Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Uber]

*gasp*

I think... we've just found...

The Official Dance of Spaz!


Must make notes and incorporate in routine.

And as the Queen, dare I say she is also the official DanceR of Spaz????

Further, is this now the Official Dance of Samanda?!?? *shudders violently at the notion*

[the dancer of spaz]

And as the Queen, dare I say she is also the official DanceR of Spaz????

Further, is this now the Official Dance of Samanda?!?? *shudders violently at the notion*

Bah! Yes, she has rightfully taken her place as the Official Dancer of Spaz.

But I'm evidently her unassuming, loyal minion, who's been keeping the spot warm for her all this time. Don't mind me.

And don't worry... the Dance is too sacred, even for one as talented (or "touched") as myself. It shall not be emulated.

Thank you Oooober for answer that age old question...what exactly is a dancer of spaz

*double gasp*

/me dies at such heresy

[tara3583]

Sorry I haven't been posting, but real life issues have kept me from doing much of anything pleasurable lately. I have missed you all, and have tried to log on to read your posts as often as I could. I am thrilled that I will be going to England (bar anything else going wrong) for several weeks in November and knowing that in addition to seeing AT again and RDA for the first time, I'll hopefully be seeing many of you.

I know many of us were disappointed with Sam's character development, or rather lack there of, in season 9, however, I will remain hopeful that season 10 will have some pleasant surprises for us Sam fans. I have to give it a chance...I'm a die hard, I guess.

Welcome back Lida
I too am hopefull that s10 will move Sam's story along and reading Amanda's last few interviews and the fact that in one of them she has said that if sg1 goes for a s11 she wants to be there, i'm very hopefull

[tara3583]

Thanx Lizlove and Replicartertje, gonna watch the promo clip

Nice to see you back also Daivy, hope you enjoy watching Amanda's ad, it makes me smile to even think about it!

[DEM]

*gasp*

I think... we've just found...

The Official Dance of Spaz!

So, er, uh, y'all really think she's dancing? I thought she was mocking (nicely, of course) someone's running.

-

Visions of Albert... Must make notes to be sure not to incorporate into routine.

[tara3583]

no, amanda said it was cold in the studio. and that certain 'parts' were perky.





sally

LOL!!! The things Amanda has to do i thought i've read somewhere that she said of that scene she was wearing shorts that where slideing lower and lower down over her hips, poor Amanda, cold, gooey and shorts about to head south more than she would like!
((((((((Amanda)))))))

[L.A. Doyle]

I don't have photoshop or anything fancy, so when the mood strikes me to make something...I make collages! And since I fancy AT to death, I thought I'd throw some pics of she and Sam together. Hope you like!

Spoiler:

As I was making this...PLATHUNK!!!! The woman is GORGEOUS! My favorite pic is the one in the pink dress. She's so pretty.

[the dancer of spaz]

So, er, uh, y'all really think she's dancing? I thought she was mocking (nicely, of course) someone's running.

-

Visions of Albert... Must make notes to be sure not to incorporate into routine.

Ahem! Are you trying to kill the buzz here?!


Fine. If you must, kill it quickly.

[Carterslave]

Sam was also struggling with her own innate compuslion to HIDE what she's feeling. The Cassie comment was filled with innuendo that there was a lot more there. You can't take it at face value and brush it away.

When you describe the episode it has depth; when I watch it ... not so much. This certainly wouldn't the first time a fan (you, in this case) understood the characters better than the people writing them do, at least intermittently.

As for the controversial "tough kid" line ... sorry to disagree, but I think it's a shabby bit of writing that makes the character seem insensitive. (Playing such a tricky line on a shot of the back of AT's head doesn't help sell it, either.) It just seems like a mighty strange way to speak of the young woman you've just inherited custody of. ("*******! You ended that sentence with a preposition!")

Somebody had the brilliant insight that Sam is reverting to the behavior expected of her as a soldier's kid of 12 who'd just lost her mom. I hope that was RCC's intent, although you'd have to be mentally nimbler than I (which may not be saying much, granted) to make that connection on the fly, especially when The Line is so offhanded in its delivery.

Sam Carter handles grief like she handles most of her dangerous heavy emotions - by avoiding them.

Excepti that 'avoidance' here comes off as 'callousness,' I'd argue. (For 'avoidance,' I'd say look at the Sam/Hammond scene earlier in the episode.) And she proceeds to turn on the waterworks about what almost happened to "Sir."
I can *try* to read a different interpretation into the scene, but what it's telling me overtly is that Sam's more broken up about Jack's near-death than Janet's actual one. And that bugs. Also, I think AT is most interesting when playing repressed, conflicting emotions but, as I've said here before, she's so good at turning on the heavy-duty emotional firepower that she tends to become the show's Designated Mourner, so everyone else can remain Manly & Stoic.

It's *not* a shippy scene.

I wish you could have told that to whoever stuck that smarmy music cue in there. I mean, it really tips it over the edge into bathos. (Given how TPTB were pushing The Big Ship in S7, it's difficult not to have one's perceptions colored by that, too.) Even w/o the musical goo, it looks to me like she's playing it "shippy" and he's not.
For me, the Daniel/Bregman scene in the infirmary is a much better depiction of coming to terms with grief and loss. It's better written and — kill me for saying this, if you must — better acted, IMO.

You can call me a fanwank for seeing that if you'd like to, but frankly I can't see how ya didn't see it.

I didn't call you anything. Or mean too. I was jokingly lauding you (and making a both of it; I'm sorry) for somehow finding & extrapolating emotional complexity from a scene that makes me cringe every time I watch it. You and others here have clearly studied the characters in far greater depth than I; personally, I can't get past the seemingly tone-deaf writing, especially compared to emotionally charged scripts like Abyss and 2010.

And no amount of anger over Janet's death (justified or otherwise) can really detract from that. Dealing with Janet's death was something they didn't do well, later on.

Or ever, I'd contend, with the exception of the aforementioned Daniel scene, which came rather late in the day to redress the balance. As for Janet's death, I wouldn't say I'm angry. (Well, not anymore.) It just ... sucks, in a profound way, and has had a depressing effect on the show*, IMO. Had her demise been the centerpiece of Heroes, Pt. 2, instead of being relegated to 'B-' or 'C-plot' status, we could have had a proper catharsis. Instead, Sam's closest friend disappeared down the memory hole until Ex Deus Machina. Faced with a similar dramatic situation in Meridian/Revelations, the show did some of its best work. With Heroes, I think they flubbed it terribly, leaving a lot of fans (myself included) feeling emotionally cheated.

*—I'll cop to feeling depressed & uneasy about S10, but for totally different reasons. Although that clip of Amanda's, uh, dancing is a bit of a help. Thanks for putting that up.

[majorsal]

I don't have photoshop or anything fancy, so when the mood strikes me to make something...I make collages! And since I fancy AT to death, I thought I'd throw some pics of she and Sam together. Hope you like!

Spoiler:

As I was making this...PLATHUNK!!!! The woman is GORGEOUS! My favorite pic is the one in the pink dress. She's so pretty.

can't rep

wow, la, that's wonderful! you picked great piccies.

i think my fave sam amanda doing that femme fatales sexy pose.





sally

[majorsal]

When you describe the episode it has depth; when I watch it ... not so much. This certainly wouldn't the first time a fan (you, in this case) understood the characters better than the people writing them do, at least intermittently.

(snipped)

i'm not as big of a janet fan as you appear to be, but i'd feel a LOT more irked by how janet's death was *not* handled after the 'heroes' ep aired. she literally and figuratively disappeared off the radar.

and in s9's ripple effect...

Spoiler:

okay, martouf being there meant sam was going to be in a sam-martouf scene. but janet was her best friend, there's NO excuse for there being no substantial sam-janet scene(s). and to me, a scene between them was needed a heck of a lot more than between sam and martouf. sam at least got to say bye to him... but janet...

now, back to sam/amanda love...

sam is wonderful and amanda does a fantastic job of acting her out!!!





sally

[majorsal]

whine time...

i few minutes ago, i showed my mom one of the videos i've saved on my computer. it's 'all american girl'. anyhoo, after my mom watched it again, she said how much she loved it and that song... then she turned to me and said it also made her sad. she said she missed the show. and i knew just what she was talking about!

the whole style and feel of season 9 was... empty. how do you explain to someone that's basically new to this show what's missing now? they just don't seem to really 'feel' it.

i feel we had 6 years of prime rib. then two years of steak and potatoes. then last year it was macdonalds. i miss stargate

k, whine time is over.




sally

[Uber]

Ah...a Heroes 2 debate I see. Well here are my two pence if you please.

I believe that scene where Sam visits Jack is really, REALLY powerful for several reasons because it gives such insight into her character and mindset...specifically how she responds to extreme distress.

Here's what I see as a given though just so you know from where I am coming. (Wooo...proper grammar. Jack would be pleased). I see Sam and Janet as having been the best of friends...confidants even. I see the undercurrent between Jack and Sam as being that of suppressed attraction and affection, both romantic and also friendshippy. I see Sam as loving Cassie, Jack and Janet...albeit in very different ways. I see Sam as a fellow Air Force brat (hurray USAF!) who grew up with a father who was all business and probably drilled the "stiff upper lip" concept into both his kids.

With that as my starting place, this is how I view that scene.

Sam is emotionally decimated. In what was to have been a fairly routine jaunt offworld, her best friend was stripped from her life tragically and unexpectedly. She's lost her footing and her emotional equilibrium is shot.

With Woolsey, she compartmentalizes. It's all business...all the time. But when talking with the people closest to her, to Hammond and Teal'c and Jack, it's a whole different story.

When she comes in to visit Jack, she's still shellshocked. Loss is funny that way, you know? One moment you're just fine and the next moment you're in the middle of some mundane task and the emotions and memories flood you. So she goes to visit Jack...as she would Teal'c or Daniel or anyone else in that tight knit circle that makes up Carter's ordered life.

Her thoughts are a jumble. She's relieved beyond words that Jack didn't die and focuses on that...puts on that brave front as she addresses him. She's thankful that the vest insert was in place because it probably saved his life. And then Jack mentions how it didn't help Janet, and her stiff upper lip takes a blow. Somehow she maintains the front, though she wobbles for a moment.

Then Jack mentions Cassie...yet another emotional landmine. Was her answer brusque? Sure it was...but keep in mind who we're talking about here and what Sam has done in the past to show how important Cassie is to her. She's disobeyed orders. She's willingly locked herself up in a bunker with a walking time bomb. She's begged Janet to not kill Nirti so she could save her. Her feelings for Cassie are strong and thoroughly documented.

You know what I see in Sam's response? I see her going into soldier Sam mode yet again...putting up that protective wall. The same wall she used when Elliot asked her if they'd make it out alive in Last Stand:

ELLIOT: Come on, Major. Even if this symbiote can fix what's wrong with me, we're never getting out of here.

CARTER: Sure we are. You've read our mission files. We go through the Gate, get into trouble, get out of it, we go home.

ELLIOT: Tell that to Major Mansfield.

Elliot called her on it...in Heroes 2, Jack doesn't. He lets it go. He's satisfied with her answer. He knows Sam and how much she loves Cassie and he also knows that no matter how deeply she feels things, she's going to put her soldier front on first and foremost. He saw her almost lose her father and how she demanded that Jacob not die on Netu. But how did she go about compelling him to hang on? She told him in no uncertain terms that his dying there would be "unacceptable"...a very military answer if ever I heard one. She didn't gush about how much she loved him...that would have been extremely out of character for her.

So her response about Cassie I think was in that same grain. Perhaps the same was said of her when she lost her mother. "So how's Sam handling her mother's death?" "She's fine...she's a strong kid, don't you know?" Another reason I think Sam didn't want to go into a detailed response right then was because she knew that Cassie would require her emotional support at some time in the future just like she did when she lost her mom (and maybe never really got) and it was something she wasn't equipped to handle at that moment.

So why didn't Jack push for more from her? Maybe because he saw that she was hanging by a tripwire and knew how close she was to falling apart. Maybe because he realized that this wasn't the time or place to fully delve into that particular issue. But for whatever reason, he is satisfied with her response and moves on.

But of course the topic he moves onto is equally troublesome...Janet's memorial. Janet's memorial. She's really gone...and she has to speak at her memorial. And Jack? Well, she almost lost him too....and that crack in the wall finally splits wide open and she falls apart in front of him...relieved he made it and devastated that someone they all cared about so deeply, did not.

Sam is not one to fall apart at the drop of a hat either. In fact, she rarely exposes herself to that level. In Singularity, she struggles with her anger and pain in front of Daniel and only really lets loose when she's alone in the confines of the elevator. In Paradise Lost, she allowed herself to cry but only in the hideout of the women's locker room. In Revelations, she mourns with Hammond, but it's subdued. (On a side note, perhaps the fact that Teal'c witnessed her crying in Paradise Lost like that allowed her to feel more comfortable in expressing her feelings of loss with him in Heroes.) So for her to openly weep in front of Jack...who watched her struggle with reigning it in...was a really big deal. Carter just doesn't cry like that.

Thus the hug. Jack was hurting and suffering a loss and he saw the same emotions expressed in Sam that he felt too...and they comforted each other. It was an extraordinary circumstance and he allowed himself an extraordinary expression of his love, pain and loss by comforting Sam.

So was the hug shippy? Absolutely...but not in the way you think I mean. It's shippy because of that undercurrent of suppressed emotion that flows between them...so anything expressed for whatever reason will always have that extra dimension. That does not diminish the fact that this moment was an act of friendship and loss...because that's what it primarily was. It's just that because of that THING that's always there, it will be a component to a moment even when it's not. Do you know what I mean? Kind of like in Death Knell...that hug between them at the end. The moment was one of support and friendship, but I see the extra layer of the thing...which doesn't lessen the friendship and support. Same with the Heroes hug...like I said, the thing doesn't make the friendship moments less...it makes them more...because no matter what happens to them in the long run, they will always have that deep bond of friendship, of soldiers in arms...that comraderie of being SG-1 that, as Sam said in Revelations, no one could ever understand.

So that's my take on that scene...supremely performed by Amanda...who expressed Sam's love and loss and relief and pain with such grace and skill, brilliantly weaving in the aspects of her personna that try to keep her emotional guard up and equally brilliantly, allowing that guard to fall to pieces without going over the top.

[scarimor]

no, amanda said it was cold in the studio. and that certain 'parts' were perky.

(besides the obvious, that's what hair driers are for )

[scarimor]

oh, honey, i've seen it. and squeed my guts out!

sal, I have to tell you that literal image did something icky to my morning brain...