Cameron - Discussion and Appreciation

[Johnquixote]

Looking forward to Collateral Damage and Stronghold, TPTB had good things too say about those eps as far as Mitchell goes.

Thanks for the barrage of Smilies chillin!

[Traveler Enroute1]

I'm glad this thread is here. I've come to believe Cameron has a pretty important part to play in SG1 besides O'Neill's replacement. The writers seemed to have made a big point of Cam's religious upbringing via his grandmother (southern Baptist, was she?). It says a lot to me that he's shown the least fear of the Ori. Daniel's eloquence in arguing against the Ori notwithstanding, IMO Cam brings some deep faith into the mix. Nothing fostered by false gods as with the Free Jaffa, who still want that belief to be real and are falling into the same trap. Somehow this latent faith will work with Daniel, Teal'c and Samantha to break the hold the Ori have on their Priors.

Just sayin', oh, wait. I mean, I HOPE! Love Ben, and hope TPTB do right by him.

[esoap524]

You gotta give Mallozzi some credit, he's being hit by fans with differing opinions [pro-Mitchell/anti-change, pro-Vala/anti-Vala...] and he still puts himself out there and tries to answer the questions. Sure, he gets himself in deeper sometimes, but he's trying, I think.

I loved his "not the story we want to tell" answer. He's got the thing mapped out. From what I understand from reading Browder and Black interviews, both seem to marvel at the fact that the show is very well plotted and organized, as opposed to the chaos that was FS.

Other threads are loaded with Vala-hate so you can be assured that she's every bit as disliked as Mitchell. However, I think the writers may currently be the MOST disliked. They can't seem to please anyone. I suppose their best bet is to follow the story they've laid out.

Frankly, I feel sorry for Mallozzi. I'm not a television writer and I would bet no one who's posted on this thread is one either. The fact that he even bothers with this type of forum and a lot of the abuse he gets does indeed show that he's at least trying to listen.

[Dream-a-Little]

Frankly, I feel sorry for Mallozzi. I'm not a television writer and I would bet no one who's posted on this thread is one either. The fact that he even bothers with this type of forum and a lot of the abuse he gets does indeed show that he's at least trying to listen.

Sorry, I can't work up any tears for Joe. He's a big boy, he dishes out as good as he gets. And I think order is highly overrated. So many lovely things have been born out of chaos!

[Dream-a-Little]

fun with smilies: [originally in other post, but did you know there is a smilie limit?]

You can have any assignment you want...

:Why the sourpuss?

Mitchell's harem?

: Dude!

: Race ya. I got a 302, whattaya got?

I loved all of your smilie posts Chillin, but this one was my favorite! GW may have a smilie limit, but I just discovered that I don't have one!

[esoap524]

Sorry, I can't work up any tears for Joe. He's a big boy, he dishes out as good as he gets. And I think order is highly overrated. So many lovely things have been born out of chaos!

I prefer chaos myself but I guess SG1 has worked 9, soon to be 10, seasons without it and flourished.

[Dream-a-Little]

Joe's been talking about Mitchell and leadership on his blog. Here are the pertinent quotes:
Why DO YOU think many fans just feel indifferent toward Mitchell?"

A number of reasons. The fact is that all of the other characters have already got a pre-established background going for them (our three other leads, the character of Vala who was introduced in Prometheus Unbound and is, unarguably, a very colorful character). Mitchell, on the other hand, is the new kid on the block and, as such, is less defined than the other characters. He's a little more difficult to categorize (ie. stoic warrior, scientist, rogue) and, like the others, will acquire depth and a fuller character over time. The problem is, Mitchell was introduced at a time when were introducing a bunch of other major series elements and, as a result, we didn't get the opportunity explore him as much as we may have wanted to - something that we rectify in the back half of season 9 with episodes like Stronghold and Collateral Damage.

You're a brave soul to venture into the hell hole otherwise known as the comments section of Joe's Blogg. It's nice to see JM in his capacity of voice of the writers "fess up" to neglecting Ben's character and admitting that it has caused problems for Mitchell. Even though it comes via official party line of "but its only because we were just so busy." Mitchell is a character that everyone involved knew would have a great deal of attention focused on him from the get go. I will always maintain that it was a disservice to the actor in particular and the show as a whole to put Mitchell on hold for half a season. Truly good story telling would not have left such a gaping hole in the narrative for so very long. Still, if they truly have rectified the situation in the back half of the season, I'm more than willing to call pax and move on. Better late than never and no one is perfect.

As far as the command issue goes, my primary interest is what I see on screen, not what is written on the internet. Whatever choices they make on screen, I just hope that they aren't ones that weaken or waterdown the character. I really would rather that not be one more thing that comes at his expense. Such an awful lot of choices that they have made have come at his expense already. However, at this point, I'd rather just sit back and see how it plays out in the show. I can throw rocks at them later for that if need be.

And before I forget, another reason some fans may not respond to Mitchell is because they're pre-disposed to not liking him.

And he is very right about that. He can be written brilliantly and played perfectly but that will not guarantee universal love and acceptance. There will always be those hostile to the character for reasons that have nothing to do with character himself.

[Traveler Enroute1]

Still, if they truly have rectified the situation in the back half of the season, I'm more than willing to call pax and move on. Better late than never and no one is perfect.

As far as the command issue goes, my primary interest is what I see on screen, not what is written on the internet. Whatever choices they make on screen, I just hope that they aren't ones that weaken or waterdown the character. I really would rather that not be one more thing that comes at his expense. Such an awful lot of choices that they have made have come at his expense already. However, at this point, I'd rather just sit back and see how it plays out in the show. I can throw rocks at them later for that if need be.
<<my snips>>

Great phrasing, Dream-a-Little. We fans have our druthers but the writing and directing will be done apart from us. The objective is the same for all sides, I hope, and it's ultimately to bring the best story possible to the screen. Will it? Don't know yet, at you say. Hard for me to be disappointed in something before I know what it is.

Just sayin', I still hope Mitchell gets to shine in the next section of S9 and meshes better with the team in S10.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

[gbbarb]

You're a brave soul to venture into the hell hole otherwise known as the comments section of Joe's Blogg. It's nice to see JM in his capacity of voice of the writers "fess up" to neglecting Ben's character and admitting that it has caused problems for Mitchell. Even though it comes via official party line of "but its only because we were just so busy." Mitchell is a character that everyone involved knew would have a great deal of attention focused on him from the get go. I will always maintain that it was a disservice to the actor in particular and the show as a whole to put Mitchell on hold for half a season. Truly good story telling would not have left such a gaping hole in the narrative for so very long. Still, if they truly have rectified the situation in the back half of the season, I'm more than willing to call pax and move on. Better late than never and no one is perfect.

As far as the command issue goes, my primary interest is what I see on screen, not what is written on the internet. Whatever choices they make on screen, I just hope that they aren't ones that weaken or waterdown the character. I really would rather that not be one more thing that comes at his expense. Such an awful lot of choices that they have made have come at his expense already. However, at this point, I'd rather just sit back and see how it plays out in the show. I can throw rocks at them later for that if need be.



And he is very right about that. He can be written brilliantly and played perfectly but that will not guarantee universal love and acceptance. There will always be those hostile to the character for reasons that have nothing to do with character himself.

Dream I wish I could write as eloquently as you but after reading your posts all the comes to mind is ditto. I have the same fears, hopes and grievences as you. The hell hole known as the blog will only get worse if Mitchell does get more attention in the 2nd half of the season as Joe has promised. Hopefully the writers don't pay much attention to the whiners and have good things in mind for Ben in season 10 as well.

[Neelan_Liquor]

Okay... been away for a while, and I just got caught up. Brilliant as I am, I posted quotes and replies on WP and will transfer them over in two or three parts. hehehe

Part One:

There's a reason why you come in close on an actor when he is delivering lines. We communicate so much of what we are feeling and thinking with facial expressions and what shows in our eyes. When they stay so far out on his lines, they make it harder for the audience to get the opportunity to pick up anything beyond actual words. They are creating distance between him and the audience when they do that. Not something that you would normally want to do with a new charactor. In this case it is particularly annoying since Ben has a very expressive face.

But it might be the intentions of the PTB to do just that. It’s early in Ben’s first season, so in the effort NOT to push him down the throats of the RDA fans, they’re acting like SG-1, keeping back a bit, evaluating him. They may be TRYING to keep the audience a bit more distant from him than Daniel and the rest, right up until they NEED to get in close, like in Collateral Damage. Maybe it’s their intention to imply that Cameron is keeping HIS distance from us, too. Remember, creative decisions come from LOTS of different directions... even artistic ones.

I realize that you guys are also concerned ‘cause Ben was in the background a LOT, and poorly lit, but remember that the early impressions of Ben were “why does this guy keep trying to give away his lines?” It might be partly his fault that he’s been in the background so much. We could ask him....

They really do and considering all the online presence and amount they let out, I'm very surprised that not much is known about this eppy. That is how I prefer it though... although it's amusing to see Mallozzi's input - I feel they do tend to let too much out and spoonfeed plot points. I'm not so sure it's healthy to be giving too much close contact to the viewer base.

Yeah, I sometimes wish they’d feed us some MISinformation, just to mix things up... to throw us off track. When I first came to GW, I looked for spoilers, but now, I stumble upon them and sometimes wish there weren’t so many. I don’t mind seeing the little glimpses you guys provide in threads like this one, but I don’t like seeing that there are so many available on the front page here, and elsewhere on the net. Can’t we just wait and see? Instead of people seeing spoilers for eps then making judgements about entire eps based on these? It’s one of the things that frustrates me about this bboard.

[Neelan_Liquor]

Part Two:

He seems to take that back with him to the writers' room when he should just be focusing on writing a good story. It's like everything he does gets a once over by certain fan list agendas. This makes for a bit of a mess and in the end pleases nobody. Most Stargate fans never come online, do not have extreme agendas and just want to turn on the tv and see good team stories. I think JM's overexposure to various rabid fan demands has resulted in a very narrow and inacurate view of his show's audience in general. A lot of times, I just wish someone would please take his computer away from him!

Too true. Sometimes he stands his ground, but not often enough to let those rabid fan groups (read: mobs) know that he knows what he’s doing and so do the other writers and producers. It’d be much nicer if we heard from one or two of the others every once in a while, to balance out Malozzi’s Charlie Brown whishy-whashyness.

Interesting emblem on Mitchell's shoulder on the top far right hand side one.

Thanks for the link. Looks like the 7s in a pack of cards forming the shape of a wing? Hmmm, interesting - wonder what that represents... that he's a member of the poker club !??

Those first few pix look like they were from Ben’s flight with the Thunderbirds, but if it’s actually from an ep, the cards are a flight patch, the emblem of his squadron. Aces have been used in the past (to excess) so maybe this is a straight flush? Four sevens? Probably meant to represent something LUCKY! It might NEVER be explained either.

Jack was a lot older than the rest of the team. When he became team leader, Sam and Daniel were inexperienced kids. So that was a totally different team dynamic. Mitchell is taking over a team closer to his age and highly skilled and experienced. His management style of that team will be different because of that and also because he is a different person than Jack.

Very well said. Thank you. Save this and copy it to other threads/forums... PLEASE.

[Neelan_Liquor]

And the rest:

The information we have gotten so far on the rest of season 9 looks far better for Mitchell (and for actual team episodes) than the advance info that we got for the earlier part of the season. I am hoping that the last part of season 9 will take away the bad taste left by the writers' neglect of Mitchell in the first part of the season. And I will continue to look hopefully for signs that season 10 will not bring that bad taste back. That's basically what I was doing when I made that black hole comment. I do truly want to believe that season 10 will be a balanced season overall, but right now it's a once bitten, twice shy kind of thing for me.

Wow, DAL, you sure have had a lot to say recently!!! (my new big smilie ) Don’t worry about anything that JM says. Remember, he’s inconsistent and should spend more time AWAY from his computer. He’s also said that they haven’t broken very many eps for season 10 yet, so the Mitchell-heavy eps are still coming... I hope. Actually, I’m fine with TEAM-heavy eps, and hope they have a handle on how to integrate Vala more smoothly than the season 9 attempt.

There was quite the backlash when season 9 ads and interviews and articles focused on Browder/Mitchell. Many Stargate fans became upset that that FarScape guy was going to take front seat over the Stargate characters that they loved. They felt that their beloved characters weren't given enough credit or promotion. While I understand what TPTB were trying to do, I can also understand the concern of the fans. Maybe TPTB understood belatedly, too. TPTB may be trying for the opposite tack this time by emphasizing the long-term Stargate characters. However, if history is any indication, it won't mean any more in ad time vs. show time than the ads for the beginning of season 9 did.

Actually, the ads aren’t created by the show’s PTB, but by skiffy. I think skiffy’s intention with the early ads was to emphasize Ben on the show because they were trying to keep Farscape fans as viewers. “Hey look! Your lead actor is the lead on another show here on our network! Keep watching!” Worked for me! I probably wouldn’t be on GW, watching so much of skiffy’s programming, or going to SG cons if Ben and Claud hadn’t been in season 9. Doesn’t mean I haven’t come to really enjoy the show and the other characters, I just came on board ‘cause of Ben. The early eps were already in the can when the ads were created, so skiffy execs knew that they were fairly Ben-light, but they wanted to make sure FS fans would stay tuned, soooo-- Ben-heavy ads.

Even his connection to the Sodan could be taken over by Teal'c if need be.

This got me thinking... and I don’t think it could. Mitchell’s forming a relationship with these people based on a NEW threat. They’ve already proven that they’re resistant to any relationships with other Jaffa, simply because of their unique history. I don’t think they’d respond to Teal’c the same way they’ve begun to respond to Mitchell.

Good points on the rest of that, though.

...it really seems that there really was never any intention by the TPTB to go anywhere with this character before the midseason break.

Like this. Seems that way, doesn’t it?

Zelda: Great observations there. I’d green ya, but I have to “spread around the rep” before I can. I totally agree. Please, delurk more often!

The hell hole known as the blog will only get worse if Mitchell does get more attention in the 2nd half of the season as Joe has promised. Hopefully the writers don't pay much attention to the whiners and have good things in mind for Ben in season 10 as well.

Absolutely!!! Yeah, I read it once, at the suggestion of peeps here, and commented, then left and haven’t been back. It’s just WAY too negative for me. Don’t think I’ll go back anytime soon either. I’ll try to stick to the positive threads, like this one.

[Cpt. Ritter]

Welcome to Cameron Mitchell, Ben Browder fans annoymous. We hope you enjoy your stay. I really think that Ben deserves to be highlighted, simply because of the shoes he's had to fill. Think about it, he is the lead actor, I least in my humble opinion. (Come on, he gets his name first) I view JM's blod occasionally, but I don't get hyped up over it... too many whiners... way to many. Many are hardcore SG-1 fans who fear change. I think it's for the better with Cameron Mitchell leading the team and I want to see him not be Jack O'Neill 1.5. I want him to be Cameron Mitchell, with his own way of doing things. But hey, that's why I love the character.

[esoap524]

Welcome to Cameron Mitchell, Ben Browder fans annoymous. We hope you enjoy your stay. I really think that Ben deserves to be highlighted, simply because of the shoes he's had to fill. Think about it, he is the lead actor, I least in my humble opinion. (Come on, he gets his name first) I view JM's blod occasionally, but I don't get hyped up over it... too many whiners... way to many. Many are hardcore SG-1 fans who fear change. I think it's for the better with Cameron Mitchell leading the team and I want to see him not be Jack O'Neill 1.5. I want him to be Cameron Mitchell, with his own way of doing things. But hey, that's why I love the character.

I think he's done an excellent job of setting himself apart from O'Neill, who was much more jaded. Mitchell has a sort of bright-eyed optimism that is very endearing. His way of leading isn't going to be like Jack's because he's of a different generation and the people he's leading are his contemporaries. He seems more of a "sensitive guy" to me than O'Neil was, confiding to Carter his fear of "screwing up" for example.

I also like the contrast of his possible religiosity with Daniel's more scientific, almost atheistic, approach. Cam strikes me as a guy who does pray and could believe in miracles, but is smart enough to know a charlatan when he sees one.

He also has a nice, wry sense of humor without being too sarcastic. If he ever has a love story, I suspect he'll be a gentleman to the core, which is very sweet.

As far as similarities to John Crichton, the last character he played...well, there's a few but the main difference is that Cam is NOT crazy . Crichton was, and I say that with all due respect and affection for the character. Cam sort of reminds me of very early Crichton but without the passive resistance part; Cam is military afterall. Crichton was a scientist. Cam is also more mature and measured, vs impulsive.

I don't know if Mallozzi and Co have made things better or worse by not highlighting him early on. It does look like he has a big ep coming up so time will tell, I suppose. And Browder is not a big ego type of guy. I think he's happy he has a paying job that allows him to do what he loves to do--play the action hero, get "blowed up" and muddy and work with people he likes and respects. Not a bad day at the office!

[greytop]

I think he's done an excellent job of setting himself apart from O'Neill, who was much more jaded. Mitchell has a sort of bright-eyed optimism that is very endearing. His way of leading isn't going to be like Jack's because he's of a different generation and the people he's leading are his contemporaries. He seems more of a "sensitive guy" to me than O'Neil was, confiding to Carter his fear of "screwing up" for example.

I also like the contrast of his possible religiosity with Daniel's more scientific, almost atheistic, approach. Cam strikes me as a guy who does pray and could believe in miracles, but is smart enough to know a charlatan when he sees one.

He also has a nice, wry sense of humor without being too sarcastic. If he ever has a love story, I suspect he'll be a gentleman to the core, which is very sweet.

As far as similarities to John Crichton, the last character he played...well, there's a few but the main difference is that Cam is NOT crazy . Crichton was, and I say that with all due respect and affection for the character. Cam sort of reminds me of very early Crichton but without the passive resistance part; Cam is military afterall. Crichton was a scientist. Cam is also more mature and measured, vs impulsive.

I don't know if Mallozzi and Co have made things better or worse by not highlighting him early on. It does look like he has a big ep coming up so time will tell, I suppose. And Browder is not a big ego type of guy. I think he's happy he has a paying job that allows him to do what he loves to do--play the action hero, get "blowed up" and muddy and work with people he likes and respects. Not a bad day at the office!

I happen to agree with your opinon, esoap524.

As why he hasn't been in the first half of the season as much, and this is my opinon; TPTB wanted to do as much as they can on Vala since Claudia Black was only there while AT was on baby leave and Ben was there for the whole season.

I believe that we will get to know about Mitchell more in the second half of the season. That will be more about him, personally, and how he leads the team.