STAKS: The Anti-Kirking Discussion Thread

[Lexa Jayde]

Great posts, people.

Sanctuary and Epiphany rank among the worst Stargate episodes ever. Whoever thought it would make a good storyline to ship Sheppard with every scantily-clad space babe that bats her eyelashes at him? He's a 40-year-old Lt. Colonel, for cryin' out loud, and as much as these charades may have been popular in the 1960's, I believe it is called robbing the cradle these days. It seems someone has a lack of respect for our intelligence by thinking that him Kirking around is going to generate anything other than contempt. Many sci-fi fans these days are not pimple-faced teenyboppers who will take hot chicks over good stories, character development etc. Sheppard's manhood and hotness do not need to be reinforced in this grotesque way. We've figured it out for ourselves long ago. What he needs is a backstory as the infatuation with his hair may come to pass one day. Having a good-looking actor with a great acting ability is not something that should be wasted on pointless and demeaning episodes.

*steps off the soapbox*

too true... too true... i love the soapbox too

[Tracy Jane]

If the RDA thunkers have their gutter, I think we've developped the STAKS soapbox.

[gooner_diva]

Couldn't agree more. I'm actually much less opposed to John ending up kissing either Teyla or Elizabeth, because both women have other functions on the show. That's actually why I was so opposed to the idea of Shep/Teyla in the beginning - the casting information made it seem like Teyla's only function on the show would be flirting with John. Thank God they figured out how badly that was playing with their focus groups, and gave her something to do. And I wanted to throw something at the television during Sanctuary because Chaya was there just to make out with John. That basic plot had so much potential, and it was wasted in a string of Kirk jokes.

Ditto. It's bad enough to have every female guest star on the show fall for one of the lads, but to have a main character serve only as a romantic interest and be defined by a man is just... Thank God they've backed out of their original plans for Teyla or the show would have been unwatchable.

Thanks for making this thread, Tracy. You can keep the soapbox.

[Lexa Jayde]

If the RDA thunkers have their gutter, I think we've developped the STAKS soapbox.

hail the soapbox!!!!!!!

sorry... i am in a very silly mood right now... ignore me....*does a little dance*

[PartyLikeIts1984]

Wurd. Green all around.

If there's one thing TV teaches us, it's that only the ridiculously good looking people that fall in love. The Rodney/Alina thing had a certain cred, because it was used both for humor, and to further the plot (Rodney revealing that they're not Ancients and the consequences). Other than that, I hated the Chaya thing. I mean, it was just kinda lame, and I thought it was OOC for someone like Shep, who obviously has trust issues and has a hard time getting close to people (he hasn't exacly opened up to a whole lot of people in Atlantis), to all of a sudden go puppy-eyes over an exoticly accented priestess.

What's her face from "Epiphany" was ever so slightly more believable. It was Shep being a man, and a lonely, angsty man at that. Still, it does get ridiculous. I mean, there should be some stand-alone episodes, but I'm not a fan of stand-alone relationships.

Not to mention, the Kirkiness is pretty sexist. The guys can have a "relationship" a week, and they're just being Kirky, but if Teyla, Wier, or Sam had as many one epi stands as, say, Shep, Jack and Daniel, they would be considered pretty slutty.

[GatetheWay]

I looked over the future episodes for season two I've counted five episodes where women either fal lfor Sheppard or try to seduce him:

Spoiler:

The Hive- The Wrath wroshiping girl "keeping warm"
Epiphany- Hot Ancient women once again falls for Shep (I mean, how many times can they use this story)
CM and GUP both look to be Kirk free at least what I can tell from spoilers
The Tower- Local girl tries to seduce Sheppard to "get the gene" this looks to have some point to the plot
Michael just might be a Teyla episode
The Long Goodbye- The whole Weir kissing thing but some might not count that as a Kirk thing...
Coup D'etat looks like a good episode no complaints here
Inferno- Okay the spoilers may no indicated it but come on another hot female guest star can usually only mean on thing.
Don't see anything in Allies

These are just speculation on my part.

[knocknashee]

Great posts, people.

Sanctuary and Epiphany rank among the worst Stargate episodes ever. Whoever thought it would make a good storyline to ship Sheppard with every scantily-clad space babe that bats her eyelashes at him? He's a 40-year-old Lt. Colonel, for cryin' out loud, and as much as these charades may have been popular in the 1960's, I believe it is called robbing the cradle these days. It seems someone has a lack of respect for our intelligence by thinking that him Kirking around is going to generate anything other than contempt. Many sci-fi fans these days are not pimple-faced teenyboppers who will take hot chicks over good stories, character development etc. Sheppard's manhood and hotness do not need to be reinforced in this grotesque way. We've figured it out for ourselves long ago. What he needs is a backstory as the infatuation with his hair may come to pass one day. Having a good-looking actor with a great acting ability is not something that should be wasted on pointless and demeaning episodes.

*steps off the soapbox*

What makes it worse with Epiphany is, the story idea Joe spent time pitching to the fans around the con circuit this year sounded really good, and had backstory elements. Then it was twisted into what we actually got, and had all the good ideas that Joe had told the fans about, removed.

I wasn't just disappointed with the whole "Joe Flanigan plays Col. Totty" aspect, I was disappointed for him that his story got totally butchered. And it's going to be him that some of the people lay the blame at the door of.

[ToasterOnFire]

I agree, Kirking once or twice over the course of numerous seasons is one thing, but Kirking Shep as much as TPTB have been doing in the second season is massive overkill and is affecting my enjoyment of the show. Are TPTB trying to live vicariously through Shep or something?

Not to mention, the Kirkiness is pretty sexist. The guys can have a "relationship" a week, and they're just being Kirky, but if Teyla, Wier, or Sam had as many one epi stands as, say, Shep, Jack and Daniel, they would be considered pretty slutty.

Yes, yes, and yes.

I looked over the future episodes for season two I've counted five episodes where women either fall for Sheppard or try to seduce him:

And don't forget Aurora, where

Spoiler:

Shep made eyes at the ancient woman who was really a wraith.

Plus, I swear I remember that the first spoilers released for Critical Mass had some Kirking as well -

Spoiler:

the original script had a new female scientist instead of Cadman and Shep apparently flirted with her, irritating Rodney. Still no idea why that idea was pulled and Cadman was put in instead. Thank the gods Shep didn't flirt with Cadman though...

[Tracy Jane]

Lexxa Jayde don't feel bad! I'm permanently in a silly mood.

Squeeeeeeeees all round.

BTW: Sam has had an AWFUL lot of one-two ep stands. It's just that hers tend to die, rather than her just dumping them. And not quite as condensed as Shep, who's probably had as many as SG1 altogether in the space of a season.

[knocknashee]

I'm taking bets on the first male member of the Atlantis cast that they try to 'Kirk' Sheppard with...

Spoiler:

since we are now out of women in the regular cast...

[gooner_diva]

What makes it worse with Epiphany is, the story idea Joe spent time pitching to the fans around the con circuit this year sounded really good, and had backstory elements. Then it was twisted into what we actually got, and had all the good ideas that Joe had told the fans about, removed.

The Afghanistan flashbacks that never happened, yes. Surprise, surprise, that had to go to make way for the bint-of-the-week. At least Critical Mass was rewritten to see the Kirk aspect dumped.

Are TPTB trying to live vicariously through Shep or something?

Quite possibly. Just read what they say about Vala.

[Lexa Jayde]

I'm taking bets on the first male member of the Atlantis cast that they try to 'Kirk' Sheppard with...

Spoiler:

since we are now out of women in the regular cast...

ROTFLMAO!!!

i wanna see the girls get a little lip action in these eps and not just Shep....

[Tracy Jane]

Oh, at least it's believable that Vala would Kirk around, that does seem to be her job, after all. Or have I missed a serious plot point?

[GatetheWay]

I was so dissapointed about the Afghanistan flashbacks missing. That was the one and ONLY reason I was looking forward to the episode.

[knocknashee]

The Afghanistan flashbacks that never happened, yes. Surprise, surprise, that had to go to make way for the bint-of-the-week. At least Critical Mass was rewritten to see the Kirk aspect dumped.

Yeah, and I so saw where those flashbacks would have fitted in. I was really disappointed - it seems like Sheppard's backstory is some carrot they like to dangle under the fan's noses, only to swipe it away when we get close to it. You know, I'm starting to think the only way his backstory will be covered is by the Fandemonium books that are coming out.

I'm not saying it was a bad episode, there are far worse in 40 episodes of SGA, but I think it was poorly done, and did no justice to JF's vision of it...