Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Skydiver]

Why thanks Deejay, perhaps you'd like to nominate us (me, Tok'ra Hostess, SG1Poz and Tracy Jane) for a Stargate Fan Award...do they have a best worst fic category

be careful about this. they do have rules about campaigning, and while i think it's not bad to ask to be nominated, it IS against the rules to ask folks to vote for you

it can get you disqualified

i do think that everyone here should go and nomionate some favored fic of thiers....but nominate who and what you want, not what someone tells you to

[Skydiver]

WARNING
You may need a drink to get you through the following post



Consider yourself warned

Ooooooh. It's 0013 here, and I believe we have a birthday girl.


She makes us smile every day,
In her very special way,
A nun of Samanda, an elder so wise,
She's one of the best in everyone's eyes,
She welcomes the new and stays loyal to old,
The perfect Samandan, if truth be told,
In so much abundance, she has talent and wit,
But isn't above being a twit.
"Hic Comitas Regit" means kindness reigns here,
So as our Court Jester ages a year,
Let us all say with joy and with glee
A huge Happy Birthday, our beloved CG



Sorry, I promise I'll leave the poetry to you in the future, ChopinGal



It even made Amanda cringe!

what a beautiful heartfelt poem

and a sentiment i'm sure we all second.

happy birthday CG

[Skydiver]

oh hey, and this isn't really spoilers for camelot, but when i was going over the transcript to update my compendium, i noticed something

one of the character's wife's name was Olivia

coincidence? me thinks not.

[deepspace]

That's just so...so...DANG SWEET.

/me dissolves in shippy lurve

*sniffle*

See??? Now I'm gettin' all weepy on you...I'm practically SPEECHLESS!

But only practically speechless. I am ME after all.

Well, that's good, you're only practically speechless, we wouldn't want you to be impractically speechless now would we!

[Mandysg1]

be careful about this. they do have rules about campaigning, and while i think it's not bad to ask to be nominated, it IS against the rules to ask folks to vote for you

it can get you disqualified

i do think that everyone here should go and nomionate some favored fic of thiers....but nominate who and what you want, not what someone tells you to

I wasn't serious sky, it was a joke because it's a bad fic and it's not even really published or together as a whole story.

[Skydiver]

I wasn't serious sky, it was a joke because it's a bad fic and it's not even really published or together as a whole story.

i understand. It's just a warning for all involved.

it'd be a shame to have some good fic disqualified because of a careless word

[Skydiver]

i understand. It's just a warning for all involved.

it'd be a shame to have some good fic disqualified because of a careless word

ok, for all 3 of you that have been waiting

http://www.jackfic.com/emeraldcity/t.../trinkets9.htm

final chapter of trinkets

[ShimmeringStar]

It's weird to think that far out, eh? You should probably buy a helmet of some kind!

LOL! Well, considering the con is GABIT I don't think I'll need the hat for that since most of the AT fans I know from here seem like very nice people.... but might just need it for coming onto the forum depending on what those nice boys at Bridge do to the show in S10!

[stargate barbie]

ok, for all 3 of you that have been waiting

http://www.jackfic.com/emeraldcity/t.../trinkets9.htm

final chapter of trinkets

well i only read the 8th and now 9th ones, 'cause i'm in RST ship mode lately, but they both were very enjoyable. well done you, i know i could never write fic.

hey, how bout that be my wager if

Spoiler:

RDA comes back for episode 200

? i'll write a fic (that nobody will ever want to read!)

[binkpmmc]

I totaly understand what you are saying Lys, but it wasn't the fans that separated Mitchell from SG-1, it was the writers. SG-1 isn't a four man team anymore. Like you said, SG-1 is about the stargate universe now. It's about the Ori and the utter destruction they will bring down upon Earth. It's all about shock and awing the audience instead of telling a story about four people who just happen to save the planet on a weekly basis and like you mentioned there is typically only enough time each week to show two of the characters interact; and over the course of the season in almost every instance one of those two people has been Mitchell.

I've really wanted to like Cameron. I know people may read that and think, 'Uh huh, sure.', but rarely have I ever watched a television series and made myself rent other movies/television shows that the actors have been a part of just to try to like them more. I wanted to like Claudia and Ben. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they were both much better actors than what the SG-1 script was allowing them to be.

I think one of the reasons people started calling Sam, Daniel and Teal'c the 'big three' was more of a means to remind TPTB that regardless of how much they hyped and pushed Mitchell and Vala, in many of our minds the stars of the show were and would always be the remaining three cast members. I don't think anyone wanted to see Mitchell sit on sidelines anymore than we wanted to see Sam sitting there.

I agree Mitchell is the new guy and yes it takes times to get to know him, but that doesn't mean we should be force fed episodes revolving around Mitchell until he has an equal history to that of the other three characters.

I am not asking the writers to fill twenty episodes a year with special moments between Sam, Daniel and Teal'c; but it would sure be nice if we got at least a handful a season. Camelot is a perfect example, why couldn't they have just given us a brief scene with Sam/Teal'c on the planet chatting. I'm sorry, but I don't understand why they couldn't have cut a bit of the slow-mo knight fighting scene to add something like this into the episode.

I just think the writers are spending way too much time trying to give us shock and awe shots of people burning at the stake, slo-mo battle scenes, holographic knight fights and CGI intensive space battles that there is very little time left to really have any team moments and to be honest I'm simply not impressed. This season may seem great to many people, but it's been truly disappointing to me and Mitchell will never truly be a member of SG-1 in my eyes until the writers actually start writing him as a member of the TEAM instead of Mitchell AND his merry band of intergalatic space heroes.

Great post Forever.

Personally I like using the BIG 3 partly because I got tired of writing out Sam, Daniel and Teal'c and because they are the BIG 3 - they are 3/4 (plus Jack) of the reason this show was a hit, 3/4 of the reason it lasted 8 years (plus Jack), 3 of the main reasons there was a season 9. They are 3 of the big stars (now I refer to the characters of Sam, Daniel and Teal'c as well as AT, MS and CJ) of the show plus I am tired of TPTB and others acting as if they are the new characters, the support, the wallpaper or the exposition boys and girls. THEY are the stars, plus there are new characters who have yet to prove themselves, especially mitchell as written and portrayed, on the show, IMO. IMO the BIG 3 are 3 of the stars who have proven themselves and they deserve to be treated as stars and major characters and given the respect they deserve for breaking their humps for 8 years to keep the show going and to keep it respected and a hit (again I refer to AT, MS and CJ).

If TPTB integrate mitchell, make him plausible, believable, respectable and DESERVING of his position with SG-1, as the BIG 3 already are and have been IMO, since day one, then maybe I will accept mitchell as part of the team but right now TPTB have no one but themselves to blame that he is still, after 20 episodes, considered by some the new guy and he is the guy that runs off on his own and endangers himself, and the BIG 3, unnecessarily and does not fit the bill to lead SG-1 as evidenced by the numbers in the who should lead poll. Until that changes, and until the PTB attitude as portrayed onscreen changes, they will be the BIG 3 to me. In all honesty I do not see a team, these are not 4 people who act as a team, there is the one guy that still thinks he's SG-me and who runs off on a whim without any forethought or plan who the other 3 seem exasperated and disgusted with at times, plus 3 other people who used to work as a team but now seem to be so distant with each other it's hard to believe they saved the world, galaxy and each others butts countless times for 8 years before this. If I had not seen those 8 years for myself I would not believe that they have 8 years of history. TPTB are wasting a dynamic that was nurtured and perfected and respected for 8 years - IMO that dynamic alone could have really helped the integration of the new guy but TPTB once again failed miserably by running roughshod over that dynamic, the 3 stars and, in the process the actors who portray the BIG 3, all in attempt to dumbdown the show to cater to the lowest common denominator demographic group resorting to cheesy sci-fi cliches and caricatures, something they were able to rise above for 8 years (with a few hiccups - e.g. Anise - but they jettisoned or fixed those pretty quickly. I do not think they can fix this - it's too far gone now. I will however, be the first to admit I misjudged if they can fix it without it being even more cliched and contrived than it has already become).

[Skydiver]

you know barbie, give it a try. i never thought anyone would wanna read one of my fic when i started

one easy way to start is a drabble. a 100 word fic, so it's kinda more like a poem

give it a try....how about...100 words of what was running through sam's mind at the end of camelot

[deepspace]

I liked Mandy's innocent reason. It's just easier to type TB3 than Sam, Daniel, Teal'c.

I think I posted S/T/D once, but I really don't think that'll work out in the long-run.

yep, definitely need to lose those forward slashes.

*runs away clutching head at the idea of S/T/D ship*

[minigeek]

ok, for all 3 of you that have been waiting

http://www.jackfic.com/emeraldcity/t.../trinkets9.htm

final chapter of trinkets

YAY!!!!!

Sky.... you're the awesome-est.

Hugs,
minigeek

[chocdoc]

But I'm having issues with so many things. It's not a single character or relationship between characters. It's the plot holes you can drive tractor trailers through. It's the lack of attention to continuity and details. It's the lack of believable science. It's the joke-a-minute comedy hour. If I have an issue with any particular character, it's with Mitchell, who they had an entire season to make me like, and failed to do so. I actually like the direction they seem to be taking with Vala, but it's everything else combined that takes away my hope.

That said, I agree with you in that it's absolutely an issue with perspective on the show. If you go to the Camelot thread, you'll see lots of happy fans praising the CGI effects, the space battles, and the spaceships. Personally, I believe those are the fans TPTB are courting. And they love this season. Some of the people who hang out on this thread are perfectly happy with this season. There's nothing wrong with that (or them), it's just a different perspective from mine.

Unfortunately for me, the formula that works for the people who love this season is not a formula that works very well for me. But I'm not the audience they care about. They've done exactly what they wanted to do this year. They've drawn in new fans, and they've kept the ratings afloat with RDA gone. My perspective on the show (that season 9 was a flop for a variety of reasons) matters nothing to them. They have their happy new fans, and kept a bunch of happy long-time fans, as well. So why should I hope they'll change the direction from where they've gone this year? Why would they want to change? I don't think the ratings have dropped significantly enough for them to be concerned, and since I'll bet they bounced back up for Crusade and Camelot, I'm not sure they ever will.

By the way, Lys, I'm not trying to shoot down your hopes (with a howitzer, pellet gun, slingshot, or anything else). I envy you your optimism. I'm just trying to explain (justify?) my grim lack of anything even remotely resembling hope at this point.

Great post, Strix. Kind of how I feel too. I was hoping that TPTB might notice the significantly lower ratings this season, but I think you're right---they won't. And the last two episodes should do better in the ratings because season finales always do go up.


My hope, and I just have a bit, is that TPTB will go more for balance in season 10. I really hope that Mitchell and Vala are not pushed to the forefront while Sam, Teal'c and Daniel are in the background. I also don't want it to be Daniel/Vala either where Daniel is only with Vala, isolated from Sam, Mitchell and Teal'c. I just want some kind of team feeling back, and I want to feel that Mitchell has earned his place on the team, rather than just being given it. And I want some good stories again (there were some in season 9, but not as many as usual), where I really care what happens to everyone and where it is not predictable. Stories with good team interaction.

And for me most of all I want Sam to be central again to the stories and the action in season 10, along with the other main characters. I look at season 9 as a different situation for Sam/AT. AT was exhausted juggling being a new mother and still working. I'm grateful she was in it as much as she was, but for season 10--I want to see her in the stories similar to seasons 1-8. And I want all the main cast to have their key storylines. I don't know that this is possible, but I hope so.

[ShimmeringStar]

On the fanfic topic. Why do many authors write Sam as having suffered domestic abuse with Jonas & in other relationships? Sam says in First Commandment that Jonas "liked control" but I don't see that as necessarily meaning he hit her. I think it would have had to be more subtle than that for Sam to put up with it for any length of time. My view of Sam is that she'd have walked out the first time he hit her, but that she gave back the ring before he got to that stage. She may be a bit uncertain in her love life, but not to that point.

As far as fanfic, not to defend fics where it's thrown in as gratuitous violence or with no thought for the character or the story, but in other fics it may be an intentional exploration by an author who's willing to explore a "what if." I know in one of the 3 fanfics that are lingering in various phases of development in my laptop at the moment, my plan is to explore Sam's reaction to a character death. I hope to not make it smarmy and trite and gratuitous, but to instead explore what the Sam of S6 would have felt and one of the paths she might have taken in reaction to the death, but we'll see how it develops. (up to 10K words at the moment...)

I don't see Jonas Hanson's control/abuse as physical either. I'd see Sam leaving (or punching him out!) if he tried to get physical. But I would see his 'domestic abuse' in terms of verbal abuse and manipulating her to do things she didn't want to do. And I do see him as trying to get away with as much of it as Sam would allow, especially if Sam had stopped buying/reacting to his poor wounded soul act and he felt it was the only way he had to try to control her since his passive agressive wheedling and cajoling and guilt trips weren't working anymore. MOHO is that it built up to a point where Sam couldn't ignore it or "excuse" it away anymore and realized what she was about to get herself into. (Hmmmm... now that would be an interesting scene to have watched in FC... a flashback to Sam dumping Jonas....)