[i have some concerns]

[tellitslant]

So I am kind of watching Stargate SG-1: the Sam Carter remix. But I keep asking myself why.

Episode One: Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, women can serve in the Air Force? And you're making us manly manly men put one on our team? Well. As long as she wears a short skirt.

Episode Two: Well, women can serve in this man's Air Force, but they're also the first to be taken hostage!

Episode Three: We discover that women are a liability on alien worlds! Sam gets kidnapped and sold (and kicks a remarkable amount of ass, but still).

Episode Four: Sex pollen! Men become aggressive and caveman-esque. Sam gets slutty and makes out with O'Neill.

Episode Five: Sam's ex-fiance goes insane and it is her responsibility to figure out what's gone wrong. (Though again she does get to be really awesome.)

Seriously why am I still watching this show? Man. The twin powers of sophia_gratia's ficcish persuasion and Amanda Tapping's Stupid Face are strong.

Comments

[spockette]

Oh, lord yes. Stargate is very much made of fail in oh so many ways (and I have never been able to bring myself to watch Universe, because I am not that much of a masochist). Sam is an awesome character (as is Janet, Cassie, Vala, Sha're, etc) and they all deserved so much more than they got in the show. And the race fail was just astoundingly terrible - counting characters of colour, and then realizing just how many are 'othered' and playing alien vs how many POC get to play human and it's just...wow.

I grew up watching this show (season 1 aired when I was 10, and I think I was 23 when SGA ended), and it was one of my very earliest fandoms, so it always has a special place in my heart, but when I rewatch it, I am constantly reminded how the version I have in my head is so much better than the version on tv.

At least Amanda Tapping is awesome? I think it was in an audio commentary she mentioned that she had to keep going to the writers and yell at them a little, all "WOMEN DON'T TALK LIKE THIS." She's so great. ♥ her.

[tellitslant]

Yeah, the race issue is just... cringe. I was thinking about that watching the first couple of eps of SG-1 and then I had this moment of "wait... they did the SAME DAMN THING in SGA?" It's... impressive.

Amanda Tapping IS awesome. That helps a lot. *g*

[oparu]

good luck!! may Sam carry you through the terrible, terrible writing...

[tellitslant]

Forward! To the episodes that launch the Sam/Janet ship! *charges*

[oparu]

It's pretty much your only Ladyshipping option. I salute you!

I'm plotting a Trekladies of the Rings. Should Janeway or Kira be the Queen ?

[tellitslant]

Aw, there's also Sam/Vala! I may have a soft spot. In advance. :P

Ooooh. Tough one! I'm thinking Kira. What other options are there for either of them, though?

[oparu]

Vala is fun. If Vala had been on the show from the get-go, I may have enjoyed it THIS MUCH more.

These are very loose associations that I intend to play with but...some of them work really well.

I'm thinking Dax is Gandalf, Jadzia can be the 'grey', Ezri the 'white'. B'Elanna makes a good Sam because of her unflinching loyalty, I want to make Kes Frodo because she's so guileless, Seven of Nine a 'Gollumlike' tragic character who's attracted to the 'ring'.

The Borg Queen is so Sauron.

Deanna Legolas because the immortal Elves seem rather Betazoid to me.
Kira would make a good ranger-turned military commander-then queen. I'm half tempted to make Ro Laren Gimli, because she's so gruff. I suppose that makes Beverly and Kathryn hobbits, and I'm cool with that. Love hobbits.

[oparu]

I needed a model for an epic quest, and LOTR works.

[sophia_gratia]

The fail has only begun. ONLY BEGUN. Just wait 'til the episode whose major premise is that it's impossible for women to organize their own resistance and need foreign men to come and tell them what to do. And then fall in love about it. AAAAGH.

Also, dude, I told you not to watch that terrible fifth episode. For the record.

[tellitslant]

Oh, whaaaaat. I thought you wanted me to keep watching this show, you know.

And also, if I hadn't watched that crappy ep I would have missed some classic Sam Being AWesome-ness, so. But, you were probably right.

[ariestess]

Dude, Sam and Janet are the ONLY good things about that show. And hopefully you'll learn to ignore the stupid that is pretty much the rest of the show whenever they show up. I watched the show pretty faithfully right up until a specific and spoilerish point in Season 7, then caught 1 or 2 eps after that for specific reasons [200th ep and a Jacob Carter ep], but I never looked back.

Now, the show brings up very mixed feelings for me. I've gotten into fights with people over whether or not Jack O'Neill respects Sam Carter [the people I fight with are usually Sam/Jack 'shippers], which I don't believe he does, or he wouldn't treat her the way he does. He gives more respect to Daniel Jackson, who is less militarily inclined than CASSIE.

*ahem* Sorry. I'll step down from my ranty soap box now.

[tellitslant]

Yeah, I must say, so far I am really unimpressed with Jack. I was more or less prepared, going in, by sophia_gratia's awesome ranty post on SG-1 and Sam/Jack, and she has primed me for the Sam/Janet, so I'm watching with foreknowledge. But, man. That doesn't make it any less frustrating!

[ariestess]

*wanders off to read said ranty post first*

*comes back, after leaving a comment, all rosy-cheeked and bouncy*

That was beautifully said and is totally frakking true. It's really the best way to follow the show to keep from going absolutely stark raving mad and throwing things at the screen over it. Don't get me wrong, I love Sam and I love Janet, and I even love some of the guys [post-S3 Daniel Jackson can DIAF], but if it weren't for the interaction between Sam and Janet, I'd have been done with that show a LOOOOT earlier than I was.

[penknife.livejournal.com]

The first season of SG-1 contains a lot of sucktastic episodes, especially the first half. It gets better, IMO.

If you're mainly watching for Sam, I would watch "Singularity" and "Solitudes," and then maybe skip forward to season 2, where Sam's relationship with her father starts getting some development, and her connection to the Tok'ra resistance movement produces some interesting plot. Certainly skip "Brief Candle," which is another unfortunate warmed-over Star Trek episode. "Cold Lazarus" is a Jack episode, although Sam has a couple of cute moments geeking out over science with Daniel. "The Torment of Tantalus" and "Bloodlines" are both good, although not particularly Sam-centric (but "The Torment of Tantalus" has Catherine Langford, who I kind of love.)

I have no idea whether you would like "Hathor" or hate it; I really enjoyed it, but I know a lot of people hated it, so YMMV.

[tellitslant]

See, the problem is I'm really bad at not watching everything. *g* I don't like to miss stuff! So I watch the crappy stuff too. Sigh. And it's not always bad - like, now I'll struggle through "Cold Lazarus" for the Sam-geeking-out moments, which is exciting - but it just seems to be how I am. :P Oh wel, I will pretty much always have a bit of Amanda's face to get me through each episode, right? ;) I'm just kind of amazed at the amount of fail in some shows. There are good bits too, but... yeah.

[havocthecat]

Oh, Hathor. I love it for Janet and Sam and Teal'c having their moments, but I really, really hate so many things about it.

[havocthecat]

To be fair, season one is terrible on top of being pretty sexist. There are enough good things about it (Amanda and Teryl, basically) that it kept me watching through to when the quality started going up.

I can still criticize the hell out of Stargate for misogyny, though.

[tellitslant]

It is, yeah, not great. :P I am looking forward to it being better, though, which is something anyway! :P Love your icon, btw.

GIP

[joran.livejournal.com]

1) It's season one.

2) Terrible writing.

3) It's 1997. The sexism is real. Women are still not allowed in combat. In 2011. And this is 1997. Sam Carter's career trajectory, even as an astrophysicist (not a "soldier"), is ridiculous and unrealistic. She is of the Troi/Crusher era, not of the Starbuck era. Stargate through its 16-17 years reflects changing culture. It becomes increasingly reactionary to the Bush-era depiction of the US military, for instance, after the Farscape/NASA-esque romanticism of its beginning years.

4) Amanda Tapping, educated and outspoken in women's rights, demanded a "genderless" characterization as the show developed. She insisted on the utopia, she had weight behind her, and she got what she wanted.

5) It's season one!

Re: GIP

[tellitslant]

Well, but 1997 isn't Troi-Crusher era, really. It's Dax-Kira era; it's Xena-Gabrielle era. And if I will insist on anything, it's that sci-fi by its very premise should not be held to representing the 'real' but should be allowed, and ought, to aim for something better.

And, I mean, I know it gets better, and I am probably going to stick it out, if only because a) AMANDA TAPPING and b) I want to write/read allllll the Sam/Janet and Sam/Vala. But man! The mind boggles a little at some of what's in the show, is all. :P