Elizabeth Weir/John Sheppard Appreciation/Ship/Discussion Thread

[Southern Red]

*scrolls through pages of post-a-thon entries and finally lands on current page*

Whew! That made for very good reading material. I had fun!

So anyhow, apologies for not being around lately. RL's been kicking me in the shins.

(((gateraid))) -- I love your captions! I'm trying to read them quietly in class without disrupting students. I don't think I succeeded.

So I have a "Rising" related question: we all know the scene where John is sitting on a hillside flipping a coin? Do you think that he had already made his decision and he was just wasting time? And the offscreen convo with Elizabeth (cause c'mon, Jack wasn't the only one who convinced him) ... if a beautiful woman told you that she wanted your body needed you to join the Expedition, would you need any more convincing?

Just ... throwing it out there since I missed the marathon.

Also, I got kitty whumped. I'll post pictures of my arm later. I came into work yesterday with my arm wrapped in an ACE bandage, so the kids kept asking me how it happened. I told them I got in a bar fight -- which if you know me, is the furthest thing from the truth. They knew I was kidding. I hope.

Also, I am happy to announce that after being on a new and special diet for the past two weeks, I have lost 8 lbs.

Be back later!!!

Congrats on the weight loss and good to see you back here.

Now to your question. I may be in the minority, but I don't think John was flipping a coin to help him decide whether to go or not. I think he was deciding whether to visit his family or not. My evidence?

It was a montage of other expedition members saying goodbye to their families. Then we cut to John flipping a coin. That would be out of place if not related to the other scenes. And what we learn about his family later on backs me up, but once again they didn't make it clear. At this point, he would most surely have made a decision or it would be too late.

And also I agree it's made pretty clear that Weir was the main reason he decided to go. She was willing to take a chance on him and he couldn't see himself pass that up. He didn't like Antarctica all that much.

[Scary Kitty]

Good morning, Sparkies! Happy Smutty Tuesday!

Question - what was John thinking when he smirked as Elizabeth was walking by in the SGC gateroom?

My boss is hot. How did I get so lucky?



Okay, seriously, I think he may have just been amused in general. Here he is, this fish out of water in a situation that he never could have imagined in his wildest dreams. He's like a kid in a candy store.

*scrolls through pages of post-a-thon entries and finally lands on current page*

Whew! That made for very good reading material. I had fun!

So anyhow, apologies for not being around lately. RL's been kicking me in the shins.

(((gateraid))) -- I love your captions! I'm trying to read them quietly in class without disrupting students. I don't think I succeeded.

So I have a "Rising" related question: we all know the scene where John is sitting on a hillside flipping a coin? Do you think that he had already made his decision and he was just wasting time? And the offscreen convo with Elizabeth (cause c'mon, Jack wasn't the only one who convinced him) ... if a beautiful woman told you that she wanted your body needed you to join the Expedition, would you need any more convincing?

Just ... throwing it out there since I missed the marathon.

Also, I got kitty whumped. I'll post pictures of my arm later. I came into work yesterday with my arm wrapped in an ACE bandage, so the kids kept asking me how it happened. I told them I got in a bar fight -- which if you know me, is the furthest thing from the truth. They knew I was kidding. I hope.

Also, I am happy to announce that after being on a new and special diet for the past two weeks, I have lost 8 lbs.

Be back later!!!

Oww, naughty kitty! Hope your arm is better soon!

As to your question on Rising, I'd have to agree with SR, the idea of John flipping the coin to decide whether to contact his family (or not) seems to be the best fit considering that the other scenes in the montage were also of families. Though given what we found out about his family later, I can certainly imagine he'd be reluctant to do so even if the coin toss came up in favor of contact.

[poundpuppy29]

[JT-2]

Question - what was John thinking when he smirked as Elizabeth was walking by in the SGC gateroom?

Oooh, good question. I'm sure we've all thought about that one. Sumner had walked by and given him an I've-got-my-eye-on-you look which caused John to smirk. I'm sure he was thinking "Here we go again" because no one ever seemed to trust him. Yet there goes Elizabeth, who already seemed to trust him a bit and certainly wanted him along, so maybe he had found someone at long last that wouldn't judge him before she got to know him. All that is why I think he had the nerve to get snarky with Sumner and remind him that Weir was in charge, not him.

Now, in the real world, Sumner would have gotten in his face and reminded him that as long as he was in the US Military, his ass belonged to him. But the writers were, at this point, setting up the military vs Weir scenario and wanted to show that John was willing to work with her, and also to reinforce him as a problem child.

I agree with all of that. One thing I really love is that John never seemed to have any issue with a female being his boss. It just never came up. He disagreed with her on things, but it had nothing to do with gender. And even when they argued (Hot Zone) it came off to some as shippy. I've read people say they started shipping Sparky with Hot Zone. The chemistry just can't be denied.

Also, I got kitty whumped. I'll post pictures of my arm later. I came into work yesterday with my arm wrapped in an ACE bandage, so the kids kept asking me how it happened. I told them I got in a bar fight -- which if you know me, is the furthest thing from the truth. They knew I was kidding. I hope.

Also, I am happy to announce that after being on a new and special diet for the past two weeks, I have lost 8 lbs.

Be back later!!!

Ouch!! Bad kitty!! But congrats on the weight loss!

Congrats on the weight loss and good to see you back here.

Now to your question. I may be in the minority, but I don't think John was flipping a coin to help him decide whether to go or not. I think he was deciding whether to visit his family or not. My evidence?

It was a montage of other expedition members saying goodbye to their families. Then we cut to John flipping a coin. That would be out of place if not related to the other scenes. And what we learn about his family later on backs me up, but once again they didn't make it clear. At this point, he would most surely have made a decision or it would be too late.

And also I agree it's made pretty clear that Weir was the main reason he decided to go. She was willing to take a chance on him and he couldn't see himself pass that up. He didn't like Antarctica all that much.

I agree with you about the coin toss as well. Jack said to him in the helicopter that if John didn't say yes by the time they landed then he didn't want John. And then like you said, it was a montage of family goodbyes.

I also agree with you that he didn't really like Antarctica. He had resigned himself to it. He didn't have commanding officers there that would be putting him down all the time. So in that way he "liked it". He was waiting for the promotions to not come so he'd get his retirement.

My boss is hot. How did I get so lucky?

LOL!!

Okay, seriously, I think he may have just been amused in general. Here he is, this fish out of water in a situation that he never could have imagined in his wildest dreams. He's like a kid in a candy store.

Yup. And he knows that even though Sumner has the issues with him that all the previous military people have had, he knows that Elizabeth is ultimately his boss and SHE doesn't have issues with his record at all.

As to your question on Rising, I'd have to agree with SR, the idea of John flipping the coin to decide whether to contact his family (or not) seems to be the best fit considering that the other scenes in the montage were also of families. Though given what we found out about his family later, I can certainly imagine he'd be reluctant to do so even if the coin toss came up in favor of contact.

Yeah, I don't think he was going to visit his family no matter what.

McKay and Mrs. Miller?

[Southern Red]

Echoes? Talking about Rodney's whale? So many moments to choose from.

Or First Stike? Ellis is being an ass. No, wrong uniform on John.

[ShipperWriter]

Congrats on the weight loss and good to see you back here.

Now to your question. I may be in the minority, but I don't think John was flipping a coin to help him decide whether to go or not. I think he was deciding whether to visit his family or not. My evidence?

It was a montage of other expedition members saying goodbye to their families. Then we cut to John flipping a coin. That would be out of place if not related to the other scenes. And what we learn about his family later on backs me up, but once again they didn't make it clear. At this point, he would most surely have made a decision or it would be too late.

And also I agree it's made pretty clear that Weir was the main reason he decided to go. She was willing to take a chance on him and he couldn't see himself pass that up. He didn't like Antarctica all that much.

Oww, naughty kitty! Hope your arm is better soon!

As to your question on Rising, I'd have to agree with SR, the idea of John flipping the coin to decide whether to contact his family (or not) seems to be the best fit considering that the other scenes in the montage were also of families. Though given what we found out about his family later, I can certainly imagine he'd be reluctant to do so even if the coin toss came up in favor of contact.

Ouch!! Bad kitty!! But congrats on the weight loss!

I agree with you about the coin toss as well. Jack said to him in the helicopter that if John didn't say yes by the time they landed then he didn't want John. And then like you said, it was a montage of family goodbyes.

I also agree with you that he didn't really like Antarctica. He had resigned himself to it. He didn't have commanding officers there that would be putting him down all the time. So in that way he "liked it". He was waiting for the promotions to not come so he'd get his retirement.

That's a point that I never even considered before, so thanks for pointing it out. I agree, in the long run, it does seem the most realistic answer for the coin toss. And yes, we all know Jack is incredibly sarcastic, but I don't think this was one of those times. Being that Jack has the strongest ATA and he knows how valuable it is, he wouldn't give someone in John's position an easy way out.

[Falcon Horus]

I still have a half-finished review of Rising on my computer, from the now dead community (or so it seems) SGA rewatch community on LJ (JT-2 knows what I'm on about). I shall post it here:

Spoiler:

Rising has one of the best VFX shots in the entire run of Atlantis, a very expensive VFX shot too - the rising of the city to the surface had my jaw dropping real fast. The VFX, the scoring, everything that made that scene spectacular was beyond awesome. If I had to make a top 5 of best VFX shots than this would definitely be on top.

I was excited like a kid in a candystore about Atlantis starting - I was rapidly becoming quite bored with SG1 and could use some fresh Stargate. (of course season 10 of SG1 rekindled the love - thank you Vala!)

We were finally going to dive into the Ancients more - what started in Frozen and would end in Atlantis. Daniel's excitement about discovering the location, to the expedition actually going there after months of waiting and researching the Antarctic site. Him trying his very best to convince Jack to let him join the expedition - too funny. Sorry Danny-boy, you have to wait a few more years before you get to go to the city of the Ancients.

I absolutely loved the fact that the international expedition would be lead by a civilian with a military contingent as back-up. After all the SG1 years where civilians rarely had a say in the matter and the military set the rules, this was a refreshing idea to explore (though not quite sure about the way it evolved, not entirely convinced that the civilians had an actual say with all the military interventions of which the civilians were informed of <i>after</i> the decisions had been made).

The transition from blond Jessica Steen-Weir to brunette Torri Higginson-Weir was quite smooth. Both actresses tackled the role just great and both had good chemistry with their fellow actors so that's always a winner.
I was a little concerned about the McKay character, especially the way he had been portrayed in SG1. I wasn't a fan. But he seemed quite agreeable in the Atlantis character environment, toned him down a little maybe. At least I didn't mind his presence as much as I thought I would. I kinda liked him even (though that like has since changed to dislike over the course of the seasons to no fault of DH or the character itself).
The ensemble cast was fun while it lasted (and it most certainly didn't last long unfortunately) and again a nice change from Stargate SG1.

Then onto the story of Rising...

There's a lot of information being shared with the viewers: the ATA-gene, the current whereabouts of Atlantis, more on the Ancients, the ancient drone, the characters, the general plot... more than ample information to get excited about the journey yet to come.

Carson is hilarious and poor Rodney has to deal with the man - in hindsight it feels like a nice change. =P

John being cleared on the spot, while before the drone he's obviously not in the known about the Stargate program or what is hidden underneath the ice in Anarctica. His boyish charm is at high levels and following orders appears not to be his strong point when he goes and defies Jack's right after it's made. Of course, his gene has to be the strongest - he's after the lead hero. No real surprises there - comes with the character territory.

Spotting the numerous flags (and even the upside down one) when the expedition is about ready to leave on their journey. All of them seem to be pretty excited even if it could very well be the last thing they do. They step into the unknown, with no idea what is waiting for them on the other side. Now, that's either really stupid or really courageous. Humans are curious beings and who would pass up on a good ol' adventure anyway. I guess, courage and supidity go hand in hand in this case.

They arrive in what appears to be a dorment city, which lights up when it detects the people or the arrival of ancients - always wandered whether it responded to human activity or to the ATA-gene cariers. We never really got a clear answer to that - they did mention how consoles used ancient activation but Sumner was the first to enter the city with Elizabeth and we know that she wasn't a gene carrier. Sumner could have been one but that was never discussed.

The bottle of champagne was a nice touch. =D

What do people do when they arrive in a new place? Exactly, they go exploring so the expedition does exactly what one would expect from a group of people stepping into a new environment. It's not just the scientists (as mentioned by someone else) that wonder off in all directions. All of them super excited.
The fact that the city can no longer sustain such activity since the remaining ZPM has had to keep the ocean back for so long, is quite the unexpected surprise. The first crisis, of many yet to come, the expedition must deal with.

So, time to use the gate and see if we can find a planet to relocate to - temporarily until we can fix the issue. Seems like a good plan. Randomly punching in an address, hoping for the best and ending up on Athos.

Sumner's out for something that could help them fuel the city, to keep the shield up and to prevent the ocean from crashing down on them. The Athosians don't look like they would have such technology and thus his reaction is quite understandable. If they can't help him and the expedition, then they are of no further use to him. He truly believes to be the better in regards to how Earthlings are more advanced to what the Athosians seem to be. And he's old school - he turns his attention to the guy by Teyla's side, ignoring her leadership altogether. While John looks like he's out on a fieldtrip, ready to make new friends along the way, not too shy to use his boyish charms to get what he wants. Ford is somewhere in between, trying to be a good marine while at the same time trying to figure out Sheppard.

The cave drawings Teyla shows John are the first indication that the Pegasus Galaxy might not be all that cracked up, with a race that seems to enjoy destroying whole civilizations in one fell swoop; the destruction returning every few generations to boot.

I know it ends abruptly but oh well...

[ShipperWriter]

And thanks for all the congrats on weight loss. I finally found something that works, so we'll see how much more I can drop! My goal is to lose a minimum of 50 lbs.

[Southern Red]

I still have a half-finished review of Rising on my computer, from the now dead community (or so it seems) SGA rewatch community on LJ (JT-2 knows what I'm on about). I shall post it here:

Spoiler:

Rising has one of the best VFX shots in the entire run of Atlantis, a very expensive VFX shot too - the rising of the city to the surface had my jaw dropping real fast. The VFX, the scoring, everything that made that scene spectacular was beyond awesome. If I had to make a top 5 of best VFX shots than this would definitely be on top.

I was excited like a kid in a candystore about Atlantis starting - I was rapidly becoming quite bored with SG1 and could use some fresh Stargate. (of course season 10 of SG1 rekindled the love - thank you Vala!)

We were finally going to dive into the Ancients more - what started in Frozen and would end in Atlantis. Daniel's excitement about discovering the location, to the expedition actually going there after months of waiting and researching the Antarctic site. Him trying his very best to convince Jack to let him join the expedition - too funny. Sorry Danny-boy, you have to wait a few more years before you get to go to the city of the Ancients.

I absolutely loved the fact that the international expedition would be lead by a civilian with a military contingent as back-up. After all the SG1 years where civilians rarely had a say in the matter and the military set the rules, this was a refreshing idea to explore (though not quite sure about the way it evolved, not entirely convinced that the civilians had an actual say with all the military interventions of which the civilians were informed of <i>after</i> the decisions had been made).

The transition from blond Jessica Steen-Weir to brunette Torri Higginson-Weir was quite smooth. Both actresses tackled the role just great and both had good chemistry with their fellow actors so that's always a winner.
I was a little concerned about the McKay character, especially the way he had been portrayed in SG1. I wasn't a fan. But he seemed quite agreeable in the Atlantis character environment, toned him down a little maybe. At least I didn't mind his presence as much as I thought I would. I kinda liked him even (though that like has since changed to dislike over the course of the seasons to no fault of DH or the character itself).
The ensemble cast was fun while it lasted (and it most certainly didn't last long unfortunately) and again a nice change from Stargate SG1.

Then onto the story of Rising...

There's a lot of information being shared with the viewers: the ATA-gene, the current whereabouts of Atlantis, more on the Ancients, the ancient drone, the characters, the general plot... more than ample information to get excited about the journey yet to come.

Carson is hilarious and poor Rodney has to deal with the man - in hindsight it feels like a nice change. =P

John being cleared on the spot, while before the drone he's obviously not in the known about the Stargate program or what is hidden underneath the ice in Anarctica. His boyish charm is at high levels and following orders appears not to be his strong point when he goes and defies Jack's right after it's made. Of course, his gene has to be the strongest - he's after the lead hero. No real surprises there - comes with the character territory.

Spotting the numerous flags (and even the upside down one) when the expedition is about ready to leave on their journey. All of them seem to be pretty excited even if it could very well be the last thing they do. They step into the unknown, with no idea what is waiting for them on the other side. Now, that's either really stupid or really courageous. Humans are curious beings and who would pass up on a good ol' adventure anyway. I guess, courage and supidity go hand in hand in this case.

They arrive in what appears to be a dorment city, which lights up when it detects the people or the arrival of ancients - always wandered whether it responded to human activity or to the ATA-gene cariers. We never really got a clear answer to that - they did mention how consoles used ancient activation but Sumner was the first to enter the city with Elizabeth and we know that she wasn't a gene carrier. Sumner could have been one but that was never discussed.

The bottle of champagne was a nice touch. =D

What do people do when they arrive in a new place? Exactly, they go exploring so the expedition does exactly what one would expect from a group of people stepping into a new environment. It's not just the scientists (as mentioned by someone else) that wonder off in all directions. All of them super excited.
The fact that the city can no longer sustain such activity since the remaining ZPM has had to keep the ocean back for so long, is quite the unexpected surprise. The first crisis, of many yet to come, the expedition must deal with.

So, time to use the gate and see if we can find a planet to relocate to - temporarily until we can fix the issue. Seems like a good plan. Randomly punching in an address, hoping for the best and ending up on Athos.

Sumner's out for something that could help them fuel the city, to keep the shield up and to prevent the ocean from crashing down on them. The Athosians don't look like they would have such technology and thus his reaction is quite understandable. If they can't help him and the expedition, then they are of no further use to him. He truly believes to be the better in regards to how Earthlings are more advanced to what the Athosians seem to be. And he's old school - he turns his attention to the guy by Teyla's side, ignoring her leadership altogether. While John looks like he's out on a fieldtrip, ready to make new friends along the way, not too shy to use his boyish charms to get what he wants. Ford is somewhere in between, trying to be a good marine while at the same time trying to figure out Sheppard.

The cave drawings Teyla shows John are the first indication that the Pegasus Galaxy might not be all that cracked up, with a race that seems to enjoy destroying whole civilizations in one fell swoop; the destruction returning every few generations to boot.

I know it ends abruptly but oh well...

Great review. I wish you had finished it.

[Falcon Horus]

Great review. I wish you had finished it.

I might still but I'd have to watch to episode again since I think that was my intention when I was writing it, and then never got around to actually doing it.

And it's also hard to not pop in my Primeval DVD's... Lucy Brown is hard to resist these days.

[JT-2]

I still have a half-finished review of Rising on my computer, from the now dead community (or so it seems) SGA rewatch community on LJ (JT-2 knows what I'm on about). I shall post it here:

Spoiler:

Rising has one of the best VFX shots in the entire run of Atlantis, a very expensive VFX shot too - the rising of the city to the surface had my jaw dropping real fast. The VFX, the scoring, everything that made that scene spectacular was beyond awesome. If I had to make a top 5 of best VFX shots than this would definitely be on top.

I was excited like a kid in a candystore about Atlantis starting - I was rapidly becoming quite bored with SG1 and could use some fresh Stargate. (of course season 10 of SG1 rekindled the love - thank you Vala!)

We were finally going to dive into the Ancients more - what started in Frozen and would end in Atlantis. Daniel's excitement about discovering the location, to the expedition actually going there after months of waiting and researching the Antarctic site. Him trying his very best to convince Jack to let him join the expedition - too funny. Sorry Danny-boy, you have to wait a few more years before you get to go to the city of the Ancients.

I absolutely loved the fact that the international expedition would be lead by a civilian with a military contingent as back-up. After all the SG1 years where civilians rarely had a say in the matter and the military set the rules, this was a refreshing idea to explore (though not quite sure about the way it evolved, not entirely convinced that the civilians had an actual say with all the military interventions of which the civilians were informed of <i>after</i> the decisions had been made).

The transition from blond Jessica Steen-Weir to brunette Torri Higginson-Weir was quite smooth. Both actresses tackled the role just great and both had good chemistry with their fellow actors so that's always a winner.
I was a little concerned about the McKay character, especially the way he had been portrayed in SG1. I wasn't a fan. But he seemed quite agreeable in the Atlantis character environment, toned him down a little maybe. At least I didn't mind his presence as much as I thought I would. I kinda liked him even (though that like has since changed to dislike over the course of the seasons to no fault of DH or the character itself).
The ensemble cast was fun while it lasted (and it most certainly didn't last long unfortunately) and again a nice change from Stargate SG1.

Then onto the story of Rising...

There's a lot of information being shared with the viewers: the ATA-gene, the current whereabouts of Atlantis, more on the Ancients, the ancient drone, the characters, the general plot... more than ample information to get excited about the journey yet to come.

Carson is hilarious and poor Rodney has to deal with the man - in hindsight it feels like a nice change. =P

John being cleared on the spot, while before the drone he's obviously not in the known about the Stargate program or what is hidden underneath the ice in Anarctica. His boyish charm is at high levels and following orders appears not to be his strong point when he goes and defies Jack's right after it's made. Of course, his gene has to be the strongest - he's after the lead hero. No real surprises there - comes with the character territory.

Spotting the numerous flags (and even the upside down one) when the expedition is about ready to leave on their journey. All of them seem to be pretty excited even if it could very well be the last thing they do. They step into the unknown, with no idea what is waiting for them on the other side. Now, that's either really stupid or really courageous. Humans are curious beings and who would pass up on a good ol' adventure anyway. I guess, courage and supidity go hand in hand in this case.

They arrive in what appears to be a dorment city, which lights up when it detects the people or the arrival of ancients - always wandered whether it responded to human activity or to the ATA-gene cariers. We never really got a clear answer to that - they did mention how consoles used ancient activation but Sumner was the first to enter the city with Elizabeth and we know that she wasn't a gene carrier. Sumner could have been one but that was never discussed.

The bottle of champagne was a nice touch. =D

What do people do when they arrive in a new place? Exactly, they go exploring so the expedition does exactly what one would expect from a group of people stepping into a new environment. It's not just the scientists (as mentioned by someone else) that wonder off in all directions. All of them super excited.
The fact that the city can no longer sustain such activity since the remaining ZPM has had to keep the ocean back for so long, is quite the unexpected surprise. The first crisis, of many yet to come, the expedition must deal with.

So, time to use the gate and see if we can find a planet to relocate to - temporarily until we can fix the issue. Seems like a good plan. Randomly punching in an address, hoping for the best and ending up on Athos.

Sumner's out for something that could help them fuel the city, to keep the shield up and to prevent the ocean from crashing down on them. The Athosians don't look like they would have such technology and thus his reaction is quite understandable. If they can't help him and the expedition, then they are of no further use to him. He truly believes to be the better in regards to how Earthlings are more advanced to what the Athosians seem to be. And he's old school - he turns his attention to the guy by Teyla's side, ignoring her leadership altogether. While John looks like he's out on a fieldtrip, ready to make new friends along the way, not too shy to use his boyish charms to get what he wants. Ford is somewhere in between, trying to be a good marine while at the same time trying to figure out Sheppard.

The cave drawings Teyla shows John are the first indication that the Pegasus Galaxy might not be all that cracked up, with a race that seems to enjoy destroying whole civilizations in one fell swoop; the destruction returning every few generations to boot.

I know it ends abruptly but oh well...

Great beginning! Now that would have been a review I enjoyed as it's not filled with vitriolic and hopelessly biased views.

[Falcon Horus]

Great beginning! Now that would have been a review I enjoyed as it's not filled with vitriolic and hopelessly biased views.

I try my best.

[JT-2]

We've got a birthday boy on the thread today!

Happy Birthday to Infinite-Possibilities!!

[Falcon Horus]

Wait, IP is a man?!

Happy Birthday!!

[Madness reigns]

IP

I know missed on Sunday - sick child, depressed kitty-kat.......

Made these for a challenge on the AfA thread though to try and make up for it