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Those prompts I asked for this morning? I'm not really in the mood to write them right now. *hugs* to the people who offered them and encouragement to me this morning. I needed it.
Fandom is a group experience and this post is the LJ therapy couch for the not-too-posty elements of my f-list. Tell Dr. T all about your Stargate Atlantis experience: what got you in, when you realised it was your crack, and what you're going to take from it.
Technically, SG1 was my first fandom. I played, wrote, made friends, bitched, got bitched out, had a ball, and ultimately walked away because I didn't like how the show was going. Then SG1 led into SGA.
I got into the show partly because of the SG1 lead-in, but mostly because of Teyla. Nothing more, nothing less. She was the magnet that drew me into activities beyond merely watching he show. This is probably why it took to the end of Season One for me to go, "Oh, now I get this show!" I was ambivalent about the whole shipping thing, although I liked the John/Teyla dynamic. I liked it, but it didn't bother me that it wasn't going anywhere. John/Teyla fandom wasn't very active at the time, so I mostly wrote gen with a John/Teyla UST thing and hoped to find someone else who liked John/Teyla whose work I could appreciate.
I'm not sure I realised when it was my crack, to be honest. It just...snuck up on me. Possibly around 2005, when I wrote 'To Serve A Queen' and realised that I'd just put 50,000+ words into a fanfic about two characters who'd never actually get together on the show in an AU where they did get together and had super speshul powerz.
That was probably a watermark moment for me. "Yeah, I'm in deep. WAY deep."
Oddly enough, though, SGA has been both an up and down ride for me - partly because I can't count on the show to be constant in the things I watch it for - not the way I can with something like Bones. I want Teyla, I want team, I'm not into the John/Rodney relationship, and I wanted the show to focus on Pegasus, not on Earth and the "white peoplez".
For me, it's sort of a relief to know the end of the rollercoaster is in sight.
I will miss my show and the characters I love and the people I've met through them but with whom I haven't had the opportunity to form bonds that go beyond SGA. But I won't grieve for what won't be. I might grieve for what could have been, but wasn't; but I don't think I can feel unadulterated loss for something that wasn't measuring up to my expectations (enjoyable though it might have been).
What I will celebrate is that I've come out of the fandom with new friends, new perspectives, and another layer of fandom skin. I think. I don't know that I'll ever get into another fandom the way I did with SG1 and SGA - they were my first real fannish experiences.
What was your fannish experience with SGA?
Fandom is a group experience and this post is the LJ therapy couch for the not-too-posty elements of my f-list. Tell Dr. T all about your Stargate Atlantis experience: what got you in, when you realised it was your crack, and what you're going to take from it.
Technically, SG1 was my first fandom. I played, wrote, made friends, bitched, got bitched out, had a ball, and ultimately walked away because I didn't like how the show was going. Then SG1 led into SGA.
I got into the show partly because of the SG1 lead-in, but mostly because of Teyla. Nothing more, nothing less. She was the magnet that drew me into activities beyond merely watching he show. This is probably why it took to the end of Season One for me to go, "Oh, now I get this show!" I was ambivalent about the whole shipping thing, although I liked the John/Teyla dynamic. I liked it, but it didn't bother me that it wasn't going anywhere. John/Teyla fandom wasn't very active at the time, so I mostly wrote gen with a John/Teyla UST thing and hoped to find someone else who liked John/Teyla whose work I could appreciate.
I'm not sure I realised when it was my crack, to be honest. It just...snuck up on me. Possibly around 2005, when I wrote 'To Serve A Queen' and realised that I'd just put 50,000+ words into a fanfic about two characters who'd never actually get together on the show in an AU where they did get together and had super speshul powerz.
That was probably a watermark moment for me. "Yeah, I'm in deep. WAY deep."
Oddly enough, though, SGA has been both an up and down ride for me - partly because I can't count on the show to be constant in the things I watch it for - not the way I can with something like Bones. I want Teyla, I want team, I'm not into the John/Rodney relationship, and I wanted the show to focus on Pegasus, not on Earth and the "white peoplez".
For me, it's sort of a relief to know the end of the rollercoaster is in sight.
I will miss my show and the characters I love and the people I've met through them but with whom I haven't had the opportunity to form bonds that go beyond SGA. But I won't grieve for what won't be. I might grieve for what could have been, but wasn't; but I don't think I can feel unadulterated loss for something that wasn't measuring up to my expectations (enjoyable though it might have been).
What I will celebrate is that I've come out of the fandom with new friends, new perspectives, and another layer of fandom skin. I think. I don't know that I'll ever get into another fandom the way I did with SG1 and SGA - they were my first real fannish experiences.
What was your fannish experience with SGA?
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So anyway, I don't remember what episode I started watching SG-1, but one of the first episodes I remember watching is where Jack and Teal'c (?) were stuck in a time loop, so Jack finally decided just to have fun with it and do what he wanted until they figured out how to get out of it (including kissing Carter). After that, I would catch an episode of SG-1 here and there, keeping up on the overall storyline to know what was going on, like when Daniel died/ascended, and there was something about Merlin. I started getting interested again when they brought in the Ori, because dang, that was a pretty serious bad guy, and I was really interested to see how they'd handle the whole "Convert or die" mentality of the enemy, if and how SG-1 would find a way to beat them.
I have no idea why I decided to started watching Atlantis. I think the main reason was that the show was premiering, and I like to get into the things from the beginning rather then the middle, so I decided to check out the pilot. Looking back, I'm pretty sure it was something as shallow as how cute I thought Sheppard was. And Rodney was pretty awesome, too. And, as lame as it sounds, I had remembered seeing Rainbow Sun Franks as a VJ on Much Music, so I was interested to check out his performance on the show. (Seriously? Am I the only person who didn't like Ford?)
However, I remember what really got me into the show. It was the connection between John and Teyla. From the moment he found her necklace in that cave and his hand lingered on her jacket lapel, blah blah. So. . . from then on I was watching the show to see if and when they would get together. LOL. (I had not idea how unpopular the pairing was until I started reading your blog, but then, I wasn't very active in fandom save for reading fanfiction) I was young and impressionable then, but now I know a little better about how these shows actually work. ;)
How'd I know when I was in deep? Probably when I purchased the show on DVD. It's the only show that I own on DVD. And then I pretty much went off the cliff when I started writing Ronon/Keller fic in December of last year. :)
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That was definitely the first spark for me, too. But I watched casually and without any particular interest until The Gift.
Reading the responses to this post, I find it fascinating that most of the people who've' responded got in because of Teyla or John/Teyla or a combination thereof.
*hugs*
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Likewise - because most of that is what I watch for. I want team, I'm not into J/R, I wanted the show to focus on Pegasus and what is out there. I'd have liked to have seen more done with the city too.
The 'white peoplez' thing goes back to the discussion that was being had on one of our mutual friend's journals recently about the total inability of this writing staff to write anything of consequence for anyone but the white geek characters. This show was pants on character development for anyone not in that bracket and tried to hide it with more screen time. Ultimately, the characters I watched this show for were John, Teyla and Ronon - and none of them have ever been serviced with a decent level of character development.
For me, it's sort of a relief to know the end of the rollercoaster is in sight.
I might grieve for what could have been, but wasn't; but I don't think I can feel unadulterated loss for something that wasn't measuring up to my expectations (enjoyable though it might have been).
I'm glad I'm not the only one with these feelings. At the moment, I feel more 'grief' (for lack of a better word) for how much potential has been wasted in the last few seasons than I do for the fact that the show has been cancelled.
Most of what I have to take from SGA as a fandom isn't particularly positive. That said, there is only one thing I want to take away from my experience in this fandom and that is all the wonderful people I've forged relationships with as a result - be that IRL by meeting at cons or just speaking online. I hope at least some of those friendships outlast the show.
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Okay, you have a certain point here. *wry smile*
I saw how one of your f-list already unfriended you, and I'm so sorry! That's just...
To some extent, I'd understand someone unfriending this LJ: this is my fandom LJ, so my RL isn't generally posted here, and I don't do much other than Stargate. Still, on a personal/fandom LJ that's a slap in the face.
*hugs*
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I can't say I was surprised by the defriending - if anything, I'm surprised that SGA defriendings have taken so long to start, especially when I didn't do the advanced reviews of the DVDs this year. That said, even though it wasn't someone close, it did feel like a slap. It sort of confirmed something I'd long suspected - a few people were only around for the content and not so much for me. And if there is one thing good to be gotten from this cancellation, it'd going to be getting rid of fake-ass people like that.
*snuggles*
[1 of ?X]
I got into this with you last night about how I feel this change, from TV series to movie, is actually a good one for the show in terms of production, quality, and where they need to go now to finish their story. This is especially true, I feel, in light of what happened to SG-1. Yes, ten seasons is an awesome thing, but they had to do both a literal and narrative changing of the guard to do it and the story (such as it was) suffered.
People rag on how this is an inconsistent, poorly done show a lot of times, yourself included, and "joke" about how they have to be in fandom because how else can they fix it? Then they inevitably compare it to the (new) BSG and go "See, this is how sci-fi should be done (oh, and check out Firefly too!)." I always want to laugh (in general, at them) and go "Oh, so, you know nothing about sci-fi and you think because the imperialistic, colonalist attitude of the show is, uh, slightly less apparent it's so much better? That's... cute. Why don't you go back to watching your dramas now?"
It's 'bitchy' and it's mean, but it's true. Even someone in these comments laughed about how her mother likes Andromeda so quality's not an issue. Barring the final season of Andromeda, which suffered the fifth year "What the fuck are we doing?" panic far, far worse than most shows, it was a consistent, well-plotted show. It did what you wish Atlantis would do: it showed the world(s) around them instead of acting like they were in a vacuum except when they were saving the whole universe.
[New] Battlestar Galactica began as a show which blew away most of its precedessors and all of its (then) current competition [save one show, which I'll happily babble about if you want me to] because it was tightly plotted and it used the world of being a vacuum to its advantage. The benefit of having such a tight focus is that when you make errors of judgement it's on a much smaller, less noticeable scale. As soon as it extended to a larger scale, where it tried to flesh out the colonies that had been obliterated and the characters that weren't in the main cast, it started falling apart. The blatant similarities to modern U.S. culture destroys all manners of believability; the painfully awkward parables about current affairs is literally cringeworthy; and Ron Howard seems to be under the (mistaken) impression that if you add more people to a love story it automatically becomes more interesting. Battlestar Galactica, perhaps because it started out so stronger, fails the good sci-fi test much more harshly than SGA ever could have, because SGA never made the pretense of being a Serious Show. (You see this in dramas too, of course, because some shows are more We Are A Social Statement than others.)
The upshot being that whenever someone rags on SGA, or something like Painkiller Jane (which was pretty awesome, for the record, for what it was), or deifies BSG or Firefly (Holy Orientalism Issues, Batman!), I'm very much stuck in the fact that not only is SGA not my first fandom, it doesn't even make my first quarter of a hundred. If you want really not-good, not consistent, poorly developed, with cringeworthy character tropes attached to very hot actors and bad wirework to make it fly, check out Mutant X, one of my first real online fandoms. I can even get you the source.
[tbc]
2 of ?X
I didn't like it, frankly. The episodic plots were awkward, without the advantages that worse shows like Mutant X had -- SG-1 has a distinct lack of pretty for an early/mid teens girl who isn't into guys her father's age. What science I saw was "eek!" and the character development I managed to catch was strange (I guess I was never destined to be a Sam/Jack shipper). More over, I'd seen the original movie, in the movie theatre, with my dad and adored it. Since I was mostly catching season four and season five at the time, this reinvention of Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill felt lacking to me.
Ultimately, years later, I was at the video store at one point, renting yet more stuff. As a side note, I was in there often enough they all knew me and, by the time I was seventeen or so, one of the guys would, without me ever having asked, save copies of new releases he thought I'd like so that when I showed up on Tuesday night, after the crowds, they'd be there waiting for me. I came across the SG-1 S1 first disc, which had through Emancipation, and I decided "Oh, what the hell?" and rented it. I was entranced by Children Of The Gods. It was... exactly what they needed after the Stargate movie to make it into a series. I immediately went to rent the next disc and couldn't find it anywhere, so I bought the first season. Then I bought two, three, and four, only to put them to the side because I just didn't have the time or interest to really watch them.
Then brush fires happened and killed the power in my house for a week. My father, being an electrician, had a back-up generator at his shop and he brought it home, but it could only run so much out of the day. I used it to watch DVDs on my laptop, charging my laptop when the generator was on and wearing it down when it was off. I watched all three seasons in that week and went out to buy season five. The rest, as they say, is history.
Obviously, I got into the show pretty late. I had the advantage of knowing Daniel's ascension was only temporary before I went into season six. That was nice. I had the advantage of walking into a well-established, very broad and friendly fandom. Sure, there were ship wars but SG-1 had the same air BtVS and AtS did. Your kink may vary but we're all freaks here so party on. I really value that in a fandom. I was never very active; I wrote some fic, mostly for ficathons, but my big fandom for most of this time period was Harry Potter. SG-1 was the fannish equivalent of what I did on weekends.
[tbc]
3 of 3
I got into J/R first because I was coming from J/D (primarily) in SG-1 and it seemed like the logical jump. Plus, there was an audience for it. The main problem was that other people shipping J/R seemed to be watching a radically different show than I was and there was only so long I could smile and nod along before I finally went "Fuck that shit." Coincidently, this is about the time The Gift aired and, again, the rest was history.
I adore Teyla, even if I don't write a lot of fic in this fandom. Fannish interaction, the back-and-forth, vital, active vibe of getting together with other fans is really, really key to me in being fannish. It doesn't have to be a lot of other fans but there has to be some. And with Teyla, the pickings were few and most of them were as frustrating as the J/R shippers. Radically different show. A lot of Teyla "fans" are fans of her in the sense of John'sgirlfriend or Ronon'ssparringpartner or Rodney'stherapist. You know what I mean. They aren't into Teyla, they're into using her as a stand-in for themselves. The ones that are left often suffer, none too gently, from the same orientalism the show possesses. They ignore that Teyla is smart, practical, and effective. They ignore she's competent. At which point we're talking about totally different characters.
Then, around S3, I'd say, the tide towards Teyla in the larger fandom changed. You know what I mean. Where she went from That Islander Bitch [Who Fights In Skirts!] Who Gets In The Way of One True Love to Hey, She's Kinda Cool [When I'm Not Loving McShep!]. In fannish terms it was a huge shift. But, by that point, I'd written the fandom off and was enjoying the show in pretty much a vacuum. I don't have problems doing that. I do it for a lot of shows that just don't have consistent fandoms or that I don't want to be all fannishly involved in, due to the show itself and/or time constraints. I think that's also about the point I met you, which was unfortunate for you. If we'd met a year earlier, you probably could have convinced me into being the big time producer of J/T stuff you wish someone (besides you) was.
And, now, I feel the show's better off being moved into a movie franchise and removed from various complications that being in a sixth, seventh, eighth season has. I don't feel the gut-wrenching "NO!" about this move, to be honest, the way I did when The 4400 was cancelled. SGA has had a good run and the fandom will go on in the way that Highlander and The Sentinel does, I suspect. Most of the fandom doesn't even seem to really like the show all that much so this might be freeing rather than an impediment for them. And I'll find the next Stargate and then be fannish about that.
Re: 3 of 3
If we'd met a year earlier, you probably could have convinced me into being the big time producer of J/T stuff you wish someone (besides you) was.
D:
They aren't into Teyla, they're into using her as a stand-in for themselves.
Exactly my problem with a lot of people writing Teyla or John/Teyla stories. The focus tends to be less on Teyla and more of the other characters in the story, all of whom are considered more important than she.
Which, I suppose, is what one would expect considering the way TPTB have treated her.
The irony comes when fans complain that Teyla is mistreated by TPTB and then go on to treat her in exactly the same way in their own stories.
I've read a few of those - some that pretty much involved Teyla being there all through the story, but didn't have her doing anything.
Re: [1 of ?X]
Hee! I think you mean Ron Moore. Poor Opie had nothing to do with that disastrous love geometry!
no subject
I got into SGA right when S3 started airing so I was a little late to the game. I was convinced that it was going to be one of my "summer fandoms" - one of those fandoms you crawl into and lurk around for three months before heading back to your "real" fandom (which at that time was Harry Potter for me). But then I discovered that SGA fandom had a huge supply of good fic and that there was plenty for me to read, enjoy and be inspired by. I think the point I realized that it was my crack when I actually ended up becoming very productive and getting involved with the rest of fandom for once. In Harry Potter, I never interacted with any of the fans off of message boards or FFnet but here I was able to meet new people and actually become friends with them, and I liked that a lot.
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I found pretty much the same thing in SG1 fandom. It's certainly something I missed in SGA, because not so many of my friends were into that.
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SG1 - I checked it out multiple times throughout the years and as much as I rooted for Carter, the show itself never really clicked for me. One day I started watching it out of order, cherry-picking eps and...yeah. I crushed hard after that.
Stargate is definitely not my "first" fandom by any stretch. My fannish resume is actually pretty long - I was doing the fannish thing when I was a wee 'tween who had no idea what "fandom" was, on the comp surfing for "stories" that I later learned were called fanfiction. I read fic for bands I liked, tv shows, books, movies, etc. All without realizing there was such thing as "fangirls" or "fanboys".
My first *hardcore* fandom would probably be Gundam Wing when I was about 15 - that lasted 5+ years for me. Supernatural came pretty close, but I haven't quite reached any GW-level enthusiasm since. Probably because I'm not a kid anymore and my priorities have shifted somewhat. >.>;;
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I don't suppose it was a John/Teyla AU? *wry smile*
I'm not as enthusiastic about SGA as I was about SG1 - that's the "first fandom" glow, I think. But I suspect I was more productive and more open-minded in SGA than I was in SG1, with a broader spread of friends, even if most of my SG1 friends never got into SGA.
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I was about 12 when I started reading Hanson fic and thinking "Wow! I want more of this stuff!" and being all excited. That's the fandom that introduced me to slash, too. *happy sigh*
In an indirect way, Hanson fandom was how I found Gundam Wing, actually. >.> ^^;;
no subject
I'm sitting in the searing heat in a cyber cafe in Nicaragua, and I feel quite sad. Like a lot of other people are saying, its not entirely unexpected, but still makes me sad nonetheless.
SGA was/is my first and only major fandom. And it was all because of Teyla. I started reading fanfic after buying S1 on dvd, no idea how I came across it, and was shocked at a} how little of it involved Teyla and b} how crap the ones that did involve her were. Did I ever tell you about the story I read where she and John were sleeping together when she knew that he was pining for Elizabeth? Or the one where she gave John a blow job and he called out Rodney's name? Seriously. I was appalled, the Teyla that I was watching would never have stood for that. I had no idea what she had done to deserve such a portrayal, I thought that I must be watching a different show to everyone else. And then I came across you and Ladyjax and many other real Teyla fans, who wrote ehr the way I saw her. And I started to write too, and found something that I truly enjoyed for the first time in years. And I found genuine friends who helped me through a pretty difficult time in my life and who I am eternally grateful for.
I kind of feel at a loss with regards to fandom at the moment. I know that I havn't been active for a while, but I was hoping to get back into it once I settled down again. I still will, but it won't be quite the same knowing that the show is almost over, or will be by the time I get back and up to date with it.
*sorry for any typos, this keyboard is ridiculous.
no subject
I still will, but it won't be quite the same knowing that the show is almost over
Sometimes it's better to be in a closed fandom: there's no danger of retconning, no anguish over screwed up storylines, no opportunities for one to go OH, HELL, NO! :)
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Farscape was my first real jump into fandom and where I learned what *shipping* means. I was nuts over John & Aeryn. Read all the fanfic and watched all the vids I could see! I even jumped on the save Farscape bandwagon and was the first to order PKwars. It was SciFi Fridays Farscape w/the gates that I was introduced to SGA. I was really interested in watching at first since I had not gotten into SG-1, but watched a rerun of Rising 1. I saw Teyla and fell in love with the character, then when John put that necklace on her I knew I had found my new *ship*. When FS folded I was already knee deep into SGA.
However, unlike FS I didn't stop at reading fanfic and watching vids, I became a participant. This couple inspired me...Teyla inspired me. Granted I was and can never be the writer that you, GS, PC, Wedq & AH are, or the vidder that LC is...but the lot of you made me want to be a part of that bigger picture, to be an *active* fan!
As a woman of color Rachel's protrayal of Teyla was special in that she made Teyla a woman that was strong without being loud or showy. Physical, but with grace. Spiritual and the voice of reason in a world that had so little. Like many in fandom I would have liked to see Teyla explored more fully. S5 had promise of doing so, I was hoping S6 would do more...again denial is my friend *G* Teyla was one of the few strong female characters of color that really stood out for me. Zoe of Firefly was another strong female of color that was also under used and had so much potential.
I would also liked to have seen John explored more fully other than seeing him as the *hero*, it would have been good to learn more about the *man*.
Issues surrounding the JT ship are many. Can SciFi protray main characters as a couple without making it come across as a *soap*?? I say YES. FS was an example many cite, but then again there was no question of whether J/A where cannon. The controversy of the *ship* of cannon was something that literally SHOCKED me. I had never heard of ship wars until this fandom. Granted as I meantioned I was only really involved in the one and was never actively involved as I was/am with SGA, but if FS had one I was never aware. In any case, J/A relationship even in its height was never really over the top. It also good to note, that SciFi had all but granted a go on S5 when they pulled the plug in S4 leaving the fans hanging. Didn't I say that already??
Moving on, an example I like to point to is the romance and marriage of John Sheridan & Delenn of Babylon 5. Here was a couple that was strong, connected on many levels but the relationship was not such that it gave the show a soap opera feel (like BSG does for me). I think TPTB could have learned a lot from B5 in this respect and some of the back and forth over what's cannon and the ship or not to crap, or the could've, should've, would've avoided.
JMO...but you asked.
no subject
Exactly. She didn't need to be out in front, white-feministing like Elizabeth, she didn't need to be a man like Kara Thrace of BSG. She did what she could as she could and did it with grace and a little bit of cunning.
I'm hoping they're going to ramp up her involvement in the 2nd half of the season. Something that doesn't just refer back to her family, or which uses the technical abilities she showed in Daedelus Variations.
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i started out reading gen and john/elizabeth as i found mckay/sheppard entire unappealing and i didn't really get to see teyla in action until i got caught up on season one and found out that hey, teyla is way cooler than elizabeth and that sort of playful yet trusting bond she has with john really brought my interest further along into liking the show as whole.
too bad by season three i was really getting tired of seeing mckay being the most fully developed character in the show and everyone else with implied and vague hints in the background. they're getting better at character episodes but i feel like i know too much about rodney mckay.
nowadays i still watch the show but my attention and fannishness has drifted off to mostly bandom before it got really popular, some doctor who, galactica and eureka. i'll still end up buying the dvds because i like watching episodes over and over again.
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Yeah. The problem is partly that they know too much about Rodney McKay because he's them. John's the guy they kinda wish they were, but which they can't really level as being 'them', so he gets a bit of geeky but mostly he's just there to save the day.
But Rodney? Rodneys real to them as no-one else on the show is. Sadly, that means he's the character with the most story.
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I admit, this is the first time I've been so completely sold on a less-popular character - between SG1 and SGA, I skimmed Firefly, Justice League Unlimited, Buffy/Angel, and Harry Potter.
The closest I would have come was in the Slayerverses and Harry Potter - Faith and Luna respectively. Except that Faith had a reasonable following, and Luna was, well, Luna.
And then, too, HP wasn't that big a deal for me... Enjoyable, yes. Fannishmaking? Not so much.
It's always interesting to see what the 'hook' is for people when it comes to fandom. For some it's the fandom, others is the canon, and still others a character... So many variations and possibilities, too.
Pt. 1
Coming from book-based fandoms (which were largely centered around the zines, letters and far flung groups) into Internet fandom was interesting if only because of how quickly you could invest yourself, find like minded folks and maybe participate through stories and online based groups.
I was never really fannish around SG-1 but I watched it religiously when it started on Showtime because it was part of a fairly decent block of sci-fi shows and I kept up with it when it made the jump to Sci-Fi Channel. I read stories, considered writing some but was turned off by the Jack/Daniel folks who would relegate Teal'c and Sam off to the middle of nowhere. Even though I came back into fandom as slasher, I was always interested in how the rest of the characters interact with one another as well as specific pairing or groups. That's why I about why I want to sell my soul for well done group fic, whether there's canoodling in it or not, because handling all four characters can take a deft touch.
When SGA hit the screens, I did start watching because of Teyla and because I sat around with my friends and we all agreed that we needed to support Rachel as an actress of color. By our lights, if we didn't watch, sister girl would not get work and we didn't want that to happen. I was excited to see a character who had a practical (and a certain degree of spiritual centeredness) but could be physical and throw down in a fight.
I was initially resistant to the possible pairing of John and Teyla because I knew it could turn out badly; that she'd just be the alien chick but from the first raised eyebrow, Rachel's portrayal drew me in. Okay, I thought, she's smart. She knows the score - knows that her people are seen as less because of their (apparent) lack of technological advancement but she's determined to grasp hope and move forward. I *like* that.
Pt. 2
It worked with Farscape and C.J. Cherryh's Pride of Chanur. It's not like it hasn't been done.
When they got Ronon (and made Ford an intergalactic junkie), I thought, okay, I'll give them another chance. And we got glimpses of Ronon's life. Found out that he could speak and not grunt, that he could lead and be a real interesting person. And, again, I thought, hey! Cool alien folks who could lead, etc., etc. Give me team! Give me lots of it!
And just when you thought they'd give it to you, err, no.
As far as the larger fandom goes, I'm glad I didn't hang out in places like GateWorld because I probably would have cursed people out by now. However, I am glad that I met you and some other folks because in your own way, you became my 'team' in the best sense of the word. I treasure that. Even when things got heated or we didn't agree on something, I never had the feeling of wanting to defriend.
I will always be proud of stories like "Shatter" and things that you've produced and even though the show is ending, I'm not feeling like I want to stop writing in the fandom. There's still things I want to explore. And hey, five years is a lot longer than a lot of shows get (such as Space: Above and Beyond which I am still bitter about all these years hence). High points and low, I still enjoyed a big chunk of the show itself and that's no small thing.
Re: Pt. 2
That's the thing! I mean, even shows like B5 had to fight and fight and fight for a 5th season. And yeah, a lot of the earlier sci-fi shows didn't even get a 5-season run.
On the whole, I think we're doing okay. And I'm glad you're sticking around. *hugs* A lot of other Teyla fans have upped and left - I can't blame them, but it's depressing all the same - so I'm glad of you and others who are hanging in there!
*hugs*
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Shorter version: accidentally stumbled across John Sheppard one night on my television. Saw a completely random and out of order batch of first season episodes, and then realized that I'd been watching reruns during the season 2 hiatus. Which meant I had a season and a half to catch up on. But John Sheppard (and, by that time, Teyla, Rodney, Ford and Elizabeth, and eventually Ronon) made me want to catch up.
I actually came to SG1 via SGA, too. It was on before SGA, and it seemed kind of interesting, so I Netflixed season 1 and then got totally hooked. But even though I like Daniel and the others on the team (including Mitchell later, although I never liked recurring-Vala nearly so much as I liked Prometheus-Vala), SGA1 has always been my favorite.
I love the characters, and I love the world, the Pegasus Galaxy world. I love the possibilities, never mind if canon will never attain those possibilities.
Bonus thing about SGA: this show got me back into writing. Before SGA I hadn't written for years, and everything I wrote prior to SGA I had to scrape out of the solid rock of my brain with a sharpened spoon. (That's kind of a gross analogy, isn't it...) But I saw a prompt at sga_flashfic, and a story wrote itself in my head. That had never happened before, so I typed it out. And then more stories wrote themselves in my head. And then there were stories that I had to struggle to write, but still managed to finish (used to be that if I didn't finish the story in one sitting it would never get done. Not any more).
Most of it is due to the characters, because GAH I love them to pieces. But a significant part of it is the (again) possibilities. SGA is what I like about SF -- adventure, aliens, unusual cultures, the possibility of even MORE unusual cultures and aliens, and just enough elements of the modern real world to make it interesting.
Another thing I like about SGA is how I can be in the fandom. I've never been in a fandom where not only are there people that share my interests r.e. the show, but they're people I can get along with. Okay, sure, only a handful of people, but frankly I don't need a lot of people. I'm perfectly fine with avoiding the larger fandom (i.e., avoiding the places where it's impossible to not be bombarded with the McShep love and the Teyla- or Flanigan- or whoever-dissing). I like finding a handful of people to hang out with and get to know and get along with. SGA fandom gave me that, and that's really cool. I value that.
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Oh, yes! Yes, yes, yes.
It's really "urban-sci-fi" if that makes sense - like the fantasy genre, but with a more sci-fi feel.
My biggest issues with the show have come from it sidelining the most interesting and unexplored aspects of the show - characters, people, plots - while focusing on the stories that have already been told in SG1 and elsewhere.
I guess, thinking it over, I would have liked to see it push the boundaries. To boldly go where most shows never go. Maybe that was a bit ambitious for a bunch of white geeks...still...
*hugs*
And I'm very glad I met you through this.
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I have a love-hate relationship with SGA. I love John as a character. He appeals to me in ways that I really can't explain properly. I love the potential of Teyla. I also love the potential of the show. Am I surprised they cancelled it? Not really. In some ways, I think the show was doomed from the moment they decided to essentially recreate SG-1, except in a different galaxy. It was further doomed with the reconnection to Earth so early on and the decision to not focus on the possible diplomatic solution Elizabeth could have provided.
What I grieve for most, is what I consider the death knell for the Sci Fi channel. Rather than produce actually good programs, they have opted to go the sci fi lite route with shows like Eureka. Now, don't get me wrong. I actually really like Eureka. I think it is tightly written and well acted and interesting. but it is not sci fi. Skiffy had a chance to become the gathering place for geeks by producing well put together science fiction television shows. Instead, we get crap like Flash Gordon and Pain Killer Jane. SGA had potential that was squandered away, in part because the writers and producers had their interests split between SGA and SG-1. I am not impressed with the fact that in the same article in which they announced the cancellation, it was written that the two producers pitched a third series to Sci Fi.
I also do not think it is fair to compare numbers between SGA and Eureka when one show is on Tuesdays and the other is on Friday nights. I am an adult who likes to go out on Friday nights. I DVR because of that. But I'm not going out on Tuesday nights, so can sit home and watch it.
I honestly don't know where Skiffy is going to go after this year. BSG is ending after they finally air the last half of season 4. Their contract with Dr. Who ends this year, and according to rumor, the BBC is exploring whether they want to renew the contract or move it to BBC America as they did with Torchwood. SGA is ending. They have Eureka and Ghost Hunters. That is the extent of their original programming that remains. This to me seems to hint that Skiffy is falling down on their purpose and I find that sad.
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Yup. Once they got in touch with Earth again, it was very much "second verse, same as thefirst, we don't need PEgasus, we've got Earth!"
Alas for Pegasus.
Part 1 of 2
Like vipersweb, I came to SGA through the twisty route of following Ben Browder and Claudia Black. Farscape remains my favorite TV show of all time and I think one of the most innovative and fully realized TV shows ever. When I heard Ben and Claudia were going to be on SG-1, I had to watch it. Before that, I'd seen the original Stargate movie when it came out and loved it, but never really got into the TV show. We didn't get Showtime when it was on there and I never really took time to sit down and watch more than a random episode here and there and since I fucking hated what I'd seen of (postS2) Daniel and don't particularly care for Jack, I never bothered to go back and find the early eps. Until Ben and Claudia came on board. Then sometime in mid 2007 I started getting the DVDs starting at the beginning from Netflix.
I'd seen commercials for SGA on TV and when I'd see John, Ronon, or Teyla I'd go "Damn, they're pretty! Oh, and this is the show with David Hewlett. I really need to check it out." But I never got around to it. When I started going through the SG1 seasons, I was planning to wait until I got to the point in the series where SGA originally branched off on its own before I started getting caught up on those DVDs, but it turns out I couldn't wait that long. I've developed a fondness for SG1, but not really an intense love. I don't like Jack and Daniel, but I would happily have watched 10 seasons of the Sam-n-Teal'c Show (which would later become the Sam-n-Teal'c-n-Mitchell-n-Vala Show), but that's not what I was really getting on the screen, so I decided to skip ahead to SGA which looked like it would appeal more to me.
And boy, did it ever! I loved it intensely from the very first episode. I've said before that the potential of a work often excites me as much, if not more, than the actual piece itself, and SGA had a shitload of potential! The whole new galaxy with no way back surrounded by fascinating new technology and creepy ass space vampires thing? Hells yeah! I found a lot of the stories very exciting and fun and had a much darker edge I thought was missing on SG1 and I thought for sure it would get even better as the show became more established and sure of itself (I had no idea just how drastically it would change tracks!). I immediately clicked with the characters. I loved all of them, intensely. There's really no one that I hate (except Kavanaugh, but you're supposed to hate him!). Carson started to grate in later seasons and I'm not happy he's back, and I also don't like what they've done with Woolsey's character, but that's it. It's not like I want to actually punch someone in the throat whenever they speak like I do with, say, Daniel. Plus, I loved the aesthetic of the show. The sets are beautiful, the city is beautiful (especially at night!), the actors are beautiful, the whole thing.
How did I get involved in fandom?
SGA is not even close to my first fandom. I've always been a very introverted person who is more comfortable living in the fantasy world in my head rather than the festering shithole that is reality, so fandoms feeding my escapism have always been a big draw for me. I think my first fandom was Star Trek: TNG. My mother was a Trekkie from way back and I think I would have been disowned if I didn't love Star Trek! TNG started up when I was in grade school (when I was about 9, I think) and I got involved in it hardcore. We scraped together money to go to a convention once, which was a big deal considering how poor we were. And there were always those events at Starbase Columbus (I have a picture of me sitting on James Doohan's lap, even)!
Part 2 of 2
I'd kind of passively shipped John and Teyla up until that point. In the pilot I saw a lot of sparkle in their interaction that was really appealing to me, especially that one scene of the two of them in the cave with the necklace, but I wasn't "ZOMG OTP!!!1!" Mostly, I loved them as individual characters, although I always appreciated that little sparkle. As I got further in my viewing of the series, I also got further into fandom and the deepening of their on screen relationship plus the potential places it could go that I saw in fan fic, made me start shipping it like a goddamn harbormaster. LOVE. THEM.
What will I take away from fandom?
It's a mixed bag. I've met people (like you!) that I like and whose conversation and work has been a bright spot at a hard time in my life. And I've formed a big list of links that I like to go back to over and over to relive, which is always tasty and fun.
But a lot of fandom experience has been pretty negative for me. There's always a taint that goes along with any fandom that has a big split (usually along shipping lines). And any fandom that is heavily slash oriented is a major problem for me. Honestly, I fucking hate slash.
My problem goes like this: I'm a bisexual woman. Therefore, the amount of misogyny in a great deal of slash, whether overt (through bashing or making female characters pathetic) or covert (through erasing them entirely from the story), is disgusting to me. Then there's the gay aspect. I would dearly love for there to be more gay characters on TV. In fact, I would dearly love for there to be more sexual ambiguity in general on TV, either through people discovering the capacity in themselves to be attracted to both sexes to whatever degree or through people giving off all kinds of signals without ever explicitly stating a preference. But y'all? John and Rodney (and Jack and Daniel) are not those characters. Nor are the vast majority of slashed characters. The mental aerobics needed to pretend explicitly straight characters are gay just because they are friends or are pretty or are, I dunno, in the same frame during one episode are staggering to me.
And I get angry because it really cheapens things. It cheapens human relationships to narrow down any and all emotional/social bonds between men to fucking only. And it cheapens the real life struggles of gay people. It completely ignores or (at most) glosses over just how fucking difficult (professionally, socially, emotionally) it really would be to be gay in the kind of situation that John and Rodney are in, for example. I feel like if people cared half as much about actual gay people as they do about pretending straight TV characters are gay, then maybe my life and the lives of many of my friends wouldn't be so hard.
I'll miss the show itself more than fandom. Though, that's partly because (having been active in these things for so long), I know full well that just because a show is over doesn't mean fandom is! There are several fandoms I've been involved in that are still going strong, even though the shows have been off the air for years. Thank the Gods that Farscape is one of them! I have a feeling that SGA fandom will be around for a long time to come. And who knows? With the more explicit John/Teyla content that we have been promised, maybe this tiny little corner of fandom still has a chance to grow!
Re: Part 2 of 2
*hugs*
I've never been much of a slasher - I like dynamics between guys, but it doesn't always have to be sex or 'special friendship' or however people need to see it. I'm still not convinced that slash is as subversively feminist as the people who talk about power imbalances between male and female and how slash eliminates that claim - if the only relationship that can be portrayed as power-neutral is male/male or female/female then surely something's wrong with our portrayals.
With the more explicit John/Teyla content that we have been promised, maybe this tiny little corner of fandom still has a chance to grow!
I'm hoping, but I'm not holding my breath. I know better than that...
Re: Part 2 of 2
Ugh. Yeah, totally. Not only are you right that something is wrong if the only power neutral relationships they can imagine are male/male or female/female, but they usually aren't even power neutral in those situations either. Leaving aside all of the dozens of other sources of social power imbalances, more often than not authors just end up recreating the stereotypes associated with male/female relationships anyway.
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Anyway, I hated SG-1 so I wasn't eager to watch SGA so I didn't see a single episode until near the end of the 1st season/2nd season when a SGA marathon coincided with a day off from work. Back then, I loved Rodney a lot more than I do now and I quickly noticed John/Teyla interactions were a highlight for me. Really, I just loved Teyla. I liked Aiden a lot too, but Ronon grew on me.
I like Elizabeth a lot as a woman and character, but thought she was an awful negotiator/person in charge and it was convinced it had to do with the writing.
I'm not devastated or anything by the cancellation, though it is kind of sad. I think Teyla manages to be one of the best women of color in SF despite missed opportunities to use her at full capacity.
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So anyway, I don't remember what episode I started watching SG-1, but one of the first episodes I remember watching is where Jack and Teal'c (?) were stuck in a time loop, so Jack finally decided just to have fun with it and do what he wanted until they figured out how to get out of it (including kissing Carter). After that, I would catch an episode of SG-1 here and there, keeping up on the overall storyline to know what was going on, like when Daniel died/ascended, and there was something about Merlin. I started getting interested again when they brought in the Ori, because dang, that was a pretty serious bad guy, and I was really interested to see how they'd handle the whole "Convert or die" mentality of the enemy, if and how SG-1 would find a way to beat them.
I have no idea why I decided to started watching Atlantis. I think the main reason was that the show was premiering, and I like to get into the things from the beginning rather then the middle, so I decided to check out the pilot. Looking back, I'm pretty sure it was something as shallow as how cute I thought Sheppard was. And Rodney was pretty awesome, too. And, as lame as it sounds, I had remembered seeing Rainbow Sun Franks as a VJ on Much Music, so I was interested to check out his performance on the show. (Seriously? Am I the only person who didn't like Ford?)
However, I remember what really got me into the show. It was the connection between John and Teyla. From the moment he found her necklace in that cave and his hand lingered on her jacket lapel, blah blah. So. . . from then on I was watching the show to see if and when they would get together. LOL. (I had not idea how unpopular the pairing was until I started reading your blog, but then, I wasn't very active in fandom save for reading fanfiction) I was young and impressionable then, but now I know a little better about how these shows actually work. ;)
How'd I know when I was in deep? Probably when I purchased the show on DVD. It's the only show that I own on DVD. And then I pretty much went off the cliff when I started writing Ronon/Keller fic in December of last year. :)
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That was definitely the first spark for me, too. But I watched casually and without any particular interest until The Gift.
Reading the responses to this post, I find it fascinating that most of the people who've' responded got in because of Teyla or John/Teyla or a combination thereof.
*hugs*
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Likewise - because most of that is what I watch for. I want team, I'm not into J/R, I wanted the show to focus on Pegasus and what is out there. I'd have liked to have seen more done with the city too.
The 'white peoplez' thing goes back to the discussion that was being had on one of our mutual friend's journals recently about the total inability of this writing staff to write anything of consequence for anyone but the white geek characters. This show was pants on character development for anyone not in that bracket and tried to hide it with more screen time. Ultimately, the characters I watched this show for were John, Teyla and Ronon - and none of them have ever been serviced with a decent level of character development.
For me, it's sort of a relief to know the end of the rollercoaster is in sight.
I might grieve for what could have been, but wasn't; but I don't think I can feel unadulterated loss for something that wasn't measuring up to my expectations (enjoyable though it might have been).
I'm glad I'm not the only one with these feelings. At the moment, I feel more 'grief' (for lack of a better word) for how much potential has been wasted in the last few seasons than I do for the fact that the show has been cancelled.
Most of what I have to take from SGA as a fandom isn't particularly positive. That said, there is only one thing I want to take away from my experience in this fandom and that is all the wonderful people I've forged relationships with as a result - be that IRL by meeting at cons or just speaking online. I hope at least some of those friendships outlast the show.
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Okay, you have a certain point here. *wry smile*
I saw how one of your f-list already unfriended you, and I'm so sorry! That's just...
To some extent, I'd understand someone unfriending this LJ: this is my fandom LJ, so my RL isn't generally posted here, and I don't do much other than Stargate. Still, on a personal/fandom LJ that's a slap in the face.
*hugs*
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I can't say I was surprised by the defriending - if anything, I'm surprised that SGA defriendings have taken so long to start, especially when I didn't do the advanced reviews of the DVDs this year. That said, even though it wasn't someone close, it did feel like a slap. It sort of confirmed something I'd long suspected - a few people were only around for the content and not so much for me. And if there is one thing good to be gotten from this cancellation, it'd going to be getting rid of fake-ass people like that.
*snuggles*
[1 of ?X]
I got into this with you last night about how I feel this change, from TV series to movie, is actually a good one for the show in terms of production, quality, and where they need to go now to finish their story. This is especially true, I feel, in light of what happened to SG-1. Yes, ten seasons is an awesome thing, but they had to do both a literal and narrative changing of the guard to do it and the story (such as it was) suffered.
People rag on how this is an inconsistent, poorly done show a lot of times, yourself included, and "joke" about how they have to be in fandom because how else can they fix it? Then they inevitably compare it to the (new) BSG and go "See, this is how sci-fi should be done (oh, and check out Firefly too!)." I always want to laugh (in general, at them) and go "Oh, so, you know nothing about sci-fi and you think because the imperialistic, colonalist attitude of the show is, uh, slightly less apparent it's so much better? That's... cute. Why don't you go back to watching your dramas now?"
It's 'bitchy' and it's mean, but it's true. Even someone in these comments laughed about how her mother likes Andromeda so quality's not an issue. Barring the final season of Andromeda, which suffered the fifth year "What the fuck are we doing?" panic far, far worse than most shows, it was a consistent, well-plotted show. It did what you wish Atlantis would do: it showed the world(s) around them instead of acting like they were in a vacuum except when they were saving the whole universe.
[New] Battlestar Galactica began as a show which blew away most of its precedessors and all of its (then) current competition [save one show, which I'll happily babble about if you want me to] because it was tightly plotted and it used the world of being a vacuum to its advantage. The benefit of having such a tight focus is that when you make errors of judgement it's on a much smaller, less noticeable scale. As soon as it extended to a larger scale, where it tried to flesh out the colonies that had been obliterated and the characters that weren't in the main cast, it started falling apart. The blatant similarities to modern U.S. culture destroys all manners of believability; the painfully awkward parables about current affairs is literally cringeworthy; and Ron Howard seems to be under the (mistaken) impression that if you add more people to a love story it automatically becomes more interesting. Battlestar Galactica, perhaps because it started out so stronger, fails the good sci-fi test much more harshly than SGA ever could have, because SGA never made the pretense of being a Serious Show. (You see this in dramas too, of course, because some shows are more We Are A Social Statement than others.)
The upshot being that whenever someone rags on SGA, or something like Painkiller Jane (which was pretty awesome, for the record, for what it was), or deifies BSG or Firefly (Holy Orientalism Issues, Batman!), I'm very much stuck in the fact that not only is SGA not my first fandom, it doesn't even make my first quarter of a hundred. If you want really not-good, not consistent, poorly developed, with cringeworthy character tropes attached to very hot actors and bad wirework to make it fly, check out Mutant X, one of my first real online fandoms. I can even get you the source.
[tbc]
2 of ?X
I didn't like it, frankly. The episodic plots were awkward, without the advantages that worse shows like Mutant X had -- SG-1 has a distinct lack of pretty for an early/mid teens girl who isn't into guys her father's age. What science I saw was "eek!" and the character development I managed to catch was strange (I guess I was never destined to be a Sam/Jack shipper). More over, I'd seen the original movie, in the movie theatre, with my dad and adored it. Since I was mostly catching season four and season five at the time, this reinvention of Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill felt lacking to me.
Ultimately, years later, I was at the video store at one point, renting yet more stuff. As a side note, I was in there often enough they all knew me and, by the time I was seventeen or so, one of the guys would, without me ever having asked, save copies of new releases he thought I'd like so that when I showed up on Tuesday night, after the crowds, they'd be there waiting for me. I came across the SG-1 S1 first disc, which had through Emancipation, and I decided "Oh, what the hell?" and rented it. I was entranced by Children Of The Gods. It was... exactly what they needed after the Stargate movie to make it into a series. I immediately went to rent the next disc and couldn't find it anywhere, so I bought the first season. Then I bought two, three, and four, only to put them to the side because I just didn't have the time or interest to really watch them.
Then brush fires happened and killed the power in my house for a week. My father, being an electrician, had a back-up generator at his shop and he brought it home, but it could only run so much out of the day. I used it to watch DVDs on my laptop, charging my laptop when the generator was on and wearing it down when it was off. I watched all three seasons in that week and went out to buy season five. The rest, as they say, is history.
Obviously, I got into the show pretty late. I had the advantage of knowing Daniel's ascension was only temporary before I went into season six. That was nice. I had the advantage of walking into a well-established, very broad and friendly fandom. Sure, there were ship wars but SG-1 had the same air BtVS and AtS did. Your kink may vary but we're all freaks here so party on. I really value that in a fandom. I was never very active; I wrote some fic, mostly for ficathons, but my big fandom for most of this time period was Harry Potter. SG-1 was the fannish equivalent of what I did on weekends.
[tbc]
3 of 3
I got into J/R first because I was coming from J/D (primarily) in SG-1 and it seemed like the logical jump. Plus, there was an audience for it. The main problem was that other people shipping J/R seemed to be watching a radically different show than I was and there was only so long I could smile and nod along before I finally went "Fuck that shit." Coincidently, this is about the time The Gift aired and, again, the rest was history.
I adore Teyla, even if I don't write a lot of fic in this fandom. Fannish interaction, the back-and-forth, vital, active vibe of getting together with other fans is really, really key to me in being fannish. It doesn't have to be a lot of other fans but there has to be some. And with Teyla, the pickings were few and most of them were as frustrating as the J/R shippers. Radically different show. A lot of Teyla "fans" are fans of her in the sense of John'sgirlfriend or Ronon'ssparringpartner or Rodney'stherapist. You know what I mean. They aren't into Teyla, they're into using her as a stand-in for themselves. The ones that are left often suffer, none too gently, from the same orientalism the show possesses. They ignore that Teyla is smart, practical, and effective. They ignore she's competent. At which point we're talking about totally different characters.
Then, around S3, I'd say, the tide towards Teyla in the larger fandom changed. You know what I mean. Where she went from That Islander Bitch [Who Fights In Skirts!] Who Gets In The Way of One True Love to Hey, She's Kinda Cool [When I'm Not Loving McShep!]. In fannish terms it was a huge shift. But, by that point, I'd written the fandom off and was enjoying the show in pretty much a vacuum. I don't have problems doing that. I do it for a lot of shows that just don't have consistent fandoms or that I don't want to be all fannishly involved in, due to the show itself and/or time constraints. I think that's also about the point I met you, which was unfortunate for you. If we'd met a year earlier, you probably could have convinced me into being the big time producer of J/T stuff you wish someone (besides you) was.
And, now, I feel the show's better off being moved into a movie franchise and removed from various complications that being in a sixth, seventh, eighth season has. I don't feel the gut-wrenching "NO!" about this move, to be honest, the way I did when The 4400 was cancelled. SGA has had a good run and the fandom will go on in the way that Highlander and The Sentinel does, I suspect. Most of the fandom doesn't even seem to really like the show all that much so this might be freeing rather than an impediment for them. And I'll find the next Stargate and then be fannish about that.
Re: 3 of 3
If we'd met a year earlier, you probably could have convinced me into being the big time producer of J/T stuff you wish someone (besides you) was.
D:
They aren't into Teyla, they're into using her as a stand-in for themselves.
Exactly my problem with a lot of people writing Teyla or John/Teyla stories. The focus tends to be less on Teyla and more of the other characters in the story, all of whom are considered more important than she.
Which, I suppose, is what one would expect considering the way TPTB have treated her.
The irony comes when fans complain that Teyla is mistreated by TPTB and then go on to treat her in exactly the same way in their own stories.
I've read a few of those - some that pretty much involved Teyla being there all through the story, but didn't have her doing anything.
Re: [1 of ?X]
Hee! I think you mean Ron Moore. Poor Opie had nothing to do with that disastrous love geometry!
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I got into SGA right when S3 started airing so I was a little late to the game. I was convinced that it was going to be one of my "summer fandoms" - one of those fandoms you crawl into and lurk around for three months before heading back to your "real" fandom (which at that time was Harry Potter for me). But then I discovered that SGA fandom had a huge supply of good fic and that there was plenty for me to read, enjoy and be inspired by. I think the point I realized that it was my crack when I actually ended up becoming very productive and getting involved with the rest of fandom for once. In Harry Potter, I never interacted with any of the fans off of message boards or FFnet but here I was able to meet new people and actually become friends with them, and I liked that a lot.
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I found pretty much the same thing in SG1 fandom. It's certainly something I missed in SGA, because not so many of my friends were into that.
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SG1 - I checked it out multiple times throughout the years and as much as I rooted for Carter, the show itself never really clicked for me. One day I started watching it out of order, cherry-picking eps and...yeah. I crushed hard after that.
Stargate is definitely not my "first" fandom by any stretch. My fannish resume is actually pretty long - I was doing the fannish thing when I was a wee 'tween who had no idea what "fandom" was, on the comp surfing for "stories" that I later learned were called fanfiction. I read fic for bands I liked, tv shows, books, movies, etc. All without realizing there was such thing as "fangirls" or "fanboys".
My first *hardcore* fandom would probably be Gundam Wing when I was about 15 - that lasted 5+ years for me. Supernatural came pretty close, but I haven't quite reached any GW-level enthusiasm since. Probably because I'm not a kid anymore and my priorities have shifted somewhat. >.>;;
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I don't suppose it was a John/Teyla AU? *wry smile*
I'm not as enthusiastic about SGA as I was about SG1 - that's the "first fandom" glow, I think. But I suspect I was more productive and more open-minded in SGA than I was in SG1, with a broader spread of friends, even if most of my SG1 friends never got into SGA.
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I was about 12 when I started reading Hanson fic and thinking "Wow! I want more of this stuff!" and being all excited. That's the fandom that introduced me to slash, too. *happy sigh*
In an indirect way, Hanson fandom was how I found Gundam Wing, actually. >.> ^^;;
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I'm sitting in the searing heat in a cyber cafe in Nicaragua, and I feel quite sad. Like a lot of other people are saying, its not entirely unexpected, but still makes me sad nonetheless.
SGA was/is my first and only major fandom. And it was all because of Teyla. I started reading fanfic after buying S1 on dvd, no idea how I came across it, and was shocked at a} how little of it involved Teyla and b} how crap the ones that did involve her were. Did I ever tell you about the story I read where she and John were sleeping together when she knew that he was pining for Elizabeth? Or the one where she gave John a blow job and he called out Rodney's name? Seriously. I was appalled, the Teyla that I was watching would never have stood for that. I had no idea what she had done to deserve such a portrayal, I thought that I must be watching a different show to everyone else. And then I came across you and Ladyjax and many other real Teyla fans, who wrote ehr the way I saw her. And I started to write too, and found something that I truly enjoyed for the first time in years. And I found genuine friends who helped me through a pretty difficult time in my life and who I am eternally grateful for.
I kind of feel at a loss with regards to fandom at the moment. I know that I havn't been active for a while, but I was hoping to get back into it once I settled down again. I still will, but it won't be quite the same knowing that the show is almost over, or will be by the time I get back and up to date with it.
*sorry for any typos, this keyboard is ridiculous.
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I still will, but it won't be quite the same knowing that the show is almost over
Sometimes it's better to be in a closed fandom: there's no danger of retconning, no anguish over screwed up storylines, no opportunities for one to go OH, HELL, NO! :)
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Farscape was my first real jump into fandom and where I learned what *shipping* means. I was nuts over John & Aeryn. Read all the fanfic and watched all the vids I could see! I even jumped on the save Farscape bandwagon and was the first to order PKwars. It was SciFi Fridays Farscape w/the gates that I was introduced to SGA. I was really interested in watching at first since I had not gotten into SG-1, but watched a rerun of Rising 1. I saw Teyla and fell in love with the character, then when John put that necklace on her I knew I had found my new *ship*. When FS folded I was already knee deep into SGA.
However, unlike FS I didn't stop at reading fanfic and watching vids, I became a participant. This couple inspired me...Teyla inspired me. Granted I was and can never be the writer that you, GS, PC, Wedq & AH are, or the vidder that LC is...but the lot of you made me want to be a part of that bigger picture, to be an *active* fan!
As a woman of color Rachel's protrayal of Teyla was special in that she made Teyla a woman that was strong without being loud or showy. Physical, but with grace. Spiritual and the voice of reason in a world that had so little. Like many in fandom I would have liked to see Teyla explored more fully. S5 had promise of doing so, I was hoping S6 would do more...again denial is my friend *G* Teyla was one of the few strong female characters of color that really stood out for me. Zoe of Firefly was another strong female of color that was also under used and had so much potential.
I would also liked to have seen John explored more fully other than seeing him as the *hero*, it would have been good to learn more about the *man*.
Issues surrounding the JT ship are many. Can SciFi protray main characters as a couple without making it come across as a *soap*?? I say YES. FS was an example many cite, but then again there was no question of whether J/A where cannon. The controversy of the *ship* of cannon was something that literally SHOCKED me. I had never heard of ship wars until this fandom. Granted as I meantioned I was only really involved in the one and was never actively involved as I was/am with SGA, but if FS had one I was never aware. In any case, J/A relationship even in its height was never really over the top. It also good to note, that SciFi had all but granted a go on S5 when they pulled the plug in S4 leaving the fans hanging. Didn't I say that already??
Moving on, an example I like to point to is the romance and marriage of John Sheridan & Delenn of Babylon 5. Here was a couple that was strong, connected on many levels but the relationship was not such that it gave the show a soap opera feel (like BSG does for me). I think TPTB could have learned a lot from B5 in this respect and some of the back and forth over what's cannon and the ship or not to crap, or the could've, should've, would've avoided.
JMO...but you asked.
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Exactly. She didn't need to be out in front, white-feministing like Elizabeth, she didn't need to be a man like Kara Thrace of BSG. She did what she could as she could and did it with grace and a little bit of cunning.
I'm hoping they're going to ramp up her involvement in the 2nd half of the season. Something that doesn't just refer back to her family, or which uses the technical abilities she showed in Daedelus Variations.
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i started out reading gen and john/elizabeth as i found mckay/sheppard entire unappealing and i didn't really get to see teyla in action until i got caught up on season one and found out that hey, teyla is way cooler than elizabeth and that sort of playful yet trusting bond she has with john really brought my interest further along into liking the show as whole.
too bad by season three i was really getting tired of seeing mckay being the most fully developed character in the show and everyone else with implied and vague hints in the background. they're getting better at character episodes but i feel like i know too much about rodney mckay.
nowadays i still watch the show but my attention and fannishness has drifted off to mostly bandom before it got really popular, some doctor who, galactica and eureka. i'll still end up buying the dvds because i like watching episodes over and over again.
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Yeah. The problem is partly that they know too much about Rodney McKay because he's them. John's the guy they kinda wish they were, but which they can't really level as being 'them', so he gets a bit of geeky but mostly he's just there to save the day.
But Rodney? Rodneys real to them as no-one else on the show is. Sadly, that means he's the character with the most story.
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I admit, this is the first time I've been so completely sold on a less-popular character - between SG1 and SGA, I skimmed Firefly, Justice League Unlimited, Buffy/Angel, and Harry Potter.
The closest I would have come was in the Slayerverses and Harry Potter - Faith and Luna respectively. Except that Faith had a reasonable following, and Luna was, well, Luna.
And then, too, HP wasn't that big a deal for me... Enjoyable, yes. Fannishmaking? Not so much.
It's always interesting to see what the 'hook' is for people when it comes to fandom. For some it's the fandom, others is the canon, and still others a character... So many variations and possibilities, too.
Pt. 1
Coming from book-based fandoms (which were largely centered around the zines, letters and far flung groups) into Internet fandom was interesting if only because of how quickly you could invest yourself, find like minded folks and maybe participate through stories and online based groups.
I was never really fannish around SG-1 but I watched it religiously when it started on Showtime because it was part of a fairly decent block of sci-fi shows and I kept up with it when it made the jump to Sci-Fi Channel. I read stories, considered writing some but was turned off by the Jack/Daniel folks who would relegate Teal'c and Sam off to the middle of nowhere. Even though I came back into fandom as slasher, I was always interested in how the rest of the characters interact with one another as well as specific pairing or groups. That's why I about why I want to sell my soul for well done group fic, whether there's canoodling in it or not, because handling all four characters can take a deft touch.
When SGA hit the screens, I did start watching because of Teyla and because I sat around with my friends and we all agreed that we needed to support Rachel as an actress of color. By our lights, if we didn't watch, sister girl would not get work and we didn't want that to happen. I was excited to see a character who had a practical (and a certain degree of spiritual centeredness) but could be physical and throw down in a fight.
I was initially resistant to the possible pairing of John and Teyla because I knew it could turn out badly; that she'd just be the alien chick but from the first raised eyebrow, Rachel's portrayal drew me in. Okay, I thought, she's smart. She knows the score - knows that her people are seen as less because of their (apparent) lack of technological advancement but she's determined to grasp hope and move forward. I *like* that.
Pt. 2
It worked with Farscape and C.J. Cherryh's Pride of Chanur. It's not like it hasn't been done.
When they got Ronon (and made Ford an intergalactic junkie), I thought, okay, I'll give them another chance. And we got glimpses of Ronon's life. Found out that he could speak and not grunt, that he could lead and be a real interesting person. And, again, I thought, hey! Cool alien folks who could lead, etc., etc. Give me team! Give me lots of it!
And just when you thought they'd give it to you, err, no.
As far as the larger fandom goes, I'm glad I didn't hang out in places like GateWorld because I probably would have cursed people out by now. However, I am glad that I met you and some other folks because in your own way, you became my 'team' in the best sense of the word. I treasure that. Even when things got heated or we didn't agree on something, I never had the feeling of wanting to defriend.
I will always be proud of stories like "Shatter" and things that you've produced and even though the show is ending, I'm not feeling like I want to stop writing in the fandom. There's still things I want to explore. And hey, five years is a lot longer than a lot of shows get (such as Space: Above and Beyond which I am still bitter about all these years hence). High points and low, I still enjoyed a big chunk of the show itself and that's no small thing.
Re: Pt. 2
That's the thing! I mean, even shows like B5 had to fight and fight and fight for a 5th season. And yeah, a lot of the earlier sci-fi shows didn't even get a 5-season run.
On the whole, I think we're doing okay. And I'm glad you're sticking around. *hugs* A lot of other Teyla fans have upped and left - I can't blame them, but it's depressing all the same - so I'm glad of you and others who are hanging in there!
*hugs*
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Shorter version: accidentally stumbled across John Sheppard one night on my television. Saw a completely random and out of order batch of first season episodes, and then realized that I'd been watching reruns during the season 2 hiatus. Which meant I had a season and a half to catch up on. But John Sheppard (and, by that time, Teyla, Rodney, Ford and Elizabeth, and eventually Ronon) made me want to catch up.
I actually came to SG1 via SGA, too. It was on before SGA, and it seemed kind of interesting, so I Netflixed season 1 and then got totally hooked. But even though I like Daniel and the others on the team (including Mitchell later, although I never liked recurring-Vala nearly so much as I liked Prometheus-Vala), SGA1 has always been my favorite.
I love the characters, and I love the world, the Pegasus Galaxy world. I love the possibilities, never mind if canon will never attain those possibilities.
Bonus thing about SGA: this show got me back into writing. Before SGA I hadn't written for years, and everything I wrote prior to SGA I had to scrape out of the solid rock of my brain with a sharpened spoon. (That's kind of a gross analogy, isn't it...) But I saw a prompt at sga_flashfic, and a story wrote itself in my head. That had never happened before, so I typed it out. And then more stories wrote themselves in my head. And then there were stories that I had to struggle to write, but still managed to finish (used to be that if I didn't finish the story in one sitting it would never get done. Not any more).
Most of it is due to the characters, because GAH I love them to pieces. But a significant part of it is the (again) possibilities. SGA is what I like about SF -- adventure, aliens, unusual cultures, the possibility of even MORE unusual cultures and aliens, and just enough elements of the modern real world to make it interesting.
Another thing I like about SGA is how I can be in the fandom. I've never been in a fandom where not only are there people that share my interests r.e. the show, but they're people I can get along with. Okay, sure, only a handful of people, but frankly I don't need a lot of people. I'm perfectly fine with avoiding the larger fandom (i.e., avoiding the places where it's impossible to not be bombarded with the McShep love and the Teyla- or Flanigan- or whoever-dissing). I like finding a handful of people to hang out with and get to know and get along with. SGA fandom gave me that, and that's really cool. I value that.
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Oh, yes! Yes, yes, yes.
It's really "urban-sci-fi" if that makes sense - like the fantasy genre, but with a more sci-fi feel.
My biggest issues with the show have come from it sidelining the most interesting and unexplored aspects of the show - characters, people, plots - while focusing on the stories that have already been told in SG1 and elsewhere.
I guess, thinking it over, I would have liked to see it push the boundaries. To boldly go where most shows never go. Maybe that was a bit ambitious for a bunch of white geeks...still...
*hugs*
And I'm very glad I met you through this.