The unimportance of Teyla

[Linda06]

Didn't they also claim she'll be getting attention, character development and an arc in season 4? Missed that one, too.

Yes they did say that......Did I fall asleep or something

[Briangate78]

Brian, Search and Rescue was a Team episode, not a Teyla story and the B storyline is not the same as having Teyla drive the story, however, if you count those as Teyla episodes, then you would have to add The Shrine, First Contact and The Lost Tribe to Keller's count. And, you would have to add Search and Rescue, First Contact, The Lost Tribe, The Outsiders, Remnants (Woolsey had the A story and Sheppard and Rodney shared the B story) and Identity to Rodney's count.

So, using your criteria, that would be 7 episodes for Keller and 8 episodes for Rodney.

The only episode I see as distinctly Teyla's is The Queen because even though she had a lot of screen time in The Prodigal, that was more of a team episode than episodes like The Shrine, Tracker, Brainstorm and Identity.

As for Sheppard, he hasn't had an episode like Broken Ties (Ronon), The Shrine (Rodney & Keller), Tracker (Keller), The Queen (Teyla), Brainstorm (Rodney & Keller) or Identity (Rodney & Keller again) devoted to his character yet.

Vegas may be the only Sheppard-driven episode of the season and for the leading man, that's pathetic.

I have to disagree. Broken Ties was split up into two plots, one for Ronon and the other for Teyla.

As per Sheppard, he was a focus in Search and Rescue, we also got more depth into his character in Remnants, and well Vegas will be the 3rd ep to focus on his character. We also did get a lot of Sheppard in Infection, which dove into his dealings with Todd. So Sheppard has gotten something, I do agree he should of had more, but it was not a total loss. The mid-seasons were strictly plot-driven eps so you really cannot count those.

[Reiko]

Keller episodes are easier to write for.. she doesnt do anything except run away or have some major invasion of the body snatchers..

Keller is so easy to write for because she's ridiculously dynamic in personality that they can fit her in whereever they want for whatever role. I take that back -- she has no personality. The writing for her character is schitzophrenic.

[Barryke]

Well Teyla was just irritating me (a strong, chronic dislike of whispering characters) so i don´t mind.

But yeah, the scope changed somewhat. And that´s what they have to do more often if you ask me. I find the last few episodes boring.. only story progression was Todd "possibly killed, again" and Keller-McKay which i really did not expect and thus enjoy a lot.

"If you know how its going to play, watching becomes brainmurder." - me, just now.

[Amalthea]

I think Teyla is a lot like Beverly Crusher in ST:TNG; if she's not the star of the episode, there's not much for her to do anymore. The team isn't out exploring new worlds in need of her contacts, and she doesn't know that much about the city of Atlantis or Earth tech, so there's literally nothing for her to do. It's most unfortunate, but it's sadly the way it is. To put her in unrealistic situations, or illogical ones (such as being in command of Atlantis) would just draw the ire of the fans as well, so, I think the PTBs are doing the best they can with the situation they've written themselves into.

[Briangate78]

I just don't understand, Teyla has had 4 solid eps focused on her. There are 6 main characters in the credits now and 20 total eps. So do the math. She is getting focus. Do you want 10 Teyla focused ep? What would that do to the balance? Any show with a pretty large cast will be lucky to get 2 or 3 eps focused on them. Teyla got 4 eps this season. I think the Sheppard fans have a bigger case than the Teyla fans. Sheppard really only had 1 this season, and with another one on the way. If you count S&R then it's 3 for Sheppard. To me this is how it looks...

Sheppard - 3 (S&R, Remnants, Vegas)
Mckay - 4 (The Shrine, Tracker, Remnants, BrainStorm)
Teyla - 4 (S&R, Broken Ties, The Queen, The Prodigal)
Keller - 3 (Tracker, Brainstorm, Identity)
Ronon - 2 (Broken Ties, Tracker)
Woolsey - 2 (Inquisition, Remnants)

A few other observations....

The Seed was a team ep, Keller was just sitting there looking all viney and still.

Multiple team eps like Ghost in the Machine and Daedalus Variations have added to the characters but are really a team episode.

Broken ties had 2 main stories. Teyla was the other story, while Ronon was the other.

Search and Rescue dove into Sheppard's character with his past and present. That intro was a very nice touch with Ford.

Tracker started the love triangle so it goes to Keller, Mckay, and Ronon.

Am I that far off here?

[CazzBlade]

I just don't understand, Teyla has had 4 solid eps focused on her. There are 6 main characters in the credits now and 20 total eps. So do the math. She is getting focus. Do you want 10 Teyla focused ep? What would that do to the balance? Any show with a pretty large cast will be lucky to get 2 or 3 eps focused on them. Teyla got 4 eps this season. I think the Sheppard fans have a bigger case than the Teyla fans. Sheppard really only had 1 this season, and with another one on the way. If you count S&R then it's 3 for Sheppard. To me this is how it looks...

Sheppard - 3 (S&R, Remnants, Vegas)
Mckay - 4 (The Shrine, Tracker, Remnants, BrainStorm)
Teyla - 4 (S&R, Broken Ties, The Queen, The Prodigal)
Keller - 3 (Tracker, Brainstorm, Identity)
Ronon - 2 (Broken Ties, Tracker)
Woolsey - 2 (Inquisition, Remnants)

A few other observations....

The Seed was a team ep, Keller was just sitting there looking all viney and still.

Multiple team eps like Ghost in the Machine and Daedalus Variations have added to the characters but are really a team episode.

Broken ties had 2 main stories. Teyla was the other story, while Ronon was the other.

Search and Rescue dove into Sheppard's character with his past and present. That intro was a very nice touch with Ford.

Tracker started the love triangle so it goes to Keller, Mckay, and Ronon.

Am I that far off here?

Teyla has not had four eps focused on her, she has had one. S&R is a team ep and in no way shape or form focused on Teyla, if anyone it leaned towards Shep. BT she had the B story, I find it ridiculous that anyone could suggest that Ronon's token ep of the season was actually a Teyla ep . The Queen most definately was a Teyla ep. The Prodigal was a great team ep leaning towards Teyla. In other episodes she has barely been there. That is in no way balanced.

Yes The Seed wasn't Keller centric but Keller was the main plot device, just like she was in Identity (two eps with hardly any Teyla), name an ep where Teyla was the plot device?

[Briangate78]

Teyla has not had four eps focused on her, she has had one. S&R is a team ep and in no way shape or form focused on Teyla, if anyone it leaned towards Shep. BT she had the B story, I find it ridiculous that anyone could suggest that Ronon's token ep of the season was actually a Teyla ep . The Queen most definately was a Teyla ep. The Prodigal was a great team ep leaning towards Teyla. In other episodes she has barely been there. That is in no way balanced.

Yes The Seed wasn't Keller centric but Keller was the main plot device, just like she was in Identity (two eps with hardly any Teyla), name an ep where Teyla was the plot device?

I'm sorry I just have to disagree. I will agree that Teyla's eps came more in the beginning of the season, and she was not around as much in the 2nd half. But as a season overall.

BTW, what do you think the title "Broken Ties" came from?

[SpaceCowboy]

In my humble opinion, I don't think the issue is really about screen time. SGA has always been an ensemble driven production, so counting minutes of screen time or who is the emphasis of a particular episode is an exercise in futility and will lead to premature aging and hair loss.

I am more disappointed in the overall quality of the material that has been given to RL. Once upon a time, she had a pretty good series of character arcs that actually made a difference to the overall story arc for the show: i.e. that cool contact the Wraith thing (that has apparently just gone away now), her role as leader of her people (who apparently have now officially ceased to exist), her kick ass and take names approach to things (this disappeared with the arrival of Chewie), and even the tension created by her pregnancy, the disapperance of her people and the question of whether she was really with that loser, former Michael henchmen, what's his name?

I have stated before, and firmly believe, that TPTB have no idea how to write for a strong female character. Star Trek had this trouble too. They never really figured out how to use Tasha, Deanna or Crusher.

One would think that TPTB would want to finish this season as strong as possible so as to whet the appetites of all us SGA junkies for the coming SGA movies. Or maybe, they are planning something different. Maybe SGU is too important to give them time to think about SGA at all. Maybe they don't want all the characters to make the jump to the DVD arena. Maybe they have all checked out, revoked their Canadian citizenship and imigrated to warmer climes where they can enjoy their largesse under the palm trees.

I have been disappointed in this the final season of SGA. It has been good; but it could have been so much better.

[CazzBlade]

BTW, what do you think the title "Broken Ties" came from?

Ronon breaking his ties, turning his back on Atlantis. Tyre breaking his ties with the Wraith.

I have stated before, and firmly believe, that TPTB have no idea how to write for a strong female character. Star Trek had this trouble too. They never really figured out how to use Tasha, Deanna or Crusher.

They got in right in Voyager though, both Janeway and Torres were great female characters. And Seven of Nine.

[ziga1980]

Well, except the fact that maybe Wraith hives grow from humans, but that's pretty much it. The rest is just filler. Jennifer filler.

It's like they desperately wanted to cram more Jennifer in there, but couldn't come up with ways to connect her episodes to the real storylines of the show (unless you count McKeller as a storyline, as it's been pretty much the only long-running storyline this season).

well they did the same thing on sg-1 except it was done very well. remember all the fraiser stories? her role was never a big one, she never had lots of screen time but it was enough to make her connect with every team member and make her role in the show a vital one. not to mention that she's milf.

they could have used Keller the same way. or at least come up with some more engagements with the wraith and there she would be, giving first aid, evacuating the wounded and maybe get wounded herself to make room for our forever beloved carson.

and there is so much they could do with teyla. but they have to write her off. stupid.

[FallenAngelII]

and people say it is the Sheppard and Mckay show? Teyla got more focused eps than these two.

Number of episodes devoted to you =/= Amount of significant screen time

Teyla got a few episodes that focused either on her, her baby or both and then she got wallflowered for most of the rest of the season. Meanwhile, how many episode have John or Rodney been wallflowered for?

[nx01a]

I'm sorry I just have to disagree. I will agree that Teyla's eps came more in the beginning of the season, and she was not around as much in the 2nd half. But as a season overall.
BTW, what do you think the title "Broken Ties" came from?

You mean, Teyla's episodes: Search and Rescue pt2 and The Queen? Two episodes of exposure isn't exactly what the #2 [ahem] actor on the show is paid for. If Amanda Tapping had this little to do in SG-1 season 5... I admit that she's been developing herself nicely in the background [learning Daedalus and Atlantis systems] as well as making really good comments and suggestions [Infection]. Note those words 'nicely in the background'.

[Ikaros]

It is amazing that everybody understands things completely different.
Teyla's pregnacy took her role back a bit.That's what's the problem is.No ones fault, it's just happened. The woman couldn't focus on all things together,and yet she did well.
And she still has her episodes etc.
S&R was a Team episode
The Seed was a Keller focused episode
Brokes Ties was Ronon focused episode
DV was Team episode
GiTM was a Team episode
The Shrine was a Rodney focused episode
Whispers was Sheppard-Beckett episode
The Queen was aTeyla focused episode
Tracker was Keller Focused episode
First

[Ikaros]

grrrrrr what now?
First contack and Lost Tribe where Team episodes.
Outsiders was a Team episode again.
Inquisition was a Woolsey focused episode.
The Prodigal was rather a Teyla focused episode.(second one)
Remnants was a Team episode again.
Brain Storm was Rodney-Keller episode
Infection was a Team episode
Identity was a Team episode again.