Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[L.A. Doyle]

ok, my spammage for post 10400...what would i like to see them revisit on sams storyline

oh jolinar of course. I'd like to see sam confront some part of jolinar's past. someone she tried to help, one of her host's descendants, some kind of legacy - good or bad - of jolinar's

possibly something that also confronts the fact that she hasn't used hte healing thingie since daniel's 'death'

I never thought if it that way. I figured the writers just ignored it, but that could have something to do with it. I want that story line revisted as well.

Let's see, what else. Obviously the Jack/Sam relationship, but that's for another thread.

Maybe something about Sam's brother. I like interpersonal relationships, which is something we haven't been seeing much of.

There is so much potential with Sam and TPTB are ignoring it. Why oh why?

[ParadoxRealities]

you know what i'd like to see revisited? Cassie. why haven't we seen her? its not even like they need the actress back (though i did enjoy her). And her mom, too, that'd be nice. EDIT: sam's mom, not cassies (though...)

wow, that's a big number. i'm about (in a few days...weeks) to hit 1,400. does that count?

[minigeek]

i have the locker room scene. King of Fools i believe
http://www.emeraldcity.jackfic.com/m...ingoffools.htm

i'm trying to remember if there's another one. Depths of Friendship. most likely has a sam/teal'c friendship angle

http://www.emeraldcity.jackfic.com/m...on6/depths.htm

LOL Oops, sorry, that locker-scene was just meant to jog people's memories as to which episode I meant. I meant - I'm looking for a good story (stories) that has to do with "Paradise Lost", and which is also S/J related. Specifically (but not necessarily) after the rescue where the episode up and ended. Sam was so intense and so focussed during the entire episode, emotional roller coaster, then you didn't get to see what happened once the rescue was a success. And any extrapolation thereafter into AU would be fine, too.

[L.A. Doyle]

I'd like to see that.

TPTB have even provided themselves with a potential means for this in Vala - what if there had been a connection of some kind between Jolinar and Vala's Goa'uld (Quetesh or something, was it?), something Jolinar did on the Goa'uld's planet that has consequences now.

Regan, I am so serious! GO TO VANCOUVER NOW! You have such great ideas! If you wrote S10, I'd be a very happy camper.

[Myrth]

Mini if I could crown/knight/or otherwise elevate you to the glory you deserve for your straighforward and oh so true analyticals I would.

You hit the nail on the head again, and honestly it does hit home and it is nice that it's coming from a professional in the industry. In a way you validate we amateurs.

It would be a wonderful world if everyone just understood these things, but alas it would seem the view from the top of the trees is somewhat logically obscured.

What draws people to a story and what makes a fundamentally good story is the relationships at it's core. Regardless of the dressing and the flash and show, if you don't have something solid and real that people can identify with at a basic level, then you have a crap story. And you're dead on about season 9.... I'm afraid it's a case of the master story teller leaving the building and the apprentice allowing his new found power to go to his head and blind him to the fact that vfx a good story does not make. Not on it's own anyway. That whole tool thing... abso-frickin-lutely.

I'd only be repeating your points to expand on this Mini.. but it's nice to know that I'm not alone in my thinking and that I'm not imagining it. But I do remain hopeful.... the creative story talent amongst the cast and crew of SG-1 will win out in the end..I put my faith in that. And amateur I may be, but I haven't forgotten the lessons learned in high school English. The heart of a good story is the relationships in it.

Wow, Tracy that really resonates.

One of my majors was film as well. And as student after student of the artform has done for year after year, I wrote essays on the subject, read theories during study, watched film after film. The one constant that remained key throughout all of it, was, there is no substitute for telling a good story.

I work in post production these days. I do make my living as part of a special effects team, and yes, I often work on "things that go boom" for a scream. I won't deny that, or belittle the artform because post production and digital effects are an amazing piece of the puzzle and a tremendous asset to the industry overall. As a tool. But not as a substitute for good dramatic narrative.

The sad reality is that that substitution has begun to happen far too often in mainstream television and cinema these days. Most especially since the advances in digital post have become so glamorized. I'm all for those advances, and I'm all for the wonders of digital visual effects, obviously. But I'm completely against the use of special effects for the sole purpose of.... well, special effects. Unless it's some short film or independant production whose entire focus is to showcase what the technology can do (I've seen those before - they have a very definite, very specific purpose and that purpose is DFX).

Frankly, I don't think you'd find any f/x artist who wouldn't agree - to substitute f/x for good drama is no better than to make a film for the sole purpose of having a certain actor in it, before you even know what story you want to tell (or whether you even have a story to begin with). It's completely backward thinking. Ideally, we work to bring stories to life, not to supercede them with overwhelming or superfluous spectacle.

Actors, directors, camera operators, post-production artists, misc., crew, everyone involved is part of a production team; an ensemble whose primary function is to breathe vitality into a story. The narrative itself is (or should be) the paramount consideration of the endeavor. It is the message. Not the artist who gets top billing or the astronomical number of dollars spent on post. The moment we lose that story, we lose the entire essence of what the artistic medium is about. And none of the artists involved are ever happy in that scenario.

Lately - and sadly - Stargate has done just that. No matter how talented the individual artists may be (Amanda, Chris, Michael, Ben, Claudia, the crew, the post team), the moment that story began to be compromised by cheapened plot devices and shallow narrative, not a one of them would have been able to pull it back out of the fire on their own. And they didn't - as we saw with Season nine - it wasn't possible (even for talent like Amanda), to make things 'appear' as though nothing had changed.

Good stories are about people. No matter how much science and fiction may be involved, truly great drama is, at its core, about human issues; human emotion, desire, challenge, angst, happiness, whatever the case may be. A good story is a human story. And there is no stand-in for telling a good story. There is no special effect that can compete, no actor that can rise above it. At the end of the day, now and forever, that drama; that narrative will always be king (or queen, as the case may be).

Maybe someday, SG-1 will recapture it's story. I'm hoping so, at least.

Until that time ............... well, Amanda Tapping can make us smile. That's HER gift. And we can certainly choose to appreciate that, regardless.

mini(the slightly melancholy)geek

[ChopinGal]

ok, my spammage for post 10400...what would i like to see them revisit on sams storyline

oh jolinar of course. I'd like to see sam confront some part of jolinar's past. someone she tried to help, one of her host's descendants, some kind of legacy - good or bad - of jolinar's

Possibly something that also confronts the fact that she hasn't used the healing thingie since daniel's 'death'

Sky, I'm with you on this. Jolinar's arc held such potential ... it was an amazing storyline and gave AT such dramatic moments.

My fear is that they will play up Vala's "expertise" with Goa'uld technology to the expense of what Carter could bring to the table. I'd even accept Carter learning some tricks from Vala ... but I bet that won't happen. Didn't AT just mention in her last interview that they did have an important scene spelling out the growing friendship between the two women and it ended up on the cutting-room floor. Yep, get those bang-bang SFX in!

We've mentioned here before about the self-conflict for Sam in using the devices - when she had to kill Seth and when Jack tries to say something to her ... she just stares him down and walks away. Yes, I'd put Jolinar and mastery of Goa'uld devices on my list too. AT has also said that she wishes Carter would make a major discovery/breakthrough which would help civilization. Her use of the healing device could be the plotline to move this forward. Wishful thinking, eh?!

[L.A. Doyle]

ROTFLOL Hey, I'm the Jester around here!

So, what's the real-life degree?! Another future Samanda grad!! Yippee! Smart women, unite!

I'll be teaching the children on the playground in your mind.

[ChevronSeven]

Next I turn to my collection of I Dream of Jeannie episodes and watch another blonde named Samantha outsmart the men around her. I try to picture AT and RDA playing the leads. However, I keep getting AT and MS. Danny boy seems more of a substitute for Daryl or Darren or whoever he is.

You're thinking of Bewitched with Darren. I Dream of Jeannie had Major Tony Nelson (USAF) and his friend Major Roger Healey (Army).

[ChopinGal]

... I actually think Sam has used the healing device on the sly, just think about it, after all her injuries you'd think she'd have a scar

ROTFLOL Good one! Welcome to the Sam Spa and Salon! Astrophysicist, heal thyself.

That would make a good Samfic - she's seriously wounded, alone, and has a healing device on her. Can she activate and heal herself?

[ReganX]

Sky, I'm with you on this. Jolinar's arc held such potential ... it was an amazing storyline and gave AT such dramatic moments.

My fear is that they will play up Vala's "expertise" with Goa'uld technology to the expense of what Carter could bring to the table. I'd even accept Carter learning some tricks from Vala ... but I bet that won't happen. Didn't AT just mention in her last interview that they did have an important scene spelling out the growing friendship between the two women and it ended up on the cutting-room floor. Yep, get those bang-bang SFX in!

We've mentioned here before about the self-conflict for Sam in using the devices - when she had to kill Seth and when Jack tries to say something to her ... she just stares him down and walks away. Yes, I'd put Jolinar and mastery of Goa'uld devices on my list too. AT has also said that she wishes Carter would make a major discovery/breakthrough which would help civilization. Her use of the healing device could be the plotline to move this forward. Wishful thinking, eh?!

It's a pity they already had a plague last season. An episode where the Ori (or anybody, I'm not fussy) hit Earth (or just the SGC, which is locked down) with a plague that only Sam and Vala, because of their protein markers and the naquadah in their blood, are immune to and the two of them have to use Goa'uld healing devices as a stop-gap measure to keep everybody alive while they, together with Dr Lam if she wasn't sick, try to come up with a cure.

[ChopinGal]

It was Major Tony Nelson (USAF) and his friend Major Roger Healey (Army). Darren was from Bewitched

Of course!!! My bad! Now I have to go fix my post ... DUH! Thanks, CS!

[Skydiver]

It's a pity they already had a plague last season. An episode where the Ori (or anybody, I'm not fussy) hit Earth (or just the SGC, which is locked down) with a plague that only Sam and Vala, because of their protein markers and the naquadah in their blood, are immune to and the two of them have to use Goa'uld healing devices as a stop-gap measure to keep everybody alive while they, together with Dr Lam if she wasn't sick, try to come up with a cure.

how about trying to find a way to power the thing that isn't based on naqahdah? that way anyone can u se it

[Mandysg1]

ROTFLOL Good one! Welcome to the Sam Spa and Salon! Astrophysicist, heal thyself.

That would make a good Samfic - she's seriously wounded, alone, and has a healing device on her. Can she activate and heal herself?

well in my fic she could use it on others but sadly not on herself, so poor Jack had to help her out a bit

[ChopinGal]

you know what i'd like to see revisited? Cassie. why haven't we seen her? its not even like they need the actress back (though i did enjoy her). And her mom, too, that'd be nice. EDIT: sam's mom, not cassies (though...)

wow, that's a big number. i'm about (in a few days...weeks) to hit 1,400. does that count?

As the Royal Accountant would assure, every number is an important number!

Pre-congrats! We'll have to get some medals or beans going again up here for all the milestone posters ...

[ReganX]

how about trying to find a way to power the thing that isn't based on naqahdah? that way anyone can u se it

Or to develop a model for a similar healing device that could be used by Earth doctors.