Rodney McKay/David Hewlett Thunk/Discussion/Appreciation

[watcher652]

I just found the thread post count feature and scarily I've contributed 1/5 of the thread!

How did you find that?

[Purpleyin]

How did you find that?

Click on the post count under control panel and a popup window tells you contributors listed by post counts.

[not so ancient]

Would you say McKay has a 'darkness' to his character at all?

To me, a dark person is more like an amoral or vicious person. That doesn't strike me as like McKay at all. I would say Rodney is a person who has a lot of hurt in his life. The pain he's had now expresses itself as a prickly personality. People have hurt him. He doesn't want anyone to do that again - his snark and arrogance keep people from getting close enough to hurt him. Rodney's arrogance is an overcompensation for feeling like he's not good enough in some area of his life, very likely from his childhood.

I make this conclusion based on the following spoiler snippets and my interpretation of them:

Spoiler:

Rodney opened up to Carter (SG-1 Redemption) and said "I had an uncomfortable childhood. My parents hated each other and blamed me." He goes on to say that he always wanted to be a concert pianist but he was told he had technical competence but no artistic flair. We know from Underground that he built a nuclear bomb for his sixth grade science project, prompting a visit from the CIA. From LFP we know he's not close with his sister - maybe Mom and Dad loved Jeannie more?

So given that, I see Rodney as a very bright child in a household that was not loving. He was hurt and shaped by that in a lot of ways.

Mom and Dad McKay's dysfunctional relationship really hurt Rodney. Kids blame themselves for that sort of stuff anyway, but imagine how much more it stings if your parents actually explicitly blame you. Ouch. You can see how this might shape how the child, when grown, views, enters into, and engages in love/sex relationships. Rodney comes off as a man who is totally attracted to women, and I'd even go so far as to say he's a pretty sexual person. But what does he do with women? He either behaves like a 'pig' (as in 'you're a pig but I like your cat' in Home), snarks at them (Sam Carter), or acts very clumsy if they show they're attracted to him. (The Brotherhood).

Back to Rodney as a kid. He was a very bright kind and he was trying so hard to please. He tried to be a musical genius - perhaps to impress a mother or father who was a musician or music lover? That didn't succeed, but Rodney did succeed in being a science genius - and even got the CIA's attention. Wonder if that was about getting Mom and Dad's attention?

Some part of Rodney still feels unloved and unworthy of love. He hurts, still. He has absolute woobie written all over him.

This is all just amateur psychology of course but....doesn't it sound probable?

[Purpleyin]

To me, a dark person is more like an amoral or vicious person. That doesn't strike me as like McKay at all. I would say Rodney is a person who has a lot of hurt in his life. The pain he's had now expresses itself as a prickly personality. People have hurt him. He doesn't want anyone to do that again - his snark and arrogance keep people from getting close enough to hurt him. Rodney's arrogance is an overcompensation for feeling like he's not good enough in some area of his life, very likely from his childhood.

Ok, I'm going to reply but it going over at the Mckay thread since that's where this discussion should really be...see you there.

[not so ancient]

:::tapping foot, waiting for Purpleyin ::::

[Purpleyin]

Moving this discussion over here where it belongs - we're talknig on the possibility of a dark McKay

To me, a dark person is more like an amoral or vicious person. That doesn't strike me as like McKay at all. I would say Rodney is a person who has a lot of hurt in his life. The pain he's had now expresses itself as a prickly personality. People have hurt him. He doesn't want anyone to do that again - his snark and arrogance keep people from getting close enough to hurt him. Rodney's arrogance is an overcompensation for feeling like he's not good enough in some area of his life, very likely from his childhood.

I make this conclusion based on the following spoiler snippets and my interpretation of them:

Spoiler:

Rodney opened up to Carter (SG-1 Redemption) and said "I had an uncomfortable childhood. My parents hated each other and blamed me." He goes on to say that he always wanted to be a concert pianist but he was told he had technical competence but no artistic flair. We know from Underground that he built a nuclear bomb for his sixth grade science project, prompting a visit from the CIA. From LFP we know he's not close with his sister - maybe Mom and Dad loved Jeannie more?

So given that, I see Rodney as a very bright child in a household that was not loving. He was hurt and shaped by that in a lot of ways.

Mom and Dad McKay's dysfunctional relationship really hurt Rodney. Kids blame themselves for that sort of stuff anyway, but imagine how much more it stings if your parents actually explicitly blame you. Ouch. You can see how this might shape how the child, when grown, views, enters into, and engages in love/sex relationships. Rodney comes off as a man who is totally attracted to women, and I'd even go so far as to say he's a pretty sexual person. But what does he do with women? He either behaves like a 'pig' (as in 'you're a pig but I like your cat' in Home), snarks at them (Sam Carter), or acts very clumsy if they show they're attracted to him. (The Brotherhood).

Back to Rodney as a kid. He was a very bright kind and he was trying so hard to please. He tried to be a musical genius - perhaps to impress a mother or father who was a musician or music lover? That didn't succeed, but Rodney did succeed in being a science genius - and even got the CIA's attention. Wonder if that was about getting Mom and Dad's attention?

Some part of Rodney still feels unloved and unworthy of love. He hurts, still. He has absolute woobie written all over him.

This is all just amateur psychology of course but....doesn't it sound probable?

Well there are different kinds of dark and as for amoral - what about the direction he was going in in Childhood's end until Weir questioned him on it.
As for the rest - it's oft ued in fanfic that rodn'ey piano teacher was his father...
And people also portray Jeannie as the favourite but i'm not sure i remember that being mentioned at all on show.

Also I've never seen rodney as overtly sexual person - alot of slash fanfic portrays him as so but where does this ccme from? I mean sometimes seems he's a nyphomaniac Is it just that he has this energy and banter/flirts and that's taken as extending further too?

On the way he is I read a very good short pice today. It's McKay/Weir (not sure it's knid of firendship but maybe more - bit vague on which it is) sort of but very insightful and to the point aobut him - well recommended one shot

"I See You" by Porthos1
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2347833/1/

[Purpleyin]

:::tapping foot, waiting for Purpleyin ::::

Hey, I'm here but I wanted to make a decent reply. Takes time y'know

[watcher652]

Click on the post count under control panel and a popup window tells you contributors listed by post counts.

I don't see Control Panel. I do see My Controls.

And not to make this OT, another Rising cap. Carson, can you please just activate the chair? I know you can do it. Hmm, I don't know why these caps look darker than what I think they should be. Sorry I don't have anything to lighten them.

[Purpleyin]

I don't see Control Panel. I do see My Controls.

Oops, yes that's what I meant.

[watcher652]

This is all just amateur psychology of course but....doesn't it sound probable?

Ah, the stuff of fan fiction!

[watcher652]

Even though I can't see Jack's face in these pics I just get the feeling that he and Elizabeth are thinking "What the hell is he talking about?" Sigh, the burdens of being a genius.

Rodney is so cute trying to tell Jack what he discovered.




Rodney: The Zero Point Module, General. The ancient power source you recovered from Proclarush Taonas and is now powering the outpost's defenses. I've since determined that it generates its power from vacuum energy derived from a self contained region of subspace time.




Jack: That was a waste of a perfectly good explanation.


Vacuum energy! <giggle!> Makes me think of a Hoover.

You know, isn't the Tardis is a self contained region of subspace time?

[watcher652]

Click on the post count under control panel and a popup window tells you contributors listed by post counts.

I don't see a post count under My Controls. Seems to me that would be a Thread function, not a personal function. Oh well..

[ToasterOnFire]

I don't see a post count under My Controls. Seems to me that would be a Thread function, not a personal function. Oh well..

Not sure if there is still some confusion, but I'll try to describe this. Go to any forum folder, such as "general discussion". Find a thread and click on the number in the "replies" section. That should give you a popup window showing each person that has contributed to the thread and the number of times they have posted. That way you can see who is posting there and how often they post (AKA how obessed they are ).

It would be nice to have something like this in your "my controls" section, something you could click on and get a popup showing all the threads you've posted in and the number of times you've posted, rather than the huge nasty thing you get when you "find all posts by x." Think it's an idea to bring up to the mods?

[strivaria]

You know, isn't the Tardis is a self contained region of subspace time?

Kind of.. I suppose. They get their power from the Eye of Harmony which is a condensed black hole that.... uh.. yeah... sorry, geeking out there for a moment. Actually, I went and looked it up and there is an instruction manual for the Type 40 TARDIS here: http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~abr/drwh...e40/node5.html

Anyway.. wish I'd had time to keep up with all the good conversations going on lately. As it is... I'm trying to get stuff settled so I can head off to the convention this week without feeling like I'm leaving the only other engineer here in the lurch if something happens. And I'm still hoping that David shows up on the guest list. They've just added Flanigan... so there may yet be a chance.

:: 41 hours and counting till I'm on my way ::

[watcher652]

Not sure if there is still some confusion, but I'll try to describe this.

Oh, that works. Thanks!

It looks like I'm in second place for posting in this thread. I don't know if I wanted to know that.

Oh, well, if it means I'm looking at David a lot, I guess that can't be a bad thing. If I ever meet him at a convention, I think I'll have a brain freeze. I probably will have to make some blue 3 by 5 card notes like Rodney had in Letters From Pegasus. With reminders like "Breathe!" Or "Stop looking at his hands." Or "Don't fall into those blue eyes." Maybe "Blink!" would be good, too.