TV Guide interviews Amanda Tapping

[maxbo]

Though good work saying you won't comment on it, and then commenting on it anyway.

Thank you.

Yes I agree the vast majority don't habor ill will toward the actors or each other but it's just those few that are spreading themselves around. I do understand their anger twoards TPTB, but not their constant slamming of actors or characters.....it's become very annoying.

Yes, the actor bashing is annoying and unfortunately some of these bashers keep surfacing in so many different threads, including Pro- threads, that it's hard to avoid them. Extremely annoying.

I'm sorry that Higginson is leaving, I'm glad Tapping still has a role in the Stargate universe. They're both good actresses. I remember some negative comments regarding Claudia Black vs Amanda Tapping when Black first ended up in the Stargate universe. I hope that kind of mindset isn't kicking up again re: Tapping vs Higginson.

Unfortunately, that mindset is already in full force. It's gotten so bad that I hesitate to visit Elizabeth related threads because a few posters have a habit of bashing any actor they believe have wronged Torri somehow. I wish these posters could understand that that this petulant behaviour doesn't help Torri and that the best way to support her is to put their energies into politely sharing what they enjoy about her role on SGA with TPTB.

Not insensitive, but just honest. She's not making fun of anyone or putting Torri down... The fact is that Torri is being put aside for a season and Amanda is stepping up. I don't think Amanda has any reason to appologize for being written into this situation... Blame the writers.

Exactly, there is nothing insensitive about Amanda's interview. It's honest and to the point. I keep hearing Elizabeth supporters say that they want straight answers and Amanda provides them in this interview.

Agreed! AT actually said there's no ill feeling at all, ie, they're all grown ups and know how the business works! People are taking this way too personally. In business people come and go all the time, it's a fact of life. In the TV world your character gets axed and someone fills the void. That's the way it goes. Can't blame AT for taking a job. I'd do the same in her place. I couldn't care who had the job before me, if someone offers me a job and I want to take it, I would, and I'd do what's best for my career and my family without hesitation. I can't believe anyone could possibly say someone's insensitive for saying you're coming in when someone's left - whatever the circumstances.

Yes, this is the way this business works and Torri and Amanda understand this - actors come and go all the time, it's the nature of the business. It's too bad that some fans refuse to understand this. It's foolish to blame an actor for accepting a job that another actor once had.

[flynn1959]

It's foolish to blame an actor for accepting a job that another actor once had.

I don't think anyone blames AT for accepting the job on Atlantis. She is a female actress of a certain age, with limited acting ability. My advice to her would be to stay on the show as long as she can get away with it, I hope it goes ten years...no twenty, that way she has a job and the rest of us don't have to watch her gurning and gulping her way through each and every scene.

I look forward to seeing Torri in lots of new roles on shows that appreciate what a talent she is.

[Uber]

she can't be promoted to general, she has full colonel to go through first...and if a colonel can command a space ship, a colonel can command a city

besides i don't think sam has enough time in service to make it to brig general

To the best of my knowledge, bases, facilities and 304s are not put under the command of anything less than Colonel. Maybourne, Emerson, Caldwell, Ellis, the Colonel from Scourge etc.

So I'd be surprised if Carter wasn't promoted to Full Bird before heading over for this kind of long term assignment.

[sexy_penguin]

Gold is only precious because we make it precious in our minds. Compared to lead, it doesn't have as much practical use at all. It's a good electrical conducter (though silver is a much better conducter and copper is far more practical for most uses anyway) and thats really about it. Lead on the other hand has been used for practical applications since the bronze age and still is today. The fact that it's rare is meaningless - Scandium, for example, is even rarer and has even fewer uses.

Scandium is useful for helping geologists determine how magmas evolve.

Which is good if you live next to a volcano and want to know what kind of lava it's going throw at you..

Er... on topic. Man, I hate it when someone tells me "I need to know..." something. Ack! I don't need to know nuthin'

[smurf]

To the best of my knowledge, bases, facilities and 304s are not put under the command of anything less than Colonel. Maybourne, Emerson, Caldwell, Ellis, the Colonel from Scourge etc.

So I'd be surprised if Carter wasn't promoted to Full Bird before heading over for this kind of long term assignment.

Wasn't there a Lt. Col. Carter who was put in charge of Area 51.
And Pierce was in charge of the Alpha site for Gemini wasn't he? He couldn't have been a Full Bird, since he was only a Major in S6.

I think they'll probably promote her though. If only to make the chain of command a little easier.

[Madeleine]

Well speaking just for myself THIS interview puts Tapping in an unfavourable light. She sounds self-centered, insensitive and very false.

Bear in mind that you do not get the full picture. Interviewers tend to ask leading questions, editors tend to snip (nothing wrong with either - they want interesting interviews that grab the attention) and both interviewer and interviewee say things in tones of voice. If you've ever read a transcript of an interview or panel, and then seen a video of that interview or panel, you'll get what I mean.

You think she sounds self-centred... because she talks about herself a lot? I imagine the interviewer asked her a lot of questions about herself. You think she sounds insensitive... because she seems cheerful in the face of a colleague's departure? I expect that having seen people come and go, she considers it a fact of life, and I'm sure you wouldn't expect everyone on a show to go into mourning every time someone leaves; it would make for miserable working conditions which they just don't deserve. And false? There's not much I can say to that. Except that if you give her the benefit of the doubt, she's none of that.

Sure, you can interpret the interview the way you do. But you can also interpret it in a much nicer way, and I don't see why anyone would go for the worst possible scenario over a pleasant one. JMO.

[Madeleine]

I know I did. That's why I said it was an excerpt

Reminder for anyone not aware of why Excerpts appear in posts here and not Full Articles: we do not want to be responsible for copyright infringements

[Uber]

Wasn't there a Lt. Col. Carter who was put in charge of Area 51.

Nope...she was put in charge of a section in Area 51...the R&D Division. Not the whole base.

And Pierce was in charge of the Alpha site for Gemini wasn't he? He couldn't have been a Full Bird, since he was only a Major in S6.

Not sure about his rank but then we saw Reynolds go from a Major in Season 2 (Touchstone) to a full Colonel in Season 5 (Ascension). Or at least I think he was a Bird there.

I think they'll probably promote her though. If only to make the chain of command a little easier.

Yeah I agree. Two officers of the same rank on the same team muddy the waters too much and then something like rank and command become the focus rather than the team and their missions.

[Uber]

Bear in mind that you do not get the full picture. Interviewers tend to ask leading questions, editors tend to snip (nothing wrong with either - they want interesting interviews that grab the attention) and both interviewer and interviewee say things in tones of voice. If you've ever read a transcript of an interview or panel, and then seen a video of that interview or panel, you'll get what I mean.

You think she sounds self-centred... because she talks about herself a lot? I imagine the interviewer asked her a lot of questions about herself. You think she sounds insensitive... because she seems cheerful in the face of a colleague's departure? I expect that having seen people come and go, she considers it a fact of life, and I'm sure you wouldn't expect everyone on a show to go into mourning every time someone leaves; it would make for miserable working conditions which they just don't deserve. And false? There's not much I can say to that. Except that if you give her the benefit of the doubt, she's none of that.

Sure, you can interpret the interview the way you do. But you can also interpret it in a much nicer way, and I don't see why anyone would go for the worst possible scenario over a pleasant one. JMO.

While I don't agree with the opinion made by a select few that she sounded self-centered or whatever, I'd like to add to your point (which I agree with) the additional fact that sometimes actors and producers and directors say something and then later on, in reading their quotes, realize they came out differently than intended.

Case in point. Originally Amanda said she was "contractually obligated" to go to SGA. But when she read her own quote, she realized that sounded cold and clinical...so she posted a note saying that she didn't care for how she worded things in that interview and added that she was excited about the transition and having a lot of fun.

In this case, it looks like she was asked precise questions and gave precise answers. Either that, or perhaps the interview was longer and TV Guide posted the most important points for this specific Q&A section.

[Skydiver]

there is also the distinct possibility that what was printed was an exerpt of the whole interview. we weren't given a transcript or an audio recording which reveals her tone of voice or the whole answer...we got snippits.

and yeah, when i talked to her last november, i was very, very careful to report the EXACT words she said, which was contracturaly obligated. And throughout that interview and during her Q&A's on stage, i feel that she had been very careful to say precisely what she was allowed to say about the s4 casting information.

What a lot of folks don't realize, sometimes these folks are under a contract that has it carefully laid out what they can and can't say, and how much and they could - theoretically - lose thier jobs for doing something they are not allowed to do.

[Melora]

How differnet is it from people readnig interviews with TPTB and saying in response they sound smug and full of themselves or whatnot? If a person is being interviewed and presents certain views you disagree with, or perhaps sayign things in a way you feel is inapropriate, you usually end up respecting them less - just like reading interviews can make you respect (and "like", at least their public image) more (I, for example, love David Hewlett more adn more with every interview I read of his). Actors aren't sacred - they're people, they can make mistakes, they can be disliked by other people - although disliking someone you've never met is silly - and they can reflect on themselves unfavourably in interviews...

You’re right, Pitry. A person’s opinion of another person can change when one reads the opinions and statements of the other in print. For example, when I read hate-filled comments made by certain people online, I find myself having less and less respect for them as members of the fandom and the online community in general. It’s just how I feel about it and I really can’t help the way I feel.

Yet even though I feel that way, I do not go out of my way to tell these people that I have little respect for them. I try to keep those opinions to myself b/c my opinion of them is irrelevant and as you say it is silly to dislike people you have never met. They might be perfectly nice people in real life, after all. What we say or write that is published in the public forum is such a tiny part of who we really are as people.

In the case of this interview, I personally feel AT was trying to be as considerate of the situation as possible while not giving off the false impression that she is unhappy to be working on the show. She is in a very difficult position. If she says that she is happy to be working on SGA, she gets called insensitive and self-centered. If she says that she is only doing the job b/c of contractual obligations, she gets called ungrateful and cold.

She also has to be as supportive of the show and the changes as she can be in order to draw in viewers and get them excited about Season 4. That is the whole purpose behind interviews like this. They are published to drum up publicity for the show. Unfortunately, she is having to walk a very fine line and no matter what she says some people out there will interpret her words in the most negative light. That is their choice and reflects more on their character than on the person interviewed.

Personally, I prefer to give the actors the benefit of the doubt. From reading their various recent interviews, I think both Amanda and Torri have handled this very difficult situation with a lot of grace, professionalism, and integrity.

[Linzi]

While I don't agree with the opinion made by a select few that she sounded self-centered or whatever, I'd like to add to your point (which I agree with) the additional fact that sometimes actors and producers and directors say something and then later on, in reading their quotes, realize they came out differently than intended.

Case in point. Originally Amanda said she was "contractually obligated" to go to SGA. But when she read her own quote, she realized that sounded cold and clinical...so she posted a note saying that she didn't care for how she worded things in that interview and added that she was excited about the transition and having a lot of fun.

In this case, it looks like she was asked precise questions and gave precise answers. Either that, or perhaps the interview was longer and TV Guide posted the most important points for this specific Q&A section.

I agree. I think AT has tried incredibly hard to be sensitive and professional at all times when discussing her move to Atlantis. I see nothing wrong with her interview at all. It's concise, informative, to the point and totally matter-of-fact.

Insulting Amanda isn't going to change the facts of the situation. It just, yet again, paints certain fans in a very bad light, and makes me incredibly embarrassed to be an Atlantis fan

[Agent_Dark]

Scandium is useful for helping geologists determine how magmas evolve.

Which is good if you live next to a volcano and want to know what kind of lava it's going throw at you..

The kind of lava that's bad for you

[sexy_penguin]

The kind of lava that's bad for you

Oh don't get me started. You'll live to regret it. I could talk lavas until the cows come home.

Nothing really changes to keep on the topic of this thread, some are happy to see Amanda on Atlantis, some are not. By the looks of things the same people say the same things over and over again. Lack of understanding abounds as usual. Lack of empathy too. Ack.

[the dancer of spaz]

Insulting Amanda isn't going to change the facts of the situation. It just, yet again, paints certain fans in a very bad light, and makes me incredibly embarrassed to be an Atlantis fan

LOL, those "certain fans" are not even in the same category, Linzi. Not even in the same category.

*contemplates using the ignore feature for the first time ever*

Anywho... I really think that this was just a portion of the whole interview, and that there's probably more to it that they could use later. There might've been more to the questions and answers than was published, which is why, as much as I dig the short Q&As, actual transcribed interviews are way better.