Season 4 & Teyla Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

[the dancer of spaz]

I see Teyla a little differently. I don't think she would view a baby as an obligation to the Athosians. Life is a precious commodity in the Pegasus Galaxy. The Wraith threat hangs over their heads constantly. I think she (and the Athosians) would celebrate a new life the same way they cherished Charin's natural death in Critical Mass. I'm not sure it would occur to her to not have the baby. It will be very interesting to see how this is handled, and it may give us a great look at Athosian culture and traditions.

That's true. Teyla has been somewhat of a weak link in part because of the Athosians' lack of development. Her reaction to having a child and the way she handles it could give us some insight into the Athosians, while also further developing her character.

[masterblaster]

Teyla isn't out to grab herself a hot, hero husband. Give her some credit. As a leader, she will always put her people ahead of herself.

*Hell hath frozen over. . . I'm defending Teyla*



No one is against "friendship", but outright romance between two regs causes the arcs to revolve around them at the expense of other characters, and because it turns scifi into soap. This isn't "As The Stargate Turns".

What i have said that it is un natural for hundreds of humans in their prime to be living in close quarters in 'friendship". I hate soaps too. I used to make my wife and mother-in-law mad by laughing in all the wrong spots but stargate has gone back to the 1920's western days.



Part of the fun of Farscape was knowing John and Aeryn were in love, but too stubborn to admit it. When they did, I lost interest because the fire between them was gone for me.
i was just the opposite. You must have been the kid who kept his nose pressed against the candy store window but would never go in and plunk your money down. With me, it is not the chase but the kill. In my opinion, the Sam/jack ship was fine for a year or so. But when the writers just kept them sniffing around each other for ten years; I just said, who cares and forgot about it. John always knew Aeryn was for him, when she realized this too, the show gained a new deminsion. I always though that that farscape was a more adult show.



Sort of a disrespectful way to look at these characters, especially the women.

Why, why would a woman who has an IQ of 150 and a PHD refuse to believe that she could be beautiful and sexy also. The one does not preclude the other. In fact, it would be easier for an educated woman to project sexuality that a stupid one. They could be but why would the shape of a woman's have anything to wo with the shape of her body.
Sorry for the fatal dose of philosophy.

[Princess Awinita]

I for one, like Teyla for who she is, not just the way she looks, oh and one small bit of info that I know right now.

Teyla is from a pre INDUSTRYIAL group of people, not barbarians! I should know because she is my owner.... ahem sorry I tend to get a little stuck as my OC in my story that i'm working on.

anyhow

I just hope Teyla does not leave or die off or gets written out, she is my fav character!

[starfox]

Why, why would a woman who has an IQ of 150 and a PHD refuse to believe that she could be beautiful and sexy also. The one does not preclude the other. In fact, it would be easier for an educated woman to project sexuality that a stupid one. They could be but why would the shape of a woman's have anything to wo with the shape of her body.
Sorry for the fatal dose of philosophy.

What in the post you are quoting leads you to this debate on intelligence vs. sexuality?

[FoolishPleasure]

Why, why would a woman who has an IQ of 150 and a PHD refuse to believe that she could be beautiful and sexy also. The one does not preclude the other. In fact, it would be easier for an educated woman to project sexuality that a stupid one. They could be but why would the shape of a woman's have anything to wo with the shape of her body.
Sorry for the fatal dose of philosophy.

What in the world are you talking about? You just insinuated that Teyla is only out to find herself a man, and that Teyla, Carter, and Weir should be pole dancers?

*slight aroma of troll doo-doo in here*

[firefly30]

I recently re-watched season 1 and just like the first time, it bothers me that Teyla becomes part of the team with no explanation at all. I always felt that if she's the leader of her people she should have stayed with them and sent a trusted right hand man/woman on missions. It's odd that the writers never addressed the issue of her being trusted enough to join Shep's team, she's just suddenly there.

That said, after I got over that I really enjoyed her character. I do hope she'll have a bit more to do in season 4 than in season 3 though.

[Cautious Explorer]

I recently re-watched season 1 and just like the first time, it bothers me that Teyla becomes part of the team with no explanation at all. I always felt that if she's the leader of her people she should have stayed with them and sent a trusted right hand man/woman on missions. It's odd that the writers never addressed the issue of her being trusted enough to join Shep's team, she's just suddenly there.

That said, after I got over that I really enjoyed her character. I do hope she'll have a bit more to do in season 4 than in season 3 though.

I think Sheppard trusted Teyla from the beginning. I guess escaping from a hive ship can be a bonding experience. It was up to him to choose his team and he wanted someone familiar to Pegasus to act as a guide. Maybe they should have had Dr Weir be more questioning of Teyla though.
She certainly seemed to have her doubts about the Athosians in general in the early episodes.

As to leaving her people, it was my impression that Teyla felt she could be most useful to the Athosians by assuring that the Atlantis expedition was successful. Until Return, they were always nearby on the mainland and we have no idea how often Teyla visited. It just wasn't part of the story that we saw.

I'm glad she didn't send a representative to be on the team. Then we'd probably be watching John, Rodney, Ronon and Halling every week.

[kingdom]

I
I'm glad she didn't send a representative to be on the team. Then we'd probably be watching John, Rodney, Ronon and Halling every week.

That's funny....I wouldn't watch.

[PG15]

A bit about Teyla's arc this year from the new Martin Gero interview:

MG: Just a guest star. And "Missing" is maybe one of my favorite episodes I've ever read, written by Carl Binder, directed by Andy Mikita. Andy is so perfect for it. It's going to be a really great episode for Jewel and Rachel. When we sat down at the end of Season Three, one of the big things that Paul, especially, wanted to take point on when he came on as show-runner with Joe, is to bring Teyla to the forefront a little bit more. She has oft been the forgotten character in Atlantis. Not anybody's fault.

I wrote a scene in "First Strike." [It does] show things that are going around on the base. There's not much for Ronon and Teyla to do. I'm just writing another scene right now for my untitled episode which takes place on Earth. They're figuring out corporate structures and Ronon's just surfing the Net. They're like, "What are you doing?" He's like, "You want my help researching corporate structures? Tell me when you have someone to point a gun at, and then I'm useful." That's Ronon.

But Teyla is more of a dignitary and leader. It was really important to for us -- for whatever reason -- those stories weren't getting told. This year it was a priority and we have a really exciting arc for her this year that hopefully no one will see coming. Some really nice twists throughout the entire season over the course of three or four episodes. Yeah, it'll be nice. It's a different type of arc for us because it doesn't happen over the course of four episodes. It'll happen throughout the entire season an episode here, an episode there. It'll be mentioned an episode here, an episode there. It's good.

http://www.gateworld.net/interviews/...infinity.shtml

[vaberella]

^^ PG15 <--Marry me?!

Great post, and this is why I'm so pro S4 and why I can't wait. No more backpedaling it's al forward from here on out and it seems to me the writers are aware of their deficiences. Further more they've already proven with the changes they made in S2 that they are looking for the best in the show and no one (okay a few can and probaly will ) can deny that Ronon wasn't a fun addition (even though I love Ford). So I know the changes made now will be all for the good of the show and finally some consideration to a character that has considerable clout for storyline and the growth of the show and other characters. Ditto for Ronon.

I for one, like Teyla for who she is, not just the way she looks, oh and one small bit of info that I know right now.

Teyla is from a pre INDUSTRYIAL group of people, not barbarians! I should know because she is my owner.... ahem sorry I tend to get a little stuck as my OC in my story that i'm working on.

anyhow

I just hope Teyla does not leave or die off or gets written out, she is my fav character!

Pre-Industrial is way to lenient for Teyla's people (she doesn't even come near to looking like the heirarchal system of the Feudal Era). We had the printing press and the steam engine in America, not to mention Ford (the car guy) coming around the end of the Industrial Age.

Depending on who's listed as barbaric (like the idiots on the Discovery or History channel---who incorrectly labeled these great warriors as Barbarians), some text books listed the Gual's and Vikings as barbaric, they did live during a Barbaric Age (in the sense of conquering lands and people (rape and pillaging and what not)---I adore the Guals (I'm not a fan of the Saxon or Anglo's---but whatever ).

In any event, because it was a barbaric age those people were classed as such and therefore I would have to agree that Teyla's people have fallen in to that group. For all intents and purposes the Vikings, Anglos, Saxons, and Gauls (plus many more) were rather civilized people some with primitive levels of a established heirarchy (they had councils as most tribes do, with maybe one leader and one medicine man). When I speak of established heirarchy I speak of a king, lord, knights, peasants (as commonly seen during the feudal era).

So, sorry to say Teyla's people are basically tribal people who by poor western terminology barbarians (again incorrectly named). And they have a bloody great mastery of fire, much like the Vikings had of the sea and the Chinese and Africans had of everything else.

The idiot Ancient Greeks (I look at them as racists really *edited since people were apparently offended*)named most those from African and Asian continents as barbarians, and even Romans. They used it the way we use it to denote people who are not as "technologically advanced" as we are---instead we call them "primitive".

[the fifth man]

I am definitely hopeful for Teyla this season. IMO, it's now or never for her character.

[bluealien]

Season four sounds extremely exciting for Teyla and I'm certaintly looking forward to it. She has always been one of my favourite characters and I've loved everything about her so far. She may not have always had as much screentime as I would have liked but I still always found her to one of the most interesting characters. So it's great news that she will be in the forefront in season four.

[Skydiver]

^^
The idiot Greeks (I look at them as racists really; prejudice little pricks) named most those from African and Asian continents as barbarians, and even Romans. They used it the way we use it to denote people who are not as "technologically advanced" as we are---instead we call them "primitive".

You are, of course, speaking of ANCIENT greeks. Folks that lived thousands of years ago. You're not speaking of current day greeks...at least i hope you're not. Because if i happened to be of greek descent, i'd be pretty offended to be called a racist prick.

Then again, i'd be pretty offended to have my ancestors called racist pricks.

I dare you to find a race/persons that haven't been racist and narrow minded and petty in their history.

It's human nature to find a reason, any reason, to belive that oneself is 'better' than someone...anyone else.

Perhaps there is a better way to phrase the tendancy of one group to interpret tehmselves as better than others...even if they have to make up reasons for it.

[FireCat]

The idiot Greeks (I look at them as racists really; prejudice little pricks) named most those from African and Asian continents as barbarians, and even Romans. They used it the way we use it to denote people who are not as "technologically advanced" as we are---instead we call them "primitive".

Slightly OT, but the word "barbarian" is derived from a word was used by the Greeks (who explored extensively) to describe someone who was not Greek. That was all.

The Romans used the word to describe some of the Germanic peoples who continued to protest Roman rule, which changed over time to mean less civilized and ultimately uneducated peoples (because those silly Germans just wouldn't do what they were told to do).

The Gauls (which had Celtic bloodlines) are the modern day French, and the Romans never referred to them as "barbaric".

The Saxons were northern Germanic - becoming modern day Dutch peoples, but settled throughout England.

As for the "Anglos", I think you meant to say "Angles" who were of Germanic descent from the Baltic region who also settled in England and inter-married with the Saxon peoples, hence the phrase "Anglo-Saxon"

Referring to the ancient Greeks as you did, was rather uncalled for, and saying you don't like Saxons or Angles can be taken you don't like English peoples, or maybe white (anglo) people in general.

Be more careful how you word things.

[the dancer of spaz]

You are, of course, speaking of ANCIENT greeks. Folks that lived thousands of years ago. You're not speaking of current day greeks...at least i hope you're not. Because if i happened to be of greek descent, i'd be pretty offended to be called a racist prick.

Then again, i'd be pretty offended to have my ancestors called racist pricks.

I dare you to find a race/persons that haven't been racist and narrow minded and petty in their history.

It's human nature to find a reason, any reason, to belive that oneself is 'better' than someone...anyone else.

Perhaps there is a better way to phrase the tendancy of one group to interpret tehmselves as better than others...even if they have to make up reasons for it.

Now I don't agree with vaberella's uber-intense tone when addressing this issue, but I think it's fairly obvious she was talking about Ancient Greeks. The past tense and the mention of Romans tipped me off at least, but I could be wrong.

At any rate, I think the little keywords like "primitive" and "barbarians" (something that I believe westerners used to describe Mexicans and American Indians in the 1800s because of their wildly different cultural lifestyles) are used in a more classist manner, and probably have less to do with race - even if minimally so. It's definitely been a way of differentiating which group of people has more access to education, technology, etc. That's how I relate it to the Stargate universe anyway.