Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[binkpmmc]

You see, I have quite a different feeling about this episode. For me, things are not looking up at all. Like some of you, I thought the episode was just plain boring. And I found some (not all) of the eps from the latter part of season 9 much more engaging (i.e. Ripple Effect, Scourge, Arthur’s Mantle).

Spoiler:

Vala was the ‘B’ storyline and yet she dominated the whole episode. I have nothing against Vala – I really enjoyed a lot of her scenes but the show is Stargate: SG-1, not Vala’s World. And how did some of her scenes contribute to the episode as a whole? I mean, they’re always telling us that character development and interaction scenes that do not contribute to the overall plot of the episodes are the first to be cut and left on the editing room floor. Yet most of the scenes with Vala, relevant or not, seem to have made the final cut (except the one with Sam, of course). Yes, these scenes were amusing for some viewers (myself included). Yes, they had some funny jokes. But most were just pointless fluff on the whole.

I mean, what did we really learn about Vala that shows that she would be a valuable member of the SGC? Is just being fun and endearingly (or not so endearingly) quirky a qualification these days? Daniel makes a case for her by comparing her to Teal'c in season 1. The big difference is that Teal'c proved himself to be a man of integrity and honor right off the bat. And it was clear what his motivations were in wanting to fight with the Tauri. Vala is no Teal'c. And in Morpheus, they did nothing to show that she is trustworthy and deserves to be a member of the SGC.

In addition, the team storyline was so plot-heavy that it just dragged. And where were all the great teamy moments that the episode was supposed to have? JM said that there was going to be this great scene between Sam and Daniel near the end. When I saw it, I said to myself, “Is that it?” Five seconds of Daniel and Sam showing some vague concern for each other does not a great moment make.

If this is how “team” episodes are going to go from now on, I have little hope for the rest of the season. I was so looking forward to this ep. And just like last week, and throughout most of season 9 for that matter, I was greatly disappointed. But then again, maybe I just set my hopes too high. And it is still early in the season, so there is always hope.

Just to end on a more positive note - I did like that Teal'c had more to do in this ep and that he was the one to get the lizard and make it out of the cave. I hope he gets more moments like this in future eps. And all of the actors did try and make the most with what they were given. AT was really great in the last scene on the planet as she struggled so hard to remain awake, even while they were loading her into the isolation pod.

But I really do appreciate your optimism and I am very glad you and many others liked the ep. I really wish I had come away from it with the same vibe. I just hope you’re right and things pick up as the season goes on.

I agree with you - I am not optimistic for S10 and I see the trend of S9 continuing. I have zero faith in TPKTS. The vala story completely screwed me up and the way the ep was cut was a pain that was also distracting - again thank God for the FF button.

[Suzotchka]

I wanted to make my 500th post here. Because when it comes down to it, Sam will always be my favorite character in the Stargate universe.

I have to say that I was very disappointed with season 9 and from what I've seen of season 10, I can tell you I can't stand it. Amanda does great with what she's given. I truly wish she was on screen more. The last two seasons haven't excited me at all. I do not like Cam. I do not like Vala. Yes, I know that everything changes. But I feel force-fed. The Ori are not scary. Nor do I care much about the "knight of the roundtable' storyline. The show, to me, has become boring.

I actually read a book while the show is on and only pay attention when Sam (Amanda) is on the screen. I am only watching the show to support Amanda, but I do not know how much longer I can continue to do so. I shouldn't be this miserable while watching what once was my favorite show.

I will support Amanda and I will follow her anywhere her career path may lead. She will always have a fan in me (even if she hasn't come to a NY con yet - )

[stargate barbie]

You see, I have quite a different feeling about this episode. For me, things are not looking up at all. Like some of you, I thought the episode was just plain boring. And I found some (not all) of the eps from the latter part of season 9 much more engaging (i.e. Ripple Effect, Scourge, Arthur’s Mantle).

Spoiler:

Vala was the ‘B’ storyline and yet she dominated the whole episode. I have nothing against Vala – I really enjoyed a lot of her scenes but the show is Stargate: SG-1, not Vala’s World. And how did some of her scenes contribute to the episode as a whole? I mean, they’re always telling us that character development and interaction scenes that do not contribute to the overall plot of the episodes are the first to be cut and left on the editing room floor. Yet most of the scenes with Vala, relevant or not, seem to have made the final cut (except the one with Sam, of course). Yes, these scenes were amusing for some viewers (myself included). Yes, they had some funny jokes. But most were just pointless fluff on the whole.

I mean, what did we really learn about Vala that shows that she would be a valuable member of the SGC? Is just being fun and endearingly (or not so endearingly) quirky a qualification these days? Daniel makes a case for her by comparing her to Teal'c in season 1. The big difference is that Teal'c proved himself to be a man of integrity and honor right off the bat. And it was clear what his motivations were in wanting to fight with the Tauri. Vala is no Teal'c. And in Morpheus, they did nothing to show that she is trustworthy and deserves to be a member of the SGC.

In addition, the team storyline was so plot-heavy that it just dragged. And where were all the great teamy moments that the episode was supposed to have? JM said that there was going to be this great scene between Sam and Daniel near the end. When I saw it, I said to myself, “Is that it?” Five seconds of Daniel and Sam showing some vague concern for each other does not a great moment make.

If this is how “team” episodes are going to go from now on, I have little hope for the rest of the season. I was so looking forward to this ep. And just like last week, and throughout most of season 9 for that matter, I was greatly disappointed. But then again, maybe I just set my hopes too high. And it is still early in the season, so there is always hope.

Just to end on a more positive note - I did like that Teal'c had more to do in this ep and that he was the one to get the lizard and make it out of the cave. I hope he gets more moments like this in future eps. And all of the actors did try and make the most with what they were given. AT was really great in the last scene on the planet as she struggled so hard to remain awake, even while they were loading her into the isolation pod.

But I really do appreciate your optimism and I am very glad you and many others liked the ep. I really wish I had come away from it with the same vibe. I just hope you’re right and things pick up as the season goes on.

regarding morpheus (speculating for future eps too a little bit);

Spoiler:

i very much agree with your first paragraph in spoiler tags above here. i do like vala and i think the character has a lot of potential, but i found myself thinking that a lot of her scenes in here were just filler, and they were pretty unneccessary for the most part. the could have accomplished the same thing in that b-story with about 2 or 3 vala scenes in total.

it just felt like this one was running short so they added in some extra superfluous material. in fact there were several scenes even in the A-plot that ran a little longer than they needed to, and i think this is why people were saying that it felt as though the episode dragged.

i just hope that this episode was not the one that had the carter/vala scene cut from the start of it "for time", becaust there was so much in here that could have been sacrificed for a character development scene, especially one between sam and vala considering that the two of them are the only ones who haven't "bonded" for lack of a better term. vala already knows everyone else, so it's very important that she has a "getting to know" carter scene. if this is the one that it was cut from, i am going to be pretty bothered and not at all enthused about the direction of the season. having said that, i did enjoy the vala lie detector scene, even though it wasn't really 100% neccessary, but i thought that the ink blot one was less neccessary. i don't know, i might have to watch this one again just to be a picky critic about it.

anyway, the altered colour grading was a bit distracting, and i thought maybe it was just me who had noticed it because i've spent the last 2 years studying things like that, so i'm a bit disappointed to realise that it actualy was noticeable to others. it was definitely a deliberate attempt to make those scenes look different to convey a certain tone. the scenes looked more flat and dreary, but there was too much contrast between the scenes on the planet and the scenes on earth, my personal thoughts on the reasons for which i will not go into here because i don't have to write essays on that kind of thing anymore.

i like that cameron wasn't "the boss" here. sam gave as many orders as he did, or didn't react as though what he said was an order. i do cringe everytime he says something that could be interpreted as an order, but thats just something i'll have to try to get over unless they actually state that he is the boss. my personal hope is that when cam says he feels that he can't give carter orders, landry says, well you shouldn't be giving her orders, she's not your subordinate. something like that.

glad that teal'c almost saved the day. not so glad that, rather than have someone other than cam save the day, we'll have the extras in the hazmat suits save them. and we won't show cam getting rescued, that'll make him seem weaker. (just, mostly, kidding).

i agree with agent dark that the best line was sam's one "and you say you can't understand me" to cam.

well, this one was ok. it wasn't spectacular, but it almost reminded me of an early season 7 episode, and season 7 got way better in the second half so here's hopin'.

i could do without cam trying to be a slightly less in control jack o'neill, because he really can't be that guy. i could do with vala being a little less "fun", although i don't want her to go all serious. the important thing with her character is finding the right balance. when they tried to make her more serious in season 9, it really didn't work, and IMO was the worst ep of the season. and i really hope we get to see some good moments with her and sam, because you can really see the two actresses playing off each other even when they don't have anything to do. chris judge too. AT and CJ didn't have any lines in that last scene, but they were both having some great beats there with claudia black.

i'm gonna shut up now because i just realised how long i've been going on here for without really saying anything important.

Spoiler:

(which is kinda what they did in morpheus! ooh, see what i did there? )

[ChopinGal]

Am I the only person who just found Morpheus boring? Not bad, necessarily, but... meh.

Spoiler:

The best scenes were incredibly short, with lots of stuff going on in between that I really didn't care about ...

... I did like the Sam/Daniel scene at the end, and I was very grateful that Teal'c got to have an important role in saving the day. It did have a better team feel to it. Vala was toned down for the most part ....

But what is up with the pig-tails????

Somewhere Over the Rainbow … A Reprise

Somewhere over the rainbow
There was a show
Filled with a cast that I cared for
Where, just oh where did it go?

Plenty of bad guys and action
Glowing eyes
False gods … bug-like marauders
Each week held a new surprise

There was a leader quite intense
An alien who was immense
Beside him

A blonde-haired gal so brave and true
A blue-eyed archaeologist too
They were the best crew

Somewhere beyond the Stargate
Battles raged
Jack, T, Samantha and Daniel
The enemy did engage

The writers gave us such good stuff
Lots of weight and little fluff
Why oh why not now?

(Last Year's Version)

Season 9 is alarming
Not much of Sam
Are they just deconstructing
Rebuilding with Vala and Cam

Carter is so much more able
Then scripts reveal
Sam’s seen staring at Orlin
Left helpless to clinch the deal

Sam Carter flies and calculates
She’s blown a sun and fixed the Gate
A soldier

And when she’s not getting short shrift
But calibrating planets’ drift
She’s more than stellar

Why not bring back what is missing
The real, real Sam
Show her again in the forefront
Willing to take command

Yes, Jack is gone and Cam is here
Vala will return for another year
But Sam, oh Sam’s most dear

(The New Part)

Season 10 has now come upon us
We shall see
Just what the writers will show us
How good the scenes will be

So far it’s still Cam as the hero
All fall behind
Sam, T, Daniel and Vala
Appear and just say their lines

They move about and articulate
But hardly get to inter-relate
Why is this?

If the old team’s gone and new one formed
Can we please see how they transform
Into something special?

Morpheus was more even minded
But left me confused
Vala has changed her persona
Pigtails are overused

Sex kitten now purrs demurely
Cleans up her schtick
Wants to be one of the good guys
Pigtails will do the trick

If other girls could get away
Flipping pigtails in their day
Why oh why can’t she?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...l/ValaHair.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...hyPigtails.jpg

[ForeverSg1]

No.

Spoiler:

HA! Real-life psychologists and neuroscientists were likely tearing their hair out over both the psych eval and serotonin-makes-you-sleepy plots. I'm glad I didn't have any anxiolytics handy during last night's viewing. It's not good to mix them with alcohol.

Spoiler:

Yeah the ending was the truly bothersome part for me. We see two guys die within a matter of hours of being exposed to this parasite and yet we are suppose to believe that Daniel and Sam were about to pass out when the men from the SGC found them and yet they managed to stay awake long enough for an antibody to be concocted. The ending felt horribly rushed to me and like others have said, while the scenes with Vala were at times humorous, they were completely unnecessary to me and that time should have been used to explain the A-plot a bit more. I was also very disappointed with the Sam and Daniel moment. Was it better than what we were given last year? Oh hell yeah, by leaps and bounds, but it's still rather pathetic that that brief interaction between Sam and Daniel was considered a great moment by the writers. Oh well, I'm not really sure why I keep setting myself up to be disappointed. For a Stargate Command S2 episode it was an ok episode, but for a Stargate SG-1 S10 episode it was a rather boring disappointment. But that's just my opinion.

[ChopinGal]

Now this is what we need more of in Season 10 ...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...al/GIJanes.jpg

[AGateFan]

Now this is what we need more of in Season 10 ...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...al/GIJanes.jpg

Spoiler:

Well, heres a small thing. It looks like Sam has got her Zat back. Has Teal'c got his staff back? Last season it was like they are anti-any of the old props.

[ChopinGal]

Spoiler:

Yeah the ending was the truly bothersome part for me. We see two guys die within a matter of hours of being exposed to this parasite and yet we are suppose to believe that Daniel and Sam were about to pass out when the men from the SGC found them and yet they managed to stay awake long enough for an antibody to be concocted. The ending felt horribly rushed to me and like others have said, while the scenes with Vala were at times humorous, they were completely unnecessary to me and that time should have been used to explain the A-plot a bit more. I was also very disappointed with the Sam and Daniel moment. Was it better than what we were given last year? Oh hell yeah, by leaps and bounds, but it's still rather pathetic that that brief interaction between Sam and Daniel was considered a great moment by the writers. Oh well, I'm not really sure why I keep setting myself up to be disappointed. For a Stargate Command S2 episode it was an ok episode, but for a Stargate SG-1 S10 episode it was a rather boring disappointment. But that's just my opinion.

Yep, I felt the same way about the ending. Puhleeze ... did we just fast forward and leap over a fairly large plot hole? I wish the writers would caution us about those plot holes - some kind of warning at the beginning of an episode. They're hazardous to our Stargate mental health and at least we wouldn't be disappointed, Kat, if we knew they were coming!

[SG1Poz]

Hi all

You know I think this is the episode that there was supposed to be a scene with Sam and Vala having a girl to girl talk but was cut by the PTB.

Spoiler:

I'll bet it was the last scene when Vala was accepted into the SGC. It's bad enough AT had such a tiny part and to think they cut even more of her out...errrr...

Please PTB...no more

Spoiler:

Bug stories

I think 4 (and if you consider Michello's nasties, 5) are enough.
Time to get out the Raid!

[Skydiver]

speakiing of plot reuse

Spoiler:

anyone else notice the 'coffin' that sam was put in? it was exactly like what jack was put into in frozen

wonder if there's any emotional fallout from that?

[ChopinGal]

The effects of one episode/season knock on to the next. If an ep/season isn't so hot, the next one suffers.

season 9 lacked:

• excitement; the pacing for the majority of episodes was ploddy. Excitement is a common denominator factor.
  
• plausiblity; far less important for gaining a popular audience if you have excitement, but without excitement and panache its one of the things you need to fall back on; and if you don't have it, people have time to notice that you don't have it. (Note: Alias is frequently implausible, but it races along at a cracking pace, with money on screen even for the shortest scenes, so who gives a f.?)
  
• cool villains; the Ori were not visible. Their avatars (priors, the odd village baddy) were staid and almost immobile. They were in no way gripping (note: Adria may change this, but if so it will take time to kick in).
  
• character interest: no one cared about anyone else. No one had a bust up with anyone else. Why would people watch?

Great analysis, scari ... have some Royal Beans!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...JellyBeans.jpg

[Skydiver]

Hi all

You know I think this is the episode that there was supposed to be a scene with Sam and Vala having a girl to girl talk but was cut by the PTB.

Spoiler:

I'll bet it was the last scene when Vala was accepted into the SGC. It's bad enough AT had such a tiny part and to think they cut even more of her out...errrr...

yeah, given rcc's adoration of all things vala you'd think that a sam/vala scene would stand a chance.

but it seems that the only vala scenes he likes are either all vala or vala and hte boys.

you have to wonder if AT ever stole his parking space or something

[majorsal]

speakiing of plot reuse

Spoiler:

anyone else notice the 'coffin' that sam was put in? it was exactly like what jack was put into in frozen

wonder if there's any emotional fallout from that?

no, don't worry, sky; sam doesn't remember who jack is.







sally

[ChopinGal]

no, don't worry, sky; sam doesn't remember who jack is.
sally

Omigosh, are you still feeling depressed and frustrated?! At least you'll have the highly touted 200th episode!

Spoiler:

Of course we now know that nothing will be real, just proposed scripts for the goofus little guy from Wormhole Xtreme. But at least we can see Jack and Sam as a couple, eh?! I doubt that we will get anything other than this.

Er ... now I'm depressed and frustrated.

[majorsal]

Omigosh, are you still feeling depressed and frustrated?! At least you'll have the highly touted 200th episode!

Spoiler:

Of course we now know that nothing will be real, just proposed scripts for the goofus little guy from Wormhole Xtreme. But at least we can see Jack and Sam as a couple, eh?! I doubt that we will get anything other than this.

Er ... now I'm depressed and frustrated.

besides the fact that they've taken ALL of sam's storylines away (that aren't some guy liking her of course), they've also nullified a decade long storyline into a 'who's jack?'. some fans might be tired of the storyline, but *sam* isn't.

some of my crankiness is the UNBEARABLE HEAT too. (the power went out a few mintues ago, but i didn't know until my mom yelled to me from the other room. i was passed out on the floor trying to nap. )






sally