S10: Critique & Contemplation

[Uber]

I have to ask - has anyone else seen the photos for quest part 2 and was I the only one that laughed out loud when looking at those ridiculous photos? (you will either know what I mean or not - my guess is most of you will know what I mean when you see them).

It saddens me to be so embarrassed for those on this show after they put so much effort into it for so many years to see it cheapened to such a rag-tag bunch of sci-fi cliches. Looks like part 2 of season 10 won't be much worth my time either since it seems to start out on such an inauspicious foot.

know what the dragon reminds me of??

i watched King King this weekend, the peter jackson version.

and i know why it was such a mediocre return at the box office

the original story was just retreaded, no new angle on it. there was way too much of an emphasis on the cgi and sfx, not a whole heck of a lot on the characters and...it reminded me of the three most recent star wars movies, where lucas focused on wowing the audience with graphics and effects and kinda forgot that if the story was thin or lame, all the effects in the world couldn't keep peoples' attention.

I gotta remmber to stock up on booze before the premiere, cause it looks like this one is best viewed through a veil of rum

LOL--reminds me of that country song: "Billy's got his beer goggles on."

You know...I'm not a drinker...but after seeing the spoiler pictures and what I'll have to endure...

Well, let's just say for the first time in my life...I'm giving it some major consideration.

[Skydiver]

if you dont' do booze, chocolate is a good substitute

[RealmOfX]

I went away for a couple of days and you guys get chatty all of a sudden
*invokes multiquote*
pages of posts later
*why did I tag that post??*
*shrugs and throws 'em out*

What a shame that they couldn't see that maybe, just maybe an interesting character would be a better fit that a stereotype.

Major Mitchell would have been able to carve out a role for himself in the show. Lt Colonel Mitchell was crammed into Jack's former role, despite the fact that the job had been taken, and the show was mutated around him.

Now he's been dumped by the wayside in favour of the "bad girl with a heart of gold" cliché.

I get the impression* that RCC thinks that having Mitchell so upbeat makes him not a stereotype Yeah, aint it cool that we have this really unprofessional greenie in the top job (off world) who is just a happy super upbeat guy!!

Guess the reason no one ever has thought to put a caricature like Mitchell in the top slot before is NOT because they weren't innovative or wanted to be different BUT because they were smart enough to know a bad move when they saw it

* from S9 DVD extras

It shows how poor a character Mitchell is if he is deemed so weak that he must be protected from comparison against other, stronger and better written characters next to whom he will end up looking like a poor relation.

Imagine if RDA's five episodes had all been on SG-1 and all involved a substantial role - do you see Mitchell comparing favourably next to Jack?

Since Sam's return, has the fact that she commanded SG-1 before Mitchell showed up ever been mentioned? Not to the best of my recollection, not even when Mitchell was complaining that he couldn't give orders to anyone on SG-1.

Instead of having Sam, Daniel or Teal'c fill Mitchell (and the audience) in on pre-Season Nine events, that role frequently falls to Mitchell. Apparently it is unthinkable to remind viewers that SG-1 did exist, and do extremely well, before Mitchell ever showed up, without including Mitchell by having him refer to the events in question.

Having Mitchell be the one to explain everything by virtue of him having read every report seems to be considered a preferable course of action.

I would love to have one of the other characters say "I know what happened on P-Whatever, I was there. I wrote the mission report you read."

I'd love to hear a snark or two like that but we won't get it because that would mean them acknowledging that maybe they made a mistake!!

I was really happy when I heard RDA was back for 5 eps. Then majorly bummed when 3 of them were on Atlantis (though I did think that The Return Part 2 showed a touch of classic Jack ) my first thoughts were "Damn!! they know they can't let Jack near a caricature like Mitchell because Mitch will suffer seriously in the comparison"

What they needed to do was bring back Daniel's girlfriend who was host to Osiris instead of Vala at the beginning of season 9. They could then have had a character meant to interact with Daniel with a distinct personality that could have logically helped bring about the Ori storyline. The character could have been rather psychologically screwed up, but brought in because she had memories of something related to the Ori due to her being Anubis' general. They could have even recast Claudia Black in that role instead othe original actress and then had a more solid foundation for the relationship with Daniel and a storyline that flowed much better rather than appeared to be totally made up out of nowhere to advance the plot.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, they do know that these complaints exist and that they are correct. They addressed it in the episode "200" by choosing to make fun of the complaints and essentially said that they didn't give a damn.

Now that is one cool idea!!

I do have a problem with her being an unrepentant criminal that is allowed to walk around the SGC. If as Sky says there was something under the surface. If she was sorry for her past and really wanted to make things right and be apart of something bigger then her. If she was willing to take responsibility for her actions. If she acted like an adult. (it is possible to be an ADULT and still have a since of humor... oh and FYI to TPTB spewing sexual induendo all the time is pretty much the freaking opposite of being an adult). If these things had taken place she would have made a good recurring character. Maybe after a period of time of proving herself she could have even been brought in as a full time character. But the character as conceived and now written does NOT FIT the cannon of Stargate SG-1. She makes no freaking sense in comparison to how people were treated in previous seasons. Cam is just as bad. Landry is just a little better, but not much. Lam was horrible. Ori are horrible. What exactly did they do right with this "new show". Nothing.

I have a major problem with Cam and Vala being on the SG-1 team. It could of worked if TPTB made them fit previously established canon, they chose to dismantle everything and dumb it down (to me writing to the Lowest Common Denominator IS dumbing it down) and then act surprised when about a third of the audience leaves and others still watching becomes vocal about disliking the changes.

I realise that not everything is going to appeal to everyone and making changes is fraught with diffculties. HOWEVER I do expect them to live up to their own previous standards - that's not unreasonable is it?

I'm sure others here have already mentioned this, but I had to smirk when I was watching the "10 Years" special of SG-1. Brad Wright just kept saying how he saw and recognized the "legs" the concept had in terms of longevity because of the Stargate, the portal that is such an amazing way to tell stories. Yet so many fans, no matter what or whom our preferences are, have noticed that the Stargate is MIA.

The irony is almost as sad as it is funny, but the way Wright kept mentioning that HE saw the potential is what made me laugh. I expect more from people with such foresight, I suppose.

Recently spotted in the Lost and Found section of the paper

Lost - 1 giant round artifact that spins and requires multiple geniuses to figure how to make it work. Required urgently back at secret military base.

yeah, and neither did 1/3of their viewers when they turned off the set

You can't please everyone all the time. it's impossible and you're nuts to try. all you can hope to do is to please most of them most of the time.

but when doing what YOU want is more important than doing what will be popularly received - which is kinda what you need to do to make a tv show - then dont' be surprised when the show fails

the average person has 50-100 channels of tv to watch at any given time. If it's boring, i change the channel. And so has a lot of other people

I guess the saddest thing is, even if the franchise may have a bunch of life left to it, as long as these boys keep retreading the same stories and making the same decisions, anything else they have thier hands on will fail too.

*sulks*
I only get the choice of 5 channels!!

When you have a device that can take you to a myriad of destinations in various galaxies then one would think that you couldn't run out of new ideas, wouldn't one.

Unfortunately unless someone gives TPTB a serious wakeup call *hey people put the 4x2's down!!* they are in danger of killing the franchise.

That was the impression I got while they were rubbing our noses in it.

Me too

I thought that was in S8--the famous Sam shows she knows how to use a fax machine scene.

You know if I didn't know how good SG1 *could be* I'm sure I wouldn't be so bothered by the state of affairs in S9 & 10. It would just be a typical so-so scifi adventure show--good for wasting a little time on a weekend afternoon.

I was rewatching some S1 cast interviews & RDA and DDS both talked about how this was a show about *people* and how they deal with extraordinary situations and new worlds etc. I know over the course of years, some things are going to change. But IMHO some of the wrong things changed.

I get the impression that the current PTB simply do not understand what made SG-1 special (seeing as they have removed all those aspects) and worthy of watching.

I have asked the same thing and have long believed this is one of the problems that TPTKSG-1 have. I have read quite a number of times by numerous members on both sides of the camera that they do not watch the final, as aired, episodes. I believe this is one of the things wrong. They (including the actors) go through life with their rose colored SG-1 (ooopss make that SGC) glasses on thinking what fun and frivolity it is since they seem to have fun making the show but at the end of the day -- cliche and caricature riddled mediocrtiy comes out on screen and they don't seem to realize it - or refuse to acknowledge it.

With actors, I can see reasons for and against watching the completed stuff. However, for those on the other side of the camera I can see no reason for them not to watch the completed item.

On a recent excursion through JM's blog I found a bit about all the excuses reasons why he doesn't watch the finished product (yes, I do believe they read various forums). The biggest thing that came accross to me was that all the reasons that were put forward were the EXACT same reasons of why he SHOULD WATCH the finished product. I think sparing 1 hour per week for quality control is a necessity. Watch an episode as the viewer sees it several weeks after you put it together and it will help get your objectivity back when you are not bogged down involved in the day to day grind of producing it. Try it you might find it helpful

Seriously, I think the current PTB have a very big problem with wearing too many caps (having multiple positions). To me they are making a mess of it and aren't showing enough objectivity and maturity to be able to make the calls when switching caps.

BTW it is possible to hold multiple positions and do it well.

[RealmOfX]

I have to ask - has anyone else seen the photos for quest part 2 and was I the only one that laughed out loud when looking at those ridiculous photos? (you will either know what I mean or not - my guess is most of you will know what I mean when you see them).

It saddens me to be so embarrassed for those on this show after they put so much effort into it for so many years to see it cheapened to such a rag-tag bunch of sci-fi cliches. Looks like part 2 of season 10 won't be much worth my time either since it seems to start out on such an inauspicious foot.

*Off I went to check 'em out*

Uh Oh. Does that look like what I think it does??

Spoiler:

Head grabby thingey.

Can someone translate the German for me (pretty please ) The translation I came up with from a german/English dictionary is atrocious

Spoiler:

Nachdem der Heilige Gral sich nur als Hologram herausgestellt hat, entdeckt das Team, worum es wirklich ging: eine Antiker Wissensdatenbank. Daniel lädt das Wissen in sein Gehirn, woraufhin der Wettlauf mit der Zeit beginnt.

Looking at those pics I had a rather not nice thought about that first part of the "cliff hanger" - I really have forgotten most of it, thrilling it certainly was not! Sigh, I guess I'll have to rewatch it before seeing part 2

[suse]

Or Baldrick's.

::blank look::

suse

[DEM]

Can someone translate the German for me (pretty please ) The translation I came up with from a german/English dictionary is atrocious

Spoiler:

Nachdem der Heilige Gral sich nur als Hologram herausgestellt hat, entdeckt das Team, worum es wirklich ging: eine Antiker Wissensdatenbank. Daniel lädt das Wissen in sein Gehirn, woraufhin der Wettlauf mit der Zeit beginnt.

Spoiler:

After the Holy Grail was revealed to be only a Hologram, the team discovered that which it really sought: an Ancient Knowledge Repository. Daniel downloads the knowledge into his brain, whereupon the race against time begins.

[ReganX]

::blank look::

suse

Blackadder character renowned for his lack of hygeine.

BLACKADDER: Baldrick, when did you last change your trousers?
BALDRICK: I have never changed my trousers.
BLACKADDER: Thank you. You see, the ancient Greeks, Sir, wrote in legend of a terrible container in which all the evils of the world were trapped. How prophetic they were. All they got wrong was the name. They called it "Pandora's Box," when, of course, they meant "Baldrick's Trousers."
BALDRICK: It certainly can get a bit whiffy, there's no doubt about that!
BLACKADDER: We are told that, when the box was opened, the whole world turned to darkness because of Pandora's fatal curiosity. I charge you now, Baldrick: for the good of all mankind, never allow curiosity to lead you to open your trousers. Nothing of interest lies therein.

If Seasons Nine and Ten are pants, they are his.

[ReganX]

Spoiler:

After the Holy Grail was revealed to be only a Hologram, the team discovered that which it really sought: an Ancient Knowledge Repository. Daniel downloads the knowledge into his brain, whereupon the race against time begins.

That sounds strangely familiar...

[Jackie]

if you dont' do booze, chocolate is a good substitute

loaded chocolate is good too!

The dragon pics are not really a dragon but a Wivern. A similar creature used in mythology that only has two legs. Dragons are supposed to be serpant like with four legs.

I know from reading interviews with other actors that many of them don't like to watch themselves on TV. But that's silly because of their line of work would require it.

I think that it is safe to say that the actors don't go out of thier way to see the series after it is finished because they are propbably sick of it after reading the same lines all day long. Acting is very repetitve.

Part one of "the Quest" wasn't all that great to begin with. Part two doesn't look like a show stopper either.

Spoiler:

Why would Daniel put his head in the hand grabber thing? First he still has the ascended knowledge locked away in his brain--the replicators tried to get it from him. Brings me to another question. The replicators asked him if he knew why he went by the name Arron when he was ascended. They never even answered thier own question. I also thought you had to have the ancient gene to operate the device. Daniel doesn't have it.

it appears that part 2 doesn't follow the rules set forth by the show in previous eps.

[Skydiver]

they don't even have to spare an hour of time at home...they have the edited broadcast masters at the studio. take a look at jonas' or daniel's shelves sometimes. see those tan colored 'books'...they're really the episodes. they store them on the set and use them to fill the shelves.

[Skydiver]

That sounds strangely familiar...

why come up with something new, lets just keep retreading the past

and let me guess

quest 2 spoilers

Spoiler:

only vala will be able to understand daniel, so she'll attach herself closer to him to stay with him as he goes all ancient while sam worries in the corner and cam and teal'c search for the cure for daniel

[ReganX]

Spoiler:

Why would Daniel put his head in the hand grabber thing? First he still has the ascended knowledge locked away in his brain--the replicators tried to get it from him. Brings me to another question. The replicators asked him if he knew why he went by the name Arron when he was ascended. They never even answered thier own question. I also thought you had to have the ancient gene to operate the device. Daniel doesn't have it.

it appears that part 2 doesn't follow the rules set forth by the show in previous eps.

Spoiler:

Given that somebody seems determined to push Daniel as the hero of the show, perhaps he is being given the Ancient gene to emphasise this - even though it is very unlikely that he has it, as he would surely have used it as another reason why he should be allowed to go to Atlantis.

[AGateFan]

I am sure he wont need a translator as he has ascended and is by virture of S9-S10 superior to that O'Neill guy in every way shape and forum. After all Vala likes him, so he must be great.


/above was bitter sarcasm

[LaCroix]

loaded chocolate is good too!

The dragon pics are not really a dragon but a Wivern. A similar creature used in mythology that only has two legs. Dragons are supposed to be serpant like with four legs.

I know from reading interviews with other actors that many of them don't like to watch themselves on TV. But that's silly because of their line of work would require it.

I think that it is safe to say that the actors don't go out of thier way to see the series after it is finished because they are propbably sick of it after reading the same lines all day long. Acting is very repetitve.

Part one of "the Quest" wasn't all that great to begin with. Part two doesn't look like a show stopper either.

Spoiler:

Why would Daniel put his head in the hand grabber thing? First he still has the ascended knowledge locked away in his brain--the replicators tried to get it from him. Brings me to another question. The replicators asked him if he knew why he went by the name Arron when he was ascended. They never even answered thier own question. I also thought you had to have the ancient gene to operate the device. Daniel doesn't have it.

it appears that part 2 doesn't follow the rules set forth by the show in previous eps.

Yes it seem that logic has flown out the window with this upcoming episode.
If I recall correctly didn't one episode have this line

Spoiler:

Jack: And who does the translating, when you go Ancient? The Lost City Pt 1.

[ReganX]

Yes it seem that logic has flown out the window with this upcoming episode.
If I recall correctly didn't one episode have this line

Spoiler:

Jack: And who does the translating, when you go Ancient? The Lost City Pt 1.

Spoiler:

Maybe SuperDaniel and his superbrain will be able to handle the upload without any problems.