Who would you like to see backstory for?

[Pocus]

Ah, the fun of backstory. Being able to peek into a character's past and see what makes them who they are today is a mighty thing. I don't want to be given the whole story from birth or even large chunks of life before the show. I would like to see a bit of pertinent information that makes me go "oh ok, that is why he/she is like that"

Sheppard is one that is a mystery to me. It would be nice to know about his family. Are they estranged, dead, missing? Why does he keep most people at arm's length and have so much trouble letting the few people close to him know that he does care. I don't want gushy Shep. That is not him. Did something happen that makes him feel safer to keep a buffer zone between him and everyone else?

I don't need or want a whole episode devoted to a pre-Atlantis Shep. I would like a comment dropped, like in Sunday about

Spoiler:

his marriage

but a little more exposition, another sentence or two, to prevent the many theories about why and how it happened. Flashbacks are overdone, but that is because they are a handy way of quickly passing information. It definitely needs to be done in the right situation and pass clear info.

I can wait patiently for some history of this very dynamic character but I hope we are indulged just a little bit in Season 4.

[prion]

I always wanted to see the story of that rotted potted plant that Weir had taken away in "Hide and Seek". What were its interests? Did it have any lovers and/or a wife/husband? When the Wraith attacked the city, what was it thinking? Did it care about the well-being of the city's other plants?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Oh that might get messy.. I mean, we'd have to drag up the evil cousin, poison ivy and all those black sheep in the family

I'd like to think those dead plants were just in hibernation and one spill of a coffee cup and they mutate back to life

[Saul Tigh]

Zelenka and ronon

[pisces27]

Definitely Sheppard. Being the lead man, we know little about him. I'd like to know what makes him tick

[Saul Tigh]

Definitely Sheppard. Being the lead man, we know little about him. I'd like to know what makes him tick

wait for sunday.

[aacid]

I'd like to see a little for everyone, but I'd really like to see a little more of what makes sheppard tick. Of his personal history we know that he was in a helo crash while disobeying an order, and saw friends killed in said crash. I'd like to see a little more of his career choices come back to bite him, sort of like in Collateral Damage with Cameron. We know very little about him, and, for viewers who don't follow SG-1, very little about any other member of the team.

[Killdeer]

My vote was for Sheppard, but really, I'd like to know more about all of them.

Sheppard:
His family -does he have any? Is he not on good terms with them? What's with his dad being military?
Him being married - what happened? Is she still alive?
His military career - What was he doing before Afganistan? Was he regular Air Force? Air Force Special Operations? (I've always had it in my mind that Shep was in Special Ops but it'd be nice to get some official confirmation or denial).

Rodney:
His parents-Why did Rodney say to Jeannie that their Dad would have wanted them to be working together? That seems to imply that their father is no longer living. Was he a scientist also? What about their mother? Is she still living?

Teyla:
-Family background - what happened to her father, mother.
-How did she become leader of her people?

Ronan:
- It would be interesting to find out more about Sateda and its culture before the Wraith came. it seems like they were on a level comparable to Earth, even though Ronan comes across like a caveman a lot of the time.

You know, looking back over 10 years of SG-1, we probably found out the least about Jack's family.

Daniel was an only child, orphaned, and put into the foster care system by his grandfather.
Carter lost her mother, had a brother who had children, and her father appeared on the show as a recurring character.
Teal'c lost his wife, lost his father to the Goa'uld, and his son was a recurring character. Also, we find out a lot about his background from Bra'tac. And (spoilers for Talion)

Spoiler:

we also find out how his mother died.

Jack is the only one who is really a blank slate before his marriage to Sara, except that his comment in Fragile Balance seems to imply that he's an only child.

[Pegasus_SGA]

to be honest i dont really think we need backstory to explore teyla's character either...we know bits about her past but i want to know more of the character she is now, like what its like to be the leader of her people but kind of not since shes in atlantis, how does she feel abandoning them to stay with the atlantis gang, yes its for the good of her people but she has essentially left them. thats what id like to explore, as well as a little more into the comments she made in sunday, shes a woman so shes allowed to have feelings but shes also one who can sometimes be a bit closed off.
we know why she's motivated from her past, because of what happened to her father and she needs to fight to protect her people. id like to know about her motivations now, not to mention all that stuff with michael may have dimmed her faith in the atlantis expedition a bit.

The problem about shep is that we still dont know why he's motivated....why the leave no man behind is so important, or why he was motivated to join the AF, or how about why he finally decided to go to atlantis even though he was so wary of it.
all we know about his life before atlantis is, he was in antartica for almost a year after disobeying orders and at some point he was flying in kabul? and his friends got killed (which had to have affected him, his 2 best buddies..also felt he might have known them for a long time- maybe they trained and graduated together?!)
as for his family, how about just some confirmation about his dad or his mum...alive/dead/dont speak?

just something!!!!!

I totally agree we know what makes Teyla tick and that's seeing that the people she leads are safe from the Wraith, so that they can for once live without fear of being culled. She wants her civilisation to thrive as part of (for me) Charins legacy...if that makes any sense. From what i've seen Charin was a major part of Teyla's life and she wants to build on what she's achieved and that's what drives her forward, that's why she joined the team so that she could one day return to her people and know that she has achieved something.

Sheppard on the other hand, we don't really know what spurs him on at all, (as you said) it's the whole thing of 'What makes the man'. I have my ideas of why he is like he is, but i'd like some confirmation. For me I see Sheppard as someone who was young and impetuous but who would stand up for what he believes in, because that's how he was brought up. When he witnessed his friends killed in tragic circumstances, it spurned something in him. I think that after that, he told the families of those that died and saw the anguish that their deaths brought and vowed never to go through something like that again. And that's why he went after

Spoiler:

Holland

because he had not only a sense of duty, but when you're in combat you rely on the other person to watch your six. Maybe he let them down or something (possily because he was told that he couldn't go and get them against his belief) and as a result, something happened. And because of his mistake in going against his instincts, he had to undo his error in judgement. Or the whole, no one gets left behind, maybe can be attributed to him being left? But then again if that lil gem is used, it would probably be classed as a rip off.. ho hum, moving swiftly on.

Oh what a shocker, once more Peggy = Tangent

[Salty]

Sheppard. Definitely Sheppard.

You know, first season we knew nothing about him and 3 years later, we know just as much. I'm not asking for a full episode, but it would be nice to have him mention a parent. Have him mention something about being sent to Antarctica. Talk to someone about something in his past.

Someone mentioned him meeting someone who knew him - that could totally happen - a new military person stationed on Atlantis, someone he knew from way back when. That person could bring up something about his father, or past COs. We keep hearing about his record - wouldn't it be nice to actually know about his record?

[Trek_Girl42]

Mckay and Sheppard (I haven't seen S3 so I have no idea what we get in terms of character development for either). I'd have to disagree about backstory for Teyla, I don't think we need it. For her we need more forward story. But then I've never cared for her character much and don't want huge chunks of time dedicated to that either, but some would be nice.

As for Shep. I had absolutely no restraint and clicked on a few spoiler tags, and am very curious about

Spoiler:

his marriage

I'd also love some backstory for Caldwell.

[sherryw]

My first choice is definitely Sheppard,

Spoiler:

my second choice would be Teyla, but only if they wrote her stronger. It seems that the only parts she's had in S2 and S3 have been the damsel in distress or injured. I would like to see that warrior side of her again the one we saw in the first season.

I actually really like the idea of Sheppard running into an old comrade, that's something I'd very much like to see and could be written into an episode quite smoothly. I think it would be very interesting to see the reaction of someone who knew him prior to Rising to his situation now.

I love that idea too Josie. I think it would make an interesting epi.

now I don't know who I want a back story for in S4. I want to say Teyla, purely because she hasn't had many stories focused on her, but I do want more on our leading man.

So you know what, i'm gonna go with Teyla *feels like a traitor*

I'd like to see Sheppard's past explored more, I don't think a 'backstory' per se is needed, hints along the way i'd be content with

You are not a traitor Peggy.

[bebop]

I think knowing little about Shepperd is part of what makes him who he is.
On the surface he is suave and charming, but digg alittle deeper and you realise that he is a very private person, he puts on the persona of the cheerful, happy guy to keep people at arms length and rarely lets people get close.
He gets along with everyone but his only real friends are his team, the ones he lets get a bit closer, but not too much.

It would be OoC for him to suddenly open up and drop a bombshell, if we find out about his past it would have to be done carefully and subtly IMO

I agree totally. I want to know much more about Sheppard's history and the reason his has the 'issues' that he does, but as you say, to just pull the whole kit and caboodle out all at once wouldn't be conducive to his image. We need to be 'drip fed' bits and peices over the course of a few episodes.TPTB do seem to have neglected the leading man and although having an enigma is exciting, it also gets a bit frustrating as well.

[Klenotka]

All of them? Sheppard, because he is lead and we don't know anything about him. Then, yeah, don't yell at me, McKay. Somone might think that there is too much McKay. I disagree. His big "role" is partly bc of DH's acting and partly bc of unability of authors write normal role for him. He is just a comic relief, which is wrong bc his character has very big potential. His development and background is based in humiliation of his character, sometimes more, sometimes less.
Ronon, sure, not Sateda-like. I would like to see his human part, not Rononator.
Teyla, OK, why not but for me....I don't like her. It's not bc of her lack of personality or how wrong is she written. I simply don't like her.
Zelenka, definitely, he needs his own episode or at least B story. When Carter can have her own episode (when she didn't develop during 10 years, I doubt one more episode will be any change) why not Zelenka?

[Gate Geek]

I'd like some real backstory on Sheppy but I want it doled out in bits and pieces. I want to learn some things, but I don't want to know everything. THere has to be somethings left up to the imagination after all. And these backstory tidbits has to be done so that it fits in the context of a story. I just don't want random tidbits thrown in an episode, especailly if they have no relevence.

[Falcon Horus]

Since there's no option for "all of them", I choose to go with Teyla.