Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[ForeverSg1]

I got it, I got it!... 'I Froze My A$$ Off For This?'

Sally

ROFLMAO... I think Sally just created a new game!!!

RENAME THAT EPISODE!!

[MajorSam]

And you are right again! Now, just how did you remember that so quickly from this simply pic? I am just astonished! Can I have some of your memory? Will you share?

Hehehe, can't give away all my secrets now can I

*I recognized her striped white blouse and the degree of her tan in comparison with hair colour/style and lighting. It's the hotel room, with Barret! My mind works in crazy ways...*

[Skydiver]

Hehehe, can't give away all my secrets now can I

*I recognized her striped white blouse and the degree of her tan in comparison with hair colour/style and lighting. It's the hotel room, with Barret! My mind works in crazy ways...*

and amanda obviously went off somewhere tropical and nice during that hiatus, because in s6 she definitely had a very nice tan and sun faded hair


for that matter, so did RDA, although i think it was the result of one of his rafting trips

[ForeverSg1]

I was looking at the writers of the top Sam episodes and
realized that three writers typically do the best with
showing the different sides of Sam: Robert C. Cooper,
Brad Wright and Johnathan Glassner.

Singularity............... Robert C. Cooper
Solitudes................. Brad Wright
Hathor.................... D. Carren/J Carroll
ITLOD..................... Robert C. Cooper
Tokra 2................... Johnathan Glassner
Tokra 1................... Johnathan Glassner
Jolinar's Memories...... S. Wareham, D.Stashower
Foothold ..................Heather E. Ash
Point of View............ J.Glassner,R.Cooper,B.Wright
Entity...................... Peter Deluise
Divide and Conquer.... T. Valenza
2010....................... Brad Wright
Ascension................ Robert C. Cooper
2001....................... Brad Wright
48 hours.................. Robert C. Cooper

However, I've also decided that Robert and Peter Deluise


should probably lay off doing personal episodes for Sam,
as they really do stray way off course when trying to have
Sam deal with personal issues.

Chimera................... Robert C. Cooper
Affinity.................... Peter Deluise
Gemini..................... Peter Deluise

Edit:
I really think Brad Wright does the best in showing the
softer personal side of Sam. I thought 2010 was wonderful
at showing the personal side of Sam without making her
appear weak or unable to make clear, concise decisions.

ForeverSG1

[the dancer of spaz]

I was looking at the writers of the top Sam episodes and
realized that three writers typically do the best with
showing the different sides of Sam: Robert C. Cooper,
Brad Wright and Johnathan Glassner.

Singularity............... Robert C. Cooper
Solitudes................. Brad Wright
Hathor.................... D. Carren/J Carroll
ITLOD..................... Robert C. Cooper
Tokra 2................... Johnathan Glassner
Tokra 1................... Johnathan Glassner
Jolinar's Memories...... S. Wareham, D.Stashower
Foothold ..................Heather E. Ash
Point of View............ J.Glassner,R.Cooper,B.Wright
Entity...................... Peter Deluise
Divide and Conquer.... T. Valenza
2010....................... Brad Wright
Ascension................ Robert C. Cooper
2001....................... Brad Wright
48 hours.................. Robert C. Cooper

However, I've also decided that Robert and Peter Deluise


should probably lay off doing personal episodes for Sam,
as they really do stray way off course when trying to have
Sam deal with personal issues.

Chimera................... Robert C. Cooper
Affinity.................... Peter Deluise
Gemini..................... Peter Deluise
ForeverSG1

Haha. Too bad Peter DeLuise has an interesting "affinity" for AT, even if those two eps aren't faves... Listening to him comment on AT incessantly on the audio commentaries makes me laugh. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

And I totally dig Gemini, too.

[Skydiver]

i gotta agree with what you say about peter and rob. maybe, and i'm just guessing here, i've never really met either of these guys, but maybe the 'issue' is that when they write sam, they get hung up on writing this female and they write her how they'd LIKE her to be. in other words, maybe peter's dream woman is forgiving when he keeps leaving the seat up or when he calls her at work 10 times a day or things like that.

however, while that view of sam as a rather bideable, malleable person just isn't who we've seen on the screen. Sam on the show is a rather self possessed person, so doesn't seem to like to take crud from anyone. (how many times have we seen her glaring at Jack when he's being annoying? rank doesn't allow her to say anything, but she certainly speaks volumes with her eyes)

I guess what i'm trying to say, while the boys can write soldier/scientist sam, when it comes to personal sam, their interpretation of a woman isn't quite what we've seen, so they write her like she's got a massive concussion or something.

they seem to concentrate so much on writing the woman that they forget to write the character

like the kiss at the end of affinity. yeah, cool filmmaking and a nice predictible shot to end the show with....but Sam????? the commander of the mission???? she's gonna snog Pete with her whole crew looking on?
yeah, i don't think so. Sam would cringe at the next two week's worth of 'i saw carter giving the cop a tonsilectomy'

they sacrificed the character for the sake of the shot....which has been happening a lot lately and has certainly opened amanda up for some unearned criticism largely because it's not Sam doing this...it's sam being the victim of some guy's opinion of how she should act.

the actors know the characters better than the directors and it shows when the directors don't listen

[astrogeologist]

so they write her like she's got a massive concussion or something.

LOL! So well put... I know I should say something profound... and I will try to do so in a later post... but for now... am just chuckling ruefully at the truth of Sky's words!
.

[NearlyCircular]

Haha. Too bad Peter DeLuise has an interesting "affinity" for AT, even if those two eps aren't faves... Listening to him comment on AT incessantly on the audio commentaries makes me laugh. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

And I totally dig Gemini, too.

You're right. You can practically hear him drooling on some of the commentaries.

I've got to say, I love your signature, dancer! It's new isn't it?

NC

[astrogeologist]

Brief Candle ?
http://www.powerpromoz.com/stargate/sam10.jpg

I second the vote for Brief Candle
...and then I lay down the challenge for such folks as MajorSal, ChopinGal, Skydiver, Coley, etc, to the game created by MajorSal and named by ForeverSG1 'Rename That Episode' - come up with an 'alternate' title... something that still fits the content of the show... but something more...fun... (something like MajorSal's 'Snaked Again, Dammit!' for Nightwalkers )

[Skydiver]

LOL! So well put... I know I should say something profound... and I will try to do so in a later post... but for now... am just chuckling ruefully at the truth of Sky's words!
.

and i'm sober too, it's rather depressing

[Sam fan]

hey guys I just started a thread for the countdown of amanda's baby!! Please go and have a look, lol- it's a lil hang out for those of us who are giddy at the thought of a mini- Amanda!!

[astrogeologist]

I was looking at the writers of the top Sam episodes and
realized that three writers typically do the best with
showing the different sides of Sam: Robert C. Cooper,
Brad Wright and Johnathan Glassner.

Singularity............... Robert C. Cooper
Solitudes................. Brad Wright
Hathor.................... D. Carren/J Carroll
ITLOD..................... Robert C. Cooper
Tokra 2................... Johnathan Glassner
Tokra 1................... Johnathan Glassner
Jolinar's Memories...... S. Wareham, D.Stashower
Foothold ..................Heather E. Ash
Point of View............ J.Glassner,R.Cooper,B.Wright
Entity...................... Peter Deluise
Divide and Conquer.... T. Valenza
2010....................... Brad Wright
Ascension................ Robert C. Cooper
2001....................... Brad Wright
48 hours.................. Robert C. Cooper

Thanks for the great list ForeverSG-1! I want to say a lot more... but I have to get some work done Will try and remember to return to this great topic later tonight. Also: great new pic in your sig! Nice farewell pic to RDA.

[Fred]

...

Edit:
I really think Brad Wright does the best in showing the softer personal side of Sam.
I thought 2010 was wonderful at showing the personal side of Sam without making her
appear weak or unable to make clear, concise decisions.

ForeverSG1

I agree. I think that Brad Wright (closely followed by Jonathan Glassner) is
the best writer of the writing team. Both Mr. Wright and Mr. Glassnner manage to
balance all the elements of the show (story, character, action, special effects)
without sacrificing the integrity of the world they have created.

[Uber]

Haha. Too bad Peter DeLuise has an interesting "affinity" for AT, even if those two eps aren't faves... Listening to him comment on AT incessantly on the audio commentaries makes me laugh. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

And I totally dig Gemini, too.

I digged Gemini too - I think it showed that Sam can make mistakes while still being a strong character... For those who think it made her a weak character because she wanted to believe the best in her lookalike and as a result exercised poor judgment apparently haven't consider the reprocussions of a perfect, flawless character (i.e., how BORING is that?!??)

I've given a little bit of thought to this as well as something that's been bothering me about Atlantis. More specifically, Elizabeth Weir and what my problem is with her (as opposed to the first Elizabeth Weir, who I thought was great). My problem with Weir is quite frankly, she isn't Sam - she doesn't emote like Sam, she doesn't have a sense of humor like Sam and she doesn't seem to have the depth of Sam.

Let's take for example one of my favorite Sam eps "Singularity" and use it as a case study on the Sam Carter character.

What I noticed right away is how this serious scientist supersoldier fell into the role of surrogate mother...

She's very at ease with Cassandra, very gentle and loving yet still very strong and assertive.

When Cassandra gets sick, Sam's reaction is that of any "mother" in the same situation - fear, worry and a deep sense of helplessness.

Sam is faced with a situation where she does her best to fight for Cassandra - but when faced with the stern will of her commanding officer (Hammond), she reluctantly obeys.

She steels herself for the long trip down the elevator and is stunned when Cassie wakes up.

But her disbelief soon turns into shock, horror and dismay as she starts to come to terms with the fact that Cassandra is awake and may experience a horrifying death.

Sam tries to stay strong because she's under orders but her feelings are quite evident as she says goodbye to Cassandra.

This is when the war within her truly comes to light...

...and I feel the true scope of both Sam's emotional range and Amanda's skills as an actress comes to life. You feel as though your in that elevator with her when the decision is made to defy orders and return to Cassandra.

The mothering instinct kicks into full gear as Sam determines that Cassandra might face death (she might not) - but no matter what, she wouldn't face it alone...

With the drama ended, levity begins... Just watch the range of expressions as Sam responds to Jack's "...it's the law" line and then how she continues the nurturing interaction with Cassandra.

This was a superb bit of work both for the actress as we see her emotional range and the character because we get to see a side of her we don't normally get to see... we know that she has a strong maternal instinct and a soft, compassionate side in addition to being the scientist/soldier.

We don't get to see her as a soldier in this episode (no butt kicking) but that's okay because we learn more about her character (we already know she can wipe the floor with the bad guys).

With Weir, I haven't seen much emoting at all... I wish she were more like Sam - a commanding presence with a softer side...

I therefore give SINGULARITY 5 out of 5 zats.

[Uber]

I second the vote for Brief Candle
...and then I lay down the challenge for such folks as MajorSal, ChopinGal, Skydiver, Coley, etc, to the game created by MajorSal and named by ForeverSG1 'Rename That Episode' - come up with an 'alternate' title... something that still fits the content of the show... but something more...fun... (something like MajorSal's 'Snaked Again, Dammit!' for Nightwalkers )

Everybody's right... It was Brief Candle!