The Cam and Vala discussion thread

[ReganX]

but, but, but, then there wouldn't have been teh fanboy fantasy of the little marty stu that could

What a tragedy that would have been.

[ParadoxRealities]

I don’t know what the set-up for “Stargate Command” was to be, so I can’t say whether or not Mitchell as he was written would have made sense as a leader there but since they were continuing with “Stargate SG-1”, what matters is whether he fit with SG-1’s established history and I would have to say that he didn’t.

With Vala, given the circumstances of her first encounter with people from the SGC, it defies belief that anyone would trust her as far as they could throw her.

Look at the first episode of Season Nine:

You've just joined a large-ish advertising company as a junior agent. you've been out of college for five years, and have worked at several smaller companies. you did very well there and have proved your worth. as the years go by, you learn from your superiors and eventually become marketing director. finally, a huge project you've been working on for eight years is finally finished, and you agree to be moved oversees to help supervise another project.
the director of creative enterprises from a sister company was brought in to take your place. he bugs you to come back, despite you moving on and being transferred. eventually it's discovered that you're needed more at home, and you come back. the creative director claims he got you back, and you are assigned to work jointly with him as an equal. he has no experience, no knowledge of the employees, clients, or protocols, has very few credentials, and makes many "newbie" mistakes that you aren't allowed to call him on, because he supposedly ranks higher in the company.
To top it all off, a con artist that stole several million dollars from your company, and took your friend hostage (he were later recovered unharmed) is brought on because of her knowledge of the marketing environment. She is assigned to your team and given free run.

does that make sense to anyone?

[suse]

You've just joined a large-ish advertising company as a junior agent. you've been out of college for five years, and have worked at several smaller companies. you did very well there and have proved your worth. as the years go by, you learn from your superiors and eventually become marketing director. finally, a huge project you've been working on for eight years is finally finished, and you agree to be moved oversees to help supervise another project.
the director of creative enterprises from a sister company was brought in to take your place. he bugs you to come back, despite you moving on and being transferred. eventually it's discovered that you're needed more at home, and you come back. the creative director claims he got you back, and you are assigned to work jointly with him as an equal. he has no experience, no knowledge of the employees, clients, or protocols, has very few credentials, and makes many "newbie" mistakes that you aren't allowed to call him on, because he supposedly ranks higher in the company.
To top it all off, a con artist that stole several million dollars from your company, and took your friend hostage (he were later recovered unharmed) is brought on because of her knowledge of the marketing environment. She is assigned to your team and given free run.

does that make sense to anyone?

Sounds suspiciously like S9, but without people trying to kill you. And of course the 'co-leader' running off into dangerous situations from which he needs to be rescued.

Boggles the mind.

suse

[diversky]

With Jonas in Season Six, they were only bringing in one new major character and so could take the the time and effort to do it properly.

They could have, but didn't for reasons I'll never figure out.

Anyway, building up Vala and Mitchell at the expense of the established cast was the final nail in the coffin, AFAIC.

[Rac80]

It was "filthy lucre" that killed it pure and simple! $$$$$$$$$$$$

Remember:

Spoiler:

the love of money is the root of all evil!

[AGateFan]

It was "filthy lucre" that killed it pure and simple! $$$$$$$$$$$$

Remember:

Spoiler:

the love of money is the root of all evil!

If it wasnt for the desire to make money Stargate SG-1 would never have existed in the first place and certainly wouldnt have been renewed year after year to "milk" the franchise for every cent.

If money is evil and stargate is the spawn of money then stargate is evil. Nice.

[scarimor]

It was "filthy lucre" that killed it pure and simple! $$$$$$$$$$$$

Remember:

Spoiler:

the love of money is the root of all evil!

[343_Guilty_Spark]

actually they wanted to kill of SG1 at the End of Season 7 but decided not to. so i dont think it was money that did it. and anyway we got the Films to look forward to.

[AGateFan]

actually they wanted to kill of SG1 at the End of Season 7 but decided not to. so i dont think it was money that did it. and anyway we got the Films to look forward to.

Yes, money did indeed keep it alive though S8. S9 and S10. Then they realized that the TV show was not as lucrative and shut it down. They will try to make some money with the movies. How many movies you get depends entirely on how much money they make.

So Money saved Stargate the TV show for a few years. Of course IMHO money also killed Stargate because if they didnt beleive they could milk more money out of it (which was actually a belief I shared after the high ratings in S8) then we wouldnt have gotten the poorly written S9-S10 which has delt the franchise a deadly blow that it may never be able to recover from.

[tsiper]

There is a lot more to the cancellation than two characters on SG-1. Did Cam and Vala bring down the ratings of SGA, which are almost as low as SG-1? Of course not. Did Cam and Vala bring down the ratings of the Monday night reruns so that Scifi pulled them out of the schedule? Of course not. Did Cam and Vala bring down the ratings of SG-1 in syndication? Of course not.

Did the high ratings of S9, which included Cam and Vala, cause the show to be renewed last year? Yep!

Bottom line -- there's no way these two characters can be blamed for all of the trouble the franchise is having. And you can't ignore the fact that they were around during Season 9 when TPTB were very excited about how well the show was doing and were able to write a cliffhanger into the Season 9 finale because the show was renewed early enough to do so.

Personally, I think they're the reason SG-1 lasted another two seasons. It could've ended at Season 8, and it didn't.

Excactly I totaly agree with you They have been awesome aditions and Ben Browder as Cam is the only person in the world that could of filled RDA's Boots!!!!!! He has the same since of humor and can pull off the same attitude that Jack O'Niell always had. I think those characters are awesome and The entire SG-1 cast rocks and it is and always will be the best show on TV. I think the problem lies with the Sci FI channel The really lame wrestlling and Ghost Hunters and junk like that. Get back to sci fi not hyper violent wrestling.

[majorsal]

Which is why, I think that she really only shows character growth when she is away from Daniel. But I think S9's portrayal of her ruined the character for me. Some things are just too hard to get over and forget.

s9 ruined the show for me. the ptb devalued litereally everthing that i cherished about this show. in one season. death by a thousand cuts.




sally

[Hubble]

Excactly I totaly agree with you They have been awesome aditions and Ben Browder as Cam is the only person in the world that could of filled RDA's Boots!!!!!! He has the same since of humor and can pull off the same attitude that Jack O'Niell always had. I think those characters are awesome and The entire SG-1 cast rocks and it is and always will be the best show on TV. I think the problem lies with the Sci FI channel The really lame wrestlling and Ghost Hunters and junk like that. Get back to sci fi not hyper violent wrestling.

When I first heard Ben was going to be on Stargate, my feeling was that if anyone was going to try to fill RDA's boots, Ben was one of the best possible actors to take up the challenge. After watching for a few weeks, though, I realized that Cameron Mitchell could never ever even begin to fill Jack O'Neill's boots and the major part of that had to do with the writing. Cameron Mitchell isn't, and never will be comparable to Jack O'Neill, IMO.

John Crichton, though...I would have loved to have seen a crossover with O'Neill and Crichton.

[ParadoxRealities]

It was "filthy lucre" that killed it pure and simple! $$$$$$$$$$$$

Remember:

Spoiler:

the love of money is the root of all evil!

it's also the root of all capitalism.

[dec55]

Judging from the show so far....they really put these guys up front...
It would appear having Cam and Vala was the major plan to keep
the show going. It definitely made sense with the popularity of
Farscape. Frankly I would think the 2 to 3 million viewers of both shows
would have made a difference in the viewership. Not to mention Stargate is very popular with the US military folks....

I dunno what happend..... can only guess....

Maybe the movies can change things.... The show as I recall was doing great in season 9...at
least they were getting close to 2 million viewers as I recall.

[ParadoxRealities]

Judging from the show so far....they really put these guys up front...
It would appear having Cam and Vala was the major plan to keep
the show going.

i agree...though i don't understand the "we'll fix it 'til it's broke" mentality.

It definitely made sense with the popularity of
Farscape. Frankly I would think the 2 to 3 million viewers of both shows
would have made a difference in the viewership. Not to mention Stargate is very popular with the US military folks....

remember though, that some (x number of) of viewers could have already been watching SG-1. others may not have followed CB/BB. and, anecdotally, there are some that dislike SG-1 despite BB and CB. also anecdotally, some military (related) personnel have also become...disgusted...with "Stargate Command".

Maybe the movies can change things.... The show as I recall was doing great in season 9...at
least they were getting close to 2 million viewers as I recall.

s8 cleared 2 million by a good 300 thousand. s9 averaged at 2 million, give or take. and s10, probably the most accurate (though not great) judge of the movies, is currently at roughly 1.5 million.