S10: Critique & Contemplation

[jckfan55]

All we need is for the shark to be a better jumper than Carp Leader... <<evil grin>>

suse

Cambo Mitchell, Carp Leader

has a certain ring to it, doesn't it

SGC=Stargate Carp
SGC=Some Gorgeous Carp

Cam: SG Carp leader to base, come in base.
Sam (thinking) see, they'd never get me to actually say that.

[Arga]

Hey, I've heard earlier on the news about a boy who was a very good driver-learner with his dad, but when he took the car for the first time alone, he crashed. (no serious injury though).


good analogy, i thought...
it made me think of Cooper in the role of this boy.
Good "student" when being monitored, but when having the reins, is crazy and drive the car to the wall...

[AGateFan]

~!@#$%^&*()_

I think I have discovered a sickness the attacks the minds of all writers who write sci-fi long enough. That is the only way I can explain the continual use of the superbaby plot. I mean it’s not like it hasn’t been done. It’s not like the writers can’t see how it destroys the shows that came before. Yet they all gravitate toward it.

Maybe its the last great challenge for a sci-fi writer.... you know you did all the other clichés, you check them off on your resume one after another and then you get to it...you get to the dreaded "bring baby onto show without killing the show" cliché.

So far Voyager was the only one that managed it (of course they didn’t go the superbaby rout just normal baby). Then they felt embolden and decided to try a superbaby with the children Borg. However I think they sensed the oncoming doom and zig zaged out of it with a "we found your family, here you go kids, get off our ship"...sweet. They kept Echeb but he was not particularly pushy and mostly they ignored his existence (which is how kids should be treated ).

Oh well so we know TPTB killed SG-1 with it (well in all honesty they had the show well on its way to destruction before S10). Now they are trying it again with Atlantis. Can JM pull it off where RCC failed miserably? Do they have a bet on it you think? Some kind of ice cream treats for Joe if he doesn’t get the show cancelled by early season 5? Only time (and the tell all book to come with the super duper, extra special, blue ray version 16, complete collectors set of SG-1 [movies not included] that you all must rush out and buy) will tell.

[ReganX]

I think I have discovered a sickness the attacks the minds of all writers who write sci-fi long enough. That is the only way I can explain the continual use of the superbaby plot. I mean it’s not like it hasn’t been done. It’s not like the writers can’t see how it destroys the shows that came before. Yet they all gravitate toward it.

The superbaby plot seems to be all but inevitable in some cases; if an actress playing a lead role becomes pregnant, that show's PTB have some difficult choices to make.

Firstly, they need to determine whether or not they can get away with not bringing the pregnancy into the storyline. Can they get around it with creative shooting or by having the character disappear for a while? If they can get away with not bringing in the pregnancy, all well and good, but if not, they have to decide where to go from there.

If the character is pregnant, they need to explain how. They can pair the pregnant character off with another character, give her an offscreen relationship/fling or they can go with the "miracle pregnancy" storyline. The last option allows them to not pair the character off with anyone, and means that they don't have to upset those among the fans who would dislike the pairing.

Once the character is pregnant, it's only a matter of time before they have a baby to deal with. Babies can be difficult to work with, and story-wise, difficult to protect when the going gets rough. Rapidly aging the baby means that they don't have to deal with tiny actors and their stage parents.

As well as that, there is the moth to the flame thing - "miracle baby growing up very fast to be the bad guy" seems to be quite a popular angle, probably because of the angst for the parent.

So far Voyager was the only one that managed it (of course they didn’t go the superbaby rout just normal baby). Then they felt embolden and decided to try a superbaby with the children Borg. However I think they sensed the oncoming doom and zig zaged out of it with a "we found your family, here you go kids, get off our ship"...sweet. They kept Echeb but he was not particularly pushy and mostly they ignored his existence (which is how kids should be treated ).

I think that the reason Voyager managed with Naomi was because her mother wasn't one of the main characters, and so she could be kept safely offscreen and only used on occasion. Most episodes, you'd never know that there was a kid on the ship. With the Borg kids, I think they did well - although they did seem to decide against keeping the baby; she seemed to disappear into thin air - and, with the exception of Icheb, they seemed like normal, albeit very bright kids, but because their connection was with one of the main characters (Seven) it was going to be harder to keep them out of sight and out of mind.

If the show had continued for another year, then Miral Paris could have become a problem.

Stargate could get away with having Janet adopt Cassie. If Sam, or any of the members of SG-1, had adopted her, then she would have to have played a more prominent part, and would have been mentioned more frequently.

[silly sally]

<snip>

Stargate could get away with having Janet adopt Cassie. If Sam, or any of the members of SG-1, had adopted her, then she would have to have played a more prominent part, and would have been mentioned more frequently.

For the last 3-4 years Cassie is basically Sam's daughter and she's not mentioned very much, nor was she on screen. I was very surprised there weren't more Sam/Janet scenes in 'Ripple Effect' and Cassie wasn't mentioned at all

[Jackie]

cassie was dropped and forgotten after Janet died. They had Janet adopt the kid to bring her back once in a while but then...Cassie who? Along with...jonas who? Kathrine who? .... just baggage.

The only character that was introed on sg-1 that got his own series was mckay...and when they intro'd him I never thought that character would get his own series.

Loved it when Sam told him to go suck a lemon!

[ReganX]

For the last 3-4 years Cassie is basically Sam's daughter and she's not mentioned very much, nor was she on screen. I was very surprised there weren't more Sam/Janet scenes in 'Ripple Effect' and Cassie wasn't mentioned at all

Cassie is an adult now; she should be about 22. Chances are, she's at college and has been since Season Eight, so she doesn't need to be mentioned. If Sam became her guardian after Janet's death, it wouldn't have been long before she came of age.

If Janet had died when Cassie was a child, it might have been a different story.

[Nolamom]

Cassie fell into one of the grand plotholes when she wasn't at teh memorial service for Janet

[jckfan55]

I'm really hoping on Atlantis that it turns out to be "whoops, turns out the baby is completely normal after all."

[ReganX]

I'm really hoping on Atlantis that it turns out to be "whoops, turns out the baby is completely normal after all."

I agree. They'll also be better off if they keep the child offscreen as much as possible. They should find a nanny if they have to.

I'd hate to see Atlantis fall into the same kind of pit as "Charmed" did when Wyatt was born; because of concerns about having a baby exposed to danger, he ended up being made pretty much the most powerful magical being in the world, and that became a major plot point more than once over the next three seasons.

A baby or toddler saving the day once is bad enough. Making a habit of it is awful.

[scifithinker]

And we thought Wesley was bad on TNG.

[jckfan55]

Whenever they give a person too much power or ships (beaming anyone?) too much power they tend to either write themselves into a box where everything then relates to that power or it's an easy "get out of jail free card." Then things become dull. One of the things about S9 & 10 is that even while coming up with a so called "bigger and badder enemy," things came across as old hat to the characters.

[ReganX]

Whenever they give a person too much power or ships (beaming anyone?) too much power they tend to either write themselves into a box where everything then relates to that power or it's an easy "get out of jail free card." Then things become dull. One of the things about S9 & 10 is that even while coming up with a so called "bigger and badder enemy," things came across as old hat to the characters.

It's one reason I'm glad that they didn't develop Sam's Goa'uld abilities, or fall into the trap of using Jolinar's memories to let her become an expert on everything under the sun.

[ReganX]

And we thought Wesley was bad on TNG.

I remember the first time I saw the episode where he was made an "acting ensign" so that he could work on the bridge. It was quite some time before I could bring myself to watch another episode.

I was worried that the same thing would happen with Naomi Wildman or Icheb, but thankfully they never hit Wesley's level of annoying save-the-dayism.

[Skydiver]

you will notice that once gene roddenberry was out of control of TNG, wesley crusher went bye-bye, permnantly.

Rumor has it that GR liked the character and Wesley was his marty stu, thus even the producers that knew it wans't the best thing in the world to do kinda had their hands tied.

Once they were free from whatever control GR had, Wes took the quick road to nowheresville