Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[astrogeologist]

My, we're all fired up, aren't we? It seems we've all been inwardly seething about this.

I want to thank everyone here tonight for their absolutely wonderful comments about such a sensitive topic! The insights and opinions stated here have been, on the whole, well-balanced, honest, considerate and respectful.

As I was reading through the comments posted over the past hour or so, I was struck by the commonly noted positive aspects of Sam Carter and what AT has done for the character - as well as the positive hopes for Season 9!

AHHHH. Please let's just have the wonderfully complex character of Sam ---a kick-butt science-wiz who is a competent soldier, and a compassionate human being----in season nine.

All I want is a well written Sam character in Season9!!!!

I end with, yes Sam is still a great character despite the writers messing up the romance arc---how many women can do what she can do and so well on any TV show. And kudos to Amanda Tapping for being such a great actor, making Sam so believable all these years, and sometimes in spite of some poor writing!! Regardless of some poor writing, AT seems to be getting high praise from many fans for her protrayal of different "sides" of sam in the second half of season eight.
I just read a post recently on another thread here and the fan was appreciating how AT made Sam so believable in all the technobabble she has to do. I shudder to think what would have happened to this show if an actress played Sam that could not come across as a believable scientist and soldier---I think it might have tanked, but AT has made this character very accessible and believable as a genius, a soldier, and a compassionate person.

On the lowdown on the S6 boxset, AT talks about that and she says that she's glad she takes the time to research what she talks about so she doesn't come across as a bambi
And I've heard numerous directors, cast etc on DVD commentaries praise Amanda for it because it does make the character much more believable. Just look at any random extra who tries to technobabble and fail

Her character evolution has been a delight to see as far as I'm concerned - from the completely emotionally immature young woman in Children of the Gods, to the daughter who had a difficult relationship with her father who apparently she'll lose in Threads, to a friend who lost her best friend Janet in Heroes 2, to the woman we see today - smart, passionate, courageous and loyal.
Sure, emotionally she has not been so strong in all areas of her personal life - but who has? To me this just shows some of her flaws - that the brilliant Sam Carter who can blow up a sun has some emotional issues she still needs to resolve.

You are all wonderful - and I know how lucky I am to have found this thread!
.

[Uber]

Well said, CG. I was trying to remember the first time I saw him cutting her off like that when she wasn't technobabbling and I think you're right, it was Ascension.

There did seem to be a more relaxed relationship in the earlier years. There was a hint of that at the beginning of Citizen Joe, when they're on the phone, but have we seen it much anywhere else?

On a slightly different topic, I've read posts on other threads where people have complained about Jack's character this year, saying that all he does is come on and make wise cracks. I think he's probably making the same number of smart a** remarks as usual, but since his screen time is so reduced, they seem to make up the bulk of his dialog. It's not surprising then, I guess, that his interactions with Sam and the rest of the team would suffer.

NC

I've also liked how Sam is allowing herself to have a sense of humor.

Jack initially was not very funny at all - he had his funny moments, but he was still dealing with the emotional issues that resulted from the death of his son. (I'm sure glad they dealt with that and allowed him to move on early on...)

Now, Sam on the other hand, I mean just look at the first few episodes. She seemed uncomfortable - off and on all the way through Hathor - because she was "the girl" in a boys club. There was that funny moment in Hathor when she clubbed General Hammond on the head and said something like, "Oh yeah, I'm going to be courtmartialed." In fact, I think Hathor was her watershed moment, when she truly felt a part of the team and felt comfortable in her own skin.

Then more and more, little by little as the seasons past, we've seen Sam's personality develop - and while she's not quite as funny as Jack (I mean, come on, we're talking about Jack here), she still has a very good sense of humor. Know what I mean?

"Yeahsureyoubetcha!"

[MajorSam]

A girl goes off for a few hours, and look what happens, TWO whole new pages!!! with BRILLiANT comments!!!! Once again everyone's basically said what I want to say...

I'm sorry if I repeat anything here, but here's my take on some things:

I love Sam. I always have, I always will, she’s a huge part of what’s made me who I am today. I personally really love everything that’s been happening with her in the past while. The problem is, a whole lotta people don’t.

The writers are taking Sam places they aren’t with any of the other characters. Because of this, when “relationship” for example, type things are done, no one really makes a big thing because, well, it’s them. With Sam, however, and the continual arc’s she’s had going, people snap. It’s got to the point where no matter what really happens now, they will find a reason to bash her.

Why is this so? Well, we have an amazingly strong unique brilliant individual, who has been portrayed as such for years. She was a good person as well, having fun with her team, joking around. However, there was some still some very hard emotional events. Her father having cancer, being blended with Selmak. Having the memory thing in The Devil You Know, having to live through her mother’s death, and the repercussions, for a second time. Being blended with Jolinar, tortured, then having Jolinar sacrifice herself for Sam, leaving her with memories, and feelings. The person these feelings were for died. Her ex-fiance died. Orlin and Narim died. She got killed a few times, got taken over by an alien entity. Almost destroyed a whole planet. Had to use an alien device she does NOT like to kill someone, reaching into a place she’s never been. (Seth)

We never really really saw how this affected her. It was always “Hey, it’s Sg-1, they can do anything, survive anything”

Then we had her stuck on a ship alone with a massive head bang, seriously evaluating her take on the relationship with Jack. Jack, what a topic! Forced to admit she has feelings for her CO, and finding out they’re reciprocated, but knowing nothing could ever happen. Seeing him almost die, having to ask him to do what she knows he hates with his whole being. Maybe she was too scared to lose him. Do we ever find out if she felt guilt, or anything? Not really. People started there, I think, with some Sam hating, claiming she was selfish to ask Jack such a thing. I think she was scared of her own feelings. Death type situations can bring out the feelings one thought they had hidden away.

Season 7, in the midst of a massive battle, the man she loves is shot down, and her best friend dies, although she doesn’t know it at the time. When she sees Jack go down, she goes to check on him. People start screaming right there that her character was destroyed. I ask, why, how, what? I doubt there are many military experts here, so I don’t think exactly people can start preaching about what her post was, her rules, conduct in the field, situational actions. If the bashers are indeed military experts, and say it was wrong, well, then she made a mistake, yes. I’d like to see you the bashers would react in such a situation.

After Grace, there’s Pete. Ooooh Pete. There are people who say she’s just a stupid person who wants to get laid. Boy does that make my blood boil. Once again, her best friend just died, she’s been trapped on a ship alone having to face her feelings, evaluate the other aspects of life. After all, people have emotions, wants, needs. She goes back home, eventually gets a boyfriend. People do that. Was she betraying Jack? I don’t think so. I think she was more betraying herself. She wanted to move on, convince herself that she doesn’t have feelings for him anymore, because she know nothing can happen, and that has got to be harsh.

He “stalks” her, bla bla bla, yet she still accepts his proposal. It’s amazing what people can do when they convince themselves that it’s the right thing to do. I don’t like the acceptance at all. I thought that Sam would be stronger to herself, realize it wasn’t right, etc. Then she started kissing him right at the workplace. Amanda herself strongly didn’t want that. Yet TPTB continued. I think it’s right for people to be mad about that, but not at Sam! She’s been the victim of crazy PTB who think… I don’t even know WHAT they think! I don’t really understand how people could harbour such…rage, against Sam!!!

RepliCarter. A being with all the memories and feelings of Sam, but molded from “birth” to something completely else. Evil, smart, cunning, advanced, cold. She manipulates Sam to the point of it almost being an art. She knows EXACTLY how Sam will react in different situations. Sam was forced to either trust RepliCarter, or risk Earth. Hm, hard decision there. The bashers of course JUMP on all of this professing their beliefs of her stupidity and massive slipping up. Yeah she screwed up, but her character isn’t destroyed. She’s had to keep all the things I mentioned bottled up inside her, not letting it affect here. But then comes RepliCarter, forced, or so it seems, to do things that reside usually only in Sam’s nightmares. It was like a harsh slap in the face. A whole different her, like an Alternate Reality, what she could be if certain things happened to her. I think she was afraid of this side of herself. I know I sure as heck would be!!!

SPOILERS RECKONING, THREADS, MOEBIUS (I hope it’s ok for all of you… have some important points in here!)

Spoiler:

Once again faced with the task of saving the Galaxy. Can you say PRESSURE much!?!?!? After all these years, everyone expects her to pull something brilliant out of her butt *head, I meant head* She has amazing expectations to live up to, but, we’re now seeing how she’s changed. She succeeds in saving the Galaxy, albeit with help from Jacob/Selmak and Ba’al. Then the marriage fears start. We see how AMAZINGLY uncomfortable with it she is. She knows now that it’s wrong, but has to force herself to try and fix it. She goes to Jack, an incredibly strong thing for her to do, imo, about to finally tell him how she feels, only to see that he’s with someone else. That has GOT to be harsh, once again. Then what happens? Her dad dies. In his last while, he tells her to just make sure she’s happy, to “not let rules stop her from getting what she wants, she can still have everything” Who’s there for her when he dies? Jack. She knows what’s right, so she breaks it off with Pete, as she should. People JUMP once again at this, claiming she was horrible, expecting Pete to cry and beg for her. I have no idea where this is coming from. I thought she was incredibly brave for doing what she knew was right to herself. She’s never really done that.

I read at another forum some people’s opinions on Moebius. There are some who hate Sam, but liked Geek!Sam, surprisingly enough to them. However, when Moeby two came along, they were disgusted. They claimed, (NOOO idea where this came from) that she was a horrible slut who picked the first guy she saw so she could get laid. Yup. The bashers, because of this display of slutness, now have sworn to themselves to never EVER like ANY version of Sam EVER again.

I reaaally dislike when people close their minds to everything. Once that happens, whatever happens that bugs them, well it’s their own fault.

How I see things is that throughout the show, we’ve got the big brawn guys getting physically tortured, but with Sam, they decided to go the emotional route. While I completely love it, as I like seeing EVERY side of Sam, the moment they singled her out for continuous things they DON’T do with the other people, they dug themselves a hole. The fact that she’s female, and a lot of the problems are with relationships, added to the ‘problem” people are used to the crazy sobbing females who pour their hearts out to everyone. They’ve maybe never seen a strong amazing woman have to deal with these things, so they’re not used to the radically different way she deals with it.

Maybe some people are actually intimidated by it. The strong independent soldier/scientist, actually starting to face what’s happened to her in the past 8 years. They were safe when she was normal, and fun. Now that we’re seeing her out of her comfort zone, the watchers are forced out of theirs. Most people are afraid of change, so they take Sam’s changes as horrible, and put all the blame on her. Maybe they’re actually angry that their being forced to confront some of their ideas on how people deal with the crap life throws them.

WOW that was a long post… sorry if I sounded mean at any parts, or offended anyone… Sorta started writing, and some ideas took off!!! I have a lot more thoughts, but will save them for later. I have to get to sleep soon anyways! Bah.

Well, one last comment, Amanda has done BRILLIANT throughout all these years, handling herself with an amazing self-control. She's fiercely protective of Sam, i'm not sure I would have been able to hold out, and still bring such fantastic work if my character was doing things I reaaally didn't like.

[Agent_Dark]

The longer the posts the better Madame President! Great read

[Uber]

A girl goes off for a few hours, and look what happens, TWO whole new pages!!! with BRILLiANT comments!!!! Once again everyone's basically said what I want to say...

I'm sorry if I repeat anything here, but here's my take on some things:

I love Sam. I always have, I always will, she’s a huge part of what’s made me who I am today. I personally really love everything that’s been happening with her in the past while. The problem is, a whole lotta people don’t.

The writers are taking Sam places they aren’t with any of the other characters. Because of this, when “relationship” for example, type things are done, no one really makes a big thing because, well, it’s them. With Sam, however, and the continual arc’s she’s had going, people snap. It’s got to the point where no matter what really happens now, they will find a reason to bash her.

Why is this so? Well, we have an amazingly strong unique brilliant individual, who has been portrayed as such for years. She was a good person as well, having fun with her team, joking around. However, there was some still some very hard emotional events. Her father having cancer, being blended with Selmak. Having the memory thing in The Devil You Know, having to live through her mother’s death, and the repercussions, for a second time. Being blended with Jolinar, tortured, then having Jolinar sacrifice herself for Sam, leaving her with memories, and feelings. The person these feelings were for died. Her ex-fiance died. Orlin and Narim died. She got killed a few times, got taken over by an alien entity. Almost destroyed a whole planet. Had to use an alien device she does NOT like to kill someone, reaching into a place she’s never been. (Seth)

We never really really saw how this affected her. It was always “Hey, it’s Sg-1, they can do anything, survive anything”

Then we had her stuck on a ship alone with a massive head bang, seriously evaluating her take on the relationship with Jack. Jack, what a topic! Forced to admit she has feelings for her CO, and finding out they’re reciprocated, but knowing nothing could ever happen. Seeing him almost die, having to ask him to do what she knows he hates with his whole being. Maybe she was too scared to lose him. Do we ever find out if she felt guilt, or anything? Not really. People started there, I think, with some Sam hating, claiming she was selfish to ask Jack such a thing. I think she was scared of her own feelings. Death type situations can bring out the feelings one thought they had hidden away.

Season 7, in the midst of a massive battle, the man she loves is shot down, and her best friend dies, although she doesn’t know it at the time. When she sees Jack go down, she goes to check on him. People start screaming right there that her character was destroyed. I ask, why, how, what? I doubt there are many military experts here, so I don’t think exactly people can start preaching about what her post was, her rules, conduct in the field, situational actions. If the bashers are indeed military experts, and say it was wrong, well, then she made a mistake, yes. I’d like to see you the bashers would react in such a situation.

After Grace, there’s Pete. Ooooh Pete. There are people who say she’s just a stupid person who wants to get laid. Boy does that make my blood boil. Once again, her best friend just died, she’s been trapped on a ship alone having to face her feelings, evaluate the other aspects of life. After all, people have emotions, wants, needs. She goes back home, eventually gets a boyfriend. People do that. Was she betraying Jack? I don’t think so. I think she was more betraying herself. She wanted to move on, convince herself that she doesn’t have feelings for him anymore, because she know nothing can happen, and that has got to be harsh.

He “stalks” her, bla bla bla, yet she still accepts his proposal. It’s amazing what people can do when they convince themselves that it’s the right thing to do. I don’t like the acceptance at all. I thought that Sam would be stronger to herself, realize it wasn’t right, etc. Then she started kissing him right at the workplace. Amanda herself strongly didn’t want that. Yet TPTB continued. I think it’s right for people to be mad about that, but not at Sam! She’s been the victim of crazy PTB who think… I don’t even know WHAT they think! I don’t really understand how people could harbour such…rage, against Sam!!!

RepliCarter. A being with all the memories and feelings of Sam, but molded from “birth” to something completely else. Evil, smart, cunning, advanced, cold. She manipulates Sam to the point of it almost being an art. She knows EXACTLY how Sam will react in different situations. Sam was forced to either trust RepliCarter, or risk Earth. Hm, hard decision there. The bashers of course JUMP on all of this professing their beliefs of her stupidity and massive slipping up. Yeah she screwed up, but her character isn’t destroyed. She’s had to keep all the things I mentioned bottled up inside her, not letting it affect here. But then comes RepliCarter, forced, or so it seems, to do things that reside usually only in Sam’s nightmares. It was like a harsh slap in the face. A whole different her, like an Alternate Reality, what she could be if certain things happened to her. I think she was afraid of this side of herself. I know I sure as heck would be!!!

SPOILERS RECKONING, THREADS, MOEBIUS (I hope it’s ok for all of you… have some important points in here!)

Spoiler:

Once again faced with the task of saving the Galaxy. Can you say PRESSURE much!?!?!? After all these years, everyone expects her to pull something brilliant out of her butt *head, I meant head* She has amazing expectations to live up to, but, we’re now seeing how she’s changed. She succeeds in saving the Galaxy, albeit with help from Jacob/Selmak and Ba’al. Then the marriage fears start. We see how AMAZINGLY uncomfortable with it she is. She knows now that it’s wrong, but has to force herself to try and fix it. She goes to Jack, an incredibly strong thing for her to do, imo, about to finally tell him how she feels, only to see that he’s with someone else. That has GOT to be harsh, once again. Then what happens? Her dad dies. In his last while, he tells her to just make sure she’s happy, to “not let rules stop her from getting what she wants, she can still have everything” Who’s there for her when he dies? Jack. She knows what’s right, so she breaks it off with Pete, as she should. People JUMP once again at this, claiming she was horrible, expecting Pete to cry and beg for her. I have no idea where this is coming from. I thought she was incredibly brave for doing what she knew was right to herself. She’s never really done that.

I read at another forum some people’s opinions on Moebius. There are some who hate Sam, but liked Geek!Sam, surprisingly enough to them. However, when Moeby two came along, they were disgusted. They claimed, (NOOO idea where this came from) that she was a horrible slut who picked the first guy she saw so she could get laid. Yup. The bashers, because of this display of slutness, now have sworn to themselves to never EVER like ANY version of Sam EVER again.

I reaaally dislike when people close their minds to everything. Once that happens, whatever happens that bugs them, well it’s their own fault.

How I see things is that throughout the show, we’ve got the big brawn guys getting physically tortured, but with Sam, they decided to go the emotional route. While I completely love it, as I like seeing EVERY side of Sam, the moment they singled her out for continuous things they DON’T do with the other people, they dug themselves a hole. The fact that she’s female, and a lot of the problems are with relationships, added to the ‘problem” people are used to the crazy sobbing females who pour their hearts out to everyone. They’ve maybe never seen a strong amazing woman have to deal with these things, so they’re not used to the radically different way she deals with it.

Maybe some people are actually intimidated by it. The strong independent soldier/scientist, actually starting to face what’s happened to her in the past 8 years. They were safe when she was normal, and fun. Now that we’re seeing her out of her comfort zone, the watchers are forced out of theirs. Most people are afraid of change, so they take Sam’s changes as horrible, and put all the blame on her. Maybe they’re actually angry that their being forced to confront some of their ideas on how people deal with the crap life throws them.

WOW that was a long post… sorry if I sounded mean at any parts, or offended anyone… Sorta started writing, and some ideas took off!!! I have a lot more thoughts, but will save them for later. I have to get to sleep soon anyways! Bah.

Well, one last comment, Amanda has done BRILLIANT throughout all these years, handling herself with an amazing self-control. She's fiercely protective of Sam, i'm not sure I would have been able to hold out, and still bring such fantastic work if my character was doing things I reaaally didn't like.

*Speechless*
Consider this a standing O.

This is EXACTLY how I feel and I'm tired of the Sam bashers too.

Hey, I'd like to see what THEY'D do if a Tok'ra took them as a host, or if THEY were forced to relive some of the most painful memories of their lives or if THEY had to make a choice between personal fulfillment and duty, etc.

[THE BIG UNIT]

MajorSam, that is exactly how i feel, thankyou for reading my mind, Great post.
I too also wish the sam bashing would stop. Whenever i read bad things about sam i automatically come here to this thread.

God i love this Thread

[Agent_Dark]

MajorSam, that is exactly how i feel, thankyou for reading my mind, Great post.
I too also wish the sam bashing would stop. Whenever i read bad things about sam i automatically come here to this thread.

God i love this Thread

Hey a fellow Aussie! Welcome! (if you havn't already been here before, in that case welcome back! )

[ForeverSg1]

How Jack was being written in these same scenes played an important factor too.
He seemed to cut her off in some (Lost City) and remain remote and unreadable
in others (Affinity). I don't think this dance did either of their characters
any good.

It’s funny how different perceptions see different things in the same scene. I guess being a RDA fan before I started watching Stargate may have given me a different perspective on the Sam/Jack relationship. Because for many years, I felt it was Jack who was wearing his heart on his sleeve and Sam not returning the feelings. I saw him constantly reach out to her to create some sort of relationship more than strictly CO/2IC and her push him away in some form or another. I did not think less of her because of this, I felt she was protecting herself emotionally as well as professionally as any fraternization between them could end with a court martial.

Paradise Lost, when Sam cries in the women's locker room;

Heroes, when Jack is hit by a staff blast, and in Lost City, when she starts to say that even if they save the world, she doesn't think it's worth the price of his life,

and then again at the end of Lost City, when she speaks to him as he lies

unconscious in the Ancient control chair, and then when she lays her hand on the ice at the end of the scene.

ITLOD(2.02)

When Sam nearly dies with Jolinar, Jack stays with her in the infirmary and
in one scene he appears to be wiping away a tear. When there is a
emergency in the Gate room, he sends Teal'c to handle it and he stays
by Sam's side.


Nemesis(3.22)

O'NEILL
Well. If playing with your little reactor sounds better than exploring the lakes and
natural beauty of Minnesota, there's not much I can do.
CARTER
Was that an invitation…sir?
O'NEILL
Nothing wrong with that is there? A couple of coworkers, friends if you will,
fishing. It'd be fun.
CARTER Wow. I appreciate the offer, sir. Really. Sounds great…but I should…

O'NEILL No sweat. Se you in a week and by all means, have fun.


D&C - It was Jack’s confession we saw, not Sam’s. We saw him say he would
rather die than leave Carter, but we never really saw what Sam said.


The Curse(4.14)

O'NEILL
Carter! You finally ready to take me up on that fishing trip?

CARTER
Er…actually, Sir, I have a few projects on the go.

O'NEILL
Come on. Are you really trying to tell me you'd rather work in a dark, dank, dismal underground than sit on a dock with your feet perched up, sippin' a cold one, and casting for that ever elusive…crappie?

CARTER
Strange as it may sound, Sir, yes. Have a good time.

O'NEILL
To each his own! Her! I meant her…I think. So, Teal'c! This'll be great! Just you and me. What do you say? Come on! The Loons! Don't forget the loons



Beneath (4.10)
the Surface:
At the end of the episode when they have begun to remember who
they are and Sam calls Jack 'sir'... Jack looked like his heart had
just been broken.


Entity (4.20)
After Janet tells Jack that Sam had a living will, he refuses to let her go
by asking Janet to give it a minute.

Grace(7.13)
Although Jack didn’t cry in this episode, it was very apparent that he
was experiencing the same type of despair at not being able to help
Sam as Sam did in Paradise Lost( Teal’c even remarks about it .)


At the end, in the infirmary:

O'NEILL: Hey.
CARTER: Jack?

O'NEILL: Excuse me?

CARTER: (trying to focus) Sorry, Sir.
I don’t think Jack was trying to be rude when he asked ‘excuse me?’ I think more than anything he was surprised to hear her call him Jack especially on base.
Even after seven years of knowing one another, in her own imagination Sam still
calls Jack ‘sir’,


O'NEILL
You just gonna sit there?

CARTER
Too tired, Sir.

[O'Neill walks into the room, and sits opposite her, on the floor.]

O'NEILL
Samantha, I'm a figment of your imagination, you're gonna call me Sir?

CARTER
Old habits, sorry.


[quote=Chocdoc]
Jack seemed definitely more relaxed around her in the first four seasons. Actually, he seemed more friendly with Daniel as well in the earlier seasons. On the other hand, his expression of friendship with Teal'c seems to have grown over the last two seasons
[/quote]


In my own personal opinion all the relationships seem to have been strained during season five. Sam/Jack, Jack/Daniel, Sam/Daniel. Teal'c is the only one who hasn't allowed his emotions to get in the way with his loyalties and friendships. I think Sam/Daniels relationship was strained after Daniel decended. I always found it very odd that Daniel spoke with both Jack and Teal'c while ascended but not Sam. But I have read that their was actually a written scene where Daniel visited Sam but it was eventually cut which I believe is often the case when there things to be pieces missing from an episode.


I also believe Teal'c and Sam's relationship has become much closer over the past few seasons as well. Again I think this mainly due to Teal'c not allowing his friends insecurities to push him away.


Please do not misunderstand me, I am in no way putting blame on Sam.
However, I do believe that for nearly five years of eight, Jack was the one who
tried to reach out to Sam and I think although he comes across as uncaring at times
it’s more a protective barrier he’s now put up to prevent himself from further hurt.
He has never stopped caring for Sam, even though she's been seeing Pete for a year.
And to my knowledge Kerry is the first person he's dated or been with since Edora.

ForeverSG1

[Skydiver]

MajorSam, that is exactly how i feel, thankyou for reading my mind, Great post.
I too also wish the sam bashing would stop. Whenever i read bad things about sam i automatically come here to this thread.

God i love this Thread

there are literally whole sites, forums and authors i won't read anymore because they do nothing but bash sam and i'm sick of it.

they can say what they want to say....i just won't read it

[Skydiver]

i think one reason they've focused on sam's personal life instaed of the others is several fold

first of all, with limited rda, many fans would see 'wasting' his precious time on showing him and someone else having a date and, well the jackfans are most passionate about thier feelings

now daniel....well he doesn't have a personal life. shau'ri was killed - after being snaked- kira was the destroyer of worlds adn a psychotic murderer, shyla drugged/tricked him into being with her, sarah, well we have that pesky snake issue again and while they did recover her they lost thier chance to have him in a relationship when TPTB chose not to bring sarah back

teal'c...umm, well we have ishta but since so many of the writers dont' like to write teal'c, everytime we have a teal'c eps we end up with more rebellion stuff...or things like affinity which, well it was just so odd to see teal'c all pimped out, he was rather out of character

but amanda...well she's the only one of the cast that has a family, a brother and father and niece and nephew (there has never been a mention of any of the others having any family)
and she's a danged good actress adn able to pull off the 'sappy personal stuff'

and writing sam's relationship also served the purpose of freeing the writers from having to deal with 'sam in command'

I like that we got to see her personal life, ther are just times when i wish it wasn't the sole focus of an episode. IMHO, for all her fear of being seen as 'jack's girl' the stuff with pete did exactly the same thing....just with a different twist

[ForeverSg1]

i think one reason they've focused on sam's personal life instaed of the others is several fold

first of all, with limited rda, many fans would see 'wasting' his precious time on showing him and someone else having a date and, well the jackfans are most passionate about thier feelings

now daniel....well he doesn't have a personal life. shau'ri was killed - after being snaked- kira was the destroyer of worlds adn a psychotic murderer, shyla drugged/tricked him into being with her, sarah, well we have that pesky snake issue again and while they did recover her they lost thier chance to have him in a relationship when TPTB chose not to bring sarah back

teal'c...umm, well we have ishta but since so many of the writers dont' like to write teal'c, everytime we have a teal'c eps we end up with more rebellion stuff...or things like affinity which, well it was just so odd to see teal'c all pimped out, he was rather out of character

but amanda...well she's the only one of the cast that has a family, a brother and father and niece and nephew (there has never been a mention of any of the others having any family)
and she's a danged good actress adn able to pull off the 'sappy personal stuff'

and writing sam's relationship also served the purpose of freeing the writers from having to deal with 'sam in command'

I like that we got to see her personal life, ther are just times when i wish it wasn't the sole focus of an episode. IMHO, for all her fear of being seen as 'jack's girl' the stuff with pete did exactly the same thing....just with a different twist

I agree with you completely. I think another reason the writers put so much emphasis on Carter's personal life is due largely because of Amanda: her acting strengths and by request. In several interviews I read with Amanda, she stated that in season six Sam was used as a filler. If you needed a question answered, you went to Sam. If you needed to have something fixed, you went to Sam; but Sam had no personal growth in season six.

Suddenly in season seven, money became more of an issue and RDA's new work schedule became much more limiting which required shooting schedules to completely change. Instead of filming one episode in a few weeks time. They were suddenly filming two or three different episodes a day with some episodes like Grace shooting over a period of months.

Personal relationship episodes are simply much more economical to film than battle scenes, therefore more of them were added to the schedule and I think because Amanda is so amazing at what she does the writers knew she could handle anything they threw at her, and in most cases she would get it done in one or two takes which again cut down production costs.

What I was most intrigued about was the fact that I considered Death Knell to be a predominately Carter episode. Her struggles to survive alone without her team to help. But until I listened to an interview, I didn't realize that Amanda had tapped all of her scenes alone, off-site, over a period of like three days. While the other cast members were tapping Death Knell, AT was on another set filming Grace. In fact, the infirmary scenes for both Death Knell and Grace had been filmed on the same day.

I for one was extremely happy to see so much of Sam in seasons seven and eight. I have not always been happy in the quality of storylines that have enveloped around Sam but I would much rather see Sam try and strike out at something than have her character become an unchanging and predictable backdrop used to enhance other storylines.

I'm really hoping with a more relaxed shooting schedule in season nine that will finally get back to more team episodes where Sam can finally start showing her commanding strengths. I love episodes where she is kicking the snot out of someone and want to see more of them, but I know for me personally I loved storylines like Ascension not for the storyline but simple because it allowed us for the first time to see Sam outside of a work environment. To see a personal side of Sam and watch her react to life without having her teams surrounding her. With the right storyline, Sam's has the potential to do some amazing things, I just hope we see that type of writing this season and not back to season 6 where Sam is just a filler.

ForeverSG1

[Skydiver]

my season 9 fantasy would be to have sam and teal'c trapped somewhere, maybe with teal'c nicely incapicitated, and see some real bonding between the two of them. I'd love to see super warrior teal'c having to depend on a woman to cover his tushie (and what a fine tushie it is )

it may sound like a fanfic cliche, and in some ways it is, but i would love to see the two of them off on their own adventure.

[ForeverSg1]

my season 9 fantasy would be to have sam and teal'c trapped somewhere, maybe with teal'c nicely incapicitated, and see some real bonding between the two of them. I'd love to see super warrior teal'c having to depend on a woman to cover his tushie (and what a fine tushie it is )

it may sound like a fanfic cliche, and in some ways it is, but i would love to see the two of them off on their own adventure.

I second that request... I think a Teal'c/Sam storyline is definitely something that is a long time in the waiting. Since Daniel ascended and Janet's death, I have really seen a much closer bond between Teal'c and Sam's. As if he had quietly become her new confidant, a guardian of sorts. It would be nice to see their relationship become even stronger where Teal'c had to rely on Sam's strengths. I don't think Teal'c has ever taken Sam's contributions to SG1 for granted. There is a mutual respect between them as warriors and having Teal'c rely on Sam to survive would only deepen that bond.

[ChopinGal]

my season 9 fantasy would be to have sam and teal'c trapped somewhere, maybe with teal'c nicely incapicitated, and see some real bonding between the two of them. I'd love to see super warrior teal'c having to depend on a woman to cover his tushie (and what a fine tushie it is )

it may sound like a fanfic cliche, and in some ways it is, but i would love to see the two of them off on their own adventure.

That would be a way of having Teal'c grow and evolve ... good premise. A reversal of roles would also allow Sam to take charge and be the strong warrior once again.

I like your fantasy!

[astrogeologist]

How I see things is that throughout the show, we’ve got the big brawn guys getting physically tortured, but with Sam, they decided to go the emotional route. While I completely love it, as I like seeing EVERY side of Sam, the moment they singled her out for continuous things they DON’T do with the other people, they dug themselves a hole. The fact that she’s female, and a lot of the problems are with relationships, added to the ‘problem” people are used to the crazy sobbing females who pour their hearts out to everyone. They’ve maybe never seen a strong amazing woman have to deal with these things, so they’re not used to the radically different way she deals with it.

Fantastic exposition, Major Sam! I too believe that most of the 'problems' started when they singled her out for continuous things they don't do with the other lead characters. If they had balanced things out and spead the personal emotional struggles and traumas out between the four main characters then we'd be looking at a totally different fan reaction to the last couple of seasons - don't know if it would be good or bad, just that it wouldn't be so focussed on Sam-bashing!
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