear of gold).

Just one thing - McKay's not a coward, he just hasn't learnt how to hide his fear like Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon have. He goes into situations that terrify him and does his job...If he was a coward he'd never have left Earth

[Cil]

Unfortunately, you just bumped into the crazy lemming who counted screentime and words... and I can assure you that 3/4 of the characters really did disappear in the background. A very frustrating thing if McKay is so not your favorite character.

Okay, if you say so. I won't fight you on numbers. (By the way, I'd be interested in those statistics. I always like such things.) I'm just saying I did feel the change after season 1 (which was positive for me, probably not so much for everyone). Afterwards, my subjective feeling was, like the size of each role about stayed the same. But maybe I'm just biased.

[Cil]

Just one thing - McKay's not a coward, he just hasn't learnt how to hide his fear like Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon have. He goes into situations that terrify him and does his job...If he was a coward he'd never have left Earth

Yes, you're perfectly right. He does only appear to be a coward compared to the others. But I also often think it actually takes a lot of courage to be so afraid of something and STILL do it. But we are so used to such heroes in TV who show almost no fear, that we perceive him as a coward. (To be perfectly honest, my own reactions would probably be a lot more like McKay's than the others. ) But you're right, he's not really one.