Elizabeth Weir/John Sheppard Appreciation/Ship/Discussion Thread

[Falcon Horus]

SQUEE!!!

Now I really can't wait for episode 7 - *bounce*

[Anuna]

SQUEE!!!

Now I really can't wait for episode 7 - *bounce*

I think you'll LOVE it.

[Southern Red]

Hello all! I'm back from my mini vacation, and I'm so HAPPY to see we're being mentioned at so many places! WOOT! Thumbs up for good work and let's keep kickin'!

I have some news regarding my episode, and a few questions. Now when I'm working on it in earnest I started to think of a B- plot line and a common theme for the entire episode emerged organically. I'll be looking into choices and regrets of various characters, not just Teyla's; and contrast their respective experiences. Introspection is what I'm good with, and I think, the way things are starting to shape up, other writers will be able to tie in some things mentioned in BoD in later episodes (I will too, in my second ep, "Gravity").

Spoiler:

Anyway. My first question is the status of John and Mayel's relationship in time of BoD. Bod is in #7 slot and I need to know what is John/Mayel status. Also, I need to know if John and Rodney had a conversation about what Rodney did in Adrift with Elizabeth's nanites, and do we consider this issue dealt with? I reference Rodney's actions in a scene near the end of the episode, and I need to know this to get the emotional tone of John and Rodney conversation correct.

Now the news. my subplot idea for the episode is this, and I need you guys to okay this for me. I would really LOVE to do this and it would add so much to the entire episode -- with Elizabeth's birthday approaching the expedition, especially original members and people whow ere closest to Elizabeth want to celebrate this day, have a proper commemoration for her/something. It wasn't done since she was gone, and it's Teyla's idea to mark it somehow, so everyone who knew her could celebrate her, everything she has done for the expedition and them, and also, make peace with themselves and their loss. This is something that John and Rodney are finding difficult to deal with, and their reactions are different although their reasons are similar. This subplot allows me to introduce a theme for entire episode - dealing with regrets in one's life. I'm planning to allow Rodney to find some peace at the end of BoD, something Teyla and Kanaan will help him with, but John, on the other hand, will ahve tod eal with this issue in Gravity, which is set after Eliazbeth's return.

After Teyla's incident with mysterios Ancient device, which has her trapped in a stasis pod, all main characters are working hard on discovering what the device is supposed to do. I expect I'll need some help with technobabble. I also forsee rewatching "Back to the future" very soon, as I plan to reference that movie, and possibly, Doctor Who (shoot me. I can't resist, it just all fits too well). While they're all working, Rodney and John will have to deal with their struggles, especially when Jennifer and Carson discover parallels between what's happening to Teyla's body in mind and Carson's findings in TRW, when Elizabeth was trapped by the nanites. Yes, I am planning to push John's and Rodney's buttons with this. Poor boys.

The Box, or Pandora's Box - the device Teyla is trapped in is a different kind of time travel device - it allows a person to time travel with their mind and change the past based on subconscious, regrets, wishes and what - ifs. When person enters the device, it performs a full scan, and then a "guidance software" comes online (in Teyla's case it looks like Kate Heightmeyer - the device chooses the appereance based on participant's subconscious, or rather, this is a subconscious choice of the person trapped inside) and accompanies the person through the experience of time travel. It works like you-find-yourself-living-a-certain-scenario (for Dr Who fans, think Amy's Choice in Season 5). The person inside the box doesn't have to physically change something, but the device creates the change and the pariticipant has to adapt and live inside that scenario. teyla is going to find that difficult. I have several ideas about her scenarios - one of them involves her father surviving Wraith culling, and in order to survive it he had to run away fron his people with Teyla who was still a child. They live with some other race in Pegasus, perhaps the Genii? and Teyla has to deal with being a second - class citizen, havign a very sick father who can't forgive hismelf and being separated from her people and her culture.

The Box of Dreams is supposed to lead people quickly to their desired changed lives - yet with teyla it's different because she's Athosian, and brought up to accept hardships in life as they come. Kanaan shoudl mention several times through the episode that Athosians don't believe in regrets, and that they're raised and taught to live their lives to its fullest, because they rarely get to live by old age. life is precious, and every day, every experience is precious and they tend to treat it that way. Teyla is definitely someone who lives by this "code", and while she does have regrets, she doesn't dwelve on them like earth humans usually do. At the end this very fact helps Teyla make her final decision (choice) and ends her journey. We know the outcome, we get Kate Heightmeyer back. I plan to deal with that choice in Who-ish way (emotional aspect, not technological one).

Anyway, those are my thoughts and plans so far. Any help and/or comments are greatly appreciated. Please let me know if these ideas fit into other story arcs and plans.)

I can't really speak for anything but TBaF, which is #4.

Spoiler:

And since I haven't read #3 yet, I'm not sure that I won't have to change some stuff. But John and Mayel are just dating casually. They are still circling each other, flirting and getting to know each other.

I'm not sure about the birthday idea. I doubt anybody but John and possibly Rodney even know when her birthday is. I can imagine Teyla wanting to do the same tea ceremony for her that we learned about in TOR though. Maybe she would browbeat the guys into joining her. Rodney would be fine because he's done it, but I'm thinking John and Ronon would feel a bit awkward and John would be trying to not get emotional. I'm a little leery of us getting too gushy over Elizabeth, especially with John. We don't want to alarm the gen fans and turn it into a ship story. As long as you keep it strictly friendship and have as much emotion coming from the others as from John, it's okay.

Anyone can feel free to disagree. And input from the other writers is vital at this point.

[Scary Kitty]

Hello all! I'm back from my mini vacation, and I'm so HAPPY to see we're being mentioned at so many places! WOOT! Thumbs up for good work and let's keep kickin'!

I have some news regarding my episode, and a few questions. Now when I'm working on it in earnest I started to think of a B- plot line and a common theme for the entire episode emerged organically. I'll be looking into choices and regrets of various characters, not just Teyla's; and contrast their respective experiences. Introspection is what I'm good with, and I think, the way things are starting to shape up, other writers will be able to tie in some things mentioned in BoD in later episodes (I will too, in my second ep, "Gravity").

Spoiler:

Anyway. My first question is the status of John and Mayel's relationship in time of BoD. Bod is in #7 slot and I need to know what is John/Mayel status. Also, I need to know if John and Rodney had a conversation about what Rodney did in Adrift with Elizabeth's nanites, and do we consider this issue dealt with? I reference Rodney's actions in a scene near the end of the episode, and I need to know this to get the emotional tone of John and Rodney conversation correct.

Now the news. my subplot idea for the episode is this, and I need you guys to okay this for me. I would really LOVE to do this and it would add so much to the entire episode -- with Elizabeth's birthday approaching the expedition, especially original members and people whow ere closest to Elizabeth want to celebrate this day, have a proper commemoration for her/something. It wasn't done since she was gone, and it's Teyla's idea to mark it somehow, so everyone who knew her could celebrate her, everything she has done for the expedition and them, and also, make peace with themselves and their loss. This is something that John and Rodney are finding difficult to deal with, and their reactions are different although their reasons are similar. This subplot allows me to introduce a theme for entire episode - dealing with regrets in one's life. I'm planning to allow Rodney to find some peace at the end of BoD, something Teyla and Kanaan will help him with, but John, on the other hand, will ahve tod eal with this issue in Gravity, which is set after Eliazbeth's return.

After Teyla's incident with mysterios Ancient device, which has her trapped in a stasis pod, all main characters are working hard on discovering what the device is supposed to do. I expect I'll need some help with technobabble. I also forsee rewatching "Back to the future" very soon, as I plan to reference that movie, and possibly, Doctor Who (shoot me. I can't resist, it just all fits too well). While they're all working, Rodney and John will have to deal with their struggles, especially when Jennifer and Carson discover parallels between what's happening to Teyla's body in mind and Carson's findings in TRW, when Elizabeth was trapped by the nanites. Yes, I am planning to push John's and Rodney's buttons with this. Poor boys.

The Box, or Pandora's Box - the device Teyla is trapped in is a different kind of time travel device - it allows a person to time travel with their mind and change the past based on subconscious, regrets, wishes and what - ifs. When person enters the device, it performs a full scan, and then a "guidance software" comes online (in Teyla's case it looks like Kate Heightmeyer - the device chooses the appereance based on participant's subconscious, or rather, this is a subconscious choice of the person trapped inside) and accompanies the person through the experience of time travel. It works like you-find-yourself-living-a-certain-scenario (for Dr Who fans, think Amy's Choice in Season 5). The person inside the box doesn't have to physically change something, but the device creates the change and the pariticipant has to adapt and live inside that scenario. teyla is going to find that difficult. I have several ideas about her scenarios - one of them involves her father surviving Wraith culling, and in order to survive it he had to run away fron his people with Teyla who was still a child. They live with some other race in Pegasus, perhaps the Genii? and Teyla has to deal with being a second - class citizen, havign a very sick father who can't forgive hismelf and being separated from her people and her culture.

The Box of Dreams is supposed to lead people quickly to their desired changed lives - yet with teyla it's different because she's Athosian, and brought up to accept hardships in life as they come. Kanaan shoudl mention several times through the episode that Athosians don't believe in regrets, and that they're raised and taught to live their lives to its fullest, because they rarely get to live by old age. life is precious, and every day, every experience is precious and they tend to treat it that way. Teyla is definitely someone who lives by this "code", and while she does have regrets, she doesn't dwelve on them like earth humans usually do. At the end this very fact helps Teyla make her final decision (choice) and ends her journey. We know the outcome, we get Kate Heightmeyer back. I plan to deal with that choice in Who-ish way (emotional aspect, not technological one).

Anyway, those are my thoughts and plans so far. Any help and/or comments are greatly appreciated. Please let me know if these ideas fit into other story arcs and plans.)

Hmm, I have to say

Spoiler:

I'm in agreement with SR about not going too gushy over Elizabeth just yet. Also, it'll have been more than three years since they lost Elizabeth by the time we get to BoD, and I think by this point, the background rank-and-file members of the expedition would have moved on, so a big memorial probably wouldn't be appropriate. SR's idea about Teyla doing that Athosian tea ceremony to honor the dead from ToR feels very fitting to me, as an intimate, private memorial for that small group of those who were closest to Elizabeth. I'd think it would just be Teyla along with John, Ronon and Rodney, plus Carson, Zelenka and Lorne. Possibly Keller, as I think she had to have been in Atlantis for quite some time prior to "Sunday" in order to have the seniority to be appointed as Carson's "acting" replacement by FS. Definitely Caldwell if the Daedalus is there at the time. Maybe Chuck. Will Kanaan be there too? (since FRANibeth apparently knew about him in GitM) I don't know if Woolsey would be there. I can see Teyla inviting him, but I wonder if he might feel conflicted as to whether it would be appropriate for him to be there, given that he probably voted in favor of the first strike attack on Asuras that eventually lead to Elizabeth's "death."

As to Teyla's storyline with Pandora's Box, OMFGWTFBBQ! I am in awe of your mad story plotting skills, that is going to be one heck of a roller coaster!

[Erin87]

Speaking of the word spreading, this blog post also popped up on deviantArt, completely independent of my promotion efforts there.

http://allstargatefans.deviantart.com/blog/41265704/


On BoD:

Spoiler:

I tend to agree with SR and SK about keeping the Liz memorial small and limiting the emotional level, particularly where John is concerned. While there are some emotional/personal issues that need solving in regards to the nanites deal for both John and Rodney, I do agree that a lot of time has passed.

On John/Mayel: As far as their status in my ep, it's only mild hinting. She's only in one brief scene, and she doesn't really say anything.

Also, when is the absolute latest that I need to finish First Year by, to have time for betaing, etc.? I'm going to mark it on my calendar.

[TheLadyMore]

A little off topic, I found a Sparky pic in my photobucket I'd like to share, one that has often been a favorite of mine



*sighs* They look so young and in love.

[Southern Red]

Speaking of the word spreading, this blog post also popped up on deviantArt, completely independent of my promotion efforts there.

http://allstargatefans.deviantart.com/blog/41265704/


On BoD:

Spoiler:

I tend to agree with SR and SK about keeping the Liz memorial small and limiting the emotional level, particularly where John is concerned. While there are some emotional/personal issues that need solving in regards to the nanites deal for both John and Rodney, I do agree that a lot of time has passed.

On John/Mayel: As far as their status in my ep, it's only mild hinting. She's only in one brief scene, and she doesn't really say anything.

Also, when is the absolute latest that I need to finish First Year by, to have time for betaing, etc.? I'm going to mark it on my calendar.

That is just awesome. I am so glad the word of our project is spreading far and wide.

I would say for you and all the writers, the eps need to be finished about 3 weeks before the first chapter goes up. It needs to go to the betas, back to you for rewriting and then to me for final editing. I can do about a chapter a day, but you can't always count on the fact that I won't be busy. So, I will need at least a week to get all the chapters done. Count back from the publication date of your first chapter, in your case that's July 26. But remember you also need time to make corrections before each chapter goes up. The last few days before publication are turning out to be quite hectic. If I happen to be tied up, I will make sure to warn the writers.

For example, the last week in July is going to be busy for me as I'm having a house guest. So if I can edit all of First Year by the 26th, it would be helpful.

[Scary Kitty]

Speaking of the word spreading, this blog post also popped up on deviantArt, completely independent of my promotion efforts there.

http://allstargatefans.deviantart.com/blog/41265704/

OMFG! We are totally going viral!

Also, when is the absolute latest that I need to finish First Year by, to have time for betaing, etc.? I'm going to mark it on my calendar.

According to the calendar that our marvelous JT-2 PMed out to us a few weeks back, First Year will start posting on July 26, and run through August 3.

[TheLadyMore]

My muse has run wild tonight and Im on a sig frenzy, this one happened to be slightly inspired by RTP1

[Anuna]

@SK SR and Erin - gotcha. I was thinking about that particular thing, and yes, I can keep this mild (didn't intend to be very gushy over it.)

Spoiler:

There's also this option -

There can be commemoration for everyone expedition had lost at some point, which leads Teyla to organize a private tea ceremony for people who were closest to Eliazbeth,

or

it can be her brithday. Either way I'm perfectly capable of keeping the event low key, and still keeping the emotional impact of it. What do you guys think? I think I'm gonna go with commemoration for everyone option, I think there should be one.

Also, it's very helpful to know when my first finished draft should be done. I might have act 5 done this week (for some weird reason this story insists on being written backwards!)

[JT-2]

@SK SR and Erin - gotcha. I was thinking about that particular thing, and yes, I can keep this mild (didn't intend to be very gushy over it.)

Spoiler:

There's also this option -

There can be commemoration for everyone expedition had lost at some point, which leads Teyla to organize a private tea ceremony for people who were closest to Eliazbeth,

or

it can be her brithday. Either way I'm perfectly capable of keeping the event low key, and still keeping the emotional impact of it. What do you guys think? I think I'm gonna go with commemoration for everyone option, I think there should be one.

Also, it's very helpful to know when my first finished draft should be done. I might have act 5 done this week (for some weird reason this story insists on being written backwards!)

]


Non-writer butting in to say I really like option 1. I was thinking of that myself, but didn't want to say. Not trying to butt in or anything.

Spoiler:

But with option 1 you can make reference to all the people that have been lost, not just Elizabeth. We know from Search & Rescue that John regrets not being able to save Ford too.

This episode is one of my most-anticipated! I love thinking about "what if"s. Wouldn't it be awesome to actually use such a device? To see how your life would turn out if you made different choices. It's really interesting stuff.

Woo Hoo!!!!

[Scary Kitty]

@SK SR and Erin - gotcha. I was thinking about that particular thing, and yes, I can keep this mild (didn't intend to be very gushy over it.)

Spoiler:

There's also this option -

There can be commemoration for everyone expedition had lost at some point, which leads Teyla to organize a private tea ceremony for people who were closest to Eliazbeth,

or

it can be her brithday. Either way I'm perfectly capable of keeping the event low key, and still keeping the emotional impact of it. What do you guys think? I think I'm gonna go with commemoration for everyone option, I think there should be one.

Also, it's very helpful to know when my first finished draft should be done. I might have act 5 done this week (for some weird reason this story insists on being written backwards!)

Spoiler:

I really like the idea of a general, public memorial to commemorate everyone who's been lost from the expedition (Ford! Sumner! Peter Grodin!). That way, there can be that larger public gathering that won't draw too much attention specifically to any one character, while still leaving open the option of a more private gathering for Elizabeth's closest friends at a later time. I think that's the best way to go.

Just a note on Elizabeth's birthday: According to the SGA series timeline I worked out, it should fall somewhere around April. Given when we've got Return to Pegasus starting up, it looks like Box of Dreams will happen quite a while after April. In fact, I think RtP itself might be happening right around Elizabeth's birthday.

[Lt.Colonel John Sheppard]

Spoiler:

I really like the idea of a general, public memorial to commemorate everyone who's been lost from the expedition (Ford! Sumner! Peter Grodin!). That way, there can be that larger public gathering that won't draw too much attention specifically to any one character, while still leaving open the option of a more private gathering for Elizabeth's closest friends at a later time. I think that's the best way to go.

Just a note on Elizabeth's birthday: According to the SGA series timeline I worked out, it should fall somewhere around April. Given when we've got Return to Pegasus starting up, it looks like Box of Dreams will happen quite a while after April. In fact, I think RtP itself might be happening right around Elizabeth's birthday.

actually according to sg wiki who has a link supported by Stargate SG-1 The DVD collection, her birthday is on October 14th, 1970.

[Scary Kitty]

actually according to sg wiki who has a link supported by Stargate SG-1 The DVD collection, her birthday is on October 14th, 1970.

Sorry, but the DVD magazines are not a canon source. The information in them was never cleared with the producers and in a number of places is directly contradicted by on-screen evidence in the episodes themselves.
ETA: There's one particularly famous goof, in which the magazine states that Laura Cadman was in the US Air Force. Yet in the episode "Duet," one of the family photos in Cadman's quarters clearly shows her wearing a US Marine Corps dress uniform. So, she's in the Marines, not the Air Force.

Based on my viewing of both SG-1 and SGA, Weir's birthday should fall sometime in early to mid-spring, not autumn.

[JT-2]

Sorry, but the DVD magazines are not a canon source. The information in them was never cleared with the producers and in a number of places is directly contradicted by on-screen evidence in the episodes themselves.
ETA: There's one particularly famous goof, in which the magazine states that Laura Cadman was in the US Air Force. Yet in the episode "Duet," one of the family photos in Cadman's quarters clearly shows her wearing a US Marine Corps dress uniform. So, she's in the Marines, not the Air Force.

Based on my viewing of both SG-1 and SGA, Weir's birthday should fall sometime in early to mid-spring, not autumn.

So maybe for Elizabeth's next birthday (season 7), she'll get John with a big red bow?