They included Adria and not Vala, WTF?! Also, holy heavy handed photoshop Batman! CB's probably happy she's not on the cover. (Now I'm imagining Vala just outside the frame of the Stargate, pushed there by the power of Sam's chest thrust, ergh.)

Yes. I will feel no guilt either in employing other means to see those goodies.

I know! It's insane. Maybe they have to pay CB for every time they use her image to advertise? I have no idea what sort of power she has or doesn't to negotiate a particularly lucrative deal but I can't imagine leaving her off the slipcase by accident. The dopes.

I occassionally read J Mallozzi's blog (I know, I know) and he's always said that MGM are the ones responsible for the dvd stuff, so I dunno, maybe it was all beyond their control. :/

The more I look at the cover, the more I wish they'd picked a different picture for Sam. I love the character of Sam, but I hate that they made her lead with her chest. She's a much more kickass character than that. *sigh*

You're a braver person than I. It makes sense that MGM would be responsible for the DVD art and blurbage. And I can even see how, given the vast Sony catalog that it's just not possible to review everything as well as they'd like. But SG-1 is their #1 syndicated earner and this was the historic and final 10th season...seems to me they could have found someone, somewhere within the company who'd watched Season 10. It wasn't THAT bad! ;)

Exactly! Sam is posed in a way that says, "I'm all about these giant boobs!" It undermines what I love about her and what I think makes her so wonderful. And it emphasizes what I hate about what they did to her at times. Thinking that some troglodyte who'd never seen the show Photoshopped together a bunch of promo photos and used the standard, "Oh, the woman is on the show because she's sexually attractive" viewpoint. That's why I hate it so much -- 'cause Sam *is* kickass.

After the slipcase art came out, someone asked and was told that "they" wanted to stick with the four-person framed by a gate they'd been using for 9 years. Which makes sense, so I expected Vala to be elsewhere. Guess not.

I'm not a Vala fan, but it does seem odd she's not included when TPTB were singing her praises so much. I do know that actors have the right to approve their images that will be used on items, so perhaps that's coming into play here.

I learned this after a brouhaha about an SG-1 card collection in which the binder didn't have a picture of the team, but only Sam and Jack. Let's just say some folks were raising holy hell about it. ;) They were told that each vendor is given a certain number of images they can use for their product, but the actors have final say-so over how it looks, so if 1 out 4 of the cast doesn't like how the team shot looked, then that image is out. IIRC, it was never said who was the one who cast the nay vote, but it could have been one who essentially voted themselves off the cover, or it could have just as easily been one who still remained on the cover too.

I'm just anal enough about balance and symmetry that the "4 in the Gate" theme makes a warped sort of sense to me. I wouldn't have chosen to do that, but I kind of get it.

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'm in a weird place regarding Vala. Before she was added, I had just reached a Zen place where I was no longer watching because I really cared about Daniel or Sam or Jack or even Teal'c -- and I certainly wasn't watching for excellent story telling. I was watching solely because the eye candy factor and I'll admit that the costume department finally stepped up to the plate and sexed 'em up. Given that characterization had taken a back seat to the far more shallow aspects, Vala didn't really upset my apple cart. I was annoyed that Michael played Daniel as Mono-Mood, permanently peeved, but he was still cute and sleeveless so...*shrug*

If I'd still been watching for the love of the show, I'd have hated Vala because she was written at the expense of the other characters. Kind of like Rodney, she was more interesting to the writers and played by a brilliant actor. She dominated in a way I thought compromised the team as I loved it. Like I said, though, I'd reached my Zen Zone so while I'd love to have seen her and Sam bond as former hosts or seen something real written for her, she didn't stop the man scenery parade so I couldn't get chuffed.

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. ;)