Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[scarimor]

please explain.

Pete went strange when he abused his position as a police officer to do background checks on Sam. He persuaded an FBI officer to look into her - very bad form for more than one reason. It's deceit (he went behind her back), an invasion of privacy (he had no legitimate reason to be digging into her identity) and he was using his FBI friend in a way that could get the man into trouble.

Sam didn't know about it, though. But she found out that Pete was weird when he bought a house for their future without even consulting her. Without letting her see it first. Without thinking her preferences mattered.

That was, imo, the moment when Sam learned that he was a wrong'un. And I was so relieved when she turned him down at that point, because his behaviour was scary.

And I agree with Sky - the Pete character was a victim of writer incompetence. If they wanted him to be sympathetic, they had no idea what they were doing.

[Rachel500]

On the why Sam dumped Pete - was it because she realised he was the wrong guy or that she realised the life she was pursuing with him in general was not what she really wanted...I have to say I go with both opinions...

I've put it into spoilers because it is very long (well Jennifer did say it was an essay question!)

Spoiler:

'Grace' was actually a great peek into Sam's head and for me the life lesson that Sam took from it was that she had focused on work to the inclusion of all else not only because she loves her work but also because, at a very deep level, she was scared to pursue her personal life.

Her mother's death at a very sensitive age, and probably reinforced by some of her experiences such as with Martouf, had resulted in her equating loving someone with losing them, and she's afraid of that, of making herself vulnerable and getting hurt (maybe her failed engagement with Jonas had also made her wary of this even further but perhaps for different reasons). Even her feelings for Jack are 'safe' because bound by the regulations she's protected.

At the end of 'Grace', for me, its not so much that Sam decides she wants a normal life or a man just that I think Sam makes a decision not to let her fears stop her from living her life to the full anymore. She consciously makes the decision to do what Jack has been ordering her to do for years; stop hiding in the mountain with her doohickeys and get a life outside of work.

I think Sam then has the same problem a lot of us have; she knows she wants more than just her career but she has no idea what that 'more' should be. It's easy to assume that 'more' should be what society tells us we should all be aiming for; marriage, kids, the white picket fence. That combined with her realisation that she was avoided relationships because she's afraid of getting hurt probably does prompt her into thinking she should try for a romantic relationship.

Now as an S/J shipper, I have to say, at this point I think Sam misses some of the lesson she learned. Given her feelings for Jack and what she perceives as his feelings for her, she could have concluded that she could gain a better balance in her life, if she was prepared to risk pursuing a relationship with Jack and making the necessary changes in her life to facilitate that. Instead, she backs off from making such a huge scale change, taking such a big risk and and concludes she should look elsewhere than her CO. I personally think she allows her fear of getting hurt continue to dictate her actions because she does love Jack so much that subconsciously she knows she could get very hurt if it didn't work out although she is consciously unaware of it. She just thinks she's embarking on changing her life for the better, getting more of a work/life balance, finally wanting to take the risk on a relationship and as Jack is unavailable to her, she agrees to a blind date set up by her brother.

For me, from this point on having a relationship then becomes something else Sam feels she should be successful at and for that reason the problem I think is that Sam never truly assesses whether Pete is the right guy for her at the beginning of their relationship. He's enough of a nice guy, there's enough of an attraction for her to think 'I should give this a go'. And that's why for me after the morning after tantrum she's inclined to blame herself for the perceived failure of the argument rather than look at Pete's behaviour and whether it was acceptable. I do honestly think she took him to task over the stalking (we just never got to see it) but when he begged her forgiveness, she decided to give him a second chance again because she felt the need to make it a success and would feel like a failure for bailing out even if the reason was valid. (I'm not saying she was right just that perhaps as a motivation for me this is understandable; personally someone stalks me and they're history).

So the relationship continues and when Jack becomes even more of a remote possibility because of their various promotions, I do think she starts to place even more importance on making the relationship with Pete work. When he asks her to marry him, she gets enough of a shock that she actually does sit and consider whether it is what she wants and she starts to wonder if she is simply bowing to social pressure; the reality of trying to have a 'normal' life, having a husband and family with her unusual career - whether she can really balance everything; and her conversation with Jack doesn't go the way she wants it too either.

I think that conversation in Affinity, Sam is looking for a sign that Jack is still interested in her, that if he is maybe she won't say yes because deep down she still wants to believe in the possibility of them. Yet, he's trying to be a good friend to her and he won't let her hide behind her excuses for not saying no as he wants her to realise the real reason why she's undecided. But I think she takes his statements to be a confirmation that he isn't interested because he's seemingly encouraging her to go for it by knocking down every argument she puts forward against saying yes.

Affinity is badly written though in that it never does offer an explanation why Sam eventually does say yes. For me, its a combination of Sam thinking Jack isn't interested; that Pete is; that Pete seemingly can handle the unusual nature of her job; that if he's her only option then he's not a bad one and surely marriage is the 'success' criteria for the relationship working out so if she says no, relationship ends and she's failed. She settles for Pete and she says yes.

Then, two things happen: RepliCarter and her father comes home. In Gemini, RepliCarter tells Sam some home truths: that she alway plays by the rules, that she denies herself her desires and that she is shackled by her fears. Essentially RepliCarter tells Sam everything she told herself back in Grace but more bluntly. And I think this gets Sam questioning whether she has made the right decisions since her experience in Grace.

By Threads with the build up to the wedding, Sam is having major doubts and they are doubled when her father doesn't seem to approve of Pete. I think its his lack of approval that is the final straw for her; she starts to fully question whether Pete is the right guy for her and the decisions she's made about what she really wants hence her distraction in the car. When Pete presents her with the house, the stark reality of the choice she's making both in terms of the man she has chosen and the life she would be expected to live as his wife suddenly hits home and for the first time she knows that she's making a mistake by 'settling'. She finally decides to face her fears and talk to Jack.

Seeing him with somebody else, I think initially has her thinking, 'well, it's not going to happen so maybe I should stick with Pete' but her conversation with her father about her happiness and how she shouldn't let the rules stand in her way; that she can have everything she wants coupled with Jack being there for her, with his comment of 'always' finally gives her clarity. She knows for certain that she can't marry Pete; he isn't who she wants, and neither is the conventional type of life that she would be expected to have with him.

Does that mean she's now living happily with Jack? Depends on whether you're a shipper or not, I guess

Just my two cents.

[Skydiver]

In a "You think that was bad? Just you wait - we're gonna give you something to complain about!" way, I take it?

i think more along the line of 'oh, they hate her sexy huh???? ok, so fine, we'll lose the tight black leather and....mmhm right aeryn had ponytails right? ok, gotta avoid that. those fans might be too stupid to tell the difference between aeryn and vala...ooh, i know PIGTAILS. they'll make her look younger (which is also what they're doing with ben, faking him to look younger) and tehy'll get rid of that pesky sexy image too

aahah, that'll fix it

[Skydiver]

Sky... I've tried matching your avatar to the pics originally posted on that site, but I can't find the one that looks like yours...?

it's not from the pics. i downloaded the video, then used movie maker to make a still of a scene from it and used that

[MickSpeed]

hey guys
just watched another video on stargatesg1.com and saw a great scene with Sam having great hair! Made some screencaps (spoiler) and here's the link to the video

Spoiler:

Does anyone remember which ep this scene is from?

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

Does anyone remember which ep this scene is from?

The Other Side?

[Mandysg1]

The Other Side?

Yea, I think you're right

[Gate gal]

If not The Other Side then maybe Small Victories. I must watch a DVD today. Real life has been crazy and i haven't seen any SG1 all week. Hubby was off yesterday, and we watched some Proof Positive but not the same.

[Skydiver]

i don't think it's small vics. i don't recall sam in her combat gear in that one

she seems to have the gate behind her and is looking away from it

[starlover]

Hmm. I saw Pete wanting those things, and choosing that life for her, and buying a house for them without letting her see it first. She wanted a loving relationship, sure - that's part of a "normal" life; and then she got a sudden revelation when the guy in question chose stuff for her without even asking.

Nope those things are nothing for sam, and pete wasn't good for her...she doesn't have a normal life...and even with pete she can't have one, pete wasn't the men for sam. he wanted things that she doesn't wanted, he tried to push her....nope i still don't like pete...

[Mandysg1]

i don't think it's small vics. i don't recall sam in her combat gear in that one

she seems to have the gate behind her and is looking away from it

Yea, and I think that's the expression on her face just after Jack ordered the iris closed.

[starlover]

hey guys
just watched another video on stargatesg1.com and saw a great scene with Sam having great hair! Made some screencaps (spoiler) and here's the link to the video

Spoiler:

Does anyone remember which ep this scene is from?

i also think its the other side...but about the video, it's great, i have all SNY's vid...i really love them, they're great.

[MickSpeed]

thanks all for the quick replies. Just searched through all screencaps from 4.01 Small Victories and 4.02 The Other Side on stargatecaps.com.

The picture that matches perfectly to my 3rd one it this from the episode 4.02 The Other Side:

Spoiler:

]

I saw an other one from Small Victories but there you see, that Sam has a black vest and a black jacket. But in my 3rd pic you can see a difference between the both in their coulours: probably a green jacket and a black vest like in the first pic in this post from The Other Side.

Here is the pic from Small Victories:

Spoiler:

Mick.

EDIT: hey sky: just edited the post again. The pics are now on MY WEBSPACE: http://people.freenet.de/MickSpeed/ !!!

[ForeverSg1]

I'm sure everyone has heard that Amanda and the cast and crew of SG-1 are in the 2007 Guiness Book of World records for the Longest Running Consecutive Sci-fi Television Show. There has been some controversy as of late as to whether or not Stargate is truly deserving of this title or not... but I'm not here to discuss that world record.

What some of you may not know is that Amanda was involved in setting another world record last year and it is also inside this same book (page 84). There is small picture of Amanda and the Gabit attendees above the following excerpt.

MOST CURLY WURLYS STRETCHED IN ONE VENUE

On October 30, 2005, at the Renaissance Hotel in Heathrow, UK, 126 members of the "Get Amanda Back In Town" (Gabit ) fan club - a group dedicated to Stargate SG-1 star Amanda Tapping( UK ) - each stretched a curly wurly candy bar.

The aim of the record is to stetch the chocolate carmel lattic as far as possible in three minutes.

Being the fun-loving and wonderfully gratious person that she is, Amanda agreed to join us in the record setting event. So not only is she in the 2007 record book for her ten year contribution to the Stargate series, but also for proving what a down-to-earth-fun-loving-absolutely-zany person she is too. Kudos to Amanda!

One of the attendees there also set the record for stretching the longest curly wurly, but sadly that record was broken four weeks later.

With only 40+ days left until AT2, I've been thinking alot about last years event and the Guiness picture/excerpt just brought a huge smile to my face so I thought I'd share it with you.

[minigeek]

.

*sniff* Amanda's da bestest !

I'm sure everyone has heard that Amanda and the cast and crew of SG-1 are in the 2007 Guiness Book of World records for the Longest Running Consecutive Sci-fi Television Show. There has been some controversy as of late as to whether or not Stargate is truly deserving of this title or not... but I'm not here to discuss that world record.

What some of you may not know is that Amanda was involved in setting another world record last year and it is also inside this same book (page 84). There is small picture of Amanda and the Gabit attendees above the following excerpt.

MOST CURLY WURLYS STRETCHED IN ONE VENUE

On October 30, 2005, at the Renaissance Hotel in Heathrow, UK, 126 members of the "Get Amanda Back In Town" (Gabit ) fan club - a group dedicated to Stargate SG-1 star Amanda Tapping( UK ) - each stretched a curly wurly candy bar.

The aim of the record is to stetch the chocolate carmel lattic as far as possible in three minutes.

Being the fun-loving and wonderfully gratious person that she is, Amanda agreed to join us in the record setting event. So not only is she in the 2007 record book for her ten year contribution to the Stargate series, but also for proving what a down-to-earth-fun-loving-absolutely-zany person she is.
Kudos to Amanda!

Someone there also set the record for longest stretched curly wurly that day, but sadly that record was broken four weeks later. I'm sure most of you have already heard about this, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

With only 40+ days left until AT2, I've been thinking alot about last years event and the Guiness picture brings a huge smile to my face and I thought I'd share this with you.