Season Five : Complaints and Misgivings

[justhere1971]

I just saw this on JM's blog.....for all of us who have concerns and misgivings about Woolsey leading the expedition in Season 5.....


I'm confused. I thought the expedition leader was a supporting role. Isn't that what JM said in response to some of the concerns Weir fans were sharing on his blog?

OH wait, lemme guess....Woolsey will only show up in 15 seconds of each of the 14 episodes he's in. That must be it.

This is exactly why I've stopped going over there. Just this sort of back & forth on reasoning. No consistency that I can see.

[Suzotchka]

Does anyone know how many episodes AT will be in?

[Jumper_One]

At least 1.

from JM's blog

Samantha Carter will appear in several episodes.

Given Amanda’s upcoming commitment, it’s impossible to offer an exact number of episodes. As I said, it really has everything to do with a) her schedule and b) the types of stories we come up with. However, I can say that, at present, we do have her locked in for two.

[Skydiver]

my gut is, if she's in more, it'll be in the second half, after sanctuary has finished taping

personally? i'll be surprised if she gets another one. i think the show will just roll on without her

[Chrysalis]

my gut is, if she's in more, it'll be in the second half, after sanctuary has finished taping

personally? i'll be surprised if she gets another one. i think the show will just roll on without her

You're probably right, but I'm sure TPTB will string her fans along, letting them believe she'll be in more and have a decent role, just as they did with Torri. Playing mind games with fans seems to be what they do best.

[Skydiver]

let's just say, i keep my expectations low

[Falcon Horus]

14 out of 20... Seems to be the standard as regular. So, I take it then that Teyla wasn't a regular in season 4?

[Skydiver]

teyla's actress was pregnant

it's a different situation.

the writers would do what rachel needed done

[mcbarr]

Overall, it seems s5 won't be much different from crappy s4. TPTB still believe s4 was the best EVAH, eh?

[Falcon Horus]

teyla's actress was pregnant
it's a different situation.
the writers would do what rachel needed done

Of course, and you know the answer to that (by now, I reckon) -> What was the excuse the previous seasons?

[ToasterOnFire]

Woolsey's in 14 out of 20? That's the same as Carter in s4, right?

Mark my words, Woolsey will have more screentime, development, and lines than Carter did even though Joe M has constantly stated that the leadership role is only meant as support and should be more like what Hammond was on SG1. Carter was easy to insert into SGA and forget about. Woolsey will require more time because he's a fish out of water and will likely cause more conflicts. So I'm pretty confident that TPTB's view of the definition of the Atlantis leadership spot will change yet again in s5.

[Skydiver]

Of course, and you know the answer to that (by now, I reckon) -> What was the excuse the previous seasons?

can't even begin to guess

[Willow'sCat]

Woolsey's in 14 out of 20? That's the same as Carter in s4, right?

Mark my words, Woolsey will have more screentime, development, and lines than Carter did even though Joe M has constantly stated that the leadership role is only meant as support and should be more like what Hammond was on SG1. Carter was easy to insert into SGA and forget about. Woolsey will require more time because he's a fish out of water and will likely cause more conflicts. So I'm pretty confident that TPTB's view of the definition of the Atlantis leadership spot will change yet again in s5.

My only misgivings over Woolsey is that tptb will not spend time on him, not spend time making us like him even if just a little, they did that with Weir, ignored her made folks like me see no point to her at all, so I actually think tptb would frak up *again* if they did ignore his development in this first season (for him).

I also worry through this that tptb will drop any conflict in favour of quick fixes. I think the leader needs to be tough but fair, we never got that with Weir after the first half of season one and I think tptb were too scared to go there with Carter in season 4 so I hope Woolsey is the man, but again it depends on how they introduce him and where they want to take him.

[SierraGolf-OneNiner]

Wow! I love this thread.

I can't really say something new in here because everything I would say has been said!

I have an idea forming in my head which you all probably find totally crazy but we could make a letter or e-mail campaign to tell Sci-Fi that TPTB are ruining the show and that we are reluctant to keep watching such a crap. Perhaps they can make TPTB hire new writers and bring the show back on track.

Here is a link to Sci-Fi's feedback site. If anyone is interested.

http://www.scifi.com/help/feedback/

[Reiko]

I guess I'm not getting out of visiting this thread I have lots of season five concerns, but admittably Sky's rules list was quite intimidating. It seemed like I was gonna be in a world of "MOD MOD Me MOD MOD" Not that I don't respect you all. I do Because, if mods weren't around I bet this place would be turning into Lord of the Flies ...

Admittably I'm surprised that a lot of mods seem to also be .. storngly voicing complaints here? For some reason I always stereotyped you guys as being "Mallozzi-Huggers" Couldn't have been more wrong, eh? Teehee. Welcome to the dark side. We have cookies =]

-~-~-

I agree with those who think part of the show's changes have to do with the abscence of Brad Wright. God, I miss that guy! I know lots of people say M&M give the show 'direction' (I'm not sure what this means), but BW gave the show the elements it's fans loved. As much as I hated their decision to axe Carson as a whole I wish he was still around.

It's seems it's been more creative decision than actor. Torri already said she did not ask off the show and I doubt Rainbow and Paul did as well. I could be wrong.

I can cite several primary sources that state Paul and Torri did not want off and were quite happy with the way things were. I'm not sure what the situation is with Rainbow though. I realize a show has to move forwards but there are other ways to make creative decisions than to off someone. I don't quite understand the way things in this industry work but IMO to 'off' someone is just plain rude especially when they involve these creative decisions to replace characters with younger actors. (I could be wrong - coincidence?) I know we're not supposed to talk about the actors but I just needed to get that misgiving out of my system.

I've just come up with a brilliant theory to explain everything: Atlantis is TPTB's midlife crisis. It explains everything! What do men having a midlife crisis do? Cling to their treasured past (SG-1) and go after younger and younger women (just look at the cast). [...] All the problems with Atlantis, from the prevalence of busty females to the juvenelizing of the characters to the bigger and better ships to the inability to stay on one subject (or one cast line-up)... SGA is a midlife crisis. I rest my case.

I love your theory, ShadowMaat, it's very plausible as well as hilarious My Dad's going through a midlife crisis right now and that sounds just like him! He likes drooling over 20-something women. He keeps crap inherited from his dead great-grandmother (wild west-era heroin syringes anyone?) He got a really big truck and a wee bitty fast car to zip around in. He wants to see any movie with an explsoion in the trailer. He would kill me if I talked about the comparision to the cast line-up Thank God he's only on the first season right now, he's under the impression it got cancelled after season three. I'm an evil, evil person! And about the explosions ... They are going in pervy directions

i'm sick of jokes at the cost of other characters and juvenile humor. i want cruddy slapstick, i'll put in American Pie or some other piece of drek. the show used to have some real dignity and didnt need explosions to tell a story.

I agree with Sky about the cruddy slapstick humour. The new humour 'style' just reminds of those dumb frat boy movies with beer and boobs... Makes one wonder if SGA is being written in a frat house.

Last time they wanted things darker they changed the uniforms to leather.

And they went AU But please, the leather and those tight new jackets. They look so retro and Rodney looks stuffed when he's in leather. Seems Carter's first order of business was new uniforms

I give JF a lot of credit for trying to make things better. I'm not sure he gets enough support from the rest of the cast. I'm sure there is fear from most actors to even speak up and complain.

Joe Flanigan's the only one who speaks out because he knows his worth in the whole thing. I heard him speak at Burbank. He talked about actors knowing who they are and going for jobs like that instead of trying to be the leading man when they're a character actor, etc. He's leading man material. He knows that.

Same here, I hold a lot of respect for JF for being able to do this. I know his position could be considered 'secure' but still I'd say it's a risky thing to do. Though I've also heard David, Jason and Rachel speak about the issue surrounding PM/TH Joe is definately number one at it. In one con report it talked about how he pretty much 'blew a basket' when he found out about Torri and Paul. It's a very slippery slope to be doing what he's doing.

They replace him with Kavanagh.

No, they would replace him with Bill Lee

Oh, I completely agree. He's such a likeable character and David Nykl does such an awesome job bringing him to life. I just love his Czech murmuring and you can bet on it I will promptly start laughing when he starts off in Czech. He's hilarious, and serious when it calls for it.

Radek is one of the most adorable characters and I have also seen no one complain about him. (But then again I never heard of such evil of people complaining about Carson.) David Nykl's portrayal of this character gives him a lot of personity that another actor may not be so successful at. I would cry and chuck a show through the window if he was killed. I realize that both Radek and Carson were both 'break-out' chaarcters in the first season, and knowing what they did to Carson ...

They know how much everybody loves Zalenka. Yet they are now treating him as an object of derision because it suits them.

Yeah, trying to endear us to characters we don't give a crap about by downgrading the ones we love. Way to go, PTB

TPTB wouldn't care. JM has said himself, he's not writing what the fans want, he's writing what he wants to see. It's 'his' show, and he's made that abundantly clear. They make decisions and they stick with them, no matter how unpopular. Weir gone, Keller in, Keller as a regular for crying out loud. I don't count the Beckett thing, because he wasn't in charge when Paul was sacked.

Since when did only what he thinks be the only thing that matters!? We're the ones that pretty much put him in or out of a job. Defending what IMO are unintellegent 'creative decisions' will cause him and the franchise more trouble then it's worth. It was well known to him that Keller was overall disliked and on the contrary Carson was overall adored by audience yet only his opinion seems to matter now!?

I agree with you alyssa except on the Carson Beckett thing. He wasn't in charge when Paul was 'sacked' but still with numerous protests on the way before Sunday even aired (I'm talking months here) he could have made the choice to put the character back in as recurring. But now IMO he is technically 'sacking' Paul here in season five.

JM confirmed on his blog that they got the idea for the Ronon/Teal'c fight from a thread here and thought it would be a great idea.

Well, he should look into some of the other great ideas here because those are some ideas that might just solve his biggest problems! -silently curses- I wish we could bribe him with a year of Hershey's Dark Chocolate.

All that happens off-screen.... That's the beauty of off-screen writing.

Off-screen writing seems to be 'in'

-~-~-

I said before that they seem to do the exact opposite of what a lot of dedicated fans want. [..] Because I see a few groups of fans being deliriously happy in S5 and the rest of us having to use the supermarket approach to viewing. Some of course are going to shop else where. But they don't care.

It's time for my favourite quote!

If you're not Outraged,
You're not Paying Attention!