Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Osiris-RA]

Captions?

That's a Double Egg Mcmuffin for Mitchell, Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese for Teal'c and a Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad for Daniel? Copy that!

[Osiris-RA]

As a Cam development story, it was fair...incredibly predictable (I doubt anyone was actually surprised when SPOILERS (Highlight below to read):

Spoiler:

we learned the guy training Cam was the brother of the man he shot)

and the SPOILERS (Highlight below to read):
[/spoiler]drugging idea is as old or older than Star Trek Amok Time...[/spoiler]but inasfar as we now know Cam has more depth than a puddle, fine.

I was happy to see take charge Sam at the beginning but all that does is remind me that the leadership issue is still an issue...not at all resolved in my little world. Sure, if Cam were building a team of newbies, fine...but we're talking Sam, Teal'c and Daniel...and it's personally clear to moi that Sam's the one who should be in charge because she's the one with offworld experience and FCOL, she's earned it. Plus there's that nagging character issue of why would someone who lead a team be willing to return as a 2nd...little things like that.

Yeah, I agree. While I get tptb were trying to create a Mitchy based ep and build whatever character was there... I kept getting these odd flashbacks to Jack. I don't know why exactly. Mitch isn't at all like Jack - though a times it seems he's been written to emulate him. Any matter, the ep was predictable ... though I was a tad surprised when CSM showed up.

I'm still confused as to why they would have two commanders for one team. It seems that one of those commanders should be leading another team. Can there be two high commanding people on the same team anyway? I don't get it, did they do it do that Sam wouldn't actually be in the lead or so she could be in the lead - or rather sharing the lead? She's been through too much to share the lead! Without Jack, who else's supposed to take thier rightful place as leader? Of course she was gone for a bit...T's happy now, sorta...why Mitchell would waste his time scrounging up people who obviously want a vacation from saving the world, I'll never know.

[Agent_Dark]

Eh, i posted some other stuff in the Babylon thread, but I'll say some of it again here.
I feel the writers are trying to hard to make Mitchell's character 'cool' but instead they've made him come off as way too flippant and sarcastic. Unlike O'Neill (who was great at the sarcasm) most of the 'jokes' Mitchell makes just fall flat on their face.

Spoiler:

Then theres the whole opening sequence. Teal'c says he's heard something, so what does Mitchell do? Stands next to Daniel and starts blabbing on. Gee, too bad if there's enemies around waiting to attack, I'll just have a nice little chat with Dr. Jackson.
Then the whole 'Get back to the gate, I'll cover!' thing - Why the hell was he doing that with his Sub Machine Gun when Teal'c was carrying the M249. Its a squad level support weapon for a reason...
For someone who spent '6 months in Airborne Training at Fort Benning' he didn't really learn much (which he musta failed, because he doesn't wear any parachutist badge on his uniform....) And thats another thing. We're meant to believe that he's been to Airborne School (which is for infantryman...) AND has also got enough experience in the cockpit to be leading a squadron of Space capable fighters? People are complaining that Carter is 'too good at everything' because she's got a PhD too quickly, knows all about everything etc etc but here's Mitchell as a Gung-Ho I can do anything Military guy.
Meh :\
The rest of the episode was ok. Kept trying to pick out Tom Cruise in the village though... At least it was better than TTTB

[SamFan31]

<< snip >>

We used to play games of ‘Where’s Sam?’ where people would hide Sam in a picture, like those ‘Where’s Wally’ comic/gamebooks.

Just a short interruption…

Deepspace, you brought back memories of our Where is Sam game. It made me wonder if Sam really was at Area 51 all the time she was away from us. It seems maybe she took some side trips. Can you find her in this pic?

Where's Sam?

End of short interruption since I imagine someone will find her very quickly.

[ChopinGal]

Thanks and kudos to my buddy, Geogirl from another scifi forum, for coming up with this motivational poster:



Now this is what we want to see happen with the new team, right campers?!

[ChopinGal]

And here's a message for the S9 writers:

[ChopinGal]

Just a short interruption…

Deepspace, you brought back memories of our Where is Sam game. It made me wonder if Sam really was at Area 51 all the time she was away from us. It seems maybe she took some side trips. Can you find her in this pic?

Where's Sam?

End of short interruption since I imagine someone will find her very quickly.

Whee ... forgot all about these! Two-o'clock high! Good job with the photomanip!

Why don't you try a motivational poster for Sam as my friend Geogirl has been doing! You can go to www.despair.com for some inspiration if needed.

[SamFan31]

Whee ... forgot all about these! Two-o'clock high! Good job with the photomanip!

Why don't you try a motivational poster for Sam as my friend Geogirl has been doing! You can go to www.despair.com for some inspiration if needed.

Well, I did say it would be a short interruption, but I didn't think it would be at lightening speed! You got it, CG.

[golfbooy]

Eh, reposting my thoughts on Babylon below. I concur with most of what's been tossed about here so far, but here's my two cents anyway. I orginally posted it in the episode thread. What can I say? I'm too lazy to rehash these ideas for a fresh, shiny, new post here. I make no apologies.

Originally Posted by golfbooy:

Babylon. Hmm.

Well, any episode that focused on Mitchell was sorely needed. That said, I'm getting that Jonas vibe all over again. What I mean is, I'm afraid that no matter how hard Ben Browder tries, no matter how much humor and banter they write for him, Mitchell is never gonna fit (either with the show or the team) the way Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c do. Sure, this episode focused on Mitchell, but it also focused on his separation from them. And the result was uncomfortable.

To begin, the teaser where Mitchell is captured seems only to illustrate the unsettled nature of the team. There is a forced nature to his joking with Teal'c and an unseemly petulence to his ribbing of the Jaffa intel. Add Daniel's comment about how they've discovered some pretty incredible stuff in similar circumstances and Carter's disdainful look as she walks past Cam, and Mitchell's mocking of that which he so wanted to join (not lead) is curious. Then there's the whole fire-fight bit, with Mitchell getting captured. It's not at all clear who is in command before this event, but during it Carter certainly does what you'd expect the team leader to do. Namely, she calls for back up and secures the team's position. Mitchell covering for the rest of SG-1 was a plot convenience, as there was no reason for him to not fall back with the rest. Whatever, that's how stories are made and he needed to be alone in this one.

The following scene, featuring the discovery of the teleportation device and SG-1's only time together in the whole episode, illustrates the comfort that was missing in the teaser. Sam's running the search, Daniel's translating Ancient writing, and Teal'c's commenting on the Sodan's disappearance is so seemless that you can't help but feel that the scene is over way too soon. It's SG-1 doing what they've always done, and I wanted more. Alas, twas not to be. Further, the search for Cam (or lack thereof) came across as par for the course. I didn't get any sense of desperation or even concern out of Daniel, Teal'c, or Sam beyond ordinary compassion for a fellow soldier. Certainly in the past there has been greater urgency expressed in similar circumstances. Throw in the lack of any sort of team reunion at the end of the episode and Mitchell is apparently just one of the team to them, nothing more.

That said, Mitchell finally gets something of his own this week. I did enjoy the more assertive effort from Ben Browder, finally giving Cameron some definition and personality. And finally something has happened to the character, something that makes his appearance in the story germaine.

Teal'c and Daniel got some pedestrian interrogation and Jaffa dialog, but not much more. Their dealings with Volnek came across as so routine that even they were bored by them.

Undoubtedly a result of Amanda Tapping's pregnancy, any complaint about Carter's lack of presence in the episode is invalid. She's great when she's there, but her absence only feeds into the lack of concern for Cam.

Landry and Lam continue to tapdance around their inevitable reconciliation. And the drop-in about the International Oversight Committee is nice continuity, foreshadowing next week's troubles.

In the end, I appreciate the effort from all parties. The Sodan have been introduced with the completeness Stargate used so effectively in its earlier years. They are a fully fleshed out society, one that will undoubtedly return in multiple future episodes. And the production department deserves special mention for constructing such an elaborate locale for the Sodan. Gone are the few tents and draped pieces of cloth from the Emancipation days. Sure, that was a long time ago, but it's still nice to see SG-1 get (and use) the budget it deserves. Kudos on William B. Davis. His utterence of not a single line coupled with his decrepit appearance will make future action on his part all the more impressive. But I can't help but come away feeling that Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c are SG-1. Mitchell's just the guy walking around with them. All I'm saying is, I'm getting that Jonas vibe all over again.

Bring on Prototype and The Fourth Horseman.

[ChopinGal]

Speaking of the "men in Sam's life" ...



Again, thanks to Geogirl for adding a photo collage to my poetic statement!

[ChopinGal]

Okay, one more motivational poster from Geogirl's collection which captures the spirit (er, should I say essence) of Sam ...



Now, please have some fun of your own, fellow Samandans and produce some original motivational posters for our kingdom! Again, you can start at www.despair.com if you need to find some raw material ... you guys are so talented though, you can probably make your posters from scratch!

[SnoggingPicard]

Wow, that poster is awesome! Definitely one of the best of its kind that I have seen.

[Dani76]

Well, I don't know about "motivational", but one of the posters reminded me of a picture I worked on after I had watched Death Knell. That's one of the "lessons" I took from this episode and I thought, I share it with you. Let me know what you think.

P.S. Samanda was on the second page. One more reason to post.

[sg-1fanintn]

Yes, it is a new show with a new agenda it seems: the crowning of the new prince, BB.

I feel the same way ... trying so hard to accept Cam into the fold, but, each week I'm left a bit empty regarding BB's portrayal. He doesn't seem to be the heavyweight that O'Neill was.

Tonight, we were watching part 1 of Lost City in syndication, and started discussing it in comparison to last night's episode. Hubby made an interesting, but slightly off-color observation. I'll put the offensive part in spoiler tags so no one has to read it if they don't want to:

Comparing Jack and Cam:

HUBBY: "Browder just doesn't seem as in-charge without that cast of Muppets around, especially the

Spoiler:

farting

Muppet."

Well.....it was just helium, after all!

[majorsal]

Captions?

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92...n/Babylon1.jpg

woo hoo, caps from the ep! i hope there's more.

speaking of the ep...

spoilers for s9's babylon

Spoiler:

i really liked babylon, and i really like mitchell, but... whenever they've shown sg1 working together with sam *finally* there, i get this slight sinking feeling because i can't let go that sam should be leading. but i'm not transferring that over to mitchell. but at the beginning, when sg1 were walking and teasing about teal'c, i had a *bit* of a prob with it because sam should have been front and center as *the leader*. but like i said, i'm not holding that against the mitchell character.

sally