Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[majorsal]

I know, I just read it, too. That really su**s.
But SG-1 was up in the late night "re-run" from 1.1 to 1.4, which is prime-time here on the West Coast and they also said that it was up a bit compared to last year for the same week. Still, you're right, Dang it!! How can that be?!?
At least the overall reaction here in the forum and on the net is that everybody was happy to have Sam back.

i know, i was disappointed too. mediasavant said that some football game thinger was up against sg1 and atlantis, so he/she felt that was why the numbers were down. and i find it good that the rerun later did really good, which i guess means that some of the ppl that missed it at 8 gave it a try at 11.

oh, and mediasavant said that next week sg1 will be up againt 2 football games.


BUT, sam's baaaaaaack!!


sally

[Simhavaktra]

*drool*

One thing - is it compatible with my other Sam Clone

Agent Dark - happy owner of many newly-invented nifty naquadah-enhanced widgets, and bemused companion of a pair of beautiful and brilliant blondes. You'll be the only guy on the block with a Carter-copter in the driveway and a Stargate in the basement ...if neither clone takes umbrage to being referred to as 'it'...

[ChopinGal]

Agent Dark - happy owner of many newly-invented nifty naquadah-enhanced widgets, and bemused companion of a pair of beautiful and brilliant blondes. You'll be the only guy on the block with a Carter-copter in the driveway and a Stargate in the basement ...if neither clone takes umbrage to being referred to as 'it'...

Sure, AD has almost everything a guy could wish for ... except a decent toaster and microwave oven!

[Traveler Enroute1]

With apologies for raking over the coals...

Atteria was the official Royal Baker to the Court of Samanda, and regularly used to provide us all with delightful (and guaranteed calorie-free) cakes.

Then, on August 4th, this happened:-



We have heard nothing since, but Atteria remains in our thoughts and prayers.

I also sent Atteria a get well message, the day before her husband posted. She has been on my mind lately, but my pm has remained unanswered. I will keep good thoughts of her and her thoughtful contributions to this thread.

Very disturbing that she was insulted so harshly. Guess those people don't have our motto: HIC COMITAS REGIT.
It ought to be a law on the bbs.

Just sayin'.

[Carterslave]

I love the Sam Carter character and Amanada Tapping is a great actress. But I just got to say it: Please, oh please find a brush or get a hair cut... something... please.

Sam, Sam, Sam, I love you to pieces but please get a haircut! How about that short-and-sassy look from S5? That "reporting for duty" hair looked like somebody's idea of a gag.
As for the subdued Sam of Beach Head (an episode about which I felt fairly 'meh,' if the truth be told), I attributed it to be both the actress and the character having a child to raise, hence a certain preoccupation and unwillingness to get drawn too far in. Of course, that could be pure fan******y, but that's how it "read" to me.

[Agent_Dark]

Sure, AD has almost everything a guy could wish for ... except a decent toaster and microwave oven!

Pfft, who needs a toaster or microwave when you have two Sam's?
It's not like I'd be getting up in time for breakfast....

[Simhavaktra]

Sure, AD has almost everything a guy could wish for ... except a decent toaster and microwave oven!

So... Agent Dark has an INdecent toaster and microwave oven???

Ooooh, dear... between, er, the fitness of Agent Dark's appliances to appear in public in their current state of attire, and two compatible Sam clones in the same household (with Agent Dark and his thong-clad toaster oven ) how the dickens am I ever going to choose amongst the astronomical number of possible puns this situation presents???

[Skydiver]

As for the subdued Sam of Beach Head (an episode about which I felt fairly 'meh,' if the truth be told), I attributed it to be both the actress and the character having a child to raise, hence a certain preoccupation and unwillingness to get drawn too far in. Of course, that could be pure fan******y, but that's how it "read" to me.

sme here. I think it could be attributed to 'amanda had her baby late, they had to accomodate her late arrival and also tried to help her out by giving her a smaller role so that she could ease herself in rather than jumping in with both feet'

[Simhavaktra]

Since the Forum wasn’t taking in anything I said last night – literally ::insert mental image of Forum, humming loudly with fingers stuffed in ears:: - I beg the thread’s kind indulgence for further force-field folderol (if the Forum doesn't keep its fingers in its ears for this post, too - apparently the Forum is incompatible with Ori force fields ):

Spoiler:

I’d go with the notion that the Earth and Jaffa forces believed that weakening of the force-field when fired upon meant that the Ori force field functioned in a manner analogous to that of Goa’uld or Asgard shielding, and, therefore sufficient energy applied to the field might breach it, except that impression should, to my thinking, have been modified when a weakening of the field was repeatedly observed immediately preceding an expansion of the field, and those pre-expansion weakenings came at times when the field was not necessarily under attack. Plus, the overall field strength apparently was not diminished as the shield grew (at least no one mentioned the fact if it was), which one might reasonably expect it to be, if the field were being powered by a uniform energy output (and no one mentioned an increased output) from either Prior or the Gate or both.

Those facts should have told the Earth/Jaffa forces that countering outside energy wasn’t the only reason that the shield strength fluctuated/diminished, therefore a drop in shield intensity might not mean the same thing that it would in a Goa’uld/Asgard shield, and, unless tremendous increases in power were being noticed inside the shield, from the Gate or the Prior, as the shield was being expanded, then the shield was not consuming/or employing power in the same way that a Goa’uld-generated shield does. (and I would have expected Sam to want to go down to the planet to take power readings on the Gate and the Prior from inside the shield, where any interference from the force field might at least be minimized by proximity to the Prior and the Gate)

I would hope that is would also lead them to wonder about the energy, if any, coming through the Gate, and ask themselves if that energy was what was powering the shield, shouldn’t that energy flow be expected to increase as the area included in the shield also increased, which it apparently would be, if memory serves, in a Goa’uld or Asgard shield: if it didn’t increase, then it might not be what was powering the shield. No one said anything about monitoring the energy output of the continuously active Gate, which I would have expected Sam to be interested in doing, if only because she well knows that a supercharged Gate can explode, and that the Ancients invented at least one weapon whose effect is to explode a Gate thus, and the application of that weapon results in a Gate’s wormhole not closing after 38 minutes. In hindsight, or plot backfill I suspect that the ultimate explosion of the Gate was the Ori’s failsafe to power the expansion of the field to encompass the entire planet – after they’d pumped energy through the open Gate, and expanded the field that way, the supercharged Gate would blow, and its 2 – 3 megatons of explosive energy would be enough to expand the force field over the entire planet. It’d be slower than having the Earth and Jaffa forces supply the power, but probably just as effective.

I don’t mind fiction in my science-fiction science, it just seems I've developed an ‘excuse me, I need an explanation on that’ quota per plot complication…

[Uber]

yes!

but.... .... uh, i didn't realize you had another sam clone. uh, you're not thinking of using 'both' at the same time, are you?.... oh, look who i'm asking. i don't want to know the details!


sally

Alrighty then...

Where's my 10-foot pole when I need it...

[Carterslave]

same here. I think it could be attributed to 'amanda had her baby late, they had to accomodate her late arrival and also tried to help her out by giving her a smaller role so that she could ease herself in rather than jumping in with both feet'

We're on the same page about that. Doesn't it look like the Medal of Honor scene from Avalon/1 and the "reporting for duty" scene where filmed the same day, probably very soon after AT herself reported for duty? Same "electric shock" frizz of hair, same suspiciously baggy dress blues. It's just a stray thought.
One thing about which I could have been clearer: since AT's primary "subtext" for Carter's absence is that she's spending more time w/ Cassandra, I'm inclinded to read a certain number of "new mom" issues into Sam's apparent preoccupation in Beach Head. She certainly has a motherly gravitas that wasn't quite apparent before, IMO.
This new, more subdued & thoughtful Sam intrigues me. Plus AT & Browder have a wonderful, unforced rapport, kind of a "sharing of energy," if you will—and not in any shippy sort of way. Since Mitchell seems to regard her, in Avalon as a role model or mentor, it will be fascinating to see how their dynamic evolves; AT eventually chafed at the high school-ish skittishness w/ which Carter and O'Neill related to each other, and I can see why she felt that way. It was fun while it lasted, but change can be good & most of the changes in S9 have put new sparkplugs in SG-1 (I said most, not all). Plus, it looks like there are some good Carter storylines ahead, including Ripple Effect, so I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out.

[golfbooy]

Originally Posted by Skydiver:
sme here. I think it could be attributed to 'amanda had her baby late, they had to accomodate her late arrival and also tried to help her out by giving her a smaller role so that she could ease herself in rather than jumping in with both feet'

I certainly don't think it's unlikely, and to be honest, I'm not really expecting that to change too much for this week either. Ex Deus Machina sounds like a great episode, and it could by all means be a big episode for Sam. But, from the spoilers I've read, it is very much an episode that was written to accomodate Amanda Tapping's possible absence; it's one of those episodes where she could be included if she made it back for filming, or excluded if she didn't.

Also, Ex Deus Machina has Barrett in it. And, for as well liked a character as he is by most, though I can't say I understand why, Barrett's primary goal in every episode he's been in since Wormhole X-treme has been to cover the absence of a lead. In both Smoke and Mirrors and Resurrection Barrett was written into the story only to cover Richard Dean Anderson's absence. In fact, in Resurrection most of the lines Barrett utters sound like they should be coming out of Jack O'neill's mouth. I don't think it's too far of a stretch to say that his presence in this week's episode is, mostly, to cover for any downtime Amanda Tapping needs. There is a lot going on in Ex Deus Machina. Barrett doesn't really need to be there--I don't think they ran short and had to quickly add another facet to the story.

[ForeverSg1]

The Royal Researcher regrets to inform the Kingdom of the following:

Dang it! I was hoping SG-1 would take a leap in Beach Head, with AT's return. Instead, it dropped slightly. SGA scored the same as SG-1, and BSG lead the evening with a 2.1. The full story is here:
http://www.gateworld.net/news/2005/0...scifirat.shtml

Of course, high school football kicked into gear last Friday night all across the country, which could account for some of the loss. Dang it!

Hmmm, you know I was asking myself this afternoon what could have possibly caused the drop in ratings last Friday, but you know, this may in fact be the cause. Especially here in the south where football is not just a sport it's a way of life. I think the fact that the second showing recieved an overall rating increase for the timeslot definitely shows that people were interested.

[majorsal]

I certainly don't think it's unlikely, and to be honest, I'm not really expecting that to change too much for this week either. Ex Deus Machina sounds like a great episode, and it could by all means be a big episode for Sam. But, from the spoilers I've read, it is very much an episode that was written to accomodate Amanda Tapping's possible absence; it's one of those episodes where she could be included if she made it back for filming, or excluded if she didn't.

Also, Ex Deus Machina has Barrett in it. And, for as well liked a character as he is by most, though I can't say I understand why, Barrett's primary goal in every episode he's been in since Wormhole X-treme has been to cover the absence of a lead. In both Smoke and Mirrors and Resurrection Barrett was written into the story only to cover Richard Dean Anderson's absence. In fact, in Resurrection most of the lines Barrett utters sound like they should be coming out of Jack O'neill's mouth. I don't think it's too far of a stretch to say that his presence in this week's episode is, mostly, to cover for any downtime Amanda Tapping needs. There is a lot going on in Ex Deus Machina. Barrett doesn't really need to be there--I don't think they ran short and had to quickly add another facet to the story.

maybe that's why, as a sam fan, i wasn't disappointed in beach head. i distinctly remember amanda saying she didn't want to work the same hours after she had her child, so i've not been expecting a lot. and maybe that's why they're not really giving sam a big story arc this season, because amanda asked to not be written with too much right now.

i was pleased with sam's presence in beach head, because i kept my expectations low. and i'm doing the same with the sam/jack issue.

i thought sam looked great, and was needed, wanted, respected, and even treasured in this ep.

WELCOME HOME, SAM!


sally

[ann_sgcfan]

The Royal Researcher regrets to inform the Kingdom of the following:

Dang it! I was hoping SG-1 would take a leap in Beach Head, with AT's return. Instead, it dropped slightly. SGA scored the same as SG-1, and BSG lead the evening with a 2.1. The full story is here:
http://www.gateworld.net/news/2005/0...scifirat.shtml

Of course, high school football kicked into gear last Friday night all across the country, which could account for some of the loss. Dang it!

I was dissapointed as well about the slight ratings drop. Good point about highschool and some pro preseason games could have been a reason for the drop. Also didn't the Chicago Comcast remove SciFI from their basic cable service. They were talking about how many viewers where in the area, that may have had something to do with it. I'm not exactly sure when that change took place. It seems like it was very recent. Although, that wouldn't explain the increase for BSG.