Originally posted by maxbo
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Welcome, Atlantis4Life. Your post looks good
Yep, the main issue I had with SGA is that the writers didn't write more for all the characters. Instead, they were only interested in writing for their favorites and the audience be damned. IMO, they were too reluctant to leave their comfort zone and since they all seem to have the same opinions, there was no diversity of thought in the writers room. And, what's worse is that they didn't seem to see this as a problem because whenever this issue was raised, they dismissed it.
I've lost count of the number of times posters to Joe Mallozzi's blog asked about when Teyla would get more development and he would dismiss the comments by either claiming that a big Teyla storyline was coming or that Teyla had already had a big storyline that we had somehow missed.
Martin Gero was also dismissive when he claimed that a character like Keller was needed because they (the writers) couldn't continue to write for McKay and Sheppard forever - overlooking the fact that there were more main characters than McKay and Sheppard on the show. I still find it amazing that that he didn't even consider writing for Teyla and Ronon as a solution to freshening up the storylines. And, I'm also amazed that he didn't realize that just because they gave Sheppard a lot of screentime doesn't mean that they gave Sheppard a lot of development.
And, I can't forget Paul Mullie's confirmation that they found Teyla and Ronon the hardest characters to write for. What a surprise that the characters they found the most difficult to write got the least amount of focus.
It's truly unfortunate that SGA had such lazy and arrogant writers because, despite a great cast, it never realized its full potential.And, speaking of Carson, I'm still disappointed that we didn't get a Teyla and Carson moment in Season 5. At the end of Season 4, it looked like we would get something, but that was just a smokescreen because in Season 5, we got nothing - nothing at all.
In fact, as much as I wanted Carson to return, I was disappointed to see the writers treat him as badly as they had Teyla and Ronon. Instead of focusing on his close ties with Teyla and the others, the writers just used Carson as a device to further their lame plots, with no consideration for the overall good of the series.
Thanks for the welcome. And, boy-oh-boy! You just said everything I've been thinking for a while. Where to start? I'll echo bluealien in saying that writers - no - professional writers should have more imagination than only being able to write for characters that are just like them, or characters that are their favorites. I'm not trying to be mean, but this is just true. They did have a lot to work with but, somehow it never worked out. I wish that they could have worked with the cast that they had during the first couple of years of the show:
Primary Characters - Sheppard, Teyla, McKay, Ford, Ronon, Weir.
Secondary Characters - Zelenka and Lorne.
These were the characters that I wanted to see stories about. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
And, I too believe that an SGA movie is only a good idea if it has a good story to tell with all of the characters being written for. Now, it doesn't look like a movie is going to happen, and that makes me a little sad. SGA had wonderful actors that really contributed to how great their characters were/are.
I think that the "big Teyla storyline" not really happening is the same as them maybe thinking that because they gave Sheppard a lot of face time, that was the same as developing his character. What I saw was Teyla being used the the "big Michael storyline". She was kidnapped, rescued, and then he attempted to take her and Torren with him again. In all of this, I think we learned more about Michael and his evolution than we learned new things about Teyla and/or how she developed.
I also expected there to be a really good Beckett/Teyla connection. I mean, after Teyla & Beckett were rescued, they were the only 2 people on the expedition (even though technically the cloned Beckett never was) that now knew what it was like to have a bit of Wraith DNA in them that allowed them to be connected to the Wraith mentally, and to operate Wraith technology. This also made Beckett a double force to be reckoned with because he also possessed the Ancient gene too. Imagine the storylines that could have been created with just that! I was hoping to see Teyla teach Carson how to resist being controlled by the Wraith the way he was controlled by Michael in The Kindred Part II. When we first met Teyla and she explored her gift in Season 1, she had problems with controlling her power/connection to the Wraith, but she taught herself how to control that power and use it for good. She and Carson really could have bonded more over him learning how to do that too. Oh well, another opportunity lost I guess.
Keller was a bad idea. I'm just going to leave it at that. Also, I hope they put McKay back with Katie Brown, that's if he's going to be with anyone.
I really do hope that TPTB can remember what made SGA great, and write a good movie, and get all of the cast together to do this. I really miss SGA.
I'll get better though - promise!
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