Vala Mal Doran/Claudia Black WOW Thread

[gotthammer]

I have one major issue with the episode with her dad - Vala's age. I assumed from the start that she'd been host to Qetesh for at least a relatively long period of time. If we're to believe Ba'al was in his host for thousands of years, I figured even if Vala was a relatively young host for Qetesh, it'd have been at least half a century or so. But if that's her dad? Unless he's been slipping into a sarcophagus himself, it couldn't have been very long at all. Seems a bit plothole-y to me.

There was a similar discussion about that recently (I forgot which part of the forum...SG-1?). I think Qetesh was only there for a relatively short period of time (I seem to recall a 'couple of years', but I can't find where I got that from now...other than that my guess is around a decade).
I think Vala mentions the fact that it was relatively brief, not sure which episode (and maybe in the 'Shell Game' audiobook, too).

[dizzydame]

Yeah - I remember reading something about that too. I just took 'relatively brief' to mean in comparison to the others, who were in place for hundreds if not thousands of years. It only being a couple - I don't know, for some reason that's kind of a letdown! LOL.

[MarieWynn]

http://forum.gateworld.net/showthrea...ala-s-real-age

This is one of the many discussions about that. Usually I've found them in the Continuum forum. As for my theory, I think she was taking as host probably around 16, was host for maybe a decade or two, and then was freed about a decade ago. So her real age is probably closer to 50, which would still line up with Fred Willard's (Jacek) real age--71.

Or maybe her people just age really, really well. Much like Claudia apparently does.

[dizzydame]

Oh, thanks for that link! I don't venture far outside of the Cam/Vala thread - and hey, now the Vala one! - so I've gotten into discussion on this topic on livejournal but never here.

I like that justification.

And so, so true as far as the Claudia aging thing.

[gotthammer]

Hmm. Just found out that Claudia also lent her voice to a character in the recently released Mass Effect 2 video game developed by BioWare (as Admiral Xen and additional voices, according to the credits).
She was great as Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins, another BioWare game.
Uncharted 2 also had a character voiced by her, but I've yet to play that one...(no PS3 yet, but I hope to get one soon)

On aging:
Yeah. She ages very well. I do hope to see more of her, tho', as opposed to just listening to her voice (which I think is great, mind) in games or audiobooks.

[dizzydame]

I don't have a PS3 so Uncharted 2 isn't an option for me but my best friend got it (for Claudia, of course) and she's loving it right now. to the extent that we're actually rp'ing Cam/Chloe (Claudia's UC2 character).

I just bought Dragon Age: Origins... I have to upgrade my OS to Snow Leopard before I can play and I keep procrastinating, since it takes so long for me... but I've heard good things about her in the game, and that sort of thing is totally my style.

I hadn't heard about Mass Effect 2, though! I wonder if it's a big role?

[gotthammer]

Her role in ME2 is probably relatively minor (I haven't encountered the character in question yet). I mean, I don't recall her getting a mention in the press releases (unlike the other cast members, like Yvonne Strahovski from 'Chuck', Seth Green, Martin Sheen, etc.).

[ValaMalduran]

I think all in all I have 3 (!) PC games as I don't have any game console. You know, I lose interest very quickly and additionally am just too rubbish at computer games to enjoy them.

[dizzydame]

Some Vala icons I've made recently...

Spoiler:

[ValaMalduran]

I have one major issue with the episode with her dad - Vala's age. I assumed from the start that she'd been host to Qetesh for at least a relatively long period of time. If we're to believe Ba'al was in his host for thousands of years, I figured even if Vala was a relatively young host for Qetesh, it'd have been at least half a century or so. But if that's her dad? Unless he's been slipping into a sarcophagus himself, it couldn't have been very long at all. Seems a bit plothole-y to me.

That said, I loved Vala in the episode, and if they'd given us a better excuse for her father still being around I might have been happier.

I once tried to do the math on how long she was a host. That's what I came up with based on things we learn in Prometheus Unbound and Family Ties:

Good question.

S8 "Promethus Unbound"

1) Vala looks like she's in her early 30s.
2) She was 11-12 years younger when the symbiote was taken out.
3) If her father is more or less human and ages like everyone else he seems to be in his early 60s.
4) He seems to think she looks the age she should be. I'm sure otherwise TPTB would have used the chance to make a joke out of it.
5) The sarcophagus makes you younger/keeps your age. The consequence is that after longtime use you age rapidly without it. That's not the case with Vala.
6) I'd say Vala and her dad haven't seen one another for somewhere between 15 - 20 years.

So I'd say she's been a host for 5-7 years.

Your guess is as good as mine, though.

A.

For size:

Spoiler:

[dizzydame]

Aw, Aeryn. <3

Yeah - I don't know, in my mind, I just like to imagine her time as Qetesh was much longer. But until ye gods and goddesses of canon speak, I think it'll be hard to pinpoint for sure.

[MarieWynn]

Actually in one of the threads in the Continuum forum, someone said that one of the gods of canon did speak--namely I think one of the producers (maybe Rob?), who said that they had imagined Vala as host to Qetesh for about 20 years. I didn't check any of the links in that thread and couldn't tell you which one it actually is in there. 20 years doesn't work with my theory as well as 10, so I'm sticking with 10.

[gotthammer]

Spoiler:

Heh. That's one of my favourite attires for Aeryn. Too bad she only wore had it for 2 episodes.

[dizzydame]

Oh, wow - I might have to do some digging and try to find who said that! Hmm... yeah I still like sticking with the 50 or so years for personal fic writing canon, just because it's what I'm used to imagining. If I ever have to actually acknowledge it in fic... hmm. Guess I'll decide what to do then, lol.

So since I'm new to this thread - have any of you met Claudia? Do you do the convention scene?

[MarieWynn]

I've never met her I was looking to do maybe Comic Con in San Diego this year, but there isn't even a Stargate panel listed yet. I think the only ones she's listed for (for Stargate anyway, I've never seen Farscape) are ones in Australia.