The Anti Season 4 Thread (Spoilers). For complaints and misgivings ONLY.

[Pajus]

Oh God, why bring her up, I'm in enough trouble with her as it is

*Crawls off into a hole*

What happened, if I may ask?

[Integrabyte]

Spoiler:

I just watched First Strike... *sigh*

Yeah, it will never be the same ever again.

I am still amazed that SGA was not cancelled yet. Other shows were cancelled for less. BTW, the stinky sock manip needs to be changed. Carter is not there .

[borgprincess]

Thanks to whoever pointed out Lyssie's statement on season 4. I want to quote Miera_C's wonderful reply:

I think female characters should be more than someone's potential girlfriend or mother. I think they should have stories of their own, and a purpose beyond filler material or eyecandy. I think they had tons of things they could've done with Teyla for 3 seasons that it never even occurred to them to do in the first place (just like with Elizabeth, with Sam, and on and on) and instead we got the one situation where they were willing to spotlight Teyla as a leader subverted because of an accident of timing.

All of this is nitpicking on one piece of this image that isn't the point. The point of the image itself is that this show (both the shows, really) have treated female characters like disposable napkins over and over and over again. They're bringing in new female characters? Fine, but why did they have to clear out the existing ones first? Why couldn't we have kept the dexisting ones and added to that and give the show a depth of women characters to flesh it out? Why is it Kate who bought the farm in that one episode and not Lorne (and why is it that she's induced to commit suicide but Lorne's reaction is to attack someone else with a gun)? Why is it that David Nykl and Kavan and Ben Cotton all became recurring characters who keep coming back after years of time but Jaime Ray Newman and Manami Hara have vanished? Why are the new female characters being played by women who are noticeably young to have their jobs (why else would they have Jewel give that speech about being a child prodigy other than to justify why someone who clearly doesn't look old enough to be out of residency being the CMO?). Why is it that Dr. Keller has within the space of a few episodes already been positioned as a potential girlfriend for 2 different male characters instead of giving her some other kind of story to develop her?

This isn't an image about one isolated instance, it's about a pattern of treatment of women by the show. And that pattern sucks.

http://lyssie.livejournal.com/121921...59662#t9259662

Given what they have done to all these characters, it's amazing and sad that the show continues with everyone acting like it's perfectly fine. If McKay was killed by a lemon and Zelenka was sucked dry by a Wraith and Ronon forced to shoot himself because of alien mind control and Lorne retiring because he'd gotten married and wanted to stay at home with his new wife...wait, no, that would never happen, because the male characters are valuable, they're vital to the show, they keep it going, they appeal to the fans. Not the women. Not unless they're sex objects or helpless fragile beings that need to be sheltered and protected to make the guys feel more powerful and manly. I cean't believe the difference between the first and latest season- the show started off with respect for all its characters and I was so happy by season three because Weir began to get more screen-time and included on missions, rather than waving them off at the gate when she had so much more to offer than that. It's hard to understand why these sweeping changes were necessary- it seems to me that all this has done is fracture the audience.

[gateraid]

Thanks to whoever pointed out Lyssie's statement on season 4. I want to quote Miera_C's wonderful reply:



http://lyssie.livejournal.com/121921...59662#t9259662

Given what they have done to all these characters, it's amazing and sad that the show continues with everyone acting like it's perfectly fine. If McKay was killed by a lemon and Zelenka was sucked dry by a Wraith and Ronon forced to shoot himself because of alien mind control and Lorne retiring because he'd gotten married and wanted to stay at home with his new wife...wait, no, that would never happen, because the male characters are valuable, they're vital to the show, they keep it going, they appeal to the fans. Not the women. Not unless they're sex objects or helpless fragile beings that need to be sheltered and protected to make the guys feel more powerful and manly. I cean't believe the difference between the first and latest season- the show started off with respect for all its characters and I was so happy by season three because Weir began to get more screen-time and included on missions, rather than waving them off at the gate when she had so much more to offer than that. It's hard to understand why these sweeping changes were necessary- it seems to me that all this has done is fracture the audience.

Spoilered for length, and probably already posted by another by the time I submit this

Spoiler:

I loved s3 too, even though I had read on GW that it was supposed to be tha worst season eva!!! Women being treated as weak is not isolated to SG. In some shows, it is the reverse (but in the minority). Men are weak, have no opinion, wimpish almost. That's okay, each to their own. It depends on the show and who they are aiming it at. With women it tends to be more subtle (esp alway being subordinate to men) and the odd thing that jars at you that makes you take a decent look at what was done previously, whereas when they do it with men, it just leaps right out at you (IMO).

However I have always regarded SG (both shows) differently to mainstream tv. Earlier on they made a solid job of disregarding sex/gender as an issue. And because of that (and their earlier good work script wise) I hold them to a higher standard. MG/Weir's use of "it's because I'm a woman" in First Strike really jarred with me because not only was it OOC, it really was the first time that that issue had really been obviously brought into play in both shows.

IMO the only females they did a good job of writing for (overall, they both have their weak points) were actually Weir and Carter. Both of whom were not the stars, effectively following behind what the "star" was doing. Carter was an extremely capable 2IC, then leader in her own right. A bit of a Mary Sue yes, but it is tv, and I don't think that IRL anyone who was on a career path to NASA would really be that different. When they delved into her personal life, frankly that was a mess because they were writing from the outside looking in, not vice versa. Probably why she became black widow carter. Weir I loved from the get go (not counting the movie/TLC - every character is written differently in a script like that so you like it but put it aside). Stuck to her guns without being a *****. Soft, kind hearted, yet a will of steel. And look what she did to save Atlantis!! Mind you, how much more would s4 have sucked if TH didn't agree to come back for a few eps. Lifeline was in my top five fav eps.

Supposedly SGA has/had the #2 & #3 billing spots filled by women. Where are they now? I don't think that it is deliberate - you only write what you know, as the cliche goes. Most (all?) of the writers are middle aged men. That is what they know. I probably could not do better.

I know that they can write well for women. But for whatever reason, it most certainly isn't consistent.

[Integrabyte]

ANTIS!!!! Wakey, wakey!! A new episode airs tonight, plenty to talk about afterwards .

[justhere1971]

The Gel is back in town

*still jealous of the hair?!!!!!!!!*

With the smirk and cool sunglasses, looking for hot alien babes for the day. *headdesk*

Oh Elizabeth, where are you?! There's a flyboy that should be kept in line.

He just doesn't know what to do with himself since the love of his life is gone. Eeeeeellllllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaab bbbbbbbbbbeeeeeeeeetttthhhhhhhhhh!

Wonder if this Vega chick will make Shep keep his pants on

Okay, I think we need Elizabeth back, because nobody is standing up for poor flyboy with pretty hair!

Please Elizabeth can squish Vega like *oh snap*.

[Reefgirl]

ANTIS!!!! Wakey, wakey!! A new episode airs tonight, plenty to talk about afterwards .

Not for me

A) I live in the UK our Atlantis is on a tuesday
B) I'm taking my daughter out for dinner
C) There's ski flying to be watched when I get home
D) There's Rally Mexico to catch up with after that
E) NCIS is on at 9pm (but that can be watched tomorrow as it's being Sky+ed
F) I've got knitting to finish over the weekend

[Integrabyte]

Not for me

A) I live in the UK our Atlantis is on a tuesday
B) I'm taking my daughter out for dinner
C) There's ski flying to be watched when I get home
D) There's Rally Mexico to catch up with after that
E) NCIS is on at 9pm (but that can be watched tomorrow as it's being Sky+ed
F) I've got knitting to finish over the weekend

No sleeping?

[Reefgirl]

No sleeping?

Oh yeah, plenty of that, but I can knit in front of the TV, I'm a woman, I can Multi-Task

[Pajus]

I have just exposed ep. Outcast for the horrible affront to physics that it is. Rated PG

[Falcon Horus]

I finished season 3 and I can start the counting but I'm going to give you some trivia first, which I think won't come as much of a surprise:

* DH/RM has 13 episodes in which his wordcount is 1000+
* JM/RD has 9 episodes in which his wordcount is -100
* RL/TE has 6 episodes in which her wordcount is -100

* RL/TL has 11 episodes in which her screentime is 5 minutes or less
* JM/RD has 11 episodes in which his screentime is 5 minutes or less

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the results. I'm gonna guess that the golden trio will be Sheppard/Weir/McKay.

[dana]

I finished season 3 and I can start the counting but I'm going to give you some trivia first, which I think won't come as much of a surprise:

* DH/RM has 13 episodes in which his wordcount is 1000+
* JM/RD has 9 episodes in which his wordcount is -100
* RL/TE has 6 episodes in which her wordcount is -100

* RL/TL has 11 episodes in which her screentime is 5 minutes or less
* JM/RD has 11 episodes in which his screentime is 5 minutes or less

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the results. I'm gonna guess that the golden trio will be Sheppard/Weir/McKay.

-100? Can someone achieve that?

Looking forward to your report! My bet is 1) Mckay 2) Shep 3) Liz

[Falcon Horus]

-100? Can someone achieve that?

Oh easily apparently. It made me wonder how Rachel and Jason find their lines. I hope someone highlights them with a marker.

[marielabbott]

Looking forward to your report! My bet is 1) Mckay 2) Shep 3) Liz

Second that! I feel very safe betting stinky socks on that.

[justhere1971]

Are you guys going to watch Kindred tonight? I am going to be traveling - so won't be until Monday or so.