Originally posted by astrogeologist
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RE: Mitchell's creation and introduction...
1) the feeling that I get is that the new character was envisioned by 'some' of the PTB as a new Major Mitchell, a newbie to the Stargate program, and that Carter would be the team leader. Hence the hints that were given out ahead of time about the new character's initials being 'M.M.' A newbie to the Stargate program, someone fresh for the audience and fans, someone fresh for the writers to create and develop, someone for new fans to learn the Stargate with. Someone fresh and eager, perhaps a bit like Jonas in that respect, but I didn't see them creating a new Jonas - this was a chance to create an entirely new character. And that prospect should have been new and exciting.
2) Someone else (who knows how many) felt that the series either a) would fail with a female leading SG-1, and/or b) would fail without a lead actor with a bigger name than AT, MS or CJ, and/or c) someone decided that it would be cool to have BB as Male Lead of SG-1 to pull Stargate and Farscape together for marketing purposes (perhaps for pulling the fanbases together as well...?)
The character of Cameron Mitchell ended up being a mish-mash of both options 1 & 2. That is, BB was made the new male lead of the show, and his character was written as the new male leader of SG-1. They kept the attributes of his character that had him as a newbie to Stargate travel, while attempting to give his character long-term credibility (as to why he should be accepted as the main hero amongst a team of tried and true heroes) by writing him in as a CMOH-winner who was a squadron leader in the battle of Antarctica (from Lost City, one of the series most successful action-packed and heroic episodes).
They put in scenes where O'Neill symbolically hands over the show to him (when they are flying together and Mitchell takes the front seat and O'Neill takes the back seat). He's the new leader of the team and the show.
They showed him as a Stargate newbie when he 'pets the Stargate'. For a newbie junior member of the team that would have been a perfect scene. For someone who was to be the solid leader of the top SGC team, it simply underscored his ignorance and lack of credibility.
While trying to make him this fun, new, exciting, eager, fresh character that bubbled with enthusiasm and energy... they ended up creating something that just did *not* work for a character that was supposed to be so qualified and competent to lead the flagship team that he was supposed to be a better choice to lead the team than Carter.
At any rate, what I'm trying to say, is that I think Mitchell came out as a mish-mash because the purpose of the character either changed over time, or there was a disagreement in the vision and purpose of the character between various PTB.
For me, personally, I'm glad that Mitchell didn't work for so many viewers. I have nothing against BB, but the fact that the Stargate PTB, whoever they were, decided that Carter should be written out of command was reprehensible. And the fact that there wasn't more of a public outrage at this pisses me off to no end.
I do not remember any other TV series that I was so proud of as I was of Stargate as they approached to beginning of Season 9. It is so rare to get to see the female second of command naturally evolve into the leadership position of something like SG-1. And in Stargate SG-1, it was a natural evolution. The female lead could have had command of the main team of heroes without any major fanfare, without any earth-shattering trumpets or catclysms. It could have been along the line of 'she's a member of the team who happens to be a woman, rather than she is a woman who is a member of the team'. If the series made no big deal out of a 'woman being in charge', then the fact that Carter was female could have been no big deal. And yet it would have. Quietly, without any shouting, it would have made the statement that having a female in charge is OK, and can work just fine, and that no one has to get their 'knickers in a bunch'.
By writing Carter out of command, they did something wrenchingly ugly. Intentionally or not (that doesn't matter), they made a quiet statement that women aren't as appropriate for command and that men are much more suited - both to command of a unit such as SG-1, but also as the leads of action scifi shows.
Frankly, when they wrote Carter out of command, and wrote in a new Alpha Male Lead for the team and the show, I feel that things needed to 'not work'. We need to see that this type of thing isn't right. That it should *not* be validated. Solid ratings would have validated their decision to write the female out of command. Sadly, I'm glad that they did not get that validation.
Note: if all of the PTB always intended to go with option 2 (above), and never had any intentions of going with option 1, then I am even more deeply disappointed and disgusted.
1) the feeling that I get is that the new character was envisioned by 'some' of the PTB as a new Major Mitchell, a newbie to the Stargate program, and that Carter would be the team leader. Hence the hints that were given out ahead of time about the new character's initials being 'M.M.' A newbie to the Stargate program, someone fresh for the audience and fans, someone fresh for the writers to create and develop, someone for new fans to learn the Stargate with. Someone fresh and eager, perhaps a bit like Jonas in that respect, but I didn't see them creating a new Jonas - this was a chance to create an entirely new character. And that prospect should have been new and exciting.
2) Someone else (who knows how many) felt that the series either a) would fail with a female leading SG-1, and/or b) would fail without a lead actor with a bigger name than AT, MS or CJ, and/or c) someone decided that it would be cool to have BB as Male Lead of SG-1 to pull Stargate and Farscape together for marketing purposes (perhaps for pulling the fanbases together as well...?)
The character of Cameron Mitchell ended up being a mish-mash of both options 1 & 2. That is, BB was made the new male lead of the show, and his character was written as the new male leader of SG-1. They kept the attributes of his character that had him as a newbie to Stargate travel, while attempting to give his character long-term credibility (as to why he should be accepted as the main hero amongst a team of tried and true heroes) by writing him in as a CMOH-winner who was a squadron leader in the battle of Antarctica (from Lost City, one of the series most successful action-packed and heroic episodes).
They put in scenes where O'Neill symbolically hands over the show to him (when they are flying together and Mitchell takes the front seat and O'Neill takes the back seat). He's the new leader of the team and the show.
They showed him as a Stargate newbie when he 'pets the Stargate'. For a newbie junior member of the team that would have been a perfect scene. For someone who was to be the solid leader of the top SGC team, it simply underscored his ignorance and lack of credibility.
While trying to make him this fun, new, exciting, eager, fresh character that bubbled with enthusiasm and energy... they ended up creating something that just did *not* work for a character that was supposed to be so qualified and competent to lead the flagship team that he was supposed to be a better choice to lead the team than Carter.
At any rate, what I'm trying to say, is that I think Mitchell came out as a mish-mash because the purpose of the character either changed over time, or there was a disagreement in the vision and purpose of the character between various PTB.
For me, personally, I'm glad that Mitchell didn't work for so many viewers. I have nothing against BB, but the fact that the Stargate PTB, whoever they were, decided that Carter should be written out of command was reprehensible. And the fact that there wasn't more of a public outrage at this pisses me off to no end.
I do not remember any other TV series that I was so proud of as I was of Stargate as they approached to beginning of Season 9. It is so rare to get to see the female second of command naturally evolve into the leadership position of something like SG-1. And in Stargate SG-1, it was a natural evolution. The female lead could have had command of the main team of heroes without any major fanfare, without any earth-shattering trumpets or catclysms. It could have been along the line of 'she's a member of the team who happens to be a woman, rather than she is a woman who is a member of the team'. If the series made no big deal out of a 'woman being in charge', then the fact that Carter was female could have been no big deal. And yet it would have. Quietly, without any shouting, it would have made the statement that having a female in charge is OK, and can work just fine, and that no one has to get their 'knickers in a bunch'.
By writing Carter out of command, they did something wrenchingly ugly. Intentionally or not (that doesn't matter), they made a quiet statement that women aren't as appropriate for command and that men are much more suited - both to command of a unit such as SG-1, but also as the leads of action scifi shows.
Frankly, when they wrote Carter out of command, and wrote in a new Alpha Male Lead for the team and the show, I feel that things needed to 'not work'. We need to see that this type of thing isn't right. That it should *not* be validated. Solid ratings would have validated their decision to write the female out of command. Sadly, I'm glad that they did not get that validation.
Note: if all of the PTB always intended to go with option 2 (above), and never had any intentions of going with option 1, then I am even more deeply disappointed and disgusted.
But you know what really insulting, is that they didn't demote her for a more qualified person. In fact they put a far less qualified person in her place. A person who brings zero to the team.
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