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**Petra** · 20 February 2010, 02:30 AM

Originally posted by Tachyon View Post

Okay, I've been living under a rock and therefore I have no idea whatsoever what this is about. So someone, please enlighten me. Spill the beans. Get the cat out of the back.

Your wish is my command, m'lady

Basically (if I got something wrong, please correct me):

AT- when season 10 was announced, AT was the last to sign her contract. In fact nobody contacted her at all and she had to call RCC herself and ask whether she'll have a part or whether she should start looking for another job/project. Apparently RCC didn't know what to do with her character anymore.

RDA - a lot of fans (definitely not me) claim that in season 7 and especially 8 his acting was subpar; he was just going through the motions and didn't really want to be part of SG-1 anymore which translated into his acting.

MS - when MS left the show after season 5 it was to have a big movie career, but unfortunately the propositions never came, so eventually he came back to the show.

Anyways - I've been thinking whether to buy the last seasons on DVD. However, I am beginning to realize I'd better invest to the fifth season of SGA instead.

Personally I don't plan on buying the last 2 seasons; but tbh, IMO season 5 of SGA is even worse.

**Tachyon** · 20 February 2010, 02:39 AM

Alrighty then. Thanks Petra.

What comes to RDA's acting - I did get some vibes from season 7 that he was not very into it anymore. But who could blame him, really? Doing same show for six years must have taken its toll. However, I personally think his performance got better on season 8.

What comes Daniel leaving the show - he was never my number one character in the first place, so it was not a big deal for me. In addition, I kind of liked Jonas, and I like season 6 a lot. There were many great episodes in it.

And finally AT and season 10. WOW. I did not know that. And her joining the cast of SGA on season 4 gave me an impression that she was the "it girl" of the franchise. I have seen only few random episodes from the last two seasons, so I cannot really comment how well the writers did with Sam. But if her characters went nowhere, it's kind of sad, since she is my favorite character of the show. And I cannot even image SG-1 without her. It was bad enough that RDA left and that might explain why I have not been to keen to see the last seasons fully.

**suse** · 20 February 2010, 06:19 AM

Originally posted by Petra View Post

Your wish is my command, m'lady

Basically (if I got something wrong, please correct me):

AT- when season 10 was announced, AT was the last to sign her contract. In fact nobody contacted her at all and she had to call RCC herself and ask whether she'll have a part or whether she should start looking for another job/project. Apparently RCC didn't know what to do with her character anymore.

It seems that BW & RCC were thinking of splitting AT's time between SG-1 S10 and SGA S3. It's my understanding they were still trying to work out the logistics of that (they say they were still going to use her in 20 eps total and I have no reason to disbelieve them) so I can see not wanting to contact someone till they have an idea of what they are doing with her character. That being said, IMO (and only IMO) it's bad form to contact all *bu*t AT - especially when one of the people contacted is a new cast member contracted for 20 eps who happens to be another woman, because this show has a history of having only one female non-recurring character. For some reason they ended up not doing the split. I have thoughts about that, but they are pure conjecture.

(And no, the thoughts aren't nasty to TPTB.)

RDA - a lot of fans (definitely not me) claim that in season 7 and especially 8 his acting was subpar; he was just going through the motions and didn't really want to be part of SG-1 anymore which translated into his acting.

HE was getting away with stuff by then. The 'Jack acting dumb' was stretched wayyyyy too far.

Personally I don't plan on buying the last 2 seasons; but tbh, IMO season 5 of SGA is even worse.

I missed most large chunks of SGA S5 and don't feel the need to watch them. A shame as I like most of the actors. It's the stories (at least the ones I saw) I had issue with.

I won't even Hulu S9/S10, much less buy them.

and from a previous Petra post:

Yeah, as I said the ending with Wormhole X-treme actors wasn't funny at all. But to be fair, they didn't "insult" only AT; there was a bit about RDA "phoning it in" in the last seasons and MS "acting off off Broadway". When I heard it I thought "ouch".

I recognize that the insults and digs were flying thick and furious and were somewhat indiscriminate. I flinched at the "phoning it in" bit but

at the "off off Broadway". That sure describes SyFy movies... I missed that reference when I watched 200.

I recognize that if the actors didn't mind that I shouldn't. But I still do. No, I'm not worked up any more, but

**Melora** · 20 February 2010, 07:03 AM

Originally posted by suse View Post

It seems that BW & RCC were thinking of splitting AT's time between SG-1 S10 and SGA S3. It's my understanding they were still trying to work out the logistics of that (they say they were still going to use her in 20 eps total and I have no reason to disbelieve them) so I can see not wanting to contact someone till they have an idea of what they are doing with her character. That being said, IMO (and only IMO) it's bad form to contact all *bu*t AT - especially when one of the people contacted is a new cast member contracted for 20 eps who happens to be another woman, because this show has a history of having only one female non-recurring character. For some reason they ended up not doing the split. I have thoughts about that, but they are pure conjecture. (And no, the thoughts aren't nasty to TPTB.)

JM said in a later interview that they decided against making Sam a ship commander and splitting AT's time between the two shows for logistic and contractual reasons. In reality, I have a feeling that TPTB were completely shocked at the fan uproar over the situation and decided to keep Sam on the team at the last minute. They had already spun at least one episode (Morpheus) with Sam as a ship commander when the news got out to fandom about what they were planning to do with Sam. I also think that AT was probably not happy with the plan and let them know it. I got the impression that she did not want to split her time between the two shows and wanted to remain mostly on SG-1 which is perfectly understandable.

If they wanted to make Sam a ship commander, they should have done it back at the beginning of Season 9. That would have been more believable than sending her off to Area 51 and then later making her 2IC of a team she had previously commanded. I’m glad they didn’t though. The SG-1 team would not have been the same without her.

**Petra** · 20 February 2010, 07:30 AM

Thanks for clarification, suse

Originally posted by suse View Post

HE was getting away with stuff by then. The 'Jack acting dumb' was stretched wayyyyy too far.

Okay, and now I'll prove what a hopeless (and probably hopelessly biased

) Jack/RDA fangurl I am by explaining my take on the season 7-8 stuff.

Spoilered because of OT

Spoiler:

**suse** · 20 February 2010, 07:50 AM

Originally posted by Melora View Post

JM said in a later interview that they decided against making Sam a ship commander and splitting AT's time between the two shows for logistic and contractual reasons. In reality, I have a feeling that TPTB were completely shocked at the fan uproar over the situation and decided to keep Sam on the team at the last minute. They had already spun at least one episode (Morpheus) with Sam as a ship commander when the news got out to fandom about what they were planning to do with Sam. I also think that AT was probably not happy with the plan and let them know it. I got the impression that she did not want to split her time between the two shows and wanted to remain mostly on SG-1 which is perfectly understandable.

Well, I'd hope that her agent had a fit about her going from female lead to *whatever* the show sharing would have been. <<--totally not my business. Especially with it coming on the heels of a new female cast member getting 20 eps.

If they wanted to make Sam a ship commander, they should have done it back at the beginning of Season 9. That would have been more believable than sending her off to Area 51 and then later making her 2IC of a team she had previously commanded. I’m glad they didn’t though. The SG-1 team would not have been the same without her.

Well, if they would have, the gate would have been used even less. But at least the Sam (played by someone good enough to be treated as lead when the <essentially> part time leading man per N. John Smith at a con ) wouldn't have been made subordinate in fact if not in name to Mitchell, played by the new full time leading man.

Yes, a lot of the stories had issues. With some tweaking (and an overhaul of the bigger!better!enemy and a toned down sexy!fun!Vala) the seasons could have been much better.

I still sound cranky.

I'm really not. I still think it was an injustice though.

**suse** · 20 February 2010, 07:52 AM

Originally posted by Petra View Post

Thanks for clarification, suse

Okay, and now I'll prove what a hopeless (and probably hopelessly biased

) Jack/RDA fangurl I am by explaining my take on the season 7-8 stuff.

Spoilered because of OT

Spoiler:

Now I want to watch some (Classic) Stargate. Thanks for the reminder!

**Skydiver** · 20 February 2010, 08:54 AM

I think a lot of rda's 'phoning it in' came from the change in atmosphere in seasons 7 on. What used to be a 'let's work together' family did, from all rumors, turn into a mess of politics and in fighting and jockeying for 'position'

things got a lot more political and tense and uncomfortable....and he didn't like things that way. So work changed from a fun place to go to a tense and stressful place...and he started to emotionally detach himself from it

as to AT, the boys seemed to have the idea that, after her baby, she was going to go part time and be content to not be there more than she was there...and i do know there was some talk about sam going to atlantis in some capacity. But then the fans found out, and the SGA fans didn't want sam on the show anymore than the SG1 fans wanted her to leave.

**jckfan55** · 20 February 2010, 12:06 PM

Originally posted by Skydiver View Post

I think a lot of rda's 'phoning it in' came from the change in atmosphere in seasons 7 on. What used to be a 'let's work together' family did, from all rumors, turn into a mess of politics and in fighting and jockeying for 'position'

things got a lot more political and tense and uncomfortable....and he didn't like things that way. So work changed from a fun place to go to a tense and stressful place...and he started to emotionally detach himself from it

I have no personal experience in acting, but from everything I've read and interviews i've seen, it's a very collaborative experience. With RDA's shortened week, the filmed a lot of things in bits and pieces and sometimes he was doing his side of a scene without the other actor there. I don't care if you're Laurence Olivier, that can't be ideal.

Still, I don't see him "phoning it in" but too much dumbJack.

RE: AT REgardless of whether the boys thought she'd want part time, or they were spinning ideas to have her at ATlantis part time, it was unprofessionally handled imho. You don't leave an actor who has been essential to the show for 8 years hanging while giving everyone else contracts. In that scenario I can completely understand AT's concern about whether she needed to start looking for work. And some thought that if she had known they weren't bringing her back she would have been looking for something already. Though after being the female lead for 8 years, you might feel safe in assuming you'd be back. I guess bottom line is it's a business and you can't count on much.
From everything I've read, actors are always job hunting b/c even established ones don't know where the next one is coming from.

ETA: I wonder if that experience is something she keeps in mind now that she's a producer herself.

**Skydiver** · 20 February 2010, 01:28 PM

i agree, it was very poorly handled. especially having michael, chris, ben, beau, AND claudia signed for s9 while they still hadn't even contacted AT to share with her their plans. It was rude and unprofessional.

and i do agree. the attitude in the later seasons was 'do it fast, do it cheap' and they often had 2-3 units taping at once...often the actors that used to work together didn't see each other for days on end. they were acting in a void

**Tachyon** · 20 February 2010, 09:46 PM

They should have pull the plug on the production after the eight season instead of letting the money do the talking. Granted, that there are couple of good episodes on seasons nine and ten, but I still think it would have been better to end the series after the eight season. The last two seasons were simply pushing a good thing too far. Perhaps starting entirely new series instead of changing SG-1 into something almost unidentifiable would have beena better direction to go (though more risky move, obviously).

**suse** · 20 February 2010, 10:23 PM

Originally posted by Tachyon View Post

They should have pull the plug on the production after the eight season instead of letting the money do the talking. Granted, that there are couple of good episodes on seasons nine and ten, but I still think it would have been better to end the series after the eight season. The last two seasons were simply pushing a good thing too far. Perhaps starting entirely new series instead of changing SG-1 into something almost unidentifiable would have beena better direction to go (though more risky move, obviously).

They were going to go with a new(ish) series: Stargate Command. Syfy wanted SG-1 to continue, so it did. I think that's why we got the mishmash we did. Imo they tried to hold onto the newer elements of Stargate Command instead of following logic from S8 of SG-1.

Highly illogical.

Someone who has listened to the early S9 commentaries might be able to shed some light on this.

**Tachyon** · 20 February 2010, 10:51 PM

They should have gone with the Stargate Command instead and let SG-1 "die", so to speak, when it was obviously time to wrap the series up. Even if there had been some same characters involved in the new series, making clear distiction with SG-1 would have a better the way to go. But we got two almost unnecessary SG-1 seasons instead and the result was, indeed, a mishmash and a lukewarm one. But like said - there are few bright moments to be found from the last two seasons, but that's about it.

**suse** · 20 February 2010, 11:06 PM

Originally posted by Tachyon View Post

They should have gone with the Stargate Command instead and let SG-1 "die", so to speak, when it was obviously time to wrap the series up. Even if there had been some same characters involved in the new series, making clear distiction with SG-1 would have a better the way to go. But we got two almost unnecessary SG-1 seasons instead and the result was, indeed, a mishmash and a lukewarm one. But like said - there are few bright moments to be found from the last two seasons, but that's about it.

<<cough>> shining beacons in space, all alone in the night.

**Tachyon** · 20 February 2010, 11:13 PM

Originally posted by suse View Post

<<cough>> shining beacons in space, all alone in the night.

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