The "four in gate" thing didn't bother me much, because of not only symmetry, but 9 years of history of it being done that way. I always thought the gate image itself was just way too small, and prefer the concept of what Atlantis is trying to do with their cover art -- part of the gate as part of the image, not as a literal frame. The "gate as frame" concept is rather dated when compared to more current DVD boxed sets.

I had no idea that actors retained the ability to approve their images. It seemed as if they should but I didn't know if that was industry standard or not. Who knows, maybe CB didn't approve whatever monstrosity they'd cooked up for Vala. I'd still liked to have seen her on the slipcase.

I was only told this in regards to the collector's card issue, but now that I think on it, that's a third-party vendor. You'd think MGM itself could use whatever images they wanted.

I understand what you mean about the Zen place. Though I have two minds about it. Just like I have my "canon mind" and "fanon mind" I have my "oh, arm porn and slash bait!" mind and my "my poor show is dead and spinning in its grave over what's on the air now" mind. I wish TPTB could have given us a bit of the best of both worlds -- a main course of well-told stories with a side dish of fan service.

Vala was played by a great actress, and I've said before that if she were a character on any other show, I probably would have enjoyed her, but I could just never accept the military sending out someone in pigtails and shiny barrettes, not unless they wanted her to get shot, and the rest of the team with her. The "they're real people dealing with alien situations" angle of the earlier seasons had great appeal for me, so while this was a small thing in the grand picture, I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to imagine Vala would ever be a real part of the team. Sad to say, the show got too sci fi for its own good. ;)