The Cam and Vala discussion thread

[smurf]

LOl--no, it's the writer's fault for not making him interesting. It's not Ben's fault--he was very interesting and engaging in Farscape, but, then again, his character was complexly written. As was every other character ever brought on board. Love 'em or hate 'em--they were interesting

It can be done.

I don't believe Ben (the actor) was mentioned in the post you quoted.
Cam (the character) was though.

[The Ori]

TheWriting in general killed the show, and the writing of Vala and Cam has killed the show as well!!

[Skydiver]

i do agree with you on that. ben and claudia - and the others - are doing the best they can. it's not their fault that the writers are on 'cliched write by the numbers' game

the actors are just the victims of the writers' hubris

[ReganX]

I don't believe Ben (the actor) was mentioned in the post you quoted.
Cam (the character) was though.

The actors aren't the focus of the poll, the characters are. I don't think anybody's been blaming BB or CB.

[ShardsofGlass]

LOl--no, it's the writer's fault for not making him interesting. It's not Ben's fault--he was very interesting and engaging in Farscape, but, then again, his character was complexly written. As was every other character ever brought on board. Love 'em or hate 'em--they were interesting

It can be done.

I think Mitchell is very interesting. No surprise there. No, he's not tied to the Ori storyline in a personal way, but neither is Sam. But I find Mitchell a very engaging and likeable character. I like his enthusiasm and humor and his earnestness. I like that he genuinely likes and appreciates everyone on the team. It would help if the writers would give him more meat in the storylines, but then most of the fans on this thread would probably hate it, so not sure how they can develop a character without giving him/her more storylines.

[Trek_Girl42]

Definitly 4, 5, and 6. I love Cam and Vala, and I loved season nine (and will hopefully love season ten). I thought season nine was a massive improvement over season eight.

[majorsal]

I think Mitchell is very interesting. No surprise there. No, he's not tied to the Ori storyline in a personal way, but neither is Sam. But I find Mitchell a very engaging and likeable character. I like his enthusiasm and humor and his earnestness. I like that he genuinely likes and appreciates everyone on the team. It would help if the writers would give him more meat in the storylines, but then most of the fans on this thread would probably hate it, so not sure how they can develop a character without giving him/her more storylines.

i like mitchell more than vala. at least he fits in with the sgc program, and i've appreciated the writers (and ben?) toning him down and making him a more believable character to actually work at the sgc. all they had to do with mitchell is tone him down, with vala, it's almost an entire personality transplate.

you know, i'm almost almost tempted on watching some ben/john centric farspace eps, just so i can 'really' see what this guy can do.





sally

[smurf]

The actors aren't the focus of the poll, the characters are. I don't think anybody's been blaming BB or CB.

Yep, so true. No-one is blaming the actors. I just thought it bears repeating since the original poster didn't mention the actor at all, but the reply did as if the original post was about the actor.

Unless BB's real name is actually Cam Mitchell.

[esoap524]

i like mitchell more than vala. at least he fits in with the sgc program, and i've appreciated the writers (and ben?) toning him down and making him a more believable character to actually work at the sgc. all they had to do with mitchell is tone him down, with vala, it's almost an entire personality transplate.

you know, i'm almost almost tempted on watching some ben/john centric farspace eps, just so i can 'really' see what this guy can do.


sally

Uh-oh...hmm. Just about every episode features John, given that the show is seen thru his eyes.

Some of his best: Die, Me Dichotomy (cliffhanger, season 2), Dog With Two Bones (season 3 cliffhanger), Nerve (season 1, episode 19, I think), Infinite Possibilities, parts 1 & 2 (season 3, mid season or so). Those also have some heavy duty Claudia Black stuff; usually Ben's "heavy" stuff involves her character. All the episodes are pretty serious.

Sorry...just had to throw in the ol' Farscape plug for Ben. I'd send 'em to you if I had extras. Even watching FS music videos, you can see what he has going on. And there are some really good vids out there.

[smurf]

I think Mitchell is very interesting. No surprise there. No, he's not tied to the Ori storyline in a personal way, but neither is Sam. But I find Mitchell a very engaging and likeable character. I like his enthusiasm and humor and his earnestness. I like that he genuinely likes and appreciates everyone on the team. It would help if the writers would give him more meat in the storylines, but then most of the fans on this thread would probably hate it, so not sure how they can develop a character without giving him/her more storylines.

I think it was a major mistake of the writers not to have tied him into the Ori storyline in some way - should have gone with Daniel and Vala in my opinion. It keeps him separate from the mythology of the whole show. It doesn't harm Sam as much because she has the history with the goa'uld/NID/etc., but with Cam having no personal stake he could be the guest star of the week for all his impact into the dynamics of the storyline.

It doesn't help either that his meatier storylines/episodes generally keeps him separate from the team and the overall arc. I wouldn't have minded something more substantial right at the start of season 9 when he needed to make a good impression, but it had to have been something he experiences in relation to the team. Even looking ahead, the next Mitchell-centric episode (Bounty) is unrelated to the overall arc, and separates him from the team, and any development connecting him to Stargate mythology.

[esoap524]

I don't believe Ben (the actor) was mentioned in the post you quoted.
Cam (the character) was though.

My bad. I didn't mean to impugn Ben Browder in any way

[ShardsofGlass]

If anyone truly wants to see Ben's range, and catch my personal favorite Farscape ep, I recommend Won't Get Fooled Again. His character really goes through hell in that ep, but in a weird, trippy Farscape way. And there's one scene with Crichton and his mom that always blows me away.

And I agree about tying Mitchell into the main arcs of the show. THat would've helped bring some focus to his character.

But you know what's really weird to me? Mitchell, technically is perhaps the most important new character on the show. He replaced RDA and he's the lead. Yet, it often feels to me like the writers are treating him like an afterthought.

Like when the second half of S9 came, they went, "Oh, gee, haven't we done anything with Mitchell yet? We haven't? Weird. Well, let's see. Who is he again? What kind of personality does he have? Oh, we haven't really established that yet? Weird. Well, let's try __. That didn't work? I don't know then. How about ___?"

[esoap524]

If anyone truly wants to see Ben's range, and catch my personal favorite Farscape ep, I recommend Won't Get Fooled Again. His character really goes through hell in that ep, but in a weird, trippy Farscape way. And there's one scene with Crichton and his mom that always blows me away.

And I agree about tying Mitchell into the main arcs of the show. THat would've helped bring some focus to his character.

But you know what's really weird to me? Mitchell, technically is perhaps the most important new character on the show. He replaced RDA and he's the lead. Yet, it often feels to me like the writers are treating him like an afterthought.

Like when the second half of S9 came, they went, "Oh, gee, haven't we done anything with Mitchell yet? We haven't? Weird. Well, let's see. Who is he again? What kind of personality does he have? Oh, we haven't really established that yet? Weird. Well, let's try __. That didn't work? I don't know then. How about ___?"

Ooh, totally forgot about that episode. Good recommendation but it might be too weirdly trippy for people not accustomed to that sort of thing.

Of course, Farscape is trippy in general.

I think where Mitchell has suffered, say in comparison to Vala, is that they didn't tie him in or attach him to an existing character. I liked Mitchell early on with his "attachment" to Teal'c. Yet, it seemed when Mitchell was going thru more personal emotional issues, none of the team were to be found. And that was a bit off-putting because it didn't tie him to anyone. At least Vala had Daniel, which gave her an attachment to someone already in the story arc.

You're right--it was like they left Mitchell to flounder around; ironically, I think there was less of Mitchell after Vala left.

[Skydiver]

like someone said. mitchell has no connection to any of the enemies thus far

teal'c has the jaffa
vala has adria
daniel has vala/ancients
sam has the lucian alliance

cam????? cam's still just along for the ride.

[ShardsofGlass]

Well, after tonight's ep,

Spoiler:

it looks like Mitchell has an enemy in the Lucien Alliance.