S10: Critique & Contemplation

[themaster]

Yah know if you want to criticize.. you should spend more time focusing on richard dean anderson and the jack o'neill character which wasn't always that great.. either!

I have to say I personally thought they did a good job in the last few years and brought back some energy to the show.. the gaul'd really were getting to be a "old" storyline.. so thank goodness they ended/changed it..

[jckfan55]

Missed opportunity to use an existing character element for bonding of old and new:

They gave Mitchell a motorcycle and an old sports car. If you had to copy Sam at least make that something the two of them acknowledge as a shared interest.

[suse]

that does seem like something crichton would say. that's one thing that really bothers me is that cam is just like Ben's other character. when i first saw sg-1 i hadn't watched farscape, but now that i have they are very similar or is it just me?

Farscape:

Spoiler:

I watched about 6 eps of Farscape and then Peacekeeper Wars. Liked about 3 of the eps and thought the Peacekeeper Wars was overdone.

SG-1 tie-in:
What worked on Farscape would not work on SG-1. Very different formats and humor that were pretty much mutually exclusive.

[blueray]

Hell one of Cameron's quips. "Surrender or die." "Funny I was about to say the same to you" is quoted almost verbatim from Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars.

that does seem like something crichton would say. that's one thing that really bothers me is that cam is just like Ben's other character. when i first saw sg-1 i hadn't watched farscape, but now that i have they are very similar or is it just me?

[Mandysg1]

My dad was a huge fan of SG1, he watched them everday when they were on. When he was ill, I got a copy of AoT for him to see, he told me if they make another one, not to bother getting him a copy. That said a lot coming a man who was just a long time fan, who didn't know anything that was going on on the internet. I did however get him a copy of Continuum and he agreed with me that it was better, but as he said to me early on in s9..." I don't like this new SG1."

I guess we had a lot more in common than I realized.

*This July will the third year since his passing*

[suse]

To me it was a horrible attempt at trying to impersonate O'neill with his Goa'uld defiance. Not to mention the extremely cringing "we really ARE on the same page".

Anyway, i just rewatched Bounty. well, for about 10 minutes, after which the Vala act really became uber-annoying. I liked Bill at the tech conference thing, but aside from that?

Bounty was one of those eps I could look at as Not Really Stargate. I actually found Vala funny because she was 'suggestive' with someone who found it entertaining.

The Vala I couldn't stand in S10 was the one that pulled out a hairdryer on a mission. And the one that took aglasscutter on a mission 'just in case'. But didn't know how to look for other defenses.

[thekillman]

Hell one of Cameron's quips. "Surrender or die." "Funny I was about to say the same to you" is quoted almost verbatim from Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars.

To me it was a horrible attempt at trying to impersonate O'neill with his Goa'uld defiance. Not to mention the extremely cringing "we really ARE on the same page".

Anyway, i just rewatched Bounty. well, for about 10 minutes, after which the Vala act really became uber-annoying. I liked Bill at the tech conference thing, but aside from that?

[Crazedwraith]

Well if you're looking for some reasons. How about its almost entirely recycled ideas?

Searching for an ancient device to solve all your problems? Done. Having to fight swarms and swarms of replicators? Done. Convincing an ascended ally to battle you sort-of-ascended foe for all eternity? Done.


Hell one of Cameron's quips. "Surrender or die." "Funny I was about to say the same to you" is quoted almost verbatim from Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars.

There's nothing new or interesting about Ark Of Truth. It's a lame resolution to a lame plot arc.

[Lieutenant Sparrow]

I don't get the hate for aot. I actually quite like it.

[Mandysg1]

Yeah well. It's AoT. I watched all of 20 minutes of it, groaned and decided it was time to go home. Nothing I have seen people talk about makes me go "Oh, that sounds cool! I wanna see that!" Knowing it was the wrap-up of the Ori storyline was enough for me to .

Yea, not a movie I'll ever watch again.

[hedwig]

Yeah well. It's AoT. I watched all of 20 minutes of it, groaned and decided it was time to go home. Nothing I have seen people talk about makes me go "Oh, that sounds cool! I wanna see that!" Knowing it was the wrap-up of the Ori storyline was enough for me to .

I usually fast forward through most of the Ori stuff, and just watch the bits aboard the Odyssey with Sam and crew.

[jckfan55]

Yeah, it's pretty forgettable.

[suse]

...continued for length:



I understood they toned Vala down somewhat due to the fan and studio reaction, but I could quite easily be wrong about that. I'm glad they did. Her OTT-ness wouldn't have worked as a full-time cast member



I agree the learning curve was notably absent. Perhaps in that time he actually did read the mission reports instead of the cover pages?



I've seen the same on other sites, and GW, but its usually aimed at the characters. Not a series of and smug self congratulation about how well crafted one's posts are. The irony of the OTT responses is that I probably would have left after one post otherwise and gone back to lurking



While I support the idea of Sam being in charge, I don't think it would have worked if Cam was the lead actor. The lead actor has to have the 'X' factor (I'm not saying Carter doesn't have it, rather that the lead character by default has to have more) so she would end up a little short changed. SGA was able to do it because the boss (the female lead) didn't serve on the same team. She could be the star in her domain, and he could be the star in his. And while yes, Carter and O'Neill served on the same team, she never (IMO) outshone him.

I suspect it has more to do with TPTB wanting to cast a male as the lead, rather than an American, but that might be a little cynical



To be fair, s9 Vala was based on s8 Vala, a character they envisioned as a one-shot character that might get reprised at a later date depending upon audience reception. I could not have watched another season of s9-type Vala, but by s10 she had improved considerably. Even in AoT, whilst I had issues with the amount of screentime and dialogue she got in 'team' situations, it's hard to argue against anything she says

Yeah well. It's AoT. I watched all of 20 minutes of it, groaned and decided it was time to go home. Nothing I have seen people talk about makes me go "Oh, that sounds cool! I wanna see that!" Knowing it was the wrap-up of the Ori storyline was enough for me to .

[EvenstarSRV]

Sheppard wasn't the new lead in old show he was the new lead in new show very different IMHO the point I am trying to make you guys had too much conditions/expectations on Cam. There was no way to please some of you. He had to be a perfect character and that would have been boring the way you guys nit pick he did nothing right.

When Jack was chosen to lead SG-1 in S1 he'd led the previous team through the gate and had years of Special ops experience. Makepeace in S3 had 2 years leading SG-3 (plus previous Marine service), and Carter in S8 had 7 years as 2IC and occasionally commander of SG-1 experience. My only real expectation of Mitchell was that as the new SG-1 leader he would be written as having similar relevant experience. I didn't expect him (or any of the others characters) to be perfect, but I did expect him to have some gate (or at the least ground combat) experience like the previous leaders, and he did not.

And FWIW, my issues with the character have absolutely nothing to do with Carter. If she had stayed at Area 51 and never rejoined SG-1 in S9, I'd still have a problem with Mitchell as SG-1 leader if he'd been written the same way, ie lacking any gate or ground combat experience.

There are actually several things I liked about Mitchell, not least was the charm that BB brought to the role. I esp liked his humor with the delegates in the Scourge, and even his impatience about the mission made sense to me since it was far from what he'd looked forward to about serving on SG-1. I enjoyed enthusiasm and gung-ho energy that Mitchell had, I think it was something the show needed that late into its run, but it wasn't until late S9 and into 10 that I thought the writers found a good balance with it.

It was quite weak. Which was weird because by rights it should have been the main focus of the season. They didn't need the Orii. The turmoil of the goa'uld-less galaxy should have been enough. Think about it most of the jaffa free nation were not rebels sharing teal'c's ideals of freedom and justice for all. They just switched sides at the last second to survive the replicator threat. And there are plenty of humans out there who would resent the jaffa taking authority over their worlds as 'a free nation' I could easily see the galaxy sliding into a state where Jaffa strongmen and the lucien alliance became as bad the goa'uld ever were. With the humans feeling responsible for the whole mess.

But perhaps that might be seen as social commentary on the whole iraq/afganistan mess and we certainly wouldn't want to open up that barrel of worms.

I would have liked to have seen more about the Jaffa Nation rather than the Ori, and even more of the Lucian Alliance if they were written more as a serious threat like in SGU than the joke they were on SG-1. And I really regret that we got to see nothing of R'yac after S8, I thought it would have been a great storyline for Teal'c, esp if the Jaffa Nation and Earth ended up on opposite sides of things.

[suse]

I think if they'd realised they were going to be renewed for a ninth season, then its likely they would have blooded a new member in s8 instead of s9. We might have gotten someone from within the SG programme in the that scenario, and they could have stepped up in Carters absence. But that's just a guess.

He still could have been written as a previously unseen SGC soldier. I wouldn't have liked it, but it would have been better than what we got.

Like Cam, I found the Ori to suffer from a bad introduction (read: incredibly boring and ill-advised). I initially viewed it as an attack on religion, although in the end it just seemed like they were the Gou'ald with more powers.

THIS! The toilet bowl ship and toilet seat headgear did not help (me). (Nor did the link the previously mentioned - and abhorred - ascended beings.)

The 'not trusting' thing was not an impression I got in terms of his relations with other characters. What was the best example of this for you?

He had to run off and do the hero-y stuff himself, getting himself and/or his team into trouble for no good reason other than impatience. Arthur's Mantle, when he went thru the stargate when he couldn't even affect anything going on around him. Sheer brilliance! Off the Grid, when (according to him) his team either couldn't act or were Mary Poppins.

Again, I'm not trying to defend their decision, but I assume they decided to clean house (so to speak) was precisely because the show had been on for eight years. There wasn't a lot more we could learn about 'our' characters, or even our traditional foes. Excluding X-Files, seven years seems to be the longevity of most sci-fi shows (although the modern Dr Who looks like it might give SG-1 a run for its money) due to plots becoming stale and production demands (I'm not saying that was the case here, but production costs generally trend upwards over time).

Law & Order SVU was on for 20ish years. The focus has almost always been the story. There was plenty of material left.

He was younger than BB? Lolz, that's a bit silly on their part. As for the time in service thing, I assume, like Carter, he was nominated for accellerated promotion (her transition from Major to Colonel was swift)

Can't have your gung-ho LMAH be on the far side or 40. /sarcasm

I'm glad you brought up Jonas's introduction. I guess it was a bit of fake drama, given that he was in the credits so ultimately they would accept him, but I thought it worked well. Even Carter was cold with him, which took me a little by surprise (loved their dynamic by the end of the season though). I guess they couldn't go down that path with Cam because he was in command and it would make the other characters look petty *shrugs*

Not much of a band if the didn't all get along. And them liking Mitchell (I assume always dangerous) would allow them to forgive his rashness.

Well, he didn't crash it per se, it was hit with a missile meant for Bra'tac's ship, which is probably why everyone thought it was awesome and why the original SG-1 said they owed their lives to him. Personally, I thought it cheapened the awesomeness of The Lost City, but I might be alone in that.

Heaven's no! Please tell me why Mitchell deserved a Medal of Honor when neither Sam or Jack (or Hammond - he was on course to do what Mitchell was awarded for) did? Why the awe for him from the gate peeps? Seriously? The front line teams did way more than him to secure Earth.

It's possible Jack saw the determination in Cam during his recovery (its one of the things they harken back to during the sword fight) and reassigned him based on that (or recommended it to Landry, or whatever the process was), but there isn't really enough information to reach a reliable conclusion

Or the writers wants to have the one who left pass the baton.

In general, I felt the Jaffa Council storyline was a flop, although without it there wouldn't have been much for Teal'C to do. He suffered in the same way Teyla did on SGA - once they brought in another alien, his (main) reason for being on the team was lost

Yes.