Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Traveler Enroute1]

ok, how about to get us all off the depressing topic of cam/daniel/vala


let's play pretend. pick a moment, any moment in the past 8 years. a t urning moment of an epsidoe, a whole bit...if you could change anything, what would it be?

the ending of red sky? what if sam hadn't been rescued by jack in desp meas? What if Jolinar had lived? What if Cassie hadn't?

what existiing plot twist or moment would you love to see as 'reality' and why?

I always wanted Canaan to survive after he deserted Jack to Ba'al's niceties in Abyss. He slithered off but no one pursued him. And then, if he managed to get a new host and met Jack, and Jack found out, and how much whoop-a$$ can a Tok'ra take?

Strix Varia already did a bang-on job with Sam from Desperate Measures, following the what-if-she-escaped line.

Also consider what a part II would look like if Ba'al had actually captured the pared down SG1 (dang, it's a season 8 ep and recently aired again!). It was the mission where Jack delayed Sam's off world command. Another Abyss? Would Jack have led a rescue mission, jeapordized his career or earth? What aspect would decide whether he went or not? Hmmm.

Just sayin'.

[majorsal]

ok, how about to get us all off the depressing topic of cam/daniel/vala


let's play pretend. pick a moment, any moment in the past 8 years. a t urning moment of an epsidoe, a whole bit...if you could change anything, what would it be?

the ending of red sky? what if sam hadn't been rescued by jack in desp meas? What if Jolinar had lived? What if Cassie hadn't?

what existiing plot twist or moment would you love to see as 'reality' and why?

ooh, great question!

*thinks*


okay, let's take season 5's ascension. let's say that when sam went through the mini stargate after orlin, that when she came back, she faced disciplinary charges. and since sam was already ticked by how everyone treated her... she quit.

what would have happened?

i say that everyone would feel horrible for how they'd treated her. and each one would come to apologize and beg her to return. but would she? i say yes, but... maybe she'd never feel that close bond with them again. or, after a while, it would start coming back. maybe culminating from a mission gone wrong, and how her contributions made her feel wanted, needed, and respected again.

great question, sky, and i hope others give their ideas.



sally

[golfbooy]

ok, how about to get us all off the depressing topic of cam/daniel/vala


let's play pretend. pick a moment, any moment in the past 8 years. a t urning moment of an epsidoe, a whole bit...if you could change anything, what would it be?

the ending of red sky? what if sam hadn't been rescued by jack in desp meas? What if Jolinar had lived? What if Cassie hadn't?

what existiing plot twist or moment would you love to see as 'reality' and why?

Hmm, let's see. Well, I definitely wish that they had let Jack's clone self from Fragile Balance die. The idea of another, younger O'neill out there doesn't enthuse me. Besides, not every thing ends well and the quick fix by Thor seemed unnecessary.

By the same token, I could have done with Charlie from Show and Tell dying too. Yeah, it would have been sad and tough for Jack maybe, but I still think the episode would have had more teeth that way.

And, sticking with season two, I've always thought that Cassandra showing up at the end of 1969 was a bit of a "what's the point" moment. The scene really doesn't add anything and only holds up SG-1's return for a few moments. Besides, illustrating the "future" of the Stargate program that early in the show doesn't strike my fancy, especially given the show's longevity.

In Crossroads, I would not have had Teal'c so blithely elect to leave the Tau'ri and join Shau'nac on Chulak. I know he never actually made it there, but I think it was out of character for him to be so easily convinced of her plan.

Oh, yeah, the Enkarrans would have been toast in my version of Scorched Earth, too. I believe that's how the story was originally written, and the change to a more PG-ending really sucked the drama out of O'neill's, Carter's and Daniel's actions in that one.

I'll cut it off at Season Four for now, maybe I'll run through the next few in a bit.

Ooh, wait, I thought of another. Enigma. It's an enigma to me how anyone can stand this episode. Yeah, it brought us Mayborne, the UAV, and the return of the Nox, but it also brought Narim's creepy infatuation with Sam. Still, that's not my problem. I can accept sci-fi cliches. I can accept the excuse that Sam is hot and, hell, who could resist? What I can't stand about Enigma, and the Tollan by extension, is the crazy, slip-shod writing when it comes to "explaining" Tollan technology. Narim's dismissal of quantum physics as a "misconception" always irked me, especially since The Torment of Tantalus validates our (and the 4 races too, apparently) interpretation of the atom state. And, when Daniel questions Omoc about folding space only to be dismissed as a child, I get angry at his little twig bending spiel for the same reason. Folding space is exactly the concept behind Omoc's little transmission thingy, and the "oh, no, don't think about it that much" part of the episode has always bothered the hell out of me.

[Simhavaktra]

Quick! Someone get me the mind cleansing bleach! I need to clean my mind! That is NOT an image I want in my head. Get it out! Get it out! NOW!

*sally did a bad, bad thing...she left the door to the gutter open... LOL

What???? I think the little banana sticking out of Thor's, um, dare I call it a nose, makes a nice color contrast...

[majorsal]

And, sticking with season two, I've always thought that Cassandra showing up at the end of 1969 was a bit of a "what's the point" moment. The scene really doesn't add anything and only holds up SG-1's return for a few moments. Besides, illustrating the "future" of the Stargate program that early in the show doesn't strike my fancy, especially given the show's longevity.

hey... what if *that* was the season 2 idea they were going to go with? if they did, maybe it wouldn't really have to take place *in* season 2, you know...

i really, really like the idea of them going 'forward' to that point in time (where older cassie really was).


sally

[golfbooy]

Origianlly Posted by majorsal:
i just would prefer that movie that wasn't about the past.

Yeah, I'm with you on this one. I'd prefer a movie that was set in the present timeline of the show, too. That being said, I'm with everyone else here who commented that they're just jonesing for that good old team feeling. So, while I'd prefer a current movie, I'm soo willing to take whatever I can get. If that's a "lost episode" from some other season, then so be it.

[golfbooy]

Originally Posted by majorsal:
hey... what if *that* was the season 2 idea they were going to go with? if they did, maybe it wouldn't really have to take place *in* season 2, you know...

i really, really like the idea of them going 'forward' to that point in time (where older cassie really was).

That could be cool. My only demand is that if they do make a movie set in season 2 (or seasons 1, 3, 4, or 5) is that Apophis be the villain. Apophis just makes Stargate better.

[NearlyCircular]

ChevronSeven already posted some of the Amanda's interview from Stargate SG-1 The Official Magazine, but here's the whole thing. It's too long for one post, so it will be continued in the next post. Apologies for any typos, etc. The colored type were a couple of bits that I was particularly enjoyed.

SAM KIND OF WONDERFUL!

by Tom Reeve

For fans of Lt. Col. Sam Carter, the absence of their favorite gun-toting scientific boffin/female lead is a difficult pill to swallow. Missing from the first five episodes of season nine while Amanda Tapping was on maternity leave, Carter returns in episode six, Beachhead, only to discover that, worse yet, she’s no longer a member of SG-1 – at least not for now.

Stargate SG-1 The Official Magazine caught up with Amanda Tapping between filming scenes of a technically challenging episode for season nine. With her new baby, Olivia, perched on her lap, Tapping talked about motherhood, the changes in the show and the development of her character following a tumultuous season eight.

“Right now we’re working on an episode called Ripple Effect, which is where a bunch of parallel universes converge on the SGC, so there are multiple members of SG-1,” she says. If that sounds complicated, it is. “It’s a bit nutty. We’re actually doing a lot of really cool stuff like motion-control camera work which allows there to be three or four of us each in the scene, but it’s a bit hairy to shoot it.” Not only do they have to shoot each scene three or four times, but it also involves a costume change for each shot. “We were wearing our blacks, our greens, our desert storms – it’s quite funny.”

The fact that Tapping took time off to have a baby can’t be written into the show, for obvious reasons, so the writers came up with a parallel cover story which involved Carter taking time off following the death of Dr. Janet Frasier to look after Cassie, Janet’s adopted daughter.

Nonetheless, the cover story developed by the writers to explain Carter’s absence dovetailed perfectly with the actress’ own experience. “It fits in so well with my personal life,” says Tapping. “Carter left to take care of Cassie. She has taken on a more nurturing role, as did Amanda. She has taken time off to look after this girl, and here I am looking after my girl. So, it’s actually been paralleled quite wonderfully.”

So how is she adapting to motherhood? “It’s fantastic,” she says. “I absolutely love it. Right now, I’m doing this interview and she’s sitting on my lap chewing on the phone cord.” She laughs. “So, if we’re suddenly disconnected…”

Although she has to balance a demanding job as the lead actress on a hit TV show with being a full-time mother, Tapping seems to take it in her stride. “The challenge is in the timing, getting enough chance to breast feed her, and then get to set and then jump off set and breast feed her and make sure she’s changed and happy, and then jump back onto set. And not to hold up set and not leave her wanting.”

And meanwhile there’s a little thing called sleep! “I had such a great pregnancy that I thought, gosh, I can go back to work, no problem at all. And then, of course, the reality sets in. You give birth to this wonderful creature and you realize that it’s 24/7 and you lose tremendous amounts of sleep. And you’re still supposed to function as a fully functional adult in a high stress job – with a baby on hand.”

If it sounds like Tapping is complaining, she hastens to add that she is not, and considers herself to be “incredibly blessed” to be able to work and have her baby on hand at the same time.

As if having a baby weren’t enough to turn your life upside-down, the TV show that Tapping has worked on for the better part of eight years has undergone some exciting changes, sparked by the departure of Stargate SG-1’s leading man, Richard Dean Anderson (aka General Jack O’Neill). Of course, as well as the departure of O’Neill, the show has also recently lost General Hammond and Dr. Janet Fraser.

Three new regular characters and several recurring ones have been introduced to fill the gaps, and a new and even more deadly foe has been introduced following the demise of the Goa’uld.

Has the tone of the show changed with the departure of Richard Dean Anderson and his trademark sense of humor? Tapping feels that the humor lives on. “I think the beauty of SG-1, and what’s always made it work is that the show itself has a sense of humor. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, and yes, Richard Dean Anderson was definitely a huge part of that. He was Jack O’Neill; Jack O’Neill was Rick. It was that silly, snarky sense of humor, but I think that’s continued on. It will be a slightly different tone, but what it’s allowed is – the other characters, kind of, get to be funny now, too.”

Taking on the role vacated by O’Neill is Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell (played by former Farscape actor, Ben Browder). However when it’s suggested to Tapping that Browder’s character is the new leader of SG-1, it quickly becomes apparent that this is the source of some good-natured rivalry on set.

“You know, I have an interesting thing,” she says with a laugh, “about him being the leader of SG-1, because Ben [Browder] and I have this constant thing – hey, we’re both of equal rank, but I’ve been on SG-1 so much longer. How come you get to lead? I actually went up to Rob Cooper (executive producer) after this one episode that I had just read and said, you know, Carter kind of takes control of this mission and does all the intel on it – how come Mitchell comes in and ends up calling in the troops and leading them? That seems terribly unfair, you know, when they’re both the same rank. And Rob said, no, no, you’re right – you’ll be leading that mission.”

Apart from reasserting her position on the show, and ensuring that she’s not eclipsed by the newcomers, what is the dynamic with the new characters? “The interesting thing about SG-1 right now is that, yes, you do need a leader in the militaristic, strategic sense, but each character has very definite strengths and the beauty of the team is that it really is a true ensemble: Teal’c has his strengths, Daniel has his strengths, Carter has hers, and Mitchell has his. And he [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.”

So, Carter and Mitchell, in effect, share command of SG-1? “Definitely. And I think that we were doing that last year when Carter was ostensibly the leader of SG-1. She always deferred to Daniel and Teal’c out of necessity and pure respect. You know, you can’t know everything. And I hope that ‘s the way the show is going.”

To be continued

NC

[NearlyCircular]

The rest of the interview. Enjoy!

The relationship between Carter and the new base commander, General Hank Landry, is an interesting one, as well, says Tapping. “Beau [Bridges – Gen. Landry] and I have talked at great lengths about this, and we do want to create some interesting dynamic between the two characters, because Carter had a very special relationship with General Hammond. He was very much a father figure to her. Because she was an Air Force brat, our presumption is that she knew Landry growing up because her father was a general, and you know, definitely, their paths have crossed,” she says.

The development of the relationship between Carter and Landry is something that fans can look forward to in episodes to come. “We’ve asked the writers to create a little bit of conflict if they can at times. Not in a nasty way, and not because we think that they need to dislike each other, but because she doesn’t know him as well and he’s come in and taken over. He’s wonderful! But he actually has a very different way of commanding the base than Hammond did.”

What’s it like working with the new guys? Beau Bridges is “fantastic,” she says, as is Ben Browder. “I cannot even begin to say enough good things about Beau – or Ben for that matter – an absolute class act. And it’s not easy to walk onto this – I mean, I think our show is an easy show to walk onto because we’re all very friendly and we all have a great time, but there’s a definite dynamic that’s deeply entrenched in this show, and in us as people and actors, and I think it would be hard to walk onto that, as an actor. It could be kind of intimidating. But they’re both really incredibly classy gentlemen, and they’re handling it really well.”

Will we see it in the onscreen chemistry between the characters? “Yeah, because I think that’s part of what has made the show as successful as it’s been. One of many things is the chemistry between the actors which has translated onto screen.”

Will it cause any changes in Carter’s relationship with Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal’c? Tapping doesn’t think it will. “It’s like when Corin Nemec came onto our show. It sort of brought the other three characters a bit closer together because you had this strong dynamic and this strong team atmosphere for so long, and then you know, this knew character comes in and you all sort of band together and go, hey, let’s check this guy out and make sure he’s okay,” she says.

However, she also adds: I think it’s been a really easy transition. I can’t speak to it fully because I wasn’t really there for the first five episodes so they established a dynamic among the three of them, with Claudia [Black}, and then I came into their team dynamic, in a lot of ways.”

In some ways, because of her absence for the first six weeks, she felt like the outsider coming back to the show. “It was like, oh, yeah – you guys have been playing together for, for two months now, and here I am. They’d been playing together for a month before I had the baby, and I would come on set every now and again – very pregnant – and say, hey guys, how’s it going? Don’t forget me!” she says with a laugh.

With all the changes made to the show, some people have been describing it as a spin-off of Stargate SG-1, albeit with the same name. Michael Shanks described it in another interview as ‘Stargate: The Next Generation’, an allusion to another popular sci-fi franchise. Given that, can we look forward to five more years of Sam Carter?

“The show is doing good numbers, I’m still having a great time making it. There’s a part of me as an actor, and I said this before where it’s like, oh, gosh, I’ve just got to go and do something else – I can’t keep playing this same character. But there’s another part of me as an actor that says – and as a human being, not even just an actor – how lucky am I to have this job for as long as I have had it and to still really enjoy it and love the people I work with,” she says.

And what can we look forward to in terms of the development of Carter’s character? Tapping sees season nine as an opportunity to take Carter, “back to her roots”, to the less emotionally complicated character that we saw in the early seasons of Stargate SG-1. “It’s less about her personal life which last year very much focused on. Which was good – it showed that this Carter has depth, that she has soul and is capable of great feeling. But now we’ve explored all that with Pete, and with her father dying, and with O’Neill. Now it’s going back to what makes her a great character which is her incredible dedication to her work, her smarts and her savvy.”

Nonetheless, she adds, all those experiences have left their mark on her character, adding greater depth. “In that she’s explored her personal life, I think it might allow her to take more of a human stance on some of the moral issues that they come up against, instead of always siding with the military, whether she agrees with them or not. Perhaps it will make her a bit more, indignant about the injustices that she sees, instead of toeing the military party-line,” she says.

So she might side with Daniel more often? Tapping concurs wholeheartedly: “I would definitely like to see that. I don’t know that that will happen,” she says, “she is a Lt. Colonel in the United States Air Force, so you have to be true to that. But I would like to see a bit more of that.”

So what’s coming up story-wise? At the time of talking, Tapping had received scripts for two upcoming episodes, one being a Stargate SG-1 script entitled Stronghold with strong storylines for Mitchell and Teal’c. Does that mean fewer scenes for Carter and a bit of a break from long days on the set for Tapping? “Funnily enough, I am on set quite a lot in this one, and I’m not quite sure how that worked out.” She laughs.

As if that wasn’t’ enough, at the same time as shooting Stronghold, she will be filming a crossover episode of Stargate: Atlantis. “It feeds back to the Carter episode Grace [season seven] where she hurts herself and is alone on the Prometheus. And she has all these hallucinations. A similar thing happens to McKay [Dr. Rodney McKay played by David Hewlett] in a puddle jumper and Carter appears to him. As a hallucination.” Being Stargate: Atlantis, she adds, there has to be water involved, so they’ll spend a couple of days shooting in a swimming pool at the University of British Columbia.

Having returned to the show, baby in tow, Amanda Tapping has settled quickly into her new life as both mother and lead actress. If she had the time, she says she would like to try her hand at directing again (she directed the season seven episode Resurrection written by Michael Shanks). “I’d cut off my right arm to direct again,” she says. “I really would. I loved it so much. Right now, however, my priorities are very much getting back on the show and being present in a very honest way, and raising this new baby. Maybe if we come back for another season, I might try to push for that.”

One would have thought, given the success of the current season and the excitement around the new cast and characters, that another season would be a shoo-in? “Every year we say, no, no, this is it – the show’s not coming back and every year it does, so I’m kind of afraid to say we’ll be coming back, because I might jinx it. So we’re always going to say, no, no, we can’t possibly go on anymore.”

NC

[NearlyCircular]

Here's another quote from the Stargate SG-1 Official Magazine, this time from an interview with Damian Kindler, one of the writer/producers. He's talking about the various characters, and says this about Carter -

"Carter is still to be determined - we've just started threading her back into the show and we're working on that. She is very much the kind of bedrock that the show needs. Daniel is the conscience of the show, and she's like the 'Obi Wan Kenobi' in the sense that she will say, "this is a good idea," or "this is a bad idea". She's always right, she's got incredibly powerful judgement, and I think that is so important. You need someone to tell them how. She's very much that genius streak!"

NC

[Agent_Dark]

Here's another quote from the Stargate SG-1 Official Magazine, this time from an interview with Damian Kindler, one of the writer/producers. He's talking about the various characters, and says this about Carter -

"Carter is still to be determined - we've just started threading her back into the show and we're working on that. She is very much the kind of bedrock that the show needs. Daniel is the conscience of the show, and she's like the 'Obi Wan Kenobi' in the sense that she will say, "this is a good idea," or "this is a bad idea". She's always right, she's got incredibly powerful judgement, and I think that is so important. You need someone to tell them how. She's very much that genius streak!"

NC

Wow, thats a new (and rather cool) way of putting it - Sam Carter = Obi Wan Kenobi

Jedi!Carter whoooo

[majorsal]

“I’d cut off my right arm to direct again,” she says. “I really would. I loved it so much. Right now, however, my priorities are very much getting back on the show and being present in a very hones way, and raising this new baby. Maybe if we come back for another season, I might try to push for that.”

NC

first off, NC, THANK YOU!!

this was another great interview that i enjoyed. *nothing* in there to upset me or depress me. *whew!*

i have one question, though. in the above part of the interview that i kept, and with the word i highlighted... was that word supposed to be 'honest'? i looked up the word 'hones' and it's definition doesn't follow the sentence for me.


sally

[the dancer of spaz]

Uh, what tactical mistakes did the FS guys make? Not settling for the paultry offering from SciFi? Not settling for whatever was offered and wanting to stay true to their vision? Sorry, while I didn't always agree or like the choices that the FSPTB made, I never forgot that it was their "baby" so to speak and they knew it best. I'm but a mere fan. Besides, if they had settled for the deal SciFi had offered, we wouldn't have had the frellin'tastic PK Wars mini.

Yipes. Slow down, turbo! My opinion comes from fragmented and biased parts of the story and a short-lived attempt to out find the "truth."

Perhaps "mistakes" was a bad choice of words... how about... "decisions."

All I'm saying is, ideally a show's producers and the network should work hand-in-hand, with creative decisions ultimately being given to the showrunners. However, considering that's really not the case anymore, and probably SHOULDN'T always be (no matter how "fair" it is to the creators), one should not be too quick to bite the hand that feeds...

IMH(unbiased)O.

[tara3583]

New interview on Stargate Project with Martin Wood http://www.stargate-project.de/starg...te=news&ID=629

Interesting! i think maybe tptb are thinking it's time to up the franchise and make the leap into films, it would be great if after s10 (fingers crossed) that's the road they take with SG1.

[the dancer of spaz]

Here's another quote from the Stargate SG-1 Official Magazine, this time from an interview with Damian Kindler, one of the writer/producers. He's talking about the various characters, and says this about Carter -

"Carter is still to be determined - we've just started threading her back into the show and we're working on that. She is very much the kind of bedrock that the show needs. Daniel is the conscience of the show, and she's like the 'Obi Wan Kenobi' in the sense that she will say, "this is a good idea," or "this is a bad idea". She's always right, she's got incredibly powerful judgement, and I think that is so important. You need someone to tell them how. She's very much that genius streak!"

NC

Nice. I haven't heard a cool quote like that from one of the Powers in quite some time.

Thanks so much for posting all of this!!!