My First SGA.

[icarus]

wildernessguru and I are watching our first Stargate: Atlantis episode.

So, yes, I can see the slash. There are two likeable characters: McKay and Shep.

As for the rest of the show...

1) dry and obvious dialogue
2) plots that are sci-fi retreads except with dull pacing
3) crappy costumes and props (particularly the arm-patches... my girl scout uniform had better quality)
4) cheap and silly-looking special effects (this one is just a bubble machine where they've applied a blue filter -- I could do that in my living room)
5) clueless and slightly phony acting (the actors stop acting once they've delivered their line while still on camera)
6) cardboard sets, with no detail or effort (look at that background, there's no electrical wiring, no switches, no boards, no dials -- it's just a LiteBrite set)
7) terrible staging (people are upstaging each other, the camera angles are awkward and amateurish ... MutantX has better staging than this)
8) mediocre soap opera quality cinematography (and the only cool shot is shown with the opening credits)

... what's not to love?

It's like Stargate only with no budget to spend on costumes, props, writers, directors, cinematographers, sets, or actors.

Comments

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I am there for the characters, no question--and not just the slash. I enjoy how each episode's purpose is to show what changes it's made on each character--not really to further a plot. I cannot disagree with your points about the plot. When I watched the pilot this summer, my reaction was, "So, this was made, what, six years ago? Seven?" It felt oddly dated, plot-wise.

(And did you SEE the collar on the dress Weir was wearing in the episode when she goes back to earth?)

But the characters, especially McKay and Sheppard, keep me.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I enjoy how each episode's purpose is to show what changes it's made on each character

Now that's interesting and something you can't pick up by just watching one episode.

One of the strengths of SG-1 is watching Michael Shanks slowly change his characterization of Daniel Jackson from a carbon copy of James Spader to a person of his own making. While there are a few signposts in the writing, this really was entirely his doing. If SGA recognized this is what tied people to Daniel and capitalized on that, building it into the scripts, then... well done.

When I watched the pilot this summer, my reaction was, "So, this was made, what, six years ago? Seven?" It felt oddly dated, plot-wise.

I agree. The episode I saw felt very much like something written post-Star Trek (the original series).

(And did you SEE the collar on the dress Weir was wearing in the episode when she goes back to earth?)

Haven't seen it, but I definitely miss the fetish-wear of SG-1. It was almost a contest to see how little we can put on the human body and still get past the censors.

Icarus

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Heh, I only wish the collar were fetish-wear. Instead it's this lacy, not quite Peter Pan collar thing, but it looks like the '70s version of a cocktail dress. Made me squint, I tell you.