The main Atlantis characters...

[siXbrownSnakes2]

This is a bit of a rant, in a sense. I love the Atlantis show, it was done very well in every department except character development. I'll explain.

I rewatched Seasons 1-3 of Stargate SG-1 on DVD in the 3 weeks before it started, and I'm telling you, the characters on SG-1 were so much better. Maybe it's the actors? Maybe it's the fact that the Atlantis characters haven't had many chances to shine. Obviously SG-1 had a movie in which it could relate to, for 2 of the characters. Sam and Teal'c were excellent additions to the main cast and they all proved to bring an extra dimension to the team.

Atlantis? Let's look at our team:
Shep, Mckay, Ronon, and Teyla.

Mckay, in my opinion, is a great character. A little whiney, and I'll get to that in a minute. The rest of the characters? To me, theyre dummies that are there to spit out lines to further support our space battles. I love space battles, but when the characters have nothing to do with it I get a little annoyed.

There were SO MANY episodes in Seasons 1 and 2 of SG-1 where the characters got a chance to be developed. And now I'm just going to compare a little bit and show you what I mean. Both pilots were good, but immediately in Season 1 we got Jack background in "Cold Lazarus". Teal'c backstory in "Bloodlines", and "Hathor" and "Singularity" were extremely good episodes for Sam in terms of development. There was hardly ANYTHING in Atlantis that justifies for Character-oriented episodes as opposed to big space battles and pointlessness. All I've seen in Atlantis are Mckay oriented episodes where and half the time hes being annoying/whiny.

There were tons of other SG-1 episodes in S2 that went into the characters heavily, ITLOD, Gamekeeper, Need, Family, Secrets. SG-1 brought us entertaining stories and characters with depth.

Why do I feel that Atlantis can't do the same?

I don't want this to be a 4 page post, so I'll end it here ><

[mckaysgirl]

I think part of it was that there was so much to establish being in a different galaxy and all. I do agree that they need more character background but it sounds like we're getting that this season.

[Robert Rogers]

You forgot to mention Wier. On purpose or is she so shallow to you that you don't even see her? I'm Getting my sg1 season 1 disc 1 in tomorrow!

[siXbrownSnakes2]

I like Weir, she had some development in Lost City so I think she's a well established character. The scenes between her and Landry in "No Man's Land" really made me like her even more.

And on that note, in 1 year General Landry seems deeper of a character than Teyla. (Ronon too, but its not fair to mention him)

One thing I really liked about SG-1 was that I really got that they *cared* for each other... they all related to each other very well.. as there was no "ship" back then, the Sam/Jack 'hug' in "Fire and Water" seems to have been overlooked, all the scenes between the characters in any certain episode, just those small things that bring out the characters to the audience.

[Atlantis1]

I think part of it was that there was so much to establish being in a different galaxy and all. I do agree that they need more character background but it sounds like we're getting that this season.

I agree with this. Also I feel like SG-1 technically hade the movie to help establish it and some of its characters.

[Ltcolshepjumper]

Well, we will see Ronon and Mckay background this year. Maybe Sheppard background as well. We've seen a little Weir background but they could do more than just her personal life. We also need to see a lot more of teyla's background. Since we already got a dose of Mckay's background in Sg-1, at least his childhood, Im not too worried about his. Neither am I too interested in Ronon's. But Teyla, Weir and Sheppard seem like they could have very interesting backgrounds.

[muddyalcapones]

I really didn't notice it much until this topic made me look back on it, but you're right, there weren't those good and nessicary background eps. for the Atlantis cast. They got thrust into a world of super-enimies and space battles that would have been better suited for a 4th or 5th season. But I suppose that's the price you pay when you enter the universe of a well established franchise where fans aren't willing to sit through a whole season of character development like they did for SG-1. Good Topic, made me think. Green for you!

[siXbrownSnakes2]

Hehe thanks

I think that's one of the revelations thats making it harder to write good stories for Stargate. Although in SG-1 we're back in the same ethic position as we were in S1, we know 100x more about the universe and there isn't much point in going through the gate just to see what's on the other side, as now the Ori are much more of a pressing threat.

For Atlantis, the same goes... we have so much more knowledge about what's going on. This is the reason that I didn't like the Daedalus showing up so soon. I wish they could have just found a ZPM in Pegasus (which in reality would have given us a real Season 8 finale ) and that the Prometheus/Odyssey/Daedalus didnt get intergalactic-capable hyperdrives. This would have still allowed us to make contact with Earth... but keep the essense of "Stargate" intact.

I guess I'm being a little too hard on Season 1 of Atlantis, we did get some good stuff, but we only had 20 episodes as opposed to SG-1's 22, and there had to be an episode about settleing in the city with the Athosians... and there was still some good stuff in Home, Hot Zone, and Before I Sleep, however we didn't really get character centric episodes and I don't feel that the Atlantis team has bonded like the SG-1 team did.

However S2 was utter crap in terms of development compared to SG-1's S2, Trinity, Aurora and GUP being the only episodes I can think of (all Mckay episodes btw).

I just finished rewatching the SG-1 episode "Solitudes". What Sam said to Jack about Sara was something the Atlantis show can't do--I doubt the characters even know about each other's families.

[maxbo]

I also used the SGA break to watch Seasons 1 and 2 of SG-1 and was very disappointed to see how much more developed the SG-1 characters were compared to the SGA characters. Although I enjoyed SGA Season 1 much more than SGA Season 2, even S1's character development couldn't match SG-1's Season 1 character development. I was looking forward to seeing SGA build on the foundations laid in Season 1, but for so reason TPTB went in a different direction and gave us something that was less than satisfying.

I realize that SG-1 had the advantage of having some characters established earlier in the movie, but that doesn't explain why characters that weren't in the movie, like Teal'c and Sam, were also better developed than the SGA characters after just 2 seasons.

One thing that struck me about S1/S2 of SG-1 is that there was a sense of balance, which is lacking in SGA. Although Jack and Daniel were the stars, they weren't showcased at Teal'c and Sam's expense. Also, the pairings while on missions weren't predictable, unlike SGA in Season 2, especially. Conflict was also handled in a more interesting manner in that although the Stargate members were close, they weren't turned into watered down versions of themselves as the series went on to prove how well they had bonded. Despite their care and respect for each other, each character remained true to his/herself and didn't hesitate to disagree when necessary.

And, Hammond had a surprisingly large role compared to what I had remembered from when I watched SG-1 years ago. He got the chance to interact with everyone so that it wasn't odd that he would risk his life, if necessary, to help SG-1. There was a sense of team in S1/S2 of SG-1 that SGA doesn't have yet and that's odd considering that SGA was stranded for the first year.

I've just started Season 3 of SG-1 and so far, so good. Now, I'm just hoping that Season 3 of SGA gets back on track.

[Willow'sCat]

One thing I really liked about SG-1 was that I really got that they *cared* for each other... they all related to each other very well.. as there was no "ship" back then, the Sam/Jack 'hug' in "Fire and Water" seems to have been overlooked, all the scenes between the characters in any certain episode, just those small things that bring out the characters to the audience.

I agree with this, and even Robert Cooper (or was it Brad?) made reference to it in his interview on GW early this year. He basically called them on the fact that Atlantis didn't have good Team building episodes, he said they were looking at correcting that this season.

I also agree with you on the development or lack thereof, there seems so little personal interaction between the characters that doesn't involve them in peril. SG-1 excels at the candid moment without immediate peril but for some odd reason the same writers can't do that for SGA?

I also agree McKay has been too whiny lately and I am tiring of it being his thing to whine.

[Mikaeru]

I think that the worse thing about the character development in SGA is the fact that they have some foundations to work on already and they don't use it. I mean like how Telya knows how to manage Mckay. I really think she knows how to control him, or at lest speak his "language" (not science wise, but appeal to his ego while steering him back on track) better than anyone else on the show. There are really great building blocks for these character, but they just haven't had anything built on them. It's really frustrating, because these character have really great potential to be a really close-nit team like SG1.

Personally I would love an episode with flashbacks of Telya and her father, I mean the man obviously is a major influence on who she is today.

Eek, I can't believe I finally posted... There goes my lurker membership card ^^;

[Helo]

McKay is definatly well developed, not to mention David Hewlett is argueably the best actor on the show.

Spoiler:

With David Hewletts sister appearing in a episode I can only assume she will be McKays sister so that should be some more background.

Ronon is new so im not going to go to crazy about that, and we know a few tidbits about his homeworld and a good amount about his past as a runner. Plus im sure we will get more soon.

Shep has plently, air force pilot, I cant remember the name of the episode but the one where he met his dead old air force friends, that had some good background.

Teyla. We know a good bit about her people and a few things about her childhood but there is a lot of potential and things to be expanded on.

Ford had a lot of potential, in my opinion was definatly removed way to soon.

And about Weir, she has plently of background and development, I especially liked when Wier was fighting with her husband about the expedition.

Overall most of the characters need a decent amount of development, and acting wise, they are all doing a fine job, remeber its hard to act in a role when you dont exactly have a complete character.So I definatly respect the job everyone is doing.

[Willow'sCat]

McKay is definatly well developed, not to mention David Hewlett is argueably the best actor on the show.

Spoiler:

With David Hewletts sister appearing in a episode I can only assume she will be McKays sister so that should be some more background.

Well McKay did to some extent have a head start as he came from the SG-1 verse anyway, and is still played by David Hewlett, not that SGA McKay is like SG-1 McKay anymore really but yes McKay is a fairly well developed character but only IMO compared to the rest of the characters but in reality that is saying nothing as the rest have had hardly any development.

I don't see one off eps as the be all and end all of development either, I think it is better to have an on going background story of interaction, I mean they blew it in a way, I can't help thinking Cameron Mitchell got more background in the first few eps he was in then Sheppard has had for 2 seasons. Mitchell comes into SG-1 and yes "we need to let the audience know who this guy is, what he is about" and they do.

Atlantis was full of characters that we needed to know about, but they didn't really bother, no heart to hearts as such *Mitchell/Carter wise* and no big episodes either dealing with the character as apposed to the shell of the person. I still do not for the life of my see the point of GUP or Duet, they told me nothing new about McKay, not really. They may have confirmed somethings but that is all.

[Helo]

I do believe that SGA vs SG-1 comparisons are unfair becuase of the fact that SG-1 had an audience that they really needed to please. It is impossible to replace RDA and Mitchell had to be well developed from the start to be able to integrate not only into the show but with the fans.

And I think your right. The main reason for lack of character development isnt necessarly backstory, becuase think about it we have good background info on mostly all of the characters, its just they lack the interaction with other characters. I think some of the best interaction so far between SGA and SG-1 is the chemistry between Daniel and Vala on SG-1. Its amazingly well written, and entertaining. SGA needs somethink like that. And I disagree, with your opinion on duet, it wasnt a bad episode, quite entertaining. but more imporantly the characters had that interaction I was talking about. We need more of that, but instead of a whole episodes worth at once, they need to spread it around a little.

[The Sweet Guy]

Well so far SGA seems to be doing their character development differently than SG-1. SG-1 did it through backstory, SGA is doing it situationally. By doing this, it shows who they are rather than who they were.

While I'd love to see more backstory (especially for Shep, I still want to know if he has a family or not), my main problem with Atlantis is that certain characters get pushed to the side, like Teyla and Ronon. As good an actor as Hewlett may be, focusing on McKay is bad, especially when he is the comedic character of the group. The team needs to interact more and have the characters show their different views on what to do.