The Cam and Vala discussion thread

[KatG]

No more so than saying that Vala/Cam DID kill stargate is an opinion. Anyways, I think my 'opinion' is closer to the truth in this matter.

Well I think my opinion that Vala/Cam helped kill the show is closer to the truth in this matter so it must be so.

[DEM]

Well I think my opinion that Vala/Cam helped kill the show is closer to the truth in this matter so it must be so.

You're all wrong! It is my opinion -- whatever that opinion may be at any given moment -- that is L A W !


... and right now I say that Wanda killed SG-1, and Wanda must pay!

[scarimor]

truth is relative.

and the truth of the matter is, no one thing killed stargate. rather a symphony of events.

There were a lot of contributing factors

Okay, I confess... I did it. It were me. *maniacal laugh*

[KatG]

You're all wrong! It is my opinion -- whatever that opinion may be at any given moment -- that is L A W !


... and right now I say that Wanda killed SG-1, and Wanda must pay!

Well I think you're wrong, so there.

It was magnets.

[Seastallion]

[Skydiver]

see, i thought it was all my fault. at least that's what i've been hearing.

even though i am not on digital cable, i dont' tivo, i dont' fill out a ratings book, i don't live in a metered market (basically i don't contribute to teh ratings in the slightest) yet i've been told that since i'm not 10000000000% squeeingly fangirlishly drooling over every single aspect of the show, well then it just MUST be all my fault and that the

lack of promotion
unpopular characters
bad writing
bad stories
cheesy sfx
competition
lack of interest

had absolutely nothing to do with it

[KatG]

Okay. Since we're being honest here, it's my fault. All that TIVOing I've been doing killed the show.

*giggles*

[DEM]

Nope. It was El Niño.

[AGateFan]

Nope. It was El Niño.

Annoyed Furlings did it.

Teach TBTP to make fun of them.

[Nolamom]

Nope, it was puppets...Puppets with magnets!

[DEM]

Aurora Borealis did it, that sneak!

[esoap524]

I couldnt agree more, Cam as part of the team dynamic - is what was needed! And i said in my post - its not how much screen time he had, but what they did with it.

I agree that the Cam screen time was badly used. I don't know if Vala "works" a little better because she latched onto Daniel, or because the character is so brash, or if it's Claudia or what. I do know that both Ben and Claudia, based on their Farscape days, are very good actors, certainly as capable as any of the others on the show.

I've been mulling this one over and I can't figure out what they did wrong with Mitchell. I almost think that building the faux backstory with his involvement in rescuing Sg1 did him in. It was like they were trying too hard to make him part of the team. Maybe with Vala, the point was that she was NOT part of the team so we weren't forced to like her--none of the team cared for her much and their annoyance was the audience's...

(.....for the record, I LIKE Vala for exactly the reasons a lot of people hate her...)

I'm more comfortable with Mitchell now, especially his nicely platonic relationship with Sam, but that's because we've seen them get to know each other--it wasn't forced on the audience.

Still, I've said it before. They didn't kill SG1. It's interesting that people don't seem to be talking about how SGA isn't faring all that much better, ratings-wise, which goes back to the proposition that canceling SG1 is really about the age/cost, vs the show itself--SGA isn't vastly outperforming its predecessor but it probably doesn't cost as much to produce.

And, weird as this is for me to "say", I'm gonna miss it when it's gone.

[suse]

Nope. It was El Niño.

Nope. 'Twas La Niña.

Suse :the somewhat computer newb::
how the heck do you get the tilda(sp?) in there?

ETA: I just used cut and paste...

[Skydiver]

I've been mulling this one over and I can't figure out what they did wrong with Mitchell. I almost think that building the faux backstory with his involvement in rescuing Sg1 did him in. It was like they were trying too hard to make him part of the team. Maybe with Vala, the point was that she was NOT part of the team so we weren't forced to like her--none of the team cared for her much and their annoyance was the audience's...

.

i think that's a lot of it. in s9, they really didn't SHOW him doing anything great. they TOLD us, ad nauseum, how great and fantastic he was. what a great guy he was, how much everyone liked him, how admired he was, how super he was, etc, etc, etc, etc

but they didn't SHOW it.

Now, i'm a born cynic. But the harder you push someone at me, the more i step back and go 'dude, why are you trying the hard sell? exactly what are you covering up and hoping i wont' see???'

for me, and i'm guessing for many others, the harder cam was pushed at us, the harder we pushed back and said 'no thanks'

maybe, if they'd have let up on the hard sell, not tried to hard to make us like him, more would have liked him.

what are some of cam's biggest crits?

the OTT cmoh.
his rank coupled with his youth
the 'sam's his buddy' idea
the 'any job you want' admiration from jack
the almost hero worship on part of walter and the others on how great he is

mix this with cam's 'lt colonel goofball' enthusiasm and you have an untenable mixture. you have someone acting goofy to appeal to the youth that we're also being told is a respected and qualified leader

In their efforts to make him appealing to the 'reckless hero' image while at the same time sell us on how great and fantastic and qualified he was, they made him a conundrum. He was an oxymoron. (military intelligence, jumbo shrimp, etc)

cam was a living contradiction and with all his qualities cancelling each other out, cam was left flat and cliche...because the cliched writing is all he had to fall back on

[ToasterOnFire]

I think it was because they mentioned Dr. Phil last ep. SciFi could handle the Simpsons and the dig at Cheney, but that cultural reference just went WAY too far. Dr. Phil??!!

Either that or pirates. It all comes down to pirates.