Cameron - Discussion and Appreciation

[Dream-a-Little]

Crichton-crazy. Mitchell--not crazy. To me, Mitchell is also much more mature. Don't get me wrong--I loved Crichton as a character because of his many flaws, just like the other multi-flawed characters on FS.

Actually I thought Crichton was emotionally messy before he was crazy. That's not a criticism of the character, I liked that he was messy. It made him interesting and it made the progression into crazy a natural one given his circumstances. I'm emphasizing the messy rather than crazy, since most of the comparisons of Mitchell to Crichton have been to early season Crichton. Before he was crazy.

I'm interested to see what they bring in regarding Mitchell and his father, which I've read will be touched upon in an upcoming episode; that might be the key to a more conflicted past. Was his dad a pacifist? An embittered veteran who wanted his son as far away from the military as possible? A drunk?

Of course, I may be looking for deeper characterization in a show that doesn't traditionally go that route.

It's all about possibilities right now, which is kind of fun!

[ChillinTheMost]

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.

Welcome, Traveler Enroute1! While I have thought that the Jaffa are having a hard time adjusting to the fact that their "gods" have been proven false, I hadn't really given thought that they still want that belief to be true. Interesting point and it gives some credence to how easily some of them are accepting the Ori as substitutes. I had thought is was weak of them to so readily jump into a new unsubstantiated belief as soon as they were free, but the idea that they really didn't want to be proven wrong in their previous beliefs puts a new angle on it for me. Subtle difference, but it made me think.

Also interesting is that you said Cameron showed the least amount of fear of the Ori. I hadn't thought of that. He does seem to have taken the cockiest stance against them. Carter is approaching it from a scientific standpoint, Teal'c wants to fight them and Daniel wants to reason with them. I think we all knew that is the way these personalities that we've know for years would handle it. Cameron is new and I think the way he is handling it is: take a bit of Sam's science, Teal'c's confrontation, Daniel's debating, and add a healthy dose of cocky cynicism - hold the [Ori] entitlement.

[ChillinTheMost]

... 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.

I, also, don't mind little basic plot spoilers, and sometimes I don't even mind bigger spoilers [or maybe it's not so much that I don't mind them than that I can't resist them], but what I really don't like is how, like you said, some people make judgments about an entire episode, season, or character because of a spoiler. Haven't we been reading TV Guide blurbs for decades now and haven't we learned from that? Maybe I'm too old and the younger folk don't really have that background, but I'm used to reading a one-line teaser synopsis of a show and realizing that that isn't going to the entire focus for one hour!

"Samantha builds a machine to stop the Ori."

Yes, all we're going to see for an entire hour is Sam welding tiny bits onto a machine and adjusting parts with her tiny wrenches. Exciting hour.

Aaarrrghhh.

Reality:
Someone walks past Sam's lab, "Hey, watcha doing?"
Samantha: "Building a machine to stop the Ori."
"Cool."
--Interesting fun stuff with the other characters for 45 minutes.--
Last scene: Samantha carries machine into conference room.
"Hey, look, I finished my machine to stop the Ori."
Everybody: "Cool."

[ChillinTheMost]

I also think Ben and the writers have done a great job of making Mitchell different from O'Neill. Sure they both have a sense of humor, but that's hardly some rare character trait that no one else has. Other than that, I think they're completely different. I never understand what people see when they say Ben is trying to be like Jack.

Also, Mitchell might be slightly similary to Crichton, but Crichton spouted a LOT more pop-culture references. Mitchell has only made a couple. And Crichton was anti-military and anti-authority. Mitchell is hardly either of those things. Sure both guys are gentlemen and energetic and heroic, but again, so are a lot of people. The differences are more subtle than between Vala and Aeryn, but they're definitely there. And if you compare S4 Crichton with Mitchell, the differences are pretty huge, imo. I think Ben has a very hard job because he's playing two people who are written very similar. Not to take anything away from Claudia, but Vala is the polar opposite from Aeryn. I don't know how any actor could ever have trouble making them different from each other....

Yeah, this is what kills me. Mitchell cracks a joke and that means he's trying to be like Jack. Because, you know, Jack invented joking around and nobody in the history of the world has ever done it before. This isn't against Jack, I like, and miss, the character. But the comparison is ridiculous. Like you said, the character traits that people are using to say that Mitchell is like Jack, or like Crichton, are hardly unique characteristics and, for all the characters [Mitchell, O'Neill, and Crichton] are actually quite common traits for the role type [male leads in action/adventures].

[ChillinTheMost]

...On another side note, if your a Cameron shipper and know stories about him... nominate them for the Isis Awards. It's for purely secondary ships, which means the only things that are off limits are Sam/Jack and Sheppard/Weir. Cameron paired with anyone work. Get out there and support your fanfic friends. I nominated Cameron Mitchell's Crush, by me of course.

http://isis.worldstowander.com/

I went to read a few Cameron stories, but there weren't any yet. Please let us know when there are a few!
&

&

& hey, no Lam smilie!

[ChillinTheMost]

...I so hate it when I feel like I am talking to myself!

Truly. It leads to smilie abuse.

Hey, Sam. What's happening?
Just thinking about that new hunk on Atlantis.
Atlantis? Not enough hunks for you here?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Double Yeah.
Oh, c'mon guys. You guys have been around forever and are like my brothers.
Brothers?
Hey, I'm new!



[I don't get it, either. ]

Smilie abuse!

gratuitous smilie:

[ChillinTheMost]

But Cameron might not have a 'kryptonite'... I don't. That was just Landry's impression of the 'perfect person', or any old pilot. He's expecting to find a weakness in Cam, but that doesn't mean there IS one. There could be several little weaknesses... like in real people.

I agree. We fans dissect each and every line and build entire plots and backstories from them. Take the discussion about Mitchell's grandmother. Probably a throw-away line from the writers, but it sparked many analyses about Mitchell's grandmother and her influence on him. [Heck, I wrote a short story about it!] I'm certainly not saying that this dissection is a bad thing, especially since I love doing it too, I just don't want fans to get disappointed when the writers never touch the subject again. More importantly, I don't want a throw-away line to be something fans use to define a character.

I also agree that most of us have many little weaknesses, not usually one big kryptonite that can cause our downfall.

[ChillinTheMost]

Okay, somebody else's turn. 7 posts in a row is quite enough.

Hey, not all of them included smilie abuse! Some had some actual content and responses to other posts! Honest! Read one or two of them!!!

"She's gone over the deep end, doncha think?"
"Yup."
"Yup."
"Yup."
"Yup."
"Yup."
"Hey, who are you?"


[this part edited in later - to clarify later posts]
"I thought you were reading the files, newbie."
"They aren't illustrated."
"Oh."

[cajnjirl]

"Yup."
"Hey, who are you?"

"Didn't I have a file?"

"Nope."

"Figures."


Sorry, Chillin. Couldn't keep my hands off.

[ChillinTheMost]

"Didn't I have a file?"

"Nope."

"Figures."


Sorry, Chillin. Couldn't keep my hands off.

Hahaha! You beat me to it [I tried to edit].

and I like yours better!!!

[cajnjirl]

Frell.
Looks like you busted me farting around. *runs off*

[ChillinTheMost]

Well, I wandered around looking for other threads to comment in, but ended up back "home" in this thread, cajnjirl.

Somebody better come and play with me before I abuse more smilies.

Hey, only 3 more days until new episodes!!!



[Jack and Weir were the only ones with clapping smilies]

[Dream-a-Little]

Well, I wandered around looking for other threads to comment in, but ended up back "home" in this thread, cajnjirl.

Somebody better come and play with me before I abuse more smilies.

Hey, only 3 more days until new episodes!!!



[Jack and Weir were the only ones with clapping smilies]

But you abuse them so well! Now it looks like it's contagious! Pretty soon everyone will be abusing smilies - who knows where the carnage will end!

Oh and your non smilie abuse posts were interesting too!

[ChillinTheMost]

Cameron, the New Guy, was put in charge of the Christmas pageant. "This will be harder than pulling a sword from a stone," he commented.

First, Cameron tried recruiting his friend Samantha. "This project is destined to fail," she teased. "Just kidding, I really have faith in you. What do you want me to do?"

"Can you call O'Neill and see if he wants to be in it?" Cameron asked. Samantha got a weird look in her eyes.

"I'll call him," she promised.

Cameron never saw Samantha again until after the pageant.

Cameron's phone rang. It was Jonas! "I've been reading about this Christmas pageant stuff. Can I be in it?"

"Ummm." Cameron didn't know what to do. He was told that Jonas wouldn't be allowed back on the show this year. "No," he said and hung up.

[ChillinTheMost]

Cameron went to Teal'c. "I have heard of this story," Teal'c said. "I will destroy all that want to harm the child that lies in the hay."

"Umm, nevermind," Cameron said, leaving Teal'c to fume.

"Daniel! Daniel will understand!"

"You want ME to be in the pageant?" Daniel sidestepped. "Ummm, I wanted to be in a pageant once, but they wouldn't let me. It made me very angry. I was embarrassed. Now I am too traumatised to participate."

Cameron crept away from Daniel before there was another outburst.
"Works every time," Daniel whispered to himself.

Cameron tried calling Vala but she was in an amorous mood, so he just hung up.

"What will I do?" he wondered.