Daniel led SG-1?

[hsapiens]

My SG-1 Season 10 DVDs just arrived!!! Has anyone else read the back blurbage? It says:

"And now, in Season 10, the team, led by Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), embarks on their ultimate adventure."

I know that some people think Michael Shanks and Ben Browder look a lot alike but that's odd. And the cover stars Sam's breasts. Sometimes it's good to be reminded why it was time to call it quits on the show. :|

Comments

[hsapiens.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was. I spent a whole season being livid and upset. Sure, I appreciated the guys' forays into sexiness but I hated what it did to the characterization and plot lines. Finally I had to choose to stop watching or find a zen place where I could watch for what it was they were willing to give me: sexed up team.

I would *prefer* to have a more cerebral, Gate-based sci fi show about a first contact team exploring the galaxy. No matter how much I love to stare at Michael Shanks, I would choose the old show with someone else as Daniel over the newer seasons with Michael Shanks had I been given a choice.

I could eventually accept the leftovers because the eye candy is of particularly good quality. However, there are lots of cerebral, interesting, strong men on television while there aren't a lot of cerebral, interesting, strong women on television. The undermining of Sam - who was touted in interview after interview for YEARS as a strong woman who broke the mold of what women on tv were allowed to do - so that she could be mostly exposition-spouting, angst-generating eye candy rankled more and took me longer to become zen over because it was a keener loss.

(Also? I kind of felt like Michael Shanks and RDA stopped caring and were almost phoning in their performances a lot of times whereas Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge seemed to continue giving it their all. I hate to see the waste of both a great character and a great actor who is giving it everything she has so that rankled a bit more, too.)

[nialla]

I know RDA had been wanting to leave for a while, but felt the burden of all the people who were dependent on him for their continued employment, since at that time the show was considered a "vehicle" for RDA. I think that translated into boredom/resentment which in turn meant inappropriate adlibs and general phoning it in.

With MS, I'm always reminded of the saying about being careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. MS had been fighting for a long time for his character, both for the integrity of the character and to keep his status as co-lead, and by the end of season five was essentially told the show didn't need his character anymore, it could focus on Jack and Sam instead (both in the military and romantic sense), with Teal'c and some generic character added to give the historybabble as their backup.

Some fans pitched a fit and eventually MS did come back, but I have to wonder if he felt he "owed" the fans his time being on the show, but didn't feel it was worth fighting for anymore and just sort of went with whatever TPTB cooked up. Add onto this he had a family to support, so it was probably a lot easier to just go in, do the work and go home, leaving the work behind at the end of the day. I know a lot of fans who continued to watch just to see Daniel back, even if they didn't necessarily like where things were headed.

AT and CJ never seemed to be in "fighting" mode as much, either because they never felt the need or because they wanted to lay low and remain employed. I do know that even AT has said that one time when she made a suggestion about something, she left the room feeling lucky she still had a job.

[hsapiens.livejournal.com]

I'm torn on the MS and RDA situations because I can empathize but as a fan I hate the outcome, whatever the reasons. On the one hand, I've heard background info that makes me sympathetic to them. I know RDA wanted to leave far earlier and I was pretty clear that MS came back because it was a steady paycheck and because it allowed him to be in Vancouver with his not-yet wife. I'm sure he returned to the show knowing he'd lost and would be doing whatever they told him. Like filming a nude scene in Vancouver in February in a public park. He was but one of a long line of people who loved Stargate and were screwed by Bridge.

But I had a lot invested in Jack and Daniel and the team and I feel let down as a fan that they let real life issues intrude on their performances. It's entirely human and I don't know that I could have worked for years under a grueling schedule of filming a show that didn't interest me while being a parent and done even a tenth as well. I'm just very sorry that my passionate and compassionate Daniel devolved into grimaces and that my competent and wily colonel devolved into Homer Simpson.