Hmmmm...Some news I'm not sure true or not!!!

[vaberella]

Okay so I'm on JM's blog and what do I see?  I see someone say that TH is "gone" and confirmed in an interview by Joe Flanigan...I don't know anything about this article.  I dont' know where it's posted.  I don't even know if it's an article.  Anyone here who knows....let me know.  I've asked my pals on the S4 thread.  If they get any news, I'll

Comments

[vaberella]

Bellalarina, I'll have to completely disagree with you.

When people say that TPTB can't write for women, I get very angry. I just feel that the person who said that just slapped every single fan of a Stargate Female. It's just a smack one at a time.

To say that TPTB can't write women, would mean that the women characters just don't have fans. They are inherently flawed and shouldn't really have a fan base. I have my problems with Weir admittedly...actually I have a lot of problems with the woman. But what I will say, is that at times she has come through and I had hoped she would be functional. All they had to do was improve the writing of her. And it wouldn't be by that much.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I think when one looks at Teyla and we're just looking at her specific scenes and one pays attention to her role, she's a really good character. She's a well written pacifist who's not knows when to defend and protect. Weir should have been the same or similar.

I always thought the problem for TPTB had nothing to do with sex. Because a woman's sensibilities are not that inherently different than a mans, especially in regards to some sitautions. There are men who are pacifists, there are men who are in leadership positions. While at the same time, there are women judges who are also called "hanging judges" (it means most of their cases end in death penalty). The problem never had to do with sex, the problem was always clearly understanding and identitfying the position.

They don't know how to write out a full diplomatic question and answer set on screen. Their execution is always flawed. I work in the field and politicking is an art that needs to be studied. Unfortunately the writers don't take the time out to understand those roles. Gender is just the most minute, if at all related. I just find it all about the profession.

As an added explanation. I find when it comes to Shep, he happens to be one of the characters other than Weir that annoys me. Paticularly in S2. But still I fell that at times he falls short. They can't identify his role well enough, so he's all over the place and really just sort of lost.

He's not as badly executed as Weir, mainly because he's an actionary figure and she's not. But I find that TPTB hasn't worked out what they really want to do with him and how far they want to go.

I find the gender thing too easy and just a lame excuse. One I see touted out all over the place, but I find to be completely incorrect when looking at the situatin as whole. I find TPTB's understanding on the profession ie directional role of the character the major issue.

But I think with time to think through the writing now, they won't have a problem.

[sanssong]

I agree with you here VB. I do think this is less about writing women well and more about really failing when it came to what TPTB wanted SGA to be from the get go. I think they told a lot of people that they didn't want another SG1 and that SGA would be different and blah blah blah... So they tried to write this diplomat/flyboy ensemble team for it. That was a huge mistake because it left the basic model of SG that people had come to love and to expect when they tuned into a show with that title. Not that sci-fi ensemble show can't work, they can. Just look at Farscape and Star Trek. But the premise of Star Gate is the four member team. I for one never liked ST Deep Space Nine for the very reason that it left the tried and true ST model.

Same thing happened to SGA, mostly in season two, a season in which the writers tried desperately to find a place for Weir amongst the characters and stories of Atlantis. In doing so they lost a good ten percent of their audience some of whom may never come back. It was either change or get cancelled.

TPTB finally realized this and moved to correct their mistakes - hopefully not to late.

As for Weir, I honestly think she *maybe* could have been saved as a character had TPTB wanted to keep Torri around. From what I've heard in the rumor mill she is very demanding and hard to work with. It was her and not RL who was the 'set diva' and when faced with the decision of re-working her character to more of a backgound/hammond role or just starting from scratch with someone else, they chose the later.

I think these writers do fine with women in professions that they themselves understand- military/warrior/science-geek, but outside of that, you're right, they don't have the knowledge to pull off a political character. For me, I'm just as glad they didn't do it well and had to bail out on the idea. I don't like political dramas and I don't want my sci-fi shows mucked up with a lot of boring political crap. If I want to see that I'll turn on the news.

BSG went the "edgy political sci-fi" route and it wrecked a great show. (not to mention they turned it into "As the Fleet Turns" which made me ill!) I'm glad that SGA has gotten a BIG clue from that and is going back to what they do best. A four member team going through the gate having adventures with very cool tech.

And just to stir the pot a bit over this Weir thing. Aparently a recent interview with Joe M. and Paul Mullie indicated that after the first two eps with Weir, she's essentially out of the picture. It's very possible that the supposed other two eps with her are nothing more than "previous on Atlantis". It seems that her fate will be that of Ford. MIA with not much hope of getting her back again.