(no subject)

[gategrrl]

It's all over my flist--Atlantis cancelled. After a five year run with a turnstile for the actors and halfway through a new set of producers, it was finally officially canned by SciFi.

Did you really want to continue twisting in the wind with the pallid story-lines, revolving cast, and improbable romantic relationships? Would it *really* be desirable to have it spiral down in quality even *more*?

Comments

[amycooper.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my first reaction to the news was, "Great! Now they'd never be able to f*** it up to the extent that they did SG-1."

Like SG-1 before it, SGA had giant plot holes, poor writing and often wrote characters differently every week. I think part of the reason I liked Rodney was because he was one of the most consistent characters on the show. (Methinks the fact that he's an arrogant ass made it easier for the writers to be consistent with his characterization). Often times the message the show sent about women and minorities were troubling at best. Characters made arbitrary decisions ("Like, Teyla can't go to the mall to look for the father of her soon-to-be born son...because...uh...because we say so!") or don't react with the appropriate weight (Carson!) when they have to do something ethically questionable.*

Yet, somehow I liked it. I think that all the actors and actresses did the best they could with what they had. That helps. It really is something that despite all of that, the show had a good following. There was just something about it. I'm sad to see it go, but I feel rather okay about it, almost relieved.

*Ethically questionable makes good drama, but doing it without thought, reflection or conflict doesn't. I so could have gone with and been cool with Carson's actions and character if we saw him and others debate and agonize over it. Made it hard. Sadly, that didn't happen.

[nialla]

Sadly, my first reaction to the news was, "Great! Now they'd never be able to f*** it up to the extent that they did SG-1."

I sort of agree with you there, but I'm curious how far in the planning stage things were. Are they planning to go out shipping characters all to hell and gone now that the end is nigh and there's nothing fans could do about it at this point? Or at least push it as far as they dare, considering there's movies in the pipe.

The ethical points were always something that troubled me with Atlantis. I get the whole, "We're in a war!" thing, but sometimes decisions were made with a reason given (if we were lucky) but no indication it was made after any deliberation over the options.

This was an unfortunate result of TPTB wanting to just get on with the action, because we all know that's what everyone's tuning in for, right?

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

The premiere episode had me gnashing my teeth. It was too easy for them, and they fubared it all up all by themselves. Not to mention the shady, unethical and utterly jaw-droppingly bad decisions made by everyone up and down the line and everyone thinking it was a-okay!

On a good day, Atlantis engendered a strong feeling of complete disgust. These people weren't heroes in any sense of the word. But sure, characters like Zelenka were entertaining, and the actors tried their best to get around shitty writing and written characterization.