McKay and Carter

[jfarrell327]

I am just wondering if I am the only who had this problem... From Stargate SG-1 we noticed that Carter was smarter and better than know it all McKay and McKay even admitted it more than once... However when Carter was on SGA when she took over command in season 4, McKay was the smarter one... I get that in SG-1, Sam was a main character and on SGA McKay was a main character but I still think they should've left Carter the way she was, a theoretical physicist, a scientist instead of a military officer who commands instead of sticking to what she knew best... In SG:A she was more O'Neill than Carter...

[Infinite-Possibilities]

That's because McKay already had the role of being the technobabble scientists on the show. They couldn't have Carter come in and do all the same things she did in SG-1 because that spot was already filled. If she did, it would have undermined the version they already had.

They brought Carter on specifically to have the O'Neil/Hammond/Landry role of being a leader, which didn't really benefit the character or the show because it didn't fit. All they were able to do was throw out the odd line that made it clear that she understood whatever McKay was talking about when he came up with an idea.

Replacing Weir with Carter was an ill conceived idea to begin with, I think.

[gateraid]

It depends upon which side of the fence you sit on, so to speak. I certainly believe that Carter was written as 'smarter' (at least insofar as the problems presented on SG-1) than McKay, but I wouldn't have gotten that impression if I'd only watched SGA. Smarter than Zelenka, sure, but not McKay.
IMO the writers dropped the ball somewhat. In BAMSR instead of helping Rodney, she heads off to do the (relatively speaking, no offence intended) grunts job of Operations Officer on the Deadalus. It would have been an easy way to showcase her ability, but nope, they went in another direction.
I am a Carter fan, and a Weir fan. I think they needed another season with Carter in command before they 'got' how to write for her, but they didn't get it. And honestly, it shouldn't have taken them that long - you write for the character you have at the time

[P-90_177]

Between seasons 1 and 7 of SG-1, Carter had the most experience with Goa'uld and Ancient technology. However after McKay got the chance to work directly on The Antarctica outpost and then Atlantis itself it is only natural that he would build on his own experience.

[Infinite-Possibilities]

Well you should also keep in mind the purpose of McKay's appearances in SG-1. Back then he was just a villainous obstacle for Sam to prove she was better than. They obviously couldn't continue writing Sam as smarter than him him in that way once they made a main cast member for a new show. I assumed the scene in Submersion with the hallucination of Sam was to reconcile his ego with him formerly telling Sam that she was smarter than him because back then his role was to make her look good.

[thekillman]

Between seasons 1 and 7 of SG-1, Carter had the most experience with Goa'uld and Ancient technology. However after McKay got the chance to work directly on The Antarctica outpost and then Atlantis itself it is only natural that he would build on his own experience.

Experience does not equal intellect. SG1 pretty much established Carter to be more intelligent. I think that Carter for SGA wasn't bad, but there could've been many improvements.

Though of course, after 10 years of SG1 she had already grown into a "zero flaw", having overcome here weaknesses in SG1 already thought plenty of experience.

[garhkal]

I think it initially started out that Sam was smarter than Rodney, but after time, specificaly for ANCIENTS (and wraith) stuff Rodney eclipsed carter.

[jackisback]

I have no problem with it, McKay came across as the inexperienced one and Carter as the one who had access to the technology first, over time McKay gets better and rightfully so, he can talk really fast and has a extremely awesome arrogant personality
McKay is a full scientist and Carter a air-force military cross scientist, McKay is allways hilariously bad at the military thing like firing the gun while running away.

[Technocore]

My take would be that having the responsibility of running Atlantis probably took up a lot of her time. Time she would have spent in the lab out-thinking Meredith, was instead spent on the unending administration of the city.

[Skydiver]

I think there were a lot of factors.

Yeah, McKay was created to be an antagonist for Sam. AKA dude that she has to fight against to prevail. And he served that role well. Until Redemption (I think) where they needed to solve the problem of getting the gate off earth...and establish McKay to ship him to Atlantis. They already had Rush as a kinda unlikable guy, so couldn't have McKay that way, so he had his 'I always wanted to be a pianist' moment where he owned that while he may know stuff, he doesn't have the attitude to work with people, Sam does.

Then we get Atlantis, with McKay firmly established as the hero's sidekick and official techno babbler, and they bring Sam in....not necessarily because the character was a good fit but because they hoped that in bringing Sam over it would also bring SG1 fans to prop up SGA (and I can't recall, AT may or may not have had a year's contract that they needed to fill)

So they put her into the admin role. Which she sorta fit. However, in my very cynical POV, it was a bad fit because while she may have been in charge, they had to keep her submissive to Shepard. Which is the role Weir had....she was in charge but she very frequently just seemed to roll with it when Shepard defied her, ignored her, did his hero thing and got away with it because it all worked out in the end.

Sam was never created to be a submissive character. Second in command, yes. FOllowing O'Neill's or Hammond's orders? Yes. Accepting subordinates that defy her? No.

But she was that way in Atlantis. Because that's how Weir was. And since Rodney was the tech expert in the Pegasus Galaxy, her being the expert on all things goa'uld and tok'ra didn't hold much water in a land of all things wraith.

Sam couldn't be better than Rodney. He was the hero's sidekick, he couldnt' play second fiddle to the base commander.

I think some of it was summed up in Trio (I think it was) when she, McKay and the doc were trapped...she lets Rod try to escape....and after he fails enough times, she grabs the rope, tosses it up and out of the hole in one attempt, tells him 'it's not my first rodeo' and shows 'yeah, I know what to do as much as you do, but my job is to let you do it'...because how will he learn if she does it for him?

I think the writers were also very aware of the 'super carter' crit and deliberately downplayed Sam's proven and canon abilities to make sure she didn't outstrip or overshadow the existing characters.

IE, in many ways, Sam was deliberately written as weaker to make her fit into SGA's existing framework. And since she was filling Weir's role, who was an administrator but not military, Sam was often written as just a different version of Weir.

[hedwig]

Then we get Atlantis, with McKay firmly established as the hero's sidekick and official techno babbler, and they bring Sam in....not necessarily because the character was a good fit but because they hoped that in bringing Sam over it would also bring SG1 fans to prop up SGA (and I can't recall, AT may or may not have had a year's contract that they needed to fill).

Her year on Atlantis was just before she would have started working on her show (Sanctuary), and she said she really agonized over whether to sign a contract for 5th year SGA or move on to Sanctuary. Of course, Sanctuary won.

[Skydiver]

That's right because I remember M&M being rather....gobsmacked that she'd go off on her own rather than stick around for another year on SGA.

I can certainly respect her leaving...spend a year being Shep's 'co in name only' and a general 5th wheel on the show, or make your own where you can be the star and in charge?

[bvanevery]

Replacing Weir with Carter was an ill conceived idea to begin with, I think.

Well, it's not ill-conceived insofar as it retains a popular character from the SG-1 franchise. However it does sort of elide what made the character popular to begin with. Assuming you like her for some reason other than being hot and smart at the same time. c.f. Fan Service. I do occasionally appreciate having someone on base, in authority, who actually understands what the hell Rodney is saying. Or can even improve and amplify it. But yeah, it's not Carter as we knew her before. One could rationalize that people change careers, they put on new hats. The top scientist has moved into Management now. I don't really buy that for a top scientist profile, being a computer R&D maven myself, but it's not outside the realm of conceivability.

I really would rather have retained Weir the whole time. She was seriously cool. I'd have her children. I find myself attracted to Weir in a way that I was never remotely attracted to Carter at all. Perhaps because my own personal background doesn't just embrace the technological, but also the political. Weir is clearly a leader, she is written that way. I'd give her a nod for "one of hottest women on show." Don't pin me to a final verdict.

Big noticed difference: Carter is emotionally flat. Weir isn't.

When I see replacements like this, I surmise that the actor, or the relationship between the actor and the production, has changed in the real world somehow. So the writing has to follow suit, to accomodate. This is a metagame but I accept it. A show actually has to be produced, in the real world.