Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[RepliCartertje]

Hey it's not my moose, it's TJ's moose...and I can't help it if TJ like moose tossing
(you're just lucky I didn't mention Canada's national animal )

well I think I better duck now before I get another headacke because of you and TJ lol

[minigeek]

what's even more depressing, try to make a point about the gender bias...and you're dismissed with 'all feminist rantings aside'...thus i'm a woman so i guess i'm not even worth listening to

The convoluted truth is, so-called feminist ranting should continue to exist until the term itself has no further meaning in speech; which would indicate that no one would point it out as such any longer, which would be something of a paradox. As long as the word feminist continues to be used in conversation, the underlying fact is there's still a lack of equality which speaks to its etymology.

mg

[L.A. Doyle]

On the ratings topic, I plotted the episode ratings by season

Spoiler:

Season 7 went all over the place, huh? The difference btw the S8 and S10 premieres....ouch! Though, 9 did better than I thought it did. Looks like S8 did well in the ratings. Why change what's not broken? I think they thought RDA leaving was the end of the world and they HAD to get a new male lead. They just HAD to create a new enemy right away. It would have been better to stick with the same formula for a while, then gradually change. More people might have been more open to the new guys-both good and bad.

Me thinks astro likes graphing things!

[astrogeologist]

Sadly, all these posts about Sam remind me of the comment Amanda made about Ben and Joe getting to fly with the Thunderbirds and Amanda being told "We didn't think you'd be interested". I mean here this woman has been with the franchise six years longer than either of these men and yet they didn't even think to ask her if she'd like to participate. I know she may joke about it being a boy's club and learning how to play golf, but after last year's season of Stargate, I definitely have to wonder how much truth is really in her comments. I know Torri has made similiar remarks.

It would definitely be interesting to go to a con with Amanda, Teryl, Torri, Rachel and Claudia as guests and see what their comments are about the Stargate Boy's Club.

Can you just see what great and wonderful press they'd get if they *did* take AT up in a Thunderbird? Both the Air Force *and* the Stargate franchise would get all sorts of great press everywhere - because they could tout equal opportunity and forward thinking and such!

[DEM]

They don’t know what to do with the character of Sam Carter.

“Why the hell not?”

{clip-a-snip}

Need a spokesperson / liaison?

Ah, those were the days, weren't they?

Brilliant series, X-Person! Although I have no idea who the heck you are, please do drop by more often.

[the dancer of spaz]

Sadly, all these posts about Sam remind me of the comment Amanda made about Ben and Joe getting to fly with the Thunderbirds and Amanda being told "We didn't think you'd be interested". I mean here this woman has been with the franchise six years longer than either of these men and yet they didn't even think to ask her if she'd like to participate. I know she may joke about it being a boy's club and learning how to play golf, but after last year's season of Stargate, I definitely have to wonder how much truth is really in her comments. I know Torri has made similiar remarks.

Yes. Thanks so much for reminding me of that.

Kinda whinge-y...

Spoiler:

It was a blanket excuse, made to make it seem like they even considered her in the first place, when it's obvious that they didn't. It's funny because, like you said, she's been with the franchise for the entire decade, and they couldn't help but make both of the newer male characters Lt. Colonels. Sheppard was a Major for one season, and he was promoted the very next time. It's almost like they honestly couldn't fathom the idea of having Sam be a Lt. Colonel while Sheppard was a Major (and certainly not while Mitchell was a Major).

We got to see seven years of growth, maturity and development before Sam reached that next stage in her career, yet Sheppard's promotion was practically handed to him on a silver platter, and it's very clear why Mitchell was made into a Lt. Colonel.

Tapping should not have had to hound them about the Thunderbirds thing, while the guys got a free ride. I guess I just expect more from people who've worked with her forever, and who are supposedly "friends."

It would definitely be interesting to go to a con with Amanda, Teryl, Torri, Rachel and Claudia as guests and see what their comments are about the Stargate Boy's Club.

Oh, I'd so be there, just to get their perspectives on that aspect of production. Of course, it'd have to be years after both series were done (or maybe not if Torri's as bold as she seems), but not only would such a convention bring in mucho bucks for whoever ran it, it would probably give the women a greater freedom to talk about a serious issue that is still quite prevalent in the television and film industry.

[astrogeologist]

On the ratings topic, I plotted the episode ratings by season

Spoiler:

Season 7 went all over the place, huh? The difference btw the S8 and S10 premieres....ouch! Though, 9 did better than I thought it did. Looks like S8 did well in the ratings. Why change what's not broken? I think they thought RDA leaving was the end of the world and they HAD to get a new male lead. They just HAD to create a new ememy right away. It would have been better to stick with the same formula for a while, then gradually change. More people might have been more open to the new guys-both good and bad.

Me thinks astro likes graphing things!

The Season 7 lowest rated episode was Enemy Mine, and the Season 7 highest rated episode was Evolution, part 2.

I think there's some truth to the fact that what comes before tremendously affects the ratings of what comes after.
In other words, Season 6 episodes are the reason for the Season 7 ratings. Season 7 episodes carry a lot of the credit for Season 9's success. Season 8 epsidoes carry a lot of Season 9's success and why the viewers tuned in. But Season 9 has to similarly take the hit/credit for Season 10's ratings.

Note: Seasons 1-5 were on Showtime and weren't available to most viewers, so for many Season 6 was actually the first offerings of a new series and the ratings were low, until folks checked it out over the first couple of years.

[the dancer of spaz]

Season 7 went all over the place, huh? The difference btw the S8 and S10 premieres....ouch! Though, 9 did better than I thought it did. Looks like S8 did well in the ratings. Why change what's not broken? I think they thought RDA leaving was the end of the world and they HAD to get a new male lead. They just HAD to create a new enemy right away. It would have been better to stick with the same formula for a while, then gradually change. More people might have been more open to the new guys-both good and bad.

Me thinks astro likes graphing things!

Well, though there's really no evidence to confirm it, it was probably Sci Fi's pressing that brought along Browder and Black. They're the ones who wouldn't take on Stargate unless RDA signed on for S6, and wouldn't renew for S7 or S8 unless RDA was there in some capacity. They've fallen ill to the Male Lead Syndrome for many years now.

However, when it came down to recreating and rebranding the series, and when Sci Fi realized that, unlike the Farscape producers, the [email protected] were more than willing to conform to their ideas (heck, they even AGREED with them), it probably made things much easier for them.

That's opinion, of course. There's no way to prove that they wouldn't renew the series without Browder on board, but based on their past behavior, it's certainly plausible.

[ForeverSg1]

I was at a conference a few years ago, sitting at a table full of folks in my industry discussing some of the latest trends. One of the guys asked a techical question about the new hardware we'd been using and I turned to him and answered it. He was sitting right beside me. But he didn't even look at me, he looked past me at my colleague from work (who was sitting on the other side of me) and said, "is that true?". He didn't know either of us from Adam. But I was the only female at the table. And when my colleague said, "Yep," the other guy nodded and went on. Then two minutes later, my colleague and I had stood up and were standing in the corner of the room. The same guy walks up and asks my colleague a question leading off from the first one. Again, he didn't even glance my way. My colleague had to tell him that the question wasn't in his area of expertise, but he deferred it to me. The point is - it happens so often that much of the time we tend not to even notice these things. The 'automatic' assumptions people make that a woman wouldn't be INTERESTED in flying a plane, or that she wouldn't know much about a technical issue. Especially in male dominated fields. It's not even meant as an insult, it's just so stereotypically ingrained in us from years of status quo - that if we don't step up and KEEP pointing it out (even when it seems tiny or ad nauseum), then it'll just perpetuate forever and the stereotype will never change. We're the ones that have to change it. No matter how b****y it might make us seem to some people when we apparently notice every so-called "little" thing. A million "little" things equals a very HUGE thing.

mg

"Don't worry about it, dollface. They guys are gonna grab a beer and leave you to get back to your needlepoint."

Yeah, sadly it's not just an issue regarding the work place. It's life in general.

Put in spoiler due to the fact that it's OT and quite lengthy.

Spoiler:

Five years ago when my daughter was born, my husband and I agreed that I would stop working and stay at home with her until she went to school. We both decided that we would rather live on one income than watch someone else raise our daughter for us and luckily for us we were able to live quite comfortably on his income. So needless to say, I've been a stay-at-home mom for nearly six years now and I haven't really had to deal with the inequalities at work for quite some time; however, as a woman I have still been forced to deal with it on a regular basis.

You see I handle all of the finances in our household. I pay all the bills. I make all the major purchases. If there is a question about money, I'm the person that deals with it. Four years ago, I decided I wanted to buy a new car. I spent weeks reading reviews, price comparing different vehicles and making a decision on which car I wanted to purchase. Then the day finally came when I wanted to buy a new car and my husband and I drove down to the car lot with our daughter who was two at the time. When we got to the car dealership, I was the one who was looking at the cars and my husband was the one taking care of my daughter and yet the salesman went right up to my husband and asked if he could help him.

I told him that we would like to purchase a new car. I told him the color, the make and the year I wanted. I specifically expressed what accessories we wanted added to the car and how much we were willing to pay. My husband said nothing. He just stood there playing with my daughter, but everytime the salesman spoke he would look directly at my husband and ask the question. He completely ignored me. After about thirty minutes, my husband could tell I was becoming extremely angry and the salesman was at risk of pushing me over the edge and he'd be forced to go to another car dearler. So after about the thirtieth time of being asked a question by the salesman, my husband looked at the sales person and said 'Look, the person you want to speak with is my wife. She handles all the money. I have no say in this matter. I'm only here to take care of my daughter. I suggest if you really want to make a sale today that you start listening to what she's telling you otherwise she's going to walk out of here and she won't be coming back'.

The salesman had the audacity to look utterly shocked by my husband's comments. After that he basically did whatever he could to appease me, but by that time I was already completely p*ssed off and ready to walk out. If it hadn't had been for my husband, I would have left, but he had already wasted nearly an hour there and he wanted us to get a new car. So I agreed to stick around, but I was a hardass from that moment on. Everytime they told me they couldn't do something I wanted, I'd thank them for their time and told them I'd look elsewhere for a new car. After about three hours of negotiating, I walked out of the car dealership with a brand new car that cost me $5000 under the marked price, 0% financing and no money down. In fact when we went to sign the paperwork the next day, the financing guy looked at the details and said 'Um I think we have a problem. I think the salesperson misquoted you this information because there is no way we can sell this car to you under these terms.' So I suggested that he speak with his manager, because I had already spoken to him several times the night before and after a few minutes on the phone he apologized and said that everything was in order. I think by that time they were all just very happy to see me go.

I wish I could say that was the last time I had to deal with this sort of thing, but it happens quite often and sadly in most cases, they don't even realize how disrespectful and discriminating they are being.

[astrogeologist]

On the ratings topic, I plotted the episode ratings by season

Spoiler:

And here's the same basic data plotted another way

Spoiler:

[Mandysg1]

Astro and her graphs reminds me of a kid in a candy store
WTG oh geeky one

edit: ah next time my neice needs help with her physics can I call you?

[Skydiver]

Can you just see what great and wonderful press they'd get if they *did* take AT up in a Thunderbird? Both the Air Force *and* the Stargate franchise would get all sorts of great press everywhere - because they could tout equal opportunity and forward thinking and such!

yeah, and if they'd get thier heads out of thier boys club they'd see that

[Skydiver]

A little over four hours from now, i get to get my week's 'sam fix'

[Admiral Q O]

Capping Forever in a Day and for some reason...this part always make me smile...

[Mandysg1]

A little over four hours from now, i get to get my week's 'sam fix'

Okay, this maybe premature, but I may not feel like doing it after the show

Spoiler:

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

and now back to your regularily scheduled program