Thank goodness for the Stargate universe….

[elgrey]

It was discovered that I had an ovarian cyst this year, unfortunately a big one that had twisted and done nasty things to my internal workings, so I had to spend time I would have usually have spent doing something a bit more active, either lying on my right side on a sofa drugged up to the eyeballs on painkillers or in and out of hospital having tests, scans, ridiculous amounts of morphine, and finally emergency surgery. All of which was either painful and/or boring. (I was in hospital when I was told the news about Don S Davis. Such a sad thing to happen. It must have been incredibly hard on the cast, crew, directors, producers, writers etc who had worked with him for all those years. I really feel for them. He always seemed to be such a lovely man and as a viewer one always felt in completely safe hands whenever he stepped into a scene. I find it hard to believe that the wonderful humanity and dignity with which he invested Hammond didn’t come primarily from the kind of person he was himself. He must have left a huge gap in so many lives.)

 

Anyway, because of all the enforced inactivity, before and after the operation, I am so very grateful for a) books and b) Stargate DVDs. As well as re-reading every childhood favourite (particularly if it has a pony in it), I have re-watched all of Atlantis, seen The Ark of Truth (three times), and have just finished re-watching S9 of SG-1. I've found all of them just get better and better the more times I watch them.

 

I’m much more of a SG-1 fan than an Atlantis fan (by which I mean I read and write SG-1 fic but don’t read or write Atlantis fic, and probably watch SG-1 on a much greater level of (crazed fangirl) intensity) but I was very pleased to find how much I have come to love Atlantis, its characters and its world, and how jolly comforting it is to watch. There were very few Atlantis eps I didn’t really like (I think Travellers is the only one I would never bother to rewatch) and dozens that I could watch on a pretty much permanent loop. I’m really going to miss Sam in S5 (I thought she was very well written in S4, although not in it quite as much as I, as an SG-1 fan, was hoping), but I’ve always liked Woolsey so I’ll be interested to see how things go with him. I’m still unconvinced by Keller as a doctor, but I like the character when she’s not being a doctor (which is quite a lot of the time, after all). She just doesn’t have that brisk efficiency that doctors have, unlike Dr Lam, who has it in spades and who I really miss in S10 as she is so fabulous in S9. (Two of the doctors who attended to me in hospital were younger and tinier (if there is a minus zero size, those women were it) than Keller, and very pretty indeed, so I don’t think Jewel’s youth or attractiveness are a problem any more than Lam’s is, I just find Lam totally convincing as a doctor and Keller not at all convincing. Having said that, Trio was probably my favourite episode in S4, and my reservations about Keller didn’t affect my enjoyment of it at all, so hopefully that is how I will feel for the rest of S5.)

 

Watching it all in one go instead of here and then made me realize that S9 of SG-1 (would that we one day have a S9 of SGA as well) is even better than I remember (and I remembered it being pretty good), with one fabulous episode following another and a really good sense of the team and how much they care about one another. (The only one I don’t like is Ex Deus Machina, but to have nineteen episodes one loves and only one that one doesn’t seems like a pretty good ratio to me.)

 

I’m a big fan of Mitchell and the way he is never presented as a faultless hero. He seems more like the impetuous big brother who the smarter, younger siblings think is going to get them all into trouble if they can’t rein him back a bit, but who will always put himself between them and danger. Sam and Daniel seem to spend a lot of time eye rolling about him and yet they are obviously very fond of him and he would clearly walk through fire for them. Given Mitchell’s big crush on Teal’c and willingness to fling himself into any danger to save his hero, I do think Teal’c could be a bit nicer to him, but must admit it’s very amusing when he isn’t. I’m also trying to think (having watched it last night) if there has ever been a better season ender than Camelot. (Or one with a more fiendish cliffhanger.) I’ve only re-watched the first two episodes of S10 so far, but they were both excellent and I’m impatient for the evenings to come along so I can get back to the next episode. (I have a weird inability to watch TV during the daytime.) It's such a pleasure to have SG-1 episodes that I haven't watched and watched to the point where I can practically remember every line. With S9 and S10, because I've only seen most of them once, it's almost like having new episodes to watch.

 

I also found that Ark of Truth (which I loved and loved even more on each subsequent viewing) made me change from someone who wasn’t all that keen on the Ori arc to someone who is a complete convert (and without undue influence by priors) and so able to appreciate the story arc of S9 and S10 that much more. It was just such a good resolution and, again, watching it in a much more compressed time frame, I keep thinking how well thought out the whole story was, with the Arthurian mythology (which I think they used brilliantly) and the all powerful gods with fanatical followers. The character of Tomin was such a great idea - and they were so lucky in Tim Guinee, what a fabulous actor. I appreciated ‘Crusade’ so much more the second time around, knowing that this wasn’t a throwaway character but someone who is allowed to undergo a really believable transition – and who is allowed to keep his faith in the teachings of Origin if not in the Ori themselves. I also liked the way the Orisei gave Vala a practical reason to be on the team. It didn’t feel contrived to me as she genuinely did have influence over Adria that no one else did, and knowledge of the Ori universe that no one else had. I still wish there had been another season (or six) in which to explore the story in more depth, but I think the film did a really good job of wrapping up that plot arc without completely abandoning character moments.

 

Anyway, I’m just very grateful to have this show and this universe to wallow in and that it’s still ongoing. I’m sorry there isn’t another film in the works right now as I really looked forward to both Ark of Truth and Continuum and even if it was going to be a year away, it would be wonderful to know there was another film coming. Of course, I also wish Stargate: Universe had started filming as I’m fascinated to see what they do with a third series. Thank goodness that Atlantis has another sixteen episodes, for certain, and hopefully another season. (One can never tell with SciFi.) At least there will be Atlantis movies even if the show is cancelled, but, much as I love the movies, it’s not quite the same as having those week by week explorations. I think the big, sexy season ender/season premier two-or three-or four-parter ideas will still make it to being filmed as DVD movies, but I would really miss the quieter episodes like Trio and Line in the Sand that I tend to rewatch a lot, whose stories would never make big, action-packed movies. Even with my fangirly love for Ark of Truth, twenty episodes would still have been better, but, my goodness, it is light years better than nothing.

 

Enough burbling, but I’m feeling terribly grateful for Stargate right now, in all its forms, and hope it continues for many years to come. I know, as a Stargate fan, I was incredibly lucky to get ten seasons of that world to wallow in, but I’m feeling greedy so I really hope we get ten seasons of Atlantis and then ten seasons of Universe too, oh, and lots of Stargate movies (some of them crossovers), and puppies and cake.

 

 

Comments

Hi

[ndmzero.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear you've been having health problems - I hope the treatments have been effective and you're on the mend and feeling better.

I've also recently immersed myself in SG-1 seasons 7 - 10 -- I bought the whole series but didn't quite have the energy to go through the whole thing yet. I still like the way seasons 9 and 10 hold up too - I'm glad you were able to enjoy them.

I share your feelings about the loss of Don S. Davis - I had the pleasure of meeting him at a con a few years ago - and managing to horn in on a group breakfast with him that wasn't organized - and based on that one meeting, I do feel he was a tremendously warm and interesting person and the world is poorer for his passing.

Can't say much about Atlantis, I don't watch it - although I'm most likely going to watch the episodes this season with Michael Shanks, so I'm trying to keep a little more in touch with it so I have an idea what's happening.

Take care of yourself.

Re: Hi

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

Hi back!

I'm feeling fine now, thank you. Only two weeks to go and then I should have the all clear to lift heavy objects again.

I'm glad you've been enjoying it too. S7 and S8 are probably the two seasons I know least now, so I could probably watch those again as well. Did you find they held up well to re-watching?

I'm sure it hit the fans who were lucky enough to meet Don S. Davis even harder than those of us who only got to enjoy his work on TV and DVD.

The first episode with Michael Shanks in it 'First Contact' apparently airs on Sept 26th, which is seven weeks away, should anyone be sad enough to be counting the days to an episode airing ten years after starting to watch a show....

Re: Hi

[ndmzero.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you're feeling better - maybe you can start with moderately heavy objects and work your way up?

About SG1 - S7 and S8 - Well, they were somewhat hit or miss, but there were some absolutely brilliant episodes, so the hits are good ones.

Thanks for the exact date of First Contact - excuse me while I run off to set a reminder on my calendar..... what, obsessed? still? me? - absolutely.

Thanks again.

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

I have been your fangirl for so long and I am delurking to say I'm so sorry you had such a shitty year with your health, and to thank you for sharing your lurv of the Gateverse.

I really enjoyed what you had to say about SG1 and although I'm not watching SGA at all I do keep up with it a tiny bit and will probably eventually buy the Carter episodes.

I never get tired of watching SG1, either. Thank you for posting this.

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

Thank you for delurking! It's lovely to hear from you.

I would really recommend the Carter episodes of SGA. (Well, I'd recommend the whole show, obviously, as I like it.) One of the things I really liked about S1 of SGA, as an SG-1 fan, was that one would get little bits of the SGC coming through, even if it's only a minute here and there, like Jack and Daniel being there at the beginning of 'Rising' and Sam being there at the end of 'Letters From Pegasus'. It was a bit like the crossover episodes in early Angel with S4 of Buffy, that really reminded you the the worlds were connected. As someone who was very much stepping onto Atlantis from the nice familiar platform of SG-1 it definitely helped me through the transition.

Have you seen 'Grace Under Pressure'? That's a really fabulous SGA-episode-with-Sam-in-it. I'm a huge fan of 'Trio' too, in which Sam is even more than usually wonderful. (McKay and Keller are fairly spiffy in it too but Sam has the best hair, also sparkly toenails.)

I'm so glad there are other people out there who love the show so much. I think we're very lucky, not just to have ten seasons, but to have such a big enthusiastic fandom. Thank you for commenting!

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

the only sga eps I have seen are The Return, because of Jack, and I did buy Rising because I knew there was lots of Jack and Daniel at the beginning.

maybe someday I'll get into it! I tend to limit myself to one show and fandom at a time, because of intense real life time pressures ( I watch less TV than anyone I know in fandom. I am a mutant), but it's so close to my beloved sg1 that I probably would enjoy it a lot.

best wishes on your health.

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

I think it's a really nice thing to have a show out there that you haven't seen yet that you're pretty sure you will enjoy. I completely understand about the time pressures. I just cancelled my satellite subscription because I hadn't switched the TV on for three years unless it was to watch a DVD and it seemed silly to pay for nothing. You can think of Atlantis as a nice store of episodes in the bank being built up for your future self to enjoy.

Thanks again so much for posting. :)

[farad.livejournal.com]

So sorry about the pain - but at least you made something good out of the forced 'down time'. I fell hard for SGA last year and have been dabbling in some writing in it; I loved the first several seasons of SG-1, but haven't gotten back to it since about season 4 - mostly because of time. I will, however, go look for your fics! YEA!!!

Feel better!

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

Ooh gorgeous Vin icon! Excuse me while I take a moment to drool. I do hope you are writing something in which he looks exactly like that? (But perhaps wears less clothes at some point?)

I'm glad you have succumbed to SGA. I think everyone should. :)

I know what you mean about time. I keep meaning to watch Farscape, Babylon 5, all those zillions of Star Trek series (especially that one with the pretty doctor), and about a dozen other shows that I haven't got around to yet, but it's not easy fitting them in.

I went through a bit of a blip with S4 of SG-1 the first time around, but I actually regard it with a lot of affection now. It was a bit dark, I think, and I do think it became somewhat claustrophobic and made me feel as if the ceiling of the SGC was pressing down on my head, after all the nice greens and red and outdoorsy episodes in previous seasons, but it has some cracking good episodes. (I have an insane amount of love for 'Tangent', for instance, and could watch it endlessly, although I don't really know why. It just delights me every time.) I found S5 of SG-1 a bit hit and miss but when it was good, I thought it was very good, and it has a lot of episodes I could watch over and over, like 'Threshold', 'Ascension', 'Beast of Burden', 'Between Two Fires', '2001' and, of course, '48 Hours' (in which McKay makes his first appearance and has much hair).

If you want SG-1 fic to read there is an absolute ton of it out there and lots of really good rec sites as well. Team fic, any character fic, any pairing (gen or naughty), and pretty much any genre. SG-1 fandom is really an all you can eat buffet.

[deej1957.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear about your health problems-- I hope everything has worked and you're on the mend.

SG1 was a huge help to mom and I after daddy died, as was The Sentinel. We watch Supernatural together now, and I'm totally In Wuv with Sam (Jared Padalecki--see icon *G*)

I was lucky enough to meet Don Davis at several cons and to also sit in front of him on a flight from Washinton DC to Chicago. He was a lovely man, very warm and kind-hearted. I'm glad he was able to have those extra years with Ruby.

Take care, sweetie-- we're all still patiently waiting for Book Three!

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

It has and I'm find now, thank you, darling!

Aww, that's an adorable Sam icon. He and his brother are so very purty. I haven't seen S3 of SPN yet. I thought I would be strong and wait for the box set to come out. (Then I have to immediately pass the boxset onto my nephew who is totally obsessed with SPN and Heroes.) When my father died we turned to Doctor Who. (It was before Stargate had been made.) And it made us feel hugely better too. I watch all seasons with my mother too. (She usually fancies the dashing heroic type, often with silly hair, whereas I tend to like the studious, nerdy ones.)

He always seemed like such a lovely man, but that just makes it harder for everyone who knew him. I'm glad he did too, but I do wish it could have been longer.

You too, you wonderfully slim person, you! I'm working on it. After five months of not being able to write this year, I'm determined to get it finished in time for Christmas. Thank you for the encouragement!

[sg1jb]

Hey there, it's very nice to 'see' you ;-).

Commiserations on the cyst-thing -- been there done that, so I do understand what you have just gone through. I sure hope you are feeling much better now.

I'm glad you are enjoying SG-1; it's still at the top of my list (well, with Daniel there, how could it not be at the top?). The puppies and cake sound good, too ;-).

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

Hi, there! It's lovely to 'see' you too. :)

I'm feeling fine now and commiserations back. I wouldn't wish one of those nasty twisty things on anyone, let alone a very nice person like yourself!

Yes, I think it's an obsession for life thing, isn't it, SG-1? I'm so glad that you're still enjoying it too. I love adding new shows to my list of things I love, but I would be sad if I had to give up any of the old ones too.

[astrumporta.livejournal.com]

Great to see you on line again, even if it is after a craptacular time for you. Hugs!

How lovely that you've fallen in love with the show again, and SGA for the first time. I love SGA too and am a confirmed McShepper now.

You should be happy to know that Brad Wright is actively working on the third movie script and has even released some hints about it -- some interesting, some disturbing. It seems it will go forward though, perhaps in January. Joe Mallozzi is calling it Project Terzo on his blog, if you want to keep up with the goings on. He's been vague so far but that will change I'm sure. :)

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

It's great to be back on line and able to enjoy fandom again. Thank you!

I think it's impossible to fall out of love with SG-1 even if one tries. One can fall in love with other shows too but somehow it never seems to make any difference to how much one loves the Gateverse, it's always there, like an unemptied toybox full of great things you'd half-forgotten.

Ah hah - a McShepper, eh? That seems to be you and half of all fandom. I will just post my obligatory 'Sam saw him first' icon at this point. Not that I think Sam really wants McKay giftwrapped (I think she'd have a much better time with Teal'c who I would lay money is better in bed) or that he is noticeably straight or that he would not pine if taken away from his Sheppy Weppy (or Katie Brown or Keller or Carson or whoever he is apparently dating this week) but I just feel, as one of possibly six entire Sam/McKay shippers spawned by '48 Hours', that I should fly the flag....:)

Being more serious, I'm very fond of SGA and all the characters. I don't really mind who is with whom as long as they don't blow up the city or injure Zelenka in any way while doing it.

I'm thrilled to hear about the third movie script! That's wonderful news. I will check out Joe Mallozzi's blog forthwith. Let's hope Brad Wright can get through an SG-1 script without succumbing to the urge to kill Jack, but even if he can't, I still want to see it and will be counting the days until it comes out on DVD. Thank you for the head's up. You have made my day!

[mrwubbles.livejournal.com]

I’m just very grateful to have this show and this universe to wallow in and that it’s still ongoing.

I am too. No pun intended, but the universe did open for me through Stargate. Let's see, I got to be friends with a lot of you, met my best friends through SG, discovered a love for reading and writing fanfic through Stargate, leaned about the Internet through Stargate, there were so many countless things. Stargate is very dear to my heart and watching them again has helped me appreciate it more.

Feel better, dear!

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness. I could just quote your entire post and say 'me too'. I'd never heard of fanfic, never heard of fandom, and never been online until I toddled off in search of pictures of Daniel. (And I can still remember that excitement of finding all those wonderful sites that were around back then with BIG pictures that could only be downloaded very slooowly on dial up and video files and sound files and fanfiction. Absolute fangirl heaven.) It actually scares me to think I might have missed out on meeting all these wonderful people who are now such staples of my life that I can't imagine how I got by without them beforehand, not to mention the joy of fanfic, of reading it and writing it, and watching music vids and too many thinks to count.

I really couldn't explain to someone who wasn't already a fan of the show what it is about Stargate that makes one love it at an insane level of intensity for year after year, but I think a sort of magic happens with the shows that have the ability to invade our dreams and SG-1 has it in spades.

Thank you so much! I do! And thank you for commenting. :)

[kbtgirl.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear you've had such a rough year but I'm relieved to hear you're picking up now.

I remember loving SG1 but it's very many years ago now and I've never been able to persuade myself to try re-igniting the passion I once had for the show (although every now and then I go back to favourite fanfics, your own included, and find that I much prefer that version). I remember you saying some months ago you were enjoying it all over again so I'm very glad you had something to tide you over the long, weary days of illness.

Once upon a time I rather looked down on Atlantis (Shepperd was just O'Neill-lite, why oh why would I ever want to watch McKay who'd I rather disliked on the parent show, and on and on ad nauseum) but I watched S1 on dvd a few years ago and found myself hooked (although I'm still not entirely convinced by Shepperd). It seems to me there were just so many more stories to tell in the Pegasus universe and the characters had such potentially long journeys in front of them. And of course, then I really dug into SGA fanfic and found some wonderfully written plots so that was the start of the slippery slope. I would have loved to see you write in that universe but I do understand why you don't, given how many other shows you write for.

Anyway, this was me, slinking out of anonymity for a brief while to say 'good to hear you're getting better and take care'.

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

Anyway, this was me, slinking out of anonymity for a brief while to say 'good to hear you're getting better and take care'.

It was very sweet of you to do that. Thank you for commenting.

I was really worried I was going to lose my love of SG-1. I stayed away for quite a long time for fear of sitting through an episode and thinking 'meh', but I was really relieved to find I was as fangirly as ever about it when I started watching it again. I'm never going to love S7 and S8 in the way I love S1-S3, but I am really fond of them, just because they're Stargate, and I love some individual later episodes as much as I love the early ones like 'The Torment of Tantalus' or 'Solitudes'. (I'm the same with Buffy. I love S1-S3 more than I love the later seasons, but I still love the characters enough to enjoy the later seasons just because it's in that world and with those people.)

I wasn't that interested in Atlantis at first either. I only started watching it because of the (utterly brilliant) Escapade 2006 DVD. I watched lierdumoa's SGA vid If I Wrote You (http://lierdumoa.livejournal.com/228779.html), hit pause on my remote the second it finished and went and ordered S1 of SGA.

I already liked McKay from SG-1. (I liked him in '48 Hours' and thought how much chemistry he and Sam had. I was really pleased when they brought him back for a couple of episodes in S6 and made him slightly less of a jerk.) But I thought Sheppard was going to annoy me too much for me to bear from the teeny glimpses I'd seen, as I'm really not a fan of the Han Solo type hero, and he didn't seem to have any of Jack O'Neill's warmth. (I enjoyed 'Firefly' (albeit nothing like as much as 'Angel' or 'Buffy' and was fond of all the characters and would happily have gone on watching the show as long as they kept making it if it hadn't been cancelled, although I did find it unnecessarily y chromosomey on occasion) but I spent most of 'Serenity' wishing someone would just quietly stab Mal two hundred times then set him on fire.) But actually I found Sheppard surprisingly unannoying and, on a second viewing of Atlantis, I found I was getting quite fond of him even when he was at his most Bitchy!Princess!Shep. (I reserve the right to want to kick him out of an airlock if we get too many episodes where he Heroically Saves The Day Even While Heroically Injured though.)

I think that's such a good point about there being so many stories to tell in that universe. It still feels like unknown territory. And I love the city of Atlantis itself. Not just because it's so beautiful (although I do think it is), but because it feels as if they have enough material for ten seasons right there. In fact if they wanted to ditch the spaceships and have every episode be The Team Explores A New Part of the City We Haven't Seen Yet I'd be perfectly happy.

I've heard that the fanfic in Atlantis fandom is absolutely wonderful, especially if one is into McShep as there seems to be tons of that around. My not writing for Atlantis (or reading the fic) is down to my irrevocably shallow gene. I've found that although I can watch a show and get really invested in it, even if it doesn't have someone in it that I would consider my designated totty for that show, I can't get up the enthusiasm to read or write fic for one that is totty-less, however good the writing is, and SGA, for me, is, alas, a totty-free zone. (Except for Zelenka, and he's only in about half of the episodes and never has that much to do in the ones he's in.) But I still feel very invested in the show and the characters. I particularly liked S3, which I thought was incredibly good. I thought S4 was more hit and miss but still very enjoyable and it would have to get an awful lot worse than that before I found my attention wandering because I love the world so much.

Thanks again for commenting. It was lovely to hear from you.

[kbtgirl.livejournal.com]

Twice in one day - this'll be my quota for the year!

Stargate's one of those funny series I often think, in that much of the first season is such cheese it's hard to take seriously and yet it has charm. It has lead characters you wanted to know more about, and it went from strength to strength in the next two seasons. I was actually happy with it until S7. The loss of Daniel didn't bother me and I enjoyed Corin Nemec and the fresh eyes he brought to the show. Plus my favourite episode (dear god, I can't even remember its title now) was the two-hander between Jack and Daniel because it seemed more like a stage play exploring their relationship over the previous five years. Loved it but still can't remember the blinking title! By then I knew I watched Stargate for O'Neill and, of course, as he cut back on his input my interest dwindled. At that point I was more interested in fanfic than the actual series.

With Atlantis I got into it first by reading some of the better fanfics (and some are McShep, inevitably I suppose) and then I thought I'd buy the first season dvd and try again... and that was it. Hooked.

I agree that the city is magnificent and Shepperd is growing on me but will never match O'Neill. I do love his relationships with his team though, and Zelenka is always a high point when he appears. I loved Beckett too although his accent made me cringe - I think maybe Paul McGillion's parents had over-emphasised their accents in an attempt to preserve them. That's the only excuse I can come up with anyway. But it still has those cheesy moments that make me wince and - like you - I feel the need to slap Shepperd every now and then. Funnily enough, not McKay. As much as he can be a complete self-obsessed moron, he's funny and snarky and I can forgive him anything for that. But I've stopped reading fanfic in SGA as well as SG-1 - go figure. It's not because of the totty-free zone (I agree with you there, I just don't see any of them that way) although it may be because my brain is easily distracted by pretty pictures and men, and at the moment I'm working through an obsession with Torchwood (go ahead - laugh!). There are some really wonderfully written fanfics though which I will probably re-read for years to come, I just don't have the energy or the will any more to plough through the high percentage of dross to find the few sparkly diamonds.

I admit to being less than pleased about Sam Carter coming onboard for S4 but I thought it went well in the circumstances. I also had reservations about Jewel Staite (actually, I still do) but it was okay. It makes sense that people move on in life, others die and are replaced, and relationships have to be built all over again and that is the thing that keeps me coming back to SGA, the relationships, because god knows, some of the plots are pretty dire. I do actively dislike though, the way Stargate kills off characters and then backs down on their decision. I know its sci-fi but it dilutes the power of the original death: they did it with Daniel to such a ridiculous extent that any death scene resulted in a rolling of eyes rather than an anxious wait to see if he'd survived again; and they did it again with Beckett and even though his death was extremely silly, the ramifications and the way it affected McKay and the others was moving and rather lovely. So S4 did disappoint me from that point of view although it had some highlights, Quarantine for one, the one with Jeannie for another. And it still has that Stargate charm as well as a great universe to play in so it seems to have quite a bit of mileage in it yet.

Interesting point, though, about the Joss Whedon shows. I used to wonder if they went downhill as his interest waned and he moved on to develop something new - I don't think it can be a coincidence that Buffy S4 coincided with Angel S1, or Angel S4(I think?) with Firefly. And I sometimes wonder if I would've enjoyed Firefly so much if it didn't have that aura of a story cut off in its prime. Really, we were just beginning to know these characters when they were torn away from us and the movie wasn't enough to compensate for me. (Also? The more Joss Whedon says Nathan Fillion's going to be a big star, the more puzzled I get).

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, I've enjoyed your comments so much and rambled on so much that I'm going to need two posts to answer you. Sorry!

It's so true. It was cheesy, and occasionally the cheese would become too pungent to ignore (as with Emancipation) but there was a sweetness about the early episodes that carried me through them happily. The team were all so interested in the worlds they were visiting and had such an affection for one another. There was an innocence about it that keeps those episodes fresh for me however many times I watch them.

I expected to hate S6 and, much to my surprise, ended up liking it. I thought Jack was written and acted very consistently as a guy who had taken a severe emotional hit and was dealing with it the way we'd seen him deal with loss before - by closing himself off and not talking to anyone about it. I really felt for Sam though, who had two people with her who were as grief-racked as she was and couldn't get a sensible conversation out of either of them, but I really liked how she was written. I did wishd that they hadn't made Jonas in any way culpable in what happened to Daniel. It seemed completely unnecessary to me. I didn't like the way the poor guy was supposed to be angsty-guilt-ridden-must-continue-Daniel's-work guy one minute and happy, innocent, weather-channel-watching guy at the same time. I didn't see why he couldn't just have been the poor bugger that the Kelownans sent to Earth for whatever reason and was stuck there being a liaison, really, and so was on the team that way. They could have had 'Oops, sorry, we got your guy killed. Have one of our guys in exchange' as the reason why he was on the team and it would have led to him being written in a much less schizoid way. He was definitely likeable though, even with the weird characterization at the beginning and I thought it was a very solid season of Stargate. S7 and S8 are definitely the two seasons I like the least so far, but they have episodes I love and I will give them another shot some time this year and see if I can warm up to them more. Is the episode you liked 'Abyss'?

No, I feel the same way about Sheppard. I've become fond of him but I will never love him the way I love Jack O'Neill. The first time around I didn't pay much attention to Beckett, but on a second viewing I felt he had an important role to play as a moral compass. I liked the way he was always a Doctor first, like when the wraith is injured in 'Duet' and Beckett's first thought is how to give him medical assistance, whereas Sheppard just sees him as an enemy that needs killing. McKay never irks me either. It's one of those things, as with SG-1, where I can see that their actions/words ought to be annoying and yet they just don't know annoy me. Jack, Daniel, Sam and Teal’c have all been fairly thwappable in their time too but I'm too fond of them to find them exasperating even when they're being pains in the mikta. McKay is like that for me. I found him delightful in '48 Hours' and I always have since – even when he's being mean to Zelenka, whom I adore.

I was worried about Sam coming over to Atlantis too. I really like Weir and didn't want her replaced. I didn't like the idea of the city being under military control and I was very worried that Sam was suddenly going to have to drop fifty IQ points so McKay could still be the Saving the Day guy. But on the whole, although I thought they underused her, I was very relieved by the way she was written. I only really felt irked by the one with McKay's sister ('Miller's Crossing'?) when they called on a wraith instead of Sam for help with nanite technology when Sam was working on nanite technology back in 'Brief Candle' but weirdly doesn't get asked for her input. But I liked the rest of the episode very much and there are others in S4 I can rewatch over and over. (Yes, love Quarantine too. Zelenka saves the day! Yay!)

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

I must admit I'm not too happy about Keller being so unconvincing (to me anyway) as a doctor and I don't know why they made her a doctor when they don't want her to act like one. The place is crawling with scientists, some of whom must have been selected for their specific areas of research rather than for their ability to cope in a crisis. Keller could easily have been a young and brilliant scientist who was there because of a vital paper she'd written or something and had exactly the personality she had now without it creating a credibility problem (for me anyway). But doctors spend their entire professional lives dealing with crises, whereas Keller doesn't seem anything like any doctor I have ever met, and that includes the ones too young to know what a temperature should be in Fahrenheit. Keller currently reminds me of characters from bad 80s B-movies, where we’re supposed to accept Patsy Kensit as an eminent psychiatrist because she puts on a pair of spectacles. It’s a shame because they’ve always managed to cast pretty people to play clever people in the Stargate universe before without it straining my ability to suspend my disbelief the way Keller does.

It's more the deaths that I object to than the resurrections. I think they've been really overused as a cheap device to elicit an emotional reaction on Atlantis (even more than SG-1 which was guilty of it as well) and a zillion other shows. It's just too easy (for writers) to have a character who is kind and good and nice and then bump them off and then have everyone cry. A scene that chokes you up when you're watching it without anyone having died in it may be a lot harder to write but I wish they'd go for that a bit more often rather than just breaking out the character death as the first stop. The scene in 'The Tao of Rodney' where McKay apologises to Zelenka is one that really moves me every time, and that's just down to good writing and good acting, not pressing the 'kill beloved character here to elicit knee-jerk grief reaction from audience' button. So, I suppose my feeling with both Daniel and Beckett is that it was a lazy plot device in the first place to bump them off so at least by resurrecting them they corrected their original mistake, but it did end up being annoying twice over, by first doing the death thing again and, second, by cheapening the original death with a convenient resurrection.

Yes, absolutely. It was S3 of Angel which coincided with Firefly and there was a lot of bitching from the Angel fans about the lack of attention to scripts during that season. (Which I only found out about afterwards as I watched Angel entirely on DVD and had no idea what fan reaction was until after I’d finished watching.) I thought it had a great arc but a lot of weak individual episodes so I think it definitely did show that Joss's attention was divided because S2 was a lot more consistent. S4 of AtS was the one long crazy apocalypse story season. (Which I personally love, not least because Wesley is really hot in it, often right, only slightly crazed, and occasionally naked.) I thought S8 of SG-1 suffered somewhat the same way with the writers spread a little thinly over the two shows.

It's hard to know with Firefly. Probably Joss would have done something terribly annoying in the next season (like, say, killing Wash and Book while making Mal too annoying to live and then, perversely, not killing him) to drive away his audience, but I did think there was some fabulous writing in the little we got. I think 'Out of Gas' is one of the all round best things I've seen on any show. I just love the way it's constructed. It was only really 'Shindig' that made me roll my eyes and say 'oh puleeze', which really isn't bad out of fourteen episodes. (River dancing in 'Safe' is an example of a scene that makes me cry every single time without the writers having to kill anyone.) I thought Nathan Fillion was scary as all heck as Caleb but I found Mal too Han Solo to be interesting even before he became really, really annoying, and, to me, 'Star Wars' is this weird religion that guys-who-write-scifi have that I have never been converted to so I don't really understand their urge to homage it up the wazoo.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, it told me last night that I'd wittered on at too great a length but I was ready for bed then so I cut the last paragraph and posted.

I think you nailed it with innocence - they seemed to be so thrilled to be travelling to new worlds and pushing those boundaries even if they were set on the journey by such horribly traumatic events. Of course the downside of innocence is that they sailed gaily into the event horizon without proper thought to the consequences. Was it in 'Brief Candle' Hammond said something along the lines of 'it finally bit us on the butt' when O'Neill started aging at an exponential rate? Still, it had a freshness of spirit I enjoyed, and maybe I was the one who grew too cynical rather than the show but after a while it started to get annoying that they couldn't foresee these situations coming because - hey! - did that one last season... and the season before that.. and and and.

I'm glad to hear you say you thought Jack was written and acted consistently because at the time there seemed to be so many complaints about RDA phoning it in, about his lack of care, humanity, whatever. Like you I thought he was dealing with it the same way as he dealt with the loss of Charlie only in a slightly healthier fashion than before - I couldn't imagine him ever taking on a suicide mission because Daniel was gone.

And Teal'c likewise. He was never going to be publically angsting over Daniel's loss. Even Sam - these people are all armed forces and they've all experienced such losses before. And yes, it had to hit harder because Daniel was closer to them than ordinary team mates and, I suppose, because he was a civilian. There must've been a different level of guilt there to losing fellow soldiers/airmen.

You're right, Jonas stood no chance with the way he was inconsistently written and because he was brought in to replace a fan favourite (although I always got annoyed - Michael Shanks chose to leave, it wasn't that they wrote him out for the sake of drama a la Beckett). I thought he was a good throwback to the first season, where everything was fresh and new and simply amazing, and a good counterpoint to the wearier views of the people we'd travelled with for 5 years at that point. And I did think that Corin Nemec was poorly treated by the producers (but that isn't new, is it? I have to keep reminding myself that it's showBUSINESS and their decisions are motivated by bottom lines)so that still bites a little even after all these years (don't ever ask me about Sam Seaborn! Oh boy, I could rant about producers there)

[kbtgirl.livejournal.com]

Oops, that was me. Thought I'd better check for length and post but completely forgot I hadn't signed in. And yes, it was Abyss - thanks!

On to SGA. Beckett stood out to me at first because of the faux Scots accent. And then I discovered he was Scots born and bred - oh well, he and John Barrowman are both examples of ex-pats being away too long! Ignoring that though, I liked his interplay with Mckay and as I'd already decided McKay was the most interesting character... Thing is, I could buy Beckett as a leader of a team as well as a doctor, I could even buy him following a military line although sometimes it interfered with his own interpretation of morals and ethics, I could even buy him deciding he wasn't going to follow protocol because his compassion and humanity wouldn't let him. But I don't buy any of the above from Keller. I don't understand why she didn't get sent home when she stated very clearly she didn't like leading in the aftermath of Beckett's death. At the very least they should've brought in a new leader and put her back to being a team member. I don't buy either that someone on the Atlantis mission is so 'wimpish' for want of a better word! They surely have access to far better candidates than that... And she's just too damn young but maybe that says more about me than Atlantis. But then, I often think they're weak in writing for female characters and I suspect it's too do with wish fulfilment and an obsession of sorts with Sam Carter ( I think Torchwood is similar, at least S1 when RTD et al were obsessed with Eve Myles and therefore everybody had to LOVE Gwen). Ironically, I think they almost had it right with Elizabeth but then you get into company politics and why they decided to kill her off but it's best not to go there!

Sam was better than I expected on SGA. Like you I thought they'd have to drop her IQ 50 points or - and I feared this more - drop everybody else's IQ so that she could continue saving the day. Thank god, they didn't and I thought she played very well against the established characters, walking that fine line between (military) command and friendship, and knowing when to let people have their heads. As you say, someobody forgot to update the show bible so it was 'forgotten' that Sam had experience with nanites to allow someone else to shine, but consistency isn't always their greatest skill. (Btw, I'm glossing over 'Patsy Kensit' because that would be too much of a rant at a tangent).Not sure how to split posts so I'll send this and then start another.

[kbtgirl.livejournal.com]

So, deaths in drama. I'm okay with them most of the time. I thought Buffy excelled - who'd ever forget Buffy's mother's death? Or Buffy's? And they fitted so well in the plotlines, a reminder that sometimes people die for reasons beyond the supernatural or simply outwith Buffy's control. But Beckett's death? And yes, they did it to make the point that jeopardy does sometimes result in tragedy and because they'd pulled off too many miraculous rescues, but I really really really wish they'd stand by their decisions instead of bowing to public pressure, or wanting to bring the actor back because they like him. I thought if they'd had real guts (and I would've hated it) they would've let Rodney ascend in 'Tao of Rodney' (and I always wished they'd killed off O'Neill instead of leaving him somewhere in limbo in DC just in case they ever needed him again). How can you buy into any kind of jeopardy for these characters when you know that, more than likely, they'll find a way to bring them back next year? Ugh. I think I'd just like to see real consequences instead of ones that can be rescinded.

What's not to love about Wesley? Cough.

I suppose we'd have to give Joss Whedon the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was forced to pack too much into the film because he wasn't sure he would ever get to finish his story otherwise. Mal was too damn heroic and other characters seemed to get short shrift so that the Mal and River stories could play out. I liked River but it was too much too soon for me because I saw the film before the series (my god, was I confused by Simon at first!). I still harbour a tiny hope for that second film even though I knwo I'm probably deluding myself. Star Wrs? Well, I loved it when it was released but I really have no desire to watch it again and haven't even seen the modern trilogy. Ironically I don't particularly care for sci-fi... I keep saying, it's the characterisations I'm there for (and sometimes the pretty).

So, didn't think I had as much to say as this. Nothing to do with the fact that we're so bored at work right now one of my assistants and myself watched the rain for a good ten minutes. Because we don't see it that often, right? Ha.

[sg-wonderland.livejournal.com]

"S4 of AtS was the one long crazy apocalypse story season. (Which I personally love, not least because Wesley is really hot in it, often right, only slightly crazed, and occasionally naked.)"

I knew there was a reason I really, reallty liked that season...

Glad to hear you're feeling better.

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

Sorry I didn't see this until now. I have to admit that there are lots of good things about S4, but Wesley's unfeasible hotness is the chief one that compels me to watch it so often....

Feeling fine now, thank you!

[kixxa.livejournal.com]

Hi! I just found your fanfic and have been reading it all day (to everyone's consternation. I mean, there's meals to eat and conversations to join, but hey! I'm in SG1 heaven!)

I'm so glad you're on LJ and that I can friend you. Just hoping your health woes are on the mend. Sounds like you've have a bad run of it.

[elgrey.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for commenting. :) I'm really glad you're enjoying the fic . And I love your icon. Daniel looks completely adorable (as indeed he is).

The twisted cyst was annoyingly time-consuming but I had fabulous care and am feeling perfectly okay now. I just have to have two years of follow up tests to make sure everything's okay, but, hopefully no more morphine. (Which is nothing like as good as Wesley had led me to believe.)

[kixxa.livejournal.com]

Yes, Daniel's completely, utterly adorable! (But I never let his adorableness get in the way of a good whumping!)

I'm sorry the morphine wasn't good. I guess that's the only thing that makes being (really) ill worthwhile. :D Anyway, it's great to hear you're out of those particularly nasty woods. *raises glass to cheer good health*

[ynm.livejournal.com]

Hi, this might be a little late but I've been a HUGE fan of your writings and love your SG-1 and BtVS/AtS fics a lot. As I'm always happy to hear from fellow fans, I thought I'd drop a comment.

Firstly, I'm sorry to hear about your health and hope you're better now. It must have been a terrible time but I'm happy to hear that at least there was some silver lining for you.

Secondly, I'd like to say (again) how much I love your fics and respect your writing skills. I am a huge Jack/Daniel fan even though I've only watched til S4 so far and the strong friendship and respect between your Jack and Daniel always makes me happy as I feel that Daniel usually gets the short end of the stick, plot-wise.

If you remember, the Jack/Daniel interaction which we had a lot of during S1-2 (which for me, was a big attraction of the show coz they were terribly funny and cute together) suddenly died off when they started paying more attention to the Jack/Sam relationship? Can't you (i.e. script writers) keep the Jack/Daniel part alive while playing up the Jack/Sam part? It's like, intead of Jack gradually noticing Sam as a love interest while Daniel's still his best friend, it became more like Jack and Daniel had a lovers spat coz Jack was interested in Sam. Guys can pursue girls as potential lovers without sacrificing prior friendships, you know. Plus, it wasn't like Daniel was a rival for Sam's affections and they couldn't be friends anymore. And Daniel got treated like crap during the adjustment period. (Yes, I'm angry on Daniel's behalf, lol)

Also, you've also help to cement the Angel/Wesley foundations in me with your fics. When I watched Angel on local tv, I was still young and innocent in the ways of slash and couldn't properly appreciate Wesley (I was a bit hooked on Angel). So you're one of the two authors who opened my eyes to the wonder that is Wesley. Now I wished I had paid more attention to him when I was watching the show.

Anyway, I hope for your continued good health and do you think you'd be writing anything new soon? ^_^