Cast Changes

[WraithCommander]

Weir was a train wreck of a character, unsalvageable in my view. They'd written her into the ground by using her as utility character and the only real way to correct that mistake was to off her. I believe Carson was probably killed off for the same reason Fraiser was. They wanted a big death, but not one of the main team, they wanted to inject jeopardy without without ruining the team dynamic, and the regular doctor characters provide the perfect balance between the two.

That makes sense, but yes Carson was much more involved in the team than Janet was in SG1.

[Conky]

I have to respectfully disagree. She was in a situation that no one on Atlantis had any experience with, and she did the very best she could under those circumstances. She resisted change somewhat (but so did other characters), but she gradually changed over the three years.

As Sheppard said in "The Siege", she earned the respect of everyone on Atlantis over the first year, including his, and she deserved it in my opinion.

+1

[KEK]

I have to respectfully disagree. She was in a situation that no one on Atlantis had any experience with, and she did the very best she could under those circumstances. She resisted change somewhat (but so did other characters), but she gradually changed over the three years.

It's not the changing that bothers me, that would be a good thing, it's the changing back and forth. There was no coherent development, she pretty much just acted in whichever way the plot called for. One minute she might be a peace-loving hippy and the next she was ordering torture, and then back to being a humanitarian again. The character was little more than a plot device from season two onward.

[JT-2]

It's not the changing that bothers me, that would be a good thing, it's the changing back and forth. There was no coherent development, she pretty much just acted in whichever way the plot called for. One minute she might be a peace-loving hippy and the next she was ordering torture, and then back to being a humanitarian again. The character was little more than a plot device from season two onward.

I think that was true of most of the characters. They often betrayed character for plot.

[Arica15]

I have never heard a explanation for the removal of Beckett......I've heard about 56.......first of all it was to shake the cast up, then it was because they had run out of storylines for him......then it was because they wanted to focus on the main team......and finally, and this was my favourite of all, the famous words, it had to be done for the good of the show but we can't tell you why, then there was something about it was done to make the show better, which explanation you got really depended on which PTB was speaking, the day of the week and the weather outside, the one thing no one ever actually explained was why it made the show better and how it helped the story.......

Bottom line there was never a competent or coherent explanation offered for the decision

As for Weir, well see above as it was more of the same.

Personally I don't think it was anything other than good old fashioned incompetence on the part of TPTB. Something which unfortunately there was rather a lot of.

[Snowman37]

I think the original explanation makes the most sense. They were trying to mirror an episode of Grey's Anatomy where a doctor was killed off unexpectedly when trying to save a man with a grenade in his chest. They copied that into "Sunday." Honestly, I don't think they expected the audience to react so extremely.

[maneth]

Weir made sense. Her story arc was IMO going to end badly after they decided to integrate replicator tissue into her. And yeah, at times the inconsistencies in the character reminded me all too much of Janeway on Voyager. Sure, other characters suffered from inconsistencies as well, but IMO none so badly as Weir.

To me, the only reason to kill Beckett was so Keller could come in as the young CMO. That said, they should have left him dead. Yet another resurrected character is too much. (Weir on SGA, and much as I like him, Jackson on SG-1 at least twice...) Granted, Beckett was a clone but all the more reason to keep him away from the Wraith if possible. Instead they let him roam the Pegasus galaxy with all the knowledge of Atlantis that he had, and that could potentially be used by the Wraith.

[Snowman37]

I didn't mind Beckett's resurrection, but... the way it happened was stupid. Beckett returns as a clone? OK, I buy that. Michael cloned him? I buy that. The problem: Michael got Beckett's tissue to clone him during an episode where he could not have copied Beckett's consciousness. The clone of Carson Beckett should have had an entirely new personality. To me, that'd be far more interesting. A clone of Carson Beckett who is very much Carson, but he has no knowledge of his previous life.

[magictrick]

Why they were done, who knows for sure. But both were mistakes and they tried to fix them, unsuccessfully.

[Snowman37]

It's not a mistake if it's intentional. The transition from Weir to Carter to Woolsey seemed to flow pretty well. There was no real reason to kill off Beckett, hence the audience outcry.

[jelgate]

My experence with fandom shows some people will always outcry regardless of the reason the TPTB give

[Falcon Horus]

My experence with fandom shows some people will always outcry regardless of the reason the TPTB give

Except PTB rarely give a reason...

[jelgate]

Except PTB rarely give a reason...

Of course they do. Its just never good enough for the fans going all the way back to the Jonas wars

[Stormtrooper]

It's not a mistake if it's intentional. The transition from Weir to Carter to Woolsey seemed to flow pretty well. There was no real reason to kill off Beckett, hence the audience outcry.

Lucius was next in line for season 6. Good it stopped when it did, eh? :-)

[Skie]

Of course they do. Its just never good enough for the fans going all the way back to the Jonas wars

And what would be their explanation for killing of Beckett and Weir?