Season 4 & Dr. Weir Discussion Thread ( Spoilers)

[flynn1959]

Maybe catering to one (or any) part of fandom wasn't even an issue, they just had a vision of what they wanted Atlantis to be, and Weir didn't have a place in it (or atleast less of one).

Yes, maybe, which is a real shame because I don't think a lot of people are going to be happy with the military taking over. In the present climate that is the last thing a lot of people want to see on tv.

Weir is an interesting character, the fact that she is a civilian adds to that interest. Carter is just another run of the mill Military person, if they wanted to go that way why not promote Sheppard and have him and Weir as joint leaders?

[Uber]

The SG-1/Atlantis magazine poll showed that Weir was more popular than Telya in terms of SGA favorite female character, but not by an overwhelming amount. Sam was also chosen SG-1 female favorite character --- and it was also mentioned that Sam is an "incredibly popular character". (The only other character that was mentioned in terms of being very popular besides Sam was Daniel --"an enormously popular character". Sam is well-liked by this better mix of viewers. Weir is also well-liked, but I think Teyla seems to be too.

There is a split in fandom about whether it is good to have Sam crossover. There is a split also between whether Weir should be reduced or not. But regardless, it is the casual viewer that will matter the most. There is a split in SG-1 fandom on the new direction -- some like it and some do not. But regardless, a large portion of viewers have left SG-1 after the new direction. That is what really mattered -- losing a siginficant proportion of viewers.

It remains to be seen what will happen with SGA. Unfortunately, the ratings for SGA have been going down over the last three seasons regardless. Whether this trend can change given the new changes remains to be seen. It seems that it has already sunk quite low in the ratings with the original team (minus Ford).


I would have liked both Weir and Sam on Atlantis. I would have liked to see interactions between Sam/Weir just like in New Order. For some reason TPTB decided that Weir should be reduced -- I have no idea why but I can only speculate that they want a military leader at this time. They had three possibilities and they went with Sam (we don't know the other two and it seems we never will out of respect for the other actors). Since Weir was going to get reduced regardless of whether Sam or someone else would be the leader, I'm glad they went with Sam. She makes sense to me, given her military and science skills.

I am very surprised that they took the leading lady and reduced her time. I would have been so upset if they had done that to Sam in SG-1. We might not ever know the reasons, but if they wanted a military leader, I'm glad they went with Sam. I am only an occasional viewer of Atlantis. I like it, but I'm not crazy about it like the original SG-1 team. But with Sam there, I'll be watching more regularly. In the meantime, I hope both TH and PM get really good roles that they love while they are not regulars on SGA.

I agree with everything you said with one slight difference...and that is I'm not a casual Atlantis viewer. Well that's not true either. I kind of weave in and out...sometimes extremely interested and excited and sometimes more of a casual "take it or leave it" viewer. I've been a lot more interested though for Season 3 and consider myself solidly a fan of the show.

So I would have watched it regardless...but with Carter there, I'm more enthusiastic about it even though I'm not happy about Carson and wish that Weir could have been kept around in some capacity.

[the dancer of spaz]

Pretty much any poll I've seen about Weir leaving/Carter coming has been split right down the middle. Which leaves me asking again about the ratings question. If you want more people to watch, why not have both?

Of course, some will say Weir is still in the show - she is in 4 episodes. But I think if anyone on GW supported a character on Atlantis that was already a main/regular character and that character ended up getting only 4 episodes they'd be upset/irked too. I do not consider "4" as being an acceptable number - not when we had 20.

Yeah, 4 is low. But if it was between the actor and the producers, and they were all open to possibly doing more in the future, it might just be that there were schedule conflicts. With what we know for sure (and without speculation that there were issues between TH and TPTB), I can't imagine TPTB not being open to bringing Weir back, assuming the arc called for it.

I was hoping for 7 episodes total at least, and 10 at the most. Wishful thinking, I guess.

And, of course, the polls aren't 100% scientifically accurate, considering I have no doubt that there were a choice few on both sides of the fence who used their sock puppets. There's also the fact that the vast majority of those who responded to the poll are either not from the US, or don't have a Nielsen box.

[PG15]

Well, the latest "Yay or Nay to Carter in Atlantis" poll suggests a Carter (SG-1 fans) and Weir (SGA fans) split:



Since we have no evidence or reason to believe online fans elsewhere, or even non online fans' sampling would be much different, Dr. Weir should be in as many eps as Carter next season.

There is such a thing as "too small a sample" you know. We're talking about a few hundred fans among millions.

Sure we have no reason to trust other fans, but we have no reason to say that this poll presents the full picture, either.

Pretty much any poll I've seen about Weir leaving/Carter coming has been split right down the middle. Which leaves me asking again about the ratings question. If you want more people to watch, why not have both?

Budget, perhaps?

The fact is, we just don't know.

[Team SG-1*save the show*]

when they said carter was coming to Atlantis i was happy because i thought she would be working along side Mckay. I am disappointed that weir is only going to be in 4 episodes. Why!? even though i am a big fan of SG-1, i still agree Carter does not have the leadership skills to run Atlantis like Weir does.

I am sure that TPTB are not stupid enough to get rid of another character- although i could be wrong. Hopefully weir will again be a regular in future seasons (?)

[Agent_Dark]

why not promote Sheppard and have him and Weir as joint leaders?

Sheppard was already promoted at the start of season 2 (and only when Weir forced the issue) - there's no way he can go up another grade in only 2 years.

[mcbarr]

There is such a thing as "too small a sample" you know. We're talking about a few hundred fans among millions.

Sure we have no reason to trust other fans, but we have no reason to say that this poll presents the full picture, either.

Hmm, are you suggesting Dr. Weir has more fans on GW than Carter? If you take a look at the Carter thread, you will see that it is probably the other way around. And, even so, when asked directly, Weir or Carter as leader of Atlantis, that's how 300+ people voted:



Far from me suggesting any poll is accurate. I don't trust polls. I'm just saying there is no reason to doubt the split (be it 50/50, 60/40 etc.) since both characters are quite popular among Stargate fans. Or are you suggesting the full picture would be something like Carter 90% - Weir 10% or vice versa? If anything, I would give Weir the edge since she's not taking anybody's job.

[PG15]

Technically, since Weir has no rank, Shep is already "Co-leader", as long as he outranks everyone else.

Right?

EDIT: I don't know what the big picture is; I just know not to use these polls to foward an agenda.

[Killdeer]

If I remember correctly, this particular poll (Who should lead the Atlantis expedition?) was set up before we had confirmation that Carter was going to be the leader of Atlantis. It seemed that there were a lot of people who wanted Carter to come over, but still wanted Weir to stay as leader. My point is just that the poll can't necessarily be seen as anti-Carter on Atlantis, or even really accurate, because at the time many people thought they could have both - Carter on Atlantis, and Weir as leader. Their preconceptions may have skewed the numbers. Carter as ship commander was a popular theory. Now that people KNOW that Carter in Atlantis means Carter in Command, those numbers might come out very differently.

Don't know if I'm making sense. Possibly this point isn't even relevant.

[Blower'sGate]

I've got a question for you guys.
So considering Weir's mostly out of the picture in S4 ( Weir fans are unhappy ) and Carter's in ( Carter's fans are happy ). In ( a potential ) s5 if Weir's back fulltime and Carter who has established herself in the base ( had great chemistry and made great friendships with the main characters ) is shipped back to earth and won't be returning as a recurring character, what would Carter fans think? Would you be as pissed as the Weir fans as they were during s4? ( even if technically Carter isn't a main character ) Or would you just move on ?

[the dancer of spaz]

I've got a question for you guys.
So considering Weir's mostly out of the picture in S4 ( Weir fans are unhappy ) and Carter's in ( Carter's fans are happy ). In ( a potential ) s5 if Weir's back fulltime and Carter who has established herself in the base ( had great chemistry and made great friendships with the main characters ) is shipped back to earth and won't be returning as a recurring character, what would Carter fans think? Would you be as pissed as the Weir fans as they were during s4? ( even if technically Carter isn't a main character ) Or would you just move on ?

I'm a Carter fan, and I would probably move on. I'd watch S4 whether Carter was on or not. There's also the fact that I'm an AT fan before I'm a Carter fan, and assuming she's got the desire to move on to other projects, I'd rather her take that opportunity, than hang around any longer than necessary.

It'd be nice to see Weir back on full-time, if that were to happen. I don't think it will. But I'd be cool with it if it did.

[Blower'sGate]

I'm a Carter fan, and I would probably move on. I'd watch S4 whether Carter was on or not. There's also the fact that I'm an AT fan before I'm a Carter fan, and assuming she's got the desire to move on to other projects, I'd rather her take that opportunity, than hang around any longer than necessary.

It'd be nice to see Weir back on full-time, if that were to happen. I don't think it will. But I'd be cool with if it did.

Thx for answering -blind faith

[Celcool]

That a good question, a bit more comparable would be though if Carter would be replaced by Weir in S4 of Sg-1 or S8 when all those changes took place there. Would you be upset then?

I can understand that some Carter fans may not be that upset (so far we only know the opinion of the dancer of spaz so hard to pre-assume) if Weir were to be back full time in S5 and Carter gone because they will have had 11 years of her on Stargate by then while we won't have even half of that with Elizabeth Weir. Also Torri would still love to work on the show while Amanda may want to move on to other projects and nobody would blame her after 11 years of playing the same character.

[the dancer of spaz]

That a good question, a bit more comparable would be though if Carter would be replaced by Weir in S4 of Sg-1 or S8 when all those changes took place there. Would you be upset then?

Yep. I most definitely would.

But I don't understand the point of asking... The issue isn't about whether or not Carter fans would be upset if the roles were reversed, as time and time again, it's been made clear that a lot of Carter fans truly sympathize with Weir fans. There are a lot of Carter fans who understand why Weir fans are upset, and a lot of Carter fans who are bummed that Weir's leaving. I guess I just don't see the point. If it's a way of giving these fans a certain bit of perspective, I think it might be a little unnecessary.

ETA: I don't represent the whole Carter fan community or anything, but I have to say that I was in denial that they were getting rid of Elizabeth. I couldn't believe that they were going to do that, even with Sam coming on board, and I continue to remain cautiously optimistic about the prospects of the new season solely because change can be a good thing if handled properly. And sometimes I wonder if TPTB are capable of handling change properly...

At the same time, while I don't have blind faith in TPTB, I am going to assume that the new direction they're taking for the series is going to bring about a whole new dynamic for the characters. With or without Sam or Liz, I think they very well could be onto something cool for the show.

[Uber]

That a good question, a bit more comparable would be though if Carter would be replaced by Weir in S4 of Sg-1 or S8 when all those changes took place there. Would you be upset then?

I can understand that some Carter fans may not be that upset (so far we only know the opinion of the dancer of spaz so hard to pre-assume) if Weir were to be back full time in S5 and Carter gone because they will have had 11 years of her on Stargate by then while we won't have even half of that with Elizabeth Weir. Also Torri would still love to work on the show while Amanda may want to move on to other projects and nobody would blame her after 11 years of playing the same character.

It's a false comparison though. It's been stated many, many times...the choice was not between Carter and Weir it was be Carter and some-other-person. All evidence given in interviews and such point to this being the case.

Going back to your point...would I be upset had Carter been removed for S4 of SG-1? Sure. And a part of me would be upset even after learning that she'd be gone whether her "replacement" was there or not.

In the case of Weir though, it's up to you and everyone else to decide whether or not you like or don't like how things play out. It may turn out that Carter's presence screws things up or it may be brilliant.

But isn't it kind of time to stop with the inaccuracies? Carter coming has nothing to do with Weir leaving in the sense that she was leaving regardless...so feel upset about her leaving all you want but at least see how Carter fits before judging it.