Teyla's Pregnancy & Baby

[Falcon Horus]

Teyla wasn't military, so John wouldn't have technically been breaking the rules, I don't think. She was free to follow him if she wanted to or leave when she felt like it, so she wasn't really his "subordinate" the way say, Carter was with O'Neill. And I could just see him saying that "their" relationship was between them, and that it wasn't anyone's business but theirs...

Isn't there still the issue that she's under his command as she's a member of his team?

Otherwise this could be a plausible explanation, though I still have a hard time with Teyla being careless about conception of a child.

[Mnikolic]

They don't strike me as the get drunk and act irresponsible type.

Well, they did have some wild times with the expedition and the team during S4, so I'd understand them doing a slip-up.

I agree with this. I also don't think that Teyla would be ashamed of having a child with John or that she would conceal the fact that he's a father from him. I'd think it more likely that they got together a little bit and then put things on hold or something when all of S4's events started barreling at them. That's if they were together like that at all.

I was implying that she would be a little ashamed about how they spent the night and not being ashamed of carrying John's baby. The team needed her and her sneaking out and not even telling John would be a great plot for an episode arc in S06, if it would happen.

Otherwise this could be a plausible explanation, though I still have a hard time with Teyla being careless about conception of a child.

Away from your home planet, dealing with aliens every day, living in a city where just about anything can happen at anytime, while still trying to keep it together and STILL stay focused on the mission... yeah, it would be out of character for her, but considering the way how everything was turning out... I wouldn't blame her if she did A.) something crazy and B.) something that she usually wouldn't even think of doing in order to relax her mind by having a short-lasted distraction.

I'm not saying it happened, but it COULD HAVE HAPPENED.

[Arica15]

Isn't there still the issue that she's under his command as she's a member of his team?

Otherwise this could be a plausible explanation, though I still have a hard time with Teyla being careless about conception of a child.

True, but could also have been a good storyline, for example if they had done the disappearing athosian act a little earlier then grief and stress could have led her to act out of character and then with the pregnancy, actually have to face the consequences. And it's not like they wrote her being super responsible about becoming pregnant in the actual storyline they went with.

[Falcon Horus]

Mmmm.... it's route worth some thought.

[Linda06]

Did I like the pregnancy storyline? No..... Wait let me rephrase that. HELL NO.

Pregnancy from no where, invisible boyfriend out of the blue we never even heard of before or seen. Could they even have done a worse job? And the frustrating thing about it is if they done certain things slightly different it could have worked. Like having us see Teyla interacting with her people and Kanaan before they vanished. Develop the relationship a little. Give the poor guy a personality. When we did see him he may as well have been a cardboard cutout. In the end the whole thing ended up pointless and stupid.

Plus of course I thought it gave them a good excuse to sideline Teyla even more in season 5.

[coolcatkim22]

I thought it came really out of no where. I would have preferred if maybe she was like, alien abducted pregnant (though, they did already do that in SG-1) or maybe some other explanation for it.

It especially comes out of left field because we've never heard of this guy before and they kept hinting at a possible relationship between her and Sheppard.

[Falcon Horus]

I would have preferred if maybe she was like, alien abducted pregnant (though, they did already do that in SG-1) or maybe some other explanation for it.

Nah, that would have been worse than Kanaan coming out of left field.

It especially comes out of left field because we've never heard of this guy before and they kept hinting at a possible relationship between her and Sheppard.

Well, technically speaking we didn't hear of many Athosians so it all fit rather well in how TPTW saw the first aliens the expedition bumped into. There's about 4 (excluding Teyla) Athosians that we know off by name, the rest were sort of just filler (which they sadly remained until the end).

And that whole possible relationship-thing... that's in the eye of the beholder, I'm afraid. McKay got the girl and that's all they really cared about it. (they meaning TPTW)

[Linda06]

A normal pregnancy was a nice concept. But they were pretty inept at turning into reality. I wouldn't want the whole alien abduction impregnaction scenario.

Yes I agree, they didn't really care about anyone except Rodney.

[ZRFTS]

I thought the idea was interesting. I didn't care much that it was with another person but the possibilities were endless. A fighter forced to develop her motherly instincts, to develop skills that aren't necessarily related to combat.

The idea was wasted though, there was some development in the later half of Season 4 and Season 5 but all that equated to was taking it easy and learning that you don't have to be in combat all of the time. Teyla was reduced to being someone who carried a baby while on screen (see "The Prodigal") and her roles were either taken up my Ronan, McKay or the resurrected Dr. Carson Beckett who managed to get more screen time than she ever did.

If they focused more on the growth of Teyla as a mother rather than a fighter than it would of worked but as it stands, it was something that turned out to be a sidelining reason for TPTB producing the show.

[Falcon Horus]

ZRFtS - you hit the nail right in the center of its head.

[Lt.UrsulaKenmore]

Teyla wasn't military, so John wouldn't have technically been breaking the rules, I don't think. She was free to follow him if she wanted to or leave when she felt like it, so she wasn't really his "subordinate" the way say, Carter was with O'Neill. And I could just see him saying that "their" relationship was between them, and that it wasn't anyone's business but theirs... until she's pregnant.

Speaking from an 'in the military' (US Army, Hoo-ah!!!) perspective, Teyla was established as, civilian yes but also, pseudo-military and in being thought of as a subordinate 'officer' (sort of) to Sheppard, the same rules of fraternization apply. If they had engaged in a relationship and her pregnancy leaked it, Teyla would have been removed immediately from John's team and most likely banned from being on any other gate team (it's sad but fact that the subordinate always gets the brunt of the punishment in situations like these especially if they're female ) and Sheppard would get a slap on the wrist and most likely a demotion.

I thought it came out of nowhere and that there could have been a little bit of build up. I didn't mind her being a mother or that her child was supposed to be super special, it's just that they did nothing with that. If anything, she was pushed even further in the back than she already was and I didn't like that. If that's all they were going to do with her by having her be a mother with a gifted child, then that they could have skipped. Also, as bland as Kanaan was, I at least thought the fact that she had an Athosian boyfriend meant that we'd get to see her actually with her people, leading them some, but no.

It was already established in the series, much to the actress' chagrin in interviews she'd given with Stargate Magazine about it, that Teyla was very private about her Athosian life and didn't talk about it much. I thought keeping Kanaan a secret worked in with that setup. And I agree, more about Athosian culture would have been awesome, but, alas, it never happened. The secrecy I also thought added to the awkwardness between Sheppard and Teyla in their relationship and made for great watching and more potential character growth for both; Sheppard doesn't know how to deal with the fact that someone else got the woman he wanted, and Teyla in her natural kindness and consideration for other people's feelings would shade how she was with Sheppard. She already knew he really was crushing on her, but she just didn't seem that in to him and didn't really know how to tell him wihtout really hurting him. Her pregnancy forced that out of her hands and thus social awkwardness is born between the two of them. But, alas again, that never was given a chance. It never seems that being an actual adult about things ever does.

I think she had a great friendship with Ronon, but I didn't see any romantic sparks between them. I think she had the most chemistry with John and that it would have made sense if the child were his. At least with that it would have made more sense that Michael was coming after the child, because then you could at least say there was some "special way" the ancient gene from John merged with the Wraith DNA from Teyla to create a child with some special genetic code or something like that, but they decided against that too. Really, I don't know what they were doing. I don't think they knew either, to be honest.

I always thought Michael went after Torren because of both parents having Wraith DNA, it actually meant that Torren has more Wraith DNA than either one. Him being inside Teyla made her tapping into Wraith tech (i.e. flying a hiveship, Spoils of War) as well as a Queen's mind and controlling her rather than just fooling her (same episode) much easier than Teyla had previously been able to do. I thought that Michael was tapping into that idea. Torren would be what his hybrid experimentation was supposed to end up as and I believe Michael was attempting to reverse engineer someone like Torren with a few genetic modifications like Michael being able to control someone like Torren the way he'd altered clone Carson to obey him. Makes sense, his endeavors to try and build a hybrid from the ground up resulted in the failure of those black bug-lobster-alien creature things (which never get talked about again even though the end of the episode establishes that there were far more than just those on that planet; what the hell happened to all those hundreds of creatures on dozens of planets?) and the creature people from Whispers. Why not go the other way and find someone who would already be your what your ultimate vision is and analyze their DNA and go from the end back to the beginning that way?

As for the books. I've read most of the first one, and I don't think any of the characterizations are spot on, but if you can get past that then it looks like the story is really building somewhere. I tend to like the characters to be the characters, though.

You're right, none of the characters are accurate. I personally found Teyla's characterization insulting. And Sheppard's was down right pathetic. I actually found myself rooting for the Wraith to destroy all of them. However, the action stuff was pretty good, very SGA. But the only way I could get through the books (#1 and #2 so far) was to imagine them like an AU and that's how the characters are in this alternate universe, it was really the only way I could stomach how off things were.

[Lt.UrsulaKenmore]

Another thing, is that her pregnancy and the father being Athosian makes for interesting problems within the city and the Athosian society. We can't be the only people shocked by her being with Kanaan and not Sheppard or somebody else from Atlantis. How would a leader deal with a gossip mill talking like that?

[The Lady Blue]

Speaking from an 'in the military' (US Army, Hoo-ah!!!) perspective, Teyla was established as, civilian yes but also, pseudo-military and in being thought of as a subordinate 'officer' (sort of) to Sheppard, the same rules of fraternization apply. If they had engaged in a relationship and her pregnancy leaked it, Teyla would have been removed immediately from John's team and most likely banned from being on any other gate team (it's sad but fact that the subordinate always gets the brunt of the punishment in situations like these especially if they're female ) and Sheppard would get a slap on the wrist and most likely a demotion.



It was already established in the series, much to the actress' chagrin in interviews she'd given with Stargate Magazine about it, that Teyla was very private about her Athosian life and didn't talk about it much. I thought keeping Kanaan a secret worked in with that setup. And I agree, more about Athosian culture would have been awesome, but, alas, it never happened. The secrecy I also thought added to the awkwardness between Sheppard and Teyla in their relationship and made for great watching and more potential character growth for both; Sheppard doesn't know how to deal with the fact that someone else got the woman he wanted, and Teyla in her natural kindness and consideration for other people's feelings would shade how she was with Sheppard. She already knew he really was crushing on her, but she just didn't seem that in to him and didn't really know how to tell him wihtout really hurting him. Her pregnancy forced that out of her hands and thus social awkwardness is born between the two of them. But, alas again, that never was given a chance. It never seems that being an actual adult about things ever does.



I always thought Michael went after Torren because of both parents having Wraith DNA, it actually meant that Torren has more Wraith DNA than either one. Him being inside Teyla made her tapping into Wraith tech (i.e. flying a hiveship, Spoils of War) as well as a Queen's mind and controlling her rather than just fooling her (same episode) much easier than Teyla had previously been able to do. I thought that Michael was tapping into that idea. Torren would be what his hybrid experimentation was supposed to end up as and I believe Michael was attempting to reverse engineer someone like Torren with a few genetic modifications like Michael being able to control someone like Torren the way he'd altered clone Carson to obey him. Makes sense, his endeavors to try and build a hybrid from the ground up resulted in the failure of those black bug-lobster-alien creature things (which never get talked about again even though the end of the episode establishes that there were far more than just those on that planet; what the hell happened to all those hundreds of creatures on dozens of planets?) and the creature people from Whispers. Why not go the other way and find someone who would already be your what your ultimate vision is and analyze their DNA and go from the end back to the beginning that way?



You're right, none of the characters are accurate. I personally found Teyla's characterization insulting. And Sheppard's was down right pathetic. I actually found myself rooting for the Wraith to destroy all of them. However, the action stuff was pretty good, very SGA. But the only way I could get through the books (#1 and #2 so far) was to imagine them like an AU and that's how the characters are in this alternate universe, it was really the only way I could stomach how off things were.

Another thing, is that her pregnancy and the father being Athosian makes for interesting problems within the city and the Athosian society. We can't be the only people shocked by her being with Kanaan and not Sheppard or somebody else from Atlantis. How would a leader deal with a gossip mill talking like that?

Thank you for such a detailed response. In the scenario I believe I outlined, no one would know that they (Sheppard and Teyla) had a child, so there would be no disciplinary action and no "gossip mill." Kanaan would step in to say the child was his to protect them, protect Teyla, his life long friend. The only person who might know different would be Keller, and that's only if there were a reason for her to do DNA testing for some reason, and then it would be up to her to divulge that information if it were relevant to some pressing matter, which I can't imagine what that would be. Anyway, it's just a scenario. Anyone can create one.

On the Kanaan/Teyla/Torren Story line that happened with Michael, I understand that was the thinking behind it, but he just as easily could have taken samples from the Athosians that had the gene the strongest, which would include Teyla and Kanaan, and created the child or adult he wanted and been done with them. He did that with Carson.

I don't think the Legacy books are bad, just probably not my cup of tea. There's nothing wrong with that or with the enjoyment and satisfaction many people got out of them.

[Linda06]

I still never figured out how Teyla apparently lost her Wraith detecting abilities after Torren was born.

[Falcon Horus]

I still never figured out how Teyla apparently lost her Wraith detecting abilities after Torren was born.

He stole them all.