gategrrl

Was MS up for that? That would've been interesting, to say the least.

My sympathies. I just didn't start watching again when it started up after hiatus. I'll wait for the end of the season, be forewarned what to expect, and watch downloads.

From: (Anonymous)

At some point, MS's name was mentioned in tandem with "Apollo" when the call went out. I think he was considered too old for the role: I don't think it went farther than his agent sending his resume and 8x10 to the casting director. (but don't quote me on that) It might also have worked against him that he was so well connected to his role as DJ.

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Er...that was me up above -- I forget to sign in!

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I kinda figured it was you. For a second, I was like, OMG, the spirit of LJ itself is answering me, but then I thought about it, and all made sense again. :D

That's interesting. I guess he would have been too old, seeing as they seem to be going for people who make ME feel old.

"What's that number in his birthyear, Assistant?"
"It's a... it's a 7, sir."
"A 7 what?"
"One of the numbers from the 1970's, sir."
"The 19..."
"70's, sir."
"The... what was that, a decade or something?"
"I believe it came just before the 80's, sir."
"Oh, now those I know! So these... 70's, as you call them..."
"Came after the decade you were born in, but before the one all your clients were born in."
"I see. Extraordinary! I shall have to look into that."

Did I have a point? Nah, just sleepy and drinky. :D

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It's too bad MS wasn't selected for Apollo.

Oh, I thank god that didn't happen! ;-) I think the new BSG should never, ever have been made. :-( I love MS and would want to watch him in anything and everything, but I couldn't watch that. If they had changed the name of the show or at the very least set it in the past or future from the other show or even just used different character names...maybe. But as it is...no. It makes me sad just to know it's in existence.

(I'm not trying to imply that you or anyone shouldn't like the new show or whatever--just trying to say how horrified I'd be if MS were on that show and how glad I am that he's not. Was he up for the part of Apollo?)

I still love SG-1, but I'm with you about wondering what's going to happen once Vala comes back--as you know. These new spoilers just make it seem even worse to me. Maybe I won't hate it. I'm afraid I'll end up hating Daniel. I don't think I'll ever stop watching for as long as MS is on it, though, but maybe it will actually get to that point. I hope not. I don't know what I'd do without Stargate. I guess I'd be back to watching the DVDs, but even the earlier seasons aren't as much fun any more because Sam is still there. ;-)

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Stargate was NEVER brilliantly written, "groundbreaking" media science fiction. The earlier seasons were also filled with old cliches, retreadish plots, and some real boners for plots.

BUT you could always rely on the actors to relate their characters together and make the connections the writing didn't always support. That isn't happening anymore. I think it's pitiful that all that is now dependent on the presence of one actress playing a rapidly evolving thief and conwoman. The other characters used to be as interesting. Now, they're not.

And now Vala, arguably the most interesting, most changing character, is being dug a hole in a quagmire of one of the oldest stories in the book...but one written by *these* writers.

I tend to relate to serial television as the total of the writing, the stories, the acting, the continuity and the production values. Whether you like the new BSG series or not, if you watch it, you'll see that the writing, the stories, the acting and the production values are all there, at a high water mark that Stargate has never reached, except in a rare episode or two or maybe three.

Well, I used to be a huge fan of Star Trek, ST:TNG and DS9...I still love DS9. It helps that DS9 is back on TV on Spike TV. But I also loved Buffy, but it's pretty much gone from my mind now. I used to love X-files. I don't think about that show anymore.

*sighs*

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Stargate was NEVER brilliantly written, "groundbreaking" media science fiction. The earlier seasons were also filled with old cliches, retreadish plots, and some real boners for plots.

Sometimes, but I loved them. :-) As you said, the characters cared about each other so much--and I think that *was* written in at first, but when it was, they acted their hearts out with it. I think they stopped writing it and when the actors tried to add it in, they eventually prevented them either through editing or direction or writing (or all three).

I think it's pitiful that all that is now dependent on the presence of one actress playing a rapidly evolving thief and conwoman. The other characters used to be as interesting. Now, they're not.

I actually don't find Vala all that interesting. I mean...she's cute and fun in a way, but I also find her *character* (not *the* character, but Vala's character) rather distasteful. I'm not sure I can get past that.

I know that I'm completely delusional, but I think they could have done the show without Vala and even without Mitchell. If they'd used the characters they already had... But I think TPTB now just see all of these characters as boring background and supporting characters for the new characters.

Whether you like the new BSG series or not, if you watch it, you'll see that the writing, the stories, the acting and the production values are all there, at a high water mark that Stargate has never reached, except in a rare episode or two or maybe three.

I konw what you're saying, but I'll never watch that show. ;-) Also, I've never been a fan of other sci-fi shows other than the original BSG, so I really have no comparison for SG-1 since the original BSG had terrible special effects, really lame stories, etc.

You probably know this, but just in case...my favorite shows before Stargate were: Saved by the Bell, Dawson's Creek, and Degrassi: The Next Generation (which I still love and still watch). So...LOL at me. Stargate is at least more adult and more fun. Oh, and I did love NYPD Blue, but I admit I only started watching it because Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack from Saved by the Bell) was on it, but I did get into it and loved the earlier seasons as much or more than the later seasons. I'm just pathetically lame when it comes to taste in television, though, except maybe for NYPD Blue.

What the original BSG had was a sense of overall purpose--and that's what I saw in the early years of SG-1, too. It was a sense of doing good, trying to do the right thing (yes, even Jack and Sam and Teal'c--it wasn't just Daniel). On both shows, the actors really did a lot with their roles and the sense of caring between the characters was there.

I now think that even if I watched the new BSG, I probably wouldn't like it even if there had been no "old" (real) BSG. I don't care if it's technically good or critically acclaimed. I just think the critics have no taste. ;-) I tend to think SG-1 was good in the early years. LOL I do! So obviously I have no taste or judgment because I absolutely loved it. I still love it enough now to keep watching. I also tend to think the sun rises & sets on MS's ass. ;-) So I'm more than a little biased about him and about Daniel and have no perspective. I try to look at it objectively, and it just depresses me and makes me sad. I think maybe I'll just hole up in my little corner of the fandom where everyone loves Daniel and just stay there from now on--although it seems like everyone likes Vala even more than Daniel...not that it's a contest... hehe It just leaves me with nowhere to go except inside my own head.

I think this new storyline is just going to cause me to dislike and resent Vala more.

hehe I feel so petty writing this. It's based solely on emotion--no objectivity or logic involved.

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Dare I ask what the new spoilers are? I keep seeing mentions of them, but I haven't seen the spoilers themselves.

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Er...the Ori-shark-baby? Surely, you've heard of that one. Yes? If not, I'll go into it more deeply. The sides for it (the first episode of the 10th season) were just released a few days ago.

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I heard that one a few months ago, but it sounds like there are new developments...? Maybe not. Maybe when people say "new spoilers" they don't mean 2 days old. :D

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Would you like the link?

Basically, think Shifu with a sex change, without an Oma to tell him to not fight the battle, etc and so forth. In this case, Vala's child is a physical manifestation of the Ori, with human limitations. *yawn*

And Vala'a rapidly growing sprog orders Daniel killed when he's found on her invading ship, and dear Vala throws herself in front of Daniel to keep him from being killed...and she gets shot, and daughter-dear starts to heal her, because her body is the equivalent of one of those Ancients who can heal and do other amazing things cuz they're so advanced physiologically.

And apparently Vala is now putting her daughter (who may or may not be Daniel's, the spoilers aren't clear on it, but the kid is genetically altered, etc) before her own life...which does not compute with how her character has been portrayed as looking out for number one. I guess it's not THAT much of a stretch, but since we haven't had much of any showing of the unselfish side of Vala...well...I guess when any woman has a baby, her mommy hormones go on overdrive. *cough*

And I can't believe there are still folks who want this evil little pup to be Daniel's.

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Oh. My. God.

That's even worse than I imagined. My mind is blank from the horror, but I know this has been done on other shows, and it's at least one movie plot, and OMG, it's one of those not-cliches that's a not-cliche because it never worked.

Bummer. I was hoping I'd be proven wrong in my decision to stop watching the show. Instead, I'm more worried than ever that I'll also be proven right that they'll deconstruct Daniel before this is all over. Just by having him so intimately connected to such an offensive deconstruction of Vala could impact him more than people realize.

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Instead, I'm more worried than ever that I'll also be proven right that they'll deconstruct Daniel before this is all over.

That's what I fear. There was already such a strong backlash against Daniel in the Daniel side of the fandom because of the events in Beachhead where, IMHO, Vala acted irresponsibly and Daniel did nothing wrong...

So, yeah, I can see where this is headed.

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I didn't feel in Beachhead that Vala was treated unfairly - after all, they still ignore Daniel sometimes, who's proven himself over and over - but I did object to the line where he said "We need a solution that's outside the box."

First of all, since when does Daniel tell us we need a solution instead of trying to give us one? Like a politician saying "We need to put our children first" but not offering a plan to do that. And second, what the hell else would you get from Vala, but an outside the box solution? I can see him thinking she'd give them a stupid solution, but not a traditional one, which is what the line implied. It was just stupid, and Daniel is anything but stupid.

That one line really bugged me, because all they needed was to have Daniel spouting his OWN attempt at an outside the box solution, and it would have been in character. As it was, it was such an obvious attempt by Brad Wright to sacrifice Daniel's integrity to make Vala look heroic. That's when I started to worry there might be a bad trend starting.

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As it was, it was such an obvious attempt by Brad Wright to sacrifice Daniel's integrity to make Vala look heroic. That's when I started to worry there might be a bad trend starting.

Ah, I see what you're saying. I thought it was a stupid line at the time, but I didn't really connect it in any way to how he treated Vala. I didn't think anyone treated Vala unfairly, but I agree that it would have been better for Daniel to either offer up his own solution, even if it was wrong (such as in episodes like The Fifth Man), rather than have him say something that was so obvious--and so obviously not the kind of thing Daniel would ever say.

But yeah, your connection to sacrificing Daniel's integrity to make Vala look heroic actually makes sense to me--not that they'd do it, but your explanation of it.

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therentgirls.livejournal.com

SG1 has been a disappointment for a couple of seasons now. I still sort of watch it, ie the television is on while I go about my business, but it's just not the same. Certainly not in the league of BSG or even SG1 a couple of seasons ago. So sad.
~V~

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Well, I think Stargate has finally tipped over in the scales for me. It definitely has for my husband: we watch it together. He didn't bother finishing Collateral Damage, and I only had it on as background noise.

It's a good thing I'd bought the earlier seasons already on DVD, because I don't think I would have bothered now.

Same thing's happened with the The Dead Zone. I saw the second season of The Dead Zone and loved it. Then I caught up, and it became oddly predictable and ho-hum. I'm not so interested in buying the earlier seasons anymore, since I know the later seasons lost their spark and originality. (Michael Pillar, the chief exec prod, left the show after the second season due to illness, and died recently)

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