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Most people in Atlantis fandom don't like Teyla.
I know that most of my SG-1 friends aren't fans of the character, which I find surprising since most of them were Sam Carter fen back in the day. No, Teyla isn't Sam, and Rachel isn't Amanda, but their characters in S1 have the same potentiality: I just doubt that Teyla will get the run in Atlantis that Sam did in SG-1.
There are objections to her background, her lack of scenes, her dress style, the fact that she was originally slated to be the primary love interest for Sheppard... It goes on.
I'm kinda saddened that she doesn't get half the airtime or half the story that she could if they'd use her properly. It's a bit like the waste of Teal'c in the first six seasons. (Then again, CJ got paid to appear in every episode, whether or not he had lines, so it worked for him.) And the kind of contempt that's reserved for Teyla by the John/Elizabeth fen is rather like the vitriol reserved for Sam by the hardcore Jack/Daniel folks back in SG-1 fandom.
"And it's all just a little bit of history repeated!"
Never let it be said that fen learn, change, and/or grow in their journey through fandom. It's a little saddening, especially since the people doing the bitching this time around seem to be primarily those who were doing the defending of Sam last time.
On the other hand, my last Teyla-fic (Five Men Who Never Wanted...) got good responses, so there is a market out there for the character. We just need a few more people who like her and are willing to write fic for her.
I know that most of my SG-1 friends aren't fans of the character, which I find surprising since most of them were Sam Carter fen back in the day. No, Teyla isn't Sam, and Rachel isn't Amanda, but their characters in S1 have the same potentiality: I just doubt that Teyla will get the run in Atlantis that Sam did in SG-1.
There are objections to her background, her lack of scenes, her dress style, the fact that she was originally slated to be the primary love interest for Sheppard... It goes on.
I'm kinda saddened that she doesn't get half the airtime or half the story that she could if they'd use her properly. It's a bit like the waste of Teal'c in the first six seasons. (Then again, CJ got paid to appear in every episode, whether or not he had lines, so it worked for him.) And the kind of contempt that's reserved for Teyla by the John/Elizabeth fen is rather like the vitriol reserved for Sam by the hardcore Jack/Daniel folks back in SG-1 fandom.
"And it's all just a little bit of history repeated!"
Never let it be said that fen learn, change, and/or grow in their journey through fandom. It's a little saddening, especially since the people doing the bitching this time around seem to be primarily those who were doing the defending of Sam last time.
On the other hand, my last Teyla-fic (Five Men Who Never Wanted...) got good responses, so there is a market out there for the character. We just need a few more people who like her and are willing to write fic for her.
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Possibly my disappointment with Atlantis stems from the sheer wonder and awe in which I hold Battlstar Galactica which did grip me from the beginning (okay, seriously? The third ep, 'Bastille Day'? Completely sucked me in). I was hoping for something to hold my attention, but didn't really watch the first half of Season One until December, and didn't watch the last four episodes until March.
So, no, Atlantis isn't gripping.
The beef I have with the anti-Teyla fen is that quite a few seem to claim that Teyla 'does nothing for them', then go around putting her down in every way possible. And yes, quite a few of them are Shep/Weir fen who are now going in for Teyla/Ronan - rather like the Jack/Daniels frequently utilise Sam/Teal'c to get Sam out of Jack's orbit.
And yes, it bugs me that most Shep/Weir fen completely dismissed Weir/Simon when it was such an integral part of the character (if not publicised, then she certainly felt deeply about it). If it hadn't been shoved in my face from day one (complete with OMG!SEXYHOTPPL!SQUEE!) in SGA fandom then I'd probably be less annoyed.
It's just all fan OTP politics repeating, and it's extremely annoying to see that quite a few of the fen writing off Teyla's character are the same who protested at the Denialites of SG-1 writing off Sam's character.