Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[jckfan55]

Looks like some good episodes for the SciFi marathon. I'm going to try to catch Matter of Time for sure...

[scarimor]

She's so hot with a gun:

[Deejay435]

I have two thoughts regarding Pete:

First, I don't really think Pete was a good guy. Not a bad guy, but not a good guy either.

I agree that he wasn't a homicidal maniac, or potential wife beater. But there is a huge continuum between "not a murderer" and "good guy". Simply not being an abusive jerk doesn't necessarily make you a good person. I don't think Pete falls at either end of the spectrum.

I always saw Pete as inherently self-centered. He wanted what he wanted, Sam's needs or desires be damned. He was childish and petulant when Sam couldn't tell him what he wanted to know. He ignored the risk to Sam's career to both do a background check on her, and follow on the job. In that case he ignored the risk to her life. And, imo, buying a house without even consulting her was pretty overbearing. From what we saw on-screen, other than a one-time discussion of 'dream homes' they'd never even discussed where to live. Who said Sam wanted to give up her house? (Heck, I wouldn't, Sam's house is sweet.)

My whole picture of Pete was that he couldn't see past himself enough to even conceive that Sam might want something different. And for me, that definately doesn't fall into wonderful, or even 'good guy' territory.

However, while I didn't like the Pete character, and would definately not want to date someone like Pete in real life, I think that arc did teach Sam a valuable lesson about herself.

Sam was too invested in wanting a normal life. Whether that was because she thought others in her life, ie her father, wanted that for her, or she really wanted it for herself-she thought that's what she should be reaching for.

But Sam's not normal. She's so far above and beyond normal that she'd have to have a stargate to get back to it.

And I think struggling through the 'normal' relationship taught her that. And taught her that normal is not inherently good, just like abnormal isn't inherently bad. I'm very disappointed that the writers think this path is finished for her, because that leaves the audience not being able to see the growth that came from that relationship for her. But I do think the growth was there, and I think, as much as because of her unresolved feelings for Jack, that was the reason she called it off in the end.

Anyway, that's how I get lemonade out of the lemon that was Pete Shannahan.

[ChevronSeven]

I love A Matter of Time. Especially when Sam's trying to expain the whole "wormhole" concept to him. He understood until she went scientific on him.

[Deejay435]

I love A Matter of Time. Especially when Sam's trying to expain the whole "wormhole" concept to him. He understood until she went scientific on him.

As much as I'm a huge Sam/Jack shipper, Matter of Time is my favorite episide. Ever.

I love Sam in this episode, so in-control of herself, so sure of herself. On anyone else trying to re-write physics as we know it in such a short period of time might seem like hubris, but on Sam it's just right. Sam just rocks every sock I've ever owned in this episode.

And I found the visuals stunning. I loved the smoke in the gateroom spiraling toward the gate, and loved Sam with the dog-tags going up to the gate. Loved it.

Can't say how much I love this episode.

[ranchan2]

I watched 'Crusade' and even though Sam had only a few lines, I loved all of them. I especially loved how she called the unstable vortex the 'kawoosh'. That was great.

[ParadoxRealities]

I think someone already pointed this out here, but just to spread the word:http://www.imdb.com/company/co0093773/. IMO, AT adlibed it to give us hope.

[Cory Holmes]

Sam is hottest when she's trading snarks with McKay

[KatG]

The problem, of course being that Barrett would have been actual competition (for Jack - who I'll argue was the canon "chosen one" for Sam). Pete did not represent that. He was a fall guy before he ever appeared on the scene. I still feel that Pete was a red shirt romance right from the start. Berrett would have been more complicated to write for (which is undoubtedly why most of us - including me - would have preferred him in Pete's place!).

Onnnnn the other hand... I don't know that anything could ultimately have been a victorious competition for the Sam/Jack arc, because very little can compete with the ages old tragedy of a tortured, yet oh so bittersweet forbidden love: (Romeo and Juliet, Dr. Zhivago, Tristan and Isolde, or heck even more recently Brokeback Mountain).

"They loved each other, not driven by necessity, by the
'blaze of passion' often falsely ascribed to love. They
loved each other because everything around them willed it,
the trees and the clouds and the sky over their heads and
the earth under their feet."

Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago

Ain't it sooo sad?!

minigeek

*sighs*

Very sad.

Yes Barrett would have been competition for Jack, but it would have been believable. I mean Pete was an okay guy. Aside from the stake-out issue, I really didn't have a problem with anything else he did. (Him stalking out and pouting was just being a guy) I just didn't buy him as someone who could hold Sam's interest for long. Barrett, I could have bought as someone Sam could have settled down with and been happy.

Notice though I said "could have". Like you, I don't think anything could ultimately stop S/J from getting together. It's fate.

[Lida]

I'm sorry to go OT, but I only feel truly among family on this thread. I have not been online very much the past few weeks, as my mother is gravely ill. I received a call from the hospital earlier this morning, and she will probably not last the night. I had to run home to take care of my pup, and will be returning there shortly. Because of all of this and my own illness, I may not make it to Vancouver.

You have all been so supportive of me through some very difficult times, I just wanted to thank you. You will never know how much so many of you mean to me, and how your PM's have keep me going. Thank you all again.

No matter what, I will be at GABIT2 and I look forward to thanking as many of you as I can in person. Maybe a night at a pub, with the drinks on me. Take care and tell the ones you love just how much they mean to you.

Lida

[Strix varia]

I have made four more Sam icons:

http://photobucket.com/albums/y293/gunhilda/Icons/

[SnoggingPicard]

I completely agree that the Pete story-arc was important in helping Sam realize what she really wanted out of life. From the moment we met her, her life was far from normal and she herself was far from an everyday person or woman. I think she is very happy with the life she has chosen to lead, but at times everyone has doubts, and I wonder how many times she's thought about the things that she has given up over the years to pursue her dreams. I kinda think that family would be one of the first things on her list. Having that relationship with Pete helped to show her that she might not be able to get or do everything in life...and that that's fine. She doesn't necessarily need a guy around to be a fulfilled person, and while Pete was fine as a person, he wasn't what she needed. That is certainly a valuable lesson and one that I don't think she could have learned any other way.

I've never seen Sam as being driven by the pursuit of a relationship, but I know quite a few people (women especially) who are, and I'm just out of high school. While I don't think that Sam has ever really been out hunting for a guy to "complete" her (quite the opposite), I'm sure that sometimes not having a relationship bugged her a bit. That's normal. I think that after her time with Pete she realized that it's okay to never have that in your life. Life doesn't necessarily have to be about finding that relationship -- if it happens, that's wonderful, but there are sometimes more important things to worry about. I like that she got that lesson, and I like Sam even more because of it.

ETA: Huggles to Lida. Good luck and you have my sympathies. Drop us a note if you need anyone to talk to.

[Skydiver]

Even I, the inveterate anti-shipper , have found the ship tolerable. I know, d***ed with faint praise, but I think Sky knows I mean it as a compliment.

(

LOL

i know exactly how you mean it. and thanks

chapter 8, well i hope it's no too OTT for folks, or at least for some. others will be screaming because it ends where it does, but i'm big on leaving it to the imagination. i will never surpass what fokls come up with on their own so i won't even try

and for those that don't like the ooshy-gooshy stuff, well chapter 9 is more of an epilogue than anything else. my little reward and pbbt to those that give me crud all the time (well meaning teasing crud)

chapter 8 was also one of the hardest to write. i cursed and fought with it over a long weekend, trying to get these characters to talk to each other

it took a 3 hour drive from omaha for me to work things out

[NearlyCircular]

I have made four more Sam icons:

http://photobucket.com/albums/y293/gunhilda/Icons/

EXCELLENT! I especially like the Sam I Am one. Something about her expresson and the gesture.


Edited to add: and the math geek in me loves "saving the world one theorem at a time"


NC

[Strix varia]

Edited to add: and the math geek in me loves "saving the world one theorem at a time"


NC

Actually, I sort of had you in mind while I was making it.