Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[ChopinGal]

i think being vague is the wussy way out.

question - oh, should we get sam and jack together? if we do, some will be upset. if we don't, some will be upset. what shall we do?

answer - nothing. we ignore the issue.

question - oh, who will be the leader of sg1? if it's sam, mitchell fans will be upset. if it's mitchell, sam fans will be upset. whatever shall we do?

answer - nothing. ignore the issue.

question - do you think the viewers will notice that we haven't explained what jack is doing or where he is?

answer - they might notice, but viewers have short attention spans and will forget quickly. but if they don't, we'll just ignore the issue.

question - shall we explain in detail what sam was doing while away?

answer - no. why waste screen time when we can write fun vala?

question - should we explain why sg1 disbanded?

answer - hello! ignore.

question - should we--

answer - stop asking me questions.

question - but--

answer - no.

question - bu--

answer - ignoring you.



sally

Hey Sal ... ya know, all of this dialogue makes even more sense after three martinis!

[ChopinGal]

hey guys, can you remember what the flag poll of samanda was called? or who started it?

i've been looking to find the thread but my search has come up empty

i know it's on GW somewhere.

was it posted here or in the general discussion?

any clues would be greatly appreciated

General discussion thread, posted by you I believe and it was just Poll: Pick the Samandan Flag or Flag of Samanda or some such ... I tried to scroll through the other day but could not find it ... for a long time, it was on page two. The post went up mid-August I believe. Carry on, dear census taker!

[Qasim]

hey guys, can you remember what the flag poll of samanda was called? or who started it?

ROFLMAO - you started it

Here it is http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=15011

[ChevronSeven]

A very illustrative way to say, "they think we're stupid".

I really think they must think that, or they think we're so starry-eyed we won't mind gaping plot holes, etc. (someone said this earlier in the thread and I agree). RDA always said that one thing he really hated about the TV business is how execs think the fans are stupid and give them stupid programming. I find it interesting that all this is going on to this degree right after his departure from the show.

Of course, because it seems that there's no one questioning it anymore. This "New and Improved" SG-1 seems like New Coke. The marketing department of Coca-Cola claimed it's the same product, but better taste. And we all know how quickly that failed.

[ChevronSeven]

i think being vague is the wussy way out.

question - oh, should we get sam and jack together? if we do, some will be upset. if we don't, some will be upset. what shall we do?

answer - nothing. we ignore the issue.

question - oh, who will be the leader of sg1? if it's sam, mitchell fans will be upset. if it's mitchell, sam fans will be upset. whatever shall we do?

answer - nothing. ignore the issue.

question - do you think the viewers will notice that we haven't explained what jack is doing or where he is?

answer - they might notice, but viewers have short attention spans and will forget quickly. but if they don't, we'll just ignore the issue.

question - shall we explain in detail what sam was doing while away?

answer - no. why waste screen time when we can write fun vala?

question - should we explain why sg1 disbanded?

answer - hello! ignore.

question - should we--

answer - stop asking me questions.

question - but--

answer - no.

question - bu--

answer - ignoring you.



sally

Did you plant a listening device in the meeting room at Bridge Studios? 'Cause I can totally hear them having that exact same conversation.

[Skydiver]

ROFLMAO - you started it

Here it is http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=15011

see, that annoys me, i looked for it, searched for threads that i started and couldn't find it

buger all

ok, are we starting a run-off poll now?

[ShimmeringStar]

A very illustrative way to say, "they think we're stupid".

I really think they must think that, or they think we're so starry-eyed we won't mind gaping plot holes, etc. (someone said this earlier in the thread and I agree). RDA always said that one thing he really hated about the TV business is how execs think the fans are stupid and give them stupid programming. I find it interesting that all this is going on to this degree right after his departure from the show.

Hmmmmm.... I think it may be more like "the fans have issues" as RCC had no problem saying last year after the big uproar over how Sam's characterization was affected by the Pete plot. All of us were supposed to buy the product they were selling without questioning anything about it....

[Qasim]

see, that annoys me, i looked for it, searched for threads that i started and couldn't find it

buger all

ok, are we starting a run-off poll now?

The search function has been acting strange recently especially the 'search this thread' part

[ShimmeringStar]

I agree with those of you who said that Sam and Vala are not interchangeable. They are two very different characters and play two different roles in the Stargate universe. Even if Vala were to come on board on a more regular basis there is no way she could replace Sam. Far from it, in that case we would need Sam even more IMHO.

It's true. They aren't interchangeable. Neither character is a token female even if TPTB do throw a HECK of a lot of female stereotypes into their characters. They were very lucky to cast actresses who have managed for the most part to make both characters rise above the writing.

AT has made Sam a character that would be very hard to replace IMOHO. A very special character who's able to hold her own in male-dominated fields and actually make them her own. She's made everything the character engages in seem normal and okay; there's no 'oh women shouldn't be doing that.' Sam does things because she loves them, because she wants to do them, because she feels a sense of duty... There's no abrasiveness or stridentness to the character either; she does what she does with compassion and love for all (human and alien alike). She got to where she was at the hard way - no special strings were pulled by a father who could have darn well done it if he chose to, no 'sleeping' her way there... she persevered and disciplined herself and worked damn hard to attain her goals. And she suffers the consequences of her not-so-great decisions with honor and grace; no blamelaying, no victimizing.....

I'm not so sure that we'd all be here discussing Sam's character with this much love and awe if it were any other actress playing her.

[minigeek]

Vala's a bit of a caricature. She's good in small doses, she steals every scene she's in, but she's too over the top to make a regular out of without disrupting what I think Stargate is really all about. I'd have her recur, but unless her character was built into a much more three-dimensional persona, she'd kill all the nuance and trivialize the long term story.

M.G.

[Skydiver]

i think vala is a lot like atocles, or aphrodite or ares, which were all OTT characters on hercules. and they were good in small doses and not week after week after week

i liken her to the first version of xena, who was very cold and hard and evil and the folks that made the show realized that if they didn't tone her down, she couldn't carry a show. people would get turned off by her hardness

small doses for vala, sure. every week, 44 minutes of the daniel and vala comedy hour??? nah. there's plenty of other stuff on the air to watch

[Qasim]

unless her character was built into a much more three-dimensional persona

M.G.

The time for that to happen is long gone IMO

[Coley]

I'm afraid I'm one person who really doesn't like Vala at all. I wish the writers could have given CB a much better character. I think she would have been brilliant as a very gutsy soldier (no science background).

I may have a bit of a bee in my bonnet but as a professional woman struggling to be respected in a world of male engineers it annoys me no end that we get these female characters popping up within a very influential media. I don't know any female remotely like Vala and it disapoints me that the male writers have chosen to potray a female in this way. It may be taking things a tad seriously, but there you go.

If I had a daughter I would want her to be like Sam, I would not want her to be anything like Vala. The dispointing thing is, that the character could be so much more. She could still have wit and a cool demeanour without the sexual innuendo and spartan cloths.

We are supposed to see this lady as fun and cool? But she is someone who has used sexual intimacy to get something she wanted and actually stolen some poor chap's mothers necklace. I'm afraid that's not the sort of thing which should be portrayed as fun or cool!!

This may be a bit of a diatribe but that's the way it is for me. I always respected the writers of Stargate for portraying Sam the way they have, though they have slipped quite a bit with some of the female characters, on the whole they have stayed fairly respectful to women. I'm sorry but I just think the writers are taking the p here and letting their immature fantasies get the better of them!!

I would be very happy if Vala disapeared

Huff, Huff!!

[WhatFateAlmondRoca]

Hmmmmm.... I think it may be more like "the fans have issues" as RCC had no problem saying last year after the big uproar over how Sam's characterization was affected by the Pete plot. All of us were supposed to buy the product they were selling without questioning anything about it....

Yup, precisely. That's what I mean when I said they think we are starry-eyed, i.e. they think we'll buy whatever they think we should buy and if we don't we 'have issues'. I was concerned about those comments by RCC, too, as "pride cometh before a fall" or so they say.

P.S. The art in your sig is beautiful!

[Skydiver]

And on a happier note, here you go folks, the final runoff to pick Samanda's flag

http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=17252