The Anti-Hero "Eh, he's/she's not THAT great" Thread

[dark_faith]

don't like the SGA team, there is no real interaction between them.

As far as characters are concerned, they could all be way more interesting if the PTB was making an effort, but they're not.

I don't like Sheppard, he's selfish, arrogant, obeys orders only when he feels like it... He's a jerk. But what bothers me the most is that people in his team don't notice! I liked him in the first ep of season 1 when he was all new in the expedition and didn't know anything about the SG.... But as soon as he got to command....

I think every character has a great potential unfortunalty the PTB only writes for Mckay and Sheppard but too much Mckay kills the Mckay, I'm tired of him!

The thing is, we're in a show where they write a story, then integrate the characters to the plot.... whereas we should follow the characters and what happens to them.... IMO

[Willow'sCat]

don't like the SGA team, there is no real interaction between them.

Interesting.

I don't think much of Weir in fact to be honest I can't stand her. Maybe if Jessica was still playing her it would be different but I guess we will never know, shame.

[smushybird]

Can it be that we're expecting too much?

I posted in another forum that I thought, from a character development and growth standpoint, Atlantis seemed to be moving backward this season, instead of forward. At the very least, it's come to a sort of standstill with stories that don't take advantage of opportunities to drop in a little backstory and incorporate character development from Season One. The stories generally feel like first drafts that weren't mulled over long enough to unearth all the possibilities the plotlines offered. Character responses to several situations felt either generic or repetitive, with no effort to dig beyond the superficial dialogue (as witty as it can sometimes be) to give us more telling tidbits, to let the characters reveal themselves more through their words, let alone their actions. Epiphany was a prime example of an episode that could have intrigued us instead of frustrated us. What an opportunity to drop in some juicy info on Sheppard, to give us even the smallest glimpse of what motivates him and who he is beyond the superficial cocky, breezy pilot exterior --and instead we get a story of time dilation and somewhat cliched ignorant-villagers-learn-lesson story which is okay in and of itself, but felt unfinished.

The response to my post was that I shouldn't expect SGA to be a soap opera.
It's SF so let's not dig too deep, let's keep the stories light and fun and exciting. The problem is, exciting only works if you give a damn about the people involved. And to give a damn you have to know them, know their fears and goals, and so on--and what do we know about these characters? Barely anything. I don't want soap opera melodrama. I just want to know these people well enough to want to hear their stories week after week. And when week after week goes by and I know scarcely more about them than I knew when they first went to Atlantis, I just want to give up watching altogether.

So am I expecting too much? Should I accept that Atlantis is only meant to be shallow entertainment for fourteen-year-old boys?

I am with the poster who said we can't love or hate these characters because we don't know these characters. And I suspect the writers are writing weaker eps this season because they don't know the characters well enough yet, either. I understand character development is an on-going thing. It just hasn't felt like it's going on this season, certainly not as it could be.

Letters from Pegasus was the most popular episode in the Sci-Fi message board's poll because LfP gave us the most characterization than any episode so far aired. They gave us reasons to connect emotionally. Now there seems to be growing discontentment with the show and it seems to come out the lack of further character development.

I could say something negative about every character on the show, even my belovedest Dr. McKay, but it occurs to me that their negative traits are just as important as their positive traits. They wouldn't feel human, otherwise. I don't expect them all to be great. I just expect them all to feel real. The fact that Weir's a weak leader, or Sheppard's too impulsive, or Rodney's too cranky, or Beckett's too wimpy, or Teyla's a hypocrite--I can live with all of that, because I want them to have their frailties and dark corners. Just write 'em real, flesh them out, let their stories be the stories, let the episodes grow out of their relationships with each other, their conflicts, their fears. This show could be that good, if only a little more care were taken with the writing.

Sorry for rambling. I really want to love these characters. They had such a good start. I hate to see potential wasted.

[Zadrak]

I don't HUGELY hate any of them, but:

Sam - doesnt really seem to do much.. shes not funny, shes not endearing.. she's just techno babble.. *why?*

Teyla - doesnt really seem to do much.. shes not funny, shes not endearing.. she's just male eye candy.. *why?*

Lamb - doesnt really seem to do much.. shes not funny, shes not endearing.. she's just there.. *why?*

The guy who's in charge of the SGC who's name is not important enough to remember - well that says it all..

Theres my slice right there I've been told the writers are predominantly male, so this might explain why none of the females seem very 3 dimensional. I'm not being sexist either, because I think Vala is great. Big up!

And i'm a fan of male unruly hair... Shep's is fine Daniels is always fab, whatever the length

xZx