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

[thegrrrl2002.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I find SGA to be of much higher quality than SG1 in that the stories and characters grabbed me in a way that SG1 hadn't done in a long time. SGA isn't full of great big heros saving the world on a regular basis--it's full of scared, desperate people trying to save their own asses. I also found that SGA manages to include those little character moments that were so missing from the later seasons of SG1. That was one of things I found so frustrating in SG1--you had no sense that these people cared about each other anymore. (Yes, I'm still sulking over "Evolution I and II, can you tell?)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Well let's distinguish aspects of the show.

There's production values, writing, acting, and the overall appeal of the show. It's possible to have the production values, writing and acting all be very bad and yet still have an appealing show for individuals.

The production values on SGA -- the quality of the sets, the costumes, props, music, special effects -- are crap. SG-1 has had consistently high production values and that's never changed.

The acting on SGA, aside from Rodney and Shep, is really bad. The acting on SG-1 has been pretty good and certain people have really carried the show.

The writing in the SGA episode I saw... the dialogue was predictable as was the canned "you've seen it before" sci-fi plot. The writing on SG-1 has always been uneven. It hit the skids after season six.

They got rid of Shanks and were going for an X-Files flavour after the canceling of The X-Files, probably hoping to pick up some desperate X-Files viewers (Stargate's viewership shot up after Star Trek: TNG was canceled). I would guess from the intricate plots of season six that they also picked up some former X-Files writers. That just didn't work for Stargate, so they attempted to go back to their old formula for season seven but by then they'd lost a key ingredient: Rick Anderson.

While they had some good episodes ("Revisions," "Heroes," "Lifeboat") with some exceptional character actors, SG-1 wasn't able to pick up the thread of Stargate's formula again, beyond some retreads of "The Fifth Race" in "The Lost City" and newer, sillier versions of the Goa'uld in "Evolution" I and II (where we learn that a) Michael Shanks is not a writer, and b) when too many cooks try to fix the soup it turns out really foul).

The wheels came off.

From what I've seen of season 8, the attempts to center the series on someone other than Rick Anderson just haven't worked. If they hadn't fired Michael Shanks and gone in the wrong direction they might have been able to make a smooth transition, but as it is... oy.

As for the appeal of the show, I don't see it in SGA at this point. For SG-1, the appeal dropped when they dumped Michael Shanks and season 7 only has occasional moments I enjoy. Season 8 doesn't look like it's going to be much better. Season 9? No comment.

Icarus

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

sillier versions of the Goa'uld in "Evolution" I and II (where we learn that a) Michael Shanks is not a writer, and b) when too many cooks try to fix the soup it turns out really foul).

Not that I disagree, but Michael Shanks didn't actually write Evolution. The original story idea was his so he got story credit, but his story had more to do with his grandfather and some other stuff they didn't even use. Someone else wrote that episode, though. Or is that what you were referring to? hehe I'm probably just confused, but I know he didn't write that episode.

MS wrote Resurrection (the NID episode with Anna) in season 7. He's said that they used almost nothing from his original story idea for that episode either.

For SG-1, the appeal dropped when they dumped Michael Shanks and season 7 only has occasional moments I enjoy. Season 8 doesn't look like it's going to be much better. Season 9? No comment.

I like season 8 a lot better than season 7, but in some ways it's still disappointing. OTOH, I actually have liked much of season 9 so far. For me, the center of the show has always been MS/Daniel, but it worked best as an ensemble show with everyone contributing. It's when the show forgot that--starting at the end of season 3, really, and then getting worse each season until MS finally left--that the show lost a great part of its appeal for me. Besides season 6, season 4 is my least favorite season. Seasons 5 & 7 tie for the next "least liked." hehe I'd rate the seasons: 2, 1, 3, 8, 5/7, 4, 6. I'm not sure where season 9 will fit, but it had some episodes that I really liked (and I don't like Vala).

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Someone else wrote that episode, though. Or is that what you were referring to?

That's what I meant. But they couldn't possibly use Michael's idea -- he was going to have Daniel's grandfather die of cancer. Since they did use Chris' writing, I strongly suspect the reason they didn't use Michael's (in either case) is that the man can't build a story.

OTOH, I actually have liked much of season 9 so far. For me, the center of the show has always been MS/Daniel, but it worked best as an ensemble show with everyone contributing.

I agree with you there on the ensemble concept.

As you can probably tell from my stories I'm a big fan of Jack as well as Daniel. I was hurting in season 7 from Jack withdrawal, and I know I'm going to miss him more in season 8.

Season 9... dear lord. All these actors drifting up on the shores from shipwrecked sci-fi series. Rommie from Andromeda. Another character playing a Goa'uld. It spoils the suspension of disbelief when actors cross from one sci-fi series to another, the worlds collide.

And an attempt to replace Jack? I don't think I'm going to be able to swallow that hairball.

I rank the series, hmm... my favourite season is 4 (the writing, the production quality, the acting all came together brilliantly), then 3 and 2 come in dead-even followed closely by season 1.

Following that is season 5 which had a lot of good shows but it was depressing as they were tying up all the story lines by isolating earth once again (and MS looks irritated and pissed in a lot of the episodes).

Then I have a toss-up between 6 and 7. In terms of the quality of the actual episodes, the writing, etc., season 6 was better than 7 but the fact remains that without Daniel the show just was too different. It wasn't Stargate any more.

But season 7 has the same problem from a different direction: Jack was pretty much gone, and the actors were goofing around and not playing their roles very seriously which wrecked the believability of some episodes.

On top of that, the creation of the "super soldiers" took all the complex social concerns out of the Jaffa "bad guys" making the entire series two-dimensional. The series has never done well when it has just one all-powerful villain, whether it was Sokar, Anubis or the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man.

Icarus

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

That's what I meant. But they couldn't possibly use Michael's idea -- he was going to have Daniel's grandfather die of cancer.

I didn't know that. Poor grampy! Even so, I'd so like to have a follow-up to that story even now.

I rank the series, hmm... my favourite season is 4 (the writing, the production quality, the acting all came together brilliantly), then 3 and 2 come in dead-even followed closely by season 1.

A lot of people like season 4 best, it seems. I do think that the production quality went up and the writing was probably better, but my problem was that they stopped writing SG-1. hehe Season 4 was not the same show I watched for 3 seasons. They minimized Daniel and especially minimized the Jack/Daniel relationship in favor of the ship. And then there's the ship. I just hate that.

While there are some good episodes in season 4, it's missing the heart of the show (at least for me). If they had interspersed episodes like The Other Side with episodes that showed the team actually caring about each other, I might have liked it better. I always liked SG-1 best when it was SG-1 against the universe instead of having a great amount of conflict within the team. OTOH, I wouldn't have minded that if the team love had still been there most of the time.

I think The Other Side is a good episode, but when I watch it in the context of season 4, I just don't like it--or The Curse, for instance. How hard would it have been for Jack to show the slightest bit of concern for Daniel when he found out Daniel's professor had died? Or to say, "How you doing?" when Daniel called on the cell phone, instead of treating Daniel like he was crap on the bottom of his shoe. Jack was barely even in that episode, and yet it's one of the worst for Jack/Daniel interaction. If it were just one or two episodes like this in season 4, I don't think it would bother me so much, but the whole season was filled with this kind of crap and almost no good interaction between them. (And it's all about Jack & Daniel for me. hehe Isn't it for everyone?)

One of the reasons I like season 5 slightly better than season 4 is because we had episodes like Beast of Burden and Menace. OTOH, as you said, it wasn't that great. I never noticed MS looking pissed, but maybe he did! hehe The next time I watch season 5, I'm going to try to watch for that. I'm a Daniel watcher anyway. hehe

I think Beast of Burden showed a more mature, but still very caring, relationship between Jack and Daniel, though. I don't care about the Unas (they are not my favorites, but I don't hate them), but the overall story--the moral dilemma and the conflict between Jack and Daniel that was handled so sensitively is what I liked about that episode. Nothing was completely clear-cut for either of the characters, and the fact that they cared for each other was very evident in that episode (at least to me).

Season 7 was just the season of disappointment for me. I expected something great from Fallen/Homecoming and got practically nothing. I expected something great from Evolution and got practically nothing plus ship. I expected something great from Lost City and got SHIP. I was so positive as I watched it that if they gave Sam and Teal'c two emotional scenes with Jack each that Daniel would have at least one. When it ended with Sam in the front like that...grrrr.... hehe

[tafkarfanfic.livejournal.com]

I should point out here that Shanks wasn't so much fired as walked into his contract negotiations one day and said, "Um, nope." Leaving everyone a little high-and-dry.

Also, no writers from X-Files went over to SG-1. There were a lot of changes after S5; the reason was that they moved to the SciFi network, who cut their budget significantly and asked for changes in the direction of the show.

S8 is Season of Flailing. S9 - is a whole new show, and it's better than ever.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I should point out here that Shanks wasn't so much fired as walked into his contract negotiations one day and said, "Um, nope." Leaving everyone a little high-and-dry.

According to one of the producers who's a friend of a friend Shanks asked for more money and they said, "nope."

S9 - is a whole new show, and it's better than ever.

Without Jack? *sighs*

Icarus