Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Queen Eleta]

you know, things are getting so incredibly over the top silly, i have to wonder if the s10 premiere will be 'jack's in the shower and it's all been a dream' (a really, really bad one BTW)

I really tried to imagine how this kind of ep would go, but I keep getting stuck on 'Jack's in the shower', couldn't think past that.
Wasn't there a time when teasers were suppose to highlight the 'good' things that were going to happen, to make us excited to watch? Now all I am hearing about the latest spoilers is 'OK, I am going to watch, because hopefully there will be something else to the show besides this'!!! When I read the spoilers, my first thought was 'Why do they (TPTB) hate me?' Am I going to watch it? *sigh* Yeah probably. On TiVO though, when I have nothing better to do. I think I'll have a S4 marathon that night. And I just have to add that with four (!!!) new characters (Cam, Landry, Lam, Garek) do they really need to spend soooo much time on Vala? I know JM said she was a great character and a hoot to write for, but come on! This wasn't what I watched Stargate for.
I think AT looked great in the last ep and I want to see her with more screen time. When I thought about all the things they could have done with this season..... *sigh again*

[Qasim]

deepspace is guilty of the quasim offence. It's just so natural to type a U after a Q. Quantum, Queen, Quality, all have U's after the Q. In fact the only word I can think of without one is Qantas, and that's an airline.

Still, I approve of the name change. The name Qasim looks very systemlordish.

Unnatural!! - I'll give you unnatural

July 6 qasimjavid (1987)

Oh so you have forgotten already

[Lida]

Well, I had a GREAT rant all written in response to Queen Eleta's post, but the system wouldn't post it! ARGH, when is this "quote bug" going to get fixed...is it just me? I'm really tired of losing posts.

I'll try and write a condensed version.

I understand what you are getting at Queen Eleta, but you have to remember that TPTB were severely hampered by AT's pregnancy and absence for the first five episodes. They had to write around her absence, which I'm certain presented a challange, considering they also had to introduce us to 4 new characters and Vala. And yes, I agree, too much emphasis was placed on the Vala/Daniel thing for the first 5 episodes. Quite frankly, as much as I enjoy CB, I was getting a bit tired of Vala by the time Sam returned.

As for Beachhead and Deus Ex Machina....I also agree Sam didn't play as major a role as I would have liked, but please remember, AT had just returned from giving birth and she is not "young" anymore. Now don't jump on me all at once.....it's simply that medically, after age 35, the body doesn't rebound as quickly as, say a 21 yo body, after giving birth. I am amazed that AT returned as quickly as she did and that she looks so fantastic. I just think the writers, et al, didn't want to over burden her upon her return. Give them time for her to work back into her "groove".

OK, so season 9, so far, has been a disappointment....it is not even half over yet and remember, Stargate has had some not so great seasons before. I'm truly hoping, now that Sam is back, the team will gel, and we'll begin to see stories worthy of SG-1 and begin to delve more into the character of Cam Mitchell. I'm also very curious about how he will eventually interact with Sam and the rest of the team.

I'm still holding out hope that the Phoenix will rise from the flames......but then I love Stargate and don't want to be left with just ashes.

[Ancient 61]

I'd be personally willing to drive down to LA, pick RDA and his daughter up and drive them up to Vancouver for his filming. Hell I'd even babysit his daughter and take them both to Disneyland when he was done if he would just show up for the last episode. I miss RDA but more importantly, I really miss Jack.

I will help. I live down here in Southern California.

[tsaxlady]

Although I'm not real keen on the early information on "Crusade" I'm not ready to throw in the towel on the episode yet. How many times in the past have we gotten spoilers that once you saw an episode we found out that large really great and important plot lines were not leaked. Spoiler information comes from many different sources so lets keep it in perspective at this early stage. Yup call me a glass half full kind of person.

[Coley]

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?

Right, a little late for this response but here goes:-

I for one think Sam was taken in a different direction after seasons 1 to 6. Seasons 1 to 6 we got lots of scientist/soldier Sam. From the brief glimpses into her off base life I saw her as quite shy, reserved, but with the possibility of a wicked sense of humour. By the end of season 6 Sam to me was probably a bit too perfect to be true, but she was a great role model.

Seasons 1 to 6 I see her as courageous compassionate, intelligent, with a kind heart and gentle soul. She is evidently competent in many fields of science. Capable at times of wanton manipulation – especially of Hammond – a slightly dark side of Sam. She showed very strong leadership abilities in many episodes when taking over situations at the base, calm, collected, direct and assuring. Her tenacity on many occasions led to her saving the day –and the world. She has a strong inner child and I loved to see her times with Jacob develop into a loving father/daughter relationship.

Come season 7 suddenly there was a change of emphasis. The emphasis was on the male interpretation of woman. The clothing was evidently more stylish and sexy from the hipster BDU pants and sleeveless tops to the low cut dress in the coffee shop in Chimera into the leathers in season 8 episodes. Now nothing wrong with this per say. But for me it just wasn’t Sam, and whilst people do change over time, I don’t think they change so quickly.

Chimera saw Sam in the coffee shop as the confident flirty type reeling Pete in “hook, line and sinker” This is whilst she still holds a very strong torch for O’Neill – the halo slips – I was disappointed at this as I would have hoped Sam would have more regard for other people’s hearts!!

She is now a little gung Ho as we saw in space race. I never saw Sam as Gung Ho previously.

We also got quite a lot of fallible Sam in season 7 and 8 where mistakes were made.

Whilst she was put in command of SG1 she was never given the opportunity to lead, which meant little or no professional development in seasons 7 and 8 – which in my mind was a huge error as this could have been the balancing development to the personal stuff which was being acted out before my narrowed eyes and furrowed brow.

Now back to the question do I now see her in a different light – weaker, less successful.

Well yes she is a different light, but not necessarily weaker and no less successful, but certainly less perfect. I didn’t mind her making mistakes – we all make mistakes – the question is whether we learn from them or not. Sometimes you can learn so much more from making a mistake than you ever can from countless successes. That aspect of Sam I didn’t mind and Avenger and Gemini are fave episodes of mine. Her head has never gone down, her confidence may be dented, but it hasn’t waned – she’s still in there offering up the theories and solutions. Plus we see her accept her mistakes with pure grace!!


In terms of personal Sam –

I don’t like the overt sexy portrayal as much as the casual don’t need to put myself on parade Carter. That is just me. Sexiness is so much more than clothing. My own opinion is that AT looks far sexier in BDU’s than she does in any low cut top or tight leathers, but I assume Sci Fi doesn’t think its male audience is capable of imagination and looking beyond what one can see - and prefers a blatant display of sexuality. IMO Sam’s shy smile has got to be sexier than a low cut dress????

I would have preferred development of all the team on the lines of get togethers off base – in a relaxed environment. I think we could have learnt more about them all in a few off base scenes than we have in 8 seasons of lets concentrate on 1 team member episodes. We could have seen Carter’s developing sense of humour and her interaction with both Teal'c and Daniel – rather than the focus of her attentions being on O’Neill.

In terms of Pete. I didn’t mind him per se – but was rather shocked to see Sam playing with someone’s heart when she still had such strong feelings for O’Neill. I was a bit peeved at the morning after scene in the bedroom. I don’t think I would be at all happy about a chap fleeing the bed and house just because I couldn’t tell him what I did for a living. I would have hoped Sam would be attracted to someone with a more maturity than that. So this is one area where I think the role model slipped a little.

In my opinion the writers failed to develop “Samantha” - they changed her (off base persona) which proves to me that the regular writers really should stick to the Sci Fi stuff and bring in other writers for back story development. I think they have failed to acknowledge their limitations. They have done an awesome, superb job in seasons 1 to 6. I don’t think we could have asked for better writing for a female Sci Fi lead.

I know she is still kick a$$ Carter. A hero, a leader, a scientist. It is just that we saw too little of this in seasons 7 and 8.

In terms of season 9 I think the writers are possibly between a rock and a hard place, especially when I’m sure they are planning for the show to be around a few more seasons and may not know for sure if AT will want to stay. I also agree with Lida’s recent post that they are working around Amanda having other demands on her time and energy and this must limit what they can and can not write for Carter.

The final word Carter is a Woman always has been. Roll over the men of this world!!

[Uber]

I'm one of those people that didn't mind exploring the softer side of Sam...her girly side if you will.

I think though that you make a magnificent point...which I think can be summed up with the word BALANCE.

There's nothing wrong with showing her feminine side as long as there is the business side of her ready to offset the difference. I'm willing to concede that they did not do enough of the business side, and therefore her personal side was overwhelming to some.

I kinda fear that they're going to abruptly swing the pendulum too much and over due the business side of her now...in an attempt to balance what happened the last few seasons.

That would be as big a mistake IMHO as showing only one side of her, either her personal side, or her scientific side or whatever. Two dimensional means two dimensional, regardless of what single issue they stick her with...and Sam is not a two dimensional character. The wise thing to do would be clearly to not focus on the aspect of her personality that she struggled and dealt with last year...but also not completely abandon it.

Samantha Carter is a deeply rich character, full of flaws and strengths and humor and conviction...don't lessen her by cramming her into the science only box or the military only box and ignoring the various aspects that make her such a great character.

[Qasim]

Has anyone ever done a favourite Sam hairstyle poll?

[Coley]

In terms of season 9 I have just seen the first 4 episodes.

I can honestly say that if there had never been 8 previous seasons of Stargate I would be quite impressed. Though shake my head at the inclusion of the seemingly obligatory skimpy clad, chest baring female.

However we have had 8 previous seasons and this most certainly isn't the Stargate I know and love.

On the positive side I do like Ben Browder, though I don't think his character is leadership material. He hasn't the presence or sense of command O'Neill has - or Carter for that matter. I wanted to see more of him in the 4 eps than we were given.

I did enjoy Michael Shank's acting, though he delivers his lines too quickly sometimes for my liking.

The action is very good and the special effects are better than ever.

Though nothing could ever compare to Janet the new CMO interests me. She has a cool matter of factness about her and has displayed confidence and competence. (I still pine for Janet though - hang believability bring her back from an AU).

On the down side. Somehow none of it seems real. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it is because Carter is just not there, but somehow it doesn't feel like this could be happening in a neighbourhood mountain near you.

There is just not enough Teal'c. The writers have never managed to do this character justice and they seem to be failing again. What an opportunity to bring him to the fore - but it has been lost.

Well what can I say about Vala? Please just put her in some sensible cloths?? The charactersation is just overdone for my liking. They could have made her a lot more interesting. She is just too much the flip sex tease. A bit of this would be okay, but it seems to be all the time. Unlike Strix I'm not too sure of CB's acting. It seems she has a very theatrical delivery to me - so theatrical I think it adds to the sense that this just can't be real. The delivery belongs in a sit com or on the stage. Now part of me is just wondering if CB is being incredibly clever. I wonder if she is thinking - well if TPTB are going to force me into these outfits and give me this sort of tired cliched characterisation there is no way I'm going to play it real!! To me Daniel/Vala is like a spoof!! Having griped about it I did laugh at a couple of lines! That is pleasing to me!!

Having said all the above the plotline I found interesting.

The new General to my mind is not as powerful a character as Hammond - but give it time.

All in all I think we have lost our Stargate SG1 of old. I await Sam's return to see what it develops into. All is not lost - it could turn out to be jolly enjoyable - which is what TV is all about!!

[Qasim]

All in all I think we have lost our Stargate SG1 of old. I await Sam's return to see what it develops into. All is not lost - it could turn out to be jolly enjoyable - which is what TV is all about!!

If you take into consideration her RL then you will not be disappointed

Whereas we didnt see everything we love about Sam we saw enough to know that shes back

It seems that

Spoiler:

she will be the one saving the world most this year as opposed to the other characters especially in the '4th horseman'

[Coley]

I'm one of those people that didn't mind exploring the softer side of Sam...her girly side if you will.

Me neither, but the softer side of Sam was very well portrayed in episodes such as Singularity with Cassie, Enigma with Narim and Rite of Passage with Janet and Cassie (to name a few). I didn't mind too much her clothing style in seasons 7 and 8 - it was just totally different to her off base clothing style of 1 to 6 - and IMO an unnecessary change.

I think though that you make a magnificent point...which I think can be summed up with the word BALANCE.

There's nothing wrong with showing her feminine side as long as there is the business side of her ready to offset the difference. I'm willing to concede that they did not do enough of the business side, and therefore her personal side was overwhelming to some.

I kinda fear that they're going to abruptly swing the pendulum too much and over due the business side of her now...in an attempt to balance what happened the last few seasons.

That would be as big a mistake IMHO as showing only one side of her, either her personal side, or her scientific side or whatever. Two dimensional means two dimensional, regardless of what single issue they stick her with...and Sam is not a two dimensional character. The wise thing to do would be clearly to not focus on the aspect of her personality that she struggled and dealt with last year...but also not completely abandon it.

Samantha Carter is a deeply rich character, full of flaws and strengths and humor and conviction...don't lessen her by cramming her into the science only box or the military only box and ignoring the various aspects that make her such a great character.

Yes these are great points!!

Lets just hope the writers think a bit deeper this season!!

[Uber]

Ok so you all may or may not know (or may or may not care) that I am in fact working on what I hope to be the ultimate Amanda Tapping/Samantha Carter website to be launched in November.

So I'm in the planning stages right now...laying the foundation and putting everything in place.

BUT I need your help.

What features, elements would you like to see? Things that would make you want to return and post there daily?

Please give me your thoughts!

Also, if you go there now you'll just see the filler page that will pretty much stay in place until the actual site launches. It looks NOTHING like the future site will look, btw...

...BUT there is also an option to sign up for updates. Please do so if you haven't already! That way I can keep everyone up to date on the progress of Samanda.

http://www.uberamandafan.com

Thanks!

[Qasim]

What features, elements would you like to see? Things that would make you want to return and post there daily?

Please give me your thoughts!

What software will your forum run? vBulletin, Invision or phpBB?

You should test the site in IE, Firefox and Opera - if you know anyone with a mac get it checked in Safari aswell

A detailed biography would be nice the one on www.amandatapping.com is good but its a bit short

You should have screencaps of SG eps - I think it would be better to have screencaps of all the eps not just the Sam bits as that will be more usuful when discussing an episode

You could scan articles about Sam/Amanda and put them in a special section

Will you be having an rss feed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(protocol)

A fanwork section would be nice aswell

I have an idea which is slightly strange but someone here made a pdf of the Amanda appreciation book that Astro made - a web-based slideshow of it would be really cool I think

Will let you know when I think of more

[Qasim]

How about some Sam/Amanda quizzes Uber?

[Uber]

What software will your forum run? vBulletin, Invision or phpBB?

You should test the site in IE, Firefox and Opera - if you know anyone with a mac get it checked in Safari aswell

A detailed biography would be nice the one on www.amandatapping.com is good but its a bit short

You should have screencaps of SG eps - I think it would be better to have screencaps of all the eps not just the Sam bits as that will be more usuful when discussing an episode

You could scan articles about Sam/Amanda and put them in a special section

Will you be having an rss feed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(protocol)

A fanwork section would be nice aswell

I have an idea which is slightly strange but someone here made a pdf of the Amanda appreciation book that Astro made - a web-based slideshow of it would be really cool I think

Will let you know when I think of more

Yeah...this is stuff I have nailed down so far...vBulletin, btw.

Articles will be submitted by fans and fully credited.

Fanart, fanfic, fanvids, etc. will be posted and rated.

And I'm working on the RSS feed...

As for screen caps, they'll focus on Sam of course...