Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Uber]

spoilers for s9's 'ripple effect'

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the ONLY qualifier i could take from that scene was that sam was very tired and prob a bit punchy. so i took it that sam's defenses were down. and, adding into her past feelings for martouf (with and without jolinar) and her knowing how that martouf and her other self turned out, and feeling guilt about what she did to her universes' martouf... i settled on sam just losing sight of things a moment and almost acting out. it's the only way as an s/j shipper that i can handle that scene.

sorry non shippers for the deep ship essay.




sally

Well Sam/Jack aside...I'm talking more about integrity to the characters and their story arcs here.

Sam felt something for Martouf. Deep friendship for certain and perhaps more...but she never was able to distinguish where she left off and Jolinar began so even had Martouf lived, I don't think they would have ended up together in the long run.

That being said, Sam never kissed Martouf when he was alive. She bonded with him and felt both Jolinar's ties to him and the connection they shared just from there chemistry together...but they never kissed. So when I saw that almost kiss, my eyebrows shot up and I almost fell out of my chair. It was so out of left field. It was (to me at least) offputting and made no sense whatsoever because what was the point of that moment? Has Sam secretly been harboring romantic feelings for him for 4 plus years? I mean if that's the case (which I sincerely doubt of course), then at least clue us the viewing audience in on her mindset there. My GUESS is it was a culmination of Jolinar/guilt/joy but I just don't know. At the very least it deserved a moment of either Sam or Martouf clarifying what it was about.

It just seems that history and canon is irrelevant these days and keeping the integrity of a character's past relationships is out the window in favor of whatever garners the most attention or controversy.

[Historian]

Great post here and above CS.

BTW, after seeing a specific episode this year that shall remain nameless, I am now more than ever pushing/hoping/dreaming for the return of our favorite Napoleonic Powermonger. She's just brill and her presence adds such depth and pathos to any episode she's in. Further, her scenes this year...especially those with Landry...were incredibly compelling and helped make the episode. You know my big gripe about that episode though

Spoiler:

NO MEANINGFUL SCENES BETWEEN HER AND SAM. I mean she was her best friend FCOL. She performed her eulogy even. And TPTB decided to focus on Sam's friendship or whatever with Martouf from seven million years ago and ignore the much more recent/relevant friendship between her and Janet??? GROWL.

On this, I might say that

Spoiler:

Martouf was around her to try to help with the problem. While Janet had nothing to do there. And she was busy with Daniel, Teal'c and Landry. But I'm sure they did see one another. I do miss seing that seen though

Back to this post...wasn't there one where she lost her patience with Janet? I seem to remember her fussing at her. I have her voice in my head right now saying, "Dammit, Janet!" and I don't know if that's real or something I read in a fic or what.

Any clues for the blonde and clueless?

It was in Upgrades, when Sam was typing her book in the dark, and when Janet came to see her in her lab

[DEM]

And what do you make of Brad Wright's return as co-showrunner for S10?

!! This is the first I've heard of it. Could hold promise, but Wright seems to need to 'ship Carter left and right just as much as Cooper does.

re: Ripple Effect

It just seems that history and canon is irrelevant these days and keeping the integrity of a character's past relationships is out the window in favor of whatever garners the most attention or controversy.

I dunno. I've remarked more than once to a friend that TPTB were inconsistent, IMO, when it came to Sam & Jan's friendship. For example, in Rite of Passage, that chess scene was originally scripted for O'Neill. Now, although it's great that it ended up being rewritten as a Carter scene, the very fact that it WAS originally for O'Neill boggles my mind.

[majorsal]

Well Sam/Jack aside...I'm talking more about integrity to the characters and their story arcs here.

Sam felt something for Martouf. Deep friendship for certain and perhaps more...but she never was able to distinguish where she left off and Jolinar began so even had Martouf lived, I don't think they would have ended up together in the long run.

That being said, Sam never kissed Martouf when he was alive. She bonded with him and felt both Jolinar's ties to him and the connection they shared just from there chemistry together...but they never kissed. So when I saw that almost kiss, my eyebrows shot up and I almost fell out of my chair. It was so out of left field. It was (to me at least) offputting and made no sense whatsoever because what was the point of that moment? Has Sam secretly been harboring romantic feelings for him for 4 plus years? I mean if that's the case (which I sincerely doubt of course), then at least clue us the viewing audience in on her mindset there. My GUESS is it was a culmination of Jolinar/guilt/joy but I just don't know. At the very least it deserved a moment of either Sam or Martouf clarifying what it was about.

It just seems that history and canon is irrelevant these days and keeping the integrity of a character's past relationships is out the window in favor of whatever garners the most attention or controversy.

i agree.

this is part of the prob i'm having with the writing of sam carter this season. if the writers don't want to do s/j, okay, but if they're going to go out of their way to write sam/other, then i have a serious problem because 8 plus years of s/j MEAN something to the sam carter character.

must step away from the s/j issue for the sake of the non s/j peeps.




sally

[ForeverSg1]

Wow, look at all the posts I missed out on tonight. Oh well... I was playing with photos of Amanda again. I know some people didn't care for this photo, *cough*AD*cough* but I loved it!

Grace & Elegance

[Agent_Dark]

Wow, look at all the posts I missed out on tonight. Oh well... I was playing with photos of Amanda again. I know some people didn't care for this photo, *cough*AD*cough* but I loved it!

Grace & Elegance

Haha I never said that I just found the picture amusing, thats all

Great manip though

[Carterslave]

This is the part that bothers me the most: Sam Carter was seen as a role model for what women could become, rising to the top of their professions. Taking command away from Carter was a slap in the face for all the Sam Carters who have felt the sting of injustice in their own lives.

You just said a cotton-pickin' mouthful, my friend. That was my beef when I saw this coming all the way back during the two-week calamity that was Gemini/PU. I just had a nasty gut feeling about the way things were going and—sadly—they turned out exactly as I dreaded.
As to your point about why this was such a depressing & deplorable turn of events, I *****ed quite loudly (elsewhere) about this a year ago, for similar reasons. I just don't think TPTB were comfortable with having Sam running the team & managed to write S8 in such a way as to undermine the character. Insecure much?

A few random Ripple Effect mutterings ...
* The complaint that "Bringing back Janet would diminish Heroes" is being heard A LOT less than it was a year ago. The shadow cast by Fraiser's absence seems to be lengthening. Besides, TPTB have gone right back to shamelessly playing the Get Out of Death Free card (Daniel in S8, Vala in S9), so that kinda puts paid to the line that Heroes Made Death Real for the viewers. Bunk. It didn't even do it for the showrunners.
* I got a shippy vibe from Black Carter & Mitchell, even w/o Mallozzi's comments. Besides, it is an AU Carter. She doesn't have to be with Jack in every universe (and there's a hint at the end that AU Janet is shacked up with her Carter; blink and you'll miss it, though).
* The "it was just Jolinar's memories" argument has been used a lot to write off the Sam/Martouf shippiness but I don't buy it. That's a cheap copout, IMO, the sort of thing RCC might put in a script. (And probably will, at some point.) Five-plus years after Martouf's death, Sam would have had plenty of time to sort out what was what. Also, by the time of Serpent's Song, Sam seemed to have worked out what she was feeling & was even getting a little frisky once Martouf showed up. Then that ass Lantesh piped up & made a mess of it.
(I will admit the "Jolinar's memories" line was a handy excuse for Sam to whip out whenever she wanted to keep Narim at arm's length. Well played, Sam.) And we'll never know what would have happened had JRB been available for Last Stand/Summit, at which time the plan was to resurrect Martouf & carry the character forward. There was virtually no Sam/Jack in S5 and not much in S6. On the other hand ...
After all the laborious machinery of pairing up S/J at the end of S8, you'd think TPTB would leave well enough alone. But no, we get some cryptic could-be/might-be/then-again-might-not remarks about "the motorcycle" and "not exactly," followed by Martouf/Sam shippiness just to confuse things further.
Oh, how I wish TPTB would just settle this one way or the other: either write a line or two of dialogue establishing that S/J is a going concern or pen some dialogue that says they're not together & Sam is pursuing new conquests. Fish or cut bait, boys. (And if the answer is "fish," we can recommend a cabin in Minnesota.)
TPTB are acting just like the guys that they are—I've never seen a worse case of commitment phobia.

[ChopinGal]

Given the dimensional possibilities they explored in RE, I've always thought it could easily be the case that they bring Teryl back, while the Ori singularity is still in place. Have Janet her come through the gate in a similar fashion as before (perhaps the plague vaccine didn't work ), but not be able to get back, or even come through on purpose because (oh, I don't know, maybe her reality was blown away *g*), either way - have her end up on this side, and voila, here she could stay. I really wish they'd do something like that. I have nothing against Dr Lam., but Janet would be such a welcome return.

I've already suggested this: AU Janet returns to her home planet to find that all those she holds near and dear (Sam, Cassie, Daniel and Teal'c) have succumbed to the plague while she was gone. Good old doc bravely goes on and utilizes the vaccine she got from Landry and saves the rest of her race. Janet is then emotionally and physically wiped out and decides that she wants to leave her homeland and seek a new beginning. She asks to return to Earth and the SGC. Landry brings her back and allows her to practice in the infirmary (especially since Lam/Doig is on maternity leave anyhow). From there, all possibilities are wide open.

[ChopinGal]

...and I agree. Sam has a 'tude. We didn't get to see much of it throughout the series as the one she was usually ticked off with was Jack but the times when she was really perturbed with those who weren't her commanding officer and let loose on them or even the times when she almost didn't care what that person's authority was, she was brilliantly angry...

Bane
Chain Reaction
The Light
Fifth Man
48 Hours
Ascension
Redemption
Scourge

What other "Sam's got a 'tude" episodes can you think of?

You left out a good one: the classic "Maybourne you're an idiot" in the outdoor cafe scene in Foothold! And AT even ad libbed that line.

And, even though it was directed at Jack, I loved the glare from Sam when he corrected Joe's grammar in 2010 and Sam was standing between both men.

[dexterav]

Originally Posted by ForeverSg1
Wow, look at all the posts I missed out on tonight. Oh well... I was playing with photos of Amanda again. I know some people didn't care for this photo, *cough*AD*cough* but I loved it!

Grace & Elegance

Very nice!

[JanSam]

It was in Upgrades, when Sam was typing her book in the dark, and when Janet came to see her in her lab

There are two scenes with Sam and Janet, the first one Janet finds Sam in the dark working and Janet wants do an examine.



And the second when Janet want Sam to come help them figure out a way to get the bracelets off and Sam tell her, "I don't want to take it off."

[jckfan55]

thanyou goolfbooy, this if nothing else gives me hope for the season ahead of me . I guess this is what I've been hoping, that even if they don't put Sam in charge of the team, that at least Amanda finds a way to play Sam so that it's obvious that she's still the one evrybody relies on, that she's still fundamentally the leader of SG1 even if it isn't spoken out loud.
And I can see Sam as being the kind of person who would be ok with 'quietly' being the leader while someone else gets the official title. I think in some ways that shows her true strength more than ever.

Good points. I think it's been clear that Sam is the true leader, no matter how much they push Mitchell to the front. I think "Scourge" reflected that.

[jckfan55]

Staying in the mode of the confidence and leadership that Carter is showing I rewatched (well really didn't rewatch I just fast forwarded through the Mitchell stuff and watched the stuff without him) and I noticed that when Carter left the research tent after she got the communications going and joined the rest of them for the "last stand" so to speak, she went right out front as if she were in fact the leader. She stood with an air and a confidence that gave every impression she was indeed in charge of the team and the situation. Just the way AT plays it with Carter and the way she, Carter, carries herself and behaves under pressure makes Mitchell look like a hot-shot-fly-boy with a "look at me attitude". Anyone else see that scene and think the same thing? I did not really notice in the first run through but after reading some of the great posts here, and on the Scourge thread, about Carter's demeanor, air, leadership, confidence, etc., I had to rewatch certain parts and that is when I really noticed it. It is almost as if the writers and director want her to be perceived as the leader even if some knuckleheads say it's co-leadership or Mitchell leadership or maybe that's just me reading too much into it, but whatever it is I do like what AT is doing with it - I swear she, Carter, is more of a leader than Mitchell ever could be.

Carter *leads* by example. She doesn't have to say "I'm in charge here" because she knows Daniel and Teal'c (and Mitchell--after all he wanted to serve under her) have confidence in her.

[starprops]

Fifth Man has some great Sam content not including those with Simmons.

The intro scenes where she directly disobeys Hammond. The way she goes from passive to grasping her P90 in a defensive posture. That beat when it looks like she's considering doing something incredibly rash to get Daniel, Teal'c and herself back to that planet to rescue Jack.

Really good stuff...and I agree. Sam has a 'tude. We didn't get to see much of it throughout the series as the one she was usually ticked off with was Jack but the times when she was really perturbed with those who weren't her commanding officer and let loose on them or even the times when she almost didn't care what that person's authority was, she was brilliantly angry...

Bane
Chain Reaction
The Light
Fifth Man
48 Hours
Ascension
Redemption
Scourge

What other "Sam's got a 'tude" episodes can you think of?

There's "Foothold" - when she tell's off Mayborne - "You're an idiot everyday of the week, couldn't you just take one day off." One of my all-time favorite Sam lines...

starprops

[Deejay435]

I bring more pretties for LiveJournal users. This one is a Sam/AT moodtheme. It's very nice. NOT done by me, I am only the messanger.

http://community.livejournal.com/sta...s/1252504.html