Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[AGateFan]

Gracious, another thread? What is it, dis Sam season? And after I blew that sun up for them...

What ep is that from? She looks like she has been listing to Daniel prattle on too long.

[Osiris-RA]

lol, it's from Urgo. She was lisening to Urgo yakk on and on. Hehehe, ah, she kills me. e

[sg-1fanintn]

http://www.stargatefan.com/episodes3...images/221.jpg
Gracious, another thread? What is it, dis Sam season? And after I blew that sun up for them...

Well, I can understand people saying what they want in the appropriate threads, but to invade others' threads with negative comments is just rude. I wouldn't do that. Why is he coming here to do this? I'm sure if this continues, someone will have a word with him. Or did I misunderstand?

On a more positive note:

Welcome, Equinox!
Welcome, TheObiJuan!
Congratulations, majorsal, on 4,200 posts!
Congratulations, tsaxlady, on 900 posts!

[the dancer of spaz]

Hey guys! Can anyone post the close-up pic of Sam in front of the Stargate at the end of S4's "The Other Side"? It's during the last five minutes or so of the episode. It's a dang, tight close-up, but it's such a good shot of her (and of Jack, as well). I have to say that THAT version of long-haired Sam looked pretty neat. I only wish it had stayed. We had short-haired Sam for two seasons after that - which wasn't too bad either.

As for the Anti-threads... *sigh* So much hate... I feel bad about any anti-threads. I felt bad about the "End Vala" thread, too. And the fact that this was done out of RETALIATION and not merely out of the fact that they're simply "anti" is pretty pathetic. I'm trying my hardest not to go find it (sometimes I can be a bit of a masochist), so help me stay away!!!

And I hope I didn't give gary any ideas with my comment in the Anti-Vala thread this afternoon.

[golfbooy]

Well, as for the anti-Carter thread, whatever. I could care less. I hope he feels like a big man now. That'll teach those cyber-mod punks. However, I must say that this is just another example of the deterioration of the entire forum. Gateworld has been sliding downhill (my opinion) for the past few months, both the site and forum.

The site seems to have become more glib, more concerned with being cool and having more features than the other stargate sites rather than being about providing the most recent news and info on SG-1 and Atlantis. That said, there are spoilers everywhere. There's no doubt that competition for Gateworld has increased, but it's as if there's no attempt being made to keep up. I understand that some may like the new stuff, but it's really not why I frequent the site. And I'm not even going to get into the frequent outages.

And the forum, well, that's been completely taken over by inane threads, simpletons bickering with each other, and pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Always with the pictures. When I first began lurking here, years ago, it was for the discussion. There's not so much of that anymore, even in this thread where it was once commonplace. Now posters simply use whatever thread they're in to say "hi" to others, congratulate them on post counts, thank them for those damn pictures, and prattle on about their personal lives. I'm here to talk about stargate, and I'm in this thread to talk about Sam. I mean, some of that is fine in moderation, but there are now threads upon threads upon threads of nothing but spam. How about a few posts with some substantive content once in a while?

Bah, forget it. This has been building for a while now, figured I'd let it out.

Back on topic: Anti-Carter thread. Whatever. It can go with the Dex's Sword thread, the Shex Thread, the Court Martial General Hammond Thread, Planet of Neanderthals, etc. Gotta love the substance of it all. And to not be a hypocrite, here's a question that will hopefully spur some discussion:

As the character of Sam Carter has been fleshed out over the years, as we've become more intimate with who she is, has your opinion of her changed? What I mean is, Sam is often lauded for the show's depiction of her as a strong soldier and scientist in earlier seasons. She is often criticized now for the show's depiction of her personal life and self-conflicts. Do you see her in a different light now (e.g. weaker, less successful) because her character has been expanded? Is she no longer the strong solider or scientist to you anymore? Is she now just a woman? And if so, is that a successful or unsuccessful depiction of Sam Carter?

[SamFan31]

Soldier!Sam rewind (love the rewind term Sky):

There is a scene in Full Circle with Soldier!Sam I really like. No hesitation, she knows just what to do, just put on those eye protectors and take your shot! I particularly like the look on her face at the end. Jonas is a bit stunned and Sam just looks like she’s thinking, “Hmm, not bad”.

Scene: Secret room

Jonas and Sam are rummaging through everything looking for the Eye of Ra.

JONAS: What if it’s not here?
SAM: Maybe there’s a secret compartment?
JONAS: A secret compartment inside a secret chamber?
SAM: Why not?
JONAS: Why not?
Jonas picks up a metal object and starts tapping walls. He comes across one that sounds hollow.

JONAS: Right here. I don’t see a latch or a jewel like in the other door but there’s got to be some way to open this.

SAM: Yeah, stand back.




Sorry, Golfbooy - more pictures...

[the dancer of spaz]

Hey SNY! I can't seem to be able to open your video! Any suggestions? Is it because it's a zipped thingy? I can never seem to open those...

<<< --- Gigantic dweeb.

[golfbooy]

Originally Posted by SamFan31:
Sorry, Golfbooy - more pictures...

Yeah, I got on a roll with the pics bit and couldn't stop. One or two I don't mind. Really, I don't. But I used to come here to read what I missed in this thread. Then it fell to skimming over the posts. Now, I don't really care if I miss a five or six pages or not because I know I'm not missing anything.

[the dancer of spaz]

Golfbooy said: <snip>
Back on topic: Anti-Carter thread. Whatever. It can go with the Dex's Sword thread, the Shex Thread, the Court Martial General Hammond Thread, Planet of Neanderthals, etc. Gotta love the substance of it all. And to not be a hypocrite, here's a question that will hopefully spur some discussion:

As the character of Sam Carter has been fleshed out over the years, as we've become more intimate with who she is, has your opinion of her changed? What I mean is, Sam is often lauded for the show's depiction of her as a strong soldier and scientist in earlier seasons. She is often criticized now for the show's depiction of her personal life and self-conflicts. Do you see her in a different light now (e.g. weaker, less successful) because her character has been expanded? Is she no longer the strong solider or scientist to you anymore? Is she now just a woman? And if so, is that a successful or unsuccessful depiction of Sam Carter?

I don't think the expansion of Sam as a woman (if you wanna call it that) has been all that detrimental to her character. For me, seeing other sides of Sam has been pretty cool. AT has said this before, but (paraphrasing) seeing a fallible character work out her problems is very important to seeing her as an actual human being. That's been especially important when portraying strong women, I think. For some reason... They come off as solely one of two things: butch or the other b-word. And that must be incredibly limiting for actors.

I'm SOOOO glad that we get to see Soldier!Sam, Scientist!Sam, Maternal!Sam, AdrenalineJunkie!Sam, BigSister!Sam, AU!Sam, etc. It's really neat.

To me, seeing Sam investigate other areas of her life is normal. IMO, it's as normal as Jack dealing with the death of his son and the memories that come with his old life - both the Black Ops and the wannabe Family Man. It's as normal as Teal'c going through his OWN version of that, with his fatherhood being pitted against his role as a Jaffa Warrior and First Prime - and that's including the time AFTER he joined the SGC. It's as normal as Daniel originally joining the program to search for his wife, and then rejoining in search of her son, and finding peace and "enlightenment" through his ascension. This is especially true when you consider how much these characters have all been through and seen in barely a decade.

Personally, I don't understand the stigma against seeing strong women look at their love life, as well. The two, as Sam says, aren't mutually exclusive.

My only problem is the fact that, as AT said, it became a qualifier for her character. That had to drive her nuts! I'm a Sam Fan, but I would like to preserve the Team Concept at all costs. The team is what hooked me, and while Sam is a MAJOR part of why I watch the show, as long as the team is intact, I'll be there. So, as long as they don't focus too much on someone's love interest (Sam/Jack, Daniel/Vala, Cam/Lam, Teal'c/Ishta, Main Character/Alien of the Week), I'll be OK with pretty much whatever they do.

[the dancer of spaz]

Yeah, I got on a roll with the pics bit and couldn't stop. One or two I don't mind. Really, I don't. But I used to come here to read what I missed in this thread. Then it fell to skimming over the posts. Now, I don't really care if I miss a five or six pages or not because I know I'm not missing anything.

Hey! That means you don't have to stress out about looking through ALL of the pages. More time for other stuff!

[golfbooy]

Originally Posted by the dancer of spaz:
My only problem is the fact that, as AT said, it became a qualifier for her character. That had to drive her nuts! I'm a Sam Fan, but I would like to preserve the Team Concept at all costs. The team is what hooked me, and while Sam is a MAJOR part of why I watch the show, as long as the team is intact, I'll be there. So, as long as they don't focus too much on someone's love interest (Sam/Jack, Daniel/Vala, Cam/Lam, Teal'c/Ishta, Main Character/Alien of the Week), I'll be OK with pretty much whatever they do.

I agree, for the most part. I would say, however, that once the decision to explore Sam's love life was made, TPTB at least gave it go. It's not the kind of topic to be broached in just one episode and then dropped till next season's one ep about it. They appreciated that it must take place over the course of many episodes, and that it would require making many, many fans unhappy. Perhaps it was a mistake to take it so far from the SGC and from SG-1, but I think that no matter where they did it, criticism was inevitable. Keeping it close to SG-1 would've required more reaction from Jack, and more time from RDA. Neither was tenable.

[Queen Eleta]

<snip>
As the character of Sam Carter has been fleshed out over the years, as we've become more intimate with who she is, has your opinion of her changed? What I mean is, Sam is often lauded for the show's depiction of her as a strong soldier and scientist in earlier seasons. She is often criticized now for the show's depiction of her personal life and self-conflicts. Do you see her in a different light now (e.g. weaker, less successful) because her character has been expanded? Is she no longer the strong solider or scientist to you anymore? Is she now just a woman? And if so, is that a successful or unsuccessful depiction of Sam Carter?

I have only been a member of the forum since June, and it is kind of funny how I got here. I was at a con and the moderator of the Stargate panel said that Gateworld was a 'dead' site. I decided to check it out anyway. I'm glad I did, but I did an awful lot of lurking at first since there were sooooo many threads, I was lost! Some of them just didn't make any sense. I finally find a few I really like, even though I tend to lurk more than post, since I usually don't feel like I have much to add.
But as for what you ask about Sam, I was glad to see her character rounded out a bit. Nobody is ever 'just' one thing. Seeing other aspect to her character makes her more real and relatable. And even though I am a S/J shipper I was glad that she had a non-Jack relationship for a little while.

[the dancer of spaz]

I agree, for the most part. I would say, however, that once the decision to explore Sam's love life was made, TPTB at least gave it go. It's not the kind of topic to be broached in just one episode and then dropped till next season's one ep about it. They appreciated that it must take place over the course of many episodes, and that it would require making many, many fans unhappy. Perhaps it was a mistake to take it so far from the SGC and from SG-1, but I think that no matter where they did it, criticism was inevitable. Keeping it close to SG-1 would've required more reaction from Jack, and more time from RDA. Neither was tenable.

Not to mention the constant teeter-totter of anti-ship and shippers. This way, they managed to get shippers riled up with "supposed" UST, and they kept hardcore anti-shippers happy by giving Sam someone else to play with. :shrugs: Let's be fair and face it: TPTB really can't win.

[majorsal]

spoilers for s7, s8, and current. please read with caution

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As the character of Sam Carter has been fleshed out over the years, as we've become more intimate with who she is, has your opinion of her changed? What I mean is, Sam is often lauded for the show's depiction of her as a strong soldier and scientist in earlier seasons. She is often criticized now for the show's depiction of her personal life and self-conflicts. Do you see her in a different light now (e.g. weaker, less successful) because her character has been expanded? Is she no longer the strong solider or scientist to you anymore? Is she now just a woman? And if so, is that a successful or unsuccessful depiction of Sam Carter?

i still see sam as a *great* character. i've always loved shows that delved into the characters personal lives (which is why i'm not really a fan of law and order), but my number one love of stargate has always been their adventures through the stargate.

i saw sam's revelations in season 7's grace as normal for any person, not just a woman that had put her personal life on hold for a 'maybe'. so she made a decision and moved forward. the move was good, but the person she chose to move with wasn't the right choice. so, she broke with that person and made a connection with the person she really wanted to live her life with. and how she's in a good place and can concentrate on her career without distractions. so no, i'm not sorry we went through this journey with sam. (i've went through/am going through some similar issues right now... must be an age thing)

on a personal level, yeah, i'd have done things differently if i were a writer on the show. i'd have given her a boyfriend (of course the show runner would have had to *make* me do it ), but i would have made him just a guy that dug sam and went out with her. no fuss, no probs, no real threat. and since the boyfriend would have been shipper friendly, no need to highlight the s/j issue *along* with the sam/boyfriend issue. i would have had them breakup in lost city (off screen) with sam and jack coming to an 'understanding' in threads. AND, i would have made a big deal of sam commanding sg1. i would have shown her struggles and triumphs. i would have *really* shown her commanding, not just have it that 'someone' had to lead the mission. i would have balanced her personal life *with* her career life.

the *only* thing i've had probs with concerning sam is her lack of reaction to pete's behavior in chimera. if she didn't want to get hung up on the stalker-like issue and dump him, i'd still liked to have had a moment where she questioned him on what he did. he wasn't malicious, just selfish. the sam i'd known up to that time wouldn't have accepted such disrespectful behavior. but out of 9 years, that's my only problem with the sam characterization.

i can't say what i think of sam this season because i've barely seen her. i know she left the sgc to care for cassie, and i know she worked at R&D, but i've not gotten the real feel of that because the show's not focusing on it. really, it's not focusing on any of our original characters feelings/thought/motivations for doing with they've done. and the loss is to the fans.

the show doesn't seem to be into rich character tapestries this season (just look at vala). the most we've gotten is mitchell's recollections of his accident and recovery.

k, well, i just wanted to say that i still find sam a great character!!



sally

[golfbooy]

Originally Posted by the dancer of spaz:
Not to mention the constant teeter-totter of anti-ship and shippers. This way, they managed to get shipper riled up with "supposed" UST, and they kept hardcore anti-shippers happy by giving Sam someone else to play with. :shrugs: Let's be fair and face it: TPTB really can't win.

Yes, the "supposed" UST is what gets me. At no point since season four have TPTB ever seriously indicated that they wouldn't resolve the Sam/Jack issue. Pete was such a pathetic, half-hearted attempt to up the tension that he became universally hated by both sides. And those supposed anti Sam/Jack episodes are actually the ones that set Jack's and Sam's relationship in firmer stone than it already was. And, while they can't make everybody happy all of the time, TPTB do win every time fandom riles itself up into a state of disarray. They most assuredly get a kick out of it. There is no such thing as bad publicity. It's a cliche, but there it is.