Everything I Love About Stargate! (well a dent at least)
For my very last stargateland entry.
3718 words of Stargate Meta about men, pairings, and some technology (PG-15 for themes)
8 Rodney icons and 6 John icons (free to take with credit)
I love stargate. It’s so fascinating and there are so many different things you can do with the huge plot holes and I’m not even a writer. The primary reason stargate is so fascinating is the excellent casting and chemistry between the characters. I’m of course obsessed with slash, so this meta is going to focus on my favorite boys, pairings, and a bit of technology thrown in for fun from both canon and fanon as I see it.
Rodney is my absolute favorite character if I had to pick just one. He’s snarky, and an asshole but also loves his friends and new family and would do anything for them. He isn’t always right, but most of the time he is and he saves all their asses enough that they put up with the snark because they wouldn’t survive without him. I imagine he hates shooting and fighting lessons, but goes to them because he doesn’t want to let his team down in the field if they need him. Of course, they all realize that if it’s up to Rodney to save them with a gun or fighting the situation is VERY FUBAR, so they try to make sure he can at least survive, maybe. Rodney is also really cute, even balding. He might be a little soft around the middle, but not too bad and that orange fleece we first see him in is just awesome. Rodney came to Atlantis because no one wanted him on Earth and he saw the potential in Atlantis’ technology that no one else would have been able to harness as well as he could. Even though he went in expecting to be hated but needed, he found a family that will hold strong with him. I only wish he had gotten to take his cat with him to Atlantis, because we did not get to see enough Rodney with his cat.
John is my second favorite. A flyboy that had given up on everything but his duty after being thrown to the bottom of the world to finish out his commission, rather than being thrown out directly. I get the feeling John has never fit in before other than maybe in his unit that died in the middle east until he came to Atlantis. And now that he has family and a place to belong, he’ll do anything and everything he has to in order to stay and protect them. This is the real reason I think he was mad at Rodney after Doranda. Not so much mad at Rodney, but getting so excited in the potential himself that he forgot how involved Rodney can get and almost let it go too far. John, as a natural loner, must have been surprised when he realized he had developed real friendships with not only his team but also several other people around him he trusted. John never expected and seems like he didn’t even want a command, but he took the reins when he was forced to and proved over and over that while he didn’t want it at first, he is certainly the best person for the job. John, like Rodney, needed a family and found one in Atlantis. And let’s not forget how HOT John is with his drawls and smirks and leaning thing. The man is sex on legs and everyone knows it. Yet, other than a couple maybe flings off world (which might have been non-con) he stays single in the show.
Evan was a second-wave Atlantian. He didn’t have the stranded away from earth bonding that the first wave did that created such close and unbreakable bonds among them. However, he was adopted into the existing framework very easily and soon had friends and probably family in Atlantis himself. Evan is very dependable and takes a lot of weight off of John’s shoulders (even if it’s only paperwork). I get the feeling that people who have issues would be more willing to come to Evan than John because Evan is more approachable and probably in one place more often. The fact Evan paints is just awesome and a very strange turn for a career Air Force officer that we first see with a geologist team and later see has special forces training. His smile and dimples are cute and charming. Evan is even cute covered in dirt and really not pleased about having been kidnapped. And his voice is the best part! Low and gravely and yum!~
Paul Davis is really hot. That’s pretty much the main reason I love him. He’s also very competent in his job and helps out SG-1 a lot after he understands everything. He’s probably a public relations guy and as a result probably ends up with a lot of screaming of how to make everything sound good and not on the verge of collapse like it commonly is. Plus, he’s hot, did I mention this?
David Parrish we sadly don’t get to see a lot of. I blame Claire for getting me to like this minor character. I wasn’t even sure who he was until I met her and her love for him. Now I love him and his actor (again, another meta). He’s really cute and seems to be very competent in his job as a botanist. I would imagine as a botanist he’s very important to the expedition for both identifying plants they can eat and raising their own crops from earth. He probably got to spend a lot of time with the Athosians on the mainland learning about the Pegasus Galaxy and the different plants that grow there. He seems very mild mannered, but he probably has a core of steel within him. After all, he didn’t scream and run like a little girl when he found the dead wraith, just yelled enough to freak out Lorne. Probably on purpose, because CUTE! And they’re so together, again I blame Claire for my love of this pairing.
Radek actually looks the part of the mad scientist. As Rodney’s second in command, he probably deals with more of the day to day administration and running of the science department than Rodney does since Rodney goes off-world a lot. He has a gentler manner of dealing with people than Rodney and getting them to do what he wants (as in telling Elizabeth to stop talking and giving her that adorable smile when she asked what he needed to help Rodney get the puddle jumper unstuck). That said, he certainly has a temper and can easily get thoroughly disgusted with everyone, especially Rodney (as the cursing after he was sent to the kids planet to fix something and came back all made up suggests). He supports and at the same time knocks Rodney down a peg or two when he needs it, just like a good second in command should. Gate travel terrifies him, but if someone needs his expertise, he will travel off world as needed even if he does jump at every little noise. Radek probably does as much work as Rodney does to keep Atlantis afloat, but he’s quieter about it and delegates more for greater efficiency. I think he has more faith in his people than Rodney does and he teaches them the correct ways to do things rather than yell at them all. Radek is more methodical and patient where Rodney allows his snap judgments to rule his thinking. While most the time Rodney is right, sometimes Radek’s slower triple check process is needed.
Chuck the adorable never got a last name gate tech on Atlantis. You can tell he never signed up for the excitement he got on Atlantis, but he rolls with the punches and has a sense of humor too. He’s also more stereotypically Canadian than Rodney, who is almost an anti-stereotype. Regardless, Chuck is cute and probably knows everyone and I just bet he’s the center of the gossip on Atlantis as well as the one overseeing the underground market. He deals well with pressure although from the looks of him you wouldn’t necessarily guess that.
Carson is adorable, and creepy. He sees no problem with testing his experimental ATA gene on Rodney and doesn’t think to keep him in the infirmary to watch for side effects when he does, but later he more than makes up for that lack of medical judgment. He works very hard to heal everyone that comes across his table to the best of his ability, even in the end at the cost of his own life he saves the guy he was working on. He also feels like he has to correct the mistakes other people made (and that he started) with his research. To top it all off, he’s really cute and has a great accent. And he deals with Rodney very well from experience as they’re friends.
Jack I kinda go back and forth on. Sometimes I love him, sometimes I hate him. He’s changed a lot from the movie into the series and past. This is a man that is happy in the field, but hates the paperwork and being stuck in an office. He has a sense of humor and is smarter than he acts, but this makes people underestimate him which I think is what he wants. He’s very loyal and would never leave one of his own behind if he had any choice. Daniel had to tell him to leave him because both ships were going to explode and they were all going to die anyway before Jack would leave him and finish the mission. The fact they all lived is typical SG-1. I hate the thing they did with Sam that made him look and act like less than he was. Jack is a strong and confident leader and I wish they had kept that up rather than changing his character. He does continue to exhibit these qualities when separated from Sam again though and is a driving force for keeping Atlantis the way it is and the command structure in place.
Daniel I loved from moment one in all he geekiness. He wasn’t snobby about being right, but he had no problems making himself heard when it was important, regardless of the shit he got for it. We see a lot of character development from his character throughout the series going from a slightly naïve academic to someone who knows sometimes the only option is a military option and has the ability to back that up himself. Yet, he retains his geekiness while he grows in badassness. He and Sam have a shared love of science and geeky so they get along very well and in solidarity together in their team. While Daniel shows faith in his fellow being in the beginning, at the end he has had several painful lessons that show caution is necessary and he takes these lessons to heart without losing his ability to hope. Also, his voice is HOT!
Peter Grodin we didn’t get a lot of time with. When we first saw him, I could never figure out if he was head of science instead of Rodney or if he was in a job similar to John’s in that he was a go between for sciences and Elizabeth. He was so excited about Atlantis and her potential and was proficient at using the equipment. He was also very cute and had a great accent. I’ve read a lot of stories where he lived past canon and I wish TPTB had kept him around longer. I’ve always thought it was stupid there wasn’t a space suit for everyone in the puddle jumper, just in case. As it is, his sacrifice makes him even more memorable.
John/Rodney is without a doubt my favorite pairing. Sure, I read others, but my fall back is and will always be my favorite two characters. The best thing about this pairing is that you can explain in canon why they work and why they can be top, bottom, or both in any situation. John and Rodney are very good friends in canon. They watch movies, snark, do math together, racing cars, playing games, and spend a LOT of time together talking or doing whatever and this is not including the time they spend working with the team. They have amazing chemistry and that just bleeds all over the place no matter what TPTB wanted to make them both straight. Yes, John was married (and divorced, and admits it was a mistake but doesn’t say why) and Rodney dates women (that are bad for him and not a good match) but that doesn’t stop them from being bi or being together. We have to keep in mind that Stargate was written and produced before DADT was abolished so they had to stay under the radar because of the rules. The real telling thing in canon is how worried they are and what lengths they will go to for each other when the other is in real peril or dying. Rodney freaks out several times on John when he does his suicide runs like with the bomb into the wraith hives or when they’re trying to kill the iratus bug but not John in the puddle jumper. John similarly freaks out when Rodney is dying from the ascension machine and the parasite. John’s faith in Teyla and Ronon that they have a way to at least say goodbye to Rodney is a very big part of the reason they went to the planet that saved him in the first place. These two with their ups and downs would make an explosive, but very tight couple that would be hard to separate.
Rodney/Radek works because they are an intellectual match. They spend a lot of time together (although we don’t get to see a lot of this on screen) keeping Atlantis running smoothly and solving the crisis of the day and know how to deal with each other. Sometimes they love each other, sometimes they hate each other, but through it all there is respect for the other’s brain if nothing else. Radek makes sure that Rodney’s leaps work out as they’re supposed to and Rodney makes the leaps but may not have the knowledge in that exact area to make them work (or just needs an extra pair of hands and brain in a crisis like with the Genii bombs). These two work because they’re both scientists and wouldn’t have to hide their relationship, although they probably still would have in a military heavy environment dealing with DADT. Plus, they’re both sarcastic and snarky and get each other’s math games and jokes.
Jack/Daniel is the real reason I like the individual characters still. By the end of the series you can tell that Jack has taught Daniel a lot about the military mindset, and Daniel has taught Jack about being cautious and other alternatives to military force. These two also have really great chemistry on the screen which correlates to the likeliness that they take this chemistry behind closed doors. They tease and taunt each other but totally understand each other and when they need a break from everything around them and when they need to focus. I think Sam knows this and is happy for them both as her friends. Of course, there is also a threesome angle to adding Sam to their relationship, but that’s another meta. Jack and Daniel, military and scientist, just seems to work for the stargate world. The fact that Daniel has a guaranteed protector to keep from getting lost in his own little world explains why the military/scientist pairings are so common in stargate.
Carson/Peter Grodin is one of those odd pairings that you don’t see until the third or fourth time re-watching the series. The chemistry and flirty behavior is all over their interaction when Peter is getting taken care of in the infirmary and their dealings with Rodney in that case. Sadly, we do not see these two together on screen very much but they have a good chemistry when they are together and Carson probably took the news of Peter’s death badly.
Rodney/Daniel have some serious baggage from when Rodney was fed the wrong information by someone outside the SGC and the disaster he made of rescuing Teal’c. The fact he saved Jack the next time he was at the SGC might have helped, and Daniel and Rodney seem to get along fairly well in Antarctica. But Daniel shows up at Atlantis with some serious attitude about Rodney. And Rodney always sneers at soft sciences. That said, with the snarking, kidnapping, getting out, etc, I think Daniel and Rodney both come out of the whole experience with a whole new respect for each other. They’re on par in intelligence, just in different fields, so they have that intelligence to bond over. I’ve seen this pairing done well in fiction and wish there was more out there.
John/Ronon is a very classic bonded warriors pairing. Both John and Ronon have had to prove to be the most badass and survive things others can only imagine. Because of this I see their relationship as rough and tumble but that doesn’t mean they can’t have their softer sides. Sparring in this relationship has to be more interesting though, winner takes loser anyone? *grins* Neither of these two like to talk and are more than comfortable just being together without feeling they have to fill the silence with noise just for the sake of it. Plus John loves to teach Ronon about Earth.
Rodney/Carson is a fairly common pairing because of their obvious friendship and the fact they’re both scientist so they wouldn’t have to in theory hide their relationship. They would probably hide it because many of the military would probably be uncomfortable with Carson if they knew about it, but they option is there and neither would get in trouble if it was found out. Carson obviously cares for Rodney even though he acts like he’s on wits end with him when Rodney is stuck in the infirmary (or is there for a splinter). It really upsets him when he can’t save Rodney from the ascension machine until Rodney tells him how. Rodney likewise is really torn up by Carson’s death and probably blames himself that he didn’t go fishing with him that day and prevent Carson’s death. Or that he didn’t quarantine his scientists that blew up in the first place. Rodney and Carson’s clone seem to get along pretty well, but Carson obviously leaves Atlantis to help people because a lot of people are uncomfortable around him.
John/Evan is another warrior bonding relationship as they were both special forces. They get along and both hide their intelligence so they are underestimated. They have a lot in common to bond over (between the Air Force, earth, geeks, planes, piloting, and guns) and enough different to make their relationship interesting. Plus, imagining those two together in bed is just HOT. Seriously I would die from the pretty. *grins*
Caldwell/John is an odd pairing, but one I see more and more as I watch the show. This could be a very bad pairing, with snaked Caldwell, or a very good one in a BDSM relationship. Once Caldwell realized that John was in fact doing a good job as the leader of Atlantis and was de-snaked, they seem to have gotten along pretty well. And I think that John benefited from Caldwell’s experience and implemented some of the changes Caldwell wrote out that would help. I’ve seen several very well written fics with these two and I can totally see this pairing. Caldwell is also cute for a bald guy and HUNG. John comes across to me as someone that would appreciate that.
The technology in stargate gave me a reason to dream again, honestly. Let’s imagine for a minute just part of the technology is real somewhere. Stargates to take a person to a literally astronomically high numbers of places. So many different planets and cultures to explore it would take literally lifetimes to know they all exist much less visit them all and that’s just in one galaxy. The dial home device as an easy to use interface that is also beautiful is awesome. No need to have anything specific on you, just dial your address and walk through (and hope no one wants to kill you or has a shield on the other side).
The ships that exist and are invented in the course of the several shows are amazing too. From the existing of Atlantis to the created of the X-302s that all the pilots love. Atlantis is amazing in that she’s a ship, living space, possible AI all in one with beauty and grace. Her puddle jumpers look like floating round (so they fit through the gate better) bricks, but some effort was made to make them pretty as well as useful. As many of the stargates in Pegasus open out into space it’s a good thing they have them so they don’t lose people. The life signs detectors are similarly very slick and awesome. Although I don’t know why they never figured out how to turn the noise off while they were sneaking up on people. Of course the chair is a work of art and function. I’m sad we don’t see it used more often, but that can be contributed to power problems.
As for power, the ZPMs and Naquadah generators are both pretty in their own ways. I actually think the Earth Naquadah generators are prettier than the original ones on the planet they got the plans from. The ZPMs look like a beautiful piece of glass artwork. One of the biggest disappointments to me in the show is they didn’t figure out how to even in theory make ZPMs and had to make do with the few they found and the Naquadah generators. They also didn’t go back to actually use the power plant that used currents they found on the original planet Atlantis was on. One of the biggest frustrations the characters of the SGC must have to deal with is the inability to share the knowledge they know could help people with the world.
Rodney:
John:
3718 words of Stargate Meta about men, pairings, and some technology (PG-15 for themes)
8 Rodney icons and 6 John icons (free to take with credit)
I love stargate. It’s so fascinating and there are so many different things you can do with the huge plot holes and I’m not even a writer. The primary reason stargate is so fascinating is the excellent casting and chemistry between the characters. I’m of course obsessed with slash, so this meta is going to focus on my favorite boys, pairings, and a bit of technology thrown in for fun from both canon and fanon as I see it.
Rodney is my absolute favorite character if I had to pick just one. He’s snarky, and an asshole but also loves his friends and new family and would do anything for them. He isn’t always right, but most of the time he is and he saves all their asses enough that they put up with the snark because they wouldn’t survive without him. I imagine he hates shooting and fighting lessons, but goes to them because he doesn’t want to let his team down in the field if they need him. Of course, they all realize that if it’s up to Rodney to save them with a gun or fighting the situation is VERY FUBAR, so they try to make sure he can at least survive, maybe. Rodney is also really cute, even balding. He might be a little soft around the middle, but not too bad and that orange fleece we first see him in is just awesome. Rodney came to Atlantis because no one wanted him on Earth and he saw the potential in Atlantis’ technology that no one else would have been able to harness as well as he could. Even though he went in expecting to be hated but needed, he found a family that will hold strong with him. I only wish he had gotten to take his cat with him to Atlantis, because we did not get to see enough Rodney with his cat.
John is my second favorite. A flyboy that had given up on everything but his duty after being thrown to the bottom of the world to finish out his commission, rather than being thrown out directly. I get the feeling John has never fit in before other than maybe in his unit that died in the middle east until he came to Atlantis. And now that he has family and a place to belong, he’ll do anything and everything he has to in order to stay and protect them. This is the real reason I think he was mad at Rodney after Doranda. Not so much mad at Rodney, but getting so excited in the potential himself that he forgot how involved Rodney can get and almost let it go too far. John, as a natural loner, must have been surprised when he realized he had developed real friendships with not only his team but also several other people around him he trusted. John never expected and seems like he didn’t even want a command, but he took the reins when he was forced to and proved over and over that while he didn’t want it at first, he is certainly the best person for the job. John, like Rodney, needed a family and found one in Atlantis. And let’s not forget how HOT John is with his drawls and smirks and leaning thing. The man is sex on legs and everyone knows it. Yet, other than a couple maybe flings off world (which might have been non-con) he stays single in the show.
Evan was a second-wave Atlantian. He didn’t have the stranded away from earth bonding that the first wave did that created such close and unbreakable bonds among them. However, he was adopted into the existing framework very easily and soon had friends and probably family in Atlantis himself. Evan is very dependable and takes a lot of weight off of John’s shoulders (even if it’s only paperwork). I get the feeling that people who have issues would be more willing to come to Evan than John because Evan is more approachable and probably in one place more often. The fact Evan paints is just awesome and a very strange turn for a career Air Force officer that we first see with a geologist team and later see has special forces training. His smile and dimples are cute and charming. Evan is even cute covered in dirt and really not pleased about having been kidnapped. And his voice is the best part! Low and gravely and yum!~
Paul Davis is really hot. That’s pretty much the main reason I love him. He’s also very competent in his job and helps out SG-1 a lot after he understands everything. He’s probably a public relations guy and as a result probably ends up with a lot of screaming of how to make everything sound good and not on the verge of collapse like it commonly is. Plus, he’s hot, did I mention this?
David Parrish we sadly don’t get to see a lot of. I blame Claire for getting me to like this minor character. I wasn’t even sure who he was until I met her and her love for him. Now I love him and his actor (again, another meta). He’s really cute and seems to be very competent in his job as a botanist. I would imagine as a botanist he’s very important to the expedition for both identifying plants they can eat and raising their own crops from earth. He probably got to spend a lot of time with the Athosians on the mainland learning about the Pegasus Galaxy and the different plants that grow there. He seems very mild mannered, but he probably has a core of steel within him. After all, he didn’t scream and run like a little girl when he found the dead wraith, just yelled enough to freak out Lorne. Probably on purpose, because CUTE! And they’re so together, again I blame Claire for my love of this pairing.
Radek actually looks the part of the mad scientist. As Rodney’s second in command, he probably deals with more of the day to day administration and running of the science department than Rodney does since Rodney goes off-world a lot. He has a gentler manner of dealing with people than Rodney and getting them to do what he wants (as in telling Elizabeth to stop talking and giving her that adorable smile when she asked what he needed to help Rodney get the puddle jumper unstuck). That said, he certainly has a temper and can easily get thoroughly disgusted with everyone, especially Rodney (as the cursing after he was sent to the kids planet to fix something and came back all made up suggests). He supports and at the same time knocks Rodney down a peg or two when he needs it, just like a good second in command should. Gate travel terrifies him, but if someone needs his expertise, he will travel off world as needed even if he does jump at every little noise. Radek probably does as much work as Rodney does to keep Atlantis afloat, but he’s quieter about it and delegates more for greater efficiency. I think he has more faith in his people than Rodney does and he teaches them the correct ways to do things rather than yell at them all. Radek is more methodical and patient where Rodney allows his snap judgments to rule his thinking. While most the time Rodney is right, sometimes Radek’s slower triple check process is needed.
Chuck the adorable never got a last name gate tech on Atlantis. You can tell he never signed up for the excitement he got on Atlantis, but he rolls with the punches and has a sense of humor too. He’s also more stereotypically Canadian than Rodney, who is almost an anti-stereotype. Regardless, Chuck is cute and probably knows everyone and I just bet he’s the center of the gossip on Atlantis as well as the one overseeing the underground market. He deals well with pressure although from the looks of him you wouldn’t necessarily guess that.
Carson is adorable, and creepy. He sees no problem with testing his experimental ATA gene on Rodney and doesn’t think to keep him in the infirmary to watch for side effects when he does, but later he more than makes up for that lack of medical judgment. He works very hard to heal everyone that comes across his table to the best of his ability, even in the end at the cost of his own life he saves the guy he was working on. He also feels like he has to correct the mistakes other people made (and that he started) with his research. To top it all off, he’s really cute and has a great accent. And he deals with Rodney very well from experience as they’re friends.
Jack I kinda go back and forth on. Sometimes I love him, sometimes I hate him. He’s changed a lot from the movie into the series and past. This is a man that is happy in the field, but hates the paperwork and being stuck in an office. He has a sense of humor and is smarter than he acts, but this makes people underestimate him which I think is what he wants. He’s very loyal and would never leave one of his own behind if he had any choice. Daniel had to tell him to leave him because both ships were going to explode and they were all going to die anyway before Jack would leave him and finish the mission. The fact they all lived is typical SG-1. I hate the thing they did with Sam that made him look and act like less than he was. Jack is a strong and confident leader and I wish they had kept that up rather than changing his character. He does continue to exhibit these qualities when separated from Sam again though and is a driving force for keeping Atlantis the way it is and the command structure in place.
Daniel I loved from moment one in all he geekiness. He wasn’t snobby about being right, but he had no problems making himself heard when it was important, regardless of the shit he got for it. We see a lot of character development from his character throughout the series going from a slightly naïve academic to someone who knows sometimes the only option is a military option and has the ability to back that up himself. Yet, he retains his geekiness while he grows in badassness. He and Sam have a shared love of science and geeky so they get along very well and in solidarity together in their team. While Daniel shows faith in his fellow being in the beginning, at the end he has had several painful lessons that show caution is necessary and he takes these lessons to heart without losing his ability to hope. Also, his voice is HOT!
Peter Grodin we didn’t get a lot of time with. When we first saw him, I could never figure out if he was head of science instead of Rodney or if he was in a job similar to John’s in that he was a go between for sciences and Elizabeth. He was so excited about Atlantis and her potential and was proficient at using the equipment. He was also very cute and had a great accent. I’ve read a lot of stories where he lived past canon and I wish TPTB had kept him around longer. I’ve always thought it was stupid there wasn’t a space suit for everyone in the puddle jumper, just in case. As it is, his sacrifice makes him even more memorable.
John/Rodney is without a doubt my favorite pairing. Sure, I read others, but my fall back is and will always be my favorite two characters. The best thing about this pairing is that you can explain in canon why they work and why they can be top, bottom, or both in any situation. John and Rodney are very good friends in canon. They watch movies, snark, do math together, racing cars, playing games, and spend a LOT of time together talking or doing whatever and this is not including the time they spend working with the team. They have amazing chemistry and that just bleeds all over the place no matter what TPTB wanted to make them both straight. Yes, John was married (and divorced, and admits it was a mistake but doesn’t say why) and Rodney dates women (that are bad for him and not a good match) but that doesn’t stop them from being bi or being together. We have to keep in mind that Stargate was written and produced before DADT was abolished so they had to stay under the radar because of the rules. The real telling thing in canon is how worried they are and what lengths they will go to for each other when the other is in real peril or dying. Rodney freaks out several times on John when he does his suicide runs like with the bomb into the wraith hives or when they’re trying to kill the iratus bug but not John in the puddle jumper. John similarly freaks out when Rodney is dying from the ascension machine and the parasite. John’s faith in Teyla and Ronon that they have a way to at least say goodbye to Rodney is a very big part of the reason they went to the planet that saved him in the first place. These two with their ups and downs would make an explosive, but very tight couple that would be hard to separate.
Rodney/Radek works because they are an intellectual match. They spend a lot of time together (although we don’t get to see a lot of this on screen) keeping Atlantis running smoothly and solving the crisis of the day and know how to deal with each other. Sometimes they love each other, sometimes they hate each other, but through it all there is respect for the other’s brain if nothing else. Radek makes sure that Rodney’s leaps work out as they’re supposed to and Rodney makes the leaps but may not have the knowledge in that exact area to make them work (or just needs an extra pair of hands and brain in a crisis like with the Genii bombs). These two work because they’re both scientists and wouldn’t have to hide their relationship, although they probably still would have in a military heavy environment dealing with DADT. Plus, they’re both sarcastic and snarky and get each other’s math games and jokes.
Jack/Daniel is the real reason I like the individual characters still. By the end of the series you can tell that Jack has taught Daniel a lot about the military mindset, and Daniel has taught Jack about being cautious and other alternatives to military force. These two also have really great chemistry on the screen which correlates to the likeliness that they take this chemistry behind closed doors. They tease and taunt each other but totally understand each other and when they need a break from everything around them and when they need to focus. I think Sam knows this and is happy for them both as her friends. Of course, there is also a threesome angle to adding Sam to their relationship, but that’s another meta. Jack and Daniel, military and scientist, just seems to work for the stargate world. The fact that Daniel has a guaranteed protector to keep from getting lost in his own little world explains why the military/scientist pairings are so common in stargate.
Carson/Peter Grodin is one of those odd pairings that you don’t see until the third or fourth time re-watching the series. The chemistry and flirty behavior is all over their interaction when Peter is getting taken care of in the infirmary and their dealings with Rodney in that case. Sadly, we do not see these two together on screen very much but they have a good chemistry when they are together and Carson probably took the news of Peter’s death badly.
Rodney/Daniel have some serious baggage from when Rodney was fed the wrong information by someone outside the SGC and the disaster he made of rescuing Teal’c. The fact he saved Jack the next time he was at the SGC might have helped, and Daniel and Rodney seem to get along fairly well in Antarctica. But Daniel shows up at Atlantis with some serious attitude about Rodney. And Rodney always sneers at soft sciences. That said, with the snarking, kidnapping, getting out, etc, I think Daniel and Rodney both come out of the whole experience with a whole new respect for each other. They’re on par in intelligence, just in different fields, so they have that intelligence to bond over. I’ve seen this pairing done well in fiction and wish there was more out there.
John/Ronon is a very classic bonded warriors pairing. Both John and Ronon have had to prove to be the most badass and survive things others can only imagine. Because of this I see their relationship as rough and tumble but that doesn’t mean they can’t have their softer sides. Sparring in this relationship has to be more interesting though, winner takes loser anyone? *grins* Neither of these two like to talk and are more than comfortable just being together without feeling they have to fill the silence with noise just for the sake of it. Plus John loves to teach Ronon about Earth.
Rodney/Carson is a fairly common pairing because of their obvious friendship and the fact they’re both scientist so they wouldn’t have to in theory hide their relationship. They would probably hide it because many of the military would probably be uncomfortable with Carson if they knew about it, but they option is there and neither would get in trouble if it was found out. Carson obviously cares for Rodney even though he acts like he’s on wits end with him when Rodney is stuck in the infirmary (or is there for a splinter). It really upsets him when he can’t save Rodney from the ascension machine until Rodney tells him how. Rodney likewise is really torn up by Carson’s death and probably blames himself that he didn’t go fishing with him that day and prevent Carson’s death. Or that he didn’t quarantine his scientists that blew up in the first place. Rodney and Carson’s clone seem to get along pretty well, but Carson obviously leaves Atlantis to help people because a lot of people are uncomfortable around him.
John/Evan is another warrior bonding relationship as they were both special forces. They get along and both hide their intelligence so they are underestimated. They have a lot in common to bond over (between the Air Force, earth, geeks, planes, piloting, and guns) and enough different to make their relationship interesting. Plus, imagining those two together in bed is just HOT. Seriously I would die from the pretty. *grins*
Caldwell/John is an odd pairing, but one I see more and more as I watch the show. This could be a very bad pairing, with snaked Caldwell, or a very good one in a BDSM relationship. Once Caldwell realized that John was in fact doing a good job as the leader of Atlantis and was de-snaked, they seem to have gotten along pretty well. And I think that John benefited from Caldwell’s experience and implemented some of the changes Caldwell wrote out that would help. I’ve seen several very well written fics with these two and I can totally see this pairing. Caldwell is also cute for a bald guy and HUNG. John comes across to me as someone that would appreciate that.
The technology in stargate gave me a reason to dream again, honestly. Let’s imagine for a minute just part of the technology is real somewhere. Stargates to take a person to a literally astronomically high numbers of places. So many different planets and cultures to explore it would take literally lifetimes to know they all exist much less visit them all and that’s just in one galaxy. The dial home device as an easy to use interface that is also beautiful is awesome. No need to have anything specific on you, just dial your address and walk through (and hope no one wants to kill you or has a shield on the other side).
The ships that exist and are invented in the course of the several shows are amazing too. From the existing of Atlantis to the created of the X-302s that all the pilots love. Atlantis is amazing in that she’s a ship, living space, possible AI all in one with beauty and grace. Her puddle jumpers look like floating round (so they fit through the gate better) bricks, but some effort was made to make them pretty as well as useful. As many of the stargates in Pegasus open out into space it’s a good thing they have them so they don’t lose people. The life signs detectors are similarly very slick and awesome. Although I don’t know why they never figured out how to turn the noise off while they were sneaking up on people. Of course the chair is a work of art and function. I’m sad we don’t see it used more often, but that can be contributed to power problems.
As for power, the ZPMs and Naquadah generators are both pretty in their own ways. I actually think the Earth Naquadah generators are prettier than the original ones on the planet they got the plans from. The ZPMs look like a beautiful piece of glass artwork. One of the biggest disappointments to me in the show is they didn’t figure out how to even in theory make ZPMs and had to make do with the few they found and the Naquadah generators. They also didn’t go back to actually use the power plant that used currents they found on the original planet Atlantis was on. One of the biggest frustrations the characters of the SGC must have to deal with is the inability to share the knowledge they know could help people with the world.
Rodney:
John: