For the Vala fans on my flist...

[fignewton]

And even for the non-Vala fans, I suppose. :) annerbhp is hosting a very interesting discussion on Vala-hate in fandom and its causes, and Vala-squee and its causes. Go and take a look - lots of food for thought.

(Fair warning: in my own comment, there's a spoiler reference for Continuum. I don't think there's any others, but read at your own risk.)

Comments

[delphia2000.livejournal.com]

It was somewhat interesting in that it's a look at ValaLovers trying to understand ValaHaters without getting any real feedback on why someone would hate a character. It's such a love fest, I'd feel out of line by barging in with some comment about why I hate her. Suffice to say, the reasons listed are not even close to why I dislike the character so much.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I take it you didn't read my comment, then. :) And I know there's at least one other person there who posted about her dislike of Vala.

If you didn't find that discussion balanced enough, and you're still interested in the character (and I'd enjoy hearing your views, too), I had a longish rant on my Vala dislike right after Line in the Sand aired. You can read it over here.

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

Oops, I felt no such compunction... But I was polite.
: )

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Heh. I put my .02 in too. ;)

I notice that one of your points works pretty closely with one of mine. :) She can be a pretty polorizing character. I think a lot of it does come down to what is about the show that's a draw for you. For me, a lot of things about Vala stand in the way of the things that I fell in love with about the show. Which is kind of a problem. It's entirely possible, on the other hand, if she and the show were brand new that I'd have much greater affection for her. As it is, there's something about the character that sometimes feels like too drastic a turn from the tone and ethos of the previous years of the show.

(With apologies to fig for hijacking her journal.)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

There is no such thing as hijacking this journal. I love thread drift. When we were discussing Maybourne back in the Enigma recap, we drifted into a thorough discussion of Vala. A bit ironic, that. :)

I think that sg_betty made an excellent point in the squabbling serving no purpose. I loved Bad Guys, but I felt Daniel's sniping at Vala was OTT and hugely unfair, to the point where I wondered if the writer was anti Daniel/Vala ship. I was surprised to discover BB wrote the episode!

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

I would be interested to see a version of Bad Guys that wasn't hugely cut for length. Apparently, it went way over time and had to be drastically cut. Michael Shanks wasn't happy with the result as he thought it made Daniel look, well, kind of psycho - my words not his. I can't remember the exact quote.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

That was in his short-lived blog, which filled me with glee because he mocked the Daniel and Mitchell look alike thing and the Mitchell is from Kansas thing. :)

Pretty sure he was talking about losing it with the hostages, though - not his sniping at Vala.

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

I think that's right. It was the editing of Daniel with the hostages. He's generally seemed to wax rhapsodic over everything involving Daniel and Vala.

He seemed pretty down on that episode all the way around. I thought it was a fun ep for the most part--if a little bit derivative of Icon and New Ground. Though I would agree that Daniel is pretty manic in this one.

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

He's a pretty funny guy. I'll try to find that page with the Way-Back Machine and have a look.
That reminds me, His first episode of Burn notice is on this week. That should be fun, although it's always a bit weird when he plays a bad guy. He seems so... not bad, even when he is doing very bad things.

From an actor's point of view, it would be pretty hard to be down on working with Claudia Black. I get the impression that she's wonderful to work with. That makes a big difference in your perception, as I know from my acting days (pre-mortgage, sigh)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I linked to it when I commented on it back when the ep aired. It's here.

I love characters, not actors, so I rarely follow an actor to another show. I've tried it twice, and both times failed miserably. So I won't watch his upcoming appearances, although I do wish him well. :)

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

That was interesting! Thanks for the link. I have to say that I agree with most of what he said there about television. And, boy, I bet that sarcastic honety thing he has going gets him in a lot of trouble!
Did you link to any of his other blogs? I only saw the one for unending, which is still online, and he was clearly making nice in that one.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

No, just that one. I don't fangirl MS; I fangirl Daniel. I linked to that one out of delight for his fandom consciousness.

(Pretty sure you could click on one of the headings in the link, though, and get to the rest of them.)

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

It's interesting because I've just seen AOT and I got a little irritated by Vala. Normally I like her and mhalachaisword's Vala in Physics of The Spin is fantastic. Maybe I'm liking fanfic Vala better than the character on TV.
(We're trying not to see Continuum until it's released on DVD in Australia.)

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

Looks like I can get back to them with thise links. Good. I'm fascinated when people walk on a tightrope like that. I just can't help myself. He clearly has no more sense of self preservation than his character. Bound to learn something though with all that truth leaking out. ; )

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

The LJ name you give there seems to be invalid. Do you have a link to the fic?

I, too, like Vala ever so much more in fic than I do onscreen. Of course, I avoid Daniel/Vala fic like the plague, so that might account for it. ;)

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

Try mhalachaiswords Sorry :D

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

Whoops, I can't read tonight and here is the link (mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com/tag/physics+of+the+spin). (I have a headache :()

She is also writing a Ziva in Atlantis that you might like called Agent Afloat.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll check it out.