Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[ShimmeringStar]

here's a question - is it impossible to make the majority of the fans happy?

with a long running show, i think it not only becomes harder to do, but almost impossible.

and with this season, we're not only dealing with fans of team, sam, teal'c, jack, and daniel; we now have to add in mitchell, landry, vala, and lam fans.

no matter how many arguments i read and ponder, i keep thinking that if they'd went this way or that, we'd *still* be upset about something. maybe our expectations have just become too big over time?

i mean, really, try giving an idea of how they could have handled this or that. there would still be some fan group that would feel slighted.

as of right now, sam fans, s/j shippers, daniel fans, mitchell fans, vala fans, jack fans... the list goes on of how many fan groups are feeling a bit disgruntled right now.

The first answer that pops into my mind is… Probably (is impossible to please the majority).

We all come to the show with such different points of view that they won’t be able to please everyone at any time, let alone all of the time. There might be overriding story themes or characters that we all like to varying degrees and those shared feelings give us a way to connect as fans and as people, but happiness can be so subjective and fickle...

That’s why if TPTB have an artistic vision, they need to stick with it (or go back to it! ), MGM/Sony & SciFi’s meddling be damned. (And yes, I do realize the financial ramifications of saying that… No support=no money=no production=no show…) But back to the vision thing - so what if some fans (maybe even me) drop out because we disagree with their vision? If the ‘product’ has quality stories, chemistry amongst the ensemble cast, and good visuals, that’s what should be important (to them). Sharing the story they want to share in the manner they want to. Not pleasing all of the fans. Not pleasing all of MGM/Sony bigwigs…

At least that’s my POV this morning….

Right now I’m reading Nancy Cartwright’s book “My Life As a 10-Year-Old Boy” ©2000 (Nancy = the voice of Bart Simpson). *grins* Not that that is earth-shattering news… But… what is interesting is the chapter that I read yesterday that dealt with the changing of the writers/producers/etc. on the show. By 2000 when she wrote the book, The Simpsons had already had 5 different sets of writers and about an equal number of showrunners… Imagine if that had been SG… I’m not sure we’d have had a fandom to come on-line to myself!

Here’s some of her comments (and remember this was 5 years ago after the show had already been on the air for 10…):

• “It has been fascinating to see the show change and grow, and these guys had a lot to do with it. The tone, the stories, the style of the various seasons pretty much rise and fall on the influence of the show runner.” Amen. After getting the SG DVD’s through S7 and reading things on here & watching S8 & S9… I can see rising and falling and how the changes affect SG…
• The first time there was turnover in their writing staff she said “there was genuine concern as to whether or not this was going to work.” (read: Oh yeah, believe it, the actors have concerns, but they’ll keep plugging away at it hoping the ship bow rises back up and we the fans won't be any wiser about it…)
• She also talked about how the writers had to strike a balance between the characters (not too many Bart stories, not too many Homer stories, etc.) so that no one character dominated the show. At that point they’d already done 250+ episodes. She asked a co-ex producer (Ron Hague) how they kept coming up with story ideas and he told her “There absolutely aren’t any more ideas.” But he followed up that comment by telling her they still managed to pull it off.
• The other difference was that Fox and Gracie Productions gave them a lot of leeway in doing things how they wanted. (read: no stifling of creativity there…)

I just thought I’d share because it was interesting, even though it was talking about an animated TV series, how many parallels there were in the production of that show w/SG. I just hope SG would weather the changes like the Simpsons did. But not having a Jim B orMatt G, or as supportive a network, I don’t know…

[ChopinGal]

Quick synopsis...There no mention of Sam and Jack, other than the stuff we've heard thousands of times. Couple of quotes in regards to the Mitchell/Carter command thing.

She talks briefly about her appearance on SG:A and that she'd love to direct again.

Cutest thing from the interview? She was conducting it by phone and Olivia was in her lap chewing on the phone cord!

Thanks, CS ... can't green-jello you this morning!

I'm so glad that she got in Rob's face about the leading thing - she was teasing and funny but I'm sure she got her point across. Go Amanda!

And Olivia on her lap chewing at the phone cord is just precious ...

[ChopinGal]

Oh my! Royal Ambassador at Large? I'm honored...although I've never really liked the "at large" part. LOL I'll live with it though.

My Dear Ambassador

Think of your influence, not your girth, as the "at Large" part of your title.

You seem to travel through many realms (read that: threads) and the fuller title gives you more jurisdiction abroad ... cough, once again, nothing personal ....

Respectfully yours,

Jester

[ChopinGal]

Courtesy of free-stock-photos.com

"Yeah, I hear that Samanda's going to the birds ... and we haven't even been invited!"

[chocdoc]

Congrats to all the Samandans winners : Astro, Über and Sky !

This is great news!! Congrats to all of you!!!



And Happy Belated Birthday, Crazedturkey!

[Qasim]

Cutest thing from the interview? She was conducting it by phone and Olivia was in her lap chewing on the phone cord!

Looks like Olivia has something in common with my cousin

[chocdoc]

Quick synopsis...There no mention of Sam and Jack, other than the stuff we've heard thousands of times. Couple of quotes in regards to the Mitchell/Carter command thing:





She talks briefly about her appearance on SG:A and that she'd love to direct again.

Cutest thing from the interview? She was conducting it by phone and Olivia was in her lap chewing on the phone cord!

Thanks for posting this, ChevronSeven.

I am having a difficult time knowing how to react to these quotes on the Carter/Mitchell leadership thing! It sounds there is a co-leadership thing going on---at least the actors think so. But, then on the other hand, AT states that Mitchell is the leader. But then, yet on another hand, AT points out to RCC that she should follow through as leader on a particular mission---did she have to remind him of how it should play out? Does it sound like AT has to fight for this leadership thing, not with BB, but with the writers? Does it sound like the writers/producers really don't know what they want or what they are doing?

This whole leadership thing continues to be bizarre.

[ChopinGal]

Dear Citizens of Samanda

It has come to my attention that there is something afowl going on in our fair kingdom. Some amongst you have gone on a wild-goose chase in search of the royal bird. Your cagey behaviour has not gone unnoticed. Be aware that you must obtain an official permit to continue your efforts.

Prey tell ... the Court does not wish to hinder your mission, far be it to warble a swansong about this whole thing. Just the opposite. The Royal Elders approve of such diversity of opinion. As long as you bring original suggestions to the table and not emulate each other all shall be fine. The Court wants you to fly free and entertain yourselves with this endeavor. A giggle is worth so much more than a gaggle!

We know that you may be flocking to the Royal Square to present your opinions ... just be mindful that large unruly crowds will not be tolerated. The permit must be in place. Security will maintain a strict presence. Keeping the peace is no lark! Humming will be allowed but public beaking will carry serious consequences. You can chirp all you want about this, but rules are rules.

O stritch your imaginations and, if all else fails, wing it! The more birds considered, the better! We Royal Hens certainly appreciate company. Yes, it's true, at times we may seem a bit peckish, but that's really just a facade. At heart, we are warm and fuzzy and humble enough to eat crow when the occasion arises.

Shouldst you not think me stark raven mad, let me confide that I am trilled that you are about to select a Royal Bird of Samanda. I can nary control my enthusiasm. Feathermore, when the nominations and votes have reached their beak, we can then crown the winner!

Excuse me if I duck all questions for the time being. Perhaps I may wander over to the Square and take a gander ...

Your Humble Servant,

Jester

[Qasim]

emulate

Do you mean Emu-late?

[ChopinGal]

Do you mean Emu-late?

My intention all along, dear AA ... didn't think the hyphen was needed!

When you read Jester, read between the lines.

[Qasim]

Some AOL icons here - http://www.originalicons.com/Icons/T...ate%20SG1.html

[ChopinGal]

A very big weekend of celebration
Fame has come to Samanda Nation

2005 Stargate Awards have been selected
Astrogeologist (Keeper of the Flame)
Denise (Skydiver, Census Taker)
Uber (umlauted and now umlauded Videographer/Pain in the Mikta)
Are the Royal Elected!

Champagne and Roses go to the winners!
They've shown the best of Sam in writing and pictures!




Alas, Strix varia (Queen's Bodyguard) and Chopin Gal (Court Jester) did not win
So they'll have to settle for Royal Accountant's sloe gin!

[Qasim]

Sophisticated

[binkpmmc]

Quick synopsis...There no mention of Sam and Jack, other than the stuff we've heard thousands of times. Couple of quotes in regards to the Mitchell/Carter command thing:





She talks briefly about her appearance on SG:A and that she'd love to direct again.

Cutest thing from the interview? She was conducting it by phone and Olivia was in her lap chewing on the phone cord!

The thing with the phone is adorable and thanks very much for sharing this info on the interview.

On the command thing this is how I read it - we now have an integral member of the cast (in fact it is one of the ones this issue affects directly so she should know), as well as a writer and prodcuer, Joe Mallozzi, who have confirmed the co-leadership angle. We have confirmation that Carter WILL be leading and I would like to know if there was anything that indicated which ep she specifically references so we can all pay close attention to how this works out?

This quote indicates to me that there is indeed co-leadership going on:

"[Mitchell] has a very different way of leading than I do. So we each play on our own strengths, and that's I think what makes the team as cohesive as it is."

She is clearly saying, IMO, that they each have their moments to lead but it is different style and that because of it the team is better for it in S9.

On the rest of it where she goes into the description of what she read and when she went to Cooper, I have to say I hope this is an early ep from part 2 of S9 because then it would make more sense. There really were only 3 eps in part 1 of the season that she was fully back for that had them as a team, even though they were sepaarted a majority of the time, and there really was no clear indication of who was in charge -- except for that lame "This is SG1 leader" line which made me laugh because TPTB seem to have felt they needed to put that in there because they were so afraid people would not get or accept Mitchell as leader - well they were right, and a huge portion of the fans still don't get it or accept it, even if it is shared command, because, as had been said a hundred times, talk is cheap, just because Mitchell says it does not make it so, at least not for me, if what we are shown is almost the complete opposite of that.

Anyway, back to the point, I have to take this as AT going to RCC pretty early on after she really gets back into the swing and into stories, which she admits herself, took awhile, and challenges him (and good for her I say but it's too bad RCC is such a dolt that she even has to do that at all after 9years - he really disgusts me) so that's when they go with the shared command thing and that's when they begin to split up command responsibilities between the 2. The one thing that does bother me is that AT did not challenge them at the beginning of the season when she got back as to why Carter was not in charge but it may be that, in addition to trying to readjust to work, and adjust to having the baby with her, she was too tired to care at the time and she saw those few early scripts, as many of the fans saw them, as non-committal to the leadership issue, especially because Carter did in fact look and act more in command than Mitchell did in any of them.

I am disgusted with RCC, have been for a while now but it has definitely been solidified with this (he was already persona non grata in my book after what AT said about the ending of Affinity). I have to note that he took over as showrunner in S7 and it is since mid Season 7 that many, many more people, from all walks of Stargate SG1, seem to have complaints, criticisms and concerns about the show in general and about specific characters and arcs, etc. Right now, today, I think I would have more hope and more confidence in this show only IF it was announced that RCC was out as showrunner. I know some of the credit goes to skiffy from what we are hearing but it seems skiffy's meddlling really did not start until more recently leaving RCC to take the majority of the responsibility since S7's downhill slide began, IMO, of course.

[ChopinGal]

I have a stupid question?

How many times has this thread turned over?

It hasn't ... we had a big debate as we neared the 8-10,000-page mark but it was decided to let the numbers keep accruing at that time because we felt it showed how popular Sam/AT really was in regards to some of the other larger threads that featured certain main characters. Also, we wanted to "keep handy" the Samanda Archives (see page 442 as main reference site) and the ability to move backwards to certain posts.

That was then, this is now ... comments anyone?