When she came back in S9 Sam had actually stopped annoying me, which was as much as I could hope for. She was fine, she was there, I didn't feel the urge to fast forward through her, and things were okay. I really felt the drop in energy with Vala gone, but that wasn't Sam's fault. So, all fine. Then Ripples happened, and there she was annoying me all over again. *sigh*
With Mitchell it's not his energy that I have an issue with, it's that after the early episodes are over with and he's been introduced, he directs that energy into being a moron all too often. For someone who's apparently read about all previous SG-1 missions, he acts like a prat too often for me, and some little personality things have irritated me too. That's such a shame, because I liked him when he first arrived. He changed over S9 and I'm hoping he will change back in S10 otherwise I just won't be interested in him. I think part of it is that I don't rate the actor - not that I think he's hopeless, just that he's not on the level of MS or CJ or CB. If Arthur's Mantle is the one I think it is, I did like the Daniel/Sam stuff in that and liked the story in general, but I found Mitchell's behaviour to be annoying. He's too impulsive for the role he's in, and he doesn't seem to truly understand the concept of teamwork. He likes to be the hero and doesn't seem to think any of his behaviour through either before or after the event. It's not the kind of personality trait that I find appealing in an adult, and especially not in someone who's meant to be leading a team that has so much experience. Also, the main episode that is meant to introduce us to Mitchell as a person has him off somewhere without the rest of the team - a complete waste of time, IMO. Even by the end of the season - a whole year for the team - I feel no sense of connection between Daniel and Mitchell or Teal'c and Mitchell. I only saw a few bits of episodes of Farscape and really didn't like it, so this is my first real experience of BB. I suspect my view of Mitchell is different from that of a big Farscape / BB fan, but I can only go on what I've seen.
If you liked Prometheus Unbound and the Daniel / Vala chemistry there, then I think you'll love the first four episodes of S9. The chemistry is there in spades, but Daniel is so very much Daniel and not MS. MS is absolutely brilliant in those episodes - he's given big challenges and he exceeds expectations every time. CJ is given fewer challenges than MS but he still has a lot more to do than he often had in previous seasons, so there's plenty of good Teal'c stuff to look forward to. And some of the Teal'c / Daniel stuff makes me all melty. *sigh*
And back to McShep. It wasn't the McShep in the fic that made me see it in the show - it was already in the show for me even when the show itself didn't impress me greatly. I watch shows for characters first and foremost, so with Weir annoying me, Teyla making very little impression at all, having Shep as some kind of surfer dude pale imitation of Jack, and basically having to rely on Rodney plus the few bits of Beckett and Zelenka for my interest? The show couldn't hold me. Reading fic gave Shep the depth I still can't see much of in him in the show even now (I suspect quite a bit of that's down to the actor, though), which meant I could fill in the emotional blanks myself while watching. That let me enjoy him a lot more, and also Teyla a lot more, so gave me enough to keep me going. What I really like is the bigger cast of characters who are important to SGA, as well as the whole Atlantis set itself. I dearly wish they'd done a lot more exploring of the city, since that was the whole raison d'etre of the expedition in the first place. Perhaps we'll get more of that in S3, who knows. At some point I'm going to buy the S1 SGA DVDs when I can find a R2 set that I know for sure have episode commentaries on them.
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With Mitchell it's not his energy that I have an issue with, it's that after the early episodes are over with and he's been introduced, he directs that energy into being a moron all too often. For someone who's apparently read about all previous SG-1 missions, he acts like a prat too often for me, and some little personality things have irritated me too. That's such a shame, because I liked him when he first arrived. He changed over S9 and I'm hoping he will change back in S10 otherwise I just won't be interested in him. I think part of it is that I don't rate the actor - not that I think he's hopeless, just that he's not on the level of MS or CJ or CB. If Arthur's Mantle is the one I think it is, I did like the Daniel/Sam stuff in that and liked the story in general, but I found Mitchell's behaviour to be annoying. He's too impulsive for the role he's in, and he doesn't seem to truly understand the concept of teamwork. He likes to be the hero and doesn't seem to think any of his behaviour through either before or after the event. It's not the kind of personality trait that I find appealing in an adult, and especially not in someone who's meant to be leading a team that has so much experience. Also, the main episode that is meant to introduce us to Mitchell as a person has him off somewhere without the rest of the team - a complete waste of time, IMO. Even by the end of the season - a whole year for the team - I feel no sense of connection between Daniel and Mitchell or Teal'c and Mitchell. I only saw a few bits of episodes of Farscape and really didn't like it, so this is my first real experience of BB. I suspect my view of Mitchell is different from that of a big Farscape / BB fan, but I can only go on what I've seen.
If you liked Prometheus Unbound and the Daniel / Vala chemistry there, then I think you'll love the first four episodes of S9. The chemistry is there in spades, but Daniel is so very much Daniel and not MS. MS is absolutely brilliant in those episodes - he's given big challenges and he exceeds expectations every time. CJ is given fewer challenges than MS but he still has a lot more to do than he often had in previous seasons, so there's plenty of good Teal'c stuff to look forward to. And some of the Teal'c / Daniel stuff makes me all melty. *sigh*
And back to McShep. It wasn't the McShep in the fic that made me see it in the show - it was already in the show for me even when the show itself didn't impress me greatly. I watch shows for characters first and foremost, so with Weir annoying me, Teyla making very little impression at all, having Shep as some kind of surfer dude pale imitation of Jack, and basically having to rely on Rodney plus the few bits of Beckett and Zelenka for my interest? The show couldn't hold me. Reading fic gave Shep the depth I still can't see much of in him in the show even now (I suspect quite a bit of that's down to the actor, though), which meant I could fill in the emotional blanks myself while watching. That let me enjoy him a lot more, and also Teyla a lot more, so gave me enough to keep me going. What I really like is the bigger cast of characters who are important to SGA, as well as the whole Atlantis set itself. I dearly wish they'd done a lot more exploring of the city, since that was the whole raison d'etre of the expedition in the first place. Perhaps we'll get more of that in S3, who knows. At some point I'm going to buy the S1 SGA DVDs when I can find a R2 set that I know for sure have episode commentaries on them.