Over-opinionated thoughts on Stargate Atlantis
I started writing this up the other day and I might as well post it even though I didn't get to write everything I wanted to say. I fear that if I don't post it it's going to join the fate of so many of my posts - trapped in Koala's Locked Unfinished Posts Twilight Zone .....
After having perused livejournal, notwithstanding how much I enjoy the series, I've decided to limit the number of Stargate Atlantis communities I join. After I watch a show and enjoy the episodes, I usually really enjoy reading the episode commentaries from other people, discussing the episode and picking up on things I missed when I watched it. I'm not a huge fan of the Veronica Mars discussion groups but Dr Who and BSG generally have a fairly diverse and thought-provoking range of opinions which are interesting. galacticanews and 13thcolony are quite good for capturing lots of different viewpoints.
There's quite a useful journal for Stargate Atlantis, being sga_newsletter. The problem is, I clicked through about two dozen links to episode reviews for a handful of episodes and was overwhelmed by a few opinions that I do not share:
1. overwhelming, overpowering love for Dr Rodney McKay
2. overwhelming, overpowering love for the pairing of Sheppard/McKay
3. overwhelming, overpowering hatred for the character of Doctor Elizabeth Weir
Given that I happen to really like Dr Weir's character and McKay's character annoys me (although I do find him funny and interesting) and like Weir/Sheppard and possibly Weir/Ronon (yes, my love of wacky non-canon pairings continues to flourish) - it looks like I might have to talk about Stargate Atlantis with umm ..... myself or at least over at john_elizabeth which is a haven for Weir/Sheppard fans - and there is some wonderful fan fic there. I don't generally read much fan fic except from a handful of writers I know/follow but I'm impressed that there are quite a few really talented writers of Sheppard/Weir, Weir/Ronon fiction. I'll post links later when I've finished reading them all.
There's also a community called liz_ronon dedicaed to the Weir/Ronon pairing but there were a lot of really weird posts there so the more useful and thoughtful post about the pairing was here. The Weir/Ronon story Enigma is wonderful as is Whisper in soft chambers. Oh, the second story is NC-17 so be warned - beautifully written though.
I went a bit nuts and started collecting all the good John/Elizabeth and Weir/Ronon fan fic here. It's an absolute delight to have found so much great fan fic, although I started choking and gasping when I accidentally read one song fic where John comes across Elizabeth singing Disney's A Whole New World ....
*choke* *gasp* *choke*
By the way, I think Sheppard looks like Zach Braff from Scrubs sometimes - especially during the melodramatic hero shots that linger on his face for too long when there's a Dramatic Moment of Tension ....
My Over-opinionated Unpopular Opinion
Given what I have read, I realise that I am about to express a number of Hugely Unpopular opinions below but well .... here goes. It's the way I feel and I can't help that. Sorry if it annoys anyone.
For me, McKay is like a funnier, more likeable, more moral and more sane version of Baltar from BSG. I suppose I at least can like McKay sometimes whereas I loathe Baltar, find him boring and frequently skip through his scenes especially if they involve him and Six having skanky sex.
McKay while he sometimes amuses me with his wild and manic behaviour and his funny one-liners, frequently also horrifies me. Probably what clinched it for me was the episode Trinity in which they find a science lab of the Ancients that contains what might be the next step past the ZPM as a power source.
There are several bodies in the lab and naturally there are queries raised at a very early stage about the safety and wisdom of the experiment. McKay is more arrogant and cocky than usual and believes that he can succeed where the Ancients failed. Fine, that's possible. But in the first test, one of McKay's own team is killed by a burst of hard radiation. McKay still believes that the formulae used by the Ancients was wrong and that he can fix it. He appeals to Sheppard to try to convince Weir into letting him try again. What annoyed me the most was that he tried to sell it as needing to resolve the issue so that his team member's death was 'not for nothing' and not in vain. He then goes on to talk about some famous scientist who kept working till the end even though he was dying of cancer blah blah blah. Yes that's true Rodney but that scientist was playing with his own life not with the lives of others :P
Even after Zelenka discovers that the project is extremely dangerous and unstable, McKay mauls him, accusing him of being jealous of his brilliance. I like Zalenka - he seems like a pretty decent bloke.
MacKay insists on continuing even in the face of evidence that shows that things are getting very dangerous. Even when things are almost about to explode, it's Sheppard who finally snaps him out of (almost too late) and makes him realise that he was wrong to be so confident.
Although they are rescued from the solar system by Caldwell - three quarters (or 5/6ths) of the solar system is destroyed by the resulting explosion.
Yes this leads to a very touching 'I'm sorry, I guess you can never trust me again" moment between Sheppard and McKay that no doubt had the McKay/Sheppard fans squeeing gleeful but for me, being a bloody arrogant prat, killing one of your own team members and then blowing up most of a solar system doesn't get fixed by an "I'm sorry". I couldn't sense the genuine remorse from McKay for the death of one of his team who trusted and relied upon him. I could have been more forgiving if it was as a result of a mistake arising out of good intentions or something well-meaning .... even though that's not really an excuse, but given that this was from a huge burst of supreme arrogance and ego, it was just unacceptable to me.
It's almost like McKay's like a genius who is borderline sociopath and amoral. It's his love/loyalty to friends and family that keeps him anchored to any form of conventional moral code.
It appears that in mainstream Stargate Atlantis fandom, McKay/Sheppard is the norm. I've said before that I can't help being mildly annoyed by the assumption that simply because two male characters like one another, get along and have a mutual respect that it automatically means that they're having wild monkey sex. Is there no such thing as genuine, platonic friendship and mutual respect between two males? Is this really what we believe? I already have this argument to death with friends of mine who believe that men and women can't be 'friends' without the 'promise' of something more - something which I personally think is rubbish. Yeah I have a friend who believes that the only way she can keep her male friends around and attentive is by exerting feminine charm but not every single male/female relationship is based on that.
I've given up on reading the episode reviews now because even though there are lots of good bits, they start to get incredibly, incredibly tedious because every single expression, hand gesture, word, smile = McKay being in love with Sheppard or vice versa. I feel like I'm watching reading the TWOP recaps of Smallville all over again.
I mean I agree that when I look at Logan/Veronica and I'm crumb-hunting I do tend to read too much into every gesture and extrapolate that this means that they are madly in love but I do try not to repeat myself to death. I feel like saying: "OK, enough already. Sometimes the fact that McKay is waving his hand means that he is just waving his hand - not that he wants to shag Sheppard in the back of a Puddlejumper". :P
I'm not saying that people should stop reading too much into everything - because that's part of the fun, but it just makes it clear to me that my fun is going to have to be found by reading elsewhere and that there is no place in mainstream Stargate Atlantis for this koala. For me, I see them as really good friends. In particular I see them as both recognising the faults and strengths in the other. I find that relationship and friendship to be quite touching and heart-warming. Why does it need to be motivated by lust?
My bad habit of non-canon pairing continues: Ronon/Weir
Now I'm just babbling and I'm clearly a bit whacked in the head and somewhat contradictory becasue despite all my ravings above - my love of unconventional pairings continues ....
To explain why I like Ronon/Weir, apart from the whole charm of 'opposite attract', the scene in the episode Aurora was just bloody adorable.
Here it is (all screen caps taken from oxoniensis-art.net:
Canteen/Cafeteria. Two men are facing each other, playing chess but neither are moving. Ronon is sitting at a table nearby watching intently. He looks very fascinated .... I also realise (for the first time) that he also looks kind of hot when he's all cleaned up even though I don't like bearded men....
Elizabeth walks over.
Weir: May I join you?
(Ronon nods and Elizabeth sits down and she looks over at what he's watching)
Weir: It's called chess. It's a game.
Dex: They've been sitting there like that since I sat down.
Weir: Those two, they play every single day.
Dex: Neither one of them's even blinked yet.
Weir: Well, it's not really a game action.
Dex: I can see that.
Weir: It's all about strategy. He's planning his next move, and the move after that, and the move after that.
Dex: I guess you do a lot of that around here.
Weir: Yes, we do. I take it that's not how you prefer to do things.
Dex: No. (Ronon stands up and picks up his tray.) I'm leaving.
Weir: (Endearingly earnest and anxious in her 'I am the leader' mode) Hey, Ronon, wait. Just because we do things differently, doesn't mean we can't learn from each other; and Colonel Sheppard has already invested an incredible amount of time and energy trying to make you an integral part of his team.
(Ronon looks down at her during all of this with a very, very funny expression on his face)
Dex (explains politely with the same funny expression on his face): I meant I'm leaving the table.
Weir: (looks adorably embarrassed). Oh.
Dex (politely but the funny expression is still on his face. It's not mean though, just kind of gently amused) Is that OK?
Weir: Yes, of course. I'm sorry - I, I thought ...
(Elizabeth is interrupted by her radio.)
McKay (over radio): Doctor Weir?
Weir: Rodney, what is it?
McKay Something you should see here.
Weir: I'm on my way. (She stands and tells Ronon in a still-embarrassed fashion) I'm leaving too! (Elizabeth says this kind of brightly and in a self-conscious manner)
Dex: OK (Isn't smiling exactly but looks very amused).
Weir: OK!
Ronon watches her walk off.
Dies from the cuteness :) Seriously. What I love is that Ronon has the funniest expression on his face while Elizabeth is doing her 'hard sell' about all the reasons why he should stay in Atlantis. Also, when the conversation is interrupted by Rodney, instead of just walking away in typical Ronon-fashion, Ronon hangs around still holding his tray and watching Elizabeth. He had already told her that he was leaving, the interruption from Rodney gives him an excuse (not that he needed one) to just go but he chooses to wait for her to finish the conversation. Clearly he wanted to keep talking to her.
When she announces that she's going and they're doing the whole sheepish/playful 'OK', 'OK' exchange, it's just adorable. There is so much eye-contact between these two in this very short scene. As she walks away, he doesn't move but keeps standing there with his tray watching her, a very sweet and unreadable expression on his face. It's like he's amused by how flustered she is and I can't help wondering if it's the first time he has stopped thinking of her as the leader of the Atlantis expedition and a girl whom he can unsettle and make embarrassed.
Anyway, the new season of the series starts in July and I cannot wait. Lots of crumb-hunting as I look for John/Elizabeth moments or Ronon/Elizabeth moments ;) I didn't think I'd enjoy the show as much as I did. As mentioned before, I was very ho hum about it when I first started it, but it definitely grew on me.
After having perused livejournal, notwithstanding how much I enjoy the series, I've decided to limit the number of Stargate Atlantis communities I join. After I watch a show and enjoy the episodes, I usually really enjoy reading the episode commentaries from other people, discussing the episode and picking up on things I missed when I watched it. I'm not a huge fan of the Veronica Mars discussion groups but Dr Who and BSG generally have a fairly diverse and thought-provoking range of opinions which are interesting. galacticanews and 13thcolony are quite good for capturing lots of different viewpoints.
There's quite a useful journal for Stargate Atlantis, being sga_newsletter. The problem is, I clicked through about two dozen links to episode reviews for a handful of episodes and was overwhelmed by a few opinions that I do not share:
1. overwhelming, overpowering love for Dr Rodney McKay
2. overwhelming, overpowering love for the pairing of Sheppard/McKay
3. overwhelming, overpowering hatred for the character of Doctor Elizabeth Weir
Given that I happen to really like Dr Weir's character and McKay's character annoys me (although I do find him funny and interesting) and like Weir/Sheppard and possibly Weir/Ronon (yes, my love of wacky non-canon pairings continues to flourish) - it looks like I might have to talk about Stargate Atlantis with umm ..... myself or at least over at john_elizabeth which is a haven for Weir/Sheppard fans - and there is some wonderful fan fic there. I don't generally read much fan fic except from a handful of writers I know/follow but I'm impressed that there are quite a few really talented writers of Sheppard/Weir, Weir/Ronon fiction. I'll post links later when I've finished reading them all.
There's also a community called liz_ronon dedicaed to the Weir/Ronon pairing but there were a lot of really weird posts there so the more useful and thoughtful post about the pairing was here. The Weir/Ronon story Enigma is wonderful as is Whisper in soft chambers. Oh, the second story is NC-17 so be warned - beautifully written though.
I went a bit nuts and started collecting all the good John/Elizabeth and Weir/Ronon fan fic here. It's an absolute delight to have found so much great fan fic, although I started choking and gasping when I accidentally read one song fic where John comes across Elizabeth singing Disney's A Whole New World ....
*choke* *gasp* *choke*
By the way, I think Sheppard looks like Zach Braff from Scrubs sometimes - especially during the melodramatic hero shots that linger on his face for too long when there's a Dramatic Moment of Tension ....
My Over-opinionated Unpopular Opinion
Given what I have read, I realise that I am about to express a number of Hugely Unpopular opinions below but well .... here goes. It's the way I feel and I can't help that. Sorry if it annoys anyone.
For me, McKay is like a funnier, more likeable, more moral and more sane version of Baltar from BSG. I suppose I at least can like McKay sometimes whereas I loathe Baltar, find him boring and frequently skip through his scenes especially if they involve him and Six having skanky sex.
McKay while he sometimes amuses me with his wild and manic behaviour and his funny one-liners, frequently also horrifies me. Probably what clinched it for me was the episode Trinity in which they find a science lab of the Ancients that contains what might be the next step past the ZPM as a power source.
There are several bodies in the lab and naturally there are queries raised at a very early stage about the safety and wisdom of the experiment. McKay is more arrogant and cocky than usual and believes that he can succeed where the Ancients failed. Fine, that's possible. But in the first test, one of McKay's own team is killed by a burst of hard radiation. McKay still believes that the formulae used by the Ancients was wrong and that he can fix it. He appeals to Sheppard to try to convince Weir into letting him try again. What annoyed me the most was that he tried to sell it as needing to resolve the issue so that his team member's death was 'not for nothing' and not in vain. He then goes on to talk about some famous scientist who kept working till the end even though he was dying of cancer blah blah blah. Yes that's true Rodney but that scientist was playing with his own life not with the lives of others :P
Even after Zelenka discovers that the project is extremely dangerous and unstable, McKay mauls him, accusing him of being jealous of his brilliance. I like Zalenka - he seems like a pretty decent bloke.
MacKay insists on continuing even in the face of evidence that shows that things are getting very dangerous. Even when things are almost about to explode, it's Sheppard who finally snaps him out of (almost too late) and makes him realise that he was wrong to be so confident.
Although they are rescued from the solar system by Caldwell - three quarters (or 5/6ths) of the solar system is destroyed by the resulting explosion.
Yes this leads to a very touching 'I'm sorry, I guess you can never trust me again" moment between Sheppard and McKay that no doubt had the McKay/Sheppard fans squeeing gleeful but for me, being a bloody arrogant prat, killing one of your own team members and then blowing up most of a solar system doesn't get fixed by an "I'm sorry". I couldn't sense the genuine remorse from McKay for the death of one of his team who trusted and relied upon him. I could have been more forgiving if it was as a result of a mistake arising out of good intentions or something well-meaning .... even though that's not really an excuse, but given that this was from a huge burst of supreme arrogance and ego, it was just unacceptable to me.
It's almost like McKay's like a genius who is borderline sociopath and amoral. It's his love/loyalty to friends and family that keeps him anchored to any form of conventional moral code.
It appears that in mainstream Stargate Atlantis fandom, McKay/Sheppard is the norm. I've said before that I can't help being mildly annoyed by the assumption that simply because two male characters like one another, get along and have a mutual respect that it automatically means that they're having wild monkey sex. Is there no such thing as genuine, platonic friendship and mutual respect between two males? Is this really what we believe? I already have this argument to death with friends of mine who believe that men and women can't be 'friends' without the 'promise' of something more - something which I personally think is rubbish. Yeah I have a friend who believes that the only way she can keep her male friends around and attentive is by exerting feminine charm but not every single male/female relationship is based on that.
I've given up on reading the episode reviews now because even though there are lots of good bits, they start to get incredibly, incredibly tedious because every single expression, hand gesture, word, smile = McKay being in love with Sheppard or vice versa. I feel like I'm watching reading the TWOP recaps of Smallville all over again.
I mean I agree that when I look at Logan/Veronica and I'm crumb-hunting I do tend to read too much into every gesture and extrapolate that this means that they are madly in love but I do try not to repeat myself to death. I feel like saying: "OK, enough already. Sometimes the fact that McKay is waving his hand means that he is just waving his hand - not that he wants to shag Sheppard in the back of a Puddlejumper". :P
I'm not saying that people should stop reading too much into everything - because that's part of the fun, but it just makes it clear to me that my fun is going to have to be found by reading elsewhere and that there is no place in mainstream Stargate Atlantis for this koala. For me, I see them as really good friends. In particular I see them as both recognising the faults and strengths in the other. I find that relationship and friendship to be quite touching and heart-warming. Why does it need to be motivated by lust?
My bad habit of non-canon pairing continues: Ronon/Weir
Now I'm just babbling and I'm clearly a bit whacked in the head and somewhat contradictory becasue despite all my ravings above - my love of unconventional pairings continues ....
To explain why I like Ronon/Weir, apart from the whole charm of 'opposite attract', the scene in the episode Aurora was just bloody adorable.
Here it is (all screen caps taken from oxoniensis-art.net:
Canteen/Cafeteria. Two men are facing each other, playing chess but neither are moving. Ronon is sitting at a table nearby watching intently. He looks very fascinated .... I also realise (for the first time) that he also looks kind of hot when he's all cleaned up even though I don't like bearded men....
Elizabeth walks over.
Weir: May I join you?
(Ronon nods and Elizabeth sits down and she looks over at what he's watching)
Weir: It's called chess. It's a game.
Dex: They've been sitting there like that since I sat down.
Weir: Those two, they play every single day.
Dex: Neither one of them's even blinked yet.
Weir: Well, it's not really a game action.
Dex: I can see that.
Weir: It's all about strategy. He's planning his next move, and the move after that, and the move after that.
Dex: I guess you do a lot of that around here.
Weir: Yes, we do. I take it that's not how you prefer to do things.
Dex: No. (Ronon stands up and picks up his tray.) I'm leaving.
Weir: (Endearingly earnest and anxious in her 'I am the leader' mode) Hey, Ronon, wait. Just because we do things differently, doesn't mean we can't learn from each other; and Colonel Sheppard has already invested an incredible amount of time and energy trying to make you an integral part of his team.
(Ronon looks down at her during all of this with a very, very funny expression on his face)
Dex (explains politely with the same funny expression on his face): I meant I'm leaving the table.
Weir: (looks adorably embarrassed). Oh.
Dex (politely but the funny expression is still on his face. It's not mean though, just kind of gently amused) Is that OK?
Weir: Yes, of course. I'm sorry - I, I thought ...
(Elizabeth is interrupted by her radio.)
McKay (over radio): Doctor Weir?
Weir: Rodney, what is it?
McKay Something you should see here.
Weir: I'm on my way. (She stands and tells Ronon in a still-embarrassed fashion) I'm leaving too! (Elizabeth says this kind of brightly and in a self-conscious manner)
Dex: OK (Isn't smiling exactly but looks very amused).
Weir: OK!
Ronon watches her walk off.
Dies from the cuteness :) Seriously. What I love is that Ronon has the funniest expression on his face while Elizabeth is doing her 'hard sell' about all the reasons why he should stay in Atlantis. Also, when the conversation is interrupted by Rodney, instead of just walking away in typical Ronon-fashion, Ronon hangs around still holding his tray and watching Elizabeth. He had already told her that he was leaving, the interruption from Rodney gives him an excuse (not that he needed one) to just go but he chooses to wait for her to finish the conversation. Clearly he wanted to keep talking to her.
When she announces that she's going and they're doing the whole sheepish/playful 'OK', 'OK' exchange, it's just adorable. There is so much eye-contact between these two in this very short scene. As she walks away, he doesn't move but keeps standing there with his tray watching her, a very sweet and unreadable expression on his face. It's like he's amused by how flustered she is and I can't help wondering if it's the first time he has stopped thinking of her as the leader of the Atlantis expedition and a girl whom he can unsettle and make embarrassed.
Anyway, the new season of the series starts in July and I cannot wait. Lots of crumb-hunting as I look for John/Elizabeth moments or Ronon/Elizabeth moments ;) I didn't think I'd enjoy the show as much as I did. As mentioned before, I was very ho hum about it when I first started it, but it definitely grew on me.