The Cam and Vala discussion thread

[Skydiver]

I'm probably not the best person to answer this question, because I don't understand why Shep is head of military AND leads the prominent team offworld on dangerous missions. Gene shmene, how often is his super ability needed anyway, especially when gene-transfected ability seems to work just as well?

Perhaps a similar analogy to the whole Sam/Cam leadership fiasco would be if Jewel Strait comes onto Atlantis next season, has no gene or experience with gates or the like, and takes Shep's head spot on the team while he's offscreen for several eps. Shep comes back, rejoins the team as an ambigious co-leader of sorts, and neither he nor anyone else on the team takes issue with it or even talks about it.

Yeah, that would cause a bit of an uproar.

i'd hope it'd cause an uproar too...however, given the male dominated attitude of the writers, i think netu would freeze before a female will replace the lead male of the show

not going by their track record thus far

[Skydiver]

TPTB never convinced me that Cam is the best of the best to lead SG1 when there are doubtless others out there more qualified. As such, I have a hard time with his character and subsequently with season 9.

especially after having met the likenesses of colonel Makepeace (pre sog), colonel reynolds, colonel dixon...dude, MAJOR LORNE has more leadership potential than cam does, and is a far more believable air force officer than cam

[ReganX]

i'd hope it'd cause an uproar too...however, given the male dominated attitude of the writers, i think netu would freeze before a female will replace the lead male of the show

not going by their track record thus far

What if they decided that they needed a younger character to appeal to the young male demographic and brought in some newbie at least a decade Sheppard's junior and, while Sheppard was away for a week, put him in charge?

Given that TPTB put inexperienced Mitchell in command of SG-1 ahead of a long list of more deserving candidates, I wouldn't put it past them to bring in a twenty-something who had somehow managed to reach the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

[esoap524]

We celebrate Festives in our house.
I grew up in NYC and Seinfeld was like old home week

It's festivus for the rest of us!

I love Seinfeld. I'm glad there's a fellow fan out there.

And, really, sometimes this thread does make me want to scream "Serenity now!"

I think Vala should make a Seinfeld reference, the way she referenced "The Xfiles" in "Memento Mori".

"First you cry...then you. Cry again."

[Skydiver]

i don't see that happening with atlantis. they have enough characters that htey can simply juggle them around rather than addiing another to the mix

however, i do think that the other characters they'd focus on would not be one of the ladies....and definitely would not be teyla. ronon, in his 10 episodes (or is it 30? my seasons are mixing up) has gotten more development than teyla has who's been there from the beginning

[ReganX]

i don't see that happening with atlantis. they have enough characters that htey can simply juggle them around rather than addiing another to the mix

however, i do think that the other characters they'd focus on would not be one of the ladies....and definitely would not be teyla. ronon, in his 10 episodes (or is it 30? my seasons are mixing up) has gotten more development than teyla has who's been there from the beginning

The writers definitely seem to pick and choose their favourites and concentrate on them rather than at least trying to ensure that each character is given a roughly equal part in the storyline and continuing development - granted, the writers don't bear full responsibility, the show runner should be prodding them in the right direction and, if none of the writers can come up with anything for one or more of the main characters, replacing at least some of them with new writers who can.

[scifithinker]

Now things are starting to make sense, and they even had their own furling too

BARF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that's a reaction lol.
I just don't get why you posted it.

space balls...the 'furling', the character Barf, the spaceballs version of chewbacca????

Whew, glad you explained that, I thought I was going to have clean off my shoes

And here I thought it was because Sky had to merge so many Furling threads.
-----------------------------------------------

I have read many posts in this thread since I was here last night. I would only like to add that it is very possible to have a doctorate in linguistics or astrophysics in the US at age 24. You don't even have to skip grades to do it...

Graduate from high school at 17, college at 21, finish three year doctoral program or masters/doctoral program at 24. And Daniel wouldn't even have to take another three years to do a second doctorate.

I suspect we would have a whole lot more PhDs in their mid20s running around if it weren't so dangblasted expensive. Not to mention BAs and BSs.

For you non-Americans in the crowd, PhD stands for Doctor of Philosopy, which is almost any doctorate except for a Medical Doctor (MD). BA stands for Bachelor of Arts, and BS stands for Bachelors of Science, the typical university degrees/diplomas. Unlike in some countries, Americans generally have to pay for tuition and living expenses while completing any of these degrees. It can get extremely expensive.

[Zoser]

Uhm... just when I clicked the submit button with my original response, the evil mods have taken this thread to HOUSEKEEPING

I just want to say that it is realistic. And you as you said "ex enemy", but the good question is was Vala really an enemy in Prometheus Unbound episode? Did she kill anybody? The girl just needed a ship to trade... c'mon.

Plus, we don't know how much time passed between the events in Flesh and Blood episode and Morpheus. It could have been weeks, month, 2 months... If you remember Morpheus episode, Vala is on the probation period on SGC, she's not SG-1 member. It's taking SOME TIME. She's not SG-1 member in Pegasus Project, not in Insiders, not in etc., etc., etc, until... BTW, what is the reason for us (humans) to be such the ungrateful *******s if you think that saving the galaxy is not enough to accept Vala on the team?

Why does Vala want to be on SG-1?
You would think with her experience she would have a more successful life on another planet.

[Zoser]

Another fan here. Sadly S9 and S10 could easily be MST'd.

I wish someone would do it & get it on youtube.

[dipsofjazz]

Why does Vala want to be on SG-1?
You would think with her experience she would have a more successful life on another planet.

If the boys at Bridge has been sticking to canon, Vala should have been thrown in the brig after the things she did in PU. They could have occasionally brought her out for some info, but she should have remained in the brig. End of story!
How she ended up running around the SCC, never mind becoming a member of SG-1, will forever make me wonder.

[Skydiver]

Why does Vala want to be on SG-1?
You would think with her experience she would have a more successful life on another planet.

it would certainly be more profitable

[Zoser]

But to be fair, didn't people have a lot to say about 26 year old Michael Shanks and 28 year old Amanda Tapping being PHds and all that stuff at their age? Or even if AT was closer to 30 at the time, she still looked very young.

And, for that matter, Gillian Anderson playing a medical doctor and FBI agent when she was 24 and looked 24?

Or Jennifer Garner playing an early 20s college student who happened to be a super spy?

TV has always stretched it when it comes to age and abilities. I think Mitchell's apparent youthfulness is the least of the problems on which to fixate.

I understand the debate is over someone's profile but still...there's been a lot about Mitchell's youthfulness as well, which should be flattering to BB since he's turning 44 next month.

See...I returned to frakking thread yet again!

I don't think this is absurd. My husband had a 12 year old in his classes in community college and his mother was holding him back. He was off to reg college to finish up degree in engineering at 15.

[ReganX]

Why does Vala want to be on SG-1?
You would think with her experience she would have a more successful life on another planet.

Spoiler:

Adria would have worked as a reason, or maybe Vala, after seeing firsthand what life was like for the Ori followers, felt bad for them and wanted to help them but the writers haven't made it seem that way, not to me at any rate - her "So, when do I get one of these SG-1 badges?" in "Morpheus" seemed more like something Mitchell would have said and her comments about the "loot" they would get suggests that she didn't even fully comprehend the work of the team she wanted to join.

To be honest, I think a lack of care on TPTB's parts has done Vala a lot of harm as a character. She had the potential to be a great character, a serious one with purpose and depth but one who also had a sense of humour. Instead, she has been used for silly jokes - like the hairdryer in "The Quest, Part 1", far too often. It's a shame. CB strikes me as a very talented actress, who could do a lot more with Vala if she had better material to work with.

[Zoser]

and that's what it all comes back to.

the show needed more characters. it really did. and it needed them before rda left quite frankly. the debacle of daniel/jonas/daniel should have showed them that. the actors were all getting a bit burned out and tired and anyone that was paying attention could realize that they were all hankering for some off-time and a real life.

it's not THAT they were added. It's how, and that how comes back to the writing.

the writers did a very poor job of developing them (and i use that word very, very loosely). they did a poor job of writing them, of introducing them, of maintianing them.

It's like these writers, who had a full house of puppies, just grabbed two more and tossed them into the fray and turned away to brag 'look, ain't they cooottteeeee!!!' when what they shoudl have done is taken a little care, a little respect, a little reverance and made sure that everyone got along before they just walked away and left for the weekend...and then wondered why the puppies got in fights and chewed on the furniture

would the show have lasted forever? no. it was already old and nearing its end, but coop mishandled the show from the first second he was handed the reins in s7, and his mishandling and the miswriting of cam and vala finished putting the nails in the coffin

had it been handled correctly, stargate sill woulda ended, but instead of a disgraceful 'the ratings sucked and it died' it woulda ended like mash...the show was at an end and it could go out while it was still on a good note

After Heroes I & II I was anxious to see other teams and how they responded to Gate travel and related experiences (loved Dixon & company). This would have been a more interesting Stargate Command and given the veterans a little breathing room.

[Skydiver]

yes, actually.

Stargate Command could have started in s8, and used Heroes as a bit of a pilot.

even if they didn't go for a full fledged 22 other teams, just focus on sg13 here and there. they go on missions with sg1, dixon leads sg1 when rda needed time off. write joint missions and split up the 7 of them, explore with all the permutations eventually leading to an episode which was mostly sg13, very little sg1

slowly develop sg13 then, when rda decided to leave for good, you have a ready made replacement and back up for sg1

the opportunity was there, but was ignored, like so very many others