(no subject)
So there is news about Robert Picardo's character from SG-1 making an appearance on SGA next season.
Ahahaha...can I say that this is like...something that should have happened sooner? I mean...the whole lack of ethics we got to see throughout season two? And now this?
Although I am going to say that yes, not a great thing where Weir's character is concerned, and I'm certain she's going to have a little freak out regarding her choices during 'Critical Mass' and...other episodes, but really? This should have happened sooner.
I understand the need to do whatever it takes to survive, and Atlantis is, for the most part, still fairly isolated from the SGC. They're in another galaxy facing an enemy more terrifying (in my opinion) than the goa'uld, because a goa'uld symbiote can be removed, allowing the host to live on and there is the realization that while you may wish you had died, you can live through that sort of experience. Being fed upon by a Wraith gives you no such...I hesitate to use the word, but security that you will survive, because odds are, you won't. And even if you do, it's not going to be pretty.
So yes on the 'doing what needs to be done, no matter what it takes' frame of mind, but there are limits to even that. I just...there are other ways to do things that don't involve becoming heartless monsters, that don't involve ruthless tactics or completely chucking their whole moral code out the window the moment the Wraith show up.
I realize the characters on SGA are meant to be more flawed, more human, than the SG-1 characters, I just don't get how that equals them being a bunch of heartless bastards that leap at the chance of some kind of new method of defeating the Wraith or screwing the natives of Pegasus on a regular basis.
And yes, I'm sure they use the 'you had to be there' rationalization a lot, and I know there's no point in second-guessing the person that was actually there because there's no saying what you yourself would have done in that situation - if you would have done better or worse. I get that.
I just don't get where the SGA characters think that they can do what they want and not suffer the consequences for it sometime later down the road. The Genii have come back to bite them in the ass a few times already, and even though they were never meant to be seen as anything but evil (paramilitary/neo-nazi-esque civilization = spawn of Satan, American values/democracy/etc = teh win in any situation, because as freedom loving Americans, we always think out way is best and that we are the naturally superior bunch) while the SGA characters are pure and saintly and all that.
So. It was totally okay for Sheppard and co. to fuck them over at the end of 'Underground', and we cheer Sheppard's team on, despite the many, many mistakes they made during the course of the episode. (Teyla on the Hive ship? She should have known that sometimes you can't save everyone, because the risks involved are just too damned high. They didn't go to the Hive ship on a rescue mission, they weren't equipped for it, and she stood a very good chance of getting them all killed. I just...I am floored at the fact that Teyla, of them all, didn't recognize how...futile what she tried to do was. Growing up with the threat of the Wraith she should be able to make decisions like that, especially as she was her people's leader, for the greater good, no matter how much it sucks, because people's lives are on the line. And I know, it's just as easy to say that because she grew up with the threat of the Wraith that it stands to reason that she would want to save everyone she could, but that's not possible. Sometimes you have to suck it up, make the hard decisions and then live with the consequences, because that's what life is about. It's part of what being a good leader is about, and it's a large part of what survival is about.)
I will never be able to explain how much that one episode irked me so, so bad. Everyone made bad choices that led to the Genii becoming their enemy, and they're always surprised that the Genii hate them so damn much. I mean...Jesus, wouldn't they feel the same if their positions were reversed?
But I digress.
So. We also have Weir and her...decisions and choices made during season two. (We still don't know if it was her decision to test the enzyme on Michael the Wraith in 'Michael', or if she was ordered to do from some higher up, or if she got the okay from a higher up, so that one's still up in the air. Her decision (even if it wasn't much of one) to ally with the Wraith in 'Allies'...omg, such a bad idea on so many levels, and I still need to watch the episode to get a better idea of what went down, but BAD IDEA.
But! She is in charge of her people and so, in essence is responsible for their actions. Carson and his mad geneticist shenanigans. Rodney and his ad physicist shenanigans (although, really, who would expect him to blow up part of a solar system with some Ancient weapon that they gave up on? I'm honestly not blaming Rodney on this one - completely - because they knew what he was like and they didn't stop him.
I can't think of any other examples right now, because I'm tired and quietly seething over the events in 'Underground' - I know, right? That's ancient history where SGA's concerned, but it still makes me so, so angry.
But yes. I'm glad Picardo's character is going to Atlantis because as we've seen from season two, they need a wake up call. They need to have the bars on their cages rattled, they need to have someone come in and point out the things they've done, how they might have handled it differently and for god's sake, how many lives they've endangered in the process.
As far as I can tell there is little to no resolution/consequences/fallout in SGA that teaches the characters a lesson. (Rodney, maybe, after 'Trinity', but Carson goes merrily on his way fucking around with his enzyme and Elizabeth makes bad decisions and Sheppard...how are these people not in prison again?)
And as we've seen in SG-1's 'The Scourge' Picardo's character isn't so much a slimy worm as...I don't know, a politician? He's the sort of character SG-1 loves to rehabilitate. They make him smarmy and slimy and completely unlikable, and over the course of a few appearances on the show work to make him likable in some small way. To let you see that he isn't quite the bastard you thought he was.
They've done this several times, with Maybourne, Jonas Quinn, McKay himself, and now Picardo's character, Richard Woosley. It's part of what I like about SG-1, that the entire series is so big on redemption. (Just look at O'Neil from the movie and the way he changes during the movie.)
(Although I'm certain a lot of these characters were 'redeemed' mainly due to being fan favorites, but the theme remains! They started off as bastards most people would have liked to see killed off to becoming strangely likable characters with recurring roles/guest appearances.)
Personally, I have a strange fondness for characters like Woosley - the ones that come in and shake everything up, maybe (hopefully) make the heroes realize that maybe they haven't been doing as good a job as they thought, that make the fans hate them because they're criticizing the heroes and making them angry and upset because it really does need to be done sometimes.
Although I fear we're going to wind up with Woosley coming in, bitching at Weir and her people, some sort of CRISIS that only Weir and people can avert using their wacky, wacky methods of Saving The Day, and Woosley will be all 'I see the light now. Carry on, and please, don't worry so much about that whole pesky 'morals' thing.' Which will reinforce the fact that as long as you are on the side of Good, you can do no wrong.
Gah.
Huh. That turned out far more ranty than expected. -_-
Ahahaha...can I say that this is like...something that should have happened sooner? I mean...the whole lack of ethics we got to see throughout season two? And now this?
Although I am going to say that yes, not a great thing where Weir's character is concerned, and I'm certain she's going to have a little freak out regarding her choices during 'Critical Mass' and...other episodes, but really? This should have happened sooner.
I understand the need to do whatever it takes to survive, and Atlantis is, for the most part, still fairly isolated from the SGC. They're in another galaxy facing an enemy more terrifying (in my opinion) than the goa'uld, because a goa'uld symbiote can be removed, allowing the host to live on and there is the realization that while you may wish you had died, you can live through that sort of experience. Being fed upon by a Wraith gives you no such...I hesitate to use the word, but security that you will survive, because odds are, you won't. And even if you do, it's not going to be pretty.
So yes on the 'doing what needs to be done, no matter what it takes' frame of mind, but there are limits to even that. I just...there are other ways to do things that don't involve becoming heartless monsters, that don't involve ruthless tactics or completely chucking their whole moral code out the window the moment the Wraith show up.
I realize the characters on SGA are meant to be more flawed, more human, than the SG-1 characters, I just don't get how that equals them being a bunch of heartless bastards that leap at the chance of some kind of new method of defeating the Wraith or screwing the natives of Pegasus on a regular basis.
And yes, I'm sure they use the 'you had to be there' rationalization a lot, and I know there's no point in second-guessing the person that was actually there because there's no saying what you yourself would have done in that situation - if you would have done better or worse. I get that.
I just don't get where the SGA characters think that they can do what they want and not suffer the consequences for it sometime later down the road. The Genii have come back to bite them in the ass a few times already, and even though they were never meant to be seen as anything but evil (paramilitary/neo-nazi-esque civilization = spawn of Satan, American values/democracy/etc = teh win in any situation, because as freedom loving Americans, we always think out way is best and that we are the naturally superior bunch) while the SGA characters are pure and saintly and all that.
So. It was totally okay for Sheppard and co. to fuck them over at the end of 'Underground', and we cheer Sheppard's team on, despite the many, many mistakes they made during the course of the episode. (Teyla on the Hive ship? She should have known that sometimes you can't save everyone, because the risks involved are just too damned high. They didn't go to the Hive ship on a rescue mission, they weren't equipped for it, and she stood a very good chance of getting them all killed. I just...I am floored at the fact that Teyla, of them all, didn't recognize how...futile what she tried to do was. Growing up with the threat of the Wraith she should be able to make decisions like that, especially as she was her people's leader, for the greater good, no matter how much it sucks, because people's lives are on the line. And I know, it's just as easy to say that because she grew up with the threat of the Wraith that it stands to reason that she would want to save everyone she could, but that's not possible. Sometimes you have to suck it up, make the hard decisions and then live with the consequences, because that's what life is about. It's part of what being a good leader is about, and it's a large part of what survival is about.)
I will never be able to explain how much that one episode irked me so, so bad. Everyone made bad choices that led to the Genii becoming their enemy, and they're always surprised that the Genii hate them so damn much. I mean...Jesus, wouldn't they feel the same if their positions were reversed?
But I digress.
So. We also have Weir and her...decisions and choices made during season two. (We still don't know if it was her decision to test the enzyme on Michael the Wraith in 'Michael', or if she was ordered to do from some higher up, or if she got the okay from a higher up, so that one's still up in the air. Her decision (even if it wasn't much of one) to ally with the Wraith in 'Allies'...omg, such a bad idea on so many levels, and I still need to watch the episode to get a better idea of what went down, but BAD IDEA.
But! She is in charge of her people and so, in essence is responsible for their actions. Carson and his mad geneticist shenanigans. Rodney and his ad physicist shenanigans (although, really, who would expect him to blow up part of a solar system with some Ancient weapon that they gave up on? I'm honestly not blaming Rodney on this one - completely - because they knew what he was like and they didn't stop him.
I can't think of any other examples right now, because I'm tired and quietly seething over the events in 'Underground' - I know, right? That's ancient history where SGA's concerned, but it still makes me so, so angry.
But yes. I'm glad Picardo's character is going to Atlantis because as we've seen from season two, they need a wake up call. They need to have the bars on their cages rattled, they need to have someone come in and point out the things they've done, how they might have handled it differently and for god's sake, how many lives they've endangered in the process.
As far as I can tell there is little to no resolution/consequences/fallout in SGA that teaches the characters a lesson. (Rodney, maybe, after 'Trinity', but Carson goes merrily on his way fucking around with his enzyme and Elizabeth makes bad decisions and Sheppard...how are these people not in prison again?)
And as we've seen in SG-1's 'The Scourge' Picardo's character isn't so much a slimy worm as...I don't know, a politician? He's the sort of character SG-1 loves to rehabilitate. They make him smarmy and slimy and completely unlikable, and over the course of a few appearances on the show work to make him likable in some small way. To let you see that he isn't quite the bastard you thought he was.
They've done this several times, with Maybourne, Jonas Quinn, McKay himself, and now Picardo's character, Richard Woosley. It's part of what I like about SG-1, that the entire series is so big on redemption. (Just look at O'Neil from the movie and the way he changes during the movie.)
(Although I'm certain a lot of these characters were 'redeemed' mainly due to being fan favorites, but the theme remains! They started off as bastards most people would have liked to see killed off to becoming strangely likable characters with recurring roles/guest appearances.)
Personally, I have a strange fondness for characters like Woosley - the ones that come in and shake everything up, maybe (hopefully) make the heroes realize that maybe they haven't been doing as good a job as they thought, that make the fans hate them because they're criticizing the heroes and making them angry and upset because it really does need to be done sometimes.
Although I fear we're going to wind up with Woosley coming in, bitching at Weir and her people, some sort of CRISIS that only Weir and people can avert using their wacky, wacky methods of Saving The Day, and Woosley will be all 'I see the light now. Carry on, and please, don't worry so much about that whole pesky 'morals' thing.' Which will reinforce the fact that as long as you are on the side of Good, you can do no wrong.
Gah.
Huh. That turned out far more ranty than expected. -_-