S10: Critique & Contemplation

[knowsfords]

The whole reason why I think they should have stuck with renaming it Stargate Command was because Season 9 and 10 dragged the show through the mud... it is a completely different show, and I think that it might have actually been okay if it didn't have the good name of SG1 stamped all over it.

[HPMom]

To me it started to seem like the only thing TPTB were interested in was keeping the ratings up and it was the story that started to suffer.
As I've said before, I thought the hiring of BB and CB was a rating gimmick. But that doesn't mean I have anything against them, in fact I have even admitted that CB, when given the material, is an amazing actress, just look at some of her scenes with Tomlin.

I often wonder of the people who loved S9 and 10, how many were big Farscape fans. I don't mean this as an insult. If there was a show on and they suddenly put AT and MS on it to help improve the ratings I would be more likely to like the show because I love the actors and would just be happy to see them in something new. And many of the people who seem insulted or upset that we don't like S9 and 10 seem to think we're insinuating that we don't like BB or CB, which isn't the case as all. But if they are huge fans they might get a little defensive.

And I agree with what Alan is saying about Sam. Here we have a smart strong female character. She's proven herself to be a good leader. Why in heavens name wouldn't she be in charge of the the team? If you were in a dangerous situation who would you rather have leading the team...a calm, cool, smart, level headed, experienced leader, or a hot dogging Air Force pilot who doesn't quite understand the concept of team work. And in "Proving Ground" they put new recruits in a grueling training and testing program before they would even consider letting them walk through the Stargate. But suddenly they just give someone with no SG experience command of the most elite SG team who is given the toughest assignments?

[RealmOfX]

I often wonder of the people who loved S9 and 10, how many were big Farscape fans. I don't mean this as an insult. If there was a show on and they suddenly put AT and MS on it to help improve the ratings I would be more likely to like the show because I love the actors and would just be happy to see them in something new. And many of the people who seem insulted or upset that we don't like S9 and 10 seem to think we're insinuating that we don't like BB or CB, which isn't the case as all. But if they are huge fans they might get a little defensive.

And I agree with what Alan is saying about Sam. Here we have a smart strong female character. She's proven herself to be a good leader. Why in heavens name wouldn't she be in charge of the the team? If you were in a dangerous situation who would you rather have leading the team...a calm, cool, smart, level headed, experienced leader, or a hot dogging Air Force pilot who doesn't quite understand the concept of team work. And in "Proving Ground" they put new recruits in a grueling training and testing program before they would even consider letting them walk through the Stargate. But suddenly they just give someone with no SG experience command of the most elite SG team who is given the toughest assignments?

Well I don't know about the Farscape fans who loved the last two seasons but this Farscape fan who is a HUGE CB fan simply hated what they did to the show. I spent the whole of Season 9 trying to give it a go and bending over backwards to find rationales for some of the idiocy on screen but by the end of the season when I discovered that I simply could not rewatch most of the episodes I simply gave up and started being honest...

Yes, Season 9 was all Felger's fault Nothing else but Felger in the VR machine living out his fantasies could explain the suddenly trite, puerile and fanboyish plots that appeared and ignored 8 years of canon. By Season 10 it appeared that TPTB were backpedalling and trying to address a few issues but it was a case of too little, too late. Season 9 had done way too much damage and they couldn't recover from it. For me Season 10 was the year of "MEH!" which was a vast improvement over the previous season (but that isn't saying much).

[jasminaGo]

I often wonder of the people who loved S9 and 10, how many were big Farscape fans. I don't mean this as an insult. If there was a show on and they suddenly put AT and MS on it to help improve the ratings I would be more likely to like the show because I love the actors and would just be happy to see them in something new. And many of the people who seem insulted or upset that we don't like S9 and 10 seem to think we're insinuating that we don't like BB or CB, which isn't the case as all. But if they are huge fans they might get a little defensive.

Speaking as a huge Farscape fan, I was looking forward to BB and CB being on Stargate. And all I got was disappointment.

I recently started rewatching Farscape since I hadn't done it in a few years, just finished S1, and once again I'm struck with just how strong the characters there were. And I'm sorry for BB and CB since they were never really given a chance to show their skill on SG. The writers were more concerned with getting actors to boost their ratings without it looking like they were getting actors to boots their ratings, to worry about creating well developed characters. *sigh*

And I agree with what Alan is saying about Sam. Here we have a smart strong female character. She's proven herself to be a good leader. Why in heavens name wouldn't she be in charge of the the team? If you were in a dangerous situation who would you rather have leading the team...a calm, cool, smart, level headed, experienced leader, or a hot dogging Air Force pilot who doesn't quite understand the concept of team work. And in "Proving Ground" they put new recruits in a grueling training and testing program before they would even consider letting them walk through the Stargate. But suddenly they just give someone with no SG experience command of the most elite SG team who is given the toughest assignments?

But... but... but she's a woman. Who wants to see a strong capable woman in charge? Everyone wants to see a good looking male, it doesn't matter if he's capable of leading or not. I mean, come on, everyone knows that. /sarcasm

[Allie_Kreek]

Speaking as a huge Farscape fan, I was looking forward to BB and CB being on Stargate. And all I got was disappointment.

I recently started rewatching Farscape since I hadn't done it in a few years, just finished S1, and once again I'm struck with just how strong the characters there were. And I'm sorry for BB and CB since they were never really given a chance to show their skill on SG. The writers were more concerned with getting actors to boost their ratings without it looking like they were getting actors to boots their ratings, to worry about creating well developed characters. *sigh*



But... but... but she's a woman. Who wants to see a strong capable woman in charge? Everyone wants to see a good looking male, it doesn't matter if he's capable of leading or not. I mean, come on, everyone knows that. /sarcasm

lol. bra burners of the world unite!

i remember watching farscape and thinking Aeryn was a really cool character so watching CB playing Vala the space idiot (even tho she had some good moments) was irritating.

[Vladius]

I've never seen one episode of Farscape in my life.

The reason why Mitchell was in charge of the team was his leadership capability - Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c didn't have that. They end up doing a huge amount of the work in the team, but they're somewhat soft spoken and not suited to giving out military commands.
Who would you think would be the leader if you first looked at SG-1? Who would you rather have give you orders, sometimes forcefully if need be?

[jasminaGo]

I've never seen one episode of Farscape in my life.

The reason why Mitchell was in charge of the team was his leadership capability - Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c didn't have that. They end up doing a huge amount of the work in the team, but they're somewhat soft spoken and not suited to giving out military commands.
Who would you think would be the leader if you first looked at SG-1? Who would you rather have give you orders, sometimes forcefully if need be?

What leadership capability. He was a rookie without a days experience off-world.

Who should give orders is the one who knows what they're doing. I don't know, maybe the Lt. Col. that had been doing the job for almost a decade before Mitchell even went near the gate, and already had a year experience of leading the team? Just a though.

Honestly I only saw Mitchell be the leader on paper, and most of his brilliant decisions on the field usually ended up in a disaster. Like getting his team captured and tortured. Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HPMom]

I've never seen one episode of Farscape in my life.

The reason why Mitchell was in charge of the team was his leadership capability - Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c didn't have that. They end up doing a huge amount of the work in the team, but they're somewhat soft spoken and not suited to giving out military commands.
Who would you think would be the leader if you first looked at SG-1? Who would you rather have give you orders, sometimes forcefully if need be?

I guess we just disagree on this. Mitchell is a hothead. He makes rash decisions before thinking them through. He may be outspoken, but if he's making bad choices then he's not going to make a good leader. If they truly felt Sam was not leader material (which I don't agree) they could have taken one of the leaders from one of the other SG teams and put him/her in charge of SG1. The writers could have made Mitchell that character instead of the inexperienced impulsive foolhardy child they chose to make him.

[Alan]

I've never seen one episode of Farscape in my life.

The reason why Mitchell was in charge of the team was his leadership capability - Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c didn't have that. They end up doing a huge amount of the work in the team, but they're somewhat soft spoken and not suited to giving out military commands.
Who would you think would be the leader if you first looked at SG-1? Who would you rather have give you orders, sometimes forcefully if need be?

I could not disagree more. Before Mitchell turned up, Sam was managing quite capably for a year in command of SG-1 and on various other missions before that when Jack wasn't available to lead.

[HPMom]

Speaking as a huge Farscape fan, I was looking forward to BB and CB being on Stargate. And all I got was disappointment.

There goes that theory out the window.

It sounds like it had the opposite affect on you. You respected the Farscape character that CB played and so it was offensive seeing her have to play such a bimbo.

[discodiva]

I often wonder of the people who loved S9 and 10, how many were big Farscape fans. I don't mean this as an insult. If there was a show on and they suddenly put AT and MS on it to help improve the ratings I would be more likely to like the show because I love the actors and would just be happy to see them in something new. And many of the people who seem insulted or upset that we don't like S9 and 10 seem to think we're insinuating that we don't like BB or CB, which isn't the case as all. But if they are huge fans they might get a little defensive.

As this is a critique and contemplation thread I don't normally post in here but to answer your query I can say that I have NEVER watched a single episode of Farscape and have watched every single Season of SG-1 from the beginning and through re-runs and have enjoyed nearly every episode of Seasons 9 and 10.....

As has my husband (although he's not a GW member...)...and he was never into Farscape either - he's "Trek" all the way...


Deeds xx

[leiasky]

Don't lump the problems of S9/S10 on BB.
The problems stem from the lack of any real direction as SG1, if sci fi had let the show finish in S8 like everyone else wanted it to... and they had've let the show be retooled to be called Stargate Command then it would have been an interesting show.

His character history, no. It was written as it was written - and directed. One can't blame BB for that. But his 'acting' can, at least in part, be blamed on him. He wasn't convincing as the character which went a long way toward me disliking the character.

A simple 'name change' wouldn't have changed anything. It was still the same poorly written show with characters added that were both unbelievable and uninteresting.

[leiasky]

The reason why Mitchell was in charge of the team was his leadership capability - Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c didn't have that.

Right because Sam didn't lead the team through season 8. Had no experience at all. Nope.

Then rookie Cam with no offworld experience came in to lead. Right. Sure.

Not believable.

[Allie_Kreek]

I've never seen one episode of Farscape in my life.

The reason why Mitchell was in charge of the team was his leadership capability - Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c didn't have that. They end up doing a huge amount of the work in the team, but they're somewhat soft spoken and not suited to giving out military commands.
Who would you think would be the leader if you first looked at SG-1? Who would you rather have give you orders, sometimes forcefully if need be?

Personally I would have gone with the someone () who had an iota of commonsense!

[Ashizuri]

And to add to everything that everyone else has said, Mitchell admitted that he couldn't lead these people. I can never remember what episode it was in since I've generally only seen season 9 and 10 once, but if Mitchell thinks he can't do it, I'm going to agree with him.

Also:

If you followed the hierarchy of military command in the strictest sense, you end up with a character who looks a bit like a fool. Even experienced officers know when they walk into a unit, the first thing they have to do is pay attention to their NCOs who actually run the unit. Certainly in the case of SG-1, with Teal'c and Daniel, who are not military, obviously, and with Carter, who is of equal rank, it's a foolish notion to think that Mitchell is going to control things. Having said that, he does have that nominal title, and by the time he gets to the early, certainly the latter part of season 10—that's a big number, season 10—Mitchell's comfortable with what he needs to do within the team. And I think it does develop in the movie as well.

Ben Browder is smarter than the people in charge of the show!!