locker_monster (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
locker_monster) wrote2007-09-29 10:11 am
locker_monster) wrote2007-09-29 10:11 am
Entry tags:
Rant time: Stargate Atlantis season four premiere
My love for Stargate seems to be an understated one. I don't gush about it constantly, like with Doctor Who or Buffy, but I'm totally a fan. So, much ranting about Stargate Atlantis' premiere.
I think I said this when the finale aired, but I like Elizabeth and knocking her down to recurring character status just makes me angry. The only reason I could come up with at the time was the writers didn't like working her in into every story. To have Elizabeth in every episode you need to have at least one scene back on Atlantis and that can get tiresome, especially if you have a story where isolation is needed and cutting back to the city just ruins that. If that had been the reason, I would have argued you don't need to bump her from the regular cast; the writers have left out Landry a number of times over on SG-1 and he was still in the credits. But now having watched the premiere it seems they're going another direction, one I can only guess at, which, if the writers execute properly, might stop me from yelling at my screen every week.
But that hasn't happened yet, so here's me, still angry. And right off the bat: replacing Elizabeth with Sam. Like, literally. In the credits they've swapped out the actresses. When I heard Sam was joining the cast I thought it would be on a recurring basis. Guess not. Looks like Sam will go to Pegasus and take over the role as leader of the city. Because you can't have Sheppard chained to a desk, he's the main action guy, so who else is going to look after things. I just hope they give Sam a reasonable explanation for joining the Atlantis team. Like, she gets stuck there or she's taking a break from SG-1 or something. Or she's retired from the military. That had been my main theory for awhile, but someone called Sam Colonel during the episode so that theory is out the window.
The funny thing is, I shouldn't be hating this. Having Sam over on Atlantis is purely a move by the producers to bolster Atlantis' ratings. With SG-1 over, the solely SG-1 fans need a reason to watch the spin-off. Angel did it with Spike. Buffy ended so they took a popular character from the parent show and moved him over. I think this ploy actually worked, too. I remember hearing Angel was the only show on the WB whose ratings had gone up that year. And I'm used to regular characters being knocked down to recurring, too. They did that on Buffy with Giles. I think it's because this is a cast replacement, not a cast addition.
It seems like we're headed for a cast subtraction, too. It's not enough that they've made Elizabeth a recurring character. Now she's part Replicator as well. Watching "The Real World" over, I can't help but wonder if that had been the plan all along. It's never brought up again that Elizabeth still has the Replicator cells in her. They're just inert. But here they are, ready to patch up Elizabeth (and apparently regrow her hair) and make her all not brain damaged. Before Dr. Keller thought about using the Replicator cells I thought maybe they would follow her line to Sheppard about how if Elizabeth wakes up she won't be the same. That would have been somewhat cool. It seems now Elizabeth is just a security threat. But that's been done, too, with Ford. He got some of the bad guy in him and left. If Elizabeth has working Replicator cells in her, does that mean she's going to be evil? The season's villain? Or she leaves because she doesn't want to put the city at risk so the team goes out and tries to find her? Again, this was done with Ford. He left, the team went looking for him, they found him, but then, that was it. They haven't mentioned him since. Gah. I hope the writers give a damn good reason.
But anyway. The episode. One thing worthy of a yay! Jewel! Kicking ass as Dr. Keller. The only thing that bugged me is that they made her character American. Apparently they had made her Canadian in the finale, gave her a Canadian patch, but that idea got vetoed by the new show runner so she's American. What's wrong with having another Canadian character? There are two on the show: McKay and Chuck the tech. One more Canadian character is not going to ruin things. Sigh. I'm just waiting for an episode where Dr. Keller doesn't have to deal with an emergency and it lets Jewel do something else besides spout medical jargon.
The city lost in space? Created a bunch of technical problems I wasn't really paying attention to. Seriously. When Rodney mentions something about the power levels dropping to a certain point I kinda zoned out. The sequence with the Jumpers was kinda cool though. We've never seen that many fly about before. I'm just amused by the fact that the outer edges of the city are always the parts that get beat up. I guess no one really likes them since no one seemed too concerned. :-)
I liked that Sheppard was hesitant about taking on the role of city leader, but he steps up. He gets that short scene with Rodney asking to be kept in the loop and he's forced to put the safety of the city before Elizabeth's well-being. I don't know how the Sheppard/Teyla shippers manage though. Sheppard and Elizabeth got a lot more scenes where you could argue some shippiness. Like when Keller tells Sheppard Elizabeth might not wake up as the same person, he looks so distraught. But I guess this won't be too much of an issue if Elizabeth leaves for a time.
Random things: yay, Dr. Lee hanging out with Sam at the midway station in zero g. And using a barf bag. Does this mean he'll be showing up on Atlantis more? And if the midway station is complete, and they bothered to build a set, does that mean they'll be using it this season? Ronon thanking an unconscious Elizabeth was a nice touch. Rodney making reference to "Coles Notes" and Sheppard commenting why he didn't say Cliff Note was nice, too. Canadianisms for the win!
And a heist episode to follow. To the Replicator planet. That should be interesting.
But that hasn't happened yet, so here's me, still angry. And right off the bat: replacing Elizabeth with Sam. Like, literally. In the credits they've swapped out the actresses. When I heard Sam was joining the cast I thought it would be on a recurring basis. Guess not. Looks like Sam will go to Pegasus and take over the role as leader of the city. Because you can't have Sheppard chained to a desk, he's the main action guy, so who else is going to look after things. I just hope they give Sam a reasonable explanation for joining the Atlantis team. Like, she gets stuck there or she's taking a break from SG-1 or something. Or she's retired from the military. That had been my main theory for awhile, but someone called Sam Colonel during the episode so that theory is out the window.
The funny thing is, I shouldn't be hating this. Having Sam over on Atlantis is purely a move by the producers to bolster Atlantis' ratings. With SG-1 over, the solely SG-1 fans need a reason to watch the spin-off. Angel did it with Spike. Buffy ended so they took a popular character from the parent show and moved him over. I think this ploy actually worked, too. I remember hearing Angel was the only show on the WB whose ratings had gone up that year. And I'm used to regular characters being knocked down to recurring, too. They did that on Buffy with Giles. I think it's because this is a cast replacement, not a cast addition.
It seems like we're headed for a cast subtraction, too. It's not enough that they've made Elizabeth a recurring character. Now she's part Replicator as well. Watching "The Real World" over, I can't help but wonder if that had been the plan all along. It's never brought up again that Elizabeth still has the Replicator cells in her. They're just inert. But here they are, ready to patch up Elizabeth (and apparently regrow her hair) and make her all not brain damaged. Before Dr. Keller thought about using the Replicator cells I thought maybe they would follow her line to Sheppard about how if Elizabeth wakes up she won't be the same. That would have been somewhat cool. It seems now Elizabeth is just a security threat. But that's been done, too, with Ford. He got some of the bad guy in him and left. If Elizabeth has working Replicator cells in her, does that mean she's going to be evil? The season's villain? Or she leaves because she doesn't want to put the city at risk so the team goes out and tries to find her? Again, this was done with Ford. He left, the team went looking for him, they found him, but then, that was it. They haven't mentioned him since. Gah. I hope the writers give a damn good reason.
But anyway. The episode. One thing worthy of a yay! Jewel! Kicking ass as Dr. Keller. The only thing that bugged me is that they made her character American. Apparently they had made her Canadian in the finale, gave her a Canadian patch, but that idea got vetoed by the new show runner so she's American. What's wrong with having another Canadian character? There are two on the show: McKay and Chuck the tech. One more Canadian character is not going to ruin things. Sigh. I'm just waiting for an episode where Dr. Keller doesn't have to deal with an emergency and it lets Jewel do something else besides spout medical jargon.
The city lost in space? Created a bunch of technical problems I wasn't really paying attention to. Seriously. When Rodney mentions something about the power levels dropping to a certain point I kinda zoned out. The sequence with the Jumpers was kinda cool though. We've never seen that many fly about before. I'm just amused by the fact that the outer edges of the city are always the parts that get beat up. I guess no one really likes them since no one seemed too concerned. :-)
I liked that Sheppard was hesitant about taking on the role of city leader, but he steps up. He gets that short scene with Rodney asking to be kept in the loop and he's forced to put the safety of the city before Elizabeth's well-being. I don't know how the Sheppard/Teyla shippers manage though. Sheppard and Elizabeth got a lot more scenes where you could argue some shippiness. Like when Keller tells Sheppard Elizabeth might not wake up as the same person, he looks so distraught. But I guess this won't be too much of an issue if Elizabeth leaves for a time.
Random things: yay, Dr. Lee hanging out with Sam at the midway station in zero g. And using a barf bag. Does this mean he'll be showing up on Atlantis more? And if the midway station is complete, and they bothered to build a set, does that mean they'll be using it this season? Ronon thanking an unconscious Elizabeth was a nice touch. Rodney making reference to "Coles Notes" and Sheppard commenting why he didn't say Cliff Note was nice, too. Canadianisms for the win!
And a heist episode to follow. To the Replicator planet. That should be interesting.
no subject
You know, thanks to you I bet I will now be looking at the darn patches. :P
And yes, how they handle the Sam thing will either work really well or suck HORRIBLY. Guess only time will tell. I did post up my two cents on my journal though.
And yes, someone is coming back. I had to throw that in but I know you try to avoid spoilers so I didn't say who. I am pretty sure there are going to be some good surprises this year.
I need some new SG-1 and Atlantis icons. All my icons are old. But I luff them all.
no subject
The only way I'm going to be satisfied with how they work in Sam is that she and Dr. Lee get stuck in Pegasus. Because if Sam just decides to stay there, it won't make sense. She's still got a SG-1 patch on her jumpsuit so she's clearly still part of the team (sorry, patch watching again). I really don't see her abandoning the team just to go run a city. She could also be assigned, forced into the job, and that I would buy as well.
Okay, I'm going to throw out some names but don't tell me if I'm right or wrong. :-D Daniel is going to make an appearance? Or maybe Jack? Or are they bringing back Carson because who doesn't love an alternative reality story? I think I might go insane from the wait.
I need some Stargate icons myself. Either show would do. Know any good places for them?