Major John Sheppard

[shinyredpants]

i think he'll be awesome! i'm not really wanting to compare him with any of sg-1 just cuz well...its NOT sg-1. but i think he'll be as great as o'neill!

[Adamixoye]

***BUMP!!!***

I know this has been discussed in other threads, but I am totally down with Sheppard. Sure, in some ways he is intended to be O'Neill 2.0, but he's doing a great job at it. Ultimately, though, I believe he is different enough so far and will continue to grow that way, e.g. his whole demeanor (the Kermit voice) and the "math genius" thing (I like O'Neill, but sometimes the "playing it dense" thing annoys me).

[ShadowMaat]

I have no idea where people are getting this "Kermit voice" thing. He sounds nothing remotely like Kermit to me.

I do like his broodiness, though, as long as they don't overplay it...

[Stargate Agent]

I think he is a womanizer he was smooth talking all the woman in the pilot.

[ylai]

Though people might see a good-ol' boy exterior, he is also a closet mathematical genius.

Come on. In two minutes of return, he had plenty of time to calculate 6!. A lot of people know at least:

4! = 24 (otherwise: 6 × 4 = ?)
5! = 5 × 4! = (4! × 10 ÷ 2 =) ?
6! = 6 × 5! = (4! × 10 × (6 ÷ 2) =) ?

You really only need 5 second for that.

[ylai]

SPOILER ALARM!!!

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It would be infact much more impressive, if this happened instead:

Sheppard: When can you tell me where the Wraith took Col. Sumner and the others?
McKay: Even with the six symbols Lt. Ford provided, there are still hundreds of permutations...
Sheppard: 720.
McKay: Yes. ... I knew that of course, I was just surprised you do. ... And how many permutations would that be, if Lt. Ford forgot two symbols?
Sheppard: 669,600.
McKay: Oh, interesting... Major, have you ever thought about joining the science team?

;-)

[ShadowMaat]

Would now be a good time to remind folks about the RULES REGARDING SPOILER SPACE here on the forum?

[Adamixoye]

Spoilers for Rising, or, you know, whatever...
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I don't think the permutations question was supposed to show his mathematical genius all by itself. The point was McKay was surprised that Sheppard had even thought about it.

As for the poster who said he was a womanizer, I don't agree at all. He's charming, I suppose you could say he's a smooth talker of sorts. But I think Teyla implied that she felt he was actually respecting her, unlike Sumner. He's just got that cool, laid-back thing going on.

And I think his voice is cool, even though I said it has the Kermit thing going on. It's inexplicably a half-octave higher than you feel it should be, but not squeaky or screechy, and as I said about the character in general, very much laid-back.

And as for ship...hey what happens happens. Didn't the descriptions indicate that there would be some initial ship and then it would go away? So all those who are opposed to ship have that to hang their hats on. As for me, I don't care one way or the other.

[ylai]

I don't think the permutations question was supposed to show his mathematical genius all by itself. The point was McKay was surprised that Sheppard had even thought about it.

Well, I think it is still kind of both, but just not to the extent of "genius" as people said here. I would dare to say that in most societies, people knowing that is not quite the majority. Also, deducing the factorial relation for this specific kind of permutation is not quite easy for people who never touched combinatorics before. Knowing that permutation of 6 symbol is 6! means that he in fact has some background in mathematics, and more importantly, did not forget it. He is therefore quite different than Sumner, or even O'Neill.

And on the other hand, you see McKay (while being a rather arrogant person) already being get used to skip details when talking to people without obvious scientific background. People like Weir, Sumner or O'Neill would be absolutely bored by the number 720. I think he is also surprised by the fact, that he is facing someone with sense for details, while Sheppard enjoys to express "don't take me to be that stupid (as other people)".

[ylai]

Joe Flanigan
A gifted military pilot, posted at McMurdoch Air Force Base because it's the only place they will let him fly; [...]

Isn't it fair to mention the "gene-thing" if you already mentioned that with Dr. Beckett? His "gene-thing"-expression is even stronger.

[VixyOwl (~~Ani)]

While we're on the math thing: Am I the only one who had to memorize the factorials up to 10 in high school?

Seriously. I never use that. Why? oh, why?

I like Sheppard, by the way. Didn't thunk--I tend not to thunk over the boyish ones. But I also don't require that to be a factor in liking male characters.

And while I don't hear much Kermit, per se, I do get a definite Luke Wilson vibe. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[ylai]

While we're on the math thing: Am I the only one who had to memorize the factorials up to 10 in high school?

Well, I did not have to memorize it. But up to 8! is not hard to do it without any help (including pencil and paper) and within few seconds.

6! is really easy to calculate, as I mentioned before (by taking advantage of the 2 × 5 factor in it, or transform it into 8 × 9 × 10 to do it directly and without knowing 4!, 5!).

7! (7 × 720 = 5040) is also just one step away from 6!.

8! (= 40320) is also quite easy (by taking advantage of the fact that 7! has a 0 on the 3rd digit).

9! also can be calculated with exploiting the 0 on the 4th digit, but you have to know 9 × 32 = 288 if you want to do it really fast.

On the other hand, it is not very useful to memorize factorials as big as 10!, because you will get a number (3628800) that (even without the 100 in it) is hard for further calculations. Often your life would be easier to simplify the calculation with 10! not calculated, rather than substitute it with an obfuscating value you memorized.

[ShadowMaat]

I wonder if the producers realized when they wrote this that the things that would cause the biggest freakout among fans would be a stupid number.

It was a joke, people. A way of lightening the mood. McKay looks down on everyone who isn't himself and especially those in the military and the fact that Sheppard rattled off a number without even thinking about it temporarily derailed him. That's all that it means: Sheppard isn't as stupid as McKay thought.

Sheesh, it wasn't rocket science.

I still don't get the voice thing. I like Sheppard's voice. I don't find it at all unusual or higher than I expected or anything. Of course, this also isnt' my first intro to Flanigan.

[Buzz Lightyear]

Possible minor spoilers for "Rising"...
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ANOTHER genius character... well, I'm going to see what happens with this Major John Sheppard before I pass judgment, but needless to say, I am fascinated. The show already has so many genius characters: Sam, Daniel, Jonas, numerous guest characters and aliens... we'll see.
This could be interesting.

You generally don't get promoted in the military chain of command just for putting in the time. And you definitely don't get invited into the Stargate program unless you're extremely gifted in some capacity. There are no stupid grunts at the SGC, imo. They're all supposed to be the best of the best.

That having been said, Sheppard certainly wasn't invited along on the Atlantis expedition for any other reason than the fact that he has the magic gene and seems to be a "natural" as Weir puts it.

[greytop]

Maybe Jack also saw his young self in Sheppard. Weir probably saw his leadership ability in him also. I like the character.