S10: Critique & Contemplation

[HPMom]

As for Vala herself..I like Vala, but there's one condition: I like her either serious (some episodes in season 10) or self-centred, egoistical and competent (season 9). I absolutely hate "girlie comic relief" from most of season 10. And I hate even more that she got a place on the team. IMO Vala could have been a great recurring character, an uneasy ally/villain with her own agenda, sort of like Maybourne That would have been interesting to see

Well put! This is exactly how I see it. I actually liked the episode "Prometheus Unbound". If they had kept that vibe to the relationship between she and D it would have been okay. She teased flirtatiously and he never took it seriously. I guess I'm glad for the D/V shippers, but many of us who love Daniel find it kind of offensive that they would pair him with someone like that and make him act so completely different than his usual personality. And the absolute worst move ever in SG1 writing is putting Vala on the team. I'm not really a S/J shipper, but I can see why people are intrigued by the pairing and they don't have to completely change S and J to make them a believable couple.

[Allie_Kreek]

Well put! This is exactly how I see it. I actually liked the episode "Prometheus Unbound". If they had kept that vibe to the relationship between she and D it would have been okay. She teased flirtatiously and he never took it seriously. I guess I'm glad for the D/V shippers, but many of us who love Daniel find it kind of offensive that they would pair him with someone like that and make him act so completely different than his usual personality. And the absolute worst move ever in SG1 writing is putting Vala on the team. I'm not really a S/J shipper, but I can see why people are intrigued by the pairing and they don't have to completely change S and J to make them a believable couple.

I really hated it when they made Vala the typical space barbie! Twirling her hair and eating a lollypop, what the...??? Plus I was against them putting her on the team! But at the same time there were some really lovely moments with Vala where CB's acting was absolutely amazing but then it would shift back to annoying Vala. I would also have been happy for her to be a re-occuring character, having her there all the time was irritating. Plus, maybe the D/V ship would have worked out much better if she were a re-occuring character and they weren't forced to write Daniel so OoC all the time.

[Ashizuri]

Well put! This is exactly how I see it. I actually liked the episode "Prometheus Unbound". If they had kept that vibe to the relationship between she and D it would have been okay. She teased flirtatiously and he never took it seriously. I guess I'm glad for the D/V shippers, but many of us who love Daniel find it kind of offensive that they would pair him with someone like that and make him act so completely different than his usual personality. And the absolute worst move ever in SG1 writing is putting Vala on the team. I'm not really a S/J shipper, but I can see why people are intrigued by the pairing and they don't have to completely change S and J to make them a believable couple.

With the exception of a few times where I thought one of them stepped out of character (Sam everytime, which only confirms my belief that the writers of this show can't handle writing real women) this is why Sam/Jack works for me. I don't ship them, but I don't mind it.

I have an absolutely knee-jerk reaction to Daniel/Vala. I can't watch it. I get too much of a child-bride feel. Vala is not Daniel's equal. Not emotionally, not in terms of maturity. She might have been had the writers not completely torn down and destroyed the Vala of PU and season 9 and let her evolve naturally from there into a somewhat softer character who still had PU Vala's grit and drive. Instead they gave us a Vala who takes hair dryers on missions and complains about broken nails and with all the naquadah she asked for still couldn't scrounge up a decent alkesh.

I want to like Vala. I really do. I like when she's with Tomin. His character brings out a Vala that I would have been happy with. A strong Vala who is true to herself and the original character while being able to be sympathetic towards others. I liked the blink-and-you'll-miss-it Sam/Vala friendship.

For me, the worst thing that ever happened to Daniel and Vala was Daniel and Vala.

[jasminaGo]

As a shipper I have to say, I liked the way Sam/Jack was handled. They were acting like mature adults, professionals who knew what was appropriate, and acted accordingly. Daniel and Vala acted too much like kids for my taste. She likes him, but he doesn't pay that kind of attention to her, so she'll embarrass him in front of his friends. He likes her, but won't admit it, so he pulls on her pigtails all the time. *sigh*

I did love the S/V friendship. When it was natural and not so flashy. The scene at the beginning of Family Ties, I find it to be very OoC for Sam, but it was put there to fit Vala. Cause I really don't see Sam parading around the base in skin tight dress, high heals and shopping bags.

One scene I really did like was in The Quest I, after they pass the time field, SG1 walks away from the camera. Vala gives Sam a small pat on the back, and Sam turns to her and smiles. It looked so natural and I really loved it. Which makes me think it was something added by CB and AT during filming and the writers had nothing to do with it.

[jckfan55]

I did love the S/V friendship. When it was natural and not so flashy. The scene at the beginning of Family Ties, I find it to be very OoC for Sam, but it was put there to fit Vala. Cause I really don't see Sam parading around the base in skin tight dress, high heals and shopping bags.

One scene I really did like was in The Quest I, after they pass the time field, SG1 walks away from the camera. Vala gives Sam a small pat on the back, and Sam turns to her and smiles. It looked so natural and I really loved it. Which makes me think it was something added by CB and AT during filming and the writers had nothing to do with it.

I agree. The pat on the back was natural. You could see it happening. The shopping thing? shudder
Apparently the guys think women only bond over shopping Not to mention that as you say, I don't see Sam showing up at work in that outfit.

[suse]

On the other hand, I always objected to Daniel's manhandling of Vala. I would have preferred to see a serious discussion to get her under control, so to speak. Maybe even with Sam.
One thing I liked about Trio in Atlantis was Sam's ability to stop Rodney in mid-ramble with a simple "Rodney." If we actually saw Sam & Vala have a serious discussion about why she acted the way she did (perhaps a defense mechanism) and how she didn't need to do that anymore--then Sam could stop her when she got that way by a mere look or a "Vala." AT's very good at the significant look.
Of course then we wouldn't have had the "fun" of Daniel/Vala.

And that's so out of character for Daniel. There's also a scene when Daniel had Merlin's knowledge downloaded into his brain, Vala was worried and told Cam to tell Daniel he didn't have to do it. Cam manhandles Vala in that scene. The whole thing is ridiculous.

Of course he does. Perhaps they look enough alike that we would just accept that because Daniel could do it Cam could also.

Oh, please. Serious discussion between two people who actually have a very tramatic event in common? Perish the thought!! Besides, Vala was "sexy" and "fun" the way she was -even though they had to tone her down to become <<gag>> a member of the team because the S9 Vala just didn't work for every week. Too little too late, fellas.

suse

[Allie_Kreek]

Of course he does. Perhaps they look enough alike that we would just accept that because Daniel could do it Cam could also.

Oh, please. Serious discussion between two people who actually have a very tramatic event in common? Perish the thought!! Besides, Vala was "sexy" and "fun" the way she was -even though they had to tone her down to become <<gag>> a member of the team because the S9 Vala just didn't work for every week. Too little too late, fellas.

suse

lol. God forbid we have two female characters that aren't stereotypical space tramps.

Seeing as we are talking about out of character moments I just thought I'd mention the interesting discussion about Sam's OoC actions in Ripple Effect over on the S/J appreciation thread. They have some interesting points...

[VSS]

lol. God forbid we have two female characters that aren't stereotypical space tramps.

Seeing as we are talking about out of character moments I just thought I'd mention the interesting discussion about Sam's OoC actions in Ripple Effect over on the S/J appreciation thread. They have some interesting points...

Haha. yes, we do. I got a little too steamed and had to come over here just to calm down.

[jckfan55]

Seeing as we are talking about out of character moments I just thought I'd mention the interesting discussion about Sam's OoC actions in Ripple Effect over on the S/J appreciation thread. They have some interesting points...

Which are those? I thought her almost kissing Martouf came out of nowhere & I'm not a shipper.

[VSS]

Which are those? I thought her almost kissing Martouf came out of nowhere & I'm not a shipper.

You're right. Sam, AFAIK, never had romantic feelings for Martouf until The Ripple Effect. I guess they got tired of not having anyone on the show to ship her with.

[Allie_Kreek]

You're right. Sam, AFAIK, never had romantic feelings for Martouf until The Ripple Effect. I guess they got tired of not having anyone on the show to ship her with.

I'm still freaked out by the idea of Sam/Teal'c. I don't care how long they were stuck on that ship, it would never have happened! Never...

[Petra]

I'll join the chorus here. I went "what the..?!" at the almost-kiss with Martouf. It's one of the main reasons I dislike "Ripple Effect" so much. It's one of the few things I clearly remeber about this episode (saw it just once, it put me off too much to ever bother watching again), but I've seen here on the forum a lot of people talk that Sam was "clearly" shipped with both Cam and Daniel. Is this true? I honestly don't remember.

As for Sam/Teal'c..again, I saw Unending just once but I don't remeber noticing anything beyond Sam/Teal'c friendship. Actually I was more surprised by Sam's tears over Landry. I found out about supposed S/T ship here on the forum, and quite recently too. As far as I'm concerned it's just Amanda stating her personal opinion, which of course is influenced by her personal friendship with Chris. However I don't regard it as equally important to what I saw on screen, and that was - nothing.

[major davis]

I thought the ori are not that scary, plus i don't really think that unending was that great

[leiasky]

I agree. The pat on the back was natural. You could see it happening. The shopping thing? shudder
Apparently the guys think women only bond over shopping Not to mention that as you say, I don't see Sam showing up at work in that outfit.

Ditto for me. I wish Amanda had put her foot down and complained it would be out of character for Sam to do it. She's too professional on base, and that scene just screamed out of character for me.

I loved the episode Vala showed up in. Prometheus Unbound? If they'd kept her character like that and evolved her slowly from there, I'd have been perfectly happy. But as someone else mentioned, she became 'space barbie' and it just turned me off to her character.

[leiasky]

You're right. Sam, AFAIK, never had romantic feelings for Martouf until The Ripple Effect. I guess they got tired of not having anyone on the show to ship her with.

Yeah, that killed an otherwise interesting episode for me. Well, that and NO mention at ALL of where Jack was in all those teams that came through . . . A few hints, Sam and Martouf didn't last because she's with someone else . . . Sam on maternity leave (or was it honeymoon?).

There's too many unbelievable things in 9 and 10 that just further reinforce my belief that it was because the exec producers (MG and RDA) that held the reins on believability were gone.