Rachel Luttrell/Teyla Emmagan WOW Thread

[Falcon Horus]

Nice!

[Linda06]

Hello. I made a new smilie (based on the ones done by Gilles Nuytens) and thought you guys might like it. Any way, here it is...

hehe, Oh that is too cool thanks for sharing

[maxbo]

Could you imagine that scene with Carson. It would have been up there as one of the greatest scenes in stargate...But alas, Keller had to go ruin yet another scene for Teyla She's ruined almost every scene that Teyla has been in just by being there Keller even ruined her own episode "Missing"

Regarding Doppleganger, I agree that scene with Carson would have been pure gold because Teyla and Carson have always had good chemistry.

Would you believe that I actually liked Keller in Doppelganger? I haven't had a favorable opinion about the character in such a long time that I almost forget that I liked her then. Of course that was back when I thought she was a supporting character.

Thinking back on some of the past episodes, I would love to have seen a Teyla/Carson follow-up scene to that small scene in Michael where she noticed that he looked tired. There was so much angst and self-doubt for most of the characters in that episode that it's sad that the writers didn't follow up on those issues more.

Thanks, I don't think she was in that much but the scenes she was in were good And well, ya just gotta love Cuba

That's good to know.

I could give it a shot and rewrite that whole scene.

Already did a Doppelganger fix-it, where Keller actually has a personality worth watching. Plus another fix-it that pretty much was a major rewrite altogether, although very AU since it was for the Little Bang challenge (femmeslash fic challenge, little sister of the Big Bang ficathons).

I didn't have a problem with Keller in Doppelganger because I thought she was just beginning to become a distinct character. After her nightmare scene with Teyla on the operating table, I was hoping that she would share that nightmare with Teyla so that we could find out why she had that fear. Back then I hoped that TPTB would start writing for the women more and wanted to see Teyla interact with Sam, Keller and Elizabeth too, at some point.

I know some were bothered by Sam and Keller sitting at the table with the team at the end, but at the time, I liked it because I had always wanted to see more of Elizabeth and Carson with the team and saw this as TPTB attempt to correct some of the issues of the past.

Of course, at the time, I also hoped that Elizabeth and Carson would return that season, so I didn't see Sam and Keller as their replacements then.

Hello. I made a new smilie (based on the ones done by Gilles Nuytens) and thought you guys might like it. Any way, here it is...

A dancing Teyla - I love it! Thanks!

[Atlantis4Life]

You're not being mean to point out what should be a basic requirement to be a professional writer - the ability to write for more than the characters that are like you or that you want to be like. At the very least, Brad Wright and Robert Cooper should have demanded that each main character had strong representation in the writing room because that's the best way to have a strong show.

Thanks. And, you're right. They knew that if they only had 2 main characters, that it would be a boring show. So, if you have 5-6 main characters, why not write for them. It makes sense. It also gives a writer with imagination a lot to work with.

Looking back, their getting rid of Ford so soon was a sign of things to come because it signaled that the writers didn't like to challenge themselves. Brad Wright even admitted in an old interview that he felt better about bringing Ronon on board because he was a big strong guy like Teal'c and not a "little brunette" like Teyla. I took that comment to mean that he felt more comfortable about SGA once it started to look more like SG-1 for him.

You've just hit the nail on the head! That's what bothered me so much about him never coming back! It was the writers/producers (although they are the same people mostly) conceding that they, in a way, created these wonderful characters that they couldn't write for. They did such a good job creating these characters. Teyla was supposed to be wise, strong, compassionate, a leader, skillful, and beautiful. However, they didn't seem to write all of this into the scripts very much, except for scenes that hinted at this being the case - or someone outright saying it. But, I would've liked to have seen that more, and known more about her people. What exactly were her duties in being a leader to her people if she was away with the SGA team most of the time? Was Halling her second in command? They never really addressed these things. Oh well.

Just reading what you wrote here makes me sad that we didn't have writers who were up for the challenge of using SGA's characters well. A Teyla & Carson storyline where she had to help him deal with his Wraith DNA would have been great. As you said, another opportunity lost.

Yes indeed. Yes indeed.

I share your hope that TPTB realize what made SGA great so that we can get a decent movie. If that's not possible, then I want new writers from the top on down because there is still too much life left in SGA to let it die because the current group of writers are unwilling, or unable, to do give it the attention and well-thought out writing it deserves.

There is! There are so many possibilities with SGA. I don't know where to start. There is soooooo much life in SGA, it could have easily gone on for 10 season and been amazing and never gotten tired or stale. They had so much to work with. I really want a great movie. Really.

[Atlantis4Life]

*points up* What she said

Thanks.

That's not true......We learned that Teyla......um........just gimme a sec here.......*thinks* ........had Wraith DNA??? No we found that out much earlier.....um.....Ok I give up

Hahaha! ROTFL

Could you imagine that scene with Carson. It would have been up there as one of the greatest scenes in stargate...But alas, Keller had to go ruin yet another scene for Teyla She's ruined almost every scene that Teyla has been in just by being there Keller even ruined her own episode "Missing"

Wow. That has to be why "Missing" was the most disappointing SGA episode I've seen. This was the first and only episode where Teyla was the headliner. She's lost her people. She's on the run. She's tied to a ball-and-chain that rhymes with Smeller. (I shall not speak the name today ) Instead of Teyla (after 3+ seasons) finally being the center/lead in the episode, we get an episode that centers around "someone else" being afraid, "someone else" not wanting to cross a bridge, "someone else" hurting her ankle, "someone else" that cries about being hungry but doesn't want to eat the food that looks like it's part of a Survivor challenge in the wilderness... Carson would have been soooo much better in that episode. That would have changed it from being one of my least favorite to one of my favorites - easy. Poor Teyla.

[Linda06]

Thanks. And, you're right. They knew that if they only had 2 main characters, that it would be a boring show. So, if you have 5-6 main characters, why not write for them. It makes sense. It also gives a writer with imagination a lot to work with.

They had more than two main characters? huh, I must have blinked and missed them

There is! There are so many possibilities with SGA. I don't know where to start. There is soooooo much life in SGA, it could have easily gone on for 10 season and been amazing and never gotten tired or stale. They had so much to work with. I really want a great movie. Really.

SGA was dying a slow and painful death thanks to certain people If it did go on for more seasons I don't think I would have continued watching, not after what happened with S5. I ain't even planning on watching the movie, if it ever gets made and that is debatable. Well I ain't interested in watching Stargate McKay so....ya know *shrugs*

[Atlantis4Life]

Hello. I made a new smilie (based on the ones done by Gilles Nuytens) and thought you guys might like it. Any way, here it is...

I love it. We don't know each other on this thread yet, but I want to say your work is great! The "Stayin' Alive Ronon" and the "Macarena Woolsey" had me howling!!! The pirouetting Telya fits so well since Rachel was a real balerina. Thanks.

[Atlantis4Life]

They had more than two main characters? huh, I must have blinked and missed them

Oh well, that's what I heard. There's this big rumor going around, and...

SGA was dying a slow and painful death thanks to certain people If it did go on for more seasons I don't think I would have continued watching, not after what happened with S5. I ain't even planning on watching the movie, if it ever gets made and that is debatable. Well I ain't interested in watching Stargate McKay so....ya know *shrugs*

That's the tragedy of it. It didn't have to be like that. You're right, though. The way things were going was so terribly wrong to the point where much of that season is a bit painful to watch. There were some good episodes though, but not many.

Here's how I see it:

Seasons 1 & 2 = The Best.
Season 3 = Solid.
Season 4 = Hit-and-Miss
Season 5 = Waaay more Missing than Hitting.

If they could have gotten back to what made the show great in the first place instead of - forgive me - cheap gimmicks and new and undesireable main characters, then the show would have continued and been great. To be honest, I was tired of season 5 before I even saw it because I knew what was coming based on the decisions that they were making by the advertising. But still, I watched it because I love Teyla, John, McKay, and Ronon. I'll probably watch the movie too, if it's made, for that same reason. But I draw the line at buying it on DVD if it's bad. That's why I don't have S5 of Atlantis on DVD, only the first 4. I just hope they can step it up and actually make a good movie. But like you said, that's debatable. Makes me sad.

[virginiabrasil]

GW: Rachel [Luttrell, "Teyla Emmagan"] said she went through five or six auditions.

JF: She did, and I was there with her, because I read for her. After that I read with all the other actors who were auditioning for the parts. And, yes, they took her though a much more painful process, so she deserves more.This interview was with Joe Flanigan in December 2004 at GateWorld. After reading again, I confirmed what everyone was sure: the chemistry that existed between Rachel and Joe brought the characters to success. But the producers realized after the 3rd season, which was intended to sheyla stay together, at 4 ° temporada thought of change and messed up everything. I hope you understand my thinking, I wanted to express that thought while I thought it might be today, thank you.

[virginiabrasil]

I hope to make the film, which is at least 3, not to kill Kannan, I would like him leading the athosianos and Teyla have other responsibilities in Atlantis and John is her choice and not because Kanaan died,because I love Sheyla and I think those characters are the basis of SGA, I'm sorry if you disagree, if any of them go out ,diminishes my desire to see SGA.

[Linda06]

Oh well, that's what I heard. There's this big rumor going around, and...

I bet I can guess who started the rumour

That's the tragedy of it. It didn't have to be like that. You're right, though. The way things were going was so terribly wrong to the point where much of that season is a bit painful to watch. There were some good episodes though, but not many.

Here's how I see it:

Seasons 1 & 2 = The Best.
Season 3 = Solid.
Season 4 = Hit-and-Miss
Season 5 = Waaay more Missing than Hitting.

If they could have gotten back to what made the show great in the first place instead of - forgive me - cheap gimmicks and new and undesireable main characters, then the show would have continued and been great. To be honest, I was tired of season 5 before I even saw it because I knew what was coming based on the decisions that they were making by the advertising. But still, I watched it because I love Teyla, John, McKay, and Ronon. I'll probably watch the movie too, if it's made, for that same reason. But I draw the line at buying it on DVD if it's bad. That's why I don't have S5 of Atlantis on DVD, only the first 4. I just hope they can step it up and actually make a good movie. But like you said, that's debatable. Makes me sad.

That's what makes it so frustrating becuase it did have potential to be a great show. But unfortuately for one reason or another it fell way short, it fell flat and it got worse as the seasons went on. Their obsession with certain characters pretty much ruined the show beyond recongnition for me anyways I don't own S5 either. I wouldn't buy that piece of drivel, I was even contemplating selling the other seasons of SGA

GW: Rachel [Luttrell, "Teyla Emmagan"] said she went through five or six auditions.

JF: She did, and I was there with her, because I read for her. After that I read with all the other actors who were auditioning for the parts. And, yes, they took her though a much more painful process, so she deserves more.This interview was with Joe Flanigan in December 2004 at GateWorld. After reading again, I confirmed what everyone was sure: the chemistry that existed between Rachel and Joe brought the characters to success. But the producers realized after the 3rd season, which was intended to sheyla stay together, at 4 ° temporada thought of change and messed up everything. I hope you understand my thinking, I wanted to express that thought while I thought it might be today, thank you.

And there's proof right there that when it comes to writing romance (and I say that in the loosest terms) they fall perilously short on all counts. They simply don't have the capabilities to write romance in any shape or form. Whether you ship John/Teyla, John/Weir, Rodney/Keller, Ronon/Keller etc, they screwed the whole lot of them up and there's another reason the show became so bad in the end

IMO if they really want SGU to be a success then they would be well advised to leave romance alone, don't even attempt it, don't even think about it, don't even dream it. Because given past attempts. It's got fail written all over it.

[virginiabrasil]

I do not think anyone write fiction to writing romance, things happen between the characters. I think the writer wanted to give another way to history and fezeram a mess.

[Falcon Horus]

Writing romance can only be established when one has been writing friendships first. However, writing friendships can only be established if you have your characters interact on several different levels in order to make any sort of relationship look and feel believable.
When one forgets to do so, there can be no talk of friendship, let alone romance.

We got glimpses of possible friendly relationships between the different team members of Sheppard's team mostly, and separate from that the rest of the expedition members (if only brief glimpses where the audience needs to fill in the rest). We got interactions between the core members ... at first. In a later stadium that was centered around one or two characters, while the others were mostly pushed aside.

And the audience does a little of filling in the blanks, whichever way they see fit and suits their preferences for friendships and/or romantic relationships.

However, when the audience needs to fill in all the blanks in order to complete the image of a relationship, such as there is for example Teyla and Kanaan - then there's something seriously wrong with the writing. I think if the PTB had put just that little bit of effort into fleshing out Kanaan and his relationship with Teyla more than "he understands what it means to have the gift", this relationship could have been out-romancing any established relationships (canon ones like McKay/Keller, Ronon/Melana, John/Nancy, Elizabeth/Simon, ...) on the show.

Unless you want your relationship to be something that people see when they like to see it. To interpret the signs in whichever way they feel fits them. In that case, they've done a pretty good job in writing the relationships.

HOWEVER...

Romantic relationships shouldn't be the focus of this sort of TV-show. This about exploration and discovering, and where people learn to work together, live together and be themselves in a strange new environment - with new people to meet and new enemies to make.

And that's the second reason why TPTB of SGA should never have attempted their poor writing of romance. That's something that can be hinted at or something in the background to complete the whole.

Besides does Teyla really need a guy or a girl to be a complete character? As far as I am concerned she's strong enough on her own to kick some serious booty as a character. She doesn't need to have a strong man or protective girl hoovering nearby to safe the damsel in distress, because that's not Teyla... at least not the Teyla I know.

And yet, I think as far as Kanaan as concerned - with the material they had, which I reckon wasn't much, it worked out quite alright. Not good, far from it, but not horrendously bad either. TPTB forgot him more than they should have, and turned Teyla into a helpless damsel a wee bit too much after Torren arrived... but hey... what else would we have expected from these guys? McKay is their hero, not Teyla.

[Jeyla4ever]

Hi everyone.....

I agree that the writers did a poor job, but even Weir got some serious relationship in regards to some sort of romance from two characters and yet Teyla had an entire season with her pregnancy and nothing more than Kanaan was mentioned than the repeated phrase, "the father of my son" and "we are childhood friends with the same Wraith gene".

That's not an excuse worth even giving these writers the leeway of they are men and what else can we expect. They did wrong to Teyla for whatever reason and it's not because they didn't have enough time to write something plausible and it wasn't because Rachel herself wasn't willing due to her pregnancy. I have my own thoughts on the matter but it's done and it's a shame too because you are right, FH...Teyla doesn't need any love interest to complete her as a character but it would have been nice to see that side of her completely since the writers themselves expected us to believe it. You know what I mean?

In any case, I don't feel that Kanaan was the love of her life. She herself described him to Keller and to Carter as childhood friends who had just become more than that recently. She even stated to John and Ronon in her pregnancy confession that it just happened, which can be interpreted in many different ways, but clearly that pregnancy was an unexpected surprise for her. In addition, she didn't want to tell her teammates and described it as "complicated". What was complicated? That she wanted to continue on fighting? If Teyla wanted to leave Atlantis and go off on her own to fight her people she could have and she didn't need Sheppard or his team to do that..so what was complicated? No one would have held her back...well, I think John would have but that's just me. The complication meaning for me meant in terms of her relationship with her teammates. On how John would react, in particularly and what that would mean to her as far of her presence in his team, which only means that this meant a lot to Teyla. That baby was an unexpected little surprise which can also mean that she wasn't taking that relationship with Kanaan that seriously either, at least not yet because she did want to continue to fight alongside Sheppard's team. That can also be clearly seen when she was faced with the idea of leaving the team or staying. So, that baby, Kanaan, wasn't all what she wanted and to some extent was even forced to accept Kanaan as more than just a lover.

Just my two cents.

In any case, love the convo here and I hope you guys don't mind my two cents here since I"m not here that much, but the reality, I miss Teyla too much! I wish she was back on screen.

[Linda06]

Writing romance can only be established when one has been writing friendships first. However, writing friendships can only be established if you have your characters interact on several different levels in order to make any sort of relationship look and feel believable.
When one forgets to do so, there can be no talk of friendship, let alone romance.

We got glimpses of possible friendly relationships between the different team members of Sheppard's team mostly, and separate from that the rest of the expedition members (if only brief glimpses where the audience needs to fill in the rest). We got interactions between the core members ... at first. In a later stadium that was centered around one or two characters, while the others were mostly pushed aside.

And the audience does a little of filling in the blanks, whichever way they see fit and suits their preferences for friendships and/or romantic relationships.

However, when the audience needs to fill in all the blanks in order to complete the image of a relationship, such as there is for example Teyla and Kanaan - then there's something seriously wrong with the writing. I think if the PTB had put just that little bit of effort into fleshing out Kanaan and his relationship with Teyla more than "he understands what it means to have the gift", this relationship could have been out-romancing any established relationships (canon ones like McKay/Keller, Ronon/Melana, John/Nancy, Elizabeth/Simon, ...) on the show.

Unless you want your relationship to be something that people see when they like to see it. To interpret the signs in whichever way they feel fits them. In that case, they've done a pretty good job in writing the relationships.

HOWEVER...

Romantic relationships shouldn't be the focus of this sort of TV-show. This about exploration and discovering, and where people learn to work together, live together and be themselves in a strange new environment - with new people to meet and new enemies to make.

And that's the second reason why TPTB of SGA should never have attempted their poor writing of romance. That's something that can be hinted at or something in the background to complete the whole.

Besides does Teyla really need a guy or a girl to be a complete character? As far as I am concerned she's strong enough on her own to kick some serious booty as a character. She doesn't need to have a strong man or protective girl hoovering nearby to safe the damsel in distress, because that's not Teyla... at least not the Teyla I know.

And yet, I think as far as Kanaan as concerned - with the material they had, which I reckon wasn't much, it worked out quite alright. Not good, far from it, but not horrendously bad either. TPTB forgot him more than they should have, and turned Teyla into a helpless damsel a wee bit too much after Torren arrived... but hey... what else would we have expected from these guys? McKay is their hero, not Teyla.

Example on how to write romance properly - DS9 and Odo/Kira. They wrote friendship, developed their relationship over a few years and eventually it developed into love. It wasn't a "nothing" then BAM "I love you, I've always loved you" a la McKeller I mean if they really want us to buy into and believe a ship then the writers have to develop it first and not just give it to us out of the blue...Plucked out of thin air like they done with McKay/Keller and Teyla/Kannan

I don't hate the Teyla/Kannan relationship because I am a JT shipper. I hate it because it just appeared out of no where to explain a pregnancy that was dreadfully written Then it disappeared back into nothingness along with Teyla Heck if Teyla/Kannan got real good to honest proper development then I may even have enjoyed seeing a different side to Teyla than what we were used to, but nope. Writing romance for these guys is next to impossible for them to do, they've proven that time and time again

Camy - You're a Teyla fan so you're more than welcome to come in here any time and air your opinions, that's what this thread is here for