Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[ForeverSg1]

where's it from ?
Is that man in white RDA?

Yep,the man in white is RDA.

Martin Wood is standing next to Amanda and Ben is on the ground on the other side of the sign. I'm not really sure who is standing beside Martin though.

I'd like to say, I like Amanda's hair. It's got that wild, wind-blown look.

ETA: Ah it's John. I thought it might be, but I wasn't positive. Thanks Parsifal.

[Strix varia]

Spoiler:

I really don't think that it has anything to do with sexism or putting a female in lead or any of that. Don't look at it from realistic views (ie what would happen if the Stargate was real etc), but from a story telling pov. Stargate is formulaic by nature. Very formulaic. Part of that formula involves characters with clearly defined roles: The Intrepid Leader, the Compassionate People-Person, the Brilliant Scientist and the Brave Warrior. Sam fills the Brilliant Scientist role, just like McKay fills the role on Atlantis. She can't do both from a story telling pov, because the stories call for seperate characters to fill each role. O'Neill certainly filled the Intrepid Leader role and while you can debate the actual 'Leader' part, Mitchell certainly has the 'Intrepid' aspect. That's basically what I believe RCC was talking about - they've haven't been able to have Sam in a command position without breaking the formula, since the formula calls for her to fill the scientist role.
Atlantis gives them that though. Sheppard (Intrepid Leader), Teyla (Compassionate People-Person), McKay (Brilliant Scientist) and Ronon (Brave Warrior) have all the roles covered which frees up Sam to do something different, namely command.

I agree that there is a formula, AD, and it's a good point to make. The problem is that the formula itself is sexist. The male action hero is the lead. It's reflected in actor salaries, too. The men make more money than the women. The men get top billing. Hollywood is sexist. It may be changing, slowly, but it's still there. The way they brought in Mitchell, to meet a formula or not, and regardless of intention, was terribly sexist, IMO. Realistic, perhaps, but unfortunately so...

On edit: Oops, I see that others have already made this point. Sorry, AD, I wasn't trying to beat you over the head. I apologize for being redundant.

[resurgamlaura]

Some of my favourite movies have had strong female characters. I think Alien (and the sequels) showed one of the strongest characters of all time, male or female. Ripley I thought was ground breaking, it was a very sucessful movie with a female action hero lead Yay Ripley! Others who know me, also know I love Silence of the Lambs, Jodie Foster's character is played both strong and vulnerable and doesn't rely on some male hero rescuing her. There are movies that show these strong female characters and are sucessful, there just needs to be more so we as a society will get used to women being the STAR of movies and not just romantic comedies.

Going OT Sam-wise, although still on the current discussion (just about! ):

Spoiler:

'Alien' is one of my favourite ever movies, and I adore Ripley. Part of the reason why she is so strong is because O'Banon and Schusset wrote the characters with 'loose' gender designations in mind, and told the producers the roles were unisex. The producers then took the step of deciding on a woman, and one of the main reasons why was that would appeal to a female audience. The head of 20th Century Fox got in all the women from his office to watch Weaver's test screening. Even more interesting is Lambert-who, if I'm guessing the character right in the original script (different names, among loads of other changes) was still the one to show open fear before being cast as a woman- the vulnerability of the character was not so much because of her gender, but because someone had to be showing what the audience is feeling. Her being female makes it easier for people to understand her emotions, but in a film where a woman takes charge and stands up to the guys, and a man gives 'birth', gender is not prescriptive of ability. What a shame that a movie made in the mid-seventies still shows more initiative then some current offerings

[ReganX]

and when rob said (in the recent scifi interview)

Spoiler:

"the one thing (that in) 10 seasons of sg-1 has eluded the character of samantha carter is the leadership role. it's about time she gets a command, and we had to keep that from happening on sg-1 because we wanted her to be part of the team. this is a perfect opportunity to evolve her character in the natural way that it should have in the franchise."


but the thing is, she DID have command of something, called sg-1.

did rob mean... i don't know what he means. can't she be part of the team *and* command it? jack did this for YEARS. so what is rob saying?




sally

Spoiler:

In some ways, I can see why. Although Sam was in command of SG-1 in Season Eight, the focus had shifted away from the team to Jack as the general, so while the character technically had a command position, they spent next to no time actually showing her in it.

For Season Eight, the leadership role was command of the SGC.

Once Mitchell showed up and TPTB made what I consider to be the extremely ill-advised move of putting him in command, they downplayed Sam's previous command, omitting the fact that she had ever led from the annals of SG-1 - has anyone ever mentioned that Sam was ever in command? The closest I remember was Mitchell mentioning Sam's name as a candidate for command. He reminded Landry that they were the same rank, but not that she had been in command.

I think that TPTB don't want to remind anyone of the fact that Sam was ever in command of SG-1 because it raises the awkward question of why she isn't now.

[antoa]

Photo of Amanda in the Arctic.

Awwww! So cute!

Re: Sexiam and sterotypes -
Great discussion everyone!

Besides saying 'me too!' I wanted to add that I believe that the sexism goes both ways for characters, though the males don't have it nearly as bad.

It is hard to find a male character (esp a sci fi one) that is more that just the one-dimensional hero. They have no emotional depth, for that is perceived as a weakness. They are flat and uninteresting beyond their ability to save the day and get the girl.

There are of course exceptions to this rule.

And females have it way worse.

[Skydiver]

Photo of Amanda in the Arctic.

caption of the day

Chillin'

[scarimor]

i have a question for atlantis fans -

Spoiler:

did weir have just a 'supporting' role too, being the commander of the base?

Mostly, Yes. except when she got an episode for her character (e.g. The Real World), her role in most plots was a supportive one, not a protagonist.

My only small worry about Sam taking on the role in Atlantis is that, as with Weir, they might force her to make some questionable decisions to facilitate the plot (e.g. trusting Wraith). That annoyed the heck out of me when it happened on Atlantis - they never forced Hammond to do anything like that to create jeopardy. However like Hammond, and unlike Weir, Sam is military, so they might not find it so easy to make her do that (I really hope!). Also, Sheppard will not be in a position to undermine her in the way that he could undermine Weir by pulling the "this is a military decision so it's mine" card.

We will see how they handle it. Making Atlantis a military-led expedition may be all that's needed to keep these issues on track, by default. The writers will have to make extra effort to force "errors" of command, which might just make it not worth their while from a technical point of view.

[resurgamlaura]

Awwww! So cute!

Re: Sexiam and sterotypes -
Great discussion everyone!

Besides saying 'me too!' I wanted to add that I believe that the sexism goes both ways for characters, though the males don't have it nearly as bad.

It is hard to find a male character (esp a sci fi one) that is more that just the one-dimensional hero. They have no emotional depth, for that is perceived as a weakness. They are flat and uninteresting beyond their ability to save the day and get the girl.

There are of course exceptions to this rule.

And females have it way worse.

Yep to that too I mentioned earlier how a writer friend of mine always tries to write well-characterised male leads to try and buck the trend, and I think he's definately doing the right thing. On top of the basic action hero you also have the unbelievable romantic hero and also the stereotypical 'chicks with ****' homosexual men (and if you're a gay women, you're either very feminine or very 'butch'- nothing in between). Both male and female writers seriously need to pull up their socks. I for one love overturning gender conventions in my writing by basing it on real people I know. Sc-fi needs to reflect general humanity, but at the same time the changes in society over the last few decades- otherwise how can we be presenting the future? The best sci-fi (and fantasy) does this brilliantly.

[parsifal]

Here's a message from Amanda while she was up at APLIS:

Hello there everyone! I am so thrilled to be here and to be able to tell you about my experience so far. I am in love with the Arctic and have decided to buy real estate up here. It’s going cheap!



I am still grappling with the fact that we are adrift on the ocean! Aaaiiiieeeeyyyy! You can see the frozen waves as you look out over the landscape. It is so magical up here.



Barry Campbell briefed our team very well before we left Vancouver and we have the following mantras that are vital to our survival…. “ Cotton Kills” and “Sweating is Death”. I had a nightmare the other night about an army of soft Cotton Fruit of the Loom T-shirts marching across the frozen landscape and assaulting us in our sleep! I awoke in a panic with sweat dripping down my back….I await my slow and imminent death.



We have been able to film a few key scenes for the movie. I keep forgetting that is why we are actually here! On Sunday we were able to go on board the USS Alexandria and were given an incredible tour and served lunch. It was fascinating. When the sub is able to surface again we will film on board. We have shot one surfacing so far. We have also shot some walk and talk scenes with Ben and myself. One particular scene that we shot as the sun was setting will stick with me as perhaps the most magical experience of my career. The ice made a hollow moaning sound in places and the “snow” crunched beneath our feet. The sky at sunset was a beautiful pink and I knew I was in paradise.

Thank goodness for our amazing cooks, Victoria, Stephanie and Trina. They are keeping us going with gourmet cooking that rivals some of the best restaurants I have ever been to. Barry told us we could eat 5000 calories a day and still lose weight! I have taken this part of the mission very seriously. Sadly, I don’t think even Barry anticipated the amazing morsels we would be served. I don’t think anyone is losing weight here!



The people here are amazing and so welcoming. They are a wacky bunch of intrepid explorers with hearts of gold, deep belly laughs, and wonderful stories.

We have settled in to camp life with ease.



The Stargate girls have taken over New York, New York [one of the hooches]. We nested like little mice when we got in. We filled the cracks with paper towel and duct tape, put the ice on to boil as our humidifier, made “carpets” out of cardboard boxes and duct tape decorated with Sharpies, and filled the hooch with aromatherapy courtesy of Brenda Turner (hair/ make-up). MacGyver would be proud! Now if only we’d brought a cappuccino maker!



APLIS stands for Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station, but I am told it really stands for Abnormal People Living in Sheds. I proudly count myself as one of them!



I am off now to shoot a scene where a helicopter will drop Ben and me on the ice and then take off again while we are filmed from a distance. It will give the audience the idea of how vast and desolate this place is and how desperate the situation is. I, for one, hope that they spot any Polar Bears before Ben and I do. I have visions of a Polar Bear being chased by a helicopter as Ben and I await our slow and imminent deaths……..But seriously, have I mentioned how much I LOVE it here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Admiral Q O]

credit to whomever it belongs...

Spoiler:

Sorry, if this started here? Someone posted it elsewhere and said they found it at GW? *shrugs*

Looks like it's from here. Never mind!

Mind you, pics are being snurched and posted at other forums if this pic is indeed from here.

[majorsal]

N

However, once RDA left and once they established the spin-off, they had free reign to do whatever they wanted.

see, it was this stuff that was in the back of my mind when i read rob's interview snippet, but i didn't want to complain because we were getting a gift of another season of sam. then i couldn't help it and just...

i totally feel now that sam was given command of sg1 in season 8 *so they could move jack to command the base*. it was just easier to not have to bring in a new character (or somewhat established) and just slide sam over to command the team. but barely, meaning barely highlighting it. was this for sexist reasons, or trying to keep the three equal co-stars (amanda, michael, chris) *equal*? i just figured that sam would command and nothing huge would change with the statis between the characters. sam wouldn't command like jack; she'd have her own style and she'd consult and she'd just be the final say. simple.

i really, REALLY believed that season 9 -even when i knew that ben browder was joining the cast- was going to be the season of sam, daniel, and teal'c stepping outside the shadow of the star/male lead of the show. it would be *their* show, with anyone added to the cast and addition 'only'. how many of us watched season 9 and slowly lost hope? how many of us were *so* excited by sam coming back only for that to feel like waiting for the fireworks and only getting a candle?

and now with rob's latest comments, and joe saying 'supporting' character... i'm still going to give this a try, i'm just a little scared of getting too excited again. i don't want to go through the season 9 slam again.





sally



ps - oh, how i can't wait for 'sanctuary'.

[parsifal]

Here's an article where Amanda is quoted briefly about her Arctic experience:

Movie stars and a film crew filmed aboard the USS Alexandria (SSN 757) and used the camp as a base of operations during the making of the motion picture ”Stargate SG-1: Continuum.”

The submarine acted as a rescue vessel for series characters trapped in the barren, endless icescape.

“It was amazing,” said Stargate SG-1 actress Amanda Tapping, who plays Col. Samantha Carter. “It’s just so different. It’s just the thought being out here in the middle of the Arctic sitting on a block of ice with 40 other people.”

http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=28600

[antoa]

Here's an article where Amanda is quoted briefly about her Arctic experience:

Movie stars and a film crew filmed aboard the USS Alexandria (SSN 757) and used the camp as a base of operations during the making of the motion picture ”Stargate SG-1: Continuum.”

The submarine acted as a rescue vessel for series characters trapped in the barren, endless icescape.

“It was amazing,” said Stargate SG-1 actress Amanda Tapping, who plays Col. Samantha Carter. “It’s just so different. It’s just the thought being out here in the middle of the Arctic sitting on a block of ice with 40 other people.”

http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=28600

Thanks for the articles! It was great to read about her experience.

[Uber]

Here's an article where Amanda is quoted briefly about her Arctic experience:

Movie stars and a film crew filmed aboard the USS Alexandria (SSN 757) and used the camp as a base of operations during the making of the motion picture ”Stargate SG-1: Continuum.”

The submarine acted as a rescue vessel for series characters trapped in the barren, endless icescape.

“It was amazing,” said Stargate SG-1 actress Amanda Tapping, who plays Col. Samantha Carter. “It’s just so different. It’s just the thought being out here in the middle of the Arctic sitting on a block of ice with 40 other people.”

http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=28600

*GROWL*

I can NEVER green you!!! *pouts*

Great notes and pictures...thank you for posting them.

"I await my slow and imminent death."

*snicker*

Man I love her.

[JenniferJF]

*GROWL*

I can NEVER green you!!! *pouts*

Great notes and pictures...thank you for posting them.

"I await my slow and imminent death."

*snicker*

Man I love her.

Yeah. She seems in an awfully good mood for someone facing so many varied 'slow and imminent deaths', doesn't she?

And ditto the thanks, Parsifal!