The Cam and Vala discussion thread

[Giantevilhead]

The decline of the show was more due to the switch from Showtime to the Sci-Fi channel. When SG-1 was on Showtime, the writers/producers had a lot more freedom, they had long term plans for the show. When SG-1 moved to the Sci-Fi channel, the writers/producers could no longer plan story arcs for the next season since they were no longer sure if they were going to get a next season which lead to less plot and character development and more tightly packed and rushed episodes.

[scoey]

Yes she did. She acted really good for her part. Except she is on a military team. And the last time I checked a military team doesn't consist of a hot girl running around in pigtails doing what the hell she wants disobaying order a will. See my point here. SciFi screwed SG-1 up in that sense. the hardcore fans that tune in every week want to watch a military team step through the gate with our guns shooting at aliens. Not watching a little girl run around in pigtail annoying the hell out of us. Mitch even openly admits he doesn't have control and he doesn't command anybody.

I think you're onto something in this post. I agree with most things you're saying here. I for one am a person who loved watching SG-1 because of the "a military team going to other planets on adventures" aspect of the show. I think back in it's prime(basically seasons 1-8 I guess) SG-1 was a really fun show to watch, and although it had the odd humourous moment/witty comment from O Neill, it never really relied on having main characters whose sole purpose was comic relief, until Vala of course. I can't see what she adds to the show apart from sitcom style cheap laughs, she is not a believable character and even less so because of the setting of the show. Truth be told I think the show was on a steady decline into self parody for a few years with the odd ridiculous plot or "look how funny we are, we should be writing comedy!!" in jokes taking up large parts of episodes. However such episodes were relatively infrequent, so it was ok. With the introduction of Vala however, every episode has a few scenes that are just plain stupid, and clearly just for laughs, which isn't why I watch the show.

On the other hand I don't expect many people here will agree with me, since I doubt the majority of people on the board that brings us the 2251 page "Sam/Jack ship family discussion thread" will share my opinion that the best thing about SG-1 is the adventure aspect, as opposed to melodramatic "who should be sleeping with who" aspects, and a sassy "girl power!" spokeswomen running around making cringeworthy jokes about how attractive she apparently is or whatever. I'm pretty sure there are a few people out there who agree with me though, perhaps the massive number of viewers that have been lost recently leading to the cancellation of the show,perhaps? Then again, they probably left because they lost all hope of seeing the "O Neill and Carter having babies and living hapily ever after" plot come to fruition.

[miju]

I think you're onto something in this post. I agree with most things you're saying here. I for one am a person who loved watching SG-1 because of the "a military team going to other planets on adventures" aspect of the show. I think back in it's prime(basically seasons 1-8 I guess) SG-1 was a really fun show to watch, and although it had the odd humourous moment/witty comment from O Neill, it never really relied on having main characters whose sole purpose was comic relief, until Vala of course. I can't see what she adds to the show apart from sitcom style cheap laughs, she is not a believable character and even less so because of the setting of the show. Truth be told I think the show was on a steady decline into self parody for a few years with the odd ridiculous plot or "look how funny we are, we should be writing comedy!!" in jokes taking up large parts of episodes. However such episodes were relatively infrequent, so it was ok. With the introduction of Vala however, every episode has a few scenes that are just plain stupid, and clearly just for laughs, which isn't why I watch the show.

On the other hand I don't expect many people here will agree with me, since I doubt the majority of people on the board that brings us the 2251 page "Sam/Jack ship family discussion thread" will share my opinion that the best thing about SG-1 is the adventure aspect, as opposed to melodramatic "who should be sleeping with who" aspects, and a sassy "girl power!" spokeswomen running around making cringeworthy jokes about how attractive she apparently is or whatever. I'm pretty sure there are a few people out there who agree with me, perhaps the massive number of viewers that have been lost recently leading to the cancellation of the show,perhaps? Then again, they probably left because they lost all hope of seeing the "O Neill and Carter having babies and living hapily ever after" plot come to fruition.

I agree with many of your points -........I think. But Cam/Vala were the last straw.

[Mitchell82]

All that indicates is bad luck if you ask me. It has nothing to do with them or their acting abilities.

Agreed! I am a little sick of Vala/Cam killed Stargate and the writing was poor etc. The show is great IMO and while some people did not like the new direction or characters but I am not one of them.

[Mitchell82]

remember Rob Cooper himself said he and Brad wright tried to end the show several times S5-7 but it was too successful and it still is IMO

Agreed. The show is still successful and very good story wise and characterwise IMO.

[Metonic]

They didn't do a Cam backstory.... They went from how he almsot died in the lost city to Discovering Avalon all within 5 minutes...

they jumped the gun... oddly enough i liked Landry, Vala, and Mitchell... but, they made him have a close personal connection with people he never met within minutes.... All they had, was His 302 crashed during the fight, saving them... but what about the other ones that did? They made up a connection and that was the problem with Mitchell... They basically took Ben Browder and said your the new O'Niell since Ric left. They didn't give hi ma strong backstory because they assumed Fans would accept him as O'niells replacement... I mean come on, he's just like O'niell.

Vala didn't ruin it at all lol... she brought more comedy to it..
Landry didn't becuase they made him his own seperate General and didn't have him form immediate bonds with SG1 like they tried wit hmitchell... They brought his daughter to the show too quick... maybe instead of having her in 9, they should of had her start in 10, sorta like it took time to convince her to work for her father rather than he gets a new job and BAM shes there.

[dmovies]

i agree that mitchell was/is very badly written and really doesn't belong or provide anything. the Big3 were also wallpapered in his favor, which doesn't help. vala would be good if she was treated correctly. i think they may be symptomatic of the "restarted" show, but i personally believe they had something to do with it. (not necessarily BB and CB of course.)

Yes. The new characters, poor writing, and pushing the 3 original team members into the background ruined the show for me.

[Mitchell82]

Yes. The new characters, poor writing, and pushing the 3 original team members into the background ruined the show for me.

Hmm I don't see it. All the team members still play a big role and the writing is just fine IMO. The new characters are great aswell.

[Watt]

I think you're onto something in this post. I agree with most things you're saying here. I for one am a person who loved watching SG-1 because of the "a military team going to other planets on adventures" aspect of the show. I think back in it's prime(basically seasons 1-8 I guess) SG-1 was a really fun show to watch, and although it had the odd humourous moment/witty comment from O Neill, it never really relied on having main characters whose sole purpose was comic relief, until Vala of course. I can't see what she adds to the show apart from sitcom style cheap laughs, she is not a believable character and even less so because of the setting of the show. Truth be told I think the show was on a steady decline into self parody for a few years with the odd ridiculous plot or "look how funny we are, we should be writing comedy!!" in jokes taking up large parts of episodes. However such episodes were relatively infrequent, so it was ok. With the introduction of Vala however, every episode has a few scenes that are just plain stupid, and clearly just for laughs, which isn't why I watch the show.

On the other hand I don't expect many people here will agree with me, since I doubt the majority of people on the board that brings us the 2251 page "Sam/Jack ship family discussion thread" will share my opinion that the best thing about SG-1 is the adventure aspect, as opposed to melodramatic "who should be sleeping with who" aspects, and a sassy "girl power!" spokeswomen running around making cringeworthy jokes about how attractive she apparently is or whatever. I'm pretty sure there are a few people out there who agree with me though, perhaps the massive number of viewers that have been lost recently leading to the cancellation of the show,perhaps? Then again, they probably left because they lost all hope of seeing the "O Neill and Carter having babies and living hapily ever after" plot come to fruition.

yes it was bad luck that apparently whenever they get together on a series (B/B) that it gets cancelled I wasn't pointing out that they were bad actors simply that I felt bad for them because every time they get together on a series it flops. Black can turn the tears on with a snap of the fingers and thats a admirable actor quality
As to the military thing well if you all read my posts you know it's my pet peeve and lately it's been pretty unprofessional in the SGC. I said as much on the Pro V/D thread (my bad) and got flamed bigtime for it lol (Sigh)
The only comment I will make is that having a little girl princess personality running around out there in pigtails is *Dangerous* for other team members. You need your team to cover all backs and to go racing off doing your own thing can get someone killed real quick.

[Franklyn Blaze]

They should have added an asgard team member, someone funny, charismatic and knowledgeable.

[PG15]

And very expensive.

[Franklyn Blaze]

And very expensive.

Not really they don't have to stick with animatronics, the asgard could run a ship, have a personal cloaking device, be at a remote location and hologram in from time to time.

How expensive can it be compared to two ex farscape actors?

[Farscapefan]

Not this hardcore viewer. I watch for character interactions and cool plot revelations. Whatever military stuff they throw in doesn't interest me in the least.

The same here. Military stuff is boring as hell.

[OberonSky]

May contain spoilers from late season 9 / early season 10

yes it was bad luck that apparently whenever they get together on a series (B/B) that it gets cancelled I wasn't pointing out that they were bad actors simply that I felt bad for them because every time they get together on a series it flops. Black can turn the tears on with a snap of the fingers and thats a admirable actor quality
As to the military thing well if you all read my posts you know it's my pet peeve and lately it's been pretty unprofessional in the SGC. I said as much on the Pro V/D thread (my bad) and got flamed bigtime for it lol (Sigh)
The only comment I will make is that having a little girl princess personality running around out there in pigtails is *Dangerous* for other team members. You need your team to cover all backs and to go racing off doing your own thing can get someone killed real quick.

I agree as well, although I am not fan of "military" shows, SG-1 style military "Hammond/Jack/Sam" was very good and likable. I also watch this show for the adventure, and also for the "friendship" and team work and the nice chemistry between the characters as a professional team. Not for the "relationships/love/marriage" stuff. Meh.

I think BB and CB are great actors but the writing made it hard for them to fit into the Stargate Command. Especially Vala, yes it is absolutely horrible to see Vala running around acting like that, the writers need to "tone" her down and make her more serious .. sure the funny comments are ok now and then but she needs to start taking things seriously, follow the hierarchy of command within the team etc.

Yes, sometimes it could be acceptable for her to act on her own or show initiative like when she flew the ship through the supergate and saved the day kinda (Beach-head episode I think?) In any case, Her character is very good when she is serious, like the look on her eyes during the Ori space battle as she looked on from the space ship window .. or the episode when she was burned alive .. those were great moments for her character ..

I think the writers need to make her mature or act maturely now that her "daughter" is the Orici, if her funny comments/jokes are confined to the first minutes of the show before starting a mission and say at the end of the show after they return safely to the SGC with a rare joke in between could make it better.

I also wish they make her go through some sort of training, bootcamp, if you will, either show it to us or mention it during an episode. Then her attitude would change and start being more mature while maintaining a lighter personality as opposed to Teal'c for example who is usually serious.

I believe the writers need to do this and do it fast to regain some credibility to the team.

As for Col. Mitchel, I was glad they hinted/spoke of how he is not really "in-charge" and how he is having trouble "commanding" the rest of the team .. I wished they expanded on that more and provided a solution, perhaps a meeting with Gen. Landry inwhich he goes over their "recent" missions evaluating them and he points out the chain of command .. something like that.

Now if the writers can pull these two things off PLUS make sure not to make Sam make any more stupid mistakes like give Ba'al sensitive info. again they can restore a LOT to the show.

[KatG]

Did I personally like the Cam/Vala show? Not really. Did they kill SG-1? Not really.

I don't think Skiffy ever had any intention of going beyond S10. All they wanted was to be able to say that they held the record for the longest running US SciFi show.

If they had cared about ratings, about quality, about anything other than a "title", they would have ended SG-1 with S8. Started Stargate Command new and fresh, with maybe one or two characters brought over from SG-1, either as regulars or recurring, bring in new people and tell new stories and change the focus. Most people would probably have given it a chance.

I gave S9 a chance. I watched it first viewing, but have only watched a handful of them twice. The new characters don't grab me. The new storyline doesn't grab me. The new "tech" that allows them to get out of trouble easily, doesn't grab me. This is not Stargate SG-1, it's Stargate Command under the guise of Stargate SG-1.

For those of you who say that "military" is boring, it is a military show. Yes they take some license, but it's still military. Little girls in pigtails running amok don't work in the military. Little boys playing soldier Rambo style don't work either.

As for RDA if he's so "unimportant", why did it take 3 new characters to replace his one? Sounds like he was pretty important to me.