Cast Idea for Season 9

[the dancer of spaz]

What about bringing in Major Davis to join the team? I'd love to see more of him, and SG-1 certainly could use another 'official' military person.

As for opening credits, I have to vote for NOBODY being before the title, for reasons others have already touched upon.

And I'm not even going to address the idiotic comments about AT not being 'worthy' (or capable, or whatever) of being the lead. (Altho if she is the only--or ranking--military person on the team, it's certainly more believable than having an ARCHEOLOGIST leading the flagship team of a super-secret military operation.) ((and I only said that for the effect... I actually like Daniel's character)) How's that for 'not addressing' it? hee hee

Heh heh. Nice.

Nah, you're right: NO ONE should get the "Before The Title" lead, if RDA goes away, and NO ONE will, I'm sure. We're talking about first billing AFTER the title. And, yes, that comment about AT is quite idiotic.

I like Major Davis a lot, and I like Colin Cunningham, so having him as a more integral part of the show would be cool. However, I can't picture him out there with his gun at the ready like the others. I know, I know, he's trained and all, but I just can't see it. I don't know - maybe he'll change my mind later on in the season. You never know. I'm excited.

Anywho, I've said this before, but I think they should bring in some kid like Lieutenant Ford on Atlantis. He's knowledgeable, but he's still pretty green. Someone who'd be a combo of him and that one guy from S5 would be really good. We'd have a stark contrast of inexperience and experience, and then we might be able to see how Sam, Teal'c, and Daniel work with someone that new. It breaks into their element.

IMO, SG-1 is probably treated like that spoiled brat. They are the spoiled brat team. Granted, they MORE THAN deserve it, but I totally see them as being untouchables among their peers. Major hero worship going on here.

[norriski]

back to the "billing" issue....as it is now...when Michael Shanks came back I thought that the fact he was billed as...and Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson is supposed to nearly equal or just underder the guy with TOP billing...look at The West Wing, Martin Sheen is "billed" in the same mannor and it's clear that although that is an ensamble (sp??) cast he is the "big start"....

[Kliggins]

Col. Dixon (Adam Baldwin) gogogo!

I am with aAnubiSs. Bring back Co. Dixon.

My opinion is that if RDA does not participate in season nine, no actor will be billed over the title.

[the dancer of spaz]

back to the "billing" issue....as it is now...when Michael Shanks came back I thought that the fact he was billed as...and Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson is supposed to nearly equal or just underder the guy with TOP billing...look at The West Wing, Martin Sheen is "billed" in the same mannor and it's clear that although that is an ensamble (sp??) cast he is the "big start"....

Normally, I'd agree with you, however he had second billing for five years. Why wouldn't they just bring him back in front of Amanda Tapping, if he was getting paid more than her? It'd be like Old Hat. They did it ALL the time in The X-Files...

Anyway, I am a firm believer that the "and" - which I have addressed multiple times in this thread - is one of two things:

1) Like you said, it gives him an opportunity to be the second-billing actor, in which case, they're maintaining relatively the same order of names as Season Six for propriety's sake (i.e. it looks kinda bad to bring him back in front of AT, if he's just come back from a year hiatus). If that's the case, then they suck for many reasons, and AT should hire a new manager. That's just my personal opinion, though.

~OR~

2) Michael Shanks is getting paid more than Christopher Judge, but less than Amanda Tapping, and they're giving him the "and," so as to avoid further confusion. It's also possible that he's being paid more than Judge and THE SAME amount as Tapping. I don't know how likely it is, but it is possible.

They don't pay them by lines, do they? I doubt it. If that's the case, MS is probably getting paid marginally more than CJ. Please see one of my earlier posts for further clarification.

PERSONAL OPINION?
AT deserves to be paid more than MS because she's in the show more often now, and has been on the show for an entire year longer than he has. Period. In a fair world (IMO), that is how you decide to pay actors and negotiate contracts. Does it change the quality of the characters or the actors? Not at all.

[Jonisa]

Almost 2 and a half years ago, when Sam was a Major, she had to make some pretty tough decisions in Nightwalkers. There were a lot of elements that went into that case, and if she hadn't done everything exactly right, the whole team would have died, and that town would have been permanently infected - not to mention the effects on the planet.

She showed leadership potential in Season Two's Spirits - SIX WHOLE YEARS AGO. And that was when she was a captain. Captains don't get chosen to lead the frontline team unless they're doing something right.

Flash forward six years later, and you're at Season Eight's Endgame. Everything she said to those two goons on the ship had to be done in such a way so that they wouldn't blow up that planet. It was a relatively low-action stunt on her part, but it showed a level of understanding and cognizance for which we just don't give her enough credit.

Oh, agreed. Sam's been put in some difficult situations and had to make some tough decisions in the past. However, thinking back over the years, so have Teal'c and Daniel. I guess it just seems odd to me--giving Sam the leadership of SG-1, which has major storyline potential--and then just dropping it. It's also probably due to the fact that I'd rather see episodes focusing on Sam adjusting to being in charge than the emphasis on her personal life we've seen this year. But that's just me. I'd love to see more mythology episodes too, but the producers haven't been getting my telepathic messages, and I'm either too busy or too lazy to write them. (For which I'm sure they're very grateful.)

However, that was really only a tangent to the main point of my post, which was in response to the opinion that Sam as leader of SG-1 equates to "Name in front of the title" status. First of all, of the remaining team, Sam is the only option to lead. It can't be Daniel, and I doubt the Air Force would like the idea of an alien leading the team, even if Teal'c does have the most experience.

Secondly, RDA's name wasn't before the title because he played Jack O'Neill, leader of the team. RDA's name is before the title because...he's RDA. AT, MS, and CJ are relatively unknown outside the SciFi/Fantasy word. If I mention their names to my coworkers, I just get blank stares. If I mention RDA's name, however, I get, "Oh, MacGyver! I love him!" He has that sort of name recognition with the general public.

That's what I was (rather clumsily) trying to say.

[Daniel Jackson]

OK, well, how's this for Season 9...

Stargate SG-1
Amanda Tapping
Michael Shanks
Christopher Judge
(new guy)
and Richard-Dean Anderson as "General Jack O'Neill"

Why did I put RDA last? Well, the "special credit" at the end shows he still has a major role, but without him being the star, he can have as little screen time as he wants without it confusing people.

[aeromathlete]

Jeesh this is confuzzling. I think it's as simple as:

If RDA stays, his name will still be on top.
If RDA leaves, no one's name will be on top.

And the fact that Daniel comes at the end with an "and" could mean he has the "second-place" slot on the show, at least tying him with Sam. Think of how Alias does it.

Jennifer Garner goes first, followed by some important cast members, whose importance wanes with each passing name. And then finally, AND Victor Garber, whose Jack is considered by nearly all fans to be the 2nd most vital character to the dynamic of the show, surpassing the 2nd and 3rd names mentioned Ron Rifkin and Michael Vartan. Usually the "and" person holds the 2nd slot.

But as for Sam's military leadership capabilities, she'd be awesome. The only reason she hasn't really been able to demonstrate that comes at the fault of the writers as they're trying to somehow keep RDA in episodes and save money by not going off-world.

She's no dumb blonde. She's practically the antithesis to that generalization.

And for the record strong female sci-fi leads work. The first season of Dark Angel was awesome with Jessica Alba (note: FIRST SEASON), the X-Files rocked with Gillian Anderson, Sam holds her own on Stargate with her limited leadership opportunities, and well, I kinda liked Captain Janeway. So sue me (not really).

Sam is a good example of a woman in science, though. Daniel's a good example of a skilled liberal arts kinda guy. They don't have to inspire others to take up their professions in order to be good characters. We can just appreciate them for their fictional skill and make our own personal decisions when it comes to school and careers because we happen to exist in the real world.

I'll admit, each single-character focused episode is bound to have its strengths and weaknesses. Some Sam episodes aren't that great like Chimera (the Daniel storyline was much more relevant in that ep and should've been explored further), but it's no reason to deny that character some development. I'll say likewise with Daniel. He has some good ones, like when he deals with ascension and so on from years past, but recently, his storyarc hasn't called for character episodes for him. Is that a bad thing? Not really. I bet he's got some great stuff coming up in the rest of the season, but think about it, do we really want another "Icon"?

[cLa]

There is no guarantee that RDA will go away.

thats a good point there is no proof yet of anything at this point.

[DarkQuee1]

Jeesh this is confuzzling. I think it's as simple as:

If RDA stays, his name will still be on top.
If RDA leaves, no one's name will be on top.

And the fact that Daniel comes at the end with an "and" does in fact mean he has the "second-place" slot on the show, at least tying him with Sam. Think of how Alias does it.

Agree about RDA and top billing; disagree about the "and". "And" is an important designation in billing, but not because it's second billing. If it were, every second lead would be an "and" at the end, and that's clearly not the case. It's used generally in two instances: first, to indicate that the person you see last is not really last; she or he is higher in rank than that. It's to distinguish them from the "herd" that comes between first and second billing, and the end. Look, for example, at the last season of "Angel". Alexis Denisoff got an "and" at the end; there's no way, however, that he was second billed over James Marsters (and Wesley certainly didn't have nearly as big a part in season 5 as Spike did). Because they were moving Marsters into the second-billed spot that Denisof had previously had, they moved him to the end with an "and" so that it didn't look like a demotion.

Second, they will use it when you have a better-known actor playing a presumably smaller and less-central role than lesser knowns. That's one of the reasons why Martin Sheen got the "and". He better known to the general public, and a bigger star, than most everyone else on the show; same is true of Victor Garber.

Second reason for Sheen was because the President was actually only supposed to be in a few episodes, and then not be seen again; all of the action would concentrate around his staff. Bartlett came across so well, though, that they decided to make him the focus, but did not change the billing, probably because it was already contractually set with the other players, especially Rob Lowe, whose character was supposed to be the focus in the original plan.

J.

[aeromathlete]

Agree about RDA and top billing; disagree about the "and". "And" is an important designation in billing, but not because it's second billing. If it were, every second lead would be an "and" at the end, and that's clearly not the case. It's used generally in two instances: first, to indicate that the person you see last is not really last; she or he is higher in rank than that. It's to distinguish them from the "herd" that comes between first and second billing, and the end. Look, for example, at the last season of "Angel". Alexis Denisoff got an "and" at the end; there's no way, however, that he was second billed over James Marsters (and Wesley certainly didn't have nearly as big a part in season 5 as Spike did). Because they were moving Marsters into the second-billed spot that Denisof had previously had, they moved him to the end with an "and" so that it didn't look like a demotion.

Second, they will use it when you have a better-known actor playing a presumably smaller and less-central role than lesser knowns. That's one of the reasons why Martin Sheen got the "and". He better known to the general public, and a bigger star, than most everyone else on the show; same is true of Victor Garber.

Second reason for Sheen was because the President was actually only supposed to be in a few episodes, and then not be seen again; all of the action would concentrate around his staff. Bartlett came across so well, though, that they decided to make him the focus, but did not change the billing, probably because it was already contractually set with the other players, especially Rob Lowe, whose character was supposed to be the focus in the original plan.

J.

Good call. Come to think of it, Gilmore Girls has an "and" for Edward Herrmann, and he's hardly on the show, it's just that he's a better known actor who appears here and there. I retract my former statement on that issue.

[Madeleine]

Because they were moving Marsters into the second-billed spot that Denisof had previously had, they moved him to the end with an "and" so that it didn't look like a demotion

Alexis Denisof was already 'and' before s5 (I'm watching s4 at the mo) so his credit wasn't shunted aside to make room for Marsters.

[the dancer of spaz]

This thread is getting INSANELY repetitious...


This thread is getting INSANELY repetitious...


This thread is getting INSANELY repetitious...


This thread is getting INSANELY repetitious...





DoS

[spacemonkey69]

alyson hannigan was the and in buffy when anthony stewart head left, and she had always been considered the second main character. In pretty much all the shows i have wittnessed, the and person has been the second main character.
Also, ms was credited 2nd all the way up till danny died, so that has to count for something.
And plus, i have to mention this small fact : jack was in the movie. Daniel was in the movie. The other two werent. Therefore, Daniel has always been classified as the second main character.

[Replicarter]

Bla bla bla, AT is the star of season 9, full stop. she will be at the start, the baby will be written in. i just know it.

[terraatlantus]

Bla bla bla, AT is the star of season 9, full stop. she will be at the start, the baby will be written in. i just know it.

GAH!


*uses Ancient communication disruptor upon Replicarter*

anything women can do men can do better