Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Strix varia]

from what i've heard about this here, i find it amazing that in the year 2005 there are still people trying to drag the world back in time about 40 years.
just because star trek voyager sucked, doesn't mean it was because they had a girl in charge. star gate is a good show dammit, and a female team leader would be a good move all round. i'll settle for co leaders, but i think sam deserves it regardless of gender. she did it for the last freakin' year, and they didn't die once. except for daniel, but daniel always dies!

i am of course saying this with tongue firmly in cheeck mostly. but the sentiment stands. i apologise to all voyager fans and daniel fans, and i didn't mean to be insulting at all to anyone, those were clearly the jokey bits.

i wouldn't be surprised if some of this was stereotypical high school behaviour too, as in, well she's smart so she must be a geek so she can't do anything cool. or she's pretty so nobody could take her seriously as a team leader.
well RDA and Browder are hot too, and nobody has a problem with them dag nabbit. i hate it when sexist people make me go all feminist. it gives me the uncontollable urge to put on perfume and shave my armpits afterward. (i'll be back in half an hour)

LOL! I feel the same way. Just goes to shoe that male-dominated society has successfully turned "feminism" into a dirty word, though. What a shame.

As for Voyager, I think a lot of people did have problems with it because Janeway was a woman. One of many issues, perhaps...

[Rogue]

phew
extracated myself from mitchel as leader thread. What a waste of time!! A chap clearly stated a gender based view and repeated it time and time again and then claims it wasn't gender based. More amazingly a couple of people have defended him. They must have missed some of his post.

He said he didn't want a fem dominated show and it would be if Carter took lead of SG1. Then claimed after repeating this a few times that he meant character dominated. Won't admit he was darn unclear!!

Think I'll stay here for the next few nights

Anyway now I'm off to play with Hu!!

Yeah, sometimes you just have ignore the ignorant. I remember reading a post from a person who said they wouldn't want Sam on their team because she wouldn't be fun at a BBQ.

If you want proof that the good ol' boy network is still in operation, just look at Mitchell, thats how he got the job.

[Naeara]

LOL! I feel the same way. Just goes to shoe that male-dominated society has successfully turned "feminism" into a dirty word, though. What a shame.

As for Voyager, I think a lot of people did have problems with it because Janeway was a woman. One of many issues, perhaps...

You know, part of me likes to believe we're past all this but when you come up against things like those above it's hard to ignore. Reminds me of that interview over the summer with RC and BW.

RC: With the Atlantis team you get into a situation where you get into trouble and you'd wonder how are they either A) going to charm their way out of it with Sheppard, or [B)] think their way out of it with McKay. It never dawned on you that they were just going to shoot their way out or fight their way out.

BW: But then it might've been Teyla who did that, and that's not right either.

I wish those guys had just one female writer on staff (it doesn't even have to be a woman, just someone who understands how to write for a woman).

[LaCroix]

You know, part of me likes to believe we're past all this but when you come up against things like those above it's hard to ignore. Reminds me of that interview over the summer with RC and BW.





I wish those guys had just one female writer on staff (it doesn't even have to be a woman, just someone who understands how to write for a woman).

Years ago they had Katherine Powers up until season 4. After that I can't remember any female writing staff.

[stargate barbie]

i think joe and paul can write very well for female characters. so can brad wright. deluise isn't too shabby either. i don't think that TPTB are sexist, they're just men, and write from a mans perspective. sometimes men don't realise that they don't necessarily have to write differently depending on a characters gender. i think amanda does a great job of helping them out on sg-1 in that regard. she and TPTB pretty much saved the show, when she told them that "women don't talk like this".

you need to consider here that sam's been a great character for years now because they've had good writers.
personally, when i have to write scripts i automatically write male character, and i'm female. i don't know why, i guess maybe cos i've been outnumbered by men my entire life. 3 guys vs 2 girls at home, most of my friends in my life have been male, and as such i'm quite the tomboy. but i don't sit down when i need to write and say, hhhmmm, how do men think/talk? how do i write a man? i just write, and the character happens to have a mans name.

sam carter is the strongest female character in sci fi, and still very feminine, because thats how the actress portrays her. all the writers have to do is write a storyline and let AT do her thang. if they throw in the occasional personal storyline, then maybe they might need to girl it up. but not to the extent of chimera. nobody needs to see that for any character on a sci fi show, regardless of the characters gender. nothing wrong with a little bit of love interest and a few smoochies now and then, but thats not what the show is about, and we don't need dinner, dancing and high heels to remind us that she's a girl. its not like we couldn't figure that out.

now. what was my point here? oh yeah, the writers do a better job on this show than on most others with writing for a girl. i dare you to go back and look at any episode of ST:TNG that was about one of the female characters. (except maybe higher ground). now thats a bunch of writers who can't write women! and they had a woman on staff!

[ForeverSg1]

Managed to very quickly skim a new article in Cult TV Mag with AT.

Not too much to report. There were 3 more eps to film to the end of the season. She says it has just flown by.

She likes working with BB very much and thinks their screen characters are forming a nice bond (friendship) She loves the new show dynamic etc etc etc. She thinks she and Olivia have coped very well with the schedule.

One of her fave eps was Ripple Effect and she said it was great to work with JR and Teryl again

Oooh, wasn't sure who the second guest star was going to be. Guess we know it's JR now Although I'm really excited to see the episode, I'm a bit disappointed that it's not Jacob.

She says it will be nice to get some time at home but also hopes some work opportunity will come up (sounded as though she meant in between season 9 and 10). Sounds as though they are setting up for a season 10 and Amanda sounded as though she would be there if so.

The behind the scenes get togethers are still going strong with the cast and all the crew and they have just had a (I think it was) volleyball tournament between SG1 and Atlantis (2 teams each) The team Amanda was on got to the final and won the final over SGA. She was the only actor on the team.

She says she’s looking forward to doing stuff round the house and is currently freezing organic peas in ice cubes ready to boil and mush for when Olivia can take solids!!!!!!!

Where does this woman find the time to do stuff like this?

She mentioned GABIT and after GABIT she is going to the City of Bath (famous for its Roman Spa) and then seeing relatives in the south east.

Oooh, we're planning on going to see Bath and Stonehenge after the con too. Hmm. Seriously doubt we'd be there at the same time, but now as my husband is walking around absorbing the historical flavor of the area, I can sit back and think to myself 'Hmmm, Amanda might have been sitting right here yesterday... maybe even an hour ago!!' WHAT?!?!? A girl can dream. LOL

Hope I haven’t missed anything!!

[Strix varia]

i think joe and paul can write very well for female characters. so can brad wright. deluise isn't too shabby either. i don't think that TPTB are sexist, they're just men, and write from a mans perspective. sometimes men don't realise that they don't necessarily have to write differently depending on a characters gender. i think amanda does a great job of helping them out on sg-1 in that regard. she and TPTB pretty much saved the show, when she told them that "women don't talk like this".

you need to consider here that sam's been a great character for years now because they've had good writers.
personally, when i have to write scripts i automatically write male character, and i'm female. i don't know why, i guess maybe cos i've been outnumbered by men my entire life. 3 guys vs 2 girls at home, most of my friends in my life have been male, and as such i'm quite the tomboy. but i don't sit down when i need to write and say, hhhmmm, how do men think/talk? how do i write a man? i just write, and the character happens to have a mans name.

sam carter is the strongest female character in sci fi, and still very feminine, because thats how the actress portrays her. all the writers have to do is write a storyline and let AT do her thang. if they throw in the occasional personal storyline, then maybe they might need to girl it up. but not to the extent of chimera. nobody needs to see that for any character on a sci fi show, regardless of the characters gender. nothing wrong with a little bit of love interest and a few smoochies now and then, but thats not what the show is about, and we don't need dinner, dancing and high heels to remind us that she's a girl. its not like we couldn't figure that out.

now. what was my point here? oh yeah, the writers do a better job on this show than on most others with writing for a girl. i dare you to go back and look at any episode of ST:TNG that was about one of the female characters. (except maybe higher ground). now thats a bunch of writers who can't write women! and they had a woman on staff!

Excellent points.

[ForeverSg1]

i think joe and paul can write very well for female characters. so can brad wright. deluise isn't too shabby either. i don't think that TPTB are sexist, they're just men, and write from a mans perspective. sometimes men don't realise that they don't necessarily have to write differently depending on a characters gender. i think amanda does a great job of helping them out on sg-1 in that regard. she and TPTB pretty much saved the show, when she told them that "women don't talk like this".

you need to consider here that sam's been a great character for years now because they've had good writers.
personally, when i have to write scripts i automatically write male character, and i'm female. i don't know why, i guess maybe cos i've been outnumbered by men my entire life. 3 guys vs 2 girls at home, most of my friends in my life have been male, and as such i'm quite the tomboy. but i don't sit down when i need to write and say, hhhmmm, how do men think/talk? how do i write a man? i just write, and the character happens to have a mans name.

sam carter is the strongest female character in sci fi, and still very feminine, because thats how the actress portrays her. all the writers have to do is write a storyline and let AT do her thang. if they throw in the occasional personal storyline, then maybe they might need to girl it up. but not to the extent of chimera. nobody needs to see that for any character on a sci fi show, regardless of the characters gender. nothing wrong with a little bit of love interest and a few smoochies now and then, but thats not what the show is about, and we don't need dinner, dancing and high heels to remind us that she's a girl. its not like we couldn't figure that out.

now. what was my point here? oh yeah, the writers do a better job on this show than on most others with writing for a girl. i dare you to go back and look at any episode of ST:TNG that was about one of the female characters. (except maybe higher ground). now thats a bunch of writers who can't write women! and they had a woman on staff!

I disagree somewhat with what you have said. Yes, I believe Brad Wright does an amazing job at writing Sam. He can write her as the scientist, the soldier, and the woman quite well. She's strong, intelligent and compassionate and I never feel as if she's behaving out of character.

The others do an fair job of writing for Scientist!Sam or Soldier!Sam as long as they just write her as another guy on the team and let Amanda deal with showing Sam as a woman. PDL did a great job of this with Death Knell; however, I really believe he should stay clear of writing the personal side of Sam, because the Sam he writes for is NOT the Sam I have grown to admire over the years.

[deepspace]

Not entirely sure if this is legal, but I've typed up an article from a magazine which I bought yesterday for the sole purpose that it has an interview with Amanda. I just really, really, really wanted to share it with you all.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
isuue #6 Sep/Oct 2005
page 10-11

CARTER AND CO.
Stargate SG1 lead actress AMANDA TAPPING talks exclusively to the magazine about her first days back at work on season eight.

Having taken just six weeks off after the birth of her baby girl Olivia, Amanda Tapping returned to work for the filming of episode six, Beachhead. It’s a brave woman who can return to work so swiftly after becoming a mother—but then, the actress has never shrunk from a challenge. Here, interviewed during her first weeks back on set and sitting in the trailer that is now proudly marked ‘Carter and Co.’, Tapping reveals to Stargate SG-1 The Official Magazine just how she is finding it to be back in Carter’s shoes this year.

You’ve literally only started back on set in the past three days. How has it been so far?

Yesterday was difficult. It’s just a difficult adjustment to make in that you’re home with a baby and then suddenly [you’re at work]. Look at all the stuff you have to bring! Your mind is in two decidedly different places. I am incredibly lucky that six weeks after giving birth I can bring my baby with me and that I have a great nanny that she likes. I know that a lot of women have to leave their babies at home or in childcare and can’t have them with them all day, so I feel lucky that way. But it’s just long hours, and yesterday I had a ton of dialog. I couldn’t get off set and she was hungry—so it’s a lot of work because your mind is in two different places. I knew it would be hard, but yesterday was just insane. It was my first full length day, really. It’s going to take a while, but it’s good. It’s good to be back. It’s a different show—it feels different this year.

Usually it’s you welcoming new people to the set, but this time it’s you that has started after everyone else—has it been strange for you, coming into a situation where everyone else has been working together?

I’m the new kid on the block! It’s really weird, because they’ve been together now for two months, and it took a couple of days for me to get back in the groove. It’s like being on the chess club and hanging out with all the football players... they’re all cool and they’ve got their group together. Beau (Bridges) is a sweetheart, Ben’s great—Claudia’s great and I wish she was staying! And you know, Michael and Chris and I—we’ve known each other for nine years so that’s easy. But it has been an adjustment. It was just at the end of yesterday I thought, “Oh yes, I’m back. I’m back on the team—I get it...” But it took a few days to get back into the groove, and I really did feel like an outsider walking onto the set. It was weird, because I’ve been on the show for so long, but I felt really nervous.

Is that approach in some ways good for the overall creativity?

Oh yeah. And I think it totally works in terms of what’s happening with the character [of Carter], that she’s been away doing research and development and is now coming back to the SGC. Suddenly she’s not on SG-1, so that’s got to be weird. That was something that didn’t even dawn on me. Yesterday we were wearing our jackets, and I looked down and my patch said ‘SGC’ not ‘SG-1’. Ben Browder had the SG-1 patch and I didn’t. It was really weird [laughs]. I was like, “Crap! I’m not part of SG-1! Oh my God!” It was really funny—one of the guest stars caught me doing it and he just bursts out laughing and said, “The look on your face—you were so disappointed that you didn’t have the SG-1 badge,” and I was. Totally! It was weird. Carter will be on SG-1 –it’s just for this episode (Beachhead) that she’s not.

How has Carter changed this year?

It’s not dissimilar to what’s happening to Amanda, actually. She left because Cassie was having some trouble and she needed to be with her. The whole backstory is that after Janet’s death, Sam really takes over making sure Cassie is on the right track, because Sam has always been very much involved in Cassandra’s life. Cassie’s having a hard time so Sam goes, “Alright, I need to be with her and I need to help her out.” So Carter starts doing research and development at Area 51 and working on projects as part of the SGC and not going off-world. So it’s not diddimilar to me having a baby and bringing out this whole nurturing side and then coming back to work. She’s got back to the SGC and she’s trying to fit in. She doesn’t want to commit to being a part of SG-1 and it’s sort of “yeah, I’ll help you out with this little problem”, but it feels weird for her in the same way that it feels weird for Amanda to come back and go, “Oh, hello!”

What do you want to see happening for the character during season nine?

I just feel like the strength of this character and the joy of playing this character is the fact that she’s a strong, capable, smart and powerful woman. I love the fact that there are so many sides to her—I loved the Pete side, because I loved working with David Deluise, and the whole ‘Jack and Sam’ thing was fun to play at times and a bit of a pain at other times. We were exploring all the different sides of her, which was great. Now we know that she’s capable of love and she’s capable of hurt and all these things to do with her heart and soul. We know all that, so now lets get back to what made her the character that she is! So I think it will be interesting. As long as I don’t become exposition girl—because that’s what I was for a while. It was like, “Okay, we need to explain what’s going on and and I’m going to tell you scientifically.” [Laughs] I want to have a pro-active role on the team. She’s back, so let her be back. Let her be pro-active. We know enough about her backstory now. It’s there, it’s settled. We don’t have to show her breaking up with her boyfriend and making eggs in the morning. It’s time to go back to the old Carter. I was starting to feel a bit that the whole angst over Jack was weakiening her, and I think the fans were finding that too. We’re going to go back to what SG-1 was about, with new vigour.

Don’t miss our next issue (#7), featuring a longer interview with Amanda Tapping and great new pictures!

[stargate barbie]

I disagree somewhat with what you have said. Yes, I believe Brad Wright does an amazing job at writing Sam. He can write her as the scientist, the soldier, and the woman quite well. She's strong, intelligent and compassionate and I never feel as if she's behaving out of character.

The others do an fair job of writing for Scientist!Sam or Soldier!Sam as long as they just write her as another guy on the team and let Amanda deal with showing Sam as a woman. PDL did a great job of this with Death Knell; however, I really believe he should stay clear of writing the personal side of Sam, because the Sam he writes for is NOT the Sam I have grown to admire over the years.

but thats partially the point i was trying to make. i guess i just didn't do it very well. the writers do a great job. but occasionally they do try something that doesn't work. they try to girl her up, when she's already girled up, just by being played by AT. amanda can take care of making her a girl. the writers shouldn't worry about it. and most of the time they don't. it's when they think we need to be smacked in the face with it that they screw it up, and fortunatly they don't do it too often. hopefully they won't think they have to anymore.

i think the only time PDL has tried to write sam's personal side was in affinity, but i think that was just his worst episode ever all round, not just for sam.
death knell is one of my fave sam eps ever. and i'm not normally a fan of character angst and whumping, but amanda just played it so perfectly.

[stargate barbie]

but thats partially the point i was trying to make. i guess i just didn't do it very well. the writers do a great job. but occasionally they do try something that doesn't work. they try to girl her up, when she's already girled up, just by being played by AT. amanda can take care of making her a girl. the writers shouldn't worry about it. and most of the time they don't. it's when they think we need to be smacked in the face with it that they screw it up, and fortunatly they don't do it too often. hopefully they won't think they have to anymore.

i think the only time PDL has tried to write sam's personal side was in affinity, but i think that was just his worst episode ever all round, not just for sam.
death knell is one of my fave sam eps ever. and i'm not normally a fan of character angst and whumping, but amanda just played it so perfectly.

i believe somebody asked what sam's guilty pleasure was a few pages back. i like to believe that its the simpsons, she just never tells anyone (especially jack) because its more fun that way.

[deepspace]

By the way, I've started watching season9. It's not here on tv yet, but there are... other methods, which I will not go into on this forum.
SPOILERS

Spoiler:

So far, I'm just missing the presence of Sam in any form whatsoever . But Mitchell and Vala have turned out better characters than I'd originally thought. Mitchell does seem a little inexperienced with ground based teams though, to be leading. I know he's a brilliant pilot and all, and that he played a major part in the fight against Anubis, but what experience has he really had on any SG team let alone SG-1. Still, I'm hoping that he'll learn quick. As for Vala, she's way funnier than I'd ever hoped. However, this DOES NOT in ANY WAY act as an excuse for her lack of morals, her persistent sexual manipulation, and her dreadful wardrobe!!! Who on Earth (ok, so they're rarely on Earth so far) wears leather straps, buckles and what looks like metal thumbtacks!? I'm just glad that the reason she's working with SG-1 is not because the team were all co-operative and all for it, but rather because she's attatched to Daniel with this weirdo wristband thingy. I don't think I could have stood watching if she'd been there because they wanted her on the team, like I had originally thought. By the way, Daniel sooooo needs to lose the beard . And I don't know, but Teal'c seems to be mostly a background character at the moment. I think all this jaffa stuff is making him far less of an interesting character these days. But otherwise, all I can say is, I need my Sam back .

[Qasim]

Not entirely sure if this is legal

I hope you have a good lawyer




j/k they probably wont mind

[jckfan55]

Hmm, reckon I could do with a few hours under Janet's care too...

Continuing my epic journey through the mythology of SG-1 last night, I watched "The Warrior" and "Menace". I then went to bed, and dreamt about SG-1 battling against a Goa'uld onslaught in surroundings similar to those in "The Warrior" (er, SG-1 won, of course ).

The really weird thing is that instead of Jaffa warriors, the Goa'uld force was composed of Daleks.

Question is, could I be suffering from entropic cascade failure, or just too much cheese before bedtime?

LOL! Exterminate!

[jckfan55]

I popped down for an hour and watched Solitudes again last night (Skiffy's Monday night marathon) and was struck by how AT played Sam... it was very clear Sam was still fresh and new and learning and unsure of herself.... a marked contrast to the woman who has hit her stride and made her mark professionally in these later seasons... Now if they'd just let her test that stride......

Sam (and AT): Strength in the face of adversity. (and courage, and compassion, and classiness, and all those other 'c' words...)

I caught that episode too last night. It continues to be one of my fav Sam episodes.