Why add Woolsey to the main cast?

[Reiko]

But on the other hand, I have liked most characters on the show, including Keller which everyone seem to hate. I had a serious problem with Kavanough though, the guy annoys me big time.

.: Really? Gero insisted everybody would looovve Keller

[jenks]

He probably wasn't counting on a knee-jerk reaction from the fans who weren't happy with the cast changes.

[Reiko]

He probably wasn't counting on a knee-jerk reaction from the fans who weren't happy with the cast changes.

.: Yeah, probably

.: That's what you get for pointless cast changes.

[PG15]

Well, no. That's what you get with fans who stick to kneejerk reactions.

[EdenSG]

it'll depend on how it's handled and if they use a light touch...or a sledge hammer

for woolsey to be believable, he can't even be quite as heavy handed as he was in Last Man. he can't be the 'leader you love to hate' because, well we'd just have general bauer for 20 episodes. (or 19)

to be interesting, he needs to stand up for them...and then NOT stand up for them. he needs to allow some things but not others, in other words, he needs to be unpredictible, but have a reason for his unpredictibilty

if he's the 'sniveling fraidy cat that gives jack an opening to quip' like he was in Return, it'll get really old really fast to have an endless parade of episodes where shep & co outsmart him and pull one over on him

I agree.

[Pandora's_Box]

it'll depend on how it's handled and if they use a light touch...or a sledge hammer

for woolsey to be believable, he can't even be quite as heavy handed as he was in Last Man. he can't be the 'leader you love to hate' because, well we'd just have general bauer for 20 episodes. (or 19)

to be interesting, he needs to stand up for them...and then NOT stand up for them. he needs to allow some things but not others, in other words, he needs to be unpredictible, but have a reason for his unpredictibilty

if he's the 'sniveling fraidy cat that gives jack an opening to quip' like he was in Return, it'll get really old really fast to have an endless parade of episodes where shep & co outsmart him and pull one over on him

I don't know about 'unpredictable' but I agree that he can't be a pushover. Once he becomes a regular and the Commander of Atlantis, his work as a plot device needs to stop. That means no snivelling or whining. No acquiesing to Sheppard's every request or bearing the brunt of his sarcastic retorts.

Obviously he'll agree with some things and disagree with others but we as the audience need to be able to see the logical steps it takes him to arrive to his decisions. We may not agree with them but they at least need to make sense.

I disagree with upredictable. He needs to be predictable. We need to know where he stands as a character and as Commander. Was he put there as an IOA watchdog or was he put there because someone honestly thinks he's the best man for Atlantis? The writers need to establish this and then we, the audience, have to be able to see where his decisions are coming from.

If TPTB fail to do this then I'm afraid all the naysayers with knee-jerk reactions will have been right and all of Picardo's talent will go to waste.

[Willow'sCat]

That's what you get for pointless cast changes.

Pointless to some a blessing to others.

Woolsey can't be any worse then Weir. Just not possible!

Given the actor has proven he is good at his profession I think he will take what he is given and make it work. Of course a lot is about the writing but it is also about the actor.

I have much confidence in this actors abilities.

As for main cast? Well he is part of the main cast in the way Hammond was I assume, but on SGA the leader seems to put in the credits so I guess he will as well. I doubt he will be over used like Weir was, or used in an inappropriate way like going off world too much, certainly there is no need for him to be armed as such, well no more need then say any scientist or whatever on Atlantis. The military will protect him.

Although I wouldn't mind seeing him take a few hand to hand combat lessons from Ronon.

[Mitchell82]

Woolsey should be left stranded on a planetary wasteland

Can't do that that's where Kavanaugh is.

[IlluZen]

I don't know about 'unpredictable' but I agree that he can't be a pushover. Once he becomes a regular and the Commander of Atlantis, his work as a plot device needs to stop. That means no snivelling or whining. No acquiesing to Sheppard's every request or bearing the brunt of his sarcastic retorts.

You really think that just because they make him a regular they'll stop using him as a plot device? McKay has been a regular since the beginning of the show and they still abuse him as comic relief, or play the cowardly/inept scientist card whenever they want to make everyone else look braver.

[Pandora's_Box]

You really think that just because they make him a regular they'll stop using him as a plot device? McKay has been a regular since the beginning of the show and they still abuse him as comic relief, or play the cowardly/inept scientist card whenever they want to make everyone else look braver.

Granted, yes. But that's not all they use him for. Most of the time. He's had his fair share (some would claim more than his fair share) of character-development episodes or moments. Even though some of them (again, some would say most of them) haven't atually stuck, doesn't negate the fact that they existed.

So far, Woolsey has only existed as a plot device. While I don't really expect (just hope) that TPTB will truly make him a competent Commander, I do expect them to give him episodes or moments when he is a competent Commander. If that makes any sense outside of my head.

It seems to be what they do with all their characters; one moment they're 3-dimensional characters and the next they're caricatures of their former selves. Sigh.....

[Teslan]

Granted, yes. But that's not all they use him for. Most of the time. He's had his fair share (some would claim more than his fair share) of character-development episodes or moments. Even though some of them (again, some would say most of them) haven't atually stuck, doesn't negate the fact that they existed.

So far, Woolsey has only existed as a plot device. While I don't really expect (just hope) that TPTB will truly make him a competent Commander, I do expect them to give him episodes or moments when he is a competent Commander. If that makes any sense outside of my head.

It seems to be what they do with all their characters; one moment they're 3-dimensional characters and the next they're caricatures of their former selves. Sigh.....

I fully agree with your post, if by comptent Commander you don't mean someone who is always right and in agreement with the team. Best case scenario IMHO, would be to have Woolsey retain his uneasy respect for the team. He could play out as someone who often goes along with their suggestions on a lot of issues purely out of deference. But when some more problematic issue arises he could make his own decisions, sometimes making things worse, and thus, proving the team right; but sometimes improving things.

Its the back and forth that would work best, I think. He wouldn't have come off as a doormat or a complete nudnik.

[Pandora's_Box]

I fully agree with your post, if by comptent Commander you don't mean someone who is always right and in agreement with the team. Best case scenario IMHO, would be to have Woolsey retain his uneasy respect for the team. He could play out as someone who often goes along with their suggestions on a lot of issues purely out of deference. But when some more problematic issue arises he could make his own decisions, sometimes making things worse, and thus, proving the team right; but sometimes improving things.

Its the back and forth that would work best, I think. He wouldn't have come off as a doormat or a complete nudnik.

Precisely what I meant. No one is ever always right or ever always wrong, so why expect Woolsey to be portrayed in one of those two lights? I think we've seen that the writers are capable of writing well-intentioned fallible characters, so why should Woolsey be any different?

[SpaceCowboy]

Okay, I'm going out on a limb, and I'm going to look outside the Stargate universe for a moment. Another of my favorite shows, "24", has a very similar and recurring situation. You have the Counter Terrorist Unit based in LA that operates as a semi-autonomous part of the CIA, almost as if they were located in another galaxy. During each season, CTU is faced with increasingly perilous situations that often result in the death, or near death of main cast members. Most importantly, however, at some point in every episode, Division, the suits that run things in DC, have to send someone in to take over. Invariably, this new "director" comes to understand that the way CTU does things is the right way to do things and gets out of their way and starts to run interference for them with the suits in DC. In other words, he or she becomes one of the team.

I hope that this is the kind of story line we can expect with Woolsey. While I have limited knowledge of his interaction with the SG-1 folks, his presence in the Atlantis story has not been unacceptable. He is a bureaucrat, no question. He is one used to following the rules, yawn. But, he is also smart enough to know how to hitch his wagon to the biggest and baddest horse in the barn. Hopefully he will be savvy enough to be able to walk that tightrope between what the IOA wants and the reality of life in the PG.

Finally, I echo the kudos for RP. I have liked him as an actor since he was on China Beach (now I have just dated myself). Maybe McKay should find a hidden command routine in the Lantean Mainframe that turns out to be an Emergency Medical Holigram. And then they let Woolsey name it, much to Sheppard's chagrin.

[Detox]

I like Woolsey as a recurring guest star representative of the IOA, but... most of his appearances (if not all) feature him making catastrophic decissions with SG-1 or Sheppard's team having to clean up the mess. Why on Earth is he being added to the main cast, and why as the Atlantis Expedition leader? I've nothing against Picardo, it's just... it's like putting Kinsey or Maybourne in charge.

Well, it's a key difference between Kinsey and Woolsey, and that's Woolsey's honest, and despite all the mistakes and complaints he's made, everything he does, he does with good intentions in mind.