Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[RepliCartertje]

Makes sense. But still, wouldn't it also make sense to put the person who knows what's going on in charge if she's available? Someone with experience?

But she wasn't available in the beginning...so they just took Mitchell who was probably the best man for the job. And if Sam came back from area 51...they didn't change it because they just couldn't make that too Mitchell. I mean first they say you can lead SG1 and than suddanly they would take it away from you...oooh I don't think Mitchell would have liked that. But it would have been fun to see that
Ok someone with a military background can probably give a better answer to this...
I am just thinking and giving my oppinion to it so...

[the dancer of spaz]

Aw. Looks like you need some lurve.

Spoilers for Off Topic Content Meant to Make jckfan (and me) SMILE:

Spoiler:

Wow.

*fans self like the fangurl she is*

Thank ya kindly, ma'am!

[majorsal]

Spoiler:

I think that each and every one of TPTB who had any hand in demoting Sam in favour of Mitchell should be ashamed of themselves for endorsing, knowingly or not, the sexist message it sends.

Spoiler:

it was probably rob cooper's idea. he saw nothing wrong with sam hooking up with a would-be stalker. to me, sam came off looking very weak and of low of self esteem. so i can see cooper thinking there's nothing wrong (from sam's pov) with sam ending up second in command of sg1 again.

i'm so bitter about things that i've got a constant state of heartburn.





sally

[L.A. Doyle]

But she wasn't available in the beginning...so they just took Mitchell who was probably the best man for the job. And if Sam came back from area 51...they didn't change it because they just couldn't make that too Mitchell. I mean first they say you can lead SG1 and than suddanly they would take it away from you...oooh I don't think Mitchell would have liked that. But it would have been fun to see that
Ok someone with a military background can probably give a better answer to this...
I am just thinking and giving my oppinion to it so...

Spoiler:

I meant when she came back. I don't care about Mitchell's feelings if the fate of the universe is at stake. I don't know how they'd really handle it, but I would have said, 'sorry, but Col. Carter is back and she's the best person for this job.' Seriously, who else would you want in the position than Sam? We NEED her. Mitchell, sorry to say, is expendable. I don't see what he offers that any other SG team member couldn't(except maybe fly). Was that harsh?

[the dancer of spaz]

Spoiler:

it was probably rob cooper's idea. he saw nothing wrong with sam hooking up with a would-be stalker. to me, sam came off looking very weak and of low of self esteem. so i can see cooper thinking there's nothing wrong (from sam's pov) with sam ending up second in command of sg1 again.

i'm so bitter about things that i've got a constant state of heartburn.





sally

Well...

Spoiler:

It's not so much the hooking up with the "would-be stalker" as it was the timing - both when she did (on a stakeout) and how fast it was after they started dating - AND the fact that AT had trepidations about it.

To me, that shows exactly where Rob Cooper's mind was at. He didn't have the foresight to care about how any of the various ship shenanigans would make Sam look, and he did it so they could have the romantic, zoom-out, fade-to-black shot of Carter kissing Pete?

It was so worth it.

[majorsal]

[...] but it just goes to prove my theory we have been living in an alternate reality since the end of season eight. That's my explanation and I'm sticking to it!!

i will take that and hold onto it with both hands! and feet!





sally

[astrogeologist]

But should we be surprised at the lack of back story or explanations for Sam compared to the other characters? It’s been happening since the very beginning. I looked back at the first two seasons, and it wasn’t until the ninth episode of season two before we learned as much about Sam as the rest. We knew a lot about Jack and Daniel’s stories from the movie, and looking through the first season and a half, consider all the shows that referred to their past. For Jack – Children of the Gods, Enemy Within, Cold Lazarus, Solitudes, Within the Serpent’s Grasp, Serpent’s Lair, and Gamekeeper. For Daniel – Children of the Gods, Within Serpent’s Grasp, Serpent’s Lair, and Gamekeeper.

Even Teal’c was given more history than Sam. Children of the Gods, Family, Bloodlines, and Cor-ai.

In those same episodes, what did we learn about Sam? In COTG, all we got was that she was a brilliant scientist who had worked on the original Stargate project, she had experience in flying, and that she was apparently a raging feminist. We all know that Amanda talked TPTB down off that last ledge. In Emancipation- we got just the tidbit that she had been through hand-to-hand training, and wasn’t afraid of the dark. Real revealing stuff, that. Then in First Commandment, they gave us the standard situation for a female character in virtually every show in history – a confrontation with the former fiancé. In Enigma, oh, look, she has a cat! It wasn’t until almost halfway through the second season, in Secrets, that we learned anything more substantial about Sam.

I’m not claiming that Sam didn’t have some truly great episodes in the first season and a half – Singularity, Solitudes, In the Line of Duty, etc. What I am saying is that they really didn’t tell us much about her. It’s a huge tribute to AT that she made the character as appealing and believable as she did, given how little background we were told about her. She could very easily have been just the talking head, and it would have been very easy to not care about her at all.

So, I guess I’m not too surprised that we were bombarded with Cam’s history last season, with the excuse that we already knew everything about the other characters, and we needed to catch up with his background. Omitting any explanation about Sam’s actions is nothing new, unfortunately.


NC

Great post, NC - tried to rep you, but wasn't allowed at this time... Was LOL at your list in that highlighted paragraph above... like most things that are funny, it's the truth that makes it mean so much. And the quip about the cat! (And I liked the cat... and the fact that Sam had one..., but still, LOL at your wit).

[RepliCartertje]

Spoiler:

I meant when she came back. I don't care about Mitchell's feelings if the fate of the universe is at stake. I don't know how they'd really handle it, but I would have said, 'sorry, but Col. Carter is back and she's the best person for this job.' Seriously, who else would you want in the position than Sam? We NEED her. Mitchell, sorry to say, is expendable. I don't see what he offers that any other SG team member couldn't. Was that harsh?

Ok true...
But I don't know if that can be done in the military? that is why we need someone with a military background who can help us out here.

Spoiler:

IMO I don't think they would ever do that because of the fact that they than say well we screwed things up with giving Mitchell the position. And he is actually not capable of doing the tasks we need him to do. And off course Sam is way better than Mitchell...I mean we all know that but would the USAF see that and see the mistake they made by putting mitchell in as leader? I think they don't see anything wrong with that cause the USAFsees Mitchell as equally good as Sam only he doesn't have the experiences. But with Sam on the team for them it was solved...They didn't have that problem of experience anymore cause Sam could share her experiences with Mitchell.
ok this is probably a silly explanation and totally unlogical... But that is how I see it. Because that gives a positive twist to something really negative and I can not have negative things that makes my day really bad!

Ok I am off to bed...goodnight everyone...Sweet dreams!!

[Uber]

Wow.

*fans self like the fangurl she is*

Thank ya kindly, ma'am!

I think we needed that in the midst of our whinging...WELL REASONED AS IT MAY BE.

And may I personally let off a little squee for the snippet of information we have for The Road Not Taken (which sounds to be a CARTER ep)???

*squee*

[astrogeologist]

I've been browsing the thread. You all have great thoughts about this sad situation. Too bad we can't take Bridge by storm!

Space Race came on tonight. It was so nice to see Sam excited and having fun! Plus I want her cool leather jacket.

Here's to Sam *winning* the next Space Race that she enters... simply leaving the others in the (space) dust!

[the dancer of spaz]

I think we needed that in the midst of our whinging...WELL REASONED AS IT MAY BE.

And may I personally let off a little squee for the snippet of information we have for The Road Not Taken (which sounds to be a CARTER ep)???

*squee*

I want to know how Solutions is getting this information. They also had that 200th ep pic of the whole team as a banner of some sort before emedian, sg-project or GW posted it.

[majorsal]

gateworld has released the ratings for 'pegasus project'. 1.5. (the same for the atlantis ep)

part of me wants to yell HA HA, while the other wants to... cry.

it is soooooooo hard to see my once fave show die like this . but jeez, if the ptb weren't so danged arrogant and stubborn, this wouldn't be happening!!







sally

[astrogeologist]

(Spoiled for whinge-ish statements)

Spoiler:

The show wasn't very promoted in its seventh and eighth season (at least, not that I remember), and seasons six through eight were produced before Sci Fi's switch to NBCUniversal, right? Nothing has changed but the direction of the show.

While I agree that there's been more competition for SG-1, and while I agree that the shows should definitely be promoted more, AND while I agree that the critics are very fickle with what they find to be "quality television," I've gotta say that it says a lot about the show's quality, if casual viewers are simply forgetting about the show or jumping ship before they can find the conclusion to the cliffhanger.

If the show has maintained such the high level of quality that they claim it has, the ratings shouldn't have taken such a huge hit. They should be marginally lower at best, unless one wants to concede that the stuff elsewhere is simply better than what they're dishing out. Blaming the quality competition for lowered ratings is an ass-backwards way of not taking responsibility for a decrease in the quality for BOTH Stargate series. The more they find excuses ("It was the least-watched night of television in five years!; "Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom stole all of the viewers away!"), the more I shake my head at their antics, no matter how legitimate they may seem.

At what point do they take responsibility for their stuff? When there's constant praise? When the numbers are high, and only then? When Matt Roush is kissing their feet and whistling the theme song throughout the day, and WRITES about it? When will the people at Sci Fi/MGM/Bridge/Sony be "men" enough to take responsibility for the mistakes they've made?

Never? Oh, OK.

I agree, dancer.

Spoiler:

The folks who've been whining about the low ratings being due to a lack of publicity are just wrong - at least aroud where I am, there has been much, much more Stargate publicity over the past year or so that I'd ever, ever seen before. Stargate all over the front of TV Guide - several times. Articles everywhere, in the newspapers, online (such as AOL), etc. Kind of amazing, actually, as some of you have said, Stargate was an also-ran for so many years, that it was weird to suddenly seen Stargate on the front covers and front pages of so much and in so many places. So the low ratings aren't because of a lack of press.

Add in the 'new blood' (actors such as BB, CB, BB2, etc), some Farscape fans, lots of publicity, a record-nreaking season (for length of scifi series), 'Ben Browder Leading Stargate into New Directions', add in some stock scifi female cleavage and a female dominatrix in skin tight clothes....

...and shouldn't the ratings have gone UP???

At the very least, the ratings should have stayed around where they were for the previous season (maybe a *little* up or a *little* down)...

For the ratings to drop as they did... the only explanation that makes sense to me is that folks gave Season 9 a look see. Didn't like what they saw enough to tune in for Season 10. Other things are more interesting.

Well, the ratings may still rebound... you never know...

[majorsal]

So, it could be a question of point of view...

Spoilers for S9 Fourth Horseman

Spoiler:

If Martin Wood sees that as a sex scene, it would explain Landry's reaction...

Personaly, I didn't see it as a sex scene...

so, if touching someone like that (what orlin did), then are we saying that orlin raped sam at the very beginning of 'ascension'?

i don't care what kind of 'we're a new show that is going to sell sex now' mentality, sam did NOT have sex with orlin. even amanda said they didn't.





sally

[astrogeologist]

My view...

Spoiler:

For me the whole Sam arc (or actually lack thereof) was one of the major weaknesses of the story-telling in S9. There is no doubt that instead of using AT's absence to create a great development moment for Sam, they treated it as an after-thought with the additional benefit that it allowed them to shuffle the character out of the leadership more easily. I personally cannot stand the fact that Beachhead seems to be written not primarily as Sam's return story but as Vala's exit story (and I quite like Vala as a character). It is poor story-telling. I also don't accept the excuse that they had a lot going on otherwise which meant they couldn't spend the time on Sam's character backstory - hey, that's the job and as writers they should be able to cope with all of the different characters and ensure they all get treated with equal respect.

I think S9 was one of the worst, if not the worst, in terms of balancing the characters in the history of the show. Interestingly I have the same view about Teal'c as I do about Sam - I find the explanation for his return to the SGC and the Tau'ri wishy-washy and not believable.

Spoiler:

On the subject of Sci-fi journalism not picking up on the blatant discrimination - my only comment is that its a sad fact that such blatant discrimination can be overlooked by the world but not surprising - it happens to women every single day in the workplace and nobody notices.

Fantastic post, Rachel!