Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Skydiver]

Now, we can revise Grace.....because it can be about Sam fighting through her injuries and using her smarts to get out of a bad situation, not about searching her soul.

how about in grace, instead of her friends and her relationship bits....waht if sam had confronted the ghosts of her past? her mother, major mansfield, martouf, narim, all the peopel she's killed

[sg-1fanintn]

1speed4sam & Lys:

Thanks for the photos!!!!! It's so nice to get an idea of what you look like!
How many of the rest of us are brave enough to do the same?

Hmmm as long as doesn't villafy Pete just so Sam and Jack can get togethor. That turns me off a story quicker than anything...

There you go spelling it out again (just kidding)! No, I didn't like either. He wasn't good enough for Sam. But although I thought he was a bit too nosy, I also don't think he was a villain.

(snippet) Hey all just one quick post before the battery on my laptop goes. I'm in San Diego for Comic Con and I went to preview night tonight. I thought it was very interesting that the promo card that Sony has put out for SG1 has RDA, AT, MS, & CJ on it, they are pushing Stargate in synication. Well my battery is going so I need to log off - I'll let you know of any interesting things I hear this weekend.

I find that very interesting.....I wonder..... tsax, you're great to keep us up-to-date!

I'm not inclined to take this review too seriously. I get the impression that the reviewer isn't too familiar with the show, so his (? I don't think I read the byline) perpective on it may be really off in left field compared to those of us who have been fans for a while. And, while I have enjoyed BSG and think it is an outstanding, quality show, I find it terribly dark, sometimes too dark to really "love" in the same way I love SG-1. When the reviewer criticises SG-1 for being too light-hearted and instead strongly recommends BSG... well, I just think we must have different tastes...

I agree entirely, Strix! And let's face it, BSG is very different from the other two shows. SGA has the same flavor/dynamics of SG-1, because it's produced by the same people. They were trying to expand on the success they had already had, so they didn't change the feel of the spin-off. BSG, on the other hand, is a whole new animal.....dark, edgy, suspenseful and desperate.....and that makes it stand out in the line-up. That's why it's getting so much attention.

I watched the original BSG, and I applaud this one for having the courage to be so different. I'm also glad that it's intelligent and well-written. I hope Sci-Fi will continue to go this direction, instead of toward stuff like Trippin' the Rift, but I think TTR is definitely the direction they're pursuing.

[sg-1fanintn]

how about in grace, instead of her friends and her relationship bits....waht if sam had confronted the ghosts of her past? her mother, major mansfield, martouf, narim, all the peopel she's killed

Love that idea, Sky!

[majorsal]

i thought of something else in my 'if you wrote sam all these years' question.

first off, great ideas astro!

BIG spoilers for ALL seasons

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one of things i would have done was shown 'real' consequences for the things sam has been through all these years. i've already talked about jolinar's legacy, so...

* show more of sam's relay with cassie, which had a great intro with singularity in season 1.

* more after-effects for the entire team from their mind-stamps in s4's beneath the surface.

* sam's s4 'entity' experience. a bucket load of neurosis with that little encounter.

* sam coming to terms with her anger and feelings of betrayl in s5's 'ascension'.

* in s5's 'desperate measures': sam kidnapped, experimented on, drugged, and almost murdered in cold blood. that has to give a person a nightmare of two. show it.

* s6's 'nightwalkers': sam was goaulded. again. how'd she cope? again.

* s6's 'metamorphosis': sam almost died. horribly. how'd she cope?

* s7's 'space race': sam as an adrenaline junky? more. and i wanted to see sam do that race again, and *win*.

* s7's 'chimera: sam gets mad at being treated without respect.

* from s7's 'heroes p2' on, sam *continues* to grieve for janet.

* s8's new order(s): sam deals with being tortured, and it's long-lasting physical and psychological after-effects.

* s8's 'new order p2': sam is promoted, and struggles to adapt in following eps.



i wouldn't let any of the characters off the hook.


sally

[sg-1fanintn]

anyways, what's so hard about emphasizing BOTH of the big things going on in sam's life in season 8? in all fairness, it's not like they ignored sam's leadership, but it had all the depth of a puddle. i'm not a professional writer, but i love using my imagination on how i think things could go. and *i* could have written sam struggling with her personal life (her mini mid-life crisis) WHILE her struggling to make sg1 her own. heck, all they really had to do was make another 'death knell' type ep, but this time sg1 (and even another sg team) are with her and we see SAM commanding them and keeping them alive. i can't think of a better chance for the writers to show the viewers -and sam to show her co-workers- what she's made of. what i don't understand is why they didn't do anything with it. and i mean 'really' do something with it, not dabbing a bit of paint on it.

i think all this reflection is coming from reading reviews for stargate/atlantis/bsg. almost every interview highlights ben and claudia infusing stargate, and bsg being the best thing since breathing. and this makes me sad and mad for stargate at the same time. sad that stargate continues to get slighted, and mad that it should have never come to this. sloppy writing for 'years' has really hurt this show, and i think makes a lot of long time fans feel hesitant in their devotion.


sally

Yes. Cast additions aren't the panacea here. The cast isn't the problem. Sheesh, AT has been elevating the material for years. I found last year very spotty in quality. And not just in the Sam episodes. Icon was a Daniel episode, but a pretty blah one. I can't say it required much on MS' part. Not that he needs a "Daniel goes crackers" episode but something more interesting. At least Sam got to be the "hand signal person in charge" in that ep.

I think you've both hit the nail on the head. They just seemed to lose their focus in their struggle to keep the shippers and non-shippers both happy, while balancing RDA's need to be in L. A. more. They've had some good ideas, but the follow-through and execution have been sloppy.

And as Majorsal has also pointed out in the post just above this one, they've had some really riveting episodes that opened the door for follow-up possibilities down the road. And they haven't taken any of them! I find that surprising, don't you?

[majorsal]

spoilers for s7/s8

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I still love ship, and I like what happened, but these moments you mentioned, Forever, are classic examples of what happens when TPTB of shows take it one step too far, unfortunately.

and try to stretch out UST to the ultimate. and *so* many shows do it.

i would have had sam break up with pete after jack was frozen in lost city part two. she might have been questioning hers and jacks feelings in 'grace', but i have no doubt that she came to terms with them by lost city.

sorry if this is too much ship talk from me, samandans. i just keep finding things to reply to. i always try to have *sam's* best interest at heart, even above my shipper views.


sally

[ChopinGal]

OK, you didn't ask for it, but you're going to get it...

With humble apologies to the Royal Accountant who was planning to have some fun with this (at my expense of course), I give you, Ladies and Gentlemen of Samanda...

GEEK!1speed

Please note that those are not Stunt Spectacles, nor is it a specially-trained Stunt Dalmatian. What you see is what you get. Unluckily for you...

Ooh, Royal Cyclist ... you're in big trouble now ... wait until the RA returns home from Wales!

In the meantime, though, I noticed quite a resemblance to someone on the SG1 team ...

[Agent_Dark]

sorry if this is too much ship talk from me, samandans. i just keep finding things to reply to. i always try to have *sam's* best interest at heart, even above my shipper views.


sally

Nah its ok. As long as we get to talk about our own shipper views See for me there is only One True Ship for Sam:


Sam/P-90! <3

[sg-1fanintn]

Round 30 of the Fave Episodes Tournament has begun. Crossroads was eliminated in Round 29. Grace is already gone. Let's try to keep Sam-centric eps from being eliminated!

Please keep voting! Catch up on the tourney (and which eps have been eliminated so far) here:
http://forum.gateworld.net/showthrea...&page=67&pp=20

Be careful! If you accidentally vote for an ep that has already been eliminated, none of your votes will count in that round.

Thanks!

[majorsal]

Very nice post, Sally - I can't rep you at this time but I loved the "depth of a puddle" comment and if you don't mind I think I'll borrow it. I would love to see that put into a question to mallozzi asking why they didn't explore Carter as leader and gave her leadership arc the "depth of a puddle".

i can't rep a reply, so go ahead.


sally

[majorsal]

same here. i'm as tired of 'stalker pete' fic as i am the one, so far, cameron's a cad' ideal

there are characters that i don't like, but i won't villify them just for the heck of it

you know, with all the 'in my head' fics i've done on this issue, i've never made pete a stalker or killed him off. i think the worst i did to him was make him gay and having an affair with daniel (while still being with sam... it was messy. very messy )


sally

[majorsal]

how about in grace, instead of her friends and her relationship bits....waht if sam had confronted the ghosts of her past? her mother, major mansfield, martouf, narim, all the peopel she's killed

yeah, with the ship issue already being solved (with my writing ), then grace would have 'had' to focus on something else. okay, only the end part with jack was ship focused, but that lead to chimera which lead to lost city which lead to affinity which lead to threads...

i really like your idea, sky, of grace showing sam all the ppl she's lost. and 'grace' herself representing life and forgiveness.

still love the ep grace, though.


sally

[golfbooy]

Hoping to add a big picture perspective to the discussion regarding people's trepidation and reservations caused by various reviews of Avalon, I figured I'd reprint a post that I previously made on the subject yesterday, I think. This was in response to one review that bemoaned the fact that the addition of Ben Browder and Claudia Black didn't, and seemed would never, result in Stargate SG-1 turning into, yes, you guessed it, Fargate.

Originally posted by Golfbooy:
It's generally a good idea to take reviews and articles like this one with a grain of salt. While you may or may not agree with what's been written, bear in mind that the author's goal is to get as many people as possible to read their opinion/buy the newspaper. Add that to the general fact that SG-1 was largely inaccessible, and thus ignored, for the first five years of its run, and it's somewhat understandable (but maybe not forgivable) that it has been overlooked by critics.

Further, when SG-1 made the move to Sci-Fi it was in direct competition with Farscape. In fact, there is an argument to be made that SG-1 effectively ended Farscape's run by setting a ratings standard which Farscape couldn't match. Still, critics stuck by their chosen science fiction poster child, deriding the network for (in their minds) prematurely pulling the plug on what was apparently the ONE sci-fi series for which they lowered their standards enough to check out. Nevermind the fact that Sci-fi was making a sound business decision to reallocate its limited funds. That cancellation, and the decision to sink more money into future seasons of SG-1 and the new Atlantis series is the exact reason this article was even thought up.

And now here we are, nine years into SG-1's run, and critics are now a bit embarressed. You see, they've igored, lambasted, and put down SG-1 for years. And for all their hard work, it's still around. Other shows have, for whatever reason, fallen by the wayside while Stargate (and now Atlantis) continues to grow and to draw in new viewers. So, many critics (TV Guide's Matt Roush most notably) have seemingly come to the consensus that there must at least be something in SG-1 worth writing about. After all, it's been on longer than just about every other show on television today. But they haven't quite gotten over the fact that they missed the boat. Stargate succeeded entirely upon its own merits and without any help whatsoever from them. Rather, despite their best efforts, they can no longer ignore what most science fiction fans have decided is the more worthy, more entertaining series.

Stargate is a reminder to critics that, by and large, what they think and say really doesn't matter to people. And that's a bitter pill for most of them to swallow.

I'd also posit that BSG, as creatively reimagined as the show is, is doomed to suffer the same fate as Farscape. I admit to not having watched very much of it at all (how many shows do you think I have time to obsess over?), but from what I've seen, the writers seem to have little sense of structure or any idea, no matter how vague, of where they're trying to take their story. Right now, BSG seems to be alot like Lost. Their producers seem to want to throw every crazy, whacked out, and controversial idea they have on the table up front, damned be future stories. And, while that may lead to riveting television for now, and while the critical acclaim and rabid fans are nice, I just don't see any of it being able to continue for more than two or three seasons. I could be wrong. But the one thing that SG-1 always had going for it was a nice, measured pace. Things weren't always revealed all at once, the characters were gradually developed. The result is a show that's remained a success for eight, going on nine years. SG-1 continues to grow in ratings; I'm willing to predict that ratings will at the very worst remain status quo in season nine. And, most of us have stuck with the show, in spite of any percieved missteps, for a good number of years. It's certainly the longest I've ever been entralled and entertained by television. And, in my book, that's a success story relatively unrivaled.

So, as I perhaps should have said with much greater brevity than I did above, to hell with reviews. Make up your own minds; don't let some guy or gal you've never heard of tell you what's best for you. You're all way, way more informed on the subject of Stargate than any reviewer is.

Ramble on.

[ChopinGal]

Hoping to add a big picture perspective to the discussion regarding people's trepidation and reservations caused by various reviews of Avalon, I figured I'd reprint a post that I previously made on the subject yesterday, I think. This was in response to one review that bemoaned the fact that the addition of Ben Browder and Claudia Black didn't, and seemed would never, result in Stargate SG-1 turning into, yes, you guessed it, Fargate.

I'd also posit that BSG, as creatively reimagined as the show is, is doomed to suffer the same fate as Farscape. I admit to not having watched very much of it at all (how many shows do you think I have time to obsess over?), but from what I've seen, the writers seem to have little sense of structure or any idea, no matter how vague, of where they're trying to take their story. Right now, BSG seems to be alot like Lost. Their producers seem to want to throw every crazy, whacked out, and controversial idea they have on the table up front, damned be future stories. And, while that may lead to riveting television for now, and while the critical acclaim and rabid fans are nice, I just don't see any of it being able to continue for more than two or three seasons. I could be wrong. But the one thing that SG-1 always had going for it was a nice, measured pace. Things weren't always revealed all at once, the characters were gradually developed. The result is a show that's remained a success for eight, going on nine years. SG-1 continues to grow in ratings; I'm willing to predict that ratings will at the very worst remain status quo in season nine. And, most of us have stuck with the show, in spite of any percieved missteps, for a good number of years. It's certainly the longest I've ever been entralled and entertained by television. And, in my book, that's a success story relatively unrivaled.

So, as I perhaps should have said with much greater brevity than I did above, to hell with reviews. Make up your own minds; don't let some guy or gal you've never heard of tell you what's best for you. You're all way, way more informed on the subject of Stargate than any reviewer is.

Ramble on.

Great post and ... great post to your post! You've said it quite well.

[majorsal]

Nah its ok. As long as we get to talk about our own shipper views See for me there is only One True Ship for Sam:

http://www.users.on.net/~roscholler/.../AT/SamP90.jpg

Sam/P-90! <3

LOL!

(((AD)))


i'd be afraid to see their children, though...


sally