Elizabeth Weir/John Sheppard Appreciation/Ship/Discussion Thread

[Luz]

i don't know if it was in the book, but in the promo pics sumner kisses weir after they gate to atlantis and apparently she decks him.

There is a pic of Sumner and Weir kissing, but I thought that was just Torri and Robert fooling around and not really a part of the episode.

[JT-2]

There is a pic of Sumner and Weir kissing, but I thought that was just Torri and Robert fooling around and not really a part of the episode.

Yeah, me too. I don't recall any scene in the novelization where she hits Sumner. But my memory is crap.

Time for bed. Good night, all!

[Scary Kitty]

There is a pic of Sumner and Weir kissing, but I thought that was just Torri and Robert fooling around and not really a part of the episode.

Yep, it's just Torri and Robert goofing off on set. It was never a part of the episode.

Nighty-night!

[smalltowngirl]

Hey, y’know that thing? That thing where you can quote somebody else’s post using a dialogue box from comic strips? Yeah, that thing. How do you do that? I’m lamentably illiterate when it comes to even basic computer tricks.
Lacking the ability to quote, I’ll just have to wing it. Re the apparently misnamed “Legacy” books. Keep in mind that what is done in Hollywood can, and often is, undone. The minute another, better proposal with more potential for profit turns up, Legacy could be dropped like a hot rock. Maybe not dropped, but certainly an alternate vision would be tolerated, if it made MGM money.
As for some of the details in the review, especially the Sheppard stuff, all that can be said is: Wait. What? Did this lady ever watch the show?
I would say requiring neutrality among characters is probably too restrictive. An author probably has the right to play favorites to a degree. But you should follow what happens on screen. Nothing turns a reader off faster than characters they’ve come to like (otherwise they wouldn’t buy the book) acting totally unlike the reader expects them to act. That’s why an author who’s using established characters who’s riding his (or in this case, her) hobbyhorse will run off big chunks of the potential audience.
But if a writer does play favorites, it will help a lot if they respect other characters.
It would be instructive, and probably pretty funny, to see the reaction if someone approached MGM with a proposal for a different set of books.
Not trying to curry favor – I think there are parts of the Rising series that would make pretty good books. I didn’t like the opener that much, although it was a lot better than the stuff sketched out by tptw for the movie. And I’m kind of done with Teyla as a Wraith queen. But the idea of Teyla losing her leadership position, and from Evolution on especially, are killer. The bomb, dot com (and no, I’ve never seen Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives).
I’m going to try the hide-show thing, because this is completely off-topic:

Spoiler:

As well as shamelessly self-promoting, but I’m going to do it anyway. My weekend to work, and five stories, six if you count the one I rewrote, five with pictures, including the grass fire Saturday afternoon that I had to drive 30 miles to find. I’d say my work there is done.

If it worked – HA! Touchdown (and appropriate gesture). If it didn’t - ^%&$it. Can anybody see what I did wrong?

[Southern Red]

Doh! How could I have forgotten that?

You are forgiven this small lapse. From now on try to keep the proper perspective.

Hey, y’know that thing? That thing where you can quote somebody else’s post using a dialogue box from comic strips? Yeah, that thing. How do you do that? I’m lamentably illiterate when it comes to even basic computer tricks.

You can quote 2 ways. At the lower right corner of posts there is a rectangle with an arrow that looks like what you described as a dialogue box. Click on it; a check will appear. Then when you "reply to thread" all those clicked on posts will also appear and you can comment on each one. The other way is to type [quote ] at the beginning of whatever you want to quote and [/quote ] at the end but without that space after the word "quote". Then when you reply to thread, that bit will appear. Hope this helps.

Lacking the ability to quote, I’ll just have to wing it. Re the apparently misnamed “Legacy” books. Keep in mind that what is done in Hollywood can, and often is, undone. The minute another, better proposal with more potential for profit turns up, Legacy could be dropped like a hot rock. Maybe not dropped, but certainly an alternate vision would be tolerated, if it made MGM money.
As for some of the details in the review, especially the Sheppard stuff, all that can be said is: Wait. What? Did this lady ever watch the show?
I would say requiring neutrality among characters is probably too restrictive. An author probably has the right to play favorites to a degree. But you should follow what happens on screen. Nothing turns a reader off faster than characters they’ve come to like (otherwise they wouldn’t buy the book) acting totally unlike the reader expects them to act. That’s why an author who’s using established characters who’s riding his (or in this case, her) hobbyhorse will run off big chunks of the potential audience.
But if a writer does play favorites, it will help a lot if they respect other characters.
It would be instructive, and probably pretty funny, to see the reaction if someone approached MGM with a proposal for a different set of books.
Not trying to curry favor – I think there are parts of the Rising series that would make pretty good books. I didn’t like the opener that much, although it was a lot better than the stuff sketched out by tptw for the movie. And I’m kind of done with Teyla as a Wraith queen. But the idea of Teyla losing her leadership position, and from Evolution on especially, are killer. The bomb, dot com (and no, I’ve never seen Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives).
I’m going to try the hide-show thing, because this is completely off-topic:

Spoiler:

As well as shamelessly self-promoting, but I’m going to do it anyway. My weekend to work, and five stories, six if you count the one I rewrote, five with pictures, including the grass fire Saturday afternoon that I had to drive 30 miles to find. I’d say my work there is done.

If it worked – HA! Touchdown (and appropriate gesture). If it didn’t - ^%&$it. Can anybody see what I did wrong?

Now to address what you said about Legacy. I agree with you, but you are missing some information. First, there are now 3 authors of the books, down from the original 4. Secondly, according to them MGM approved every word of the books, so some of the blame has to be placed on whoever the person is at MGM who reads them. That person changed by the way in the middle of it all, but we know nothing about how familiar they are with the show. According again to Jo Graham, the guidelines they were given before writing the books required them to stick strictly to canon and they made that their #1 priority. I know, I can't stop laughing either, but that's the claim they make. She doesn't clarify if it's "head" canon or actual canon, so there's that.

Supposedly, they couldn't change anything that existed, like McKeller for example, but nothing stopped them from playing it down. That they did this by, from what I hear,

Spoiler:

virtually ignoring it and/or removing Rodney from contact with just about everybody for the entire series

is, I guess, beside the point. The biggest mystery to me is how they were allowed to reinvent the Wraith from the ground up. Surely someone should know that wasn't even vaguely close to canon.

And then finally and most strangely of all, some people love the books and think they're like watching the show all over again. It takes all kinds, I guess and just by stating these opinions those of us here will forever be accused of letting our ship preference dictate our other views, but I will forever just ask that person have they actually ever watched the show. Now tell me what gave you the idea that the Wraith society is structured like it is in the books or that Teyla and Kanaan are not in a real relationship. Just saying Kanaan was the "invisible babysitter" and that she always referred to him as "the father of my child" is not good enough. In fact, I'd have to reply that all through S4 Teyla referred to Torren as "my child." Does that mean that she thinks he was an immaculate conception or maybe that's just how her culture refers to babies and baby daddies. What they did was twist canon to fit their ideas.

I can proudly say that those of us involved with SGA-Rising did not twist, change or reinterpret anything in canon to fit. We took canon where TPTB left it and in cases like

Spoiler:

the part with Jinto being a bit rebellious, we moved forward with new ideas.

Those "professional" writers who did the Legacy books could have done the same without angering so many of the potential buyers of their books. And if anyone thinks it's just the shippers who are upset, they should go and read the reviews at Amazon.

[Nolamom]

smalltowngirl - here's a visual guide to navigating the forums. [link] Hope it helps.

[Eri13]

Well, the only other ones I've read were CoW, MM, and the Rising novelization. I started Blood Ties but hated it.

Read Exogenesis. I've read all the SGA ones (well, I didn't read any after Weir was gone, but all the ones before) and Exogenesis reads like an extended episode. It's really good and probably my favorite of all the novelizations--even has show-worthy Sparky. Not blatant, but subtle.

[ShipperWriter]

There is a month dedicated to them, Sparktober.

ETA: So, I read Casualties of War and I loved it. To the people who've read SGA novels, do you have any more recs or are these two (CoW and MM) the only decent novels?

Yay! Glad you liked it!

Read Exogenesis. I've read all the SGA ones (well, I didn't read any after Weir was gone, but all the ones before) and Exogenesis reads like an extended episode. It's really good and probably my favorite of all the novelizations--even has show-worthy Sparky. Not blatant, but subtle.

Ooh, I'll find that one on Amazon too. My friend has MM and I'm hoping she might let me borrow it. Though it might be difficult, seeing as how she lives 700 miles away.

[JT-2]

Read Exogenesis. I've read all the SGA ones (well, I didn't read any after Weir was gone, but all the ones before) and Exogenesis reads like an extended episode. It's really good and probably my favorite of all the novelizations--even has show-worthy Sparky. Not blatant, but subtle.

Thanks for the info! I knew there was one more good one but I couldn't remember if it was Exogenesis or Reliquary (I don't know if that's spelled right ).

[Scary Kitty]

Good morning, Sparkies! Happy Canon Monday!

Thanks for the info! I knew there was one more good one but I couldn't remember if it was Exogenesis or Reliquary (I don't know if that's spelled right ).

I liked both, actually. Exogenesis was written by Elizabeth Christensen and Sonny Whitelaw, so you know it'll be a good one, and I also liked Reliquary for it's very creepy Alien-esque vibe (there's a good "John's worried about Elizabeth" moment towards the end, too).

[Raelis]

Supposedly, they couldn't change anything that existed, like McKeller for example, but nothing stopped them from playing it down.

Wait, didn't they

Spoiler:

break McKeller up, permanently?

[Southern Red]

Thanks for the info! I knew there was one more good one but I couldn't remember if it was Exogenesis or Reliquary (I don't know if that's spelled right ).

I liked Reliquary also. Oh, and I bought the ebook of Exogenesis.

Wait, didn't they

Spoiler:

break McKeller up, permanently?

Did they? I only read Homecoming and was reporting what Jo Graham said on her blog about the rules for writing the books. I think any changes can be explained by saying they can change things going forward but can't retcon anything. Which, of course, is nonsense since the whole Wraith culture and the Teyla/Kanaan relationship is retconned.

[Annelantis]

Now I am looking into Exogenesis and Reliquary but it may be difficult as Exogenesis seems to be unavailable except by e-book and I would rather have the book (despite being an avid fanfic reader, if there is a hard copy around I am still a traditionalist).

I forgot that I also have Blood Ties - I didn't like that one as much as CoW and MM. In fact I have only read it the one time when I got it.

BTW: The more I read of the Legacy series the less I like the sound of it.

But the thought of putting SGA-R forward to MGM sounds like an interesting idea. I'm not sure what they would think but I just love it so much to be able to hold a hard copy of Primum Movens would be fantastic.

[Sparky She-Demon]

I have a few of the SGA books. But by the sound of them, I should avoid them like the plague!

[JT-2]

Now I am looking into Exogenesis and Reliquary but it may be difficult as Exogenesis seems to be unavailable except by e-book and I would rather have the book (despite being an avid fanfic reader, if there is a hard copy around I am still a traditionalist).

I forgot that I also have Blood Ties - I didn't like that one as much as CoW and MM. In fact I have only read it the one time when I got it.

BTW: The more I read of the Legacy series the less I like the sound of it.

But the thought of putting SGA-R forward to MGM sounds like an interesting idea. I'm not sure what they would think but I just love it so much to be able to hold a hard copy of Primum Movens would be fantastic.

I'm the same way. Although I read fanfic on a regular basis, if I'm reading a book I want a hard copy. Still, I bought Exogenesis as an ebook. I'll see how I like it.