paraka: A baby wearing headphones and holding a mic (SGA-E-*looks*)
paraka ([personal profile] paraka) wrote2007-09-08 09:02 pm

SGA Season 4

Can I just say, it's really weird watching the episode without the sound being finished. I mean in the little "Last time on Stargate Atlantis" bit in the intro the would show the explosion of the beam hitting the city, and you'd *see* everything blow up, but there isn't any sound. :P

Also, for later sound effects you could hear one of the crew offstage yelling "Bam" or "do do do" or "Ahhh" as the case required. Very amusing.


Can I just say, that without background noise and dramatic music to back him John sounds like a *complete* dork. So, so, dorky.

Also, have to wonder if TPTB were around last April for all the race discussions that went on, because I have never seen the Atlantis personal looking so multicultural. There were flags from all over on shoulders in the first ep.

There are a lot of people who are indifferent to Weir, and a lot of people really upset that she's leaving the show, but to be honest? Her storyline is pretty damn kick ass. I don't think I could have been nearly as upset about Carson dying if he had gotten a story line like that. d

Also, brings about the chance for Evil!Replicator!Weir. I think that this is maybe the best storyline the Weir character has gotten.

The shipper in me though, was suddenly seeing Weir/pretty much everyone. For a second there, I though Ronon was going to *kiss* her. And John was *crying*. Rodney was breaking all these rules to save her, and Teyla was *there* for her; saying the risks were worth it.

It really kind of annoyed me how Sheppard was acting. Throwing his weight around, saying he was in charge now that Weir isn't. I mean, all he was doing was getting in the way of Rodney, and it wasn't really a military situation, it was a scientist situation. Rodney so should have been the one in charge.

It was awesome to see so much Zelenka. Although the background tech yelling "Bam Bam" as he got shot detracted a little for the situation.


Overall, great episode.

[livejournal.com profile] paradise_city what was that moment you were talking about?

SGA S4

[identity profile] paradise-city.livejournal.com 2007-09-09 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
So did you like it? The absence of sound and the random "BAM! BAM!"s (which were hilarious didn't disrupt your viewing experience too much?

1. The Weir storyline? Awesome. And I'm a big fan of Carter and all the Carter/McKay stuff, so it was really nice to see her. And her dorky scientist friend, to. He makes the Atlantis people look amazingly well-adjusted in comparison.

Word on the Weir/everyone bit, as well. I've always enjoyed a bit of Weir/Sheppard, so it was really touching to see John getting emotional over her situation and struggling with trying to keep cool.

2. Speaking of Sheppard, he was did have a bit of a bug up his butt, didn't he? It was nice to see him and Rodney go head to head (and Rodney refuse him -- go Rodney!) and then have them apologize so quickly (which was interesting; I'm still not sure what I think about that). I'm hoping we'll see some fallout from John rushing in to take control. It would be nice to set up a little subplot of command issues.

Right, sorry -- apparently when it comes to commenting with you, I can blab forever. To answer your question, it was the Rodney calling John by his name moment I was referring to. That seems to be a huge issue with some of the fangirls, so I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

Re: SGA S4

[identity profile] paradise-city.livejournal.com 2007-09-12 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
Re: your other post, it's been a ton of fun talking fandom with you, too. I never do it as much as I should, considering how much I enjoy it.

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...(and I'll admit, that while I love fandom!John, I don't really care for canon!John). I wonder if some of those scenes though will be less dorky once you have the dramatic music to back it up, since right now he often just looked squinty instead of emotional.

That kind of makes me wonder if JF is the key to the John Sheppard mystery. I vacillate between loving, hating, and just not getting Sheppard at all and a lot of people seem to think it's as much JF as it is Sheppard. Without all the accoutrements of a finished episode, he seemed like, well...not the world's greatest actor. I also found it hilarious that while he's the one who seems to detest looping the most, his was the dialogue I constantly had trouble discerning.

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I just didn't trust the writers to be able to handle Carter, and certainly not the Carter/McKay dynamic.

I've never seen SG-1, save for the occasional episode DH was in, so I know next to nothing about Carter. I'm sure that translates into much lower expectations for her, but I can definitely see your concerns. It may just come down to the writer for any given episode, since they don't seem to have the most cohesive of visions when it comes to individual characters.

This has really gotten me thinking about Carter, though. On the one hand, I love that Rodney has finally come up against something unattainable for him and that it happens to be something as ridiculous as a woman. Grand unified theory, Nobel prize? Got it in the bag. Women generally and Carter specifically? So not in the bag. And while I love that idea, I'm starting to wonder if I like the idea of Carter more than Carter herself. Because honestly, I can't quite see what Rodney sees in her (perhaps because I don't know the character all that well). It could go either way, I suppose, but I'm crossing my fingers.

Re: SGA S4

[identity profile] paradise-city.livejournal.com 2007-09-12 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
[Just over the character limit by a hair.]

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I'm also afraid of how she's going to effect Atlantis' current dynamic.

That's my one definite fear. For one, I don't want the lovely McKay/Sheppard moments, shippy or otherwise, to be tossed aside to make room for the Carter/McKay moments, however much I'm looking forward to them. And for two, I'd love to get some clarification on Atlantis's hierarchy. It seemed strange to me that Sheppard would take over from Weir instead of Rodney, and even stranger that that would be perpetuated with Carter in charge. Is she going to take over thing or just handle the administrative side as Weir did and leave Sheppard and McKay in charge of their respective personnel? That's doubtful, but then how is she going to be in charge and also on missions, which is what I'm assuming is going to happen? It seems like no matter which way they go, there's going to be a lot of shoehorning.

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But I'd be way more interested to see the fall out between him and Rodney because of it. It kind of felt like that time shortly after Trinity, where Sheppard didn't trust McKay.

That was what sucked, that callback to Trinity. It's always bothered me that Trinity has really come to haunt Rodney when a: it was his first fuck up after having saved everyone's collective ass dozens of times and b: hello, Sheppard woke up the freaking Wraith, does no one remember that? And it's just shitty of John, as Rodney's friend if not as his team leader, to keep coming back to that. Lesson learned, move on.

And I don't know if that's uneven writing or just more of the John Sheppard mystery. Do the writers just have trouble with Sheppard or is Sheppard really just loosely hinged? (See: Epiphany, where John, a trained military man, totally flipped his shit and shot himself in the damnfool foot after being alone for less than a day.) I will never understand him, not ever.

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Also, how sincere did that apology sound? "We have to work together so... so.. so. I'm sorry"

Oh, McKay. I totally couldn't tell if that was a half-ass apology or a heartfelt McKayan apology. <3

I think I'll have to scout around for some more info on Carter now. Not being an SG-1 fan is kinda turning into a handicap here.

Re: SGA S4

[identity profile] paradise-city.livejournal.com 2007-09-16 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
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Actually that could be kind of cool. To see John take control like he always does and then have Carter smack him down for it.

Oh, I'd be all about that. On the one hand, I dig John's laissez faire attitude about everything because really, what are the operating protocols for a space expedition? I don't think SG-1 was exactly a model of sticking to the letter. On the other hand, he is the military commander and it would be nice to see him get some flak for making stupid decisions. And he certainly makes his share.

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I mean, it's beginning to get a bit old, where when Rodney says he can't do it, John *makes* him do it. Also, one day it's going to backfire on them, and I can so see John blaming Rodney and holding it over his head.

Wow. I never quite thought about it that way. The way John amps Rodney up and stresses him out to solve a crisis has always niggled at me, but I think it's actually the larger issue you mentioned that's at the center of it all. (This is my favorite part of fandom discussion, when someone else is able to crystallize something I might have been thinking but was unable to put in words -- thanks for that!)

The other thing that's always bothered be about that dynamic is that John is sort of rough with Rodney emotionally. I'm thinking that it's probably not a bad idea to be nice or even suck up a bit to your resident genius because it's your resident genius who can fuck you all up. Now that we've seen he's capable of defying John, there's no telling what he might do if he feels the situation warrants it. No one can outhink him, so he holds the ultimate power when it comes to Atlantis. I'd love to see an evil!Rodney episode just for kicks, because they'd really be up a creek of Rodney ever decided he didn't want to play nice.

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To be honest though, I think it's actually the former, but it certainly comes off to me as the latter.

I agree, but I really enjoy the crazy!Sheppard characterization. What's always intrigued me is that the episode where John was most whacked (Epiphany) was the one JF supposedly had a hand in. It makes me wonder what JF really thinks about Sheppard.

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If you do go and watch them, keep an eye out for the episode where Carter starts dating this Ancient that builds a Stargate in her basement.

You can't be serious. This happens? (Also, oh, Rodney! You never really had a chance to start with, but you certainly can't compete with an Ancient! Sad.)

Re: SGA S4

[identity profile] paradise-city.livejournal.com 2007-09-29 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
[Condensing here, though it's still two comments long, damn it.]

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John as a character has too many faces, and often not enough transition between them to make me follow him. Instead he comes off as an asshole.

I have tried so hard to figure out why this is, because I think John could be one of those characters I fall head over heels for if I could just get a read on him, but I can't. Who John is in any given episode seems to be a combination of what the story calls for, who wrote the script, and some other indefinable quantity, like what JF had for dinner 37 days before the first full moon of the month the script was written.

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Switching fandoms, Don, in Numb3rs does that sometimes. I mean I *love* Don, he's the reason I watch the show, but every once in a while he'll do something that makes me go :S.

Don and John, yes. I made a post last season sometime about how similar they really were. (Or actually, I might have just been mocking their hair and pants, but meant to write a serious post about how similar they are.) What's different for me is that the writers can really redeem Don. I was incredibly impressed at the end of last season when the writers showed some of the positive changes in Don as a result of his being in therapy, and it just bowled me over. Don's a bit mercurial too, but the writers do a much better job of justifying it to the point that I can usually buy it. Plus, I just love Don. I don't really have that kind of attachment to John.

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and Carter through her brilliance shows him up and then has him exiled to Siberia.

Switching gears back to SGA now. Personally, the Siberia thing has always bothered me. I only saw that episode once and with my goldfish memory I barely remember it, but it's so strange for McKay to go from "She exiled me!" to "I want to romp with her!" Granted, SG-1 McKay, early SGA McKay and later SGA McKay are all different people, but hello, she had him exiled. To Siberia. Because she didn't like him. Can we say bitch? And yet, I still kinda like her, mostly sight unseen. Oh, Stargate -- the tangled web you weave!

Re: SGA S4

[identity profile] paradise-city.livejournal.com 2007-09-29 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
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Every time Weir took John down a step, she always did it in private; behind closed doors. But in Trinity, after Doranda, we see Weir screaming at Rodney in the middle of the gate room where everyone can hear.

Y'know, I must have watching that episode a dozen times for a fic I had to write and I never noticed that until you pointed it out. It's always bugged me that Weir is so easily walked all over (as it apparently bothered TH as well, judging from some remarks Martin Geo made in commentaries), particularly by Sheppard. I know he's supposed to be the devil may care, play by his own rules type, but Weir was willing to work him and he wasn't willing to work with her. There are times when John comes across as downright childish and petulant for a military commander. Although I suppose that's the 1,343,040 iteration of Who's John Sheppard Today?

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It makes me feel sad for Rodney, because things like this just kind of drill home the fact that he's loved for his brain. I would like to think his friends like him for more than that, but sometimes their actions? don't say that.

And you've hit on one of my major character issues with Rodney: how self-aware is he? I can't ever make up my mind as to whether he really is so socially awkward and desperate for friendship that he doesn't see the way John & Co. use him or if he's self-aware and nonconformist enough that he just doesn't care. It plays out a lot in fic where people like to make Rodney out to be the world's most terrible boss, yelling at people and being short-tempered, etc. etc. and that's really not what we see. We've seen him be worried about his scientists even when they've screwed up and praising them when they haven't and missing them, to some extent, when they're not around. So someone who's a decent boss like that (not to mention someone who's been involved in a romantic relationship for a few solid months) has to be somewhat self-aware, but then he does these other ridiculous things like let John treat him poorly and completely miss the fact that people care about him and it just drives me crazy. Rodney is, in my mind, either completely unaware or completely self-aware and I just can't figure out which I buy most.

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He's totally changed who he is, and while I think he likes who he is more now, I have no doubt that a lot of those changes were done so he could better fit John's ideal of a good friend.

That's a really interesting take on things. I'll have to mull that over some. Because you're right -- a function of the show or not, so much of Rodney's world revolves around John. That's a really interesting dynamic.

Re: SGA S4

[identity profile] paradise-city.livejournal.com 2007-10-11 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
And back to the thread thar refuses to die. :)

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She was supposed to have been world famous for her skills, so much so that the President of the United States looked her up for *help* and she can't even help these people get over their petty differences?

Oh, they mentioned that in commentary and it burned me up. The director said something akin to, "Well, I know that Weir's supposed to be a great negotiator even though she's failing miserably at it here, but hey, that was the story needed." I wanted to hit him in his face for that. Gah.

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I think though, he's more afraid of being alone than of being hurt by them.

Hmm. So you think Rodney's social needs are important? I tend to think that Rodney probably doesn't mind being alone and enjoys the pleasure of his own company to that of others, but that may be the "push them away before they push me" aspect you mentioned. I'd have to think about that some more.

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(I can't tell you how long it took me to write this, and how many times I deleted and had to start over...).

And this is mostly why I kept this comment sitting in my inbox for response -- thanks for sharing that information about your friendship with me. It's not easy to admit things like that to someone you don't know very well, so thanks. :)

FWIW, I've been in a friendship like that, but as the other party. And when I finally realized what was going on, that my friend thought for whatever reason that she wasn't good enough for or that I could do without her, I was really surprised. I had never thought her expendable, but I looking back I realized I'd probably inadvertently taken advantage of her willingness to please me in order to ensure I stuck around. (And I'm not implying that's analogous to your friendship at all, just that it was my interpretation of our situation.)

Friendships are so complicated, more so than romantic relationships in some ways, and I can see aspects of that with John and Rodney. John really does take advantage of him and Rodney lets him, probably because of that hero worship you mentioned (and the more I think about that, the more I really see it). Sometimes I really want them to go to couple's counseling even though they're not a couple because some aspects of their relationship can be so WTFy. (On a side note, I'd love to see more fic where John and/or Rodney are on different SGA teams, because those really exploit that WTF factor to both humorous and tender ends.)

So, yes. Thanks for sharing that personal bit with me. :)

Re: SGA S4

[identity profile] paradise-city.livejournal.com 2007-10-13 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, yeah. I know I asked you a few comments back how you and Sara met and I thought you'd met at school, but I thought I was making that up. Obviously not. Sorry about the memory fail.

It sounds like you really make an effort to keep things going with her. I can't imagine driving 10 hours to see someone. Eight's my limit, and that's only because my friend was alone for Thanksgiving. Hi, I'm Summer, and I abhor travelling.

But yes, word on the lovely anonymity of the internet and word on the difficulty of friendships. When they're good they're great, but even when they're only so-so, they can be terrible. Relationships can be so difficult.

Re: SGA S4

[identity profile] paradise-city.livejournal.com 2007-09-30 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
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With Numb3rs though, you can really see them hurting.

Yes, that's it's exactly! The SGA characters are a product of their states, while the Numbers characters are a product of their traits. That really does make all the difference. Thanks for crystallizing that for me. :)

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Again to compare to SGA, how big of a joke is Kate Heitmeyer (or however you spell it)?

Oh, that drives me crazy. Honestly, I don't expect to see psychology represented accurately or well on television, but there's such potential on SGA. I've seen some excellent fics that include sessions with Heightmeyer and it works brilliantly. I'm biased, of course (that's my area of study), but there are several great ways it could be used on the show if Heightmeyer weren't so incompetent. But I try not to rant about it too much.

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Well, to be fair, I don't think *she* specifically had him exiled.

Ah, I didn't know that! Every time I've seen it referenced, I've (incorrectly, obviously) interpreted it to mean that she personally had him exiled. It all makes more sense now. Kind of.

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Also, I'm trying this quote thing out for the first time...

The quote thing -- I'm using the Firefox extension (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3903), actually, since LJ's quote function is useless. If it bugs you (it bugs some people -- something about too message boardy or something), let me know. I'm just trying to find ways to make LJ more easily readable since my vision sucks. :)