Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[scarimor]

I was pretty ticked off with Laira for not going to Jack immediately when she heard Sam's voice over the radio. Instead she waited for hours - at least three, by the looks of things - which put Teal'c's life in danger. Another few minutes and he would have died.

Thank you for the episode context, because I was trying to remember who the heck Laira was. A rather forgetable character. Whereas the short cameo of the tavern woman in The Quest is going to stay with me for a long time.

[ReganX]

Such a "fan" will stomp and complain that (spoiler for Insiders)

Spoiler:

Sam gave Ba'al information to save hostages from instant death, even though she stalled him as long as possible and was let down because her codes weren't locked out)

but conveniently forget that Daniel under the same threat gave the Trust Ancient codes which allowed them to steal the Stargate! and slaughter countless millions of Jaffa men, women and children with symbiote poison and has never once shown any remorse or acknowledgement of his role in that genocide.

My favourite is that Sam is responsible for Janet's death because she left cover to check on Jack when he had been shot. I wonder if any of them think that Daniel would have done better to keep guard and watch Janet's back while she worked - as he was probably supposed to - rather than making a home movie.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

I was pretty ticked off with Laira for not going to Jack immediately when she heard Sam's voice over the radio. Instead she waited for hours - at least three, by the looks of things - which put Teal'c's life in danger. Another few minutes and he would have died.

Ya see, that smacks of the same sort of crit that Sam gets when she does something (though usually that's all Sam has to do... just... something to provoke crit ).

Laira had absolutely no way of knowing that Teal'c's life was in danger, and if Sam had been in her situation, Sam/Jack shippers would have said, "gee, didn't Sam bring a lot of tension and drama to that ep by waiting so long, and what angst she must have suffered, knowing she'd likely lose Jack, and, of course, she couldn't have known Teal'c's status," etc.

Just as fans forgave the fact that Daniel brought trouble to the milky way because, in doing so he was actually bringing drama and tension to the series.

[scarimor]

While I agree with you that jealousy is an underlying cause of so much disdain for female characters, I just want to add that Sam/Jack shippers were equally vehement in their disdain of Laira who's only real fault was that she and Jack got to do that which only shipficers have been able to get Sam and Jack to do.

I honestly haven't seen reams of threads on forums dedicated to complaining about Laira. In fact until ReganX just described a part of the episode, I couldn't even remember who she was. So the "equally vehement" doesn't ring any bells with me.

[scarimor]

Ya see, that smacks of the same sort of crit that Sam gets when she does something (though usually that's all Sam has to do... just... something to provoke crit ).

Laira had absolutely no way of knowing that Teal'c's life was in danger, and if Sam had been in her situation, Sam/Jack shippers would have said, "gee, didn't Sam bring a lot of tension and drama to that ep by waiting so long, and what angst she must have suffered, knowing she'd likely lose Jack, and, of course, she couldn't have known Teal'c's status," etc.

That's interesting, because I am no S/J-shipper (Nononono!) and now that I remember the episode (which I've seen once) I recall feeling impatient with Laira for not telling Jack immediately when his people re-established contact, and feeling annoyed at her because she would know how important it was to him. I would have been quite happy if he'd brought Laira home to Earth as his wife though

Just as fans forgave the fact that Daniel brought trouble to the milky way because, in doing so he was actually bringing drama and tension to the series.

I don't think they're comparable, because Daniel (I must now defend him, bless him) wasn't in a position to know what havoc he would wreak, while Laira did know that Jack wanted to make contact with home.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

Just thought of a scene that put Sam in a somewhat similar situation as Laira - not exactly the same, mind you, but, still.

In Beneath the Surface, when "Thera" starts to remember things and realizes that they were being duped, she still said - as she snuggled up to Jonah - that there were things about this place that she liked.

It could be argued that, since Sam's personality was always showing thru "Thera," that Sam herself was shirking responsability to stay here where she could have what she knew she had - "Jonah's" love, whereas all bets would be off between them in "the real world." It was only when "Jonah" admitted to remembering his feelings for whoever "Thera" really was that reassured "Thera."

[Agent_Dark]

hetshippers = boyslashers = bad

[scarimor]

In their defence (), Laira was cree-py!

Dammit, I'm going to have to watch the ep again, aren't I?

Oh wait - that's the one with that Sam/Janet scene isn't it? The "problem" one.

Brainscrub: OTOH, Michele Greene did play Teryl Rothery's sister in a tv movie, so that makes Laira and Carter practically sisters-in-law!

[DEM]

Whereas the short cameo of the tavern woman in The Quest is going to stay with me for a long time.

Spoiler:

drabbledrabblebunnybunnydrabblebunny

Oh wait - that's the one with that Sam/Janet scene isn't it? The "problem" one.

ugh. Yes. A Hundred Days.

p.s. back atcha.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

That's interesting, because I am no S/J-shipper (Nononono!) and now that I remember the episode (which I've seen once) I recall feeling impatient with Laira for not telling Jack immediately when his people re-established contact, and feeling annoyed at her because she would know how important it was to him. I would have been quite happy if he'd brought Laira home to Earth as his wife though


I don't think they're comparable, because Daniel (I must now defend him, bless him) wasn't in a position to know what havoc he would wreak, while Laira did know that Jack wanted to make contact with home.

Laira was, to me, one of the most well-placed, realistically played guest characters on the series. Though I understand and agree with the need to not bring her back, IMO, as a sympathetic character she stands tall with Jacob, Bra'tac and Martouf (all males, go figure. )

Laira's angst, her being torn up over the fact that Jack was about to leave and that she would stay(and she knew it would come to that) was good drama and tension.

Of course she knew how important it was to him. And he had become important to her. Honestly, if you didn't know that lives were at stake, would you be able to come to a snap decision like that, if your emotions were so intimately tied to the outcome?

Is Jack so forgettable that you want a character to develop a relationship with him, sleep with him, and then just say, "Oh, Jack, your friends called. Guess you'll be going now. Here's your hat what's your hurry?"

[ReganX]

Laira had absolutely no way of knowing that Teal'c's life was in danger, and if Sam had been in her situation, Sam/Jack shippers would have said, "gee, didn't Sam bring a lot of tension and drama to that ep by waiting so long, and what angst she must have suffered, knowing she'd likely lose Jack, and, of course, she couldn't have known Teal'c's status," etc.

She knew the stargate was buried, and buried so deeply that Jack's efforts hadn't been able to do much. She knew that Sam was in radio contact and cannot have been unaware of the possibility that somebody would be sent through - who else would Sam have been talking to via radio? She chose not to share this information with Jack, whom she knew to be desperate to return to Earth.

[ReganX]

Is Jack so forgettable that you want a character to develop a relationship with him, sleep with him, and then just say, "Oh, Jack, your friends called. Guess you'll be going now. Here's your hat what's your hurry?"

It would depend on whether I actually loved him enough to want to see him happy or whether it was more a case of possession than love, that keeping him there was about me and what I wanted, regardless of what he wanted.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

I honestly haven't seen reams of threads on forums dedicated to complaining about Laira. In fact until ReganX just described a part of the episode, I couldn't even remember who she was. So the "equally vehement" doesn't ring any bells with me.

Oooh, trust me, there were reams of the stuff, and not just on this forum.

The most common complaints: she got what Sam couldn't, she was a slut, she got what Sam couldn't, she got Jack drunk, she got what Sam couldn't, she didn't care about Jack; all she wanted was to get laid/pregnant, and, she got what Sam couldn't. And the list grows more surreal, to include, among other things, that she knew Teal'c's situation - somehow - and wanted him to die.

Because I really liked the character, I was likely more aware of the crit than most, though some have PMed me that they were equally bemused over Laira's rough treatment by the fans.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

It would depend on whether I actually loved him enough to want to see him happy or whether it was more a case of possession than love, that keeping him there was about me and what I wanted, regardless of what he wanted.

Did you ever read Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis, or see the movie? There are 2 main characters, a boy and an old man named Brautigan. The gist of the story is that Brautigan pays the boy to be on the lookout for signs of "low men" so that he has time to leave town and escape them. But the boy becomes so attached to the old man that he deliberately hides the signs from him, resulting in the old man's capture. The old man even reveals to the boy that he knew he was hiding the signs from him, but that he had also become attached to the boy and had let himself be fooled into thinking this time the low men would miss him.

It's a terrific story, where the people are real and their feelings and actions based on those feelings are genuine. Not the tin-plated, two dimensional bravery of people "doing the right thing" simply because it is the right thing to do, but letting their emotions become obstacles they may or may not overcome in time to do the right thing.

Laira fought her emotions and overcame her obstacles just in time to do the right thing. That makes her more heroic, in my eyes, than if she'd merely jumped up and ran like the wind to Jack to tell him the good news that he could finally leave his new life with her behind. <bleh> Insipid. Who wants to watch that?

Apparently only a very small minority.

[DEM]

Laira lost me long, long before The Radio Affair. She was creepy, Carter-in-law relation notwithstanding. She was all 'Fresh meat! *drool drool rub hands* Give me babies!' :shudder: