Discussing the upcoming changes (S3 and S4 Spoilers)

[IcyNeko]

What has me is that the story was poor in its handling of carson's passing.

Teryl died heroically.

With carson, he was just being stubborn. :|

[Chrysalis]

Atlantis is starting to sink just as it was hitting its stride? All these Season 4 announcements: Amanda joining the cast, Torri's reduced role, Paul getting written out and Paul and Joe becoming the showrunners...

It seems everythings going into a downward spiral next year and it happens just as I was really starting to love this show.

Anyone agree? Or disagree?

Agree with you 100 percent. I hope tptb are polite and wave at the shark as they jump it....

[IcyNeko]

I think this is harder to take because Janet Fraisier died a hero. She fought to save the dude to the last minute.

Carson... could have lived had he not locked the security team out with the floor-level lockdown. He was stubborn.

Again, can the writers. Please.

[Mitchell82]

I think Carson did too. He decided to risk hislife to save another and that is heroic IMO.

[GaterGina71]

I have to say I liked s1 and s2. This season, I am not too happy with. While most of the eps are good, I can see similar plots from sg-1, only with different characters and minor plot differences. IMO, they seem to be running out of ideas. If that's the case, hire new writers. The way its going they are zatting themselves in the foot. Its very discouraging considering I liked these shows very much because the other crap on tv just doesn't interest me all that much anymore. I don't know where all the blame may lie, it may be a few different areas. If it's the network, find a new one, I bet there's a few out there that would jump at the chance to take up the franchise. If it's tptb, they need to rethink obligations. Maybe they all have too much on thier plate with the movies and all, I don't know. The only thing I do know is they better start listening to the fans, not just saying they do, or the whole thing is going to crash and burn.

[flynn1959]

I think this is the begining of the end for Atlantis. I am a new viewer, ever since my daughter lent me all of her tapes and pretty much begged me to watch.

I like Wier, I really like Carson. I like the interaction between all six main cast members. I hate that they are destroying that by removing one third of the cast for season four.

I don't like Carter at all, I hate Carter and Mackay together.

I wont bother watching season four for those reasons. What has come as a very big surprise to me is that my daughter has informed me that she isn't going to watch it either. She is a huge fan. She just doesn't want to watch it 'crash and burn', her words like the X-files did. She watched that show to the bitter end and has never been able to re-watch her tapes/dvd's since the final episode. i think she wants to remember Atlantis as it is now and still be able to enjoy the first three years.

[AJZ]

I think season 4 will be better and a new brighter beginning for Atlantis personally.

I for one disliked Weir on the show I disliked her acting her facial expressions just weren't there like the rest of the cast's were.

As far as Carson leaving, I think that was a bad move but oh well I didn't love his character yet I didn't hate it.

Carter coming to the cast I'm very happy about she can hopefully take over Weir's role and get to prove her self as the leader type. (She never got that chance on sg-1 even when Mitchell came she wasn't leader of sg-1.)

And as far as Jewel joining the cast IMHO it will just bring more viewers I mean most of my friends who hate Stargate and loved firefly are planning on watching Atlantis next season. So hey that doesn't hurt.

Anyways Atlantis season 3 has been my favorite so far and I hope season 4 is even better.

[Daniel Jackson]

Heavy Spoilers for Season 3 (second half) and Season 4 below. Please, click your back button if you do not want to be spoiled!

Why is everyone freaking out over the cast changes?

Samantha Carter: Instead of Tapping's annual episode, she will be guest starring in 14 of 20 episodes in Season 4. Those who see this as a bad thing act like she's never been on the show before! She's already been in three episodes, guys. Carter as a special guest star is nothing new, but being in 14 episodes (instead of 1) could certainly be a shock to those who feel she'll steal the spotlight from McKay. Let's wait and see how this plays out, OK? The entire cast of SG-1 is not moving to Atlantis, it's just one character. It's not going to kill the show.

Elizabeth Wier: So far, we know that Torri Higginson did not sign on as a regular, but as a recurring guest star instead. Now, there are three possibilities that I see happening. The first is that the actress wants to continue with the show, but doesn't want to be in every single episode. Maybe she wants more time with her family? Who knows! The second is that the producers want to give less screen time to Wier and more screen time to Sheppard's team. That's certainly possible. The third possibility I can think of is that Wier will be killed off six episodes into the season and that Carter will replace Wier as leader of the Atlantis Expedition in the remaining 14 episodes. I sincerely hope this isn't the case.

Carson Beckett: Beckett's departure in "Sunday" would certainly upset people as the episode effectively makes it impossible for his character to return unless it's in a flashback scene or a time travel or alternate reality episode. I doubt Carter's move to Atlantis has anothing to do with this, so let's not blame SG-1, OK? My guess is that the writers simply wanted a new doctor character. Maybe they got bored with Beckett? Besides, look at Daniel Jackson on SG-1. That effectively proves that no character stays gone for good. I do find it odd that both shows lost their original doctor. Hey, where's the Dr. Frasier emoticon?

[Lord Iceman]

Personally, I am not worried about any cast changes. The star of the show in my opinion is the CITY, it is Stargate ATLANTIS. I really don't see them destroying Atlantis so I have nothing to worry about. I wouldn't care if all the humans are killed and some mentally challenged Asgard come to live in the city, I'd still watch.

[Jersey13]

I've never blamed SG-1 for the characters' demises. It could be argued that perhaps if SG-1 hadn't been canceled that perhaps they wouldn't have decided that any character moves/offings would have been necessary, but really, there's no point in worrying about could-have-been. What's done is done. All I'm interested in is how TPTB are going to change SGA for the future, and as far as I'm concerned, they haven't done right by reducing Weir to recurring, and especially in killing off Beckett from the show. All my opinions on that matter have already been stated in the respective threads, so I won't go into them here. But is SG-1 responsible? Perhaps in part, but not directly.

I think this thread will end up getting merged with the tons of others about this general topic of discussion... however, if we can manage to stay on a topic such as whether or not SG1 is responsible for all the changes in the cast of SGA, maybe we can salvage this thread.

[IcyNeko]

I don't mind cast changes. I really don't.

But it's how the changes occur that is a problem for me. It seems like writers do a really half-assed job with cast changes, just as they do with new ships. Main characters aren't disposable, and it's really a detriment to the show when the writers make them disposable.

[FallenAngelII]

1) Sam being on SGA isn ot the thing I'm upset about. I'm upset about them shoving Sam in there ("with her own ship", no less) forcefully by putting her in 14 episodes. No doubt will this change the show considerably. Because unless she's just a wallflower for 14 episodes, there'll be some extremely Sam-heavy episodes.

This will also present a lot of problems. Atlantis already has two genius scientists; Rodney and Radek. Unless they don't dumb them down a lot, Sam will never get to be the hero and save the day, which will anger the Sam fans.

And last, but not least, the (probable) possibility that her moving over was the reason for Torri's degradation (I'm not blaming Amanda for this, though).

2) Torri Higginson has a very strong bond with her fanbase. She even had a "Ask me"-thread here once. She has no problems talking about herself and her thoughts and ideas.

It's been quite a while. IMO, if the decision was hers, she'd have told us by now to calm us down. The fact that Paul can't reveal why he was, effectively, fired (though he has no problems talking about hating it) also points towards the possibility that they've been gagged.

3) Daniel ascended. Carson clearly just died (there was a body, for one thing). The PTB have expressed interest in bringing Paul back as another character other than Carson.

So he'll probably be a Wraith or something. Unless they're planning on bringing in Carson's twin.

[IcyNeko]

Well, a long stretch would be that Carson's body was just there because he took longer-than-usual to make his decision to ascend.

Daniel's body didn't automatically energize when Repli-carter killed him. In fact, the ship was even destroyed with his body still there.

If they wanted to lame out Carson's death, Carson could be in a 60's diner, having lunch with Pegasus's Oma equivalent.

Corellary: He did do a good deed righe before he died. So that might inspire others to help him ascend?

[ata_beckett]

13) Daniel ascended. Carson clearly just died (there was a body, for one thing). The PTB have expressed interest in bringing Paul back as another character other than Carson.

So he'll probably be a Wraith or something. Unless they're planning on bringing in Carson's twin.

With all the talk about clones that's been going on-- I think it'd be awesome if they could make a clone-wraith!carson work.

Hey, even cheesy things can be awesome if done right.

[Tukka]

OK, I had to say this. First you "cry" (meant to be kind!) for Ford back in another topic. And then you made this topic. Isn't that cast change too?