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I haven't watched past Ghost In The Machine this season in SGA. I haven't had any inclination to do so, and as yet, I haven't really been given any reason why I should.
A few days ago, I came to the realisation that Teyla got screwed over this season.
Maybe it was bleedingly obvious from a long while ago that Teyla never had it in her to be a "major character". Non-white, female, alien, then pregnant... Written by the Stargate PTB, who don't know what to do with someone who isn't technical, linguistic, or male and good with a gun. I had hopes at the start of this season, between the episode blurbs, Joe Mallozzi playing dumb about the discontent among Teyla fans, and the sheer lack of comment, interest, or note on anything Teyla-related from my f-list, those hopes are well and truly dead.
I'd feel better if I could put a stake through their hearts, though. Cut off their heads and burn them to ashes and dust. Let it be over and done.
I wonder a little if Rachel felt as 'put aside' this season as I feel she must - particularly in the weeks after the hiatus. She was saying "goodbye and on to new and better things" by the 20th August and hasn't posted since. Maybe the cancellation was a relief to her.
Joe Mallozzi had two mentions for Teyla in Season Five: The Queen and Prodigal. That was it. No mention of just exactly why Teyla would take Kanaan back after he helped Michael imprison her. No mention of why Michael took the Athosians, or what happened to them as a people. A whole lot of handwaving and not very much to actually do, and I'm supposed to be content with dribs and drabs of Teyla?
Fuck that.
I could live with minimal Teyla when Rachel was pregnant - there was a reason that Rachel couldn't be in the scenes. This year, it feels very much as though Rachel got pushed aside for the new white lady - by the writers, by the actors, by the fans.
And, why, yes, I am angry about that.
Even once we get past canon, there's the depressing fact that I have no fanon to fall back upon.
Outside of canon, my primary preference is for John/Teyla as a pairing.
And there's just not enough quality fic in that area to satisfy me - fic which contains them as a romantic pairing, that is well-characterised, and well-written.
Yes, there were 42 entries in the John-and-Teyla Thing-A-Thon earlier this year. However 90% of the entries were John-and-Teyla, not John/Teyla. Half the people who signed up wouldn't have signed up if it had been a John/Teyla Thing-A-Thon. The entries were mostly good, and very satisfying on the friendship side of things, but not really big on the relationship side.
And then I want to find the good stuff. The stuff that isn't written like a bad romance novel, that doesn't feature John calling anyone "babe", that doesn't have Teyla talking like a valley girl, that actually depicts the characters like they're the characters off the show, and who can do caring without the lovey-dovey. The stuff that doesn't demonise Teyla for ending up with Kanaan, or paint John as a long-suffering emo because Teyla's with someone else. The stuff that can balance who they want to be to each other with who they need to be to the rest of the universe. The stuff that is written by people who can spell and punctuate and string together a sentence that doesn't just parse out according to the mandates of the English language but is also elegant, expressive, and emotive.
And please, leave off the cries of: "Well, if you want it, you have to write it yourself!" I have written it myself (to the best of my ability). I have encouraged. I have supported. I have promoted.
Two years ago, there were a handful of good writers for John/Teyla; these days, I can count active John/Teyla ficcers who I consider good on one hand and still have fingers left over. Oh, there are people who occasionally write John/Teyla - it's such a pleasure to see the occasional fic pop up on the newsletter or my f-list - and they're good writers; but there aren't enough of them.
Dribs and drabs just aren't enough for me anymore.
I feel very much as though SGA chewed me up and spit me out. And now, all I have to show for it is brokenhopes bones, bruised dreams muscle, and a lingering slimey feeling of having wasted the last four years that I can't quite wash off.
I'm sure I've offended someone with this post. I always seem to manage that lately.
A few days ago, I came to the realisation that Teyla got screwed over this season.
Maybe it was bleedingly obvious from a long while ago that Teyla never had it in her to be a "major character". Non-white, female, alien, then pregnant... Written by the Stargate PTB, who don't know what to do with someone who isn't technical, linguistic, or male and good with a gun. I had hopes at the start of this season, between the episode blurbs, Joe Mallozzi playing dumb about the discontent among Teyla fans, and the sheer lack of comment, interest, or note on anything Teyla-related from my f-list, those hopes are well and truly dead.
I'd feel better if I could put a stake through their hearts, though. Cut off their heads and burn them to ashes and dust. Let it be over and done.
I wonder a little if Rachel felt as 'put aside' this season as I feel she must - particularly in the weeks after the hiatus. She was saying "goodbye and on to new and better things" by the 20th August and hasn't posted since. Maybe the cancellation was a relief to her.
Joe Mallozzi had two mentions for Teyla in Season Five: The Queen and Prodigal. That was it. No mention of just exactly why Teyla would take Kanaan back after he helped Michael imprison her. No mention of why Michael took the Athosians, or what happened to them as a people. A whole lot of handwaving and not very much to actually do, and I'm supposed to be content with dribs and drabs of Teyla?
Fuck that.
I could live with minimal Teyla when Rachel was pregnant - there was a reason that Rachel couldn't be in the scenes. This year, it feels very much as though Rachel got pushed aside for the new white lady - by the writers, by the actors, by the fans.
And, why, yes, I am angry about that.
Even once we get past canon, there's the depressing fact that I have no fanon to fall back upon.
Outside of canon, my primary preference is for John/Teyla as a pairing.
And there's just not enough quality fic in that area to satisfy me - fic which contains them as a romantic pairing, that is well-characterised, and well-written.
Yes, there were 42 entries in the John-and-Teyla Thing-A-Thon earlier this year. However 90% of the entries were John-and-Teyla, not John/Teyla. Half the people who signed up wouldn't have signed up if it had been a John/Teyla Thing-A-Thon. The entries were mostly good, and very satisfying on the friendship side of things, but not really big on the relationship side.
And then I want to find the good stuff. The stuff that isn't written like a bad romance novel, that doesn't feature John calling anyone "babe", that doesn't have Teyla talking like a valley girl, that actually depicts the characters like they're the characters off the show, and who can do caring without the lovey-dovey. The stuff that doesn't demonise Teyla for ending up with Kanaan, or paint John as a long-suffering emo because Teyla's with someone else. The stuff that can balance who they want to be to each other with who they need to be to the rest of the universe. The stuff that is written by people who can spell and punctuate and string together a sentence that doesn't just parse out according to the mandates of the English language but is also elegant, expressive, and emotive.
And please, leave off the cries of: "Well, if you want it, you have to write it yourself!" I have written it myself (to the best of my ability). I have encouraged. I have supported. I have promoted.
Two years ago, there were a handful of good writers for John/Teyla; these days, I can count active John/Teyla ficcers who I consider good on one hand and still have fingers left over. Oh, there are people who occasionally write John/Teyla - it's such a pleasure to see the occasional fic pop up on the newsletter or my f-list - and they're good writers; but there aren't enough of them.
Dribs and drabs just aren't enough for me anymore.
I feel very much as though SGA chewed me up and spit me out. And now, all I have to show for it is broken
I'm sure I've offended someone with this post. I always seem to manage that lately.
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Well I for one, as a now SGA semi-fan, cannot stand the new white woman. I find the character fucking irritating beyond belief and I'm fucking sick of the crap with her and Rodney. Almost everything about the show lately seems to be about those two...
I feel very much as though SGA chewed me up and spit me out. And now, all I have to show for it is broken
hopesbones, bruiseddreamsmuscle, and a lingering slimey feeling of having wasted the last four years that I can't quite wash off.When I think of how unhappy this fandom has made me at times, I feel exactly the same - like I wasted all this time on something I knew I should have given up a couple of years ago when I started having trouble caring about the show. Part of me always kept hoping it would get better and that things would change; that the characters I cared about - Teyla, John, Ronon - would get more development past clichéd stereotypes. Now that it has been cancelled, I know it isn't going to get any better and have resigned myself to attempting to enjoy what time I have left with those characters.
But ultimately, the what-ifs are a killer because I look at it and when I think about what SGA could have been, I could murder the writers.
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That's probably the worst of it - the unrealised potential of the characters, their skills, the plots, and this new galaxy that the expedition came to...and then ignored so thoroughly that it screams every 'ism' in the book, including sexism, racism, and colonialism.
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I hate Keller - like a lot of folk - and can't understand TPTBs fascination with her. Their 'love triangle' angle sucks, I couldn't see it and it of course will resolve in Keller going with the only character on left on SGA... McKay. I used to not mind Rodney and him hogging all the screen time but with this season, it has become very tiring.
People complain that Sheppard is always on screen - he is the lead, so he needs to be in it more often than not - but he still hasn't really 'grown' like Rodney.
But I don't even care enough right now to try and justify my points - which is something that hasn't happened since I joined SG fandom many, many years ago now.
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Thanks for even wanting to.
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The 'ism' aspect just brings us back to the 'white geek' writing staff who can only write white geeks worth a damn...
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I'm finding it hard to finish my other rare pairing
Ack! That sucks. I hate getting a significant way through a story and then not being able to finish it. (It's happening a lot lately.)
I don't hate Keller; I just don't think that putting her in the centre of the action does anything for the broader view of Atlantis-in-Pegasus - which is what I always wanted for SGA.
Taking the focus away from a) the team, b) the Pegasus locals closes up story options and shuts down the potential of the show.
Which seems to be essentially what TPTB have done this season: closed off any avenues to explore the interesting and unknown aspects possible in SGA.
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The thing is, half the time, I don't think the show needed to be "done better" or have "more work" put into it - it just required different focus.
Imagine Daedelus Variations looking at 'what ifs' instead of focusing on big space battles, or The Shrine with Ronon instead of Rodney - reverting back to a past that bears little or no resemblance to any that the viewers know. (I'm going off the episode blurbs in this case.) The Seed exploring the degree to which Teyla's Wraithgene allows her to control the Wraith environment - particularly when a friend's life is at stake.
It's a wanton waste of character and opportunity - and it wouldn't have involved that much extra work, just a little thinking outside the box.
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I would be inclined to disagree - because I think a lot of SGA's woes, for the last two seasons especially, come down to lazy writing to an extent too. The inability to break out of the SG-1 mold and to think outside of the box isn't in question, but I do think that ultimately it's not just down to the focus of the episodes. The writers have just become complacent from having their egos stroked too much.
That said, there are a lot of places in this season where the focus could have been changed to better effect. Daedalus Variations is one that especially pains me, because the potential there was huge and they totally blew it with that predictable space battle nonsense.
The Shrine - after first seeing that ep, I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would. However, as time passed, I've found a lot to be annoying about it. Ronon would have been great, but I'd have settled for anyone but Rodney. He's had so many of those kinds of episodes and I was just vexed to see another.
The Seed - it would have definitely have been more interesting to see what Teyla could have done with her gene than yet another opportunity for Sheppard whump. Not that I don't like seeing John get his ass kicked, but that trope is getting old now and it'd be nice to see something other than 'white peen to the rescue.'
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But, in the show, I don't see it. It's not given a chance. There isn't subtext, in this season, to pin it on there. And so, I have aborted stories that haven't gone anywhere because, there isn't much Teyla.
Is it okay to write you via email?
I'd rather not gripe publicly. Or, you could x-post this to dbw or the cabal and maybe, talk it out there.
My liking of Jewel Staite and my dislike of the uses made of Keller aren't anything I want to examine too much, but, it's like a woman I find rather useless was coming up (in the show) as if she was interesting, and a woman that I wanted to know more about was sidelined.
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But aside from that, as near as I can tell, this season, for all that it is billed as the "best SGA season ever!" is, well, not. I want episodes that aren't recycled SG-1 episodes. In last week's episode, I wanted John to explain to Teyla that he's leaving her behind on Atlantis because of Torren and not just because he wants to leave someone he trusts in charge. I want Teyla to have more than 5 minutes of screen time, and actually have a relationship that isn't a surprise and then ignored. Instead we get Keller and her relationship troubles. And honestly? I would so choose Ronon over Rodney. But I guess this is another example of the Earth-centric nature of the show.
It's disappointing because I just don't feel that inspired to write SGA fic. I try, gods know, I do. But it just won't come.
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And... well... Teyla always seemed to me like the kind of woman who would have extremely healthy approach to everything, including her personal life...
On the other hand, I know how much I love my characters and I'm fortunate enough to have a well written and well handled characters as my favs. Not to poke at any sore spots, my favs are mostly white males with guns and redhead computer geeks. But that's because those are my kinks. What's with me being a redhead computer geek (don't have a penis or a gun though :( I do have lots of slash though :))... But still. *hugs*
True, I'd prefer to remain oblivious (I'm a fan of the river in Egypt, yes) to the flaws of my franchise (I've been with Stargate ever since the movie came out) but I understand how you might feel disappointed with what they did with Teyla. Nothing I'd say would probably make it better, but I just wish you wouldn't have to rant about it. In some AU from this, there is a SG franchise where they can really handle all characters they come up with. *firm nod*
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So far, we haven't had any addition of female characters that they promised.
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I haven't caught up with S4 but have been watching the new S5 on TV - and I just don't feel the way I used to about the show. I used to be able to put up with its flaws and write what I saw as potential in the characters and their interactions. Now I just see the poor plots, bad characterisation and continued emphasis on those characters that are easier for the writers to write.
I'm very sorry that you look back on the past four years in a negative light. If its any consolation, I probably wouldn't have been in SGA fandom if it wasn't for you and a handful of other writers who write Teyla the way that I see her - a way that the show's writers clearly don't.
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the show has left me with a sour taste in my mouth, i can watch or not watch it doesn't matter at this point, i rather read something that you wrote.
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i haven't really bothered to really watch this season or last season. and when i can, it's from downloading the episodes weeks and weeks later and often skipping through because i can't be bothered with certain parts of the episode or certain episodes altogether.
i feel like the time between season 3 and 4 is where they officially really lost me as a viewer and fan. you brought up a lot of points that i agree with because the writers aren't paying attention to what they've created anymore, it's more about what can they do to make every thing a character vehicle for rodney.
i really do want to write but given how life gets in the way, i can only stand back and just think about the potential ideas.
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I've been lurking on your blog, waiting for your comments on SGA this season (as I still haven't seen beyond the first three episodes yet, they're all on dvr and I've sworn not to watch them until my friends can join me. I'll admit, I haven't been as inclined to do so as in the past).
I'm really sorry things are so bad in fandom. Canon is what it is, but fandom has the potential to make up for that in some small way. I was one of those 'semi-active' people of 2 years past. I can't say the same now, and that makes me sad. Especially since you single handedly anchored the pairing, and my interest in the show in a lot of ways.
TOday I got an assignment for 'Cultural Studies' class (my universities approach to literature -- that every thing (from t.v. to water bottles) is a product of culture and is therefore a text worthy of study). As the teacher was talking I knew what topic I wanted to explore (how minorities have been represented in sci-fi television -- centering on Star Trek, Stargate & possibly Firefly), and the first thing on my to-do list was to head to this site to get your two cents.
This last part is going to seem like a rant and somewhat unrelated. Some of my friends are new SGA recruits, we watch it together when we can. One person (who crashed the 'party') mentioned how "annoying" it was that all of last season's episodes centered on Teyla. I almost blew a fuse. They did not center on Teyla. And if they had, why would that be annoying? Grr.
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My professor said, "in an ideal world people people would be open to it as well."
It just made me think of the person I mentioned and their "annoying" comment.
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So Whedon might have been trying to mix it up in terms of culture, but I believe the general consensus is that he failed when it came to casting.
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in Firefly, in spite of there being an Asiatic culture, there were no actual Asian people in the regular or background cast.
True. Its beyond ironic.
One thing I appreciated about Star Trek was the overt attempt to have a mixed-race cast. But, even then the show falls into the same patterns as other shows (my boss and I were chatting about Uhura, in the early days, being confined to a communications/secretarial role being but one example).
And that brings up the fact that it's not okay to simply have a token minority character. Instead of subverting misconceptions, it just reinforces the ideology.
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In some respects, it was a good run in fandom (I think it's almost my longest yet - SG1 only managed three years out of me), even if it ended badly in a "white, technologically-obsessed, male from Earth" way.
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