an interesting thought, domna

[tielan]

Just recalling a conversation with some people regarding Sheppard's actions in 'SGA: Conversion' and their sentiments: "I hope he apologised to Weir after nearly strangling her."

To be honest, it never occurred to me that he wouldn't. John Sheppard is a man who pays his dues, and I imagine he had a lot of apologies to tender after his buggy incident - all those guys that he beat up for one. But looking back through several conversations, and recalling an earlier SG-1 fandom kerfuffle over pairings and 'who was going to get the hero', I remember some interesting arguments/discussions/what-have-yous that took place.

One of the things that we tend to forget about television is that it is a very focused medium. The writers tend to focus on the things that they want people to notice, and those that they don't particularly care about are 'forgotten'.

In Stargate SG-1 fandom, there was a lot of kerfuffle over Jack resigning to kiss Sam in 'Window of Opportunity', particularly after the fandom blowout that 'Divide and Conquer' produced only weeks before. People argued that Jack was really in love with Daniel and that he certainly kissed Daniel in another loop that we didn't get to see. Or something like that.

Maybe he did.

However, we aren't shown it, it isn't referred to, and TPTB chose to focus on the relationship between Jack and Sam at this stage, rather than any possible Jack/Daniel dynamic (much to the outrage of Jack/Daniel slashers).

It occurs to me that much of the reaction by the Jack/Daniel fen in the wake of 'Divide and Conquer' closely resembles the behaviour presently seen in the Harry/Hermione fen in the wake of 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'. "But that's not the story TPTB were really telling! We didn't see the signposts and if there were signposts, they're obviously wrong!"

Odd, considering that canon interaction is all that's usually required to pair a couple of characters. And even that's not always required.

I really don't get shipping.

Then again, I ship Liz Weir/Ronan Dex. So ner.

In 'Conversion', the reaction that TPTB considered important enough to display was John's concern over what he did to Teyla, not what he did to Elizabeth. Which might indicate where their priorities lie as far as the mending of relationships with John Sheppard. For them, Sheppard's relationship with Teyla requires more finesse and care - possibly because he has to work with Elizabeth and so that relationship would have to be worked out, while Teyla could easily walk away from him, his team, and never trust him again.

I dunno, it's just a thought.

Anyway, considering these are the same PTB that wrote most of Season 4-plus of Stargate SG-1, and that the shows change, the writing remains the same (trained monkeys writing early SG-1 Season 9 episodes notwithstanding), I'd say that there's a good indication that what they're wanting to signpost is in the direction of John/Teyla rather than John/Elizabeth - whatever the scenes between John/Elizabeth.

And that's the signpost that the casual viewer of the show will read rather than the subtext.

Again, just a thought. And I have been known to occasionally be wrong.

*wonders if there'll ever be an episode that works like HP: HBP in Atlantis fandom*

*orders popcorn in preparation*

Comments

[tielan]

As several other people have commented, Weir isn't getting very much interaction with anyone but Shep - which is seriously a pity since there's so much potential for more in her character.