Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[sg-1fanintn]

Aren't you gonna buy a Dr. Janet Fraiser doll to keep Carter company?!

Uh, no. The Sam action figure and the Jack action figure have "plans."

[Skydiver]

how we used to judge people videoing at gatecon was simply if they held theri camera up for more than a few seconds, well then they weren't just taking a picture

as to vala's defense mechanism, i can see that, i can see her using her body and sexuality to get what she wants. and we can't even use our own cultural taboos to judge her. just because earth western culture frowns upon an individual selling/using his/her body as a source of income, that's not to say that everyone else in the galaxy does

i wouild like to see her without her 'protective shell'. i think there is a lot more to her....however comments like PdL's don't exactly encourage me that we'll ever see it. Peter is hysterical and a nice guy. he's funnny and very likeable...and has the attitudes and sense of humor of a hormone ridden neanderthal.

when he ignores that part of his personality, he can do great stuff. He was the only show writer that could do what i considered to be a good job on the Jaffa storyline. But he needs someone to keep him on the straight and narrow.

I do think that his comments in the interview about RDA were some of the only ones - other than those from amanda - that i consider professional. I certainly don't expect everyone on the cast and crew to bemoan rda's absence and wax poetical aobut the 'good old days'...but it is refreshing to have someone acknowledge that if it wasn't for rda agreeing to hang around they all woulda been unemployed FOUR YEARS AGO.

an acknowledgement is nice and almost makes me forget his comments about vala.

[Skydiver]

Uh, no. The Sam action figure and the Jack action figure have "plans."

gonna get a little action huh???

[majorsal]

does anyone have amanda's newest interview in the official stargate sg1 mag, issue #7? if so, can you tell us what amanda said?


sally

[LaCroix]

I know I'm getting old and my vision isn't what it used to be. But did Darren delete Sharso'plenty thread about Mitchell as leader? Because I can't find it anywhere.

[sg-1fanintn]

The first thing that pops into my mind is

!!!GACK!!!

and wouldn't you know it, GateWorld doesn't offer the ineffable shade of puce that would truly do the sentiment justice.

"Hot little tightly cut dress"? Maybe someone ought to let PDL spend a day working in a leather/boned-and-reinforced-tapestry top as tight as Vala's black leather bustier, or her "Origin" Renn-Faire-esque garb so he can enjoy the experience of being trussed up too tight to breathe deeply, not that it matters, because one's too nervous about making an unplanned exit from the costume to take that deep breath that might provoke the costume to pop, and way too overheated from having too much leather and/or heavy fabric too tightly fitted around one's torso to worry about trivialities, and then it won't no longer matter what he's saying either - everyone will be too busy lookin' at his... personal pulchritude... to notice his actual work, either. My - if it doesn't matter what the actress says while in costume, why bother even hiring one? Just flash the way cool and hotly sexy dress on the screen, or and put it on display on a seamstress' dummy in Daniel's office, why not? Talk about disrespecting a performer!

And then "it's not just the Ben Browder show now"??? Pardonez moi? From what I can tell, PDL was in a group of one if he ever thought it was/seemed to be/ought to be/looked like "The Ben Browder Show." Unless, of course, he was referring to the pre-season publicity onslaught in that quote, whereupon, I might just have to give him that one.

Why should the commander of SG-1 apparently be regarded as 'Miss Fix It' by TPTB - as if there could be no other reason that she might logically go to Atlantis, or nothing else she could do once there. Sam seems to find the entire universe to be a decidedly interesting place, full of phenomena that merit closer study, and an often riveting and fascinating place that demands in-depth investigation. I'll bet that if she were in Atlantis, the rest of the city would darned well be explored by now. And I suspect interesting, Dakara style weaponry would have been developed, too. (Of course, Rodney might have found himself gagged and locked in an out of the way room in the city, one that all the sensors had been mysteriously programmed to ignore, too, by now, but, hey - exploration - and harassing senior military officers - has its dangers. )

I'm experiencing this urge to mail PDL my "Research" Demotivator and my current sig. Grrr.

::goes snarking toward bed::

Wow! Great rant! I could have written it myself.....if I had the time today! But since you've already done it so well, I'll just say......

WHAT SHE SAID!

[Strix varia]

what i liked about how amanda played that scene in 'life boat' was that she not only looked like she just woke up, but looked like she had a major headache of headaches. i'm not even sure if she spoke, but i remember her facial expressions and her quietness... it impressed me. it was like, 'argh, i can't talk or move my head because it's going to fall off!'

leave it to amanda!


sally

The first word out of her mouth was, "Janet?"

A happy moment for the Sam/Jan shipper in me.

[ChopinGal]

i haven't debated this here because a- i didn't think the non shippers would like it, and b- it's a VERY touchy subject for me because of how upset it makes me that they've regressed this part of sam's life this season (along with her being sg1's sole leader).

if you're a fan of sg1 (the original), then the beginning of the season could be disappointing. sg1 disbanded, but we didn't get to see the way it went down and how it affected everyone. heck, even why.

if you're a fan of jack/rda, you could be disappointed in how he's been pushed aside for the new stuff. no mention of where he really is. no mention of why he left. jack's doing 'something', but that could be cleaning toilets in washington dc.

if you're a fan of sam/amanda, you could be disappointed that sam was missing the first five eps. and you could be disappointed that when she returned, she didn't request or be given the team that once was her own.

if you're a sam/jack shipper, you could be disappointed that sam spent two years straight trying to find a life and fight her love for jack. she got together with pete because of jack. she broke up with pete because of jack. so where's jack now in her life?

if you're a team fan, you might be disappointed that the team barely works together. they split up often. you might also be disappointed that there's no real leader to the team, since it seems to be lead by committee. you might also be disappointed that a greenhorn was given command (even if it was in peacetime) over MUCH more experienced officers working at the sgc. and you might just want the original team back, even though you're trying so hard to love of this new one.

so, you see, the ship issue is just one of many issues i'm having with the show right now. and the biggest issues for *me* are the sam/jack and sam not in total command issues.

(Regarding Uber's "unrequited") if i were going to gabit, i wouldn't want to ask amanda this question. because i'm afraid of the answer. like i'm afraid of all her interviews now. but if you can find someone to ask... good luck.

sally

This is a shippy post ... so please move on if you're not of the S/J persuasion. Every once in awhile in Samanda, we toss the Sam-and-her-men thing around.

My gal, Sal, these are all excellent points but you broke my heart with the last one! Yes, the "unrequited" may evoke a response from AT that some of us will find painful, I agree. I share your concern. We know Amanda waxes and wanes on this whole ship issue. At times, she almost contradicts herself.

Here's a pro-Jack quote from The Illustrated Companion, S7-8: "...Amanda Tapping has almost total recall as far as 'Lost City' is concerned. 'Do you remember the bit where Sam comes round to visit Jack and they sit on the sofa together? There was almost a kiss', she reveals. 'We were going to go for it, but the doorbell rang and then, of course, the guys arrived and the moment was lost and well ... I had to wait a bit longer for the snog', she sighs."

But, later in the book, regarding Threads, Amanda says: "Carter dumps Pete before they get to the altar. She dumps him because it suddenly dawns on her that she is about to commit, perhaps unfairly, and inevitably going to break his heart. It's the baby, the dog, the house in the country scenario, and here's the crazy thing: a huge part of Carter wants to give in to that kind of life, but there's an even bigger part of Carter where that is just not her life ... I don't think it's completely incumbent on her feelings about O'Neill, either ... It's incumbent upon her feelings for her whole life, and I think there is also a fear that she has. When finally you have a fully functioning adult relationship, there is also a sneaking feeling of, 'Is that it? Am I capable of more? Have I given enough?' It's just so awkward for Carter, because she's like a teenager when it comes to love. She feels awkward about it."

These are AT's own words. Each one of us will read into them what we want or need to see. Personally, I have trouble with the fact that Amanda seems to think that the Sam/Pete arc displayed a "fully functioning adult relationship" and was asking "Am I capable of more? Have I given enough?" The way Pete was written did not do her character justice yet she seems content with the way it portrayed her.

Regarding the relationship with Jack: Why did the S4 D&C "Because I care about her ... much more than I'm supposed to" by Jack get disregarded as Seasons 7-8 revisited this arc and canon? To me, the writers introduced the idea to us in the early seasons with those words and Jack's actions in Apophis's ship. Those words don't equate with "unrequited". If they had written Jack more carefully in the latter seasons regarding his hidden feelings for Sam then a fair resolution could have happened.

And now, Sam is, for us, floating somewhere in between whatever did happen between her and Jack after they went fishing and her lost command of SG1. This didn't have to happen.

[sg-1fanintn]

why do so many people dislike sam or want to make out shes jut a silly girl whos hung up on some guy , who knowone respects are THEY WATCHING THE SAME SHOW i mean seriously !! it really irratates me
sam is a great character planned by a really great actress END OF STORY!!!!!!!!!!

ah feel much better now

Yes, we very often have asked ourselves here and on the S/J Ship Family thread how people's perceptions of the dynamics between the characters can be so different. I realize this next comment is more suited to the ship thread, but I beg the indulgence of my fellow Samandans because these examples prove Sam is not delusional, silly or a stalker.

To me, it's been obvious since Day 1 that Sam and Jack were attracted to each other.

100 Days proved that Sam had real feelings for Jack.
By Crossroads, we knew Jack had real feelings for Sam.
Divide & Conquer brought it out into the open.

I don't see how anyone who has watched the same show I have for eight years can see it any differently. Sam is one of the greatest female characters in TV history! But then again, I don't understand why some people vote the way they do either.......

[Uber]

gonna get a little action huh???

Well they are "action" figures.

*cough*

[majorsal]

same for me. as a sexual object, well there's nothing in her for me to identify with since i don't run around in tight leather spouting lines from a porn movie and making a complete and total mikta of myself.

are you sure, skydiver?



*runs off*


sally

[ChopinGal]

Uh, no. The Sam action figure and the Jack action figure have "plans."

LOL From your lips to the producers' ears!

[Uber]

Yes, we very often have asked ourselves here and on the S/J Ship Family thread how people's perceptions of the dynamics between the characters can be so different. I realize this next comment is more suited to the ship thread, but I beg the indulgence of my fellow Samandans because these examples prove Sam is not delusional, silly or a stalker.

To me, it's been obvious since Day 1 that Sam and Jack were attracted to each other.

100 Days proved that Sam had real feelings for Jack.
By Crossroads, we knew Jack had real feelings for Sam.
Divide & Conquer brought it out into the open.

I don't see how anyone who has watched the same show I have for eight years can see it any differently. Sam is one of the greatest female characters in TV history! But then again, I don't understand why some people vote the way they do either.......

And don't forget Joe with Jack as Sam approached...

JOE: And don’t worry – I won’t say a word about your feelings for ...

...and Jack hushed him up quickly. Canonly not unrequited.

But my point I was trying to make earlier (rather clumsily I'll admit)...is that WHATEVER your position was regarding Jack and Sam...whether you ship her with someone else in your mind or ship her with no one at all...the debate is moot because of what they did last season and the fact that Jack isn't around anymore.

So...non-shippers...antishippers...Jack/Sam shippers...Blue Jello/Sam shippers...WHOEVER...As Sam fans of all ilks, we all need to support the idea of some sort of onscreen followup with Jack now because TPTB clearly went that direction and chose to go down that road...and Carter needs to be portrayed as the strong character she is who weathered an emotional storm and came out the other end intact.

If they ignore it forever, then the whole Pete/Threads/Always blah blah blah was meaningless...and her character will devolve into someone who is all work/all the time...something Jacob never wanted for her and something she realized in season 7 she didn't want for herself either.

I'm talkin' about balance here, my friends.

[majorsal]

LOL Hmm ... an interesting observation. Do you think that's why JR Bourne asked AT to play his druggy girlfriend in Stuck?!

there! that's another question you guys can ask amanda. when can we see 'Stuck'? even without seeing a lick of it, i'd buy the dvd just because amanda's in it.


sally

[ChopinGal]

You know we have not really seen Sam do any hand to hand combat since this episode. I want to see her kick butt...maybe with a sword as others have suggested or hand to hand, no zats or p90s allowed.

Sounds great to me! I noticed that Teyla is getting her fair share of physical combat and mixing it up with the guys on SA. Another plot idea: send Carter to the Pegasus Galaxy (or wherever) and let her and Teyla battle their way out of a situation! Oh, heck, throw Vala in for good measure ... the Three Galactic Musketeers!

I am so wanting some good fight scenes ... do you think my estrogen bubble has gone berserk and my androgens are rising?!