Best of luck on the depression/medication issue. I'll second equusentric on the readiness bit. We're seeing the beginnings of a trend reversal when it comes to medicating depression now (I think this little Time article (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1653643,00.html) is great), and I think it's long overdue. If you do decide to go that route (or just want some more specific info), this (http://www.psyd-fx.com/html/quick_reference_chart.html) is a great guide to meds and dosages. It's updated every week or two, so it always has current info.
On to the character bit now. I'm glad you brought this topic up, because I'd really like to get your opinion on secondary characters -- mainly, how much of a person's opinion of a secondary character is dependent on TPTB's portrayal of that character?
In the midst of the race wank, I saw quite a few people equating dislike of Ronon and Teyla to racism and I think that's inherently unfair. If you like geekiness in your characters, or playful banter, or leadership qualities, etc., etc., you're more likely to find those in leading characters, who are overwhelmingly of majority culture. In that case, it's not so much a reflection of the fan's opinion as it is TPTB's opinion and the fan making use of his/her limited options in terms of character preference.
That's my take on it, at least. Do you see it differently? Because I'm thinking that if people could just not shoehorn Ronon and Teyla into stories and say, "Hey, sorry, they're not my favorite characters" and not have that extrapolated to racism and failure to be a decent person, we'd probably have less of Teyla and Ronon in service roles than we would otherwise. It's sort of like we've created our own monster here.
Also, bonus points for giving me an opportunity to use one of my favorite icons. :)
Secondary characters
On to the character bit now. I'm glad you brought this topic up, because I'd really like to get your opinion on secondary characters -- mainly, how much of a person's opinion of a secondary character is dependent on TPTB's portrayal of that character?
In the midst of the race wank, I saw quite a few people equating dislike of Ronon and Teyla to racism and I think that's inherently unfair. If you like geekiness in your characters, or playful banter, or leadership qualities, etc., etc., you're more likely to find those in leading characters, who are overwhelmingly of majority culture. In that case, it's not so much a reflection of the fan's opinion as it is TPTB's opinion and the fan making use of his/her limited options in terms of character preference.
That's my take on it, at least. Do you see it differently? Because I'm thinking that if people could just not shoehorn Ronon and Teyla into stories and say, "Hey, sorry, they're not my favorite characters" and not have that extrapolated to racism and failure to be a decent person, we'd probably have less of Teyla and Ronon in service roles than we would otherwise. It's sort of like we've created our own monster here.
Also, bonus points for giving me an opportunity to use one of my favorite icons. :)