Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Mandysg1]

Cameron has a brain? When did TPTB write that in?
Is that one of the S10 improvements?


Was that goode enough

*Pats AGateFan on the head* Very good, very good

[astrogeologist]

Call me obtuse (and, Heaven knows, I'm no great fan of S8-10) but even the supposedly calamitous numbers for S10 represent a greater number of households tuning in than for S6 & S7. Also, as more households get cable, the ratings points themselves become diluted. No, I think # of households is the money number here (to say nothing of ancillary sales). What surprises me is that the show didn't take a bigger hit, on average, when RDA left (apparently taking .3 million households with him).

As for the almost half a million who have "ankled" between S9 and S10, maybe they're as bored with the Ori as I am. Maybe full-time Vala isn't getting it done for them. Maybe they got tired of waiting for the new formula to settle into place. Maybe none of the above. Who knows? But while S6 & S7 were clearly superior, IMO, as many as a million households appear to disagree.

P.S.: As relative as all this is, I see that no S8-10 episode has hit the Marianas Trench ratings depth plumbed by S7's Enemy Mine. Though we might be getting close ...

It all depends on what the PTB who hold the purse strings were budgeting for. If there are more total viewers watching on Friday evenings, most $$ folks in charge of shows are going to think that's cool - because they are going to expect at least the same % of viewers that they had before, and therefore, they are going to expect a higher number of viewers in absolute numbers. They will then be disappointed if their % of viewers goes down, because it means that they are not sharing the new viewers that are coming onboard (on, say, Friday evenings).

Most companies (and even individuals) can not continue to make ends meet if they do not get some sort of profit/salary increase each year to offset inflation. So... unless the Stargate $$$ budget PTB were very conservative with their upcoming season budgets... they could find themselves not making enough (if any) profit to make the continuation of the series worthwhile. On the other hand, they might have a $$$ benefactor who is willing to weather out some 'bad years' for the future hope of the good years. The folks who own sports teams are good examples of folks with $$$ who are willing to wait through bad years in hopes of the better ones in the future.

[astrogeologist]

I have to agree with L.A. Doyle. 9/10th of Sams fans are women. I dont understand why but thats the way it is. I'm a guy and I have liked Sam ever since the first episode I saw. I'm most likely the only guy thats ever posted in this thread...

AD and 1speed4Sam and a few others will have to get together with you and initiate you into the brotherhood

[ParadoxRealities]

AD and 1speed4Sam and a few others will have to get together with you and initiate you into the brotherhood

<wonders what that initiation would be like>

question for the ratings geniuses among us: why do the ratings points change values from year to year? in season six one point was 780,000 households, but in season 7 it was 800,000; then it changed to viewers--why make it so confusing? is it adjusted or anything?

[ccdsah]

AD and 1speed4Sam and a few others will have to get together with you and initiate you into the brotherhood

I'm a guy and a Samfan too

[astrogeologist]

Oh! I didn't mean to stereotype. Very sorry if you took it that way. I did mention that men come here and I know not all guys see it that way, nor do all women. I'm a little bit of both myself. I like explosions and a competent Carter-preferably Carter being the one causing the explosions. I was just trying to say why I felt more men were watching now, and general reasons why they might be, and why the women might not.

I don't know if there are more men, or less women, watching now or not... there don't seem to be any good numbers on that.

However... it does seem that TPTB were targeting a younger male audience when they added in Vala The Dominatrix*, and Mitchell, the Flyboy, Alpha Male Leader Bad Boy who is a loose canon but has saved the world and has a CMOH. Writing Carter out of command and giving it to the New Lead Male does come across to many viewers as a statement that TPTB did not think that their audience would accept the female Carter as CO of the team without RDA around.

So, it does seem like they were targeting a younger male audience, rather than a (trying not to say older or more mature here... help me out with positive adjectives, here folks) female audience. There is no concrete proof of this, and there are, unfortunately, no good numbers easily available to us about how, or if, the demographic %'s have changed post-Season 8.

It is tempting, for many of us, to think that because of the changes that have been made, which appear to target younger male audiences... it is tempting to think that many female viewers would have stopped viewing out of disappointment and that the end result would be an increase in the % of male viewers to female viewers.

Can't truly say, however, one way or the other.

Personally, I stopped watching... although I still find myself hoping that they'll 'fix things'.



*(and, that's *not* my categorization of her, that's from the folks behind the scenes at Stargate - they have been fairly honest about what Vala's character was when she was originally introduced).

[astrogeologist]

this is what i did yesterday

http://www.jackfic.com/stuff/

the file called 'bridge go boom'

it was kinda cool, i was a whole 549 feet away

Great quality vid, Sky!... Very cool to see that bridge go down all at once, too.


... Now, I have to admit, from the title 'Bridge Go Boom'... I was snarkily expecting something about a *different* Bridge going boom...

[SamO'Neill]

Hello! I just wanted to introduce myself!

I've spent most of my time over at the Sam/Jack Family thread, but I have been lurking here for quite some time!

I'm a huge Sam fan, she's always been my favorite character in Stargate. I always like a strong, smart female heroine. And the fact that she's played by an amazing actress doesn't hurt.

By the way, how do I become a "Samanda"? Or did I type that wrong?

Thanks!!

[ReganX]

It all depends on what the PTB who hold the purse strings were budgeting for. If there are more total viewers watching on Friday evenings, most $$ folks in charge of shows are going to think that's cool - because they are going to expect at least the same % of viewers that they had before, and therefore, they are going to expect a higher number of viewers in absolute numbers. They will then be disappointed if their % of viewers goes down, because it means that they are not sharing the new viewers that are coming onboard (on, say, Friday evenings).

Most companies (and even individuals) can not continue to make ends meet if they do not get some sort of profit/salary increase each year to offset inflation. So... unless the Stargate $$$ budget PTB were very conservative with their upcoming season budgets... they could find themselves not making enough (if any) profit to make the continuation of the series worthwhile. On the other hand, they might have a $$$ benefactor who is willing to weather out some 'bad years' for the future hope of the good years. The folks who own sports teams are good examples of folks with $$$ who are willing to wait through bad years in hopes of the better ones in the future.

I'd say that Season Ten is costing more than Season Six did. Actor's salaries alone will be pushing up the cost. AT, CJ and MS are in their tenth year on the show so it is likely that their salaries have been increased incrementally with each year - at least I think that's how it is done - and, while RDA and Don Davis are no longer there fulltime, TPTB have to pay Ben Browder, Beau Bridges and Claudia Black as regulars, in addition to a known actress for Adria and Lexa Doig if she's appearing. Likewise, directors, producers, writers, etc, have hardly taken a paycut. All the special effects probably don't come cheaply either.

If, hypothetically speaking, the costs for Season Ten were twenty-five percent higher than the costs for Season Six, then it would be reasonable to suppose that whoever is funding the show is hoping that the viewer numbers will rise to match this figure to ensure them a return on their investment.

I could see the ratings having a lot of power, not only could they affect the income the show generates from advertising but when the show is being sold to other countries, will they be willing to pay the same for a season averaging ratings of 1.45 as they would for a season with an average above 2.0?

If the show isn't making the kind of returns the investors are hoping for, they may decide to give up on it and fund new shows instead.

[astrogeologist]

Univited extended preview: http://forum.gateworld.net/showthrea...58#post5632958

CARTER! CARTER! CARTER!

That scene is about

Spoiler:

Vala. It's a Vala character scene, played both to expand and develop her character as she learns about how to work with the Tauri and SG-1 - and it's played for a little bit of humor. Carter simply helps set the scene, then gets pushed aside by Vala, Carter looks annoyed while Vala does the rest of the bit, playing off both BB's.

I know it's not exactly the same, but I got 'shades of that briefing room scene' where young clone O'Neill takes over for Carter and she just steps aside and that's the end of it. 'He does it better' was the message then. I think the message with Vala... was just Vala's character development

[ParadoxRealities]

Hello! I just wanted to introduce myself!

I've spent most of my time over at the Sam/Jack Family thread, but I have been lurking here for quite some time!

I'm a huge Sam fan, she's always been my favorite character in Stargate. I always like a strong, smart female heroine. And the fact that she's played by an amazing actress doesn't hurt.

By the way, how do I become a "Samanda"? Or did I type that wrong?

Thanks!!

you already are one!! see:

Spoiler:

hope you have lots of fun here

[ParadoxRealities]

That scene is about

Spoiler:

Vala. It's a Vala character scene, played both to expand and develop her character as she learns about how to work with the Tauri and SG-1 - and it's played for a little bit of humor. Carter simply helps set the scene.

so, without spoiling me please, is it worth getting exicited about?

[astrogeologist]

Yes, TPTB don't seem to care as much as they used to about the scientific aspects of the show. I guess, as far as Sam, I have trouble seeing her as less intelligent, so I attribute her lack of thinking to other factors, such as mistakes others have made, or simply the absence of a good scientific dilemma written into the story, rather than Sam being slower or what have you. As for Dr. Lee, or practically any other secondary scientist at the SGC, I completely agree with you. I was talking to my sister about this recently. What the heck is up with these people making so many mistakes? I'd like to know, first of all, how they were able to get a job at the SGC in the first place, and secondly, why they haven't been fired. Well actually, Dr. Lee wasn't that bad in the beginning, but he's always been a bit bumbling if you will. Now he is mostly there for comedy relief, but it's ridiculous how incompetent TPTB have made him.

Ok, I'm done

Unfortunately, there is apparently a huge need for actors, directors and writers to make fun of scientists. Bumbling. Inept. Tunnel-visioned. Don't know how to dress. Don't know how to handle themselves socially. Don't have any physical adeptness. Geeks. And it's fun to make fun of geeks - mercilessly. For some reason, it's OK to make them the butt of jokes - by default... and it's often not even questioned.

When I first came to this forum, and this thread, we all posted and chatted about why we liked the character of Sam Carter and I, like many others, identified the fact that Stargate somehow managed to make the Carter of the earlier seasons, more a member of the team (who happened to be a woman) - instead of making her the woman who happened to be on the team. The fact that she simply did her job and participated as a full and equal member of the team - that her role didn't include too much emphasis on her gender (e.g., stereotypical female damsel-in-distress who doesn't know how to handle a gun and must hide behind the males in times of trouble... she wasn't in high heels... her heels didn't catch and get stuck in the ramp grating... etc).

A member of the team, who happens to be a woman.
I still like that very much in those early seasons.

Over the years, however, our discussions here have led me to a new insight. One of the major attributes of the character of Sam Carter that I really identified with - and completely enjoyed - was that

she was a scientist who wasn't the stereotypical geek.

Carter wasn't played as the steretypical arrogant geek who talks down to everyone... she was shown as going off into technobabble every now and then, but she was never portrayed as doing it because she wanted to put anyone else down because they didn't know as much as she did about a certain subject.

Carter also wasn't portrayed as inept or bumbling - she was portrayed as competent in her areas of expertise - just as Daniel is Uber-competent in deciphering a myriad of languages, Teal'c is the Uber-warrior and O'Neill is the Uber-military-hero who is always willing to sacrifice himself and never leaves anyone behind.

I thoroughly enjoyed that Carter was a scientist and it was only one facet of her character. A key, solid facet that she, and her team, could rely on, but it wasn't all that she was.

She was also a competent military officer - one who was physically capable in the field.

And Carter wasn't portrayed as the 'Spock'-type of science person. In other words, that somehow, really good scientists would have no feelings - that they are out of touch with the 'rest of the world'. I never had any empathy at all for Mr. Spock - and all of the Vulcans were hard for me to accept in terms of feelings warm and fuzzy for them.

What's the result? I have realized over the past couple of months that Carter's portrayal of a scientist who is *not* the stereotypical geek - *that* is one of the main aspects of the character of Sam Carter that I was drawn to.

[astrogeologist]

That was where everything went wrong for me too. Clearly she was working on something classified and he should have understood that she couldn't talk about it. I could see her hurt reaction as he left--I took "Pete, please" to mean, please listen to me. Ok. But once he walked out & not do mention did the background check & followed her to the stake out, IMHO, it should have been bye bye buddy.

I couldn't agree more!

Oh CG, haven't you heard? According to TPTB at the beginning of S9, they are just a bunch of screw-ups

Waaaaah!

[SamO'Neill]

you already are one!! see:

Spoiler:

hope you have lots of fun here

Thanks! I look forward to posting and reading all the other posts!

Can't wait for tomorrow's ep!