S10: Critique & Contemplation

[JessM]

Intresting commet about the pigtails. I wonder if that is a secret thing between Shanks and Black or if it's a thing for the fans.

I cannot stand the pigtails. They don't do a thing for CB.

I agree. I think the ponytail is fine or have her pin her hair up some other way, but the pigtails are childish. I wonder if they did that partly to have her look different from Aeryn Sun - or it could just be some cutesy thing the writers/PTB/whoever has the say in makeup/hair came up with.

It's a shame that the writers and directors cannot make Vala stand on her own when Daniel is there. I don't know why people think the interaction of Vaniel is cute or sexy. It just turns my stomach.

Vaniel would only be cute if CB and MS were five years old. Then you can send them to thier corners till they behave.

I guess the eps that MS is absent from are sort of like a "Vaniel timeout"...in some weird way.

Over all I like the Daniel that was presented in the first 5 seasons much better than surrent Danny. Sometimes I had wished they had hired Spader for the role. I doubt it Daniel would have changed so much if Spader had done the roll for ten years.

When I write Daniel in fics I take Spader's version and shorten his hair. It's the only whay I can really write Danny. He was my favortie character too. But not has much anymore.

Same here. I know people say that the change was inevitable after all he'd been through, and I do agree to a point, but there are just certain facets of his personality that have been grating on me the past two seasons or so. It does make me wonder how things would have been if it was Spader there instead.

I set most of my fics in the early seasons, and the ones I do write in current seasons I tend to "strip Daniel down" (not literally of course, lol)... meaning I take away most of the OTT sarcasm, flippancy, etc. and I try to bring out the gentleness of his character more.

I wish they gave Mitchell more personality. I have always like BB as an actor.

I'm thinking about doing a fic where BB is Mitchell and he is trying to get assigned to SG-1. (Sam never left and Jack still runs the SGC) I thought it would have been far more intresting if Sam had this love sick puppy following her around and Jack had a problem with it.

They really haven't done much to make him three-dimensional. Not much of a backstory, not much for us to see what makes him tick, etc. The fic idea sounds interesting

I'm not a huge S/J shipper either. Personaly I think Sam is strong enough she doesn't need a ship. Of course if Sam were to meet a younger indianan jones i think that would be an intresting mix. Indy from the 40's when women stayed home. Oh, how the words would fly.

At the risk of being flamed/dinged/what have you, I admit that I am not much of one either. I do have my ship preferences as I guess my sig shows but I haven't really been much of a shipper onscreen lately. Hmmm that does sound like an interesting mix. Sam transported to the past, or this Indy transported to the future...

[JessM]

I go back and forth on Daniel. I don't mind Daniel being less willing to "talk it out" with every alien he meets as long as it fits the natural evolution of the character. I've always had the suspicion that after Pierre made fun of Daniel "talking to the aliens" on late night TV, they (MS?) wanted to make Daniel more of an action character and sometimes it works (depending on the episode) and sometime it doesn't. And he's always been sarcastic and snarky - it just seemed more natural in the bantering with Jack than in some of the sexual innuendo-laced banter with Vala.

I'm glad someone mentioned this, because that's how I've always felt about it. Right from the start Jack and Daniel had the bantering back and forth, and it always seemed to come natural to me. I thought MS and RDA had a great chemistry together. As much as many people say MS and CB have a great chemistry, the banter between them doesn't seem as natural to me. I think MS even mentioned this in his latest interview, about Jack and Daniel having the banter and now he has it with Vala. The way he said it, though (and I may have interpreted it wrong, I don't know), it seemed like he meant that the Daniel/Vala banter or interaction is just like the Daniel/Jack, or even better than the Daniel/Jack. Again I know it's his opinion and he's definitely entitled to it, but I thought the D/J banter was a lot more natural, as well as amusing/fun.

I *do* mind when he loses the compassion, the curiosity, the passion and drive that kind of defines Daniel for me. Daniel annoyed me to death in that - what was the name of the episode right before Quest I? Can't remember, anyway the one where Daniel and Vala wave at the guy who just got spaced. I mean I really disliked him in that episode. But in Quest II I think he was very much the Daniel that I like. (except for the over-the-top fight with Adria, but those kind of bits are always silly).

Exactly. That ep was In the Company of Thieves, and I agree - some of his behavior was way over-the-top for me there. I did like him a lot better in The Quest 1 and 2, and I hope we get to see more of that Daniel in the rest of the season.

Heck, Jack became much too silly and glib in his last few seasons for me. But I still liked him. ( *all is forgiven, Jack, please come back!*)

LOL! My sentiments exactly! I did think there was quite a bit of Jack silliness and one-liners in his last couple of seasons, but still loved the guy.

I became annoyed to death with Sam and her love life in S7/S8. She actually became kind of wishy-washy to me. Kickbut Sam - wishywashy. Egads, I don't care if they get her together with Jack or not at this point - just don't drag it out another 10 years! But otherwise I think Sam has been right back on top of things in S10 - really liked her in Quest II, LITS and TRNT.

As much as I love Sam and have always loved her, there were a few times during S7/8 where she annoyed me a bit. I forgave her completely in S9 and 10, though I'm saddened that we haven't seen a whole lot of her except for the eps you mentioned.

Teal'c - well hard to complain about his development since he hardly gets any! But I miss the bald head, I admit. And I don't really buy it when he smiles too much or he's arm-wrestling or playing basketball with Vala.

Yep. Would love to see more Teal'c. Some of his hairdos, like the one early on this season have made me miss the bald head too. As far as smiling too much, that guy certainly was a happy little (um...big) bunny in S8, wasn't he? A few times one of my friends asked "is he on something?" because all that smiling didn't seem natural...

Cam? Well, I like him much better in S10 - pretty forgettable in S9. And of all the actors on the show I think that BB is my favorite as far as just reading his interviews and liking the guy. I *loved* him in TRNT.

Cam has been a bit better this season, especially in the last few eps.

Well, this isn't a very "anti" post so I better add some "anti" stuff. What's up for the rest of S10? I'm looking forward to Shroud but I also think it has the potential to be a really *bad* episode. We'll see. Bounty sounds like crappola. And then there's several mediocre-sounding episodes leading up to "Dominion" and "Unending". I expect Dominion to have lots of explosions - just hope they don't forget a good story to go along with it. And I'm probably one of the few people looking forward to "Unending". I like character-driven bottle episodes.

Interesting points to think about. I agree about Shroud. I'm glad RDA will be there for that one - I just hope there isn't a Vaniel overload there, since despite tptb's attempt to show us otherwise, Vala isn't the only one who cares about Daniel. For some reason I'm thinking Dominion could be quite like Counterstrike, which I didn't particularly like, but I guess we'll see. As for Unending, while I normally like character-driven episodes, AND RCC and BW said that it will focus on the team, I still have reservations. The team is apparently going to be together, but something makes me think they'll still be separate from each other... and not really looking forward to having Vaniel forced down the throat again.

I would love to see the whole team, particularly the Big 3, share one last moment together before the episode ends. I'm not too optimistic about it though.

(I know, I know, I shouldn't be so pessimistic... guess you can just call me "Miss Cynical" )

[Skydiver]

LOL! My sentiments exactly! I did think there was quite a bit of Jack silliness and one-liners in his last couple of seasons, but still loved the guy.

yes. i love jack but i think they did cut rda a bit too much slack in those last couple of seasons.

As much as I love Sam and have always loved her, there were a few times during S7/8 where she annoyed me a bit. I forgave her completely in S9 and 10, though I'm saddened that we haven't seen a whole lot of her except for the eps you mentioned.

i do love sam, but i wish they'd have figured out that there WAS more to her than being half of a relationship. One weakness of these writers. If they can't pair the female up and have her hanging off someone's arm, they don't know what to do with her. Not only sam, but vala too.

I would love to see the whole team, particularly the Big 3, share one last moment together before the episode ends. I'm not too optimistic about it though.

me too...and i also am not holding my breath. those Big 3 are some of that baggage that coop and the kids find so boring to have around

(I know, I know, I shouldn't be so pessimistic... guess you can just call me "Miss Cynical" )

cynacism is fun

[Pitry]

I agree. I think the ponytail is fine or have her pin her hair up some other way, but the pigtails are childish. I wonder if they did that partly to have her look different from Aeryn Sun - or it could just be some cutesy thing the writers/PTB/whoever has the say in makeup/hair came up with.

That's quite a possiblity - i've never really thought of it that way, but TBH at the end of Road not Taken she really looked like Aeryn, partially because of the Aeryn-esque hair. (the other part is, I supposed, due to her uncanny resemblance to that actress ). It could be that they now feel more free to not try and make her look differnet from Aeryn.

[Skydiver]

yeah but...heck they coulda dyed her hair or cut it rather than those sillly pigtails.

or had her braid it or something

[MerRu]

yeah but...heck they coulda dyed her hair or cut it rather than those sillly pigtails.

or had her braid it or something

I really get the feeling that the pigtails are meant to be some kind of coded message to the real and 30+ male adolescents that TPTB apparently perceive to be their audience. I don't know if they're trying to say that Vala's FUN! (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), or the audience is supposed to think about her the same way as an actress over the age of consent playing a juvenile in a porn flick (pretend she's as young as the pigtails imply), or it's okay to treat her as a disposable female stereotype, or she's nothing but her 'cuteness' (and/or there's no need to think about her or feel threatened by her), or, if theyr'e already feeling threatened by her former physicaly agression, weapons play, past crimes, dominatrix wardrobe and on again off again sexually agressive dialog - she's really just as weak, foolish, sentimental, and easily dominated and dealt with as a little girl in pigtails, despite any occasional sass.

I don't think any of the messages those pigtails send do the show or the character any good.

[Skydiver]

maybe it's a heavy handed way to say 'see, she's not acting the tart, she's such a cute young thing'

i dunno

I just don't find them appealing on the character. especially when you add them to the specially tailored top that's cut to hint at cleavage and the pants that are more hip huggers than regulation and the tailored tight jacket.

they've done all they can to put her in a catsuit without actually putting her IN the cat suit

if they just devoted as much time to developing her that they did on tailoring her costume, maybe she'd be more than half of vaniel (most of the time anyway)

[saberhagen83]

As for the pigtails, it's good to see her get rid of them as well. I've been noticing a funny trend, though... she doesn't seem to have them whenever Daniel isn't around... Uninvited, Line in the Sand, Road Not Taken... and then when Daniel is back she goes back to the pigtails. I wonder if it has something to do with her being more childish and annoying whenever he's around?

Nice catch on the pigtailes. Have to admit I never actually noticed that at all. I've said before I don't like Vala at all, but this season she has had a few eps where Daniel is not around. In these eps I have actually started to like her more and more, but when ever Daniel is in the ep, that is a rare thing. I think "Counterstrike" was probably the only time I liked Vala with Daniel around. She kind of ruined "Pegasus Project" a bit for me, a otherwise good ep but I couldn't stand her in it. It's too bad, because CB seems a pretty good actress otherwise, they could have given her something better...more like the Vala from S8 I could have done with. And I think we have seen glimpses of it in "Line in the Sand".

Season 10 is probably a bit better than S9 if I shall be honest. And as some of you have said the last 2 in the 2nd half has been good. "Quest part 2" was decent as well, better than the 1st part anyway. I do wish they could keep the quality of "Line in the Sand", but considering I have only enjoyed maybe 3 or 4 of this season so far I'm not getting my hopes up that they will finish off this season in great style. I can't understand that they could give us 2 good eps after eachother but gave us so many bad eps and decisions before in S9/10. I think maybe they started to understand that they did a misstake (is that possible? ) and are trying to fix it, too bad it's a little too late for that.

The start of the 2nd half of S10 has been pretty good, but there are eps that I am not looking forward to. Although I am interested to watch "The Shroud", and I hope it will be as good as it sounds. The quality is nowhere near what we got from S1-8. After the big misstake that was S9, they should have taken in all the critics from the negative fans to start of better in S10 and try to repair some of the faults. But I think they didn't get it untill it was too late to save the show. It's too bad seeing a great show like SG1 suffer untill it's last breath like this. It could have ended on a high note with "Moebius".

[Skydiver]

what i'm afraid of for the Shroud is that fans have built it up so much that it'll never live up to thier expectations.

I saw it with summit/last stand. the daniel fans were drooling over it, literally. It was a whump heaven for the danny whumpers. Slave daniel rescued by his hero jack....dream come true for many.

then it aired.

jack didn't rescue his little buddy. in fact, jack didn't seem to lose any sleep over daniel being a slave. Course, he really wasn't a slave, he was jsut under cover. no whumpage - beyond that teltac crash. and teh very same folks that were pumping it up and drooling over it became its harshest critics because it didn't live up to what they wanted it to be.

I've seen the same thing with eps touted as shippy in the pre-eps spoilers.

I just have a bad feeling that Shroud will be so pre built up by fans that it'll never deliver cause nothing they can make will ever match the fantasies adn expectations of fans

[petemoretti]

I just hope that "The Shroud" will be a Jack-heavy episode and that he gets to interact not only with Daniel but also with the rest of the team especially Sam and Vala.

[Skydiver]

yeah, wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

how many times has jack been on and COULD have interacted but is just trotted out for 5 minutes of distanced time

maybe i'll be surprised but given how TPTB have wasted jack's presence the past few times, i'm not holding out much faith in them using it as anyting but a ratings stunt

[pittsburghgirl]

yeah, wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

how many times has jack been on and COULD have interacted but is just trotted out for 5 minutes of distanced time

maybe i'll be surprised but given how TPTB have wasted jack's presence the past few times, i'm not holding out much faith in them using it as anyting but a ratings stunt

agreed

[Zoser]

yeah, wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

how many times has jack been on and COULD have interacted but is just trotted out for 5 minutes of distanced time

maybe i'll be surprised but given how TPTB have wasted jack's presence the past few times, i'm not holding out much faith in them using it as anyting but a ratings stunt

Thanks - just when the antidepressants and mellowing agents were starting to take effect!
There are a lot of surveys - 'Would you like Jack in this' 'Would you like Jack in that' 'What pair?' - my answer (and quite a few others are) - I'd like Jack!!
I know these guys (TPTB) are savvy how else could they have gotten so far (yes they get carried away at times and fail miserably at others - who doesn't) but how or why would they blow this?
They know what the mass of lemmings crave, why not toss them a crumb before they plummet off and never buy another DVD from this crowd. Some of us are like O'Neill and carry grudges - no we don't hurt people, we just don't buy their stuff.
Time for my pill!

[petemoretti]

yeah, wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

how many times has jack been on and COULD have interacted but is just trotted out for 5 minutes of distanced time

maybe i'll be surprised but given how TPTB have wasted jack's presence the past few times, i'm not holding out much faith in them using it as anyting but a ratings stunt

TPTB might surprise us like they did with "TRNT" and especially "LITS"

[JessM]

yes. i love jack but i think they did cut rda a bit too much slack in those last couple of seasons.

Yeah, I agree.

i do love sam, but i wish they'd have figured out that there WAS more to her than being half of a relationship. One weakness of these writers. If they can't pair the female up and have her hanging off someone's arm, they don't know what to do with her. Not only sam, but vala too.

That's something I've noticed too. Although it seems that in Vala's case it's a bit more extreme (but I did like her a bit more in the eps without Daniel... and I'd bet they didn't have as much fun writing her there as they usually do when she's part of Vaniel).

me too...and i also am not holding my breath. those Big 3 are some of that baggage that coop and the kids find so boring to have around

Yep, sadly. They've gotta find some way to unload that baggage. I think they've started with that guy who was called Daniel. Maybe they'll finish it off with Sam and Teal'c in the movies ... *suddenly feels need to protect Sam and T*

cynacism is fun

Yeah I'll admit that It's nice to have a place where I can play with it too (and feel the need to after visiting all the overwhelmingly positive threads - thunk threads especially).